Rebecca Rochon Discusses the Trends in Industries That Pivot & Pilot Creative Serve During COVID-19

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[00:00] SPEAKER_00: It's VanCouver's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:05] SPEAKER_01: Hello everyone, I'm Angela Faye, Hub Builder and co-host of British Columbia's Podcasts.
[00:12] SPEAKER_01: Part of the Canada's podcast network, we've sourced for great insights from entrepreneurs
[00:17] SPEAKER_01: from across Canada.
[00:18] SPEAKER_01: We talked entrepreneurs who are making it happen here so you can listen, discover and engage.
[00:24] SPEAKER_01: So Rebecca, tell me a little bit about yourself.
[00:27] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well I started my business pivot and pilot creative.
[00:31] SPEAKER_00: We're a branding agency, creative agency in VanCouver.
[00:36] SPEAKER_00: We focus on helping our clients and food beauty and wellness stand out and capitalize on
[00:40] SPEAKER_00: their first impression.
[00:42] SPEAKER_00: And we do that through branding, e-commerce, packaging design and ad campaigns as well.
[00:50] SPEAKER_00: So we've been doing that, we've been in business for five years.
[00:52] SPEAKER_00: I'm very active in the business community.
[00:55] SPEAKER_00: I'm really feeling bummed out about not having that many networking events to go to.
[01:01] SPEAKER_00: Not kind of thing, but podcasts are perfect for this type of environment.
[01:05] SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I'm part of a lot of like women's business groups as well as a few other entrepreneur
[01:12] SPEAKER_00: organizations.
[01:13] SPEAKER_00: And I love to do like speaking events as well as also like webinars and things like that.
[01:18] SPEAKER_00: We, I also, I guess on my own time, I do stand up as well as like improv and things like that,
[01:26] SPEAKER_00: which is also totally unhauled unfortunately.
[01:29] SPEAKER_00: But yeah, right now I'm just putting it all, just learning TikTok and trying to use that as
[01:34] SPEAKER_00: no.
[01:34] SPEAKER_00: I guess.
[01:36] SPEAKER_01: Tell me a joke, make me laugh.
[01:39] SPEAKER_00: That's what people say all the time, I don't know.
[01:42] SPEAKER_00: I mean, it'll come up in conversation, I'm sure.
[01:44] SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it's a, it's a weird time right now, yeah, for all those types of things.
[01:49] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[01:49] SPEAKER_00: All these things that I'm like, my identity is like, by the way.
[01:54] SPEAKER_00: But that's how I was in the pre- and pop-delictic world.
[01:58] SPEAKER_00: Now I'm just, yeah, working on my business from home and, and we're helping the clients that we
[02:06] SPEAKER_00: can help through the slow process.
[02:08] SPEAKER_01: Tell me a little bit about what was the lead up to five years ago in starting the business?
[02:14] SPEAKER_01: What's in your guts?
[02:16] SPEAKER_01: What's in your, in your blood?
[02:18] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I started as a, as a storyboard artist, I went to school for animation.
[02:24] SPEAKER_00: Because we had passionate about animation, grew up loving the way that you could
[02:28] SPEAKER_00: tell stories in a different way than you could with live action.
[02:32] SPEAKER_00: And I loved things like the simpsons and all that kind of thing growing up.
[02:37] SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to pursue animation.
[02:40] SPEAKER_00: I always have been more of a creative, I love working with creatives,
[02:46] SPEAKER_00: but I'm not necessarily the best draftsman, for example.
[02:52] SPEAKER_00: I'm much more focused on like storytelling and communicating through art.
[02:58] SPEAKER_00: And so, so I was a great fit for a storyboard artist, which is where you are,
[03:03] SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure if you know what that is, but it's, so in live action, you're filming things,
[03:07] SPEAKER_00: and you basically film a lot of content, and then you cut it down and edit it that way.
[03:12] SPEAKER_00: Whereas with animation, you're creating the content.
[03:15] SPEAKER_00: So it's much better to have a plan in place that's very thorough and approved before you start
[03:20] SPEAKER_00: building stuff, because it takes about, it's like 12 drawings a second when it comes down to
[03:26] SPEAKER_00: the actual animation.
[03:27] SPEAKER_00: So you don't want to waste time and energy on creating a scene, right?
[03:33] SPEAKER_00: So storyboarding really is rough sketches, I'm sure you may have seen it in old Disney,
[03:40] SPEAKER_00: behind the scenes footage, where there's a guy kind of looking at cue cards that a little
[03:44] SPEAKER_00: drawing sketches on them and he's acting out a scene.
[03:46] SPEAKER_00: So storyboard artists are essentially taking a script, and then we are the director,
[03:52] SPEAKER_00: the, or the cinematographer story, the actors in a lot of ways.
[03:56] SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we'll have scratch sound to work with, but we basically will be putting together a
[04:02] SPEAKER_00: scene and making kind of the broad choices or the acting choices.
[04:06] SPEAKER_00: So if you were to say, you know, a character came in the room and was like,
[04:08] SPEAKER_00: hello, you could have them enter in dramatically, you could have them say hello,
[04:14] SPEAKER_00: or they could be like, hello, or you know, so you're really putting in that piece.
[04:18] SPEAKER_00: Anyway, so after I did storyboard, storyboarding for a few years,
[04:23] SPEAKER_00: I then realized the industry just wasn't, there wasn't a lot of growth opportunity in the
[04:28] SPEAKER_00: industry at the time.
[04:29] SPEAKER_00: Why was that? What was the, what was the conditions?
[04:33] SPEAKER_00: It's going through a bit of a transition right now.
[04:35] SPEAKER_00: There's no union or anything like that like for actors or in the traditional
[04:39] SPEAKER_00: cinemat film industry.
[04:41] SPEAKER_00: And I think there's a lot of competition with overseas labor and that kind of thing.
[04:47] SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of grants and everything like that used for the industry here, but
[04:52] SPEAKER_00: and the government's really supporting it.
[04:54] SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to, and I think when it comes to, there's not as many rules in place.
[05:00] SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of things like overtime unpaid till like 12 a.m. or 1 a.m. and not getting any
[05:08] SPEAKER_00: overtime pay and things like that that were really just not great business practices, but
[05:13] SPEAKER_00: it was something that I guess they could get away with so they wanted to do it.
[05:16] SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it was, it just felt like when I spoke to the people that were in positions that I
[05:22] SPEAKER_00: would want to work towards, what they were being paid in hours. They were being asked to come in.
[05:27] SPEAKER_00: Just didn't make sense to me. Didn't really add up.
[05:31] SPEAKER_00: And I always wanted to start a business.
[05:34] SPEAKER_00: So I had a business for a while growing up called Garden Girls, where I mean my friends would just
[05:39] SPEAKER_00: garden for vocal community, yeah, if you want our community. And I also was a figure skating coach.
[05:47] SPEAKER_00: So I really had that kind of, I loved being in charge of my own schedule and
[05:52] SPEAKER_00: leading a team. And like I said, I think my strong suit really is about rounding up creatives and
[05:58] SPEAKER_00: understanding creatives and understanding and recognizing the difference between something that's
[06:02] SPEAKER_00: 80% good and 100% good and that that appreciation and understanding of the creative process
[06:09] SPEAKER_00: helps me to manage people that are essentially just better at design than iron.
[06:14] SPEAKER_00: So my business partner Alejandro, he is really the, everything you see from Pivot and Pellet is him.
[06:21] SPEAKER_00: He was also, he was working at a design agency, a small startup at the time, but I was working on
[06:27] SPEAKER_00: storyboarding. And we decided to come together and start a business because he wasn't able to get
[06:34] SPEAKER_00: full-time employment at that company. And he really needed that for his citizenship and applying
[06:38] SPEAKER_00: to stay in Canada. And then I was feeling quite lost in my situation as well. So we came together and
[06:45] SPEAKER_00: we were friends since all three university and we even lived together briefly at one point.
[06:50] SPEAKER_00: And so it was, it just made sense, it kind of flowed together and we started in my house and
[06:56] SPEAKER_00: we earned my apartment and solely built up our client base through friends. And we kind of like
[07:02] SPEAKER_00: spent the first year funding our portfolio really and just planned to make as much money as we
[07:08] SPEAKER_00: could but really just start to get grab grant base of work. And then solely built up our reputation
[07:13] SPEAKER_00: through connecting with people and moving it up that way. Tell me a little bit about that,
[07:21] SPEAKER_01: investing the year in building your portfolio because if I could just say, you know, as you're
[07:25] SPEAKER_01: starting up in a creative space, you know, the portfolio was so important because it's the only
[07:33] SPEAKER_01: thing that differentiates you from the next creative agency. And yet you don't have clients yet to
[07:40] SPEAKER_01: build up our portfolio. What did you do in that first year to build up our portfolio and how,
[07:45] SPEAKER_01: like, and why did it take that long? Tell me about that process a little bit.
[07:49] SPEAKER_00: Well, I really understood right away that my network at school was going to be more important
[07:57] SPEAKER_00: than anything I learned. So I'll hand it to myself. We're very, like, we're just social people in
[08:05] SPEAKER_00: general. But we really focused on leveraging that network in the first year. And we just talked
[08:12] SPEAKER_00: to all of our friends in our program and said, hey, this is what we're doing. Do you have any
[08:17] SPEAKER_00: family or friends that need any kind of design work? And then we just got a bunch of people that
[08:22] SPEAKER_00: needed it that way. And we can, and then that's essentially how we built our business too, by the
[08:29] SPEAKER_00: way, is just through continuing to build our network and talk to people and tell people what we're
[08:34] SPEAKER_00: doing, which can be hard sometimes for people to do what it is. But truly, I think, and I still
[08:40] SPEAKER_00: believe that the value of this education we got was really the people we met and the people that
[08:46] SPEAKER_00: we worked with. I mean, especially when it comes to Alejandro and myself, like, we wouldn't be
[08:50] SPEAKER_00: doing what we're doing if we didn't meet in university. So that was really important to us.
[08:55] SPEAKER_00: So we leveraged that group first. And then we didn't work for free or anything like that. But we did
[09:02] SPEAKER_00: have very competitive pricing. I think we were charging like $30 an hour or something like that
[09:09] SPEAKER_00: at the beginning. And we didn't undervalue ourselves, but we were also just being super competitive
[09:14] SPEAKER_00: in the marketplace. We didn't have an office or anything like that. So we weren't, we were pretty
[09:19] SPEAKER_00: flexible with our finances as well. There's not a lot of startup costs when it's service-based.
[09:25] SPEAKER_00: So we built it up that way. And as we did those projects, of course, if we were only getting paid
[09:30] SPEAKER_00: a certain amount now, we would have to adapt the scope of the project to fit that pricing.
[09:37] SPEAKER_00: And that hourly rate. But at the beginning, we just simply were like, we're getting some money,
[09:42] SPEAKER_00: and we're just going to blow it out of the water every time. And we're going to, you know,
[09:47] SPEAKER_00: make it big and make it a really great piece so that we have something that we can then go to
[09:51] SPEAKER_00: the next and get. So we built it up that way, not that it was free, but it was definitely a lot of
[09:57] SPEAKER_00: like unpaid hours of over, and we were also learning at the beginning, right? So it's fair. It's
[10:03] SPEAKER_00: fair for us to be spending a little bit more time on things. Now we're just so much more efficient
[10:08] SPEAKER_00: because we've been doing it for so long. And I think our pricing has grown with us, right?
[10:12] SPEAKER_01: As we help our business. Awesome. And let's talk about the sectors you're working in,
[10:19] SPEAKER_01: food, beauty, wellness. What trends are you seeing at the moment in each one of those?
[10:23] SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, with food, for example, that's a great one because right now,
[10:28] SPEAKER_00: well, it's a great one to talk about. It's not like, I think all business right now is quite
[10:33] SPEAKER_00: stalled. People are very worried about their finances right now. And or they're really doing
[10:38] SPEAKER_00: well, so they're very busy. So food is a perfect example of that dichotomy happening. So
[10:44] SPEAKER_00: there's the food packaging companies. So we specialize quite a bit in packaging design.
[10:49] SPEAKER_00: We not only help them stand out and look great on shelves and pop on that shelf, but also
[10:56] SPEAKER_00: helping them through the claims review claims are different in the US versus Canada. So we really
[11:01] SPEAKER_00: have to when we do a lot of work where we're bringing one product from one country to the other.
[11:06] SPEAKER_00: For example, there's things like translation or just policies that like Canada, we can't
[11:12] SPEAKER_00: have an image of a heart on a product that doesn't have heart benefits like omega-3 or things
[11:17] SPEAKER_00: like that. So there's all sorts of different rules and regulations. And then we also help them
[11:22] SPEAKER_00: through certifications like keto friendly or allergy free. If you want to be in, we also help them
[11:28] SPEAKER_00: through their branding and positioning. So with the certifications, we're also consulting them on
[11:33] SPEAKER_00: things like if they are going to be branded and positioned as like a lunch snack, then something
[11:40] SPEAKER_00: like getting certification, that's it's peanut free or peanut free is extreme rain and
[11:45] SPEAKER_00: important and integral to their success. So we, that's one piece and then we also help connect them
[11:51] SPEAKER_00: with the correct packaging manufacturers. Different products require different packaging for
[11:56] SPEAKER_00: shelf stability, but also so that it's has absurdified or anything like that. If you are pursuing
[12:02] SPEAKER_00: big contracts like Costco, but if you're going a boutique route, it's a little bit less important.
[12:07] SPEAKER_00: You can kind of get a glass jar and it works out okay. But all those things are considering
[12:12] SPEAKER_00: when we're thinking of our clients and we also really, I mean, sustainability is a big trend right
[12:17] SPEAKER_00: now. So some trends we're seeing in there is sustainability is big. There are some really cool
[12:24] SPEAKER_00: technology in terms of scanning packaging, just scanning the actual packaging to understand how
[12:30] SPEAKER_00: to categorize it in terms of recycling. So more AI is an advanced procedures are being put in
[12:38] SPEAKER_00: place for not only recycling, but also we're seeing AI used in a lot of other ways in the agro tech
[12:43] SPEAKER_00: actually. So that's another thing is through what we're seeing now with COVID, we're seeing both,
[12:50] SPEAKER_00: we're seeing some of our clients so for restaurants and things like that, it's very hard on them.
[12:56] SPEAKER_00: We've been doing a lot of like free updates to their websites to make sure that they can do takeout
[13:02] SPEAKER_00: things like that to support them in this time. And then on the other side is the packaged
[13:06] SPEAKER_00: services where they're just like flying off shelves, they're seeing unprecedented boosts and
[13:10] SPEAKER_00: sales at grocery stores. But we haven't really had much of an opportunity to get in touch with them
[13:15] SPEAKER_00: because they're just so busy trying to keep up with demand. And then, but I'm sure we'll start to
[13:20] SPEAKER_00: see some really cool new products and innovation with that kind of cash that they got on hand.
[13:25] SPEAKER_00: And then overall in agro tech, there's so much exciting things happening with vertical farming.
[13:31] SPEAKER_00: I think COVID is also bringing up a lot of conversation around or thoughts around sustainability
[13:38] SPEAKER_00: of the current globalization that we're living in in terms of like the way that the economy
[13:44] SPEAKER_00: is structured. We're all very reliant on shipping food from one place to another. We're really seeing,
[13:51] SPEAKER_00: there's technology and innovation coming up in place that would help to serve us better,
[13:57] SPEAKER_00: such as vertical farming, making sure that that would not only help in terms of sustainability,
[14:04] SPEAKER_00: but also just to meet demand and keep things a bit more local. So those are some big things
[14:10] SPEAKER_00: that we're seeing there. But it's very, and there's a lot going on. I mean, it's a crazy time.
[14:15] SPEAKER_00: It is a crazy time. All those trends might change next week, great.
[14:20] SPEAKER_01: When I think I can add, I've got a connection for you because one of the
[14:24] SPEAKER_01: fellows in my in the co-working space that I work at is, he has technology, they're little tiny
[14:30] SPEAKER_01: microchips and you know, you stick them on any kind of food or packaging product and it's a whole
[14:36] SPEAKER_01: consumer engagement process from farm to table. So if it was fish, for instance, you would know where
[14:41] SPEAKER_01: where they were farmed, which farmer caught it, right, or which fisherman caught it, which boat,
[14:48] SPEAKER_01: you could watch the distribution through blockchain being adding into the blockchain through
[14:54] SPEAKER_01: which store it was sold out of to where, and so, you know, the idea of mad cow disease that,
[15:00] SPEAKER_01: you know, eradicated the beef industry here in Canada a couple of times is that would be eliminated
[15:05] SPEAKER_01: because they would be able to go, oh, there's the source, there's the individual cow. So
[15:09] SPEAKER_00: yeah, there's a lot of them and traces of beef, four things like that for recalls and all that.
[15:15] SPEAKER_00: It's very, so that's really cool. Yeah, I'd love to. Yeah, I'll take that connection for you.
[15:19] SPEAKER_01: Tell me about wellness. How are things going into wellness side of things?
[15:23] SPEAKER_00: So wellness is hard, chiropractic and things like that are suffering. We do, we have
[15:29] SPEAKER_00: few medical aesthetics clinics and they're also on pause. Wellness is a tough one. We have a
[15:35] SPEAKER_00: pain management center that's supposed to be opening this year, but they're delayed significantly
[15:40] SPEAKER_00: because of renovations. It's tough to do renovations right now. Yeah, there's recovery clinics.
[15:48] SPEAKER_00: We haven't touched base with them, but they are probably seeing surge of addictive personalities
[15:54] SPEAKER_00: coming out of again. Yeah, but in terms of products like greens or supplements and things like
[16:02] SPEAKER_01: that, that's driving. As an interest, I was a part of a podcast,
[16:05] SPEAKER_01: COVID podcast, what's going to happen is, and when my buddy says futurist and he was talking about
[16:10] SPEAKER_01: food and potentially the idea that slow food, some food production and consumption will become slow,
[16:18] SPEAKER_01: right? The farm, the raw product, etc. The meal sharing, the, you know, will become almost more
[16:25] SPEAKER_01: of a luxury or more intentional. And then everything else that is really just lunch snacks on the fly,
[16:31] SPEAKER_01: the stuff where you're like, I just need to be full and have nutrients in my body right now.
[16:36] SPEAKER_01: We'll become pilform. The supplement idea will become a whole entire meal.
[16:41] SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm not working in either one of those spaces, but how that comes down to packaging,
[16:45] SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, and branding will be really important. Yeah, it's true. There's so much going
[16:50] SPEAKER_00: on food. There's so much going on in the food space right now. It's just, it feels like there are a lot
[16:55] SPEAKER_00: of people that are thriving in this environment and then, or there's not a lot, there's this
[16:59] SPEAKER_00: few small portion of people that are really, really thriving and then a lot of us that are not.
[17:07] SPEAKER_00: And then I feel very weird. I mean, like a very medium position where we're just kind of like,
[17:11] SPEAKER_00: well, we're scaled back a bit because like half of our clients are in a position where it's not,
[17:17] SPEAKER_00: it's not the time for them to be investing. And then there's the other half that are fine,
[17:22] SPEAKER_01: you know, so yeah, it's interesting. It's a, it's shipped. And I kind of say, you know, energy is the,
[17:28] SPEAKER_01: the only real currency because it does, it's indestructible, right? So that's a great thing.
[17:33] SPEAKER_01: Sure things are, right? Things are in, in maybe shut down mode or different systems and flow,
[17:38] SPEAKER_01: but we're still doing things. We're just doing things differently. And I'm,
[17:45] SPEAKER_01: unfortunately, one of the people that are going more in the curiosity about how we're going to land
[17:49] SPEAKER_01: and the better side of where we're going to land, it's not knowing how it's going to look is,
[17:56] SPEAKER_01: it's tough, right? That's that. How do you as entrepreneurs or as business people who are,
[18:02] SPEAKER_01: that's our life is dedicated to planning, you know, one year and then risk management.
[18:07] SPEAKER_01: Opportunities are popping up all over the place. Conversations are happening a lot.
[18:11] SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you could wait your guess, Rebecca, where are you going to be in five years?
[18:16] SPEAKER_00: Well, in five years, yeah, well, that's, it's a harder question now, like that. But I think in five
[18:22] SPEAKER_00: years, I just hope that we're continuing to, we were launching our YouTube channel soon.
[18:28] SPEAKER_00: We were going to launch it sooner, but we just weren't sure about the timing. We're going to
[18:31] SPEAKER_00: figure that out. I would love to have an established YouTube channel and more of a presence in terms
[18:39] SPEAKER_00: of like speaking events and that kind of thing. But in terms of our business, I hope that we're just
[18:44] SPEAKER_00: continuing with what we're doing now. We're going to see more and more of our products on shelves.
[18:48] SPEAKER_00: It's so exciting to see a packaging design when it's completed. I hope that, you know, we're a
[18:55] SPEAKER_00: leader in the e-commerce space as well, helping and I hope that we get, yeah, and I mean,
[19:02] SPEAKER_00: there's so many changes that are happening so rapidly, but yeah, more and more interested in the
[19:07] SPEAKER_00: agritek space and the, and yeah, seeing our items on shelves and maybe some awards and things
[19:12] SPEAKER_00: like that down the line could be fun. I like how things are. I don't plan to grow much, much bigger
[19:20] SPEAKER_00: in terms of our team. I love being boutique. I love having our niche and maybe we'll become more
[19:26] SPEAKER_00: and more niche into one of the, into one of the verticals. That's probably what, what, what I would
[19:31] SPEAKER_01: see happen. So on your YouTube, what, what is the messaging? What's like, it would it be you on
[19:38] SPEAKER_00: being one of key speakers on the YouTube channel? So we have two things. We have our pivot and pilot
[19:44] SPEAKER_00: conversations where we're talking to other people. Our YouTube channel focuses on how design
[19:51] SPEAKER_00: influences customer consumer behavior. And so that's our main topic. Okay. Alejandro and myself
[19:58] SPEAKER_00: will be doing, we'll have the conversations where we're talking, we've been doing live events
[20:04] SPEAKER_00: actually where we do panel talks. And now we would probably move more to like individual interviews
[20:10] SPEAKER_00: considering the climate now. But we did our last event literally the day before everything shut
[20:16] SPEAKER_00: down. So that was crazy. But we did our, yeah, we did our conversation panel about featuring
[20:22] SPEAKER_00: sustainable entrepreneurs. And they all created their own products that were sustainably focused.
[20:28] SPEAKER_00: And so the first part is the conversations. And then we also have our, and then some series.
[20:34] SPEAKER_00: So we talked about just other other fun facts that were, those are shorter videos where Alejandro
[20:39] SPEAKER_00: and myself are just going to be touching based on certain topics. So we have one coming out about
[20:44] SPEAKER_00: earning a bit attention versus demanding attention. And one about the difference between
[20:50] SPEAKER_00: US and Canadian policies in terms of packaging. Commitation of thinking and applied solutions
[20:56] SPEAKER_00: in their right. Yeah, like interviews with experts that are that we admire and then that's more
[21:02] SPEAKER_00: of a focus on them. And then we have our focus on us, which is our smaller videos about certain
[21:09] SPEAKER_01: nice that we're noticing. Now we're back here in Vancouver. Yeah. What do you love about it?
[21:15] SPEAKER_00: Well, right now I am loving that we live in a city where we have a beautiful sea wall. Yeah,
[21:20] SPEAKER_00: I just love that it's outdoorsy here and that they haven't shut down all those things. So we can
[21:25] SPEAKER_00: still go for hikes and we can still go to the beach if we're being respectful space obviously.
[21:32] SPEAKER_00: I love how it's a small city, but it's growing and booming so quickly. So that was a reason why I
[21:39] SPEAKER_00: am originally from Ontario and I was thinking about I did have to make that choice of do I stay here
[21:45] SPEAKER_00: or do I go home? And there is so much, and we do a lot of business in Ontario too for that reason,
[21:52] SPEAKER_00: but there's so much going on there, but it's very established and there's a lot. Whereas Vancouver
[21:57] SPEAKER_00: is growing a lot right now. So it was awesome too. It was a nice opportunity I thought to get into
[22:02] SPEAKER_00: a position where we're more well known in Vancouver and then grow business that way. But finally,
[22:08] SPEAKER_00: enough, our business is quite like we get a lot of we even have business in New Zealand and things
[22:13] SPEAKER_00: like that. So it's very it's not necessarily all done in person or in Vancouver. At the beginning,
[22:21] SPEAKER_00: that was the thought I had for sure. I just was really admired that, but Vancouver's cool and
[22:26] SPEAKER_00: there's a good for like the comedy stuff. There's a good comedy scene. A lot of support that way too.
[22:31] SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I mean, it's a good thing to be. So in that design thinking, if somebody wants to get a
[22:38] SPEAKER_01: little bit of insight on to how design affects consumer behavior, have any recommended readings or
[22:44] SPEAKER_00: you know, people can tap into. I really love the podcast 99% invisible. I think that one is
[22:51] SPEAKER_00: great and it's really more about design in general, but it really is about how design influences people.
[22:59] SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's more so I tend to just follow more businesses who are like specific to maybe packaging
[23:08] SPEAKER_00: or their thought leaders in terms of like social media and marketing. I follow a blog from like
[23:21] SPEAKER_00: back to kind of what you said earlier about like that loss of control kind of thing and all that.
[23:28] SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm an interesting entrepreneur in the sense that I don't really, I don't really have
[23:34] SPEAKER_00: that. I'm not really a I'm very like go with the flow and adaptive. We're very we're called pivot
[23:41] SPEAKER_00: and pilot because we're very adaptive. That type of thing doesn't cause me too much stress
[23:47] SPEAKER_00: and I feel like when it comes to the stuff that I'm consuming as well, it's really like a lot of what I
[23:54] SPEAKER_00: consume is just inspiring things or fiction or just things that kind of help me think beyond. I
[24:03] SPEAKER_00: don't know what the industry is right now. So I like to think of definitely people that are in
[24:10] SPEAKER_00: related fields rather than just like always consuming content that is totally about marketing.
[24:17] SPEAKER_00: I kind of find that my brain gets like fried from that and I find that we don't come up with like
[24:23] SPEAKER_00: solutions that are as creative that way maybe like if we're just following or hopping on the
[24:29] SPEAKER_00: latest trend, although we do have to be aware of those things, but it's definitely yeah, I think we're
[24:36] SPEAKER_00: interested in just learning about the industry from other business owners or from just keeping
[24:43] SPEAKER_00: tabs on the industry. I don't know if I answered that very well, but I could think about that more.
[24:47] SPEAKER_00: I wonder I have to think about a list of things that I listen to read because I it just like pops
[24:53] SPEAKER_00: up in your inbox and then you go like some days you have time for some days you don't eat on it or not.
[24:58] SPEAKER_00: But I'm very active in like terms of the like I find that probably the most stuff that I do is like
[25:05] SPEAKER_00: talking to people and going to events and webinars and things like that. Right now that's
[25:10] SPEAKER_00: something that I'm struggling with. So I have been turning more to like listening to podcasts and
[25:14] SPEAKER_00: reading some stuff. But yeah, I have to think about that one a bit. No problem. How can people
[25:21] SPEAKER_00: connect with you post on cast? I think the best way is LinkedIn or Instagram right now.
[25:29] SPEAKER_00: And through email I guess they're my website or website is pivotingpilot.com.
[25:34] SPEAKER_01: And I love the name pivot and pilot by the way. It's that whole it just kind of it just it feels like
[25:42] SPEAKER_01: what every sort of small business owner entrepreneur feels like right we're constantly pivoting
[25:48] SPEAKER_01: and but let's try and pilot our own plane to control the things that we can and don't worry too much
[25:53] SPEAKER_01: but the things that we can't is really kind of the mantra of existence right now.
[25:58] SPEAKER_00: Oh, completely. And that's what everybody's saying the word pivot and I'm just like, yep.
[26:03] SPEAKER_01: So I was like, I've got to talk to Rebecca. She just like the brand name, just embodied. So I think
[26:10] SPEAKER_00: everybody's feeling right now. So and it does and it does seek to our approach. I mean like
[26:15] SPEAKER_00: the planning for the future thing. I'm just I'm not that graded. I mean I have certain goals in
[26:24] SPEAKER_00: terms of yeah like I want to see our products on shelves and I have like kind of visions in that way.
[26:31] SPEAKER_00: I think it's really important to just stay adaptive and you never know what's going to happen.
[26:35] SPEAKER_00: And this is a this this time kind of really proves that. Yeah.
[26:40] SPEAKER_00: Before people thought maybe like, oh, that's kind of a weird philosophy but it's really like
[26:46] SPEAKER_00: it's true. I mean you never know what's going to happen in things at least for our business.
[26:50] SPEAKER_00: Like we've we've really thrived by going with the flow and taking the opportunities that excite us
[26:55] SPEAKER_00: and leaving the ones that are trading even if it seemed to be part of the plan or or something
[27:01] SPEAKER_00: like that. It's not that we don't have goals and plans like we do. We set those goals each year
[27:07] SPEAKER_00: and everything but I think in general I think it's better instead of goals to just focus on
[27:14] SPEAKER_00: values maybe. So a value based approach can be better for at least my mental health just to be
[27:21] SPEAKER_00: more like I want to make sure that in my business I always have room for my you know side things
[27:27] SPEAKER_00: that I want to do. I want to make sure in my business that I'm always happy to talk to our clients
[27:32] SPEAKER_00: like we're taking on that we're being picky about our clients and taking on the clients that
[27:36] SPEAKER_00: we vibe with and feel excited for and have a product that's innovative and exciting.
[27:43] SPEAKER_00: Yeah one of the things too that we focus on is that our clients that everyone needs to understand
[27:48] SPEAKER_00: that design can't do the heavy lifting for you like it's not a decorative practice what we're doing
[27:54] SPEAKER_00: it's really more about focusing on communicating who you are, who you're for and why you're different
[28:01] SPEAKER_00: in the most efficient and effective way and that is what design is and that's what our job is
[28:07] SPEAKER_00: and it's not you know a crappy product is not going to sell itself and no amount of design is
[28:13] SPEAKER_00: going to help. Not only does your brand have to shine through in terms of like standing out and
[28:21] SPEAKER_00: looking great but it also has to be consistent in terms of if you're promoting like a if one of
[28:26] SPEAKER_00: your brand values for example sustainability or diversity for example and you're you know
[28:33] SPEAKER_00: you're you're posting all these posts in market beautiful marketing with these diverse models and
[28:38] SPEAKER_00: their model they're eating your product and they're you know they're you're showcasing it that way
[28:43] SPEAKER_00: but then your staff isn't diverse and you aren't really sustainable in this practices.
[28:49] SPEAKER_00: Yes you're going to get canceled right? Yes. So it's very like that's what branding is it's
[28:55] SPEAKER_00: really finding a nailing down what your core values are and who you are so that you can be consistent
[29:01] SPEAKER_00: with your whole yeah effectively right yeah all of those things and then that's all of those things
[29:08] SPEAKER_00: working together to create that brand right we can communicate anything but if you're not living it
[29:13] SPEAKER_00: then it's not that you're going to get called out on it and it's not going to work so right we're
[29:18] SPEAKER_00: just finding what's existing in the brand and we're finding the best angles and the opportunities
[29:25] SPEAKER_00: within the brand and we're just bringing light to that and communicating that efficiently right
[29:29] SPEAKER_00: rather than making it glittery or making it or hopping on a trend so. Embellishment exactly.
[29:38] SPEAKER_01: Rebecca it has been such a pleasure thank you for joining us today best of health to you and your
[29:44] SPEAKER_01: family and crew thank you thanks for taking the time today to listen to British Columbia's podcast
[29:50] SPEAKER_01: on the Canada's podcast network we hope you enjoyed the show today make sure you sign up for
[29:56] SPEAKER_01: our newsletters and write a review for us on iTunes connect with us on Twitter, Facebook,
[30:02] SPEAKER_01: Instagram, LinkedIn or at Canada's podcast.com you can check out what other entrepreneurs are doing
[30:08] SPEAKER_01: across the country. I'm Angela Faye see you next time