True innovation springs from unwavering dedication

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[00:00] SPEAKER_05: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_05: Hello, this is Robert Smider with Canada's podcast where we talk to the entrepreneurs who are making it happen here in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
[00:14] SPEAKER_05: Today our guest is Matt D., an unconventional, serial entrepreneur,
[00:18] SPEAKER_05: periled by innovation with a self-taught mastery in sales, marketing and design.
[00:23] SPEAKER_05: He's left an indelible mark, notably shaping the credit card payment system in the early 2000s that we still use today,
[00:32] SPEAKER_05: thriving in diverse ventures from early car sales, from his parents driveway to professional music.
[00:39] SPEAKER_05: Currently he's on the verge of launching a pioneering boat rental business alongside an adult car game concept fueled by renewed determination.
[00:46] SPEAKER_05: Despite recent setbacks, he's fine, so let's in nature and draw a string from his close, mid-circle Matt D. Embodies, resilient showcasing the transformative power of passion and perseverance in the entrepreneurial journey.
[01:02] SPEAKER_05: The story is a beacon of inspiration reminding us that setbacks are merely stepping stones on the path to success and true innovation springs from the unwavering dedication and an unyielding spirit.
[01:17] SPEAKER_05: Matt, welcome to Canada's podcast.
[01:19] SPEAKER_05: Wow.
[01:19] SPEAKER_05: We appreciate the opportunity today to share your entrepreneurial journey with our listeners.
[01:24] SPEAKER_04: Thanks for having me. That's quite the intro.
[01:27] SPEAKER_04: Yes.
[01:28] SPEAKER_04: I'm very disappointed.
[01:30] SPEAKER_04: This is a very successful story.
[01:33] SPEAKER_05: You've got to start to prove it.
[01:36] SPEAKER_05: That's true.
[01:38] SPEAKER_05: Okay, well, we've learned a little bit about you. Are you from Vancouver, you from original?
[01:42] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, originally at Born of Vancouver and I went out to the Okanagan, probably around 12 years ago, back and forth.
[01:49] SPEAKER_04: It's very difficult to make a living out there.
[01:52] SPEAKER_04: That's where it ended up starting the video game company that we had talked about that I just had sold just last week, actually.
[02:01] SPEAKER_04: So, yeah, I'm back and forth, but now I'm going back to the Okanagan and trying it again.
[02:07] SPEAKER_05: Okay.
[02:08] SPEAKER_05: Now, a big notchpreneur. Have you always been an entrepreneur? Have you been an employee before?
[02:13] SPEAKER_05: Or have you just had a young age just said, you know what?
[02:16] SPEAKER_05: I can't work for anyone. I just need to be an entrepreneur and started that way. I thought that was that one.
[02:20] SPEAKER_04: Well, I had a very young daughter dropped off of my doorstep when I was 17.
[02:29] SPEAKER_04: So I dropped out of school and went to work and busted my back, lifting pallets for years.
[02:38] SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, this isn't for me.
[02:40] SPEAKER_04: So I decided to buy and sell cars and my parents drive away.
[02:47] SPEAKER_04: And I was doing pretty good on that until it wasn't good.
[02:52] SPEAKER_04: You know, so I ended up going to a community college and I was about 19.
[02:58] SPEAKER_04: And I got a grant from one of the banks, Van City, thanks, Van City, they give me $10,000 to go and start my own business and do all the schooling and stuff.
[03:09] SPEAKER_04: So I did that and it was really successful at the time.
[03:12] SPEAKER_04: And then the schooling was about Microsoft Word and all the stuff.
[03:17] SPEAKER_04: And the professor was like, you know what? You draw. You're sitting there drawing.
[03:21] SPEAKER_04: Like, yeah, I can draw. He's like, why don't you come after class and I'll teach you how to work.
[03:25] SPEAKER_04: I think it was called Corral Draw at the time.
[03:28] SPEAKER_04: And Photoshop was a very like Photoshop one or two.
[03:32] SPEAKER_04: And I'll teach you how to do that.
[03:34] SPEAKER_04: So I stayed after class and he taught me how to do all this crazy stuff.
[03:39] SPEAKER_04: And at the time, he had to use Corral Draw to do any sort of gift animation or stuff like that.
[03:44] SPEAKER_04: And he had Photoshop was just for photos.
[03:46] SPEAKER_04: So that was really interesting. Now Photoshop course, we have illustrator and all that stuff.
[03:50] SPEAKER_04: And then he's like, how do you want to do? How do you think about web design?
[03:53] SPEAKER_04: Like what is web design? This is 1999.
[03:57] SPEAKER_04: He's like, well, I'll teach you it.
[03:58] SPEAKER_04: Now you know how to do graphic design.
[04:00] SPEAKER_04: Now you can do web design and he taught me after class how to do web design before there was even a course for this stuff.
[04:07] SPEAKER_04: And I became a web designer did really, really successful work there was like 1920 did really well.
[04:13] SPEAKER_05: Okay. Now you mentioned Vansity and you've had a few ventures are as far as financing.
[04:19] SPEAKER_05: Did you need financing to start each and every one of these businesses or what's our particular business you started that you just kind of bootstrap, for example.
[04:28] SPEAKER_04: Most likely the web design company that I had in the early 2000s.
[04:32] SPEAKER_04: I didn't need anybody and at that time it was just me and I was doing crazy contracts from the states that you would never even believe if I told you it was nuts.
[04:44] SPEAKER_04: We could charge whatever we wanted. I had this one guy from the USA that was sort of recruited me off the newspaper article that I was in about that different venture.
[04:55] SPEAKER_04: It was stupid. It was fish tanks that I was making. I don't know what the hell I was thinking, but that ended up going that way.
[05:03] SPEAKER_04: And yeah, we're getting contracts in the states for hotels and stuff we're charging is just imagine we had to sell them on the get a website.
[05:09] SPEAKER_04: They're like, we don't want a website was this website. It's not fad.
[05:12] SPEAKER_04: And we're like, no, no, your competitors are doing it and there we have a booking thing that I put together where you can book online.
[05:18] SPEAKER_04: They're like, no, it's never going to work. But some of them did and then more and more and more.
[05:22] SPEAKER_04: She's by time 2002 hit, you know, just before the crash of where was it 2004 and kind of crashed.
[05:28] SPEAKER_04: It was do it was I thought I was going to be rich for the rest of my life. I thought that was it.
[05:33] SPEAKER_04: I got it figured out you guys are idiots.
[05:35] SPEAKER_04: And that's not the case at all what happened.
[05:39] SPEAKER_04: Six years of depression after that, but I had to keep trying to start new adventures, but they all just crash because now I'm competing with these big web design companies.
[05:48] SPEAKER_04: That came out of nowhere with like 15 employees and I don't have the money to pay 15 employees at the time.
[05:54] SPEAKER_04: I sold on my BMWs at that point.
[05:56] SPEAKER_04: You know, so I just it took so long to be able to get the next one that worked, which was the video game company in 2011.
[06:04] SPEAKER_04: It was a really dark time between there.
[06:06] SPEAKER_05: Yeah, how do you manage failure?
[06:08] SPEAKER_05: You mentioned a few times that you know, some of these things didn't do well and stuff.
[06:11] SPEAKER_05: And how do you pick yourself up and go, okay, I've learned from this. I've done this and it's not native.
[06:17] SPEAKER_05: But I just need to move on and what's your kind of MO to start from scratch over again?
[06:23] SPEAKER_04: But man, if I didn't answer that, I probably wouldn't be had that dark time there for a while.
[06:28] SPEAKER_04: I, you know, I just, there's something in me.
[06:31] SPEAKER_04: Well, I'll get a job for like a day.
[06:33] SPEAKER_04: That motivates me. I'll just go dig ditches.
[06:37] SPEAKER_04: I got a problem.
[06:38] SPEAKER_04: I just go dig it. That's for a day. And I'm like, whoa.
[06:41] SPEAKER_04: This is my life. If I don't get back on that computer, start getting your notepad and start brainstorming something because I can't do that.
[06:49] SPEAKER_04: I'm miserable.
[06:51] SPEAKER_05: Okay, what give me a piece of knowledge or information about your industry could be maybe select one of your industries that you've worked in.
[06:59] SPEAKER_05: That you could share that would benefit our listeners to the general public like an industry you've been in that people may not know about.
[07:06] SPEAKER_04: Well, I mean, I will go back to the video game thing just because it's still fresh.
[07:11] SPEAKER_04: It's knowing knowing your demographic, your customers.
[07:15] SPEAKER_04: It's so important to know exactly who's buying your product.
[07:19] SPEAKER_04: What they're using it for.
[07:21] SPEAKER_04: And then you can market to them.
[07:23] SPEAKER_04: Facebook marketplace has been well, man.
[07:26] SPEAKER_04: Like the secret to everything.
[07:28] SPEAKER_04: If I made an ad right now for someone in a friend of mine in Siri.
[07:34] SPEAKER_04: Just have targeted ad one and all the ad was her Facebook page.
[07:38] SPEAKER_04: Let's say I'm just using this thing example.
[07:40] SPEAKER_04: And I look at her favorites, her likes what she does.
[07:43] SPEAKER_04: Her Democrat or her area.
[07:45] SPEAKER_03: I bet you with a budget of $5 a day.
[07:49] SPEAKER_03: I will get her to see that ad.
[07:52] SPEAKER_03: That's how targeted.
[07:54] SPEAKER_03: Facebook marketing is.
[07:55] SPEAKER_05: Okay.
[07:56] SPEAKER_05: So that's one thing you can do to start businesses really just have an idea and.
[08:01] SPEAKER_05: And get Facebook ads going or do some kind of marketing to it.
[08:05] SPEAKER_04: Just know just know who is buying your product and what they're using it for.
[08:09] SPEAKER_04: And I there's a real tricky one that they did here because going back to the video games there.
[08:14] SPEAKER_04: My demographic was 35 to 45 year old male in Canada.
[08:18] SPEAKER_04: But what I did was I ran an amp campaign that targeted females.
[08:24] SPEAKER_04: From 30 to 35 and ran just that ad and it did better than the males because it was for birthdays gifts.
[08:32] SPEAKER_04: You know, anniversary stuff like that that the wives usually are younger.
[08:37] SPEAKER_04: You know, I'm not saying that's all the case, but you know,
[08:40] SPEAKER_04: Larry male is younger girlfriend or wife or something.
[08:43] SPEAKER_04: So that really worked well.
[08:45] SPEAKER_04: It was totally mind-screw.
[08:47] SPEAKER_04: That was kind of a win.
[08:49] SPEAKER_00: I went on a win on that one.
[08:51] SPEAKER_00: It worked.
[08:52] SPEAKER_00: Canada's podcast is your gateway to success in the world of entrepreneurship.
[08:57] SPEAKER_00: Start listening today.
[08:59] SPEAKER_00: Canada's podcast.com subscribe now.
[09:02] SPEAKER_05: Okay, let's talk a little bit about British Columbia.
[09:05] SPEAKER_05: And you know, you've been there your whole life and you know,
[09:07] SPEAKER_05: it's like to start a business there.
[09:09] SPEAKER_05: I want you to give me some of the biggest benefits of being an entrepreneur in British Columbia.
[09:12] SPEAKER_05: But I also want you to give us some of the challenges that you've had along the way.
[09:17] SPEAKER_05: You've started a lot of companies.
[09:19] SPEAKER_05: You've been through this British Columbia.
[09:22] SPEAKER_05: You know, is that a great place to start a business?
[09:25] SPEAKER_05: If it is great, if it's not, what are the challenges and how do you overcome them?
[09:30] SPEAKER_04: Well, it really depends what kind of business.
[09:33] SPEAKER_04: I mean, if you own a vape shop or a cannabis store you're doing, you're doing all right.
[09:38] SPEAKER_04: If you've got an online business, I guess it doesn't really matter where you are in Canada.
[09:42] SPEAKER_04: As long as you have access to the internet.
[09:45] SPEAKER_04: You know, and if you're shipping worldwide or Canada, why doesn't really matter?
[09:50] SPEAKER_04: But if you're talking about the red tape that BC has, yeah, it's a challenge.
[09:54] SPEAKER_04: I have the city sniffing around my shop a lot.
[09:56] SPEAKER_04: I've had the fire department here three times and everything's fine here.
[10:01] SPEAKER_04: I'm still at the warehouse. Actually, it's where I'm calling it.
[10:03] SPEAKER_04: A little chillion here, actually.
[10:06] SPEAKER_04: But yeah, there's a lot of red tape.
[10:08] SPEAKER_04: The city seems to really go after the small guys.
[10:12] SPEAKER_04: Medium guys and then the large guys, you know, whoever they are, there's no Lamborghini parked out front.
[10:17] SPEAKER_04: I'll tell you right now.
[10:19] SPEAKER_04: But you know, if there was, I bet either wouldn't be sniffing around here as much.
[10:23] SPEAKER_04: So yeah, there's a lot of red tape.
[10:25] SPEAKER_04: The good things about it.
[10:26] SPEAKER_04: I mean, you know, the weather when it's sunny, like today, it's beautiful out there.
[10:31] SPEAKER_04: I don't know if you could be anywhere.
[10:33] SPEAKER_04: I mean, I love Kelona.
[10:35] SPEAKER_04: The problem with Kelona.
[10:36] SPEAKER_04: I mean, I'm very lucky I got in a long time ago and I have a place where I don't have to pay launching fees.
[10:41] SPEAKER_04: For the boats that I'm doing that boat rental company, this summer.
[10:49] SPEAKER_04: But it's beautiful up there.
[10:51] SPEAKER_04: It's just very, very challenging to get into housing.
[10:54] SPEAKER_04: It's, you know, you think the house seems bad here.
[10:57] SPEAKER_04: It's really bad there too.
[10:58] SPEAKER_04: I would say like maybe 20% less.
[11:01] SPEAKER_04: But that margin is, it's now almost even there.
[11:05] SPEAKER_04: 2200 for a two bedroom basement suite.
[11:08] SPEAKER_04: I mean, if that's what you're looking for in Kelona right now.
[11:11] SPEAKER_02: Okay.
[11:12] SPEAKER_04: So yeah, I don't really see any advantages.
[11:14] SPEAKER_04: Like BC is beautiful.
[11:16] SPEAKER_04: I mean, that's really the only advantage.
[11:17] SPEAKER_04: It's just a lot of red tape.
[11:19] SPEAKER_04: You see our annual on your butt.
[11:21] SPEAKER_04: But I guess wherever you are in Canada, the CRA, it's always going to be buggy.
[11:24] SPEAKER_04: You called me right before this phone call.
[11:26] SPEAKER_04: Some kind of mad right now.
[11:29] SPEAKER_05: Okay, I want you to imagine that you're starting over.
[11:33] SPEAKER_05: You landing in Vancouver, Rich Columbia.
[11:35] SPEAKER_05: And you're starting, we're just some of the things that you do to start a business.
[11:39] SPEAKER_05: Brash off the ground.
[11:41] SPEAKER_05: And with the world that looked like if you, you know, you don't want to work for someone.
[11:45] SPEAKER_05: You want to start a business.
[11:47] SPEAKER_05: What's your thinking?
[11:48] SPEAKER_05: But walk me through.
[11:49] SPEAKER_04: Well, first got to have an idea.
[11:50] SPEAKER_04: I suppose right?
[11:51] SPEAKER_04: So the idea is good.
[11:54] SPEAKER_04: You know, put a business plan together.
[11:56] SPEAKER_04: How are you going to make money?
[11:57] SPEAKER_04: Who's going to help you finance this?
[12:00] SPEAKER_04: You know, if you don't have deep pockets, maybe go to a bank, get a loan.
[12:03] SPEAKER_04: There's grants available to it.
[12:05] SPEAKER_04: If you're playing by all the rules, there's entrepreneurship programs.
[12:08] SPEAKER_04: My son is currently involved in one right now.
[12:11] SPEAKER_04: This, the Apple don't fall far from the tree here.
[12:13] SPEAKER_04: Shout out to the more thick makeovers.
[12:15] SPEAKER_04: My daughter has her own makeup business.
[12:17] SPEAKER_04: My son is doing Lego and he's in this entrepreneur program.
[12:21] SPEAKER_04: I told him not to do it.
[12:22] SPEAKER_04: I'm like, your life's going to be a hat.
[12:24] SPEAKER_04: I told him straight up.
[12:25] SPEAKER_04: Mike, don't do it.
[12:26] SPEAKER_04: Like don't do it.
[12:28] SPEAKER_04: But they don't listen to me.
[12:30] SPEAKER_04: And they're doing their thing.
[12:31] SPEAKER_04: So good for them.
[12:33] SPEAKER_04: So yeah, get a business plan together.
[12:36] SPEAKER_04: Have a clear idea of where you are, where you want to be.
[12:40] SPEAKER_04: I do things in phases.
[12:42] SPEAKER_04: So phase one, phase two, phase three, phase four.
[12:44] SPEAKER_04: And then ultimately say phase five for me is selling just to get out.
[12:49] SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
[12:50] SPEAKER_04: To get there.
[12:50] SPEAKER_04: I never got to phase five with my video game company.
[12:54] SPEAKER_04: I got to only three.
[12:55] SPEAKER_04: That's why there's not a success story right now.
[12:57] SPEAKER_04: I'm glad to be out of this whole.
[13:05] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I usually don't do that all day high Ethereum.
[13:23] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[13:23] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[13:23] Speaker UNKNOWN: but like you know, deliciously annual project running activity.
[13:23] Speaker UNKNOWN: You know, instance three years ago,
[13:24] Speaker UNKNOWN: I zone four years ago.
[13:24] SPEAKER_04: cieleency at the time.
[13:26] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[13:27] Speaker UNKNOWN: I thought, you had a game game company.
[13:28] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[13:28] SPEAKER_05: I knew that my girlfriend freeze,
[13:29] SPEAKER_05: success like because it's you're a difficult being out for this difficult to be fairly isolated
[13:36] SPEAKER_05: and how do you define it when you know you're kind of getting to that point of okay this
[13:42] SPEAKER_04: is starting to happen now. Well that's such a really good question because if you asked
[13:48] SPEAKER_04: Matt back in 2002 what success was it was me in my beach house with all the ladies you
[13:55] SPEAKER_04: know and doing all the crazy things of 20 year old do with a business that just skyrocketed
[14:02] SPEAKER_04: and I know where I don't believe that right now I believe staying on top of bills paying
[14:08] SPEAKER_04: my employees first always rent is second believe that one or not just stay in the black.
[14:16] SPEAKER_04: If I can have a nice meal two times a week and my family's happy and I'm happy and my
[14:22] SPEAKER_04: bills are paid and I have a reliable vehicle you're winning and that's like that's like a top
[14:28] SPEAKER_04: two percent of an entrepreneur that can say that I've got no credit cards anymore I use visa
[14:34] SPEAKER_04: debit so I don't have the money I'm not buying parts I'm not I'm not doing I'm not doing marketing
[14:38] SPEAKER_04: I'm not doing this I don't have the money can't do I don't borrow nothing anymore as I got really
[14:43] SPEAKER_04: screwed me up that that little area there between 2004 and 2010-ish I borrowed money to try to put
[14:50] SPEAKER_04: these adventures together that that ended up failing and then I ended up with a bunch of debt so
[14:56] SPEAKER_04: I don't believe in that anymore where were we going with this success yeah I mean
[15:00] SPEAKER_04: if you're in the black if you're in the black by the end of the month you're winning man your
[15:04] SPEAKER_04: your car payments are paid your child supports paid your taxes are paid and you got gas in your car
[15:11] SPEAKER_04: and food in the fridge and the dogs are happy hey man that's the success of my book right now yeah
[15:18] SPEAKER_05: how do you deal with fear and doubt but you're in the middle of it in the thick of things in
[15:22] SPEAKER_05: the run business and you're having challenges how do you overcome those challenges of fear and doubt
[15:30] SPEAKER_04: how do I deal with it man I if I've lost so much sleep doing this I can't even I don't think I
[15:38] SPEAKER_04: slept for two years one time like not literally but I have a real hard time dealing with
[15:46] SPEAKER_04: distress because there's no one to fall back to you know I lay in bed and I'm up at three
[15:51] SPEAKER_04: o'clock in the morning let's say and all I can think about is how am I going to get this done
[15:56] SPEAKER_04: how am I going to get this done how am I going to get this done and I get up and I get a piece of
[16:00] SPEAKER_04: paper and I write down all the things that I have to do it becomes because it's so overwhelming that's
[16:05] SPEAKER_04: what my problem is I think we all kind of suffer from this so it's very overwhelming when you have
[16:10] SPEAKER_04: more than like say 10 things to do in such a short amount of time it just seems like holy crap
[16:15] SPEAKER_04: this is not going to happen and then you write it down one at a time one at a time and you start
[16:19] SPEAKER_04: crossing them off you're like oh okay that's one last thing you know maybe it's not so bad and then
[16:25] SPEAKER_04: the next morning I wake up and I'm going and then I get up and I do one of the things just one
[16:32] SPEAKER_04: thing and then it's now it's eight things and then you just keep going like that until there's no
[16:37] SPEAKER_04: more things and that but of course the new problems are piling up right so you just keep on talking
[16:42] SPEAKER_04: if procrastination will kill an entrepreneur because there's nobody there's nobody to talk to you
[16:48] SPEAKER_04: you're the boss you're the CEO you're the CFO you're everybody you're the whole thing and everyone
[16:52] SPEAKER_04: calls you they want this and want that and what this and you've got to somehow organize that
[16:57] SPEAKER_04: unless you have a secretary and a whole staff that just you know does your brain but you know
[17:02] SPEAKER_04: for the most part we're just working you know just me and this guy up here we're working together
[17:08] SPEAKER_05: trying to get things done I had an entrepreneur once telling you on a new chief said
[17:12] SPEAKER_05: Mickey Mouse could never have a bad day because you know the Mickey Mouse can't come to work and go
[17:18] SPEAKER_05: I don't want to work I'm an entrepreneur I got to keep going no matter what you can't have that
[17:22] SPEAKER_05: day that's true I mean yeah okay if you are doing what you do now what would you like to do
[17:29] SPEAKER_05: prepare for a profession if you weren't being an entrepreneur starting businesses I want to
[17:34] SPEAKER_05: sell life insurance I guess good gig life insurance okay what two words you would you you should
[17:41] SPEAKER_03: describe yourself why two words two words oh I don't know man bipolar yeah
[17:53] SPEAKER_05: it's likely probably because you can uh one minute you're on it next minute you're oh my god
[18:00] SPEAKER_04: what am I doing I don't want to do this yeah yeah I'm thinking about against matter all dude uh
[18:04] SPEAKER_04: I have some uh my associates there they're taking that stuff man they do like a 12 hour a day and two
[18:11] SPEAKER_04: hours oh geez make your focus huh yeah but I think it would work the opposite to me because I kind
[18:17] SPEAKER_04: of would show guy most I don't know if it would do an opposite and just put me in the couch I
[18:21] SPEAKER_04: don't know I don't like taking drugs you know I haven't taken any medication in of anything like
[18:25] SPEAKER_04: a tyloan probably 20 years oh okay um yeah I just don't like it I don't need it so you don't turn
[18:32] SPEAKER_05: it off at night like you will take your work to bed with you and be thinking about it and get up
[18:38] SPEAKER_05: in the middle of night and continue to work on it is it better to do it that because it's quiet
[18:42] SPEAKER_04: at that time now I would just like to sleep that'd be great you know yeah have to be great I have no
[18:49] SPEAKER_04: choice it just keeps going I have no choice yeah I can sit there and I get this rush in my body
[18:55] SPEAKER_04: and I have to I have to I have to get up I have to turn away on and I got to get a piece of paper
[19:01] SPEAKER_00: and write a bunch of crap down join our thriving community of like-minded individuals who share a
[19:06] SPEAKER_00: passion for success and innovation can it is podcast.com subscribe now how about mentors should
[19:13] SPEAKER_05: you ever had mentors along your journey that have advised you on your businesses or giving you
[19:18] SPEAKER_04: advice anything like that yeah well I mean like my family have been really supportive since the
[19:25] SPEAKER_04: beginning they know that I'm miserable working a normal job even though I did it and when
[19:29] SPEAKER_04: every day I would take every Thursday every other Thursday off I felt that was it was a good
[19:35] SPEAKER_04: work week for me five on four off I don't care if the Boston like it I need a break yeah my
[19:42] SPEAKER_04: family's been really supportive so you know my dad's worked a really great job for a very long
[19:48] SPEAKER_04: time time and we I had a great childhood and he's been supportive I would say a role model of
[19:54] SPEAKER_04: source but as far as business goes he doesn't really not really good at that he just give me advice
[20:01] SPEAKER_04: time like like that I've been doing this I'm doing this as I've been the diapers like you just
[20:07] SPEAKER_04: just let me do the business that I know I listen to what you have to say but let me let me do it I
[20:13] SPEAKER_04: got it um role models uh you know those entrepreneur say there's these things that you go to like
[20:21] SPEAKER_04: dinners and like meetups and stuff like that we have them up in Kelowna they're every year the Friday
[20:25] SPEAKER_04: I try to stay away from those because I know that they're like that suit only comes out once every
[20:32] SPEAKER_04: two weeks the BMW outside they can't make payments for that thing I know that this is all baloney
[20:37] SPEAKER_04: sandwich I show up in sweatpants and I'll hand out some cards and now I'll just get out of there
[20:43] SPEAKER_04: mentors I mean what do we look like
[20:47] SPEAKER_04: Bezos or you off now let's like the top 0001% of entrepreneurs so no I don't really have any I guess
[20:55] SPEAKER_04: maybe I should maybe I guess my friends my friends are entrepreneurs they're doing well I mean
[21:01] SPEAKER_04: they're in the black so we all get together we talk about crap I don't know not I look at real
[21:06] SPEAKER_04: not a not a no not a real big moment or should get one though thank you for asking
[21:10] SPEAKER_05: okay I'm writing down there you go right down down get a mentor even it's good
[21:17] SPEAKER_05: you get a mentor it could be you don't have to meet them like a mentor for me would be 10 Ferris
[21:22] SPEAKER_05: you know I listen to all those podcasts John Lee Doomass would be one these are guys that I
[21:27] SPEAKER_05: consider mentor I've never met them never talk to them I'll be never will but just listening to
[21:31] SPEAKER_05: them and being a consistent listener to them I get everything that I eat from yeah because it's
[21:37] SPEAKER_05: pretty open about their businesses and they talk about other different stuff like that so
[21:42] SPEAKER_05: but yeah I need to have a mentor that would be local you probably already got that with your
[21:49] SPEAKER_04: with your friends you already own 20 years just but it's a little circle yeah and I did pirate some
[21:55] SPEAKER_04: Tony Robbins one time he was in him he was yeah I don't know if I can get through that guy
[22:02] SPEAKER_04: if hey I don't know love that guy I can I know he's doing good but it's like you know the
[22:08] SPEAKER_04: the those courses you know they're they're selling you know to be an entrepreneur by selling you
[22:15] SPEAKER_04: to be an entrepreneur it just this I just can't get into that market I see them all the time
[22:20] SPEAKER_04: Facebook marketing ads these people and there's no one who's course are gonna help you know how I
[22:25] SPEAKER_04: made two hundred thousand dollars this year it's like yeah selling this course to tell you how you
[22:29] SPEAKER_04: made two hundred thousand dollars this year you think you don't have a product your product is you
[22:33] SPEAKER_04: I get it you should sell yourself I mean it's about being a small medium sized business you're you're
[22:39] SPEAKER_04: not necessarily just selling your product you're selling yourself you have to be passionate about it
[22:45] SPEAKER_04: you have to let your customers know that you are more passionate about this product than they are
[22:50] SPEAKER_04: you know and tell them a story about you know for instance like the video game thing like
[22:55] SPEAKER_04: going back to that again when I was a kid I played video games and I would tell them all the stories
[23:00] SPEAKER_04: and they would relate you know like contra and strider and sonic the hedgehog my her brothers of course
[23:05] SPEAKER_04: and then all of a sudden we'd be in this conversation and then I'd be getting credit card number you
[23:09] SPEAKER_05: know in the next 10 minutes yeah well if there was no obstacles and the finance was not an issue
[23:16] SPEAKER_05: would it be an inch in his three or a business that you would say I would like to start this like
[23:23] SPEAKER_05: this would be something would be my ideal company and why like right now in this like in this
[23:29] SPEAKER_04: like in this today artificial intelligence absolutely okay yeah that's that's where you be starting
[23:36] SPEAKER_03: business in that area yeah yeah I'm going to be I have I have done a little bit with it um you know
[23:44] SPEAKER_04: it's it's not free no when you go down the rabbit hole and this stuff there's a lot of companies
[23:50] SPEAKER_04: that want to take a little bit of your pie at the end of the month you're gonna a couple grand
[23:55] SPEAKER_04: just to use these tools to call them and not a lot of them are not a lot of them are good and you know
[24:00] SPEAKER_04: who knows how long they're gonna be around it's a wild wild west right now like if I was to do
[24:05] SPEAKER_04: anything that would be heavily invested in AI because that's in the next five years it's gonna
[24:10] SPEAKER_04: blow you frickin mind like you know it's gonna just be wild yeah I've seen robots and now that
[24:17] SPEAKER_05: you can talk to the thing and it does for your tea and please your dishes and it kind of knows
[24:24] SPEAKER_05: what to do before you even tell it absolutely have you messed around with chat gpt yeah oh yeah yeah
[24:30] SPEAKER_05: I play with that yeah it's pretty fun it's interesting because I'm used it before and I submitted
[24:36] SPEAKER_05: content of on a on a strategy session stuff like that but people go now that's chat gpt and I said
[24:43] SPEAKER_05: yeah so what if that's what it is that's what you're supposed to people really like it and they
[24:47] SPEAKER_05: don't like it you know what I mean they detect it and they watch you and I say well what do you
[24:50] SPEAKER_05: want don't just write it from your own I go but that's what you do is just tie what you want you
[24:56] SPEAKER_05: be specific and it spits it out and there you go and you said yeah but there's some consistent
[25:01] SPEAKER_05: stuff that they they can smell and detect if it's chat gpt and I'll tell you to do it again so
[25:06] SPEAKER_05: I'm back to it organically doing it myself and then submitting that's great that's great yeah it's
[25:12] SPEAKER_04: a great tool for sure I mean it's not supposed to be used all by itself that's why you can use
[25:17] SPEAKER_04: these other other tools and platforms so and if you used chat gpt on like an expert level it can
[25:25] SPEAKER_04: do a lot more than just say write a kid's book 300 words I mean once you dive deep into that which
[25:32] SPEAKER_04: I've been diving pretty deep into it it's an incredible what you can do and then once you take that
[25:36] SPEAKER_04: whatever that story let's say you want to do something you take that text and you put it into
[25:42] SPEAKER_04: another platform that rearranges the words around and make it humanizes it and then from there
[25:47] SPEAKER_04: you put it into another program AI program for grammar and it will you know fix anything the other
[25:54] SPEAKER_04: one did and then you put it into another one that that doesn't detect that it was AI from the
[26:02] SPEAKER_04: beginning no by an anti plagiarism tool and then you have to go back to because it breaks it up
[26:08] SPEAKER_04: a little bit then go back to the grammarly is the thing and then have the grammar fixed and then by
[26:14] SPEAKER_04: the time it comes out of this jumble mumble it's yours and it feels like a human has typists
[26:19] SPEAKER_04: thesis okay it's incredible it's incredible but it's very confusing and every one of these apps
[26:26] SPEAKER_04: in programs they cost money and yeah I I don't into it pretty deep and I want to revisit that
[26:32] SPEAKER_04: probably in the fall is I'm going to be busy up with the boats all summer and getting a suntan
[26:39] SPEAKER_05: okay good I want you to imagine you're in a coffee shop in a young entrepreneur or someone wants
[26:45] SPEAKER_05: to be an entrepreneur approaches you and says tell me about your journey give it me some advice
[26:49] SPEAKER_05: what's it looked like what are the things to look out for and be an entrepreneur if you were to do
[26:54] SPEAKER_05: that to or talk to someone what kind of advice would you give them and be on this about it that be
[27:01] SPEAKER_04: well I mean geez um it's just it's a roller coaster right up and down up and down every
[27:07] SPEAKER_04: every idea that you have might not be the best you know maybe you get up in the middle of the night
[27:12] SPEAKER_04: or you write down this idea and you can't quite make it work um I don't like to tell my ideas
[27:18] SPEAKER_04: to anybody and it's not because I think they're gonna rip it off at all I just think that
[27:23] SPEAKER_04: in Canada especially I know this is gonna sound really weird but I think Canadians and I love
[27:28] SPEAKER_04: Canada you know I was a proud Canadian before the pandemic but I'm still a proud Canadian but
[27:33] SPEAKER_04: anyway we're getting up track no politics I think that in general like in the end of its days when
[27:39] SPEAKER_04: people do well it's almost like they celebrate that person and they're like oh you did this you
[27:45] SPEAKER_04: sold that stock you did this let's go for dinner let's let oh man did you hear about Brad he did
[27:50] SPEAKER_04: this awesome sale it's oh it's party and celebrate and in Canada if you start doing well everyone
[27:55] SPEAKER_04: around is just starts to pick you off it's what I feel they start to put in just for you on the
[28:01] SPEAKER_04: bus a little bit and I've noticed that about because I do a lot of people from the states and they're
[28:06] SPEAKER_04: very proud people would be you know doing something they really support the communities and
[28:11] SPEAKER_04: feeling Canada is quite the opposite you know we see a nice BMW down there oh you know but you
[28:16] SPEAKER_04: got your dad's buying that you know okay well maybe the guy had a nice job and he bought the BMW
[28:23] SPEAKER_04: right right you know I don't know so my advice well I got off track there a little bit
[28:28] SPEAKER_04: of my advice I mean just keep going or quit you know you know how every idea is going to be a good
[28:34] SPEAKER_04: not a banger you know so if you want to show it to your friends they're probably going to pick it
[28:38] SPEAKER_04: apart if it's a good idea or a bad idea just if you think it's a good idea then go for it yeah
[28:43] SPEAKER_05: that's all and then you've mentioned yeah and you mentioned business plan um how extensive is a
[28:51] SPEAKER_05: business plan for you and what are people looking for in that it how important is that now that's
[28:57] SPEAKER_04: the most overlooked thing is a real strong business plan does not have to be 14 pages it can be a
[29:02] SPEAKER_04: paragraph I get this product I put it for sale here and then I sell it and make money I mean
[29:07] SPEAKER_04: really it could be that simple but I mean obviously it should be a little bit more information than that
[29:13] SPEAKER_04: but you have to have a clear plan on what you're doing and where you want to be in a business plan
[29:19] SPEAKER_04: I would say a good business plan with the help with Chech GPT
[29:24] SPEAKER_04: it can be a half can be a half a page and you can pitch that to investors and get your NDAs and
[29:29] SPEAKER_04: you know non-disclosures and non-compete forms together and you can pitch it to investors and
[29:35] SPEAKER_04: you know see where it goes from there you have a marketing plan for your other page I always
[29:39] SPEAKER_04: said there's how much money and this is overlooked as well too how much how much
[29:43] SPEAKER_04: much money you put into your project you should put equally or more amount into marketing that 100
[29:47] SPEAKER_04: I've screwed that up so many times I go to investors I did an app one time for this game another game
[29:55] SPEAKER_04: and I got the money raised to the app and it cost you know five thousand dollars
[30:00] SPEAKER_04: whatever the time and then I went back for the marketing money and they're like oh no no no it's
[30:04] SPEAKER_04: like it's not going well on the it's not selling on the the market like it's not selling in
[30:09] SPEAKER_04: and what is the Apple store and of course it's not selling on the Apple store no one knows what
[30:14] SPEAKER_04: it's like but I had this a marketing plan like I know we'll just let it die out and that's what
[30:18] SPEAKER_05: happened okay so you got to go in there with the plan back it up with this strong marketing plan
[30:23] SPEAKER_04: and marketing dollars absolutely yeah and I would match it like if you're getting five grand
[30:28] SPEAKER_04: then you tell the investor you want another five grand to market it and the first year is the toughest
[30:32] SPEAKER_04: right so you got to get the name out there the brand out there and in again branding is really
[30:37] SPEAKER_04: important to you colors logos yeah these are hats whenever you know more people they can see your
[30:44] SPEAKER_04: colors you know you can just run Facebook ads that just had your logo on it doesn't have
[30:51] SPEAKER_04: the do much more than that as long as people if you target if it's a local store just run run your
[30:56] SPEAKER_04: business card and just run it in Vancouver you have a link to the website if you want but as long
[31:02] SPEAKER_05: as people see in your brand okay we're gonna wrap things up how can we just get all of you is there
[31:07] SPEAKER_05: anything you'd like to add before you leave us stay any final words I've got no yeah okay
[31:13] SPEAKER_03: sorry I didn't mean to cut you off it's a little bit of a delay in my here yeah anything anything
[31:19] SPEAKER_05: you'd like to add before we leave us where's it going to be sure yeah um living and working together
[31:25] SPEAKER_04: that's what I've been doing for the last 12 years and I've been through different warehouses and
[31:30] SPEAKER_04: all over the place it's a good advice if you want to do that remember people pre-pandemic everyone
[31:35] SPEAKER_04: was going to work remember that and then everyone stayed at home and I'm like this is going to be
[31:41] SPEAKER_04: a recipe for disaster because I'm anewing this my whole life so what I always do I look for
[31:46] SPEAKER_04: commercial buildings with a shower and then I look at the zoning through the app on or the
[31:52] SPEAKER_04: website and then I can legally work and live in the same building and I've been doing them my whole
[31:58] SPEAKER_04: life almost that drives you absolutely insane and also gives you social problems because you're not
[32:06] SPEAKER_04: out in the workplace you're not on the bus you're not driving to the gas station interacting with
[32:11] SPEAKER_04: people you are sitting in a desk or working in a shop and then when you go home it's right here
[32:17] SPEAKER_04: and you got to deal with this brain and you're not dealing with um you know if you work at office
[32:23] SPEAKER_04: you're going for office dinners and you're going it's important my advice is if I was to do that
[32:29] SPEAKER_04: again if you have the income would be to separate work and living so rent a small office somewhere
[32:36] SPEAKER_04: in a building where there's other entrepreneurs they have this all over Vancouver they'd like
[32:41] SPEAKER_04: shared spaces if you can go there get up have a shower have your breakfast do your tea and get
[32:47] SPEAKER_04: your coffee take a bus or walk or drive and then hang out there do your work and then come home to
[32:53] SPEAKER_04: an apartment or whatever and your life will be much much better because you took separate
[33:01] SPEAKER_04: with the one working home I know and you know what we saw during the pandemic is everyone going
[33:05] SPEAKER_04: a little bonkers because I knew this was going to happen when everyone was going home I mean
[33:10] SPEAKER_04: story of staying in home and working out like oh this this is going to be interesting because I know
[33:14] SPEAKER_05: this I know this game and you go insane yeah so network get out there and circulate and just don't
[33:23] SPEAKER_05: be at home dwelling on your business make it a part of a just you can't do it alone right so you
[33:29] SPEAKER_05: have other people who work with me happen I think so yeah that's great this has been really fun man
[33:35] SPEAKER_05: okay Matt D thank you for coming on the show I've learned a lot about you and I'm sure our listeners
[33:39] SPEAKER_05: have as well