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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_00: It's Toronto's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:05] SPEAKER_01: Hi everyone, I'm Phil Bliss of Business Visionary and welcome to Toronto's Podcasts.
[00:10] SPEAKER_01: Part of the Canada's podcast network, your source of the great insights from entrepreneurs
[00:15] SPEAKER_01: across Canada.
[00:17] SPEAKER_01: Today, I'm going to be talking with Victoria Peltier and a company's entrepreneur and
[00:23] SPEAKER_01: a company's co-consideration, a speaker and over and you know, she's going to have a lot
[00:30] SPEAKER_01: of exciting things for us to learn from.
[00:33] SPEAKER_01: Welcome Victoria.
[00:36] SPEAKER_01: Why don't you kick off by you know telling us a little bit about yourself and what you
[00:41] SPEAKER_01: do and you know, the kind of entrepreneur you are.
[00:46] SPEAKER_00: Great, thanks for having me really happy to be here.
[00:50] SPEAKER_00: So describing myself a bit about my background.
[00:53] SPEAKER_00: I lifelong business to business, technology and services leader.
[00:59] SPEAKER_00: I've been in and out of big corporates.
[01:02] SPEAKER_00: My entire career as an executive became an executive at 24 and what I would call an entrepreneur
[01:08] SPEAKER_00: within those organizations having built new business units, new products and service lines.
[01:14] SPEAKER_00: And I've always had the proverbial side hustle that has led itself into an entrepreneur through
[01:23] SPEAKER_00: both startup of companies as well as acquisition of some and now subsequently sitting on the
[01:29] SPEAKER_00: board of many and an investor.
[01:32] SPEAKER_01: That's cool.
[01:34] SPEAKER_01: I mean, can you give us you know some examples of that kind of side hustle thing in terms
[01:39] SPEAKER_01: of organizations that you're part of, you've invested in, et cetera.
[01:45] SPEAKER_01: You know, I mean, it's an interesting kind of situation that we don't really come across
[01:51] SPEAKER_01: too much, but I mean the active entrepreneur and the active corporate citizen.
[01:56] SPEAKER_01: Is it a dual life or I don't think you think it is, do you?
[02:00] SPEAKER_00: I don't.
[02:00] SPEAKER_00: I do a lot of talking around you know women in technology, women in leadership and asked
[02:05] SPEAKER_00: a lot around how do you balance it all?
[02:07] SPEAKER_00: And my first message is there's no work life balance.
[02:10] SPEAKER_00: It's just life.
[02:12] SPEAKER_00: And so when we talk about my corporate experience and my entrepreneurial experience, it really,
[02:19] SPEAKER_00: it is all one as it relates to sort of my career, my profession and my passions.
[02:25] SPEAKER_00: You know, so for me, the entrepreneurial side began very, very early and out of passion
[02:32] SPEAKER_00: quite honestly that then grew into a business.
[02:35] SPEAKER_00: So, and that's some of my career advice, you know, to whether it's even my kids who
[02:39] SPEAKER_00: ask me, what do I do when I grow up?
[02:41] SPEAKER_00: You know, it's following your passion.
[02:43] SPEAKER_00: So the earliest one for me in terms of an entrepreneurial venture was, you know, I have
[02:47] SPEAKER_00: a passion around health, wellness and fitness.
[02:49] SPEAKER_00: And one of those things was around natural, bath and body products.
[02:54] SPEAKER_00: So I somehow got interested during my, you know, very busy 70 hour a week job to coming
[03:00] SPEAKER_00: home in a bit of sanity was, you know, the artistic side making natural, bath and body
[03:05] SPEAKER_00: work products.
[03:06] SPEAKER_00: So, so it started by, you know, you can't make a single bar of soap, you know, you make
[03:11] SPEAKER_00: a batch.
[03:12] SPEAKER_00: And what became this personal hobby that grew into making presence for, you know, friends
[03:17] SPEAKER_00: at Christmas or other time grew into a huge business so called natural works where it
[03:22] SPEAKER_00: then became a huge production.
[03:23] SPEAKER_00: The family was involved, you know, nanny, my nanny even was involved in the whole process
[03:28] SPEAKER_00: at that point.
[03:29] SPEAKER_00: And that grew actually to full wholesale business selling it to retailers, et cetera.
[03:34] SPEAKER_00: I ended up selling it a number of years ago when I, when I moved out of country at the
[03:39] SPEAKER_00: time for work.
[03:40] SPEAKER_00: So that would be number one.
[03:42] SPEAKER_00: Number two is having a wholesale buy and sell business.
[03:46] SPEAKER_00: I am in an avid online shopper and I learned quickly and discovered, you know, suppliers
[03:52] SPEAKER_00: in China or other other parts of the world where I could buy and bring in.
[03:56] SPEAKER_00: Often they were products I personally liked and saw a market for and sold them.
[04:02] SPEAKER_00: And I will actually tell you it is that venture and the, you know, the profit that was gained
[04:07] SPEAKER_00: through that business, which I really did off the side of my desk, that was actually what
[04:12] SPEAKER_00: funded the acquisition of a company I made, a small company I made a few years ago in
[04:18] SPEAKER_00: cash as a result of that, you know, I'm a bit of a, you know, part of me from a corporate
[04:24] SPEAKER_00: standpoint, the reason I love the big corporate is there's big, big, hairy, complex challenges,
[04:33] SPEAKER_00: you know, that I'm solving for.
[04:34] SPEAKER_00: I've been through 18 mergers, acquisitions, you know, that, you know, created, you know,
[04:40] SPEAKER_00: so much learning and complexity.
[04:42] SPEAKER_01: It's a great experience to take out into your own businesses.
[04:47] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
[04:50] SPEAKER_01: So let's move on to a little bit.
[04:52] SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm actually really interested.
[04:54] SPEAKER_01: How the heck do you manage to live a corporate life?
[04:58] SPEAKER_01: You know, run these businesses as you said off the side of your desk and have kids and time
[05:04] SPEAKER_01: and a marriage and all of those kind of things.
[05:07] SPEAKER_00: How the heck do you do that?
[05:10] SPEAKER_00: So there's a few things I will tell you.
[05:12] SPEAKER_00: So first of all, you know, my, my mobile phone is an extension.
[05:17] SPEAKER_00: It's rarely disconnected to one of my hands.
[05:20] SPEAKER_00: You know, sad or not, but I live by my calendar.
[05:24] SPEAKER_01: That's why it looks a strange one.
[05:26] SPEAKER_01: I tell my not that it would be an end of the week.
[05:28] SPEAKER_00: That's right.
[05:29] SPEAKER_00: You know, so I'm, it's extreme discipline and time management is number one.
[05:35] SPEAKER_00: You know, the other is I've gotten very good at setting boundaries.
[05:40] SPEAKER_00: You know, so not only, you know, expansive ones in terms of setting lofty objectives and goals for myself,
[05:46] SPEAKER_00: how far do I want to go within those bounds, but also being very clear around the things that I'm going to say no to and really focused on understanding what brings value to me professionally,
[05:59] SPEAKER_00: whether that's my corporate world, my, the businesses I own and operate, the mentorship I do of other entrepreneurs and quite frankly, even personally.
[06:08] SPEAKER_00: So if it brings me no joy, there's no value in it, then I've got very good at learning how to say no.
[06:14] SPEAKER_01: So let's move to some more kind of regional things.
[06:18] SPEAKER_01: This is a national network.
[06:20] SPEAKER_01: So we're in Toronto or Greater Toronto, if you like GTA, what are the benefits of doing business here?
[06:27] SPEAKER_00: In Canada, it's so I'm a very proud Canadian.
[06:31] SPEAKER_00: I have lived and worked, however, in each of Canada and the US.
[06:35] SPEAKER_00: And there are distinct differences for sure.
[06:38] SPEAKER_00: I don't think anyone would dispute that.
[06:40] SPEAKER_00: You know, I love doing business with Canadians.
[06:44] SPEAKER_00: It's very, I'm a highly relationship driven leader.
[06:49] SPEAKER_00: You know, the way I approach life and business is, you know, recognizing that people do business with people they like and they trust and they want to do business with.
[06:58] SPEAKER_00: You know, and Canadians, you know, I've lived in New York and worked there and it's just it's a very different, you know, there aren't smiles necessarily on the subway while you're, you know, you're commuting, etc.
[07:09] SPEAKER_00: And so I enjoy that aspect.
[07:12] SPEAKER_00: That's actually what's enabled me to be as successful as I am.
[07:15] SPEAKER_00: I think it's because I've spent a significant amount of time focused on building relationships.
[07:19] SPEAKER_00: And generally Canadians, you know, are incredibly open and accepting and will engage in those so easily.
[07:26] SPEAKER_00: So it makes it, you know, I approach, you know, any new relationship I'm entering into from a place of generosity and not breed.
[07:34] SPEAKER_00: I'm not there to immediately do the hard sell, but because we establish a relationship which is so easy to do, it naturally ends up in, you know, into us at some point, if not immediately down the road, being able to work together.
[07:49] SPEAKER_01: Entrepreneurs are creative. So, you know, we need to have great ideas.
[07:53] SPEAKER_01: How do you disconnect, recharge, you know, how do you get inspired because, you know, we're grinding along with the corporate world or our own businesses or whatever.
[08:04] SPEAKER_01: How do you manage to take time to find that spark, if you would?
[08:10] SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'll tell you one of the most sacred times for me is actually my gym time in the morning.
[08:17] SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm not, I'm not big on meditating or yoga or quiet time because I find it hard to calm and quiet the brain period.
[08:25] SPEAKER_00: But so I blocked my calendar in the morning. I found people were booking me for very early morning meetings and I said, no, no, like I get up at 430 or 5, depending on what my first meeting of the day is.
[08:37] SPEAKER_00: And I work out at the gym, headphones on, I kind of vacillate between podcasts, which I do love listening to and music.
[08:45] SPEAKER_00: And in between sets or even while I'm working out, like that's the moment where these great ideas come.
[08:51] SPEAKER_00: So I'll find out to just finish. I'm a heavy like I do a lot of weight training, you know, a minute or so between sets, you'll catch me on my phone because I'm emailing myself a reminder that I need to follow up on this or do that or I have this great idea that I want to research a little more.
[09:04] SPEAKER_01: You know, you're great because you've got this corporate thing and this entrepreneurial thing.
[09:10] SPEAKER_01: One of the best things about being an entrepreneur, you know, why are you just happy here?
[09:16] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's for me. It's, I mentioned earlier, you know, that in the corporate setting, it's this, you know, massive, you know, really, really complex and hairy with, you know, managing thousands of, you know, of individuals.
[09:29] SPEAKER_00: And so that satisfies one side of, you know, my appetite, but the other side, you know, is the ability to be nimble to make decisions quickly to test and act ideas and see how well, you know, they're, they're, they're going to be received by the market.
[09:48] SPEAKER_00: That's incredibly difficult to do in most large corporate organizations. So being an entrepreneur, you know, enables me, you know, to do that to, you talked about sort of being creative.
[10:01] SPEAKER_00: And I view a lot of it around creativity, right? Working very directly on marketing materials for the products and services, you know, that, you know, I would buy or I think that there's a market for, you know, that, whereas in a corporate world, you know, I've got a whole marketing team who does that.
[10:17] SPEAKER_00: And I might not actually be able to play in that space. So I have, for me, it's the best of both worlds, the complexity and challenge of this massive organization that I aspire to build my own business to, but in the meantime, having a smaller business or businesses, that it can be involved in and feel like I, you know, derive immediate near term value. And just I get so much joy out of.
[10:41] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I get that. I get that. What do you think is maybe you can pass on a couple of gems is a fad right now, you know, that people should be should be aware of, you know, and not get not go too far down that road because you, you're seeing stuff at the corporate side and they do tend to get involved in, in facts and they're not very productive.
[11:06] SPEAKER_00: I don't know that it. So they're all say, so there's a massive skills gap and one that's the trains coming hard and fast, which is from a corporate perspective, we need to be prepared for, but actually serves incredibly well for from an entrepreneurial perspective.
[11:23] SPEAKER_00: And even for those who are looking to move towards that path, the whole notion of side hustle, the gig economy, right, and how we need to be prepared for that.
[11:31] SPEAKER_00: I don't think in the many corporates are not yet prepared for how they're going to address that. So it's not a fad. It's just something that's coming that there might be, you know, near term fads in terms of what they're looking to do to address and supplement with a gig economy.
[11:48] SPEAKER_00: But then on the entrepreneurial side, it's, how do you, how do you capitalize on that? I think there's an incredible market around that. So when you look at, you know, kind of how do you transform that talent and the needs of organizations with some of these, you know, niche skills that are coming down the pipe, you know, would definitely be one good.
[12:08] SPEAKER_01: You do the entrepreneurial thing, making a challenge and opportunity.
[12:12] SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
[12:16] SPEAKER_01: What's the greatest challenge you faced today in business, personal and business, I'm not sure maybe somebody can separate them. I'm not sure.
[12:26] SPEAKER_00: It's hard to separate. I think, you know, the biggest challenge and this comes on the corporate side that, you know, as an entrepreneur, you until you go public, you know, you don't have some of the same challenge.
[12:36] SPEAKER_00: So I worked for mostly very large global publicly traded organizations who, you know, are very focused on quarterly results.
[12:47] SPEAKER_00: And that for me is, you know, it's a necessary evil, but at the same time, it challenges a little bit of that sort of values system.
[12:57] SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned earlier, my focus on relationships Simon Sinak has a new book called the infinite game, right? And business is an infinite game.
[13:07] SPEAKER_00: And in these large corporations who look at quarter to quarter results and the short term gets prioritized sometimes over the longer infinite game.
[13:17] SPEAKER_00: So for me, that's a challenge between, you know, we do the right thing by our clients. If we want to be their trusted advisor and build relationships with a long term where they're going to continue to want to buy directly from you, then it's this very fine line between serving the needs of the shareholders and the organization itself with those, you know, that are buying from you.
[13:42] SPEAKER_00: So that's the one that I'm going to be able to do. It's that that constituents. So that for me is always been a challenge because I don't often like the trade offs that it feels as though we're forced to to make.
[13:53] SPEAKER_00: So from a leadership perspective, that's one I've been pretty vocal line, you know, that I think the, you know, focused on that longer term infinite game, you know, well, ultimately lead to greater success.
[14:05] SPEAKER_00: But a challenge in that environment for sure.
[14:09] SPEAKER_01: What are the top three things on your bucket list vision board, whatever you want to use at the moment?
[14:17] SPEAKER_00: Top three things. Well, I had one that I had to cross off a few years ago, which was to make the top 40 under 40 and they stopped it for a few years and then brought it back after I turned 40.
[14:30] SPEAKER_00: So, but the next one would be I want Ted talks to come to me. I want to stand on that stage.
[14:37] SPEAKER_00: You know, big one, you know, and deliver and talk about sort of my journey around being unstoppable. One of my models is no hash tag no excuses.
[14:46] SPEAKER_00: I sign a lot of my, you know, social media posts. So that would be a big one.
[14:51] SPEAKER_00: And in ultimately, I'd love to, you know, become CEO of, you know, significantly larger organization than those I've been CEO owner, you know, of in the past.
[15:03] SPEAKER_00: Whether that again be in the corporate world or, you know, an entrepreneurial venture through acquisition or organic road.
[15:10] SPEAKER_01: When you're faced with an unexpected challenge, how do you typically handle them?
[15:15] SPEAKER_00: It's funny. Despite being very type A and I talked about living by my, you know, calendar and schedule and just all of that discipline.
[15:22] SPEAKER_00: At the same time, I also, there's a lot of a go with the flow and there's a little bit of gut feel on that.
[15:29] SPEAKER_00: So for me, I am years ago, sadly, my, my, my ex passed away and we had shared custody of our children.
[15:39] SPEAKER_00: And I was traveling significantly. I was in a role that was based in New York, but living in Toronto.
[15:47] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, after my ex passed away, I had no one to watch my, my children when I traveled for work.
[15:53] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, so that for me was, I was, I was 18 months into, actually, a year into the role.
[15:59] SPEAKER_00: I left after 18 months with that organization because I needed to make it a very tough decision.
[16:06] SPEAKER_00: And at this point, here's one of those where you know, doing the right thing is a balance between the needs of your family and loved ones and the personal needs you have with those professionally.
[16:16] SPEAKER_00: You know, so for me, it was time to take a very deep breath and assess what's really important to me.
[16:23] SPEAKER_00: And first and foremost, my children, you know, so I needed to make a choice.
[16:27] SPEAKER_00: They were 13 and nine at the time.
[16:30] SPEAKER_00: So after about six months of trying to navigate within that organization, I was at at the time to find a new role with less travel or in a different location.
[16:38] SPEAKER_00: I ultimately made the decision to leave.
[16:42] SPEAKER_00: Coming back to Canada, it was a smaller size and scale by nature of our, you know, the size of our country.
[16:48] SPEAKER_00: But it gave me what I needed, what my children needed for me at the time to be home with them much more, you know, to focus on them.
[17:00] SPEAKER_00: You know, dealing with that kind of adversity meant, you know, a lot of inward reflection and being comfortable that I was stepping off the path I had planned for myself for a period of time to do what was right by back to sort of that living more much more holistically, you know, around that focus and what was going to be the best for all.
[17:20] SPEAKER_01: What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
[17:23] SPEAKER_00: Long before Brunei Brown became, you know, famous for her vulnerability research and talks, I was actually told by a leader that his words to me were, you know, as Victoria, it is okay to be vulnerable.
[17:39] SPEAKER_00: And I realized because I became a senior leader in an executive at such a very early age, I wore a mask.
[17:49] SPEAKER_00: I wasn't my authentic self in a professional setting.
[17:52] SPEAKER_00: And so there was a view of me by many of my colleagues were being super, my nickname was the iron maiden quite frankly.
[18:01] SPEAKER_00: And yet I'm my best friend calls me turtle right tough exterior, but I'm a marshmallow on the inside and so learning that that's how others viewed me.
[18:11] SPEAKER_00: That that was an instant moment for me to stare at myself in the mirror and say like I need to change the way I'm leading and be the type of leader that I want to work for.
[18:22] SPEAKER_00: So having him tell me that it was okay to be vulnerable and hearing I had this nickname I wasn't proud of that for me is the best advice I've ever gotten because it almost instantly was now it was hard to change some of those behaviors.
[18:36] SPEAKER_00: But I made a I made the switch, you know, in a change to become a very different leader and I think that's helped me because it also not just in terms of how I lead teams and lead within an organization, but going back to the relationships.
[18:49] SPEAKER_00: How I engaged authentically and building net new relationships as well.
[18:55] SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's go for some rapid fire questions. If you don't we're doing what you were doing now, what would you be doing?
[19:03] SPEAKER_00: I'd be involved in the fitness world somehow. I don't know if I'd be a trainer, but doing something because I love it.
[19:09] SPEAKER_01: You obviously like reading what book are you currently reading?
[19:12] SPEAKER_00: I just finished Simon Sinek. I've heard I've listened to him his his book on the infinite game. I'm currently still listening to Michelle Obama's becoming I tend to be a bit scattered.
[19:24] SPEAKER_00: So I always have like two, three books going at a time.
[19:28] SPEAKER_01: Someone was do that.
[19:29] SPEAKER_01: You were mourning or a night person.
[19:34] SPEAKER_01: Morning by far seems to be the thing for entrepreneurs. It's kind of 80 20.
[19:41] SPEAKER_01: If you had to pick and you've come to this a little bit, but just one word to describe yourself. What would it be in why unstoppable is my word.
[19:50] SPEAKER_00: I come from a very, very difficult childhood and youth. I was in a child welfare system prior to being adopted and have overcome a lot of adversity.
[20:01] SPEAKER_00: Yet my mindset is that nothing is going to stop me.
[20:06] SPEAKER_00: And so I live very much.
[20:08] SPEAKER_00: I don't think my children love it because the no excuses mind that they don't like to hear.
[20:13] SPEAKER_01: Is anything keeping you off with my brain?
[20:16] SPEAKER_00: I'm now.
[20:18] SPEAKER_00: This is you know again being in my 40s. I need to use the washroom in the middle of the night now.
[20:23] SPEAKER_00: And then when I go back to bed, I can't shut it off.
[20:26] SPEAKER_00: So it tends to be just constantly, you know, going.
[20:29] SPEAKER_00: So it's not there's no kind of stressful moment per se that keeps me up but rather just, you know, how do I continue at this pace and get everything done that I want.
[20:40] SPEAKER_00: So that literally will keep me up a night.
[20:43] SPEAKER_01: What's your favorite place in the world?
[20:46] SPEAKER_00: Two, New York and Paris. Love them. Love them.
[20:50] SPEAKER_01: What are three non-negotiables that have to happen in your morning routine?
[20:54] SPEAKER_00: I mentioned my workout. That's number one.
[20:58] SPEAKER_00: Oh, probably our last couple of years. It's watching the news in the in the morning.
[21:04] SPEAKER_00: I used to not enjoy that so much but now I'm a bit of a fiend in watching and listening to podcasts.
[21:11] SPEAKER_00: And I'm a massive music fan so although it's coupled with the first one around my workouts, getting that getting that in as well and getting me getting me moving.
[21:21] SPEAKER_01: This is the kind of funny one that we end up with.
[21:24] SPEAKER_01: There's a small tropical island in the middle of the ocean with only one phone booth and no internet.
[21:30] SPEAKER_01: We drop you off there with no technology. You don't get laptop.
[21:33] SPEAKER_01: You can always use the phone booth to call us and we'll come and get you.
[21:38] SPEAKER_01: How long would you last before making that phone call? And what would you do?
[21:42] SPEAKER_00: Four or five days. And I will tell you why four or five days.
[21:47] SPEAKER_00: So I do love I love traveling. You mentioned earlier, you know, that you know that I'm a traveler.
[21:52] SPEAKER_00: And one of my trips per year at least is typically to go somewhere south, to go somewhere warm and to sit on a beach and not live by any schedule.
[22:02] SPEAKER_00: However, even though I almost always book a seven day trip after four or five, I'm done.
[22:09] SPEAKER_00: That's all I need. That's kind of the number to recharge me and to go.
[22:12] SPEAKER_00: And I think at that point, I would go a little bit crazy and need to get out.
[22:18] SPEAKER_01: Victoria, thanks for coming on. That was a really good interview.
[22:22] SPEAKER_01: And I always like, you know, we've got lots of people that listen to one that you spark something with and they want to connect with you.
[22:28] SPEAKER_01: How can they find you online?
[22:29] SPEAKER_00: Sure. So I do have a personal website, which is Victoria Peltier dot me.
[22:35] SPEAKER_00: But I'm also very prolific on LinkedIn, large contributor there.
[22:41] SPEAKER_00: So if you Google me, I'll come up as the top hit for Victoria Peltier and likely it'll take you directly to my LinkedIn.
[22:49] SPEAKER_01: Thanks for coming on the calendar spot. And you know, hopefully you we might see you again soon.
[22:55] SPEAKER_00: Sounds good. Thanks for having me.
[22:57] SPEAKER_01: Thanks everyone for taking the time today to listen to Toronto's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[23:04] SPEAKER_01: I hope you enjoyed the podcast today.
[23:06] SPEAKER_01: Make sure you sign up for a newsletters or write a review for us on iTunes.
[23:11] SPEAKER_01: You can connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or at CanadaSpotcast.com
[23:17] SPEAKER_01: where you can listen, discover and engage.
[23:20] SPEAKER_01: You can also check out what other entrepreneurs are doing across the country.
[23:23] SPEAKER_01: We'll see you next time.
