Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:06 Good morning, Fort McMurray. How are you doing today? My name is Elliot Pierre, as you probably already know. And this is the Mac city morning show. We're going to start it off the same way with gratitude. I want to thank everybody for tuning in. I know there's so many other things you could be doing with your time. So the fact that you're taking your precious time to spend with us means the world to me on that note, Tanner hit him with the intro,
Speaker 1 00:00:36 Welcome to the Mac city morning show.
Speaker 0 00:00:43 All right. And we're back. Okay. So as per usual, I am not going to introduce the guests because they can do a better job at saying their name and telling us what they're all about. So on that note, can you please introduce yourself to the people at home who you are and what you're all about?
Speaker 2 00:00:57 Yeah. So my name is Diana Nobel. I like to introduce myself as a serial entrepreneur because sometimes it's just easier to say that as opposed to everything that I do. Um, but here locally, I do own four different businesses. Uh, noble services Inc, is a process serving company, delivering legal documents coming up on its 10 year anniversary actually next month. Um, I have a media company, noble media corporation, which is kind of like my side hobby business. You know, I don't really market that business, but I do a bit of content writing, a little bit of web design, a little bit of graphics here and there. Then I have seller direct to Northern homes Realty, my real estate brokerage and, uh, and then noble choice coaching where I'm a S um, ICF certified business coach and consultant.
Speaker 0 00:01:38 That's awesome. Izzy. You could say that that's yeah, you definitely. Uh, and you were the former owner of a magazine here in town as well.
Speaker 2 00:01:47 Former owner of snapped at Buffalo for six years.
Speaker 0 00:01:50 Yeah. So you definitely, uh, you like to try different things out. You're not afraid of doing like different entrepreneurial things, for sure. Yeah. No, I love it. So let me just jump into that right away, just cause I know you, and I've spoken at different conferences before, and I really love your responses when you get asked these questions and the other ones aren't on film. So this one will be on film. If there's people looking out there who are younger or potentially even older, who are thinking like, Hey, I would like to try to be an entrepreneur. What kind of advice would you give to them?
Speaker 2 00:02:20 Well, definitely speak to somebody who's been there before, because when I opened my business just about 10 years ago, I had no former experience. I didn't know what I was getting into. Thankfully, I had a little bit of mentorship through the law firm that I worked through at the time they helped me get incorporated. And then I got my business license and whatnot, but I went through many, many, many years and many mistakes and, and whatnot, uh, in all of my businesses. And of course those things helped me learn and grow, but that's partially why I'm a business coach and consultant now is so that way I can help people who are wanting to get into business or who are already in business and struggling to kind of be successful, I guess. Um, you know, the, the business accessory in Canada, they say that, uh, no more than 50% of businesses survive five years and that's alarming in terms of, you know, the, the failure rate, I guess you could say, it's almost like the divorce rate, right? Um, you know, so, uh, so if I can help somebody, you know, to navigate the ups and downs of being in business, uh, if somebody is getting into business, they should certainly reach out. There's a ton of free resources in the province as well. And people that they can speak to, to, you know, figure out is this the best way to go forward? What should I do? Should I incorporate, should I be a sole proprietor? You know, there are so many different facets I guess, of, of starting and running a business. So,
Speaker 0 00:03:47 Yeah, that's right. And I think what you said is key in regards to, there are so many mistakes that you're going to make, and if you have a resource, maybe a coach, or like you said, there's online resources or something. Um, mistakes are just part of owning and starting a business. I know, uh, me and Tanner make mistakes almost every day at the Mac city morning show every day from like sound or video. Like it's, it's a learning process. And I think as an entrepreneur, when me and Tanner he's, uh, we talk every day, we spend a lot of time together and that's something that we talk about in regards to like, listen, it's okay to make mistakes if you borrow from them. And if you just keep going, um, and that's the hard part about being an entree, like an entrepreneur. Like I feel that's why some people fail. It's like, you know, you're going to make mistakes all the time and that's okay. Just like keep pushing forward.
Speaker 2 00:04:36 Well, I'm taking calculated risks too, right? I mean, a lot of people, you know, they have this idea and especially here in Fort McMurray, we know that there's high rents for, you know, that's, it's not a secret. Um, but if you're going to start a retail business, for example, maybe you don't sign a 10 year lease right off the bat.
Speaker 0 00:04:53 Right? Yeah. That's it. So in regards to Fort McMurray, you've been here for quite some time, but what brought you here initially?
Speaker 2 00:05:01 Yeah, so it's almost been 13 years ago, actually yesterday in my Facebook memories from 13 years ago, we announced that we are moving to Alberta, uh, because my husband, uh, who's now my husband, he was my boyfriend at the time his parents were already living here and he lost his job in Ontario. This was early 2008 and his mom was living here. And she, there was an opening for shipper receiver where she worked and he had a phone interview and three weeks later we packed up everything that we owned into my little Sunfire had, you know, 300,000 kilometers on it. And, uh, and we drove, we packed everything up that we own. And we drove across country. It took us four days and we literally no word of a lie. Like I'm not even exaggerating here. We had $10 left to our names when we arrived in town. Like, thank goodness we had enough money for gas in wandering river. Before we, I remember seeing the sign, like no gas for 200 kilometers. It was like, okay, well, you know, we only had $10 left and you know, it was, um, wow. It's just thinking back, like I'm, I'm humbled by it because, you know, we came from those rough beginnings
Speaker 0 00:06:13 <inaudible> and I think that's a, the story of a lot of individuals who actually moved to Fort McMurray in regards to they are looking for employment or they didn't have opportunity where they were. And then they moved to Fort McMurray and they were able to find it. So, yeah, it was, I forgot what guests, we were speaking about this with, but that's my favorite part about Fort McMurry is whatever you want to do, you can do it like the opportunities there. Like if I decided I wanted to be a fireman today, I could make a few phone calls and figure out like what the steps are required to be a fireman. I would say, get the job, but the opportunities there that I could try. So Fort McMurray definitely does allow you the opportunity to kind of be whatever you want and reinvent yourself.
Speaker 2 00:06:58 Absolutely. Like if you had asked me 13 years ago where I'd be right now, I wouldn't be telling you that I had multiple businesses or that I even owned a house or, you know, you just don't know what's possible. And then you get here and you're like, wow, wow, this is possible. You know, even the job that I had at the law firm, which was a huge change for me and actually had I not had that job, you know, uh, it wasn't my first job here. My first job here, I was working on site. I was 21 years old and I was the site manager for 60 janitors at 21 years old. And, uh, and I got let go of that position in early 2009, when kind of things went the other direction here. And I was unemployed for two months. And then I got the job at the law firm and that was the game changer for me.
Speaker 2 00:07:44 But I mean, in Ontario where I'm from, you wouldn't be getting a job at a law firm with a high school education. It just wouldn't happen. You know? So the fact that they took a chance on me and, and just improved, helped me improve my skills. And then from there, that's how I opened my first business was while I was working at the law firm. So that was the game changer for me. And definitely I owe everything that I am really to Fort McMurray. Because again, even if you have that drive and ambition somewhere else, you might not be able to make the same thing happen.
Speaker 0 00:08:16 Right. That's exactly it now in regards to the different businesses. Cause I kind of fall into the same bucket in regards to, they start one thing. And then all of a sudden there's something new. Hence the Mac city morning show, like it's, it's an evolution. Um, what is it about you that continues to make you want to try different things and start different businesses and see all these different opportunities? Yes.
Speaker 2 00:08:39 So this is a trap that entrepreneurs fall into. I'm actually speaking about this very thing on my show tomorrow. Uh, the balancing act business chat, a lot of times, you know, entrepreneurs fall subject to shiny object syndrome, right? It's like, Oh, this opportunity, Oh, this opportunity I could do this. I do. Um, for myself, I'm just very passionate about a lot of different things. Certainly not every business that I have, um, fuels my passion. You know, I'm not incredibly passionate about my process serving company, but Hey, it's 10 years running. I have little to no marketing for it and it pays the bills and it's, you know, it's, it's, it's its own well oiled machine. Right. Um, but you know, definitely the newspaper when I, when that opportunity landed on my doorstep, that was something I was very passionate about it. I went to school for journalism.
Speaker 2 00:09:26 I didn't finish school for journalism, but I went to school for journalism. And uh, yeah, so really for me, it's just following my passions and, and all of the stories, you know, I could tell you the whole entire story of how all of these businesses came about. Uh, and really, I mean, aside from the process serving company, the rest of them pretty much have to do with passion real estate. Wasn't a passion. It was kind of more of a, I was sitting at the law firm and I was running my one business and I was starting to get bored. Cause you know, entrepreneurs, we get bored and uh, and it was kind of like, well, what am I going to do for the rest of my life? And funny enough, I was actually typing up a dictation for a real estate client that the law firm had and this person had their hand in all of these different businesses. And it was like that aha moment. This is what I want to do. I should get into real estate so that I can have my hand in all of these different things. Right, right,
Speaker 0 00:10:21 Right. Yeah. Cool. Now you just mentioned a, you got to show, let's give that show a plug so people can tune into that as well. So tell us about that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:10:29 So every, every other Wednesday on my Facebook page, so noble choice coaching, I do the balancing act business chat, and I'll just talk about different things having to do with business. So a couple of weeks ago, I was talking about how to utilize Instagram, to market your business. Uh, this week I'm talking about, um, how to retrain your brain to follow through because that's what a lot of entrepreneurs don't do, right. Is like, we get this idea and here you are, you had this idea and you're following through with it. But a lot of times people either, you know, they get bored in the details and they don't follow through with something cause something else more exciting comes along and they're like, Hey, I'm going to stop this. Cause this is boring me now. And I'm going to pursue this. Or in coaching, we call that they get paralysis by analysis. So there's so many opportunities and there's so many options that people are like, Oh, I don't know what to get started on. So then they end up standing still and doing nothing that's right, right. So I'm going to be talking about that on Wednesday, uh, tomorrow, I guess, uh, 1230. You can tune into that on my Facebook page live.
Speaker 0 00:11:28 Cool. And how long have you been doing that for about four or five months now. That's awesome. That's fantastic. Okay, good. So everybody at home definitely tuned into that every other Wednesday on your Facebook page. Very cool. Okay. We're a part we're at the part of the show now called the Mac city minute. This is Tanner's baby. He kills it every day. Crushes it at it. He's going to ask you five questions. Please. Just answer them as honestly as you can. Um, but yeah. Then we're going to put you
Speaker 2 00:11:54 On the spot a little bit. All right. Let's do it
Speaker 3 00:11:56 Hit a little questions. Question number one for you today. How has owning so many businesses in town shown you the people of Fort McMurray?
Speaker 2 00:12:03 How has it shown me the people of Fort McMurray? Correct. Uh, yeah, so I deal with a lot of people on a daily basis. You know, I'm in my process, serving company, not so much local, we don't really serve as much local because it's people, it's law firms from outside of the city that are hiring us in all across Canada, the States wherever. Um, so not so much that business, but real estate. Of course, we serve a lot of buyers and sellers. My agents are phenomenal. I've gotten to know them really well and cultivate that team and that cohesive team of awesome people that just really love what they do. Coaching. Of course I get, that is my dream job because I get to sit with other entrepreneurs and help them reach their goals and, and have success for themselves. And uh, and my media and marketing company, well, like I said, that's just kind of a hobby job for me. So I'm not really conversing too many with too many people there with Snapchat, Buffalo. Of course we were always out in the community meeting. So many people, there's a lot of people that say, Oh, Hey Diane. And I'm like, hi, what's your name again? I'm so sorry. But yeah, definitely a all of my businesses have allowed me to do that
Speaker 3 00:13:08 Question. Number two for you today. What is something people don't realize is a part of your daily routine?
Speaker 2 00:13:14 Hmm. Something that people don't realize as part of my daily routine. I don't know if there isn't, if there is something that people don't realize. Cause I'm pretty transparent about what my routine is. So I guess just starting my day, reading a book, something that's inspirational, that's going to help me. I don't read any fiction, write fiction, like, yeah. And, uh, and then, uh, drinking cappuccino in the morning and night, I have my French vanilla cappuccino in the morning when I read my book. And at night before I go to bed, I write in my journal. I plan out my day and I think my caffeine
Speaker 3 00:13:50 Question number three, what was it like starting with one business and now owning four?
Speaker 2 00:13:56 Hmm. Well, I used to think I was really busy back in the day when I had just one business. Cause I was working full-time at one point and I was running the business on evenings and weekends. And I remember seeing in my Facebook memories sometimes I'm like, Oh my gosh, I'm so busy and so busy. And like, now that I look back at that in hindsight, and now I've got a three and a half year old as well, like, but, uh, but I do like to think that I've shifted from busy to productive. So that's the, that's the big difference
Speaker 3 00:14:27 Question number four for you? Why do you like helping the people of Fort McMurray?
Speaker 2 00:14:34 I just like helping people in general. I don't know if it's specific to helping people in Fort McMurry. Um, but helping people in general because that's just part of my nature. That's what I love to do. I love to be of a need of assistance to others and uh, yeah, it, it just fills my cup to be, to help
Speaker 0 00:14:52 People.
Speaker 3 00:14:52 And your last question date, what is the craziest story from owning so many businesses in town for so long?
Speaker 2 00:14:59 Oh my goodness. That's, that's a hard one. I don't know if I can answer that right off the top of my head. I'd have to think about that. The craziest story. Oh, okay. The craziest story and it's maybe not crazy. It's maybe a little sad. I don't know. But uh, when I had my son, I had him by C-section and I was running three businesses at the time and um, yeah, he almost died a week later. And uh, and so here I was recovering from a C-section. He was code blue in the hospital here. We got airlifted to Edmonton and uh, dealing with that while trying to still run my, all my businesses and I didn't have an assistant at the time. So that was a crazy story. And you know, when I met with challenge now, I just think of like, okay, well I overcame that challenge. I don't think I could ever have anything more crazy than, than what I experienced that first month my son was born. So yeah, those have been your questions. All right. Thank you.
Speaker 0 00:16:02 I think that, that loss when obviously thank you for sharing it. Um, that's a great story in regards to perspective. And I find as an entrepreneur perspective, is everything like, yeah, this is challenging. However, when you look at things like this, it could be worse and yeah.
Speaker 2 00:16:21 And you know, that's how I feel about 2020 and you know, I've, I've handled it pretty well, but it's because I've had experiences like that. You know, I had to go through IVF to have my son as well. And so in 2016, dealing with the fire and dealing with going through IVF and then eventually getting pregnant and then all of the things that happened in 2016 and then of course, 2017 when my son is born now and all of this, you know, I, I think about that year 2016 being the most challenging year, without a doubt in my life, there was a lot of ups and downs and just complete chaos. And so, because of that, you know, I look at 2020, I'm like, yeah, you know what? This isn't so bad. And I, I'm not trying to be insensitive. Obviously, you know, 2020 was incredibly chaotic for a lot of people and there's been a lot of challenges that people have faced and I'm not trying to make light of that by any means, but you're absolutely right. It's that perspective for me where it's like, okay, well now if I can, if I can take every challenge I have moving forward and use that as my baseline, then to me, it's not so bad, you know,
Speaker 0 00:17:33 That's awesome. Now we're getting to the end here, but before we leave, uh, you read books, you read a lot of books. So yesterday I had a gentleman on the show, a Lancaster, he recommended a book to me, which I started last night called animal farm by Wells phenomenal book or well, or, well, thank you. Great book, Lancaster. Thank you for recommending it. What book are you reading right now? Right now I'm reading the, E-Myth the, E-Myth
Speaker 2 00:18:02 The entrepreneurial myth. So it's a, it's a world renowned book. I couldn't tell you who the author is. Right. It's George something rather. Um, and, uh, yeah, so it talks about the entrepreneurial myth and how a lot of people get into business and they get into business because they're good at something, you know, like, let's say you have an electrician, well, the electrician could completely rewire your house. And then they think, well, I don't want to have a boss. You know, how about I just be my own boss, but then they don't realize that they've got to now do the bookkeeping and the marketing and you know, taking care of other staff. Now they don't have as much time to do what they're good at because they're talking about all, they have to do all of this other stuff. So it kind of talks about that journey and how it's very interesting.
Speaker 2 00:18:45 It says that most people who go into business, so there's three parts of each person. Okay. So there's the manager, there's the entrepreneur and there's the technician. So the technician is really good at what they do. So that's the electrician or the nail tech or the plumber, or, you know, the Baker. Okay. And then the entrepreneur is the one who's thinking about the future. Like, okay, well where's this business going? What am I going to do next? And the manager is the one trying to keep everything together on a daily basis and making sure everything flows. And he says that majority of business owners, at least in the United States, you're 70% technician. You're 20% manager and you're only 10% entrepreneur. And this is why most businesses fail. Right?
Speaker 0 00:19:29 Yeah. Interesting book. The author of that book is Michael E
Speaker 2 00:19:34 Oh Michael E Gerber. See, I was totally right.
Speaker 0 00:19:36 Tanner killing it. Good job Tanner. Totally off. Yeah. That's a good book. Yeah, yeah, no. Um, my trick to succeed in business is surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. Absolutely. I'm the smartest guy in the room I am in the wrong room. That's what they say. Yeah. So that's how I've, uh, I've looked at it. That's why I got Tanner here, operate and stuff behind the scenes. I can assure you. I know how none of this works, but Tanner, he that's what he crushes, hire the right people. That's for sure. That's it awesome. Well, before we let you leave, uh, please, uh, I know most people don't do this on their own business owners because all the business owners I know anyway, like yourself are super humble. So can you please vote, give a shout out to your businesses? How can people get in contact with you if they want to utilize any of the businesses that you own in Fort McMurray?
Speaker 2 00:20:28 Yeah. So I guess I'll just give a shout out to the two because the two really only have, you know, the, the main bearing in social media or whatnot, but seller direct Northern homes Realty. So we are a full service real estate brokerage. You can find a seller direct Northern homes Realty on Facebook or SD Northern homes Realty on Instagram. And, uh, and you can reach out to us that way, if you reach out, you're going to get me, that's who you're going to get. I answer all of those myself. And I'm proud of that. I don't like to delegate that work because that level of customer service, you know, and then noble choice, coaching noble choice, coaching on Facebook and Instagram. And, uh, and if you're looking for a business coach or consultant, I also do a lot of leadership coaching. Uh, then, um, you can find me there. I am starting at the next entrepreneur master class coming up on April 1st, uh, really excited for that. There's only nine spots available and it is a four month group coaching program where I'm just in my current cohort right now about halfway through. So that'll be opening up here in two weeks, actually.
Speaker 0 00:21:27 Very cool. Okay. So definitely online. They can find you absolutely sweet. And then you have a podcast or a show on Facebook that you do every other Wednesday call.
Speaker 2 00:21:37 What was it again? The balancing act business chat. There we go.
Speaker 0 00:21:40 And is there a certain time or it just happens on Wednesday.
Speaker 2 00:21:42 It's 1230 on Wednesdays.
Speaker 0 00:21:44 No. All right. Now people know where to tune into. Great. All right. Well Fort McMurray and everybody watching outside of Fort McMurray because that's growing every day. Uh, thank you very much. We appreciate you tuning in. Uh, but before we leave, I think myself and Tanner have to give a big shout out to Allie and the boys at a thick wood barbershop next to the black horse pub, Mark hooked a Tanner up with a haircut. Allie hooked me up with my beard. We did a live show there yesterday. So to the boys that think with barbershop on behalf of myself and Tanner actually makes us look pretty. They did one of those transformations, you know, where they take the homeless person off the street and they make them look real good, except they did it with me. Yeah. There you go. Awesome. On that note for McMurry and everywhere else. Thank you very much for tuning in. My name is Janelia Pierre. This is the Mac city morning show and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
