Amplify Your Business

Amplify Your Business EstateSpace: Slowing Down to Speed Up

For Episode 211 of Amplify Your Business, we’re joined by Jonathan Fishbeck, the founder and CEO of EstateSpace. At a high level, EstateSpace is solving the problem of difficult estate management by simplifying it. In particular, EstateSpace deals with the non-financial asset management side of estate management, both from an operational perspective, as well as a portfolio perspective, by helping their clients to improve their economic outcomes.To learn more, visit https://estatespace.com/. 
 
00:00 - Intro
00:58 - What are three things every entrepreneur should know?
02:57 - When you suggest that entrepreneurs get a good advisor, are you talking about paid advisors or unpaid advisors and mentors?
05:09 - Was retaining a good advisor something that you learned through your first venture?
06:23 - Can we talk a little bit about your business, EstateSpace?
08:43 - Where did you see the opportunities to pivot from a service-based model to a SaaS model?
11:05 - Are your clients the actual owners of the non-liquid assets you deal with, or are they service providers?
12:03 - When it comes to your experience, how do you navigate going from the construction world to the tech world?
15:34 - What’s easier this time around with the founding of this particular business than with your previous entrepreneurial ventures?
17:15 - What are the most difficult aspects of being an entrepreneur?
19:27 - Are you bootstrapping EstateSpace, or do you have outside investments?
21:38 - If you could write your younger entrepreneurial self a letter, what would it say?
25:13 - If our audience wanted to connect with you, how could they do that?
25:56 - Outro

Amplify Your Business Creating a Brighter Future With VR and Mental Healthcare

For Episode 210 of Amplify Your Business, we’re spending Blue Monday with two women who are working to make every day brighter for all people. We’re joined by Danielle Bragge and Leanne Brownoff, co-founders of VR Pathways. The idea behind VR Pathways is leveraging Virtual Reality to change the brain and give people the relief they need to take them out of stressful situations and get them back to a place of fully functioning cognitive behaviour and cognitive thinking.
VR Pathways offers personal, on-demand mental health support for cognitive behavioural therapy and phobia therapy through two distinct apps within the world of virtual reality. Their mission is to help reduce negative thoughts and feelings through creating new, positive pathways within the brain that deliver long-term results.
To learn more, visit https://www.vrpathways.com/. 
 
00:00 - Intro
01:01 - What are three things that you think every entrepreneur needs to know?
02:18 - Can you tell us a bit about your entrepreneurial history?
04:13 - What is VR Pathways, and what are you trying to solve?
08:26 - What is VR Pathways’ target market?
10:55 - Have you noticed an uptick in entrepreneurs using your service?
12:36 - How do two people, neither of which have a tech background, develop a solution planted in technology?
13:52 - How did you decide on VR being the solution?
15:58 - What do you feel are the advantages of not being in the tech space and starting a tech-centric company?
19:03 - For the next 12, 24 months of growth, what do you think are going to be your biggest challenges, and how do you think you’ll overcome them?
20:30 - How do you plan to finance the growth?
22:35 - What or who inspires you as entrepreneurs?
25:55 - If you could write a letter to your younger entrepreneurial self, what would it say?
 29:28 - If someone wanted to connect with you and learn more about VR Pathways, how could they do that?
31:20 - Outro

Amplify Your Business How Technology is Changing the Restaurant Landscape

For Episode 209 of Amplify Your Business, we’re joined by Luke Butterworth, the co-founder and COO of JustCook Kitchens. JustCook is a Canadian proptech company that uses cutting-edge technology to construct and oversee restaurant spaces for restaurateurs and property owners. The first collective that JustCook opened was the 5th Street Food Hall, where chefs and entrepreneurs come together to create an amalgamation of restaurants to choose from in a single place. The 5th Street Food Hall is a one-stop-shop for all your cravings, offering a diverse range of cuisines such as South East Asian street food, vegan options, Mexican-Asian fusion, brunch choices, and the top burgers in the city.
 
Coming in the summer of 2023 is JustCook’s second location at Station Park, where they will be filling up two floors of mouthwatering meals for Edmonton foodies.
 
To learn more, visit https://www.justcookkitchens.com/ 
 
00:00 - Intro
00:44 - What are three things every entrepreneur should know?
10:08 - Can you tell us a little bit about Just Cook Kitchens?
15:52 - Is this a model that you saw somewhere else and replicated?
20:10 - Do you rotate different chefs through your space?
22:00 - How does your business model work? Where are your revenue streams coming from?
23:42 - Is the marketing done under the Just Cook Kitchen brand or under the individual brands of the entrepreneurs?
25:25 - If I was to order something from one of the restaurants, do I search for Just Cook Kitchens or order directly from the restaurant’s brand?
26:52 - How does your business model play out where we might be heading into a recession?
31:44 - When you first started Just Cook Kitchens to where it is now, what are some iterations you’ve done that you didn’t anticipate?
39:45 - Where do you get your inspiration?
47:12 - How can our audience connect with you?
47:33 - Outro

Amplify Your Business It Takes a Village

For Episode 208 of Amplify Your Business, we’re joined by Meg Tucker, the owner of Cook With Meg. Cook With Meg was created at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 with the mission to create kitchen confidence in families. In this digital age, everyone always seems to have their noses buried in their phones, tablets, or laptops, and the idea of traditional family dinners, where everyone got together, sat at the table, and ate as a family, has fallen by the wayside. Meg wanted to fix that.
 
Even though Meg had made it to the Top 25 in Master Chef Canada, she had never cooked professionally–it was just a passion. When the pandemic turned the world upside, she knew she would have to figure out something else to bring in income, and that’s when her creative side met her passion, and Cook With Meg was born. On March 23rd, 2020, she taught her first virtual family cooking class via Zoom. Today, Meg cooks with families in six different countries, running three cooking classes a week and six weeks of cooking summer camp for kids each July and August. Cook with Meg is more than just cooking classes, it’s bringing families together.To learn more, visit https://cookwithmeg.com/ or check her out on Instagram at CookWithMegToday.
 
00:00 - Intro
01:08 - What are three things that every entrepreneur should know?
04:12 - What do you do that helps you maintain a sustainable pace?
07:08 - Can you tell us a little bit about Cook With Meg? 
14:34 - Was there a drop off in subscriptions after the pandemic due to “Zoom fatigue”?
17:58 - How has your revenue model evolved from your early days?
23:15 - What is easier now than what it was when you first started?
28:05 - If there’s one thing that you could have done differently since you started Cook With Meg, what would it be?
32:09 - If you could write your younger self a letter, what would it say?
37:24 - If our audience wanted to connect with you, how could they do that?
38:20 - Outro

Amplify Your Business Weathering the Storm with the Robert Spencer Hospitality Group

For Episode 207 of Amplify Your Business, we’re joined by Paul Shufelt, the founder and Head Chef at the Robert Spencer Hospitality Group. The Robert Spencer Hospitality Group runs six restaurants throughout Edmonton: Workshop Eatery, Hayloft, Woodshed Burgers, The Greenhouse Restaurants at Victoria, Riverside, and Rundle.
 
During his interview, Paul discusses what success has looked like for him, how he’s managed to open and operate six full-service restaurants and a catering business, and the things that he learned about hospitality through the Pandemic. Unlike many businesses, Paul was able to keep roughly 90% of his employees on staff during the pandemic, through a combination of ingenuity and pivoting the way his restaurants sold food. To learn more, visit https://robertspencerhosp.com/. 
 
00:00 - Intro
01:25 - What are three things every entrepreneur should know?
06:32 - What’s been the secret to your success and growth?
09:40 - What was going through your mind with each restaurant you opened?
14:11 - What did you learn from COVID?
20:16 - What would you say is going to be the key to your success?
22:31 - Do you have some strategies that you’re planning on rolling out to address those concerns?
23:56 - If you had the ability to write your younger entrepreneurial self a letter, what would it say?
25:13 - If any of our audience wanted to connect with you, what’s the best way to do so?
26:20 - Outro

Amplify Your Business Signature Guest Ronak Sheth

For Episode 207 of Amplify Your Business, we’re joined by Ronak Sheth, the CEO and Founder of LIT Videobooks. Videobooks are a new consumable category that makes reading as easy, accessible, engaging, and fun as watching a movie. In a world where over 100 million Americans haven’t bought or read a non-fiction book in the last year, LIT Videobooks’ goal is to make reading non-fiction books as accessible as possible to as many people as possible.
 
With LIT Videobooks, consuming something from the world of non-fiction is as easy as watching a video on your smartphone. They partner directly with authors to create these hour-long videobooks that include animation, interviews, data presentations, archives, etc. It’s like you’re watching a Netflix documentary, but it’s actually a book. The all-access subscription at LIT Videobooks gives you access to 28 videobooks running the gamut from potty training to business leadership and everything in between.To learn more and to receive an exclusive discount provided to our audience by Ronak, visit https://litvideobooks.com/all-access and enter the promo code AMPLIFY to get 50% off your first year-long subscription. And don’t forget to check out Ronak at the BX Networking Event later this month to get your hands on a free copy of Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. Register for the event here: https://link.amplomedia.com/s/TJ8FRy6yWgFiOUjeregu 
00:00 - Intro
00:50 - What are three things that you think every entrepreneur should know?
01:29 - Give me an example of one of these three things that you’ve had to face in the last three years.
02:49 - Can you tell me a little bit about LIT Videobooks?
06:23 - Where did the idea for LIT Videobooks come from?
12:30 - What is your business model?
15:32 - In the early days of LIT Videobooks, was the idea of this platform cannibalizing other sales a worry for potential authors or their agents?
17:52 - How do you, as a startup, grow both the supply but also the demand when you don’t yet have the supply?
24:50 - Have you looked into the ad tier subscription model?
28:06 - How do you pick the books you’ll focus on creating into video books?
32:30 - What are the biggest challenges that you think you’ll face in the next year?
35:28 - What’s easier today for your business than in the early days of LIT Videobooks?
38:20 - What videobooks would you recommend to our listeners?
41:01 - Of all the interviews you’ve conducted for your videobooks, who were the ones you were most excited about?
42:37 - If you could write a letter to your younger self, what would it say?
46:19 - If someone wanted to reach out to you, how could they do that?
46:45 - GIVEAWAY!! Watch for a special discount code!
47:35 - Special Announcement and a second giveaway!
48:36 - Outro

Amplify Your Business Financial Advice That Bears Repeating

For Episode 205 of Amplify Your Business, we’re presenting an ENCORE episode of the Amplify Your Business Podcast, and it’s truly outrageous! For this encore presentation, we’re joined by Sandeep Todi, the Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of Truly Financial. Truly Financial is an online digital bank, built exclusively for smaller businesses that helps them grow globally. In a world where many businesses - and especially startups - are using business practices that allow them to hire employees anywhere in the world, these organizations are seeking out new and cost-effective ways to pay their employees and handle international transactions. Truly Financial is the solution.To learn more, visit Truly Financial’s website.
 
00:00 - Intro
02:10 - What should every entrepreneur know as they embark on their entrepreneurial journey?
05:37 - What problem is Truly Financial solving?
12:34 - How long has Truly Financial been in operation?
14:13 - Is your business model similar to other financial institutions?
18:25 - Where does Truly Financial fit in the fintech landscape?
22:16 - How do you navigate the challenges of security?
24:44 - What are the next steps for Truly Financial? Do you plan to explore cryptocurrency?
29:05 - What advice would you give your younger self at the start of his entrepreneurial journey?
34:18 - How can anyone watching connect with you?
34:56 - Outro

Amplify Your Business Not Your Average HR Consultancy

For Episode 204 of Amplify Your Business, we’re presenting an ENCORE episode of Amplify Your Business Podcast, and it’s going to be a shocking one. For this encore episode, we’re joined by Lindsay White, the founder of High Voltage Leadership. High Voltage Leadership got its start in 2017 when Lindsay found herself working for a toxic leader at a financial institution. She decided that she couldn’t handle it any longer and ultimately left that job. Lindsay went from her corporate job into coaching certification training for a year, and from there, dove in with both feet and started her own coaching practice.To learn more, visit their website at https://highvoltageleadership.ca/ 
 
00:00 - Intro
01:40 - Tell me a little bit about High Voltage Leadership.
04:40 - You call yourself a People Operations Expert. What does that mean?
06:39 - What are some of the secrets to becoming a high-voltage leader?
07:59 - How do you merge the coaching and leadership training to help businesses navigate through leadership development and HR processes to have a successful business?
12:02 - How do you help business owners navigate through that?
14:18 - What is “positive intelligence”?
16:44 - Are your programs something that you see business owners taking on themselves, or are they incorporating team training as well?
19:40 - How can our audience connect with you?
20:33 - Outro