Stay Focused and Avoid the Shiny Object Trap as Entrepreneur

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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Canada's Entrepreneur, where we talk to the entrepreneurs who are making it happen
[00:05] SPEAKER_01: across Canada and deliver the news, trends, knowledge and opinions from entrepreneurs and business
[00:13] SPEAKER_01: influences across the country. Hi everyone, I'm Phil Bliss founder and CEO of Canada's Entrepreneur.
[00:23] SPEAKER_01: Today we're going to meet Bianca Best who's an award-winning thought leader, global media executive
[00:30] SPEAKER_01: mother of four inspiring speaker, highly credentialed coach and champion of graceful productivity
[00:39] SPEAKER_01: with her personal journey and decades of leadership both entrepreneur and within the corporate
[00:45] SPEAKER_01: structure. Bianca has developed proven big impact strategies that empower individuals and
[00:51] SPEAKER_01: organizations to thrive. She's on a mission to eradicate the global burnout epidemic,
[00:56] SPEAKER_01: been passionate by the belief that work should be a joy and non-estruggle. Her new book
[01:03] SPEAKER_01: Begin Back Without Burnout shares eight transformative strategies to ensure ambitious women
[01:10] SPEAKER_01: flourish without compromise and Bianca is going to do that and move back into the entrepreneurial
[01:19] SPEAKER_01: life. So say goodbye to modernize for an Edissism and embrace a glorious life of impact and fulfillment
[01:28] SPEAKER_01: where at last success and peace coexist. The book is now available at all major retailers or go to
[01:37] SPEAKER_01: our website Biancabest.com slash big impact without burnout or you can go to YouTube and find out more.
[01:45] SPEAKER_01: So Bianca welcome to Canada's entrepreneur. It's too to see you again and I think people will
[01:56] SPEAKER_01: find your story. Yes, you're not Canadian but you are a very international in scope and have a great
[02:04] SPEAKER_01: story. So I think it's very good to have you here and let people understand it. Thank you so
[02:13] SPEAKER_02: much. Having me I'm absolutely delighted to be here with you. Thank you. Okay.
[02:19] SPEAKER_01: And before we get too deep into our conversation I want you to tell everyone a little bit about
[02:27] SPEAKER_01: who Bianca is, what you do and how you got here today. Wow, that's a long story.
[02:35] SPEAKER_02: Well give it down to three minutes. Okay. I'm an author. I'm a global executive. I'm an
[02:43] SPEAKER_02: entrepreneur. I'm a coach and I'm a very proud mother to four gorgeous kids that are all
[02:49] SPEAKER_02: tall of them. Me now and I am very impassioned by burnout prevention and run a business called the
[02:58] SPEAKER_02: burnout business and that's my raison d'etre right now. Well that was that was short. That was good.
[03:05] SPEAKER_01: That was good. Tell everyone a little bit about the burnout business and yes your new book is
[03:13] SPEAKER_02: well that would be kind of cool. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. So the burnout business is really where
[03:20] SPEAKER_02: I'm sharing what I have learned throughout my own journey as an entrepreneur and as a corporate
[03:26] SPEAKER_02: executive how to ensure that we achieve our juiciest, Chinese goals without falling over. I learned
[03:34] SPEAKER_02: the hard way and slammed into burnout repeatedly and about 10 years ago I'd got to the point
[03:42] SPEAKER_02: where I no longer burnt out. I was soaring in all spheres of my life and people started asking me
[03:47] SPEAKER_02: well how do you do what you do? How can you have four children? How can you work full time and run
[03:51] SPEAKER_02: a business on the side and run every day and still be smiling where does the energy come from.
[03:57] SPEAKER_02: And so my entrepreneurial mind went well could I commoditize that? So I started bottling up exactly
[04:04] SPEAKER_02: what I do to make sure I thrive in life and flourish and I started creating programs writing books
[04:12] SPEAKER_02: and teaching organizations and individuals how to really enjoy their meatiest ambitions but without
[04:21] SPEAKER_02: compromise. So this turned into running retreats with organizations like Google and Snapchat
[04:29] SPEAKER_02: through to working one on one in a coaching capacity with ambitious individuals and now my business
[04:36] SPEAKER_02: is focused on really just conveying these messages and strategies through pure business
[04:42] SPEAKER_02: consultancy through one-to-one coaching and group coaching through my speaking business. I do a lot
[04:47] SPEAKER_02: of motivational speaking on stages around the world where I share the strategies and of course
[04:52] SPEAKER_02: book sales to therefore echelons of the burnt out business. So with all this experience
[05:02] SPEAKER_01: one of the top three things you've learned in your entrepreneurial journey to date.
[05:09] SPEAKER_02: Oh top three things I will I would say the first thing most important thing is around
[05:18] SPEAKER_02: not diluting core focus. I think it's very easy as an entrepreneur to get distracted by the next
[05:26] SPEAKER_02: shiniest thing on the horizon and actually this dilutes some of our core power and impact.
[05:34] SPEAKER_02: And I set up my first business in 2004 which I later sold in 2013 and when I look back on that
[05:41] SPEAKER_02: business and I think well why am I not sitting on a yacht right now? Sipping champagne in a wide
[05:47] SPEAKER_02: grimed hat and the reason is I think because I was so constantly distracted that I diluted the
[05:52] SPEAKER_02: core proposition of that first business. So that's definitely the top of the list of three.
[06:01] SPEAKER_02: Second one would be around personal energy management to ensure that you can deliver on the
[06:08] SPEAKER_02: commitments that you have and as a business owner we know how varied the different directions we
[06:14] SPEAKER_02: can be pulled in are. So really managing ourselves in such a way that we focus is incredibly important.
[06:23] SPEAKER_02: And then thirdly I would say it's around the people that you both bring into your team working
[06:29] SPEAKER_02: for you and the suppliers that you partner with and making sure that you really trust your gut
[06:36] SPEAKER_02: in that realm because everyone's going to be trying to sell you their way of doing something,
[06:42] SPEAKER_02: their recommendations, their skillset and actually trust your intuition when it comes to people.
[06:47] SPEAKER_00: That's one of my top tips. So why don't you you've met a ton of entrepreneurs like me
[06:58] SPEAKER_01: and you've also worked in the corporate world which is kind of interesting. So do you think entrepreneurs
[07:06] SPEAKER_01: are different or why are different? Is there something different about entrepreneurs versus those
[07:13] SPEAKER_01: that you work side by side in corporate life with? That's so funny that you just asked me that question
[07:20] SPEAKER_02: because somebody said to me in my corporate organisation which I'm now leaving to go entrepreneurial
[07:29] SPEAKER_02: again and I had a meeting on Friday with someone from my corporate world who have worked with
[07:36] SPEAKER_02: for three years and she said to me you're such an entrepreneur through and through you're such an
[07:42] SPEAKER_02: entrepreneur and I thought that's such an interesting thing to say because I've been in corporate
[07:47] SPEAKER_02: for 15 years. What do you mean by that? And so it's actually on my agenda this week that my blog
[07:54] SPEAKER_02: because I write a weekly blog, my blog this week is going to be looking at the difference between
[07:57] SPEAKER_02: corporates and entrepreneurs because I'm very interested in that. Now as I have entered the
[08:05] SPEAKER_02: corporate realm I have always put a hat on where I've said I am an entrepreneur so I tried to bring
[08:12] SPEAKER_02: the entrepreneurial way of doing things into an organisation that might have more rigidity and
[08:18] SPEAKER_02: models of delivering work that I wanted to come in and disrupt and organisations are looking for
[08:27] SPEAKER_02: that flavour, they're looking for entrepreneurialism but if we had its core what does it represent?
[08:32] SPEAKER_02: It represents this perpetual chasing the opportunity and doing things differently and energy
[08:41] SPEAKER_02: and focus and attention but is always in pursuit of growth and I see that as a core attribute that
[08:48] SPEAKER_02: distinguishes me from perhaps the corporate colleagues I've worked with who have had linear careers
[08:53] SPEAKER_02: and stayed in the same organisation all the same realm, they're very used to things being set in
[08:58] SPEAKER_02: stone, things being done a particular way and they are potentially threatened by the volatility
[09:06] SPEAKER_02: of constant change and disruption whereas I think entrepreneurs thrive on that landscape
[09:12] SPEAKER_02: of calculated risk but constant risk and change and that's invigorating whereas a lot of the sort of
[09:19] SPEAKER_02: corporate, the people that succeed in corporate are the ones that are comfortable with
[09:27] SPEAKER_02: familiarity and but I don't want to in any which way to mean the incredible leaders that work
[09:32] SPEAKER_02: in corporate realms and my most recent corporate stint in publicist group has certainly been
[09:37] SPEAKER_02: the most entrepreneurial organisation I've ever worked and that's 120,000 people in a corporate
[09:43] SPEAKER_02: realm but there's a lot of pace of change and an invitation for people like me to come into
[09:51] SPEAKER_00: that organisation and help disrupt continuously. So you know I think it's a good question for you
[10:00] SPEAKER_01: because you know you've been in the in the corporate side and you're seeing you're seeing lots of
[10:06] SPEAKER_01: businesses but you know today's businesses are seeing a lot of change much more than normal
[10:15] SPEAKER_00: or the past if you like. What do you think you know now that you're moving into a different journey?
[10:27] SPEAKER_01: What do you from what you've seen? What do you think you've been to take with you or try to fix?
[10:37] SPEAKER_01: You know apart from the obvious burn out thing you're lucky you've seen a lot.
[10:44] SPEAKER_02: Yeah yeah that's great question I mean I have really enjoyed the past 12 years that I've spent
[10:51] SPEAKER_02: in corporate if I think about what I was missing when I ran my last business and I will be missing
[10:57] SPEAKER_02: again now is that that structure but also the different access to different brilliant brains to
[11:04] SPEAKER_02: buzz off in the corporate environment especially in large organisations which I've been privileged to
[11:08] SPEAKER_02: be in in the past few years there's always been someone who's got expertise in a certain area
[11:14] SPEAKER_02: that can advise and mentor when you're an entrepreneur you're really at the behest of the supply you
[11:21] SPEAKER_02: picked up the phone to the partner that you've started a collaboration with and it's their advice
[11:26] SPEAKER_02: that you hang on to whereas you can get access to a far far broader spectrum of expertise and
[11:32] SPEAKER_02: guidance in in corporate there's also unlimited budgets it seems in corporate where it's a lot
[11:42] SPEAKER_02: easier to get a sign off and as an entrepreneur of course every single penny or dollar counts
[11:49] SPEAKER_02: and so investment is scrutinised I would say so much more rigorously when we're entrepreneurs
[11:56] SPEAKER_02: because it's our own livelihoods that are at stake so it's that's going to be different
[12:04] SPEAKER_02: more power less rentate that's going to feel comfortable one of the things I'm nervous about
[12:14] SPEAKER_02: missing especially as I go out on my own to build an entirely new brand and business is
[12:19] SPEAKER_02: losing that bravertess of being associated with a large brand like publicist group for instance
[12:28] SPEAKER_02: so we've had the weight of people want to book me as a speaker people want me to come in and consult
[12:35] SPEAKER_02: with them when I'm chief growth officer of publicist group now I'm CEO and founder of the Burnout
[12:41] SPEAKER_02: Business which is something I'm just starting and trying to get up and off the ground so I am
[12:45] SPEAKER_02: nervous about will I be invited to the big events and get the key notes and that that makes me
[12:52] SPEAKER_02: nervous but then that I'm also excited by that is a big challenge. What are you most excited about
[12:58] SPEAKER_01: in in business today obviously you've got your new book coming but what part you can bring that
[13:06] SPEAKER_01: up as well but why are you most excited about it? Well we're in this incredible landscape of
[13:13] SPEAKER_02: potentiality there's opportunity everywhere we know how technology has changed how we work how
[13:19] SPEAKER_02: we live and it just means there's an abundance of change and that brings with it this level playing
[13:25] SPEAKER_02: field of potentiality so anyone can create a brand and have access to all of the big tech platforms
[13:30] SPEAKER_02: and share what's great about that brand so this is an unprecedented time in history and so for
[13:38] SPEAKER_02: business it's exciting but it's very very competitive and I get nervous as I look at the generation
[13:45] SPEAKER_02: coming up beneath me my children where they're in this social media world of the get rich quick
[13:52] SPEAKER_02: nonsense and I worry that that impacts their own motivations and that there's an assumption that
[14:01] SPEAKER_02: it's going to be easy to make money and suddenly be an overnight success and all these nonsense myths
[14:06] SPEAKER_02: that are perpetuated throughout social media that worries me but a lot excites me because if you've
[14:13] SPEAKER_02: really got a good business and you've got a good savvy marketing head and you know how to
[14:19] SPEAKER_02: communicate and use these platforms you've got exactly the same opportunities as anyone else
[14:27] SPEAKER_00: interesting so with all those changes where do you see yourself in the next five years?
[14:33] SPEAKER_02: Wow what I'm hoping is that I can build a business that has global impact I mean I will talk
[14:40] SPEAKER_02: about my book the big impact about burnout here it is. Yeah yeah yeah yeah it's okay.
[14:48] SPEAKER_02: Around how we can stop struggling what I'm seeing is people are afraid in business of chasing their
[14:56] SPEAKER_02: dreams of going for promotion because there's this fear that I can't take on anymore I am overwhelmed
[15:03] SPEAKER_02: already and you know Phil of course being an entrepreneur how endless that task list is and how much
[15:10] SPEAKER_02: there is to do and how many different directions we can move in continuously so I am actually seeing
[15:17] SPEAKER_02: a fear a lot of the people that I work with in my one-on-one coaching sessions they're afraid
[15:23] SPEAKER_02: to actually keep chasing the stars because they feel it's they can't cope with too much and so the
[15:29] SPEAKER_02: reason I've written this book is to bring hope and inspiration and optimism back into the workplace
[15:36] SPEAKER_02: because I believe every one of us has the potential to flourish and absolutely have
[15:41] SPEAKER_02: magnificent impact and we don't have to compromise ourselves we just have to really know ourselves
[15:46] SPEAKER_02: and manage ourselves in such a way that we achieve our dreams without compromise and it doesn't
[15:53] SPEAKER_02: have to be the lofty dreams of I'm going to save the world you know it can be as straightforward as
[15:58] SPEAKER_02: hitting the KPI this month but when we are strategic and very focused on what I teach around
[16:05] SPEAKER_02: energy management over and above time management when we focus on that as our core mainstay then we
[16:11] SPEAKER_02: are much more likely to achieve our goals so when I look to the future in the next five years I hope
[16:18] SPEAKER_02: that I'm really sprinkling the magic of energy management into businesses so there is more self-agency
[16:25] SPEAKER_02: within individuals and collectively to ensure that we continue to grow and have impact and
[16:32] SPEAKER_01: that dreams don't go unfilled so even with all those guidances in place um what do you see as
[16:43] SPEAKER_00: the biggest challenge in your future as an entrepreneur I would say uh me keeping myself personally
[16:55] SPEAKER_02: on track and not diluting myself so my biggest challenge is always the fact that I'm energized by
[17:01] SPEAKER_02: lots of other ideas so if I talk about my core principle in my book it's around energy management
[17:08] SPEAKER_02: so I will say chase what energises you but for me so much energises me that I have to be really
[17:15] SPEAKER_02: careful at raining myself in and I learned in my first business where I kept chasing new product lines
[17:22] SPEAKER_02: new expansion and I went from being a trade business into an omnichannel global organization
[17:27] SPEAKER_02: across a decade but I diluted what the core essence of the business was so the biggest challenge
[17:33] SPEAKER_02: for me is going to be staying true to what the core proposition is which is around this burnout
[17:39] SPEAKER_02: prevention at scale and making sure that I can deliver that in such a way where I'm still
[17:46] SPEAKER_02: energised and having the positive impact I hope I will have you know if you could go back in time
[17:56] SPEAKER_00: what advice would you give yourself say you know a decade ago
[18:01] SPEAKER_02: follow your energy follow your energy follow your energy I followed I always talk about my CV
[18:10] SPEAKER_02: it's a chronology of passions explored and I've always leaned into anything I'm passionate about
[18:18] SPEAKER_02: or excited by I've leaned into it and I think that served me really well but where I've slightly
[18:24] SPEAKER_02: fallen over is that energy management piece because I did burn out an awful lot and it didn't need
[18:30] SPEAKER_02: to be as hard as it was and so that's my advice to my younger self and to anyone else listening and
[18:37] SPEAKER_01: learning and feeling very ambitious I mean in a coaching role you can have an immense shot role
[18:43] SPEAKER_01: but what's the best piece of advice that you've received that you use on a regular basis
[18:54] SPEAKER_02: oh best advice that I've received now I'm going to talk about this in a corporate round because
[19:01] SPEAKER_02: I didn't really have the mental shape in my entrepreneurial endeavours but in the corporate round
[19:08] SPEAKER_02: I entered corporate not really a very naive I'd run my own business but I hadn't played the
[19:14] SPEAKER_02: corporate game and I didn't really know how to be effective in that kind of environment other than
[19:19] SPEAKER_02: just being myself which is probably good but somebody said to me do the job you aspire to hold
[19:25] SPEAKER_02: and then the promotion comes the money comes and I took that to heart and I thought I was
[19:30] SPEAKER_02: brilliant advice because I did I just started leading pieces of business showing up like I ran
[19:35] SPEAKER_02: the business I was always in my finest clothes and heel dressed to the knives and so I got promoted
[19:43] SPEAKER_02: again and again and again again which is why I ended up staying in corporate for 12 years or so
[19:49] SPEAKER_02: but I love this question I want to think what advice have I had that's impacted my own life
[19:55] SPEAKER_01: I'm going to need to think about that one okay I mean I'm going to ask you this one because I
[20:01] SPEAKER_01: ask everybody and I kind of suspect me answers obvious but if you won't do what you do for work
[20:11] SPEAKER_01: today what would you be doing instead and you're on that kind of cusp of moving from corporate
[20:17] SPEAKER_01: to to to full more entrepreneurship but but I'm still going to ask you anyway
[20:24] SPEAKER_02: yeah well I would definitely be doing this I would definitely be doing this but if it had a
[20:29] SPEAKER_02: totally different life I think I would work with children in some capacity some way I love and
[20:35] SPEAKER_02: actually I think I wonder if eventually I can bring this burnout prevention work into schools
[20:41] SPEAKER_02: like even young children little ones I just want them to learn that life doesn't have to be
[20:46] SPEAKER_02: this hard so I'd love to work with children I've got four but actually I would love to carry on
[20:52] SPEAKER_02: having more I feel very blessed and obviously I can't have anymore but I always think I'll foster one
[20:56] SPEAKER_01: day I just yeah I love children what book are you currently reading you know podcast that you
[21:05] SPEAKER_01: listening to and that you would recommend to the audience that you get a lot of value from or
[21:11] SPEAKER_02: have had a lot of value from I have just started studying the energy codes by Dr. Sue Morta
[21:22] SPEAKER_02: and this is revolutionary work for how work but also how we feel and I've fallen in love with the
[21:30] SPEAKER_02: book so much so that I'm now doing the coaching certification practicing it with my clients
[21:36] SPEAKER_02: but I'm debouring her content on YouTube where ever she is this Dr. Sue Morta I find transformational
[21:45] SPEAKER_01: so the energy codes I got I got to take a look listen to that
[21:51] SPEAKER_01: are you a morning or a night person morning morning yeah is that because of kids or because of you
[22:00] SPEAKER_02: choice yeah I love the mornings I love the sunrise I like the silence I like the space yeah
[22:07] SPEAKER_02: what's keeping you up at night at the moment it's the fear of going from the comfort of a salary
[22:14] SPEAKER_02: that's income and this is my very last month where I have a salary coming in and so I have to
[22:21] SPEAKER_02: work hard and make sure that I can keep this beautiful house I'm a solo parent and I worked very hard
[22:28] SPEAKER_02: in my divorce to make sure that I could buy my ex out to keep my four children in this house and our
[22:34] SPEAKER_02: dog and I really don't want to lose the house which is why I'm working night and day to just spread
[22:42] SPEAKER_02: the big-end part without burn out magic out into the world and hope that I can properly
[22:46] SPEAKER_02: can monetize it make money from it and stay in the house but I'll definitely want to keep you
[22:50] SPEAKER_01: me up at night Bianca you know you've got such a great story and so please
[23:00] SPEAKER_01: that you could come on and I think you know as we were talking about before we started you will
[23:07] SPEAKER_01: be back and we'll be getting everyone to listen to you in a more you know learning and constructive
[23:18] SPEAKER_01: role not that your story isn't really a good story especially taking the core you know
[23:25] SPEAKER_01: the leap and corporate entrepreneurship to your own entrepreneur
[23:33] SPEAKER_01: but in the meantime how can people get a hold of you if they listen to this how can they get a
[23:39] SPEAKER_02: hold of you thank you so my website is Biancabest.com and you can follow me on Instagram Biancabest
[23:50] SPEAKER_02: underscore and I'm on all the usual channels everywhere YouTube I have BBTV where I share tips
[23:57] SPEAKER_02: and insights around burnout prevention regularly and I'd love you to subscribe to my weekly newsletter
[24:04] SPEAKER_01: through my website that will be great. Okay thanks for coming on being being a lot of fun and I'm
[24:13] SPEAKER_01: sure everyone will be learning a lot more about how to manage energy and burnout okay thank you so
[24:20] SPEAKER_02: much for having me it's been an absolute pleasure thank you.
[24:24] SPEAKER_01: Jeez you know Bianca is so energizing she showed us that with focus and managed energy you can
[24:32] SPEAKER_01: build a highly successful business. I'm Phil Bliss don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter
[24:38] SPEAKER_01: on our website and subscribe on our YouTube channel as well or at any one of the major podcast channels
[24:45] SPEAKER_01: thanks for listening to Canada's entrepreneur where you meet the entrepreneurs that drive
[24:51] SPEAKER_01: today's economy in Canada see you soon