Mallory McKewen

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[00:00] SPEAKER_02: It's Toronto's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:22] SPEAKER_00: Hi there, I'm Phil Bliss and I'm business visionary and also founder of the Canada's podcast
[00:29] SPEAKER_00: network and a host of Toronto's podcast.
[00:33] SPEAKER_00: Today I'm excited to introduce you to Mallory McEwen who founded and currently serves as
[00:39] SPEAKER_00: president and CEO of Bridesmaid.ca. An e-commerce business focused on improving the Bridesmaid
[00:46] SPEAKER_00: dress shopping experience. Bridesmaid was born as an idea early in 2016 and has now serviced
[00:54] SPEAKER_00: over 1,000 Bridesmaid's Canada wide and employs a team of 10 people.
[01:00] SPEAKER_00: Before diving into entrepreneurship Mallory completed both the BBA and an MDA BBA degree at
[01:08] SPEAKER_00: Laurier and had worked in sales and corporate finance. Welcome Mallory. Thank you, thanks for the
[01:15] SPEAKER_00: hand drill. Maybe you can tell us a little bit more about yourself. You know where you're from,
[01:20] SPEAKER_00: give us the details on your current business, just two to four minute overview of who is Mallory McEwen.
[01:29] SPEAKER_01: Yeah sure thing. So I grew up in small town in Ontario here, the small town of Prescott
[01:37] SPEAKER_01: out towards Ottawa. I found myself really intrigued by marketing in high school and headed to do
[01:45] SPEAKER_01: an undergrad in marketing at Laurier and I really thought that marketing may take me down an
[01:51] SPEAKER_01: entrepreneurial path as I was doing that I was buying and selling horses because that was my passion
[01:57] SPEAKER_01: but horses are very expensive so I had to pay my way through school while still being able to
[02:03] SPEAKER_01: ride somehow. So the marketing degree and the marketing experience really helped me with that
[02:09] SPEAKER_01: kind of entrepreneurial activity that I had from a pretty young age before turning it into a real
[02:15] SPEAKER_01: real business. From there I kind of graduated from undergrad, went out, got a job in marketing
[02:23] SPEAKER_01: as a marketing coordinator but found that it wasn't really the right fit for me. I thought maybe
[02:30] SPEAKER_01: I was more quantitative than I originally realized I was and that led me to go back to school.
[02:37] SPEAKER_01: Get an MBA where I focused both in accounting and finance and then from there move downtown Toronto,
[02:47] SPEAKER_01: got a job in corporate finance and did that for a while. But then I really kind of went back to
[02:55] SPEAKER_01: wanting to be an entrepreneur. So reading books about entrepreneurship and watching dragons
[03:00] SPEAKER_01: down and things like that, I knew that to kind of fulfill my dream of being an entrepreneur
[03:06] SPEAKER_01: starting something I would need to find a market need or a problem to solve and that really
[03:13] SPEAKER_01: that led me, it took a while but that led me to finding the problem that bridesmaid space when
[03:21] SPEAKER_01: shopping or even just being asked to be a bridesmaid which is the cost and the fact that it can
[03:26] SPEAKER_01: be prohibitive when you're young to be in a wedding party. So bridesmaid.ca is a business that I
[03:33] SPEAKER_00: really built around that market need. That's great. Was there any kind of particular, you know,
[03:39] SPEAKER_00: was it was it what I tell my stop moment that said I got to stop doing this?
[03:45] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I can tell you exactly exactly that. It was, and so I was working in corporate
[03:53] SPEAKER_01: finance. I always every job I've ever had I always loved in the beginning while I was still learning.
[03:59] SPEAKER_01: As I was working I found myself finding it harder and harder to get up in the morning.
[04:04] SPEAKER_01: At first I solved that problem by no longer using my phone alarm clock and I got one of those
[04:11] SPEAKER_01: Phillips light up alarm clocks to light up the room. Yeah, because I was like, well, maybe I'm just
[04:16] SPEAKER_01: having a hard time waking up in the morning because my room's darker and something like that. So
[04:22] SPEAKER_01: as much as that light up alarm clock is really cool and I still use it that didn't really change
[04:27] SPEAKER_01: things. And I found I just I wasn't jumping out of bed in the morning anymore. I was kind of
[04:33] SPEAKER_01: dragging my feet, dreading my commute, going to work to do kind of the same stuff that I'd done
[04:38] SPEAKER_01: before. And that made me realize that when I used to jump out of bed every day, it was when I was
[04:46] SPEAKER_01: learning every day. And the best way to set myself up in a career where I'm going to be learning
[04:51] SPEAKER_01: every day is to start something and become an entrepreneur. That's great. That's that's really
[04:55] SPEAKER_00: interesting. You started to research, but obviously, you know, thinking about deciding you want to
[05:02] SPEAKER_00: become an entrepreneur and actually, you know, making it happen, the two different things. How long
[05:08] SPEAKER_00: did you think about it? I mean, you talked a little bit about that in your opening, but I mean,
[05:13] SPEAKER_01: how long did it take to get things started? Yeah. So it took it took quite a while, but I'm going
[05:21] SPEAKER_01: to say less time than I anticipated. I mean, the first thing is coming up with what you're going
[05:28] SPEAKER_01: to do as an entrepreneur, deciding that you would like to be an entrepreneur is one thing that you
[05:33] SPEAKER_01: need to know eventually you're going to pursue or what market need you're going to fill. And for me,
[05:39] SPEAKER_01: that took me the longest because I'm not not necessarily super, super creative. I'm not someone
[05:46] SPEAKER_01: that just has a book of 50 different ideas I could execute on. So I was very systematic in doing
[05:52] SPEAKER_01: that. It took me a few months where I kept a journal each morning after my commute to work. I just
[05:58] SPEAKER_01: took kind of five minutes to write down three things that I'd thought about on my commute to work
[06:03] SPEAKER_01: that could be a market need that maybe a business could spin out of. And I did that for a few months.
[06:11] SPEAKER_01: So it took a while and often it was kind of like, bang, I head off the wall as I was trying to
[06:16] SPEAKER_01: write things into this journal. Some days I had, man, like, maybe I'm never going to come up with
[06:21] SPEAKER_01: anything. But after a couple of months, I started to to put some good market needs together. And
[06:27] SPEAKER_01: that's where where this was born. But from there, I mean, it's not like I said, okay, now the
[06:33] SPEAKER_01: market need is that bribes may dress shopping needs to change. And I have a business. I really had
[06:39] SPEAKER_01: to figure out how a business was going to address that and interview potential customers.
[06:45] SPEAKER_00: Can say so. How did you focus on that? I mean, so you've done your stall when you've done your
[06:49] SPEAKER_00: thing. And that's fantastic. And you've got this bribes made you approach, you know, how did
[06:55] SPEAKER_00: sort of you get that focus, you know, to decide, you know, it's going to be an online business,
[07:00] SPEAKER_00: it's going to be this, it's going to be that. How did you do that?
[07:04] SPEAKER_01: Yeah. So I really followed the methodologies of the book, The Lean Startup.
[07:09] SPEAKER_01: What I did initially was I interviewed tons and tons of people. And I didn't online survey as well
[07:15] SPEAKER_01: to figure out what it was that they complained about or how to hard time with when it came to being
[07:21] SPEAKER_01: a bribes made. So I could know exactly what problems we were really going to zero in on as a business.
[07:27] SPEAKER_01: From those initial interviews and surveys, I learned, okay, the dress is the focal point.
[07:31] SPEAKER_01: The bribes made dress, that's where my business is going to focus. It needs to kind of be
[07:36] SPEAKER_01: brought up to be more focused on millennials. The shopping experience needs some help.
[07:41] SPEAKER_01: But how can we actually do that? And that's when I started doing more in-depth interviews with
[07:47] SPEAKER_01: bribes to be. I was living in city place Toronto. So I had like 40,000 young adults living
[07:54] SPEAKER_01: in the post. Which is really convenient. That's great. Yeah. So I actually, I just posted in the
[08:03] SPEAKER_01: city place Facebook group today, or not today, sorry, one day. And said like, hey, if anyone's
[08:11] SPEAKER_01: getting married and the next whatever, like in a short time, if you're engaged and getting married
[08:15] SPEAKER_01: and are willing to chattel by your copy at Starbucks and met with a bunch of people that way.
[08:21] SPEAKER_01: That shaped my business. And in those meetings, I started to ask people. So I started to come down to
[08:27] SPEAKER_01: to the thought that the venture was going to be renting bribes made dresses through an online
[08:32] SPEAKER_01: platform. Then I just started to ask people kind of the flip side questions like, okay, you think
[08:39] SPEAKER_01: this sounds great, but why wouldn't you do it? Or what would scare you away? Or things like that.
[08:45] SPEAKER_01: So I could kind of find holes in the business before money was poured into it.
[08:50] SPEAKER_00: So you've got something happening. You're getting a good response. How did you finance it?
[08:55] SPEAKER_00: Was it just sort of from savings or how did you get going on it?
[09:00] SPEAKER_01: In the very beginning, I, well, okay, I knew this was going to be a very capital-intense
[09:06] SPEAKER_01: business because to actually launch the rentals, we needed to have inventory. So a whole bunch of
[09:13] SPEAKER_01: dress assets as you will. So I knew that I needed to prove something before I would ever be able to
[09:19] SPEAKER_01: come up with the funding to get that inventory. So what I did was I launched, I mean, we
[09:27] SPEAKER_01: as entrepreneurs call an MVP, which was just a very basic website with a stock photo, like some
[09:34] SPEAKER_01: stock photos that I bought and a button that they could click like, I want to rent my bribes made dresses.
[09:41] SPEAKER_01: And then they would fill in a form about how many dresses or how many bribes made they have,
[09:46] SPEAKER_01: what colors they're interested in. They could attach a photo of styles that they like that they
[09:51] SPEAKER_01: found elsewhere. So that let me capture a lot of data. And then I was ready to go, although I was
[09:58] SPEAKER_01: very much pre-revenue, I then went and raised angel funding on the story of look how much traffic
[10:05] SPEAKER_01: and real data I've been able to gather. So once I have this funding to make inventory decisions,
[10:11] SPEAKER_01: I'm not starting from scratch. I've got a bunch of data to make these decisions right now. And I've
[10:15] SPEAKER_01: got weddings already chomping at the bit for me to service them. So angel funding, I guess the answer.
[10:21] SPEAKER_01: And I mean, we also had like some OCE funding, AC Jumpstart as a program here in Waterloo,
[10:28] SPEAKER_01: 30,000 through that, like a loan from my grandfather in the very beginning. But it was really,
[10:35] SPEAKER_01: I had to really focus on how to in a pre-revenue way, how to come up with real metrics to prove that
[10:41] SPEAKER_00: this business has legs. So you've got everything rolling, you've got some angel financing.
[10:47] SPEAKER_00: But how long did it take from that point to having a viable business? Or maybe you're still building
[10:54] SPEAKER_01: it? I'm not sure yet. I mean, I think we still keep a very close ear to the ground to be sure that
[11:01] SPEAKER_01: we definitely do solve this market need for customers. I'm going to say before we even
[11:08] SPEAKER_01: before we even raise the funding, I knew that at least a business built around this market need
[11:14] SPEAKER_01: being improving the bridesmaid dress shopping experience. I knew that that would be viable
[11:20] SPEAKER_01: from all of the traction that I'd seen just to a website. So I think very early, I knew
[11:29] SPEAKER_01: that the nail was hit on the head in terms of identifying a problem to solve. But I'm going to say
[11:35] SPEAKER_01: now we're in our second wedding season. We've service around 1500 bridesmaids now.
[11:42] SPEAKER_01: We're doing quite well and we've done a lot of business now. But I think we still need to keep
[11:48] SPEAKER_01: and I think most companies still need to keep an ear to the ground to be sure that we're still
[11:52] SPEAKER_01: addressing this problem in the right way. And that might change over time. Sure. But yeah.
[11:59] SPEAKER_00: So what does a typical day look like for you? How do you maintain the kind of focus it needs
[12:05] SPEAKER_00: to succeed? And I presume to have fun because I still think any of us become entrepreneurs
[12:13] SPEAKER_01: to have anything fun along with the work. Yeah. Well, I'm going to say there's, I mean, pretty
[12:21] SPEAKER_01: cliche start to this answer. I don't think there's really a typical day for me. Yeah, I'm sure.
[12:28] SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry I've heard that before. But I don't think there's a typical day for me because it really
[12:32] SPEAKER_01: depends on what's pressing at that point. But for me, what I found in leading a business is I've
[12:43] SPEAKER_01: needed to be very much married to my project management and task management tool. And that's
[12:50] SPEAKER_01: something that I do. I mean, before I go into every week, I look at the week ahead and map things
[12:57] SPEAKER_01: out. And then as I go into every day, when I walk into the office in the morning, I make sure my
[13:02] SPEAKER_01: task list is organized. And then I just power through it like for the day. So I guess it's a matter
[13:08] SPEAKER_01: of just being very organized and diligent with what I want to accomplish like in a month. And then
[13:14] SPEAKER_01: in a week and then in a day, and making sure I have them in paper because it's very easy. I find
[13:19] SPEAKER_01: as a leader to I guess like chase a shiny object. Or I mean, if my staff now are asking for support,
[13:28] SPEAKER_01: I need to determine, you know, where to slide that into the other things that I need to accomplish.
[13:35] SPEAKER_01: And I find the app for me, it's just very much about having that all on paper or in a tool and
[13:41] SPEAKER_01: then powering through it as I go. And I don't really go home at the end of the day without organizing
[13:47] SPEAKER_01: my task list for the next day. So I know that I'm not going to wake up and just chase a shiny object.
[13:54] SPEAKER_01: And then later be like, oh man, I should have been working on something else with this time.
[13:57] SPEAKER_00: This time is so valuable. So you've been your online business. So really there's no borders, but
[14:04] SPEAKER_00: there is, you know, we all know that. I mean, do you see your company expanding, you know,
[14:09] SPEAKER_01: significantly into other areas as well as Canada? Yeah, for sure. So we're really laser focused on
[14:16] SPEAKER_01: Canada right now just to make sure that from the logistics and supply chain side, we have everything
[14:23] SPEAKER_01: very well worn out, like not worn out, I guess ironed out in this market, which we know the size
[14:30] SPEAKER_01: of very well and things like that. Our next step, which we plan for in 2020, is the US. Being online,
[14:37] SPEAKER_01: it seems like we could just say, hey, we ship to the US now, but we will need to have a warehouse
[14:45] SPEAKER_01: in the US as well, probably a third party. But so we're, you know, hubbing out of the country that
[14:50] SPEAKER_01: we're shipping into since we ship both ways. So it's not a matter of just opening it up and saying
[14:56] SPEAKER_01: you can order from the US. There's a few things that we need to get sorted out. And the US,
[15:02] SPEAKER_01: in this market, in most markets, is 15 times the size of Canada. So that would open a lot of
[15:06] SPEAKER_01: opportunity for us. And we've already had a lot of demand from there, which for now we've just been
[15:12] SPEAKER_01: needing to kind of let rest. We also see a lot of opportunity in Australia and New Zealand. So
[15:19] SPEAKER_01: they're, they're much smaller markets than the US, similar to Canada. But what's really interesting
[15:25] SPEAKER_01: about them is the wedding industry is somewhat seasonal. And Australia and New Zealand have
[15:30] SPEAKER_01: flip seasons to Canada. So there's some opportunity there to do some inventory sharing,
[15:37] SPEAKER_01: which would be really interesting. And since for our business, I mean, one of our most important
[15:42] SPEAKER_01: KPIs is the turns that we get on our inventory. So there's lots of potential. Right now, I mean,
[15:48] SPEAKER_01: there's lots of market left for us to explore in Canada as we get this flat chain ironed out.
[15:53] SPEAKER_00: You've kind of moved around the Southern Ontario technology slash business corridor between Ottawa
[16:00] SPEAKER_00: and KW. What are the biggest benefits for you being an entrepreneur in this sort of Southern
[16:06] SPEAKER_01: Ontario area? Yeah. So I mean, it's huge. We were really born out of
[16:15] SPEAKER_01: community tech as a company. And and I don't know if I would have being a first entrepreneur. I
[16:21] SPEAKER_01: don't know if I would have had the, I guess the confidence to to leave my full time role and do
[16:28] SPEAKER_01: this without some of the support that the programs in this region were able to provide in the early
[16:33] SPEAKER_01: days. So Laurier launch pads, which was within community tech, is where it was really born.
[16:41] SPEAKER_01: Since I was an alumni of Laurier, I was part of that program in the ideation phase. And then we
[16:46] SPEAKER_01: graduated into a fear spandors community techs woman and tech accelerator. So that helped us just
[16:53] SPEAKER_01: get some key mentors and really get things organized as we were raising that first capital and
[16:59] SPEAKER_01: hitting the market. That's kind of where we launched. And then we were in velocity for a while as
[17:05] SPEAKER_01: well, which was very, very helpful as we were, we were generating revenue and we're doing really
[17:11] SPEAKER_01: well in the business had ton of potential, but we didn't yet really have the, I guess the ability
[17:16] SPEAKER_01: to sign a lease and things like that and the the capital that we wanted to extend on those types
[17:22] SPEAKER_01: of things. So velocity kind of helped us in that transition phase. And now I mean, we're out on
[17:29] SPEAKER_01: our own. I guess we have our own legs now, but being in this region is still so helpful. I mean,
[17:35] SPEAKER_01: it's very attractive to investors. Our investors are primarily local. It's been really good. And
[17:41] SPEAKER_01: I guess the other thing is it's been really good for attracting talents, being in Waterloo or
[17:47] SPEAKER_01: well, Kitchener. We've got the University of Waterloo. We've got Connois Stoga College and we've got
[17:52] SPEAKER_00: Laurier right here to pull resources from. I'm not interesting one. We do some of our best work
[18:00] SPEAKER_00: outside the office. Here's a replace, you know, in KW, Toronto, Dada Dada, as I said, the southern
[18:07] SPEAKER_00: Ontario corridor. Will you like to recharge? You know, will you get somewhere where you go to get
[18:12] SPEAKER_01: inspired to think it through? Yeah, so I'm actually, I'm a horseback rider, a competitive horseback
[18:21] SPEAKER_01: rider. I saw that. Yeah. Yeah. So I was very much into that as a young person. I was on
[18:30] SPEAKER_01: Team Canada on an under 18 team quite a while ago. Flowed down in the University a little bit,
[18:36] SPEAKER_01: kept competing, but was buying and selling horses, as I mentioned early on. So focused on that.
[18:42] SPEAKER_01: And when I became an entrepreneur, actually, and I left my well-paid role and I didn't draw a
[18:49] SPEAKER_01: salary from the business for the first while, I really thought about, you know, maybe I do need
[18:55] SPEAKER_01: to sell my horse. It's a pretty big expense to have at this time. And I thought about it. It was
[19:02] SPEAKER_01: it was tough, but I came to realize that my best, I guess, epiphanies, if you will, came when I was
[19:11] SPEAKER_01: out and doing that. Sometimes I could, you know, sit at my desk all day long and just not come to
[19:17] SPEAKER_01: a conclusion or an answer or come up with a better alternative. But yet, when I go out to the barn
[19:23] SPEAKER_01: and I ride and I kind of do what I love, it's pretty relaxing. That's where I can find some clarity
[19:30] SPEAKER_01: again. So, so I guess I made the decision while I wasn't drawing a salary to keep the horse. And
[19:35] SPEAKER_00: for me, that's where I really find clarity. Cool. So you gave us a subit inkling of this earlier,
[19:42] SPEAKER_00: but I'm always interested in what your first hour of the day looks like. When you get up,
[19:47] SPEAKER_00: do you have a specific routine that sort of kicks you off to start the day kind of thing?
[19:53] SPEAKER_01: Yeah. So, so I'll start by saying I need to get better at eating breakfast because that's one that I
[19:59] SPEAKER_01: kind of don't fit in there very well. My alarm's usually set for about 630 and I mean, I'm like,
[20:06] SPEAKER_01: I'm like many young women, I don't really take long to get ready to come to the office.
[20:10] SPEAKER_01: I've usually picked out what I'm going to wear the night before because it's very simple.
[20:16] SPEAKER_01: Like, wake up, brush my teeth, wash my face, get dressed and just get straight here.
[20:20] SPEAKER_01: I like to arrive at the office before everyone else, so I do try to get here by seven most days.
[20:27] SPEAKER_01: So then I've got kind of an hour just for myself, not for myself, but to just make sure
[20:34] SPEAKER_01: my task list is organized and I've gotten the day started on the right foot before the hustle
[20:40] SPEAKER_01: and bustle kind of starts. The very first thing I do when I sit down in my chair at the office is
[20:47] SPEAKER_01: go through my task list and organize it, organize it and make sure I didn't miss anything the night
[20:52] SPEAKER_01: before. So then I really feel like, okay, by eight o'clock or by seven thirty, I'm now just
[20:59] SPEAKER_01: working through this. There's not really going to be any surprises and I know about what time I'll
[21:07] SPEAKER_01: be able to finish my day. So that's really how I get things started. I also, we have something
[21:15] SPEAKER_01: called the daily tracker where the entire team looks at and comments on our most critical KPIs
[21:21] SPEAKER_01: and be simple data entry to fill it in. It takes like five minutes each morning and that's
[21:26] SPEAKER_01: something that I've stayed married to and I still fill in every day. I feel like it just gives me
[21:31] SPEAKER_01: like a real, I mean, now that I'm not the one selling anymore and I'm not the one doing the
[21:36] SPEAKER_01: advertising and things like that, just filling in that daily tracker brings me back down to earth
[21:41] SPEAKER_01: and lets me reflect for a second on how we did the day before and the week before and things like that.
[21:47] SPEAKER_00: Do you want to pronounce have to be weird, you know, kind of unique,
[21:51] SPEAKER_00: because they wire differently, are they unemployable? I mean, you know, what do you think?
[21:59] SPEAKER_01: I, that's an interesting question. I certainly don't think we're unemployable, but I do think that we
[22:06] SPEAKER_01: might stand out in an organization which in some cases is great and in some cases can be a flaw,
[22:13] SPEAKER_01: it'd be a flaw because I don't know many entrepreneurs that will keep quiet if they know
[22:21] SPEAKER_01: a better way or they see something going off the rails or something like that. But the biggest
[22:26] SPEAKER_01: thing I think about entrepreneurs is that they just need to be curious and passionate. Like
[22:31] SPEAKER_01: anyone I know who's a successful entrepreneur wants to learn something new every day, whether it be
[22:39] SPEAKER_01: something about their business or even like a new board game or try any coffee or just
[22:44] SPEAKER_01: always that, facing after something new or new growth or new development, which many roles
[22:53] SPEAKER_01: outside of entrepreneurship maybe don't have room for.
[22:58] SPEAKER_00: What books are you reading now? Let me or listening to. And is any sort of really big ones over
[23:06] SPEAKER_00: the last six months that you would want to recommend to aspiring entrepreneurs?
[23:11] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so right now I just cracked it, but right now I'm reading the Power Cabot.
[23:18] SPEAKER_01: And I started it quite a while ago and didn't finish it because something else crossed my
[23:25] SPEAKER_01: desk so I read that instead. So now I've picked it up again. I've just started it, but that one's
[23:30] SPEAKER_01: really interesting to me in terms of what it's about. We'll see if I get through it this time.
[23:37] SPEAKER_01: But to speak to, like the book that is most important to me or astonishing, I guess,
[23:45] SPEAKER_01: my favorite is the Organized Mind. And it's really just a book about, well how I take it is
[23:53] SPEAKER_01: how to get the most out of our brains. And I am not necessarily an organized person by nature.
[24:02] SPEAKER_01: I've had to train myself to be that way. And reading the Organized Mind helps me to learn
[24:11] SPEAKER_01: basically how I can just give brain as much room as possible to be powerful by keeping
[24:18] SPEAKER_00: silly and simple stuff organized. You know, we all as entrepreneurs are really hard, but
[24:24] SPEAKER_00: how do you get that work-life balance? Where do you relax? How do you not think about work?
[24:32] SPEAKER_01: Firstly, I think I may define work-life balance differently than some people do.
[24:37] SPEAKER_01: I don't believe that having work-life balance is having a separation between work and life.
[24:44] SPEAKER_01: I do think it's important to have downtime and things like that. But I'm certainly not somebody
[24:52] SPEAKER_01: that believes that work should end and life should start at a certain time of day or anything like
[24:56] SPEAKER_01: that. For me, just making sure that I still make some time to do the things that I am most
[25:03] SPEAKER_01: passionate about is what's most important. So going for a walk every evening and often in the
[25:10] SPEAKER_01: morning with my dogs, just having my boyfriend and having time to do that and making time a couple
[25:16] SPEAKER_01: of times a week. I can't do it with my schedule right now as much as I used to, but a couple of times
[25:21] SPEAKER_01: a week to go and see my horse and ride. I can say you've always got your riding. So that's going to be
[25:26] SPEAKER_01: a big part of your relaxation, I guess. Yeah, that's the biggest one. And I really find at the end
[25:32] SPEAKER_01: of the week if I did it or if I only went once, there's something that's when I'm feeling tired and
[25:38] SPEAKER_01: warmth in. Whereas just taking an hour and a half, two hours to do that, maybe I have to stay
[25:45] SPEAKER_01: up an hour and a half, two hours later, it just helps me to really recharge because that's something
[25:51] SPEAKER_01: that I'm so passionate about. But other than that, I really think work like balances,
[25:57] SPEAKER_01: enjoying what you're working at or what you're chasing with your work. And part of balance for me is
[26:03] SPEAKER_01: having that feeling of feeling like I'm learning every day. And since I'm getting that through my work,
[26:09] SPEAKER_00: I don't need me time as much. So if you weren't doing what you do now, what profession would you like to do?
[26:20] SPEAKER_01: Well, I think if I wasn't leading bribes, mage, or if anything happens that I wasn't anymore,
[26:26] SPEAKER_01: what I would like to be doing and what I really think I would be great at is leading
[26:32] SPEAKER_01: marketing and demand generation somewhere. That's not what I lead. Well, I'm the CEO, so I have a very
[26:41] SPEAKER_01: different hat than that right now. But I really think marketing is so quantitative and it changes so
[26:50] SPEAKER_00: fast. That's what suits me best. Yeah, it's my profession and I love it. Yeah.
[26:57] SPEAKER_00: What kind of job wouldn't you like to do? What's definitely?
[27:04] SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, there was a time when I was becoming a CA or now a CPA and I know I would not have
[27:12] SPEAKER_01: lasted there. I was supposed to go to Deloitte after graduating and I didn't end up going and
[27:18] SPEAKER_01: I'm really thankful I didn't and they probably would be too because I don't have the blasted
[27:24] SPEAKER_00: on. So in business, what's your favorite word or quote or phrase that you like to use and what's
[27:33] SPEAKER_00: the converse of that? What's the least favorite one? That's an interesting question. Yeah.
[27:39] SPEAKER_00: Because you could quickly think, what do I say all the time? So actually for my birthday last year,
[27:46] SPEAKER_01: my employees and my business partner had it put on a shirt and three. I forget two of them,
[27:54] SPEAKER_01: but three words that I say all the time with their real meaning and then the meaning according
[27:58] SPEAKER_01: to me. And I just remember that one of them was exceptional and I stopped using the word
[28:06] SPEAKER_01: exceptional so much for this reason, but I just really feel that we're doing a lot of exciting
[28:10] SPEAKER_01: things and our staff is doing some really great work. So my response when I saw something really
[28:18] SPEAKER_01: positive was to always say, wow, that's exceptional. So what's the least favorite word?
[28:25] SPEAKER_00: Maybe exceptional because you said you stopped using it down.
[28:28] SPEAKER_01: So yeah, maybe that's my easy way out of this. I mean, I just slowed down on using it because
[28:33] SPEAKER_01: it was pretty funny when I got that shirt. Like I laughed about it, but then I realized, you know,
[28:38] SPEAKER_01: now I've devalued the meaning of the word exceptional because they think I use it all the time.
[28:44] SPEAKER_01: And I don't mean to use it when something's not when I'm not really pleased with something.
[28:50] SPEAKER_01: So I guess maybe exceptional now is my least favorite or when I catch myself saying and I'm like,
[28:56] SPEAKER_01: oh no, they're not going to take it seriously. I need to put another really good word in the hair.
[29:01] SPEAKER_00: If you had to pick one or two words to describe who you are, what would they be?
[29:08] SPEAKER_01: I guess lifelong learner. And I mean, it sounds like I'm just trying to pick something for
[29:14] SPEAKER_01: for an interview that sounds good, but that's what made me not want to be in the role that I was in
[29:20] SPEAKER_01: in finance anymore was that I was like, okay, learned it all now. What? And I mean, I hadn't learned
[29:26] SPEAKER_01: it all. There were certainly things that I could have gotten better with, but I wanted to move to
[29:29] SPEAKER_01: the next thing. And I think that's what shapes me into into an entrepreneur is that I am exhausted.
[29:37] SPEAKER_01: If I leave like feeling like I just did administrative stuff all day and I didn't
[29:43] SPEAKER_01: learn anything, whereas I could stay here all night if I felt like I was really learning something.
[29:50] SPEAKER_00: So having speaking about night, what keeps you up at night or maybe you don't, maybe you just go
[29:54] SPEAKER_01: home and you sleep well every night, I don't know. What keeps me up at night, I'm going to say is when
[30:00] SPEAKER_01: I feel a lack of control or like I don't know the reason why something is happening.
[30:07] SPEAKER_01: So for example, I mean, in December, being an e-commerce company, it's a lot more competitive to
[30:13] SPEAKER_01: drive traffic to your website. And I was okay with that because I'm like, you know what? It's a lot
[30:22] SPEAKER_01: more competitive. It takes a lot more budget. So I know why we're not doing as well as I would have
[30:29] SPEAKER_01: liked to. So I can sleep. But when I can't sleep at night is when, for example, we're not
[30:38] SPEAKER_01: driving enough traffic to our website or we're not converting at a level that I want to or something
[30:42] SPEAKER_01: like that and I have no idea why. And sometimes the why is really bad news to be blunt. It could be
[30:49] SPEAKER_01: a huge mistake that we've been making or we've poured a bunch of budget in the wrong spot or something.
[30:54] SPEAKER_01: But when I get that answer, like this is why it hasn't been working, suddenly I'm always able to
[30:59] SPEAKER_01: kind of breathe a sigh of relief and say, okay, I get it. I'm in control now. But when I don't know
[31:05] SPEAKER_01: why or when I'm still searching for that, that's when I'm, you know, tossing a turning or can't go
[31:09] SPEAKER_00: to bed at night. So, you know, you're now working and being successful as an entrepreneur,
[31:17] SPEAKER_00: but it's still reasonably fresh and new to you. Is there any advice that you can pass on to,
[31:25] SPEAKER_00: you know, people like you that are kind of just moving out of that corporate area or at least
[31:30] SPEAKER_00: considering this domain? Is there anything that you can pass on to entrepreneurs, especially in,
[31:36] SPEAKER_00: you know, the Southern Ontario belt, which is sort of your hood?
[31:41] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think what I would pass on for someone, you know, looking just to start something is,
[31:49] SPEAKER_01: I would pass on the knowledge that it will, the problems will seem lesser if they're very stressful
[31:58] SPEAKER_01: at kind of a young company age. The problems will seem lesser. You'll start to think like,
[32:02] SPEAKER_01: I've tackled worse than this before, but there always will be stress and there always will be
[32:08] SPEAKER_01: things that keep you up. And I just, it just changes. Your problems change as you grow. Sometimes
[32:15] SPEAKER_01: they're great problems to have, but you still got to tackle them. And I wouldn't want anyone to
[32:20] SPEAKER_01: become an entrepreneur because they think they're going to have some increased level of flexibility
[32:27] SPEAKER_01: or that it'll be easier than a, than a corporate job. I think in a lot of ways it's harder,
[32:35] SPEAKER_01: but if it's what drives you and you're passionate about solving problems and things like that,
[32:40] SPEAKER_01: then it's, it's absolutely for you. But I would not want a young entrepreneur to jump into it
[32:46] SPEAKER_01: because they think it's going to be easier or less work than a job elsewhere if that makes sense.
[32:53] SPEAKER_00: So here we are. This is, this is the big question. There's a small tropical island just off Fiji
[33:00] SPEAKER_00: that has only one phone booth and no internet. We drop you off there. You don't have a computer,
[33:06] SPEAKER_00: a smartphone tablet, anything like that. You can use the phone booths located there anytime to
[33:11] SPEAKER_00: call the boat and we'll come and pick you up. How long would you last before you made that call?
[33:16] SPEAKER_01: And what would you do while you were there? Oh my goodness. I, I don't even think I would last
[33:24] SPEAKER_01: 30 seconds. I actually, my, my parents, I went home for the holidays recently and they,
[33:34] SPEAKER_01: they're like, you know, you've been working so hard, you must be exhausted. What we'd like to do
[33:38] SPEAKER_01: for the holidays is an all-inclusive vacation. And, and I think I broke the hearts, but I said,
[33:44] SPEAKER_01: I don't think I want to like, I can't imagine myself just laying around right now. And so,
[33:53] SPEAKER_00: you're just going to tell us to turn the boat around before we get there. I guess that's what you can.
[33:58] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm not going to make it to the phone booth. And, and I mean, there are definitely days. I
[34:05] SPEAKER_01: mean, I think everyone has these days, but there are days when I do just want to have a couple of hours
[34:12] SPEAKER_01: to maybe just watch Netflix and just unplug and do nothing. Right. But a couple of hours. And
[34:21] SPEAKER_01: I couldn't imagine for days. And, and frankly, I, I still keep in high on the same. I understand the
[34:27] SPEAKER_00: motivation, actually. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, not very long. That's kind of, we're kind of coming to an
[34:35] SPEAKER_00: end now. So, how can our listeners get a hold of you? And is there anything you'd like to add before
[34:40] SPEAKER_01: we kind of call it into the interview today? No, I mean, I think that's it. Thank you for having
[34:46] SPEAKER_01: me. It was really an interesting discussion. It made me reflect a little bit. But, um,
[34:52] SPEAKER_01: how listeners can get a hold of me would be either by email. It's Mallory, my first name at
[35:00] SPEAKER_01: bridesmaid.spelmade.ca. And I mean, I'd be happy to feel that any emails are chat.
[35:06] SPEAKER_01: LinkedIn is also a good place. Just, it's time me by my name, which I imagine will be posted
[35:12] SPEAKER_00: below the interview. Yes, it will be. Yes, it will be. Thank you very much, Mallory. It's been really
[35:17] SPEAKER_00: it really interesting kind of fun, fun interview. And thank you all for listening to
[35:22] SPEAKER_00: Toronto's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.