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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_03: It's VanCouver's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:06] SPEAKER_03: Hello everyone, I'm Angela Faye, Hub Builder and Co-host of British Columbia's podcasts.
[00:13] SPEAKER_03: Part of the Canada's podcast network, your source for great insights from entrepreneurs
[00:18] SPEAKER_03: from across Canada.
[00:19] SPEAKER_03: We talked entrepreneurs who are making it happen here so you can listen, discover and engage.
[00:25] SPEAKER_03: I am speaking today with Jordan Lewis, who is the co-founder and CEO of StableWork,
[00:31] SPEAKER_03: an online marketplace for sales professionals.
[00:34] SPEAKER_03: Prior to StableWork, Jordan was also the co-founder and CEO of Bidwell, an end-to-end
[00:38] SPEAKER_03: property rental platform, and before that, space list.
[00:42] SPEAKER_03: So, there's got some background in the both tech and property tech industries.
[00:49] SPEAKER_03: It was Canada's leading commercial real estate platform, and he saw, oversaw the redevelopment
[00:54] SPEAKER_03: into the company short and long-term stratification.
[00:57] SPEAKER_03: Jordan has a Bachelor of Technology degree in Network and Security Application Development
[01:02] SPEAKER_03: and Computer Systems Technology, which is super exciting for me because it's actually
[01:07] SPEAKER_03: somebody whose education is directly related to their launch, entrepreneurial story.
[01:12] SPEAKER_03: And so he took that education right here at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
[01:16] SPEAKER_03: So super excited to welcome Jordan.
[01:20] SPEAKER_01: Hello, thanks for having me.
[01:21] SPEAKER_03: Hi, yeah.
[01:22] SPEAKER_03: So I have a little insight on what StableWork is, but really, let's talk a little bit about
[01:27] SPEAKER_03: entrepreneurial story.
[01:29] SPEAKER_03: How did you get to where you are today?
[01:32] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so my story, I guess, started early.
[01:34] SPEAKER_01: I've always been into computers.
[01:36] SPEAKER_01: I originally started doing event promotion and realized that if I wanted to take things
[01:41] SPEAKER_01: to the next level, I needed to give an education and computer science.
[01:44] SPEAKER_01: So I went to school, kind of refactored my skill set, and just jump right in.
[01:50] SPEAKER_01: And so as you noted, I started out as faceless, kind of managing their transition as their
[01:54] SPEAKER_01: interim CEO, which was really fun.
[01:56] SPEAKER_01: Their Canada's leading commercial real estate platform.
[02:00] SPEAKER_01: From there, we kind of launched Bidwell on the back of that experience, which was really
[02:05] SPEAKER_01: exciting.
[02:06] SPEAKER_01: Bidwell was an end-to-end leasing platform.
[02:08] SPEAKER_01: We had negotiations in app, and we got exposure across North America, and it was amazing.
[02:14] SPEAKER_01: But the tech that we had built out actually related to other services, this idea of
[02:19] SPEAKER_01: on-demand property tours, really translates to any type of on-demand freelance platform.
[02:26] SPEAKER_01: And that's what burst stable.
[02:27] SPEAKER_01: So we took a look at our talent base of realtors and noticed that a ton of them had experienced
[02:33] SPEAKER_01: outside the real estate space, specifically in sales.
[02:37] SPEAKER_01: So inside sales, SDR work.
[02:39] Speaker UNKNOWN:
[02:39] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we launched with that idea, and it's taken off from there.
[02:43] SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of our origin story and how we were founded.
[02:47] SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
[02:47] SPEAKER_03: Something I just want to ask and touch on a little bit is, when you set out, you left
[02:53] SPEAKER_03: university, you ended up in a job, working with Bidwell, or with Spaceless, really, and
[03:03] SPEAKER_03: then that evolved into an entrepreneurial pursuit.
[03:08] SPEAKER_03: In that pathway, which is take a job and start your own business, do you think that's
[03:14] SPEAKER_03: common?
[03:15] SPEAKER_01: I think it is common.
[03:17] SPEAKER_01: So if I go back even further, I was actually a software engineer at a company called Fortinet,
[03:23] SPEAKER_01: which is a network security company.
[03:25] SPEAKER_01: And as I was working there, I was actively building out Bidwell, working on entrepreneurial
[03:30] SPEAKER_01: side gigs.
[03:31] SPEAKER_01: I've always been a lot naturally.
[03:34] SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I think it is quite common.
[03:36] SPEAKER_01: It's hard to just jump in.
[03:38] SPEAKER_01: You don't make money right away on these ideas you have.
[03:40] SPEAKER_01: It takes a while, hard work, and you really need to survive, right?
[03:43] SPEAKER_01: Living in a city like Vancouver is so expensive.
[03:46] SPEAKER_01: So I think that's a pretty typical entrepreneurialism for sure.
[03:50] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, a little bit of a side hustle.
[03:52] SPEAKER_03: Just out of curiosity, do you have entrepreneurial influence in your youth?
[03:59] SPEAKER_01: I did.
[03:59] SPEAKER_01: So my mom's an entrepreneur.
[04:01] SPEAKER_01: She's actually ran her own business for the last 30 years.
[04:04] SPEAKER_01: She was in recruiting.
[04:06] SPEAKER_01: You know, it's funny.
[04:07] SPEAKER_01: We actually talk about this all the time.
[04:08] SPEAKER_01: She always tell me she got the most satisfaction when she could place people in
[04:13] SPEAKER_01: careers, career changes, giving them that employment they're looking for.
[04:18] SPEAKER_01: And now full circle, we're doing the same thing, providing opportunities for sales professionals.
[04:23] SPEAKER_01: So it's kind of funny.
[04:25] SPEAKER_03: That is awesome.
[04:26] SPEAKER_03: Okay, so let's talk a little bit about stable work.
[04:29] SPEAKER_03: Can you describe it from the customer experience and then from the client experience?
[04:36] SPEAKER_01: Sure.
[04:37] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[04:37] SPEAKER_01: So we're two-sided marketplace essentially.
[04:40] SPEAKER_01: So we're marketplace for sales professionals.
[04:43] SPEAKER_01: And what we do is we provide companies with highly skilled on-demand sales professionals
[04:48] SPEAKER_01: to help them scale and grow their business.
[04:50] SPEAKER_01: So from one side of the marketplace as a sales professional, we're basically allowing
[04:54] SPEAKER_01: them to move out of the typical linear career path and giving them more flexibility.
[05:00] SPEAKER_01: So the idea of being their own boss, being able to work from home flexible hours, while
[05:05] SPEAKER_01: still earning a really attractive income, it's something that a lot of people want to
[05:10] SPEAKER_01: do, but just don't have that opportunity.
[05:12] SPEAKER_01: You know, there are other platforms Uber, Lyft, these are labor and transportation, but
[05:16] SPEAKER_01: being able to utilize your existing skill set as a sales professional is something very
[05:21] SPEAKER_01: attractive to people.
[05:22] SPEAKER_01: So that's on the one side of the marketplace.
[05:24] SPEAKER_01: The other side for companies, we provide them tremendous flexibility.
[05:28] SPEAKER_01: So this idea of being able to scale up and deploy a sales team in any market without
[05:34] SPEAKER_01: the overhead is just something you don't really see as a small to medium-sized business
[05:38] SPEAKER_01: having that ability.
[05:40] SPEAKER_01: The other cool thing about it is there's tons of flexibility and when they actually
[05:45] SPEAKER_01: schedule into play their resources.
[05:47] SPEAKER_01: So for example, if you're outreaching to a restaurant, you're trying to turn up new
[05:52] SPEAKER_01: business opportunities, you want to make sure you're calling, not at the peak period
[05:56] SPEAKER_01: when management's busy, but that ideal call windows that are beneficial to you.
[06:00] SPEAKER_01: So we provide them that flexibility to managing and manage the scope and cost of their campaigns
[06:07] SPEAKER_01: without overhead.
[06:08] SPEAKER_01: So no CPP, no EI, no benefits.
[06:11] SPEAKER_01: This idea of having the house a large team, instead you can have them work remotely, which
[06:16] SPEAKER_01: is really attractive.
[06:17] SPEAKER_01: And like I was saying, we're attracting a lot of top tier sales talent that would never
[06:22] SPEAKER_01: apply to these roles normally for full-time employment.
[06:26] SPEAKER_01: So it's all for both sides.
[06:28] SPEAKER_03: And it gives the sales professionals some flexibility and some variety in their jobs, right?
[06:33] SPEAKER_03: Where, you know, maybe they, and it's funny because the the skill, the soft skill, if you like,
[06:40] SPEAKER_03: of sales and a bit like your mom's saying the adrenaline rush of being able to broker
[06:45] SPEAKER_03: a company to the right salespeople and be able to marry that up.
[06:48] SPEAKER_03: You know, you would have to have that in your heart and it's something that you love to do
[06:53] SPEAKER_03: regardless of who you're working for.
[06:55] SPEAKER_03: I see as one of the benefits for the sales professionals.
[06:59] SPEAKER_03: What's been your experience so far in the feedback from them?
[07:02] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so from a sales professional standpoint, they absolutely love it, right?
[07:05] SPEAKER_01: We've had so much positive feedback, you know, and it's for different reasons.
[07:10] SPEAKER_01: So for example, we have a sales rep.
[07:12] SPEAKER_01: She was leading a Fortune 500 company for 20 years, their sales department.
[07:17] SPEAKER_01: Recently had a child in this idea of losing out on earning potential and opportunity
[07:22] SPEAKER_01: with stable.
[07:23] SPEAKER_01: She's able to work from home and this is somebody that would never apply to that role full-time.
[07:28] SPEAKER_01: We have another individual who just got accepted at SFU on a full scholarship.
[07:32] SPEAKER_01: He used to manage call centers.
[07:34] SPEAKER_01: Again, somebody that would never apply.
[07:36] SPEAKER_01: So we're attracting a lot of talent to these companies, which is great.
[07:40] SPEAKER_01: If you look at the Bay Area, a typical SDR or inside sales professional,
[07:46] SPEAKER_01: typically lasts about six months.
[07:48] SPEAKER_01: It's high burnout, high turnover.
[07:50] SPEAKER_01: It's an entry-level position.
[07:52] SPEAKER_01: But with stable, you're getting veterans of the industry applying to these games that they
[07:57] SPEAKER_01: would never have interest in as a full-time employee.
[08:00] SPEAKER_01: So it's working out tremendously well for freelancers, for companies, for everybody.
[08:05] SPEAKER_03: Well, and one of the things that we talked about on our instructor call was
[08:12] SPEAKER_03: being able to accommodate with his new on-demand technology, love technology, is
[08:18] SPEAKER_03: being able to accommodate people in flow with their lifestyle.
[08:23] SPEAKER_03: And even in flow with their geography, that you can be at home with a child
[08:30] SPEAKER_03: or you can be in Tufino, British Columbia, on the furthest west coast of Canada,
[08:37] SPEAKER_03: or the furthest east coast in Prince Edward Island,
[08:41] SPEAKER_03: and still being in a well-paying sales professional job.
[08:47] SPEAKER_03: You don't have to necessarily be in the major urban centers.
[08:51] SPEAKER_01: So yeah, for sure. And we're definitely seeing a transition.
[08:55] SPEAKER_01: So when you look at Canada, it's approximately 18% of the country is self-employed.
[09:01] SPEAKER_01: A really cool note on that is that BC is actually leading a province.
[09:05] SPEAKER_01: As of all employees, we have the largest portion of self-employed individuals.
[09:10] SPEAKER_01: What's really cool too is it was typically agricultural industry that was housing a lot of
[09:15] SPEAKER_01: self-employed, but with industrialization of that space, it's kind of moving more towards
[09:20] SPEAKER_01: professional services. So these professional services are starting to take up a lot of the
[09:25] SPEAKER_01: self-employed space. And the reason why are things you just touched on the flexibility,
[09:31] SPEAKER_01: being able to work from home, maybe you have a child you're raising and you want to be able to work
[09:35] SPEAKER_01: from home and be a part of their life, maybe you have an aging parent that you're looking to take
[09:41] SPEAKER_01: care of that flexibility while still making a really attractive income.
[09:45] SPEAKER_01: It's something that a lot of people are looking for more and more as they're setting out on their
[09:49] SPEAKER_03: professional endeavors. Awesome. So question from the client's perspective. I mean, we have,
[09:55] SPEAKER_03: I'm in touch with lots of companies who, you know, they're growing, they're doing that startup
[10:01] SPEAKER_03: phase where they're working 80 hours a week or 100 hours a week and they're doing
[10:07] SPEAKER_03: jack-able trades, right? They're doing the technology, they're doing the cleaning,
[10:11] SPEAKER_03: they're doing the manufacturing, they're doing the sales, they're doing the PR, they're doing
[10:14] SPEAKER_03: everything. And really, there's usually a tipping point where they go, okay, so now I need to
[10:19] SPEAKER_03: enroll somebody to help me with the sales of the product. I know the product or the service is
[10:25] SPEAKER_03: a value, I have enough clients. Now I just need to fill, you know, the pipeline, if you like,
[10:31] SPEAKER_03: I need to be able to serve more clients. And hiring somebody full time, not knowing if they can
[10:39] SPEAKER_03: perform, right? Or not, not having demonstrated experience with them with your product and sales.
[10:47] SPEAKER_03: To me, this is a bit of a no-brainer for those companies. But who's, are you finding so far that
[10:55] SPEAKER_03: you're serving a particular niche or do you envision wanting to serve a particular industry sector?
[11:02] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so we're all over the place. We're not specific to any individual industry. Typically,
[11:07] SPEAKER_01: we work with businesses that are looking to scale and grow. So if you just look at the numbers,
[11:12] SPEAKER_01: a high growth business, a startup, an early stage company that's looking to scale and grow,
[11:17] SPEAKER_01: they spend a lot on sales. And if they're not doing that, they should be. Unlike Mark Cuban says,
[11:22] SPEAKER_01: sales cures everything. So they should really be focusing on that. When you look at some of the
[11:26] SPEAKER_01: big players down south, you know, sales forces reported spending upwards of 50% of their revenue
[11:32] SPEAKER_01: on sales. Google spends upwards of 60% of their revenue on sales. So with stable, what they're
[11:40] SPEAKER_01: able to do is minimize that risk, kind of mitigate concerns around bad hires, training,
[11:47] SPEAKER_01: retraining, the turnover. With stable, you can come into the platform, you can launch a sales
[11:52] SPEAKER_01: team in any market. And you can really select the best talent possible. So you have insight
[11:58] SPEAKER_01: to their past performance, what are their metrics, how many calls are they putting out,
[12:03] SPEAKER_01: how many deals are they bringing in. We schedule meetings for our clients, having that type of insight,
[12:08] SPEAKER_01: allows companies to make really educated decisions on talent that they can bring onto their team
[12:14] SPEAKER_01: to execute. So from a company perspective that's looking to scale and grow, a platform like stable
[12:20] SPEAKER_01: is a huge tool to do that efficiently effectively and make sure you maximize your dollar when you're
[12:26] SPEAKER_03: selling your product. Absolutely. So now you are based in Vancouver, beautiful, finished Columbia.
[12:33] SPEAKER_03: Tell me a little bit about the experience. Did you grow up in Vancouver as well?
[12:37] SPEAKER_01: I did actually. I love Vancouver. I've lived here my entire life. So I've seen it transition
[12:43] SPEAKER_01: from where it was in the past. I'm just turned 37. So I have a little bit of experience in the market
[12:51] SPEAKER_01: here. But yeah, Vancouver is a beautiful city. It's really expensive. And you know, that's one of
[12:56] SPEAKER_01: the reasons too why we see a lot of freelancers coming to the platform, right? It's either they're
[13:01] SPEAKER_01: looking to do this full time or they're looking to supplement their income. So Vancouver is a great
[13:06] SPEAKER_01: place for technology. There's a lot of cool growing companies here. And yeah, I love it. Vancouver
[13:12] SPEAKER_01: always offers challenges. But yeah, it's a great city to start a business for sure.
[13:17] SPEAKER_03: When tell me a little bit about what outside of work. So now, you know, I know what you're doing.
[13:24] SPEAKER_03: Did it? What keeps you thriving and energized day to day? Yeah, challenges. I love solving
[13:30] SPEAKER_01: problems. It's really what keeps me going. Really the satisfaction as I touched on before.
[13:36] SPEAKER_01: When you speak to an individual sales rep and you see that you've literally allowed them to
[13:41] SPEAKER_01: quit their nine to five full time job of working at an office, commuting. Everybody knows how hard it
[13:46] SPEAKER_01: is to commute in Vancouver with the cost of living. A lot of people are being pushed out to the suburb.
[13:51] SPEAKER_01: So this ability to work from home in the gratitude you receive from individual sales reps,
[13:57] SPEAKER_01: just being that happy. That is very satisfying and that is very motivating. I mean, it's a problem
[14:03] SPEAKER_01: we're trying to solve. But yeah, we're confident in our ability to do it. And thus far, it's been working
[14:08] SPEAKER_03: out tremendously well. So what about you? What is a typical day in the life of Jordan look like?
[14:13] SPEAKER_03: Are you an early morning riser, a get work done in the afternoon kind of guy?
[14:18] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I'm an all hours type of person. So coming from BCIT, being in computers, specifically
[14:25] SPEAKER_01: data communication, you're used to long hours. So I'm used to staying up till free, four in the morning,
[14:32] SPEAKER_01: waking up at six and getting going early. So I try to catch up on weekends with sleep, but I'm
[14:38] SPEAKER_03: at all day type of person. And I got to say, you look pretty fit. So there's got to be some secret sauce
[14:44] SPEAKER_03: for you as far as either what you're eating or how you're physically moving around. What's your
[14:50] SPEAKER_01: what's your secret sauce? Yeah, so I stay active. You know, our team actually does the gross grind
[14:56] SPEAKER_01: every week right now. It's closed right? You learn a lot with people when you would you do these
[15:01] SPEAKER_01: type of exercises. It's great teamwork, great building, great experience. So we try to stay active
[15:06] SPEAKER_01: in doing that. I actively participated in Jiu-Jitsu basketball. I'm really active. I love going for
[15:12] SPEAKER_01: runs. I'm doing the people have marathon. And so, you know, work hard, play hard. I find that exercise
[15:19] SPEAKER_01: definitely energy. So I try to keep things going by staying active for sure. Excellent. Now a
[15:26] SPEAKER_03: little bit of sound, buddy, if I was, you know, pursuing either a job or let's say a side hustle in
[15:34] SPEAKER_03: technology, particularly in the on-demand sector, what do you think? What are the trends there?
[15:41] SPEAKER_03: Why is it so important? I mean, you use the term on-demand. What does that really mean?
[15:46] SPEAKER_01: Yeah. So Uber really revolutionized this whole idea of on-demand, this idea, you know, with the
[15:51] SPEAKER_01: revolution of cell phones and people, as a technology company, you have the ability to touch people
[15:57] SPEAKER_01: at any time of the day. So this idea of being able to pick up your phone and request the service
[16:02] SPEAKER_01: on-demand is kind of where things are transitioning. And if you look at the future of work and where
[16:08] SPEAKER_01: it's going, there's just so much focus on flexibility in the workplace, setting your own hours,
[16:15] SPEAKER_01: and being your own boss, that this idea of on-demand work is something that's gaining a ton of traction
[16:22] SPEAKER_01: specifically in the higher skill professions. As I noted, it typically started in the labor market.
[16:29] SPEAKER_01: You were seeing this evolution of on-demand services. But now when you're looking at professional
[16:33] SPEAKER_01: services, you have everything from sales, as in stable.org, you have everything as in doctors,
[16:39] SPEAKER_01: I've even read articles reporting that they're looking at having pilots, being freelancers,
[16:45] SPEAKER_01: and independent contractors. So the future of work is definitely looking attractive and bright.
[16:51] SPEAKER_03: So just to glean your insight and of course your mom's also in HR. So between at the dinner,
[16:58] SPEAKER_03: table conversations, what do you see as two to three trends that almost any business should be
[17:05] SPEAKER_03: at least considering, if not actively transitioning in regards to the changing nature of work?
[17:14] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure. So when you're looking at trends, you also got to look at cities in the way they're
[17:19] SPEAKER_01: being developed and built. So many people are being forced out of the metropolitan centers of like
[17:26] SPEAKER_01: where it's most expensive to live. You look at Vancouver and the suburbs are booming because the
[17:30] SPEAKER_01: cost of living in the city is so expensive. So this idea of remote work and being able to work
[17:36] SPEAKER_01: from home remotely is definitely a trend we're seeing and that will continue over time.
[17:42] SPEAKER_01: Definitely, this idea of being your own boss and not having to punch in and clock out and
[17:49] SPEAKER_01: be a burden to the company. But more as an independent contractor is definitely a trend we're
[17:54] SPEAKER_01: seeing as well as I noted, professional services in terms of self-employment are increasing year over
[18:01] SPEAKER_01: year and that's a trend that's looking to continue over time. And then yeah, just being happy in your
[18:07] SPEAKER_01: role, right? I think a lot of companies need to know that employees need to be happy. There's so
[18:12] SPEAKER_01: much opportunity out there. There's a ton of flexibility. If you're not keeping your employees happy,
[18:17] SPEAKER_01: you're going to lose them. So those are definitely trends we keep an eye on. The supply side of
[18:23] SPEAKER_01: employees is increasing as well. So looking out at sales professionals that are looking to become
[18:29] SPEAKER_01: self-employed, it's increasing. So these trends are things we monitor and take note to specifically
[18:36] SPEAKER_01: on local markets because we are a local to local marketplace. And those are trends we follow in.
[18:41] SPEAKER_01: And yeah, they're definitely moving in the right direction for stable.
[18:44] SPEAKER_03: So when you say you're following those trends, can you give me some insight of where you get your
[18:48] SPEAKER_03: sort of industry knowledge and backing? Are there a particular periodical or a podcast or data
[18:55] SPEAKER_03: from the county firms? Where do you get your information and insight?
[19:00] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so there's a lot of government organizations that put out information like Stats Canada has a
[19:05] SPEAKER_01: lot of information on self-employed and that type of industry knowledge. And there's a whole lot of
[19:13] SPEAKER_01: podcasts that focus specifically on technology and how that's evolving. So we kind of keep our
[19:20] SPEAKER_01: ears to the ground there as well. Feedback from individuals on the platform, we're very active
[19:25] SPEAKER_01: in kind of engaging our user base to follow trends and see what these trend lines look like over time.
[19:32] SPEAKER_01: And then also there's other paid subscriptions you can gain access to that are more driven
[19:38] SPEAKER_01: around industry information. So publicly traded companies releasing information and those being
[19:43] SPEAKER_01: summarized in reports. So staying on top of the public information that companies release
[19:48] SPEAKER_01: when you look at stock information, there's a lot of year and in quarterly reports you can follow.
[19:54] SPEAKER_01: Stats Canada is another good one, but keeping your ear to the ground and really listening to
[19:58] SPEAKER_01: podcasts in this space that you're interested in is a good way to stay on topic trend lines before
[20:03] SPEAKER_03: they even start really emerging statistically. So what about some in-person experiences for you?
[20:10] SPEAKER_03: Do you belong to an entrepreneur group or a business professional group in British Columbia
[20:16] SPEAKER_01: Vancouver or online? Who's in your network? Yeah, so we sponsor events in Vancouver. One
[20:24] SPEAKER_01: cool event is Valition. They have these master classes that help startups and companies grow and
[20:30] SPEAKER_01: build and understand the space a little bit more. So we're actively involved in that. I'm also
[20:36] SPEAKER_01: actively involved in my alumni group at BCIT. We're always looking for talk to your talent coming out
[20:43] SPEAKER_01: of schools in Vancouver or other places. So we stay active there as well. And then LinkedIn and
[20:48] SPEAKER_01: other content platforms were becoming more active in. As when we were doing bid well, we were more
[20:53] SPEAKER_01: active and we got a lot of traction there. So now we're stable as it's taking off. We're looking to
[20:59] SPEAKER_03: do the same. And would you let's just pick that on-demand sort of style of business.
[21:07] SPEAKER_03: Anything in particular that you would suggest to listeners or an audience member to stay on top
[21:13] SPEAKER_03: of those trends, whether you're a current user or maybe maybe you're not as engaged with the on-demand,
[21:22] SPEAKER_03: you know, you've never booked an Airbnb and you've never driven an Uber, which is
[21:27] SPEAKER_03: which is maybe the plight of too many of us in BC since it's a pretty new to BC. But how can people
[21:34] SPEAKER_03: experience the on-demand or get a sense of the on-demand experience if you're a little more
[21:41] SPEAKER_01: traditional in your thinking? Yeah, for sure. So if you're looking for on-demand solutions,
[21:47] SPEAKER_01: they're all over the place, right? You can find cleaning services that are on-demand, you can find
[21:52] SPEAKER_01: transportation in terms of Uber, which we just got in Vancouver, thankfully it took forever. But
[21:58] SPEAKER_01: yeah, these type of things are everywhere. So as I know, professional services,
[22:02] SPEAKER_01: Stables are a great one. We're helping sales professionals. There's another company out of
[22:07] SPEAKER_01: Toronto called Higher, which focuses on hospitality. It's another full on-demand service. So if
[22:12] SPEAKER_01: you're a restaurant looking for support on demand, that's another platform you can go. But they're
[22:18] SPEAKER_01: everywhere, right? Like when you're looking at transportation, you're looking at home repair,
[22:23] SPEAKER_01: you're looking at Angie's list is another good one out of the US that kind of established
[22:27] SPEAKER_01: themselves early when it comes to like home repair and decor and things of that nature. So
[22:32] SPEAKER_01: they're everywhere. Essentially, Airbnb is another good one you spoke to. So if you're looking
[22:38] SPEAKER_01: to travel, I'd suggest looking at Airbnb, you can save tremendous money on that. If you're ever
[22:43] SPEAKER_01: looking to take transportation in this city, I always highly recommend Uber or Lyft because they're
[22:50] SPEAKER_01: vastly cheaper than taxi services. So if you're looking to save money,
[22:54] SPEAKER_01: and interactions with people that are real people, right? It's a great experience. So I'd highly
[22:59] SPEAKER_01: recommend any on-demand service people can kind of gain access to. Perfect. Hey, Jordan, are you,
[23:05] SPEAKER_03: do you have like a, let's say, a motivational quotation on your computer or on your wall that
[23:12] SPEAKER_01: that you look at every day? Yeah. So the one I spoke to earlier, Mark Cuban, sales cures
[23:18] SPEAKER_01: everything. You're not selling, you need to be selling. And it's a model we live by as well, right?
[23:24] SPEAKER_01: As a sales platform, you need to be selling constantly and we say that to every company, every entrepreneur,
[23:30] SPEAKER_01: even if you're not like my background's technical, right? I'm a trained software engineer. I'm
[23:36] SPEAKER_01: not a natural salesperson, but through experience and being able to dive in and just feel
[23:41] SPEAKER_01: uncomfortable, you get used to it and it's something you can just do quickly. So I'd recommend
[23:46] SPEAKER_01: that experience up above all. So all the time, it's funny. It's funny. You say that because I've
[23:55] SPEAKER_03: always said, you know, everybody should be frontline and hospitality at some point in their career,
[23:59] SPEAKER_03: just to experience the plethora of demands and fastness of things happening around you. But honestly,
[24:06] SPEAKER_03: everybody should try sales, right? Because there's a point where you get better at crafting your
[24:13] SPEAKER_03: ask, you become much more resilient when people say no or you learn that, okay, maybe timing is not
[24:21] SPEAKER_03: great right now, but maybe there's a better time to connect with them, right? And those kind of
[24:27] SPEAKER_03: learning things that come from sales are very difficult to replicate in other aspects of a business.
[24:36] SPEAKER_01: For sure. And you know, that's one of the reasons why we're making a bet on sales, right? It's
[24:40] SPEAKER_01: that emotional intelligence that a sales professional has that things like artificial intelligence
[24:46] SPEAKER_01: can't replicate. The ability to be able to read a person and understand their wants and what they're
[24:51] SPEAKER_01: looking for and really help them discover a solution instead of just selling them. The best sales
[24:57] SPEAKER_01: people there to help you figure out what you need to solve your problem, not to tell you what to
[25:02] SPEAKER_01: buy because they want to sell you something. So that ability of having that emotional intelligence,
[25:07] SPEAKER_01: it's it's invaluable, whether it's sales, whether it's personal relationships, whatever the case is,
[25:13] SPEAKER_01: managing people. So that's definitely something people should, you know, jump in head first and experience.
[25:19] SPEAKER_03: I love it. I love it. Hey, just in closing, is there, you talked about Mark Cuban in the book,
[25:25] SPEAKER_03: sales, right? What's it called? Sales, is everything? Sales, it cares everything. Do you have another
[25:30] SPEAKER_01: recommended reading? Yeah, so there's a book called by Frank Batchir, that's called,
[25:39] SPEAKER_01: the name is escaping right now. Oh, how I how I improve myself in sales. It's a great book. It's
[25:47] SPEAKER_01: from the 1950s, so it's a little bit older, but it's a great book about somebody that actually was a
[25:53] SPEAKER_01: professional baseball player, had an injury that ended his career, and then he began selling
[26:00] SPEAKER_01: insurance, and it's just a story that's really easy to follow and read about his experience in sales
[26:06] SPEAKER_01: from the bottom, working his way up to the top, and it's a great book. How I improve myself in sales,
[26:12] SPEAKER_01: it's just an amazing book, by Frank Batchir, and yeah, I'd recommend reading for sure.
[26:18] SPEAKER_03: When I confessed or not, I was I was going to close off, but a question popped in my mind,
[26:23] SPEAKER_03: that's maybe super important for a potential salespeople is, is there a constranter restriction
[26:29] SPEAKER_03: on the status of you as a salesperson, and what I mean by that is, you know, if I'm living in
[26:37] SPEAKER_03: on another island, right? And I would like to try and connect with Canadian companies and
[26:46] SPEAKER_03: and be sales related there, or I know somebody who's actually staying with me in Canada right now
[26:53] SPEAKER_03: that doesn't have a working holiday visa in Canada, but has significant sales experience in Australia.
[26:59] SPEAKER_03: What's how do you engage with stable work? Is there a restriction based on actual work status?
[27:06] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure. So we're a local, local marketplace. The idea of the platform is we match up
[27:11] SPEAKER_01: local businesses with local sales pros, because there still is this idea that you want to be able
[27:16] SPEAKER_01: to interact with your team. You might have a face-to-face meeting. You might want to have in the city.
[27:21] SPEAKER_01: It's also the love context. So the idea of being out as a company able to say, okay, we want to move
[27:28] SPEAKER_01: into Toronto, but we don't have sales professionals out there. So let's go to stable. Let's find the
[27:33] SPEAKER_01: sales team in Toronto, and let's let them run and sell our product. And this idea of having local
[27:39] SPEAKER_01: context, when you're in the city, is what we see as being tremendously valuable and it comes to
[27:45] SPEAKER_01: sales. So as a foreign applicant, you wouldn't have that ability, but as a local in Canada or in a
[27:52] SPEAKER_01: market that we're active in, you would have that ability. So there are restrictions there. So yeah.
[27:58] SPEAKER_03: Perfect. Well, first of all, it was great to me. I have some insight because we've got,
[28:04] SPEAKER_03: we're doing some work with stable work, which I'm excited. So I can report on the processes internally
[28:08] SPEAKER_03: are fantastic and supportive of both clients and and sales staff. So so super endorsed by us as well,
[28:17] SPEAKER_03: but it was great to hear you're on to a funeral journey. And yeah, we look forward to working with
[28:23] SPEAKER_03: you hopefully beyond Vancouver very soon, hopefully across Canada at some point. Yeah, no, we're excited.
[28:31] SPEAKER_01: We think the partnership will work tremendously well. And yeah, we're definitely excited to explore
[28:35] SPEAKER_03: further on our end too. Awesome. Jordan, thanks so much for joining us. Any last words that you'd like
[28:42] SPEAKER_03: to share and quickly if you could tell us the best way to connect with you post podcast. For sure.
[28:47] SPEAKER_01: So anybody that's in sales and they want to be able to work remotely, be their own boss, have flexible
[28:53] SPEAKER_01: hours, check us out, stable.work, www.stable.work. And then for any company looking to scale and grow,
[29:01] SPEAKER_01: the power of freelance is is tremendous. And the flexibility we offer will definitely benefit
[29:07] SPEAKER_01: your business. So if you're looking to hire talk to your sales talent, check us out as well.
[29:13] SPEAKER_03: www.stable.work. And a little bit where we're going to find you personally. What's the best? Are you
[29:18] SPEAKER_03: a LinkedIn guy or are you a Facebook guy or a? I'm on LinkedIn. So you're on LinkedIn. Okay.
[29:25] SPEAKER_03: Yeah. Awesome. Great. Awesome. Thanks so much, Jordan. We look forward to seeing you later.
[29:30] SPEAKER_03: Thank you. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to British Columbia's podcast on the
[29:35] SPEAKER_03: Canada's podcast network. We hope you enjoyed the show today. Make sure you sign up for our
[29:40] SPEAKER_03: newsletters and write a review for us on iTunes. Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,
[29:46] SPEAKER_03: LinkedIn or at Canada'spodcast.com. You can check out what other entrepreneurs are doing across
[29:52] SPEAKER_03: the country. I'm Angela Faye. See you next time.
