CanInnovate

Carmelia Ray is an internationally acclaimed matchmaker for high achieving men and the quality women they're searching for. She's also a renowned TV personality from Mom Vs. Matchmaker, The Real Housewives Of Toronto, and A User's Guide to Cheating Death (Fall 2018). She's also won the 2018 Best Dating Coach award!

Download the free cheat sheet: Get Unstuck in a Rut and Unleash your Curiosity

Episode Overview:

When you are going toward networking, you need to know what it is that you are looking for in order to create that network professional connection.

• The connection between networking and dating
• The tactical nature on what to do to create an actual experience
• What kind of experience do you want people to have?
• What is it about you?
• What is your story?
• What is it that you are looking for?

Listen to Carmelia Ray's episode 32 Experience Digital Dating on Another Level with Carmelia Ray of WooYou App

The challenges of making a connection digitally instead of face-to-face and how these two experiences differentiate:

Digital Dating:

• Putting yourself online like a dating site for example makes you feel overwhelmed. A lot of people feel that when they are online, it is daunting because there are so much to choose from. There is a lot of noise and responses online and a lot of action.

• How one represent themselves and how to interpret someone else's profile. Most people that go online do not do a great job of putting themselves online. Some are representing themselves a little less or even too much in their profiles.
• Engagement. What do you say to someone online? How do you get from sending messages to asking someone out.

Offline:

• One of the many challenges for many people is where can they meet people where in fact, it used to be meeting traditional way such as meeting in a bar, the church, family gatherings and others.
• Today, most people are meeting on a digital aspects or by chance.
• The only thing that you really know about a person when you meet them is that when you are attracted.
• There is a big investment when finding stuff out about a person.
• The Ghosting. When people go into disappearing act.

Today, more people are looking down rather than looking up.

In networking, people tend to get overwhelmed when they go to conferences or places that they just don't know where to start.

Tips on making a good intro about yourself:

People often gravitates to people when they tell a story about themselves rather than reading a list of things that are good at and are capable of. For sales and marketing companies, they focus on their tagline where they really put their thoughts into their brand. This will be based on the experiences that they want people to see, what is the feel that they wanted to get about and what are the core profiles that they want people to feel.

A lot of times, when people go online, they are focusing on the person whom they want to attract and who they wanted to be to attract that person.

• When writing a good intro, you should always start with the "about you" in story form.
• Always write what you are attracted to and what you are looking for instead of writing the things that you don't like.
• Write a description of what your life is like. Something that would say that the person that you are targeting to is a part of your profile intro.

Tips on body language and how to carry yourself:

The key is really to relax and it can only happen through time and practice. If you don't have enough practice or do not put yourself on the line enough then it is going to be scary, nerve wracking and all those things. Confidence only comes out on both your presence in person and how you appear in your clothing because 55% of communication is nonverbal.

Body language also includes eye contact. The best move that you can do to make a good impression. Make sure to look at the person that you are speaking to and keep your phones away.

Here is a list of things that you should pay attention to:

• Eye contact
• Good posture
• Hygiene
• You don't have to invest a ton of money to look a certain way.
• Dress for success but dress comfortably.

When you are more concerned about how you look like, you are not able to be with the person who is in front of you because you are more concerned about yourself.

Conversation Ice Breaker Tips:

Apart of the confidence and nervousness is the already have in your mind is the intention of what you want to discover about someone. Being curiously engage with the person in front of you without an agenda.

If you have something passionate about or have great stories to tell, then tell that person that you are talking to and keep things positive. Sharing your positive experiences make the person you are talking to more interested in you because nobody will spend their valuable time listening to your problem.

People are really attracted to someone who is going somewhere who has their own paths, has their own trends and who is trying to figure the things out of what is missing in their career or personal life.

How Do You Leave the Date and How Do You Follow Up

There are a lot of people who leave the date not knowing what to expect. Often times, people can be one way and really mean another and that makes a confusing king of date or meeting. And depending on the way you met each other, there is a way to follow up and know if there is an actual chemistry.

Another point to know is that you should always be okay to accept a rejection from the person you met at the end even though you put yourself out there. If you are dating with intention, you should make that clear before you leave.

If you are interested in someone, you are leaning in and getting closer.

Tips for Coaches and Matchmakers:

The first match you make is with your matchmaker or with your dating coach.

• Do your homework and understand which niche does your coaching or matchmaking career looks like and the services that you wanted to provide.
• Understand what you want to accomplish
• Talk to at least 2 to 3 people who wanted to work with you based on the set of criteria that they wanted to accomplish.

Connect with Carmelia:

Website: CarmeliaRa.com

Twitter: @CarmeliaRay

LinkedIn: Carmelia Ray

Instagram: @carmeliaray

As 2018 is coming to an end, I wanted to take some time to share my adventures and misadventures this year. It has been a world wind of lessons learned, lots of trail and errors, victories and laughter.

In this episode - I share:

• A new health discovery
• My 2018 adventures and lessons learned - there are lots of them!
• Discovering my own voice
• The joys of pivoting
• The 2018 goals - did I make them?
• Plus, I share my 3 big goals in 2019

2018 was an incredible year for me, I'm can't believe how much I've learned and grown. And how many times, I had to learn to be gentle with myself. As an entrepreneur, we know that time is always a challenge and there is never a shortage of a list of things to do. And honestly, I forgot to take breaks, like real fun social breaks. I was substituting my corporate work alcoholic behavior for another kind. That was definitely not the intent.

In fact, I went to an off-beat innovative hormone specialist to find out more about my autoimmune condition, because I get no information from regular doctors. She did all the different tests and many other types and the results made me laugh, cry and pause for reflection. My cortisol levels were super high! Yup, stress. I've been internalizing stress.

Do you remember that book 'Don't Sweat the Small Stuff'? Well, we may not need to 'Sweat the small stuff, but we need to deal with these things & not ignore them'. We can ignore the one off small things but, we cannot ignore the trends of small issues, that become medium or large ones.

So, I've made some small changes in life.

One, I've started to only plan to do 3 key things each day, 3 outcomes - two work ones and 1 personal one. Many of the projects that I'm working on are pretty big ones, so I need to break things down into manageable tasks and across a realistic duration.

I've started to plan more fun items over the weekend. I put a list of together of some close friends & family that I absolutely adore and made sure that I've made some plans to see them and doing some fun things with them. In fact, you know that I'm a huge Masterchef fan. Well, two weeks ago, thanks to my googling and advance planning, I got to have dinner prepared by Masterchef Canada Judge, Alvin Leung and the Masterchef Canada 1st winner, Eric Chong.

And sleep… I now, turn off electronics by 10pm at night and don't look at it till the morning. It has made a big difference in my sleep. I use my Google Home to set the alarm and play my radio/news and it's really made a difference in my sleep.

Okay, 2018: The adventures and misadventures.

There were 3 goals that I had made in 2018. The 1st one was to re-brand CanInnovate. I dropped the 'h', so that it's just CanInnovate. We even cleaned up and developed a richer website.

The 2nd goal, was that I was going to develop an online course. Taking the corporate world & management consulting best practices and unleashing it for others to benefit from. I got a little sidetracked, when I got asked to teach at George Brown College, Intro to Management Consulting. I ended up teaching many of the topics, which means. That lots of materials have already been prepared.

I may be delayed in this goal, but I will be having a free webinar in Jan 2019, where we are going to talk about sales proposals and the top 3 mistakes that people make. January is the beginning of a new sales cycle, so a great time to start thinking ahead. I'll put the link in the show notes, so that you can easily register. Completely free.

The 3rd goal, was that I wanted to give back. I love volunteering and helping others. I actually did some research on a few different organizations, however, I couldn't understand how much was being given to charity and how much was administrative fees. I like transparency. So, I met up with an old colleague of mine, who just sold his business for a fair amount of money. But, he started a charity, where he helps underprivileged by providing access to Education and Healthcare.

He's a good man, with great values. He does it because he has daughters and wants to create something that they can be proud to be part of. I really believe that education and awareness Is instrumental in overcoming any obstacles & perception challenges. So, I will partner with an organization that has the same set of shared values.

There were a few big lessons that I learned this year…

One- I had to make some staff changes. I wish I had done it earlier. In fact, on episode 19 with Alain Gorbeau, from Farmlead, He had given some great advice.

Learning to really have the discipline or be able to realize faster that you're in one of those situations and pull yourself back when you're tempted to either hire someone that isn't exactly right or to make excuses for someone that just isn't fitting for whatever reason.

Alan Gorbeau, Farmlead

Oh boy… I didn't do this properly. I didn't trust my instincts, I kept thinking that I haven't coached them enough or that I'm not clear enough. I took the blame. Nope, not any more. I need to trust my instinct. I need people that can help drive things forward, with minimal supervision. I have hired experienced people, so I need them to step up to the plate and be the CEO in their own domain. So, that was a big 'aha moment for me'

Second lessons learned - I need to stop over-planning things and get faster into execution mode. I need to let go of my wanting it to be perfect. I can't help it! I love what I do and I want it to be perfect. I'm just passionate at what I do. However, I do recognize that time is a precious commodity and there are places where I can go to get additional support. I'm going to switch into 10% planning mode and 90% into execution mode.

Lastly, The Value of Pivoting. I often forget that I can shift and move and make changes, whenever I want to. It's actually quite fun. So, we decided to pivot. It's the management consultant in me. As these Innovators share their best practices and lessons learned. I also wanted to depend my knowledge and skills in this area by offering masterclasses, where we can gain those tactical skills.

We've had a few of these masterclasses from mindset (Episode 45: Innovation Mindset), negotiations (Ep 57: The Art of Negotiation), vulnerability (Ep 58: Vulnerability is the new advantage). We have lots more coming. It's really imperative to stay on top of industry trends, update our skill sets and not wait, for our bosses to guide us. We need to take control of our careers.

So, being that I've learned that pivoting is a good thing, I've actually only planned for Q1 & Q2 of 2019. That way, I can be open to shifting and conducting lessons learned. Who knows where the future will take us.

So, what's in store for the next six (6) months

1. Publishing my Networking book - it's nearly done and I can't wait to share it. It's inspired by my students at George Brown as this was a topic that they wanted more help in. The idea is that it's about connecting as individuals for multiple reasons, not just for career development. We all have different reasons, different challenges - so, whether you're looking for career opportunities, or new friends or new relationships. It's about connecting with people that share common values.
2. Conducting free sales webinar & even local workshops- I've already got the materials developed from the course I taught and I'm going into execution mode. You can find the link to register for the free webinar in the show notes.
3. To finalize the volunteer partnership, so that we can start to make an impact on the world. I truly believe that education and awareness is instrumental in overcoming any challenges and obstacles. If children start teaching their uneducated parents, then we have a hope for the future. We need to provide opportunities for those that don't have that privilege.

I'm pretty excited about 2019 and all the new twists and turns that I'm about to discover. My new year's resolution is to continue to push the boundaries and unleash my curiosity. Every time, I try something new a new adventure presents itself.

Thank you for being part of my journey and I really can't wait to hear about your new adventures in 2019. I really wish everyone a very happy and healthy holiday season that is filled with lots of love curiosity and laughter! Get some much needed rest and lots of TLC.

Talk soon!

My sister has always been intrigued about my constant craving and desire to have feedback and not being sensitive to it. She's always feels like when she gets feedback, that she's getting criticized. She wanted to know my secret.

There secret is, I look at feedback like data. IData is really important, just look at Big Data/ Machine Learning and AI, they are always looking for ways to gather predictive data in order to be able to plan and mitigate risks.

This episode will talk about feedback from 3 perspective:

1. Receiving the feedback
2. Ways to provide feedback
3. Using feedback

Having data from multiple sources, just allows me to see my blind spots.

I don't know, what i don't know and that's where feedback fits in.

Feedback allows you to see how others are receiving the communication and the perception that others may have. Sometimes, those perceptions are not what we want. But, that feedback really allows you to see what we may need to change.

When we start to uncover what we don't know then we are able to understand what we don't know and make appropriate plans to change that perception. It really helps us identify our blind spots and the expectations.

Maybe the role that we are in, isn't the right fit for our personality. Maybe the role requires constant relationship building and you're not a people person. You prefer to come in, log into the system and deliver reports.

1. How to receive the feedback

As the year end comes, we are probably going to be getting our year end feedback from our bosses. We all hope for great feedback, so that we can get our bonuses. However, it's make or break it.

If we don't get great feedback, then our bosses don't appreciate us and it starts a downward cycle. If we get great feedback, then we get comfortable in our skin and always feel like the smartest person in the room. It's hard to not take feedback as personal. Think about all those internet trolls, that just need a hug and some love. (Anyways, I digress)

Getting feedback is a tricky process. People don't like to get feedback. It's a little scary. Think about athletes. They work on their skill and get feedback in order to improve their skills. So, think about our jobs - we are like athletes in a particular field, division, department.

We need the feedback for us to see how we can improve our skills in our sport. However, let's be honest. Not a lot of managers are great at giving feedback.

• First, you need to see how you personally deal with feedback.
• How do you deal with feedback that you receive, don't forget about your non-verbal queues.

Maybe you roll your eyes, huff and puff or just get ready to argue. How can we change that? Maybe you just need to change the narrative. Change the question 'what can we do better?".

Specific feedback is great because it allows us to focus on 'What can we do better?', which is much more positive and looks at the opportunities around us.

Our ego is built to protect us from negative emotions, so we need to change the narrative. So, that we don't do self projection and it is there that it is time to change our mindset. We are looking for opportunities to strengthen our talent (our sport), our relationships and perceptions and to find new Opportunities.

Opportunities is what keeps us motivated- it's the carrot dangling at the end of the stick!

2. Ways to provide feedback

When we are getting feedback - we are looking for the opportunities for what we can do better and what does fine tuning our skills take us. Use this as an opportunity to talk about career paths, progressions and other marketable skills. What a great time to justify taking a course to further become marketable.

Let's talk about some typical feedback mistakes:

1. Not giving or receiving feedback in a timely manner. I always provide feedback as something happens. Why wait till the year end to remind someone of something that happened 10 months ago.
   1. Let's be clear - I can barely remember what I had for breakfast three (3) days ago. Details get distorted and memories fade. Just think about all those crime shows, where the police isolate potential witnesses to get their statements right away. Not, 2 days later, 10 months later… it's immediately.
   2. Second issue I have with this approach, is that you didn't give me the opportunity to correct something for 10 months.

1. Providing vague feedback - this is really frustrating. It's my pet peeve when someone provides a theoretical answer to things versus a tactical example. We need to make sure that the feedback is specific and that also shows the downstream impact.

Also, using specific examples allows us to see whether there is a trend. Is this happening from a process perspective, project perspective, stakeholder perspective. Where is it coming from? How is it happening?

That really enables us to figure out, how we can make improvements by getting really great details. And talking about it, from a partnership perspective.

1. Here is my favourite mistake - not proactively asking your key stakeholders for feedback to send to your boss/career counsellor. Why are we waiting for our bosses. We need to take control of our destiny.

In another future episode, I'll teach you some tricks of what management consultants use in order to get promoted. It's a time tested tool that I've been using forever and with my coaching clients. Speaking of proactive feedback, It is an amazing temperature check tool.

Be the driver of your own destiny!

3. Using feedback

I've used this for organizational change management for many many years. For example, I had launched a lot of training courses, with the associated training plans in order for the marketing organization to be able to use the new system and tools.

One day, one of my key stakeholders (my main client, the one that pays the bills) - had told me that he was in one of the big executive meetings where the Chief Marketing Officer had surprised him with some feedback.

That the CMO didn't receive any training for her marketing organization. This CMO, had a lot of power and influence in the organization and across the C'Suite. She was a key and major stakeholder, that I couldn't ignore.

It was odd to me, that she didn't feel that her marketing department had received the training. I had done all the right things, I developed a curriculum, socialized it and gathered feedback from many of her senior managers and delivered the training and got rave reviews.

So, why did she have that perception? I didn't understand that disconnect. I booked a meeting to uncover what was really going on under the hood.

The meeting was amazing - it was such an eye opener. She knew that her team had received the training, but she didn't feel that her team was equipped to be the marketers of the 21st century.

AHA! That was a completely different problem that needed to be solved. I was solving the problem of getting the organization to use a new system that had been purchased. Her problem was does her team have the right skill set to be exceptional marketers. Completely, two different issues.

Was one around a system to add to their existing skills. The second one was around their existing skill sets. Now, for consultants - this is an opportunity. A cross-selling opportunity that enabled future sales.

The end result was, that we did a skill set mapping exercise, re-designed her marketing department and sold additional training to get her team equipped. We had designed it with her and this strengthen our relationship.

So, that is a client example of how to utilize feedback.

We can easily change perception, once we uncover what that perception is and that is from feedback. Feedback is a gift.. In fact, there was a great book called the The Present: The Gift for Changing Times Hardcover by Spencer Johnson M.D.

Now, I'd be silly to NOT to ask for feedback. I'd love to hear your feedback and thoughts on this episode. You can leave feedback in a review on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Podcast player, iHeart Radio, Spotify and the list goes on. You can also just email me at [email protected]

Don't we want to be better tomorrow, than today.

Isn't that the idea of new year's resolutions? We are all on a path to continuous improvement, or we'd be bored and become walking zombies.

I can't wait to hear about your feedback and better yet, I can wait to hear about the new mysteries that you're about to uncover!

I finally watched 'A Star is Born' and wow! Was I ever moved. I will admit, I did get teary eyed when she first gets on that stage. Now, I'm not going to give away anything but I will say that anyone that gets pushed a little or a LOT out of their comfort zone gets scared.

I got scared when I was going to put out this podcast. I've been a management consultant for way too many years, what did I know about podcasting? I didn't have a background in broadcasting. I even had a few friends think I was weird but I didn't care.

The reason why I didn't care is because it was on my list of things that I was curious about and wanted to try. Just like when I moved to England for a few years, it was always one of my dreams to live abroad so I could travel the world. There are certain things that I just need to do and try.

The reason, why I wanted to talk about this topic is because I have gotten a few emails and messages saying that I was brave and that they wished that they could get out of their own way and try something new. Thank for you reaching out, these messages really mean the world to me.

One listener, even told me that she felt like a walking zombie and on auto-pilot and she's lost the ability to even dream or be curious about things. It just touched my heart. I've been there, in fact many of my close friends will remember when I basically disappeared into a cave because I was in auto-pilot, not even cruise control.

I was just working 24 hours a day, sleepless, traveling non-stop, and trying to make magic happen for clients and my company. I literally disappeared and became a shadow and when I looked in the mirror, I didn't recognize myself. So, I totally get it.

Change is hard, taking the first step towards anything is even harder. We get scared, nervous. But I'm here to tell you that it fixable and changeable and our mind creates more barriers than needed.

I think that's why I'm addicted to Gordon Ramsey's cooking shows. From Hell's Kitchen to Masterchef. I absolutely LOVE LOVE his shows. Not because I have a passion for cooking, to be fair, I am a foodie and I do have a passion for eating! LOL

However, these home chefs come into a kitchen and get pushed to the limits. They may have a certain spice rack that they are used to using or they are really an amazing baker but they all get forced to try something new. Some fail because they can't (actually… won't ) make the leap to get out of their comfort zone. They are busy playing it safe to chase the money, instead of chasing the culinary adventure. See? I've watched way too many episodes.

Let our culinary adventure begin! Well, I have a few goodies to share.

The journey starts with 1- Why should I be vulnerable.

Part 2 of this tale - How vulnerability is actually a source of strength.

Part 3 - What to be vulnerable in.

What Is And Why Should I be Vulnerable.

I can give you the heartfelt speech but how about I give you some research or better yet a researcher.

There has been this one TED talk that has always stuck with me for many years now. It is Brene Brown and she talks about vulnerability. This TED Talk appeared in 2010 with over 36 million views.

It's a 20 minute video that also has subtitles. I think I've shared this TED Talk with so many people. Brene Brown studies human connection. The short end of the story is that she went to research and prove a certain thesis. When the results from her research came back, she basically had a meltdown because she didn't know what to do.

She didn't understand what the results were telling her because they went in the complete opposite direction.

Her TED talk video is so amazing! It's very humorous, she's an amazing speaker. She talks about how fear and shame is why we disconnect. However, when she studied people that were the happiest in the world. It was because they were open to being vulnerable and not afraid of being themselves.

They just were themselves, their authentic true self, full of flaws and happier because they saw that their so-called 'flaws' were what made them unique and special. It is so good that I highly recommend this video to everyone and anyone. I don't want to give it all away but I will share a quote from her TED Talks and her book Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead.

Here are Brene Brown TED Talk videos and books

• Daring Greatly - How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
• Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts, Oct 9th, 2018 by Brené Brown
• Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transformations the Way we Live, Love, Parent and Lead
• The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings of Authenticity, Connection and Courage

Connection- Vulnerability gives us connection.

"Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path."

With a quote and research like that, who doesn't want love, joy, courage, creativity and a sense of belonging! Wooziers! It's a little mind blowing…

Part 2 of this tale - How Vulnerability is Actually a Source of Strength

"Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance." - Brene Brown from her book Daring Greatly.

Our imperfect selves is when we get true belonging? I think this is why I LOVE that film the Greatest Showman on Earth. The music, the story-line is amazing and if you need more. It has Hugh Jackman and he's definitely dreamy in my books. The movie is about an entrepreneur that brought the Circus to life. The Circus that brought the 'EXTRA' to ordinary! It's such a feel good movie.

I confess, I think I've seen this film about 10 times. There are so many messages. In fact, I was telling my sister about the film this summer while we were at Santa's village. Yes, I was at Santa's Village in the summer, it's another story for another day. I was telling her that this movie is good for all ages three random girls (I think they were about 13, 15 and 18) jumped in and went on and on about.

They were telling my sister that this movie shows that our weaknesses is actually our strengths, we just need to stop looking at it from that perspective. The 18 year old and I went on and on about this one song 'THIS IS ME'. My youngest sister has been telling for ages that there are parts of me that will never grow up. I'm stuck in the PG-13 movie genre for the rest of my life and this situation, was totally proving her point.

However, I digress. Back to the song 'THIS IS ME' - it was true.. This song seems to have y veins pumping with courage. You know there is always a song that just makes you feel confident, powerful, strong and courageous. This was it for me…

Don't worry, I've got it in the show notes, so you can click and play..

In fact, this song became so popular it became a national anthem for so many groups and people.

Variety.com listed this song as the Anthem for Outcasts, the bullied, the marginalized, the disfranchised and as the theme of 'Diversity' and 'Me Too' gains more more traction, we are all starting to see that many of us have felt like outcasts in one way or another. Even CNN did a feature about this.

Indie Wire named this song the ultimate anthem. The song writers were quoted to say that they strove to represent "these people who have lived their whole lives in the shadows." Shadows, we remember that feeling in life.

Part 3 - What to be vulnerable in.

Now that we know that being vulnerable is such a good thing, what do we want to be vulnerable in? How about just unleashing some new areas of interest. As we get older, our inner giant/ child gets squashed. We only think in terms of practicality, and quickly get to a conclusion that it's not feasible because we don't have time, skill or support. We lost our inner child, our ability to be curious.

As 2018 is nearly over and a new year is around the corner, we start thinking about resolutions. What if your resolution was to try something new that you've always wanted to try. Mine is to publish a book, I've always wanted to write. In fact, my grammar is terrible. My dad fought with my high school English teacher for giving me an 'A' in English. However, I do know that it's not a barrier, there are editors out there that can help me with my areas of weakness and same for anyone.

I have a little worksheet that I prepared and I used it on myself when I was trying to think of my next steps. I had zero clue for what I wanted to try. I think I got used to the same spice rack. I kept making the different dishes with the same spices. Who knew, that I could use different spices (Just to be clear, I'm using spices as a metaphor for tools and techniques).

I knew I needed to do something different but had no idea what to do. So, I created this for ME. I'm sharing it with all y'all. Why? because it's hard to feel stuck, hard to see when there is no vision or goal. Because one day, I hope when my nieces and nephew go through this phase that someone will say or provide something that will help them. No charge, all free. I'm paying it future forward for the future generations.

Take a try, you've got nothing to lose but lots to gain. Since, I've been quoting movies - All you need is 20 seconds of courage (movie Matt Damon 'We Bought a Zoo'. Let me know how it goes. Email me or message me if you get stuck. I'll help you. I can't wait to hear about all these new recipes that you're about to discover.

"Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren't always comfortable, but they're never weakness."

Remember - the world needs more people like us. Real people, real struggles, real VICTORIES!!! Just real!

Show Note Links:

• Daring Greatly - How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, June 26th, 2018 by Brené Brown
• Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts, Oct 9th, 2018 by Brené Brown
• Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transformations the Way we Live, Love, Parent and Lead, April 4th, 2017 by Brené Brown
• The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings of Authenticity, Connection and Courage, May 24th, 2013 by Brené Brown
• Brené Brown - Ted Talks Video
• The Greatest Showman on Earth - This is Me
• Variety.com
• Indie Wire
• CNN

FREE WORKSHEET: HOW TO GET UNSTUCK!

Nicknamed "the negotiator" as a child, Fotini Iconomopoulos has been honing her skills her entire life. For the last decade, she's been empowering Fortune 500 executives and their teams to achieve their objectives through her expertise in negotiation, communication and persuasion.

Episode Overview:

• Tips on multiple areas of your life that you did not know you could actually negotiate
• Key lessons in big mistakes that people are making
• Tips on job offers and how to negotiate
• Gender differences on how we negotiate

When she's not strategizing with clients, she is a frequent guest on CBC & CTV Television, a professor of MBA Negotiations at the Schulich School of Business, which is one of the top business schools in the world and she offers her experience to non-profit initiatives. In 2018, she ran a week-long empowerment camp for young girls, an attempt to close the gender gap before it starts. She was recently recognized with a Greek America Foundation Top 40 under 40 award for her achievements and philanthropic work.

I actually got the honor to meet Fotini at WeWork, when we were in a workshop together and she is someone that I automatically gravitated towards because I could feel her passion for the topic and how she genuinely wants to help people become successful, not to mention she's absolutely gorgeous and charming!

How important is it to master the art of negotiation as a life skill?

When Fotini talks to her audiences during her keynotes and some of the keynotes that she does is for the people who does not know that they do any negotiation.

Negotiation is not always for people wearing suits shaking hands.

Fotini's experience at the hospital help a way to negotiate with the nurses and other staff at the hospital. She is talking to them to resolve these things that needed to be resolved to change her quality of life.

• If you spend time along with children, they are the best negotiator in life.
• Negotiations is about managing conflict.
• Negotiator prevent arguments.
• We have to negotiate all the time, so why not work on that skill every single day.

Where do people usually learn to negotiate?

According to Fotini we learn how to negotiate during childhood or by learning on what works and what doesn't work. In businesses schools, negotiation is a part of the program for the undergrad and for the MBA program, it is the most popular classes because it is a life skill that we really should be mastering.

Other areas that we can negotiate with our lives:

One of the most common areas that we usually negotiate is in retail. In fact, almost everything that we do in our lives revolves around negotiation whether it may be business wide or a friendly gesture.

In Sir Alan Sugar's UK Version of Apprentice, Sapna talked about an episode where men always get the upper hand when it comes to negotiation compared to the women. Here are the reasons why these happen:

• Men do it more.
• Women are more cooperative on how they could negotiate.
• Women get more items than men because they are more cooperative which may result to a "failed success" time-wise.

Fotini talked about Linda Bobcock's study back in 2001 where 7% of women are trying to negotiate their first salary while 57% of men were. Sometimes the differentiating factors of getting the courage to get through this is situation is:

• Having the courage to do this
• Knowing "what do I need to do to mitigate the risk of retaliation
• Women are really gifted at negotiating but they don't do it enough

The things that is preventing us to negotiate

• Fear - as a child, the things that was encourage to play in different forms for a long time creates an impact in terms on how we connect ourselves.
• Lack of encouragement - as adults, we should start building confidence to our kids instead of telling them that they are acting up or being bossy.

The things that people don't ask in terms of jobs offers

Fotini provides advice on how you should ask about some benefits that you can get when applying for a job such as the bonuses, a choice to work from home to save parking fees and much more.

When it is time to negotiate for salary, don't be afraid to ask but before you ask, think of what is going to be the best component that you can get from the company that will save you and the company money in the long run.

Other mistakes that we see in term of negotiation:

• Assuming that there is no room for negotiation
• Do your homework
• People talking themselves out of the deal
• Take your time to think before speaking
• Take the time to learn what they need to say and get some knowledge out of them.

About Forward Focusing:

Forward Focusing helps companies strategically invest energy into the areas that will advance their negotiation and communication goals. To optimize client performance in commercial activities, a truly customized approach empowers executives and strengthens their teams via advisory, coaching and training services. Service such sectors as consumer packaged goods, retail, professional services, energy, law, telecommunications, finance and more.

Resource Recommendation:

Book Recommendation:

• Women Don't Ask by Linda Bobcock
• Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
• Permission to Screw-Up by Kristen Hadeed

Best Practice:

• Outsource things such us hiring a speaker bureau
• Marking calendar for schedules
• Ask for help

Favorite Hot Spot: Insomnia - Richmond Station

Connect with Fotini:

Website: Forward Focusing

Twitter: @FotiniIcon

LinkedIn: Fotini Iconomopoulus

Instagram: @fotiniicon

Thanks again for tuning in!

To help out the show:

• Please leave an iTunes review or post a comment below. Your help is greatly appreciated.
• If you know any Canadian Innovators whom you like us to feature, please feel free to email us.
• Listen to more innovators who are crushing it here.

I'm still channeling Gary Vee! Ratings and reviews are my oxygen!

Have you seen the new CanInnovate resources & tools page, that provides different offers and discounts. Who doesn't love to save money?

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Carole Piovesan, a lawyer at McCarthy Tetrault. She is a respected leader in the area of AI and law.

Carole is known to apply creativity, strategic thinking and a multi-disciplinary approach to helping clients solve complex problems associated with all these new exponential technologies.

She is the co-lead of their national Cybersecurity, Privacy and Data Management group, as well as the firm lead on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Carole is also the editor of the CyberLex blog, one of Canada's most widely read blogs on law and data.

Episode Overview:

• What exactly is AI & the legal and ethical considerations from both a consumer and a business perspective
• How lots of new roles are being created in this space
• Whether AI should be recognized as people
• How FREE is not FREE
• How we should use legal as part of the end to end design - Outside - IN view

As Canada becomes a leader in AI research, there are lots of best practices that companies can learn and adopt. Let's start at the beginning, for our listeners out there

How Carole define Artificial Intelligence (AI)

It is a computer system and algorithm that is analyzing massive amount of data for the purposes of identifying trends and ultimately making predictions on those trends. We also discussed the confusion between machine learning and artificial intelligence where machine Learning - learning from the past - to define the rules to become more predictive.

Machine learning is an application of artificial intelligence (AI) that provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed.

We've had Dr. Ann Cavoukian on the podcast a couple of times and she really emphasizes about privacy and how this is a big concern. You can check out our episode here: Ep1: Privacy, the foundation of your freedom featuring Dr. Ann Cavoukian

In the white paper that Carole co-wrote, co-author of the firm's White Paper entitled, "From Chatbots to Self-Driving Cars: The Legal Risks of Adopting AI in your Business". The point about AI is, it is creating a system that can reduce operational cost and do things that other humans could otherwise do faster, more accurately and cheaper.

What are some of the big ethical considerations that we should think about?

We need to use the approach of data mindfully and responsibly. We also need to understand that artificial intelligence or the massive data sector that is being used for a predictive value will go forward. AI is using the data that existed 10 years ago and the questions would become, "what was 10 years ago and what would we like in the next 10 years look like".

Movie mentioned: Minority Report with Tom Cruise

With GDPR that came into play and the Cambridge Scandal - what concerns does this open up?

Canada has privacy legislation that is almost 20 years old and it is principled base unlike the GDPR that is more prescriptive but its essence aligns well with GDPR in protecting the privacy of Canadians.

Listen to our episode with Dr. Ann Cavokian to learn more about GDPR: Ep28: Insiders Guide to GDPR & turning it into a competitive advantage with Dr. Ann Cavoukian

The real debate that is happening right now in respect to our data and privacy is the fact that data is being collected everywhere all the time and in all of our devices so it is increasingly difficult for people to make informed choices about what privacy or what personal information they want to give up or for what purpose.

For Cambridge Scandal exposed an issue that is not technically legal but it is a social issue about the use of data for collateral purposes and is not the original purpose of collecting the data.

CBC Marketplace - are your Apps spying on you?

Carole shared the three main legal buckets to using artificial intelligence that consumers should be aware of and consider:

Input - when you are using a ton of data what you need to be thinking about as a business are:

• How your data is going to be used
• How is it collected
• For what purpose
• What is the nature of that data
• Where is the data being stored and is it secured?

Contract - if you are buying a system, you should be thinking about who is going to maintain it overtime whether you have the in-house skill to do so or somebody else to do so. If you need to maintain a third party relationship then you should think about how are you going to manage that relationship over time and what does it look like overtime.

• You should also look at the issues transparency and trainability
• You should also think about interpretability depending on context
• Every AI system needs to be interpretable

Deployment - focuses on issues of liability but we still don't have enough information here other than being aware of the liability issues that goes into the contracting phase in particular.

About McCarthy Tetrault:

McCarthy Tétrault provides a broad range of legal services, advising on large and complex assignments for Canadian and international interests. Built on a unique model of collaboration, the firm provides unequalled legal talent, industry knowledge and practice experience, and delivers customized legal services to help clients achieve the results that are important to them. The firm has substantial presence in Canada's major commercial centres as well as in New York City and London, UK. We deliver integrated services in business law, litigation, tax, real estate, and labour and employment law.

Connect with Carole:

Website: McCarthy Tétrault

LinkedIn:

• McCarthy Tétrault
• Carole Piovesan

Twitter:

• @CJPiovesan
• @McCarthy_ca

Facebook: McCarthy Tétrault

Thanks again for tuning in!

To help out the show:

• Please leave an iTunes review or post a comment below. Your help is greatly appreciated.
• If you know any Canadian Innovators whom you like us to feature, please feel free to email us.
• Listen to more innovators who are crushing it here.

I'm still channeling Gary Vee! Ratings and reviews are my oxygen!

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Blake Cronyn is Ironman, ultramarathon runner, Guinness World Record holder, Nike Pacer, technology entrepreneur and twin. When he is not in front of a computer, he on the pavement either on a bike or in his shoes (Nike only). Humans are tool builders; Blake use technology as a tool to enhance his mental and physical capacities in order to maximize my potential. He is also the President at rBux.

Humans are tool builders; Blake use technology as a tool to enhance his mental and physical capacities in order to maximize our potential. He is also the President at rBux.

Episode Overview:

Hey innovators! I've got another tasty treat for you. This week's episode I get to talk to the president of rBux. It's almost like "our" Bucks which tells you that this episode is for everyone those that want to get rewarded for telling your friends about what you've bought and what you recommend. And those retailers and companies that are looking for some way to kind of partner with the actual general public that is utilizing your services.

It is kind of a WIN-WIN. Blake also share about how the importance and how the best practice of throwing spaghetti at the wall can help you really figure things out. He shares the anti sloth best practice out there and how action conquers fears.

Guinness World Record and Business Ventures

Blake is a Guinness World Record holder for the longest TV watching marathon in history and it was sponsored by Bell Media. And they did a publicity stunt for the unveiling of Crave TV. The ironic thing is that Blake don't actually watch a lot of TV but when they told him about their experience he obviously was ecstatic because I wanted to get a Guinness world record and be the best in the world at something.

It is in that occasion that he met his partner Bruce Clark who is the CEO of rBux and Blake is the president.

Life happens when you're busy making other plans - Sapna

rBux is a social platform that allows anyone to market themselves for our partner companies and its performance based marketing where members get compensated according to the value that they create. It is also platform that allows you to share products online and if it leads to sales rBux will geta percentage. rBux is for people who sell products, it is for people who share products and it is for people who buy products and can get compensated in terms of financial rewards or point systems.

rBux which phonetically sounds like our box stands for referral box or reward box and it's all about the concept of getting compensated for referrals which we think don't get properly compensated in our society so we create a product that will solve that problem. Essentially you can redeem them for products at any of our partner retailers or brands or you can cash them out for local currency.

The whole idea of rBux come about:

Bruce Clark is the CEO and he's the visionary and they came up with the idea around 15 years ago. He is a very successful he's a very successful retailer and essentially he noticed it as a problem that people made referrals but seldom got compensated and that's a huge problem because word of mouth sales are a great low cost way to market products and lead to sales. And so he thought if he could create a system that incentivized word of mouth sales more and then this would be a huge benefit for not only himself as a retail store owner but for others. So Blake met up with Bruce and pitched on the idea although Blake had no involvement in the creation of it. Instead, Blake helped with the execution which is arguably just as important.

People who create that value share share the benefits of the value they create as well.

What excites me most about this industry:

Right now we are e-commerce focused and there's a lot of products selling online. However, Blake and his team are hoping to get into the services, in store and expand to bigger ticket items such as automobiles and even real estate. But let's start with where we are now with e-commerce and products which is an unbelievably exciting industry to be in because so many products are being produced at a frequent pace.

Lessons Learned:

• The importance of finding out what works for you.
• Fire bullets and then cannonballs.
• It's essentially finding out what works.
• Trying a little bit of everything but finding out what works and then doubling down and putting more effort behind the thing that really works.

Quotes to Live By:

"Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears" - Ben Franklin

Action conquer fear

Complexity is the enemy of execution

Productivity tool:

• Trello

Book Recommendation:

How Google works by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg

The First 90 Days by Michael D. Watkins

The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

EMyths Revisited by Michael Gerber

The Digital Economy by Don Topsccott

Hotspot

• The Ossington Strip - Toronto
• Ride Cycle Club - Toronto
• Paris Paris - Toronto

About rBux:

rBux, uses technology to empower anyone to create and develop their personal brand for social sharing. rBux provides the online tools and education to help expand their reach and the ability to monetize their own social influence. From influencers building out their lifestyle brand to customers interested in developing passive income, rBux makes it easy to participate in social commerce. rBux started operations in 2015 and is the evolution of retail. The brainchild of Bruce Clark, owner, and operator of The Muskoka Store, a destination retail brand housing unique and useful cottage products located in Muskoka, Ontario. In his search to encourage customers to recommend products, rBux was born. rBux is social commerce, using social media and online media to cultivate social collaboration to assist in online buying and selling of products. The rBux platform was specifically designed for influencers and the evolution of Retail. By letting influencers promote products and create their own personal referral gallery, you empower them to recommend products that reflect their own lifestyle brand. With the ever-growing amount of products available online, people want to see products recommended by people, these word-of-mouth referrals create a feeling of shopping authenticity.

Connect with Blake:

• LinkedIn: rBux Blake Cronyn
• Website: Blake Cronyn and rBux.com
• IG: @blakeycc

Thanks again for tuning in!

To help out the show:

• Please leave an iTunes review or post a comment below. Your help is greatly appreciated.
• If you know any Canadian Innovators whom you like us to feature, please feel free to email us.
• Listen to more innovators who are crushing it here.

I'm still channeling Gary Vee! Ratings and reviews are my oxygen!

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Karen Greve Young is the Chief Executive Officer of Futurpreneur Canada, Canada's only national organization dedicated to supporting young entrepreneurs. Futurpreneur's unique model combines funding, mentorship and start-up programs to fuel the success of thousands of young entrepreneurs in every Canadian province and territory.

Karen is an accomplished non-profit leader dedicated to fostering economic and social prosperity through new approaches and partnerships.

How did the birth of Futurpreneur Canada come about?

When Futurpreneur Canada started two decades ago before Karen even lives in Canada, there really wasn't an ecosystem for startup founders.

On an event, an entrepreneur started with a blank canvas or a blank landscape without whole lot of support and in response to that a group of Canadians; that was started by a Canadian members of industry and then supported by the federal government, got the idea of providing collateral free low interest loans to entrepreneurs.

Futurpreneur realize that money is an important part particularly for young entrepreneur especially if they don't have other equity and access to funds there business. Another part that is important for Futurpreneur is its mentorship.

They also make sure that the entrepreneurs also get a mentor, a guide and the support of an individual to help them on their journey and that has always been part of the motto of Futurpreneur.

Futurpreneur financing, mentorship and its tools to help support these entrepreneurs from ages 18 to 39 so that they can use these in order to start their business. It is also the only organization supporting entrepreneurs that does this in every province and territory in Canada.

What matters to them is an entrepreneur who is young, has an idea or a business model and can use the mentorship that they provide in order to bring the business idea to reality.

Karen talks about the entrepreneur journey and how they work to support it:

Entrepreneur starts with passion. They start with an idea and goal of what they want to achieve and pretty quickly they realize that they needed fuels (funds) to achieve this to get their ideas down in writing and to plan it out to get the resources they need. And often they need the confidence to actually start.

What excites Karen most about this industry:

"From wannapreneur to entrepreneur"

Entrepreneur is the umbrella term for people starting a business but obviously there are many types of entrepreneurs.

What Karen is really excited about as being a part of Futurpreneur is the scope of all the main street businesses in Canada. That means Canadian from smaller towns can come back to their hometown after college and have a vibrant job opportunities just like on the large city without having to go to a large city.

It is really important that they focus on opportunities that are broader, rural and urban, and for the whole diverse range of people whether they are doing it part time with the side hustle or full time.

The biggest entrepreneurial mistake that Karen see from time to time:

• It takes a certain amount of confidence start a business
• You need to have confidence to yourself and your business but should not reach arrogance or hubris.
• As soon as an entrepreneur stops listening to people who disagree with her or with him; that is a recipe for disaster.
• Having a mentor or advisers or talking to your customers who you know will say something straight given what is not what you want to hear is vital.

Karen also shared with us how this situation could lead to becoming a confident blocker. Listen to my episode Ariel Garten from Muse - episode 45 where we dive in through what confident blockers do to you and what you should do to stop it.

"Invite people with different opinions"

Marketing/Entrepreneur Tips:

Sometimes we focus too much on the messages that we want to get out that we as humans we put things in what we want to convey rather than what we want them to hear and feel. So always keep your customers in mind and focusing on what's in it for them and what are they looking for from what you are doing and REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT.

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago and the second best time is today" – Chinese Proverb

Favorite Habit that made her say wow she was a part of:

Getting out of the field and visiting their team around the country. One specific experience that Karen had was being in Halifax visiting the House of Auto Details which is an auto detailing company; a female founded who has found a gap in the industry and several years later is still going strong. The very next day, she met Nathon Kong is a Montreal-based company creating bespoke custom-tailored suits with the help of a 3D scanner which is made by local artists and some of it are done by patients from the local mental health facilities.

"You are trying to embark on a new path there is no better time than now"

Personal Habit:

For Karen, it is all about how she starts her day early in the morning and do workouts and journaling and get things done. The last thing that she will do before getting her kids ready is she Muse headband for about 3 to 10 minutes. She uses her Muse headband to meditate, be mindful and set herself up for the day she wants to have.

You can listen to Ariel Garten the founder of Muse on episode 41

Resources Recommendation:

• MaRS startup library
• The power of mentors and partnership

Tools from Futurpreneur:

• Business Plan Writer
• Entrepreneur Pathway
• Library

Inspiring people to follow:

• Melinda Gates
• Richard Branson
• Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures

Hot spot:

• Webber's on Highway 11, ON
• Halifax Central Library

About Futurpreneur:

Futurpreneur Canada has been fueling the entrepreneurial passions of Canada's young enterprise for two decades. We are the only national, non-profit organization that provides financing, mentoring and support tools to aspiring business owners aged 18-39. Our internationally recognized mentoring program hand matches young entrepreneurs with a business expert from a network of more than 2,800 volunteer mentors.

More about Karen:

Prior to joining Futurpreneur in 2018, Karen was the Vice President, Corporate Development & Partnerships at MaRS Discovery District, a global innovation hub based in Toronto. During her seven year tenure, Karen led corporate strategy development, implementation and measurement, managed a global network of innovation partners, and oversaw community engagement including marketing, communications and events.

She has previously held finance, management and strategy roles in San Francisco, New York and London, UK, at organizations including Bain & Company, Gap Inc. and the UK's Institute of Cancer Research. Along the way, she co-authored a book with her mother about their shared experience through her mother's ovarian cancer journey.

Karen holds an MBA from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and a BA in Economics from Harvard University.

Connect with Karen:

LinkedIn: Karen Greve Young

Website: Futurpreneur.ca

Twitter: @Futurpreneur @KarenGreveYoung

Facebook: Futurpreneur

Thanks again for tuning in!

To help out the show:

• Please leave an iTunes review or post a comment below. Your help is greatly appreciated.
• If you know any Canadian Innovators whom you like us to feature, please feel free to email us.
• Listen to more innovators who are crushing it here.

I'm still channeling Gary Vee! Ratings and reviews are my oxygen!

Have you seen the new CanInnovate resources & tools page, that provides different offers and discounts. Who doesn't love to save money?

We are a big supporter of Unsplash.com photos. Special thanks to Ian Schneider!

Ariel is the Founder of InteraXon, the makers of Muse: the brain sensing headband. She is also a neuroscientist, innovator, mother, and entrepreneur whose driving purpose is to empower and help others overcome mental obstacles in order to live healthy, happy lives and reach their maximum potential.

We've had Ariel on before talking about How to Overcome the Knots in your Head on Episode 45. Real tactical tips to overcome your obstacles and help change your mindset. I've received so much feedback on this episode that people have really liked the tactical exercises versus the theoretical stuff. In fact, one of our listeners shared it the episode with her teenage daughter and she was saying that it really built her confidence!

About Muse 2

Muse® 2 uses built-in biosignal, inertial, and heart sensors to create real-time audio experiences in four key areas to help users find focused calm, improve posture, and increase breath and heart awareness. With the companion app, Muse® 2 translates meditators' internal states into immersive soundscapes to provide subtle guidance during meditation.

Muse 1 gives you real time feedback on your brain during meditations. It is essentially the personal meditation system that fits in your head and gather data on when your mind is focused or when it wondered so that you can build a stronger meditation practice of data.

Muse 2 teaches people that brain is amazing but meditation has a much greater gateway. Meditation is all about breathing, sitting, how your heart is moving, how your body is moving and then they built a sensor to each one of those facets just like what they did for the brain.

The new headband also has a PPG sensor the tracks your heart rate so that you can get real-time feedback on your heart, it has sensors that will be able to track breathing so that you can see each inhalation and exhalation. It also has sensors that will be track your movements. From there they created this three beautiful experiences around heart, breath and body so that you can get real-time feedback around those practice.

How Muse 2 Works

Muse 2 had the same factor as his predecessor Muse 1 which is a small little headband that fits in your head just like an eyeglass. The form factor is a little bit slimmer and along the way they have created a smart glasses that read EEG and through the process of building smart glasses that could read your brain they develop the EEG smaller so they can take that and incorporate it into the new Muse. The new Muse is smaller and lighter but it has more power and more sensors.

They also added a PPG sensor next to the EEG sensors on your forehead that turns out to be more accurate than reading EEG on your wrist because reading your heart rate from your forehead is more reliable then your wrist.

Just like the Apple wristband where a red light go through your skin to be able to see the blood flow at any moment so it sinks in real-time in your heartbeat. In that perspective, they develop the headband that translate your heart's activity into a beating of a drum so you can actually hear every single beat like a beating of a drum plus they paired that with real-time feedback with your breathe.

When using your heart rate you can actually track each and every one of your breath and correlated it with your movement when you breathe in and out. Using these fusion of sensors, you can actually track each and every one of your breath in crisp real-time and then from there gives you guided reading exercises.

"The first sensation is never the right sensation"

"When you practice meditation over time, the impact of your emotions is not as dramatic in your mind and your body"

Ariel also shared about Muse Facebook group community which allowed them to support each other and hold each other accountable during their meditation sessions, their struggles during meditations and finding their best practices.

"Give yourself time"

"Turn of your inner critic"

About Muse® by Interaxon Inc.:

At Muse®, our team of neuroscientists, meditation teachers, and engineers develop state-of-the-art experiences using research grade EEG technology. Our goal is to help individuals build a rewarding meditation practice and live healthier, happier, more connected lives. Our products include Muse® and Muse® 2, brain sensing headbands that are designed to help users meditate by providing real-time audio and visual feedback on their meditative state through the Muse® companion app.

Connect with Ariel:

Website: Muse | The Brain Sensing Headband

Social Media:

• LinkedIn: Ariel Garten on LinkedIn
• Twitter: @ariel_garten and @ChooseMuse
• Facebook: Muse on Facebook
• Instagram: @Choosemuse @ariels musings

Thanks again for tuning in!

To help out the show:

• Please leave an iTunes review or post a comment below. Your help is greatly appreciated.
• If you know any Canadian Innovators whom you like us to feature, please feel free to email us.
• Listen to more innovators who are crushing it here.

I'm still channeling Gary Vee! Ratings and reviews are my oxygen!

Have you seen the new CanInnovate resources & tools page, that provides different offers and discounts. Who doesn't love to save money?

We are a big supporter of Unsplash.com photos. Special thanks to Tom Roberts!

Tyler Handley is the co-founder & CEO at inkbox - a tattoo ecosystem that empowers customers to make good tattoo decisions. In just 3 years he's led the development of a new product category and co-manages a team of 60 employees on a mission to empower the world to find confidence through tattoos. Outside of work you can find Tyler reading, staying fit, and playing too much Fortnite.

Episode Overview:

This episode is pretty exciting for a few reasons. First of all - one of our podcast listeners nominated inkbox! Thank you Asma! This is definitely an innovative company that is revolutionizing the tattoo industry!

Tyler provides such great insights

• How the tattoo industry is changing & being revolutionized
• One of Canada's fastest growing startups and recently closed a $17M CAD Series A financing from tier 1 venture capital funds.
• How they are leveraging best practices from the tribes in Panama
• Inkbox also gives back to artists,

I've always wanted a tattoo but have been afraid of the pain, would it stretch when I got older and the lifelong design commitment. However, I think Inkbox is a commitment that I can totally make!

What makes this a Canadian Innovation or Innovative thinking?

Inkbox is a tattoo ecosystem that empowers customers to make good tattoo decisions. Their anchor product is a semi-permanent tattoo that customers apply from the comfort of home, no needles required. Customers can choose from thousands of designs created by an active artist community or create their own.

They are also one of Canada's fastest growing startups and recently closed a $17M CAD Series A financing from tier 1 venture capital funds. And they have created an entirely new category. Inkbox semi permanent tattoo last for over seven days or at least three weeks depending on the skin types. It also gives back to the artist by providing them commission on the designs that they create for the consumers or customers.

Sapna shared a story about how she wanted to have her own tattoo that is designed by her when she was 10 years old.

What excites Tyler about this industry:

This kind of industry is this it has become a progressive art form. It is also a very conservative industry on the artistic side but it is changing now. Historically tattoos have been relegated as an outskirt of society so people who consider themselves as a part of a rebel culture or is all about rebellion or being against the mainstream. However tattoo nowadays is already mainstream and Tyler think that it is driven by just a proliferation of Instagram or Pinterest where you can see a new style of arts where there is more accessibility for artist.

Lessons Learned:

I realize that no one actually told him about the context of contacts.

"You really don't know what you are doing unless you have the context"

You need to know who are the best people to talk to to help you understand what you need to do to the get to the next stage.

Kickstarter allows you to sell your products online even if you still don't have a physical product ready to be shipped to your customers. Kickstarter allows you to raise funds and neat your desired budget in order to create your physical product.

" You need to get in front of the kickstarter community."

"Start of kickstarter is about leveraging your own network and community"

"Hustle until you get to the front page of Kickstarter"

Company goal: Their goal is to help you find confidence with your next tattoo decision

Company Story:

It's what sparked Tyler and his team to create inkbox. Their styles, tastes, and opinions were always changing. Why wasn't there a tattoo that could change with us?

So they invented the inkbox tattoo - a temporary tattoo that actually looks authentic. Unlike temporary tattoos that are just stickers on your skin, inkbox tattoos function more like permanent tattoos - they sit in your skin, and then fade as your skin naturally regenerates. In other words, they allow you to express your boldest, most badass self, without the commitment. We think that's pretty cool!

You know what else is pretty cool? Giving back. When they were developing inkbox they came across tribes in Panama who dye their skin with the pulp of a local fruit. This is where they found the active ingredients for our product.

They are proud to support these tribes through the Darien Initiative - a charity that helps the indigenous tribes of the Darién Gap, Panama by providing agricultural and community support programs.

And did you know that every time you buy an inkbox tattoo, an artist somewhere in the world makes money? We know how hard it can be to get by in today's economy. We're all about supporting independent artists in making some moolah off their passion.

Press Mentions:

"Never be a victim of impulse and poor judgement again with inkbox - Forbes

"The problem with fake tattoos is they look fake until now - Mashable

"inkbox is perfect for the person who wants to express themselves but doesn't know WTF they want." - Vice

"The Commitment We All Can Make" - Mtv

"They may not be permanent, but they too carry a wow factor" - Fashion

"This is not an average temporary tattoo company" - Inked (magazine)

Resources and Tips Mentioned:

• Reading industry publications
• Things that you can contact within your niche
• Leveraging on your resources is key
• Building up a strong network of people who tend average yourself and your business

Book recommendation:

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Hotspot:

Pai Northern Thai Kitchen

Connect with Tyler:

Website: https://inkbox.com/

Twitter: @getinkbox and @Tyler_Handley

Facebook: Inkbox

Instagram: @inkbox

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