He spent 20 years as a business lawyer, flew to Australia for a client who then backed out, and kept the idea for himself. Ten years later he opened Kids Can Swim in Kanata — six weeks before COVID. They closed and reopened eight times. Today: three Ottawa locations, 175 team members, thousands of kids a week, and a plan to go national.

In this episode:

→ Why the pools are shallow and heated like a hot tub — and the "active learning time" metric that took kids from 4 minutes of practice per class to 18
→ Opening six weeks pre-COVID, and not knowing where the next payroll was coming from
→ Using the COVID shutdown to systemize everything before scaling
→ The break-even math: 70 people a day sounds terrifying until you realize it's 10 an hour
→ A free trial that converts at 67% — and the exact walkthrough that makes it work
→ $500K on HVAC alone: what a $3M purpose-built location actually costs
→ EBITDA multiples by location count, and why 65% of businesses break at three
→ Churn rate over enrollment: the metric he actually watches
→ Working with your spouse ("not recommended" — then he explains why she's essential)
→ The birthday email his mentor made him send: "tell me what I'm bad at"
→ The lunch where a mentor asked: "Are you going to do it, or just shut up?"
→ His sticky note: "Just do it"

Plus a distinction worth the whole episode: seek feedback from customers, not advice from people who've never taken a risk.

Connect with Hugues: kidscanswimcanada.com

Connect with David:
Instagram & LinkedIn: @davidrdinardo
Website: https://laidoffto8figures.com

Educational purposes only — not financial, tax, or legal advice.

This episode is powered by Taxifi — AI-powered bookkeeping, tax & payroll for incorporated Canadian businesses. Visit https://taxifi.ai and use code LAIDOFFTO8FIGURES for 3 month FREE.

Laid off at 24. Financially free with an eight-figure net worth by 34. If I lost all of it tomorrow, here's exactly what I'd do in my first 90 days — and it starts with knocking on doors, not building a website.

Days 1–30: Sell before you build
→ Use Claude or ChatGPT to find the ten most boring businesses your region actually needs
→ Filter for what you can do without a licence or degree, narrow to one
→ Go sell it door to door — no equipment, no website, not a dollar spent
→ If 100 doors say no, do 50 more. Then move to the next idea.

Days 31–60: Service your first five customers yourself
→ You do the work, not a subcontractor
→ Learn your real cost of goods sold, how money actually reaches you, what the customer's face does when you deliver
→ $100 in, $50 of product, 3 hours of work = $15/hour. Now you know your numbers.

Days 61–90: Rinse, repeat, raise your price
→ Same script, new neighbourhood, ten customers instead of five
→ $125 instead of $100 — now you're compounding instead of guessing

The mistake most people make is working backwards: buy the equipment, build the website, spend the money, then go looking for customers. If you can't sell to someone standing in front of you, you're not going to sell to a stranger online.

There's never been a better time to be an entrepreneur — the research is at your fingertips. You just have to do.

Connect with David:
Instagram & LinkedIn: @davidrdinardo
Website: https://laidoffto8figures.com

Educational purposes only — not financial, tax, or legal advice.

This episode is powered by Taxifi — AI-powered bookkeeping, tax & payroll for incorporated Canadian businesses. Visit https://taxifi.ai and use code LAIDOFFTO8FIGURES for 3 month FREE.

He spent 10 years building everybody else's personal brands — then in December he finally clicked post himself. Three videos later: 852K, 1.7M, and 156K views, building his startup ReadyCut in public in a 30-day series.

Martin DeSouza breaks down the actual science of growing on social media in 2026. In this episode:

→ Social media became interest media — why the TikTok shift changed everything and followers barely matter now
→ How the algorithm actually tests your content: 200 views → 600 → 1,500 → 15,000
→ Why you should start a FRESH account (your old one is poisoned by your aunts and high school friends)
→ The five hooks hiding in every viral video: text, visual, audio, action, verbal
→ The YouTube research method that hands you your topic and hooks before you record
→ Top, middle, and bottom of funnel — and why selling should be less than 10% of your posts
→ MrBeast's 100-video rule and the five-year commitment
→ Resumes are dead: proof of work is the new resume, and a personal brand insulates you from AI
→ Why he told me NOT to build a Taxifi Instagram account
→ The Idea Browser story: how one reel became 5,000 leads and a meeting he couldn't cold-email his way into
→ His sticky note: "Action ends suffering"

If you've been circling the "should I post content?" question — this is the episode that ends the circling.

Connect with Martin: Instagram @martindesza — his DMs are open

Connect with David:
Instagram & LinkedIn: @davidrdinardo
Website: https://laidoffto8figures.com

Educational purposes only — not financial, tax, or legal advice.

This episode is powered by Taxifi — AI-powered bookkeeping, tax & payroll for incorporated Canadian businesses. Visit https://taxifi.ai and use code LAIDOFFTO8FIGURES for 1 month FREE.

He placed 7th in the world in bodybuilding at 21, trained some of the richest people in Canada, sold his fitness company — then built a yurt in his backyard and meditated three hours a day. His neighbour thought he was crazy. His clients get results that sound made up.

Jean-Luc Boissoneault coaches entrepreneurs on personal sovereignty — the five freedoms of health, time, money, purpose, and relationships. In this episode:

→ Why 99% of people never share their genius — and why you can't self-assess your own
→ "You can't change your thoughts with more thoughts" — what meditation actually does for a founder's brain
→ The 180-days-a-year rule he gives every client (and why it pressure-tests your business)
→ What an $8 billion founder does differently: the reverse org chart, health first, inspiration over dictation
→ The man by the river: the three-heart-attack story you won't forget
→ Fear is a tree — and every branch traces back to the same trunk
→ The live cold-call exercise: facing rejection by doing it on the spot, together
→ Turning down $300K offers without blinking: "I can't be bought"
→ His sticky note answer: "Trust yourself"

Plus: David opens up about his own box — the government job, the pension countdown, losing $96K his first year with an MBA — and wavering on the AI opportunity.

Connect with Jean-Luc: jeanlucboissoneault.com

Connect with David:
Instagram & LinkedIn: @davidrdinardo
Website: https://laidoffto8figures.com

Educational purposes only — not financial, tax, or legal advice.

This episode is powered by Taxifi — AI-powered bookkeeping, tax & payroll for incorporated Canadian businesses. Visit https://taxifi.ai and use code LAIDOFFTO8FIGURES for 1 month FREE.

I ran an accounting company for 10 years, sold it, and now I'm building an AI accounting firm — and somewhere along the way I realized I'm actually building a media company.

In this solo episode:

→ Why speed killed the agency model for me — even with a great agency, 48 hours is too long→ My exact stack: Claude Code connected to Netlify, so every prompt pushes live to my website in real time→ From a 6-page website to 160 pages in one week→ A Google review onto my site in seconds instead of a week of back-and-fort→ Taking SEO and GEO in-house: Claude reads my Search Console and tells me what to fix→ Why I'd skip WordPress entirely in 2026→ First, fast & furious: the speed advantage nobody can sell you→ The kicker: everything you build in-house becomes the asset you eventually sell

If you're a business owner still waiting on agency turnarounds — this is the episode that changes the math.

The Steven Lau episode I mention (1,000-page websites): search "Laid Off to 8 Figures Steven Lau"

Connect with David:
Instagram & LinkedIn: @davidrdinardo
Website: https://laidoffto8figures.com

Educational purposes only — not financial, tax, or legal advice.

This episode is powered by Taxifi — AI-powered bookkeeping, tax & payroll for incorporated Canadian businesses. Visit https://taxifi.ai and use code LAIDOFFTO8FIGURES for 1 month FREE.

He grew up in subsidized housing, hated being told what to do at McDonald's, and figured out at 15 he was "screwed for life" — so he built an eight-figure construction company without ever lifting a hammer.

Fares Elsabbagh is the founder of Ottawa General Contractors, a design-build company doing $20M+ across Ottawa, Halifax, and Vancouver. In this episode:

→ How a Tim Ferriss book and a landing page launched a construction empire — $1M in year one
→ The $1M walk-away offer he turned down right before COVID doubled his business
→ Why "construction experiences" beat construction services — and how it fixed his turnover, reviews, and referrals
→ Growing by acquisition: 1,000 companies prospected, 30 meetings, 1 deal
→ Ottawa's zoning changes: why almost any lot can now become an 8–12 unit build, and the refinance math behind it
→ The 3-month vacancy that has him questioning the housing narrative
→ His advice to young entrepreneurs: master AI now — it's digital marketing in 2010 all over again

If you've ever wanted to build something big in an industry you know nothing about — this one's for you.

Connect with Fares: @iamfares on Instagram, Fares Elsabbagh on LinkedIn

Connect with David:
Instagram & LinkedIn: @davidrdinardo
Website: https://laidoffto8figures.com

Educational purposes only — not financial, tax, or legal advice.

This episode is powered by Taxifi — AI-powered bookkeeping, tax & payroll for incorporated Canadian businesses. Visit https://taxifi.ai and use code LAIDOFFTO8FIGURES for 1 month FREE.

At 24, I was let go from my corporate job. By 34, I was financially free — and along the way I bought 10 rental properties, one a year for 10 years. This is the exact playbook.

In this solo episode, I break down:

→ Why I bought every property through a corporation, never personally (12.2% small business tax vs. up to 54% personal)
→ The one-holding-company-per-property structure — liability protection + clean bookkeeping
→ The cash flow rule: rent covers the mortgage and every expense, no exceptions, at any down payment
→ Opportunity cost: your business vs. stocks vs. real estate returns
→ The passive income tax trap (50%) and how expense timing helps
→ The budget version: separate checking accounts if you don't want multiple corporations
→ The $500 water bill story — why monthly financials caught what my tenant never reported

If you're an incorporated business owner in Canada wondering what to do with extra cash flow — this is the episode.

Educational purposes only — not financial, tax, or legal advice. Talk to your accountant before structuring anything.

Connect with David:
Instagram & LinkedIn: @davidrdinardo
Website: https://laidoffto8figures.com

This episode is powered by Taxifi — AI-powered bookkeeping, tax & payroll for incorporated Canadian businesses. Visit https://taxifi.ai and use code LAIDOFFTO8FIGURES for 1 month FREE.

A flood wiped out Rebecca Rowe's clothing brand — a year of stock, her samples, and patterns she'd spent years perfecting. Then her customers started asking a question that became a whole new business.

Rebecca trained at Pratt Institute in New York, studied in Paris, and built a ready-to-wear brand for women with athletic body shapes before losing it all in an Ottawa flood. In this episode, we get into:

→ Rebuilding as a personal stylist when the DMs started coming in→ The "anchor point" method that changes how clients see themselves→ The 5 fashion theories: the actual formula behind personal style→ Why fashion school teaches you to design — but never to sell→ 10 years of serving tables and the sales skills that saved her business→ The insurance lesson every product business owner needs before it's too late→ "There's a conversation happening on social — you decide if you're part of it"

If you've ever had to rebuild from zero, or you're a service business built on referrals — this one's for you.

Connect with Rebecca: rebeccarowe.ca (@rebeccarowe on all socials)

Connect with David:
Instagram & LinkedIn: @davidrdinardo
Website: https://laidoffto8figures.com

This episode is powered by Taxifi — AI-powered bookkeeping, tax & payroll for incorporated Canadian businesses. Visit https://taxifi.ai and use code LAIDOFFTO8FIGURES for 1 month FREE.

I got laid off at 24 from my "dream job" at the Ottawa Hospital — and it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

In this solo episode, I break down the 4 things that took me from that layoff to financially free at 34:

→ Why vulnerability is the fastest way to build a personal brand (and how a podcast makes it easier)
→ Salary vs. dividends: the tax trap keeping Canadian employees from building wealth — and why incorporation changes everything
→ Building yourself as the asset: systems, processes, and an engine buyers actually want
→ Always build with the exit in mind — 1x vs. 2x vs. 10x revenue multiples
→ Why it took 7 years to match my hospital salary, then I tripled it

If you're starting a business in Canada or stuck wondering whether the "safe" job is actually safe — this one's for you.

Connect with David:
Instagram & LinkedIn: @davidrdinardo
Website: https://laidoffto8figures.com

This episode is powered by Taxifi — AI-powered bookkeeping, tax & payroll for incorporated Canadian businesses. Visit https://taxifi.ai and use code LAIDOFFTO8FIGURES for 1 month FREE.

Is SEO dead in the age of AI? Steven Lau has been getting businesses found online since 1996 — before Google existed. He won Yahoo's Website of the Week twice, built a marketing agency that lasted three decades, and just rebuilt the entire business around AI.

In this episode, we get into:

→ Why your website needs 1,000 pages now (and why Claude might replace WordPress)
→ Trust signals: what AI actually checks before recommending your business
→ The client who replaced their entire dispatch team with an AI receptionist
→ Build vs. buy: how Steven killed $1,500/month in software subscriptions
→ Why SaaS companies are in trouble — and the questions to ask any AI vendor
→ The "$20 plan vs. $200 plan" interview question that instantly reveals who actually knows AI
→ Advice for students and job seekers when junior positions are disappearing

If you run a local business and you're wondering how to get found when AI answers everything — this one's for you.

Connect with Steven: https://salientai.ca

Connect with David:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidrdinardo
Website: https://laidoffto8figures.com/

This episode is powered by Taxifi — AI-powered bookkeeping, tax & payroll for incorporated Canadian businesses. Visit https://taxifi.ai and use code LAIDOFFTO8FIGURES for 1 month FREE.