Nigel Orfei shares his lessons from over 20+ years of working in customer support and success-focused roles. The keys are to care about the customer experience and build trust with your words and actions while always supporting your team through hands-on leadership.

Emily introduces Dave to a friend who always makes her smile, and we quickly learn why. With her upbeat and vibrant energy, Stefanie Loukes shares her experiences building a business, Rabbittown Beverage, during the pandemic. As a new entrepreneur, she uses creativity to engage with people and talks about her experiences in national pitch competitions leading up to Dragon’s Den. We also hear about the core values Stefanie has built her business around, including having no judgement towards others and creating an accepting space that gives everyone the support they need. 

Over the last two years, many people have undergone career changes, most unexpectedly. Like any life changes, these have challenged some to go outside their comfort zones. But how do we measure that comfort zone idea, and what does it mean to be brave to expand past it? Our returning guest Marilyn Barefoot joins us to talk about her career changes and the experience of building her new podcast, Breaking Brave. 

Being human isn't easy. We get overwhelmed with emotions, caught up in overthinking and sometimes react a little too much. Why is it difficult to be who we are? What is it about us that makes it challenging just to be us? If you've wondered why we do what we do, think how we think, and feel what we feel, you need to listen to our conversation with Ted Cadsby. 

Have you recently realized that there needs to be more in life than what you are currently experiencing? The last two years has been a shift in work-life balance. Whether it's working from home, seeing an increase in stress or dealing with loss in challenging circumstances, it has people looking to find a bigger purpose. In this conversation, we welcome Bruce McLeod, a returning guest, a long-time colleague of Dave Veale's and the Executive Coach to our guest co-host Emily Rodger. It is a group of coaches talking about what they've seen happen in their industry in the last two years, but it's also a group of people having an enlightening discussion about what being a coach brings to their lives, how people are shifting to find more purpose and how digital connections are driving all of these interactions. 

How much thought every day do you put into making sure what you do in business and life is done with compassion for others? Think about that for a moment. What does compassion mean to you? Our returning guest musician, speaker, writer and storyteller Dave Carroll joins us to talk about how he works with the concept of Compassionate Design. Dave shares insights from his newest album, "Until One Day", and his new children's book, "Tom The Tomato Plant".

We all face challenges that can change everything for us in a single moment. To deal with those challenges, sometimes we push ourselves through without stopping, so it looks like we’re doing just fine. But, most times, when we do this, we’re not fine. And we don’t always look back to acknowledge what we have been through, work through the trauma and celebrate our successes. Our returning guest, Emily Rodger, shares how she hopes reflecting on her own experiences in a new Hemmings House short film documentary will help others begin to process challenging experiences in their lives. 

Does the idea of public speaking leave you feeling like you’d rather run in the opposite direction? Do you have to become a “Corporate” version of yourself to feel comfortable delivering a presentation? There’s leadership power that can come from sharing your knowledge in an authentic, unique to you delivery style. Our guests Elissa Bernstein and Steven Lecky work with clients to help find and improve their confidence, individuality, and voice that can only be theirs.

Patrick Gordon, a veteran, found himself repeating a pattern of relying on alcohol, making a bad choice and then wanting to do better again and again after leaving the service. A moment of clarity four years ago helped him realize how he didn’t want to repeat what he experienced growing up and how he wanted to find a way to have a positive impact on his community. Going to war changes a person, but in this case, it started Patrick on a path to change the lives of so many children.

Do you feel like, over the last couple of years, you’re avoiding certain places on the internet more and more? Are you worried as a business owner and entrepreneur whether the digital marketing you’re putting out in the world is negatively impacting people? If your life is full of trolls, you need to listen to our guest Katrina German. 

Is your banker invested in wanting to see your business have a positive impact on your community? Does your financial team try to find ways to get you access to funding or better financial products based on what your company's goals are? To anyone out there that is saying, "That's not what bankers do.", you need to listen up.

Lars Boggild of Vancity Community Investment Bank (VCIB) joins us to talk about how they are Canada's first impact bank with B Corp status and what that all means. Credit unions have always been about community, but the approach from VCIB also prioritizes impact for good which opens doors to people who may not be the traditional big banks' ideal customers.  

How do you bank? Do you find you've hit issues with getting access to funding or products from traditional big banks? 

Dr. Sarah Gander is a Social Pediatrician, and beyond her various medical responsibilities, she is also adding to her skill set by taking a coaching certification. She’s the Co-founder of NB Social Pediatrics Inc., a non-profit focused on breaking down barriers so children and their families have the support they need regardless of their life situation. She shares with Dave and Greg how she’s facing complex issues head-on and not shying away from the reality that terrible things can and do happen in our communities. 

As entrepreneurs, we all know that we don’t always have access to the same resources as large corporations. For example, you might not be able to afford to have a business consultant with 10+ years of experience helping you identify your goals. But that’s precisely the problem Andy Clark set out to solve. 

Andy joins us to tell us about his Whole PIE Management System, which helps small businesses identify their goals within the areas of Profit, Impact and Enjoyment. Andy’s methodology takes a systemic approach fuelled by a passion for helping small businesses succeed. So if you’re a small business struggling with maintaining business focus, listen in to Andy’s perspective.

Taking care of our environment and tackling climate change head-on is a step we all need to take. Some companies are tackling this by changing the perspective from “rock throwers” to finding collaborative methods to work with industries we all know have significant environmental impacts. Enter our guest Chris Kallal and his company Wild and Pine, making a difference more than one tree at a time.

Chris started his company in university, which is a big undertaking, as all of us entrepreneurs know. Over the last 10 years, he’s been able to grow his business, pivot as needed to stay on top of changing focuses in forestry management, and tackle environmental impact by being upfront and honest about potential impactful activities while maintaining a solution-focused positive attitude. For anyone passionate about how business can work with the environment, you need to hear all about Wild and Pine!

Are you curious about how feasible being a Digital Nomad actually is? Worried about missing out on career growth or opportunities in your personal life? You need to listen to our guest, Steve Anderson, who shows how being a Digital Nomad does not mean you miss out on career success or community networking. It’s all about building the lifestyle and career path that interests you.

Are you looking to change your work-life balance by shifting to digital work, but you are past the point of wanting to be a Digital Nomad to roam the world living out of a backpack? Instead, you might be looking for the life of a Digital Independent. Intrigued? You need to listen to our guest this week, Glen Hicks. 

Glen followed a typical 9 - 5 corporate career for most of his life but reached a point where he had the opportunity to make a change, and he took it. Now he can spend more time with friends, family and other life pursuits while still working. This conversation brings out many topics about work-life balance and how we should be doing more to value the time we have with friends, families, and our passions as a culture. 

Have you gotten in a disagreement with someone online recently? Or have you seen the downfall of a public figure through an online movement? How do you feel about these interactions? 

A returning guest to The Boiling Point, Dorothéa Bozicolona-Volpe, who has worked in the digital and social media space for over 17 years, joins Greg to discuss “Cancel Culture” and how we interact with each other in the online world. No matter your background, political affiliations or personal beliefs, we have all been influenced by our engagements in online channels. But how do we make the most of the global interconnectivity that social media channels offer?

If you’re a filmmaker, artist, actor, or another type of creative professional, do you consider yourself an entrepreneur? Many of those roles aren’t 9 - 5 jobs and require you to work in a freelance or contract environment where you are essentially your own boss. So why don’t we automatically consider those creative professionals entrepreneurs? As a creative professional, why don’t you think of yourself that way?

Today, our guest, Jimmy Matlosz, is a filmmaker and an entrepreneur who thinks we need to better prepare young professionals and students in creative industries. He hits on a point that resonates well with Dave & Greg that if you’ve never grown up with someone in your family running a business, you may not even know where to start and assume you have to be an employee to gain security and stability. Jimmy talks about how he hopes through mentorship and changes to education, up and coming creatives can stop thinking of themselves as employees and realize their freedom when they start adopting the entrepreneurial mindset. An excellent discussion to highlight for anyone in a creative profession driven by passion is that “business” is not always a bad word. 

Over the last year, we've had to learn how to connect and engage with each other in a nearly entirely virtual setting. We've all seen reports highlighting the impact this has had on the mental health of so many people. For business leaders, they've had to balance their employees' physical wellbeing, mental wellbeing and the everyday work of keeping a business running. It's been stressful for everyone, especially people offering services connected to the travel industry. So how do you give people that in-person connection experience virtually without it being just another video call they have smile through? Our guest faced those challenges as a business leader taking care of his employees while operating a company that couldn't offer services without travel. 

Sean Hoff and his team at Moniker Partners, who offer creative corporate retreats worldwide, were able to turn their internal challenges of staying connected into a successful pivot that's not just allowed their business to survive but grow. While the world and travel start to open back up, this conversation helps to highlight the digital pivots we've all made out of necessity and how we can integrate them long-term.

With over 200 countries and territories in the world and even more distinct cultures that make up each one, we have a near endless amount of cultural experiences powering our world. Diversity brings strength and understanding into communities that helps to break down prejudice and discrimination. Individuals who are building social enterprises that help level the playing field and promote people's talent from different cultural backgrounds should be celebrated and highlighted. Today's guests, the co-founders of Sankara Online Multicultural Marketplace, Lily Lynch and Chinweotito (Otito) Atansi, are individuals we want to celebrate and highlight. 

Growing your business from a local footprint to a large regional enterprise with national and international recognition is no small feat. Many entrepreneurs, they may see that as the goal that keeps them moving forward. But our guest today, Ralph Stephen, educates us on how achieving that goal takes more than just focusing on financial and business growth. 

If you are an entrepreneur currently struggling to find motivation and feel like chasing the money drives all of your choices, listen to this chat with Ralph. You'll get a perspective from a successful business leader about why we all need more values to focus on and help guide us to our goals. 

Being passionate about your work, invested in your company's mission, knowing you are creating a positive impact and loving the people you work with sounds like the ultimate career, doesn't it? Well, today, we spoke with a mother-daughter team Kim Hickman and Katie Thompson, who have spent the last few years building that ultimate company. It all started with Kim asking a simple question to her daughter Katie, do you have a good backpack? 

Elect Handsome Dave! Wait….that doesn’t sound right? No, despite the signs that seem to continue to appear every election, Dave hasn’t decided to pursue a political path. We are fortunate to have someone that is running in the upcoming Saint John municipal election join us to share what motivated him to throw his hat in the ring, our guest Chris Daigle. 

Dave and Greg have both worked with Chris in his day job at BDC and know personally the passion they all share for the city of Saint John. This episode gave Dave and Greg a chance to ask Chris about what motivates him to get involved, his views on diversity and growth for the city, and where he thinks the balance is for fiscal responsibility and quality of life. We want to wish Chris the best of luck in the election on May 10th! 

An episode bonus, if you listen to the end, you might just learn the identity of the Elect Handsome Dave prankster….

The B Corp community is full of businesses who are industry leaders while putting the idea of doing business with a purpose at the forefront of their culture. Our guest today Karen Hoskin, is a B Corp leader who, over the last 13 years, has overcome the barrier of a rum distillery not being something people expect to find in the mountains of the USA, the gender bias that comes along with being a woman in a predominantly male-dominated industry and being seen the outlier when pushing to be as sustainable as possible in all aspects of her business and life. Karen shares her story of growing a business, her views on doing business with a purpose and the wonderful feeling when finding her people in the B Corp community. Giving back to the B Corp community and mentoring other female entrepreneurs in the rum industry who are just starting on their journeys are a few different ways that Karen is taking actions that make a massive impact. 

Speaking of impact, she may have also inspired Greg to figure out a plan to bootleg some of her company @Montanya Rum rum back to Atlantic Canada in a true Maritimer tradition. Dave Veale was unable to be there for this episode, but he’s already setting aside the bail money. 

No matter what device you are using to read this right now, you couldn’t do it without electricity. But as we all try and figure out how we lessen our carbon footprint on the globe, where will we get that sustainable power from so we can keep listening to The Boiling Point Podcast? Luckily for us, folks like our guest Mark McAloon of The Smart are taking the lead on making sustainable electricity choices available to businesses in New Brunswick. 

Mark gives us the rundown on how his company, The Smart Energy Company, has been working to bring solar power to New Brunswick, focusing on the B2B market. He gives us insider knowledge about how they are trying to win against their biggest competitor, The Price of Electricity. Showing off his Boiling Point Podcast knowledge, he ties back into our recent episode with Kristy O’Leary of Decade Impact to talk about how the B Corp methodology is mirrored right now in solar energy efforts. It’s about not waiting for change but being a leader and taking any step toward sustainable solar energy.  

Are there some business tasks you do that drain your energy? Maybe you believe there’s a problem you can’t overcome that’s stopping you from getting away from that task? If you feel like your business is a little chaotic for you right now because of these feelings, we think you need to meet our guest who loves playing in the chaos, Dolores Hirschmann. 

Dolores’ perspective has Greg and Dave, two self-proclaimed chaotic entrepreneurs, wanting to talk to her more about projects they could pursue together because what she shared with them resonated fully with their entrepreneurial experiences. The group talks about the energy and drive a startup entrepreneur full of ideas has and believes they can do it all. Over time, as they accomplish their goals, they start to develop limiting beliefs that prevent them from achieving their next stage. Whatever it is that their limiting believes are preventing them from achieving, Dolores works with people to make clarity in the most chaotic situations.

Sometimes there are people in your life that grow with you as you explore and find your path. Kristy O'Leary is not just one of those people for Greg, but for our podcast, as a frequent guest we love to catch up with. And catching up with Kristy means hearing all about how she is helping to lead the way in getting businesses to stop making excuses, better understand what doing business with purpose means, and help them achieve their B Corp Status. 

What is your value? It’s a simple but complex question all at the same time, especially for those who lean a little more on the creative side like musicians, artists and yes, entrepreneurs. Knowing your value and sticking to your narrative of what is key to you can be all the difference in making your way through the world. If you are an aspiring musician and need a little help and guidance on that path, our guest this week Steve Waxman, can help. 

Steve worked his way up in the music industry from the mailroom to managing promotions for major record labels. He’s been in the room when acts like Billy Idol worked on some of their most well-known hits. Greg and Dave geeked out to some of the acts that Steve mentioned, and Greg dropped the news of his recent sighting of Maestro Fresh Wes right in the City of Saint John. Beyond the music history that Steve brings, he also brings a perspective on making it in the music industry that isn’t always about chasing fame. Instead, he talks about chasing your narrative and sticking to what matters most to you. 

If you love this episode, make sure to check out Steve’s podcast, The Creationists. 

If you are a listener of The Boiling Point, you know that music is a huge part of Greg’s life. You’ll also know that we are massive advocates of improving mental health. Last year we launched a partnership series, Shifting The Employee Experience, that saw Dave joined by Dr Bill to share his mental health expertise in the workplace. Today’s guest is bringing the two worlds of music and mental health together in a series of projects we couldn’t be more excited to learn about. 

In his day job, he works with Deloitte Canada, but Terry Stuart co-founder of The Awesome Music Project opens our eyes to how music should help improve mental health. He and his co-founder Rob are not just putting that idea out there. They are selling a book and using other methods to raise funds to support research led by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health to get the scientific data to prove what every music lover knows. Music can evoke emotions to help us through our mental health struggles. The Awesome Music Project has even started another piece of their efforts called AMP4LIFE that is bringing music therapists virtually into long-term care, schools, and other locations being so harshly affected by the pandemic's mental stress.

Poverty plays a huge role in children's experiences in the arts, culture, recreation, or sports as they grow up. But as today's guest helps to explain to us, being a part of a team can help children learn the life skills needed to pull themselves out of generational poverty. Jen Brown joins us to educate Dave and Greg on the P.R.O. Kids Saint John program.

As we enter full swing into the holiday season and head towards the end of 2020, it is a time to take stock of everything that's happened this year. It's been a lot. In talking about businesses and organizations building resilience, we had to catch with our friend Alexya Heelis, Executive Director of the United Way serving Saint John, Kings and Charlotte. 

Alexya shares with us how the pandemic has affected their efforts, how they've seen organizations and people shift and grow to focus on what matters most. She gives us some great ideas on how we can all contribute to our communities and non-profits. 

We talk about leadership a lot in the entrepreneurship space. We talk about gaining knowledge, knowing your audience and building your presence to support your business growth. But how do you make everyone around you in any setting feel welcome? How do you build the skills to be a good host? Our guest, Laura Calder, has some ideas to share. 

Entrepreneurs come from all different backgrounds. Some start with degrees in marketing and business, some start with degrees in other fields but with a natural curiosity and drive to innovate. Our guest today, Dr Ivan Zak has worked his way to fall in both camps. 

Everyone has been affected by COVID-19 in one way or another, but certain businesses and industries are feeling the impact significantly. How are entrepreneurs who run businesses in these highly impacted sectors making it through these challenging times?

Enter our guest John Simon, owner of Kefi Travel and Canadvac Travel Services, both companies based right here in the Maritimes but who rely on people being able to travel out of and into Canada. John shares with Dave and Greg the experience of acquiring another travel company at the start of the pandemic. He details how he has kept his focus moving forward, and his no-quit attitude approach that is helping him to adapt and pivot as the pandemic continues to impact the travel industry.

We want to thank again our friends OpportunitiesNB who have been working with us to be able to highlight these great businesses stories of resilience during challenging times.

We are thrilled to be launching a new partnership series with a special hour-long episode today. In working with a few sponsors like Opportunities NB, we will be focusing our next few episodes on featuring New Brunswick business leaders and entrepreneurs to talk about resilience. Right now, during uncertain health, lifestyle, and economic times building resilient strategies in your business and life is key to not just surviving but thriving.

Today, our guest and fellow podcaster is our good friend Matt George of Unsettled Podcast. We hear about Matt’s journey this year tackling a challenging health situation, making a significant career choice pivot to become a full-time entrepreneur and dealing with the unexpected growth of the new business while balancing health and wellbeing. Not to mention all of this happening on the backdrop of a global pandemic. Matt also uses the opportunity to flip the script and interview Greg and Dave in his podcast style to learn about their life moments that taught them resiliency and life lessons.

The last few months of COVID-19 has seen much of the world working from home. There have been multiple reports of small falls in emissions that while a breath of fresh air, is not big enough changes to impact climate change overall. Once we move back to a new normal, how we do make sure we are more conscious of the impact the ways we travel to work has on our environment? How should employers manage the impact created by their workforce? Well, there’s an app for that, and it’s called Luum. 

Kelly Hostetler, Director of Marketing, joins Greg and Dave to tell us all about how Luum is using technology to help shift the mindsets and behaviours as we all commute to work. Luum has a series of integrations like tracking when employees use a parking garage, tracking calories burned for biking to work and also giving a company an overall picture of the environmental impact their workforce is having. Luum is the type of software that could potentially change how we all think about our commutes. 

Do you sit down every year with your senior team and make a strategic plan? Maybe you have big plans of how you are going to grow, add more initiatives and keep building towards your next big goal. It’s great, you’re energized and excited, but as the year goes on, you find yourself slowly over time getting pulled into daily, practical tasks that need to get done. Soon, you can’t even remember your strategic goals, let alone know how you’ll achieve them. The new year hits and you repeat the same cycle again and again. Are you feeling stuck? Well, our guest today can help you Get Out Of The Weeds. 

Vince Marsh has 15 years of experience helping leaders of senior teams become capable of handling any problem in a strategic way that keeps them from getting pulled too much into the weeds. He speaks to us about the common issues he has seen senior teams run into, what some solutions can be to those and share his experience in writing his book, Get Out of The Weeds. This episode is a great listen for anyone who is struggling with carving out strategic time for themselves or their leadership team. 

Have you built your business from referrals? Are you relying on a few major customers, but find it tricky to sell your product/services to other companies? Have you hired a 6-figure salesperson who through no fault of their own, couldn’t bring you in the sales you expected? Well, maybe it’s time for you to listen to, read a book written by or engage the services of our guest, Dan Englander. 

Dan’s company, Sales Schema, helps agencies grow by doing outreach, appointment setting, outbound lead generation and support. You can be the best practitioner of your craft, but still feel kind of gross about pushing sales. But Dan talks to Dave and Greg about how sales don’t have to be a hard sale situation. In Dan’s words, “You’re selling, you’re teaching, or you’re learning every day with your market.” Listen in to hear some sales leadership tidbits sure to help your perspective on closing your next deal. 

Do feel like you’re an outlaw, rebel or misfit in your structured corporate career? Does innovation excite you? Do you thrive on projects that are driven by passion, that carry risks and need hard work to get the rewards? If you said yes to those questions, you might be a startup superstar just waiting to happen. 

Dave and Greg were excited to learn from Steve Kahan’s decades of experience in helping startups move from early-stage to going public or being sold. While listening to his tips about what he looks for when starting to work with a company and advice he’d give young people to find the right startup career to jump into, it becomes apparent, very quickly how he helped grow 7 startups to result in over $3 billion in value. His new book that is already a best-seller on Amazon (and audiobook!) “Be A Startup Superstar” is on our must-read list. If you are an entrepreneur at any stage of your career, this episode is chock full of the information you can use. 

Featuring entrepreneurs who are making positive impacts in the world is not just the central theme of The Boiling Point Podcast, but for both Dave and Greg, it’s a personal passion. We feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from our guest Shauna Cole, who we consider a friend, colleague and community leader. 

With her recent Linkedin post “I Once Heard A Hiring Manager Say The N-Word” and her involvement in the Black Lives Matter march in Saint John, NB, Shauna Cole has made her voice heard, and it’s time we all listen. Shauna shares with us her experiences and the tipping point for her to make that post, change her career path and choose to help others find their best career fit with her consulting work and youtube channel, Career Interrupted. 

Dr Bill Howatt takes the guest seat in this week’s episode as Dave and Greg learn more about the release of his new book, Stop Hiding and Start Living: How to Say F-it to Fear and Develop Mental Fitness. This book which is a different style for our prolific author guest and sometimes co-host takes a look at Dr Bill’s personal life as a backdrop to talking about how to develop mental fitness to deal with life stressors. 

Our Shifting The Employee Experience series has allowed us to speak with some amazing guests who are all working to make mental health and mental wellbeing a widely talked about topic. We feel very fortunate to have been joined by Sheldon Kennedy, former NHL player and long time advocate of Respect in the Workplace and Respect in Sport.  

Through Respect Group, he works to bring educational programs to workplaces, in sports and schools. These programs give people a baseline understanding and make it possible to build a climate of openness, so people are empowered to not only self-advocate about their mental wellbeing but to check in with others. Sheldon’s perspective that it’s not about being perfect, but being available to listen and give feedback from an honest, caring place helps to highlight how we can all play a role in making our workplaces, schools and sports teams safer for everyone. 

If we don’t talk about issues that affect us all as human beings, we don’t solve them. Mark Henick joined us for this episode to share his story and perspective on mental health in the workplace, but his experience and the conversation we had goes so much further than the workplace. 

Mark’s insights of encouraging everyone to start with the individual person instead of trying to push people into silos of “normal” and his lifelong perseverance to encourage people to no longer to stay quiet about their experiences with mental health, which can include thoughts or attempts of suicide, is a lesson to us all that the most important thing we can do when it comes to mental health is to talk to each other and listen to each other with no preconceptions or judgements. 

Have you ever struggled with maintaining relationships at work that go beyond just professional interactions? Do you feel like you only focus on work tasks and not building personal relationships? Well, it might be time to re-evaluate the benefits that having solid relationships at work gives you.  And yeah, there’s now an app for that.

We’re excited to be joined by Shamini Dhana once more, and this time it’s to announce the official launch of the circular memory jacket! Through Greg becoming a model and showing off his circular memory jacket, Shamini shares the experience of working with people to preserve their memories and our environment with this zero-waste focused product. We learn about Dhana Inc’s efforts during COVID-19, plans for the circular memory jacket and other products they hope to launch soon. 

Today more than ever, employees are looking to their leaders for help on how to navigate COVID-19, working from home, juggling work-life balance and keeping up on their actual jobs. But as leaders, how do we do that effectively?

Stuart MacLean builds on Dr Bill Howatt’s article around authentic leadership by highlighting his philosophy he’s learned over his career path of always asking yourself who have you helped be successful today? The group talks about the importance of a leader caring about the individuals working around them regardless of job function and they an honest chat about showing your vulnerability as a leader and being open to honest, direct feedback.  

During this time of COVID-19, we keep hearing about getting back to our “new normal”, but Sean Ryan joins us today to discuss how as businesses we should be planning for our “next normal” instead. Dave, Greg and Sean all discuss how current circumstances are making them evaluate the ways they do business and how they realize some changes may make their business offerings stronger in the long term.  

Current events with the stress and psychological impact that COVID-19 is having on workplaces is showing us that now more than ever, we need to build and maintain a positive work environment. Dave is joined once more by Dr Bill Howatt, and today we’ve decided to make this discussion a Dr Bill squared event with our guest Dr Bill Morrison.  Dr Bill Morrison discusses critical steps and behaviours we need to monitor in our workplaces to keep us aware and moving forward with our workplace psychological safety. For anyone that is struggling to highlight positive behaviours and embed these acts as second nature in your workplace culture, this episode and the resources mentioned can start you on the path of improving the overall well being in your workplace. 

Today we have one of our favourite and frequent guests join us, Kelly VanBuskirk to have an honest discussion about some of the challenges facing both employees and employers during COVID-19. Greg, Dave and Kelly drill in on how while businesses need to stay compliant with government regulations, consumers can help by having a little bit of grace and understanding.

There’s no handbook out there of how to get through the COVID-19 crisis as a business leader, but if we all work together and share the lessons we’re learning, we’ll undoubtedly be better off. David Savoie, CEO and President of Acadian Construction, joins Dave and Greg today to share some of the practical steps he and his employees have been taking during this time of crisis. An excellent discussion that doesn’t just focus on maintaining your business, but some tips on how to incorporate work/life balance in your planning and critical reminders about appreciating all the good moments still happening around us. 

With the COVID-19 crisis, it's become clear that we can only succeed if we work together. We wanted to take an episode to talk about the psychological benefit you get when you give back to your community and help others. To help us learn what's happening right now Bill and Dave are joined by Alexya Heelis of the United Way Saint John, Kings and Charlotte. Alexya tells us all about the efforts happening on the ground and how businesses and employees are taking on leadership roles with their donations.

Today we share a special episode to help businesses dealing with the COVID-19 crisis. Our friend Matt Symes of Symplicity Designs joins us to talk through his expertise area in getting businesses through a crisis. Matt shares how to Forecast, Plan and Act to make sure you can push your business through this timeframe and come out the other side. Besides sharing fantastic information in this episode, Matt and Symplicity Designs are also offering daily webinars and other resources for free for all small and micro-businesses. If you are struggling right now, have a listen and check out what Symplicity Designs is offering our business community. 

We had no idea how timely our Shifting The Employee Experience mini-series on the podcast would be right now to the current events of the world. We’ve taken a step outside of it this week to take advantage of Dr Bill’s knowledge, be very vulnerable about what we are all experiencing and talk through how we can cope with our current work and overall life experiences during COVID-19. 

In this episode, we talk about an area that Canada is leading the way globally in its establishment of The National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. Sapna Mahajan, a national leader on the topic, joins us to share her insight. Using Bill’s The Chronicle Herald article “Without good workforce mental health, employers have nothing” the group discusses the progressive step forward Canada is taking by creating the standard and how business leaders can start to build it into their culture. 

This episode, we tackle an important topic when it comes to Shifting the Employee Experience, bullying in the workplace. Using his article “For A Respectful Workplace, Deal With Bullies” as a catalyst for the conversation, Dr Bill Howatt gives us his input on why employers and employees alike need to seriously acknowledge the mental injuries that happen from bullying in the workplace. Kelly VanBuskirk, a lawyer who specializes in Labour & Employment law, helps to enhance our conversation by providing views from a legal perspective, but also sharing the impact he has seen first hand on those who have experienced bullying in the workplace.

Today we are beyond excited to announce a special mini-series we will produce in partnership with UNB College of Extended Learning and Workplace Safety and Prevention Services. Greg Hemmings will be taking a break from hosting duties to run our soundboard (and get some quality time with the new addition to his family) while Dave Veale will be co-hosting with our guest host and friend Dr Bill Howatt.

In today’s announcement episode, you’ll learn about why we feel the topic of Shifting the Employee Experience is such a meaningful discussion area to explore. You’ll get to know Dr. Bill’s background and his motivation for getting involved in our podcasting world and learn all about our incredible partners who are sponsoring this mini-series.

Any parent out there will tell you that when their baby isn’t sleeping, they will pay anything to anyone to make their precious bundle of joy catch a few hours of ZZZs. It’s not about the money, but about the well being of their child and themselves. Enter our guest, Stephanie Parker, the founder of Sleeping Baby, who through her own experiences with a sleepless child, was able to create a product and business that is helping other parents.

Stephanie’s story reminds us once again that entrepreneurship isn’t just about making money. It’s about creating a lifestyle that works for you, has the impact you want to have in life and building communities that you support and who support you.

Great marketing needs a mixture of chaos and planning, but how do you know where that line exists? Our guest, Katie Bowden of Duke Creative Collective, is an idea person who can sit in a brainstorming session and come up with her “Crazy Katie Ideas” that will grab anyone’s eye, but she shares with us how building the strategy for clients is the most creative part that they do at Duke. The discussion in this episode could help to open the eyes of entrepreneurs and business owners who are struggling to understand how important the “Why” is to your marketing efforts. 

What kind of business model can you use that not only grows your business and ensures high-quality service to your clients but also sees every employee being well paid and successful? Need some help? Listen to the perspective that Erik Klein and Daniel Comeau bring to us from their experience growing and nurturing their company Town Health Solutions.

Who do you want to work with? What is your version of success? Are you afraid of going after your niche audience because it might mean always maintaining a smaller business instead of the overnight, high dollar exits entrepreneurs are supposed to chase? Selene Vakharia of SMRT Women shares her journey of building a business in Whitehorse, Yukon and lessons she’s learned in her work creating a community of female entrepreneurs. 

Have you ever needed just the right tool to do one DIY project at your home or business, but the price tag for the tool makes it not feasible? Wouldn’t it be great to be able to walk in somewhere and check out a tool like you do a library book? Well, in Saint John, NB Brent Harris has joined the growing sharing economy movement and is providing people with just that opportunity. 

Tech startups innovate many different aspects of life, but is there any aspect more important than the survival of our planet? We hear from Grant Canary and Matthew Aghai of DroneSeed about their journey of adding another tool to the toolbox of tree planters, foresters and public land managers to combat climate change by using drone technology to plant trees after disturbances like forest fires. 

Not only do we get a lesson in how this technology can work hand in hand with current methods, but we also hear from their experience of what it takes to work and hire people in an industry that is tackling a global issue which can at times be daunting. We hear about how it takes grit to push through the hard challenges. We also learn about how initiatives like #teamtrees and being featured on popular youtube channels and the discovery channel is helping them share their goals. 

Are you actually living your life with intention, or are you just really good at executing tasks every day? Lisa Arie shares her journey to understanding how much our intentions and the way our personality hardwired effects our abilities in the business world and beyond. By taking an immersive approach, she guides people who visit her ranch, Vista Caballo, on a path to raise their awareness of how they approach different situations. A genuinely intriguing conversation that raises thoughts about how our unconscious behaviours impact the success and productivity of our businesses.

Have you been avoiding a challenging, high stakes conversation? As a leader, are you struggling with how to communicate with your team in a way that prioritizes them, but keeps your customers and business in mind? Our guest Susan Steinbrecher joins Greg and Dave to share her 27 years of experience in training business leaders how to do all of that. 

If you aren’t willing to invest, how can you turn around and expect someone to buy from you? Our guest Stephen Somers shares how he and his business partner turned their successful business as Amazon sellers into an eLearning business teaching others to sell their products and services. A genuinely engaging conversation hearing how they’ve built in longevity to their business by layering in optional services that help to solve the issues they know their clients may hit when they are out running their businesses. Best of all, in this interview, Greg, Dave and Stephen all come together to emphasis the importance of authenticity in everything you do when connecting and growing your business model.

Entrepreneurs are not business people, and business people are not entrepreneurs. There is a unique shift in the mindset that occurs between those two roles, and the difference happens more as a business grows, which forces many people to switch between the two. But what drives one person into an entrepreneurship path? What life events instil that drive to create something all your own? 

Eric Gilbert-Williams may not have the end-all answer to those questions, but he has a lot of ideas around the topic pulled directly from his own life experiences. Sharing his early struggles with the law and finding stable employment, he illustrates how the entrepreneurial spirit of perseverance and learning from failure helped him to build a successful business, achieve a successful exit and has set him on his next path of projects. 

Are you facing a hard life choice? Whether you’re heading towards retirement, are considering a major career change or just need to find more purpose in your life overall, our guest today doesn’t have all the answers for you but she can teach you how to find them yourself. 

Are your employees as engaged with your values as you are? Is your leadership team giving a clear direction of how they want to see the business evolve with purpose? Are you feeling a little stuck as a business when it comes to the bigger impact you want to have?

Being an entrepreneur in the digital age comes with its own set of challenges. Elisa Camahort gives us essential lessons she’s learned throughout her career as an entrepreneur in the startup tech sector and some perspectives unique to being a female entrepreneur. 

Are you constantly feeling like everything you see online makes it seem like everyone else is doing better, succeeding faster and are just overall better at business and entrepreneurship than you? Have you been chasing that overnight success? Our guest today, Matt Symes has a frank and direct attitude towards helping people understand where the issues in their business are. He calls out some of the perfect success stories that are highlighted and talks about the struggles real companies face as they grow.

If you are an entrepreneur, this is a must-listen episode! Put your headphones in to listen, though as this lively conversation has a few explicit words thrown in.

What happens when your favourite t-shirt becomes unwearable? Maybe it has a rip or stain, or your significant other has banned it from your clothing rotation. Do you throw it away? Do you keep it in a drawer taking up space? Have you ever thought about just how much waste we create from the clothing items we toss away? Our guest Shamini Dhana has, and she has a solution.

As part of our Boiling Point Process live event on December 2018 in Saint John, New Brunswick, we invited four sets of guests to join us on stage for live recordings of The Boiling Point. Today, we share one of those episodes featuring our friend Lisa Hrabluk.

If you don’t know Lisa, you need to check out her work with Wicked Ideas and The Mars Collective. She is working on digging into how to change the landscape of change-makers in New Brunswick. In this episode, Lisa joined us to give her experience around How to Build and Speak to Your Community. This interview is the last step in our Boiling Point Process: 4 Steps to Be Heard In A Noisy Market.

Imagine finding a career that you love, are talented at and have achieved success. Got it? Okay, now imagine you are hit by a car. Twice. Would you have the mental and physical endurance to come back from such traumatic events? If you did fight your way back, would you be able to know when your mental health needs to take precedence over that career and walk away from it? If you’ve faced adversity in your career, you need to listen to the story of our guest Emily Rodger. 

Does thinking about the number of unanswered emails in your inbox right now cause you high levels of stress throughout your day? Are you always putting off tasks like finishing that powerpoint for tomorrow’s presentation because you don’t enjoy or have the skills necessary to do it? Maybe it’s time to let someone take over for, like our guest Belinda Wasser, RocketGirl.

Belinda shares with us her journey of creating and naming her business, Rocket Girl. She explains how she works with clients as a business manager to help them be more effective with their time. Belinda also shares how she’s created an online community and training system for other virtual assistants or those interested in pursuing the virtual assistant career path.

In this week’s episode, three white guys have an uncomfortable conversation about race. Our guest Ryan Honeyman, who is the co-author of The B Corp Handbook, leads Dave & Greg on a discussion around the importance of changing our perspective from being “not racist” to “anti-racist”. Ryan speaks to us about how he’s needed to adjust his perspective as a white male. We hear how important it is to not shy away from topics that might make you feel uncomfortable. We all need to see the reality of racism in our culture that unconsciously impacts our beliefs.

A panel of experts, Jim Kokocki, Rivers Corbett, Genevieve Coates and Kim Houlahan join us to give their experience around How To Be Seen As A Thought Leader by speaking about the idea of platform anxiety. 

Downsizing your possessions after spending years in the same home can be a daunting task that brings so many emotions. What if you have to move across the country? Will all your furniture fit in your new home? How do you manage all this when it’s not something you do every day?

That’s the struggle that real estate mother-son team Mary and Davis Schryer saw happening to their demographic of clients. They came up with a solution with the services they offer to help guide their clients through the downsizing process.

Do you find yourself moving from boring meeting to boring meeting? Worse yet, are you the one leading the meetings that everyone finds boring? If so, maybe it’s time to look into some humour training to help improve the culture and morale of your workplace!

When you donate to a charity, do you ever want to know the impact that your donation makes? Alexya Heelis of the United Way Saint John, Kings & Charlotte joins us to share how they are trying to get people to think about their donations, the way they think about their financial investments. The United Way is working with local non-profits to encourage them to track more metrics, watch what’s moving the needle and taking an entrepreneurial style approach to new philanthropic ideas. 

Alexya shares success stories that highlight the value of the impact the United Way can have as an organization. A great episode that shows how your monetary donations can become a wave of social impact giving. 

How often do you explore the natural world around you? When’s the last time you appreciated what exists in your backyard? We speak with Gail Bremner, Executive Director of Stonehammer Geopark, who shares her mission to spark curiosity about the earth. 

We were very fortunate during our Live Boiling Point Process event to have some fantastic guests join us for Live podcast recordings. Today we share another episode from that Live recording day, our chat with Hance Colburne. 

Giving practical advice from his years of experience, Hance entertains us with an informative take on becoming a subject matter expert through learning from those you are interviewing. 

Making the right connections can make or break an entrepreneurs potential business idea. But how do you build those connections effectively in a global business market? Enter Liftoff Capital, a social platform that is a mix between Facebook, Linkedin and a Dating app designed to connect entrepreneurs with potential capital investors. Making the right connections can make or break an entrepreneurs potential business idea. But how do you build those connections effectively in a global business market? Enter Liftoff Capital, a social platform that is a mix between Facebook, Linkedin and a Dating app designed to connect entrepreneurs with potential capital investors. 

Peter Oxley shares his entrepreneurial journey through the medical drug and sales industry and gives us the background story, which led to the creation of Liftoff Capital. 

As an entrepreneur, you wear many hats, but some of those hats f*ck up your hair and would fit better on someone else’s head. That’s the just of what our guest today, Spencer Sheinin, wants to help you avoid. Through his training, UNF*CK Your Books! The Surprisingly Simple Path to Financial Clarity, Spencer wants to change the relationship entrepreneurs have with their books and encourage them to find the right person to wear that financial hat. Spencer shares the importance and advantages of using cloud technologies and data visualization for entrepreneurs to understand the financial status of their business in real-time better.

Motivating through inspirational thought leadership, music and positive messages can drastically alter the path a young girl sees for herself. Our guest today, Michelle Delamor, is creating a seismic shift with her company No Girl Left Behind to share messages of support, love and confidence with today’s young women. She is helping to create a cultural shift in female empowerment with drive and dedication to a life long entrepreneurial path focused on putting positive energy into the world.

Everyone has a story to tell, but you might need some help finding yours. Jessica GioGlio has the experience, knowledge and passion for helping tell unique, engaging stories. She shares with Greg and Dave her personal story of breaking into the marketing space and explains some of the reasons businesses struggle to tell their stories. 

As part of our Boiling Point Process live event in December 2018 in Saint John, New Brunswick, we invited four sets of guests to join us on stage for live recordings of The Boiling Point. Today, we share one of those episodes featuring our friend Allan Gates. 

If you don’t know Allan, you need to check out Huddle and Bonfire for all the fantastic work he is doing. In this episode, Allan joined us to give his experience around Defining Your Avatar, which is the first step in our Boiling Point Process: 4 Steps to Be Heard In A Noisy Market. 

Jake Palmer just celebrated his 10th anniversary in Real Estate, with Re/Max! Jake has been a long time friend of our businesses and the Boiling Point Podcast. In this week’s episode, Jake shares how he changed his approach to his business since attending the Boiling Point Process live event in December 2018.

We are so fortunate to have friends and partners like Jake support us in the launch of our new Boiling Point Process training offering, How to Be Heard In A Noisy Market. Listen in as we discuss the takeaway Jake had from learning about our 4 Step Process.

Ever walk out of a meeting and think “What was that even about? How do I get that hour back?”. Unfortunately, a lot of us have been in that moment. Enter Elise Keith, CEO of Lucid Meetings, whose goal is to help businesses not just have better meetings, but to use meetings as a way of driving overall business success.

Our guest today, Mark Schaefer helped us to get our minds around the benefits of putting down some of the technology and finding the value of listening to clients to build strong human connections.

Mark has a fantastic bio, so much so that we broke our typical tradition of guests introducing themselves to take the time to read the highlights. He’s a globally-recognized speaker, educator, business consultant, and author. Mark even shared some of his thoughts on the future of podcasting before telling us about his new book, Marketing Rebellion: The Most Human Company Wins.
His latest book highlights the importance of building relationships and listening to your clients. With our close connections and love of the B Corp world, this subject hit home for us in a big way.

Asking for help as a business leader isn’t always an easy thing to do. Your ego might get in the way, or the kind of help you receive might not be what you wanted. This topic, along with many other leadership focused themes, appear in Michael Wallace’s book Motorcycle Metaphor, Leadership Lessons for the Progressive Organization.

Michael discusses with us the journey of his early career in sales to taking coaching certification that helped to change his perspective and give him the inspiration for his book. Dave and Greg both share stories from their own business experiences that related to Michael’s thoughts about getting help and allowing yourself to experience your success.

Innovation can come from common experiences when you have the right creative minds and entrepreneurial drive to make solutions a reality.

Picture this. It’s after dinner on a clear winter night in Canada and you head out with your friends to the pond to try and get in a quick game before you lose the light. No matter how careful you try to be seeing that black round piece of rubber never gets any easier and eventually you either lose all your pucks in snowbanks or it’s just too dark to see. That problem every young hockey player can relate to is what pushed Derek Chaisson and his friend Rick Richard to create Night Puck.

In today’s episode we hear not just about that first product, but the journey the company has been on to find the right market, optimize the right product offering and securing the funding needed to make their vision a reality.

Most of the time, math teaches us that there are right and wrong answers. It’s positive to succeed, and it’s negative to fail. But is this attitude leading us to limit what kids feel they can learn? Are we causing anxiety and not adequately preparing our kids to find the positive angles of how you can learn from failure? Vanessa Vakharia uses her strong, Lady Gaga-esque attitude to highlight how we need to move away from “math person” stereotypes. She emphasises how important it is to experience failure on the road to success.

In the Maritimes, there is this idea that certain careers or industries won’t be possible here. Pamela Mullinger is proof this thinking is wrong.

Pamela shares her journey from growing up in Saint John to gathering global experience in the publishing industry and coming full circle back to build her family’s future with an emphasis on the quality of life New Brunswick offers. We get some first-hand insights into The Edit’s (recently re-branded from The Maritime Edit) creation, goal and future including hearing about how these local stories are resonating on a national stage.

It's been an incredible 4 years with 250+ guests that have brought Greg and Dave to this point. In this episode, they take some time to recap the December 2018 The Boiling Point Process event, a live all-day training session that was the first delivery of their new 4 step process of how to be heard in a noisy marketplace. Greg and Dave both discuss the journey that they took to reach this point and the goal they set for themselves of offering these live and online courses to share the knowledge they've gained over the years.  

We all have the best intentions when we set out to build strategies for our business, but how often do we execute on those strategies? Sean Ryan has over 30 years of experience working with businesses to help them understand how to execute their strategies to achieve their goals properly. His new book, Strategy-Execution-Results: The 7 Gears that Transform Strategy to Results takes readers through simple to understand explanations of the steps needed to be more successful with their strategic execution.

When you are working with a customer, do you focus on making the sale to benefit your needs or are you focusing on how you can best serve the customer’s needs? Troy Wallace talks to us today about how he’s learned from his 23 years in advertising that making that paradigm shift to putting the customer’s needs first changes the entire sales relationship. This episode helps Greg and Dave build their relationship with Troy that started when he attended the Boiling Point Process Live Event in December.  

What are the cultural agreements we are all making daily? Do we even realize we are making those agreements? And is that unconscious acceptance of what our culture is impacting our ability to innovate with new technology or ideas from other cultures? Matt George reveals the passion behind work that he does in his 9 - 5 and his 5 - 9 careers to create a challenging discussion with Greg and Dave about the intersection of technology, culture and business.

As entrepreneurs, we seem to have a built-in fear of the big, scary, complex government procurement process. Carroll Bernard is using his knowledge gained while being a purchaser and his background as an entrepreneur to help small businesses learn how to not only build a relationship with government procurement but to do it in a way that ensures growth and opportunity. He introduces us to his training based service company, Govology.