Boiling Point Podcast

Judith explains her path to success. She tells us that she knows she is not the greatest at everything she gets wrapped up in, but she surrounds herself with a sub group of people that can help her. Many entrepreneurs would scoff and say they can’t afford help, but Judith is quick to point out that there is always a way. If you can’t afford a service, then barter. She tells us that communicating to your community, giving every customer the same attention, and a general attitude toward customer service. It’s also about knowing your customer, developing a niche, and treating that customer really well.

Greg sees a running theme in Boiling Point that in this flat world we can make international ripple effects from small cities. Dave is inspired by Judith’s brilliant way of expressing things concisely and intelligently. Dave also notes that he is motivated by Judith’s passion for telling not only her stories, but the stories of her clients and others in her community.

Greg points out that Judith, Dave, and himself are fortunate to be able to be risky in a smaller market. He mentions that in a large community there isn’t the same safety net of friends and community to back you up. Dave mentions, however, that some people may be scared to “fall on their face” in front of their friends and that being an entrepreneur is about the willingness to be vulnerable. For people like Judith, going for it is not an option.

Also, Greg gets scolded by referring to the Karim Rashid chairs that Judith placed in his office as “plastic chairs”. 

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Introducing Gino Dion

It is amazing who you might meet if you open yourself up to new experiences.  Even more amazing when you find a mover and shaker you didn’t know about in your own backyard.

That is exactly what happened to Greg when he decided to attend a conference for the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas.  NAB is conference for broadcasters and their equipment manufacturers.  Greg decided to attend to see what connections he could make through networking, but it wasn’t necessarily a conference for filmmakers to pitch their ideas.  He left with a quorum of industry people from New Brunswick, Canada and this is where he met Gino Dion and the two became fast-friends.

Gino works for a company called IneoQuest, which is a multi-national company offering products and services for the monitoring of video quality.  Broadcasters use products from IneoQuest to guarantee their transmissions.  We all can imagine how important such a service is by considering, what would you think would happen if the transmission of the World Cup final went down?  Disaster!

Gino comes from a small town in New Brunswick, where there is sometimes a belief that, “when you come from a small place, you can only do small things.” Gino couldn’t disagree more.  He has taken time out of his schedule to speak to students at his local high school to tell them that not only can they do big things, but their small town roots can actually act as an advantage.  He cites his experience of growing up poor in a small town and having to fight for every scrap he got as one of the major reasons he eventually became IneoQuest’s vice-president of engineering.  He saw detractors of his dreams as challengers, and used his determination as fuel to get to his goal.

Gino takes pride in exporting his New Brunswick cultural values and says that simple things like holding a door for someone or saying hello to a stranger has been able to set him apart in the business world.  Another example of small town service is whenever Gino sells a system to one of his clients, he writes his home phone number on his business card.  He tells his client that they can call him at any time, day or night, if they need him for something.  Gino told Greg when they went into a dueling piano bar in Vegas that they would own the bar by the end of the night because they were New Brunswickers.  That’s exactly what they did and a wild time was had by all.

In this episode

Greg remembers the great times spent with Gino in Las Vegas.  He notes that friendships made at trade shows can turn into great business relationships and that putting yourself “out there” almost always pays dividends.  Dave is struck by Gino’s suggestions of how to make your customer service more personal.  We all agree that great things are available to you if you open your eyes to opportunities and it doesn’t matter where you came from.  

Links

Email

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Introducing Dino Dogan

His website hails him as a “Global Force for Badassery” and we agree.  Dino is a public speaker, author, blogger, mixed martial artist and recovering network engineer and singer/songwriter.  He is also the founder of Triberr, the social network for bloggers.  Greg met Dino in Las Vegas at the New Media Expo, which is a convention for bloggers, podcasters, and web video.  Greg broke his own rule at conventions when he went to the bar and ordered a drink… by HIMSELF.  Dino quickly came over, introduced himself, and invited Greg to sit with him and his group.  A new connection and friendship was born and soon after Greg was a guest on Dino’s “Road to TED” podcast speaking about his then upcoming speech for TEDx New Brunswick.

As mentioned above, Dino is the founder of Triberr.  Bloggers join Triberr and are placed into “tribes” according to the type of content they generally write about.  Then bloggers share each other’s content on their own blogs.  This allows for more content than they could create alone and helps to build their audience.  This strategy has made for millions of extra hits each month to Triberr blogger sites.  Within days of creating Triberr, Dino was getting requests from brands to promote their products.  That is exactly what he did through the use of influence marketing.

We all know of professional athletes and celebrities who make endorsements for companies, like Michael Jordan for Nike.  Number 23 gets paid big bucks to promote the brand and his sneakers on a mass scale.  Now imagine, a bunch of mini-Air-Mikes, each with a small, but loyal and trusting niche audience.  This is what Triberr sets up between bloggers and brands.  Unlike Air Jordan’s mass appeal with a disengaged audience, influence marketing through bloggers deals in smaller audiences but with much deeper impact of persuasion.

In this episode

Dino gives his tips for becoming a fascinating, polarizing, badass blogger (with metaphorical balls). He tells us about the “low-hanging fruit” for established companies to build their online footprint through blogging.  Greg remembers the importance of talking and connecting with people and building tribes.  Dave learns a lot about the current media landscape.  As Dino says, “it takes a tribe to build a blog”, and we learn all about how do this with Triberr.

Links

Twitter

Facebook

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Introducing Mickey MacDonald

Mickey MacDonald is a true fighter; he fights in business, in his charitable work, and has also fought in the ring as a boxer. Still down-to-earth and approachable, Mickey came from humble beginnings, but as an entrepreneur he became one of Atlantic Canada’s preeminent businesspeople.

Mickey credits his drive to his mother. Mickey’s father had a heart attack, leaving Mickey’s mom as the primary caregiver and breadwinner for her seven children. As head nurse at the Halifax Infirmary, she would take care of sick babies full-time and then come home to take care of her family. This dedication to her career and family proved to be an inspiration to the entire MacDonald clan.

At the age of 16, Mickey left home and moved to Toronto. While in the city, he briefly lived on the streets and took up boxing. Mickey was willing to take any odd job and learn as he worked to support himself. His attitude and willingness to work hard had him working in mines, driving trucks and heavy equipment. Mickey believed that the things you can learn on the streets are often more valuable then what you learn from a book or in school.

Upon returning to Halifax, Mickey took a job with the Halifax Fire Department and helped his brother, Colin and his business partner, Robert Risley start their seafood business, Clearwater Seafood. While working with the fire department, he also started an auto-body shop and car lot. Today, Clearwater Seafood is the largest shellfish exporter in the world and he personally owns 20% of the company.

Mickey always had his finger on the pulse of business opportunities. During a snowstorm in 1988, he was driving a plow truck when a story came on the radio about cellular phones. Being involved in numerous businesses, he thought to himself, “What a tool.” He could be working at one place, and manage his affairs elsewhere. He tried to get a cell phone, but what he found was between $3,500 and $4,000.

He called a friend, who had been working with Motorola to see if he could get a deal. His friend told him the only people getting deals were dealers. So, of course, Mickey became a dealer. Mickey says, “When you don’t know anything, then you aren’t scared to try it.”

One thing lead to another and soon Mickey was the owner of DownEast Communications. DownEast grew to be one of Canada’s largest cell phone distributors, with almost 50 stores in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and New Brunswick. DownEast was sold to Aliant in 2004, netting Mickey about $50 million. A sister company, AMP, grew to a value of more than $100 million as well.

Mickey know the importance of giving back to his community. A quote from Mohammad Ali on his Micco company website says, “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” Mickey has done just that by giving millions to charity including hospitals, Halifax’s Pier 21, and the Bella Rose Centre. His Palooka charity also supports at-risk children in Halifax, across Canada, and around the world. If you are a self-starting entrepreneur, you need to hear this inspiring story!

In this episode

Dave and Greg aren’t boiling anymore, as we now record at our audio engineer, Tim’s studio (thanks Tim!). Dave is struck by how Mickey sees an opportunity and just goes for it while remaining honest and humble. Dave also loves Mickey’s message that success is not all about money. Greg is inspired by Mickey’s past risk taking behaviours and by how much he gives back to the community.

Links & References

The Chickenburger

- Website

- Twitter

- Facebook

Harvest Wine & Spirits

- Website

- Twitter

- Facebook

Palooka's Executive Fitness

- Website

- Twitter

- Facebook

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Introducing Michael Losier -

Have you ever felt like something fell in place at just the right time?  Have you experienced serendipity or coincidence?  Well you, sir/madam, have been experiencing evidence of the law of attraction.

Michael Losier is a best-selling author, speaker and trainer originally from New Brunswick, now living in British Columbia.  Michael started his journey after moving to BC and started a focus group on positive thinking out of his home.  Before long, he had close to 50 people coming to his home every Sunday.   One day, after talking with a motivational speaker, he was motivated to write his own book and become a speaker. 

He has now done talks in 33 countries.  His book, “Law of Attraction” has sold 1.8 million copies, and his second book, “Law of Connection”, has sold over 500,000 copies.  He has been interviewed by Oprah Winfrey four times on her radio show and was even asked to host a radio show on Oprah’s radio station; all of this without ever actively eliciting business.

The law of attraction focuses on positive vibrations.  Simply said, having positive thoughts attract the things you want in life and negative thoughts do the opposite.  The law of attraction suggests that we use positive language, and to avoid negative language.   Michael suggests we avoid the words “no”, “not” and “don’t” as they only bring attention to the things we don’t want.  Imagine you typed “no football” into Google, what do you think would come up in your search results?

In this episode

Greg and Dave learn from Michael that the speed at which you will attract what you desire is equal to how much doubt you have.  Greg is reminded that optimism is the fuel of the engine of success.  Dave is reminded that we need to keep a check of the negative words and lies we tell ourselves.   Michael suggests that whenever we are thinking the words “no”, “don’t”, and “not” that we should ask ourselves, “So what do I want?”  Michael also reflects on perseverance and doing things because you have a passion for them and not for other people’s approval.

Links & Contact

@MichaelLosier

Facebook

Hangout with Michael

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Greg and Dave discuss with Susan regarding the importance of continuous risk taking by entrepreneurs and supporting both success and failure in business. Susan encourages successful companies in a comfort zone to continue to expand and take risks. They discuss how it is important for entrepreneurs to be bold and that success comes from being ambitious and passionate. Susan explains that big business leaders in New Brunswick don’t fit into a specific mold except that, in general, they know how to build teams for success and are optimists.

Susan highlights the importance for entrepreneurs to pass on the success of other business leaders in the region. Propelling good news stories of other businesses helps the whole community. Promoting others success also encourages others to promote your company and your successes.   We learn that optimism is an important ingredient to an entrepreneur and that ability to be optimistic and the wiliness to take risks are much easier when you have community support.

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Greg and Dave dive into the importance of teaching coding to kids and speak about their upcoming documentary project, Code Kids.  Dave gets the new nickname, “Cutlets”, to differentiate the Davids.  We learn the importance of teaching code to kids before grade five, and the need to “break the stigma” and get girls interested in coding.   “Cutlets” is inspired by the idea of educators as coaches.  Entrepreneurs and leaders making their communities a better place inspire Greg.

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Greg and Dave discuss with Kevin the importance of goal setting and sticking to the path to that goal. Kevin also discusses the difference between running an acquired company versus a start-up. Dave notices the differences between entrepreneurs. Some take very calculated risks, others are more action orientated, and some need to plan, plan, plan. Greg sees the link between entrepreneurs and artists; both like to start with a blank canvas to make a thing of beauty and both seek adventure and encounter risk.

The guys also discuss the importance of listening to your gut feelings and being willing to make mistakes. Finally, there is a discussion of how Atlantic Canada is a great incubator for entrepreneurial success. The region supports its’ own and has a history of being hardworking and resilient. There is sense of community in the Atlantic region unlike what you would find in larger cities. 

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