Back in Business

Sometimes our lived experiences drive us toward new career directions. That's what happened with Ruthann Weeks, whose unfortunate encounter with an office bully led to Harmony in the Workplace, a practice that helps organizations from startup to enterprise to governments make sure they provide a safe and harassment-free workplace for everyone. There's a lot of work yet to be done, but she's helping people fix their culture, office by office.

Two terms come to mind in this episode of Back in Business. One, mindfulness, you’re likely familiar with. Our guest April Prescott has built a practice of teaching mindfulness to entrepreneurs to help them through stressful times. The other is a practice called radical acceptance, which April counsels her founder clients to use to accept that they may be in a particular situation, but they don’t have to accept the situation itself. April’s own story has guided her to bring peace of mind to the people she works with.

It's not too much for Jay Downton to admit that things are tough for his business right now. It's not always easy to look at revenue numbers for a restaurant chain for a pandemic. But when he's never seen the founder of his company happier than when he's giving his product away—to local homeless shelters—then he knows they're doing something right. Even if it's a struggle.

Maybe he's not been elected the mayor of Edmonton, but we may as well admit that serial entrepreneur, creator, and civic booster Jay Downton runs the place. But the co-founder of the Nation Network and president of Oodle Noodle constantly needs to remind himself to not bite off more than he can chew—and move past the occasional sense of impending doom. Part 1—part 2 is forthcoming!

When Lindsay hit his low points, he questioned his relationships, his skills, his entire life. What got him to truly find his way back up was to step back and fill in the gaps: in his learning and skillset, in rebuilding his family, in finding an environment where he could thrive. In part 2 of our conversation, Lindsay shares tangible ways to move beyond the personal panic and fear.

Lindsay MacVean has done a lot of things in a lot of different parts of the world—oftentimes as the result of past failures. But each time he's dusted himself off, worked to repair his relationships and himself, and apply the lessons he learned from his last effort to his next one.

Amir Reshef and Mike O'Connor of Edmonton-based startup DealCloser know firsthand that building a startup isn't easy. They've faced sometimes monumental challenges in achieving the success they have today, but they acknowledge that they're still on that journey.

You have to focus on you. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a musician, or a public speaker like Lilly, putting effort into understanding who you are, how you continue to strengthen yourself, that’s what makes you ready to improve the world

As Mike Zouhri has built his startup Pain Worth, he has turned to mentors both in his immediate circle and on the outer edges of his network. Mentors, he says, have helped him gain clarity on his product offerings he's developed as well as the process of building the business itself. Also interesting to note: Mike built Pain Worth to solve an unmet need: To bring the antiquated legal discovery process into the 21st century. He's not alone. Canada's Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella spoke to the Harvard Law School about just that. Here's a transcript from that talk in the April 25 edition of The Globe and Mail.

Host Joel Magalnick speaks with business coach Lilly Wang about how using quantum theory in decision-making can make the difference between success and failure.

Since high school, Mike Zouhri has founded and participated in a number of startups. He’s spent the past year building Pain Worth, which helps anyone who’s suffered an accident reach a reasonable settlement. The best practices Mike has brought to Pain Worth come from the successes and failures of his past ventures, including one important lesson: It’s okay to ask for help.

Starring Dave Bellous in part 2 of 2. After more than two decades of showing up at the same office for work every day, getting a handle on why he needed to roll out of bed in the morning proved to be a challenge for Dave. He needed to separate himself from his Yellow Pencil identity and reinvent himself, but it took many, many months to get past the grief of letting his baby go.

Back in Business cohost Joel Magalnick started and shut down two startups—one that fizzled, another that exploded—but he felt more relief than grief. The hard one was the 90-year-old media company that he had to wind down after a dozen years on the job. He talks about his loss of identity and how he still struggles to figure out his career path.

Starring Dave Bellous in part 1 of 2. Twenty years is a long time to spend doing anything—especially if you’ve been a serial entrepreneur your entire life. So when you put that much effort into building a major digital agency, you may at some point realize you’re no longer the best person to run the show. It’s a shock, but also, as Dave tells us, the right decision to step aside.

Starring Andy Lucardie. Who can consider themselves an entrepreneur? Is it a mindset? A way of life? What’s the upside of the hard work devoted to build a sustainable business in the age of the Instagram influencers who make lightning-quick millions? Andy and Justin discuss sweat equity, introspection, and second, third or fourth acts.

Back in Business co-host Justin Bertagnolli knows a thing or two about the struggle to reemerge from the pain of a failed startup—he’s been there more than once. To introduce the series, Justin talks with his co-host Joel Magalnick about his successes and challenges not just in the businesses he built, but afterward. And about how hard it’s been to move forward after each setback.