The Business Leadership Podcast

[00:00:00] Karen Greve Young: The very first one is your why. Why are you doing this? Being an entrepreneur is hard. The statistic that you cited, Don, which I've heard so many times, 94% of entrepreneurs, their main reason is to be their own boss. Ooh, that one makes me cringe. Because you're not your own boss. They have to really quickly go to the next level questions of, okay, as my own boss, what is it that I want to do? Why do I want to do this path? Because it is hard.

[00:00:29] Salli: you are listening to the Business Leadership Podcast with Edwin Frondozo

[00:00:33] Edwin Frondozo: good morning, good afternoon, and good evening biz leaders. Welcome back to another episode of our special mini series, the Growth Unlocked podcast, in collaboration with RBC. I'm your host, Edwin Frondozo, and I'm joined by my cohost, Don Ludlow from RBC.

[00:00:49] As we dive into Part 2 of Building the Blueprint: Navigating the Initial Challenges for Sustainable Business Success. We continue to unfold the crucial early steps for entrepreneurs eyeing long-term success.

[00:01:02] Our esteem guests, Shane Murphy from OWNR and Karen Greve Young from Futurpreneur bring their seasoned insights to the table once again.

[00:01:11] In this episode, we delve deeper into the intricacies of crafting a solid business plan. The financial contemplations imperative for business growth and the indispensable role of mentorship.

[00:01:23] Whether you're kickstarting or advancing your entrepreneurial journey, proudly presented by RBC, let's dive into the Growth Unlock podcast. Here we go.

[00:01:33] Don Ludlow: you know, Karen, I've met a lot of uh, entrepreneurs and business owners over the years who, who truly love what they do. so much satisfaction, and I love the way you've laid it out with uh, you know, passion and uh, and all the different dimensions to that. But it is still a really big step, I think it does take uh, a lot of reflection, and uh, you know, consideration and getting advice from others. what do you think

[00:01:57] are the, the really important questions that aspiring entrepreneurs should ask themselves, Be, uh, before taking the plunge,

[00:02:04] Karen Greve Young: Oh, there are so many, and I wish I could phone a friend and dial one of our entrepreneurs and residents in for this part of it, but I'll do my best. I think. The very first one is your why. Why are you doing this? Being an entrepreneur is hard. Why are you doing it? And I have to say, The statistic that you cited, Don, which I've heard so many times, 94% of entrepreneurs, their starting point, their main reason is to be their own boss. Ooh, that one makes me cringe. Because you're not your own boss. you're working with your suppliers, you're customers, your clients. You're your own boss in some ways, but one of the biggest ways is that you're not just getting a paycheck for showing up at work, honestly. So I think if someone's Primary driver is to be their own boss. They have to really quickly go to the next level questions of, okay, as my own boss, what is it that I want to do? Why do I want to do this path? Because it is hard. It's, you're not gonna get paid unless you're delivering a product that people want. And so you really, the passion has to be in Whatever that product is, and I love the conversation about side hustle versus full time. Ask that question, do I want my passion project to become my day job? Or actually do I want my passion project to say my passion project, and I'll have my day job. But then my business will be a side hustle, and that'll be where it fits. And so thinking about how you want your business to fit into your life, what does success look like for you? Are you going into a business because you want to become a multimillionaire? Okay. Think hard about what business makes that happen. And by the way, it's not automatic. You don't just wish for it and it comes or Do you want to create a livelihood at a different level, like at a lower, more modest level that that is achievable from day one? Maybe from day one you start selling right away. And that goes to one of the places where we really challenge entrepreneurs to think upfront, what kind of money do they need to get started? So one of the questions that entrepreneurs need to ask is, do I need money that I don't currently have? The answer is often yes. If yes. Do I want equity financing or do I want a loan? great thing about equity is that you don't have to pay it back, but you're giving part of your company away. Whereas with a loan, which is the way that Futurpreneur finances businesses, I.

[00:04:44] You keep full ownership of your company. You're not diluting revenues, but you need to start paying that loan back right away. So did the kind of business that you're trying to launch really speaks to the kind of financing that you need, the kinds of regulations that you have to make sure you're meeting what is required for the business. And that's where I think there's just so much value in, even if you're a sole proprietor, if you're a solopreneur, not doing it alone. Talk to a business advisor. Find someone who will ask you questions and challenge you on, is this really a side hustle? Can you do it part-time? Or is this really full-time? Can it pay you what you need to be paid? Are your assumptions good? That kind of thing. But the. I think that the biggest myth is that being an entrepreneur is easier than reporting to a boss. I'm looking at Shane as I say this because I think that most entrepreneurs would agree that it's a different, there's something beautiful about being your own boss and being in charge of your business and seeing your business thrive. But it's not an easy path.

[00:05:54] Edwin Frondozo: Yeah, I really love How you describe that, Karen, especially for those who are, embarking on the entrepreneurship journey, especially I think in the younger, I think yourself, Karen and your team in Futurpreneur might see a lot of the youngers now who are growing up with social media and all these influencers telling you how much easier it is to be your own boss, and then it really hits them hard. And I think the question that you talked about knowing your why, Maybe understanding your purpose in life. I think it's a little easier for me to say being an entrepreneur almost 20 years. These are something you do revisit over time and it changes over time as well. But it's something that you need to really think about because entrepreneurship definitely is not a smooth road.

[00:06:39] Highway to your vision

[00:06:43] Karen Greve Young: And in fact, I wanna add something. It's funny, we're talking all about entrepreneurs here,

[00:06:47] Edwin Frondozo: Yeah.

[00:06:49] Karen Greve Young: some business owners are not entrepreneurs. They're acquiring a business. They're taking over a business that exists. And that's another thing to ask yourself. If what you wanna be is your own boss and you want to run a business, but you don't necessarily have your unique business idea, that's a new product for the world. There are lots of businesses out there looking to be acquired more and more. In fact, you can read about the succession tsunamis that are coming. Um, so that's another thing for entrepreneurs aspiring, I would say, business owners to think about, I cut out to be an entrepreneur? Do I have a business I wanna build from scratch? Or do I wanna take someone else's business that I see potential in and take it to the next level and make it my own?

[00:07:32] Edwin Frondozo: Don, for those small business owners that are learning things and maybe are going past day one, and they're understanding or wanting or aspire or have the intentions to grow and scale their business, you know what do they need to be aware of now? Yeah,

[00:07:50] Track 1: there's,

[00:07:50] Don Ludlow: there's all kinds of things that you need to think about as a business owner, as you start to achieve a degree of success and really start to scale and grow your business, whether that's how do you manage growth and how do you grow your team how do you manage your finances and keep track of everything.

[00:08:06] And how do you stay on top of customer trends and and business trends and leverage technology uh, that's out there to help you be better and more efficient and also manage uh, manage risks. Um, you know, and uh, fortunately it uh, in addition to uh, OWNR and Futurpreneur RBC through uh, a bunch of different partnerships, offers a bunch of different solutions uh, that can help with these uh, types of challenges and opportunities.

[00:08:31] To name just a few uh, to support growing businesses and hiring talent. You can look to our partnership with Indeed and if you haven't heard of Indeed, it's uh, helps small business clients hire really great people connecting them to uh, millions of Canadian job seekers out there and is one of the leading ones in the market.

[00:08:49] And when RBC clients create an account with Indeed uh, they receive a $300 credit for a sponsored job posting right outta the gates, which is a great way to get started in growing your team with with talented people

[00:09:02] And uh, to help manage risks in a uh, increasingly digital world. We have Cobalt.io on the cybersecurity front and Cobalt's a leading cybersecurity uh, company that uh, helps small and medium sized businesses access cybersecurity expertise and solutions. and protect their businesses and customers against you know, all the different threats that are uh, that are out there.

[00:09:25] And finally a solution that we developed ourselves. RBC Insight Edge for Small Business, which is an award-winning dashboard uh, and subscription service that offers retail businesses, real-time data and insights around customer trends uh, competitive benchmarks uh, and market intelligence. To help support business decisions and uh, help our clients grow their businesses.

[00:09:47] And there's a whole bunch of more of these solutions, which we refer to as our Beyond Banking partnerships. Please check them out at RBC Beyond Banking and uh, see if there's any of those that can uh, that can help you uh, grow and scale your business and uh, and continue to succeed.

[00:10:02] You know, one of the things that business owners need to think about is what happens when uh, maybe things don't go so well and when uh, when there's unforeseen uh, circumstances that pop up. So, you know, knowing how to manage some of those risks and, and think about all the insurance needs that a small business might have is pretty important. And uh, shane, I know that OWNR just launched some insurance solutions owner insurance. Can you tell us a little bit about that and why that was kind of the logical next step for the team at OWNR?

[00:10:31] Shane Murphy: Absolutely. I'm always super excited to talk about OWNR insurance because it really represents an evolution in the way we're building our, our business at OWNR. I think the way we've always framed our our business is to look at what are the big questions that entrepreneurs ask themselves when they're starting the business. It's often the first thing is, as we've covered in the past, Should I incorporate the business? Should I operate it as sole proprietorship? And we have an incorporation solution.

[00:11:01] Next question often where do I bank with my business? We've built a great direct pipeline into BFS and the ability to open a business account with RBC.

[00:11:11] So the next question that we came across was, how do I get insurance for my, my new business? And from my past experience as a business owner, I know that this isn't always the easiest thing to do. Especially for businesses that are accustomed to working online and getting quick, easy online services, there's not much out there.

[00:11:30] So OWNR insurance is our next evolution. And what it is, is it allows a business owner with a brand new business to connect uh, with an insurer and get a real time immediate quote for an insurance policy that is suited for their business. So there's two parts to that, of course. One is, How much is insurance going to cost?

[00:11:51] And we'll give upfront pricing immediately. And the second thing is what kind of insurance is appropriate for me as a business owner at this stage? And since the owner collects so much important data from these businesses, as they go through the incorporation process, as they go through the account opening experience, we leverage all of that data to then match them to an appropriate insurance policy. So we now have upfront pricing, immediate matching to a appropriate policy, and they can apply and, go through the complete application process online and really get this done in a matter of minutes when. The typical experience in the past would be calling around to various insurance brokers and maybe meeting up in person and going over a binder of documents. Uh, we've really made this a very modern digital experience and the feedback so far has been exceptionally positive and we're very proud of it. So that's really what we're doing with OWNR insurance.

[00:12:49] Don Ludlow: Yeah, it's great, Shane, and it, it really speaks to the way that we uh, try to help uh, entrepreneurs and business owners in the uh, in the fullest possible way. Although I would say while planning and budgeting and insurance are all important and uh, of course your financials and the right people, all of these are critically important. I would also say, you know, the right uh, mentorship and guidance can also play a really critical role in uh, in entrepreneurial success.

[00:13:16] Karen, I know uh, this is an area that a Futurpreneur uh, really excels. So could you maybe tell us a little bit about the mentorship program and approach to mentorship that Futurpreneur uh, takes and uh, and how that helps your uh, clients succeed.

[00:13:31] Karen Greve Young: Absolutely the way that we see it, our financing program and our mentorship program are inextricably linked. We will not give an entrepreneur loan without making sure that they have mentorship supporting them on the first couple years of their entrepreneurial journey.

[00:13:47] And likewise, because of the value of that, that one-on-one mentor we won't offer the mentor without having that lending relationship with the client being a young entrepreneur in this case. And the reason why is because entrepreneurs don't know what they don't know. They're often doing this for the first time, and so having that mentor as a sounding board, someone who has that, been there, done that, made some mistakes along the way, experience the mentor, won't be in exactly the same kind of business necessarily as the entrepreneur, but they have enough experience to help ask the kinds of questions that the entrepreneur should be thinking about. There's that whole adage of, go slow to go fast. Well, Entrepreneurs just wanna go fast that one hour every few weeks with their mentor, where they're forced to reflect with someone who has more objectivity than they do. They're all in.

[00:14:44] The mentor is not all in. The mentor is just there as a partner and a support. But to ask those questions and, help an entrepreneur reflect, In a way on their business that they wouldn't buy themselves, and uh, that we find just so invaluable. We're incredibly grateful for more than 2,400 volunteer mentors across Canada. So any listeners who are not Aspiring entrepreneurs, but successful entrepreneurs who want to become a future entrepreneur, mentor. It's a fantastic group of people who are their own network and who are just committed to the future of business and entrepreneurship in Canada, and are paying it forward to help the next generation of entrepreneurs succeed.

[00:15:28] So it's incredibly rewarding for our mentors we hear every day, but honestly, for our entrepreneurs, it helps them not be in it alone.

[00:15:35] It helps them make some of those mistakes verbally in conversation before having actually implemented a strategy that isn't going to work for them.

[00:15:44] Edwin Frondozo: Before we end, I'd love to get some final thoughts from each one of you, for those entrepreneurs, for those business leaders, those aspiring business owners

[00:15:53] who are listening today .

[00:15:55] Shane Murphy: Sure. I'll just give a quick shout out to OWNR's website, which has all kinds of resources for entrepreneurs, not just for getting incorporated or getting insurance or anything like that. We are always putting out content and guides for helpful tips where we survey tons of entrepreneurs across the country to get wisdom that we can share.

[00:16:15] So please check out OWNR.co. So it's OWNR.co and you can check out our blog from there, which is a, a great tool for entrepreneurs. So I think that would be one place that I would say go to check that out as you're, as you're starting out on this journey.

[00:16:32] Karen Greve Young: I'll jump in and I'll say planning upfront really matters. And so I'm going to make another pitch for the uh, the RBC Rock my Business series that Futurpreneur runs uh, that rock my business idea, rock my business plan that helped developing your business plan, rock my business cash flow, or is such good time spent to get you ready.

[00:16:53] But here's the extra thing. You can win an award $10,000 toward your business for doing that. The RBC funded Rock My Business Awards, they're eight every year. $10,000 just for attending and submitting your successful business plan and cash flow, you can get $10,000 to start your business.

[00:17:12] So that's just a really fantastic program to get going. Don't underestimate the importance of really thinking through before you start, and then find the organization and the partner and the mentor who will help you on your way and good luck.

[00:17:27] Don Ludlow: Yeah. And I think I would just add uh, you know, it's great to see that uh, the entrepreneurial spirit is uh, alive and well across Canada and that so many Canadians are thinking about business ownership as a, as a really viable career path. And uh, of course we love working with business owners and entrepreneurs. We do it, uh, each and every day. it's what really, uh, gets us outta bed in the morning. If you've got that bug in you and you're thinking of starting a business, or you are a small business owner please check out our resources at rbc.com or give us a call or just drop in and uh, pay us a visit. sometimes it just starts with a conversation and uh, and we'd love to speak with you.

[00:18:04] Edwin Frondozo: That's it biz leaders there's that brings us to the conclusion of Building the Blueprint: Navigating the Initial Challenges for Sustainable Business Success- Part 2, in our special Growth Unlock podcast series in partnership with RBC.

[00:18:18] A heartfelt, thank you to our insightful guests, Shane, Don, and Karen. For shedding light, on the multifaceted journey of entrepreneurship.

[00:18:27] Remember the path to a successful and sustainable business is a blend of meticulous planning. Valuable mentorship and in unyielding mindset.

[00:18:38] We encourage you to explore the resources and support available at OWNR, RBC and Futurpreneur as you embark on your entrepreneurial voyage.

[00:18:48] Stay tuned for more engaging discussions. In our upcoming episodes where we'll continue to dissect the essence of entrepreneurial success.

[00:18:57] Until then, keep pushing the boundaries and make every day a 100X day.

[00:19:03] Salli: .

[00:19:03] Thank you for listening to the Business Leadership Podcast with Edwin Frondozo.