From the Bottom Up- with Leanne Myles

Leanne is definitely an inspiration to 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:00

Welcome to Season 3 of Raise the Anchor with your host, Melissa Burbridge. This season, we are going to inspire, ignite, and create space for you to go after the change you want with invigorating interviews and some deep diving into my personal story. We hope you enjoy... Welcome to another episode of Raise the Anchor. And I have the lovely guest of Leanne Miles here today. She will explain what she does because I always butcher it. Leanne, happy to have you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 0:35

I'm very excited to be part of this.

SPEAKER_02: 0:38

So what is it you do before we take our step back into what you did before this?

SPEAKER_00: 0:43

I'm a mortgage broker. Actually, my legal title is associate mortgage broker. Nova Scotia just recently came out with new regulations and I decided to take the path of associate mortgage broker. And Clinton, who I work with, is actually going to have the designation of mortgage broker. So we essentially find mortgages for people and we're able to shop the market and we live, eat, breathe mortgages on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_02: 1:07

And you're amazing. I can't even go onto Facebook without seeing your name being referred off for mortgages because you're just that good. She's definitely the go-to person. But you work with small businesses to make sure that if they're going to go after a mortgage, they can get there. Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 1:27

A lot of times people that are self-employed, you're met with brick walls, I'll call them, either going to banks or even going to brokers that maybe don't delve into the alternative side. and or understand the stated income product. So self-employed people have gotten very frustrated over the years. And that's, I guess, the education piece that we want to get out there is that there are options for self-employed people. And when it comes to alternative lending, self-employed, cash is king. So if you're making really great money, then you should be able to come up with a 20% down payment or a 10% down payment.

SPEAKER_02: 2:00

Yeah, no,

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it's

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definitely challenging for entrepreneurs as we've been learning the last couple of years in my business. But before you did, you were this mortgage goddess. What did you do?

SPEAKER_00: 2:13

So I was actually, if you want to go right back, I was in the military straight out of high school. Really? I did not know that about you. I was. Yeah. And I did very well in the military. I was top of my trade and, uh, They offered a forces reduction plan. When I got in, I loved it. But then I realized that like, it wasn't going to be a life that I was really wanting to sustain and being at sea. So I got out and I, I took a plan called forces reduction plan and they offered to give me funds towards education. So I took it. And so at the time my husband was posted out to Victoria, BC and I went to college for admin and it's, So I was a secretary for years and years. The admin course that I did, my kids learned everything I did in college and high school. So we did Word and Excel and Access. I also did some desktop publishing and marketing and all those things. I was an admin for a long time. I worked at OTAN, which was the Offshore Technologies Association, making seven bucks an hour back in the day. And I left there and... went to emergency medical care. And I think that that's probably where I learned the most in my career. I had the most amazing mentors there. Kimberly Quilty is one of them. Roger Mumberkett is the other. And I basically came into my own and they educated me on this program called Enrich that was there to manage the ambulances. And I was sent on a course and while I was with them, that was costly to learn how to manage the database. And I've always been technical. So I took it on and I learned it. So I was in a room with 15 other people that had degrees programs or whatever. And I did the same stuff. And I learned it. So I took that back to emergency medical care. And then I managed their database and looked after the ambulances. And I loved it. Like I absolutely loved it doing these reports and figuring out You know, what kind of question can we ask the system today that we could get an answer on? And yeah, so X-Wave then recruited me from EHS or emergency medical care and I became a programmer there. So yeah, it's been a wild ride.

SPEAKER_02: 4:31

Wow. I just can't even picture that because I've just seen you as this, you know, this female that you can look up to, to want to aspire to. I can't imagine you working from the bottom up. I just, maybe I have you on a high pedestal.

SPEAKER_00: 4:44

And you know what? I'm going to tell you, coming from the bottom and being admin and all that stuff, those are the skills that are the complete basis of being able to do well as a self-employed person. I will tell you that learning how to manage files and manage your inbox and doing all those things, it's huge. It's the basis. I will tell you that admin and the worker bees are the glue of most companies.

SPEAKER_02: 5:11

Oh, they are. And even working in anything medical field, I can just imagine what your day was like and the complete turnover hour

SPEAKER_00: 5:19

after hour. Well, I wasn't medical though. So I worked with the paramedics. I actually joined emergency medical care three weeks before the Swiss Air flight thing happened. And so we supported the paramedics in the province and I worked with the fleet and procurement department. Within that department, we had the ability to affect change on the street. So what I learned about myself when I worked there is that any work that I do, if it affects people, I'm passionate about it. And I will dive in and I will do all the things, not realizing that, you know, that that would carry me forth to where I am today. So when I left emergency medical care and became a programmer at X-Wave, so I went from basically looking after one database to looking after 12 databases on 10 different servers or whatever it was. And we ran data cubes and I was on call at night in case the servers went down. So I went from a one to a many type situation. Well, I was very unfulfilled at X-Wave. My reports were about finance and HR. They had no effect really that I was made aware of to who they were. And I became disenchanted. And I was at work one day and I was pretty unhappy. We were being micromanaged, had to write down our tasks for every 15 minutes. And I went on CareerBeacon. And on CareerBeacon, an ad came up for Manulife One sales. So while I worked at EMC, there was a paramedic there named Shelly Valer. And she had been looking at this Manulife One product. And of course, you know, me being nosy, I was walking by and I asked her about it. And I then got the product and then started to understand it. And then I started to refer people. When I started to refer people, they took notice because when I went on to CareerBeacon that day, I emailed the girl that did my Manulife One. I was like, hey, Rachel, how you doing? I've seen this job for Manulife Bank, blah, blah, blah. You know, I think I might apply. And she came back to me within four minutes. And was like, hang on, let me get you HR forms. Like she was like ready. So I got up and walked out of that office and I went completely commissioned as a single mom.

SPEAKER_02: 7:36

There was no second guessing. There was no like

SPEAKER_00: 7:41

transition thinking. It was just bam. Well, I mean, I did negotiate a few things. So when I left EMC, I negotiated myself into a really great salary and vacation time when I went to X-Wave. And I guess that's probably where I did have a bit of a lack of fear. And going into the mortgage space, when I sat down with Rachel to have our meeting, our initial meeting, I was like, I'm a single mom. I have two kids. I'm making$75,000 a year. I need to continue to make that. She's like, okay, 75 grand a year. So what are you clearing every pay? And I was like, I don't know, 1,500, 1,600. And she was, okay, I'll make that happen. You can have...$75,000 a year. And once that year is up, if you're not making enough, you'll make the commission. I made$75,000 in six months. Wow.

SPEAKER_02: 8:33

Wow. That's so crazy. Were you scared of leaving that job into the other job that what am I doing? I

SPEAKER_00: 8:42

was, but I was confident in what I was selling. So even though I didn't know the nuts and bolts around how to approve somebody or to review credit or to do debt ratios, I was confident that I could talk to people about it because I had referred her probably 50, 60 clients that year that all came and sat down and they were like, yeah, okay, Leanne, talk to us. We would like the manual like one. She had to do nothing except take an application and place it. It was the financial basis of her telling me that, yes, you're commissioned. However, this is what the possibility is. So she was like, The possibility is$180,000 a year if you work hard and you do what you're doing. But I can guarantee you$75,000 for the year, just so that you know. And I believe I was only 90 days on a draw. So I literally got in and learned how to do it. I went to banking consultant school for five days, and I learned how to underwrite a mortgage. I learned how to look at it from the eyes of the bank, of the person, of The training that I received was second to none.

SPEAKER_02: 9:53

Wow. I just, I can't get over that transition so fast. Like I know I made a fast decision in New York, but I, there was months and months that led up before that decision. You just said, I'm not happy. I'm going. And I love that aspect. I want more women to do that aspect because we can do it. We all hold ourselves. Like you said, you were a single mom. We hold ourselves accountable and responsible for the rest of the house. So we don't often jump in. So I'm absolutely blown away by you just jumping in. I love it. We as moms put ourselves last.

SPEAKER_00: 10:28

And I do believe that's nature. I don't believe that. I think that that is ingrained in us. But when it came to being on my own and being able to support my kids and being able to do what I needed to do, I just walked through it. So the first and I talked with this, I was in a book. It's called Pursuit 365. And I talk about this in the book. So when I left Labrador as a young 18 year old kid and went to the military, like I left thinking that there were only two car types, Ford and Chev. I left not knowing what RBC was. I left not like there was, I was so unknown and I left, you know, the arms of my grandmother. My grandmother lived with us until I graduated who like cleaned my room and cooked me lunch. And, you know, I, I had it made to bootcamp and not the bootcamp that you see today, the bootcamp where like, they literally had me standing out in the snow in a towel, my bed in the middle of the parade square, like, We're talking, you know, and that's the first time I ever walked through fear and got through it and accomplished it. So it was like, it's the same kind of feeling. And I know it's going to be uncomfortable for a little bit, but I will get to the other side. That's just how I've lived.

SPEAKER_02: 11:50

And people should look up that book because myself, I will be in that book this year. Comes out. Yeah, I can't wait. That's

SPEAKER_00: 11:57

awesome. It's a wonderful, wonderful book that showcases so many women in such a great way.

SPEAKER_02: 12:03

Yeah, ours is Men and Women. This volume is Men and Women, but it's still a lot of great Canadians making a change, which I love to see. So I do have a couple of questions. And I know for any of the followers who follow me on Instagram know that Jen Warrington and I talk a lot about negotiating prices and all of that. So what I found interesting is you had the skills already from your first job to negotiate what your salary would be going forward. Where did you learn those skills or did you just naturally have them? Do you know where that came from?

SPEAKER_00: 12:36

And I'm going to be, I'm going to be blunt and honest. So when I worked at emergency medical care, I loved my job. I worked for a man named Roger member cat who empowered me, who kept me informed, who made me feel like an equal person. who treated me with the utmost respect, but he also did that for the janitor. He did that for everybody. I learned so much from that man. So when X wave X wave knocked on my door, I didn't go knock on theirs. So when they asked me what I wanted, I really loved my job at EMC. I loved it there. Like I, I was happy to go to work. I never had a day that I didn't want to be there. And I like, it was amazing. So my ask, for that job was shoot for the moon so that they don't give it to you so that you have a reason to stay where you are. So X-Wave said to me, what do you want? And I said, well, I want$75,000 a year. I want five weeks vacation, 10 days sick time. And I was really ballsy because I didn't really want to leave. And they took it. They were like, sure. And then I was like, oh my God, I'm making 35. Now I'm making 75. Like this is mind blowing. Like I have to do this. And I did it. And I wasn't there. I wasn't there two months. And I knew that I made a mistake.

SPEAKER_02: 14:01

How long did you stay after that?

SPEAKER_00: 14:04

I was there, I think a total of like 18 months. So another 14 months. So I got on my feet. That's when my separation happened with my, my kid's father. It, for me, the financial and being able to support myself was a means to end a relationship that I wasn't happy in. But yeah, it like skills. No, I wouldn't call it skills. I think it was literally the boldness to I'm happy where I'm at. So you're going to have to pay to get me to leave and like blew my mind. I

SPEAKER_02: 14:38

love that piece. And another thing you touched on, which is something we often touch in one of my group programs is having these life-changing decisions can ultimately lead to us being able to have the strength to do other things. Like you said, you left your husband. Some people will leave a career. Some people will go out and buy themselves a house. So how did you feel being in that job you hated, but it was paying for what you needed to be able to leave your husband?

SPEAKER_00: 15:08

That was the only reason that I stayed. Because I think that had I... The alternative was to go back to EMC and make less money and be stuck. This was a way for me to get unstuck. And while I hated it, it was a means to an end.

SPEAKER_02: 15:27

So that whole time you were there, not happy. How did that spill off into the rest of your life, part one? And part two, what ultimately did you do during those 18 months to make sure that you could get out of that position? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 15:43

So I was there. I was, I'll be honest with you. I was trying to like it. Like I was trying, I was going, oh my God, this is way more money. And you get five weeks vacation. Like I was trying. And I also am customer service oriented. So I also enjoy talking to the people at Bell Alliance and then meeting with people. And like, even the people in my office at the time, like I was telling them, you know, about the manual, like one. Okay. So, and, and it's funny because Jenna Ross was one of those people. So Jenna was a programmer there and she's now with Happy Place Property Management. And I'm pretty sure I was telling her that as well, like 15, 16 years ago. I think more than anything, I tried. I tried to like it. And then as I grew to not like it, I started to plot my plan as to what I was going to do. And there were a few things that hit the last straw. And that's when I went on CareerBeacon and I was like, I need out. but I also needed out into a job where I could make$75,000 a year. I have two years of college, two years of college. So you want to talk about imposter syndrome. And I, and I, I also felt that very big in my day to day when I was at X wave, because I was there with people that were university educated, running the same reports, doing the same code, but they were all, you know, university grads. I never had any of that. I was just an experienced graduate. person with this particular software. You take me out of that software. I wasn't going to be able to do a cobalt or any of the other stuff. Right. So I had, I, I've dealt with a little bit of imposter syndrome, but I'm going to tell you when that manual life, one thing showed up on my career beacon that day, that was my God, life-changing.

SPEAKER_02: 17:30

That was

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your sign that you

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needed it.

SPEAKER_00: 17:32

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02: 17:33

Absolutely. Jenna talking about Jenna, Jenna was my sign. So was she, Oh, I love that. Kind of. I was already leaving. I was in the middle of New York. I was having a panic attack because I was on my way home from New York and I knew I'd have to come back to nursing. I'd have to come back to reality and life. And I was already kind of working for Jenna a little bit. As soon as I got back and told her I wasn't going back to nursing, I was taking time off. She's like, OK, I'm going to figure out how to hire you full time. And that was like, well, like you don't even have to think about it. Just I just got goosebumps. Yeah.

UNKNOWN: 18:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 18:09

Right. She was my side. And she's also been my biggest role model of leading me out of her company. Not too many bosses that lead you out of their company.

SPEAKER_00: 18:19

Okay. So there's something, there's something to be said about a manager or a leader who leads, they lead themselves out of a job, but they also lead people to their, you know, to their highest point, whether it's with them or not. That says a lot about her that she encouraged you to go out on your own. Like that's huge. No, she's absolutely amazing. I'll forever be indebted to her. I love her. Most people are very selfish and they find somebody that's really good and they want to keep them. She saw potential and was like, you need to go realize that.

SPEAKER_02: 18:58

Yeah. No, I, I, yeah, I could cry. I won't. Cause today actually. Yeah. Today marks the third year anniversary of when I actually left on that Disney trip. So it's going to be an emotional couple of days as I remember three years ago and all the things I've done. But we'll get back to Leanne and the amazing Leanne. This is fantastic. So now what is it that you do? So we know you do mortgages. How has that transitioned your life? Because you went for the one mortgage and now you're working at another mortgage. What was that transition and why that transition?

SPEAKER_00: 19:34

So when I started working at Manulife Bank, I bought my house up where I live now. And within the first couple of weeks of moving in there, the neighbors were having a fire and blah, blah, blah. So I go by the fire and I find out that my next door neighbor is a mortgage broker. So we're chatting and this and that. And so he's telling me about the things that he can do. And I'm going, I had a client like that last week. Can I send them to you? And he was like, yeah, sure. So then He had a client and I was like, oh, I can do that deal. That's 50% down. I don't like that. No problem at all. He's like, really? No. So it was like, I'll send them to you. So we literally started helping the broader population with what we could do now. And I'll go right into the numbers. So, and cause I'm not afraid to talk about income. So with, with Manulife bank, I was making$600 a deal. As a broker, so this will lead into a really great story about Grasses Greener. So as a broker, he would get paid 1%. So he would refer me a$100,000 deal that he would have paid$1,000 and I'd get$600. But I would refer him a$500,000 deal and I would have gotten paid$600, but he gets paid$5,000, approximately. So on average, brokers make about 1%. so for a while and you know I was doing really well at Manulife I had uh this aha moment one of the guys called me up and was like man do you know where you are on the Canadian on the on on the total in Canada and I was like oh no where am I and I was like where do you find that report he's like you're number two I said number two oh Nova Scotia he's like no in Canada and I was like are you kidding me? So I went in and I had only just been competing against myself and was just doing all the things. So I was doing really well. So I was like, I can sell mortgages. I can do this thing. So naturally if I can get paid, if I'm doing 230 deals a year, getting paid 1% over 600, if you do the math on that, I went and I looked, I didn't know what mortgage volume was just so you know. So mortgage volume is like, if I do a mortgage, for 10 people at 250,000 is 2.5 million in volume. Whereas it's 10 units. So we at Manulife Bank, we only ever counted units. So I started doing the math on my income. So I was probably making, you know, 150 to$180,000 a year working at Manulife, loving it, again, loving it. And then I looked at my volume and I was at 38 million. And I was like, hmm, 1%, that's 80,000. Grass is greener. It isn't always greener. So I made the decision. So my husband got sick. And then I made the decision to switch from Manulife Bank to being a broker. Another reason behind that was the rules were changing. The landscape was changing. I was like, the deals were getting done less. So I was like, I need to make more money per deal. I can do 150 deals and still make what I'm making. Flat on my face. I became a broker and I was not successful at all. I was doing 40 million at Manulife Bank. I did 8 million my first year as a broker. It's not all grass is greener. It's right. It's a steep learning curve. My husband got sick. And so his income, like his disability income was what was paying our bills. I had switched. And when I switched, my pays were like, you know, once every six weeks or, you know, one here, one there, whatever. But his pay was our regular pay and he lost his income. And with that, I was like, we have to file bankruptcy. There's, there's no option here. Like we have to do this. The best financial decision I think I've ever made in my life. That is far smarter decision than taking out a loan or a line of credit or anything like that. Like the smartest move. And then I started to build. And then I started to make moves. So as a broker, I started out with Mortgage Intelligence with my neighbor. They ended up moving out to Alberta. So that sort of ended. And then I went to Premier Mortgage. Premier were there to help me, to guide me, but they didn't have a lot of real estate like within Halifax where I could go into an office and be around people. I needed to be around people to learn what they learned and to understand it and to know what was possible and who you call. And then Clinton called me. This was three, almost four years ago. And my husband was about to go in. So the first time he was sick with heart failure, the second time it was prostate cancer. And Clinton called me and we were about to go in for radiation treatments for six weeks. And we had a lunch and he said, Leanne, I think that you've got a fire going. I think you've got a capability. And I just don't think that you have the tools to take you to where you need to go. And I believe I have the tools. He said, you have a flame going and I think I can throw gas on it. So I was like, let me think about it because grass is not greener, right? Yeah. Grass is not, right? I learned that. I knew that. And I, you know, so I need to take time with this. And I went into radiation with my husband every day. And while I was there, I was on my phone, on my laptop with, you know, the wives, husbands, whatever. with the people there and Clinton had staff and he had people answering the phone and he had, you know, systems that track deals and that kind of thing. After a couple of weeks of being in that room with the radiation and, and, you know, not being able to keep my business going and like just wanting to be there for my husband, I called him and said, yeah, I'm going to come over. Best decision of my life.

SPEAKER_02: 25:27

Yes. Like, yeah. Now a few years later, and I don't think you plan on leaving there anytime soon.

SPEAKER_00: 25:33

No, I found home. I have finally found home. And what I have found, so you remember how I was talking about that at EMC, I was on one computer, one system, and then I went to a mini computer system. This is really no different because I was selling one product, Manulife One, and now I have several that I can sell. What's different about this organization versus everywhere else that I've been, I was independent. I was by myself and I had to work from home. You're your own IT person. You're your own, you know, you got to make sure you pick up the paper and got pens and all that stuff. Whereas coming here was really, I set my hours. We have incoming call staff. We have outgoing call staff. We have document people. We have compliance people. And that allows me to have work-life balance and produce. I can produce and I can find solutions for people. That's the other thing too, is being around other people that are doing different deals than you are. You learn how to do what they're doing and they learn how to do what you're doing. So we all help each other, which helps the greater good of the client, right?

SPEAKER_02: 26:41

I just really can't, I don't know how a single mortgage broker could actually be competitive with all of these other ones who have all of that staff. that can help them. You like, cause you're already busy. You're, you're always super booked. So I can't imagine you being three times more booked just to try and squeeze all of those people and you'd have no life. You'd have

SPEAKER_00: 27:04

no life, but not only that too, but the way that we do things here, uh, we set goals. We have systems to track those goals. We have systems to, to reach out to clients and all those things. And that's what's, that's what keeps my pipe full. Like, When you're by yourself, you can't be looking for business and processing business all at the same time. Whereas I literally am sitting in here today talking to you, meeting clients while there's 15 of my clients being called today for the renewals. But you can't do all of that. And that's what I found as an independent agent was that it was peaks and valleys. So I could go out and get business and then process it. And then I wouldn't have hunted for like three months. So now I need to hunt again. So it was like these big, huge increases and decreases in income. That's very hard to live.

SPEAKER_02: 27:57

Yeah. It's very hard to judge what's going to happen next with that rollercoaster. Can't plan anything on that.

SPEAKER_00: 28:05

Yeah. Yeah. And when you're the only income, that's not fun either. Right. And you know what? The other thing that I did with my family and with my kids, I didn't sugarcoat it. I did not, I told the kids our situation. I didn't say to them, you know, oh yeah, sure. You can go on that soccer trip or that hockey trip. You know, my daughter at the age of 12, we sold her horse. I can't afford to pay for it right now. I'm not going to say that you can't have another one down the road, but like I did the things and it's a lot of things that people wouldn't be willing to do. Cause I have seen that in, in day-to-day that people are not willing to give up certain things for their children. And I, you know, and that's fine too, but I didn't sugarcoat it. And in doing that, it helped me get through.

SPEAKER_02: 28:54

It also helped them because that's something they don't learn in school. They don't learn to plan these things out and that these things can happen. I, I'm all for that. We tell our kids upfront, we're like, okay, this is what we're planning. We don't think we can actually do that. So this is what we're going to do instead.

SPEAKER_00: 29:13

Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and just even just Being honest with, okay, so guys, we've got, you know,$2,000 till next payday. So this means that, you know, if you divide that up between five people, like we reduce it to the ridiculous to help them comprehend. And I do think it helps my kids understand better. They're both savers, right? You realize at this point in your life or when you've been through a life event like that, that saving money is your security.

SPEAKER_02: 29:47

Yeah, I have two savers. I also have two thrifty shoppers, which my husband, he would rather go and buy some brands because that's how he was brought up. I was brought up in a home of six kids, so we didn't have brand new often. So my kids have kind of taken on that trait, like new stuff is it's a special treat, but it's not a mandatory thing. My son is going to go to a great nine dance soon. And he's like, mom, I don't want you to go buy a new suit because I'm going through all of these big growth spurts. Can we just go to the thrift store?

SPEAKER_00: 30:20

Yeah, absolutely. And the thrift store, like, listen, I wear dresses. I love dresses, but I love a good deal too. Now the deal is only good if you actually wear the clothes because I learned that, you know, early on in life too, that I would take sales, but I would never wear the stuff. So it's really pointless. But when it comes to thrift shopping, there's nothing wrong with it. I've had some of my favorite outfits come from a thrift store.

SPEAKER_02: 30:51

Yeah, absolutely. And I actually love the fact that he's thinking of us. He's like, you would have to pour all of this money out just for me to wear it once. He's

SPEAKER_00: 30:59

like, it's not my wedding day. Well, and two, as somebody who sees behind the curtains of most people, As a parent, you want to give as much and everything that your child wants. You want to support them. You want to put them in dance and piano and this and that. And oftentimes, it's not affordable. It's not affordable for both parents. The cash flow is not there. It can be very, very difficult. So if you can get a kid to understand how their choices impact, it helps them. Does it suck sometimes? Do they feel bad because they're not doing this or that? Sure they do. But yeah, it's life. It's better than losing your house.

SPEAKER_02: 31:46

They're given everything they need. That's all that they could ask for. And they're given tons of love, but we'll get back to you. What is it you do now too? I know you have an amazing wine Wednesdays that I've been hearing a lot about all of a sudden. Tell us a little bit about that and how you motivate others to go after the life they should be. Cause you do, you are such an inspiration at helping other people, not even just women, people go after the job they should.

SPEAKER_00: 32:12

I've always wanted to have like a women's group. And I'm going to tell you why, because I could have benefited from one myself. And when I moved to Windsor in 2008, they're like, when you grow up somewhere, you have friends and they're, they're just there and you're, and you have this knowing that, But when you come into a community that you haven't lived in, it's very, very hard to make and keep meaningful relationships. So this Women Wine Wednesday is something that I started a few months ago. And it was born out of the idea that, well, number one, there's a few events that happen in Halifax that if you live in the valley, you can't attend. Because they're right at suppertime and you got to get home to your kids and all those things. So first and foremost, I wanted to have something in the valley that people could come to. I also wanted to make it cost efficient. So up until today, well, even next week, like I cover the wine. So women come and the wine is completely paid for. The idea is. And most of the people that come, it's funny, we have a lady from British Columbia, from Manitoba, from Saskatchewan, all meeting in Windsor. I believe that when women come together, amazing things happen. There's one woman there who knows a lot of single moms that live on the shore. Maybe they don't get out a whole lot. We're going to bring them there. But like, I also, I've read a book and it was called Rich's, and I don't know if I can swear, but Rich's Fuck is what the name of the book was. Yeah. And it talks about like just even knowing what's possible and you don't know what you don't know until you don't know that you don't know it. And I think that getting women together and having them talk and we're, we're, we're keeping it very light this, this, this month, we're talking about boudoir photos and boudoir photos are literally just a way for a woman to feel confident about themselves. I'm bringing my books. I've had them done twice and I'm bringing my books and I'm going to share. I was probably my biggest in one of those books. But I felt really good. And it's something that women need to do for themselves. Basically, it's just meant to be a safe place to come to meet other women, to meet other women that have been there. I've invited Joan Jessom and Debbie Adams to come down and speak in the next couple of months. I don't know if you know who Joan Jessom is, but she was the president of the Nova Scotia Government Employees Union. She was the president of the paramedics when I was in the management at EMC. So we were basically opposite sides of contracts or whatever. But just the most amazing human being that you could ever meet. She's going to come down. She was also an admin when she started her career. Things that you don't know about people. Just to help other women see what's possible. I'm seeing more and more people making money with these. They're fun. They're literally... able to bring in five figures a month from their phones. So I guess it's just, I just want to show people what's possible and then let them go find their possible.

SPEAKER_02: 35:23

No, absolutely. I love that mission. I'll ask our last two questions and then I'll let you get on your way for today. Cause I'm taking up a lot of your time. Who motivates you as a person in particular? I leave this up to the guests. So some people say that it's a person in particular. Some people say it's coffee. I've had people say that what motivates them to get up every day is just the fact that they're alive. So what motivates you to do your every day? Because our next question is

SPEAKER_00: 35:54

that who inspires you? Okay. So what motivates me is, so I learned, so Manulife Bank, when I went to work for them, did a personality test on me. And one of the things that came up in the personality test is that when I'm doing work that directly affects a human being, that's work that I will love, enjoy. It doesn't feel like I'm working. So when I went from EMC to X-Way, I was doing the same job, but it didn't affect the people. So for me, helping people, being able to like being able to navigate the financial system for somebody that's not been able to navigate it. it gives me immense gratification. I received a text this morning from a client saying, nobody's ever fought as hard for me for myself other than me until now. You're fighting hard for me as well, but that's what we do. And, you know, maybe not all brokers do that, or maybe they've got their, their, you know, their ideal client, but that's, that's what motivates me literally is just helping people. I love it. You probably saw last year that I had two kids. I had one kid going as a date to the prom and another kid who was graduating and they came home one day and they were like, mom, there's no problem. And I was like, I'm going to fix that. So I threw them a prom and it was amazing. So it's, you know what, when you can give, when you can help and when you can do all those things, that's, that for me is, is motivating.

SPEAKER_02: 37:21

I also remember after the tragedy, a couple of years ago here in Nova Scotia, you were rallied together to get a bunch of cars to drive through and to boost those spirits.

SPEAKER_00: 37:32

Yeah. So that was, I think that was Portapique, wasn't it? Yeah. The RCP officer. So she was, I think had worked at our Windsor detachment. So that was okay. So I put the idea out there on Facebook, but like literally the fire departments came together and helped me, you know, do that. And then somebody took these amazing photos. So we did it at sunset. Oh, it was amazing. And like, they literally, everybody just showed up. I was like tomorrow night, six 48, we're going to drive by the station. We all gathered in the, I forgot about that. We all gathered in the parking lot and put the, put the police and fire. They just showed up. They blocked roads. We planned our route and we did it. And it was, it felt good. And the community felt good about it. So it was a, yeah, that was a, no, it was a good out of a, out of a bad situation.

SPEAKER_02: 38:19

Yeah. It was a beautiful, memorable feeling. I remember wanting to go and see that, but. It was, yeah, it was a beautiful thing that came out of such a horrific

SPEAKER_00: 38:28

thing. Yeah. And I think when stuff like that happens, like you just, you like, you don't know what to do with yourself. You need somewhere to place your feelings and, or feel like you've done something to help them. And it was just an idea that came to my mind and, you know, I just sat down and I pounded it out on a computer and And it happened. Something similar happened too when my daughter was in grade seven and she was being bullied and Retea Parsons had passed away within those couple of weeks. And I did a camp, brought all the kids from grade seven to get her out. And I've made some amazing friendships from that. Just the best thing. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_02: 39:12

So before I ask the last question, I know I said I was only going to do, any piece of advice for people wanting to make that transition?

SPEAKER_00: 39:20

Transitioning is scary. It is uncomfortable. However, you don't know until you try, which is really cliche. I've been in therapy before, and I had a therapist look at me one day and say, you are putting off your happiness for the six months of being uncomfortable. And I put that to my mind now. Am I going to be uncomfortable for six months? Is that why I'm putting this off? And I literally will either do or not do what I was thinking about. So if I can give you any advice at all, is anything worth accomplishing? Anything that you, that you want to do is worth walking through the fear, good or bad. Even if it turns out crappy, you still tried it. Well, you still learn.

SPEAKER_02: 40:12

You proved it. You were doing good with your manual life. You went out on your own and then you went back in because you had to learn that. Yep. You would always wonder, well,

SPEAKER_00: 40:25

can't I just do it on my own? Yes. And I tried and I failed. And then I recognized that I needed help and that I needed education. And just, you know, I think you need to be open, open to other people. And you also... And in the same sense, you also need to shut out the negative. And you do have to be open to some failure. Failure is where you learn to grow. Oh, my God. Right. If you don't try and you don't fail, you're not really learning. Nope, you're not. And you're not. If you're handed something, you're not growing. So if you're handed something, you don't necessarily grow. learn all the things. So I'll give you an example. I had a mortgage broker friend of mine in Calgary who had set up this beautiful system and had all of these emails and all these chains done. And she just poof, just sent it to me. Did I ever implement that? Nope. That didn't come from me. That was something that was just handed to me. I didn't work for it. Therefore, I didn't do anything with it. So you got to learn and do it your own way. And then you can accomplish anything. Absolutely. Absolutely. So who

SPEAKER_02: 41:37

inspires you? Cause you

SPEAKER_00: 41:39

inspire

SPEAKER_02: 41:40

me.

SPEAKER_00: 41:41

So I, I signed up and it's funny. I signed up with Mel Robbins on, on Facebook and signed up to like, I received daily texts from her and her books. She's reading her book now on the internet so that people that can't afford it can still read hear the book and understand it. She's also very vulnerable, speaks about her husband's mental health, things that happened to her, you know, like seven or eight years ago, she was broke, didn't know if they were gonna be able to pay their bills to now, you know, she's got this empire, but she's just doing it. She's just authentic. She's just not telling a story. She's just being herself. And in being herself, that's how she's being successful. So I think if you can be authentic, be yourself, And not, you know, I want to say not, if you just try to prove it to yourself and not worry about anybody else, that's probably the biggest gift you can give yourself. When I made the move to come to this office, in my industry, it was a big to-do, right? There's nobody putting food on my plate but me. There's nobody that can judge me, that can change anything within five feet of my world. And once you get that in your mind, you can really decide and make changes for yourself.

SPEAKER_02: 43:09

Well, one thing I liked about earlier in the podcast is where you said you didn't know that you were number two in Canada. You only knew... you, how you performed the day before. And I love, I've heard this from a few coaches and they say, don't compete against others, compete against yourself yesterday. And that is the only way you can continuously improve and not get that discouragement that, Hey, George is number one, but what is George doing? How, how much experience does George have? So you can only learn from Leanne yesterday and

SPEAKER_00: 43:42

not Leanne yesterday. And there's a, there's a fine line because I am, I also am type A. So I am driven by numbers and I am driven by my own numbers, but I'm also curious as to other people's numbers so that I can know where, where I fit exactly. Yeah. So is, you know, is 40 million a reasonable amount for me or is 80 million or 60? Like where, where do I fit? And I finally found my groove, but it, you know, I competed with Alex here in the office for, for a few years. And then I just decided, you know what? I'm not willing to work the hours that he's willing to work. So we figured out where my, where my level needs to be. And that's where we set my goals. So now I'm just working on being more efficient. So now I want to work less and still make more.

SPEAKER_02: 44:31

Well, I'm pretty

SPEAKER_00: 44:32

sure if you put your mind to it, you can do it. Anybody can. And especially women, especially women, they put their mind to it. They can do whatever they want. Absolutely. Absolutely. As I often say, we are our own block. A hundred percent. We are the only reason we are the only thing standing in the way of anything is ourselves. And I only think,

SPEAKER_02: 44:54

yeah, I tell that to my husband. I mostly say on the weekend, I was like, okay, I've procrastinated. I've taken time off. I know like I'm supposed to take time off, but I had this creative bug. Like, well, you know what? If I don't get this creative bug out of me, I'm not going to make money. I need to get it out of me or it's just going to sit there and I'm going to forget about it.

SPEAKER_00: 45:15

Yeah. And you have to, sometimes you just, you have to do what you have to do. Yeah. Right or wrong.

SPEAKER_02: 45:23

Awesome. Well, it's been a true pleasure. I'm sure I could sit here and talk to you all day and learn. I was thinking the same thing.

SPEAKER_00: 45:30

Awesome. So thank you for coming on. You're welcome. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02: 45:39

you for listening to raise the anchor brought to you by alizé creative solutions we hope you found that story very inspiring we look forward to bringing you more this week subscribe to the podcast stay in the loop don't forget to leave a five-star review to spread the love even further we hope you have smooth sailing