Episode 61. How do you know you should start a business, and how do you put the pieces of your life together to do it and be successful?

Richa Gupta is a food entrepreneur who founded Good Food for Good, a fantastic lineup of sauces, condiments and related food products sold in grocery stores across North America. Richa’s experience in becoming a mom combined with her desire to do something meaningful influenced her journey in bringing Good Food for Good into the world. In this episode, she shares the story of her journey into entrepreneurship and shares her tips for other people who are looking to build a meaningful career for themselves too.

On top of all that, Richa has now transitioned into an advising role for similar businesses and is the Vice President of Partnerships and Development at the Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN) and discusses how this next step will help her make an even bigger impact.

Key Takeaways and Discussion

• Where her career started, and the role Richa is filling today.
• Why Richa says she was always a believer and how that has helped her career.
• Where you should go if you don’t know which career path is right for you.
• What Richa’s (first) midlife crisis pushed her to pursue and where it led.
• Why insight is important in entrepreneurship.
• What sets Good Food for Good apart from other food companies.
• What she wishes she’d done first before starting her business.
• The model of business that became her saving grace.
• The role she still plays in Good Food for Good after stepping away.
• The goal of CFIN and what they’re on a mission to help food manufacturers do.
• How having several mentors has helped Richa find the success she has today.
• How leaning into your journey can help you get through the challenges of your career.

Episode 60. Check out this unique and really cool episode of the Lifetime at Work podcast, though it’s a bit different than the others.

Instead of our host, Greg Martin, asking the questions, this episode features an interview that Greg did as the guest on another podcast. The show is called Own Your Role with Dino Watt and it highlights leaders in the field of business sharing advice to guests.

This is a great interview which is why we’re replaying it here covering Greg’s story and career, advice from his career and podcasts experiences and lots of other good nuggets along the way.

Episode 59. Bill Vlaad is a well known name across Bay Street and the Canadian capital markets. He’s one of the most important connectors in the business because as a recruiter, him and the team are forever trying to put the best people at the best companies.

In this episode, host Greg Martin talks with the CEO of Vlaad and Company as he brings in-depth knowledge about the financial services industry and also discuss his previous experience as an investment banker and corporate development director.

Professional cadence is a high value yet often overlooked skill in the finance world. Professional cadence encompasses someone’s energy, methods, and the way they like to do things. As Bill explains, aligning a person’s cadence is critical to finding that place in the working world where you belong and thrive.

Key Takeaways and Discussion

• What a valuable mentor looks like and why they aren’t easy to find.
• The mentors who had the most significant impact on Bill’s career.
• The services offered at Vlaad and Company and what makes them an industry leader.
• How they support students in learning about their industry and the finance market.
• Why Bill says he wasn’t the best investment banker.
• The number-one thing Bill looks for in finance professionals and why.
• Why you shouldn’t fake your way into a role (even if you really want it).How the finance industry offers brilliant careers for the right person.
• What firms could do a better job of in order to attract unique new candidates.
• The challenge Bill was expected to face in the industry that hasn’t really impacted him.
• What the future looks like for Vlaad and Company as informed by their model.
• Who Bill counts on for new ideas to help him build a sustainable firm.
• Why being flexible in your tools and methods is important to your career evolution.

Episode 58. We all complain about our jobs sometimes, its a part of the world of work. But much of our enjoyment comes from the culture within the organization we work for and can make a huge different in our personal job happiness and satisfaction.

This episode guest is Chris Dyer, an entrepreneur who started his business and found himself leading a culture that wasn’t perfect. After selling his business he realized that many of the things that make a great company is a great culture and he was determined to understand the ingredients for this success. Chris took everything he learned and put it in his book “The Power of Company Culture: How Any Business Can Build a Culture that Improves Productivity, Performance and Profits.”

He uses his knowledge to teach the fundamental things companies can do to improve their company culture to not only impact their bottom line, but to also become a business where people are happy to work.

Key Takeaways and Discussion

• The accidental titles Chris identifies with and how being curious led to that.
• Why he decided to leave the world of HR to pursue something new.
• How Chris showed his entrepreneur skills from a young age.
• How his business became unscalable and what he did to fix it.
• The biggest challenge he faced after selling his business.
• The word that made him realize his true passion for keynote speaking.
• How Chris became an expert in company culture and why he teaches it now.
• The seven pillars Chris teaches in his book and why it works for any business.
• What most CEOs are good at versus what they tend to need help with.
• Signs of a great company culture (and signs that it’s not so great).
• What your perspective about your team really means and why it matters.
• Why yearly surveys are not the answer to better company culture, and how to do better.
• The responsibilities of a leader and how they can prevent problems before they start.
• Why some people don’t love their job and what their next move should be.

Episode 57. There are lessons to be learned from everywhere in life, and they’re really fun when coming from a former fighter pilot.

This episode’s guest is retired fighter pilot and business consultant Jim Murphy. After his dream of being in professional baseball disappeared Jim went into sales, but didn’t love it. Inspired by the movie Top Gun he joined the Air Force, where he retired after 12 years. Afterwards Jim turned to business and today is the founder of Afterburner Inc, a business consulting firm. While in the military, Jim went through training that resonated with him in a very powerful way. Now, he brings those same principles to the consulting world through his signature framework Flawless Execution. You can apply this framework to your business, career or anything in between.

Jim truly believes in the power of planning. When done well, you can align all levels of an in both culture and mission. While he’s stepped away from working inside Afterburner Inc’s day-to-day operations to focus on Afterburner Capital, he’s proud of building a business that has stood the test of time.

Key Takeaways and Discussion

• How he got into management training and consulting.
• What inspired Jim to become a fighter pilot.
• The signature framework he came up with and what it teaches.
• Qualities and personality traits that make for a good fighter pilot.
• The importance of culture inside businesses of any industry.
• Why Jim decided to move on from the US Air Force and what he did next.
• How his parents helped instill a strong work ethic in him.
• How his “dream team” encouraged his journey into entrepreneurship.
• The role that helped Jim learn to sell, and how it helped him prove his model.
• Why you need simple and standardized planning for a successful execution.
• How to inspire and compel people in your organization to take action.
• The book that helped Jim scale his business (and why he reads it every year).
• Why he decided to pivot his focus from Afterburner Inc to Afterburner Capital.
• How to apply the Flawless Execution framework to grow your career.

Episode 56. There is the typical way to advance in a law career, and then there’s the approach Niki Avraam took.

Niki is a legal entrepreneur, speaker, and the co-founder of Howat Avraam Solicitors. When she saw room for societal growth and change, she decided to pivot from focusing on commercial law towards employment and discrimination. Her approach to her legal career is different than most. Instead of the traditional, she has focused on the future.

Niki is working on answering some important questions: How do we shape the workforce of the future, how do we ensure people feel significant within their organization, and how can leaders support that? She’ll share why she’s so passionate about the work she does, plus where her desire to encourage agency in the workforce comes from.

Key Takeaways and Discussion

• Niki’s career background and the many hats she wears now.
• How Niki came to build employment and discrimination departments.
• The power of autonomy and how having a personal stake changed her career trajectory.
• The difference that serving clients with empathy can make.
• Why becoming an entrepreneur in the legal space felt natural for Niki.
• The importance of operating outside of traditional perceptions in your work.
• Niki’s desire to make an impact and how that’s informed her professional growth.
• The evolution of the workplace and why it’s important to remember to be of service.
• What the research shows about what actually brings us joy.
• What we can do to prepare for the integration of artificial intelligence in the workplace.
• Niki’s struggle with the work-life balance and how she manages to make it work.
• Why it’s important to bring your individuality to your industry.
• The interesting way you can go about building your leadership mindset.

Episode 55. Have you ever thought about the concept of a 4 day work week? Would it work with your job and the way you work? The question might force us to explore the idea of work, what we’re trying to accomplish, productivity and our daily motivation.

In this episode, guest Joe Sanok talks about his book Thursday is the New Friday, which is all about helping you transition to the four-day work week—whether the power to make that transition is in your hands or if you need guidance convincing the powers that be. Joe is also a trained therapist who brings a wealth of knowledge and thorough thinking to our jobs, careers and life around them.

Joe identifies as “95% dad” and doesn’t jive with the hustle culture. There is so much information—science, research, and stories—explaining why working less days of the week is a no-brainer. This book brings all these ideas together in a coherent way to spread the message of the four-day work week.

Key Takeaways and Discussion

• The educational path Joe took and the side hustle that grew into something more.
• How he entered the world of podcasting and the work he does in that area now.
• Why Joe decided to start his podcast and how he used it to his benefit.
• The natural phases of business and why it’s important to move away from the hustle.
• Why Joe was inspired to write Thursday is the New Friday and what it’s about.
• Why you should consider exploring the four-day work week.
• How you can find your productivity sweet spot.
• What neuroscience says about slowing down, and how to best get things done.
• The value we give money and when we tend to hit diminishing returns with it.
• The difference between the book The 4-Hour Workweek and Joe’s book.
• How a four-day work week might look different across industries.
• How a team can approach experimenting with a four-day work week.
• The benefits early adopters of this type of work schedule will reap.
• Why you should question what you really want instead of letting your default take over.

Episode 54. How’s your resume looking right now? Have you revisited it in a while? Good, because this episode is all about getting the job, resumes, interviews, positioning yourself and everything else that goes with getting the job you want.

Guest Matt Warzel is a career coach and resume writer, bringing over 10 years in human services and career advancement experience to help his clients secure roles with higher pay.

Matt doesn’t need to understand every industry to be a great career coach. He understands the process of hiring and knows what employers are looking for, and helps his clients connect the dots to meet the criteria of the role they really want. Matt shares tips for standing out to recruiters along with strategies for perfecting your resume and nailing an interview.

Key Takeaways and Discussion

• Where his career started and how he learned about staffing and recruiting.
• How Matt started writing resumes and what was different about it back then.
• The five pillars of his business and how he serves his clients.
• What kind of career coach he’s not and who is the best fit for him.
• How to effectively highlight the value you have for potential employers.
• Why you should always start the job hunt with your resume first.
• How Matt helps his clients reverse engineer their resumes.
• Red flags that recruiters keep an eye out for.
• Why LinkedIn is important, plus tips for optimizing your profile so it gets noticed.
• When it’s right to reach out to a recruiter personally and when it’s not.
• What makes a great interview and the key to getting it right.
• What a resume is actually for and why you should avoid acronyms and filler stuff.
• The best place to find a job if you’re looking right now.