Shed Talk with Kevin Halliday

Danijel Slisko joins Kevin to talk about building a business from age 20, selling after nearly three decades, and facing the identity shift that followed. They discuss ambition, grief, mental health, community, branding, AI, and why action matters more than endless planning.

Guest: Danijel Slisko - Owner of Brand Magazine

Danijel Slisko started his first business at age 20 and built Supreme Windows Group into one of Alberta's largest commercial coatings businesses, with approximately 200 employees and more than $200 million in completed projects. After almost three decades, he sold the business to the people who helped build it and moved into a new chapter focused on creativity, branding, magazines, community building, and helping other entrepreneurs.

In this episode:
- Meet Danijel Slisko
- Starting a business at 20
- Immigrant roots and giving back
- Failing, pivoting, and finding success
- The know-like-trust formula
- Two and a half years of consistency
- Selling the business and losing identity

Chapters:
0:00 The question after success
12:38 Selling the business and losing identity
26:09 Grief, suicide, and acceptance
37:19 Say yes or grow strategically
47:45 Building The Exchange events
1:00:10 AI, change, and the human edge

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What is Shed Talk with Kevin Halliday?

Shed Talk with Kevin Halliday is built on a simple belief: the right conversation can change the direction of your life.

From a shed in Calgary, Kevin sits down with entrepreneurs, experts, community builders, and people with hard-earned stories. Together, they move beyond titles and highlight reels to talk honestly about what worked, what failed, what changed them, and what others can learn from it.

Grounded in the three pillars of health, wealth, and mindset, Shed Talk explores the whole person behind success—the habits, relationships, pressures, choices, setbacks, and moments of reinvention that shape a meaningful life. It is not inspiration for a moment; it is practical wisdom you can carry into your business, your family, your health, and whatever you choose to build next.

Kevin believes life does not end at 50—it starts. Every episode is an invitation to stay curious, challenge what you think you know, and turn insight into action.

You don’t know what you don’t know—until you know.

Kevin: What happens when you finally
Kevin: achieve the success you spent your
Kevin: whole life chasing, but without
Kevin: your business, you no longer know
Kevin: who you are?
Kevin: Well, welcome to Shed Talk with
Kevin: Kevin Halliday. This podcast is
Kevin: where we ask better questions about
Kevin: health, wealth, mindset, and
Kevin: building an extraordinary life
Kevin: after 50.
Kevin: Now, today's guest, Daniel Slisko,
Kevin: started his first business at just
Kevin: 20 years old, but he built Supreme
Kevin: Windows Group into one of Alberta's
Kevin: largest commercial coatings, with
Kevin: approximately 200 employees and
Kevin: more than 200 million in completed
Kevin: projects.
Kevin: Then after almost three decades, he
Kevin: sold the business to the people who
Kevin: helped build it.
Kevin: Today, we're going to be talking
Kevin: about the price of ambition, the
Kevin: courage to let go, and how to
Kevin: create a new identity and purpose
Kevin: after you exit.
Kevin: Daniel, welcome to Shed Talk.
Kevin: Thanks for coming in.
Guest: Thanks for having me, Kevin.
Guest: How are you doing,
Kevin: Oh, you know what? I got to say,
Kevin: because we'd met a little bit
Kevin: earlier today, and we were talking
Kevin: about the new Shed Talk, and where
Kevin: you came from and an entrepreneur
Kevin: owning a bunch of businesses
Kevin: because what you did before was
Kevin: absolutely amazing.
Kevin: So I want to tell the listeners a
Kevin: little bit more about your past. So
Kevin: I'll get you to get into it because
Kevin: we talk about mental health and
Kevin: then entrepreneurship.
Kevin: both new yeah
Kevin: So tell me a little bit about you
Kevin: as you got started.
Guest: I started really young at the age
Guest: of 20 um my first business and uh I
Guest: just developed the hustle and I
Guest: think over the years and starting
Guest: so young I I uh developed this
Guest: serial passion about business and
Guest: um I was you know I but I was very
Guest: curious and I felt like Like I just
Guest: needed to learn as much about other
Guest: industries.
Guest: And I felt like I never really
Guest: filled my passion cup.
Guest: I chased money a lot in my younger
Guest: days. So then I think that also
Guest: fueled the reason I became so
Guest: serial. Because it's just like, I
Guest: want to do that maybe not for
Guest: money. Maybe I just want to do that
Guest: for community building. Or maybe I
Guest: want to do that because it's
Guest: something I always wanted to do.
Guest: Or it was on my bucket list. um so
Guest: it was yeah so over the years
Guest: business was my passion and i just
Guest: got involved with
Guest: every aspect of it i started uh
Guest: construction business that was my
Guest: first uh first business at 20 and
Guest: got involved with my family
Guest: business i you know i i took that
Guest: over
Guest: and i expanded that before right
Guest: when the time my parents retired um
Guest: you know it i got involved involved
Guest: with it and then develop an ERP
Guest: these are the thing I thought that
Guest: was
Guest: always trending and these things
Guest: were always so fascinating and I
Guest: wanted to be involved with all of
Guest: it right
Kevin: so when you're looking because
Kevin: you're just talking right now and
Kevin: you're asking you're were talking
Kevin: and say, well, the driving force
Kevin: was I was to make some money, lots
Kevin: of money. But then, you know what,
Kevin: I had to give back or do that. Now,
Kevin: when you're young, okay, 20 some
Kevin: odd
Kevin: years old, you started a business
Kevin: up. And I'm assuming as young
Kevin: entrepreneurs, your ups and downs
Kevin: and you're going through it. Was
Kevin: there that moment in time that all
Kevin: of a sudden you had to think about,
Kevin: all right, I got to start to give
Kevin: back? Or was that just kind of like
Kevin: a buzzword
Kevin: back then? Because I know when I
Kevin: was younger, I wanted to make as
Kevin: I want to make, I'm retired, or
Kevin: much money. I'm retiring when
Kevin: I'm 45, I'm going to do this. We
Kevin: community even,
Kevin: didn't even think of charity or
Kevin: even giving back.
Guest: and to be honest, like, yeah, I
Guest: think it was just the hustle and
Guest: trying to survive, and in my case,
Guest: I had no safety net, right, I
Guest: didn't have anyone that could catch
Guest: me if I failed, so failure wasn't
Guest: an option, so you just started
Guest: grinding it, and
Guest: And you just, you know, I had, I
Guest: was signaling. I had full focus all
Guest: times about being successful.
Guest: And there were things that meant
Guest: things to me. And there were causes
Guest: that were close to me. And I found
Guest: ways to connect with that community
Guest: and to give back.
Guest: Like, you know, being an immigrant
Guest: and my family coming from Croatia,
Guest: from the ex -Yugoslavia I always
Guest: had a soft spot for immigrants and
Guest: trying to help them get started
Guest: so newcomers were one of my big
Guest: things right watching my parents
Guest: come to this country and not having
Guest: a chance we had our community but
Guest: like you know the people our church
Guest: or our cultural
Guest: club those that was our community
Guest: those were the people that helped
Guest: us and then that just kind of of
Guest: something that uh stuck with me so
Guest: outside of surviving and grinding
Guest: it out and um and trying
Guest: to connect and supporting people
Guest: that I knew that needed the support
Guest: uh usually through a job or
Guest: sometimes just mentorship or
Guest: encouragement because it was very
Guest: starting
Guest: difficult to um kind
Guest: of find you know find themselves
Guest: imagine imagine what they were
Guest: going through leaving everything
Guest: they know and everyone they know
Guest: behind and starting completely
Guest: to really
Guest: fresh in a new city and sometimes
Guest: not even speaking
Guest: the language so I've always found
Guest: that so brave and I felt like it
Guest: was my obligation to help but yeah
Guest: outside of that I felt like yeah it
Guest: was just the money especially in my
Guest: 20s I was grinding
Guest: it and uh and I would take on some
Guest: pretty and pretty not so flattering
Guest: projects just for the the money but
Guest: then again eventually you know you
Guest: get a little bit of success and um
Guest: you're not
Guest: worrying about surviving as much
Guest: and then you're always thinking
Guest: about that itch that passion you
Guest: wanted to try that I wish I tried
Guest: that or so I never wanted to have
Guest: regrets really that's basically
Guest: why I I wanted to try all these
Guest: different projects and start all
Guest: these companies and get involved
Guest: with these partnerships it's just I
Guest: wanted to look back on my career
Guest: and say oh I can't I got no no
Guest: regrets I tried it all
Guest: so
Kevin: yeah
Kevin: when you're looking at and you're
Kevin: talking about so you started your
Kevin: business off you're you're you're
Kevin: successful going into it like just
Kevin: like every entrepreneur we're doing
Kevin: it and then
Kevin: you decide i want to try something
Kevin: else i want to try this because you
Kevin: seem to be dialed in okay
Kevin: serial entrepreneur you'll try
Kevin: something else you'll do it not
Kevin: that it fails or doesn't because it
Kevin: really doesn't matter if it fails
Kevin: who cares because you get to look
Kevin: at it again and build off of
Kevin: somebody else
Guest: looked I look Phil you pivot from
Guest: your failures so yeah you fail you
Guest: pivot and you find success so it's
Guest: not about being afraid to go for it
Guest: it's
Guest: just about pivoting and finding
Guest: that right channel um and and it is
Guest: it's it's not impossible it's just
Guest: something really hard to do but not
Guest: impossible to do i always felt
Guest: anybody could do it
Guest: if they're willing to do hard
Guest: things and figure out those things
Guest: so
Guest: right
Kevin: let's ask this question give me an
Kevin: example of something that was
Kevin: really hard and that you actually
Kevin: had to get through and you
Kevin: succeeded with it
Guest: the
Kevin: hardest thing one of the hardest
Kevin: Tell me a story.
Guest: Well, listen, at 20 years old,
Guest: talking to the gatekeeper, the
Guest: receptionist at those days, that
Guest: was hard, right? I had to overcome
Guest: that.
Guest: I had to walk in and introduce
Guest: myself to a stranger and try to get
Guest: past her to actually meet the
Guest: person I wanted to meet. or you
Guest: know in that in those days that was
Guest: impossible uh thing that you have
Guest: to overcome
Guest: and that's a challenge that um that
Guest: that was very hard but that it
Guest: might sound simple but you're going
Guest: in there you're soliciting someone
Guest: you're out there trying to um
Guest: basically hustle
Guest: to get you know it's almost like a
Guest: job interview and how many job
Guest: interviews and how many layers of
Guest: these things that you have to do
Guest: just to get a little bit success
Guest: it's a lot right so what about
Kevin: So take that, that experience that
Kevin: you did then. Okay. Get past the
Kevin: gatekeeper, hard to get past. Now,
Kevin: fast forward to here you are now
Kevin: out of the total industries that
Kevin: you are, like you went in from
Kevin: construction. Okay. Doing that.
Kevin: Then with your parents come, then
Kevin: all of a sudden now you're on a 180
Kevin: into the marketing, into the
Kevin: branding, into, into that that
Kevin: business. Tell me a little bit
Kevin: about that, that transition.
Kevin: yeah
Guest: and i don't think you know today
Guest: i'm seasoned so 30 years old so I'm
Guest: I I don't look at it as hard
Guest: anymore I just I just know I have
Guest: to do it right but back
Guest: you know but it took me a 30 -year
Guest: journey to get that but things I
Guest: know today that I didn't know back
Guest: then is like people do business
Guest: with who they know who they like
Guest: and who they trust and
Guest: that receptionist my consistency of
Guest: just showing up eventually she got
Guest: to know me and eventually Actually,
Guest: she liked me enough to introduce me
Guest: to the person I wanted to meet,
Guest: and then I built enough rapport and
Guest: trust, and those are the things I
Guest: know. So no matter what I do today,
Guest: I know the first time I go and meet
Guest: somebody
Guest: or engage with someone or solicit
Guest: someone, they're not going to buy
Guest: from me.
Guest: That's not my intention. My
Guest: intention is they just need to know
Guest: me. I just want exposure.
Guest: I'll just get out there and meet
Guest: everyone I possibly can, and then i
Guest: know the next step is okay i i i
Guest: have to build chemistry and
Guest: sometimes that doesn't happen and
Guest: you just have to recognize that and
Guest: move on and find someone you do
Guest: have chemistry
Guest: So with right
Kevin: the question I have then, so we go
Kevin: back then, you had to get through
Kevin: the door, they had to let you,
Kevin: because you got through them, you
Kevin: were young, okay, aggressive,
Kevin: motivated, that there was no,
Kevin: no is not an answer, it's going to
Kevin: happen. Now, fast forward to here
Kevin: we are today, and I'm going to go
Kevin: back to this, because back then we
Kevin: didn't have influencers.
Kevin: Okay, you created influence because
Kevin: you got her to like you. So she's
Kevin: got you into the door to the next
Kevin: person. So every time you see her,
Kevin: you'll bring her a cup of coffee,
Kevin: you'll do that. So kind of a
Kevin: different way of influence.
Kevin: And here you are, you have people
Kevin: you do events with, you see them,
Kevin: same people,
Kevin: but they become what we call their
Kevin: influencers, not necessarily
Kevin: gatekeepers. They actually open
Kevin: gates for you and opportunity.
Guest: Yeah, for people to refer you,
Guest: they've got to do the same thing,
Guest: right? They need to know you. they
Guest: need to like what you're about or
Guest: like what what you're offering and
Guest: they need to trust you
Guest: in order for for them to introduce
Guest: themselves or introduce you to
Guest: their network right so 100 % like
Guest: I'm just listening to us talk I'm
Guest: thinking of another example um I
Guest: used to do work for a
Guest: fellow named Martin from Fancy
Guest: Shack Homes he was the founder and
Guest: this this guy built the biggest
Guest: houses I've ever known in, in
Guest: Calgary. They were like 10 ,000
Guest: square foot, 20 ,000 square foot
Guest: bungalows up in, in the Southwest
Guest: side of Calgary. And I
Guest: got my first contract with that
Guest: guy, with Martin by calling him
Guest: every 90 days for two and a half
Guest: years. You know what happened?
Guest: Eventually
Guest: I got a call from Martin. He just
Guest: out of the blue phones me and he
Guest: asked me to go look at something
Guest: for him. And the very first thing I
Guest: looked at for him was the biggest
Guest: dab house I ever paid it. It was
Guest: like a 15 ,000 square foot, um,
Guest: bungalow that literally, um, yeah,
Guest: but if I wasn't consistent enough
Guest: to go through that hole and I
Guest: didn't know that formula, I didn't
Guest: know. I just knew I'm just
Guest: going to keep bugging them and I'm
Guest: going to keep being consistent. And
Guest: I had a schedule to phone him and
Guest: He was going to come to work every
Guest: he got a phone call from me every,
Guest: every 90 days. So I built some kind
Guest: 90 days.
Guest: of rapport
Guest: poor. And then sure enough, he
Guest: needed me. There was a timing was
Guest: there. He needed me because his
Guest: other provider couldn't provide the
Guest: service.
Guest: So, so yeah, so I guess, and again,
Guest: that, that was a very hard thing to
Guest: do. Like he wasn't, he was a very
Guest: successful human being, super
Guest: successful.
Guest: And I was a nobody. I was a 20 some
Guest: That was a no -budget.
Guest: year old kid bugging him and he
Guest: gave me a shot.
Guest: I built enough enough rapport, and
Guest: enough for him, you know, enough
Guest: conversation back and forth for two
Guest: and a half years for him to
Guest: actually give me a shot.
Kevin: so a question because we did the on
Kevin: the intro was one of the questions
Kevin: i wanted to to get to because a lot
Kevin: of people ask we have successful
Kevin: businesses our businesses define us
Kevin: for who we are, and we only know
Kevin: one thing is our business.
Kevin: Then all of a sudden, you turn
Kevin: around at a young age, okay? You're
Kevin: not 50, 60 years old. All of a
Kevin: sudden, look, I'm going to retire
Kevin: and not do anything, and turn
Kevin: around and sell your business.
Kevin: How did you find identity with
Kevin: that, or find identity, actually
Kevin: lose your identity? Like, what was
Kevin: that going through your head?
Kevin: Because it's pretty powerful stuff.
Guest: that's a great question um i go
Guest: back and you know i've i've
Guest: I transacted, I thought the ball
Guest: transacted i've got involved with
Guest: was going,
Guest: small
Guest: projects or you know i've started
Guest: things i've got out of things so
Guest: and i always thought oh i'm not not
Guest: attached to any of it like it like
Guest: i've got no nothing attached to
Guest: these businesses it's just
Guest: a vehicle to make money but the
Guest: truth was when i sold united um i
Guest: walked out i saw i signed it
Guest: over i'll never forget i signed it
Guest: over uh walked out of the uh
Guest: lawyer's office i was quite excited
Guest: it was the first time in almost 30
Guest: years that I wasn't responsible for
Guest: anything and I was like so that
Guest: that felt so good and I felt so
Guest: relieved because I didn't have like
Guest: I just sold it all
Guest: all my responsibility out and then
Guest: it then it was about a week after
Guest: that like the excitement kind of
Guest: died off and then the reality kind
Guest: of kicked in and I wasn't the
Guest: center of everyone's you know
Guest: know wasn't responsible for
Guest: everything anymore um the
Guest: responsible responsibility moved on
Guest: and then I was just a regular bloke
Guest: again and then my identity like as
Guest: much as you want to believe
Guest: it's not attached to your career
Guest: and the things that you do and you
Guest: know it was it was something I had
Guest: to kind of you know took a few
Guest: months for me to shake off and I
Guest: had to really find myself
Guest: myself again to like like the
Guest: person the person I am to to kind
Guest: of to step back and move on with So
Guest: from I guess my my past career
Guest: right
Kevin: how did you find yourself? Because
Kevin: here you are, you're excited,
Kevin: money's transferring, and you're
Kevin: not a part of the business because
Kevin: you're not consulting. I'm sure
Kevin: they had consulting somewhere in
Kevin: there, how that ever worked. But
Kevin: all of a sudden, you're out of the
Kevin: business.
Kevin: this and then how did you really
Kevin: find yourself like what were you
Kevin: doing to find yourself because at
Kevin: that point you can't golf every day
Guest: or
Kevin: you can i guess
Guest: the truth is it was my wife like
Guest: she was the one constant personal
Guest: thing. So outside of my career, my
Guest: identity was connected to my family
Guest: and my relationship with
Guest: my wife, right? So that meant that
Guest: was basically my way out. And I
Guest: found myself just focusing on
Guest: my relationship with my family, my
Guest: relationship with my wife, and then
Guest: just dreaming about the
Guest: possibilities of what I'm going to
Guest: do next. That
Kevin: were what was the next possibility
Guest: you know, so, you know, a lot of
Guest: people assumed I was going to be a
Guest: consultant or, you know, I guess
Guest: that's the trendy thing to do when
Guest: people exit. I didn't, that wasn't
Guest: me. I didn't, I'm not a consultant.
Guest: I'm an entrepreneur. I'm a
Guest: businessman. So I just decided to
Guest: focus on my creativity, my past, my
Guest: background.
Guest: I have a graphic design background.
Guest: So I decided to just stick with
Guest: that, get back into that. And being
Guest: being a businessman, I think I have
Guest: a lot to offer my clients versus my
Guest: competitors who are trained in
Guest: marketing or trained in, in, but
Guest: they're not entrepreneur. So I have
Guest: a connection
Guest: with my, um, my small or medium
Guest: sized business clients that my
Guest: competitors never will. Cause I
Guest: know, I know where they want to go.
Guest: I know what they're trying to do
Guest: and I'm in like,
Guest: like let's do it i'll i'll be the
Guest: first put me let me into your inner
Guest: circle and i'm in let's let's make
Guest: this happen and and we'll let's
Guest: scale your business right so
Kevin: it's interesting because you talk
Kevin: about that here you are you're
Kevin: you're gonna go you're in the
Kevin: marketing side of it as i use that
Kevin: or say because those who can't
Kevin: teach okay you ever hear that and
Kevin: so okay here we go you're gonna be
Kevin: a life coach you're gonna be a
Kevin: consultant because
Kevin: the business is done but you're you
Kevin: were mentioning that your wife is a
Kevin: big part of it okay now we haven't
Kevin: really talked about this because
Kevin: it's kind of super superficial and
Kevin: superficial levels here is that
Kevin: about peaks and valleys because
Kevin: once you sell you're at your
Kevin: highest then you start coming down
Kevin: and then you become your lowest yes
Kevin: your your wife brings you
Kevin: in and gives you substance okay
Kevin: then you talk to other business
Kevin: owners entrepreneurs that their
Kevin: There are highs and lows.
Kevin: Where in that becomes mental health
Kevin: issues where you start talking
Kevin: about creating purpose for
Kevin: Yeah,
Kevin: yourself?
Kevin: Where did purpose come into your
Kevin: life?
Guest: it was, I guess, you
Guest: know, I guess for me, it was, I
Guest: think I do a very good job of
Guest: looking at myself first and looking
Guest: I
Guest: within and constantly reinventing
Guest: put it
Guest: and keep looking
Guest: And, you know, to put it best, we
Guest: live in environments, three
Guest: environments to be exact. One is
Guest: ourselves, and that's that voice in
Guest: your head.
Guest: So I spend a lot of time with that
Guest: person in my head, and I get things
Guest: cleared out. So the second
Guest: environment I find is our life, the
Guest: people in our life.
Guest: We can't control the people in our
Guest: lives, but we can influence them,
Guest: and they can influence us. so but
Guest: we can choose who's in that
Guest: environment and who we let let in
Guest: and I think that was a big
Guest: part of my journey and then the
Guest: third environment is the world and
Guest: I decided a long time ago that I
Guest: was going to take Mother Teresa's
Guest: attitude and and that was just help
Guest: the person next to you
Guest: the world's too big of a place for
Guest: me to try to conquer or help
Guest: everybody but if I see someone in
Guest: need, and they're next to me, I'll
Guest: help them.
Guest: But throughout that whole kind of
Guest: point of view that I created and
Guest: discovered for myself is I realized
Guest: that we're all the same, that I
Guest: wanted to
Guest: leave this planet with as many
Guest: friends as I possibly can. So I
Guest: have a personal mission to make a
Guest: friend a day. And that's not as
Guest: easy as people think, you know, I
Guest: don't run around saying,
Guest: saying hey do you want to be my
Guest: friend so you have to court people
Guest: you have to get to you have to
Guest: allow them to get to know you and
Guest: see if there's chemistry and and
Guest: you have to have some value you
Guest: all
Guest: have to give them some value but i
Guest: think that's really kind of uh what
Guest: helped me
Guest: keep my mental health stable right
Guest: i'm constantly out there i'm
Guest: constantly talking to people all
Guest: different
Guest: different friend groups i have like
Guest: very successful entrepreneurial
Guest: friends i've i have
Guest: I have fitness friends. I have
Guest: spiritual friends. I have
Guest: relationship friends. And I think
Guest: having all these different groups
Guest: of friends
Guest: grounds me and gives me that peace
Guest: of mind where I feel like I'm
Guest: grounded.
Guest: And then all I can do is now, at
Guest: this point in my life, after going
Guest: through everything I've gone
Guest: through, and honestly, it wasn't
Guest: both
Guest: easy.
Guest: You know, life is a bitch, and
Guest: it'll punch you in the face. and
Guest: not just once a couple of times
Guest: both both like you
Guest: know both mentally and physically
Guest: sometimes you get exhausted and
Guest: burnt out so I always found that um
Guest: yeah life's not hard and if we
Guest: don't kind of keep ourselves in
Guest: check we can really lose ourselves
Guest: and then so I'm always working on
Guest: myself and I think that's super
Guest: important and community community
Guest: uh like i'm publishing uh you know
Guest: i started publishing it last year
Guest: so that's going
Guest: on my second year now i'm
Guest: publishing a family psychology
Guest: magazine and to me that was my way
Guest: of being able to give back is
Guest: creating a channel it's not hard
Guest: it's hard to talk about uh these
Guest: personal feelings and things that
Guest: we go through and um you
Guest: know so i felt that having
Guest: something something published and
Guest: having a channel where people can
Guest: find resources and
Guest: bringing all these experts together
Guest: is my way of kind of giving back to
Guest: so
Guest: that,
Guest: just to people in the community.
Kevin: why so why there because all of a
Kevin: sudden we're talking about and i'm
Kevin: asking that question is to to drill
Kevin: down a little bit deeper yes you're
Kevin: socializing yes you got a great
Kevin: network work of friends yes you
Kevin: wanted to go in into the family
Kevin: psychology okay you hit you're
Kevin: hitting a
Kevin: whole different demographic why not
Kevin: just do your other magazine which
Kevin: is brand okay you've got that
Kevin: All right.
Kevin: so there's the brand but why family
Kevin: psychology what was the one thing
Kevin: that made you actually go into that
Kevin: that realm not because of
Kevin: advertising dollars but where did
Kevin: it become heart sent for you
Guest: mental health touches all of us
Guest: every single human being on the
Guest: planet it connects us so our
Guest: struggles in life is what connects
Guest: us so some
Guest: of my colleagues in the space say
Guest: say it well they asked me what
Guest: what's my relationship to mental
Guest: health and that was like good
Guest: question
Guest: I have a list I have I have a list
Guest: that like so long that that um I
Guest: can relate to almost anybody
Guest: because I've been punched so hard
Guest: so many times and I've got past it
Guest: and moved on but that was
Guest: such an excellent excellent
Guest: question and it made me think
Guest: what's everyone's relationship
Guest: what's your mother's relationship
Guest: to mental health what did she go
Guest: through in her life she had her low
Guest: low moments, just like everybody,
Guest: or even if you're the perfect
Guest: person, and you've never had a low
Guest: moment in your life, and if that
Guest: person exists, I will give you the
Guest: medal, but you'll also, you'll
Guest: know someone who actually, you'll
Guest: be touched by mental health through
Guest: your network, through the
Guest: relationships that you have, you
Guest: could be perfect, you could have
Guest: nothing wrong with you, you could
Guest: could not have you could be this
Guest: person that's never had a low
Guest: moment in your life but then you
Guest: you're not gonna you're not gonna
Guest: not know someone that hasn't right
Guest: so so that's that
Guest: was the exciting part for me it was
Guest: like um knowing that that's you
Guest: know surviving in the tough times
Guest: is what really connects us and it's
Guest: the unspoken thing people don't
Guest: like talking about
Kevin: because you're right nobody likes
Kevin: to talk about it no one here here
Kevin: we are like so i'm 58 years old so
Kevin: i'm doing the podcast health wealth
Kevin: minds whatever
Kevin: okay here we are we talk about
Kevin: mental health oh i recognize it me
Kevin: personally i recognize it at 50 I
Kevin: went oh well wait a second I didn't
Kevin: know I was in jail until I broke
Kevin: out I didn't even know mental
Kevin: health was actually an issue an
Kevin: issue
Guest: then
Kevin: all of a sudden I'm in it and now
Kevin: that I'm I'm talking about it I see
Kevin: I go wow it's everywhere is it a
Kevin: buzzword is it this no it's not I'm
Kevin: not using this as a buzzword as it
Kevin: as downplaying it but I'm looking
Kevin: at it when did it become an issue
Kevin: or
Kevin: recognized so let's go go back when
Kevin: you were younger you're 20 you
Kevin: started a business you're you're
Kevin: 30, you're doing the next, you got
Kevin: your business. Mental health was
Kevin: never, ever talked about that.
Kevin: no
Guest: and my elders they were tough as
Guest: nails those guys were like the ones
Guest: that that, like, mentored me and
Guest: brought me up, they never talked
Guest: about their emotions, they just
Guest: grit
Guest: right through it, whatever's
Guest: happening, whatever they're going
Guest: through, whatever, when life hits
Guest: them, they just keep going, right,
Guest: and then, and that's, that's what
Guest: most men over 50 don't,
Guest: that's our era, right, like, so
Guest: for, so
Guest: I still think there's a stigma
Guest: that, I don't know if if the stigma
Guest: is ever going to really go through.
Guest: bit of vulnerability. I think it's
Guest: a trust thing. I think you have to
Guest: open up to people you know and
Guest: trust, right?
Guest: That you know you're going to have
Guest: that vulnerability hangover
Guest: after you tell someone something.
Guest: Oh, my God, why did I share that,
Guest: right?
Guest: And I think that becomes harder,
Guest: easier and easier, I mean, when you
Guest: know the person and you can trust
Guest: the person, right?
Kevin: So it's interesting. thing
Kevin: and I keep going back to this I
Kevin: want to get back to it because you
Kevin: mentioned a couple things about
Kevin: getting slammed in the face and you
Kevin: get hit hard right now getting
Kevin: slammed in the face and getting
Kevin: hit hard today okay talking about
Kevin: mental health okay yes I have
Kevin: supports I have this that I can get
Kevin: through it being slammed in the
Kevin: face back then where you didn't
Kevin: have it and you had to build
Kevin: endurance to it can you give me an
Kevin: example of one of your experiences
Kevin: that you had actually you've gone
Kevin: through, an example.
Kevin: well yeah
Guest: well my brother committed suicide
Guest: and you know he's 13 months younger
Guest: than me that was i fell on the
Guest: floor like the one i got a phone
Guest: call and when i got i was i was
Guest: with a
Guest: colleague working at the time it
Guest: was a monday long weekend monday
Guest: may may long weekend and my
Guest: colleague he was working with me
Guest: didn't know what the hell was going
Guest: on i just there's me on
Guest: the floor screaming like i lost my
Guest: best friend like and
Guest: it was it was like it's still to
Guest: this this day it it it's hard to
Guest: accept right but um that's a great
Guest: example and um um and all the
Guest: people that we lose when you know
Guest: death takes people um away from us
Guest: it's an and you know my my father
Guest: died young i had colleagues at work
Guest: that died each like my like mark
Guest: helping was a
Guest: close friend he died at work like
Guest: it was a very tough moment so just
Guest: death alone is a tough thing um my
Guest: mark was my best friend like the
Guest: guy we worked together side by side
Guest: for for a decade
Guest: and then losing him was just as
Guest: hard as losing my brother and my
Guest: father right so um yeah so just
Guest: those that those are examples and
Guest: everyone goes through something
Guest: similar everyone loses
Guest: grandparents or parents or or you
Guest: know people have health issues they
Guest: lose people to health so So I find
Guest: that, for me, that was the big
Guest: thing. Like, I'm almost numb to it
Guest: now.
Guest: Like, if I got a phone call today
Guest: and saying someone passed, I'm
Guest: like, oh, okay.
Guest: You know, I hate to say it, but
Guest: it's just like once you've got hit
Guest: in the face, you're almost, like,
Guest: used to it. You're ready for the
Guest: next punch. Like I said, I've got a
Guest: So, how
Guest: list of things
Guest: that I can go through to share,
Guest: right?
Kevin: did you... in going into your
Kevin: brother
Guest: you're
Kevin: on the floor okay and you're you're
Kevin: broken like you're there
Kevin: because there's a lot of people
Kevin: that have a lot of suit because
Kevin: suicide's so prevalent out there
Kevin: and a lot of people are looking for
Kevin: help and they and they need that
Kevin: first question and you're going
Kevin: through the after effects of this
Kevin: where did you go from there after
Kevin: that like because you're
Kevin: down what's the what was your next
Kevin: Good question.
Kevin: course of actions from there
Guest: It took a long time to accept it,
Guest: right?
Guest: I think I struggled with accepting
Guest: it. And then I
Guest: think once I accepted it, I allowed
Guest: myself to move on. but it took me
Guest: years to accept it and some people
Guest: never do like my mother hasn't
Guest: accepted it to this
Guest: day and I can't blame her because
Guest: she lost I lost a brother and I I
Guest: felt I had to accept that and move
Guest: on but she lost a child and I don't
Guest: think she was prepared to lose a
Guest: child she you know
Guest: like nobody is right so for my mom
Guest: if I would compare like she she to
Guest: this day she hasn't accepted it and
Guest: I don't blame her like like you
Guest: don't some people just won't move
Guest: on right and I
Guest: think that's the struggle between
Guest: you're essentially a victim to what
Guest: happened to you you lost some a
Guest: loved one and then you you're the
Guest: one bearing the the guilt and why
Guest: and the questions and you have
Guest: to sort through those things out
Guest: and that can be very difficult and
Guest: and a journey like some like I i
Guest: said some people just never accept
Guest: it right
Kevin: i
Kevin: how did you get through that
Kevin: journey
Guest: none
Guest: just like i don't know what this is
Guest: going to sound like but i just
Guest: accepted that it was a decision
Guest: that he made and then that's it was
Guest: his decision and i just respected
Guest: it and i moved on i'd like it was
Guest: something i didn't i couldn't
Guest: control none of us could have
Guest: something that he decided to do
Guest: right
Kevin: that pretty powerful for yourself
Kevin: and internally because when you
Kevin: talk to people out here that are
Kevin: listening going through something
Kevin: similar and say okay here i am and
Kevin: it's not me it's not me it was his
Kevin: decision i can't control
Kevin: his decision and I'm okay with
Kevin: myself when did that become that
Kevin: it's okay and that's like people
Kevin: need to hear that out there and
Guest: sure and and just to be fair to
Guest: say so
Guest: people it's in stages it's not like
Guest: that it's like you know you
Guest: might go through one year two years
Guest: and you accept a portion of it and
Guest: then you think about it and and you
Guest: reminisce about it, and then you
Guest: might get to another stage, and
Guest: then you're letting go a little
Guest: more.
Guest: And eventually you just look back
Guest: now
Guest: at all the stages of what you went
Guest: through,
Guest: and then you've accepted every
Guest: stage of it. And then you finally
Guest: just decide to say, okay, I can –
Guest: like when you talk about it, I
Guest: think you've moved on. You're open
Guest: about it.
Guest: And then not everyone's comfortable
Guest: talking about it or hearing about
Guest: it. So it's a tough one to –
Kevin: So now
Kevin: I'm going to jump up jump ahead
Kevin: back into your business's aspect of
Kevin: Sure.
Kevin: it because you're in the marketing
Kevin: side of it as an entrepreneur in
Kevin: the
Kevin: marketing side as an influencer
Kevin: because you're you're well
Kevin: socialized out there okay would you
Kevin: call it I'd say Google famous so
Kevin: that you that you're playing your
Kevin: your cards right meaning you have
Kevin: it there what have you found has
Kevin: been
Kevin: the greatest challenge in the
Kevin: marketing and branding business
Kevin: that you're in and
Guest: Well.
Kevin: And your brand, it's the Cisco,
Kevin: correct?
Guest: Yeah, it's Chirico. Terco.
Guest: Yeah, so it's Italian to look for.
Guest: Ah.
Guest: so I help people find their way
Guest: it's kind of my attitude right um
Guest: yeah I think like any traditional
Guest: business I think it's people um you
Guest: know I have a grand vision I'm
Guest: seasoned I know
Guest: the moves I'm going to make are
Guest: people going to be willing to make
Guest: the same moves or I know what's
Guest: coming sometimes the people that
Guest: work with me my colleagues don't um
Guest: I interviewed somebody and it
Guest: it was a great question um they
Guest: asked me what would be the
Guest: challenge working with me and i
Guest: said to keep up with my crazy ideas
Guest: right because like it's one thing
Guest: to have an idea it's it's it's
Guest: I've been
Guest: another to execute and actually
Guest: make that idea come to life right
Guest: like even publishing magazines it's
Guest: not that easy it's like there's
Guest: there's a whole a whole there's
Guest: a whole collaboration of people
Guest: that need to happen and uh and it
Guest: has to be done on schedule and you
Guest: you need to have all these
Guest: different skill sets and it has to
Guest: be delivered and then and then
Guest: somebody puts it
Guest: together and throws and sends it to
Guest: print and then you and then even
Guest: with the digital age then you gotta
Guest: um you gotta take that printed
Guest: editorial piece that you created
Guest: and then um repurpose it
Guest: for digital that's another group of
Guest: people with different skills right
Kevin: So then let's get into this
Kevin: start because we just glazed over
Kevin: question,
Kevin: this.
Kevin: Why did you start this,
Guest: what yeah
Guest: Terco?
Guest: no yeah no
Guest: Why?
Guest: because you know for me it was it
Guest: was being being able to be creative
Guest: still having uh stake in maybe
Guest: somebody else's game and and
Guest: helping others scale and and it
Guest: felt like um it felt more
Guest: Or, like, I could still advise, I
Guest: could still do, I could still be my
Guest: best by helping others.
Guest: And I felt that it was a, also was,
Guest: to be completely honest, it was a
Guest: vehicle for opportunity.
Guest: It was like, hey, this is going to
Guest: lead me to meet other people, get
Guest: to see what they're doing, how they
Guest: make money, how they scale.
Guest: scale um you know being so seasoned
Guest: i can you know i can see i can see
Guest: who has the magic touch and who
Guest: doesn't have the magic touch who's
Guest: just wanting to grow a business or
Guest: who want who really
Guest: wants to scale something right i
Guest: get i so i'm in that unique this
Guest: gives me that unique ability to see
Guest: that and i'll tell you kevin
Guest: there's a lot of people out there
Guest: doing amazing things and just to
Guest: To have the opportunity to be in
Guest: the same room with them is,
Guest: I don't think I would get that
Guest: being a consultant.
Kevin: You know what
Kevin: it's interesting because you call
Kevin: I'm saying?
Kevin: it like a life hack.
Kevin: here's this business that you're
Kevin: creating you know the things you
Kevin: know that you don't know the
Kevin: Right.
Kevin: brand the book the jericho the
Kevin: everything you're doing then all of
Kevin: a sudden you're able to go into a
Kevin: business see how they operate and
Kevin: tell their story
Guest: Totally. And even learn about
Guest: things. Like, you know, I have one
Guest: client that I just started working
Guest: with in waste management.
Guest: And I was so excited. I was like,
Guest: oh, we could do this. We could do
Guest: that. and he grabs me and he's like
Guest: slow down i didn't realize what it
Guest: costs to expand it's a quarter
Guest: million every time he has to hire a
Guest: person not for the person but just
Guest: to support the person so just to
Guest: acquire equipment and the things
Guest: that he needs so every time he
Guest: scales he needs to invest
Guest: a quarter million dollars so i was
Guest: like whoa like i didn't see like i
Guest: didn't think about that aspect of
Guest: things like what it really takes to
Kevin: and that's interesting because in
Kevin: my business or as a lump and i'll
Kevin: just talk about other businesses
Kevin: it's kind of it's kind of
Kevin: interesting we're talking about
Kevin: this is that every time i do
Kevin: a hire it's a minimum sixty
Kevin: minimum $60 ,000
Kevin: thousand dollars you've got three
Kevin: months you got training right
Kevin: away you hire them you got three
Kevin: months they got to learn all right
Kevin: so productivity is down then from
Kevin: that three months they got to go
Kevin: the next then you got to do this
Kevin: with them you got to train By the
Kevin: time they're productive to make you
Kevin: they make it
Kevin: money, it's six months.
Kevin: so
Kevin: So every time you do, it's like,
Kevin: let's keep that revolving door
Kevin: going because totally and
Kevin: they've got to flow through it.
Guest: he taught me his strategic growth
Guest: you know i'm kind of you know very
Guest: ambitious and i want to move
Guest: quickly but working with him was
Guest: like oh wow this guy is so smart
Guest: like he's very strategic it's it's
Guest: strategic growth it's like hey
Guest: we're going to grow but
Guest: but we're going to be ready to
Guest: provide that, right?
Guest: Provide that. So it's like
Guest: basically growing by the person,
Guest: not by income, right? So it's
Guest: like...
Kevin: interesting because you would come
Kevin: from a different mindset.
Kevin: So here you are, you have trades,
Kevin: suppliers that you did, and you're
Kevin: going in and you're knocking on the
Kevin: door again, okay, more people I can
Kevin: get, I'll just hire trade, they
Kevin: move for a dollar, okay, this guy
Kevin: moves for this guy, this guy moves,
Kevin: here it is, okay, we got to get
Kevin: guy,
Kevin: Bob steals Peter, okay, moves them
Kevin: the Hills Peter,
Kevin: over
Kevin: and then as that's, everybody's
Kevin: That's what he's... If you're
Kevin: interconnecting
Kevin: connecting from yourself
Kevin: from themselves versus all of a
Kevin: sudden,
Kevin: talking from experience, because
Kevin: I'm talking
Kevin: Totally, yeah.
Kevin: about myself because this is how
Guest: You relate to it,
Guest: this is done, I
Guest: yeah.
Kevin: totally relate and then having
Kevin: people that talk strategic, I have
Kevin: a hard time with that because how
Kevin: do you do fast growth if you're
Kevin: strategic?
Guest: Yeah, and honestly, I came from the
Guest: mindset of say yes and then figure
Guest: out how we were going to do it
Guest: later.
Guest: So I'd commit to all kinds of crazy
Guest: things, and it did get me into a
Guest: lot of trouble a lot of the time,
Guest: but it did propel my growth, right?
Guest: But not everyone's ready to take
Guest: those risks, right?
Guest: Right. And so they want to say yes
Guest: when the time's right. And but
Guest: that's super strategic. And I think
Guest: but again, I ran a different
Guest: business.
Guest: I didn't have as much equipment
Guest: overhead than, you know, the
Guest: example of the company I just gave.
Guest: But, you know, this marketing
Guest: company, you know, gave me that
Guest: vehicle to work with people like
Guest: that to see like, OK, okay, let me
Guest: think about this a little. I'd walk
Guest: away from that meeting thinking
Guest: differently
Guest: about how we're going to grow this
Guest: business, right?
Kevin: would you grow your business? Ten
Kevin: times it.
Guest: I'm just doing what my clients
Guest: want.
Kevin: That's a cop -out.
Kevin: So,
Guest: no, it's like, yeah, well, like,
Kevin: But what do you want?
Guest: you know, I'm pivoting into a new
Guest: career.
Guest: I'm doing everything to the max.
Guest: Like, not everyone starts a
Guest: magazine. There's not that many out
Guest: there.
Kevin: And not too many people, all of a
Kevin: sudden you say, I'm just listening
Kevin: to what my customers, but you said
Kevin: it just before this as well, okay?
Kevin: You're going in there. I'm
Kevin: listening to what today. I get to
Kevin: meet all these people, and I get to
Kevin: give them ideas. The guy put his
Kevin: hands on my shoulder and says, oh,
Kevin: slow down, right?
Guest: Right.
Kevin: Well, wait a second.
Kevin: Isn't that you that's actually
Kevin: going in there and saying, no, I'm
Kevin: not slowing down. I'm going after
Kevin: it.
Kevin: So you're that guy.
Guest: Totally. But you've got to do
Guest: respect people's pace.
Guest: And what I liked about that
Guest: individual,
Guest: he doesn't want any lending.
Guest: So he'd rather have growth with, I
Guest: guess, security. he's not going to
Guest: find himself in financial trouble
Guest: where he goes and uh you know gets
Guest: too
Guest: much lending and then he finds
Guest: himself exposed right so i like
Guest: that about uh that situation but
Guest: yeah to go back to that question
Guest: like what do i want it's like yeah
Guest: i'm ambitious i still got like i'm
Guest: 51 i just turned 51 so i still have
Guest: a good
Guest: 50
Kevin: Three years.
Kevin: i
Kevin: Yeah, I like that.
Kevin: don't know like
Kevin: Three years.
Guest: No, a lot, it's
Guest: yeah i got 15 20 years
Guest: 10.
Guest: i've got a bunch of children that i
Guest: like they're my legacy essentially
Guest: so i feel like i'm positioning
Guest: myself that not only am i helping
Guest: my community and and my clients and
Guest: the people that um that
Guest: want my help and they see value but
Guest: i get to help my children like
Guest: they're going to get to a point
Guest: well they're going to want to do
Guest: something and whatever it is i
Guest: definitely going to be there
Guest: to support that and um hopefully
Guest: it'll be starting something like um
Guest: my older one is talking about he's
Guest: in he's studying sports medicine
Guest: and he's talking about opening a
Guest: gym opening a clinic like
Guest: uh my other one my younger one is
Guest: uh i think he's got the bug
Guest: entrepreneurial bug in him already
Guest: he's he's just about to turn 18 and
Guest: he's graduated high school he's
Guest: just started secondary
Guest: post -secondary and he's ready to
Guest: he's already talking about what
Guest: he's going to start as a business
Guest: right and he's playing with uh he's
Guest: already built himself a website
Guest: he's already doing these things
Guest: that he needs to learn how to do
Guest: right so i think that for me is
Guest: like yeah i
Guest: gotta if you don't earn you burn so
Guest: you know i've got 20 i don't know
Guest: how many more years i'm gonna live
Guest: i know my wife's gonna live till
Guest: she's 95 like she's italian but as
Guest: long as i'm still here
Guest: i gotta i you know i gotta pay for
Guest: things i still have to earn um or
Guest: i'm just gonna start building in a
Guest: hole and get into my savings and
Guest: and spend what I've got so so
Guest: essentially but I don't know
Guest: any other way who'd hire me I went
Guest: did that?
Guest: Nobody.
Guest: out yeah like I'm like I put on my
Guest: resume like all these
Guest: accomplishments and like what would
Guest: they say like I just can't see that
Guest: happening so for me it's just a
Guest: natural fit so hey I gotta go build
Guest: gag.
Guest: a lifestyle business and something
Guest: that's gonna keep me
Guest: engage with the community and and
Guest: i'll tell you this honestly is one
Guest: of the best kind of careers i've
Guest: i've really put myself out there
Guest: and i just continue to do it like
Guest: kevin like we're both part
Guest: parties know
Guest: of eo and that whole experience
Guest: how
Guest: rich and how
Guest: share that i've learned through
Guest: entrepreneur organization
Guest: i i it doesn't stop with me anymore
Guest: i don't you could be a complete
Guest: stranger and i'll still share with
Guest: you because i've learned that you
Guest: know i'm providing i'm exposing
Guest: myself to the community and
Guest: i get to put myself out there to
Guest: see if anybody needs help or or or
Guest: crazy it is.
Guest: is even interested in
Guest: the experience i have right
Kevin: And it's interesting because you
Kevin: just brought in EO, okay?
Kevin: Okay. And I get a lot of people on
Kevin: here. We talk about EO and there's
Kevin: guys that belong to tech, McKay,
Kevin: all these business organizations
Kevin: and young entrepreneurs out there.
Kevin: And, and, and I said to
Kevin: you, would anybody hire you? They
Kevin: would never hire you. Why?
Kevin: I love you.
Kevin: Because,
Guest: but
Guest: You're so honest with me.
Kevin: no, but it's true. I, I, there's no
Kevin: way I could hire you. And the
Kevin: reason is because once you've had
Kevin: dog food, okay or you have steak
Kevin: you'll never go back to dog food
Kevin: there's entrepreneurs they get that
Kevin: urge
Kevin: that they it's great that scratch
Kevin: That's scratchy.
Kevin: you talked about earlier I got to
Kevin: do the next got to do that and
Kevin: it's in a good way because you're
Kevin: going to build something that's
Kevin: great all entrepreneurs need to
Kevin: build something that's great for
Kevin: themselves now we talked to you
Kevin: tech like I said McKay the
Kevin: interesting part about that whole
Kevin: aspect right there when you talk to
Kevin: somebody that has an an
Kevin: organization behind them. As an
Kevin: entrepreneur, not your friends, not
Kevin: your family, everybody's
Kevin: conversation changes. And it's
Kevin: interesting because you brought it
Kevin: a few times and you said you're
Kevin: able to talk to other companies
Kevin: about their businesses opened up
Kevin: because of the training and the
Kevin: experience that you have behind
Kevin: you. There's other entrepreneurs
Kevin: that don't have
Kevin: like EO or tech and all these
Kevin: organizations behind them that they
Kevin: use their parents or their friends
Kevin: and family for advice they become
Kevin: close -knit and they think you're
Kevin: competitors they think oh no why
Kevin: are you asking me that question you
Kevin: shouldn't be asking oh you want
Kevin: my business versus anyone that's an
Kevin: eos eo we ask ourselves how are you
Kevin: growing your business how did you
Kevin: do that
Kevin: Yeah,
Kevin: oh wait
Guest: you're experience sharing, yeah.
Kevin: and it's interesting you can tell
Kevin: Yeah.
Kevin: somebody that doesn't have that
Kevin: kind of a mind,
Kevin: background behind them because they
Kevin: think people are trying to get them
Kevin: versus us having this conversation
Kevin: i want to know more i want to i
Kevin: want to dig down deeper how can how
Kevin: can you help me
Kevin: grow my business here's my ideas we
Kevin: talked about ai and we talked about
Kevin: how you're branding how we how do
Kevin: we take this in 10 times that which
Kevin: Yeah,
Kevin: means a lot to us but other people
Kevin: would be like whoa
Kevin: you're stealing from me
Guest: so
Guest: I think that's something you...
Guest: I've completely learned to give my
Guest: trust away 10 out of 10. If I don't
Guest: know you, I will trust you 10 out
Guest: of the 10, and it'll be up to you
Guest: to lose my trust. So instead of
Guest: going the other way, where most
Guest: people start from one or zero,
Guest: And then you got to earn their
Guest: trust up to 10. I think it's a lot
Guest: faster and a lot more.
Guest: If you go out and say, okay, I'll
Guest: trust you 10 out of 10, but it's up
Guest: to you to lose my trust. And you
Guest: can lose it really quick.
Guest: Every time you do, do me wrong or,
Guest: or do something, you just start
Guest: going to down the, down, you know,
Guest: the countdown to down from 10,
Guest: right. Till you're gone and you're
Guest: so who give
Guest: out of my life. Right.
Kevin: me an experience that you actually
Kevin: had somebody that you believed in
Kevin: yeah
Kevin: and then all
Kevin: of a sudden they became zero and
Kevin: you're going i can't believe that
Kevin: happened to me i got hacked on
Guest: that or
Guest: it happens all the time vendors
Guest: maybe colleagues like staff members
Guest: right like yeah they're just not
Guest: into or they just don't resonate or
Guest: they don't have chemistry with you
Kevin: acquaintances let's talk
Kevin: right yeah could
Kevin: acquaintances like
Guest: guys that
Guest: be your neighbors like sometimes
Guest: i'm careful how i talk to my
Guest: neighbors because i recognize that
Guest: we're not the same breed and i
Guest: gotta i you know i can't be i can't
Guest: essentially
Guest: be myself you can't not with
Guest: everyone right so knowing that i
Guest: could easily like we're neighbors
Guest: so maybe i got two out of ten i can
Guest: lose that two really fast um out of
Guest: ten just by saying something you
Guest: know trying to be myself and uh
Guest: so
Guest: saying something that might not
Guest: have they might not
Guest: have any interest in right
Kevin: what's one of your biggest
Kevin: challenges with everybody like in
Kevin: the business that you're in you're
Kevin: going into other people's
Kevin: businesses you're opening the door
Kevin: you're opening that pandora box and
Kevin: saying here's how i can help you
Kevin: what's one of the challenges there
Kevin: and I can go the other way too
Kevin: that's where I'm getting at these
Kevin: guys are coming in do they trust
Kevin: you believe in you of course but
Guest: No,
Kevin: then all of a sudden it's like well
Kevin: why are you asking that question
Guest: I think my biggest challenge is
Guest: just finding
Guest: the people that are willing to
Guest: invest, right? Like, you know, for
Guest: me to start a magazine, I had to go
Guest: and invest in it. I had to go and
Guest: invest in this initiative.
Guest: appreciative um and not everyone is
Guest: willing to they might think it's
Guest: too big or they might think
Guest: it's um you know so some of the
Guest: ideas that we may present or
Guest: suggestions or some of the advice
Guest: advisory work that i do might just
Guest: be too much for or maybe i move too
Guest: fast so some some of the clients
Guest: are i've learned to go okay hold on
Guest: a second i gotta go at their pace
Guest: um others i spotted
Guest: it in a minute like wow this guy's
Guest: got what it takes it's like i gotta
Guest: help them i gotta fuel them so um
Guest: yeah so i think it would be just
Guest: the chemistry that you find with
Guest: people um yeah they
Guest: and they've done a lot of times
Guest: they've done what they've been
Guest: doing very successful before they
Guest: met you they're they're achieving
Guest: income they're making um it's just
Guest: my job to to show them how
Guest: we can do it better right or more
Guest: efficient or let's take the burden
Guest: off you let's 10x what we're doing
Guest: right but not everyone's up for it
Guest: so that's that's my biggest
Guest: challenge right
Kevin: you have a group that you bring
Kevin: together, the exchange.
Kevin: yeah
Kevin: So tell me a little bit about that,
Kevin: and what's the importance of that?
Guest: exchange um that was i think it was
Guest: eo inspired like there's a level of
Guest: So
Guest: I guess privacy and exclusivity
Guest: being a part of EO so it was my way
Guest: of just bringing I guess I don't
Guest: know any other way so I'm out there
Guest: in the community I'm meeting all
Guest: I'm like, it
Guest: these great peers and
Guest: how do I keep this going how do I
Guest: keep connecting with them how do I
Guest: so I it was actually my friend
Guest: was actually a very,
Guest: and swan from um north water was
Guest: her idea and the very very very
Guest: very, very personal thing
Guest: first one that i ever did had 20
Guest: people i invited 20 people between
Guest: the two of us and we stayed at this
Guest: This is
Guest: it was from five to seven
Guest: we stayed there till 11 that night
Guest: we had so much fun and then marco
Guest: so
Guest: from burwood distillers was there
Guest: he was one of the 20 he goes this
Guest: is so much fun let's do it again um
Guest: but let's do it at my
Guest: my place so we invited everyone so
Guest: i'm like okay so i followed up with
Guest: marco and we did the second one at
Guest: burwood and then and then i just
Guest: decided after the second one i'm
Guest: just going to keep this
Guest: thing going and yeah we've grown
Guest: we've grown the invite list up to
Guest: 500 people um we hosted one
Guest: together you and i uh last february
Guest: bit now.
Guest: and that was you know we had 300
Guest: people show up that
Guest: was it was a really uh so that was
Guest: one of the bigger ones that we did
Guest: but But yeah, I generally have
Guest: about 70, 80 people on average that
Guest: show up throughout the year. And I
Guest: tend to want to spotlight somebody
Guest: that needs it.
Guest: So somebody doing something great
Guest: or somebody that needs a little bit
Guest: of attention.
Guest: So it's not always about me or my
Guest: guys or my team. It's about someone
Guest: else. Sometimes they're clients.
Guest: Sometimes they're colleagues.
Guest: Sometimes they're just friends
Guest: doing great, cool things. I'm like,
Guest: you know, launching a business or
Guest: something thing or um they're
Guest: really so how how can i give back
Guest: let's spotlight you let's host an
Guest: event or
Guest: in your case we did one with you
Guest: and you did a ted talk and uh and
Guest: right away we we were just chatting
Guest: and it was like how like we don't
Guest: do any business together we don't
Guest: transact but you're a
Guest: friend and you're doing something
Guest: and i'm like well let me help you
Guest: so do
Guest: and then and we essentially
Guest: just you know put everyone together
Guest: to spotlight your ted talk and what
Guest: you were doing so to me that was
Guest: that's the fun part that's uh we're
Guest: kind of giving back and um allowing
Guest: this
Guest: event to be uh and again it's
Guest: you
Guest: exclusive it's it's something it's
Guest: an invite only event so it's it's
Guest: nice to you know when i meet you
Guest: i'm like oh you're a cool guy or a
Guest: cool person and you should come you
Guest: know like let's stay in touch like
Guest: i'll keep inviting you and then a
Guest: lot of times i'll see these people
Guest: once or twice a year just because
Guest: of that private exchange right
Kevin: see when you do these your private
Kevin: exchange and all the people do you
Kevin: see a common thread because i'm
Kevin: going to talk about downtown
Kevin: because the majority of your work
Kevin: and everything that you're down
Kevin: your your advertisers or people
Kevin: there are mainly downtown do you
Kevin: see a common
Kevin: thread that it's a lot of the same
Kevin: people go to the same events
Guest: business, right? Someone that would
Guest: hire them, for example, or somebody
Guest: that they, so yeah, they're trying
Guest: to build their network essentially
Guest: and you usually, right? But the
Guest: to build their businesses. That's
Guest: what I see
Guest: ones that are successful at it, I
Guest: think are the ones that just keep,
Guest: they're consistent, like me and my
Guest: phone call to Martin, they just
Guest: keep showing up, right?
Guest: And then you tend to navigate the
Guest: brought
Guest: community and you know where to go,
Guest: right?
Guest: You know where where your people
Guest: are, whatever that looks like.
Kevin: And you brought
Kevin: up and i love this the need and the
Kevin: when you talk
Kevin: want and we talked about
Kevin: that people need to be around and
Kevin: they want to be around people and
Kevin: we take covid where they were
Kevin: before and then here they are you
Kevin: Yeah.
Kevin: have given the exchange you've
Kevin: given that place because you do a
Kevin: lot of events downtown okay and and
Kevin: things.
Kevin: you do these places and yes there's
Kevin: a lot of the same people
Kevin: but it's amazing how all of a
Kevin: sudden from covid the needs and
Kevin: wants where you just brought in and
Kevin: then it builds up on that because
Kevin: i've had a lot of people on my
Kevin: podcast that have attended
Kevin: your events and it's amazing and
Kevin: now I see them on social media and
Kevin: how well they're connected as the
Kevin: majority of our influencers
Kevin: yeah
Guest: i think i think the ones you're
Guest: talking about are the regular the
Guest: ones that are consistently going
Guest: out and they have a a passion to
Guest: meet people and the passion to
Guest: connect with
Guest: people but there are people there
Guest: are people that you'll meet that
Guest: don't go out as much but if you're
Guest: consistent enough you'll meet those
Guest: people right and that's the thing i
Guest: i find it's
Guest: like oh you're you're not the yeah
Guest: you do walk into a room with 100 or
Guest: 200 people and you You may know 50
Guest: of the people and you tend to
Guest: gravitate to the people you know,
Guest: but there's always going to be
Guest: people you don't know, right?
Kevin: and it's interesting because a lot
Kevin: of those people that you know in
Kevin: here are all influencers and it's
Kevin: interesting i mean influencers in a
Kevin: good way because they get put
Kevin: themselves out there to talk to
Kevin: more people just like you do i
Kevin: Yeah.
Kevin: would call you an influencer of
Kevin: people and making people
Kevin: better and then people don't
Kevin: realize being out there being
Kevin: connected is so important because a
Kevin: lot of people don't do what you do
Kevin: it.
Guest: to
Kevin: own a business to create a business
Kevin: to blow up in business you have to
Kevin: be out there especially with what's
Kevin: happening
Guest: Yeah, I feel like you have to have
Guest: the fundamentals figured out. And I
Guest: don't think, you know, just by
Guest: being a marketing professional, I
Guest: meet a lot of people, I see what
Guest: they're doing, I kind of look under
Guest: the hood.
Guest: And a couple things, there's a lot
Guest: you're
Guest: of gaps in what they're doing. And
Guest: there's, there's also, there's
Guest: inconsistencies, and then they
Guest: just aren't consistent enough, I
Guest: guess.
Kevin: being politically correct because
Kevin: you're you're stalling to go in
Kevin: other words
Guest: go
Kevin: at least every weekend and do
Kevin: something they're not consistent
Guest: a week
Guest: once
Guest: once a week i would go at least a
Guest: yeah so
Guest: minimum once a week
Guest: and go to your favorite events and
Guest: then when you peak and you're like
Guest: okay i've gone enough of these go
Guest: find another one right like make a
Guest: shift and find another one and then
Guest: you created
Guest: a reputation within each of these
Guest: groups that you've kind of shuffled
Guest: to right Right?
Kevin: so what would be your advice to
Kevin: these people young entrepreneurs or
Kevin: young businessmen young people that
Kevin: just want to let's talk about like
Kevin: speed dating okay guys or girls
Kevin: that want to get out there and meet
Kevin: people in a different way not a
Kevin: little a lot of alcohol and get
Kevin: hammered up or anything like this
Kevin: there's no sports but ways to meet
Kevin: other people for events like what
Kevin: would you suggest in tell young
Kevin: people.
Guest: Well, it really goes down to that
Guest: three, the formula. There's two
Guest: things. One is, like, people do
Guest: business with who they know,
Guest: so you have to go out there and
Guest: introduce yourself. You have to
Guest: break the ice.
Guest: They do business with people they
Guest: like, or they might not have to
Guest: like you as a person. and they
Guest: might not like what you're about or
Guest: what you're offering, and they have
Guest: to trust you. They have to trust
Guest: that you're going to take care of
Guest: them
Guest: and they need to know you're
Guest: competent.
Guest: So that trust needs to be there.
Guest: So I think that, at its own, just
Guest: have the consistency to go through
Guest: that.
Guest: And then timing.
Guest: They might not need you right away.
Guest: So if you're consistent and you're
Guest: going down through that and, you
Guest: know, don't hit them with the pitch
Guest: whiplash and try to sell them every
Guest: time you see them.
Guest: They're going to know what you do.
Guest: Eventually, they're going to meet
Guest: you five times and, you know, small
Guest: talk, and they know what you do.
Guest: When they need someone that does
Guest: what you offer,
Guest: they're going to come find you.
Guest: Or they have an existing provider
Guest: that is keeping them satisfied, but
Guest: maybe they break up one day, but
Guest: so
Guest: then who else do they know?
Guest: they know another provider that
Guest: could be you right so it's timing
Guest: is important so
Kevin: with everything that you're doing
Kevin: so
Kevin: and would
Kevin: you consider yourself a disrupter
Guest: oh yeah for sure i am and like 100
Guest: i'm like like 100 i i'm very serial
Guest: actually one of my
Guest: eo mates um mike russell shout out
Guest: to him he was i was in foreign with
Guest: him made me i didn't even even know
Guest: this about myself he was the one
Guest: that like pointed it out he he told
Guest: me i have the
Guest: ability to figure out what the dots
Guest: are and then connect them but once
Guest: i figure out that watch out right
Guest: like what like like whoever i'm
Guest: competing with is watch out because
Guest: it's because i won't
Guest: give up i'll be consistent and i'll
Guest: just keep going until the success
Guest: starts coming right um and then um
Guest: yeah so then yeah so
Kevin: It sounds like you're being more
Kevin: politically correct here because
Kevin: you said three things.
Kevin: no i on this, but.
Guest: Yeah,
Guest: think
Kevin: There's a but here, okay?
Kevin: yeah
Guest: i am very disruptive and i do
Guest: compete so it's like i will compete
Guest: yeah
Kevin: it's interesting. So what would you
Kevin: say the definition of disruptor is
Kevin: then?
Guest: disrupting your competitors my mom
Guest: taught me this she she's she's been
Guest: she's i don't even know how how
Guest: I don't
Guest: long my mom's been in business
Guest: she's still like my mom ever since
Guest: she came to this country
Guest: had her own business and she taught
Guest: me not to care about what your
Guest: competitors are doing
Guest: just compare just just make sure
Guest: you care about what your customers
Guest: are doing so I only only focus on
Guest: the customers and that alone will
Guest: disrupt you know whoever has the
Guest: even
Guest: voice of the customer has
Guest: I don't even know.
Guest: how's the market so i just keep my
Guest: head right my ear right to the
Guest: I don't even know.
Guest: I don't even know.
Guest: ground focused on the customer
Guest: and that's going to disrupt the
Guest: market
Kevin: and with your experience have you
Kevin: oh
Kevin: ever learned anything that's
Kevin: from your competitors that you know
Kevin: that you disrupted them
Guest: yeah you could tell sometimes they
Guest: don't even talk to you at events um
Guest: you know they might have been
Guest: chummy with you at one point and
Guest: then that you know you could just
Guest: feel when you when you or you know
Guest: it's a small community sometimes
Guest: you just
Guest: here but that's okay you know like
Guest: um this this isn't in business
Guest: sometimes this is in
Guest: business you have to compete right
Guest: we're all trying to survive and and
Guest: ultimately i have my group of of my
Guest: network i have to take care of and
Guest: they have their network and you
Guest: know i always believe there's
Guest: and
Guest: enough to go around for everybody
Guest: anyway so
Kevin: it's just a good question because
Kevin: here's the one people say hey,
Kevin: there's enough to go around with
Kevin: everybody when we appreciate, as in
Kevin: AI is changing the way the model is
Kevin: working.
Kevin: Everything's changing. Is there
Kevin: enough to go around? No. And then
Kevin: from my experience, because I want
Kevin: to get back to, there's two parts
Kevin: because I don't believe it. I
Kevin: believe there's enough to go
Kevin: ensure,
Kevin: around.
Kevin: Sure, if you want it to be.
Kevin: As in, I always say when you're a
Kevin: disruptor, it's kind of that
Kevin: question of, it's like, obviously
Kevin: if my competitors like me, my
Kevin: prices are too high, my service
Kevin: sucks, and that's
Guest: it.
Kevin: and you're messing up right so
Kevin: right there we know so when they
Kevin: don't when they don't like you know
Kevin: your price is excellent the service
Kevin: is great and quality is good so and
Kevin: they don't like you said they don't
Kevin: talk to you and and being very
Kevin: aggressive because a disruptor gets
Kevin: it on both
Kevin: sides like they're good and they're
Kevin: bad okay because they're the
Kevin: they're changing the way business
Kevin: has been done now ai's in here you
Kevin: are in a media business that now
Kevin: has ai
Guest: wow
Kevin: Wow. Is that a disruptor AI?
Guest: Oh, 100%. That's it, and I think
Guest: it's a unique
Guest: place. I don't know what's going to
Guest: happen, right? AI is disrupting the
Guest: world. I don't have the answer for
Guest: you.
Guest: I can't say, Kevin, like, hey, but
Guest: I'll say one thing.
Guest: It's not going to replace people.
Guest: You can't talk to it. The minute
Guest: somebody knows they're dealing with
Guest: AI, they lose all interest in
Guest: people, So there's always going to
Guest: be a place for a person.
Guest: I believe the future is going to be
Guest: boutique, smaller groups, smaller
Guest: companies, the powerful individuals
Guest: that all have skill sets, that have
Guest: AI behind them, supporting them,
Guest: doing all the heavy lifting.
Guest: But you still need an expert to
Guest: tell AI what they need to do,
Guest: right?
Guest: Will it cut down?
Guest: Yeah, it's going to be a funny,
Guest: interesting. I hope to see it in my
Guest: lifetime, the mass unemployment or
Guest: this universal income, you know,
Guest: people, maybe shorter work weeks.
Guest: I don't know. I don't know what the
Guest: future is going to hold. I'm
Guest: watching it just like everyone
Guest: else. but i do i do i'm not
Guest: emotional about change like we
Guest: talked about before the podcast
Guest: started
Guest: but i think ai is really
Guest: challenging people's emotions
Guest: around it because there's this
Guest: thing
Guest: out there that has made people
Guest: in real
Guest: realize like you know there's
Guest: people that have gone to school
Guest: spent hundreds of thousands of
Guest: dollars spent tens you know years
Guest: learning then getting into an uh a
Guest: career spending another 10 or 20
Guest: Oh,
Guest: years in it and now there's a thing
Guest: that comes in can do it
Guest: better than they can but and
Guest: they're salty like a lot of them
Guest: Yeah.
Guest: are and then but the ones that are
Guest: embracing it um unfortunately i i
Guest: think it's the younger people that
Guest: they're you know i don't think they
Guest: know any better they just see it as
Guest: like they're being introduced to it
Guest: the same time as
Guest: the seasoned professional that has
Guest: been doing it for you know 20 30
Guest: years but i i feel that
Guest: You just need to embrace it. And if
Guest: you can get your salty emotions out
Guest: of the way and really just look at
Guest: it and then be honest, that's
Guest: another thing I find that we
Guest: mentioned that, we were talking
Guest: about that earlier too.
Guest: People aren't honest what they
Guest: actually know, right? Or they're
Guest: not being honest about the
Guest: technical abilities of what AI
Guest: could actually do in their
Guest: industry. So that's another thing
Guest: I'm finding too,
Guest: like finding a real advisor that's
Guest: going to tell you the truth about
Guest: what's in front of us um and from
Guest: what i see it's from what like from
Guest: the advisors that
Guest: have presented and and some of
Guest: these guys are like world class
Guest: yeah like there's there's a big
Guest: huge
Guest: tsunami coming at us but i'm not
Guest: too concerned i'm still going to be
Guest: and i don't think ai is going to be
Guest: strategic or they're not going to
Guest: be able to analyze what's in the
Guest: moment and what you
Guest: You know, those are the human
Guest: elements that you still need people
Guest: for that.
Kevin: Yeah, it's interesting. AI
Kevin: you're
Kevin: is definitely going to have, well,
Kevin: it definitely has a change, It has
Kevin: a change on my business, and I'm
Kevin: looking at it.
Kevin: And the thing about it is we don't
Kevin: know what we don't know. So it's
Kevin: kind of like people go, oh, we're
Kevin: going to lose business. Oh, this is
Kevin: changing. Well, the guys that all
Kevin: of a sudden, when we talked about
Kevin: that, building out a company, and
Kevin: here they are building a company
Kevin: out
Kevin: because they've been an engineer
Kevin: for 20 years, did this, did this,
Kevin: they understand the code, and then
Kevin: all of a sudden you come in with AI
Kevin: and does this part. Now we can
Kevin: build faster, quicker, better, and
Kevin: create different jobs that we
Kevin: didn't even know we had.
Guest: so
Guest: that's true
Kevin: how crazy is that
Kevin: yeah
Guest: no
Guest: it's going to be interesting to see
Guest: what the future holds for sure
Guest: that
Kevin: is awesome well you know what
Kevin: daniel thanks for coming on shed
Kevin: time listen like subscribe hit the
Kevin: button see where we're at here on
Kevin: shed talk thanks for joining me
Kevin: daniel one last question if you
Kevin: were to say anything to an
Kevin: entrepreneur or anyone out there
Kevin: what would it be
Guest: just do it take action all the
Guest: planning and And all the vision
Guest: means absolutely nothing if you
Guest: thank
Guest: don't take action.
Kevin: you daniel all right we'll see you
Kevin: guys on shed talk
Guest: Amazing.