Kenny Wong

Transcript

Full transcript page · Interactive episode

============================================================
TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
============================================================

[00:00] SPEAKER_00: Today's episode is brought to you by Shaw Business.
[00:03] SPEAKER_00: Shaw Business offers a whole suite of smart solutions like Smart Wi-Fi.
[00:08] SPEAKER_00: With dedicated networks for you and your guests, Smart Wi-Fi keeps everyone's
[00:13] SPEAKER_00: connection separate, safe, and secure.
[00:17] SPEAKER_00: And it reaches all corners of your business.
[00:19] SPEAKER_00: So whether you're at your desk or in a meeting room, you're still connected and ready for business.
[00:24] SPEAKER_00: Smart Wi-Fi is one way that Shaw Business is powering the entrepreneur.
[00:30] SPEAKER_02: It's VanCoovers Podcast on the Canada's Podcast Network.
[00:42] SPEAKER_01: Hello everyone, I'm Angela Faye, hubb builder and co-host of British Columbia's Podcasts.
[00:49] SPEAKER_01: Part of the Canada's Podcast Network, your source for great insights from entrepreneurs
[00:54] SPEAKER_01: from across Canada. We talk entrepreneurs who are making it happen here so you can listen,
[00:59] SPEAKER_02: discover, and engage. Today we're talking to Kenny Wong, and I love it because he's a self-proclaimed
[01:05] SPEAKER_02: friendliest builder in the lower mainland. He's also co-director of PHW Homes, a family-run
[01:12] SPEAKER_02: business focusing on the designing and building of residential custom homes. Following his client-focused
[01:18] SPEAKER_02: experience while working at eBay, who joined the family business 10 years ago,
[01:22] SPEAKER_02: inspired to learn with the desire to change the common perceptions of contractors within the
[01:27] SPEAKER_02: home building society. Since then, PHW Homes has grown substantially, has been featured in the
[01:33] SPEAKER_02: Globe and Mail and Global News. The company prides themselves on the client experience and has
[01:38] SPEAKER_02: been awarded best of house client satisfaction. And one is one of Google's top three rated home
[01:45] SPEAKER_02: building contractors in Burnaby. Additionally, as a newly discovered health and fitness buff,
[01:51] SPEAKER_02: Kenny is also one of the owners of Oxygen, Yoga, and Fitness in the Yale Town. So welcome, Kenny.
[01:58] SPEAKER_03: Hello Angie, thank you so much for having me. I super appreciate it.
[02:00] SPEAKER_02: That's super excited to have you here. So, I mean, there's a lot going on for you. Obviously,
[02:06] SPEAKER_02: you know, I love the entrepreneurial journey and when you tend to have one business and then you
[02:10] SPEAKER_02: start another business based on your passions and another one. But can you give us a sense of your
[02:13] SPEAKER_03: entrepreneurial journey? How did you get here? Yeah, so I started off with eBay. eBay closed down
[02:20] SPEAKER_03: over 10 years ago. Suddenly, I was looking kind of what to do, where to go. My dad had a company
[02:28] SPEAKER_03: already in place. And he's kind of a old school style started a business from self 35 years ago.
[02:36] SPEAKER_03: Just working with a few clients at a time, doing a little bit of home building. So when I was kind
[02:39] SPEAKER_03: of searching for what was next, my dad always wanted me to work with them, but never really, like
[02:45] SPEAKER_03: no no pressure to do so. But I just saw the opportunity there to kind of help a company grow and
[02:50] SPEAKER_03: kind of tap into all the different aspects and bring kind of like the young and the old together.
[02:56] SPEAKER_03: So yeah, so basically 10 years ago joined up with the companies started doing all the branding for it,
[03:01] SPEAKER_03: marketing, basically when you're doing the entrepreneurial life, doing basically everything,
[03:05] SPEAKER_03: putting on all the app and trying to kind of navigate through that while we're with a family
[03:10] SPEAKER_03: business. And yeah, it's been great. The growth of the company has been been amazing.
[03:16] SPEAKER_03: You have more so recently within the last year, trying to diversify, started with Oxygen yoga in
[03:22] SPEAKER_03: Yale Town, which has been a lot of fun. So like I said, it's a little bit of a passion project,
[03:26] SPEAKER_03: but also kind of like diversifying the knowledge within the entrepreneurial realm. So yeah,
[03:31] SPEAKER_03: absolutely. Okay, what does phw stand for? It's my dad's name. So it's Bahaq Wang, which is his
[03:38] SPEAKER_03: Chinese name. Okay. Wanted to kind of build on his legacy a little bit, because it kind of started
[03:43] SPEAKER_02: it all. So okay, your 10 years in, give us one sound bite of what it's like to work with it with your
[03:49] SPEAKER_03: dad. Oh, you know what? I'm really lucky. I'm very, very lucky that it's, you know, there's that
[03:59] SPEAKER_03: kind of family realm with working with a dad. A lot of times when you're working with a dad,
[04:03] SPEAKER_03: there's, you know, anytime I talk to people working with in families, there's, you know,
[04:07] SPEAKER_03: it's, this is struggle with trying to get ideas through. I'm very lucky in the sense that my dad
[04:12] SPEAKER_03: has been very open. He knows they have a vision for the company. He knows I want the company in a
[04:17] SPEAKER_03: specific way. Any super open. So if I, if I suggest something, I can basically implement it. I'll
[04:23] SPEAKER_03: throw the idea out to him and, you know, he'll let me run with it. So I've been really, really lucky
[04:27] SPEAKER_03: on that end to have a dad that I work with that is very, very open to any ideas and just kind of
[04:33] SPEAKER_03: let's me run with it. Can you trust me? So, love you dad. Love you dad. Hey, listen,
[04:38] SPEAKER_02: now come on. There's a lot, there's lots of custom homebuilders out there, right? So what makes
[04:44] SPEAKER_02: P H W newsworthy to be featured in a global mail and global news? What's happening with you guys?
[04:51] SPEAKER_03: I think that like, well, one of our biggest, what I should be to our success is basically, I,
[04:56] SPEAKER_03: I think we fill a gap in the market that doesn't really exist right now. Everyone has a
[05:03] SPEAKER_03: been through an experience that hasn't gone so well for them. And I feel that the reasoning behind
[05:07] SPEAKER_03: that is there's a lot of older generation builders, you know, the East Sleeping Green building.
[05:14] SPEAKER_03: And oh, that's all I know. With Western clientele or, you know, Vancouverites, we're pretty spoiled.
[05:19] SPEAKER_03: Like, we want to know when things are happening, why things are happening, the benefits of different
[05:22] SPEAKER_03: things, how they can basically get the most value out of their build. And on the other side of the
[05:28] SPEAKER_03: spectrum, you have like these large, large companies, huge overhead costs and everything's very,
[05:32] SPEAKER_03: very expensive. So the affordability of these companies to be able to get that value is just
[05:38] SPEAKER_03: unattainable for a lot of young families. So we kind of fill the gap. We run a very, very lean
[05:42] SPEAKER_03: team, but we create that kind of like family run experience. So we have chat groups open with
[05:47] SPEAKER_03: every single one of our clients to kind of walk them through the process, give them weekly updates
[05:52] SPEAKER_03: on things that are happening, meet on site, give feedback on different things. So we worked very,
[05:56] SPEAKER_03: very closely with their clients to kind of provide the value of like the two sides of the spectrum
[06:00] SPEAKER_03: to kind of bring them both together. So I think we do that very, very well because my background
[06:06] SPEAKER_03: with eBay is all customer and client focused, right? So the nice little kind of twist on the
[06:10] SPEAKER_03: typical industry where it's all, like it's very kind of contractor focused, but whereas for me,
[06:16] SPEAKER_03: when I kind of started joining the company, I brought in client focus as the main primary.
[06:22] SPEAKER_03: And then started to build the experience and learn about the company from there. So
[06:26] SPEAKER_02: and so the customers that you serve, how would you describe them?
[06:31] SPEAKER_03: Most of the younger families, we love working with younger, younger families. Most of the people
[06:36] SPEAKER_03: that we work with, a lot of them are building a multi-generational. So their families might have
[06:41] SPEAKER_03: a lot in place already, aging families or aging parents. They know that they're going to get
[06:46] SPEAKER_03: a lot anyways and when they're planning to do the build. So they figure why to not do it now.
[06:51] SPEAKER_03: So the thing is that the parents might own the property or own the land. It's an older house
[06:58] SPEAKER_03: that's, you know, the parents are having to start to maintain. Build costs to build a house in the
[07:03] SPEAKER_03: laneway house. A lot of people don't realize it's probably about the cost of buying or even less than
[07:08] SPEAKER_03: a two-bedroom apartment in an Olympic village. So rather than buying that, they can build a house,
[07:13] SPEAKER_03: they can build the laneway house, which is a little mini house at the back a lot. They have a
[07:17] SPEAKER_03: full suite for their parents who can kind of live there. So it's like a great opportunity to kind of
[07:21] SPEAKER_03: have rental income but have a way bigger space to kind of live in. Again, if their parents have a lot
[07:27] SPEAKER_02: or if their family has a lot available. Okay, cool. So one of the things that our listeners always
[07:31] SPEAKER_02: want to hear is what do you see as a disruptive trend in the customer home building sector?
[07:40] SPEAKER_03: A disruptive trend. I feel like there's a disruptive trend or what kind of creates the most
[07:46] SPEAKER_03: issues within the industry is the amount of weight that people place on to just pure cost.
[07:52] SPEAKER_03: I understand that's a huge factor when looking to hire someone to do your build. Again,
[07:58] SPEAKER_03: budgeting is a huge, huge thing. But when it comes down to shopping for a custom home builder,
[08:06] SPEAKER_03: a lot of times people aren't educating themselves enough to do that shopping correctly. So there's
[08:16] SPEAKER_03: a home builder a lot of times someone will give a much lower cost and they assume that that
[08:20] SPEAKER_03: cost attributes to the exact same type of build. It gets people caught. And that's why I've been doing
[08:26] SPEAKER_03: so much education with kind of videos online and stuff like that to make sure people are equipped
[08:30] SPEAKER_03: with the right amount of information and finding someone with the best value. Because a lot of
[08:35] SPEAKER_03: times people get caught and you see so many homes, especially in Vancouver that are stopped in the
[08:40] SPEAKER_03: process because they run out of money. They thought they budgeted for a specific amount for the build
[08:49] SPEAKER_03: and that was exactly what they had. But the build can be completed for that price. So just being
[08:55] SPEAKER_03: super transparent with their clients and even our initial meetings with their clients is just
[08:59] SPEAKER_03: education and making sure that the right amount of information to make to hire the right bill.
[09:05] SPEAKER_02: Well, it's interesting you say that because I just came back from a big conference in Toronto,
[09:10] SPEAKER_02: the collision conference and one of the kind of trends that was talked about there was
[09:16] SPEAKER_02: how much more educated the consumer is at the point of purchase. So it sounds like you're kind of
[09:23] SPEAKER_02: tackling that by providing education. And it's good to know. Is that kind of stuff available on
[09:27] SPEAKER_03: your website? Yes, we have YouTube channel as well. And it's everything that you'll need to basically
[09:34] SPEAKER_03: help you shop for a home build. It's a different type of shopping for a home builder. The common
[09:39] SPEAKER_03: mistakes for a home build. Just the education piece is so so important to us.
[09:44] SPEAKER_02: Can you honestly from a from a consumer's point of view, how do you get through all of the
[09:49] SPEAKER_02: infinity of information that's on the internet to slice through and you know have confidence? I guess
[09:54] SPEAKER_02: that you know that you're you're shopping with information that's real. You know that that build
[10:01] SPEAKER_02: information when you're budgeting and to avoid the blowout.
[10:05] SPEAKER_03: Man, there's there's so much information out there. The education piece comes down to like
[10:11] SPEAKER_03: a few different things. So like when I sit down with the clients, I talk to them about
[10:16] SPEAKER_03: the kind of the timelines, but one of the most important things is exactly what we include.
[10:21] SPEAKER_03: I give them pieces around like making sure that they have a very very solid contract in place,
[10:26] SPEAKER_03: down to the materials that are used and exactly what's included. I try to be that person that
[10:32] SPEAKER_03: provides them more information than anyone else. Like I love being the first person that does the
[10:35] SPEAKER_03: interview. I love being the last person that does the interview because I always try to provide
[10:39] SPEAKER_03: the most amount of information to make sure that they're as educated as possible. Like I said,
[10:45] SPEAKER_03: one of the big things that's lacking in the industry right now is just the amount of information
[10:48] SPEAKER_03: that people are providing and it's not with the right amount of questions. So even on the YouTube
[10:52] SPEAKER_03: videos, I always link could be the questions to ask your contractor to make sure that they're
[10:57] SPEAKER_03: they're safe or making that are basically providing the right amount of information because people
[11:02] SPEAKER_03: dictate or people love dictating the information that they provide to you. And if most people that's
[11:07] SPEAKER_03: going to be their only bill that they've ever going to do and how would you know what to ask if
[11:12] SPEAKER_03: this is your first time doing it and people take advantage of that. They just provide you the
[11:15] SPEAKER_03: information. Say everything's included when it's not right. Right. Exactly. Now back to you a little
[11:21] SPEAKER_02: bit because I know people, you know, they want to know a little bit more about you Kenny. What's the
[11:25] SPEAKER_03: best piece of advice you've ever received? Oh, what's the best piece of advice I've ever received?
[11:32] SPEAKER_03: One of my favorite pieces of advice, especially for entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs,
[11:37] SPEAKER_03: people studying business is I'll give two because I like to talk about these
[11:44] SPEAKER_03: is patients. I think Gary Vee always says that he's one of the like I listen to a lot of podcasts
[11:50] SPEAKER_03: and stuff like that as well and I love his podcast. I highly recommend it. But he always says patience
[11:54] SPEAKER_03: is one of the top things and there's always a natural tendency to feel like you're in a rush
[12:00] SPEAKER_03: or you don't have enough time. But if you really put your head down and grind and you work hard and
[12:06] SPEAKER_03: you try to stay open to learning and changing patients is a huge, huge way to kind of stay focused
[12:13] SPEAKER_03: because it'll get there and it'll it'll happen but just be patient. Don't try to rush things.
[12:18] SPEAKER_02: So if you could pick one or two words to describe yourself, would one of those be patients or can
[12:24] SPEAKER_03: you pick one or two other words? Well, the other piece of advice I think it describes me more
[12:30] SPEAKER_03: or I'm trying to work on a lot more is just to be kind to yourself. Again, the natural tendency
[12:36] SPEAKER_03: as entrepreneurs is you're so hard on yourself. There's so much out there with social media and
[12:39] SPEAKER_03: there's so much out there with you think everyone's doing way better than you are. Just based on what
[12:45] SPEAKER_03: they post, you think that everyone's doing awesome but there is a common common struggle with all
[12:49] SPEAKER_03: entrepreneurs in life and everything that you just want to be so hard on yourself. But just
[12:55] SPEAKER_03: be kind to yourself. You know what like I said, just if you have patients and you stay focused,
[12:59] SPEAKER_03: good things will come. There's nothing good with just being hard in yourself.
[13:04] SPEAKER_03: Stay light, stay happy and just and work hard. Top two or three things on your personal or
[13:10] SPEAKER_02: professional bucket list for this, for the next say 12 months. Oh, hiring more people within
[13:18] SPEAKER_03: the company. That's one of our goals. I just had interview with someone before this meeting.
[13:25] SPEAKER_03: But we want to hire more people within the company to focus more on our strengths. I think we're
[13:31] SPEAKER_03: really trying to hone in on what we're good at and hiring people to help us with the things that
[13:36] SPEAKER_03: we're not so good at. So just kind of building and developing the company and hiring external
[13:40] SPEAKER_03: people. So right now, fully family-run company, we have an assistant that's virtual right now.
[13:47] SPEAKER_03: It's outside, but trying to hire more experts within specific realms that for things to kind of
[13:53] SPEAKER_03: fill the gaps on the things that we're not so good at and passing off those hats. And you're a
[13:58] SPEAKER_02: fitness buff, anything on your bucket list from that respect? Ooh, I friends just recently
[14:04] SPEAKER_03: traveled and did the hike for the matju P2. So that's one of those things. And I want to try to do
[14:13] SPEAKER_03: a full triathlon. So I did a sprint triathlon this year for the first time. I want to try to do the
[14:19] SPEAKER_03: full one for next year. So training and actually preparing for that. Well, the workplace is changing
[14:26] SPEAKER_02: so dramatically these days. Let's get a sense of how you work. What's a typical workday routine for you?
[14:32] SPEAKER_03: Typical workday routine. So every morning I start off with a morning workout. I go to oxygen
[14:39] SPEAKER_03: yoga at 615 or I go to soul cycle spin at 7. I kind of have to start my days off with a workout
[14:45] SPEAKER_03: just to kind of like get everything really get everything going. It's become my routine. After that,
[14:49] SPEAKER_03: I probably sit in the car for about an hour, catching up with all my messages. What's up is
[14:54] SPEAKER_03: probably the primary form of communication and phone calls on some Zoom meetings. But usually the
[15:01] SPEAKER_03: next hour after I get out of yoga, well, I'm unwinding is like messaging, updating clients,
[15:06] SPEAKER_03: checking in on messages, checking with my sister, my dad and my brother-in-law in the company,
[15:12] SPEAKER_03: seeing what they need, what things I need to do for today and kind of preparing my day. And the rest
[15:17] SPEAKER_03: is kind of either on the computer, popping into coffee shops because we're very mobile,
[15:21] SPEAKER_03: hopping on the sites, meeting with clients, meeting with contractors. Pretty much driving in coffee
[15:27] SPEAKER_02: shops is my home. What's the geographic area of where you work? Like mostly Greater Vancouver?
[15:34] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so we have projects right now in Coquitlam, US, Bernady, Richmond, and Vancouver.
[15:41] SPEAKER_03: But primarily, I'd say 80% of our jobs are kind of in the Vancouver region.
[15:46] SPEAKER_02: Well, let's talk a little bit about where you work. So you're doing most of your business in the
[15:50] SPEAKER_02: Lower Man Land of Vancouver. What do you feel are the benefits of doing business in British Columbia?
[15:57] SPEAKER_03: One of the biggest benefits of doing business in Vancouver, I feel that people appreciate value.
[16:04] SPEAKER_03: Value of communication, value of clarity, value of transparency, and I think value of
[16:09] SPEAKER_03: innovation and trying to do things a little bit differently. We really appreciate
[16:15] SPEAKER_03: the best value possible and really a really big vacation. So as an entrepreneur in Vancouver,
[16:21] SPEAKER_03: if you have a good sense of communication and updating, especially within the construction
[16:27] SPEAKER_02: industry, it'll take you such a long way. Gotcha, what about challenges? Top challenges of doing business
[16:33] SPEAKER_03: here? It's probably a similar thing. It's that the, it's a, like I said, communication if you have
[16:42] SPEAKER_03: that and dealing with people and appreciating value, it's a great thing of doing business. If you're
[16:47] SPEAKER_03: running your business in such a way that you can provide that value, the negative side is also the
[16:53] SPEAKER_03: amount of communication that people need sometimes while running a business. It doesn't have any
[17:03] SPEAKER_03: clients messaging me in the morning down to like midnight after midnight weekends anytime.
[17:09] SPEAKER_03: And I keep that, I keep that open to them because that's the type of communication, almost that's
[17:13] SPEAKER_03: needed, but almost to a fault in the sense that if I guess that was our company's growing,
[17:19] SPEAKER_03: I'm being able to provide that service of communication on that high level. It's difficult,
[17:25] SPEAKER_03: it's not easy. And you know, those needs need to be met on a regular basis to be able to sustain
[17:30] SPEAKER_03: and build a company the way that we're seeing it. So getting more help is helping us do that.
[17:35] SPEAKER_02: So how about, I mean, you're, are you born and bred in Vancouver?
[17:40] SPEAKER_03: I am. Yeah, born and raised in Bernabé.
[17:44] SPEAKER_02: Okay, cool. Well, you have lots of obviously knowledge about Vancouver. So if you were talking to
[17:49] SPEAKER_02: New Onchipnars, and particularly, let's stick to the construction as sure the building industry,
[17:54] SPEAKER_02: knowing what you know now, because you've got a lot of knowledge, what are two or three resources
[18:00] SPEAKER_02: that people could tap into that you think are the best value for their time, whether it's an event,
[18:06] SPEAKER_02: a networking group, or maybe a public organization, what would be two or your top two or three
[18:13] SPEAKER_03: essential resources? So starting off, when I first started kind of within the business,
[18:22] SPEAKER_03: I think that something that helped me out a lot was B&I. So business networking,
[18:26] SPEAKER_03: actually, and you've I'm sure you've heard of it. There's groups all over the lower main land.
[18:29] SPEAKER_03: So I joined a specific group in Vancouver and we called B&I Destiny. Man, like not knowing so much
[18:34] SPEAKER_03: about business, but jumping into the networking realm where there's accountability, you meet with
[18:38] SPEAKER_03: a group every single week. You talk with young growing entrepreneurs, you help support each other
[18:43] SPEAKER_03: through your businesses. It was, it was such a great way to, at the very least, kind of think about
[18:49] SPEAKER_03: our focus on your business in some way, once a week. You need people, you have to talk about your
[18:54] SPEAKER_03: business and why that business is better than maybe other people or why people should refer
[19:01] SPEAKER_03: business to you. And even if you're not ready for it or even if you don't think that you're prepared,
[19:06] SPEAKER_03: I always tell people to jump right in there. There's invaluable experience in joining a networking
[19:10] SPEAKER_03: group where you get that same people every week and you're accountable to them. So that's one.
[19:16] SPEAKER_03: Two is podcasts. I'm a huge podcast junkie. The amount of information out there
[19:23] SPEAKER_03: where people are talking about their businesses, their struggles, their learnings is like,
[19:28] SPEAKER_03: I'm sure that's why you guys kind of got into the podcast realm because there's so many people
[19:33] SPEAKER_03: looking for information and also how they can get out of rats or how they can push themselves
[19:39] SPEAKER_03: to the next level. So there's so many podcasts out there that I love. You mentioned one earlier
[19:47] SPEAKER_02: in the interview, Kenny, what was the one? Can you bring it back to us? Gary Vee. So Gary, Gary
[19:53] SPEAKER_03: Vaynerchuk, I love him because he's a no BS type personality. He'll tell you things how they
[20:00] SPEAKER_03: how they are and he's kind of very, very kind of like opposite mindset from what a lot of other
[20:05] SPEAKER_03: kind of podcasts talk about. Yeah, I highly recommend it because it's kind of like, you know,
[20:12] SPEAKER_03: it's there's no claddling. It's basically like, hey, you got to put in the war. It's telling it how
[20:19] SPEAKER_03: it is and he does an interesting way that you either love him or you hate him. I tend to love
[20:24] SPEAKER_02: the real talk so he's amazing. Let's have some fun with some rapid fire questions. So
[20:29] SPEAKER_02: the idea is we're going to, our listeners are going to be writing some cool things down that you're
[20:32] SPEAKER_02: saying, but some of the billy resources and some of them just be ideas or inspiration. But
[20:37] SPEAKER_02: so first of all, what's keeping you up right now? What's keeping you up right now?
[20:43] SPEAKER_03: Whenever a client is not happy about anything, I take it very personally, not against them,
[20:49] SPEAKER_03: I against myself. So I'm like, when I say be kind to myself, that's something I have to remind
[20:54] SPEAKER_03: myself every day, but it's something that keeps me up. And if I'm always trying to think about ways
[21:00] SPEAKER_03: to better service my clients, I know that sounds almost like a little bit cheesy, but I really,
[21:03] SPEAKER_03: really care. So when someone's not happy, I want to try to find a way to make it better in any work.
[21:09] SPEAKER_02: Is there a book that has been impactful for you that you could recommend to others?
[21:16] SPEAKER_03: I'm horrible at finding the time to do specific reading, but it was an audio books.
[21:22] SPEAKER_03: Audio book resource. One of the books that I read that I liked a lot is the four pillars.
[21:30] SPEAKER_03: Oh, the four green, sorry, we've done Miguel Ruiz. Awesome, awesome book. It's a very kind of like
[21:36] SPEAKER_03: lifestyle, help book, but it talks about one of the biggest things is being impeccable with your
[21:41] SPEAKER_03: word. It's one of the pillars basically being completely honest, completely transparent with
[21:46] SPEAKER_03: everything that you say when you say you're going to do something to it. So.
[21:49] SPEAKER_02: Now outside of your home of Vancouver, what's your favorite place in Canada and why?
[21:55] SPEAKER_03: My favorite place in Canada. Besides Vancouver, I love Montreal. I was there recently,
[22:02] SPEAKER_03: I've been there a couple times. I love the people there. I love the culture. Old Montreal is
[22:07] SPEAKER_03: such a cool place. It feels like you're in Europe essentially. So if anyone hasn't gone to
[22:12] SPEAKER_03: Montreal, the food's amazing. It'd be like Poutine, the birthplace of Poutine. I highly recommend it.
[22:18] SPEAKER_02: There's a 24 hour crew team place. Totally important. Let's bring it back to Vancouver. What's your
[22:23] SPEAKER_02: favorite spot to recharge or be inspired in Vancouver? Recharge or be inspired in Vancouver.
[22:33] SPEAKER_03: To be completely honest, my morning workouts are my best place to kind of recharge. Like I said,
[22:39] SPEAKER_03: like Oxygen Yoga is basically and it's not like a plug. Actually, I worked out there beforehand.
[22:46] SPEAKER_03: It's like bootcamping and infrared sauna and then you have Soul Cycle, which is basically
[22:51] SPEAKER_03: dancing on a bike. But there's so much learning. There's so much clarity in a place where you are
[22:56] SPEAKER_03: struggling to survive to the end of class. You have to get out of your own head. You're the most
[23:02] SPEAKER_03: present in those specific places and I feel I'm the most productive directly after a class. So
[23:08] SPEAKER_03: that is kind of my church. Who is your most influential mentor?
[23:13] SPEAKER_03: My most influential mentor would probably be my dad. Just kind of like with like I said,
[23:21] SPEAKER_03: what a lot of people see kind of out there with any entrepreneurs that are already doing well.
[23:25] SPEAKER_03: They don't kind of see the struggle of life and with my dad and kind of everything that
[23:31] SPEAKER_03: happened throughout our life. I saw him struggle and I saw all hearty work for the family and
[23:36] SPEAKER_03: it's kind of developing through that and persevering through that just to support and kind of help
[23:43] SPEAKER_03: with the family. It's stuck with me. So that work ethic, that drive, that need to succeed,
[23:50] SPEAKER_03: no matter what, was probably one of the biggest takeaways from my relationship with my dad.
[23:56] SPEAKER_02: On your desk or on your wall, do you have a motivational quote that you kind of have as a bit of a mantra?
[24:03] SPEAKER_03: I don't have any kind of quote. I post a daily quote actually on my social.
[24:12] SPEAKER_03: Like so my personal, I post a daily quote if I don't post it, people usually harass me afterwards
[24:17] SPEAKER_03: but like, where's your daily quote? But a quote that I really really like is, no, I don't fake it
[24:26] SPEAKER_03: till you make it, face it till you make it. There's a natural tendency for everyone to feel like they
[24:32] SPEAKER_03: have to fake it but realistically it's going to be a struggle either way but just face it,
[24:38] SPEAKER_03: deal with it and learn from it and fail, fail forward. Just continue. Absolutely.
[24:45] SPEAKER_03: Is the best way of learning. There's a perception around failing being negative but
[24:49] SPEAKER_03: man, the amount of learning that you have from just pushing forward, not everyone's not going to
[24:56] SPEAKER_03: succeed 100% of the time, right? So learning to fall gracefully basically. Awesome. Hey,
[25:02] SPEAKER_02: a little bit of fun now if you, you know, in this Uber connected world, right? If you have the
[25:08] SPEAKER_02: opposite experience and we sky-dropped you into remote island, we had no internet connectivity.
[25:15] SPEAKER_02: You did have a cell phone though with enough power to like, you know, last for one phone call to
[25:19] SPEAKER_02: get you off the island. How long would you last on this unconnected remote island? And what would
[25:26] SPEAKER_03: you do there? Wow. Do I have like, so I, so I, there's only, I only have, there's only a
[25:31] SPEAKER_03: pay phone there, right? So I can't take pictures of those social messages.
[25:35] SPEAKER_02: Exactly. Only enough charge for that one phone call. That's right. One phone call.
[25:41] SPEAKER_03: I, you know, I'm like, I'm a closet introvert as much as people think I am an extra like, I'm more
[25:47] SPEAKER_03: of like an Andy. So I like being in a space kind of by myself sometimes and just kind of really
[25:54] SPEAKER_03: allow myself to to kind of recharge and experience a space. How long I would last there? I could last
[25:58] SPEAKER_03: a while, but I, you know, sitting within my own thoughts as a danger is play sometimes or probably
[26:03] SPEAKER_03: a week or two in that space. That's pretty good. Allow myself to explore. Like I really, like, I would
[26:10] SPEAKER_03: love to, like again, I love telling stories. I'm a storyteller. So more so getting the best
[26:15] SPEAKER_03: value possible, best value possible out of that island just exploring and see if we can look at
[26:21] SPEAKER_03: the space and seeing what it has to kind of offer. If there's a cool waterfall, if there's a great
[26:25] SPEAKER_03: place to swim, if there's a cool thing to climb, I'd want to try to do that. And, you know, and then
[26:31] SPEAKER_03: I'd be like, okay, I think I've tapped into this space enough that I can go home now.
[26:36] SPEAKER_02: Perfect. Yeah. Listen, Kenny, it's been fabulous talking to you. How can, how can listeners, what's
[26:41] SPEAKER_03: the best way to get ahold of your post podcast? So we have a company social P.H.W. Holmes
[26:48] SPEAKER_03: on Instagram. I think it's P.H.W. Holmes. P.H.W. Holmes Inc. on Instagram. Personal Kendo 604,
[26:54] SPEAKER_03: if you kind of want to follow me there, that's a cool place to kind of link up, but from a business
[26:58] SPEAKER_03: perspective, that's where we go. Websites is www.phw-homes.com. And you can find our YouTube channel
[27:07] SPEAKER_02: on there as well. Want to thank again, Kenny Wong for joining us here from Vancouver. And until next time.
[27:13] SPEAKER_01: Hey there, thanks for taking the time today to listen to British Columbia's podcast on the
[27:18] SPEAKER_01: Canada's podcast network. We hope you enjoyed the show today. Make sure you sign up for our news
[27:23] SPEAKER_01: letters and write a review for us on iTunes. Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,
[27:30] SPEAKER_01: LinkedIn, or at Canada'spodcast.com. You can check out what other entrepreneurs are doing across
[27:35] SPEAKER_01: the country. I'm Angela Faye. See you next time.