Canada’s Podcast Host Mario Toneguzzi Reflects on His Time in Quarantine with COVID-19

Transcript

Full transcript page · Interactive episode

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

[00:00] SPEAKER_00: It's the Canada's podcast network.
[00:30] SPEAKER_01: Fancy being on the other end of that, you know, we're usually
[00:34] SPEAKER_01: interviewing entrepreneurs, but you get to be the entrepreneur and you can
[00:39] SPEAKER_01: also just those everyone knows just being experienced in first hand
[00:44] SPEAKER_01: COVID-19 and all of the issues. So, you know, over the last two weeks you've
[00:51] SPEAKER_01: been experienced all kinds of things. I'd love to get some of those experiences
[00:54] SPEAKER_01: out to people. But first of all, tell us a bit about yourself,
[00:58] SPEAKER_01: how you became an entrepreneur. You're just so background
[01:02] SPEAKER_01: that a lot. So, people will know you better. Okay, quick story about myself
[01:06] SPEAKER_00: graduated from Carlton University in 1979 with a
[01:10] SPEAKER_00: journalism degree and moved out west. I'm actually born and raised in Ottawa.
[01:16] SPEAKER_00: moved out west and worked with Nelson BC.
[01:21] SPEAKER_00: The Nelson Daily News. I was sports editor there from 1979 to 1980.
[01:27] SPEAKER_00: And then 1980, I made the journey up north to Calgary and
[01:33] SPEAKER_00: joined the Calgary Harold and was there for 35 years.
[01:39] SPEAKER_00: Basically covered everything. Everything from sports to
[01:43] SPEAKER_00: business to lifestyle to news. Did a little stint on parliament Hill,
[01:50] SPEAKER_00: covering public federal politics for a while there. So, yeah, so
[01:55] SPEAKER_00: thereforth and in many different roles as a writer, a columnist, an editor,
[02:00] SPEAKER_00: all the type of stuff. Four years ago as part of the post-media purge across the
[02:05] SPEAKER_00: country of old newspapers, I was lit off and sent me in a different direction.
[02:12] SPEAKER_00: One that I was not expecting to go on. You got that? Oh, I must be an entrepreneur.
[02:21] SPEAKER_00: It's funny, right? Because I learned at that time. It's funny.
[02:28] SPEAKER_00: Newspapers just in my blood. And of course, for basically 40 years.
[02:34] SPEAKER_01: I grew up on the other side of media, but writing, you know,
[02:37] SPEAKER_00: going to commentate that. Yeah, and that's all I thought, you know, I would ever do.
[02:44] SPEAKER_00: But being laid off forced me to think. And you know, I have to, the one good thing that
[02:51] SPEAKER_00: happened out of that is, you know, my company, the Harold, at that time, gave me this transitional
[02:56] SPEAKER_00: period, right, where I had access to different resources. And remember, going through a couple of
[03:02] SPEAKER_00: sessions within an HR type person who made me focus on what skills I had. And that was the
[03:11] SPEAKER_00: beginning of changing the mind of what I could do, right? And no longer was I thinking that,
[03:19] SPEAKER_00: oh, geez, all I can do is work for a daily newspaper, right? Because those jobs are few and far
[03:25] SPEAKER_00: between now. But it opened my eyes to focus on what are my skills, what are the resources I have,
[03:32] SPEAKER_00: how can I use those skills in different ways? You know, we were talking just before this about
[03:38] SPEAKER_01: the podcast featuring, you know, how entrepreneurs are responding to COVID in the 19 units and really
[03:45] SPEAKER_01: interesting perceptions on four years ago. And today kind of thing. And that sort of maybe there
[03:54] SPEAKER_01: was some similarities. Maybe you can go through that. Yeah, it was kind of reflecting on that in the
[03:59] SPEAKER_00: last couple of days about my personal experience and journey and what I learned and what
[04:05] SPEAKER_00: businesses today can learn. And, you know, to use and often quoted cliche, I guess, now it's
[04:14] SPEAKER_00: everybody is quote unquote pivoting, right? And well, I shouldn't say everybody. The ones who can
[04:20] SPEAKER_00: are the businesses. So, so you're reading and seeing a lot of businesses that are, you know,
[04:27] SPEAKER_00: say they're clothing companies and they're making masks now. And some of them are selling them,
[04:33] SPEAKER_00: some of them are doing it as a charitable thing. You're seeing companies, many companies,
[04:38] SPEAKER_00: especially in like the brewery and distilling area, making hand sanitizers, right? And selling them.
[04:47] SPEAKER_00: So, so a lot of companies have gotten that concept that, you know, the go away from that tunnel
[04:54] SPEAKER_00: vision of this is what we do. This is what we've always done to look at, okay, one of our skills,
[05:01] SPEAKER_00: what are our resources? You know, what can we do at this time to quote unquote pivot? And,
[05:09] SPEAKER_00: and I think the successful ones and then, you know, the successful ones are going to be the ones
[05:14] SPEAKER_00: that do that, but also kind of tweak what they do, whether that is a, I don't know, a restaurant that
[05:23] SPEAKER_00: has lost its dine in sales, but now are going crazy, you know, with a take out and delivery
[05:30] SPEAKER_00: services, that type of thing. That's what companies and businesses really need to do.
[05:35] SPEAKER_00: Kind of as I said, look, what I needed to do four years ago.
[05:38] SPEAKER_01: It's interesting when you've been in, in quarantine for two weeks.
[05:44] SPEAKER_01: One, actually, yeah. We are outputs, we're brilliant.
[05:48] SPEAKER_01: I haven't been able to ask that's normal for you or is that, is that sort of you kind of being
[05:55] SPEAKER_01: in a situation where you're forced to deal with things differently?
[06:00] SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, the thing is, is with my situation health wise, I've been good, except for the
[06:08] SPEAKER_01: first three days where I had, yeah, you were pretty rough those first three four days.
[06:11] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, first three days were rough with fever and cough, etc. It's not right now. I just have this
[06:15] SPEAKER_00: cough and then for people, I'm not sure when you're airing this, failed, but, you know, today is
[06:21] SPEAKER_00: Monday, April 14th or 13th, sorry. And so as of now, I still have it. I'm into more than three
[06:30] SPEAKER_00: weeks being quarantined. I was given a positive diagnosis on March 27th. And so since that time,
[06:40] SPEAKER_00: I've been under quarantine. But, and not able basically to leave my room for that period of time.
[06:49] SPEAKER_00: So I got a lot of time on my hands, right? And not being physically unwell has given me the
[06:57] SPEAKER_00: opportunity, okay? But at the good use, do a lot of work. There's only so many of those old shows
[07:03] SPEAKER_00: that I can watch, right? I was watching the old Beverly Hill Bellies for exact fun.
[07:11] SPEAKER_00: So there's only so many of those I can watch, right? And so I tend to instead do a lot of work.
[07:19] SPEAKER_01: So you get this hit on it a little bit, you know, but I mean, there's no question. I mean, you know,
[07:24] SPEAKER_01: you're very much a business reporter in the past. But I know you've done other things, but you've
[07:30] SPEAKER_01: done a lot of business stuff. And you know that the business is being devastated. I don't think
[07:36] SPEAKER_01: people really realize it yet. I don't think I really don't think it's out of the bag just how bad
[07:42] SPEAKER_01: it is. Is there still a line in coming out of this?
[07:46] SPEAKER_00: You know, that's a really, really interesting question. And I think I'll go back a few years
[07:54] SPEAKER_00: ago when we had the recession. And I remember a guy here in Calgary, he's a videographer. He put
[08:04] SPEAKER_00: up a website. And I think it was called In It Together. He put up a website. And he had comments
[08:10] SPEAKER_00: from all sorts of different prominent businessmen in Calgary about going through a recession,
[08:17] SPEAKER_00: you know, the mayor as well, etc. And I remember to this day, there was a comment there, like a
[08:24] SPEAKER_00: short video clip of a guy named Jim Gray, for those out there that don't know who Jim Gray is,
[08:30] SPEAKER_00: is a prominent businessman in Calgary, one of the kind of mavericks and key iconic leaders in
[08:39] SPEAKER_00: the oil patch, etc. Very well and philanthropist, very well respected guy. And what he said was
[08:45] SPEAKER_00: sometimes recessions are good things because they force companies to look at what they do and how
[08:53] SPEAKER_00: they operate. In good times, companies spend money like crazy, right? No cares at all, right? Because
[09:01] SPEAKER_00: money is flowing in like crazy, right? But he said in recessions, that makes them stop and think
[09:06] SPEAKER_00: and look at their operations. And in some ways, I guess this is the same thing right now, right?
[09:12] SPEAKER_00: For many companies, like, you know, is your business model, you know, good? Is it viable? You know,
[09:20] SPEAKER_00: what kind of soup I'm not even going to pronounce out words, but extra costs are there out there.
[09:27] SPEAKER_00: You really don't need to do. Yeah, granted, you know what? It's going to be devastating. And I
[09:33] SPEAKER_00: don't think people have a handle, you know, mentally of how bad this is going to be for a lot of
[09:41] SPEAKER_00: businesses. You see it coming out here and there, you know, closure, you know, permanently closed,
[09:47] SPEAKER_00: etc., etc. But the longer this goes, you know, all those small mom and pop shops, etc., they just
[09:55] SPEAKER_00: can't afford. They don't have the cash flow to continue on and they don't have the liquidity
[10:00] SPEAKER_00: to continue on, right? And they're just going to say so long. You know, I know, only,
[10:07] SPEAKER_01: you know, the things of the government, fads, I'm provincial, maybe you're just thinking,
[10:11] SPEAKER_00: I help you think? Well, see, that's the thing, right? And what I hear all the time now from
[10:16] SPEAKER_00: the business community, they're not looking for loans, right? Because then that's another
[10:22] SPEAKER_00: mass of debt that they're going to have on their hands. That's doesn't solve their problem, right?
[10:29] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, maybe you'll keep them afloat initially, but, you know, there just needs to be other things
[10:35] SPEAKER_00: looked at, well, you know, from their perspective, you know, in terms of taxes and all that stuff,
[10:41] SPEAKER_01: right? And Chantabidi C, I'm a Fraganders podcast, CFIB. And, you know, from those conversations,
[10:48] SPEAKER_00: there's only kind of perspectives you can pull from them. I think a lot of it, you know, as it said,
[10:55] SPEAKER_00: like CFIB has been one of these organizations that have been very vocal and strong out there.
[11:02] SPEAKER_00: And they're talking about this whole issue about a loan as opposed to something else, whether it's,
[11:09] SPEAKER_00: I don't know, a grant, I don't know, or some mitigating, you know, property taxes,
[11:16] SPEAKER_00: you know, some stuff like that and rents and stuff. And they're all, they all say the same thing.
[11:24] SPEAKER_00: Anybody you talk to, it's a, the cash flow, whatever situation you're in, you've got to find
[11:31] SPEAKER_00: ways to get that cash flowing into your business to keep you afloat, right? Because of your
[11:38] SPEAKER_01: expenses, like rent and stuff like that. I think the biggest problem I see in it's not the first time
[11:45] SPEAKER_01: it's the fact is that, you know, if you attack wage earners that employed people and helped them
[11:53] SPEAKER_01: with salaries and EI, you're not really doing much for the people that own their own businesses,
[12:00] SPEAKER_01: aren't in that position. And therefore, they get no benefit from that. I mean, there seems to be
[12:05] SPEAKER_01: little or nothing that, I mean, first of all, the $40,000 loan, I mean, I don't know about any,
[12:12] SPEAKER_01: I don't know anyone that's been able to buy for it yet. We're waiting to do that on TD and it's
[12:17] SPEAKER_01: just not there. We can't do it yet. So those kind of things are, I mean, I know me to bitch,
[12:25] SPEAKER_01: but you hit these wall, you hit these crises and nobody, I mean, nobody plans for these kind of
[12:31] SPEAKER_01: things. Maybe that's what, what sort of we get coming out of it, that there is a pandemic process.
[12:38] SPEAKER_01: You know, the last one was, I guess, you know, 1919 with a Spanish flu. That was a long time ago,
[12:45] SPEAKER_01: but we don't seem to learn very much in the, you know, in the century in terms of preparation for
[12:52] SPEAKER_00: pandemics. Well, I guess there'd be a lot of lessons learned for, you know, for those businesses that
[12:58] SPEAKER_00: stay afloat and reopen when this is all said and done. I guess there'll be some lessons here about
[13:05] SPEAKER_00: how to prepare for the future, right? You know, in terms of, you know, what if we have another case
[13:14] SPEAKER_00: like this happening or something similar, whether it's a deep recession or whatever, you know,
[13:20] SPEAKER_00: you'll have, again, you have to look at your business model and your costs and your liquidity,
[13:27] SPEAKER_00: all that type of stuff with the eye of looking forward and preparing for the worst, right? I don't
[13:33] SPEAKER_00: think anybody ever does, you know, even in personal lives, I don't think people do, right?
[13:40] SPEAKER_01: I think you know, I mean, you may be the best, I'm sorry, I don't mean to embarrass you,
[13:46] SPEAKER_01: but you may be the best example in terms of working out of COVID-19, which is just to keep on working.
[13:55] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, to keep on doing shit, you know, and to keep on doing stuff to be creative, to do it maybe,
[14:01] SPEAKER_01: like you weren't doing it before, because I know you've been doing that. And I think, you know,
[14:07] SPEAKER_01: it's great to do your so much better than you were. So I think you have worked your way through it.
[14:13] SPEAKER_01: And maybe that's the silver lining out of it. We have to be like you, even though we,
[14:18] SPEAKER_01: fortunately, don't all have it, we've got a worker way, it's still affecting us all, you know,
[14:24] SPEAKER_01: and we've just got to work, put her head down, work hard, work creatively, and make it out on the
[14:31] SPEAKER_00: side. And you know what, Phil, I talked to a lot of businesses too, and you know, I said to
[14:40] SPEAKER_00: a couple of them recently, I said, this is not the time to turtle, right? Go in your shell,
[14:48] SPEAKER_00: even if your business is closed, right? One thing, start and reopen, etc. How is your business
[14:56] SPEAKER_00: going to reopen in this environment, right? If you have been shut down for X number of months,
[15:03] SPEAKER_00: nobody knows what's happening with your business, nobody knows what you're doing, etc. So this
[15:08] SPEAKER_00: is what I'm saying to people, this is not time to turtle. This is a time to tell people that,
[15:15] SPEAKER_00: hey, we're still there, hey, we're doing maybe something different, or we're responding in this way,
[15:22] SPEAKER_00: you know, say you're a food establishment. You know what, yeah, you can't come in and
[15:28] SPEAKER_00: dine in, but guess what, we've up to what we can do in terms of delivery and take-outs and all
[15:34] SPEAKER_00: of that stuff. That's what they have to do in terms of a marketing type thing, is that they have
[15:40] SPEAKER_00: to shout it out to people that, you know, we're not dead, you know, we're still here because
[15:46] SPEAKER_00: if they don't, they're going to be lost in the public mind going forward, right?
[15:52] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, you know, damn it, we're not going to go under, we're going to come back.
[15:57] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly. And also giving that positive message to people that, you know, what, we're here,
[16:04] SPEAKER_00: we're going to ride this out, we're going to come out of it, and we're going to go strong going
[16:09] SPEAKER_01: forward. I think that's about it, my friend, everyone kind of prolongs the thing, but it's great,
[16:16] SPEAKER_01: you've been, you've been to me an example of how to deal with the issue, I mean, being in the
[16:23] SPEAKER_00: same room for two weeks must be kind of scary. It's kind of nuts. It's almost like I've been on
[16:32] SPEAKER_00: a spiritual retreat on my own, but in my own house, I think. I don't know.
[16:39] SPEAKER_01: All right, and you know, thank you, we've all learned from you, you fellow host of
[16:44] SPEAKER_01: learning through me, and thanks for passing on some of your thoughts. And everyone, thanks,
[16:50] SPEAKER_01: so thanks for listening to kind of this podcast. Hope you gave you some ideas on how to make it
[16:55] SPEAKER_01: out on the other side. Thanks, Phil.