The 5AM Grind: Recent Episodes
Ali & Haris
Welcome to The 5AM Grind. Our mission is to create content to help you pursue your dreams in entrepreneurship or land that dream career. Tune in every week to get insights on mindset, goal setting, lifestyle, and exclusive interviews from leading entrepreneurs and business leaders.
- Interest Rates: What are your thoughts on the path of interest rates in 2022?
- Recession: Are we going into a recession?
- Real Estate: What’s happening with Real Estate Prices in Toronto?
Treadstone Law: https://www.treadstonelaw.ca/
Vertical CPA: https://www.verticalcpa.ca/
· In your opinion what’s the number one obstacle preventing someone from taking a leap or risk?
· How to deal with doubters?
· How do you mitigate risks?
· How do you know that what you're working on isn't working?
- How do you think about pricing for services in your business?
- Do you use a mathematical pricing approach?
- Do you use a “value-based pricing” or “cost plus” pricing?
- Do you use hourly pricing or success-based pricing?
Treadstone Law: https://www.treadstonelaw.ca/
Vertical CPA: https://www.verticalcpa.ca/
- Is buying a business risky?
- What prevents you from buying a business today?
- Are acquisitions usually successful?
- Talk to me about your experience buying a business
Treadstone Law: https://www.treadstonelaw.ca/
Vertical CPA: https://www.verticalcpa.ca/
1. Which is easier to start: A Service business or a Product business?
2. Which one has more risk: A Service business or a Product business?
3. Which one is easier to scale: A Service business or a Product business?
4. Which one is more predictable: A Service business or a Product business?
5. What is a productized service? Do you offer any of these?
Treadstone Law: https://www.treadstonelaw.ca/
Vertical CPA: https://www.verticalcpa.ca/
1. Inflation: Are we in a period where there will be high inflation for the next few years?
2. Interest Rates: What are your thoughts on the path of interest rates in 2022?
3. Recession: Are we going into a recession?
- Real Estate: What’s the latest on Real Estate Prices in Toronto?
- · Why is hiring so important?
- · How do you hire well?
- · What’s the most important thing you look for when you’re hiring someone?
- · How can you reduce risk when you’re hiring someone?
- · How do you correct a hiring mistake?
Treadstone Law: https://www.treadstonelaw.ca/
Vertical CPA: https://www.verticalcpa.ca/
· The fed hikes rates yesterday, what are your thoughts?
· Will the bank of Canada hike rates?
· What will be the impact of the war on Ukraine?
· What’s the latest on Real Estate Prices in Toronto?
Treadstone Law: https://www.treadstonelaw.ca/
Vertical CPA: https://www.verticalcpa.ca/
· How much is an hour of your time worth to you?
· As a business owner, do you do tasks that are below your hourly rate?
· How do you decide what to outsource or keep in-house?
· Is an hourly rate the best way to value your time?
Treadstone Law: https://www.treadstonelaw.ca/
Vertical CPA: https://www.verticalcpa.ca/
Today on The 5AM Grind, we’re delighted to bring you a guest interview with Huda Idrees.
Huda is the CEO and Founder of Dot Health – A real-time personal health platform that is empowering Canadians to request, access, and manage their own health information
Before founding DotHealth, Huda worked at Wattpad and Wealthsimple. Two of some of the best know startups in Toronto
Huda has helped advise the Canadian Federal and Provincial Health Ministries on strategy, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Ontario MD, and the Sinai Health System.
She has also won numerous awards including: YWCA Toronto's Young Woman of Distinction and Bay Street Bull's 30x30.
We hope you enjoy our interview with Huda!
Haris and Ali discuss their outlook for 2022 and cover the following topics:
- Real Estate Prices
- Interest Rates
- Inflation
- Crypto
- The Stock Market
- Another COVID Variant
- Your thoughts on the new variant?
- Should governments lockdown? Do you think people will comply this time around?
- Should the government pump more COVID stimulus?
- How does COVID end?
· Why is being on social media in 2021 important?
· How do you use social media to amplify your brand?
· Should you try to be everywhere or only in some places?
· What are some of the downsides of being on social media?
· Why is it important to stop Micromanaging?
· When do you know that you should stop Micromanaging your organization?
· How do you delegate?
· How do you deal with client service issues when you stop Micromanaging?
· Is the current inflation only transitory?
· What will be the repercussions of higher inflation?
· What is happening to the Supply Chain?
· What does this mean for the economy?
· Is being a positive person important?
· Are entrepreneurs naturally positive people?
· What are some of the downsides of being a positive person?
· If you’re not a positive person, what are you?
· How do you stay positive?
Today on The 5AM Grind, we’re delighted to bring you our guest interview with Eva Lau.
Eva is the founding Partner of Two Small Fish Ventures - A venture firm that invests in early-stage transformative tech companies with strong network effects.
Before founding Two Small Fish Ventures, Eva was Wattpad’s Head of Community and Content. She helped scale Wattpad from its infancy to become one of the largest online communities with tens of millions of monthly users around the world. In 2021, Wattpad was sold for $800 million.
Eva is involved in many incubators and accelerators across Canada such as
Creative Destruction Lab at the Rotman School of Management, Ryerson’s DMZ, University of Waterloo’s Velocity, and Techstars.
We hope you enjoy our interview with Eva!
· Why is marketing important?
· Do investments in marketing bring business right away?
· Is marketing the same as brand building?
· Why do so many businesses ignore investing in marketing?
· Is Greed Good?
· What’s the difference between AMBITION and GREED?
· Are billionaires greedy?
· How do you stop yourself from being greedy?
· What does Corporate Culture mean?
· When does Corporate Culture become important?
· Does Corporate Culture change?
· Which organization do you think has a great Corporate Culture?
· What do you think is better: Being an Employee or Being Self Employed?
· What are the benefits of being an employee?
· What are the downsides of being an employee?
· What are the benefits of being self-employed?
· What are the downsides of being self-employed?
· Why does voting matter?
· How do you usually lean politically? Are you “Liberal” or “Conservative”?
· What are the most important issues in this election?
· How do Canadian Politics compare to American Politics?
· What’s the difference between being a “generalist” and being a “specialist”?
· Are most entrepreneurs “generalists” or “specialists”?
· Would you become a “specialist” in a field early in your career?
· What are the benefits of becoming a “specialist”?
· In between “reading” and “doing” – which one is more important?
· Why do people get caught up “reading” and avoid “doing”?
· What’s your favourite way to learn?
· Is READING important?
· What’s the difference between “structured” and “unstructured” thinking?
· What’s the difference between a “structured” and “unstructured” routine?
· Are entrepreneurs naturally unstructured thinkers?
· How do you develop an unstructured way of thinking? Is it something you’re born with?
· What are the implications of reopening the economy after COVID?
· What are your thoughts on a 4th wave and another lockdown?
· Which behaviors learned in COVID do you think will stay?
· What were some of your biggest takeaways from the lockdown?
· Why does it seem like the USA is more entrepreneurial than Canada?
· Is it a cultural difference?
· How could Canada become more entrepreneurial?
· What are some of the biggest career transitions you’ve made?
· When should you consider making a career transition?
· What advice would you give someone making a career transition?
· What is inflation?
· What does high inflation mean to the average person?
· Is higher inflation here to stay? What would be the consequences?
Today on The 5AM Grind, we’re delighted to bring you our guest interview with Tim Brady.
Tim Brady is the CEO of Colligo, a provider of email management and document management software that helps better integrate Microsoft 365, unlocking productivity and governance for organizations.
Tim started his career working in finance at RBC and Picton Mahoney (a prominent Toronto based hedge fund) after graduating university. After several years as an investor in the software and tech sector, Tim pursued the path of entrepreneurship, founding Olbia Software and acquiring Colligo in early 2020 to help propel the company into the next generation of SaaS for enterprise content management.
Tim’s story is a great example of how the path to become an entrepreneur can be varied. Instead of building a company from ground zero, Tim’s story demonstrates an alternative path to entrepreneurship, via acquisition. We hope you enjoy this interview!
· Why is Communication so important in business?
· What are the traits of a good communicator?
· How do you become a good communicator?
· How have you improved your communication skills?
· Why can debt be bad for you?
· Why are Canadians highly indebted?
· What’s “good debt’ and “bad debt”
· When someone offers you a mortgage or debt – should you take it?
• What is fake news and misinformation?
• Why does misinformation spread so easily on social media?
• Why is misinformation dangerous?
• Why are people so easily attracted to misinformation?
• What does this mean for society in the future?
• What is attitude?
• Why is attitude so important?
• Would you hire someone smart or someone with the right attitude?
• When someone has a bad attitude at the workplace, what are the consequences?
Today on The 5AM Grind, we’re delighted to bring you our guest interview with Mohamad Fakih. Mohamad Fakih is a Canadian entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of Paramount Foods. Paramount is a Middle Eastern restaurant chain with over 80 locations Worldwide.
Mohamad’s story starts with humble beginnings as an immigrant coming to Canada from Lebanon with little money and then taking calculated risks and working hard to realize the Canadian Dream.
Mohamad is also well known for his philanthropy and social activism. Most recently, Mohammad spearheaded the Canada Strong campaign which raised nearly $6 million dollars, including matching by the Canadian federal government, for the families of victims killed by the downing of Flight 957.
Mohamad’s story is a great example of resilience, seeing the good side of any situation, perseverance, and hard work. We hope you enjoy this interview!
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Is remote work a fad?
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What do you like about remote work?
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Does productivity decrease if you’re working remotely?
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Is it hard to provide good client service when you’re working remotely?
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How do you maintain a strong company culture when working remotely?
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What are insecurities?
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Do you have insecurities?
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How do you deal with your insecurities?
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What’s the best way to get over your insecurities?
Today on The 5AM Grind, we’re delighted to bring you a guest interview with Brett Chang co-founder of the “ThePeak”. “ThePeak” is a daily newsletter covering the top Canadian business and tech news.
Brett is a serial entrepreneur and prior to ThePeak started companies in digital communications and the cannabis industry. In addition, Brett was one of first few employees at Uber Canada where he helped drive and develop public policy for major cities across the country.
In this episode we cover Brett’s career journey, his pivots from one industry to another, and discuss the phenomenal growth of ThePeak. Brett’s story is a great example of having a bias for action and constantly iterating until you land on an idea that resonates with your customers.
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Do you invest in cryptocurrencies?
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Is Bitcoin a viable store of value?
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What’s been driving the price of crypto up lately?
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Is this a bubble?
Part II:
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How are Canadians affording these crazy house prices?
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Is immigration driving up real estate prices?
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Incentives in the real estate market
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Second-Order Effects
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Where do we go from here?
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How many close friends do you have?
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How important is the company you keep?
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Have you ever distanced yourself from some friends?
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What are some good qualities a friend should have?
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Why is confidence important?
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How can you build confidence and how did you become confident?
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How can you project confidence when you’re uncertain about something?
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What’s the difference between confidence and arrogance?
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What does work-life balance mean to you?
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How do you balance your work life and personal life?
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How do you know if your work-life balance is wrong?
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Do successful people generally get work-life balance wrong?
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Is work-life balance a myth?
• Describe your ideal version of a leader?
• What are some traits great leaders have?
• Do you have to be in senior position to show leadership? How do you show leadership every day?
• Is leadership something you’re born with or can you train it?
• Why is taking small steps in life important?
• Describe a personal situation where you’ve used small steps to be successful?
• Are there situations where taking a big step is important?
• What is the relationship between compound growth and small steps?
• How can you show you’re qualified for a position if you don’t meet all the requirements?
• What are some ideal traits for a job seeker to have?
• How can you demonstrate transferable skills on your resume?
• Would you apply for a job you’re not qualified for?
• Put yourself in the hiring manager’s shoes, would you hire someone who isn’t completely qualified?
• How can you show you’re qualified for a position if you don’t meet all the requirements?
· Should you compare yourself to others?
· What’s the difference between comparing yourself to others and jealousy?
· What’s the difference between comparing yourself to others and competition?
• Why is dealing with change so hard?
• What are the different types of change in life and business?
• What is the best way to deal with change?
• Is change important or pointless?
Guest: Jim Estill, CEO of Danby Appliances
Mr. Estill is a serial Canadian entrepreneur, recipient of the order of Canada, and recipient of Canada’s Top 40 under 40 award. Jim started his first company, EMJ Systems, in university and eventually sold it for over $50 million. In 2015, Jim became the CEO of Danby Appliances and in 2017 he bought the company outright. He has grown the company’s annual revenue to over $400-million. In 2018, Jim spent over $1.5-million of his own money to sponsor almost 300 Syrian refugees. Mr. Estill is a seed investor and board advisor to a number of successful Canadian startups
• Does your race affect your success?
• Do you have racial biases?
• Will human beings ever stop being racist?
• How can society make the workplace more inclusive?
• Let’s define EQ
• Why do you think EQ matters?
• Is EQ more important than IQ?
• Should schools and educational institutions teach EQ?
• What does "time" mean to you?
• What do you think about people saying that your 20’s don’t matter?
• How do you decide how to allocate your time?
• What time management techniques and tools do you use?
• How do you deal with uncertainty as an entrepreneur?
• How do you project confidence while still being uncertain about yourself?
• Most adults look like they have their act together, do they really?
• In life’s big decisions, how do you deal with uncertainty?
• Is money everything?
• Why is talking about money considered taboo?
• What do you think about using debt?
• Is greed for money good?
• Why is creating content important?
• How do you get over the fear of putting yourself out there in public?
• Is content creation important for branding?
• What content mediums are important?
• In your opinion what’s more important – hardwork or being smart?
• Do you consider yourself smart?
• Is being smart something that comes naturally, or can you develop intelligence?
• Is being smart correlated to success?
• What does taking imperfect action mean to you?
• Is speed or perfection important?
• When helping customers – do you strive to be perfect or respond quickly?
• Would you rather spend time perfecting an idea or take action instead?
• Why is sales important?
• Why do salespeople have a bad reputation?
• How do you become a good salesperson?
• How do you handle rejection in sales?
• Why is failure important?
• Why does failure have such a bad rap?
• How do you deal with the embarrassment of failure?
• Is failure a good motivator?
• Did you stop learning after finishing school?
• How do you keep learning?
• How to find things you’d like to learn?
• Is institutionalized learning important?
• What’s the best teacher – experience or school?
• What does motivation mean to you?
• What is your biggest source of motivation?
• How do you stay motivated in your work and life?
• How do you re-charge when you lose motivation?
• What is your morning routine like?
• How do you usually plan out your day?
• How do plan out your week, month, and year?
• Planning vs. Execution – what’s more important?
• In a startup or business how do you know when to give up or pivot?
• In a career how do you know when to give up or pivot?
• What’s the difference between stubbornness and perseverance?
• Does pivoting imply that you’re unclear about your goals?
· How has COVID19 affected your life and work?
· What trends are here to stay?
· How has COVID19 impacted the real estate market?
· Has COVID19 created opportunities or just problems?
· What is a network?
· How do you build a network?
· How have you used your network?
· Are networking events useful?
· Is following your passion a myth?
· How do you find your passion?
· Can your passion change over time?
· Can you be passionate about multiple things?
· Was business school helpful to you?
· What are the drawbacks?
· Is an MBA useful?
· Going to the US for school or staying in Canada?
· Why are individuals skeptical of the advice of others?
· Should we enter new relationships with skepticism or trust?
· When is it okay to trust the advice of a professional?
· What should you do to bring down the guard of a skeptic?
· In your opinion what’s the number one obstacle preventing someone from taking a leap or risk?
· How to deal with doubters?
· How do you mitigate risks?
· How do you know that what you're working on isn't working?