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Barb McGrath 0:00Today’s guest knows all the lawyer jokes. And in fact, he’s been known to tell more than a few of them himself. Corey Firman is the owner of firmen ip here in Regina. And they focus on intellectual property law. So if you’ve ever wondered whether what you’re thinking or building would be covered, he’s the guy you need to talk to. Cory. Welcome. Thank you for being here. Cory Furman 0:28Oh, thanks for Well, thanks for having me. I didn’t bring you a good lawyer job today. But, but I love a good one light as much as the next. So just if you’re going to tell me a lawyer joke, just make it really hurt. Barb McGrath 0:41Excellent. And you know, as a profession, you guys certainly get beat up. So I think that helps to build that thick skin somewhere along the way, right? Yeah. So like, what what drew you to a lot you’ve been practicing for how many years now? Cory Furman 0:56I finished Law School in 1994. So I feel old saying that? Because I guess that means about 25 years, something like that. 26 years? Barb McGrath 1:07And have you always focused on intellectual property? Cory Furman 1:11Since I started my firm, so when you’re when you finish, law school is kind of like accounting, you got to do articles first. So I did my articles with the Saskatchewan Justice Department in 94/95. And then an economy back then being one it was for lots of people that are watching who were here that knows there weren’t a whole pile of jobs around. So I created my own job. decided I’d started an IP firm, because it was always something that had, it’s always something that had interested me and, and with, with nothing better to do and wanting to stick around Saskatchewan because I had met my well my wife at the time not wanting to leave, I thought I’d give it a try. So board a couple 1000 bucks in an old computer from my dad and away I went. Barb McGrath 2:01You know, and you hear that story so many times right board a few dollars from mom and dad back in 94, how you could borrow a couple $1,000 nowadays, it’s a little bit more expensive to get set up. Um, so talk a little bit about the types of businesses that you work with them. Cory Furman 2:19So my practice is in the area of intellectual property law and strategy. So the I do patent a patent and trademark and copyright work here are sort of what people would more typically kind of equate that to their little simpler words, the but wide, so I help lots of everyone from individuals through to large companies, protecting patents, trademarks, copyright. Cory Furman 2:43I do a little bit of litigation work, although, in general, especially with domestic and local clients in Saskatchewan, we’re not a litigious bunch, we all seem to get along. So that’s not so bad. So a lot of the clients that I work, like I have a very, it’s pretty cool, because I get to work with lots of different companies of different sizes in different industries. And I mean, another interesting thing about another piece to that is not only helping people to sort of figure out and file and protect their patents and things like that. But also, I mean, the most interesting part of it, to me is sort of just helping clients to figure out the rest of their IP strategy, including their export strategy, like I love doing international work. So I help people who are exporting to kind of match up their IP footprint in other markets, whether those are other markets elsewhere in Canada or outside Canada that sort of help them to match up the timing and the footprint of their IP portfolio in the US or Europe or wherever, as they as they go along. So I got to meet a ton of interesting people in those 25 years or whatever, both from clients, to lawyers and other countries and stuff like that. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s pretty cool. Barb McGrath 4:02So is it primarily product work? Or even from a tech perspective? I want to develop a piece of technology and let’s say an app, but I want people around the world to use it. Is that considered exploiting or how does that work? Cory Furman 4:19So when I started in the 90s, and through for the first 10 or 15 years, and it could have been part been just the nature of the people I had in my team at the time. We did a lot of work on agricultural implements, oil and gas invention stuff like more more mechanical type inventions. I always have had a bit of an interest in software kind of stuff through its I, I found it I found that my old Commodore 64 in the garage the other day, which I will, which I will let my wife throw out, because it’s because I’m a nerd. And Barb McGrath 4:55I try and turn it on like what can you do with it. Cory Furman 4:57I haven’t tried to turn it on but But so I always have been of interest in software, literally probably in the last six or eight years, over half of my patent practice would probably be with software companies. So helping people to, to protect different whether it’s a you know, sort of online things or offline, it’s a lot of a lot of the innovation in the province these days is being done in those areas, I still, I still get to do lots of interesting work with some of the same old, older sort of client relationship, like ag manufacturers, oil and gas companies, those kinds of things, but lots more software now. So like I say, which has probably

Barb 0:19This afternoon’s guest has a firm belief in quality, Saskatchewan Mead and distilled quality since 2015 Blackfox Distillery has been Saskatchewan premier farm based micro distillery, located just minutes from Saskatoon, Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote is the co-owner of the locally owned and locally produced line of gin, whiskey and like yours that are shipping globally. Today’s episode may inspire you to take your beverages to a whole new level. Barb 0:22Welcome, Barb, thank you for being here. Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 0:26Well, thank you so much, Barb, this is a real great opportunity. Barb 0:51Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you. So tell me about your background because that doesn’t look like a traditional office. Where in the heck are you? Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 1:13I am actually right in our retail section of Blackfox Farm and distillery behind me is the distillery itself the distilling room, you will see our our hybrid pot still is what it’s called. It is it was custom made for us in Germany. Barb 1:33Oh in Germany. Now I know very little about how alcohol is distilled. Even though I’m from moosejaw. You think given Al Capone’s history, I would know it inside out and can you give me the you know, pretend I’m five and explain how alcohol is distilled to me. Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 1:49Absolutely, I can tell you in two minutes or less how to make booze, it’s really easy. So what you do is you start from green. And green has a lot of starch in it. And it’s the starch that gets turned into alcohol. Okay, so what you do is you take the grain, you grind it, and then you mash it, which means you add in water. And in our case, we add in enzymes as well. And the enzymes break those starches down into sugar. Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 2:19Okay, then from there, you take it and you put it into a fermentation tank. And you add in yeast and the yeast does its magic and turns that sugar into alcohol. But the problem is, is that when it’s making the when the yeast is active, it doesn’t only make ethanol, which is the alcohol you can drink. It also makes methanol and butyl alcohol and fusel alcohols and all those other things that will make you go blind, right? Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 2:46Okay. So the whole idea then is to put it into the still to separate the good, the bad and the ugly. Ah, as it travels through the still the the different things get separated and removed. And then at the end, you end up with your alcohol, your base alcohol. Barb 3:05And so is the process the same for each of the different products that you make. Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 3:09So whiskey and gin is that the exact same process just a separate byproduct, then that’s exactly what happens. So if I take it from the still, and I put it in a in a barrel, and I age it for three years, it becomes whiskey. If I take it and I carbon, filter it and take it up to 96% alcohol, so very, very concentrated, yes. And then it becomes vodka. If I take it and then infuse it with botanicals such as Juniper and cardamom and all of the other fun things, then it becomes gin. Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 3:44If I take it and put in fruit juice, it becomes a look here. So you do start with a base alcohol. And what you do with it after is how you make the different products. Barb 3:55So how did you learn all of this because my university education did not give me any of that. I may have consumed it. Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 4:02But well, it’s interesting because our background too did not come with any recipes or any training whatsoever. When we decided to do this project, we were really green. And I the distiller is my husband, he’s the one who does all of this drilling. And he went and he took a couple courses, you can take courses on how to make alcohol. And he also worked a little bit in in one of the distilleries down in in Chicago where he went and volunteered for a week and spending time learning how to do it and then we came back and a lot of trial and error. Barb 0:19Yeah. Okay, now Who did you conned into trying some of those trial products? Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote 4:44Well, obviously it was us to start with and there were some I will admit that kind of went right back into the process again because they needed a lot more attention. So have you guys always been a little bit of a connoisseur for taste and flavor Reverse. Barb 5:02Actually, it’s interesting, you should say that because I, myself, I am not, but my husband is. So in our house, we’d like to say that I’m the cook, Chef. And so you know, he’s the one who is way has a much more of an appreciation and a far better palate than mine. Yep. Now that’s interesting to me. Because, you know, when you go to I’ll say, a fancy restaurant, which we don’t get to do too often right now. But when you go to a fancy restaurant, you have that nice meal, you really enjoy and appreciate the different flavors versus, you know, cooking at home. And it all starts to taste the same after a while. So I would think that that becomes a real, almost like an art. Right? Barb 5:48There’s, there’s some art and there’s some science in there. Because just because your husband likes it doesn’t always mean that the general public likes it. Oh, this is so true. And in and there’s so many things that are I agree, you know, I agree with what you’re saying is, a chef looks to his ingredients to make something that’s unique and special. And that is

Barb 0:00Today’s guest is an award winning musician, community volunteer. And with COVID in our lives right now has overcome some incredible obstacles in his organization. Josh hug Ruud is going to talk about the what the Regina Folk Festival is doing to still bring them music to us. We have had this festival in our community for over 50 years. What do we do? What is the future of community events in Saskatchewan? Well, let’s talk to Josh and let’s find out. Welcome Josh. Josh Haugerud 0:34Hey, thank you so much for having me. It’s nice to be here. Barb 0:38Tell us a little bit about the Regina Folk Festival. Give us a quick history on you know where you’ve come from and where you’re going. Josh Haugerud 0:44Sure. So the Regina Folk Festival is one of the longest running festivals in Western Canada happens in Victoria Park, the second weekend of August every year. And yeah, where we’ve come from. I mean, it’s been over 50 years and 2019 we celebrated the 50 year anniversary, where we’re going nobody knows with the way that things are happening right now. Josh Haugerud 1:10Everything’s a question. And every day is an adventure. That’s for sure. Yeah, no kidding. Just before we got started today, you talked a little bit about the organization and the number of volunteers that it takes to actually make the festival happen. Barb 1:22So was the last festival in 2020? Or was it 2019? Before COVID ever started 2019. Josh Haugerud 1:30Before COVID hit when I started this role as executive director at the Folk Festival. I started about a month early so that I could be the person who canceled the festival due to COVID. And then yeah, work towards my actual start date afterwards. Barb 1:52So that’s kind of a not fun. First thing to do in a new job is hey, guess what, after 50 years, we’re gonna put this on pause. Josh Haugerud 1:59Yeah, yeah, it was, it was an interesting way to start the job. But I mean, it was it was the right choice. So it wasn’t actually a difficult choice. And I mean, we’re a very inclusive, thoughtful festival. And so the protection of the people who come to our festival in terms of their safety and, and whatnot is, is our top concern. So there’s just no way we could have moved forward with the way everything was going. Barb 2:27Absolutely. So from a festival standpoint, could you stream the festival? Like, are there still options for you? Or is Regina Folk Festival really on hold until COVID is Gone? Josh Haugerud 2:42I mean, that’s a good question. I think we’re playing everything day by day. So really, it’s just figuring out where we’re at, at the point where we have a drop dead date. And so we’re looking a few months ahead, always planning ahead, but we kind of knew coming into this year that that things weren’t going to be solved by by the summertime, in order for us to come back with a normal festival, or as normal as it could be. Josh Haugerud 3:10So yeah, while we’re still figuring things out. Every day, we’re, we’ve got a pretty good idea of of what we can and can’t do. Barb 3:20Yeah. And so knowing that that continues to change, like, how are you preparing for that? When you go into work on any given day, and you share that, you know, there’s only a couple of people or yourself that can be in the office because you only have one person there. So like, how do you prepare for the unknown? Josh Haugerud 3:39You know, it’s it’s a lot of just good communication with our staff. We’ve started using tools like slack to communicate while we’re all working from home, lots of zoom meetings, too many zoom meetings. But one of the things that we’ve done is, before I actually started working here was the they had set up meetings every month with all the leaders from festivals from across the sketch one to discuss the issues that we have, and plan towards the summer and work together on getting funding and those types of things. And that, I think has been one of the most beneficial things that has come out of this is that we’ve come together as an industry to to advocate for ourselves. Barb 4:27Yeah, absolutely. building that strong network of colleagues, whether it’s across western Canada, or just the province, if that’s absolutely huge, right, talking to everybody. And yeah, now we’ve heard that a number of events have started to stream. Have you looked at some of those streaming options? Josh Haugerud 4:44Mm hmm. Absolutely. So last year, instead of doing a festival, we did a drive in concert series with local musicians and we actually did stream two of those concerts for free. Yeah, so and we have winter option coming up. Josh Haugerud 5:00Pretty soon here as well. And those are all going to be while they’re pre recorded concerts done so safely within COVID regulations, and we worked with the business response team on those to get those done safely. So yeah, we absolutely have looked at at streaming. We’ve streamed a handful of concerts over the last year, with partnerships with different organizations. But I mean, it’s it’s one of those things where it’s about the demand, right, and everybody’s doing it. Josh Haugerud 5:34When you’re sitting in zoom meetings all day, the last thing you want to do is hop onto your computer one more time to watch a concert. And, and as lovely as they are, they aren’t the same. They just don’t and there’s nothing you can do to make them the same. Barb 5:49No, the it’s the experience, right sitting in Victoria Park, pulling out your lawn chair laying on a blanket for a couple of concerts. It’s an entirely

Barb 0:00Today’s guest came all the way from across the pond to become a local business owner. But she didn’t stay satisfied as a local business owner for long. She’s now a global online entrepreneur. And she’s got a topic that really hits a soft spot for me. If you’ve listened to any of the past shows, you hear me talk about my dog, and you know my love for animals in general. So today, we’re going to talk with Julie Naismith, who has not only a pro program for dog trainers, but even a membership program for dog owners whose dogs are suffering from separation anxiety. So before I babble on for too long, Julie, welcome. Julie Naismith 0:47Thank you so much, Barb. It’s great to be here. Barb 0:50It’s a pleasure to have you here. Yes. So tell us a little bit about how did you go from being a local business and they think you were a dog trainer to now training folks from around the world? Julie Naismith 1:03Do you think it might, it might think back to my, my career before as a dog trainer, so dog training is career 2.0. For me before that, I work for a global company as a management consultant. So I can only have had the view of the world that I had that sounds really highfalutin, but basically, I was used to working in different countries. But and also, I live in a really small town. So combination of having seen the possibilities of you know, I’m comparing myself to a 40,000 person management consulting firm. Yes, Julie Naismith 1:35I was used to working globally, then I moved to a beautiful small town, which I love. And then where you’re limited with the local business, and you know how passionate I am about local, I’m always telling my trainers about local business. But so then I thought, Okay, so how can I make this business grow? I’ve got to go beyond where I live, and then that becomes Canada, then that becomes, hey, well, why don’t we just like, look and see whether we can get people in the UK or the US? And obviously, because I’m from the UK had a ton of connections there, too. So that’s kind of how it happened. It was necessity. I thought I’d be exciting to do it that way. Barb 2:10Exactly. And you know, sometimes, if you don’t try and do something you never actually know if you can. And I think that’s one of the things that a number of local businesses get they they reach that finish line, or they reach that line where they go, Oh, if I cross this line, then I’m not local anymore. And I think many businesses can succeed by stepping over that line getting out of their comfort zone. Now, you and I talked a little bit before we got started today, when you launched your online program, it was right around the same time as COVID. Can you tell us that story? Julie Naismith 2:44Yeah, well, so 12 months? Well, 13 months ago, and I had had it all planned and all mapped out and then you know, kept listening on the news. It’s like, Okay, what is this COVID thing? That’s sort of February. Okay, I’m supposed to be launching in March, but time will just keep going. And then was it March 12, the World Health Organization declared the pandemic and everybody just went up for all that didn’t? Julie Naismith 3:10I just thought, well, there’s no way I can continue on with this for so many reasons, like who’s going to want to buy anything now who’s going to be to fine? I actually felt really icky as well, Bob, about selling at that point. Who am I to be putting offers in front of people when they’re, you know, just worried about where they’re going to get loo paper from tomorrow, but you didn’t feel like the right climate to be selling him? Luckily, I did have a fantastic bunch. And I still do have accountability partners who will work in the online space. Yeah. They said, just go for it. Even if people are ready to buy and they want to buy, they’ll appreciate you. And if not, then they’re locked out that week and you know, go lighter, maybe then you would have been if that’s what you feel comfortable about in the launch. Barb 3:54Right? Julie Naismith 3:54Yeah. So I did. I did it. And I I was just telling you wasn’t I had all these webinars or numbers, tons of people books, but nobody turning up. And that is not like me on my webinars. I get really good show up, right? Because everybody’s watching the news. Like what’s happening? You know what, which lockdown is? Yes, the war that was going on? But anyway, I’m so glad I did it. Because it turns out, there were some people who thought, right, well, I can’t go out. What am I going to do with the next two or three months? Hey, I’ll take an online course. Barb 4:25Yes. And you heard those stories. So often, you heard stories of people who were you know, they wanted to learn, they wanted to improve themselves. They wanted to grow their business. And, you know, it was kind of this time period where we could we were locked in anyway. So what could we do to improve, you know, things around us? And I heard wonderful stories of you know, people learning languages, and you know, people taking these courses. I used to laugh because I said, Well, my kids did wonderful. They learn to bake. The problem is I ate! Julie Naismith 4:57Now I’m paying for it. Barb 5:00Exactly for two or three months, my kids baked every single day, it was just like, Oh my goodness. Julie Naismith 5:07You got all the baking

Barb 0:00Today’s guest is all too familiar with the underbelly of the business world. Karen Smith is the CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan. And she tells tales of business owners who have been wrong, cotton scams and having lost 1000s or maybe even more dollars. She also tells tales of business owners who are protected because of their engagement with the BBB. Karen, welcome. Thank you for being here. Karen 0:32Thanks for inviting me, Barb. Glad to be here. Barb 0:35Absolutely. And we too, had some tech challenges this morning or earlier guests had some challenges as well. So fingers crossed, we’re on and we’re live. And hopefully it all works. Yeah. So tell me how long have you been with the Better Business Bureau? Just a little over five years with the Better Business Bureau? And what interested you in a rule like that you’re like on a daily basis? You’re kind of dealing with some yucky stuff? No, I Karen 1:04Yes, it is a different environment here always balancing something between consumers and businesses, or scammers and businesses and consumers. It’s always a balancing act. No, I think that my experience up to now and lead me to at the right time. Barb 1:35Got it. Kate, that sounds very good. So one of the tools that I know that the Better Business Bureau have is something called scam tracker. And that’s actually an international initiative, or is it a national initiative. Karen 1:48It’s an international and they sort of Canada was at the forefront. Although Canada didn’t create the product, we became the first ones to step up to the plate and say, let’s make it live in Canada everywhere all at once. And that okay, but you know, five years ago, they were piloted the product in a number of locations, I guess, seven and eight years ago, when I came on, they were both sued mentioned five years ago or so. Okay, they were looking to pilot it in a broader spectrum to see how it would work. Canadian BBB offices stepped up and made it happen. Barb 2:36So what exactly is scam? tracker? How do I use it as a business owner. Karen 2:42So it’s a crowdsource means of collecting information from victims about scams is a database that’s accessible worldwide, can’t it’s the it’s in the victims own stories. It’s no one has an important piece. Because what that then does is it helps prepare individuals that most likely are working for a company to be more knowledgeable about how scammers work. And be able to take that skill set to whatever the setting that they’re in their work setting that they’re in. Right. So I help them to be more aware of what’s going on. If they can identify in their personal life, then they can also identify in their business life, whatever that course may be. Barb 3:33So you know, it used to be that we were worried about our grandparents getting scammed. Is that still the case then? Karen 3:39Well, it is for certain types of scams, but in a general sense, anybody can be scammed. And we know because we we examine the database from scam tracker every year to make sure you know what’s true, what’s changing what’s trending, but also what’s trending in terms of who’s more vulnerable. So the other thing that scam tracker gives us is a database set that is so broad that it helps us to to use our mandate of prevention to help prevent scams, right do do it in the in that manner. Karen 4:18What the Better Business Bureau did this is on an international scale is they created a number of scams of a particular type, but also keep where their money is being lost and the degree of money being lost. So those three things are multiplied out together to see who’s more vulnerable for a certain type of scam. Okay, take that information and we can do a deeper dive to see if it has an impact on one gender more so than another or one age group. More So then another So getting back to your question about, you know, is my grandmother or grandfather more at risk than, you know, my 18 year old son or daughter? Well, yeah, probably truth be known, they’re probably both at equal risk, Barb 5:16At equal risk. And you know, as a parent, I actually worry less about my parents. And so, you know, grandparents, my I’ve lost my grandparents was just my parents at this point, I worry less about them, because they’ve been using the technology long enough now that, that they’re a little bit more prepared for what might be out there. But my kids are in their, their teens. And my daughter in particular, she, she doesn’t believe that scams are really a thing. We actually had an extensive discussion at home the other night, it was quite funny. And we were talking about all these scams, because my son was doing some research. And to my daughter said, well, there can’t be that many of them. I said, Well, actually, there’s millions and millions of scams, and you know, people stealing money. And her comment was, well, they can’t be making a living doing that. Barb 6:13I said, Yeah, they they actually are making a living. That’s why they continue their her rationale, this was quite cute. Her rationale for why this didn’t ring true for her is because, well, what would their neighbors think? Wouldn’t they know that they’re doing scams? If they don’t leave the house, then they must be scamming. And he said, we’re in the middle of COVID. Nobody leaves her house. That’s not a rationale anymore. But in her, you know, 14 year old mind, that was, you know, she knows what our neighbors do. And our neighbors know what we do. And so in her mind,

Barb 0:01Welcome to a special edition of The Secret Life of entrepreneurs. Today, we’re talking to two local artists who live and breathe artistry. Having gotten to know them a little bit over the last few months, I’ve really developed an interest and a passion in the work that they’re doing. So I’m excited to have our guests with us today. Susan 0:27Before I go too far, I should actually introduce myself because many of you won’t know me. My name is Barb McGrath, and I’m the host of a podcast called The Secret Life of entrepreneurs. Susan and Janet have very kindly allowed me to broadcast into the Facebook page, as well as on to CJTR. So today’s episode is a little bit different than many. But let’s get started. And I’m going to ask Susan Robinson to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what to expect expect at the upcoming event. Susan 1:04Hi, everyone, and thanks, Barb for inviting me here today. My name is Susan Robertson, and then the ceramic artists who lives and works in Outlook Saskatchewan. And I make really beautiful pottery that makes people smile. Now the event that we tend to, and I and I have to give Janet full credit for starting the whole ball rolling on this is river and rail Art Center, which is a self guided tour of artists and artisans in West Central Saskatchewan. And it’s going to take place June 26 and 27th of this year. Barb 1:46That’s only a few weeks away eight weeks away. Susan 1:50Yes. Is this where I go? Ah, Barb 1:53Okay, all go. Oh, my goodness. Eye balls popping out exactly. How many people are you expecting at the event then Susan? Susan 2:05We’re actually anticipating about 4000 people over the two days of the event. Barb 2:12Excellent. Wow. That’s exciting. All right. Before we talk too long, let’s have Janet Introduce yourself. And tell us a little bit about the the artists it artists. I can’t talk this morning, artists and types of artists that we might expect to see. Janet 2:28Morning, Barb, and thank you too, for inviting me on this adventure of doing a live interview. We have a I have been doing acrylic art, only for about eight years as a full time kind of activity. I am a retired English and French teacher. And I did teach art, or should I say I facilitated the many talents. Students have learned lots from them. And I think I learned that I could maybe do some of that as well. Yeah, so I am really happy to be doing this now a little bit more seriously, and helping other people to be able to test their skills as well. Janet 3:12We have 10 towns 26 venues and over 50 participants, which is a lot. It is hoped we might have 15 participants. So we have really broadened out. And certainly we have a wide variety of things that are going to be people that are going to be making things for us making it happen. Janet 3:38We have three fiber artists, we have 14 who paint, we have three who do pottery to then use with sculpture, we have seven who work with wood, but that might be all the different ways you can work with wood from cutting boards, to antler carving to so many different kinds of wood turning even a luthier which is of course creating stringed instruments with pine woods. Janet 4:07We have two jewelry, we have a musical trio that will be performing. And we also have for aggressive agribusiness entrepreneurs who will be sharing what they’ve got. But you can add to that a winery and to galleries. So and seven, seven groups within all of those as well. So there’s lots to see lots to do. There will be demonstrations. And yeah, it’ll be a surprise for everyone. Just how much tell there is in this area. Barb 4:41Exactly. So when you think about the wide variety of artists that are involved, are most of them full time artists, are they part time Is this a retirement activity for them are are some of the artists just learning an upcoming, give me a little bit of an idea of what that landscape looks like? Janet 5:00I think that I could answer all parts of those, each of those questions in a different way. Because yes, there are some who are retired like myself, who found a passion and time to do what you’ve always wanted to do. And I think there are also I know, there are also people like Susan, who are professionals who have been doing this as a career. Janet 5:20And that would be also true, we have some that are brand new, some who have been doing it for a long time in whatever way they’ve been doing it. And I think that, for some, it’s a discovery of, I could do something more. And this is one of the things we’re trying to help them with the Reverend rail art tour, so that they can find a space that’s safe. Find that myself when I had my first show. And you’re really nervous, and you’re not sure anybody will come? Yes. And I’ve already had a chance to reassure one person that, yes, they will come. Yes, they will love what you’re doing. And Sally, they will find that your work is exceptional, even though and I know that for myself, even though I really question if anybody would buy what I’m doing. Yes. Barb 6:22Yes, exactly. So I’m gonna ask you both this question. And I know your answers are very different. How did you get started? What was the impetus that said, I want to work with ceramic ware, I want to work with paint and acrylics. And, like, what what inside of you told you that this was something that

Barb 0:00Our guest today fills a very non traditional role as a woman in her family. She is the first in a three generation business that have been involved in a local business here in Regina. I’m gonna let her tell you about the business and her involvement. But I’d like to start off by welcoming Jennifer Fox from auto electric to our show this morning. Good morning, and thank you for being here. Jennifer 0:28Good morning, Barb, thank you so much for having me. It’s such a pleasure to finally put a name and a face together. Barb 0:33Yes, it’s been great. Jennifer 0:34We’ve been doing lots of online communication, but this is perfect. Barb 0:37Exactly. Yeah. You know, there’s still something to be said for like talking to someone. Right? Jennifer 0:43Well, there is. And I think we miss out on so much. Without that the expressions that you can see, and just the closeness that even just the visual ads, when you’re in an online format is so much more than just that text format. Exactly. Barb 0:55Yes. You know, I have a girlfriend. This is a total aside before we get started, but I have a girlfriend who always swears like she is not a hugger. And now that COVID has dragged on for so long. She’s like, I’m just warning you like I am hugging when this is done. Jennifer 1:11Exactly. Yeah, we’re seeing these other sides of our personalities coming through due to the length of things now. Barb 1:17Exactly. That’s so true. Anyway, I kind of hijacked our kickoff here this morning. So that’s a little bit about yourself and your involvement with the business. Jennifer 1:27For sure. So as you said, my name is Jennifer Fox, and I am the corporate development and marketing manager for auto electric service, mainline fleet service. So we are a Saskatchewan owned and operated business. Jennifer 1:40We’ve been in business since 1943. So we’ve got some long history, they’re all within Saskatchewan, we have an ownership group have eight shareholders. And we have five locations, we have stores, to actually in which I don’t want under the auto electric service name and one under the mainline fleet service name. And then we also have stores in Estevan, Weyburn and Yorkton. Jennifer 2:02And you’re we’re not a family business, which makes us kind of unique, but we are a locally owned and operate your business. And even though we’re not truly a family business, we have a couple families that have kind of a few generations of ownership, or siblings that are involved with things like that. Jennifer 2:15But we are an independently operated business. So a little bit of my history, I guess, in our history as a business. So my grandfather, my mom’s dad was involved in the business. And basically, he started has one of those stories where he started sweeping the floors. And that was where he came into the business. And that’s where he started. And he literally worked his way up to President and CEO of the business. Jennifer 2:40So he kind of went right from the bottom rate to the top. And we have a lot of those stories within our business, a lot of people who have spent their careers with us, which is a really, I think, interesting story and shows some of the longevity that we have. Jennifer 2:51But yeah, so just actually, when I was a toddler, my dad became involved in the business, he had gone to university, and then actually worked for SAS, direct West at the time, and then an affiliated organization with our business and then eventually came into the business. And he worked his way up, starting in a sales kind of management role and worked his way up. And he is now our current president and general manager. So I always say it’s interesting, because I have two very different relationships with my dad, at home, he his dad and in the weekends and at the lake in the summer. But at work, he is very much Bob and we very much function like that. So it’s kind of a different dynamic. Barb 3:35Well, and that does bring an interesting dynamic into play. Because when president bob wants something done, but we can Bob knows that you need to balance kids activities or family. Like there’s a real dynamic there that must go on then. Jennifer 3:53There isn’t I think it’s a dynamic that we both we’ve learned to figure out between the two of us. But it’s, you know, we have we do and we have very distinct relationships and not that business doesn’t get talked about on the weekends and, and things like that, but we how we interact even about those issues is very different at home than it would be at work. So. Barb 4:13Absolutely. And you know, just even as you’re talking, it’s making me think about our business because we are family owned as well. And it’s my husband and I in the business. there’s times where we’re talking about work at, you know, seven o’clock in the morning on the couch while we’re having coffee. And and we have two very different personalities. So my husband was much more routine and structured. We’re like, think of something at 10 o’clock at night. I’m going to talk about it. Just this morning, one of those conversations started at seven o’clock. And my husband was sort of rolling his eyes at me and I said, Well, what like I’m thinking of it now. So I have to tell you, he’s just like, I know Let me get to work first. Barb 5:02Exactly. Let me just at least get half of this cup of coffee in me. And I, I find as I get older, I become a real morning person. And so you know, I’ll get up at six, and I’ll have my coffee

Barb 0:10Welcome to a very special episode, the first in our three part series, grow local. And we’ll even have a few guests business owners join us today via the online chat with some questions as we go. Barb 0:26In this episode entitled, your Ultimate Guide to Get Found with Local SEO will take you on a journey of two of your customers. Barb 0:38If you’ve ever been frustrated with Google, not showing the right content, not showing your business, not seeming to understand what you do, this is your fix. This is the way to tell Google who you are. If you’re a local business owner, hoping to find more ready to buy customers. Barb 0:59Stay tuned. I’m Barb McGrath, founder of above the fold digital marketing, and the get found Academy, the local business owners guide to the first page of Google. Let’s start off. Let’s start off quickly with what is local SEO and what it isn’t. Local SEO is using your website, your Google listing, and even your social channels to find more customers. Barb 1:31SEO or search engine optimization is maximizing your online properties for customers and search engines. And it’s really important to remember that while we want the search engines to find us, it’s way more important that our customers find us and our customers shop with us. Barb 1:57So SEO is about finding more customers. A search engine, for example, Google, Bing, or Yahoo can find your business. And they can understand the content on your website when you give it to them. Barb 2:14And that’s what we’re going to talk about today. How do we give more content to these search engines? So from a practical perspective, as a local business, local SEO means more foot traffic. Local SEO is all of those best, and near me searches that we all do from our phone, best coffee shop, coffee shop near me, best plumber, Saskatoon, best plumber weyburn. Barb 2:46These are all searches that customers are doing every day. And we want those customers to find you. Barb 2:56Local SEO means that you will have more online purchases, even if they’re picked up or delivered. And as we all survived COVID so many of us learn to deliver our services virtually, or create a contactless environment where consumers could continue to purchase from us. Barb 3:20So local SEO isn’t about online shopping. It’s about finding your customers where they are online. SEO is the equivalent of a dating service for your business. Customers will swipe you away in a heartbeat. And if you don’t appear to have what they’re looking for, they’re just going to keep going. Barb 3:51So it’s your job to show off all of the things that you have to offer. So those potential dates I mean, customers know that you have what they’re looking for. So local SEO is not a quick scheme to get a whole bunch of clicks on your website, or on your social channels to drive up visits, local SEO ties directly to sales and cash in your register. Barb 4:28So let’s start off by meeting our customers. Because really, they’re our guest today, and they’re the most important folks who are here with us. Our first guest is Skittles and I’m just gonna bring Skittles, do a little bit of cuddling with him here. So this is Skittles. Barb 4:46Skittles is a very discerning young Boston Terrier. He’s particular about his nutrition and seeks quality food and treats. He absolutely loves his pet parent, a young lad named Peter. Barb 5:06Skittles likes a little bit of variety in his food and toys. And Peter is new to pet parenting. So, you know, he’s still doing a lot of shopping around, and he’s very price conscious, he wants his money to go as far as it can for Skittles. He also wants the best for Skittles. Barb 5:30And he Googles every purchase before he actually makes the purchase. Doesn’t matter if it’s food, toys, a leash, a harness, little boots for winter, because these paws get mighty chilly, it doesn’t matter if it’s a kennel, whatever it might be. Peter searches on Google for everything before he actually makes that purchase. Barb 5:58Our other customer that we’re going to talk about today is Ava. And Ava and Skittles are two very different customers. So let’s take a look at Ava. There she is. So Ava, on the other hand, is not just discerning. She’s very particular. And once she finds a business that she likes, she tends to return over and over. Barb 6:28She’s very traditional at heart, but very savvy, when it comes to technology, she will return to a business if she believes that the price is competitive. And that’s a really important differentiator. She’s looking for competitive pricing. She’s not afraid of that online environment. Barb 6:53When she’s unsure, uncertain, she’ll spend hours researching, analyzing, googling her different options, and understanding what she can buy as a customer. Barb 7:08Both of our customers today will support local businesses whenever they can. So if it’s an option, they’re both absolutely going to support local. But as a local business, you have to be competitive, you need to be convenient, and Skittles, or Peter and Eva can confirm, before they go shopping, that the business that they want to shop with actually has what it is that they’re looking for. Barb 7:45So they are such different customers. But their journey to purchase all ends with the same result. They want to shop local, their journeys are different, but they still want to be able to shop locally. And they have one thing in common. Barb 8:07They both rely on their search result to find the products and services that they want. Eva being the researcher relies on what she finds on a business’s website, to be up to date to be true and to be accurate. So if her chosen business

Barb 0:08Today’s guest exemplifies community action and volunteerism. She’s the recipient of the YWCA, women of distinction community champion award for 2020, a lifelong resident in Montmartre, Janet Kotylak, and Janet, you’ll have to correct me if I didn’t quite get the name wrong. I did some practicing before we went live today. Janet joins us to talk about her commitment to education in our province, and for students across our country. Janet, welcome. Janet 0:45Thanks for having me. Good to be here today. Barb 0:47It’s a pleasure to have you here. So congratulations first on the award. Janet 0:52Thank you, I was just gonna say you, you did pretty fine on my name. It’s it’s coat lock. But Kota lock is often how people say it. Barb 1:06I will get right at the end. You know, pronunciation is one of the things that I work on the most, before we go live with these sessions. Because, you know, being in Saskatchewan, we have a real mix of names that come from all directions. For sure. So tell me about this award. Did you know that you had been nominated? And, you know, what was your reaction when you found out then that you won? Janet 1:30Well, the, the process is such that you have to accept the nomination. So I knew I was being nominated. And in fact, my nominator called me and asked if I would agree to be nominated. And, you know, my first initial reaction to that was, you know, there’s so many people that have done so much in the pandemic, like, Are you sure? And she said, Yeah, because we need to highlight education, we need to shine a spotlight on the fact that we can do that through you. Janet 2:05The first piece and and what was my reaction? I mean, to be honest, I was really surprised, I had looked at what the other candidates in my category had brought to the table. They were all fantastic leaders, and a trustee ship and my role is is a job to do really quietly behind the scenes. So I wasn’t sure that people would recognize, like and understand the work. Right, obviously, credit to my nominator for putting that through in a way that people understood and whoever the nominating team is, I, I need to give them more credit. Yes. Barb 2:43You know, one of the most interesting things, I think, with COVID, is every sector has been impacted in some really different ways. But when you look at the education sector as a whole, we kept kids in school for the most part, you know, there were some parents in favor of that, and some parents not. And as a trustee, you couldn’t when you were going to have parents upset with you, no matter which direction you went, how as the the chairperson of the board, how are you helping to manage that? Janet 3:14Well, April was a tough month, in the south part of the province, we had gone out and then had to go back. And, and yes, you’re right. You know, you, you couldn’t make everybody happy, and maybe happy’s, not the right word. But you know, everybody was at their own place with COVID and their own beliefs. And I really respected that. But we were tasked with making the decisions that we had to make we follow the health orders really closely. And we just really tried to say education is our business, but health is theirs, and we’re going to look towards them as the experts. I also, you know, served provincially on the scheduled School Boards Association. So along with that role, and and the way they structured things, we were kept up to date weekly on call. So, you know, those pieces where you’ve got continual information, helpful when big decisions and you know, in the end, yeah, we did get feedback from parents on both ends. So that’s but yeah, but was respectful. And I respect that. So, Barb 4:25You know, and I, you know, I think that’s an important rule, being able to collect that respectful feedback. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, if you’re getting screamed at you kind of stop listening. And so parents being able to feel like they were being heard, one of the things and I’ll put my parent hat on for a second. We we didn’t know what went on behind the scenes. We didn’t know if there was weekly meetings, we didn’t know if it was just email communication. And without any criticism of of my own school board. That was one piece that I would have really liked to have understood better. is absolutely make a decision, I will support you 100%. But help me understand where the information comes from to make the decision. And knowing that there had been weekly meetings, I think that would have really helped a lot of parents out, whichever side you’re on, if you want your kids in school and they’re being pulled out, or vice versa, right, just that little bit of bit of extra information. So as a board, and then even at the provincial level, how are you managing the volumes of information that that came at you probably for from some different directions, to be able to weigh it all and then make a decision that you felt good about? How did you weigh all of that? Janet 5:43Well, you know, there was key decision points along the way. And of course, if you take it back to the beginning of it all, the first decision to go out of school was was made by the premier back in March 2020. And so that one was it was handed to us. So how can we provide this extra learning to those who still want to be engaged, and that was tough, weren’t set up, especially in rural Saskatchewan. Janet

Barb 0:00In today’s episode, we’re gonna change it up a little bit. The next few episodes of The Secret Life of Entrepreneurs, we’re gonna start to talk about supporting ourselves. And even as business owners, we’re still people, we need support. So today’s guest is really coming at it from a different angle. We’re not going to talk accounting or marketing, we’re going to talk parenting. Barb 0:27Our guest today is a trauma informed life coach, and her business called rad talk with Tracy supports parents who are parenting kids diagnosed with something called rad. She’s a podcast founder and a host. So Tracy, let me stop talking. And welcome. Tracey 0:50Thank you so much. It’s great to be here, Barb. Barb 0:52It’s an absolute pleasure. So let’s start right at the very beginning. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Obviously, you must be a parent. Tracey 1:03I am a parent. Yeah, I have worked in health care for about 20 years. And then my husband and I adopted a sibling group two kids, parents, sister. And that threw me into my business and what I do now, so both of our kids have something called reactive attachment disorder. Barb 1:28So that must be what rad stands for reactive attachment disorder. Got it? Okay. Yep. And so, like, what is RAD? Tracey 1:40It’s a good question. I never knew about it. A lot of adoptive parents that go into adoption and adopt children don’t know about it, we found out kind of on the fly as we were parenting our kids. And so it’s, I’m looking up a definition because I won’t have a great one for you. Tracey 2:04But it’s a condition where infants or young children don’t form a secure or a healthy emotional bond with their primary caregiver. And so throughout their life, they end up becoming reactive to attachment where most of us would enjoy a hug and affection. These kids, their brains are actually rewired to react to it in a negative way. So they will push push away anytime there’s love and affection, or any type of, you know, close, intimate connection. Barb 2:42And one of the things that you and I talked about before we went live today, a number of these kids also have other diagnoses, which then kind of further complicate the issue. Tracey 2:55Right. That’s a great word for it Barb is complicated. Reactive Attachment Disorder is really complicated. Because what often happens, like you say, as children are diagnosed with other disorders, anything from attention deficit, oppositional defiance, and just a myriad of disorders. And it’s often because as parents going into the adoption, world, adopting children, you’re not prepared, you’re not prepared, because a lot of the caseworker the people in the adoption world, and therapists, this isn’t a really well known disorder. And so people don’t know about it, and they don’t know how to treat it. And so yeah, you just get into this, this situation where kids get different diagnoses until one day you land upon reactive attachment disorder. Barb 3:54Got it. So you know, of course, you and I connected because our daughter is adopted. And we’ve done a ton of research over the years to try to understand one of the things that we really see is trust. She’s not able to trust us the same way. We either see our biological son, or the same way as a parent that, you know, you just trust your parents, they’re, they’re looking out for your best interest, even if you’re mad at them. In your teenage years. You might not agree with them. But you trust them. Barb 4:32And so that’s certainly something that we’ve seen with her daughter over the years is to come home from school, and she’ll tell us a story. And she’ll relate to us that hey, like you guys, were actually right. Or you guys were actually telling me the truth when you explained this to me. Barb 4:50And I often marvel at that because I’m like, so you didn’t believe me when I told you that masks would be required or you know Like, really didn’t believe me. And so that’s something that I think, for a lot of parents, it’s tough to wrap your head around the fact that, you know, your kid might not trust you. Right? When you adopt it, so I’m just gonna go back in our adoption story and yours a little bit. When you adopted you said, you know, you didn’t know about this, you didn’t even know this was a possibility. How prepared in hindsight, how prepared Do you feel you were nevermind, the red part? Like, had you guys done your homework, done your research? Talk to a bunch of people? Had you done all of that? Tracey 5:38Definitely, definitely. Yeah, you know, I’ve worked in healthcare. And you just do all the things we did, we did our research, we, you know, the adoption process is pretty lengthy. And you go through a bunch of steps like filling out a safe survey, there’s home visits, there’s lots of opportunities to talk to the caseworkers. And there’s courses that you have to take. Tracey 6:04I mean, we really did it all. And looking back, you know, every situation is different. And not every child from adoption comes with reactive attachment. I just want to make that clear. But these kids, it happens because of trauma and that unsafe environment that you’re talking about and not having trust. And so then there’s this real need for control. Tracey 6:28But yeah, we were what we thought was prepared, looking back, not at all, I do know that there was a piece about attachment in our training, it was very short. And again, I think they skirted around the real deep issues, the real stuff that comes with it, where it just seemed like kids were having trouble attaching it was