Troy Assoignon

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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: It's VanCoovers Podcast on the Canada's Podcast Network.
[00:26] SPEAKER_01: As an entrepreneur, you started your business to follow your passion and not to spend your evenings doing bookkeeping.
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[01:12] SPEAKER_01: Hello, this is Robert Smil coming to today with vanCoovers entrepreneur.ca where we talk to the entrepreneurs
[01:18] SPEAKER_01: we're making it happen here in British Columbia. Troy Asinian has been an entrepreneur for 10 years,
[01:24] SPEAKER_01: starting off as an interior contractor in Winnipeg to working in the technology scene in Vancouver.
[01:30] SPEAKER_01: Now he is a full-time strategic marketing and business advisor for business owners and corporations alike.
[01:37] SPEAKER_01: Last year, him and his girlfriend spent eight months in Bali and this year they are living full-time in Thailand.
[01:44] SPEAKER_01: Troy's satisfaction comes from seeing a change and a shift inside people and that's what wakes him up every single day.
[01:54] SPEAKER_01: Well, Troy, welcome to the show. Thanks for taking the time today to be here for all our listeners.
[01:59] SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it and I'm excited to bring whatever I can to the table for the listeners.
[02:05] SPEAKER_01: Okay, why don't you tell us a little bit more about yourself? We know you're from Winnipeg, but give us the details on your current business.
[02:13] SPEAKER_00: Okay, current business. So I mean, currently I am a strategic advisor. We work with businesses and all sorts of industries.
[02:22] SPEAKER_00: I guess my background like you mentioned earlier was I'm an interior contractor from the beginning.
[02:30] SPEAKER_00: A lot of my life experience, I have a lot of experience in graphic design, managing teams as a contractor,
[02:37] SPEAKER_00: running big events in Winnipeg from we ran the Young Entrepreneur Society years ago.
[02:41] SPEAKER_00: We did all sorts of different events and I think all of it encompassing.
[02:47] SPEAKER_00: I've learned that I really enjoy seeing the changing people and I've taken a big shift from the contracting space, from the design space.
[02:56] SPEAKER_00: I still use all the skills that I have, but the satisfaction I get from how do I say this?
[03:02] SPEAKER_00: Changing somebody's business versus building them a website or a logo is way more satisfying to me personally in my experience.
[03:11] SPEAKER_00: In that shape, a lot of the business that we have today, I mean we still do websites and we still do logos, but when somebody comes to us just for a website and logo, that tells me they need a lot more than just a website and logo.
[03:24] SPEAKER_01: Okay, now did you need financing to start your company and how do you currently make money in your business now?
[03:31] SPEAKER_00: See, that's a beautiful thing I think actually about this twofold because I was an interior contractor and that industry you basically don't need much cash.
[03:40] SPEAKER_00: A lot of people I think with our current business, no funding either we bootstrapped it from the grounds up, but I think a lot of people don't realize that they can leverage jobs and invoices and deposits to actually start up a business.
[03:58] SPEAKER_00: If you put out a fricking quote, you can actually use that quote to leverage money to buy equipment, to buy different things to get things off the ground.
[04:09] SPEAKER_00: To be honest, that's how we actually started some of our drywall gigs.
[04:13] SPEAKER_00: We needed to buy drywall lifts and we need to buy certain tools.
[04:17] SPEAKER_00: The $10,000 job, we get a $5,000 deposit by the lifts and the tools, eat the rest and the rest was profit.
[04:24] SPEAKER_00: So to be honest, any business that I've started, I try not to get funding, I try and validate my market as fast as I can because if not, I think it's a slippery slope.
[04:36] SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of people play with investments and they have no plan.
[04:40] SPEAKER_00: So, that's kind of my short, short, long answer.
[04:45] SPEAKER_01: Okay, now what is the long term vision and what will your company look like in the future? Do you see the company expanding into other areas and where?
[04:53] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I love this.
[04:56] SPEAKER_00: This is great because to be honest, we recently got pretty clear ourselves and where our business is going to expand.
[05:02] SPEAKER_00: We used to run legacy branding, but now we've just, we've actually broadened it a bit just to legacy because we, like I said, we didn't want to just be selling websites.
[05:12] SPEAKER_00: We wanted to be selling actual legacies.
[05:15] SPEAKER_00: We're working with people on one year packages, whether it be couples, whether it be business owners, CEOs, different people that really want to expand their business models and their market and really actually leave an impact.
[05:30] SPEAKER_00: I've realized a lot of people I like working with startup entrepreneurs, but at the same time too, all the beginning of startup stages is a lot of cash flow.
[05:39] SPEAKER_00: I love that part, but we are looking at focusing more on people that have figured out the basics of cash flow, but we want to expand within industries and actually create businesses that matter for the long run.
[05:52] SPEAKER_00: Like, you know as good as I know, like business statistics are pretty grave. I think five to 10% of, or no.
[06:00] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think every five years, like businesses go closer doors, like it's a pretty significant statistic.
[06:07] SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that's our kind of long term goal is really work with people for a longer period of time, work on percent plus deals and really affect and help large corporations.
[06:19] SPEAKER_00: And we actually do, we plan to launch an ocean initiative, me and Alicia. I know you had Alicia on your show recently.
[06:26] SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, she was a guest.
[06:27] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we want to launch an ocean initiative because I mean we've been to Bali, we've been around Thailand.
[06:33] SPEAKER_00: And to be honest, like the trash on the beaches and other places is there's just no waste management.
[06:40] SPEAKER_00: I understand that trash is a thing, but at the end of the day, it needs to be managed properly.
[06:46] SPEAKER_00: So we put together a nonprofit that we haven't launched yet.
[06:50] SPEAKER_00: We're looking at actually launching that in the next couple of months, but it's called slam sea life always matters.
[06:55] SPEAKER_00: That's kind of like the long term vision, but we also know we need operating capital to really leave an impact.
[07:01] SPEAKER_00: And I think, yeah, that's, that's a little bit of our vision.
[07:06] SPEAKER_01: Okay, you're now living in Thailand, but I want you to take us back to when you were living here in Vancouver on this next question.
[07:13] SPEAKER_01: What are the biggest benefits for you being an entrepreneur in Vancouver BC?
[07:17] SPEAKER_01: I want you to give us some of the good points about starting a company here, but I also want you to give us some of the tough things or challenges for listeners so they can keep it up.
[07:26] SPEAKER_00: So interestingly enough,
[07:28] SPEAKER_00: a ticket from Winnipeg.
[07:31] SPEAKER_00: I actually put down all my tools and Winnipeg as an interior contractor.
[07:36] SPEAKER_00: And I went all in on my dreams and moved to Vancouver.
[07:38] SPEAKER_00: So I bought a one way ticket and I had a backpack and four boxes in a suitcase.
[07:44] SPEAKER_00: And I moved in with Alicia and just made it happen.
[07:48] SPEAKER_00: So good things about Vancouver.
[07:50] SPEAKER_00: I would say the things that I liked is there's a lot of community there.
[07:55] SPEAKER_00: And there's, you can tap into a lot of networks.
[07:58] SPEAKER_00: You have to know some people that are connected though because there's a lot of clicks and scenes that are like pretty tight in Vancouver.
[08:06] SPEAKER_00: And it's hard to break through them in my personal opinion if I wouldn't have had Alicia around because you already knew a lot of the people did a lot of the relationship building prior to me coming out there.
[08:16] SPEAKER_00: One of the tough things I found in Vancouver.
[08:20] SPEAKER_00: A lot of people, how do I say this nicely?
[08:25] SPEAKER_00: A lot of people.
[08:29] SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't say it's tough, but it's different.
[08:33] SPEAKER_00: I looked at Vancouver as this really, really high end like tight like New York City vibe.
[08:40] SPEAKER_00: But I didn't realize it's on the West Coast.
[08:42] SPEAKER_00: And it's actually a pretty laid back city compared to even Winnipeg and other, I mean, I grew up in Winnipeg.
[08:48] SPEAKER_00: It's a really laid back city.
[08:50] SPEAKER_00: And I think nurturing of relationships takes a lot longer than other cities because people in Vancouver are busy.
[08:56] SPEAKER_00: Like rent is not cheap.
[09:01] SPEAKER_00: Business and transit does takes like time.
[09:05] SPEAKER_00: And I just feel you have to be a lot more patient actually in Vancouver.
[09:09] SPEAKER_00: But I also think it's important for people in Vancouver to start looking at doing business in the States as well.
[09:16] SPEAKER_00: I've noticed in my personal opinion because Vancouver is so close to the border.
[09:21] SPEAKER_00: People in the States just seem to take action faster.
[09:25] SPEAKER_00: They just seem to, and there's nothing against Canadians, but I just think people in the States move a lot faster in certain business endeavors.
[09:33] SPEAKER_00: I'm a Canadian, so I'm just being honest.
[09:37] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I think networking's a huge thing.
[09:41] SPEAKER_00: Doing events, I think, for anybody.
[09:43] SPEAKER_00: If you're an expert of any sort and you know anything about anything, hosting your own meetup events and hosting your own events about the specific topic that you are an expert in.
[09:54] SPEAKER_00: I think that's the fastest way to build authority in any city.
[09:59] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's a good piece.
[10:02] SPEAKER_01: Okay, now we do some of our best work outside the office.
[10:05] SPEAKER_01: Is there a place in the lower mainland close to where you live or work when you were living here?
[10:10] SPEAKER_01: We like to go recharge or get inspired to just think about your business and does it change with the season considering all the rain we get here.
[10:17] SPEAKER_00: The fairmont every day all day.
[10:19] SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of people don't realize that if you hang out at the fairmont's year environment creates your reality.
[10:28] SPEAKER_00: I like hanging out there because the tea is high quality.
[10:31] SPEAKER_00: It's ten bucks for unlimited tea.
[10:34] SPEAKER_00: They give you great appetizers.
[10:36] SPEAKER_00: You get to hear great conversations from people.
[10:39] SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm a marketer, so I eavesdrop on conversations all the time.
[10:42] SPEAKER_00: I just like to hear what people are talking about and how they're saying things.
[10:48] SPEAKER_00: Starbucks is good, but to be honest, everyone hanging out at Starbucks is trying to make things happen.
[10:54] SPEAKER_00: People that are hanging out at the fairmont are already making things happen.
[10:58] SPEAKER_00: I think it's putting yourself in a position to surround yourself in opulence and people that are movers and shakers.
[11:05] SPEAKER_00: Because then you will be surrounded by them versus people that are just, you know, getting a double, double frappe latte.
[11:13] SPEAKER_00: Nothing bad against them either, but I'm just saying strategically, hang out more opulent places.
[11:19] SPEAKER_00: High end hotels always have lounges.
[11:21] SPEAKER_00: It's an extra couple bucks more, but the comfter ability, the speed of the Wi-Fi, the quality of the drinks and the food is significantly higher in your chances of meeting a players and great people.
[11:34] SPEAKER_00: And to be honest, when you bring somebody for a business meeting to the fairmont versus the Starbucks,
[11:41] SPEAKER_00: it's night and day difference.
[11:43] SPEAKER_00: You can't even compare the two.
[11:46] SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that's the one you have a meeting with the client.
[11:49] SPEAKER_01: You have a meeting with the client, you're taking it to the fairmont.
[11:53] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're just a connection meeting or whatever it be.
[11:56] SPEAKER_00: We also had the, what the heck space was that.
[11:59] SPEAKER_00: We were in a collab space, soft hastings.
[12:02] SPEAKER_00: The hive.
[12:03] SPEAKER_00: So we did have boardrooms there as well, but I would just enjoy just meeting connections and different people at the fairmont.
[12:10] SPEAKER_00: And to be honest, most of my meetings are actually held over the phone and online because I mean, we're in Thailand now.
[12:16] SPEAKER_00: Other than that, I mean, I did meet people at coffee shops, of course, like most entrepreneurs do at some point, but overall the fairmont was my place of choice.
[12:27] SPEAKER_00: And if you've never been to the gold room in the fairmont, ask for a tour.
[12:32] SPEAKER_01: It's fun.
[12:32] SPEAKER_01: It's fun because I had a guest on a long time. I would dare and jacklyn. He suggested the same thing.
[12:37] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know Darren. Darren actually suggested that to me too.
[12:41] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[12:41] SPEAKER_00: And it's the best thing ever.
[12:43] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's just he told I remember that kind of he goes go down the fairmont. That's what I would do.
[12:46] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[12:47] SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's great to be honest.
[12:48] SPEAKER_00: It's like there's just great people there. It's inspiring to you and like everyone's just on point services on point.
[12:55] SPEAKER_00: The servers are on point.
[12:57] SPEAKER_00: Oh, and by the way, there's unlimited amazing popcorn there.
[13:01] SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, fairmont.
[13:02] SPEAKER_00: You're going to get a influx of entrepreneurs.
[13:04] SPEAKER_00: I'm just kidding.
[13:05] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[13:05] SPEAKER_00: But it's great. They have snack food. It's just it's enjoyable.
[13:09] SPEAKER_00: And they always remember your name. It's not like, I don't know, the experience is something to actually remember as an entrepreneur because your experience in your business.
[13:20] SPEAKER_00: I think is everything for client retention.
[13:22] SPEAKER_00: And that's why the fairmont does that. And that's why they're the best.
[13:26] SPEAKER_01: Yeah. Okay.
[13:27] SPEAKER_01: Now, what's great.
[13:28] SPEAKER_01: We have a lot of entrepreneurs that are our listener bases all over the world.
[13:34] SPEAKER_01: So I want this next question. I want you to speak to them.
[13:37] SPEAKER_01: If you were to start all over again and you just moved to your Vancouver BC, but this time you don't know anyone knowing what you know now, what would you do?
[13:45] SPEAKER_01: Now, how would you go about starting all over again as an entrepreneur?
[13:49] SPEAKER_00: Mm hmm. I mean, back to what I said earlier about events, I think every person, if you can, if you have the ability to should facilitate or host events.
[14:00] SPEAKER_00: If you're introverted and you don't like doing and being on stage, find somebody that does and help organize it.
[14:07] SPEAKER_00: If you love being on stage, organize it and just get people together with the social media space.
[14:13] SPEAKER_00: It's really easy just to post pictures and network with people online, but I really truly believe we're going to see a rise of offline events because people want human connection.
[14:25] SPEAKER_00: And in my experience, most of my clients that are converting now into long term one year, two year clients, I've known them for six months, two a year.
[14:33] SPEAKER_00: I've taken the time to build the relationship and maybe there is a referral from one or two of them that convert right away.
[14:39] SPEAKER_00: So doing events and adding value to other people's lives, instead of thinking like, what can you get?
[14:47] SPEAKER_00: Think of what you can give and you'll get and you'll get and you'll get because people will just recognize you.
[14:54] SPEAKER_00: You'll just be known. Being a person of influence, a person that connects people is probably the number one most valuable thing as an entrepreneur because you can navigate your way through any scene.
[15:05] SPEAKER_00: And it's unbelievable. So yeah, that's that's what I would do. I would throw, I mean, since I do strategic advising, I would throw marketing events, I'd throw cash flow events, just educating business owners on how to market better.
[15:19] SPEAKER_00: I mean, Evan pagan, one of my good mentors that I learned a lot of my stuff from talks about upping the free line, giving away all your best stuff for free.
[15:28] SPEAKER_00: So when people take it and put it into action, they really truly believe that your service is great because it is great because your free stuff works.
[15:38] SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that's what I would do. Long, long winded, but I think if you do that in any city, I think you can find a group of people that love you, like you and trust you and they'll come and they'll support you.
[15:51] SPEAKER_00: It won't be easy. You'll only get a couple people to start, but it'll grow over time.
[15:55] SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's talk about your routine. What does the first hour look like for you when you get up in the morning? Do you have a specific routine?
[16:02] SPEAKER_01: I love it. I love it. That helps you get motivated. Start your day.
[16:05] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, we've been stepping into, I mean, I've been stepping into quite a bit of leadership recently and we've been building our business rapidly, both me and Alicia together.
[16:14] SPEAKER_00: I need at least an hour of silence in the morning and not silence, like just no talking to people, no Facebook, no Slack, no, no other people's agendas.
[16:28] SPEAKER_00: I put on some great positive rap music. I blasted. I probably have a coffee. I drink a lot of water. Actually, first thing when I get up, I drink a lot of water.
[16:37] SPEAKER_00: I usually have a water bottle beside my bed. Usually, I tub that. Yeah, I have to be in silence. I find for the first little bit just to gather my thoughts because usually to be honest by days, or I wouldn't say 24 hour days, but we go for eight hours.
[16:52] SPEAKER_00: We take, you know, a break here and there throughout the day and we pretty much work all day and then we'll just break throughout the day.
[16:58] SPEAKER_00: I'm just being honest, like we're building, we're building a big empire and we're in a flop time zone right now, whereas most of our clients are in the West.
[17:07] SPEAKER_00: So we work a lot, but we also enjoy a lot too. I mean, a lot of people think we're in Thailand just to enjoy, but I think at the same time we structure our lives so we can enjoy certain times of the day.
[17:18] SPEAKER_00: After 1 p.m. honestly, every day, it goes radio silence because the whole West is sleeping. So that's our time to kind of build things and work on projects and this and that.
[17:29] SPEAKER_00: So yeah, the morning's just silence for me. Reading, doing me, having a coffee, just getting my storehouse together.
[17:38] SPEAKER_01: Okay. Now, do you think entrepreneurs have to be weird or unique in a positive way or wired differently?
[17:47] SPEAKER_00: I think to be an entrepreneur, you have to break your employee mindset programming. A lot of people think like employees when they're entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs not an employee.
[18:00] SPEAKER_00: I mean, a lot of people are glorified entrepreneurs and they work as contractors, but you need to think like a business owner.
[18:06] SPEAKER_00: So I think you definitely have to think outside of the box. You will be chastised and you will be looked at as different.
[18:15] SPEAKER_00: I mean, when I moved out to Vancouver, my whole family was all be honest and I hope they listened to this. They were trying to scare me out of it. They're like, what if it doesn't work?
[18:24] SPEAKER_00: It's like, you know what, if I work, it will work. If you put in the work and you take the actions daily, I think you can make anything work.
[18:31] SPEAKER_00: But you also have to be able to take risks. I mean, we did a big job this year in Vietnam and we had a big payment issue of the payment coming through.
[18:43] SPEAKER_00: And we spent a lot of time doing the job and to be honest, it was a big risk and it could have really hurt us.
[18:50] SPEAKER_00: We did do some plans to make sure it didn't, but at the same time too, you have to be willing to do what other people think is impossible.
[19:02] SPEAKER_00: I mean, hell, I live in Thailand now and nobody thought this was possible. Some people to this day, even my friends, they'll be like, so are you guys making money?
[19:11] SPEAKER_00: It's like, are you kidding me? We live here full time. We're going to Greece in August to go check that out because the time zones are better.
[19:19] SPEAKER_00: It's like, it's taken a lot of work, but it's finally all really coming together.
[19:25] SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I think you have to be a little weird, but breaking employee mindset, I think is the number one thing for any starting entrepreneur.
[19:33] SPEAKER_00: And that might be a broad definition, but like thinking like a business owner, thinking on long term instead of short term, increasing your, how would I say this?
[19:45] SPEAKER_00: Your perspective in power, looking into the future instead of the next two weeks when you go to paycheck. Yeah, I think that's that.
[19:53] SPEAKER_01: Okay. What books are you reading now and why are even audiobooks and can you recommend any books for listeners who are also an entrepreneur?
[20:02] SPEAKER_00: So a book that's really helped me recently, actually, one of my friends out here, he just said, yeah, take it. And I was like, all right.
[20:08] SPEAKER_00: So it's called The Art of Thinking Clearly by Ralph Dobbelly. He basically, he breaks down all of the cognitive biases with his own viewpoints.
[20:20] SPEAKER_00: It's really cool because there's about 20, I think it's 20 to 25. I can't remember the exact number of cognitive biases that basically control us as humans.
[20:28] SPEAKER_00: They're just like logical fallacies that we naturally fall as natural law or follow as natural law.
[20:35] SPEAKER_00: It's a really good book because it just shows you your human BS. We all have BS that just comes up and this book just allows you to catch it.
[20:46] SPEAKER_00: So yeah, The Art of Thinking Clearly.
[20:48] SPEAKER_00: A book I'm actually ordering right away. I actually put in the order last night. It's The Wizard of Ads. It's an ad series from quite, I can't remember the author, but if you look it up, it'll come up.
[21:02] SPEAKER_00: It's really, it's an entertaining book. The guy really knows how to write and put things together. I'm an artist naturally. So I enjoy an entertaining story.
[21:13] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, those two books. What else? I think honestly. Oh, another book that's really changed my life that I think will change a lot of people's life is The Values Factor by John D. Martini.
[21:26] SPEAKER_00: Insane book about human values and who you are. He dives deep into what he believes depression is.
[21:33] SPEAKER_00: I've been depressed many times in my life and that book has helped me get out of it significantly. So yeah, I would suggest that book too.
[21:43] SPEAKER_01: I think that's it off the top of my head. Yeah. Okay. Any online or offline tools that you like to use on a daily basis.
[21:52] SPEAKER_00: That's a good question. I love Slack. We're taking all of our clients off of Facebook and onto Slack. We use the G Suite. I mean Google Docs. I really hope Google updates it soon, but it's working and it works well for the best option we currently have.
[22:10] SPEAKER_00: What else? I mean, oh, man, we use funnel builders. We use email lists. What the heck else do we use on a daily basis that really helps? Actually, I use this one app that I think the lot entrepreneurs should check out. It's about three bucks. It's 26 minute nap. It's developed and inspired by a NASA study. And they believe that this 26 minute power nap is more rejuvenative than a three hour nap.
[22:37] SPEAKER_00: I actually have used it. I mean, Robert, I'm sure you can agree with this, but you've had some sleepless nights in your time. Sure.
[22:46] SPEAKER_00: I mean, sometimes a project deadline comes up or whatever it be or you just can't sleep at all because you're just so excited.
[22:54] SPEAKER_00: I'm not endorsing this company by any means, but it's app on iTunes that I found and it's called nap 26 or 26 minute nap. Yeah, I think it's nap 26, but it is phenomenal.
[23:08] SPEAKER_00: I enjoy it. It gets me well rested. It's basically a meditation, puts you into a trance, passes you out and wakes you up in 26 minutes.
[23:17] SPEAKER_00: 26 minutes and then you wake up pretty rejuvenated. I mean, you know, when you wake up from a nap and you're pretty groggy and you just can't get back into your flow.
[23:26] SPEAKER_00: This allows you to not get into that grog. It's just enough to kind of like do a little mental reset and it's actually proven to increase your alertness and different things.
[23:35] SPEAKER_00: It's so funny because when I bought it, I was like, Matt, three bucks. It's the best three bucks I've ever spent on a nap.
[23:41] SPEAKER_01: Okay, if you weren't doing what you do now, what would you like to do for a profession?
[23:47] SPEAKER_00: Oh, man, I thought about that many times. I actually would love to engineer now that I used to not like math.
[23:55] SPEAKER_00: The reason I never became an engineer is because I hated math, but now that I'm understanding business on a deeper level, I'm actually really, really, really liking math.
[24:04] SPEAKER_00: I think architecture and engineering is great because I think architecture is basically psychology at play within a human experience inside a building.
[24:15] SPEAKER_00: Like true architects are transforming your reality with the way the inside of a building is shaped, which I think is phenomenal because I study psychology now and I never really realize that.
[24:27] SPEAKER_00: But that or I would love to play a lot more in like an investment banking network and different things.
[24:36] SPEAKER_00: I really, the thing I like about what I do is I can play in any network, any market.
[24:40] SPEAKER_00: I'm just strategic advisor to many and a lot of people would say niche down, but I enjoy playing in many industries because a lot of the nuances are the same.
[24:51] SPEAKER_00: A lot of the business principles and foundations are very similar, but you get to experience so many cool things.
[24:58] SPEAKER_01: Okay. What kind of a job would you not like to do? Couldn't do it.
[25:03] SPEAKER_00: Oh, man. Well, my first job was a dishwasher. So I don't think I'd go back to that. What couldn't I do?
[25:16] SPEAKER_00: What are some jobs that I've done in my life that I've hated? I mean, I was a drywaller contractor for many years.
[25:23] SPEAKER_00: Interior contractor, drywall contractor, taping, painting. I mean, I think I would actually enjoy doing it again for a little bit, but it's very, very, very hard on the body. Super frickin hard.
[25:37] SPEAKER_00: And I'm still healing from it. So I can't say I'd go back to doing that full time. I would like to dabble in it every so often because it's an art, but yeah, taping, drywall taping, putting sheets on ceilings.
[25:50] SPEAKER_00: It's not enjoyable doing it eight hours a day, but I enjoy the actual art side of it. So I don't know if that answered your question, but close enough, you've done it.
[26:00] SPEAKER_01: Okay, in business, what is your favorite word quote or sentence that you like to use?
[26:08] SPEAKER_00: Recently, we came up with one for our business, and it's either step up or step out.
[26:15] SPEAKER_00: We're working with a lot of different people, and I'm not, we don't want to chase people anymore.
[26:20] SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot entrepreneurs spend a lot of time chasing people and chasing business that they don't actually need.
[26:27] SPEAKER_00: And then they end up picking up gigs that they hate. And it's like if people are half in, they're all out.
[26:32] SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's like step up or step out. And it's not a bad thing, but we're just making people be definitive with their decisions.
[26:40] SPEAKER_00: We don't take hell, maybe. We only take hell, yes, isn't hell knows.
[26:44] SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I think that step up or step out or, you know, the best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago. So get started.
[26:55] SPEAKER_01: What is your least favorite word or sentence you do not like to hear?
[27:00] SPEAKER_00: Money is the root of all evil because money is the only thing that will change the world that we're incurring.
[27:07] SPEAKER_00: Certainly based on the capitalistic societies that run the world, it's the only thing that can have a positive effect and affect societies at a whole.
[27:18] SPEAKER_00: It's the only thing and it sucks to say it and it's not that I'm money hungry, but I know that money can influence and change the world.
[27:26] SPEAKER_01: If you pick one or two words to describe yourself, what would it be in life?
[27:31] SPEAKER_00: Oh, man. I would say, hmm, playful and driven because I like to have fun. If you've ever worked with me, I enjoy having fun, laughing, playing, adventuring.
[27:47] SPEAKER_00: But I can also be very serious when it comes down to leading a project or getting some things going because I think there's a separation between play time and business time.
[28:00] SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I would say, I would say, yeah, those two playful and driven or leadership to be honest, I've realized that it's very difficult to build an empire, let alone a business without being a strong leader.
[28:14] SPEAKER_00: If you don't lead, you will never fail to grow.
[28:17] SPEAKER_01: What keeps you up at night if anything?
[28:21] SPEAKER_00: Right now, opportunity. Years ago, it was debt. I got into a big financial disaster in 2013 that I won't really get into too much, but a big contract collapsed on us.
[28:33] SPEAKER_00: But I mean, it was debt for a couple of years, but now that we're on a good path again, and I've cleared a lot of that stuff up.
[28:41] SPEAKER_00: I would say it's opportunity. Like I just, I used to be able to sleep lots because I didn't have a big vision.
[28:49] SPEAKER_00: And then recently we've reignited our vision, and I've found it more difficult to sleep in. And yeah, that's that.
[28:57] SPEAKER_01: Okay, I want you to give us the top three things on your inspired lifeless. This could be a bucket list of ASORT. Like if you want to do TEDx talks, if you want to do traveling more, if you want to do right your own book, anything like that?
[29:10] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, actually, I mean, I got two different books coming out here.
[29:14] SPEAKER_00: We've been those will be in the next couple of months. We've been working on that for a while, but to inspired list, I want to swim in the caves in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
[29:28] SPEAKER_00: I've always wanted to do that.
[29:31] SPEAKER_00: I would love to climb the mountains and the Himalayas. It's something I've always really wanted to do and just spend some time with some monks.
[29:39] SPEAKER_00: I think it would be unbelievable.
[29:42] SPEAKER_00: Lived list, I would say business wise to, hmm, I want to get on a 30 under 30 list. I'm 28 now. And I think I could do that for 30 easily.
[29:55] SPEAKER_00: That's actually something that I'm going to be really working on over the next two years.
[30:00] SPEAKER_00: Oh, man, what else? Lived list. I mean, I really want to go to Belgium.
[30:07] SPEAKER_00: We have family, like our roots are actually from Belgium. My family is all French in Belgium and the same last name and it's pretty unique.
[30:15] SPEAKER_00: So, lived list is going there. I'm probably going to do that this year.
[30:20] SPEAKER_00: Man, there's so many cool things that I think eventually we want to buy property and machosen in Vancouver Island.
[30:28] SPEAKER_00: We spent a month there and I've realized how beautiful it is and how much, how good it was for us.
[30:35] SPEAKER_00: And yeah, that's kind of long term vision for that. So, I think those are those for now, but I met man.
[30:41] SPEAKER_00: I'm an adventurer of heart. I can go all day.
[30:44] SPEAKER_01: Okay. Do you have any advice that you may have received that you can pass on to entrepreneurs throughout BC?
[30:51] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, honestly, get a mentor. It might sound biased because I do mentorship, but at the end of the day when I had a contract
[31:01] SPEAKER_00: explode in my face in 2013, we didn't get paid on a really large job is about 90 grand.
[31:07] SPEAKER_00: And I went into peer reaction mode because we had payrolls of 15K every two weeks.
[31:12] SPEAKER_00: If I had an mentor or an advisor at the time helping me through, you know, weighed through the BS to be completely honest, I wouldn't have lost so much money.
[31:22] SPEAKER_00: When you have money and you lose money, it's very, it goes a lot faster than you made it.
[31:27] SPEAKER_00: It just like disappears and vanishes. If I had a mentor helping me, that wasn't biased to my direction.
[31:34] SPEAKER_00: I think I would have made it out a lot better, a lot sooner. And I would have strategically did a lot of things better.
[31:41] SPEAKER_00: I think people, because they're stubborn, and I was stubborn, they just don't want to go out a pocket for a mentor.
[31:49] SPEAKER_00: But even though they can collapse five years of their time, they would rather suffer and sacrifice their own life for it.
[31:57] SPEAKER_00: I mean, it might sound harsh, but that's my truth.
[32:01] SPEAKER_01: Okay. Okay, Joy, you ready to have some fun?
[32:04] SPEAKER_00: Of course, I love fun.
[32:06] SPEAKER_00: Okay. You like fun?
[32:07] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely. We're going to have some right now. So you're going to be able to relate to this next question.
[32:11] SPEAKER_01: Well, as entrepreneurs, we are very, very busy people, lots on the go. We got clients, staff, you name it. We're doing it all.
[32:19] SPEAKER_01: We're going to take you away from all that. There's a small tropical island just off of Fiji. That only has one phone booth there.
[32:24] SPEAKER_01: There is no internet. This place does exist, by the way.
[32:27] SPEAKER_01: We're going to drop you off there. You won't have a computer or a smartphone or tablet.
[32:30] SPEAKER_01: You can use the phone booth located there any time to call the boat. We'll compete you up.
[32:36] SPEAKER_01: How long would you last before you made that call? And what would you do while you were there?
[32:40] SPEAKER_00: Hmm. What does have any accommodations or just completely empty?
[32:44] SPEAKER_01: I'd step to you to find out. There's a phone booth there. It's got to go somewhere.
[32:48] SPEAKER_00: Huh. All right. Well, I mean, this is a fun answer because me and Alicia discovered that
[32:56] SPEAKER_00: in living in Bali for eight months and we've been in Thailand for six months now and we'll be here for another year.
[33:02] SPEAKER_00: We get a little complacent after three months. So I think I'd last three months if there's accommodations.
[33:09] SPEAKER_00: There's good food, good place to sleep, you know, surfing, some cool stuff. I do that.
[33:14] SPEAKER_00: I think I'd probably last three months. Yeah, I mean, I think it'd be fun.
[33:21] SPEAKER_00: It's Fiji. Come on. I know. It's so fun. I'd snorkel. Actually, one of my favorite experiences to be honest was
[33:30] SPEAKER_00: snorkeling in the Gilly Trongon Islands off of Bali.
[33:33] SPEAKER_00: I literally was like two feet away from a sea turtle and like this thing looked like I could have taken my head off,
[33:40] SPEAKER_00: but it only eats grass. But man, if we're at Fiji, I'd be doing some fun adventuring.
[33:47] SPEAKER_00: I'd be going on the islands. I'd be snorkeling. I'd be surfing. I would be doing quite a few fun things.
[33:56] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I'd say that for at least three months.
[33:58] SPEAKER_01: Great. Okay, we're going to wrap things up. How can our listeners get whole of you?
[34:02] SPEAKER_01: And is there anything you'd like to add before you leave us today?
[34:06] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, take a look on Facebook for me, Troy, T-R-O-I, last name is Swingian, ASS, O-I-G-N-O-N.
[34:14] SPEAKER_00: Add me on Facebook, follow me on Facebook. I post a lot of my updates on there.
[34:19] SPEAKER_00: We're going to have a couple of websites coming up soon, LegacyPlace.com. That's going to be our Legacy website.
[34:26] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I guess honestly, check me out on Facebook, follow me on there. That'll be the main hub for you to really get a hold of me.
[34:32] SPEAKER_00: I'm starting to publish a lot more articles on LinkedIn and we're really getting our online portal up.
[34:37] SPEAKER_00: So yeah, follow me on Facebook and from there, you can find everything else out.
[34:42] SPEAKER_00: We were launching actually a Legacy and Influence PDF pretty soon too. So keep your eyes peeled. Yeah, I think that's it.
[34:50] SPEAKER_01: Okay, great. Okay.
[34:51] SPEAKER_01: Well, Troy, thank you for coming on the show. I've learned a lot about you and I'm sure our listeners have as well.
[34:57] SPEAKER_00: Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me, Robert. It was a pleasure and I'm excited.
[35:02] SPEAKER_01: Great. Okay. We'll see you next time. Awesome. Take care. Bye.
[35:06] SPEAKER_01: Hey there. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to Vancouver's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
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[35:23] SPEAKER_01: You can also check out what other entrepreneurs are doing across the country. See you next time.