Boiling Point Podcast

Pounce on your Opportunities   Introducing Ken MacLeod Sometimes the only thing holding you back from achieving any goal is your own hesitation. No journey has ever happened where someone hasn’t taken the first step. Ken MacLeod and the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra know all about this. Back in 2002, Ken’s daughter had finally been accepted into the NBYO after applying for her third time. When Ken was dropping her off at a summer camp weekend, when he heard that the NBYO had been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall. There was only one problem; the orchestra was not in the financial position to accept the invite.   However, Ken thought, “how can we not say yes?” and started working toward raising the $140,000 it would take to join the show. At the time, the orchestra comprised of 70 musicians and one orchestra. They had an annual budget of $25,000 and only two part-time staff members. The orchestra would perform five concerts with a total of 1,000 patrons. Not only did Ken raise the money for the Carnegie

Conservation Capitalism   Introducing Jeff Schnurr The saying goes, “there is more than one way to skin a cat.” The same is true for conservation. The choice doesn’t have to be between jobs and preservation because there is a middle ground. Jeff Schnurr knows this, and his organization, Community Forests International, both aids in the conservation of forests and is a moneymaking entity.  After he completed high school in Sackville, New Brunswick, Jeff started tree planting and traveling the world. He ended up in Pemba, Tanzania (an island in the Indian Ocean), where over the years his efforts led to trees being planted, renewable energy projects, as well as agriculture projects. The goal was to work with the community in Pemba and develop new ways for people on the island to live on the land and make an income. Through the efforts of Community Forests International, over 1.5 million trees, over 100 football fields of agriculture have been produced. Jeff has since taken what he has learned from the Pemba

Discover Saint John Introducing Victoria Clarke Victoria Clarke has an enviable job for all of those who live and love Saint John, New Brunswick. Back in July, Victoria took the job as Executive Director of Discover Saint John, the destination marketing organization for the place that the Boiling Point calls home. For many, Saint John is a city you drive past on the highway on your way to other destinations. However, for those in the know, Saint John is a hidden gem consisting of authentic, genuine people, unique surroundings, and quaint businesses and services. Like Victoria says, Saint John is like the prettiest girl at the dance with low self-esteem; sometimes those who live in the city forget just how great they have it. Part of Victoria’s mandate is to encourage those in the business world to bring their conferences and annual general meetings to Saint John. The city is a terrific spot for such events because of the close proximity of hotels, world-class restaurants, activities, and some of the most welc

Understanding DisAbilities   Introducing Shawn Smith Shawn Smith grew up believing he was a dumb kid. Though he tried in school, he didn’t receive the marks he had hoped for. He failed grade eight and made 32 attempts to complete his 18 credits for high school. It wasn’t until the age of 30, that he was finally diagnosed with ADHD and was given a prescription for Ritalin that he realized that his difficulties were not from a lack of motivation but a lapse in communication. Shawn has since received his masters’ degree in education and counseling and fights the stigma of disability with his organization, Don’t Dis My Ability. He now helps families, individuals, and companies that deal with the issue of disability with a message that it isn’t motivation that is lacking but communication. He offers tools to those that are currently struggling with disability, which can turn a problem into an opportunity with an asset-based mentality. Tune into this week’s episode of the Boiling Point to hear how we are all br

The Era of Creative Leadership   Introducing Nelson Cabral Businesses that specialize in the creative understand that a creative leadership style can be very advantageous to a company culture. However, this leadership style can often be missing in in traditional industries. The old-style, top-down leadership structure of the past just isn’t working anymore for some businesses and the old guard of traditional leaders is looking for an innovative approach to change their company cultures. Nelson Cabral is one of the people leading the charge to change the way we lead. Nelson spent many years traversing the different creative industries. He was a former creative director at an advertising firm, a film director, and even a musical theatre leading man. Now, Nelson is a public speaker, trainer and seminar leader, and his company Cabral Creative is teaching the skills of creative leadership to numerous companies.  A study from IBM a few years back surveyed CEOs from around the world found that creativity was th

Where your passions will take you   Introducing Mark Hemmings Almost every younger brother looks up to his older sibling, and there is no exception in the Hemmings family. Greg’s older brother, Mark, shaped his likes, choices, and life. They shared similar interests and even found themselves in similar industries coincidentally. Mark is an internationally renowned photographer that specializes in travel, fashion, commercial, and architectural photography. In 1997, Mark was a student at the University of New Brunswick-Saint John, when he was hired by the university to travel to Japan to recruit English-as-a-second-language students. Mark turned out to be a horrible recruiter, but left the country with a new passion. Mark had started taking pictures, really, for the first time in his life and fell in love with the art. Photography is a passion that he falls in love with more each and every day. Mark now works around the world at his craft and was also able to fuse two more of his passions into his career,

The Badge of Awesome   Introducing Josh Martin  Sometimes the knocks that life throws at us are the pivot point to a better way. Josh Martin knows all about this. At 27 years old, Josh was diagnosed with leukemia and given a 50/50 chance at survival. One of the first nights in hospital for his chemo treatments, Josh started to compile a list—his reasons to fight. The list was a combination of items that made his life awesome and the stream of consciousness quickly developed into 118 items. The experience with cancer also ignited Josh’s aspirations. He wanted to chase his dreams and do what he was passionate about. To Josh, this was story telling. He left his job as a project coordinator with an international development organization to chase his dream, become an entrepreneur, and write. Now Josh is also a motivational speaker and the creator of Badge of Awesome.com.  Take the time to listen to this week’s episode of the Boiling Point to be inspired to take your next step toward the person YOU want to be.

B Corp Adventure   Introducing Nora Livingstone What do you do when you have a thirst for travel and adventure, as well as a heart for the welfare of animals? You start a business. At least that is what Nora Livingstone did.  Back in 2012, Nora was approached by her veterinarian friend about starting a business that would link ethical animal groups around the world to people interested in lending a helping hand. Nora jumped at this opportunity despite a lack of experience in business because it fulfilled her lust for adventure and altruism. Together they founded Animal Experience International. Their goal was to be asked by organizations helping animals around the world to find helping hands, and the way to gather people was by building trust. One great way to establishing trust was a B Corp designation on their business that would prove they are ethical and they are truly helping the animals and the communities surrounding them. Nora’s top tip for new entrepreneurs is the power of “the ask”. There are

Reengineering your Passion   Introducing Greg Faxon There are many people out there that need some help reorganizing their lives and businesses. Some people are in an unfulfilling job, and others are in the midst of a startup and need guidance. Even seasoned entrepreneurs need a kick-start from time to time to reengineer their business to work for their needs. A great way to navigate the path of where you are to where you want to be is to invest in a coach. Greg Faxon is an executive coach who experienced a lot of dissatisfaction at his previous job. It wasn’t that it wasn’t a great job; he was working in market research and consulting around the world. Greg knew that he was a long way from the boardroom and some parts of his job just made him feel brain dead. He decided to make a change for the better by hiring his own personal coach, which eventually led him down the path of opening up his own coaching business. Now, Greg finds himself helping the very same type of people that he was like not too long a

Prepare to be Civilized   Re-introducing Derek Riedle   Sometimes you come up with an idea that is so timely that you feel you must seize your opportunity. Derek Riedle had one of these eureka moments recently, but did not sit by and wait for someone else to grab the opportunity. Derek is the head of Revolution Strategy and also the co-producer (along with our own Greg Hemmings) of Hemmings House’s new series, “The Real Houses of…” However, Derek’s new idea had him so excited that he went from concept to launch in a half of a year. Derek saw a disconnect between the way that cannabis culture was being expressed in popular media and the true face of the people that partake. The stereotype of the lazy, slacker pot smoker doesn’t reflect on millions of successful, motivated people that use cannabis recreationally. While there has been content developed for the cannabis community, Derek saw a void for the millions of upscale, high income, educated and profession smokers. So, starting last week Derek and his

A Vision for Social Entrepreneurship   Re-introducing Marcel LeBrun Last episode was so nice, we got Marcel twice. Marcel LeBrun is back to discuss his feelings on company missions or visions and social entrepreneurship.   The former CEO of Radian 6 has a passion for the topic of poverty, but not just poverty of material things. Marcel tells us how what he is currently working on is recharging his entrepreneurial batteries and makes many great points on how to get your company’s people invested in a vision for the better.   In this episode We hear about some of Marcel’s current passions including a camp for children and his 12 Neighbors Campaign. Marcel expands on his notion of how businesses were created to serve others. We here how the mission or cause a company serves has become almost more important than the money it can make from Marcel’s point-of-view. Marcel points out some attributes of great leaders. He discusses how “doubling sales” is a great goal for a company, but not a mission. Marce

Growing as a CEO Introducing Marcel Lebrun Is a CEO born or made? Marcel LeBrun believes the former and he should know because he was given the opportunity to grow into the position. Marcel is a native New Brunswicker and a graduate of the University of New Brunswick’s computer engineering department. After school, Marcel took a job at New Brunswick’s telecom company, NBTel. What he didn’t know at the time was that NBTel would prove to be an incubator for a number of exemplary entrepreneurs.  NBTel had a philosophy that inspired innovation. Being a phone company that only owned about 3 per cent of the Canadian market, the company had a choice of working within an economy of scale or an economy of innovation. They took the innovation path in order to stay relevant. NBTel also had a culture whereby they took chances by promoting people that had all of the capability but perhaps not the experience. Marcel was one of these people without the experience, but had all the capability in the world to succeed. Whe

Facilitating Forward From Failure   Introducing Wayne Jagoe Wayne Jagoe is an ideas man.  In fact, in every email his signature signs off with yours in ideation.  Unique ideas are a facet of every entrepreneur’s life and business, but so is self-awareness. Wayne has experienced a lot in his entrepreneurial life.  He grew up with the restaurant industry, had a cooking show on CBC, had the first online dining guide in 1997, and started an ad agency using business databases.  However, when his ad agency failed, he was heartbroken.  After much self-reflection, Wayne discovered that he was a much better at being creative and coming up with ideas than executing on them.  This awareness of what he was good at and what he wasn’t was just what Wayne needed to shed the shackles of embarrassment from failure to come out the other side.  Through his tough times, Wayne has been able to emerge stronger and now is the owner of Belton Labs where he develops ideas that he can sell to businesses for them to implement and h

Screening you Screen Time   Introducing Ross Laird Technology can be great for work and relaxation.  However, sometimes our screens can become a form of addiction that takes us out from being present in the moment.  This is exacerbated by the fact that now our screens are everywhere; they are at home, work, and even our wrists and pockets.  This allows us the chance to slide into addictive personality traits, and even more so for the youngest amongst us. Ross Laird is a writer, consultant, teacher, and creative artists that often consult on addiction.  Like many others in the addiction field, Ross experienced the effects and loss from addiction amongst his family members.  People in his circumstance will often take two paths; they either join their family members in their addictive traits or they try and heal the addiction.  Ross took the second path. This week’s episode will discuss some of the pitfalls of technology and what can be done to avoid our screens becoming enslaving.   In this episode Gre

Opportunity in Challenges   Introducing Chris Boudreau Constraints and challenges in life can be looked at two ways; they can be seen as barriers and limitations or as opportunities and creative inspirations.  One man that takes the latter approach is Chris Boudreau.  Chris is a serial entrepreneur living in New Brunswick and also Dave’s peer coach.  Chris cofounded Leveling the Curve Energy with his partner, Hélène Eusanio.    LTC has a mandate to fill a gap by connecting new technology for renewable and carbon reduction power generation.  According to Chris, one of the main problems with making our power grid more renewable is challenges and constraints like money and available technology.  His company takes on these challenges by developing new technologies that disrupt the status quo and make renewable energy happen in a meaningful way.     In this episode   Chris introduces us to his company and what it is trying to do to provide a healthier energy future. Chris tells us how his company plans to us

The “Heart” of Leadership   Introducing Dr. Marc Pelletier Entrepreneurial skills are not exclusive to those who run their own businesses.  In fact, a lot can be learned from the leadership of non-entrepreneurs.  Dr. Marc Pelletier is a great example of this.  Marc is a native New Brunswicker and an expert cardiac surgeon.  Marc moved back to New Brunswick a few years ago to pursue a better work/life balance after stints in Halifax, Montreal, Stanford University, and Toronto.  His new role is Head of Cardiac Surgery at the New Brunswick Heart Centre.   As a leader in the New Brunswick health care system, Marc position blurs the line between doctor, civil servant, and businessman in order to reach the best outcomes for both his patients and the government’s wallet.  His ability to interchangeably switch his thinking from doctor to businessperson has allowed more and better surgeries to take place in the province.  Taking the business approach he learned in the American health care system, Marc has been abl

Finding Opportunity to be Extraordinary   Introducing Pete McMath Sometimes business ideas come from revelations you have in your daily life.  This is exactly what went down with this week’s Boiling Point guest, Pete McMath.  Pete was working in guitar repair and sales in Fredericton, New Brunswick.  In his day-to-day, he would commonly come across customers that had issues with their instruments and particularly were less than impressed with their instrument cases.  For most musicians, their instrument is more valuable then the money it costs and damage received during transport can feel disastrous. The instrument case business hasn’t changed a lot over the decades.  While typical luggage has evolved to have things like wheels and carbon fiber protection, most instrument cases have stayed the same like grand mom’s old polyester suitcase.  Pete knew something had to be done to protect people’s prized possessions and the result has been Timbre Cases.  Pete now takes ideas from the auto and aerospace indust

Increase Profit with Sustainability Introducing Bob Willard  When it comes to making your business more sustainable, it really doesn’t matter what your motivation is.  It would be nice to think that entrepreneurs are making decisions on sustainability for altruistic reasons, but in business, often the bottom line is what matters.  Regardless of reasoning, the important thing for our planet is that the right decisions are being made and that those decisions can actually increase your profits substantially. Bob Willard is a man leading the charge to get businesses on track with sustainability and showing them how these efforts will make them more money.  Bob spent over three decades with IBM Canada before taking early retirement to begin his second career as a speaker and author.  During the majority of his career at IBM, Bob was blissfully ignorant to the issues with sustainability until there was a proposal to open a water treatment plant near a nuclear generation station in his home community.  In his att

The Business of Art  Introducing Kate Wallace Artists and entrepreneurs have more in common than what would be perceived from the outside.  Both have to be creative, industrious, and freethinkers.  However, often times there is a separation from the arts community and the business community.  There is often even separation within specific artists within a community.  Kate Wallace is the type of person that likes to break down these walls and connect artists to artists, artists to the business community, and artists to society in general.  Kate is the executive director of Artslink NB, an organization that was founded to bridge connections for artists in New Brunswick.  There is a lot that artists can learn from entrepreneurs and vice versa.  Sometimes solutions to business problems need a creative angle and artists need the money from commissioned pieces from the business world.  One thing Artslink NB is doing to help artist become financially independent with their work is by offering a pilot program cal

Your Path will Emerge   Introducing Kyle Parsons Looking toward the future, the paths our life takes doesn’t necessarily seem to be interconnected.  However, with the right attitude and openness to new experience we can often look backward and see how our completely unrelated experiences have been linked to a present outcome.  Call it serendipity, fate, happenstance, or destiny, we often find that indirect roads from point A to point B seem to come about  This is just like the story of Kyle Parsons and his company Indosole.  This San Franciscan had previously interned at New Balance shoe company, worked in surf shops managing the sandals section, and had spent time working at a recycling plant in the east coast.  Somewhat unrelated right?  However, Kyle’s disjointed experiences seemed to gel during a family surf trip to Bali back in 2004 when he was on the hunt for a fresh pair of sandals.  Coming upon a local market, Kyle saw a really cool pair that was made by local artisans.  The unique thing about th