In this episode of INSIGHT: Scaling lessons from the street – remember Y2K? Sounds absolutely charming in this day and age, doesn’t it? There’s no question technology has advanced BEYOND anything we thought possible 20 years ago – but to what end? Are we better off for it?

Yes, we have ALL THE KNOWLEDGE at our fingertips - we learn online, we shop online, we form relationships online, we run our businesses online.

But we certainly don’t live in a Jetsons world of automation and the latest tech making our lives better – in fact, more often than not, especially when running a business, it can really throw a wrench into our days!

When it’s not cooperating, digital technology can end up costing us $$$ in wasted time, lost or unhappy clients, even just the sheer frustration of something that’s SUPPOSED TO WORK not working after all can make you nuts!

So, today, Susan Diaz, founder and CEO of cp.digital, plus her co-hosts Andrea Henry, Henry Business Law, Megan O’Neill, meganoneill.ca, Shelagh Cummins, shelaghcummins.com, and Wendy Brookhouse from Blackstar Wealth are going to share their in-the-trenches experiences with digital technology!

The Good, the Bad, and the UGLY! 

So, let’s get started!

“I want to set this off and talk about something that plagues me…How far have we really come in two decades? How far has the digital transformation that we claim that we're all a big part of really come? What is working for us? How does that sort of slice and dice for small businesses, especially women owned small businesses…on the upside, I think it's opened up a lot of technology solutions…my mind sort of comes back to that idea of being proactive - I often like to talk about how until the end of last year, I hadn't met my largest client or my therapist - like the opportunity in front of us is to take this giant open space, that is technology and see where we can apply it to our businesses and our lives and so much beyond really it goes into.”

Susan Diaz, founder and CEO of cp.digital

 

Someone who’s one THOUSAND percent embraced tech for her business in financial services is Wendy Brookhouse.  

“I deal with investment companies and insurance companies, and they are just starting to understand digital and starting to deploy some of the tools that we would think would be so natural for them to do….I find digital fascinating and I spend a lot of time actually going to conferences and seeing what's next because I do think there's ways that it can make my job easier and make my clients lives easier…BUT think about how much your time is worth, right, and let's even just go simple as bookkeeping, or you know, social media, whatever it is, chances are someone else can do it better faster than you can. It's their unique ability, whereas your unique ability…earns you a hundred to two hundred dollars an hour! Whatever that number is. You should focus on that. So that if you're paying someone $50 an hour at X task, you know, they're going to do a whole bunch more than you would have.” Wendy Brookhouse, Blackstar Wealth

And they’re going to do it faster and more economically than you would – stay on YOUR genius track, and let others use theirs to help you!

 

“It’s totally changed the nature of my business, where I can go online and learn from someone in Australia or someone in Europe or someone in Toronto (I'm in Ottawa). The other side of it though, and I love I love the social media platforms. I'm really excited to pretty well have met all of you I think that way. But on the other hand [you] have to learn how to disconnect more That's, that's what I find that is the challenge for me. My mind gets tired quickly. [Systems could be more intuitive, too]… I'm so challenged in this area. I guess as we start to get women who are designing [software] more, hopefully, I mean, this is what we hope the future will be. It will be more intuitive for us, and that it won't be such a frustration. I think a lot of women are also really intimidated. I have women who were older who were starting into their second careers, and they are very intimidated by technology.” Megan O’Neill, meganoneill.ca

 

Regulated Industries Are Just Starting to Catch Up! 

Regulated industries like finance and the law definitely have a way to go when it comes to shaking off legacy systems and embracing tech – but they’re getting there!!

“I really love technology. It's made a huge difference in my business. it's really allowed for a lot of flexibility. I think, particularly for women, the legal profession would be sort of similar to what Wendy was saying in terms of I don't think the industry has really caught up with all of the various things that we can do with technology. And some of the rules and regulations are kind of stuck 20 years in the past and aren't really reflective of how clients want to do business, right?  People don't necessarily want to have to drive an hour to see you and then look for parking and traffic. Because we're busy people. So, I think some of the more traditional professions could be more welcoming of technology and could understand that this is how the world is. [ALSO], accept technology as a tool, and understand that it can be a tool in our business, but it doesn't need to be a tool that's wielded by us necessarily.” Andrea Henry, Henry Business Law

Yes, Sometimes Technology Can Be Isolating

“In my practice, I focused solely on women entrepreneurs. And what I've seen over the last decade is the ease with which someone can start a business now is tenfold what it used to be. I was one of those people who had to take my parents commute computer to go put a modem in it, because there's this thing called the internet and then you could start emailing! So that's just dating myself a bit (LOL) but…it's been amazing to live the evolution. Because the opportunity that’s sitting in front of us is unlimited. It opens every door and it removes every boundary. It removes geography from the equation, it gives us access to people that we wouldn't normally have. And I think that's amazing. On the flip side, a little bit of my rant, we are living in a world that is completely disconnected [from each other], where the rates of depression are skyrocketing, where people have never felt more lonely and are self-soothing, through very harmful practices of alcoholism, drug use, medicating, you know, shopping, whatever their modality is to help them feel better.” Shelagh Cummins, shelaghcummins.com

That’s just a snapshot of what really is a fascinating conversation/window into our post Y2K, digital technology world – how it impacts women, and especially women entrepreneurs. There’s also a great list of the technology that we all use to help make our businesses run smoothly (well, most of the time!) 😂