Owner's Roundtable

What do farming and accounting have in common?

In this episode of Owner’s Roundtable, Jeff McLarty sits down with Bob Hahn, Partner at Hahn Lukey Houle (HLH) Chartered Professional Accountants, an Edmonton firm that applies lean thinking to owner-managed businesses. Bob started HLH in 2004. In this conversation, he gets into lean processes, building culture from day one, and what owners should have in place long before they sell.

Bob’s standard is that every client conversation includes something the owner will not hear from anyone else. He holds the firm to the same consistency he expects on his Angus ranch, where every cut of meat has to match the last, and he builds it into daily routines at the firm: meetings that look for waste, rotate who leads, and skip the minutes. The same thinking shapes how he handles growth past 25 employees, the role of mentors and coaches, and getting a business ready to sell.

What you will learn in this episode:

• Where processes start to strain as a business grows 
• The importance of mentorship and heeding the advice of others who have already built what you are building
• How Bob stays engaged after four decades in the profession, and his advice on consistent self-improvement
• How lean thinking applies to a professional services firm
• Why the human side of growth gets harder past 25 employees, and the importance of building culture from day one
• What a lone dancer in a field has to do with leadership
• What owners should understand about planning for a business exit years before the sale

About Bob Hahn

Bob Hahn is a founder, farmer, and family man whose career as a chartered accountant began in 1982, followed by 14 years as an Assurance Partner at Grant Thornton. In 2004 he opened his own firm, Hahn Lukey Houle (HLH) Chartered Professional Accountants, which has grown to four partners and a staff of 34, and has partnered with WealthCo and joined the Integrated Advisory Professionals Network (IAPN) to offer clients more advanced and holistic support. The team works to deliver the assurance and peace of mind about the questions keeping their clients up at night. In 2021 Bob was named a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Alberta, a designation awarded to only 11 other Albertans that year. Additionally, Bob owns Hahn Purebred Co., and the Hahn Angus Meat Market in Strathcona County, sporting a herd of 80 Angus cows. He keeps his hands full, but never too full to provide meaningful advice to his clients. When asked what matters most about his career, Bob says it is the opportunity to truly help people.

Resources mentioned in the episode:

Book Recommendation: Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell
Blinkist App: https://www.blinkist.com/
The lone dancer video: (press play on the first video, “First Followers”) https://hlhcpa.com/videos/

Looking for tools and support growing and managing your business? Contact Jeff McLarty:

Website: https://www.focalpointedmonton.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-mclarty-16a0b225/

Vision to Execution Scorecard: https://vision-to-execution.scoreapp.com/

Learn more about HLH Chartered Accountants:

Website: https://hlhcpa.com/

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/company/hlhllp

What's the difference between marketing and public relations?

In this episode of Owner's Roundtable, Jeff McLarty sits down with Daniel Schieman, Founder of DASCH Productions, an event management and public relations agency. Jeff and Daniel get into what actually goes into building an event people talk about, the real difference between marketing and public relations, and why the best crisis plans get written before anyone needs one.

Daniel outlines a useful distinction: marketing creates demand, public relations creates trust. Event planning is the same work in practice, understanding what people should think and feel about a business, then building toward that. Who plans the event, what you're investing in your brand, and how ready you are to protect it when something goes wrong: all of it shapes your ROI, reach, and impact. 

What you will learn in this episode:

• What actually goes into producing an event that reflects a brand, beyond booking a venue
• The real difference between marketing and public relations, and when a business needs each
• Why mystery and intrigue can work as a legitimate marketing strategy, not just a gimmick
• What a crisis communications plan actually includes, and the size of business where it becomes worth having
• Why brand protection is mostly work that happens before anything goes wrong, not after

About Daniel Schieman

Daniel Schieman is the Founder of DASCH Productions, an Edmonton-based event management and public relations agency working with corporate, nonprofit, government, and arts and culture clients across the country. Before launching DASCH full-time, Daniel spent years as a senior event manager and communications professional, planning more than one hundred corporate events and producing strategic communications materials for associations and faculties, including a newsletter that reached 8,000 readers. He was recently named the local host for a major international pop-up dining event in Edmonton.

Looking for tools and support growing and managing your business? Contact Jeff McLarty:

Website: https://www.focalpointedmonton.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-mclarty-16a0b225/

Vision to Execution Scorecard: https://vision-to-execution.scoreapp.com/

Contact Daniel Schieman:

Website: https://www.daschproductions.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schiemand/

What if your best business idea is hiding in the thing you do for fun?

In this episode of Owner's Roundtable, Jeff McLarty sits down with Russell Bird, CEO of The Promo Addict and You Need a BBQ. Russell built his first business out of a basement with nothing more than a laptop and a small line of credit, and later took second place at the World Barbecue Championships before turning that passion into a second company. In this conversation, he talks about scaling two businesses at once and the cash flow lessons that came with growing fast.

When friends started texting him for barbecue advice during a pandemic that had nearly wiped out his first business, Russell brought in seven grills and sold out in a weekend, then scaled it to eight hundred grills in a year. His story shows what happens when you pay attention to what's actually in front of you instead of waiting for a plan to feel ready.

What you will learn in this episode:

• How Russell bootstrapped his first business with a $10,000 line of credit and grew it to $400,000 in first-year sales
• Why a pandemic-driven cash crunch led him to start a second business both by accident and necessity
• The difference between B2B and retail cash flow, and the cost of goods sold lesson that caught him off guard
• How treating everyone you encounter with kindness pays off, and how it led to his first big account
• What actually makes promotional products work as a marketing tool, and how to get noticed by your market
• Why Russell credits his EO peer group with making him a better leader, not just a better operator

About Russell Bird: 

Russell Bird is the CEO and founder of The Promo Addict and You Need a BBQ, two Sherwood Park-based businesses built from his passion for creating value for customers, employees, and community. Through The Promo Addict, he helps companies bring their brands to life through promotional products, branded apparel, and custom merchandise. With You Need a BBQ, he has turned a passion for barbecue into a growing retail, catering, and education business. Russell is an award-winning competitive barbecue cook and was the 2025 American Royal International Reserve Grand Champion. He also serves on the Canadian Regional Council for Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), supporting entrepreneurs across Canada.

Looking for tools and support growing and managing your business? Contact Jeff McLarty:

Website: focalpointedmonton.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-mclarty-16a0b225/

Vision to Execution Scorecard: https://vision-to-execution.scoreapp.com/

Contact Russell Bird:

The Promo Addict: https://thepromoaddict.com/ (@promoyeg)

You Need a BBQ: https://youneedabbq.com/ (@youneedabbq)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russellabird/ 

Jeff steps away from the host chair this week to talk about why he started the podcast, and what's ahead when it returns in September.

He talks about the peer group of business owners that inspired the show, and why sitting across from someone who understands the weight of ownership taught him some important lessons in his own journey.

Looking ahead, learn how the show's lens is widening. Alongside more owner conversations, expect deep dives with subject matter experts on topics like marketing, leadership, cash flow, and mental health.

Thanks to this season's guests for trusting us with their stories, and to everyone listening for making this season worth doing. Enjoy your summer and we’ll see you in September.

And if you have a topic you'd like to see covered, let us know here: https://focalpointedmonton.com/contact/

About the Host
Jeff McLarty, owner of Focal Point Edmonton, is an operational planning strategist and team training specialist who helps business owners get to the root cause of what's holding their business back. Drawing on real-world experience and a deep library of resources and strategies, Jeff builds tailored solutions that move clients toward their vision faster and more effectively. 

Looking for tools and support growing and managing your business? 

Website: https://www.focalpointedmonton.com 

Jeff's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-mclarty-16a0b225/ 

Vision to Execution Scorecard: https://vision-to-execution.scoreapp.com/ 

How do you turn a dental appointment into an experience people genuinely enjoy?

In this episode of Owner's Roundtable, Jeff McLarty sits down with Amanda Chin, Owner of Norwood Dental — a two-location dental practice in Edmonton she co-owns and runs with her husband, Dr. William Chin. Amanda comes from outside dentistry entirely, running the business and operations side with a perspective shaped more by hospitality and experience design than clinical practice.

Amanda has spent years observing what makes people want to be somewhere and translating that into a dental context. She thinks carefully about every point of contact a patient has with the business, from the waiting room to the chair to what happens after they leave. The result is a practice that has built its reputation almost entirely on how it makes people feel, in an industry where most businesses compete on clinical credentials alone.

What you will learn in this episode

• Every market is saturated. Amanda's argument for why that is actually beside the point.
• The experience is the only thing a patient can evaluate after an appointment. How Amanda built a business model around that fact.
• Why getting a team to deliver a culture of surprise and delight is harder than building the culture itself, and what Amanda did when her best idea met immediate resistance.
• What restructuring from 30 direct reports to four actually changed, and why meaningful leadership requires a number you can personally manage.
• Why Amanda looks to hospitality and restaurants rather than other dental clinics when she wants to improve her practice.
• How community presence before a first appointment changes the relationship a patient has when they finally walk through the door.

About Amanda Chin

Amanda Chin is the Owner of Norwood Dental, a two-location dental practice in Edmonton, Alberta. She co-owns the business with her husband Dr. William Chin and oversees all business operations, team development, and the experience systems that have become Norwood's defining quality. Active in the Edmonton community and passionate about making dental care accessible and genuinely enjoyable, Amanda has built a practice known as much for its culture as for its clinical care.

Looking for tools and support growing and managing your business? Contact Jeff McLarty

Website: focalpointedmonton.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-mclarty-16a0b225/

Vision to Execution Scorecard: https://vision-to-execution.scoreapp.com/

Contact Amanda Chin

Website: https://norwood.dental/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-chin-yeg/

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Read more on the Focal Point Edmonton blog: focalpointedmonton.com/blog 

What would a buyer actually pay for your business, and do you know the answer before they do?

In this episode of Owner's Roundtable, Jeff McLarty sits down with Gil Poulin, Owner of The Affordable Business Partner. Gil has bought and sold 42 businesses of his own over 45 years and supported close to 200 others through the sale process. In this conversation they get into what actually determines whether a business sells, why most owners are looking at their own business from the wrong angle, and what it takes to hand something off in a way that holds up after you leave.

Gil has been on every side of this transaction. He has bought distressed businesses and turned them around. He has helped owners price businesses they spent decades building. He has watched buyers walk away from good businesses because the story was not told clearly. His standard for what makes a business sellable is straightforward and does not leave room for wishful thinking.

What you will learn in this episode:

• Why less than 50% of businesses that hit the marketplace actually sell, and what separates the ones that do.
• How to look at your business from the outside in, the way a buyer sees it before you do.
• What processes buyers are actually looking for and why most owners cannot articulate them even when they exist.
• Why the training period after a sale matters more than most sellers realize, and how Gil structures it.
• How to take the emotion out of pricing your business without losing sight of what you built.
• Why staff are often the most underestimated asset in any business sale, and one story that proves it.
• What to have ready before you consider going to market, which is more than most people think.

About Gil Poulin

Gil Poulin is the Owner of The Affordable Business Partner, a business brokerage and advisory practice focused on helping independent business owners buy and sell small businesses valued under $2.5 million. Over a 45 year career as a business owner, broker, and selling trainer, he has been involved in hundreds of transactions across a wide range of industries. He is well regarded for his expert guidance on what it takes to build something worth selling. 

Looking for tools and support growing and managing your business? Contact Jeff McLarty: 

Website: https://www.focalpointedmonton.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-mclarty-16a0b225/ 

Vision to Execution Scorecard: https://vision-to-execution.scoreapp.com/ 

Contact Gil Poulin: 

Website: https://theaffordablebusinesspartner.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gil-p-732b1420/

Sign up to get new episodes to your inbox: https://s8zsh.share.hsforms.com/2y-GeC0XOT5CllU620jMQAw

Read more on the Focal Point Edmonton blog: https://focalpointedmonton.com/blog/ 

What does it actually take to step into executive leadership at a company that was already running before you were born?

In this episode of Owner's Roundtable, Jeff McLarty sits down with Brendan Thompson, President of Bernie's Electric Supplies Ltd. Brendan is third generation at a company his grandfather founded in 1976, and has been President since 2023. They get into what the executive leadership transition actually looks like from the inside, how to bring change to an organization with deep roots, and what it takes to build a team that can carry a business into its next 50 years.

Brendan came up through almost every department at Bernie's before taking the top role, from the warehouse floor, to purchasing, to inside and outside sales. That ground-level foundation shapes how he thinks about hiring, developing people, and building systems that hold up over time. His approach is deliberate and long-term oriented in a way that most leaders only develop after they've already made the expensive mistakes.

Bernie's Electric is in its 50th anniversary year and actively planning for expansion. This episode is a study in what it looks like when executive leadership is built on genuine operational fluency rather than title alone.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• How to enter an established leadership team and win trust without dismantling what's working
• Why small wins matter more than bold moves when you're new to the top role
• How Brendan uses monthly conversations tied to variable pay instead of annual reviews, and why it changed his organization
• The case for growing people into roles from within rather than hiring finished products from outside
• What presenting a united front in management actually requires, and why alignment has to start in the room before it can reach the floor
• How Brendan used EOS/Traction as a consistent implementation framework rather than chasing new ideas with every new book

About Brendan Thompson

Brendan Thompson is the third-generation President of Bernie's Electric Supplies Ltd., an independent electrical wholesaler based in Edmonton, Alberta. He holds a business degree with a major in human resources from the University of Lethbridge and is a Red Seal journeyman electrician, a combination that gives him an unusually broad understanding of the business he leads. 

Books and resources mentioned:

• Traction by Gino Wickman
• Leadership 2.0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves
• EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System)
• Tech Alberta

Looking for tools and support growing and managing your business? Contact Jeff McLarty: 

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Vision to Execution Quiz

Contact Brendan Thompson: 

• Website 
• LinkedIn

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What does it actually take to use AI well in a business, and how do you know when you’re just adding noise?

In this episode of Owner’s Roundtable, Jeff McLarty sits down with Matt McKeage, founder of Speaking is Code AI Consulting and StressMed Adaptive Mental Health Training. Matt spent years as a paramedic before moving into AI consulting and mental health training for first responders, two businesses built around making complex information accessible to the people who need it most. In this conversation, Jeff and Matt dig into what AI actually changes about starting and running a business, and where the real risks are hiding.

Matt’s perspective on AI is grounded in practice rather than promotion. He’s worked with businesses across industries and seen the same failure pattern repeat: owners who skip the foundational thinking, trust the output without reading it, and end up with expensive noise instead of useful insight. His standard is simple: always human in the loop.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why the quality of your AI output is a direct function of the clarity you put in
• How to tell the difference between a genuinely useful AI tool and an expensive wrapper
• What data security actually looks like for business owners using AI, and the settings most people haven’t checked
• Why businesses that skip the foundational work end up with marketing that sounds identical to their competitors
• What managers and team members will actually look like in five years, and why it’s better for the people who are good at their jobs
• Why talking to a real potential customer still matters more than any amount of AI-generated market research
• How expertise becomes more valuable, not less, as AI-generated content floods every channel

About Matt McKeage

Matt McKeage is a former paramedic turned AI consultant and mental health educator. He is the founder of Speaking is Code, an AI consulting firm that helps businesses understand how to use artificial intelligence effectively and securely, and co-founder of StressMed Adaptive Mental Health Training, which teaches the neuroscience of stress to first responders and high-stress professions. Matt has been working with AI tools since 2022 and brings a practitioner’s perspective to a space crowded with hype.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• OpenAI Academy (free courses)
• Anthropic Academy (free Claude courses)

Looking for tools & support growing and managing your business? Contact Jeff McLarty: 

• Website
• Linkedin

Contact Matt McKeage: 

• LinkedIn 

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What’s the real reason your marketing is underperforming?

In this episode of Owner's Roundtable, Jeff McLarty sits down with Danielle Mohr, Founder and Owner of Fine Point Writing and Editing Services. She talks about her work helping owners translate their brand story into clear, compelling content.

Danielle and Jeff explore why most businesses struggle to market themselves effectively, what it actually takes to get useful output from AI, and why story, not promotion, is the foundation of visibility that lasts.

With nearly a decade in business, Fine Point has evolved from a writing service into a full brand and content strategy practice. Danielle now works with growth-stage businesses to build integrated marketing systems, including AI-assisted content workflows that preserve brand voice rather than flatten it. Her services are designed to give business owners the clarity and the tools to produce consistent, high-quality content without losing what makes them distinct.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• How Danielle came to be a writer and how she has evolved throughout her entrepreneurial journey
• Why visibility is linked to relatability, and the important role of storytelling
• Why "AI slop" is a prompting problem, not a technology problem, and how to fix it
• Why hiring and delegating to your gaps isn't just about growth and scaling, but about preserving your energy for the things that matter
• What regular communication cadence does for a team and why the same principle applies to how you stay in front of your clients
• Why the most effective marketing doesn't feel like marketing at all

About Danielle Mohr

Danielle Mohr is the founder of Fine Point Writing & Editing and creator of the Lead Flow Framework, a content marketing system designed for entrepreneurs who want better results without becoming a slave to their marketing. 

After transitioning from AI skeptic to strategic user, she now teaches business owners how to harness AI's power through Lean Marketing Lab, where the focus is on amplifying your authentic voice, not replacing it.

Books discussed in this episode:

• The E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber
• Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell
• Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
• Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters

Looking for tools & support growing and managing your business?

Contact Jeff McLarty: 

• Website
• Linkedin

Contact Danielle Mohr: 

• Website 
• LinkedIn 
• Lean Marketing Lab

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How do you maintain steady business growth while building a team and culture that lasts?

In this episode of Owner’s Roundtable, Jeff McLarty sits down with John Watson, CEO of Eager Beaver Moving & Storage. John shares the lessons he’s learned growing a third-generation business into a market leader. No shortcuts–just consistent progress built on strong values, the right people, and a clear understanding of what the business does well. 

Whether you’re running a family business, managing a growing team, or navigating market expansion, this conversation is full of actionable insights on building a business that lasts.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why core values are discovered through your best people—not created in a boardroom
• How to maintain culture as your team grows and standards get tested
• What it takes to move from owner-operator to building a scalable business
• How to identify and avoid distractions that pull you away from your core business
• The role of professionalism as a competitive advantage in service industries
• Lessons learned from expanding into new markets and services
• Why steady, manageable growth often outperforms rapid scaling
• How recognizing and reinforcing top performers shapes team culture

About John Watson

John Watson is the CEO and owner of Eager Beaver Moving & Storage, a third-generation family business based in Edmonton. Since taking over the company around 2013, John has grown Eager Beaver into one of the region’s leading moving and storage providers, with a strong reputation for professionalism, team culture, and steady growth. Under his leadership, the business has expanded its services, grown into Calgary, and continued building on a people-first, values-driven foundation.

Books Mentioned in the Episode

Traction by Gino Wickman

The E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber

Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell

Looking for tools & support growing and managing your business? 

Book a free consultation today: https://calendly.com/jmclarty-focalpointcoaching/30min

Contact Jeff McLarty: 

• Website: FocalPointEdmonton.com
• Linkedin: Jeff McLarty

Contact John Watson: 

• Website: EagerBeaverMoving.com 
• Facebook: Eager Beaver

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