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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: It's Calgary's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:18] SPEAKER_01: Hello, this is Mario Tonoguzee coming to you today with Calgary's podcast, a member of Canada's podcast network,
[00:26] SPEAKER_01: where we talk to the entrepreneurs who are making it happen here in the city of Calgary, Alberta.
[00:32] SPEAKER_01: Ryan Gill is one of the city's best known entrepreneurs. He is CEO and co-founder of Camino,
[00:38] SPEAKER_01: a vetted network of marketing professionals. He's also president and partner of Cult Collective,
[00:44] SPEAKER_01: an agency specializing in marketing and branding. Welcome to the show, Ryan, and thanks for taking
[00:49] SPEAKER_00: the time to be here for our listeners. My pleasure, you forgot one thing that people in Calgary should
[00:55] SPEAKER_00: know about us. Although I don't run it day to day, I also founded the gathering, like I need more
[01:00] SPEAKER_00: stuff to do, but the gathering is a global summit of the world's bravest friends in the world,
[01:05] SPEAKER_00: and they're leaders that come and talk every year. Okay. It bench rings in February, so your
[01:10] SPEAKER_01: listeners are there, you're invited. All right, super. Thanks, Ryan. Tell us a little bit about yourself,
[01:16] SPEAKER_01: where you're from, and what you're up to these days and all your ventures.
[01:22] SPEAKER_00: Too many. Well, first of all, I'm way back. I'll make a long story short. I'm from Brock,
[01:27] SPEAKER_00: Phil, Ontario. I'm an import from out east. I moved here. I guess it was 1998, 1999. So what
[01:34] SPEAKER_00: is that? 20 plus years ago. And Cult Collective is definitely my home now. I'm a father, two little
[01:41] SPEAKER_00: girls, Scarlet and Halley. Shout out to them. And an amazing wife, Amy. Yeah. So I run three
[01:48] SPEAKER_00: companies and a bit of a media company as well. I put a personal content every day under the
[01:54] SPEAKER_00: platform of Ryan Gilleshairs. It's basically my stories of started up life and running businesses.
[02:00] SPEAKER_00: Mostly I talk about the failures, not the successes, because there's more than my share of failures
[02:06] SPEAKER_00: that have happened. And I think that's the real life that people want to experience, especially
[02:11] SPEAKER_00: in the world of social media where it's very plastic and fake. I try to make this content real.
[02:16] SPEAKER_00: So that's what I do on a day to day basis. But right now, my full time you nail it, start my full
[02:21] SPEAKER_00: effort right now is on communal with building a global company. Well, let's talk a little bit about
[02:26] SPEAKER_01: communal, first of all. What is it and how has it grown since you started it? Yeah, no industry is
[02:33] SPEAKER_00: changing more than the advertising marketing, digital services industry. A lot of people will
[02:38] SPEAKER_00: have really put lipstick on a pig. I'll say it that way. That really, you know, the mediums
[02:45] SPEAKER_00: changed and they thought they're changing marketing, but marketing really hasn't changed much for
[02:49] SPEAKER_00: 50, 60 years. It's a really change in industry. It needs to change at the operational level. It's not
[02:55] SPEAKER_00: sexy. It's really the foundational stuff changing. We say it's not sexy until it is. But communal is
[03:02] SPEAKER_00: basically a marketplace for sole openers and freelancers around the world and ad agencies,
[03:08] SPEAKER_00: marketing firms, PR firms to give and get work and do it fast and with trust.
[03:15] SPEAKER_00: And so we started really, we closed our angel round of funding about 12 months ago.
[03:21] SPEAKER_00: And we had about 100 users at that time. In a short, 11, 12 months, we've gone to 38,
[03:27] SPEAKER_00: almost 40,000 users on the platform globally. So it's been a, it's the first business that I've
[03:33] SPEAKER_00: built. That's a truly a global business. And it's changing people's lives. And it's been,
[03:39] SPEAKER_00: it's been fun to give back to the industry that gave so much to me. What's your plans for the
[03:43] SPEAKER_00: company for the future? Yeah, we're growing over the next five years trying to grow it to about
[03:48] SPEAKER_00: a 300, 350 million dollar business. It'll employ about five to 600 people here in Calgary. Hopefully
[03:56] SPEAKER_00: we'll keep everyone here for Ken. And most importantly, we'll be growing it to about probably two
[04:02] SPEAKER_00: million users and about 200,000 members. There's the different stream members and users to get more
[04:06] SPEAKER_00: access as members than they do to be a typical user. But it's really to make the community,
[04:12] SPEAKER_00: the global creative community closer and help the small guy and the big guy be able to scale up
[04:18] SPEAKER_00: and down quickly. The biggest costs for marketing professionals is people and space and real estate.
[04:25] SPEAKER_00: And so I've tried to make both of those agile and contingent. And so that's what we're doing with
[04:32] SPEAKER_00: with Camino. It's really contingent workforce solution. And then we've layered on
[04:36] SPEAKER_00: co-working spaces. So we have about 20,000 square feet here in Calgary. It's completely full already.
[04:42] SPEAKER_00: We're looking at more space now. We have a space in Vancouver. We just opened up. That's filling
[04:48] SPEAKER_00: up. And then we're opening in Toronto and New York in the next few months for your listeners.
[04:54] SPEAKER_00: A bit of an exclusive. I can't tell you who yet. We potentially have a deal on the table in the
[04:58] SPEAKER_00: next couple of weeks. I'll be able to announce where we could open up in 130 cities globally.
[05:04] SPEAKER_00: So it's to be truthful, Mario. It's growing so fast. I'm just holding on for the ride.
[05:10] SPEAKER_01: Okay. Let's talk about being an entrepreneur, Ryan. What are the biggest benefits of being
[05:16] SPEAKER_01: an entrepreneur here in Calgary and also maybe what some of the biggest challenges?
[05:21] SPEAKER_00: Depending on the day you catch me or any entrepreneur, there's either benefits or downsides.
[05:26] SPEAKER_00: And let's talk about the positives. First, of course, it gives you autonomy. You have control
[05:30] SPEAKER_00: of your future. You have the ability to do what you want to do. At the same time,
[05:37] SPEAKER_00: everything's your fault. And it should be. If you're a good entrepreneur and you're a response
[05:42] SPEAKER_00: to entrepreneur. And so I'm not one to delegate blamed other people. So when shit hits the fan,
[05:50] SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you swear on this podcast, the crap hits the fan. It always falls on me. So that's
[05:56] SPEAKER_00: the downside. But I like that responsibility. And so being an entrepreneur is it's invoked right now.
[06:02] SPEAKER_00: I've been an entrepreneur for almost 20 years. It's crazy to even say that two decades.
[06:07] SPEAKER_00: It's been a learning experience the whole way. I'm still humbling now to have a bunch of
[06:14] SPEAKER_00: businesses that are running on their own without my input. I'm truly a founder. I'm a founder entrepreneur.
[06:19] SPEAKER_00: I'm not an operating entrepreneur. So I'm really good for the first three to five years.
[06:24] SPEAKER_00: Took me a long time, Mario, become okay with that. I thought, you know, like, hey, like I'm a flake.
[06:30] SPEAKER_00: You know, like I can only hold on for two to three years or five years and took a coach of mine
[06:36] SPEAKER_00: and say, no, you're not at all. You're you're the one that is in the trenches for the hard part.
[06:41] SPEAKER_00: You're just not good at operating. And I'm so happy that I figured that out for myself because,
[06:46] SPEAKER_00: yeah, I'm really I'm really solid and I'm in the pocket in the first three, five years. And
[06:52] SPEAKER_00: you're not a flake if it's two, you know, two, three, four, five years. And so it took me a little
[06:57] SPEAKER_00: while and some soul searching to become okay with that. Different entrepreneurs are good at different
[07:02] SPEAKER_01: things. And I'm definitely a founder startup guy. Now we do some of our best work outside the office
[07:09] SPEAKER_01: is there a place in Calgary that whether it's close to where you live or where you work that you
[07:15] SPEAKER_01: like to go to recharge, get inspired, think about your business. I'm very lucky to live on one of
[07:21] SPEAKER_00: the lakes here in Calgary. So I live on Lake Bonna Venture. So I love in the summer to sit on my
[07:26] SPEAKER_00: dock afterward and think this is going to sound super strange. But for those entrepreneurs that
[07:31] SPEAKER_00: they're listening, I think they'll relate with this. My best place to get work done and the thing
[07:36] SPEAKER_00: is on the plane because I want to play in a lot. And so I try to get C1A put my headphones on and
[07:45] SPEAKER_00: grind work out for three, four, five hours. However long the plane ride isn't sometimes I'll get
[07:50] SPEAKER_00: done a trip and I'll be like, I wish you're on the plane for everyone else is begging to get off. I
[07:54] SPEAKER_00: wish we could stay for another hour or two. So that's what comes to mind. I like the dock and the
[07:59] SPEAKER_01: plane. Okay. Hypothetical hypothetical question for you. You know imagine if you were to start all over
[08:06] SPEAKER_01: again and you just moved to Calgary. But this time you don't know anyone knowing what you know now,
[08:13] SPEAKER_01: what would you do and how would you do it to start all over again as an entrepreneur?
[08:18] SPEAKER_00: I would start all over again by doing what I'm doing now, which is investing in people and leaders.
[08:24] SPEAKER_00: Understanding that to build a company, a great company that could scale. It doesn't rely on you,
[08:30] SPEAKER_00: it relies on how good you are getting good people around you. It's so cliche to say, but to inspire
[08:35] SPEAKER_00: those people and to get out of their way. Steve Jobs says a famous quote, don't hire smart people
[08:40] SPEAKER_00: and tell them what to do. I urge smart people and they should tell you what to do. It's easy to say,
[08:46] SPEAKER_00: it's hard to do because they got to trust you. People that work for you to disagree. They got to
[08:52] SPEAKER_00: trust you and feel comfortable to step out on their own. That's my job to make sure that they feel
[08:58] SPEAKER_00: trusted and that I'm vulnerable enough with them. Let them know that especially when I talked about
[09:03] SPEAKER_00: earlier in the podcast was I'm a starter. I'm not an operator. So all my good ideas are usually
[09:10] SPEAKER_00: gone in the first one or two years. And so it really is on them to take the company forward.
[09:15] SPEAKER_00: I've been living that out and the stress levels go way down when you really say, hey,
[09:22] SPEAKER_00: I got a team run this and they got to run it because I'm not the one that's going to be running
[09:24] SPEAKER_01: this long term. What's the first hour of your day look like when you get up in the morning?
[09:30] SPEAKER_00: Do you have a specific ritual routine? Yeah, I really try to start with gratitude for sure. I have
[09:35] SPEAKER_00: a little bit of a maybe cheesy, but I have a gratitude journal. I try to get two or three things.
[09:40] SPEAKER_00: Think about people in my path that have helped me and either I send them a text, a great way to get
[09:45] SPEAKER_00: over depression or get over stress, get over feeling sorry for yourself or how much you have to
[09:51] SPEAKER_00: do is to send someone a text call someone and tell them how thankful you are for them.
[09:57] SPEAKER_00: So I try to do that almost every day. And when you're doing it every day, you start to,
[10:01] SPEAKER_00: you're thinking around out of people, but you don't. And when you start to have this
[10:05] SPEAKER_00: attitude of gratitude, it's amazing how it lifts your spirits as well as someone else's. So
[10:11] SPEAKER_00: I try to start with generosity and being thankful for other people and being thankful for what I
[10:16] SPEAKER_00: have. And then truthfully, my day, I'm usually running behind. After that, I get right into it.
[10:25] SPEAKER_00: And then it's six or seven a night. And I'm like, what just happened today? And usually it's in
[10:29] SPEAKER_00: the service of other people. And that's my job as a leader for those people out there listening.
[10:35] SPEAKER_00: I might feel depressed at the end of the day. You didn't get your work done. I'm using air quotes.
[10:39] SPEAKER_00: I know you're listening to using air quotes. You didn't get your job done. I would ask you to
[10:44] SPEAKER_00: reframe that because if you're feeling like you just help people all day, that's probably your
[10:49] SPEAKER_00: work. It's not, you know, the other stuff is unimportant. What's the, when you look at sort of
[10:56] SPEAKER_01: entrepreneurs, do you think that they have to be a little different, maybe strange or weird,
[11:03] SPEAKER_00: to be an entrepreneur? Yeah, to be a high performing entrepreneur, a one percenter.
[11:09] SPEAKER_00: The ones that have this tremendous success, I think they are definitely wired different.
[11:15] SPEAKER_00: Another thing I've learned through the years is I can't expect people to be like me.
[11:19] SPEAKER_00: They're never going to be like me. And that doesn't mean they're worse or better.
[11:24] SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I think they're better. But the way true entrepreneurs died in the wool, entrepreneurs
[11:30] SPEAKER_00: are wired. It's something to behold because I know a lot of them. And I look up and respect them.
[11:37] SPEAKER_00: And I think I'm wired that way too, that I'm just like, for instance, Mary, like I've made my money,
[11:43] SPEAKER_00: I've made my wealth. If you, you know, I've sold some companies, I've had some successes.
[11:48] SPEAKER_00: Why would I start a brand new company? But with global aspirations, it's going to take, you know,
[11:54] SPEAKER_00: it's a 40-hour work week won't do. It's going to take 60, 80-hour work weeks. I've been doing that
[11:58] SPEAKER_00: for 20 years. Why would I start all over again? You've got to be a bit weird upstairs.
[12:03] SPEAKER_01: Here I go.
[12:04] SPEAKER_00: So I am. But as much as we are, I love it. And it's my purpose. And so I told my wife, this will be my
[12:12] SPEAKER_00: last one. This will be the big one. And she just looks at me and laughs. And so yeah, right. I'm
[12:17] SPEAKER_00: 42. I probably got four or five left. But my long, I think the greatest entrepreneurs in the world
[12:25] SPEAKER_00: start with a mission in mind that's most people laugh at. And their dream is so big that it's
[12:31] SPEAKER_00: literally, even I'm sure they, I certainly doubt myself sometimes. Or Elon Musk wants to take
[12:37] SPEAKER_00: rockets to Mars, list of things. And he sends it with such conviction. I, since I was 11 years old,
[12:43] SPEAKER_00: have wanted to know an ancient hockey team, specifically the St. Louis Blues. And I've been moving
[12:50] SPEAKER_00: towards that on a daily basis since, you know, I was young. And so, the own hockey team, you need to have
[12:56] SPEAKER_00: liquid cash and a lot of it. And it's not even about the money from me. It's about, can I,
[13:02] SPEAKER_00: can I complete my mission that I started 31 years ago? So in order to achieve great things,
[13:09] SPEAKER_00: you have to have stamina and consistency. And I've been trying to live that out. So back to question,
[13:15] SPEAKER_00: definitely entrepreneurs are weird. But I think they have a lot of them have a lot of higher
[13:19] SPEAKER_00: calling of doing something great that not the average person doesn't want to do, nor do they need
[13:25] SPEAKER_00: to do, but that we're, we're, we're a strange breed. Are there any books you're reading right now
[13:31] SPEAKER_00: that, and why? I read lots of books. This is my favorite one right now and holding it up to the
[13:36] SPEAKER_00: thing is the 10X Mind Expander by Dan Sullivan. It's a small book. Dan Sullivan's a business coach
[13:44] SPEAKER_00: out of Chicago. I think he has a place in Toronto, but he runs a company called Strategic Coach.
[13:49] SPEAKER_00: Anyone out there listening? Check out Strategic Coach. All the stuff that Dan Sullivan writes is
[13:55] SPEAKER_00: amazing. My favorite book ever is a book called Wind Without Pitching by Blair Ends. It's a specific
[14:01] SPEAKER_00: to the creative advertising world, but it applies across the spectrum. Really the essence of the book
[14:07] SPEAKER_00: is just understanding that if you do what you say you do and you know you can execute and deliver,
[14:13] SPEAKER_00: you need to operate under the assumption and it might seem egotistical, but it's not that you're
[14:18] SPEAKER_00: the prize to be won, not the client. They're lucky to get to work with you. And not in an arrogant
[14:24] SPEAKER_00: way, just what it means is if they hire you for whatever you do, you know you're going to deliver
[14:30] SPEAKER_00: on what you say and it's going to increase the value of their company. Yeah, they're definitely
[14:34] SPEAKER_00: lucky to work with you because there's so much shit out there that isn't true, that isn't,
[14:40] SPEAKER_00: that people don't execute. So when you know you can execute having that swagger of, I'm going to do
[14:45] SPEAKER_00: not just what I said, but more. Blair Ends, right, this right, this book called Wind Without Pitching.
[14:50] SPEAKER_00: If you're so good, you don't need to pitch anymore. So you do, obviously you mentioned before
[14:55] SPEAKER_01: it had a long hours, a long days, et cetera. How do you find that the balance in your life
[15:02] SPEAKER_00: separate work into your personal life? Yeah, I don't believe in balance. Whatever I'm doing,
[15:09] SPEAKER_00: that the moment I'm 100%, that's my balance. So it's actually in balance. Again, atso I thrive,
[15:16] SPEAKER_00: people may not like it. It works for me and my family and we have a wonderful happy life. I have
[15:22] SPEAKER_00: great friends. I've great social circles. I feel very blessed. Knock on wood continues that way.
[15:27] SPEAKER_01: So what do you do when you're not working? What are your favorite things to do? I'm always working
[15:32] SPEAKER_00: by love golf. I love poker. I spend times with my kids. I'm coaching my daughter in soccer, so I
[15:38] SPEAKER_00: have that tonight. As I don't you're nervous, it's true. Like you really do something great. You're
[15:43] SPEAKER_00: always working like you're responsible for people's lives and their livelihoods. So I can't really
[15:49] SPEAKER_00: take a day off. Like if I have guys like, dabs and video events right now, they need me. I got to be
[15:55] SPEAKER_00: there. And when you do that for them, they'll be there for you. You know, and so I don't care about
[16:00] SPEAKER_00: the clients. The sounds really weird. I don't care what the clients and the money are. That kind of
[16:03] SPEAKER_00: stuff. I just care about the people that work for me and work with me. And when you get that right,
[16:10] SPEAKER_00: honestly, the rest takes care of itself. So in the light of that, yeah, I turn to work off
[16:15] SPEAKER_00: sometimes. But if you're a true leader that's managing people, people's lives are 24, 7 and plus
[16:22] SPEAKER_00: I have employees in different cities and stuff like that. So different time zones. So yeah,
[16:27] SPEAKER_00: it's very draining at times. I would be I would be fake to say it's not tiring and I get burnt out
[16:33] SPEAKER_00: sometimes I do, but I take six, seven weeks off all the days where I try to completely unplug
[16:40] SPEAKER_00: more than most people take off that are actually employees. So it's interesting, but I don't
[16:44] SPEAKER_00: believe in balance. I believe whatever you're doing need to do it full tilt. If you weren't doing what
[16:50] SPEAKER_01: you're doing now, obviously you're passionate about this. But if you weren't doing this, what would
[16:56] SPEAKER_01: you think you'd be? What kind of a profession would you be in? I think I've told you this before
[17:02] SPEAKER_00: Mario, like I started my whole career in life as a journalist, a sports journalist. So I would
[17:07] SPEAKER_00: actually go be a journalist and the the profession of a journalist has changed so much. And I think
[17:14] SPEAKER_00: it's exciting. I know it's scary and things are in disarray right now, but I would love to be a
[17:19] SPEAKER_00: journalist or content creator, which I'm kind of doing, telling stories and entertaining people
[17:25] SPEAKER_00: that way. And if I that didn't work out, I would be a professional poker player.
[17:29] SPEAKER_01: Okay. Hey, here's a question for you. Like when you're talking and being a journalist, sports
[17:34] SPEAKER_01: journalist, if you had one dream assignment to cover something, what would it be? It would be to
[17:42] SPEAKER_00: cover the story of Brett Hall. Why? Because he think he was a very spoken, confident guy that was
[17:49] SPEAKER_00: misunderstood. And one of the best most underrated hockey players of all time, even though he's
[17:55] SPEAKER_00: considered probably one of the top 20, I think he's probably top five. So I would love to cover that
[18:01] SPEAKER_00: story. And he had lots of different twists and turns and people didn't like him. People still don't
[18:07] SPEAKER_00: like him. I like telling those people's stories to get the other side of it. The other story I'd
[18:12] SPEAKER_00: love to cover. I'm I want to Tesla and I love the Tesla story. I own shares and Tesla. I would
[18:18] SPEAKER_01: love to interview Elon Musk. When you're looking at business, are there any favorite words or
[18:25] SPEAKER_00: quotes that you like to use? Generosity is a word I like to use. By the first dream, be the person
[18:32] SPEAKER_00: that people look at. When you're dead, that was there for other people to help them. And I
[18:40] SPEAKER_00: believe if you do that, you'll never be lacking in relationships, which is by the way, if you're
[18:45] SPEAKER_00: listening, money doesn't make you happy. Your health doesn't, I know a lot of people are healthy
[18:50] SPEAKER_00: that aren't happy. It's your social connectedness and your relationships that make you happy. So
[18:55] SPEAKER_00: taking care of people, for instance, Mary, I've known you for 20 years almost. You cover, you did
[19:00] SPEAKER_00: the first story on suitcase back in the early 2000s. And we've stayed in touch. I don't care if you
[19:05] SPEAKER_00: read another story about me or if you cover me, I really like you. And you know that to be true.
[19:11] SPEAKER_00: And you're not you're one of the many people in my life that if you called me, I would be
[19:16] SPEAKER_00: there for you and try to help if I could. So I've lived my life that way and you can attest to that.
[19:21] SPEAKER_01: Super. So generosity. Generosity. What about down the flip side of things? So there's something
[19:27] SPEAKER_01: that a word or sentence you don't like to hear? That's a good one. What do I don't like to hear?
[19:35] SPEAKER_00: It's funny. I don't like no. When people say no to me, it's a chip on my shoulder.
[19:40] SPEAKER_00: Say for investors, some investors that said no to me in the early days and ended up
[19:45] SPEAKER_00: that people that did invest made millions. I like sending them a magazine cover with me on it.
[19:52] SPEAKER_00: But I sold my company to say, missed out. I like to care. I think most entrepreneurs carry a chip
[19:57] SPEAKER_00: on the shoulder. So I don't know. I think, yeah, I can't but no in the other sense of it can't be done.
[20:04] SPEAKER_00: I just think anything can be done. You can figure it out. I try to teach my teams that
[20:10] SPEAKER_00: relentless resourcefulness. You have to have it because literally most of the
[20:15] SPEAKER_00: 95% of the time it's no. Oh, I can't do it this way. I can't get that shot. I can't program things.
[20:21] SPEAKER_00: Like no, the world has been built on. People have said, yes, you can do it. And so I despise the word
[20:27] SPEAKER_01: no in many ways. If you had a couple of words, speaking words, if you had a couple of words or one
[20:33] SPEAKER_01: or two words to describe yourself, what would they be and why? Yeah, relentless. I'm a team player.
[20:43] SPEAKER_00: I like to be actually, even though I'm the CEO of different companies, I actually loved I would
[20:48] SPEAKER_00: rather be number two or number three or number four. And even at cult that firm I ran for a while.
[20:54] SPEAKER_00: I still own it, but you know, I'm down the ladder. I love that. So I like being a team player.
[20:59] SPEAKER_00: Another word, intense. I think people will say that I wish I was more chill, but it's just not me.
[21:08] SPEAKER_01: But I think intense with lighthearted. What's when you look at your life right now,
[21:16] SPEAKER_01: is there anything that you have on the top of your bucket list, let's say? Yeah, only an
[21:22] SPEAKER_00: angel team. So that's the number one thing that I think about all the time. And I'm just also,
[21:28] SPEAKER_00: and I can't say too much about it, but this isn't something I just talk about. Like I'm in conversations
[21:34] SPEAKER_00: with teams and people right now. Like you can't just have a big dream like only the hockey team or
[21:40] SPEAKER_00: in Elon's case, putting rockets on Mars and space travel and not move towards it. That's just
[21:46] SPEAKER_00: talk. It's just bullshit. It's annoying. And so I take my own medicine. So I've been trying
[21:55] SPEAKER_00: no to team for years. And so I've been I'm in talks right now. And it's exciting. Look forward to that.
[22:03] SPEAKER_01: And let's talk about, you know, obviously over the years, you've probably had a lot of advice
[22:08] SPEAKER_01: from different people, mentors, colleagues, associates, friends, family, whatever. What's the best
[22:15] SPEAKER_01: piece of advice you've ever received over the years for being an entrepreneur and that you'd like
[22:19] SPEAKER_00: to pass on to people? Yeah, there's lots. So I don't know if the best, but one that stuck out when
[22:25] SPEAKER_00: you asked the question, when I made my first big chunk of money, I took a big portion of that and
[22:32] SPEAKER_00: got it in cash. And I broke it up into big chunks. I won't say how much, but it was a lot of money.
[22:39] SPEAKER_00: And I gave it to people that had helped me along the way. And the type of money I gave them and
[22:46] SPEAKER_00: just got to pat myself on the back. But it was a great advice from one of my mentors. They said,
[22:50] SPEAKER_00: when you make your first bit of money, go give some back to those people that helped you get there.
[22:55] SPEAKER_00: So my executive assistant and some early hires I had, it was the best thing I ever did in my life was
[23:00] SPEAKER_00: when I made that first big chunk of money, I set them in my office. I said, thank you. I said to
[23:05] SPEAKER_00: thank you, the word thank you, you know, always seems so empty. But it's nice when it's with
[23:12] SPEAKER_00: an envelope of cash. Exactly. And again, it doesn't matter with the money, it was just the
[23:22] SPEAKER_00: physical thank you was something that's meaningful. And that was the best piece of the
[23:28] SPEAKER_00: guys I got from a guy named David Rechard. It used to be the president. It was the global CEO for
[23:34] SPEAKER_00: IHS. And then he was the CEO of Olympic size American. It's been a board member of mine and
[23:40] SPEAKER_00: they invited for years. And he said, when you make your first big money, share it around. And I did it.
[23:45] SPEAKER_00: It was still the one of the best moments in my career. I'm going to give you a question from left
[23:51] SPEAKER_01: field here. So imagine a tropical island just off of Fiji. And there's only a foam booth there.
[23:58] SPEAKER_01: And you have no internet. So we're going to drop you off there. But you obviously have no access
[24:05] SPEAKER_01: to a computer, no smartphone, no tablet, etc. Now you can use a foam booth at any time to call
[24:13] SPEAKER_01: us and we'll come with a boat and pick you up. I'm just curious, how long do you think you would
[24:18] SPEAKER_01: last there before you made that phone call? And what would you do while you were there?
[24:23] SPEAKER_00: Oh, so I would probably build a a museum park that would be the most well-known
[24:29] SPEAKER_00: at Music Park in the world somehow. And the first phone call, once I got it built somehow,
[24:36] SPEAKER_00: I'd probably sail around, figure out about sail around, find people to work on the music park.
[24:41] SPEAKER_00: And after 10 years maybe I haven't ready. My first phone call would be to the New York Times to say,
[24:46] SPEAKER_01: we're open for business. Okay, Ryan, how I'm like, I appreciate the taken of time to do this today.
[24:54] SPEAKER_01: Like, how can our listeners get ahold of you if there's anything they would like to be in touch about?
[25:00] SPEAKER_00: So I'm very active on social media. Ryan Giel shares at our YAN GILL S H A R E S.
[25:08] SPEAKER_00: That's a long handle, but Ryan Giel shares on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and then just
[25:15] SPEAKER_00: Ryan Giel on LinkedIn. I'm very active on LinkedIn as well for those professionals out there.
[25:21] SPEAKER_00: I put out content every day except Saturday. And so you can engage with me. I'm the one that
[25:26] SPEAKER_00: responds. So it's not a team unless someone holidays they respond, but you can reach out to me anytime.
[25:33] SPEAKER_01: Okay, thanks a lot, Ryan, for being our guest on Calgary's podcast. I've learned a lot
[25:37] SPEAKER_01: about you, your business, and I'm sure our listeners have as well. Thanks, Ryan. My pleasure.
[25:44] SPEAKER_01: Hey there, thanks for taking the time today to listen to Calgary's podcast on Canada's podcast
[25:51] SPEAKER_01: network. We hope you enjoyed the show today. Make sure you sign up for our newsletters and
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[26:11] SPEAKER_01: country. See you next time.
