Leslee Montgomery

Transcript

Full transcript page · Interactive episode

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

[00:00] SPEAKER_03: It's Vancouver's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:27] SPEAKER_01: Hello, this is Robert Smil, coming to today with Vancouver's podcast, a member of the Canada's podcast network,
[00:33] SPEAKER_01: where we talk to the entrepreneurs who are making it happen here in Vancouver, British Columbia.
[00:38] SPEAKER_01: Leslie M. Gummary is the mother of three teenage girls and founder of Coyote Fitness and Counseling,
[00:45] SPEAKER_01: a Burnaby-based personal training facility that is tackling the mental health ripple effects of bullying.
[00:52] SPEAKER_01: After 10 years working health and safety in the construction industry, Leslie realized that everyone wants to be heard and listened to,
[01:00] SPEAKER_01: and that mental health was an area she wanted to get more involved with.
[01:04] SPEAKER_01: Physical fitness has always grounded Leslie, and then one day it all came to her.
[01:09] SPEAKER_01: What if you could provide the customer with a complete experience providing a safe place to tackle mental health and physical fitness at the same time?
[01:20] SPEAKER_01: Well, Leslie, welcome to the show. Thanks for taking the time today to be here for all our listeners.
[01:26] SPEAKER_03: Robert, it's a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me today.
[01:29] SPEAKER_01: Okay, I want you to tell us a little bit more about yourself, where you're from, and give us the details on your current business.
[01:36] SPEAKER_03: So originally from back east was born in Toronto and slowly made my way out to Vancouver.
[01:47] SPEAKER_03: Transplanted here in 86 was, I think, Expo was the biggest thing that cut through the family here,
[01:53] SPEAKER_03: and just haven't been able to leave since it's such a beautiful project, such a beautiful city.
[02:00] SPEAKER_03: Back in 2004, I had just gone back to work after having three kids in the span of 12 months.
[02:11] SPEAKER_03: And I just kind of floated around for a really long time. I did a lot of customer service and motivated slightly, but not quite so much.
[02:22] SPEAKER_03: That's the point where I was tired of working dead end job. Then I went and redid to buy occupational level health.
[02:31] SPEAKER_03: My first day at level three, and I met a really good friend of mine there who said, you know, if you want to make somebody get into first aid,
[02:38] SPEAKER_03: and I remember watching my parents teach first aid for years, I thought, oh my god, you know what, that's great.
[02:44] SPEAKER_03: I love first aid. I love being able to help and fix people.
[02:48] SPEAKER_03: And that took me into construction and what a better place to learn how to fix people up.
[02:55] SPEAKER_03: So I sent a year in construction there, and the construction manager basically said, you know, we need safety.
[03:03] SPEAKER_03: And I thought, safety, I don't make any business doing safety. I make business doing first aid.
[03:09] SPEAKER_03: And I realized that safety is a huge market. And the approach of a lot of people is they come across as the on-site police officer.
[03:22] SPEAKER_03: And they never really get buy-in from anybody. So I got myself a surveyer's vest and I went through BCIT and I filled my vest with candy and I would wander the site.
[03:32] SPEAKER_03: And I would just try and figure out what motivates this guy so I could figure out how to make them safe and give them that opportunity to go home or wherever they needed to be.
[03:44] SPEAKER_03: And it was great. And the biggest thing that I learned in that industry is that, you know, everyone just wants five minutes.
[03:51] SPEAKER_03: And sometimes on a site that 300 people, five minutes is a long time, but they end up working safer.
[03:59] SPEAKER_03: And I realized how much I enjoyed just being in space, sharing space with people and listening to them because it was pretty apparent that a lot of these guys I was working with, they didn't have that person to be with.
[04:14] SPEAKER_03: On my last construction project, I was walking up the hill and there was this personal trainer. She was out in the park working out with the client.
[04:24] SPEAKER_03: And it just gone by me. I thought, oh my gosh. This lady has got to be bringing her problems that she is going through to this personal trainer because it's such an intimate relationship.
[04:40] SPEAKER_03: And that was the starting of coyote fitness and counseling. It was from then that I decided that that's where I felt grounded in where I was able to re-center myself and I was going to start tackling that, giving people that the benefit of having someone qualified to listen to them and help them mentally at the same time is helping them physically.
[05:07] SPEAKER_03: So, it's fantastic.
[05:10] SPEAKER_01: Cool. Now, did you need financing to start your company and how do you currently make money in your business now?
[05:16] SPEAKER_03: I was pretty fortunate at the beginning having come out of a successful real estate deal. So I was able to front myself the capital I needed for my place.
[05:29] SPEAKER_03: I'm really fortunate where I have a separate garage. So I'm like a home based business or in the personal training they call garage gyms.
[05:40] SPEAKER_03: And the way I'm funding now is I sell packages to clients.
[05:51] SPEAKER_03: I try really hard because I've seen the most thefts getting people into the gym a minimum of two times a week.
[05:57] SPEAKER_03: That's where I think I'm a lot different than anybody else there because as a counselor, you start off heavy and then you kind of lean down.
[06:07] SPEAKER_03: You want to see your client's left and I do want to see my client's left. Absolutely. I want them to be empowered to take over for themselves.
[06:17] SPEAKER_03: But as a personal trainer as well, I'm pushing the envelope with this because we are doing therapy every session.
[06:26] SPEAKER_03: It might not be quite as intense, but we have another package rolling out where we'll be seeing clients three times a week.
[06:32] SPEAKER_03: Very exciting.
[06:34] SPEAKER_01: Okay. Now what is the long term vision and what we were company looked like in the future? Do you see the company expanding into other areas and where beyond Vancouver BC or even Canada?
[06:47] SPEAKER_03: Absolutely. I'm right now one of our unique selling features is that we are confidential and one on one.
[06:54] SPEAKER_03: So people don't have to worry about being afraid of who else is going to see them in the gym while they work on themselves.
[07:04] SPEAKER_03: Long term vision is to try and figure out how to allow the internet help me become global.
[07:13] SPEAKER_03: And really what we also want to do is we want to be able to five years down the road, be opening up a retreat where we can have clients come to us and spend the weekend.
[07:26] SPEAKER_03: And ultimately, big goal would be to partner up with somebody who can see the vision in this and start hitting the schools where counselors are being trained and personal trainers are being trained and saying,
[07:40] SPEAKER_03: this is a whole modality you've probably never thought of. What are the chances you want to come to see us and do your practice with that?
[07:49] SPEAKER_01: So you could be doing consulting, were you developing programs for schools and institutions?
[07:55] SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
[07:56] SPEAKER_01: Okay. So it would be like, here's our package, here's what we do, we set it up for you and then we train.
[08:04] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
[08:06] SPEAKER_01: Well, we've learned a little bit about you and your company, we're going to talk about Vancouver now.
[08:10] SPEAKER_01: What are the biggest benefits for you and being an entrepreneur here in Vancouver, BC, I want you to give us some of the good points about starting a company here.
[08:18] SPEAKER_01: But I also want you to give us some of the tough things or challenges for our listeners so they can keep an eye out for them.
[08:24] SPEAKER_03: So I think the challenges for myself have been surely from a mental side and I think, originally when I had this thought that's an idea, I was afraid of sharing it because I thought, oh my God, there's somebody out there who they've got more qualifications than I do.
[08:46] SPEAKER_03: And so I personally think I helped myself back and then I was walking around Wendy and I walked out of Robson Street, down Robson Street, there's a Starbucks, there's a blend, there's a way, there's a Tim Horton.
[09:00] SPEAKER_03: And I realized that there's so many different places for people to buy coffee, why can't there be so many places for them to find me and maybe other people like me out there.
[09:13] SPEAKER_03: And that's really been, I think, the biggest challenge for me is that I've put myself to food and it hasn't been until recently that I've just taken that big deep breath and a leap of faith and started to reach out to the communities that are developing, like the meat at groups, something entrepreneurs group, and all of these other groups and they're so warm and welcoming God.
[09:38] SPEAKER_03: I feel like I've punished myself, I've perfectly lost time, but maybe on the same time, at the same time, it wasn't, I wasn't my time, I wasn't ready yet.
[09:52] SPEAKER_03: But I've found that there's so many people out here willing to help you and I have been blessed to be able to be connected with some great organization from a counseling perspective where people really wanted to be growing before it.
[10:07] SPEAKER_03: And also from a personal training perspective because the personal training industry, the fitness industry, just thank you. It's been so long.
[10:17] SPEAKER_03: We've been waiting for somebody to come in with a mental health background and start helping our people. So, great, exciting.
[10:26] SPEAKER_01: Okay, now what are the tough things for you getting started?
[10:30] SPEAKER_03: The tough things for me is, having the pavement, I think the problem I faced in the beginning was that this is such a great idea, this is a unique idea, but not really knowing how to market myself has definitely been the challenge because I've looked and I haven't found anybody else out there like myself.
[10:57] SPEAKER_03: I've found a gentleman in New York who kind of does something similar. So there's no real plan out there that I can turn around and be lazy and follow a bit of a trailblazer and that's been the uniqueest challenge for me.
[11:12] SPEAKER_03: It's trying to figure out how to put something together and ultimately in a day really having to look in the mirror and trust the decisions that I'm making.
[11:21] SPEAKER_01: Okay, we do some of our best workouts side office. Is there a place in the lower mainland close to where you live or work, where you like to go recharge or get inspired with ideas or just think about your business? And does it change with the season considering all the rain we get here?
[11:37] SPEAKER_03: Hmm, rain, I wish we got a bit more rain right now. We are in the midst of brown grass. I love grass mountain. I love having access to the grind. I love in the winter. I can take my snowboard up there and just really feel accelerated.
[11:54] SPEAKER_03: I'm fortunate to live close to New Westminster. So I can also head down to the key and be around the water. I think that that's one of the amazing things about the city as you can go from the mountains to the ocean and less than half an hour.
[12:17] SPEAKER_01: Yes, this is a beautiful place to live. Okay, we have a lot of international listeners. So this next question I want you to speak to them. If you were to start all over again and you just moved here to Vancouver BC, but this time you don't know anyone knowing what you know now, what would you do and how would you go about starting all over again as an entrepreneur?
[12:37] SPEAKER_03: I would say take the pledge, trust yourself and get out there and start meeting people. Start getting yourselves involved in all of these awesome opportunities out there. There's tons of feedback for people. There's tons of organizations that are just that's what they've been designed to do. They realize that there's so many of us entrepreneurs that need help. They've got the expertise.
[13:05] SPEAKER_03: You can get yourself a merchant in these different clouds. They have been up all over the lower mainland. You don't even have to go far. Some of them you can do. Buy your phone. You can do them through Skype. You can do them through anything.
[13:20] SPEAKER_03: Don't be afraid to get out there and meet some people.
[13:23] SPEAKER_01: Okay, now let's talk about your routine. What does the first hour look like for you when you get up in the morning? Do you have a specific routine or a ritual that helps you get motivated to start your day? I guess you must have a few since you're a trainer.
[13:36] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so and it's interesting because it's changing now. My girls are teenagers and they are capable of doing so much more for themselves, which some days it's good. Some days it's a little like, oh, wait, what about me? I could still help.
[13:51] SPEAKER_03: But I find that it's Jim and I'm in the gym for about the first hour because if I don't get in in the first hour by the rest of the day, 8, 9, 10 o'clock at night, I'm just too tired. So I start my day off in the gym.
[14:07] SPEAKER_03: And then which is it about 5 30 in the morning and I'm ready to go by 7 o'clock. So from there, it's meet with my clients. And if I don't have any schedules for the day, I'm out introducing myself or my concept to places that
[14:27] SPEAKER_03: we have people who are sheltered because they've been bullied. So we're really big in the trans community and their LGBTQ community.
[14:40] SPEAKER_03: Lots of individual, sorry, that I appreciate our service because we are a private confidential space.
[14:49] SPEAKER_01: Okay, do you think entrepreneurs have to be weird or unique in a positive way or wired differently?
[14:59] SPEAKER_03: I think so. I think that you need to, you're a bit of a risk taker. You're comfortable with not really knowing.
[15:11] SPEAKER_03: You're not getting a steady paycheck. This is all on you. You know that there's something unique about somebody who can walk away from a 40 hour week job before overtime and have good pay.
[15:27] SPEAKER_03: I'm going to go out and I'm going to branch out and do this stuff on my own.
[15:30] SPEAKER_03: You ought to be a little crazy and weird stuff to be all in and trust yourself and just go for it.
[15:37] SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's talk about what you're reading right now. What books are you reading now and why are you even audiobooks and can you recommend any books for listeners who are also aspiring entrepreneurs?
[15:49] SPEAKER_03: So I'm a little bit nerdy because I like to try and keep up with what's going on in the industry.
[15:54] SPEAKER_03: A lot of textbooks that I get back into to make sure that I'm practicing appropriately.
[16:01] SPEAKER_03: Right now I'm very interested in sematic. I study sematic as a counselor but there's also sematic from a personal training aspect.
[16:10] SPEAKER_03: So I've been reading trauma tennis, sematic book and Peter Levine's healing trauma.
[16:18] SPEAKER_03: Being a bit of a trailblazer, one of my mentors recommended Adam Grant's originals which is definitely helped keep me on track and focus because there's some days where you just want to reach out for help.
[16:32] SPEAKER_03: As much as there's a lot of help out there, you're still trying to pave the way with your own idea.
[16:38] SPEAKER_03: And I'm really excited that I just started burning Kelly's book, the Upside of Shades because a lot of the people that I work with, they harbor a lot of shame and it's being able to introduce them to the upside of that.
[16:53] SPEAKER_03: So that's an exciting one I'm looking forward to getting into.
[16:57] SPEAKER_01: Any online or offline tools that you like to use on a daily basis?
[17:02] SPEAKER_03: I am not that well versed in the online world.
[17:09] SPEAKER_03: So I definitely cater to my teenagers as they help teach me the ins and outs of social media because that's where I can market myself.
[17:20] SPEAKER_03: And I do my best with what Google provides.
[17:27] SPEAKER_03: But other than that, I'm very, very novice and definitely use the goodwill of my friends who are willing to point me in the right directions of some sound equipment that I can use.
[17:41] SPEAKER_01: Okay, now earlier you touched on the fact that we live in a very beautiful place. We have everything here. We have the oceans, we have trails, lakes, rivers and great ski mountains and everything is available to us.
[17:54] SPEAKER_01: How do you balance work and how do you relax and not even think about work and what are your favorite activities to do here in BC? Do you ski? Do you bike, kayak, golf, hike or simply go for a drive?
[18:05] SPEAKER_03: I love to go for a drive in this province. It's amazing.
[18:11] SPEAKER_03: I do like in the winter. I just found it last year and it was quite exhilarating as just how we removed the date.
[18:19] SPEAKER_03: I learned to snowboard and I absolutely love it. But I also like to get out on the trails and I like to hike.
[18:27] SPEAKER_03: It's so amazing how much you can see and how much you can just go up and be in any place and time in this in the city.
[18:38] SPEAKER_01: Exactly. So if you weren't doing what you do now, what would you like to do for a profession?
[18:44] SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's cute. Well, I told my kids if this didn't work, I was going to open a doggie daycare.
[18:54] SPEAKER_03: Because then I could be surrounded by unconditional love all the time and how much cut I thought was what a better way to spend my day.
[19:02] SPEAKER_01: What kind of a job would you not like to do? Couldn't do it.
[19:08] SPEAKER_03: Although I feel that I'm still in the customer service industry, I don't think I could go back into being front-line customer service where I didn't have an option and I didn't really have it say.
[19:20] SPEAKER_03: I spent a lot of years as a cashier and I commend each one of those individuals that get up and do that job every day.
[19:27] SPEAKER_03: I don't think I can carry the stock close by anymore and stand out of the street as your traffic is over.
[19:35] SPEAKER_03: Those ones are pretty hard.
[19:39] SPEAKER_01: I see those people all the time and I say, after about an hour I'd probably wander off somewhere.
[19:45] SPEAKER_01: Where are you going? What's I supposed to stay here?
[19:50] SPEAKER_01: In business, what is your favorite word, quote, or sentence that you like to use?
[20:00] SPEAKER_03: Ah, one of my mentors said to me a couple of last years inside.
[20:06] SPEAKER_03: She said, are you playing to win? Are you playing not to win?
[20:12] SPEAKER_03: And I just kind of caught my head to the side and I realized that I don't want to play to lose anyone.
[20:18] SPEAKER_03: And by that, I mean, I guess, stay in my safe zone. I want to play to win.
[20:25] SPEAKER_03: And that's a big one that's fixed with me every day when I'm making my decision and it's easy for me.
[20:31] SPEAKER_03: I can get distracted, especially if I have some fear that I'm shutting into an area and easy to bail.
[20:37] SPEAKER_03: I can maybe go back and just help if they do work and I have to check every day.
[20:44] SPEAKER_03: Am I playing to win or am I playing not? And that one is fixed with me.
[20:49] SPEAKER_01: What is your least favorite word or sentence you do not like to hear?
[20:57] SPEAKER_03: I don't like to hear failure and I think it's because there's such a negative connotation that goes along with it.
[21:04] SPEAKER_03: I think we missed the opportunity to understand that without failure, we don't know how to get better and go forward.
[21:11] SPEAKER_03: It's what do we do with these opportunities? That's a big one for me.
[21:17] SPEAKER_01: If you had to pick one or two words to describe yourself, what would it be in why?
[21:28] SPEAKER_03: So selfishly, I've always kind of considered myself a modern day to you because I tend to inspire people to be and do that.
[21:38] SPEAKER_03: I think about that all the time.
[21:44] SPEAKER_03: It's inspiring people and giving them the opportunity to serve.
[21:52] SPEAKER_01: Okay. What keeps you up at night if anything?
[21:56] SPEAKER_03: Ah, where I'm going from here. Sometimes I feel like my brain just doesn't shut off and I feel like I'm 10 step ahead of where I need to eat.
[22:05] SPEAKER_03: It's wrangling myself back in to knowing that there's so much possibility and potential.
[22:13] SPEAKER_03: Especially when I'm next with a lot of my holly.
[22:17] SPEAKER_03: When they tell me how amazing this is what I'm doing and they can see me in the future, how busy I'm going to be.
[22:24] SPEAKER_03: I latch onto that and keep me awake all night because my brain just spirals out of control with what's coming up next.
[22:33] SPEAKER_01: Okay. I want you to give us the top three things on your inspired lifeless.
[22:37] SPEAKER_01: This could be a bucket list of any sort where you want to travel more, you want to write a book, philanthropy, TEDx talk, anything like that?
[22:45] SPEAKER_03: Definitely want to do a TEDx talk. I guess I've wanted to do like three years.
[22:50] SPEAKER_03: Even from the health and safety industry when I was in there doing my mental health training.
[22:55] SPEAKER_03: I guess if you want to do a TEDx talk.
[22:58] SPEAKER_03: I would love to travel. I don't think I necessarily even need to travel outside of Canada.
[23:06] SPEAKER_03: There's so much in this country that I haven't seen.
[23:11] SPEAKER_03: But I definitely bucket list feel want to make sure that this business allows me the family life that I have been gracious enough to have.
[23:23] SPEAKER_03: I still be in my children's life as they grow into young adults. That's very important to me.
[23:31] SPEAKER_01: Okay. Do you have any advice that you may have received that you can pass on to entrepreneur, sir?
[23:36] SPEAKER_03: The advice that I received was to all touch my stuff.
[23:47] SPEAKER_03: And really, you know, there's something to be said about having a really good self-care plan.
[23:54] SPEAKER_03: And that's not just the mental health person inside of me being able to juggle and take care of yourself.
[24:02] SPEAKER_03: Because I went from working 40 hours a week to working all the time.
[24:08] SPEAKER_03: And it's really easy for me to get up and work all day.
[24:12] SPEAKER_03: And making time to take care of yourself has to be a priority while you're trying to build yourself an amazing business.
[24:20] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we had Cheryl Cran on the show a couple of years back.
[24:23] SPEAKER_01: And she said that being an entrepreneur is a lot like being an athlete. What do you think about that statement?
[24:31] SPEAKER_03: Oh, absolutely.
[24:32] SPEAKER_03: Absolutely. Absolutely. You don't get down time. I think the way people think you can structure yourself.
[24:45] SPEAKER_03: But absolutely, if you're not working on yourself, nobody's working on yourself.
[24:50] SPEAKER_03: And as an athlete, if you're not in the gym or out on the trails or whatever it is that you are training for doing it, nobody's doing the work. It's all you.
[24:59] SPEAKER_01: Okay, Leslie, are you ready to have some fun?
[25:02] SPEAKER_03: Always ready to have some fun.
[25:04] SPEAKER_01: Great. Okay. Well, as you know, entrepreneurs are very, very busy people. We're always on the go. We're always connected with clients, staff, and we're always online.
[25:13] SPEAKER_01: But we're going to take you away from all that. There's a small chocolate island just off the Fiji that only has one phone booth there. There is no internet. This place does exist.
[25:21] SPEAKER_01: We're going to drop you off there. You won't have a computer or a smartphone or a tablet. You can use the phone booth located there any time to call the boat.
[25:29] SPEAKER_01: We'll come pick you up. How long would you last before you made that call? And what would you do while you were there?
[25:36] SPEAKER_01: Ooh.
[25:40] SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm definitely going to explore the island.
[25:46] SPEAKER_03: And see if there's anybody there.
[25:49] SPEAKER_03: I know if there's no Wi-Fi or anything. There's no way in half my children are going to follow because they're so connected.
[25:57] SPEAKER_03: I'm going to see what this island's got to offer. Get a little bit more adventurous with food.
[26:05] SPEAKER_03: Yeah. If there's locals, meet the locals. I'm very much an extrovert and interested in always meeting these people.
[26:13] SPEAKER_03: I'm going to call and slash myself around. I love it.
[26:18] SPEAKER_01: How long have you been last couple of weeks? More? Three weeks?
[26:24] SPEAKER_03: I'd probably give myself about six weeks and then I'd probably start to miss my family. And we'd be like, wow, this has been amazing.
[26:31] SPEAKER_03: I guess I'll come back because I know you're so connected to the Wi-Fi and everything. Yeah. Absolutely.
[26:39] SPEAKER_01: Okay, lastly, we're going to wrap things up. How can our listeners get hold of you? Is there anything you'd like to add before you leave us today?
[26:48] SPEAKER_03: You know, as an entrepreneur, just trust yourself. And every decision starts with trying. Try. Do it. Get out there. Meet people. You can do this. There's enough people out there that are willing to help you.
[27:02] SPEAKER_03: So, I don't think of failure as it's always an option because we can always learn from it. It doesn't have to be catastrophic. That's for sure.
[27:12] SPEAKER_01: Okay, Leslie, thanks for coming around the show. I've learned a lot about you and I'm sure our listeners have as well.
[27:18] SPEAKER_03: Thank you for having me. It's been amazing. Great. Okay. We'll see you next time.
[27:23] SPEAKER_03: Okay, thanks.
[27:27] SPEAKER_00: Hey there. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to the Vancouver podcast on the Canada Podcast Network.
[27:33] SPEAKER_00: We hope to enjoy this show today. Make sure you sign up for our new writers and write a review for us on iTunes.
[27:39] SPEAKER_00: And then connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn at Canada's Podcast. You can also check out what other entrepreneurs are doing across the country. See you next time.