Harder Than You Th!nk Podcast: Recent Episodes
Peter J. Holgate And Tara Dobbs
Following on the successful Eleven Ten Experience series, the new series titled Harder Than You Th!nk Podcast is filled with rich, authentic interviews with entrepreneurs who have broken through and built 7, 8 and even 9 figure businesses. Each week, your hosts, Peter J. Holgate & Tara Dobbs uncover and explore what it really takes to build a successful business.Turns out it is harder than you think...after all...If it was so easy, everyone would do it.
Even though he has no background in the housing market, that's not stopping Robert. His business is re-inventing the Real Estate market. He’s an innovator and a future thinker. Just wait until you see the ideas Robert has for this industry.
Matt was born to be an engineer. However, after studying engineering at a University, he soon learned what a bad employee he made, and becoming an entrepreneur was the logical next step.
Rob takes us back to the beginning with his story. Growing up, his father influenced him and his siblings to all become entrepreneurs. Fast forward a few years where Rob continues his journey with experiences he gained with the ownership of multiple businesses through the years.
Imagine being a powerhouse, who knows how to get things done without setting a single goal. After reading a powerful book on the subject, Karina decided she never needs to set a goal again. She is now an author of 4 books and a fitness and nutrition coach.
Going from small-town boy to moving into the largest city of Canada, Scot managed to not only survive but thrive as a natural in marketing. In fact, he found a moment in his life where he had it all, lots of money and toys. But soon realized he was not happy. It was then that he made the decision to become an entrepreneur.
Melanie's interesting story is of an entrepreneur taking on a product that very few dare to take on... pleasure accessories, or more accurately Femtech. Melanie shares with us the enthusiasm and industry-specific bias she continues to encounter as she moves her business forward.
Craig is continually looking to challenge himself. He has completed multiple marathons and 100 ultra-marathons. The determination he manifests from these accomplishments also goes in his business life. Listen as Craig talks about how that advanced him as an entrepreneur.
No matter how much more difficult it was than Drew could have ever imagined, he has never regretted the decision he had made. When Drew realized he was not growing as a person anymore he decided to challenge himself. He became a solopreneur.
In this half Emmanuel shares his story about exploring his new role in entrepreneurship. He tells the tales of the difficulty in such a competitive world to get your game noticed. It ends in a surprise…
Emmanuel's compelling story shows us that it is never too late to follow your passion and stop letting life pass you by. Not wanting to work in the field of his Masters any longer, Emmanuel acquires a job at the bottom of the totem pole in a video game company and moves his way up through the industry. Realizing happiness was still eluding him, he decided it was time he went from employee to entrepreneur.
These two innovative business partners share their story about transforming their careers as engineers to entrepreneurs who wanted to help other businesses succeed. When Covid came, they found that they were having to quickly save their own business from a 90% near-death drop. Due to the strength in their partnership, they not only saved their business but experienced growth at an unexpected rate.
Have you ever thought it humorous that your University degree does not apply to your current career? On this podcast, Brad has an amusing discussion with the hosts on this very subject. We also learn about how at a young age he starts his renovation empire, knowing nothing about running a business, walking from door to door to get new clients.
In this podcast, Praveen discusses how his career started by exploring for diamonds in Northern Canada with his father and former partner. Now he co-owns an investment company with his family, focusing on investing in businesses that better the planet.
Nigel did not have the easiest road to travel on his way to entrepreneurship. He barely made it through high school, then went to work with his dad at his company until his dad was arrested. All these obstacles lead him to co-found the successful business with his sister. Now Nigel is able to pursue all his philanthropic adventures as well as continue to travel the world with his family.
Listen as Matt tells his journey that takes his passion for fitness and sports and turns it into a stand-out business. His and his team's philosophies and values then launch it into a successful franchise.
The second segment of Kian's podcast goes much deeper into his life as an entrepreneur and how his wife influenced major life changes.
Listen as part one takes you on Kian's journey as a young immigrant from Iran to Sweden and learning how to adapt. Kian goes on to discuss his experience of having to study and restudy for his medical exams and that it was during University that he started to stretch his entrepreneurial wings.
Neil takes us on his journey through his darkest challenges of entrepreneurship and how it was completely burning him out. He then tells us the story of how his mentor helped him through the recovery of his dying business to where he is today.
Rene is an entrepreneur that has seen and experienced the struggles and triumphs that comes with it. Rene's entrepreneurial spirit will not falter and he is ready to celebrate in the streets when this pandemic is over.
Christine took an experience that would make most people rightly upset and used it as a fire to take her destiny into her own hands. She has since built two companies and worn many hats. Listen to her incredibly humble journey through the struggles and the triumphs.
Brandy's path from a rebellious teenager to an exchange student in Brazil had unexpected life changing experiences that lead her to find her passion. Once she discovered just what that was, she dedicated herself locally and globally to assist in a human-centric societal change.
As we continue with Adam's podcast, he dives into his experiences as an entrepreneur and becomes almost speechless when faced with challenging questions from Peter.
Adam capsized while rowing through the Bermuda Triangle and is here to tell his gripping stories about his ocean journey with his buddies, along with his Olympic Gold Medal winning experiences.
Enzo was underwhelmed at making it to Team Canada despite it being a childhood dream of his. This realization started him down the path of celebrating achievements along the way - not always looking for the next challenge. That and until he was out training for his next race and was hit by a car....
Find out how this top tier athlete used this major challenge in his life as fuel his desire to be an entrepreneur.
For Tats, facing failure has been a key piece of success. This is what gave him the courage to compete on Dragon's Den and taught him an even bigger lesson: with great fear and discomfort comes great opportunity for challenge and growth.
Tonny grew up in an entrepreneurial family - cutting his teeth running his family's fast-food franchise. Deciding that he wanted more, he went to business school. It was there that he met his future business partner, won a competition that would launch their future business, and graduated with an MBA. If that wasn't enough, Tonny continued working full-time consulting in a leading global consulting firm.while in start up mode. Now Tonny is facing his toughest challenge yet - full time entrepreneurship while raising a young family!
Travis had two paths he could go down after graduating: one landed him in Hong Kong in advertising and the other brought him back to Vancouver in financial services. He soon found himself hooked on the ever changing world of wealth management. His entrepreneurial and innovative spirit were pivotal in elevating him from a financial advisor to an architect of multiple new funds that help to improve people's lives.
Roger has been defying expectations from the start. Beginning his career as a teacher, then an actor in both TV and Film (look for him in Xfiles!), he knew early on that this would not be enough to satisfy his aspirations. Roger was an outsider then, and still feels like an outsider today - but sees this as one of his greatest strengths. If not for that, he would not have discovered who he really was at his core - outside of societal pressures. This self discovery journey led him to the most unexpected career choice of them all - as an entrepreneur.
"To others that is extraordinary, to us is ordinary." This was the message shared with Neil as he grew up - being the offspring of several generations of successful and pivotal entrepreneurs. Neil's entrepreneurial journey reflects the importance these words had for him. Listen as we follow Neil through 5 businesses and several industries before he landed where he is today - building his most meaningful business yet.
Madeleine talks about being a socially conscious, feminist entrepreneur who likes to shake up patriarchy and capitalism. And it sounds like she’s doing a great job.
If you want more from Madeleine after you listening to the podcast, check out her new book "The Greater Good" at https://wonderwell.press/books/the-greater-good/
We continue the conversation with Jason and his enlightened point of view on some challenging subjects.
Being an entrepreneur requires being self aware and learning from your mistakes. Jason embodies that with his latest venture www.simplybuck.com. Jason shares about how many lessons in his regular life prepared him for the hard yet rewarding journey of business ownership.
Henry has always been 2 things: a deep thinker and an asshole. At a young age he started exploring various philosophies - exemplified by his involvement in teaching yoga internationally. He became an entrepreneur shortly after - and realized he wanted to work alone rather than having a partner. As Henry says "I am an asshole, but at least I am the only asshole here". Enjoy!
Entrepreneurship is a lonely journey and Gilly shares her experience of working with her partner Dr. Chris Miller, as they launch their amazing anti-viral Nitric Oxide nasal spray in Israel, Canada and the rest of the world.
What does pursuing a path towards being a sommelier have to do with Nitric Oxide? Find out with us as we talk with Gilly Regev, the co-founder of SaNOtize, and hear about her unlikely journey from academia in Israel, wineries in Europe and entrepreneurship in Canada.
Can a person know they will be an entrepreneur at the age of 10? Andrew Crawford did, when he landed his first contract: handing out flyers door to door for $50. Learn about how surfing led Andrew to Hawaii where he lived and thrived in life and business. Then 2008 hit....
We had so much fun with Christian, we brought him back twice. Learn about Christian's latest and greatest company: HeroX – the world's problem solving platform- gamify your problems through creating a bounty to tap into the collective intelligence of the world.
Who needs university anyway? Christian dropped out of college to start his first business. Four companies later, he has successfully exited 3 of them (including selling to Dell!). Christian shares his rules for tackling big challenges, and building great teams.
Chris Tumpach has big ideas and Rainforest Automation is the culmination of those ideas. When founded with his partners, Chris was supposed to be head of the Hardware Department. Instead, due to a set of unforeseen circumstances, Chris found himself in the CEO seat. Find out how it's gone in the 12 years since.
Alex has an enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and envisioning unorthodox ideas. Listen to the journey that led Alex from launching multiple ventures to creating the bilingual marketing agency Periphery Digital
From being bullied for stuttering and voted the most likely to do nothing in life in his high school yearbook to CEO of a booming aerospace company. It wasn't all roses in between though - listen to Rikkert Vos amazing story that takes him from the lows of being a drug-dealing high school dropout to a successful family and business man. Rikkert's is an inspiring story of what true grit looks like.
"Laws are our opinions frozen in time." Deepak discusses his passion and how he helped bring pharmaceuticals to the underinsured and helped in the policy making for medical cannabis. Deepak's journey in advocating to encourage, promote and make the political changes needed in the cannabis industries is astounding.
Barb has an incredible journey that took her from wanting to be a doctor to where she is today as the Executive Vice President, Strategy & Global Markets for JSA.
Farhan tells his interesting career journey that wasn’t exactly conventional; starting in the software tech and ending up in a career path that deals more with people than it does technology. His story helps us realize that what we think we want to do may not be our true path in the end.
Brad shares with us juggling fatherhood of 6 kids and business. Then he digs deeper into the details of his business that involves the education system.
This is a story about a woman who is an author and exceptional executive pushing to get into the software business that truly a male dominated world. Her first book is called, “Bulldog Spirit of the Entrepreneurial World.” And Ellie proves, in this interview, that she was exactly that.
What do you get when you mix a nuclear engineer with a soldier? The experiences that James shares in this podcast will open you mind to what is possible. James Walker is the Chief Executive Officer of Ares Strategic Mining Inc.
What is that moment that you stopped, realized you were not fulfilled and decided to upend your life? In this episode, successful corporate lawyer Aly looks out the top floor office window on a rainy Vancouver evening and decides to leave it all behind and become an entrepreneur. Aly Kanji is the President and Chief Executive Officer at InsureLine.
What $4.5 Bn industry segment grew by 11% last year? Jordan Rogers is the owner of Lloyd James Plant Based Food Sales.
What happens when you are a young, fit, healthy, top-level skier cruising the backcountry and you find yourself short of breath? Phil takes us through his experience and how a heart attack in the middle of nowhere shaped his life as an entrepreneur. Phil Chatterton is the co-founder and president of Warmcall.
How do you make the crucial decisions around which path to take? The answer is not always simple particularly when you are already enjoying significant success at one of the fastest growing companies in town. Ashley Ward is the Chief Operating Officer at Romex Canada West.
Peter and Tara start of with their first of a collection of outstanding podcasts that show us the lesser known side to being an entrepreneur and CEO. They start by sharing their own challenging career stories and then explain the kind of stories we can expect from the interviews in the following podcasts with other entrepreneurs and their professional journeys.
Would you buy a retail fast food franchise? Listen to a first hand account of how to buy and grow a reputable retail franchise operation…and still lose money and face the tough decision of whether to keep going or closing shop. Jordan West is the co-founder of Little and Lively clothing and Mindful Marketing.