TLS014 Rebecca Nash Photography
I met Rebecca at a networking group that she created called the Wedding Professionals. Now I know you might be asking what I have to do with the wedding industry and I figured I could offer websites or blog for couples to document their wedding planning or offer my services to the other wedding industry businesses. It was a lot of fun and we still meet once a month except during wedding show season (which happens to be September). Rebecca offers a lot of insight about what creatives often struggle with. Pricing. How to value your time and charge accordingly. She also talks about how her daughter at age 8 is starting to get the Entrepreneurial bug. :D
You can find Rebecca upstairs at the Western Fair Farmer’s Market every Saturday from 8 am – 3 pm. Click here to find our more.
Website – www.rebeccanashphotography.com
Etsy – www.etsy.com/shop/rebeccanashphoto
Facebook – www.facebook.com/rebeccanashphotography
Twitter – www.twitter.com/rnashphoto
Instagram – www.instagram.com/rebeccanashphotography
Email – info@rebeccanashphotography.com
Phone – 226-973-7115
Download this Episode
TLS013 Shelly Shepherd – 100 Things 2 Do
This interview was so much what I was hoping to find. Shelly Shepherd has somehowmanaged to turn blogging into a profitable business. Her online diary of what she does on a day to day business has found her a huge audience online and she is making the best of it. Then I learned also that she has teamed up with Jennifer Slay from Pink Ink to create a fashion blog using a membership sales model. This girl is just oozing of creativity. I can’t wait to meet others like her who are also making money blogging from the city of London. I know when I started my blog, London Horse Sports I was only able to reach a maximum readership of 5,000 readers per month and I know how she feels when it comes to sales. Wouldn’t it be nice if your blog just attracted sponsors automatically? I found it terrifying picking up the phone those first 20 times and simply asking for businesses to advertise on my site so that I could invest more of my time creating content. But after a few no’s I started to get yes’s :D
Links that we talk about on the show:
TLS012 Jennifer Slay – Pink Ink
I met Jennifer Slay from Pink Ink at my first Women In Business networking event back in May 2014 and learned about their contest called The Face of Pink Ink. She and her partner Rita Perepelitsky both work full time as well as run their own business and take care of their young families. She offers great advice and I commend them for bootstrapping their business. That means not using credit. They reinvest their profits back into their business. By doing so they have received some generous help from other entrepreneurs including:
- Michelle Kaplan from KapCan business services
- Melanie Rhora from MVR solutions
- Ang Wencel from Visions – graphic atistry by Ang
- Shelly Shepherd from 100things2do blog (my next guest)
- Sal from The Salon downtown
- London Mompreneurs
- Janet from face trends
- Women In Business
To find out more about Pink Ink you can visit them at http://pinkinkimage.com
TLS011 Lisa Austin – It Fits Personal Training
I am learning quickly in business that a plan is not concrete. Its great to have but it needs to be flexible to incorporate all the opportunities and struggles that start popping up. I have learned more clearly what parts of my business I am strong in and what parts I am weak. Writing is one of my weaknesses and it takes a lot of evergy out of me to even just write these short intros. Sigh.
So since my marketing plan was to blog about building my business, I’ve decided to create vlogs (video blogs) instead. You can check out the first one at https://londonpreneurs.ca/category/news/ and hopefully not notice how awkward I am on camera. I am hoping that will go away with practise.
I met my next guest, Lisa Austin from It Fits Personal Training at a couple networking events this past summer and was attracted to her passion for fitness. Since then we had a coffee meeting and I have accepted her 30 day challenge to create a habit of regular exercise. I even promised her that I would record my progress on camera so she can share my progress as her testimonial. Yikes! Talk about accountability. If you interested in doing the 30 day challenge with me, please post in the comments below and keep me up to date. You don’t necessarily have to record yourself doing so (but it would be awesome if you did)!
www.ItFitsPT.ca 30 day challenge details click here
If you like this episode, please leave a comment on iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/
You can also listen to it with the Sticher Radio app or LibSyn app on your smart phone.
TLS010 Brooke Watson – Eye Look Media
It is taking me some time to find my peeps in this city. By peeps I mean, other digital artists who are creating on WordPress, vlogging and/or podcasting. Maybe I just haven’t been looking in the right direction. If you are a ‘techie’, please let me know or if you know where the web designers all hang out, could you send me an invite?
I did however, meet one very exuberant digital artist the Entrepreneurs of London lunch networking events. His name is Brook Watson and he shared his story about how the need for beer money motivated him to make more then one attempts at starting a business. He now is the co-founder of Eye Look Media a creative media company with a focus on Digital Signage deployments. I hope you will enjoy this interview and comment below.
http://www.eyelookmedia.com/
Download the .mp3 file by right clicking this link and save as.
TLS008 Jayme Cousins – In House Logic
I cannot stress enough how thankful I am to have a mentor in the web design industry as talented and open as Jayme Cousins. Not only has he given me great insight as to what to expect in my first few months, but also offer support and an ear to vent some frustrations. If you are starting your own business, don’t be afraid to reach out to your competition for mentoring. The saying “you don’t know, what you don’t know” can truly make your first years in business a roller coaster. Since your competitors have already been there and done that, they can save you not only time and money but also a few grey hairs too.
Show Notes:
- Even though we are both in the web design industry, we do serve different types of customers
- Currently working on Mapleton’s Organic and Geek Stop Games
- Starting In House Logic with the help of the Ontario Self Employment Benefit
- Jayme offers Online Presence advice for only $20/30 mins at the London Small Business Centre
- Balancing relationships and managing expectations
- Becoming a student at Western University
- London politics and potential
- Jayme has mentors too :D
- What business books can teach you (or not teach you)
- Getting your first web site done using tools like Shopify, Squarespace, Weebly, WordPress, etc.
- Gender balance in tech
- Firing clients and company culture
- 2nd stage web design, how to upgrade your online presence
For more info please visit: www.inhouselogic.com/
TLS004 Kay Habib – Skill Decor
Kay Habib is another classmate of mine and its been exciting to see how her business is also growing quickly. Skill Decor offers home staging and home decorating services in the London, Ontario area. I have hired her myself, and even though my home isn’t nearly ready for decorating, Kay still offered great advice from her years of experience and GREAT taste. She has a much bigger challenge due to the fact that she is new to London having recently moved here from Vaughn near Toronto. I hope our conversation helps you get to know Kay Habib more personally and if you are looking for inspiration or assistance with decorating for this Holiday Season, be sure to contact Kay before its too late!
www.skilldecor.com
Other Show Notes
- Itza Acosta – Business Adviser at the London Small Business Centre
TLS 006 Sue Regier – Vantage One Writing & Passions to Profits
During the SEB program, I had the opportunity to meet 25 other individuals also embarking into Entrepreneurship. For 2 weeks we sat in class together developing and writing our business plans as well as hear from speakers who offered insights into what it would be like on the ‘other side’. One such speaker was the lovely Sue Regier. Sue shared with us stories about her life and struggles as well as taught us business writing strategies and effective networking skills. I learned how to craft an excellent marketing message and elevator pitch.
The most intriguing idea that Sue put in my ear, was that we should think more in term of ‘coop-petition’, cooperate with your competition. We go into this idea more as Sue explains why she works with and trains her competitors and that we should think of our competition as opportunities more then threats. I agree we can’t work with everyone and I hope I will start to put into practice the great advice Sue has given me about my mindset.
Other notes:
Networking Today – number one online resource for finding networking groups across Canada (in my opinion) with over 40 groups just in London alone
Vantage One Writing – Sue’s content writing services
London Small Business Centre – Ontario Self Employment Program
My favourite quote “Get comfortable with getting uncomfortable” ~ Sue Regier
If you can’t see the above embedded player, here are other options to try to listen:
- Listen to it on Stitcher Radio
- Listen to it on Libsyn
- Stream by clicking this link here
- Download both as MP3 by right clicking this link and choosing “save link as”
TLS005 Amanda Stark – The Friendly Visitor/EoL
I met Amanda at her networking group Entrepreneurs of London which meets every Monday for lunch at Crossings Pub & Grill. She has been accepted into the OSEB program and has just started her own business called The Friendly Visitor which provides non medical services to seniors or individuals with health issues.
We chat about where she is in the program, what are her plans for the coming months and what she likes most about becoming a new Entrepreneur in London, Ontario, Canada.
I hope you will forgive the audio quality as I had forgotten to switch the mic input on my recorder to my Blue Snowball and instead it was recorded off the built in mic on my laptop. We had discussed re doing the interview but were concerned about it sounding more rehearsed and less authentic. So I opted to try and edit out most of the clicks and pops and hope you will still get some value out of our conversation.
Amanda has been in the media on several occasions of late including RogersTV, The London Free Press and YouTube. All of which you can see for yourself on her website http://www.thefriendlyvisitor.ca
To learn more about the networking group that Amanda heads visit: www.entrepreneursoflondon.ca
Photo belongs to Craig Glover, The London Free Press http://www.lfpress.com/2014/09/08/crash-survivor-turns-hurt-into-an-asset
TLS008 Jennifer Mercer – I am HR
In case you didn’t know, this show was created to document my journey in entrepreneurship in the beautiful city of London, Ontario. My guest this week is Jennifer Mercer from I am HR consulting.
Jennifer Mercer is a human resources consultant whom I met through the SEB program. We have since become good friends and share much of our ideas for business and share in our struggles. I hope you are enjoying these stories as much as I am and if you have any suggestions for future guest, please don’t hesitate to let me know :D
Telephone: 519-280-1758
E-mail: Jen@iamhr.ca
TLS008 Anne Plastino Best Warren – The Wedding Ring
I met Anne at a networking event called The Wedding Professionals and just loved her personality. She is the kind of person whose positive energy fills an entire room. You have to listen to the interview to know what I mean. Tell me if you don’t feel inspired afterwards.
Books we talk about:
- Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff
- The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
- The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss
- Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
Have you read any of these?
My First Business Adviser – Gord Evans TLS003
The London Small Business Center has been a tremendous help in showing me just how much Entrepreneurial spirit I possess. If it wasn’t for Gord Evans bluntly telling me what I needed to hear at a point in my life when I needed to hear the hard truth, I would not have started this exciting journey I embark on. I hope he will continue to allow me to capture some of this years of experience and insight in a regular segment on this show. With great advise and mentor-ship, I was able to carve out a clear perception of who I am and a vision of who I am capable of becoming.
In this short interview, I asked Gord to retell one of his stories I heard during my 2 week business planning boot camp. Networking will never be the same after you hear this :D
Ron Kipp – The Franchise Dept TLS001
The Londonpreneur Show Episode One
The purpose of this podcast is to document and share my experiences as I create my own business in the beautiful city of London, Ontario. I started a web design/marketing company called Carter Creations with the help of the Ontario Self Employment Benefit (SEB) and the London Small Business Center (LSBC) in April 2014. So far I have met dozens of wonderful and supportive people who have given me not only advice, but also motivation and inspiration. This podcast is a way for me to say thank you to them and to share with you their knowledge. As our local economy struggles, I believe that Entrepreneurship will help fill in the gap left by the hundreds of manufacturing jobs we have lost.
My first guest on the show is Ron Kipp who I first met at Networking Wednesdays through the LSBC and during a Q&A session during the SEB business planning classes. Ron has all kinds of stories to tell about being part of all types of different business industries and real estate because he is interested in buying, selling and franchising them. If, after listening, you have questions or would like to know more from Ron, please visit his website at: www.thefranchisingdepartment.com or call 519-672-7700
If you enjoy the interview and would like to hear from more local Entrepreneurs please comment below about what or who you would like to hear more of and share with your friends who may benefit from this.
Some of the details we talk about:
- Canadian Youth Business Foundation: www.futurpreneur.ca/en/mentoring
- Networking Today: www.networkingtoday.com
- Allison Graham: http://elevatebiz.com
- MoMondays: http://momondays.com
- PON – Power of Networking: www.powerofnetworking.ca