The power of philanthropy, civic responsibility, public service & the promotion of multiculturalism

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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_02: Welcome, Raleigh, to Canada's podcast.
[00:08] SPEAKER_02: Great to meet you.
[00:09] SPEAKER_02: As we said in our little preamble,
[00:11] SPEAKER_02: I have lots of background in the higher education space
[00:14] SPEAKER_02: or I'm really looking forward to this.
[00:16] SPEAKER_02: But before we go much further,
[00:18] SPEAKER_02: why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself,
[00:20] SPEAKER_02: what you're doing now,
[00:23] SPEAKER_02: and maybe a little bit of why you became an entrepreneur?
[00:28] SPEAKER_00: Sure.
[00:29] SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much, Philip.
[00:31] SPEAKER_00: And thanks for having me.
[00:32] SPEAKER_00: It's been a wonderful journey.
[00:36] SPEAKER_00: Wonderful in quotes for any entrepreneur.
[00:39] SPEAKER_00: I understand there's always ups and downs,
[00:42] SPEAKER_00: but I'm so grateful to be on this journey.
[00:44] SPEAKER_00: I'm currently the CEO of Computech College.
[00:48] SPEAKER_00: And you know, we have various entities in the creative space
[00:53] SPEAKER_00: and on the venture capital side.
[00:56] SPEAKER_00: But you know, as an entrepreneur,
[00:59] SPEAKER_00: I was very fortunate that my father,
[01:02] SPEAKER_00: although he's a qualified engineer,
[01:05] SPEAKER_00: went into the entrepreneurial side.
[01:07] SPEAKER_00: And I was able to see his grow, his ups and downs,
[01:13] SPEAKER_00: and get a sense of what entrepreneurship was like.
[01:18] SPEAKER_00: I was very much interested having seen what my father
[01:22] SPEAKER_00: went through going into law,
[01:26] SPEAKER_00: kind of stepping away from entrepreneurship
[01:29] SPEAKER_00: and maybe having that base in security
[01:32] SPEAKER_00: and coming up to you.
[01:35] SPEAKER_00: A Sri Lankan Tamil background,
[01:37] SPEAKER_00: my family was very supportive of that.
[01:39] SPEAKER_00: But no, my father had his first of three heart attacks
[01:44] SPEAKER_00: in 2000,
[01:46] SPEAKER_00: while he was working overseas.
[01:48] SPEAKER_00: And once I completed my undergrad,
[01:51] SPEAKER_00: it kind of propelled me into that world,
[01:56] SPEAKER_00: really to understand,
[01:57] SPEAKER_00: kind of, you know, I grew up very quickly,
[02:01] SPEAKER_00: understanding that,
[02:02] SPEAKER_00: look, if he had gone,
[02:04] SPEAKER_00: we had no way of really sustaining ourselves,
[02:07] SPEAKER_00: my brother's sister and my mother and I,
[02:10] SPEAKER_00: and really learned the business,
[02:13] SPEAKER_00: and really opened up my eyes to the opportunities
[02:17] SPEAKER_00: of entrepreneurship.
[02:18] SPEAKER_00: And really, I think the greatest gift my father shared with me
[02:23] SPEAKER_00: is he made me not just talk about this,
[02:27] SPEAKER_00: but he showed me practically that you could dream about something
[02:30] SPEAKER_00: and make it come true.
[02:33] SPEAKER_00: And for a child to realize that
[02:36] SPEAKER_00: is such a precious gift.
[02:38] SPEAKER_00: And once you know you can do that,
[02:40] SPEAKER_00: there's no going back.
[02:43] SPEAKER_02: So, you know, you're in the higher education space.
[02:49] SPEAKER_01: How did you get there?
[02:52] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so, you know,
[02:55] SPEAKER_00: I was born in the UK,
[02:57] SPEAKER_00: grew up mostly in Canada,
[02:59] SPEAKER_00: until, so, UK.
[03:06] SPEAKER_00: So, zero to seven in the UK,
[03:08] SPEAKER_00: seven to about 2021 in Canada.
[03:12] SPEAKER_00: And as I said, found myself overseas
[03:16] SPEAKER_00: in, when I just turned 20.
[03:19] SPEAKER_00: And it was then I realized,
[03:23] SPEAKER_00: you know, even though my father was foreign trained,
[03:26] SPEAKER_00: and my mother, you know,
[03:27] SPEAKER_00: both of them were trained in the UK.
[03:29] SPEAKER_00: My mom was a nurse and practiced there.
[03:32] SPEAKER_00: And when they came to Canada,
[03:33] SPEAKER_00: they were asked where their Canadian experience was.
[03:38] SPEAKER_00: And it was unusual because I looked like them,
[03:42] SPEAKER_00: but I also wrongly assumed,
[03:44] SPEAKER_00: oh, your credentials are not good enough to work in Canada.
[03:48] SPEAKER_00: But when I started going to Asia,
[03:52] SPEAKER_00: and when I say going to Asia,
[03:53] SPEAKER_00: I lived and worked.
[03:55] SPEAKER_00: I stayed there for almost 15 years,
[03:57] SPEAKER_00: living and working there.
[03:58] SPEAKER_00: I really understood the value of the credentials
[04:03] SPEAKER_00: and the experience that people from that part of the world had.
[04:08] SPEAKER_00: And, you know,
[04:09] SPEAKER_00: a lot of my time was spent in Bangladesh,
[04:12] SPEAKER_00: and there was a company there called Grameen,
[04:15] SPEAKER_00: which had tremendous growth in the telecom industry.
[04:19] SPEAKER_00: And unlike in the West,
[04:21] SPEAKER_00: where they had these telephone lines,
[04:25] SPEAKER_00: countries like Bangladesh, weaved frog,
[04:27] SPEAKER_00: and, you know, the technology was much more advanced.
[04:30] SPEAKER_00: So,
[04:32] SPEAKER_00: the level of technology in terms of telecommunication in Bangladesh
[04:36] SPEAKER_00: was way ahead of what was happening in Canada.
[04:39] SPEAKER_00: Even when I came back here,
[04:41] SPEAKER_00: I was just blown away at how low the progression was in terms of technology.
[04:49] SPEAKER_00: So it made me understand that someone that was coming,
[04:53] SPEAKER_00: for example, in the telco space,
[04:55] SPEAKER_00: and then coming to Canada,
[04:56] SPEAKER_00: and with all these hopes and dreams,
[04:59] SPEAKER_00: and then not being able to, you know,
[05:02] SPEAKER_00: not even meet something at par,
[05:04] SPEAKER_00: but, you know, working at some fast food place or driving,
[05:08] SPEAKER_00: you know, some cab Uber now.
[05:10] SPEAKER_00: Those were their options, right?
[05:13] SPEAKER_00: I really thought, you know,
[05:15] SPEAKER_00: how can I help in the sector?
[05:17] SPEAKER_00: How can I do my part to help these organizations in Canada
[05:23] SPEAKER_00: recognize the misopportunity here
[05:26] SPEAKER_00: and help those individuals really find a path that, you know,
[05:30] SPEAKER_00: at the end of the day, is respectable to their education and their experience.
[05:36] SPEAKER_00: And,
[05:37] SPEAKER_00: while I was, when I came back to Canada, while I was working,
[05:42] SPEAKER_00: I had connected with a person, a gentleman,
[05:45] SPEAKER_00: who owned Computec College at that time,
[05:49] SPEAKER_00: and, you know, was looking to sell the college
[05:54] SPEAKER_00: and he understood,
[05:57] SPEAKER_00: I was doing a lot of community work,
[05:59] SPEAKER_00: and he understood for me,
[06:01] SPEAKER_00: it wasn't just about, you know, the business side of things,
[06:04] SPEAKER_00: but I had a real desire to help this community.
[06:07] SPEAKER_00: And that's really what he was looking for,
[06:09] SPEAKER_00: because he said, you know,
[06:11] SPEAKER_00: a lot of frustrations that can come in the education space,
[06:14] SPEAKER_00: you really need to have a passion for it,
[06:17] SPEAKER_00: or it's not going to work for you.
[06:20] SPEAKER_00: And so he recognized that in me, thankfully,
[06:22] SPEAKER_00: and I saw it as a great opportunity to serve,
[06:26] SPEAKER_00: and that's how I got in the space.
[06:29] SPEAKER_02: Okay, so what's been the greatest challenge?
[06:33] SPEAKER_02: I think we know what the greatest challenge is,
[06:36] SPEAKER_02: in terms of pandemic,
[06:39] SPEAKER_02: but I mean,
[06:41] SPEAKER_02: you know, less about that,
[06:44] SPEAKER_02: we can talk about that later,
[06:45] SPEAKER_02: but more about your challenge,
[06:48] SPEAKER_02: in terms of building the business, basically.
[06:55] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think, you know, Philip,
[06:58] SPEAKER_00: I was lucky that I had my father as a guide,
[07:03] SPEAKER_00: but you know, that also has its challenges
[07:06] SPEAKER_00: because you're under your father's shadow.
[07:09] SPEAKER_00: I also was putting a lot of responsibilities
[07:13] SPEAKER_00: at a very young age,
[07:14] SPEAKER_00: as I mentioned, I was there in my 20s,
[07:17] SPEAKER_00: and you know, leading organizations
[07:20] SPEAKER_00: and managing organizations with quite a high revenue
[07:25] SPEAKER_00: and a number of staff members,
[07:28] SPEAKER_00: and you know, going from the opportunities that I had in Asia
[07:32] SPEAKER_00: and then coming to Canada and starting something that knew,
[07:36] SPEAKER_00: you know, taking an organization that was already built
[07:39] SPEAKER_00: and then doing that transformation,
[07:44] SPEAKER_00: challenging for anyone,
[07:49] SPEAKER_00: specifically some of the challenges,
[07:51] SPEAKER_00: I think, was, you know, really getting,
[07:56] SPEAKER_00: finding the right team, you know,
[07:58] SPEAKER_00: and there's nothing,
[08:00] SPEAKER_00: there's no good or bad in terms of the performance of individuals,
[08:04] SPEAKER_00: but you really have to be unified in your vision.
[08:08] SPEAKER_00: And when you don't have that,
[08:10] SPEAKER_00: that can either end in a bad way.
[08:13] SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can be ruthless and just cut people out,
[08:16] SPEAKER_00: or you can help find them better opportunities,
[08:20] SPEAKER_00: or you can help them, you know, develop within the organization.
[08:25] SPEAKER_00: And you know, I think that comes with the understanding
[08:28] SPEAKER_00: that this isn't, it's not a dictatorship, it's a team.
[08:32] SPEAKER_00: You're going to be successful in any organization,
[08:35] SPEAKER_00: based upon how unified you work as a team, right?
[08:39] SPEAKER_00: How everyone's aligned with the vision.
[08:42] SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it's not about the person, you know,
[08:46] SPEAKER_00: in terms of their intellectual capabilities,
[08:49] SPEAKER_00: it really comes down to their attitude and their desire to work,
[08:53] SPEAKER_00: their work ethic.
[08:55] SPEAKER_00: And if anybody has that,
[08:57] SPEAKER_00: I'm willing to put in the time and effort and will figure things out as a team.
[09:02] SPEAKER_00: So identifying those people who believed in me in terms of my leadership,
[09:08] SPEAKER_00: identifying those people who had the right attitude,
[09:12] SPEAKER_00: that takes time.
[09:14] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, you need the financial support at the same time
[09:18] SPEAKER_00: to, you know, go through that process.
[09:21] SPEAKER_00: So there was a lot of challenges.
[09:23] SPEAKER_00: I also, you know, got married at the same time.
[09:28] SPEAKER_00: And right away we had, you know, found out we were going to have a child
[09:34] SPEAKER_00: on our wedding day.
[09:41] SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
[09:43] SPEAKER_00: But, you know, in the same token, you know,
[09:47] SPEAKER_00: we were on the business side,
[09:49] SPEAKER_00: I was burning through money and at one point,
[09:53] SPEAKER_00: you know, my wife was the only support financially for us.
[09:58] SPEAKER_00: And that was a struggle, you know,
[10:00] SPEAKER_00: being pregnant, having a child,
[10:03] SPEAKER_00: worrying about all these things,
[10:05] SPEAKER_00: it was definitely a journey.
[10:07] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[10:09] SPEAKER_00: but, you know, you have to stick to the vision,
[10:12] SPEAKER_00: believe in what you're doing.
[10:16] SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know,
[10:18] SPEAKER_00: the previous owner said it right,
[10:20] SPEAKER_00: you have to have a passion for what you're doing.
[10:23] SPEAKER_00: And I really believed in the service.
[10:26] SPEAKER_00: And, yeah,
[10:28] SPEAKER_00: that I think the team to team believing in that really helped.
[10:31] SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, you know,
[10:34] SPEAKER_02: I mentioned the challenge.
[10:35] SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, higher education in general.
[10:39] SPEAKER_02: It's that, you know,
[10:41] SPEAKER_02: obviously in the last, you know, 15 months,
[10:44] SPEAKER_02: is that to pivot massively?
[10:48] SPEAKER_02: How have you managed that pivot?
[10:53] SPEAKER_02: What kind of things have you done to keep,
[10:56] SPEAKER_02: you know, keep the lights on?
[10:58] SPEAKER_02: I guess that might be the best way to describe it.
[11:00] SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah.
[11:05] SPEAKER_00: You know, I,
[11:08] SPEAKER_00: it really comes down to the team.
[11:11] SPEAKER_00: We had a major focus on ensuring that,
[11:17] SPEAKER_00: that the team members we have understood the customers.
[11:21] SPEAKER_00: At one point, they were our customers.
[11:23] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if I go back to the college example,
[11:26] SPEAKER_00: we hired a lot of our students.
[11:28] SPEAKER_00: And now they're at senior levels at the decision-making level.
[11:34] SPEAKER_00: So,
[11:34] SPEAKER_00: so that was a key factor.
[11:37] SPEAKER_00: The other thing,
[11:38] SPEAKER_00: it comes down to your passion,
[11:40] SPEAKER_00: your work ethic,
[11:41] SPEAKER_00: and your desires, right?
[11:43] SPEAKER_00: Understanding that we're all in this together.
[11:47] SPEAKER_00: We did a lot of communication sessions.
[11:50] SPEAKER_00: It was really tough to have that, you know,
[11:53] SPEAKER_00: you, there's a lot of communication that happens at that water cooler moment.
[11:57] SPEAKER_00: It doesn't always happen in a formal meeting.
[12:01] SPEAKER_00: So, how do you get that on Zoom meetings, you know,
[12:05] SPEAKER_00: when you have a formal Zoom meeting?
[12:07] SPEAKER_00: So, we had to have,
[12:08] SPEAKER_00: we had to figure out what worked for us as a team.
[12:11] SPEAKER_00: We do quizzes that are not work related at all.
[12:17] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, people team up,
[12:19] SPEAKER_00: and there's some competitive fun there.
[12:22] SPEAKER_00: There's, you know, mental health was a big topic.
[12:25] SPEAKER_00: So, we were very open about the challenges we were going through.
[12:31] SPEAKER_00: I grew up in a business environment,
[12:34] SPEAKER_00: from what I learned in business school,
[12:37] SPEAKER_00: and around, you know, my father and that generation of, you know,
[12:41] SPEAKER_00: you need to be tough.
[12:43] SPEAKER_00: It's all about the profits.
[12:44] SPEAKER_00: You know, don't show weakness.
[12:46] SPEAKER_00: People can jump on that.
[12:48] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, especially in this pandemic,
[12:52] SPEAKER_00: and the community that I serve,
[12:54] SPEAKER_00: I think it's about being open.
[12:56] SPEAKER_00: In fact, I know it's about being open.
[12:58] SPEAKER_00: It's about sharing your failure,
[13:00] SPEAKER_00: sharing your vulnerabilities,
[13:03] SPEAKER_00: because that brings you closer as a team.
[13:06] SPEAKER_00: And people then are also open to share their vulnerabilities,
[13:10] SPEAKER_00: and we can support each other.
[13:13] SPEAKER_02: Now, I mean, I, I, what you were saying,
[13:16] SPEAKER_02: I guess your dad's a bit of,
[13:17] SPEAKER_02: it was a bit of a mentor to,
[13:18] SPEAKER_02: or is it a bit of a mentor to you?
[13:20] SPEAKER_02: But what's the best piece of advice you,
[13:22] SPEAKER_02: you've ever received,
[13:24] SPEAKER_02: that you keep on using in your, in your business, you know,
[13:28] SPEAKER_02: that you, it just,
[13:30] SPEAKER_02: it, you know, it's just something you fall back on,
[13:33] SPEAKER_01: because it's, because it's great advice.
[13:38] SPEAKER_00: I, I think it's really,
[13:40] SPEAKER_00: someone once told me you just have to be there.
[13:44] SPEAKER_00: You know, I think one of the,
[13:46] SPEAKER_00: one of the biggest challenges that I find from people who are,
[13:50] SPEAKER_00: you know, thinking about entrepreneurship,
[13:53] SPEAKER_00: I think if you're thinking about it,
[13:55] SPEAKER_00: like that, you just got to start doing it.
[13:58] SPEAKER_00: And, especially for entrepreneurs,
[14:01] SPEAKER_00: you, we learn,
[14:02] SPEAKER_00: you have to build that habit about failing,
[14:05] SPEAKER_00: you're going to fail and learning quickly from your failure.
[14:09] SPEAKER_00: And, again, I, as you identified,
[14:12] SPEAKER_00: Phil, it's like my father still remains my greatest mentor.
[14:16] SPEAKER_00: I, I get a lot of guidance from him.
[14:18] SPEAKER_00: He's, you know, pretty much relaxing at, at home right now,
[14:23] SPEAKER_00: and, you know, focusing more on our foundation side,
[14:26] SPEAKER_00: but still always a constant call for me,
[14:30] SPEAKER_00: a daily,
[14:31] SPEAKER_00: and, you know, I'm always connecting with him.
[14:34] SPEAKER_00: And he's a friend, really,
[14:36] SPEAKER_00: that's the relationship that we build, which we treasure.
[14:41] SPEAKER_00: But, you know, he,
[14:43] SPEAKER_00: he's an engineer,
[14:44] SPEAKER_00: but, you know, he went into the film business.
[14:47] SPEAKER_00: You know, we went into a garments manufacturing.
[14:51] SPEAKER_00: We went into real estate.
[14:53] SPEAKER_00: He didn't know any of those things,
[14:54] SPEAKER_00: but he put himself in that situation,
[14:58] SPEAKER_00: and, and he, he developed it.
[15:00] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, other entrepreneurs and other leaders,
[15:04] SPEAKER_00: that I've spoken to in, in different industries,
[15:06] SPEAKER_00: say the same thing.
[15:08] SPEAKER_00: Everyone has this fear of jumping in.
[15:10] SPEAKER_00: You just have to jump in and have the confidence to know
[15:14] SPEAKER_00: that you're going to figure it out.
[15:15] SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I'm interested, you know,
[15:19] SPEAKER_02: you brought up in the UK,
[15:21] SPEAKER_02: you know, you lived in Asia.
[15:26] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, here you are in Toronto running a business.
[15:30] SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, why?
[15:34] SPEAKER_02: You're going to, yeah,
[15:35] SPEAKER_02: you're going to run a business and then,
[15:37] SPEAKER_02: do you go to run a business in the UK?
[15:40] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, my hair.
[15:42] SPEAKER_00: I love Toronto.
[15:43] SPEAKER_00: I love Toronto.
[15:45] SPEAKER_00: I think there are some amazing things happening,
[15:48] SPEAKER_00: for example, in India, I think the excitement there is great.
[15:53] SPEAKER_00: But I love Toronto,
[15:55] SPEAKER_00: because I know Toronto is unique.
[16:00] SPEAKER_00: In the sense that
[16:02] SPEAKER_00: there's still ways to grow here,
[16:04] SPEAKER_00: but in Toronto, you can go into boardroom,
[16:07] SPEAKER_00: and it's so diverse.
[16:09] SPEAKER_00: There's people from so many different communities,
[16:12] SPEAKER_00: whereas when I was in Bangladesh,
[16:15] SPEAKER_00: the majority of people were Bangladesh, you know,
[16:18] SPEAKER_00: when I was in India,
[16:20] SPEAKER_00: it was majority, you know, people from that specific state.
[16:23] SPEAKER_00: When I was in Malaysia, it was majority Malaysian, you know.
[16:26] SPEAKER_00: But in Toronto,
[16:27] SPEAKER_00: it's different perspectives,
[16:30] SPEAKER_00: different age groups,
[16:32] SPEAKER_00: and, you know, diversity is strength.
[16:34] SPEAKER_00: And I truly believe,
[16:36] SPEAKER_00: when we're in these conversations in Toronto,
[16:39] SPEAKER_00: that learning that we take
[16:42] SPEAKER_00: can help a lot of the challenges that we have
[16:45] SPEAKER_00: in a lot of different sectors.
[16:48] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, in a nonprofit that I'm involved in,
[16:52] SPEAKER_00: there are so many great organizations around the world
[16:56] SPEAKER_00: that look to, you know, do whatever relief efforts
[17:01] SPEAKER_00: or support efforts in this country.
[17:03] SPEAKER_00: But what we've been able to do with our nonprofit
[17:06] SPEAKER_00: is connect the diaspora back to their homeland.
[17:10] SPEAKER_00: And that really happens in Toronto, right?
[17:13] SPEAKER_00: If you're going back to your home country,
[17:16] SPEAKER_00: and you speak the same language,
[17:18] SPEAKER_00: you benefit because you're connecting with your identity,
[17:22] SPEAKER_00: you know, you get to explore your homeland
[17:25] SPEAKER_00: where your ancestors came from.
[17:27] SPEAKER_00: You may decide to stay there, you may not.
[17:30] SPEAKER_00: But it's an enriching experience for you.
[17:33] SPEAKER_00: And, and in your homeland in that community,
[17:35] SPEAKER_00: they get to learn the experiences you've gone in the west
[17:40] SPEAKER_00: or whatever country you're coming from,
[17:43] SPEAKER_00: and bring that back.
[17:44] SPEAKER_00: And that kind of discussion,
[17:46] SPEAKER_00: that's what we need in the world.
[17:48] SPEAKER_00: And I know that might be, you know, a bit idealistic.
[17:51] SPEAKER_00: But I think at a micro level,
[17:53] SPEAKER_00: that really happens in Toronto.
[17:55] SPEAKER_00: And that's why I'm so excited to be here.
[17:58] SPEAKER_02: So let's, let's go, let's get away from the philosophical stuff.
[18:02] SPEAKER_02: Okay.
[18:02] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[18:03] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[18:04] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[18:04] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[18:05] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[18:05] SPEAKER_02: Do some things to some kind of cute little little ideas.
[18:11] SPEAKER_02: If you want to do what you're doing now,
[18:13] SPEAKER_02: what would you be doing instead?
[18:17] SPEAKER_01: Oh.
[18:21] SPEAKER_00: That's a great question.
[18:25] SPEAKER_00: I really, really love what I'm doing.
[18:28] SPEAKER_00: Before I answer your question,
[18:30] SPEAKER_00: I really love what I'm doing.
[18:31] SPEAKER_00: You know, it's really difficult for me.
[18:35] SPEAKER_00: I have a coach that I got with.
[18:38] SPEAKER_00: And even within my team, they know it's really difficult for me to stop
[18:42] SPEAKER_00: and smell the roses.
[18:44] SPEAKER_00: I do, I enjoy it.
[18:46] SPEAKER_00: But I, you know, once you get to that hill,
[18:48] SPEAKER_00: you see all these other hills you want to climb.
[18:50] SPEAKER_00: And for me, the win is the journey.
[18:54] SPEAKER_00: Being in this life, you know,
[18:56] SPEAKER_00: it's exciting to jump on this opportunity and go for it.
[18:59] SPEAKER_00: That's the win for me as an entrepreneur.
[19:02] SPEAKER_00: So I honestly couldn't see myself doing anything else.
[19:05] SPEAKER_00: But I recently was telling my wife,
[19:08] SPEAKER_00: you know, I will always do these little things.
[19:11] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, we have our family foundation.
[19:13] SPEAKER_00: I would love to focus on that.
[19:15] SPEAKER_00: But music is a big passion for me.
[19:18] SPEAKER_00: I would really love to dive deeper into music and really.
[19:24] SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't know if it's composing or singing,
[19:27] SPEAKER_00: but somewhere involved in.
[19:31] SPEAKER_01: So, if you have to be one word to describe yourself,
[19:36] SPEAKER_01: what would it be?
[19:37] SPEAKER_01: And why?
[19:40] SPEAKER_01: I didn't expect all these tough questions, Philip.
[19:43] SPEAKER_03: The good ones.
[19:46] SPEAKER_00: Yes, they are very good ones.
[19:49] SPEAKER_00: One word to describe myself.
[19:51] SPEAKER_01: I would say a dreamer.
[19:58] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, why would I say that?
[20:03] SPEAKER_00: Many times when I was a child,
[20:05] SPEAKER_00: people would say in school,
[20:08] SPEAKER_00: I was a dreamer.
[20:09] SPEAKER_00: But I love it.
[20:11] SPEAKER_00: I think.
[20:12] SPEAKER_02: Great entrepreneurs turn dreams into realities.
[20:18] SPEAKER_01: That's good to be a thing.
[20:20] SPEAKER_01: You know, this is a fun one.
[20:24] SPEAKER_01: You were born in your night person.
[20:26] SPEAKER_02: I ask everybody this.
[20:28] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, I'm a nice person,
[20:31] SPEAKER_00: but I have a four year old and a two year old.
[20:36] SPEAKER_01: No chance.
[20:38] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[20:40] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[20:41] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[20:43] SPEAKER_02: What book are you currently reading,
[20:45] SPEAKER_02: listening to, whatever,
[20:47] SPEAKER_02: what kind of book do you have that you would recommend to our audience?
[20:50] SPEAKER_00: I'm, I'm a, you know,
[20:52] SPEAKER_00: being somebody that's passionate about higher education yourself.
[20:57] SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure if you listen to him,
[20:58] SPEAKER_00: but I'm a big fan of Scott Galloway.
[21:04] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I've taken one of his courses.
[21:07] SPEAKER_00: That section for,
[21:09] SPEAKER_00: which is kind of his play on,
[21:11] SPEAKER_00: you know, what the education landscape would look like.
[21:14] SPEAKER_00: Right.
[21:15] SPEAKER_00: I also listen to his podcast,
[21:17] SPEAKER_00: which I find very interesting.
[21:24] SPEAKER_00: What's his name?
[21:25] SPEAKER_00: Simon Sinek.
[21:27] SPEAKER_00: That's been very important to me because a major focus for me.
[21:32] SPEAKER_00: You know, the first breakfast as an entrepreneur is really to sustain the business.
[21:37] SPEAKER_00: You know, make sure your cash flows are there.
[21:39] SPEAKER_00: And then as you, as you attempt to scale,
[21:44] SPEAKER_00: one is, okay, great.
[21:45] SPEAKER_00: You want to scale.
[21:46] SPEAKER_00: You want to ensure that you're getting your business,
[21:50] SPEAKER_00: your product and services, right?
[21:51] SPEAKER_00: But the other thing with scaling is you want to have the right team.
[21:55] SPEAKER_00: And, you know,
[21:57] SPEAKER_00: for, for us,
[21:58] SPEAKER_00: there was a point where each one of my team members,
[22:02] SPEAKER_00: I knew exactly what they were doing that weekend.
[22:05] SPEAKER_00: And I remember a couple of years ago,
[22:09] SPEAKER_00: an employee walked by me.
[22:11] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I interview everyone.
[22:13] SPEAKER_00: I meet everyone that joins our team.
[22:16] SPEAKER_00: But I didn't have that intimate relationship with that person.
[22:19] SPEAKER_00: And it kind of hit me.
[22:20] SPEAKER_00: I have no idea what that person is doing this weekend.
[22:24] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I'm not like,
[22:26] SPEAKER_00: you know, micromanager that I'm talking about this in terms of our relationship with,
[22:31] SPEAKER_00: with you.
[22:32] Speaker UNKNOWN: I'm not saying that I'm not saying that I'm talking about my work.
[22:33] SPEAKER_00: But as our team grows,
[22:34] SPEAKER_00: you kind of lose that.
[22:36] SPEAKER_00: So how do you keep that intimacy, that vibe?
[22:39] SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, people like Simon Sinek,
[22:42] SPEAKER_00: speak about that well,
[22:43] SPEAKER_00: you know, focusing on your why,
[22:46] SPEAKER_00: really connecting with your employees.
[22:48] SPEAKER_00: And I think as a business leader,
[22:51] SPEAKER_00: you know, I kind of touched on the world I grew up in in terms of business.
[22:56] SPEAKER_00: And how I believe that's changing.
[22:59] SPEAKER_00: And I think I,
[23:01] SPEAKER_00: from my perspective,
[23:02] SPEAKER_00: I've seen trends of this happening free COVID.
[23:06] SPEAKER_00: But especially during COVID, you know,
[23:10] SPEAKER_00: you need to share your vulnerabilities.
[23:13] SPEAKER_00: You need to really connect with your team, you know,
[23:16] SPEAKER_00: as our, our backs are to the wall,
[23:18] SPEAKER_00: you really are thinking about,
[23:22] SPEAKER_00: look, these are the people I'm with.
[23:24] SPEAKER_00: And I'm in it with them, you know,
[23:26] SPEAKER_00: do I want to be like,
[23:28] SPEAKER_00: are these, you know, you,
[23:30] SPEAKER_00: we, people kind of talked about that.
[23:31] SPEAKER_00: You spend, you know, whatever it is eight hours a day.
[23:34] SPEAKER_00: This is your second family.
[23:36] SPEAKER_00: But now it's your second family with your back to the wall, you know,
[23:40] SPEAKER_00: and you guys got a really big deep to figure out how to get out of this.
[23:45] SPEAKER_00: So those team dynamics are, are really crucial.
[23:50] SPEAKER_00: And I've really been focused on that this year.
[23:53] SPEAKER_00: You know, we've been really talking a lot about mental health.
[23:57] SPEAKER_00: A lot about fitness,
[24:00] SPEAKER_00: keeping healthy.
[24:01] SPEAKER_00: I've been doing that myself and really encouraging that with the team.
[24:07] SPEAKER_02: All right.
[24:08] SPEAKER_02: Now, lots of people listen to these podcasts.
[24:12] SPEAKER_02: How can people get a hold of you?
[24:14] SPEAKER_02: Marley, if they heard some things that they,
[24:17] SPEAKER_02: they want they want to kind of discover a bit more.
[24:20] SPEAKER_02: But how can they get a hold of you?
[24:22] SPEAKER_00: Sure. So thanks.
[24:24] SPEAKER_00: Thanks for that.
[24:24] SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to go ahead and get my website is m-u-r-a-l-y-s.com,
[24:30] SPEAKER_00: which is the best way to find out more about me and the different businesses
[24:37] SPEAKER_00: that I'm involved with.
[24:39] SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for coming on the canvas podcast.
[24:42] SPEAKER_01: We need to like meeting you.
[24:43] SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much, Phil.
[24:45] SPEAKER_01: Thank you.