============================================================
TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
============================================================
[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:06] SPEAKER_01: Hi, this is Celine Williams, hosting for Montereo for Canada's podcast.
[00:09] SPEAKER_01: My guest today is known by audiences and the media as the unbalanced paddleboarder.
[00:15] SPEAKER_01: Mike Schorman is a motivational speaker, author, athlete, and one of Canada's top lifestyle experts.
[00:21] SPEAKER_01: He is an entrepreneur extraordinaire and spokesperson for several national nonprofit organizations.
[00:28] SPEAKER_01: Mike, thank you for being here with me.
[00:31] SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me, Celine. It's great to be here.
[00:35] SPEAKER_01: I am very excited about this.
[00:36] SPEAKER_01: So when we were connected, it turned out we had a bunch of awesome people in common.
[00:40] SPEAKER_01: So I'm extra excited because now more people get to be introduced to just how incredible you are.
[00:46] SPEAKER_01: So this is a pleasure for me. It's always nice when I get to be like,
[00:50] SPEAKER_01: oh, look at this wonderful person.
[00:54] SPEAKER_00: Pleasure. No, I saw your photo when the request came through and I was like, oh, we've worked with the same photographer.
[01:01] SPEAKER_00: He works with great people.
[01:03] SPEAKER_00: I know who he works with. So I knew it was going to be a lot of, I knew you were good people.
[01:08] SPEAKER_01: Well, I appreciate that.
[01:11] SPEAKER_01: I'd love to know a little bit about your story.
[01:14] SPEAKER_01: What got you to what you're doing now because motivational speaker, entrepreneur, spokesperson.
[01:21] SPEAKER_01: You have quite a few and an author I can see your book cover in the background there.
[01:26] SPEAKER_01: So you have quite a few really interesting and diverse things on your plate.
[01:30] SPEAKER_01: So I'd love to know a little bit about your story.
[01:33] SPEAKER_01: What got you to where you are now?
[01:34] SPEAKER_00: Right. So I think, you know, at the core of my story, I'm an entrepreneur.
[01:42] SPEAKER_00: I wasn't always that way. It happened. You know, it shows me.
[01:49] SPEAKER_00: I took a trip to India. I had an e-pray of experience.
[01:56] SPEAKER_00: I was running away from, you know, something running towards something else.
[02:01] SPEAKER_00: And while I was there, I had the light bulb moments of I want to have my own business.
[02:10] SPEAKER_00: I want to create something.
[02:13] SPEAKER_00: And I, you know, a few years earlier, I'd taken up paddle boarding as a sport as a hobby.
[02:21] SPEAKER_00: And I loved it.
[02:25] SPEAKER_00: And it was, you know, right around the time that the boom was happening, it still is.
[02:30] SPEAKER_00: It's the fastest growing water sport in North America.
[02:35] SPEAKER_00: And I knew, and I remember I was on the Ganges River.
[02:39] SPEAKER_00: And I remember just seeing these lotus flowers, like going down the Ganges and they had candles in them.
[02:46] SPEAKER_00: And I remember thinking, I want, I want that.
[02:50] SPEAKER_00: I want to light up the water.
[02:51] SPEAKER_00: I want those people.
[02:55] SPEAKER_00: I want people to be the candles. And I want the lotus flowers to be paddle boards.
[03:00] SPEAKER_00: And I want to create this big thing in Toronto that Toronto has never seen before.
[03:06] SPEAKER_00: And it would be, you know, experience, experiential based for consumers.
[03:13] SPEAKER_00: And, and like, came home and I built that.
[03:16] SPEAKER_00: And it was one of the biggest joys in my life.
[03:21] SPEAKER_00: You know, it was the first time, you know, was it, was it hard for you when you, when you became an entrepreneur?
[03:29] SPEAKER_00: I don't know what he thinks of bigger.
[03:31] SPEAKER_00: It was, it was like playing Tetris.
[03:35] Speaker UNKNOWN: Yeah.
[03:37] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[03:40] SPEAKER_00: But, but, you know, I, I think I, you know, I took marketing and public relations in college.
[03:46] SPEAKER_00: I, I went into it's very, you know, with the mind of, you know, this is going to be experience based.
[03:55] SPEAKER_00: I want to do it in front of, you know, the Toronto got dropped like the, the sea and tower at sunset with the planes flying over.
[04:04] SPEAKER_00: But, but I also went into it with the idea that, okay, I need to team up with the top bloggers in the city.
[04:12] SPEAKER_00: I need to approach the Canadian safe boating council and get them to make me their safety expert on their paddle boards.
[04:22] SPEAKER_00: So that when the media day came, I was everywhere.
[04:26] SPEAKER_00: So that, so my business went grow.
[04:30] SPEAKER_00: And it was, it was, you know, there was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun.
[04:34] SPEAKER_01: I love that you had a vision and threw yourself into it so wholeheartedly.
[04:41] SPEAKER_01: I think that is really admirable.
[04:45] SPEAKER_00: I think that goes a lot of the experience that I had first had.
[04:51] SPEAKER_00: I remember showing up for my lesson and the guy just threw me in the water.
[04:55] SPEAKER_00: And it was, it was like, you know, Titanic, like you're trying to grab onto something.
[05:00] SPEAKER_00: And, and, and I just remember thinking, okay, I want people to show up.
[05:07] SPEAKER_00: I want to give them a beach lesson, go over the anatomy of the equipment, the safety stuff, you know, create this whole experience.
[05:16] SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just a lesson. It was a lesson and a tour.
[05:20] SPEAKER_00: I invited, you know, part of part of the evenings anyways where people would bring their dinners with them.
[05:27] SPEAKER_00: And I'd provide water bags and we would go from Cherry Beach to Toronto and paddle over to Ward's Island on the island facing the city.
[05:37] SPEAKER_00: And I'd block off 45 minutes so that they could have a picnic.
[05:41] SPEAKER_00: Because I wanted them to, I wanted to create the ultimate data.
[05:47] SPEAKER_00: And, and, you know, build some romance into it.
[05:51] SPEAKER_01: I love that. I love that idea. And I immediately thought I would definitely have fallen off that wall.
[05:59] SPEAKER_01: That seems like such a long distance and it's not.
[06:03] SPEAKER_00: No, no, there were plenty of people who would go over on their knees or, you know, sit on their bumps and do it.
[06:11] SPEAKER_00: But, but no, it was just one of the, you know, the best part of it was I became very skilled at taking photos.
[06:18] SPEAKER_00: And, and I take amazing photos of them, you know, add sunsets and then I'd send them home after pieces.
[06:27] SPEAKER_00: You know, and, and to this day, I, you know, people reposter. I see I've seen it.
[06:33] SPEAKER_00: You know, people have blown it up and had it framed and, and yeah, no, it's it was, it was, it was a big part of my life.
[06:43] SPEAKER_01: So it sounds like it's not something you're doing anymore or at least not in that way.
[06:49] SPEAKER_01: So what has progressed since then?
[06:54] SPEAKER_00: So in November 2018, I developed a sudden neurological condition very suddenly.
[07:00] SPEAKER_00: I just returned because you can only paddleboard for six months and for like, I do a free year, but normal people do it for five, six months.
[07:11] SPEAKER_00: So I'd gone out to California to set up a business partnership, which would have seen me having retreat, doing retreats, corporate retreats.
[07:19] SPEAKER_00: And, and I came home and 10 days later I developed a neurological condition, which immobilized me.
[07:28] SPEAKER_00: My face collapsed. It was a reactivation of my chickenpox virus attacking my ear.
[07:34] SPEAKER_00: And, and you know, my face dropped. It looked like I'd had a stroke. I still live with hearing vision, impairments and my speaking, my speech was impacted.
[07:48] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, overnight, my independence, my business, my social life was just gone.
[07:54] SPEAKER_00: And I went from being vibrant athletic Mike to not being able to walk from the living room to the kitchen.
[08:03] SPEAKER_01: It's a big difference.
[08:05] SPEAKER_01: It's a huge change in who you are and how you, how you are in the world. That's not who you are, how you are in the world.
[08:13] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, there was a huge mental health journey that came along with, you know, so many things.
[08:18] SPEAKER_00: I started with, you know, just looking in the mirror, going outside, having people look at me.
[08:25] SPEAKER_00: But also, you know, having specialists say, you know, you'll never do this again.
[08:32] SPEAKER_00: And, and, you know, making the decision that the business is done.
[08:37] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I'm not going to carry on. It was very, very tough.
[08:42] SPEAKER_00: And I think anybody who has, who has a business, who goes through a significant loss like that will also resonate.
[08:50] SPEAKER_00: And I'm also people with businesses who just experienced, you know, challenges, I think, I think they really understand that.
[09:00] SPEAKER_01: I think, I mean, I'm going to say the most tried trope ever.
[09:05] SPEAKER_01: But, you know, the only thing that is consistent is change.
[09:09] SPEAKER_01: There's always change that happens, right?
[09:12] SPEAKER_01: And, there is change that we can be prepared for in some way.
[09:16] SPEAKER_01: Because we can see that, oh, yeah, the economy is changing.
[09:21] SPEAKER_01: The applications we use to run our business are changing.
[09:25] SPEAKER_01: The weather patterns are changing and we have to adapt when we're on the, whatever it is.
[09:29] SPEAKER_01: And then there's change that throws us for a complete loop.
[09:33] SPEAKER_01: Because we have no anticipation of it.
[09:37] SPEAKER_01: And that, to me, is really the kind of change that you went through and experienced.
[09:41] SPEAKER_00: I think, you know, I went into that business and then that was something, you know, for life I've learned to navigate.
[09:49] SPEAKER_00: I went into that business, you know, as a, as a dreamer, as the, you know, I didn't have the systems in place that I do now with my new business.
[09:58] SPEAKER_00: I wasn't set up for, for the worst in case it happened.
[10:05] SPEAKER_00: And now that I've been through that, I've learned from it.
[10:10] SPEAKER_00: So I have systems in place.
[10:12] SPEAKER_00: I have, you know, I haven't put all my eggs in one basket this time.
[10:19] SPEAKER_00: So, so no, there are definite learning lessons from that.
[10:25] SPEAKER_00: And yeah, no, I never expected to end up where I was today.
[10:30] SPEAKER_00: Like if you, if you talked to me four or five years ago, you know,
[10:36] SPEAKER_00: motivational speaking, coaching, working with different organizations, being, you know, I'm working with an app right now.
[10:45] SPEAKER_00: That's, that's launching with, with lifestyle experts.
[10:50] SPEAKER_00: They, you know, it's, it's for kids and parents and, and part of the deal with that was that I became a shareholder with the company.
[11:02] SPEAKER_00: Like new, new opportunities and before it was, you know, I wasn't thinking of, of all the different opportunities.
[11:10] SPEAKER_00: I was just focused on the one thing.
[11:12] SPEAKER_00: And, and now I've heard, okay, let's get the bucket.
[11:16] SPEAKER_00: Let's get the speed. Let's let's let's branch out and broaden everything.
[11:21] SPEAKER_01: It sounds like one of the big lessons was not to put all your eggs in one basket to be doing a few different things.
[11:28] SPEAKER_01: What else did you learn from?
[11:32] SPEAKER_01: Whether it's this experience or the transition in entrepreneurship itself?
[11:37] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[11:40] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I think there's a confidence now that there wasn't before.
[11:46] SPEAKER_00: And I think that comes from the failure itself that comes from the collapse.
[11:52] SPEAKER_00: I do, you know, break downs lead to breakthroughs.
[11:59] SPEAKER_00: There was a breakdown with my business. There was a personal mental health breakdown personally.
[12:04] SPEAKER_00: I think that's really, you know, I talk about that and speaking engagements on the board.
[12:11] SPEAKER_00: But, you know, there are, there are things that we all learn when we are tried and tested.
[12:18] SPEAKER_00: And, and we can take them and we can run with them and we can do it amazing.
[12:24] SPEAKER_00: It's exciting.
[12:26] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[12:27] SPEAKER_01: So, we've had a few people this year on, on Cans podcast and I've, I've interviewed a couple of them where we spoke a lot about burnout and, and the effects of mental health on entrepreneurs because we don't, we don't talk about that a lot as entrepreneurs.
[12:41] SPEAKER_01: We tend to glorify all the successes and look at the shiny object and look at how wonderful everything.
[12:46] SPEAKER_01: And we don't talk about the realities that it's hard and it's isolating.
[12:49] SPEAKER_01: And when you're isolated and doing hard things, you can miss the fact that you're breaking down or burning out or whatever the case may be.
[12:58] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, right here, right now with you, I'm, I'm feeling good.
[13:05] SPEAKER_00: I live with a neurological condition that's exhausting all the time.
[13:10] SPEAKER_00: This summer, I am, I've actually put on most of my engagements on hold right now until the fall because this summer, I am attempting to become the first person with a disability to paddle board from the USA to Canada raising my goal was $1 million for youth mental health programs with Jack.
[13:33] SPEAKER_00: And they've created a whole campaign around it.
[13:37] SPEAKER_00: But, you know, three weeks ago, I was at the point where I was burned out because for the last eight weeks, I'd been reaching out to the top oil companies, mining companies, tech, legal, real estate, all, all of Canada's top favorite brands, spending hours filling out forms for, you know, CSRs.
[14:01] SPEAKER_00: And, and I was just at the point of like mental breakdown.
[14:06] SPEAKER_00: I was just too much for a way.
[14:09] SPEAKER_00: I will go down as the crazy guy who contacted 500 companies, moving to buildings.
[14:15] SPEAKER_00: And, but, but no, it's, I was at the point of, you know, I was hearing really run down and really tired.
[14:24] SPEAKER_00: And I needed to step away from, from that for, you know, four or five days and just go and, and do some self care because otherwise, you know, stress, stress is a stress was what brought on my neurological condition.
[14:40] SPEAKER_00: And it can end your career. And I know that.
[14:43] SPEAKER_01: Well, and I love that you said that because I was going to ask if, if, and it sounds like, but I'm not going to make any assumptions. But if that, if you're more aware now when you're hitting those points that you need to step away, then you were five years ago.
[15:00] SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Oh, definitely. No, I can feel it.
[15:04] SPEAKER_00: I think as a person who has facial paralysis is not as evident as it was, but my face was sunk in and work. But now I can even tell when I'm really tired, people can see it in my face.
[15:18] SPEAKER_00: I can see it. I can feel it. I can feel it in my body when, when the barometric pressure changes that crash.
[15:27] SPEAKER_00: When, when I'm working too much, you know, when I was building all those databases with all these marketing department contacts, you know, I was, I was taking inventory and I was like, I have been doing this for 14 hours.
[15:43] SPEAKER_00: Well, it gets to much. And, and I think, you know, I was determined in an ambitious with it. And I didn't, I was like, well, I don't do it. Nobody's going to do it. But at the end of the day, you're, you're useless, whatever your health.
[16:00] SPEAKER_00: So, so no one just went to step away and and and take that break.
[16:07] SPEAKER_01: Yeah. I love that. I think I mean, I think it's great advice for anyone at any point in time, but especially entrepreneurs, because I think we tend to be the worst at doing that when we need in the most.
[16:20] SPEAKER_00: And I think a big problem with that is that many of us enjoy what we do.
[16:27] SPEAKER_00: Yes. So we don't think of it as hard work. We don't think of it as, you know, draining, but it is.
[16:38] SPEAKER_00: We just, we just overshoot that because we're so roughed up about the projects that we're taking on.
[16:45] SPEAKER_00: But it does take a lot out of us. And now you, yeah, it is important.
[16:52] SPEAKER_01: So you mentioned that you're going to be paddling across Lake Ontario. Tell me a little bit about that because that's super exciting.
[16:59] SPEAKER_00: Right. So, you know, I think it all comes back to being told by specialists, you know, what do you do for work?
[17:12] SPEAKER_00: And I said, oh, I'm a professional palboarder. I can't walk. And, you know, they're like, oh boy.
[17:22] SPEAKER_00: And, and then, you know, months later, them saying, you know, you know, this is done.
[17:27] SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, I ended up getting on a palboard for three minutes. And that turned into another three minutes, about two minutes into five and turned into seven until I was standing up.
[17:39] SPEAKER_00: And now, you know, there was two years ago. And, and now here we are. And, you know, I became an advocate for Jack.org because of where I went.
[17:52] SPEAKER_00: You know, I did a speech as Speaker of Slam North America's largest inspirational speaking competition that won the event and went viral on several platforms. And I talk about my mental health journey.
[18:06] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, last November when I was thinking about, I had just done my annual fundraiser for them.
[18:14] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I raised, you know, several thousand dollars for youth mental health programs. But I thought, you know, we're in a pandemic. This was in September.
[18:27] SPEAKER_00: In my eyes, it underperformed of what it could have been. I think there was a lot of fear at the time in September and people didn't want to come out.
[18:37] SPEAKER_00: And, and it was just, just not designed a way that it could have been. So I just started thinking and I thought, okay, well, what is going to, what is going to make big buzz?
[18:51] SPEAKER_00: What is going to, you know, generate excitement and hype and and get things going? And I thought, wow, the first person with a disability to cross international waters. That'll do it.
[19:05] SPEAKER_00: Let's, let's create international headlines and and do something big and and do a project or so. So I've been working with their team for, you know, the last six months really on this they've created.
[19:25] SPEAKER_00: You know, I decided I, you know, I was looking at they they had two guys when George and Bayou asked summer.
[19:35] SPEAKER_00: And they raised several hundred thousand dollars and they they launched that the month that they that they ran it.
[19:42] SPEAKER_00: And I and and I thought, okay, and I've studied them. I think it's important to always study people who do things before you do them.
[19:52] SPEAKER_00: And I looked at them and I was like, what did they not do? And I realized they didn't go after the media and they didn't go after every company across Canada.
[20:05] SPEAKER_00: So, so I decided, okay, let's build up a base of corporate donors.
[20:10] SPEAKER_00: Companies who want to attach themselves to an amazing cause and who also want to tax break and who also want a marketing experience and build up a base.
[20:23] SPEAKER_00: And then we drop it in the media for public participation.
[20:31] SPEAKER_00: So it's exciting. It's a lot of work, but it's exciting.
[20:35] SPEAKER_00: I think it's super exciting.
[20:39] SPEAKER_00: It's going to take three days sitting down.
[20:43] SPEAKER_00: I'm going to be doing it with two safety boats.
[20:46] SPEAKER_00: It's looking like Red Bull Canada's probably going to be on one boat and possibly Canada Canadian geographic on the other.
[20:53] SPEAKER_00: It's up in the year.
[20:55] SPEAKER_00: And then the Toronto Marine Police Unit has said they'll send out a fleet of boats to bring us in about 15 kilometers out.
[21:01] SPEAKER_00: So it should be a spectacle.
[21:06] SPEAKER_00: But it'll be, it'll do a lot of good and it'll raise a lot of money and a lot of awareness for their programs.
[21:12] SPEAKER_00: So that's good.
[21:14] SPEAKER_01: I think it's so admirable you're doing that.
[21:16] SPEAKER_01: I can't believe it's only going to take three days.
[21:18] SPEAKER_01: I was thinking like 18.
[21:22] SPEAKER_00: Most people cross from Youngstown, right, Marilyn Bell, and all the swimmers.
[21:27] SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about the way they go from Youngstown.
[21:29] SPEAKER_00: I decided I wanted to do it from Rochester to make it more challenge.
[21:35] SPEAKER_00: Like let's just roll the boat out and go crazy with them.
[21:41] SPEAKER_00: So now we'll cross over to Rochester by boat early in the morning.
[21:46] SPEAKER_00: Check in with border services.
[21:48] SPEAKER_00: Probably do a media call over there and then set out on the launch.
[21:52] SPEAKER_00: So, but it'll be, it'll be exciting.
[21:56] SPEAKER_01: So I love it.
[21:58] SPEAKER_01: I think it's really great.
[21:59] SPEAKER_01: If people want to support this cause and if they want to support you in doing this, is there a place they can go to do that?
[22:07] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can, what you can just connect with me.
[22:09] SPEAKER_00: So Jack, or has created this amazing website for this.
[22:15] SPEAKER_00: It's called the crossing.
[22:16] SPEAKER_00: It's got a bunch of numbers in it.
[22:18] SPEAKER_00: So, so if you are interested, contact with me.
[22:22] SPEAKER_00: And in all, I'll set you up.
[22:26] SPEAKER_00: You know, they've created a website with corporate donor letters and sponsorship decks.
[22:32] SPEAKER_00: And it's, yeah, I know it's just a really exciting thing.
[22:38] SPEAKER_00: And just today I found out that, you know, the top paddle boarding company in the world has, has said we're going to fit you with athletic gear with a hard board with a new paddle.
[22:51] SPEAKER_00: We're going to give you a corporate donation.
[22:54] SPEAKER_00: We want you to take over our IG, IG lives to our hundreds of thousands of followers while you're out there.
[23:03] SPEAKER_00: No, it's amazing what companies are doing.
[23:07] SPEAKER_00: I've had legal firms offering, offering the pro bono, pro bono legal.
[23:12] SPEAKER_00: It's awesome.
[23:14] SPEAKER_01: It's so it's, it's, I mean, it says a lot about you and your desire to do this more than anything else.
[23:20] SPEAKER_01: So, I, you know, I will note for anyone who's watching or listening that you can find Mike on all social media platforms as the unbalanced paddle boarder.
[23:30] SPEAKER_01: He's very easy to find.
[23:31] SPEAKER_01: He's super active.
[23:32] SPEAKER_01: He's a joy to follow.
[23:33] SPEAKER_01: So definitely check him out.
[23:34] SPEAKER_01: And you can obviously follow his journey as he steps into this adventure in the summer crossing Lake Ontario there.
[23:43] SPEAKER_01: But before we wrap up, I want to check in and say, is there, is there anything that we didn't get to or that you want to leave our listeners was specifically.
[23:54] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[23:55] SPEAKER_00: So I think, you know, when, you know, we touched on this briefly earlier.
[24:02] SPEAKER_00: You know, when you, when you don't know something, learn from somebody who's gone through through what you're experiencing before you.
[24:10] SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not just kids who, who need mentors, we all do.
[24:15] SPEAKER_00: And I surround, you know, your network is your network.
[24:21] SPEAKER_00: And surround yourself with people who have gone through what you have before.
[24:30] SPEAKER_00: You know, in my personal story.
[24:34] SPEAKER_00: You know, when, when all of this happened, what I did was I put on my iPad and I googled famous people my condition just to put a plate, just to put a face on something so rare.
[24:46] SPEAKER_00: And I found that the founder of P90X, the exercise guru Tony Horton.
[24:53] SPEAKER_00: It had put him in a wheelchair, you know, a year before me.
[24:59] SPEAKER_00: So I wrote to him and I built this relationship over time and he became this mentor figure, this friend.
[25:07] SPEAKER_00: He actually, he's a part of my book.
[25:09] SPEAKER_00: But I think that there is a huge value in, in finding the people who, who have gone through what you, who have gone through what you're experiencing now before.
[25:24] SPEAKER_00: And, and it will save you a lot of, a lot of time and a lot of heartbreak and that end, and it'll help a lot.
[25:34] SPEAKER_01: I think that is the perfect way to end this.
[25:39] SPEAKER_01: So Mike, thank you for being with me.
[25:42] SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it.
[25:43] SPEAKER_01: Thank you for it.
[25:45] SPEAKER_00: It was, it was.
[25:47] SPEAKER_01: And to all the listeners and viewers, thank you for listening to Canada's podcast.
[25:52] SPEAKER_01: Like, comment and subscribe to all our channels to get the latest podcast from entrepreneurs across Canada.
