[00:00:00] Speaker A: And they go, you're in your 60s, you're too old, we're letting you go. You make too much money. Right. And it's like, I don't want to go. I'm happy here. Yeah, but you want to work for half. Well, of course. Nobody wants to do that.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Welcome back to the program. Excited to be here on this edition of Innovate and Overcome. Our guest today has over 30 years of retail design experience.
He's a well known national and international retail design expert. He has the ability to really see the big picture at the outset of a project and then the tenacity to see it through to completion. In fact, he's one of the very few architectural technologists who is a partner at his own architectural firm. Welcome to the show. Marcel Proskow, we're so happy to have you with us here today. Absolutely incredible. I've been excited about this for quite some time.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: Hello, Richard. Thank you very much. I'm excited to be here.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: Now we had the pleasure to get to know one another through the amazing strategic coach organization, something that we talk about here regularly on the show. Big fans of Dan Sullivan and Babs who created that wonderful platform and, you know, just love being in the room with you in all those events. You have such a great willingness and an openness to share about your business knowledge and experience. Having been a part of your own architectural firm as a partner for over 32 years, I mean, it's really incredible the stories, the, the things you've been able to build and construct and so on over the years. What I'm really excited about talking about with you is the challenge that's kind of unique to your industry as being someone who's got the technologist aspect of architecture in place, but not the full designation, as it were. There's a real challenge in having to make your claim in the industry, as it were. And so that's something that you were able to figure out earlier on. And you really are in a very niche, select group of people who've made that, that position where you can be a partner in a firm. So walk us through how you were able to make that a reality.
[00:02:00] Speaker A: Well, when I was quite young and working in the business, I worked with a fellow who the practice was his and he did not like anybody offering any input. He said, you know, Marcel, you're doing a great job for me. Nevermind the ideas, just keep doing your job every day. And it got to a point where I remember going home one evening and just kind of stomping around the Living room all night, going, I can do better than this. And I'd met a fellow who had kind of opened a door for me, who ran a separate architectural practice, And I went knocking on his door with my ideas, and he welcomed me in, and it was quite a fortuitous opportunity for me. But little did I realize at the time that he saw me as a gain for him, not a gain for me. So within the guise of his firm, I started a specialty design firm, and we built this firm up. And because I was not completely sure that I had what it took to run my own business, I went onto a deal where I took a very small salary and I was going to be incentivized by bonuses.
Well, the first couple of years, I was pretty excited because we were building the business quite a bit. But when it came time to sit down and talk about bonuses, I kept getting these stories that said, there really isn't a bonus this year because of all the expenses. Marcel, you don't understand how business works. You're just going to have to try harder, maybe next year. So in my third year, I took the second year's revenue and doubled it with the same number of people, and we still didn't make money.
Didn't make money.
So, again, there was no bonus. And that's when I realized that although this fellow had done a great job of inspiring me, he saw the raw talent that I had that I didn't even see he was taking advantage of me. And so I came to a. Probably one of the biggest moments of my life when I used to find this guy very intimidating when he would talk to me. And I somehow mustered up the courage to one day while sitting face to face with him in his office.
It was kind of like that Charlie Brown moment, you know, when the teacher talked. And it was always this, wah, wah, wah, wah. Well, I kind of turned him into that as he was telling me I should go do my job and work harder. And when he finished, I looked at him and I said, I quit.
I'm leaving.
And he looked at me and went, really?
And I said, yep. So I said, I'll tell you what, I'm going to go back to my office. You can let me know if you want me out by the end of the day or if you want me to work out the typical two weeks.
He came back to see me within a few minutes and said, all right, maybe we haven't been negotiating as fairly as we should be, so let's go back and start again. By now, my mind was made up. And I said, no, I'm not going to do this. I'm going to go out on my own. So what's interesting in that comment is that I had a lot of people say to me when they found out I was leaving, so are you going to go out on your own? And although I just said that, I didn't really mean it that way because I, I looked at everybody and said, no, I'm not going on my own. I'm going to start a company.
There's a big difference there because I at that point realized I didn't want to do everything by myself. I had ideas, but this was almost like the predecessor to the who, not how many years before I ever saw that book. I realized I needed people and I had a great idea and I could take it outside the four walls I was within and make a success out of it. But I needed people around me and I started handpicking who I thought would work. And fortunately for me, I had a good enough reputation that my clients just moved right over to my new office and started supporting us. And I very quickly was able to hire five people. And the rest, as they say, is history.
My favorite part to that was I had one client who phoned me up and he said, I hear you've left where you were and you've started your own business. And I said, yep, I have done that. And he said, well, I'm going to go to the old place and pick up all the files and I'm going to come over. He actually went and rented a pickup truck, got all the files, drove to my new office and said, now I brought you the files, you're going to unload them, but you now have all my business. So, you know, we had a lot of good things that started this process and a little bit of nerve wracking. I, you know, it's, it's. I hadn't intended to do this and people looked at me and said, well, you know, like, shouldn't you have taken more time to think this through? And I realized I just had tried everything I could, but I'd hit the wall and it was time to go out and start to make a change. And the real key was surrounding myself with the right team and then really instilling them. I have no idea where I kind of learned the importance of human relations, but it's probably one of the best skills I have and one of the best things I've ever learned because I really empowered my team to work with me. I supported them as much as they supported me and we really built a great team and we were able to build a business that successfully every year grew, not exponentially, but enough that every year felt a little bit better.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Wow, that's incredible. Now, at the time that this happened for you, you know, going back, reflecting on this experience, you know, this was in the early 90s that this transpired. Is that about right?
[00:07:30] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: How young would you have been at that time, Marcel?
[00:07:34] Speaker A: Oh, my early 30s. And just to make it even more interesting, I might as well come full clean here. I was going through a divorce, I had a young son, I was living in a pretty ramshackle little house, and people said to me, this isn't the best time to be quitting your job, Marcel.
But you know what? It was important. It was something I had to do because I just could not continue to be taken advantage of. And so what I did was in starting this new business, I created a profit sharing program, I paid my staff well, and I did everything I could to not have them feel like I was treating them the way I had been treated. I took a lesson from that and I just said, we're not going to make that happen. And the interesting thing when you do that with people is that you build loyalty. And I've had a lot of people work with me a long time. As I was preparing for this, I was thinking about it and having my own little internal conversations and I realized I have a lot of people who've worked with me for over 10 years. In fact, last year with our present format, we celebrated seven people hitting a 10 year anniversary. And that doesn't happen if you don't.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Treat people well, especially doesn't happen in this day and age. It's less and less common, it seems, as the years go by.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: But if you build that culture and if you support your team, if a client calls me and they're all upset, I will always listen to a client. But I will not throw my team under the bus. I will say, I will get back to you. I go talk with the team member, we figure out the best way to remedy the situation together.
Because that's, you know, moments happen in everybody's life, in everybody's career, and if you can get through them and pull together, it makes the tough times a lot easier.
[00:09:23] Speaker B: Yeah, and in the business of architecture construction, there's cycles that happen when economies are good and certain locations and geographic locations. There's, there's, there's a hotspot and a hubbub of activity. But you may or may not have an inroad to that, that geographic location. And so there are these market cycles. And those would be some of the tough times when you're, you know, there's. You have got great work that you can produce, but there's no one ready to hire for that great work. And so how have you found being able to navigate some of those challenges over the years?
[00:09:58] Speaker A: Well, it's interesting because my accountant always gave me a bad time on this, but I tended to leave a lot more money into the company than I probably should have from a personal perspective. But what that enabled me to do is if we hit tough times, people in my business panic. If they're not busy, they think, oh, we're going to get laid off because of the cycles that you just talked about. And we always made sure we had enough reserves that we could carry people for up to six months. And the cycles don't usually last longer than that. Particularly, you know, I was doing this in Calgary, which has a roller coaster economy, but the dips happen fast and furious, but the rises happen the same way. And so you can usually recover pretty quickly. We also have an office in Vancouver where things are a little bit more steady and it's a bigger market, so we were able to kind of balance them off. But when we hit those periods, we all just sort of hunker down. Not going to get raises this year, but you're not going to lose your job. So let's take this time to learn to support each other, pick up some new programs, some new training, because it's going to turn around again. You know, when the pandemic happened, my staff were terrific. We all really pulled together with each other. And I can't tell you how many clients, when they started working again, said to me, is so and so still with you? And I could proudly say yes. And that made them feel so good because they just picked it right back up with the people they knew. No learning curve, no training staff for a particular client. And it's been fantastic. We've actually had bigger growth since Pandemic than we ever had leading up to it. And I think it's because of that ability to provide continuity with people. So, you know, if there's a thing that I can say, we tend to have this habit of wanting to grab everything we can out of our businesses as we're moving along. But there's a lot to be said for some really good solid planning at that level and build a solid company that will carry you through. Because I think the ups and downs they're going to happen no matter what you do, no matter how busy you are or how slow you are. These cycles, they're part of life.
[00:12:05] Speaker B: Well, prepare for the cycle is what I'm hearing. And that's absolutely phenomenal advice. Very logical to the point. So thank you for that. And we're going to get some more of this incredible advice and hear about some more overcoming aspects. And we return after this incredible commercial break. Are you looking for a great book to read? Turns out I have one for you. It's called Cash Follows the Leader. It's available anywhere books are sold.
[00:12:27] Speaker C: But if you want to get a.
[00:12:28] Speaker B: Free copy and you can download it right to your inbox, you can go.
[00:12:31] Speaker C: To coachcanfield.com cash follow.
[00:12:38] Speaker B: We are back with Marcel. And you know, incredible value that you provided around just the importance and the impact of having what I would call a war chest for the business, the ability to weather those lean times. But the way that you thought about it, I think was really impactful. And I just want to make sure people understand this idea of how can we make sure to last and keep our people for at least six months. So, you know, from a personal side, people think about having their personal emergency fund. You know, how can I make sure I can pay my bills for three to six months, but not always is the business owner, considering how am I doing that in the business. And you made that decision early on somewhere along the line. And you are always prepared for these, these, these cycles, availability. And we talked about the importance, you know, even through Covid, being able to keep your people through this, you know, again, a very lean time because you're limited on what you can do during a global shutdown. But the fact that they had the confidence to know that you were well prepared and they'd seen you do these things before. We talked about loyalty and people being with you a long time when you can demonstrate that you're looking out for them and you're planning effectively to make sure that the business will last and sustain. It gives the people that you work with you a great deal of confidence. And so I'm curious, you know, if you were talking to someone that was know Marcel 30 years ago, what advice would you give him about making sure that you're creating that confidence and clarity for the people that are going to work with you as you build the business?
[00:14:13] Speaker A: Well, you know, it's interesting. When I first started the business that that exists today, I came up with the, the personal realization that I needed three key people. I needed a good Accountant. I needed a good banker. I needed a good lawyer. The lawyer I didn't even really want to have to use, but you need to have one in case an emergency comes along. And fortunately, I very rarely use my lawyer, except for, really, legal documents.
I started the relationship with a banker, and it was with. I'll tell you, it was with rbc. And after a few years, they tried to take him away from me and give me another banker because they wanted to move him up the ladder. And I said, well, is he staying with rbc? And they said, yes. I said, well, then why can't he stay with me? And they said, well, because, you know, your demands aren't that high and we can give you someone else. I looked at RBC and I actually said, well, here's the deal. If you're going to take away my banker, I'm going to go find a new one. And I might go to other branches like TD or, you know, Scotiabank or any of these ones to try to find that person. They left a banker with me.
They actually tried this the third time, and I did the same answer, and he stayed with me a third time. Finally, he got promoted so high up the ladder that he actually called me and said, marcel, I'm going into a different division of banking, but the most important one was the accountant.
I've actually had the same accountant through the entire 32 years I've been in business.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:15:39] Speaker A: And I met him young, and he was starting his business, as was I, and we've built a wonderful relationship. And he is one of those guys who was very practical. And we had a lot of good conversations. And we've all know the people who've got lawyers who they can write your dog off as a dependent or they can find all kinds of ways to put in business expenses and write all these things off. My guy was never like that. He was very practical, and he actually taught me a lot about preparing a war chest, as you. I love that term because he taught me that you never know when things are going to happen and if you can survive the rough times. So I'm very grateful to him for having taught me that early. And we left a fair bit of money in the company throughout the years. And it's paid off, though, because A, it's still there and B, it carried us through a couple of tough times. And, you know, when staff. Again, staff turnover. There's an old saying I think it takes. If you lose a staff member, it takes two people to replace them. Right. Because it's all the time you lose, all the time you've invested in them, the fact that they work with your clients. So there's a real value to treating your staff well and making sure that they grow with you and entrusting them. I've also worked with people who would never let me meet the clients in my early years because it was like, no, no, because you might meet that client and then steal them. Well, I don't worry about my staff stealing clients because they're happy where they are and they're quite content to be maintaining these relationships because they see the benefits of it. And again, I think I've shown that with the longevity that we've had with so many people. And so that became really important. But back to those three key. I think if you're starting a business, make sure you've got the resources that you need. Not because you have to have them on a daily basis, but when you need them, it's nice to be able to call and have someone that you can just pick it up with instead of having to go through the whole introductory process.
[00:17:47] Speaker B: Yeah, that's fantastic advice. And when you talked about the war chest, this idea of being well capitalized, okay.
My mentor, Nelson Nash, used to say that opportunities, when you're well capitalized, opportunities will track you down. In fact, they'll hunt you down. And so, you know, capital is attracted to where it's treated best. That's a, that's a. That's a common occurrence. And so people are always looking to access capital, but they're always wondering where they're going to access it from. Well, if you're building your own capital reservoir, you always know that you have confidence in where you can access it. That's. That's a lot of what I do. And we teach the process of becoming your own banker, which is. Which is a ton of fun. And it's similar in the mindset, in the way that you've gone about building it really on a natural side just into your own business structure. I think it's absolutely fantastic and phenomenal advice for any person starting out. Now, talking about starting out, you know, we've talked about you being in this business for 32 years, which is truly impressive. Absolutely phenomenal. But it didn't really begin there. It actually began a lot earlier than that. Now, before we hit the record button, you were telling me that your first business actually began at age 12. Now, that's not normal. So what exactly transpired to have you decide that you were gonna forge ahead and do something different than what everyone else was up to.
[00:19:03] Speaker A: Well, you know, it's funny, I'm in my 60s, so I came up born in the late 50s. And when I was 12 years old, it would have been 1968. And my mother worked at a hotel and there was a barbershop in the hotel and there was a shoeshine stand in that barbershop. And she knew the barber quite well and he needed somebody to run the shoeshine stand. And the deal was your rent would be to clean the mirrors and that's like 40ft of mirror and sweep the floors. And he was a four chair shop. So it was a pretty busy barber shop in that day.
But the deal was then I could keep everything I made shining shoes.
So fortunately I've had an outgoing personality since 12 or since earlier.
And I was able to go in and I, you know, 12 years old, I mean, I'm still in grade six. So I would go to work, I would go to the barbershop Thursday and Friday after school until I think he kept the shop open till like seven to catch people after work. And I'd work all day Saturday. And I got to a point where I would have regular customers. I'd have customers come in and drop off three or four pair of shoes and say, I'll pick them up at the end of the day so you can fit them in whenever you have time. Marcel. And I was running this little business as a 12 year old, keeping the shop clean and taking home money every, every week. And maybe that's where I learned how to build a war chest. Because at 12, there were no video games, there were no cell phones, so there wasn't a lot of money to spend, a lot of things to spend your money on. And then as it turned out, by the time I was 17 years old, I paid cash for my first car. So I guess that's probably where that started. And that's probably where my entrepreneurial skills started without me even realizing it. Because after going through school and getting married and having a child and getting a mortgage, I had no entrepreneurial sense at all. I wanted to work somebody and get paid a wage. So it's interesting how we go through these cycles, but clearly those seeds had been planted early. And when the one fellow pushed me, that's when it burst open and I went, okay, let's do this.
[00:21:18] Speaker B: Well, and it's interesting because in some of the things you identified in our first part of our conversation was, you know, how you took the business that you were in someone else's business and you doubled the size of the business in one year. And you fundamentally were the core element of making that happen. So your entrepreneurial energy and drive was taking place. It was just wasn't being channeled through something you owned and controlled. That's kind of how I see it.
[00:21:41] Speaker A: That's exactly what it was.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: And probability, there's multiple experiences of that that happened even earlier in that career, in that timeframe when you were working for someone else. And even for myself, I've had similar experiences. I'm a recovering electrician by trade, and so I had some similar experiences in a different environment where I realized, okay, I'm at a point now where I'm no longer.
My value isn't being recognized here. It's time for me to go take that value someplace else. Sort of a similar situation. So I absolutely love this story, and I think a lot of people who are watching would resonate with that, because whether they've seen it themselves internally in their own life experience, they probably have someone very close to them. A family member, a child, a spouse, who they've seen go through a similar environment, and now they might understand what's really taking place there.
[00:22:30] Speaker A: I would agree, yes.
[00:22:32] Speaker B: Now, part of this experience that I find is interesting is, you know, one of the things that you and I have bonded over a little bit has been, of course, the Colby A index. People who've watched the show know a little bit about that. Being Colby certified, I'm a big fan of it. Of course, it made a big impact on my life and for yourself. You know, it's something that, once you identify with it, you know, you. You started to realize how much. How important it was to not just your teamwork, but to having that knowledge base for the people around you. So maybe just share a little bit about how you found the understanding of your natural, instinctual gifts, and being more aware of that has led you to increased success in the business that you run.
[00:23:11] Speaker A: Sure.
I actually had an introduction to Myers Briggs very early, and that piqued my curiosity. So when I then started with coach and strategic coach and we took Colby, it was another door opening, and it really, literally blew my mind, because it wasn't just Myers Briggs, but there were other things out there. And I really found the Colby piece to be quite fascinating in terms of how it looked at how I did what I did, why I do what I do. So I was feeling a little selfish that I had this knowledge. So I approached my team and I said, this is something that I picked up through this program. I'm Taking with coaches.
How about if we do it as a group? So this was in Calgary about seven years ago, so everybody was all over this. So we did a day where we brought in. Not you at that point, but was a different instructor in Calgary who came in, ran the program, did the testing for everybody. And it changed how we worked with each other, because we started to understand the strengths that each other had. And I think this is part of what helps build loyalty and long longevity in my organization, because people now realize that, you know, one person can do this really well, another person can do this really well. Why are we pushing? You know, square peg, round hole. Let's. Let's round hole, round peg as much as we can, but square hole, square peg as much as we can so that people are in the new. The. The niche that they should be in. So, you know, we grew over the last seven years after Pandemic, and we came out, we added staff, so we did a refresher course for the people who had taken it, and then we did it for our new people. Same results. It was incredible. The camaraderie that came out of that was unbelievable. And the understanding when someone's struggling, you'll go, oh, that's right. That's not where they're their best, so let's get them more where they are. I just recently completed. And you know this because you were our instructor, this with my team here in Vancouver. So I moved out to Vancouver, how to build a house for the next stage, which we will talk about in a moment.
And I said to this team, we got to get you guys more on the same page. So we had a workshop day, and it's been fantastic, because the understanding of our own innate skills, sometimes we think we do something wrong or it's bad that we do what we do, but we understand that that's who we are. Wow. Does that change things? So we've had tremendous success, and I think it's one of the best things I've ever done with my team.
[00:25:37] Speaker B: I mean, that's phenomenal. What a great endorsement for the Colby system. And just the key elements that I hear is the takeaway is about that knowledge base and understanding. And there's an expression, knowledge does not equal understanding.
My opinion is that it's the application of knowledge, when put into good use, is where understanding is created.
[00:26:00] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:26:01] Speaker B: And of people that I know, I would say that you're a good individual who embodies that to a large degree. Now, I'm excited because when we come back from this next Commercial break We're going to start to unpack the next major challenge that's occurred for you and how it's transitioning into something quite powerful and innovative. And so we look forward to that discussion when we continue after this break.
[00:26:24] Speaker C: There's certain moments in our life where we know that things are going to change.
That happened to me in August of 2009.
My life completely and totally changed forever. For the better. I learned about this incredible concept called the infinite banking concept, becoming your own banker. It was created by R. Nelson Nash. Nelson became my friend and my mentor. I loved him dearly. I now have the blessed life of being able to teach his incredible message, his incredible concept to the people I love to serve.
You can learn all about it by registering for a free
[email protected] Go ahead, take the initiative. Start your learning journey now.
[00:27:11] Speaker B: We are back with Marcel. 32 years in business, really an incredible journey. And the journey is transitioning. And I think when business owners go through a transition such as selling the business, there's a whole host of new challenges. And, and, and really a lot of these challenges aren't just in the activity of selling and how you're going about doing that, but it's really, what does that mean for you? It's almost like disconnecting or detaching from a child that you've raised for 30 years. So, Marcel, you're at this incredible stage now. I wouldn't say that you're sun setting. I would say that you're transitioning to something newer and greater and better, which we'll talk about.
What was the decision like to realize it was time maybe to look at making this transition out of the business and starting to navigate out of it.
[00:28:00] Speaker A: You know what's interesting? I, I'll, I'll spare the details, but a long time ago, I, I came across a fellow who was in my business and he was well into his 60s, and he was at a conference, a little inebriated and making a bit of a fool of himself. And I remember coming home from that conference and I said to my wife, I'm not going to grow old in this business. I just, I refuse to. And I don't know what it was about this guy and why I associated with this business because it could have been any business where somebody does this. But I realized that, you know, there's a time to let go. I realized that very early in my life there would be a time where you have to let go and move on, because I've known people who stay in their businesses forever.
And you know, sometimes business is a young person's game and you need the energy and you need the knowledge and you need to be able to stay current. And as you age, it becomes more difficult. So what I did was I started a secession plan about seven years ago, started looking for the right people. I went out and, excuse me, did my own recruiting, didn't hire headhunter. I placed some very well worded ads online on social platforms and I attracted some great people to me.
We then sat down and started talking about a process where over the next three to five years they would learn the business and if it fit and it was a proper thing, then I would sell out to them and allow them to go on. And you know, it all sounds great in theory, but I have to be honest, when I got to that line where they said, and it wasn't easy getting there because, you know, negotiatings back and forth and everybody has their own consultants who have their opinions and I stuck to my guns. I created a value for the company with that accountant I've had for 30 years. And I presented it to them and they kept coming at me and I stuck to my guns. I said, if you don't want it, you don't have to take it. I'm not forcing you to buy this, but it's a good deal. We've worked it through, it's very fair. They couldn't deny that. And so they finally came to the table and said, let's make this happen. Except I found myself going, what am I going to do on Monday morning when I wake up? So I went through a very tumultuous internal period where I suddenly realized that within a few years I would no longer be the principle of collaborate, architecture and design. I would no longer be the guy going to the conferences, speaking at the conferences. And when you suddenly look at this, you go, wow, this is a big change.
However, it was something that I'd been planning to do for a number of years and really did want to make some changes. I worked hard, I traveled a lot, probably traveled too much. I wanted to spend more time at home, more time with my family, and I want to enjoy my time.
So it's been a challenge. I can't deny it. And you know it, because we've talked about it a few times at Coach, that when you sit back and you leave somebody else going with it, maybe that's why some people wind up their companies, because they don't want to see someone else run it. And I think that's been one of my biggest challenges is that the new guys are coming in and they all have their own ideas. And I'm like, well, wait a minute, what's wrong with the way it was working?
Except it's not mine anymore. So it really has been a, a challenging time period to go through it, to talk about the changes, to still be there, to provide support and to carve out a position that I will be more of like an ambassador for the next couple of years. Because the problem is I still get the phone calls, I'm still on everybody's contact list.
People know me.
Clients in this business go away, they come back five years later, they have a new project they want to call the people they know. So I've gotten to a point where I'm going to do that. But it definitely was very challenging to have somebody look at your business. And because they now are taking their own ownership, they're almost challenging what you did. And it's very difficult to not take that personally.
[00:32:18] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I can, I can see it. I can. As you describe it, I can, I can almost picture it happening now through that reflection. And obviously, I would imagine some great conversations with your wife. At the same time, of course, in the buildup of this transition, you've been building a brand new home in a very beautiful location. So there's a number of kind of steps happening along the way.
What would you say, have you come to realize now as you're kind of on the other side, you're not fully on the other side, but you're, you know, if we were looking at a hill that you're, you're on, you're on the bottom, you're on the descent of the hill in the scenario of the business. Right. Building it up, building it up, building it up. And now you're transitioning out and further and further out, Reflecting back now and thinking on, you know, what, what's the positive aspect of it other than, you know, the ability to move on to a new area of your life? What are some of the things that you're most excited about when you think about this, this, this transition now materializing in your life?
[00:33:18] Speaker A: Well, I'm going to throw a loop at you because you and I just came up with this as you were describing the hill, because no matter how you put the way you were describing it, you're talking about going down after going up.
So I'm going to say it's more like being on a. For, for what I'm about to explain to you, it's more like being on a roller coaster and we've made it all the way to the top. And now I can throw my hands in the air and enjoy that ride down.
How's that for a little turn?
[00:33:47] Speaker B: I like that. And I think that's a great visual.
[00:33:49] Speaker A: And I think that what's happening is that this is where my true entrepreneurial skills are coming out. Because I have been listening to a lot of my friends over the last several years in my age group who are bemoaning this word retirement, who are saying, geez, Marcela, you know, I'm not needed at my business anymore. I have friends who worked for corporations who do a youth movement and they go, you're in your 60s, you're too old. We're letting you go. You make too much money.
And it's like, I don't want to go. I'm happy here. Yeah, but do you want to work for half? Well, of course, nobody wants to do that. So they get faced with all these difficult things and people struggle with can I afford to? Or what am I going to do? Because my sense of identity is tied up in what I've been doing all my life. And especially the people who don't want to let go, I find those are the saddest ones because they don't want to let go and yet they're not. They're not really doing themselves much of a favor. But they're scared of what they're going to do when they do not go to the office anymore, right? That becomes a big, big problem that a lot of people just, they don't know how they're going to handle that. And so I, you know, listening to this and talking to people and facing it myself, because I mean, I'm even thinking, what am I going to do, right? I'm not going to golf every day. I'm not, you know, I can't afford to go travel the world for three years and, you know, get on one of these cruise ships that'll come back in two or three years and see the entire world.
So I have to find some things to do. And you know, my wife and I just went through a very interesting experience that has contributed totally with this.
Okay, picture this. I've been running my business for 32 years, have a nice home in Calgary. We live on a nice street. I could have worked out a couple more years, retired, stayed in that home, and we could have just hung out with our regular friends once a year, go to Hawaii, Mexico, whatever. The thing is, and just kind of coast it.
No, no, no, no, no.
We uprooted ourselves. We pulled ourselves right out of the ground, and we have this piece of land on the Sunshine coast where we have built a house.
And in the meantime, before the house was ready, we moved to Vancouver and we lived in Vancouver for a year in an apartment.
After being in a house for 35 years, we then lived in an apartment with a big golden retriever on the 16th floor. So, you know, anything that had to do with him was get yourself together, go down the hallway, wait for an elevator. Big change of life. Nothing's familiar. The grocery store isn't familiar. The neighborhood isn't familiar. But we took it upon ourselves to say, this is one heck of an adventure. And so we started looking at things differently. I'm not 68. I'm 32 in my mind, because I'm looking at this as a great exploration. Plus, we're watching our house get built, and we've just moved into the house, so we're still unpacking and getting settled. And again, the grocery store is different yet again. Right? Everything is different. I have to find my way around. I have to find all the things that are part of my life. And that excitement made me realize that it's pretty easy to look at this as an exciting challenge as opposed to, oh, no, I can't go to work anymore because they don't want me. Right? Or I can't do my job like I used to. Or, I've been doing this for 35 years. How many more years do I have to do? These are all the things I was hearing. And we're pretty excited about where we're at right now in our life. We still have all of our friends in Calgary. They all have invitations to come. We talk to each other all the time. And, you know, it's not an end, but rather an opportunity to do something new. And that's what is giving birth to my next challenge in my life.
[00:37:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that. And the key element is thinking differently and talking through that thinking differently component. How you approach thing.
Earl Nightingale, I believe it was, who says you are what you think about all day long? And it's fundamentally all about your thinking. And that was a big aspect for my mentor, Nelson Nash. He believed that, in fact, he would start every presentation he did with it's all about how you think. You see, it's all about how you think. It's all about how you think. And he would emphasize different words, but just repeat the same thing three times. But in a really powerful way that would get you centered to be aware of. Right. I got it. I can change the way that I.
[00:38:33] Speaker A: Think, very much so. And we, you know, that I think there's that other saying, never stop learning. Right. And as long as we keep that as our mantra, and we were always open to things, and I don't know why, but so many of us tend to shut down. It's like, well, I achieved what I wanted to. Now I don't know what else there is, or now there's nothing else. Or nothing else could make me happy. But yet it's a continual journey all the way through.
So why make a part of it tedious? Why not keep the energy? Why not continue to grow and learn and do things?
So it's, you know, that word that starts with the R is really a downer for so many people. And I get it. As I'm hitting this age in my life, I get why it is such a depressing term, because it just has this connotation to it. It's like. One of my clients is a hearing aid company. It's Connect Hearing. We've done a lot of work with Connect in Canada and the U.S. and they're headquartered out of Switzerland. So we've actually done work with their head office. We've done some phenomenal design work. And they refer to hearing aids, which have a real stigma as they're now audiological devices. So they're trying to change how people look at a simple thing like a hearing aid, because next to retirement, nobody wants a hearing aid. Right. Means you're old, you can't hear things, and yet if you can change that perception and make it more of a better experience, then all of a sudden, it's not such a phobia. It's like, wow, look what this thing is doing for me.
[00:40:18] Speaker B: Okay, Richard. I keep hearing about this thing called the Colby A Index. You talk about it all the time on the show. What is it?
[00:40:24] Speaker C: How do I get information about this.
[00:40:26] Speaker B: Thing, and why is it so?
[00:40:30] Speaker C: When I first got my Colby done, it totally revolutionized everything for me. I finally felt like, oh, man, this is what I was looking for. All the things I've been doing that have been working for me and all the frustrations I'd had, if I just understood this at an earlier age, boy, oh, boy, would my life be different.
You can take that step if you want to learn and understand how it can change things for you and the way you care, communicate with others. You can go to coachcanfield.com and download your free Report.
[00:41:03] Speaker A: I had a business associate of mine, we were down in Tucson a few years back, and we'd had dinner. We were staying at a JW Marriott resort in Star Pass, and they had these beautiful grounds. We had dinner and after dinner we went for a walk. And all of a sudden I stopped and I said, miles, I said, can you hear those crickets? They're deafening. And he looked at me and he went, there's no crickets. And I went, there's crickets. Like, you're joking me, right? And he's like, no, you're joking me. And I said, there are crickets.
So the next morning we had breakfast and he said to me, will you pull up my leg? And I went, no.
So fast forward, he went and had a hearing test, got this done a year later, it's a Friday night, it's 9:00. I know Miles is on vacation. My phone rings, it's him. And I said, what's up? Picked up the phone and I said, what are you doing calling me? I thought you were on vacation. He said, I am, and I'm back at Star Pass in Tucson and I can hear the crickets.
I just wanted to phone you and thank you because that motivated him to get over that phobia that a hearing aid would change your life.
And so those are little things that retirement now becomes. That thing for a lot of people is, I don't want to admit to retirement or I don't want to do it. So I'm working on trying to create something that I've coined a phrase. You've heard it. And now I'm getting ready to start my next venture which supports my next stage. And it's. I'm calling it desirement.
Instead of retirement. It's desirement. Let's get out there and do the things that we want to do now since we don't have to go to an 8 to 5 job.
[00:42:57] Speaker B: Yeah. And to me, the word is impeccable. It's exactly what it should be. It's change. It's taking the connotation and a perception and it flips it almost instantaneously the moment you say it. Desirement. I mean, who wouldn't want some of that? That sounds fantastic. If that was on a menu, I would order it.
Yes, I'll have that blue rare, please. No, but the whole implementation here is what I really want to have our listeners recognize is that you can change with a little bit of thinking. The possibility that your future holds. Are you building a future that's greater than your past, Are you even thinking that it's possible to do so? If you live in the world of possibility, then possibility finds you. And I think that's really important. My mentor, Nelson, he was a big fan of those kind of things. He really believed that you needed to ruminate, you needed to think on things. And he didn't believe in retirement for several reasons. And I don't think I shared this with you, but the word retirement didn't exist in the English language until about the 1890s. And it was created by a gentleman, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, out of Germany. And the original purpose or intent was to essentially create an opening in a working environment for a young person to come in. And they set the age at basically when they anticipated people would already be dead. It's like if you're still here and you're still working, you've kind of earned the right to move on, because you really shouldn't be here at all. And so it had a lot to do with the life expectancy of people. Well, then later on, I believe it was FDR, somewhere in the 30s, that they set the quote, unquote, retirement age at 65. And here we're close to 100 years later. And it hasn't changed. But what's changed, medical technology, life expectancy, the way that we deal with our money, all of these things have shifted and changed. But the idea that they came about, which was to phase people out of work because you needed to create an opening for work, has been manipulated into something that is just not really reasonable. And so instead, we really need to start thinking about what is it that I can give and provide to the world in a different stage of my life. Exactly what I learned from my mentor, Nelson. He was calling people from a hospital bed. He was going in for a surgery. Nelson would say he was 88 revolutions around the sun. He wouldn't just say he was 88 years old. He would always give you something to think about differently. And he was contacting people and reaching out, and he was still working. It didn't feel like work to him, though, because he was doing what he loved. He was sharing a message that he thought would really have an impact for people. And I got one of those phone calls, and I was blessed to receive it. And what did we talk about? We talked about how you got to be growing your own capital, you got to be growing your own cow chow in a farmer analogy. And it's very much in the war chest aspect that we were talking about earlier. And what I really appreciate is when you meet with people who are doing things in life and they're adding value into the world, they're creating value where it otherwise didn't exist, there's no need to stop doing that. You know, the word retire at its root core means to be taken out of service.
And so retirement is simply doing that in perpetuity, whereas desirement is creating an environment of constant motion about the things that you want to do well.
[00:46:21] Speaker A: And that's exactly why what I'm referring to when I say that people don't want to admit to it, or it scares them or it's depressing them. And it's because of the way you've just described that and the meaning of the word itself. So that's why it's time for a mind shift in terms of what is this after you've crested? Is it a downhill, a long, slow decline, or is it a rush of a ride now that's going to get you to the next level of the roller coaster? You've just given me some brand new analogies here. I appreciate that.
[00:46:51] Speaker B: I can see the visuals already. And I'm sure your design mind is like, how would I build that into a display somewhere in an office building?
Yeah, no, it's fantastic. And, you know, so I appreciate the, you know, the number one, the way that you look at the world. And we can't understate the importance of sharing a message like that in changing the way and also being surrounded by people who are looking at the world differently. You know, I'll give you one other quick analogy and a story. And this, this also I learned from my mentor, Nelson. I think you'll appreciate this. We were at a social event and he was getting a Merlot, you know, and I had a beer or something, beverage, and there was an open table. This is at a hotel. And he went and took the glass and he said, hey, Richard, you see the bottom of this glass? He said, imagine that this bottom of the glass represents all the knowledge that I have wrapped up in my noggin right here. All the knowledge I have in my head. And this table right here represents all the known knowledge in the universe. It's everything that there is to know. And he took the glass and he set it down at the edge of the table. He says, now take a moment and consider where is the fringe of my knowledge exposed to that which I do not know?
I'm like, well, it's a holster cover. It's the outer perimeter of the glass. He says, great, I want you to go grab that water jug over there. So I went and I got the water jug, and I said, okay, Nelson. And he said, now take a look at the bottom here. It's a much bigger surface area, isn't it? He's like, yeah, of course it is. And he took his glass up and he put the water jug down. Now, imagine I increase my knowledge. I increase all there is that I know. I've drastically, exponentially increased what I've been able to take in as knowledge. Now take a look at the outer perimeter. What's happened to what I'm now exposed to? I've exponentially increased the areas to which I'm now touching the unknown. How much more there is to know that I didn't know before is actually increased and that I think about that analogy when I hear you coming up with great, innovative ideas and seeking to share them with the world. You know, there's no such thing as having arrived in knowledge.
[00:48:54] Speaker A: I agree.
[00:48:55] Speaker B: Now, one of the things I'd love to touch base on is, you know, we talked a little bit about Colby. I had the pleasure to get to meet your son, and coincidentally, him and I have the exact same Colby index, which is really quite fun. First time I've met someone like that, and it was really fun for me to have an opportunity to connect and communicate with him. And, you know, I'm curious with you thinking about just, you know, this in the family situation, you're transitioning this new phase of life. You're. You're focused on this exciting new venture, and you've got your family around you, new home, new everything. When you consider now having a better understanding even of. Of Colby, and also at the. At the personal level with your family members, what are some of the things you're excited about as you. As you. As you move yourself further into desirement?
[00:49:42] Speaker A: Well, first of all, he's taking a very active role with me because right now we're doing a lot of.
I want to build a new brand. I am so excited about this potential, and as I see what it does, just for me personally, I really want to get this out so more people are exposed to it. I'm going to give you some examples here in a bit as to what that can mean, but I've actually drawn him into it. So he's a graduating student. He's looking for getting his career going. But in the meantime, I'm putting him to work already, and I'm asking him to help me develop some graphics, some logos, some ideas, because I want to get this out in a Number of mediums. I'm not just doing this as something where I want to pass the word on to somebody. I want to get the word out. I want to get the message out. And so there's a whole bunch of different things that he and I are actually working on right now to make sure that we can fulfill this and we can work hard at it. He's got all the technical understanding and knowledge because he's 25 years old, and so he's been raised with all of this. And so I'm utilizing some of that skill set. And I think it's also helping to kind of inspire him to. I'm hoping it does so that he looks at this and goes, never stop learning. Look at my dad. He's not just retiring.
He's not going out to pastor. He's got a new idea, so it's having some fun that way. And my wife is also very involved in it. So we run ideas back and forth, and we're talking about how this is going to go. And it's interesting because living on the Sunshine coast, we actually have the highest per capita number of retired people in Canada, on the Sunshine Coast. So I have a great test market for this whole concept on how we're going to take it out, because we're looking at, you know, some clothing lines, some caps, golf shirts, you know, just to kind of get it. Get the momentum building on this and then see if we can take it into an online business, which is where my son comes in and helps. So, you know, we've got a number of things that we're plugging into already, and. But it's not 40 hours a week. Okay. This will be something that I will work my way into. And if it's really successful, I'll have other people run it, because I'm not trying to find a replacement job for the job I'm winding up after 32 years. I'm looking at creating a new concept that excites people. But I don't want to be working 40, 60 hours a week to make that happen. I want to have my own desire.
[00:52:20] Speaker B: I love it. That's fantastic. Well, Marcel, I'm so grateful that you've shared this vision with us, that your story is going to inspire some other people about how they can go about their own desirement. And I'm so pumped and excited to see what transpires with your vision. So thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing with us. And for those of you tuning in, make sure that you stay with us as next week episode continues to unpack the incredible challenges people are overcoming and the innovations of tomorrow.
