Patricia Conlin, Founder and CEO of Global Consulting Group Discusses Staying Positive During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Thanks everyone for taking the time today to listen to Toronto's podcast on the Canada's podcast at work.
[00:05] SPEAKER_01: I hope you want to enjoy the Business Visionary. Make sure you sign up for our new podcast.
[00:11] SPEAKER_01: All right, review the first podcast network. Your source of the great insights to an entrepreneur's across Canada.
[00:17] SPEAKER_01: And this is one of the series where you can listen and discover and engage.
[00:22] SPEAKER_01: Today I'm going to check out what other entrepreneurs are doing.
[00:25] SPEAKER_01: So, trust your friends.
[00:25] SPEAKER_01: And the line with the CLX value is fish, cow, and boiled, and salt and fruit.
[00:30] SPEAKER_01: And she's going to give her a perspective on what she thinks COVID-19,
[00:35] SPEAKER_01: how it's impacting her, some ideas. So hopefully it'll be helpful for everybody.
[00:41] SPEAKER_01: You know, we'll tell you a bit about yourself. You know, what made you be coming on to her?
[00:45] SPEAKER_01: Just some background. So, so, listeners and viewers can, you know,
[00:49] SPEAKER_00: could click in with those. Absolutely. So, yeah, I'm Tish Conlon.
[00:56] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I've been an entrepreneur pretty much my entire career.
[01:01] SPEAKER_00: If you consider just one less than a year out of university, I started the company that's still
[01:06] SPEAKER_00: in business today. So, that's quite a few years. And we started as a talent solutions company,
[01:13] SPEAKER_00: really focusing on executive search. And that sort of came out of nowhere,
[01:19] SPEAKER_00: having graduated with an arts degree in a recession. But I've gone through many ups and downs.
[01:26] SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't change it for anything. A sort of being an entrepreneur's part of who I am, creative
[01:31] SPEAKER_00: expression, love to grow a business as well. So, as I, my passion for health and wellness started
[01:40] SPEAKER_00: off as a hobby. And then a side gig, I've actually incorporated it into my company and turned my
[01:47] SPEAKER_00: business from one dimensional to multi-dimensional with a successful speaking career, online training
[01:54] SPEAKER_00: and webinar coach, resilient training. I'm also registered holistic nutritionist and Black Belt
[02:02] SPEAKER_00: Barshalar is like a bind all that for my performance coaching. And that is, is a really fulfilling for
[02:09] SPEAKER_00: me. And you go, kids, I don't know how you fit in. Well, right now I have kids home 24-7 with the
[02:18] SPEAKER_01: situation. So, that gets us to the fact that this this podcast, I'm coming back to you because
[02:24] SPEAKER_01: it would feature, you know, entrepreneurs that we know and how they're responding to COVID-19.
[02:29] SPEAKER_01: So, how are you managing, which is really a first for all of us,
[02:33] SPEAKER_00: I'm going to do it. Well, I think having having had a lot of experience dealing with difficult
[02:43] SPEAKER_00: things throughout my life, I think you have to, you have to tap into your inner strength,
[02:48] SPEAKER_00: your resilience because it is a serious situation and we all need to support our frontline workers
[02:54] SPEAKER_00: to stay home and stay safe so we can beat this thing. But, you know, just trying to have a,
[03:01] SPEAKER_00: as much of a regular day as possible is really important getting the kids. We've got them set up
[03:07] SPEAKER_00: for some online school now, which is helpful. We all have rules about working out. Obviously,
[03:13] SPEAKER_00: there's more gaming going on with my kids, but I think given the circumstances that's okay.
[03:19] SPEAKER_00: You know, things like that, trying to learn and just have as much family time as possible.
[03:26] SPEAKER_01: You're not going to have your own business for either. Are you taking advantage of any of the
[03:32] SPEAKER_01: government subsidies that are useful to you? Are they not useful to you? I'm not sure if they're
[03:39] SPEAKER_00: going to be useful for me or not. As of today, I haven't looked into them, but I do plan to.
[03:47] SPEAKER_00: One of our areas has been put on board. Our recruitment initiative with a number of our clients.
[03:53] SPEAKER_00: Some of our clients have essential services, so recruitment is going to continue, but I do
[03:59] SPEAKER_00: expect drop in revenue for the next few months significantly. I think we're going to take
[04:05] SPEAKER_01: advantage of the $40,000. It's just real long. I were talking earlier, I mean, we've had some
[04:12] SPEAKER_01: business. We haven't lost it. It's being postponed kind of thing. Yes, I think that's something
[04:17] SPEAKER_00: that's a great initiative with the banks. I definitely will take advantage of that as well.
[04:21] SPEAKER_01: They're pretty busy. I've been working with them. Great idea. I really thought that that's
[04:28] SPEAKER_01: an excellent business owners. You're in the executive recruitment, IT recruitment,
[04:38] SPEAKER_01: and lifestyle and training. There's a massive change in the way people are working. Many of us
[04:44] SPEAKER_01: are still working. We're just not going into an office where we're used to going maybe half of
[04:49] SPEAKER_01: the week and half of home. Now we're 150 percent at home. We're not going to go back to where it was.
[04:56] SPEAKER_01: I don't think. How's it going to change your business model? Well, I'm lucky or good intuition,
[05:06] SPEAKER_00: or good timing is I've been working, I've been considering moving towards some remote setup for
[05:11] SPEAKER_00: the last year. I have a small team and some independent contractors. So late last year, I did
[05:19] SPEAKER_00: sell my corporate building and I moved to a fully remote setup with all the video conferencing
[05:25] SPEAKER_00: tools for my team. So that's been really a great time. Yes. Some of our core businesses as well.
[05:33] SPEAKER_00: Recruitment is only one of our core talent services and we do have an excellent remote
[05:38] SPEAKER_00: recruitment program, an RPO recruitment process outsourcing. We've been running with several
[05:44] SPEAKER_00: technology companies for years. So I expect that to grow in the future because we have all the
[05:50] SPEAKER_00: tools set up for that. So even our one-cline who canceled is going to have needs in the next few
[05:55] SPEAKER_00: months. And we do have a fully remote out placement program as well. And so we're getting a lot
[06:01] SPEAKER_00: of interest in that because it combines all the nuts and bolts of helping people get back on track
[06:06] SPEAKER_00: and job search and LinkedIn profile with health and wellness and stress management tips in our
[06:12] SPEAKER_00: online library. So we have a really great team delivering remote out placement services.
[06:18] SPEAKER_00: And our training division is growing quite a bit. We've several clients retained us for
[06:24] SPEAKER_00: full-year programs for staff training because there's a lot of soft skills needed out there in
[06:29] SPEAKER_01: the workplace. So we're actually quite busy right now. Yeah, and I know you do have. So I think
[06:37] SPEAKER_01: you've got some good advice observations on the new work at home kind of. Yeah.
[06:42] SPEAKER_01: The additional thing. Maybe you just give us a quick snapshot of that.
[06:46] SPEAKER_00: Sure. I mean, are you looking for some strategies working from home for
[06:52] SPEAKER_01: for for for videos? Yeah, for me, for your audience, the IT audience, I think it'll, I think it's
[06:59] SPEAKER_01: not just that. It means some of it will be general. Yeah, I what I've noted, I mean at least for me,
[07:04] SPEAKER_00: I can only speak for myself and I've worked from home for a long time so I'm used to it.
[07:10] SPEAKER_00: But I think it's really important to try to get into a routine. Get up in the morning and get
[07:17] SPEAKER_00: into clothes. Try not to live in your pajamas, for example, because you can be you can start to
[07:23] SPEAKER_00: to wear the rest. I can't do that. Yeah. The other thing is start planning. Now you're at home plan,
[07:31] SPEAKER_00: plan your day so there's separation. So there's a work component and then there's a home component.
[07:37] SPEAKER_00: Try to be grateful as well. Each day, there's some good news and some really scary news coming out.
[07:43] SPEAKER_00: But try to think of things that you want to do with the kids, for example, small things.
[07:47] SPEAKER_00: Like my kids and I go outside every day for 15 minutes in the back yard and we play soccer. It's
[07:52] SPEAKER_00: part of our routine. It's healthy and we all look forward to it. So getting things you can do
[07:57] SPEAKER_00: every day that are healthy, healthy habits is really important. And also when you're working
[08:05] SPEAKER_00: remotely with coworkers, make sure you project as much enthusiasm as you can. We're all in this
[08:11] SPEAKER_00: together and we're all stressed out. So tempers sometimes fly. So if you can be the person who's positive,
[08:18] SPEAKER_00: who's got a smile, that's going to be infectious and it's really going to help people get through
[08:23] SPEAKER_00: this. So I think when we're talking to people online, ask how they're doing, connect with them
[08:28] SPEAKER_00: emotionally, take a moment to just say hello. And I think that's going to help build those
[08:35] SPEAKER_00: connections. We can have physically right now and help us get through this altogether.
[08:40] SPEAKER_01: This crisis, it's going to has devastating distances. It's not really, it has already.
[08:47] SPEAKER_01: I keep using this example of the CEO of the chemical wage one. He said within five days of
[08:57] SPEAKER_01: things happening, RREs went from 200 to 2000. He thought they would be at 5000 a day within another
[09:07] SPEAKER_01: five days. So that is big problem is his own work force because they know what RREs are and we've
[09:16] SPEAKER_01: gone this is terrible. So amid all of this, I cannot be asking, do you still have silver lining
[09:25] SPEAKER_01: that maybe you can snap at people and they can listen to you? What's the sort of silver lining
[09:32] SPEAKER_00: coming out of this? Well, I mean, I've been obviously thinking about this situation and reading.
[09:38] SPEAKER_00: It's very concerning. It is serious. I think everyone needs to take it seriously and stay at home.
[09:45] SPEAKER_00: And even the way we practice social distancing has to be, it has to be better, I think, in Canada,
[09:53] SPEAKER_00: so we can beat this. But the silver lining, I mean, in any terrible situation, it's sometimes hard
[10:00] SPEAKER_00: to see any silver lining. But if everyone can work together, we have that renewed commitment
[10:07] SPEAKER_00: as Canadians and also globally as human beings to beat this. Also, there is, the world was so rushed
[10:16] SPEAKER_00: and so fast before. Now we have a chance to slow down and spend time with our families. One of the
[10:22] SPEAKER_00: biggest things coming out of Wuhan was from some of the people and they seem to be largely past it,
[10:28] SPEAKER_00: which is good news, is just the time that they never had with family. And that's precious. So take
[10:35] SPEAKER_00: the time, play games, do fun things with your family. I think it's really important and those
[10:41] SPEAKER_01: will be treasured memories. We did, it was with family, but some of us friends, we've had two
[10:47] SPEAKER_01: dinner parties now. We sat at the night, we just get together, there's the six or eight of us,
[10:54] SPEAKER_01: and we have a dinner party. We have a dinner party. We have a dinner party. We have a dinner party.
[10:58] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it went on for three hours. Yes, absolutely. That's the other thing our technology is helping us.
[11:07] SPEAKER_00: From an environmental, from the world standpoint, pollution levels are going down, which is a
[11:11] SPEAKER_00: practical thing to tell. We're giving some of the animals a break. I'm from behind me,
[11:17] SPEAKER_00: has never been clean enough. That is actually short-term pain, maybe for long-term gain.
[11:24] SPEAKER_00: Also, a wake-up call for many people who are living unhealthy lifestyles to maybe become healthier.
[11:31] SPEAKER_00: For future, and strengthen their immune system, I've talked to a lot of people who are
[11:36] SPEAKER_00: taking it seriously and eating really well right now. And that's good news, too.
[11:41] SPEAKER_00: And companies have a chance to sharpen the saw, as they say. It's a great time for learning now
[11:48] SPEAKER_00: to take, because everyone's always so busy in the past that you can learn new skills right now.
[11:53] SPEAKER_00: Off-skills, hard skills, introspection, read that novel you always wanted to read.
[11:59] SPEAKER_00: Watch that show you've been putting off all those things. It's a great time to do that now,
[12:03] SPEAKER_01: as we will get to it. Read and look where the optimism is. Media does tend to focus on
[12:11] SPEAKER_01: the catastrophes. But if you look up, if you look, you'll find that there are people finding new things.
[12:20] SPEAKER_01: The mixing, how do I learn from that? That's likely the future.
[12:26] SPEAKER_00: It's very inspiring to see entrepreneurs rejigging their businesses. I can't remember the name of
[12:32] SPEAKER_00: the gentleman with the pillow company. Now he's manufacturing masks. It's a Canadian on the
[12:37] SPEAKER_00: West Coast companies doing ventilators, front line support. Everyone thanking the health care workers
[12:45] SPEAKER_00: was so I mean really we're pulling together as a country and really I think every country is doing
[12:51] SPEAKER_00: the same. So that's inspiring. Hopefully we'll both well for the future too. Thank you, Patricia.
[12:57] SPEAKER_01: That was great. Good seeing you again. Thanks for going back on Countless Podcast.
[13:03] SPEAKER_01: My pleasure. Stay safe. Thanks everyone for taking the time today to listen to Toronto's podcast
[13:08] SPEAKER_01: on the Countless Podcast Network. I hope you enjoyed the podcast today. Make sure you sign up for
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