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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_00: restaurant operators and retail brand managers. Are you tired of unpredictable utility bills?
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[00:18] SPEAKER_00: utility cost optimization and efficiency strategies, we show exactly what works, not theory.
[00:24] SPEAKER_00: Save money, reduce waste, and get back to running your business.
[00:28] SPEAKER_00: Subscribe to the GWT2 Energy Podcast on your favorite podcast app and stay ahead of rising utility
[00:35] SPEAKER_00: costs. Welcome to Canada's Podcast.
[00:41] SPEAKER_02: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Canada's podcast, the Atlantic Canada version.
[00:47] SPEAKER_02: And my name is... yeah, my name is Riff from Scorpion. I am your host and really pleased to
[00:53] SPEAKER_02: have with me as my guest Larry Ashi. Larry has been in the leasing business for close to 30 years
[01:00] SPEAKER_02: and has done some amazing work during that time period. We're going to talk about this career
[01:08] SPEAKER_02: and there's an entrepreneur but also his career in the leasing club. So welcome,
[01:13] SPEAKER_01: Larry to Canada's Podcast. Pleasure to be here, Riverson. It's pleasure to be talking to you.
[01:18] SPEAKER_02: Thank you. Yeah, right on. So tell me about what got you into the whole leasing spectrum 30 plus
[01:26] SPEAKER_02: years ago. What was the button that said I got to get into this? Yeah, no, there was no button that
[01:32] SPEAKER_01: said I had to get into this. It was more serendipity than anything else. Basically coming out of
[01:38] SPEAKER_01: university, there were three jobs that I applied for that I really, really wanted.
[01:44] SPEAKER_01: Yes. The one that I didn't, the two of them that I really, really, really wanted, I didn't get the
[01:50] SPEAKER_01: third one I didn't really want, but I got was the leasing was in equipment finance business.
[01:55] SPEAKER_01: And just serendipity, it ended up being a lifelong passion for me, but it wasn't the one that I
[02:01] SPEAKER_01: wanted from the beginning because I didn't understand what it was. Right, right. So for
[02:08] SPEAKER_01: audience, tell us what is it? So equipment finance, so panlies basically what panlies does
[02:15] SPEAKER_01: are company is any equipment that a business will use, we will finance it. So giving an example,
[02:23] SPEAKER_01: if you're a doctor and a physician and you need very specific types of equipment to
[02:27] SPEAKER_01: order to provide a service to your customers or your patients, those pieces of equipment are
[02:33] SPEAKER_01: very expensive. And so we often get doctors that apply to us and say can you finance this for me?
[02:39] SPEAKER_01: So in effect, what we'll do is we'll rent, we'll buy the equipment, we'll rent it back to the
[02:44] SPEAKER_01: doctor and we'll design it so it's very tax-efficient for them. And that goes for any business person
[02:50] SPEAKER_01: by the way. And in the end, they'll, so they'll they'll pay us rental payments on an agreed upon
[02:55] SPEAKER_01: term and then we will sell it to them for an agreed upon price and it's as simple as that.
[03:02] SPEAKER_01: Sometimes that price could be a dollar. Sometimes that price could be a hundred dollars, but it
[03:07] SPEAKER_01: isn't expensive. And so we do that for landscaping businesses, we do that for service providers like
[03:13] SPEAKER_01: plumbers and electricians. They might need anything from the vehicle to to go to the service call,
[03:20] SPEAKER_01: to very, very specific types of diagnostic equipment. So those are the things that we finance
[03:29] SPEAKER_01: and we do a lot of it. So in Atlantic Canada, for example, our every size transaction is about
[03:35] SPEAKER_01: $40,000, but we do anything from $5,000 up to $1,000,000. So yeah, so we have right now in
[03:43] SPEAKER_01: Atlantic Canada about 5,000 business customers that we've been able to help acquire equipment.
[03:49] SPEAKER_02: That's crazy. So how do you find that? How do you find that? That's not easy. So the good news is,
[03:58] SPEAKER_01: as I've been in this for 30 years, so I do have a lot of customers that I knew. But this is,
[04:06] SPEAKER_01: I worked for a couple of companies and I built up a certainly a client base with them.
[04:14] SPEAKER_01: But at Harcans Back, this whole thing actually, Rivers Harcans Back did piece, the best piece of
[04:20] SPEAKER_01: advice I ever received about starting a business. And it was love. If you want to start a business,
[04:26] SPEAKER_01: go find a company to go work for. Learn from there, learn on their dime how to make mistakes,
[04:33] SPEAKER_01: and then see a need and fill that need. So for me, coming out of university, that was the best
[04:40] SPEAKER_01: piece of advice. I always knew I wanted to start a business. I didn't know how to start a business.
[04:45] SPEAKER_01: I didn't know what was required to start a business. So I went to work for a couple of companies,
[04:50] SPEAKER_01: and those companies taught me those things. The opportunity to start my own company only came about
[04:56] SPEAKER_01: where, again, Serendipity played another role. One of the companies I was with sold. And when they sold,
[05:04] SPEAKER_01: they, they company that bought them didn't really want any of the assets, including the people.
[05:10] SPEAKER_01: And so I was sitting there with a severed package. With a group of other people, I knew that
[05:17] SPEAKER_01: were really good at doing what they did. And I knew this, how to get the see, I knew the secret sauce
[05:22] SPEAKER_01: to how the business function because I had taken that mantra in my mind.
[05:26] SPEAKER_01: Great. Learn about the business. And so I took my severed package, I hired the people that had been
[05:33] SPEAKER_01: let go, and I started my own company. And we've been doing it now for 30 years.
[05:38] SPEAKER_02: Wow. So that's a long time. How do you retain customers? How do you, how do you retain employees during
[05:46] SPEAKER_01: that period of time? Yeah. So when I say 30 years, that's that's continuous service in this business.
[05:53] SPEAKER_01: But I've had two or three businesses in that time period. So the answer your question in a
[06:00] SPEAKER_01: indirect way, it wasn't easy. The first business I started, we grew to be the second largest in the
[06:08] SPEAKER_01: country. And we were working with another company. We had a close working relationship with them.
[06:14] SPEAKER_01: They were much larger than us at the time. And they just made me and my partners an offer we couldn't
[06:20] SPEAKER_01: refuse. And so every entrepreneur dreams of that day, when you build up a business and someone
[06:26] SPEAKER_01: wants to come along and write to you a big check and you go, yes, I, this is the day that I've been waiting
[06:31] SPEAKER_01: for. And so, you know, I fell into that as well. And absolutely loved it at the time. In retrospect,
[06:40] SPEAKER_01: it probably wasn't the best thing I ever did because they took that business and grew it exponentially
[06:44] SPEAKER_01: again. I could have done that as well. So it was just being in love with that sort of entrepreneurial
[06:49] SPEAKER_01: dream of that happening. Yeah, but I so I when they bought my company, I stayed on with them for
[06:57] SPEAKER_01: a couple of years. It was a development for the larger company, but quickly grew bored because
[07:03] SPEAKER_01: I was used to the entrepreneurial roller coaster ride that sort of adrenaline rush you get from
[07:08] SPEAKER_01: one day not being able to afford payroll to next day, you're doing great, you know, it just that
[07:13] SPEAKER_01: bed fresh. And so I actually did the business for a couple of years. And then in 2010, I started
[07:21] SPEAKER_01: this business, which is Hamlet's all the customers I had were with my previous company. So now I had
[07:28] SPEAKER_01: no customers and I've been out of the business for a couple of years. So it was very difficult
[07:34] SPEAKER_01: because I was competing against the very company that I had built. Now that was difficult to do.
[07:42] SPEAKER_01: And how do you do it? Basically, you just get out there and you knock on doors, you hire the
[07:49] SPEAKER_01: right people and you've got to be into the long haul. So I just like the very first time when I
[07:55] SPEAKER_01: started this is my severance package. This time I had a little more cash because I had sold the
[07:59] SPEAKER_01: business a couple of years before. And I was able to use my reserves, but also I knew it would take
[08:05] SPEAKER_01: a long time. And and quite honestly, it took about three years before we saw profit. So though that
[08:12] SPEAKER_01: and I knew that and I expected that. But so being able to stick with it was a very important part
[08:18] SPEAKER_01: of the process. But knowing I had the resources behind me was so important because in starting
[08:25] SPEAKER_01: a business, you've got to make sure that you're in for the long haul. The customers want to see
[08:29] SPEAKER_01: that you're going to be here and that they want and then when they're ready to buy, you're you're
[08:43] SPEAKER_02: in a little bit of the coldness. Talk about that that advantage of being an entrepreneur.
[08:49] SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so everything you do or I do as an entrepreneur, I think about the long term.
[08:56] SPEAKER_01: How what will this look like? What's the bigger picture? So I knew that in the beginning,
[09:01] SPEAKER_01: it would be very, very, very difficult. And it was. There's no doubt about it. There were times
[09:05] SPEAKER_01: when it was like, oh my gosh, are we going to not that we weren't going to make it? But
[09:10] SPEAKER_01: this this is not fun. This was very, very painful. But what kept me going was the long term. I
[09:16] SPEAKER_01: knew that I would stick it out. I knew that I had what it took to stick it out. The grit that was
[09:21] SPEAKER_01: required to see us through, I was going to do that. And it did. So when it turned the corner,
[09:28] SPEAKER_01: I started to think a little bit more broadly like, okay, so how am I going to exit this business?
[09:34] SPEAKER_01: The last time I sold it, I won't do that again. I won't sell it. What's going to be different
[09:38] SPEAKER_01: about this time? I had several employees who joined me from my previous business. And they were
[09:45] SPEAKER_01: long-term loyal employees and one in particular, who I was thinking that would be a good person to
[09:52] SPEAKER_01: groom and to have her take over my business. So I spoke with her and she was looking for that
[10:01] SPEAKER_01: opportunity. And so we developed a succession plan, a succession plan, excuse me. And so I decided
[10:09] SPEAKER_01: that, listen, as part of that succession plan, I've got to get out of her way. So I said, I can work
[10:16] SPEAKER_01: anywhere. Our businesses that doesn't require me to be in somebody's space all the time. And my
[10:22] SPEAKER_01: employees, which store work that remote work environment several years before the pandemic hit.
[10:29] SPEAKER_01: So we knew we could work from anywhere. So I decided, well, why not go down south?
[10:34] SPEAKER_01: I'll work from here. That way there, it allows her to run the business. So I'm not in and she feels
[10:41] SPEAKER_01: like I'm not in her way. And at the same time, I get to work from a wonderful location. So to me,
[10:45] SPEAKER_02: it's a win-win. Yeah, that's beautiful. And congratulations on that journey that you're on.
[10:50] SPEAKER_02: And so if you get any tips for our entrepreneurs in general that you can relate to them,
[10:59] SPEAKER_02: based on your experience, I know that I have one.
[11:04] SPEAKER_01: Sorry, what was that?
[11:06] SPEAKER_02: This is sticking out one you've got to stick it out.
[11:08] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah. So I would say that if an entrepreneur wants a started business, and I go back to
[11:14] SPEAKER_01: the original advice that I had for which is go find a business that you're sort of interested in.
[11:23] SPEAKER_01: And work for that business and see what opportunities are in that business first. Learn the secret
[11:28] SPEAKER_01: sauce of how to run a business. I see entrepreneurs and God love them who come out of the gate saying,
[11:35] SPEAKER_01: I'm going to find a problem and I'm going to solve that problem that I think makes that's
[11:41] SPEAKER_01: sort of interest me. Well, that the answer you have might not be appealing to everybody else.
[11:48] SPEAKER_01: And so you're going to build a whole business around what you hope and dream will be the next
[11:55] SPEAKER_01: better most trap. So what I would suggest is going to work, serve that what I would call
[12:01] SPEAKER_01: a middle time apprenticeship, work under mentors, work under other entrepreneurs. If you want to be
[12:07] SPEAKER_01: in small business, work for a small business person, understand what they do, understand what's
[12:12] SPEAKER_01: required. You may have to change the trash, change the light bulb, make the sale, you know, do the
[12:19] SPEAKER_01: payroll, understand that those things are all part of the mantra and the excitement of building
[12:24] SPEAKER_01: a business. So my suggestion would be to buddy entrepreneurs is learn under somebody first,
[12:32] SPEAKER_01: then seek out opportunities as you see them. That would be my piece of advice to entrepreneurs.
[12:40] SPEAKER_01: Don't go out there, don't get me wrong. We do have the incidents of somebody starting a business
[12:46] SPEAKER_01: in their garage and it becoming a multi billion dollar corporation, but those are outliers.
[12:51] SPEAKER_02: Those are unicorns. Those those happen rarely. So what's it like doing business and push band
[12:56] SPEAKER_01: shifts? It's a blessing and a challenge. The the blessing is is that I live in New Frontier
[13:06] SPEAKER_01: and I live in Atlantic Canada. And that is wonderful, you know, even though it's nice to be down here,
[13:14] SPEAKER_01: there's traffic down here, there's not traffic at home. We all kind of know each other in the entrepreneurial
[13:20] SPEAKER_01: environment, a lot of the small business people know each other just from working with each other.
[13:26] SPEAKER_01: That's a blessing. The downside is is that economies of scale aren't there in a land of Canada.
[13:32] SPEAKER_01: So so if you want to grow a business, you've got to you've got to export your business or you've
[13:36] SPEAKER_01: got to be extremely efficient at at how you make money in a land of Canada. So it's a it's so if
[13:44] SPEAKER_01: you can do well in in in Atlantic Canada, you can do well anywhere in the world because it's a
[13:50] SPEAKER_01: tough environment to do really, really well. And so if you look at some of the companies that have
[13:55] SPEAKER_01: that are icons like Irving, McCain, Sobis, the Joedries, the Braggs, they are world-class entrepreneurs
[14:06] SPEAKER_01: because they started here first and they learned how to do business here first, which is very, very
[14:12] SPEAKER_01: tough. I know lots of entrepreneurs or and people that have gone on to Toronto or gone on to Ontario
[14:19] SPEAKER_01: and then it's extremely well out of here because they've learned that School of Hard Knocks
[14:23] SPEAKER_01: working out of here. So that can be a blessing and a curse. So um talk to me about uh
[14:33] SPEAKER_02: both your personal life. How do you how do you combine that personal slash work life
[14:42] SPEAKER_02: to do the things that you like to do during the journey that you're on?
[14:48] SPEAKER_01: So I decided a long time ago, Riverside, I was going to be a what was called the lifestyle
[14:55] SPEAKER_01: entrepreneur, right? That's what I called it. For me it's always about doing interesting things
[15:03] SPEAKER_01: and working with interesting people. It isn't about the money. Don't get me wrong. I do I like money,
[15:09] SPEAKER_01: I have course I do, I like a lifestyle course I do, who doesn't? But it never was about that.
[15:14] SPEAKER_01: So I decided that anything that looked interesting I was going to attach myself to it because it
[15:20] SPEAKER_01: seemed like fun. Starting a business to me is fun. Um, grain it, don't get me wrong. There are
[15:27] SPEAKER_01: lots of scary moments involved in that but the challenge of it was immense and I've done it
[15:32] SPEAKER_01: you know a couple of times now. Um but also too I have a fierce pride for my community. I love where
[15:39] SPEAKER_01: I'm from. I love the community that I'm in. Um and I wanted to be able to give back to that.
[15:45] SPEAKER_01: So I decided that that I was going to dedicate a significant amount of my time to volunteer
[15:53] SPEAKER_01: in the community. And if I have to my surprise even though I wanted to do that I wanted to work with
[16:00] SPEAKER_01: organizations that I found extremely interesting that the work that they were doing was interesting
[16:06] SPEAKER_01: and that they were relevant in the community. So I so for me that was the University of New Brunswick.
[16:12] SPEAKER_01: Um, fit that bill perfectly and now I'm in my 20th year of volunteering there. I just served as chair
[16:18] SPEAKER_01: of the Board of Governors. Recently, uh, the St John Airport was extremely interesting and also
[16:25] SPEAKER_01: relevant to our community from economic development standpoint. From an economic development standpoint
[16:30] SPEAKER_01: again, I served as chair of, of the enterprise St John which dealt a lot with the economy of,
[16:37] SPEAKER_01: of the region of, of, of the Southern New Brunswick. And the things they poverty reduction with the
[16:42] SPEAKER_01: a team resource center and the credit counseling services of Atlantic Canada. Those things are all
[16:47] SPEAKER_01: relevant to me and they do good work. So I spent a significant amount of my time in that as well.
[16:55] SPEAKER_01: And to my surprise, um, I get more out of it than I put into it. So business contacts and phenomenal.
[17:03] SPEAKER_01: Again, an unexpected surprise. Um, the, the respecting the community that you gain because you
[17:10] SPEAKER_01: giving your time is also relevant and it also affects your business. So that wasn't what I
[17:16] SPEAKER_01: intended to have happened. Um, and then the, the ability to work with other entrepreneurs in that sort
[17:23] SPEAKER_01: of network where we're not, you know, we're doing something for a greater good. But we learned to
[17:30] SPEAKER_01: trust each other and work with each other was also an unexpected byproduct of that as well.
[17:35] SPEAKER_01: So those are the things that I like to spend my time with, um, outside of business is in the
[17:41] SPEAKER_01: volunteer capacity and I continue to do it and then I love doing. Do you and do none of it down in
[17:46] SPEAKER_01: Florida? No, the only volunteer work I do here is trying to find the shopping mall for my wife
[17:52] SPEAKER_01: when she wants to go shopping. So that's my, that's what I'm, that's what I'm here to do.
[17:58] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's, that's very cool. So where are you located now in Florida? Uh, four Myers.
[18:03] SPEAKER_01: Four Myers. Four Myers. Yeah. So we wanted, we wanted to go to a place that was warm. Um,
[18:08] SPEAKER_01: and the four Myers is the, uh, warmest part of the United States evidently. So it is, yeah,
[18:15] SPEAKER_01: it's very, very warm here today. It's 32 degrees in, uh, in February or March, excuse me.
[18:21] SPEAKER_02: I'm loving it. Absolutely. How long you've been down there? Um,
[18:26] SPEAKER_01: two months, two months. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm looking forward to going home as well. Don't
[18:31] SPEAKER_01: get me wrong. Like this is, this is awesome, but home is awesome. Yeah. Did you drive down here?
[18:36] SPEAKER_01: Did you fly that? We drove down. Yeah. We drove down, um, we drove down because, uh, we want to have
[18:42] SPEAKER_01: the experience as well as we change seasons like, you know, driving at a winter and driving into
[18:48] SPEAKER_01: sort of what I would call summer, uh, and take our time along the way and enjoy the ride.
[18:52] SPEAKER_02: Yeah. Tell me, um, what's the, uh, your employee that's in success? Do you talk regularly to her?
[19:03] SPEAKER_01: Do you have, how's that, how's that relationship going? So, yes, as a matter of fact, I spoke to
[19:09] SPEAKER_01: there just before this, or before our discussion servers. So we speak weekly. Um, and, uh, but what we
[19:17] SPEAKER_01: did was we sat down together, we sit down together at least once a quarter and we would develop a
[19:22] SPEAKER_01: plan. So what is it we're going to do this quarter? Uh, what are her goals, what are my goals,
[19:26] SPEAKER_01: and how does that fit into our overall and the of succession, but also company growth?
[19:32] SPEAKER_01: And so we, we both agree on what we're going to be working up at a quarter and then we meet,
[19:38] SPEAKER_01: you know, sometimes once a week, sometimes once or two weeks, just depends on the situation,
[19:43] SPEAKER_01: but usually it's once a week and we just go over a, okay, have we hit these milestones along
[19:49] SPEAKER_01: the way that we set up? And if we have, then it's going, it's going well. If we haven't,
[19:55] SPEAKER_01: then what adjustments do we have to make to our overall plan? So even though we run a small business,
[20:01] SPEAKER_01: small businesses can also be very complicated and can be very intricate, um, because, you know,
[20:07] SPEAKER_01: a small business can get blown away in a tsunami, small things can get blown away in big wins.
[20:12] SPEAKER_01: And so we're constantly looking out in the landscape, what are interest rates doing?
[20:17] SPEAKER_01: What's happening with banks, you know, who we compete with sometimes? What's happening with
[20:23] SPEAKER_01: the marketplace? For example, you know, in 2021, we found that Atlantic Canada, equipment was
[20:33] SPEAKER_01: extremely hard to find. And because we have in Atlantic Canada, we don't have a lot of suppliers
[20:39] SPEAKER_01: of equipment. We get most of our equipment, the Ontario or the United States because of the
[20:43] SPEAKER_01: pandemic and because of supply chain shortages, equipment was extremely hard to find. And so our
[20:50] SPEAKER_01: vendors weren't selling equipment, which means we weren't doing a lot of leasing. So how do we overcome
[20:54] SPEAKER_01: those challenges? And what do we do to become more efficient when those things happen? And how do we,
[20:59] SPEAKER_01: how do we over, how do we get through this particular storm? So in touching base quarterly and
[21:05] SPEAKER_01: weekly, we keep an eye on those trends, those headwinds, so to speak, they can blow a small business
[21:10] SPEAKER_02: off course real quick. So you said you decided not to sell and you wanted to do succession
[21:18] SPEAKER_01: this time for listeners, what's the difference? The difference is the last time I sold my business,
[21:27] SPEAKER_01: no, an entity came in, they bought my shares or they bought the asset, usually it shares,
[21:33] SPEAKER_01: in this bigger case, it was shares. And in effect, they own your employees, they own everything
[21:38] SPEAKER_01: about your business, they own your customers and you're off to the races and you get your money
[21:42] SPEAKER_01: and you go home. And that's a great day for a lot of entrepreneurs. And certainly was a good day
[21:48] SPEAKER_01: at the time I thought as well. But what I like better is if you're going to have a small business
[21:53] SPEAKER_01: and you're going to have a group of loyal employees work with you, why not sell to them?
[22:00] SPEAKER_01: Why not allow them to continue the business that they've helped you build?
[22:06] SPEAKER_01: Right. So to me, the succession plan was exactly that. It was building internal strengths
[22:12] SPEAKER_01: so that they could run the business on their own and then pay me out over time.
[22:19] SPEAKER_01: So if you use the proceeds of the business, the pay me out, and then I get the one thing that's
[22:24] SPEAKER_01: most important to me, don't get your own, the money's, you know, that's a given, but I get
[22:29] SPEAKER_01: time back. So I work less in the business, they work more. The risk is transferred from me to
[22:36] SPEAKER_01: them over time. And I get more, and like I said, they pay me out and I work less. And that's what's
[22:44] SPEAKER_01: really important to me right now. And with my time, I can put more into volunteer and the other
[22:49] SPEAKER_01: challenges that I find interesting. Very cool. That's the way that I've decided to do it. And
[22:56] SPEAKER_01: by frankly, I'm very pleased that it's working out so far. Yeah, that's really cool. Congratulations
[23:01] SPEAKER_02: on that, Larry. Yeah, thank you. This has been a, you know, this has been a quick,
[23:06] SPEAKER_02: fired conversation with a lot in it. So congratulations on that,
[23:12] SPEAKER_02: and on the conversation we've had today has been really wonderful. Is there anything that we missed
[23:19] SPEAKER_02: from an entrepreneur perspective, perspective that you would recommend to an entrepreneur?
[23:26] SPEAKER_02: In any stage, I guess, you know, it's one of those ones. And you say, yeah, that's pretty important too.
[23:34] SPEAKER_01: I would say there's a couple of things that an entrepreneur should be thinking about. I mentioned
[23:38] SPEAKER_01: one already, which was the mentorship. But the other one is the life of an entrepreneur,
[23:43] SPEAKER_01: rivers, as you well know, is a lonely one. Because you don't have anybody to really share the
[23:52] SPEAKER_01: challenges of being an entrepreneur with, you know, you can share it with your spouse, you can share
[23:57] SPEAKER_01: it with a friend, but they don't always understand exactly what you're going through. Because it's
[24:03] SPEAKER_01: very unique to you and it's very unique to your business. I would say that any opportunity,
[24:09] SPEAKER_01: and I chose, you know, volunteerism, but any opportunity you have to interact with other
[24:14] SPEAKER_01: entrepreneurs who understand your challenges, who may also present to you some good ideas and take
[24:21] SPEAKER_01: you maybe in a place in your head that you hadn't thought about is that is critical. Because if
[24:28] SPEAKER_01: you're the smartest person in the room, you're in trouble, at least for me. So I think working
[24:33] SPEAKER_01: with other entrepreneurs and sharing ideas in any form that you can find in again, I say, for me,
[24:39] SPEAKER_01: it was volunteerism. That is critical to be successful. Beautiful, man. Beautiful. This has been Larry
[24:47] SPEAKER_02: Ashley ladies and gentlemen, kind of halfway between being in the States and halfway being all
[24:53] SPEAKER_02: loving both spots. And that's where we want life to be, loving where you're at. So congratulations,
[24:59] SPEAKER_02: Larry on your journey and the, you know, the succession you've got going on. And thanks for being
[25:07] SPEAKER_02: here today to talk to us on Canada's podcast. My pleasure.
