On this episode of The Real Bottom Line, we share and discuss our favourite business books that we’ve read over the past year. A few of the books we discuss include Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy’s Who Not How, which lays out a blueprint of changing your thinking around your work; Fotini Iconomopoulos’ Say Less, Get More, which teaches an inclusive approach to negotiating, and Tarek Hadad’s Peace by Chocolate story shows us how community and perseverance can let you build success from scratch.

Serial entrepreneur, published author, and CEO of ClearToYou, Frances Shagen, sits down to discuss what you can and can’t delegate when it comes to your accounting, how Mastermind changed her business, and the 3 most important questions you should be asking before hiring your bookkeeper. With a background in accounting and finance, Frances focuses on helping women, especially Indigenous women, start and grow their own enterprises. Learn more about Frances’ journey and how you can be your own CFO in this episode of The Real Bottom Line.

Laural Carr, owner of Impagination, a marketing firm in Toronto focusing on sevice-based businesses, is about to celebrate her 35th year in business. We talk about productizing your services - the Why and the How? We talk about pricing and when you should value based price versus charge by the hour. You will want to tune into this episode to learn about what elephants, meatloaf and GPS have to do with marketing. It’s a great one!

Roxanne Tate is the owner of Tate Engineering Inc. and Airtight Spaces. She is about to hit the ten-year mark and is sharing a lot of the lessons she has learned along the way.

Join us on this episode as we discuss...

- The importance of values

- How to evaluate business opportunities

- Being deliberate about your growth

- The pros and cons of real estate investing

The first two-time guest - this episode is less interview and more conversation. Business coach extraordinaire, Andrea Ivanka and I discuss the importance of strategic planning, how we approach it, the elements to consider and some surprising tactical implementation suggestions.

Michael Devenney, the Founder of WorkInsights and The Mindset Project, is a trailblazer in the leadership field. He researches, consults and builds tools so that teams can build stronger, more profitable and longer lasting companies. Michael is very forthcoming about his PTSD and depressive periods – his weekly LinkedIn posts let so many entrepreneurs know that they aren’t alone. We talk about mental health and entrepreneurs (67% of business owners will have an occurrence of mental health issues during their working life) and the stigma that is still prevalent that prevents many of them from reaching out for help. Michael outlines the support systems he has built, and how a good hike is so helpful.

I have known Teresa Easler for almost a decade. In that time, I have learned soooo much from her – and now you can too! We talk about perseverance, dealing with debt, and shifting your mindset. Teresa measures everything and delivers some amazing truths around pricing and when to charge for things you may be doing for free.Want to find out if you’re a presentation rockstar? Click here! (https://www.connecttothecore.com/presentation-rockstar-scorecard)

TRUST. It affects your topline, your bottom line, and everything in between. It seems like a nebulous concept, but my guest, Natalie Oldfield has developed The Client Trust Index™. This tool gives you proven, objective data that helps you make decisions, improve your customer experience, increase retention, and deepen relationships. We talk about how she transitioned from CMO, and her journey to becoming a world-renowned Trust Expert.

Susan Diaz is a messaging maven who has gone all in on podcasts as anchor content. Her company, c+p digital, takes on the task of developing a great concept all the way through to publishing, and repurposing podcasts into compelling content. Starting as a chocolatier in India, we discuss how she came to Toronto and her journey to business ownership.

Nathalie Morin and Julien Rousseau-Dumarcet met and fell in love in Wakefield, QC. He; a Frenchmen with a passion for chocolate; she, a young hospitality professional who had itchy feet!

Together they travelled to Europe and began their adventures. They worked for a handful of award-winning hotels and independent chocolatiers in France, England, and Scotland.

They had envisioned setting up shop in Halifax 2 years prior to arriving in Canada. But why Halifax? Because it offered a great quality of life, had many European influences, and was conveniently located between Ottawa and Roquebrune-sur-Argens - the couples' respective hometowns!

7 years, 1 expansion, 2 babies, 1 house, lots and lots of blood, sweat & tears later.... Here we ARE! A true commitment to dedication, hard work and a solid partnership!