A lifelong passion for music

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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Canada's Podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_02: Hello, I'm Mario Tarnaguzzi, managing editor of Canada's Podcast.
[00:09] SPEAKER_02: Today on Calgary's Podcast, my guest is Carmen Moran, who is an award-winning concert
[00:16] SPEAKER_02: pianist, educator, entrepreneur in Calgary.
[00:20] SPEAKER_02: And thanks for joining us today, Carmen.
[00:22] SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for having me, Mario.
[00:23] SPEAKER_00: Great to be here.
[00:24] SPEAKER_02: All right.
[00:25] SPEAKER_02: Let me just start by asking you a little bit, explain what you do, Carmen.
[00:31] SPEAKER_00: So my background is as a born and raised calgaryen, very proud to be one.
[00:35] SPEAKER_00: I grew up in Canada's and Calgary's classical music community.
[00:39] SPEAKER_00: So my training is as a classical pianist.
[00:42] SPEAKER_00: And then that led me to, of course, become an educator in that same field.
[00:45] SPEAKER_00: So I taught with the University Conservatory.
[00:49] SPEAKER_00: And then in 2013 branched off into my own brick and mortar commercial private music
[00:53] SPEAKER_00: school.
[00:53] SPEAKER_00: So that's where my entrepreneurial journey really started to unfold.
[00:58] SPEAKER_00: From there we launched into our online programs, which we began in 2018 and then really ramped
[01:03] SPEAKER_00: up in 2020 as so many did as well.
[01:06] SPEAKER_00: So we've really developed a whole kind of separate entity for that digital arm of our
[01:10] SPEAKER_00: traditional business.
[01:11] SPEAKER_00: And then that naturally evolved also into my consulting.
[01:14] SPEAKER_00: So now I guide other business owners, other traditional service-based service providers
[01:20] SPEAKER_00: and I teach them how they can do the same, basically, with their business.
[01:23] SPEAKER_00: So focusing in instructional design.
[01:25] SPEAKER_00: So a few different hats, but there's a through line in there for sure.
[01:29] SPEAKER_02: So when did you first start playing piano?
[01:33] SPEAKER_00: So I began when I was two years old.
[01:35] SPEAKER_00: And that's formal training.
[01:36] SPEAKER_00: So I come from a musical family and my dad continues to be a very prominent music teacher
[01:41] SPEAKER_00: here in the city and in Canada.
[01:43] SPEAKER_00: So it was really just a pillar of how we were raised, that formal music training.
[01:49] SPEAKER_00: And I always am thankful for that.
[01:50] SPEAKER_00: Not only for the gift of music and being able to perform and play my instrument, but
[01:55] SPEAKER_00: also just how many of the principles and the character traits that that really developed
[01:59] SPEAKER_00: through that discipline of formal training and that appreciation of the arts.
[02:03] SPEAKER_00: So I started very young at the age of two.
[02:05] SPEAKER_00: Yes.
[02:06] SPEAKER_02: So what does it take, you know, you know, I'm going to ask you some questions about what
[02:11] SPEAKER_02: you just said about the things that you get out of doing that.
[02:17] SPEAKER_02: But what does it take to get to the level that you've got to?
[02:22] SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
[02:22] SPEAKER_00: And I think it's a really important conversation that I enjoy having is that people will
[02:26] SPEAKER_00: think, you know, that talent, of course, is something that you are born with, right?
[02:31] SPEAKER_00: Is a common what I feel is a misconception.
[02:33] SPEAKER_00: So for myself, I began playing at the age of two and I actually made my debut with orchestra
[02:38] SPEAKER_00: by the time I was 10.
[02:39] SPEAKER_00: So I was playing as soloist with orchestra, right?
[02:41] SPEAKER_00: And when I say that, people will often kind of give a response of, wow, you must have
[02:45] SPEAKER_00: been very talented.
[02:46] SPEAKER_00: But when you look at actually the background of even our family, you know, I did that for
[02:50] SPEAKER_00: the first time when I was 10.
[02:52] SPEAKER_00: One of my brothers did that for the first time when he was only seven years old.
[02:56] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[02:56] SPEAKER_00: And another brother did it when he was 11, right?
[02:58] SPEAKER_00: So there are the kind of some common threads where we like to see talent and it can kind
[03:03] SPEAKER_00: of create a disconnect that that must be something that someone is born with or without.
[03:08] SPEAKER_00: But the fact is we were actually really training in an intentional and formal way.
[03:13] SPEAKER_00: So in order to get these results, you know, for ourselves and also what we do now for our students
[03:17] SPEAKER_00: who have had similar outcomes in our music school, it's really about that process of actively
[03:23] SPEAKER_00: growing your skills and it's, you know, actively growing your skill set at the instrument,
[03:28] SPEAKER_00: but also the way that you approach challenges, the way that you approach your practice,
[03:33] SPEAKER_00: the role that you play in creating the outcomes that you'll achieve.
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[04:42] Speaker UNKNOWN: So that's what we call the
[04:43] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[04:43] Speaker UNKNOWN: So you know, I think we're really going to be able to invest in daily consistent work to do this.
[04:45] SPEAKER_00: So ultimately, the success really comes through the support of the parents.
[04:50] SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
[04:51] SPEAKER_00: That it's just like any other area of their education that you wouldn't leave it to a young child
[04:56] SPEAKER_00: to make those decisions.
[04:57] SPEAKER_00: But rather you would create the structure and support for them to have those results.
[05:01] SPEAKER_00: So when you look at it in that way, that motivation becomes a little bit irrelevant
[05:06] SPEAKER_00: because what we know is that motivation, you know, there's sparks of feeling, sparks of
[05:10] SPEAKER_00: inspiration, but ultimately motivation is not meant to carry us through to our goals.
[05:14] SPEAKER_00: It's really that discipline and that consistency and working with the faith in how valuable the
[05:20] SPEAKER_00: process is.
[05:21] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I used to do while I still do a little bit of media training with a colleague of mine and
[05:27] SPEAKER_02: his line was always, you know, how do you get the Carnegie Hall practice practice?
[05:32] SPEAKER_02: Practice.
[05:32] SPEAKER_02: Right.
[05:34] SPEAKER_00: And I always like to say, you know, being further down the line, having the performance experience
[05:39] SPEAKER_00: that I have, I like to share openly, I often don't feel like practicing.
[05:43] SPEAKER_00: It's just like the way that I often don't feel like going to the gym and I often would rather eat,
[05:47] SPEAKER_00: you know, a red velvet cupcake than my salad, you know, all these different things.
[05:51] SPEAKER_00: But we do this because we understand the process that it's on the other side of those experiences
[05:56] SPEAKER_00: that will get those those waves of results.
[05:59] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[06:00] SPEAKER_02: So throughout your musical training, what do you think you got out of that?
[06:08] SPEAKER_02: You know, it's obviously the skill and the talent, but other qualities or other
[06:17] SPEAKER_02: traits that you develop that helped you in life and helped you in business.
[06:22] SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
[06:22] SPEAKER_00: I mean, so, so many.
[06:24] SPEAKER_00: So I like to start because often people will say, kind of, what's the main benefit of music lessons?
[06:28] SPEAKER_00: Right.
[06:29] SPEAKER_00: And the thing is is when you start to look at the many benefits of music lessons,
[06:32] SPEAKER_00: everything from the way it impacts your cognitive development and your brain,
[06:37] SPEAKER_00: plasticity, all of the benefits there versus what it's doing for your physical body,
[06:41] SPEAKER_00: your hormones, your sleep, all of these different things, your nervous system.
[06:44] SPEAKER_00: But then of course, it goes into the skill, the study habits.
[06:47] SPEAKER_00: So there are so many different benefits to it.
[06:50] SPEAKER_00: So ultimately, music in its, at its essential core is our birth rate as humans.
[06:56] SPEAKER_00: Right.
[06:56] SPEAKER_00: We are all musical beings and it's only been in the recent kind of past century
[07:01] SPEAKER_00: that it's been trained out of us that you have to either be a formally trained musician
[07:05] SPEAKER_00: and your musical or you are non-musical and you need to sit in the audience, right?
[07:10] SPEAKER_00: So there is something at just at its core that developing that in yourself has so many other
[07:14] SPEAKER_00: benefits to the ways that you can be productive in other areas.
[07:17] SPEAKER_00: Specifically, when you think from a practical level, it's really things like
[07:21] SPEAKER_00: cultivating those character traits and those habits that apply to everything.
[07:26] SPEAKER_00: So when I look at how I've approached growing my business,
[07:29] SPEAKER_00: how I branch off into other areas of business,
[07:33] SPEAKER_00: the way that I approached my health and fitness, it really is all with
[07:37] SPEAKER_00: this mindset of understanding how to take an end goal.
[07:40] SPEAKER_00: So the way that you learn, okay, here's the big piece that I want to learn.
[07:44] SPEAKER_00: And I know and I have a very clear strategy of how I can break that down,
[07:47] SPEAKER_00: how I can apply really specific work strategies and habits to build my skills in certain areas.
[07:55] SPEAKER_00: I understand the active growth when it comes to talent development, right?
[08:00] SPEAKER_00: So when you take that, when you learn it in music lesson, there's a reason why
[08:05] SPEAKER_00: you know, certain schools or things like medical schools will often look on the applications.
[08:10] SPEAKER_00: Do you have formal training in something like music?
[08:13] SPEAKER_00: Not only has it developed all these other abilities because of what is done for your
[08:17] SPEAKER_00: cognitive skills, but they also know that you have very clear and strategic work habits
[08:23] SPEAKER_00: that can apply in many different areas.
[08:26] SPEAKER_02: Yeah. What is it take from, I guess, your own perspective for each individual?
[08:34] SPEAKER_02: What is it take to get that discipline?
[08:37] SPEAKER_02: Because you even know in everything whether it's being a PNS, whether it's being
[08:43] SPEAKER_02: an athlete, you know, I have that discipline, right?
[08:47] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[08:47] SPEAKER_02: Like, how do you get that?
[08:49] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[08:50] SPEAKER_00: So I always, again, having that environment, environment, nurtures that growth, right?
[08:57] SPEAKER_00: So when you are in a home that values values, hard work, consistency, values, just that,
[09:04] SPEAKER_00: you know, there's a faith in what you're capable of, right?
[09:07] SPEAKER_00: So we like to think of like the mother tongue method in education, right?
[09:11] SPEAKER_00: Where if you're in a home that speaks French, your family will never question,
[09:16] SPEAKER_00: will you also learn to speak French?
[09:17] SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you'll learn to speak a different language, right?
[09:20] SPEAKER_00: There's this faith that you are capable and you can achieve these things, right?
[09:25] SPEAKER_00: So being in that type of environment is key.
[09:29] SPEAKER_00: From there, I find it's really understanding the process of growth,
[09:32] SPEAKER_00: that it's not just a matter of sitting down and doing something for 30 minutes every day.
[09:37] SPEAKER_00: The truth is about practice is that all practice is not created equal.
[09:40] SPEAKER_00: And certain types of practice can actually make you worse.
[09:44] SPEAKER_00: And what you're doing, right?
[09:45] SPEAKER_00: So if you sit down and you do 30 minutes every day,
[09:48] SPEAKER_00: of poor habits and thinking negatively and not having a clear path to how you're going to improve
[09:54] SPEAKER_00: at the end of that 30 minutes, you will actually end up worse at the end of that practice session
[09:58] SPEAKER_00: than you were when you first sat down, right?
[10:01] SPEAKER_00: So it does go into really harnessing not only the drive that we have to improve ourselves,
[10:08] SPEAKER_00: but then part of that teaching is being able to explain that clear path.
[10:12] SPEAKER_00: If here's what we're working on, here's how you can improve it and hear strategies.
[10:17] SPEAKER_00: And then it becomes a skill just like anything else.
[10:19] SPEAKER_00: Learning how to practice is a whole other skill that you develop.
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[10:31] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, how long ago did you take your skills in music and turn them into a business
[10:39] SPEAKER_02: on the go journey?
[10:41] SPEAKER_00: So I opened my commercial school in 2013.
[10:43] SPEAKER_00: So we just had our 10-year anniversary this past November.
[10:49] SPEAKER_00: So that was kind of to be honest, always in my plans.
[10:52] SPEAKER_00: If I have to look back, I have an interview from when I was eight years old
[10:57] SPEAKER_00: and I was on my way to the national finals.
[10:59] SPEAKER_00: And I was on Gord Gilles was interviewing me.
[11:02] SPEAKER_00: Actually, yes, so at a good morning Calgary or bright.
[11:05] SPEAKER_00: Anyway, it was, and it's me at eight years old saying,
[11:09] SPEAKER_00: what do you want to be when you grow up?
[11:10] SPEAKER_00: I want to be a piano teacher.
[11:12] SPEAKER_00: And then behind the scenes, I also had all these kind of business cards
[11:15] SPEAKER_00: of I named it Carmen's Clif and it was my music school.
[11:19] SPEAKER_00: So it kind of was always there that that was the plan.
[11:21] SPEAKER_00: So I began teaching at the university,
[11:23] SPEAKER_00: but I think in the back of my mind, I always knew that
[11:25] SPEAKER_00: I had the entrepreneurial drive and that was in the goals.
[11:30] SPEAKER_00: And so it was the right time.
[11:31] SPEAKER_00: So I branched off into that into 2013.
[11:33] SPEAKER_00: And then we actually expanded our brick and mortar space
[11:35] SPEAKER_00: to another bay in that complex in 2019,
[11:38] SPEAKER_00: which was about four months before the world shut down,
[11:42] SPEAKER_00: of course, for the pandemic.
[11:45] SPEAKER_00: Right? So that was learning a lot,
[11:47] SPEAKER_00: but through the entrepreneurial journey,
[11:49] SPEAKER_00: yeah, but it ended up being quite a blessing.
[11:51] SPEAKER_00: Quite a blessing.
[11:52] SPEAKER_02: So you don't mind me asking, how old were you when you first started this?
[11:58] SPEAKER_00: How old would I have been in 2013?
[12:00] SPEAKER_00: I would be 29.
[12:01] SPEAKER_02: 29.
[12:02] SPEAKER_02: What?
[12:03] SPEAKER_02: So as a young entrepreneur,
[12:06] SPEAKER_02: what would you say your biggest challenge was in starting this?
[12:10] SPEAKER_00: Oh, I think, you know, it's it's it's funny that when you say that
[12:18] SPEAKER_00: because when you're a young entrepreneur,
[12:19] SPEAKER_00: you don't really fully know what you're getting yourself into.
[12:22] SPEAKER_00: So it's funny when I look back, I was like, I'll be fine.
[12:26] SPEAKER_00: I've got this no problem, right?
[12:28] SPEAKER_00: And then of course, it's not until you get into the process of, you know, investing.
[12:31] SPEAKER_00: I was self-funded.
[12:33] SPEAKER_00: I am the sole owner.
[12:35] SPEAKER_00: I didn't have a business partner.
[12:36] SPEAKER_00: I didn't have any formal business training.
[12:39] SPEAKER_00: I do come from a family of entrepreneurs.
[12:41] SPEAKER_00: So I think there is that element of again,
[12:43] SPEAKER_00: I have that work ethic that I went in and wore all the hats.
[12:46] SPEAKER_00: I was doing the admin.
[12:47] SPEAKER_00: I was doing the cleaning.
[12:48] SPEAKER_00: I was doing the, you know,
[12:50] SPEAKER_00: discussing with the developers about the build out.
[12:52] SPEAKER_00: Like it was very,
[12:53] SPEAKER_00: yeah,
[12:54] SPEAKER_00: much of solo journey.
[12:56] SPEAKER_00: So I think getting into it, I was just so, you know,
[12:59] SPEAKER_00: you have that confidence that you'll just figure it out.
[13:02] SPEAKER_00: And I have to say that I think even though I have more context and understanding
[13:07] SPEAKER_00: of what the entrepreneurial journey entails,
[13:10] SPEAKER_00: I think I still kind of live in that space.
[13:12] SPEAKER_00: And I think that's why I continue to grow my business forward
[13:15] SPEAKER_00: of that element of, I can figure it out.
[13:19] SPEAKER_00: And I can build the skills that I need.
[13:20] SPEAKER_00: And just to go back to what you asked about, you know,
[13:23] SPEAKER_00: the main benefit that you get from music lessons,
[13:26] SPEAKER_00: is that I know how to practice.
[13:28] SPEAKER_00: If something's important to me, I know,
[13:30] SPEAKER_00: I feel confident in my ability to build the skills that I need to get there.
[13:35] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[13:36] SPEAKER_02: So, you know, looking back at those 10 years,
[13:42] SPEAKER_02: in terms of the lessons of being an entrepreneur,
[13:44] SPEAKER_02: what would you say to other people, you know,
[13:48] SPEAKER_02: what were some of the key lessons you've learned in that decade?
[13:51] SPEAKER_00: My number one lesson would be actually the flip side of what I just shared,
[13:56] SPEAKER_00: which is to get your systems in process and learn to delegate sooner.
[14:00] SPEAKER_00: Because I went in with such an ambitious, and you know,
[14:03] SPEAKER_00: I really value my work ethic,
[14:04] SPEAKER_00: I did probably way more than I needed to,
[14:07] SPEAKER_00: for way longer than I needed to.
[14:09] SPEAKER_00: Right? So, you know,
[14:12] SPEAKER_00: hiring things out as soon as you can, right?
[14:14] SPEAKER_00: Where I kind of figured I would do many more things that I needed to on my own.
[14:19] SPEAKER_00: And then of course, documenting those systems.
[14:21] SPEAKER_00: So, now we're in a place where, you know,
[14:23] SPEAKER_00: I have an amazing operations director of operations for the schools,
[14:26] SPEAKER_00: so I'm able to really be there as the owner
[14:28] SPEAKER_00: and make decisions strategically,
[14:30] SPEAKER_00: but I'm not actually in there running the business here today.
[14:33] SPEAKER_00: And that's only because we've been able to really strategically plan out all of our systems,
[14:38] SPEAKER_00: automations, all those kinds of things.
[14:40] SPEAKER_00: So, that would be the first piece of advice I give to a young business owner,
[14:43] SPEAKER_00: is get your systems, write them down, document them,
[14:46] SPEAKER_00: and make it repeatable, and you know,
[14:48] SPEAKER_00: something that you can train and reference back to.
[14:51] SPEAKER_00: And then, finally enough, as I've gone through the journey,
[14:54] SPEAKER_00: I look back at, I'm thankful that I followed my intuition
[14:58] SPEAKER_00: in many different steps of the journey.
[15:00] SPEAKER_00: And I think that that's something that young entrepreneurs, again,
[15:03] SPEAKER_00: even that it kind of comes up my age at the time of opening the school.
[15:07] SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes it comes with a connotation of, you know,
[15:11] SPEAKER_00: you need advice, right, which we all need advice and we all need mentors.
[15:15] SPEAKER_00: But ultimately, when I look back at a lot of the decisions and the pivots that I made,
[15:19] SPEAKER_00: they were things that I was kind of advised not to do,
[15:22] SPEAKER_00: but I did it anyways, right?
[15:24] SPEAKER_00: So, because I knew my principles and my values,
[15:27] SPEAKER_00: so I think leaning into that, regardless of your age,
[15:30] SPEAKER_00: don't go in and think that all of a sudden you need to consult every other expert,
[15:34] SPEAKER_00: because you will know, you will know if you're really thinking strategically.
[15:37] SPEAKER_02: So, you follow you've got a lot.
[15:39] SPEAKER_00: I've learned to follow, I've followed my gut a lot and I've learned to stop questioning my gut,
[15:44] SPEAKER_00: because my gut is proving to be pretty, pretty darn reliable.
[15:47] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[15:49] SPEAKER_00: So, start owning that a little bit that, oh, I kind of knew that.
[15:52] SPEAKER_00: Why am I asking all this advice when I don't need it, right?
[15:55] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[15:56] SPEAKER_02: So, how difficult, you know, is it, you know, especially for young entrepreneurs too,
[16:01] SPEAKER_02: as you said, to let go and delegate and have others do certain things, because,
[16:08] SPEAKER_02: you know, the business is like, you're a baby, right?
[16:12] SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I know for myself,
[16:15] SPEAKER_02: like, you know, if I owned a restaurant or a bar or something like that,
[16:18] SPEAKER_02: I almost want to be there like almost every hour of every day, right?
[16:23] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[16:23] SPEAKER_02: How difficult is it to go a little bit?
[16:27] SPEAKER_00: For sure.
[16:27] SPEAKER_00: And I mean a couple things on that point.
[16:29] SPEAKER_00: So, first of all, it is, it is still my baby, right?
[16:32] SPEAKER_00: And it's one of those things where it's like, if you think about baby,
[16:34] SPEAKER_00: because I also have children, right?
[16:36] SPEAKER_00: If you think about your babies, it's that when they are in the early stage,
[16:38] SPEAKER_00: you need to be there, you need to be there doing everything.
[16:41] SPEAKER_00: And you need to be making those decisions about what path,
[16:43] SPEAKER_00: what school do I want to put them in?
[16:45] SPEAKER_00: Do they, should they learn an instrument?
[16:47] SPEAKER_00: All, should they learn another language?
[16:48] SPEAKER_00: All these things that you make those decisions.
[16:50] SPEAKER_00: But then a big step of that is that when they become, you know, a toddler business
[16:55] SPEAKER_00: and, you know, an early childhood business and a teenage business,
[16:58] SPEAKER_00: and then now I'm kind of moving into the stage where, you know,
[17:01] SPEAKER_00: whether it's a fully adult business, I'm still there involved.
[17:04] SPEAKER_00: But it's kind of in its teenage stage of like, okay, you're 10 years old,
[17:08] SPEAKER_00: your revenues healthy, your growth has been healthy,
[17:10] SPEAKER_00: we've got a steady stable base.
[17:12] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, that it's actually healthier if I do learn to step out.
[17:16] SPEAKER_00: And in that way, it's really forced us to build out those systems
[17:19] SPEAKER_00: and really think strategically.
[17:21] SPEAKER_00: I mean, the reality is that the majority of small business owners,
[17:24] SPEAKER_00: I feel like it does have to be a strategic decision
[17:27] SPEAKER_00: to take those steps.
[17:29] SPEAKER_00: The reality is is that many businesses, even 10 years into the journey,
[17:33] SPEAKER_00: either don't have the margins or the revenue enough,
[17:36] SPEAKER_00: but they can bring people in to support stepping out.
[17:40] SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, they haven't built out the system,
[17:43] SPEAKER_00: so they're really just kind of drowning in those tasks, right?
[17:46] SPEAKER_00: So it's not an easy, it doesn't happen naturally.
[17:49] SPEAKER_00: I think you really have to make it a priority that, hey, we need to make systems,
[17:53] SPEAKER_00: we need to carve out the time to line out these systems
[17:56] SPEAKER_00: and really make sure that they're in line with what we want.
[18:00] SPEAKER_02: Yeah. Now, obviously, being an entrepreneur is very busy at life.
[18:05] SPEAKER_02: If you mentioned your children, you're very busy there too.
[18:09] SPEAKER_02: What do you do for yourself, like, you know, to relax or just enjoy time?
[18:16] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I do, I do lots.
[18:18] SPEAKER_00: And I, again, feel fortunate that I've been really cognizant of prioritizing that.
[18:24] SPEAKER_00: So I work in a few different niches, as I mentioned at the beginning of this call,
[18:28] SPEAKER_00: you know, between the brick and mortar and the online business and the consulting business.
[18:32] SPEAKER_00: But I am very intentional about how I move in between those two.
[18:35] SPEAKER_00: So I do very focused, deep work chunks throughout the day.
[18:39] SPEAKER_00: You know, so I'll do kind of four hours, three or four hours of deep work where I'm creating
[18:44] SPEAKER_00: content programs, all those different things,
[18:46] SPEAKER_00: and then balance it out with tasks and responding to my team and helping them to make decisions
[18:51] SPEAKER_00: from a high level, all those things. But then I balance it out.
[18:54] SPEAKER_00: I prioritize sleep very, very much.
[18:57] SPEAKER_00: So I, you know, I have an aura ring that I track.
[19:00] SPEAKER_00: And if you're, you know, if your friend, if my friends will know that I'm very, you know,
[19:05] SPEAKER_00: value my heart high scores in sleep and rest.
[19:08] SPEAKER_00: So I do believe in the value of, you know, we're more productive and far more creative
[19:13] SPEAKER_00: when we make sure to give ourselves that rest.
[19:16] SPEAKER_00: And then they also really value switching into different areas of challenge.
[19:21] SPEAKER_00: So I challenge myself in fitness.
[19:23] SPEAKER_00: I like to learn new skills like I'm learning how to knit right now.
[19:27] SPEAKER_00: Right. I, you know, I like to read quite a bit and then spend time with my partner and my family.
[19:34] SPEAKER_00: So I do, I do feel like it's taken a while to get there.
[19:37] SPEAKER_00: But I see how much more productive I am when I pour those things back in.
[19:51] SPEAKER_02: Now, you know, maybe, uh, talk a little bit about this, but that, that work like balance,
[19:57] SPEAKER_02: I hate to use that because, um, like cliche is, uh, term, but, uh, it's really important.
[20:03] SPEAKER_02: Isn't it that, uh, like how many entrepreneurs you see out there that burn themselves out?
[20:09] SPEAKER_02: Because that's all they do is 24% of their business, right?
[20:12] SPEAKER_02: So you got to find balance, don't you?
[20:15] SPEAKER_00: 100%. And when I, it's interesting because when that term comes out of balance,
[20:18] SPEAKER_00: I always seem to, I mean, just for my training, I think of it from a musical standpoint.
[20:23] SPEAKER_00: So in music, the word balance is, you know, when you're hearing a big group of people
[20:27] SPEAKER_00: at an orchestra performing or if I'm playing on the piano and there are many different things
[20:32] SPEAKER_00: that you can be hearing for me to balance that is that I can really control what's coming out as
[20:37] SPEAKER_00: the forefront and the melody, what's, um, in the, in the supporting, um, supporting rule, right?
[20:43] SPEAKER_00: So that balance is not about finding equal symmetry that I do the exact same amount of time,
[20:48] SPEAKER_00: in my personal life as I do in my work life. Um, it's really about, you know,
[20:53] SPEAKER_00: moving through those cycles. So when I started my brick and mortar business,
[20:56] SPEAKER_00: yeah, that did come out as the forefront of I was going all in on my time.
[21:01] SPEAKER_00: But now that I've been able to grow that business, I'm still
[21:04] SPEAKER_00: owner of that business and it's running successfully and I'm still strategically growing it.
[21:09] SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't take that same amount of my time, right? Because I've built it so then
[21:13] SPEAKER_00: therefore something else can come, come into the forefront.
[21:17] SPEAKER_00: So I think it's a matter of recognizing that it's something that will have flow to it
[21:22] SPEAKER_00: and that it's not about keeping things in symmetry, it's about managing that energy and managing
[21:27] SPEAKER_00: your priorities with what your objectives are at the time. Okay. So I imagine, you know,
[21:33] SPEAKER_02: with, uh, you know, all the music lessons that you do, do you still take time, find time just to,
[21:41] SPEAKER_00: just to play? Absolutely. Absolutely. And you know what, it's funny because I am
[21:46] SPEAKER_00: when I don't find the time enough, I feel it. I feel it in like it's like you're in your body
[21:52] SPEAKER_00: because it likes even sitting here at a computer is very different than the movement that you
[21:56] SPEAKER_00: feel at the piano. Um, in your nervous system, I know to sit in my sleep if I'm not playing, right?
[22:01] SPEAKER_00: So absolutely. It's something that of course it's ebbed and float. When I first opened my school,
[22:05] SPEAKER_00: I always find it amazing. Like I went over a year without playing the piano at all
[22:09] SPEAKER_00: because I was just so busy, right? So I would play and demonstrate in lessons, but like for my own
[22:15] SPEAKER_00: playing, it is something that just, you know, it's the reality of it. There wasn't time.
[22:20] SPEAKER_00: But similar to what we talked about before that I can see that I'm more productive, I come up with
[22:24] SPEAKER_00: more ideas, I come up with more solutions. If I take time to pursue that art. Okay. Now I know
[22:32] SPEAKER_02: obviously that you know, certain genre of music, but do you ever just want to just kick back and
[22:38] SPEAKER_02: just play some like crocodile rock or some Jerry Lee Lewis? Totally. You know, so something that I
[22:45] SPEAKER_00: feel fortunate, I was, you know, my dad was our first teacher was my first teacher and we grew up
[22:51] SPEAKER_00: in a home of all this classical training, but he listened to every style of music. So we listened
[22:55] SPEAKER_00: from everything from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Tom Weitz to Jerry Lee Lewis to classical music to
[23:01] SPEAKER_00: you know, so it's kind of, I absolutely have not felt, I've not felt that it's required, that I
[23:09] SPEAKER_00: stay in the certain genre, but there is, you know, the complexity that comes with these rich
[23:16] SPEAKER_00: pieces of music, works of art, and not just from history, but you know, contemporary composers,
[23:22] SPEAKER_00: that complexity is there's so much richness there that when you are able to kind of experience that,
[23:27] SPEAKER_00: to that high level, there's so much value in that, yeah, that I enjoy. The last thing I just wanted
[23:33] SPEAKER_02: to ask you, Kermin is, you know, I've had these discussions over the last, I don't know,
[23:39] SPEAKER_02: a couple of years with different friends of mine about music, right? And we've lived through
[23:44] SPEAKER_02: some difficult times, you know, we've lived through the COVID, we've lived through some economic
[23:49] SPEAKER_02: challenges, et cetera. You know, but one constant that friends of mine have always talked about is
[23:57] SPEAKER_00: music, and how music is good for the soul. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, I mean, the fact that you have,
[24:05] SPEAKER_00: it's such, it's at the root of just us being human, and there are so many different ways that
[24:11] SPEAKER_00: you can say it, and it kind of feels like, oh, is it sounding cliche, but truly there's not a single
[24:16] SPEAKER_00: society in all of history, in all of culture, and in part of me, all of history, every culture has
[24:22] SPEAKER_00: had music at its core, and I think it's one of those things that become so rooted in who we are,
[24:28] SPEAKER_00: that we can take it for granted from time to time, right? But if you move through the world,
[24:33] SPEAKER_00: just observing how much music impacts everything, it's really hard to deny. I think, you know, in today's
[24:41] SPEAKER_00: age, it can be tempting, we have to, you know, find the logical reason, the practical reason why
[24:47] SPEAKER_00: music is valuable, right? And there is a long list of those, everything from, you know, what it
[24:53] SPEAKER_00: does to your body and your mind, to also the skills that, I mean, as we move forward in this, you know,
[24:59] SPEAKER_00: AI revolution, where so many roles that were previously valued as the practical roles,
[25:06] SPEAKER_00: are you can see how much they'll be absorbed by technology, right? And ultimately, those aspects of
[25:12] SPEAKER_00: us being human, you know, the art form, the creative thinking, the thinking in many different
[25:18] SPEAKER_00: perspectives, that is going to become more and more of a premium, right? So I think that's coming
[25:23] SPEAKER_00: kind of full circle to what we've already, what we've already known, right? All right, wonderful.
[25:29] SPEAKER_02: Well, thanks so much, Carmen, for joining us today. My pleasure. Thanks so much for having me.
[25:34] SPEAKER_02: All right, that was Carmen Moran, who is an award-winning concert pianist, educator, and entrepreneur,
[25:41] SPEAKER_02: in Calgary. I'm Mario Tonigüzi, managing editor of Canada's podcast, today with Calgary's podcast.
[25:48] SPEAKER_02: Thanks for joining us.