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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: It's Calgary's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:14] SPEAKER_01: Hello, this is Bonnie Elchie coming to you today with Calgary's podcast, a member of the Canada's
[00:20] SPEAKER_01: podcast network, where we talk to the entrepreneurs who are making it happen here in the city of
[00:26] SPEAKER_01: Calgary, Alberta, so you can listen, discover and engage.
[00:30] SPEAKER_01: Today's guest is Eric Gilbert Williams. Eric is a Canadian entrepreneur, business mentor,
[00:37] SPEAKER_01: inventor, and author in progress. He grew his last venture to 60 people, several million
[00:44] SPEAKER_01: dollars in annual revenue, and reached the number 20 spot for the fastest growing company
[00:49] SPEAKER_01: in Canada, as per the growth 500 list. As a teenager, Eric struggled with drugs and gangs,
[00:55] SPEAKER_01: but he found redemption through embracing the entrepreneurial spirit with a laser-like
[01:00] SPEAKER_01: intensity. Eric is now helping other entrepreneurs with their business and writing a book to help
[01:06] SPEAKER_01: struggling teenagers and their families experience a similar type of redemption and success in life.
[01:13] SPEAKER_01: So Eric, thanks for joining us today and welcome to the show.
[01:17] SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Bonnie, for the great introduction and I appreciate your time and excited to
[01:20] SPEAKER_00: be here.
[01:21] SPEAKER_01: Why don't we jump right in and you can tell me a little bit about how you actually got started
[01:26] SPEAKER_01: in your business that you've recently sold and just a little bit about your entrepreneurial
[01:32] SPEAKER_01: journey. So our listeners have an opportunity to get to know you a bit.
[01:36] SPEAKER_00: Sure, sure. And it depends on how far back we want to go, right? And you know, from the
[01:41] SPEAKER_00: Calgary perspective, I moved to Calgary from Kitchener, Ontario in November 2006 and I
[01:48] SPEAKER_00: moved out while the construction season was in Boone time, where oil was in Boone and of
[01:53] SPEAKER_00: course the down effect and the consequences positive on construction. So I moved from Kitchener
[01:59] SPEAKER_00: in my rusty old van all the way across country with an old friend of mine and we came to Calgary
[02:04] SPEAKER_00: to do construction to do roofing specifically and over the years that have all to be more
[02:08] SPEAKER_00: general construction and getting involved with mostly exterior of residential like townhouses
[02:14] SPEAKER_00: and that type of work. And since then I've made Calgary a home. I love it there. It's
[02:19] SPEAKER_00: great and it still is my home and I can see myself there for a long time. And that was,
[02:25] SPEAKER_00: but that's kind of jumping in middle of the story. Going back further from there, I was
[02:30] SPEAKER_00: always feeling like an entrepreneur when I was little. I didn't know what the word was.
[02:35] SPEAKER_00: Cutting lawns is something that a lot people would do and I did that too. But I like to sell
[02:39] SPEAKER_00: more. I would buy them and sell them, right? And I like trading card games and other kids
[02:43] SPEAKER_00: did too. But next thing I know I'm tall, I'm really dealing with the card store owners
[02:48] SPEAKER_00: to buy his bulk inventory. And I was selling them through the newspaper class by dad's because
[02:53] SPEAKER_00: of course the internet and you know, I was less than because you weren't really around at that
[02:57] SPEAKER_00: time. So I was always doing these really deal type of ventures and ideas. I was breeding fish
[03:02] SPEAKER_00: at one point when I was like 13. And it just all these weird things and I was really little.
[03:07] SPEAKER_00: And it just, last long, I loved it. I found excitement and passion on doing these,
[03:12] SPEAKER_00: hey, let's create something ideas and nothing. So everyone's got their own different passion,
[03:16] SPEAKER_00: whether it's art or dance or business or like learning or teaching or exploring or nature.
[03:23] SPEAKER_00: Like everyone's got their own specific niche that they really, really enjoy. And I'm not
[03:28] SPEAKER_00: going to try and guess what it is. But for me, I found that in being entrepreneur and
[03:31] SPEAKER_00: and nurtured that when I was very young. I got into a lot of trouble when I was 16.
[03:36] SPEAKER_00: You know, cannabis is a pretty cool business right now. I got a lot of friends that are
[03:39] SPEAKER_00: doing some great stuff in it. My cannabis business didn't work out too good. We could say,
[03:44] SPEAKER_00: I got in a little bit too early. I didn't have government support back then. So that was a problem
[03:50] SPEAKER_00: when I was a teenager. Basically, I'm saying I was selling cannabis when I was a teenager. And it
[03:54] SPEAKER_00: was a bad idea. I got in a lot of trouble, right? I got arrested. It was terrible. And I ended up
[03:58] SPEAKER_00: dropping out of school. I kicked out of the house type of thing. It was a, it was a bad scenario.
[04:04] SPEAKER_00: Right? I was in a lot of trouble. I was living in a drug house. I was there was gangs. There was a
[04:07] SPEAKER_00: lot of violence. Frank people started to die. It was really, really bad. And the more I was there,
[04:13] SPEAKER_00: the less exciting it was, the less fun it was, right? The more reality sunk in, the less I felt
[04:19] SPEAKER_00: like I was moving forward. But I got into all that because I was escaping these feelings that I
[04:24] SPEAKER_00: had as a kid, a feeling trapped. And this is a side subject that I think will come back to,
[04:30] SPEAKER_00: that I feel very passionate about on the subjects of teen suicide, teen violence, and drugs itself.
[04:36] SPEAKER_00: And this is what my book is about. It's a deep dive into what the heck's going on and how can we
[04:41] SPEAKER_00: decrease the impact of, you know, and in the occurrence of this type of tragedy in our society?
[04:46] SPEAKER_00: So that's why my book is about me. We'll come back to that later. The point is, I got in a lot of trouble.
[04:51] SPEAKER_00: By the time I was 18, I realized I really, really wanted to change. I didn't want to have that
[04:56] SPEAKER_00: life anymore. I wanted to do something better, wanted to make a difference. So I wanted to be
[05:00] SPEAKER_00: the best version of myself, which my crowd at the time was not going to let me do, right? And it's
[05:06] SPEAKER_00: not that they didn't want me to. It's that it just wouldn't happen, right? You are who you're
[05:09] SPEAKER_00: hanging around. So when I was 18, I got recruited into a direct sales organization. And the
[05:15] SPEAKER_00: the guy that recruited me in, he wanted to help me out, sure that's true, but he also wanted to
[05:18] SPEAKER_00: recruit people that could sell. And he said, you know, I don't, he says, I don't care what you've
[05:22] SPEAKER_00: done in the past. I just care what you've done now. He really gave me a chance to be someone
[05:27] SPEAKER_00: different and start over. And I embraced it with everything that I had. And I learned how to sell
[05:32] SPEAKER_00: in a professional way, right? I'm not talking about sleazy car salesman type stuff. I'm talking
[05:36] SPEAKER_00: about actually helping people and improving their lives in a way that's profitable for both
[05:41] SPEAKER_00: parties, right? That's what professional sales is. I launched onto that, learned how to do this,
[05:45] SPEAKER_00: ended up growing to the top spot in the company really, really fast. I helped them expand across
[05:50] SPEAKER_00: Canada at the time. And that was really really cool. I was that was my, that was my first authentic
[05:55] SPEAKER_00: venture that I got to grow on. And it also taught me and exposed me to personal, all the books,
[06:00] SPEAKER_00: you know, workshop seminars, set tapes at the time, right? And all that kind of good positive
[06:05] SPEAKER_00: vibe, right? That company ended up on their own, you know, on the founder level ended up not working
[06:11] SPEAKER_00: out, which was devastating for me, of course. But what am I going to do? I was, you know, 19, 20 at the time.
[06:16] SPEAKER_00: So then I ended up kind of feeling lost for a bit. And there's a couple little little
[06:20] SPEAKER_00: little ventures I've played with there that I'll skip to because they're not really relevant.
[06:23] SPEAKER_00: I ended up doing a event production company in the Turner Toronto area. And I would host events,
[06:29] SPEAKER_00: fly in keynote speakers, trade shows, boost. And I was about 20 years old at that point. So it was
[06:34] SPEAKER_00: just amazing. I got to be in front of the stage. You know, I was a really, really awkward kid growing up
[06:38] SPEAKER_00: and doing this kind of stuff forced me to come out of my shell and find a way to communicate
[06:42] SPEAKER_00: with the rest of the world. So I did this event production company for a while and I ended up
[06:47] SPEAKER_00: hiring my first business coach who, you know, was amazing guy. He's still my friend at the
[06:51] SPEAKER_00: stage and he helped me a lot. But he was also a bit of an asshole because you see, he taught me
[06:56] SPEAKER_00: about burn rates, which I did not understand at the time. I was an entrepreneur at the time, right?
[07:00] SPEAKER_00: I got marketing, inspiration, I got leadership, I had vision, you know, I was innovative,
[07:05] SPEAKER_00: you know, I was excited, I had lots of enthusiasm, but I didn't understand business.
[07:09] SPEAKER_00: At the time, I didn't understand what accounting was or how, you know, all the structure and
[07:13] SPEAKER_00: formality of the key performance indicators and timelines and putting together a proper financial
[07:19] SPEAKER_00: forecast. And so anyways, I was broke. I had maxed out my third line of credit and I was going
[07:24] SPEAKER_00: under game over. So I went through a bit of a withdrawal for a few months. I was a nighttime
[07:29] SPEAKER_00: janitor cleaning up the most disgusting floors you can possibly imagine at the worst bars that
[07:35] SPEAKER_00: exist in Waterloo University, and if you went to school in Waterloo, you know exactly what
[07:39] SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about. And I was the janitor cleaning it, and all the night. And finally, my coach said,
[07:44] SPEAKER_00: why don't you try construction? You know, I had been roofing as an employee off and on because
[07:48] SPEAKER_00: why don't you give this a shot? I did my first contract through a friend of mine in, that was in
[07:59] SPEAKER_00: just sweating and looking at my finished product. And ended up making a lot of money at it too.
[08:03] SPEAKER_00: This is really great. Calgary was in boom time. So I did the logical thing, moved to Calgary in the
[08:08] SPEAKER_00: middle of winter. It was like minus 35 degrees, and I was there to do roofing, which was a horrible
[08:13] SPEAKER_00: idea. Right. The worst thing you can imagine. I didn't think very much. I was just excited. I was
[08:18] SPEAKER_00: in it. I was a typical, excited entrepreneur that just moved forward without thinking and made it
[08:25] SPEAKER_00: ultimately. Right. And then the company grew to 60 people, built up a lot of revenue and sold it.
[08:30] SPEAKER_00: And yeah, that's kind of an nutshell. I probably rambled too much there. No, it's all good. It's
[08:34] SPEAKER_01: all good. And so you come to Calgary in the middle of the winter and end up having a very successful
[08:40] SPEAKER_01: company. So looking at kind of that part of your journey, what were some of the greatest challenges
[08:47] SPEAKER_01: that you faced? Here specifically in Calgary. And then the follow-up question to that on the flip side
[08:53] SPEAKER_01: is what were some of the greatest successes or what were the best things about doing business here?
[08:58] SPEAKER_00: Sure. Yeah. Some of the early first challenges were to deal with boom time. When boom time
[09:06] SPEAKER_00: is happening and everyone who's in Calgary who is around for this, when boom time hits,
[09:12] SPEAKER_00: there is a lot of shit that you need to get done immediately. There is no time left. There's no
[09:16] SPEAKER_00: time limit, especially in construction. If the house isn't built or the building isn't built by a
[09:20] SPEAKER_00: certain schedule, huge penalties fall on the powers that be, which rolls downhill. We have to deal
[09:27] SPEAKER_00: with a large volume and maintain the same quality. How do you hire when there's no one there to hire
[09:33] SPEAKER_00: because they're being poached every second day? How do you get 10 jobs done when you only have time
[09:38] SPEAKER_00: for five? How do you keep quality to a level where you're feeling good about your own work and
[09:44] SPEAKER_00: you're giving a good product while hitting these timelines? These were the early challenges that
[09:49] SPEAKER_00: were happening from 2006. Probably realistic for a few years. 2009 wasn't a really good year in
[09:56] SPEAKER_00: Calgary, which for construction was the second challenge I mean to say was dealing with the
[10:02] SPEAKER_00: down times. 2009-ish was not as pleasant as earlier and then of course 2014-15 was pretty rough.
[10:11] SPEAKER_00: I'm out of that business now so I'm not having to deal with the reality of the difficult
[10:15] SPEAKER_00: situations that have continued. Big election just happened. I'm not going to get into that but we'll
[10:20] SPEAKER_01: see where that goes. Well and I guess you know that's a really timely point because we are still
[10:25] SPEAKER_01: struggling economically in the city and so in those years when you were running your company here,
[10:33] SPEAKER_01: what were some of the things that you did to keep it going and to be successful and what advice could
[10:38] SPEAKER_01: you pass on to entrepreneurs who are maybe in the same boat now because of the reality of the economy
[10:43] SPEAKER_00: maybe? How rough? Well, what's saying earlier that I was an entrepreneur I wasn't a business person
[10:48] SPEAKER_00: and I feel like you know so many people out there get excited about it and idea we wake up and say
[10:53] SPEAKER_00: I'm going to do something better work and like I can do a better my boss he's an idiot or
[10:56] SPEAKER_00: you know I'm going to change the world we just have this blinding flash of inspiration that's an
[11:00] SPEAKER_00: entrepreneur and you know entrepreneurs need to become business people. They're not the same thing
[11:06] SPEAKER_00: right and vice versa true too. A business person is not an entrepreneur you can have as much
[11:11] SPEAKER_00: schooling as you possibly want you can have you know as much experience dealing with an organization
[11:14] SPEAKER_00: or a healthy mature company as you want that's great but if you don't have that entrepreneurial spirit
[11:19] SPEAKER_00: you're kind of like a watchdog you're like a guardian over something that already exists without
[11:24] SPEAKER_00: being able to create something new and if you want to look at you know the HP story and what
[11:28] SPEAKER_00: happened with HP over the last 20 years and watch that evolution for where they are today you know
[11:32] SPEAKER_00: there's a class example of that you know the entrepreneurial division and the business you know watchdog
[11:38] SPEAKER_00: division so I won't get into that right now but think about this if if you're an entrepreneur and
[11:43] SPEAKER_00: you got excited about an idea and you're driving on a few key strengths that you have remember that
[11:49] SPEAKER_00: your few key strengths are only a few key strengths they're not all the key strengths and if you really
[11:53] SPEAKER_00: need if you're going to get successful you're going to make it through downtime if you're going to
[11:57] SPEAKER_00: make it through boom time if you're going to make it through you know that that first five or ten
[12:01] SPEAKER_00: years where most companies fail you need to be something called the specialized generalist you
[12:07] SPEAKER_00: need to be able to flex into what your organization needs at any moment at any time forever we can't
[12:14] SPEAKER_00: force your way through an accounting issue by being good at sales and you can't force yourself
[12:18] SPEAKER_00: through a sales situation by being good at the law right they're just different departments and if
[12:24] SPEAKER_00: you so many entrepreneurs get to get an early success get early starts by being exemplary by
[12:31] SPEAKER_00: top of their game and then some at one or two specific areas of the business and so I'm going
[12:36] SPEAKER_00: to suggest you to you know step off the high horse a little bit right the tuck away that you go and
[12:41] SPEAKER_00: look at what you're not good at and just be vulnerable about it be honest about it ask for help
[12:45] SPEAKER_00: about it grow and learn about it right don't pretend that you can hide those flaws and hide
[12:51] SPEAKER_00: those weaknesses forever because they will serve us and the longer you delay them or postpone it
[12:56] SPEAKER_00: the more they're going to explode kind of like keeping a volcano underground too long the
[13:00] SPEAKER_00: pressure just builds up until eventually and it will you know pop through the surface you can
[13:05] SPEAKER_00: have to deal with all that lava burning down all around you right we don't want to burn down your
[13:09] SPEAKER_00: business a company goes through what I call this business purity phases and you know I can only
[13:14] SPEAKER_00: speak to organizations up to you know about 60 say I could I'd be comfortable around a hundred
[13:19] SPEAKER_00: in size so there's a lot of guys out there dealing with thousands of people and yeah that's just
[13:23] SPEAKER_00: not my round yet right maybe next time we talk it will be but this business purity from a
[13:27] SPEAKER_00: zero to five employees is an awkward phase five to ten is a different skill set completely
[13:32] SPEAKER_00: uh ten to twenty is going to you know take your leadership and your and your ability to manage
[13:36] SPEAKER_00: to a whole new level and and you know twenty to forty forty to eighty these are the different phases
[13:42] SPEAKER_00: of business purity and there is awkward as anything else sweaty palms you know your voice gets
[13:46] SPEAKER_00: all weird you're trying to do a big sales contract and you just can't speak anymore and you feel
[13:50] SPEAKER_00: all stupid right that's what I'm talking about and you know you're gonna be ready for those things
[13:54] SPEAKER_00: and you know think about them and plan for my best so when you think about your experiences here
[14:00] SPEAKER_01: in Calgary and I think you're right you know this is a time maybe of trepidation here and a bit of
[14:05] SPEAKER_01: anxiety but what were some of the best things the city had to offer and I think you bring a great
[14:11] SPEAKER_01: perspective because you have worked you know in in Ontario and grown your company to such a successful
[14:17] SPEAKER_01: size but what was it that really kept you in Calgary all those years you know Calgary is just a
[14:24] SPEAKER_00: great city right there's friendly people they're welcoming it's like a land of opportunity to me
[14:28] SPEAKER_00: it's it's not the most entrepreneurial part and and I can write a little more broadly say about
[14:32] SPEAKER_00: Alberta but you know I'm a little biased towards Calgary if it's not the most entrepreneurial you know
[14:37] SPEAKER_00: spirit that there is in Canada then it's pretty close right there's there's just there's just a lot
[14:41] SPEAKER_00: of people that want to do sex they want to create and and you know I go to a lot of the meet-ups
[14:45] SPEAKER_00: in different meetings and meet a lot of people and and people in my network too there's some cool
[14:49] SPEAKER_00: stuff right like people say that Calgary has no tech presence well there's some pretty monster tech
[14:53] SPEAKER_00: companies that have come out of Calgary and the same is true with other industries too in
[14:58] SPEAKER_00: construction again there's some monsters that came out of Calgary or I've been sent right if you
[15:01] SPEAKER_00: look at the stats a little bit Google search for big companies that came out of Alberta right and
[15:06] SPEAKER_00: you'll see quite a few so I found it to be a really friendly city I was I felt like I was treated
[15:10] SPEAKER_00: and brought in like family I made really really good friends almost immediately when I arrived
[15:17] SPEAKER_00: of course being close to the mountains is is just a bonus right to be that close to such beautiful
[15:23] SPEAKER_00: nature that you know only exists in certain parts of the world and and I feel like we have a great
[15:28] SPEAKER_00: economy we have to just get through this little tough spot right now and there's a lot of division
[15:32] SPEAKER_00: about you know who's right and wrong and the political around is you know very clearly in one
[15:38] SPEAKER_00: side or the other right there is no confusion about you know what Alberta is really leading towards
[15:42] SPEAKER_00: and we've got to get through this right so there's there's a lot for us to work on but you know
[15:47] SPEAKER_00: we've gone through a lot we've come a long long way from you know some some of the down times in
[15:52] SPEAKER_00: the past and I feel like it's just going to be a matter of time when we come back to that and hopefully
[15:56] SPEAKER_00: we end up getting to a position where we can really lead Canada in a more serious way and be taking
[16:01] SPEAKER_00: a little more seriously in our opinions that I don't even my hope so I feel like that's something
[16:06] SPEAKER_01: that we can really you know bring to the table you've had a very unique experience that I'm not a
[16:11] SPEAKER_01: lot of the entrepreneurs that I've interviewed so far have had in that you've sold your company and
[16:17] SPEAKER_01: made a significant revenue off of that so what's your next step like where are you going next
[16:22] SPEAKER_01: Derek in your career and what do you hope to do well right now I'm going to just take a breather
[16:27] SPEAKER_00: and and using that breather to do entrepreneurial things that's just kind of automatic and
[16:32] SPEAKER_00: my book right now is really important to me you know I mentioned earlier to me when when kids
[16:38] SPEAKER_00: had a breaking point there's one of three things that happened and and the breaking point is
[16:41] SPEAKER_00: different for everyone right one of my friends you know it's just such a tragedy you know his
[16:46] SPEAKER_00: is some committed suicide and he was a very very young teenager no one saw it coming there was no
[16:51] SPEAKER_00: clear indicator it just happened right and and obviously the first thing that comes to you might go
[16:56] SPEAKER_00: why why did this happen how did this happen every kid has a breaking point and it looks very
[17:00] SPEAKER_00: different for everyone when that happens to me one of three things happen is harm to self extreme
[17:05] SPEAKER_00: case suicide was harmed others extreme case is you know shootings in schools and the third one is
[17:10] SPEAKER_00: avoidance and that one usually involves drugs that's the one that I went down I didn't choose violence
[17:15] SPEAKER_00: in any way I just I hid in drugs because I thought that that would be my easier escape I think that
[17:20] SPEAKER_00: this is this is something that doesn't have to be there it is avoidable there's ways to decrease
[17:25] SPEAKER_00: the statistics and increase the success and the happiness so for me writing this book is a passion
[17:31] SPEAKER_00: project I don't really expect to make fortunes out of that's not really the idea in fact if I do
[17:35] SPEAKER_00: I'm probably going to 20 charity I'm focusing on this book with everything that I got I really want
[17:39] SPEAKER_00: to make an impact I'm also coaching and mentoring other business people locally in Calgary as well as broad
[17:44] SPEAKER_00: abroad it's something I'm very passionate about I've always had a business mentor helping me so now I
[17:49] SPEAKER_00: get to be that person in return and that's you know launch my website for that and and we can check that out
[17:56] SPEAKER_00: and the next venture that I really latch on to I'm still going to wait another six months because I've
[18:00] SPEAKER_00: kind of got my hands tied with the book still but I want to get involved in tech you know I spent a lot
[18:06] SPEAKER_00: of time in old school construction and that was great now I really want to do something that's going
[18:11] SPEAKER_00: to hit the technology you know hit the IT rounds and I developed software with teams before seven
[18:16] SPEAKER_00: software is to be specific somewhere in construction somewhere in sense with analysis and somewhere
[18:21] SPEAKER_00: which basically there are just a few different types of technology and types of software I was working
[18:24] SPEAKER_00: with and I want to join or build something in that realm so that's what you're probably going to
[18:30] SPEAKER_00: see me in the next year I'm being vague by the way on purpose because there's a couple of
[18:35] SPEAKER_00: ladies involved so sorry if that was a little bit vague but that is all good and we look forward to
[18:40] SPEAKER_01: seeing what happens for you next so you mentioned you had a business mentor but what has been the
[18:46] SPEAKER_01: best piece of advice that you've ever got either as an entrepreneur or how to grow your business like
[18:51] SPEAKER_00: what would you pass along to our listeners today yeah I'd say you know the first thing that comes to mind
[18:56] SPEAKER_00: is just come back down the earth you know one of the one of the people I work with was stock you're
[19:02] SPEAKER_00: beating himself up saying you know he's trying to find the next greatest idea the next big thing
[19:07] SPEAKER_00: that's really not needed right every time I felt really stuck in a company my way always through
[19:12] SPEAKER_00: was to come back to the basics right let's look at it from a fundamental business perspective let's
[19:17] SPEAKER_00: just do the simple little tiny things every day that we know we'll get us incrementally
[19:22] SPEAKER_00: forward and take little steps and interest towards you know whatever objective and goal we have
[19:27] SPEAKER_00: right so you know unicorns are great it's a cool little word popped up over the last five years
[19:32] SPEAKER_00: right and you know everyone wants to have a unicorn and build an ex-unicorn right wonderful great keep
[19:36] SPEAKER_00: that in mind you know that's the home run but home runs aren't really where the baseball game is right
[19:41] SPEAKER_00: it's the baseball games are one through singles and doubles right going to fundamental business basics
[19:47] SPEAKER_00: uh so that's something I'm going to encourage anyone listening is to look at your business from
[19:51] SPEAKER_00: a fundamental ground up perspective what's the little things that you can do right now and what are
[19:56] SPEAKER_00: the little things you can inspire your team to do right now that just inch your way forward one
[20:01] SPEAKER_00: little step at a time next thing you know that home run will show up but you got to be patient for
[20:05] SPEAKER_00: and you got to be positioned for right you want the home run when you got basis full it's such a waste
[20:10] SPEAKER_00: to have a home run and no one's on base right so focus on those singles and doubles get those little
[20:14] SPEAKER_00: steps forward be the specialized generalists focus on those core fundamental business subjects as a
[20:21] SPEAKER_01: priority not the big pine the sky magic silver bowl well now I'd like to shift gears a bit and and
[20:27] SPEAKER_01: get to know you a little bit more personally so um we have a number of kind we call them our
[20:32] SPEAKER_01: rapid fire questions tell us about a book that you would recommend to all of our listeners to read
[20:38] SPEAKER_01: is there one book that's really meant a lot to you over the years uh you know first one that
[20:43] SPEAKER_00: comes to mind is uh peaceful warrior by Dan Millman um that's one of my one of my favorite books
[20:49] SPEAKER_00: there's a movie about it as well and you can criticize the acting for being cheesy if you would like
[20:54] SPEAKER_00: I don't really care I think it's a great movie the concept is about mental toughness and about
[20:59] SPEAKER_00: identifying your passion and sticking to it with everything that you've got there's no holds back
[21:05] SPEAKER_00: so that's a book that meant a lot to me and I referred back to it many many times through the years
[21:10] SPEAKER_00: when I was having my toughest times uh you know dealing with business challenges so that's the
[21:15] SPEAKER_01: first one do you have a favorite like podcast or resource or online website that you go to on a
[21:22] SPEAKER_01: regular basis that just helps you to continue with your own professional development?
[21:26] SPEAKER_00: I follow a lot of podcasts right like you know the daily drawing boiling point uh uh
[21:31] SPEAKER_00: kindness podcasts right and uh uh there's a lot there's a lot of uh millenia interviews is
[21:36] SPEAKER_00: the cool one as well if i was the same thing audible.com right i am such a busy guy and everyone is
[21:41] SPEAKER_00: such a busy person and but everyone can listen to an audio book while you're cooking or have it on
[21:47] SPEAKER_00: the radio in your car but you're driving or um listening to it while you're waiting in line some
[21:51] SPEAKER_00: and i've just pouted through so many good good books by just you know plugging in those earphones
[21:56] SPEAKER_00: and finding what authors doing some cool stuff if you're interested what startups
[22:00] SPEAKER_00: read some listen to some cool startup books if you're struggling with management listen to some
[22:05] SPEAKER_00: really cool management books uh just there's no excuse you can't you can't say you don't have time
[22:09] SPEAKER_00: when audiobooks are available at your fingertips absolutely it's the traveling university right?
[22:15] SPEAKER_01: it is well in speaking of traveling so i know you are traveling now but can you share with us a
[22:20] SPEAKER_01: couple of your favorite places to be in the world or you know is there some place that you'd like
[22:26] SPEAKER_01: to travel that you haven't yet been left to know a little bit more about your plans that way.
[22:31] SPEAKER_00: Sure yeah i did um i did a motorcycle trip down the west coast of Canada i went from Calgary to
[22:36] SPEAKER_00: BC down to tuwana and all the way down that coast right and that's such a a beautiful beautiful
[22:40] SPEAKER_00: drive you get a chance to check that out it's wonderful same as the i forget what it's called
[22:44] SPEAKER_00: it's called a going to the sunroader or to the sun or something like that just uh just south of
[22:49] SPEAKER_00: Alberta and um that's something you know it's just some beautiful roads great beside i've written
[22:54] SPEAKER_00: our backyard right i'm in in tailand right now in the north part of tailand and man the people are
[23:00] SPEAKER_00: so friendly here it's it's strange for a canadian to say that other people are so friendly um i love
[23:05] SPEAKER_00: what i'm experiencing out here and i'm probably gonna pop by africa after it and um see what that
[23:11] SPEAKER_00: looks like and and you know there's a lot of conflict going around and a lot of areas there so
[23:15] SPEAKER_00: kind of bracing myself i definitely want to go to new zeland at some point and it's just one of
[23:21] SPEAKER_00: these little things i have this inspiration i want to see the alt blocks i'm gonna get some you know
[23:24] SPEAKER_00: infield seats right up close and you know watch a good rugby game uh that's something that's that's
[23:30] SPEAKER_00: exciting you know california such a beautiful state as well to go and visit you know i've been there
[23:34] SPEAKER_00: a bunch of times and i'll probably be going back soon as i'm later broke trotter those are like all over
[23:39] SPEAKER_01: the place i'm wondering do you have like a ritual either in terms of like a morning routine or an
[23:47] SPEAKER_01: evening routine that you really just try to follow um religiously to like help either start your day
[23:54] SPEAKER_01: on the right tone or end it in the right way um we hear you know a lot of successful entrepreneurs
[24:01] SPEAKER_01: have a routine that's really fundamental to part of their success and and their mindset
[24:06] SPEAKER_00: yeah um if there if i was to nail down just one that i would call the most important or the most
[24:12] SPEAKER_00: significant it's every morning i take up my journal and it's the first thing i do when i wake up
[24:17] SPEAKER_00: right so it's it's got it for me it's got to be the first thing and i i write three things that
[24:23] SPEAKER_00: i feel very grateful for and the trick is not to just write about it is to experience it right so
[24:27] SPEAKER_00: take that pencil hold it on the paper and let's just say that i don't know what to write about
[24:32] SPEAKER_00: today so i'm just gonna i'm gonna write down that i feel grateful that my pillow was comfortable
[24:37] SPEAKER_00: and it sounds stupid but it's it's just simple things they don't have to be big giant things right
[24:42] SPEAKER_00: but before writing the the principle in the concept is to feel it feel that gratitude actually
[24:46] SPEAKER_00: go in and imagine what a sleepy on a rock would feel like and then remember you got a pillow right
[24:52] SPEAKER_00: i feel grateful that my pillow was comfortable until and once i feel that gratitude then i can
[24:58] SPEAKER_00: start to write with meaning right it's not just the word anymore you know words have power when
[25:04] SPEAKER_00: there's meaning and when i write that i feel grateful for filling the blank whatever happens to be
[25:09] SPEAKER_00: then it triggers my brain to go in a certain direction immediately as soon as i wake up and by
[25:13] SPEAKER_00: talking to that three times it's weird but i swear i find that if i do that consistently usually my
[25:19] SPEAKER_00: days go a little bit better than otherwise when when really bad things happen i deal with it better
[25:24] SPEAKER_00: it's not a magic solution in making everything go perfect it doesn't do that at all
[25:27] SPEAKER_00: it just helps me respond better we can't choose what happens to it i can't choose what happens to
[25:33] SPEAKER_00: me but i can choose what to do about it and there's a difference between reacting and responding
[25:38] SPEAKER_00: or reacting as emotional and negative and responding is oh okay this is what i have to deal with
[25:43] SPEAKER_00: right now this is what i'm going to choose to do and the two different things all together so that's
[25:47] SPEAKER_01: that's my morning ritual we're wrapping things up i have two more questions for you so the first one
[25:53] SPEAKER_01: is a hypothetical question we ask all of our guests and this should be easy to for you to do because
[25:59] SPEAKER_01: you're already traveling but if you could imagine that you were um we were to drop you off on a beautiful
[26:04] SPEAKER_01: island it was very remote um there is no access to internet wifi that kind of thing so you can't
[26:13] SPEAKER_01: bring your phone or tablet or or computer there is a phone booth so when you're ready you can call
[26:20] SPEAKER_01: us and we will send the boat Alice survivor style to come get you i'm just curious how long do you
[26:27] SPEAKER_01: think you'd last and what would you do while you're there well you know it's funny i think i'd
[26:32] SPEAKER_00: probably last out there longer than i would hear you know without the stress of technology and
[26:38] SPEAKER_00: pressure and social pressures and i think that it's a healthy good thing medical issues aside to be
[26:45] SPEAKER_00: away from technology for whatever period of time it happens to be so i think i would last uh you
[26:50] SPEAKER_00: know as long as i as long as i felt like it you know to be honest the more i think the longer that i'm
[26:56] SPEAKER_00: away from technology the less you know the less need there is to be back to it as you break the
[27:00] SPEAKER_00: addiction then we get to really be more authentic what i would do you know probably after the basic
[27:05] SPEAKER_00: survival stuff was all mastered you know maybe do some coconut bowling i don't know that's probably
[27:10] SPEAKER_00: a good idea i i i was a harsian at an old costume party years ago i probably you know build a better
[27:16] SPEAKER_00: costume instead of a little leaf based clothing line maybe keep myself busy i practiced my yodeling
[27:21] SPEAKER_00: with maybe an idea pop scotch in the zi i don't know just the point is have some fun right the point
[27:26] SPEAKER_00: is that little kids know how to have fun with anything in any circumstance no matter what's going
[27:31] SPEAKER_00: on at any point in any day and as an adult it's so easy to lose that and i feel like it's important
[27:36] SPEAKER_00: to be able to tap back in the inner child and be just simple and basic just be fun once in a while
[27:42] SPEAKER_00: at least and i think that being stranded on an island might be a great opportunity to do that
[27:47] SPEAKER_01: that's great advice we're winding things down here i'm just slandering is there anything else that
[27:52] SPEAKER_01: you'd like to say to our listeners or share in terms of either your experiences an entrepreneur
[27:57] SPEAKER_01: doing business in calgary or canada before we we go today well you know i think that's specifically
[28:04] SPEAKER_00: in calgary there might be some people that are maybe struggling a little more than others in
[28:07] SPEAKER_00: their business the med of had some really success and now it's like jeez what do we do now i feel
[28:13] SPEAKER_00: like there's there is always a way through it and you know building my company was not easy obviously
[28:18] SPEAKER_00: and and you know there's a couple spots where we're skimming you know just skimming above the line
[28:22] SPEAKER_00: of financial bankers he's like oh what do we do right and at the end of the day you know sticking
[28:27] SPEAKER_00: together and coming back to to good old fashioned core values you know why are we here what's the
[28:32] SPEAKER_00: ultimate thing we're trying to do how do we improve our basic quality of experience and customer
[28:36] SPEAKER_00: experience and just come back to basics and every single day just do the best you can every day
[28:41] SPEAKER_00: you know those expenses you know and make that client a little bit more happy uh inspire your team
[28:46] SPEAKER_00: by being a better you and and one day at a time just to get through it and finally you know the
[28:51] SPEAKER_00: economy is going to come back around and and we'll know we'll go through this together i think that's
[28:55] SPEAKER_01: a great way to end things and we'd love for you to share with our listeners how can they find you
[29:00] SPEAKER_01: online where where's the best place to connect with you they can find me on LinkedIn or my website
[29:05] SPEAKER_00: it's just my my full personal name Eric Gilbert Williams it's ERIC and then Gilbert Williams
[29:11] SPEAKER_00: there's no hyphen so uh Ericobotwames.com is my website or driveupprofits.com the same thing uh
[29:17] SPEAKER_00: LinkedIn you can find me there and just you know something message uh i have a twitter account
[29:21] SPEAKER_00: and uh uh i don't use it as much as i should but i'm i'm getting there right i was in the
[29:26] SPEAKER_00: construction for too long i think yeah man i'd be happy to talk to anyone about their business right i
[29:30] SPEAKER_00: uh i find it very enjoyable to help other entrepreneurs you know get from wherever they are to the next
[29:36] SPEAKER_00: stuff i'm i'm no Richard Branson right but that's okay because uh neither are you right we're all
[29:41] SPEAKER_00: just trying to get from where you are one step forward and i i invite to call well Eric it's been
[29:46] SPEAKER_01: great to talk to you your energy and passion is is infectious i really enjoyed our conversation
[29:52] SPEAKER_01: so thank you so much for being a guest on on Calgary's podcast today we really enjoyed having you here
[29:58] SPEAKER_00: i'm honored to have been a guest and i really appreciate your time thank you very much as well
[30:03] SPEAKER_01: hey there it's Bonnie Elchi thanks for taking the time today to listen to Calgary's podcast on the
[30:09] SPEAKER_01: Canada's podcast network we hope you enjoyed the show make sure you sign up for our new letters
[30:14] SPEAKER_01: and if you have a moment please write a review for us on iTunes you can connect with us on twitter
[30:20] SPEAKER_01: facebook instagram and link in at Canada's podcast and make sure you check out whatever entrepreneurs
[30:27] SPEAKER_01: are doing across the country
