S2E12 - Making A Mogul with Dani Kagan and Victoria Marshman

Subscriber-only episode

This week in The Biz Dojo, we're joined by Dani Kagan and Victoria Marshman from City Moguls

We talk about pivoting an entire business model during the pandemic, the role of philanthropy, and the impact of coaching for personal growth. We also discuss the role of diversity, and how an "Aha!" moment set Dani and Victoria on a path to showcasing the success of others. 

Then on the Podium - brought to you by Beyond a Beaten Path - Seth and JP get back to their roots. We're talking chocolates as we all find an abundance in and around us these days, and some of our most nostalgic 
 
Working to become a mogul yourself? We're pretty sure you'll need a cup or two of  Dojo Dark to fuel your passion! You can also check out our new Masters Medium Blend on our website, and learn how you can grow into becoming a mogul yourself!

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Transcript

Seth Anderson: 0:00

Welcome to The Biz Dojo, Seth and JP season two episode 12. We just keep banging them out a JP 12

JP Gaston: 0:07

I can't believe we're, we're at a dozen for the season. Dude, that's crazy.

Seth Anderson: 0:12

That's flying by. And this week, I had the pleasure of hosting Danny Kagan and Victoria marshman. From city moguls great to see a company, basically born out of the ashes of COVID-19,

JP Gaston: 0:26

and another four person pod

Seth Anderson: 0:28

another, keeping on their toes with the editing, right?

JP Gaston: 0:33

Well, it's good though, it's interesting to talk to people, too, who are from different parts of the country started starting businesses from different areas and getting into Calgary from the outside, I thought that was a neat perspective to you.

Seth Anderson: 0:44

Yeah, we've we've hit on it a few times. Now, just obviously COVID is is challenged a lot of people and not to, you know, take away from that in any way, shape, or form. But the opportunities that is afforded with the, you know, the digitization and the ability for people to basically reach out across the country and across the world. And in particular with with Danny and Victoria. Prior to COVID, they were running an event planning company, and obviously one of the things COVID has put a stop to his events. Yeah,

JP Gaston: 1:15

it's interesting to talk to someone who did that sort of thing and needed to pivot real fast as they say.

Seth Anderson: 1:23

And they have and so basically, what city moguls is, is a is a growing network of entrepreneurs, like minded entrepreneurs who, you know, are looking to connect with others, and I had the opportunity to attend one of their virtual events, I guess you could call it this week. And it was it was a lot of fun. You miss the invite, unfortunately. But maybe you can hop on the next one. And I would encourage anyone if if you're looking to meet a few entrepreneurs, you know, similar minded other people that are that are, you know, potentially even working in the industry you're working in, you can check out city moguls website and, and sign up, they have a monthly happy hour. And basically what it is, is a speed networking session. And so you spend four or five minutes in, in a bunch of different rooms, meeting a bunch of other entrepreneurs. And honestly, it was a lot of fun.

JP Gaston: 2:13

Yeah, I think it's very similar to our podcast in that it's people from all over, right. It's doesn't matter the industry, it's people who are in the same mindset, as you said, and working, working towards bettering their business. And hopefully that's what people are getting from what we're doing here as well. So very, very aligned. And I think that came through in some of our conversation as well as just how aligned our our podcast and conversations are with the work they're doing,

Seth Anderson: 2:38

although a lot of synergy, and it was just great to get to know them. And I don't know where it goes in the future. But I feel like there's gonna be some collaboration opportunities, which there tends to be in almost all the guests we have on the show, but you know, this one in particular, it feels like you know, some kind of blossom out of out of this seed that's been planted and you know, but without further ado, get into our conversation with Victoria, Danny.

JP Gaston: 3:01

All right, let's take it there with the steadies.

Voiceover: 3:19

Welcome to The Biz Dojo, your your hosts, and JP guests.

Seth Anderson: 3:27

Welcome to The Biz Dojo with Seth and JP. This week, we're joined by Victoria marshman. And Danny Kagan from city moguls. Welcome to the dojo guys. Thanks for having us. Yeah, we're super excited. So you guys are the founders of city mogul. And you know, you have a couple of things on the goal just in reading up on your website. But the main thing that you know, I came across on there was a you're really growing a network of entrepreneurs and leaders, maybe let's just jump in there. And we'll probably get into a little bit about your journeys and kind of how you guys met. But what and what inspired city moguls?

Victoria Marshman: 4:00

Gosh.. it s been over six years now. S we're gonna we're gonna go ack in time to where Dani I s arted because that's really whe e the inspiration comes from. B t six years ago, Danny and were young, budding entrepreneu s, we actually had another c mpany together an event pl nning company, and we're planni g big events for clients and p ople. And we really struggle t find like minded entrepreneu s and people like us that wer also starting their business. W're a Toronto based and there's a lot of great events here nd we would go to a lot of even s and we were we struggled t find these people. So city oguls kind of was born out of us wanting to connect and n twork with purpose riven entrepreneurs but also cel brate the incredible work that's going on within the entrep eneur community. Now this is b ck in 2015 2016 efore entrepreneurship wa

Seth Anderson: 5:00

The hard truth as cool

Unknown: 5:01

as it is now. Yeah, so it was hard to find these people. But what we landed on the first thing did you and I ever did with city moguls is now our signature event. It's called the mogul awards. And it's a celebration of Canada's top entrepreneurs in a fashion show for charity. So we make people that have never walked the runway before walk the runway, we honor we celebrate them. And it's become one of Toronto's best events. And we were getting hundreds of people out to our events. And of course, with the pandemic, we took a long, swift different direction with the community. But we're still we're still in our why of this bringing together people and helping build the next generation of purpose driven leaders.

Seth Anderson: 5:48

Maybe Tom Fox on that, Danny, I see you smiling on the other side there.

Dani Kagan: 5:51

Oh, I just feel like Terry always just nails it just nails it. Yeah, no, you know, the pandemic hit. And we were only doing live events, right, we were doing the mogul awards, our big big, our big fashion show for Covenant House to support at risk youth, and really helped build up the next generation and the pandemic hit. And we we could have sat around and just kind of waited for live events to come back. But we we said you know, we have a community here of entrepreneurs that really need to get connected, and have a support and, you know, a community to lean on. And so we really took everything online, and it allowed us actually to was a kind of a blessing in disguise, not that this was a good thing at all. But for the business, you know, we got to really get creative and put together and organize new experiences and events online for, for the community and across the country. So we were very Toronto centric. And now we're bringing together people from all over North America through our flagship program now, which is our mobile cruise accelerator. So it's a mastermind group, three month mastermind group combined with one on one mentorship. So that's something that really took off in March of last year, because entrepreneurs really needed a space to be with each other vibe off each other tap into each other's networks. And so we've been really building out and iterating that program over the last year and building out networking events for entrepreneurs and business leaders and intrapreneurs people who are leaders at their companies. So the pandemic has been kind of a blessing that way that we were really able to really unite the community and bring people in and start a membership program.

Seth Anderson: 7:34

Did you go I'm curious, did you guys have a digital or virtual strategy prior to the pandemic or it was 00? Nothing.

Unknown: 7:45

We talk about this a lot. When we we speak with people, we very much acted first and figured it out as we were going. You know, it's funny because we're event planner. So you think we would put all this planning and strategy into it. But we saw the urgency and the need to support our community. So we just threw this spaghetti against the wall and whatever stock we're like, Okay, now we're going to strategically Think about that. But it was really a lot of exploring and just trying things for the first time. Yeah, like the live events or you know, there's something that can't be replaced with live events, let's be honest, there's something about getting into a room with people and connecting with them. And we were putting on a really the mobile awards for anyone who has not attended or seen anything about it. You know, it's it's such an entertainment filled event, there's, there's dance, there's fashion, there's music. And so you know, it's hard to replicate that online. So a lot of people who were just doing events, it's been tough. But you know, we were like, We got to tap into this digital world, because there's so much here, and you just got to get creative. So that's kind of what we did. We didn't wait too long. And we're just like, let's figure out zoom. And let's figure out all these new virtual things online, because although the in person can't be replaced, there's definitely a space here. It's been amazing.

Seth Anderson: 9:05

Is there any particular learnings you've had about virtual event planning that maybe you wouldn't have expected heading into it or that you've learnt? I mean, you said you've learned a lot along the way, but in a way that it's different from regular event planning, anything that you've learned, and maybe that you're going to carry forward even, you know, when we get into the post COVID times.

Unknown: 9:24

Oh, I love that question. Because it's, it's a completely different space. And I think for Danny and I, truthfully, like I said, with throwing the spaghetti, one of the event types we tried because it was very successful when we were in person. Were these workshop webinar types where we bring in these like very big names, who share like their expertise and their insights on their stories and stuff. And we found with people being on zoom, and in the virtual world video calls all the time. People really don't know Like to be talked to all day, you know, like, you need to do this. And now you got to do that. And it's like there's a lack of engagement or real connection when it's just a speaker speaking to an audience, and there's so much free content now on YouTube everywhere, that it's really hard to compete in that space. So for us, we've really learned the power is in creating a safe space for people to really open up and connect and share their opinions and their voice and feel like they're being heard. So all the programming and stuff that we're working on is really centered around that. And rather than just having our community be spoken to, they're part of the conversation.

Seth Anderson: 10:44

I love that I love what you mentioned there about creating the space, I found that as well, you know, just in the day job of going into the office, you don't necessarily go in there purposeful, you know, you go in there and you talk to people, you run into people, which you know, is nice, go for coffee, see someone at the watercooler but I found like zoom and Google and some of these tools, you can really create a safe space with people in a different way. It's it's, I don't know, I've totally embraced that. And I've had some amazing workshops and discussions as a result. And and I think whatever that hybrid world looks like in the future, there's definitely a lot to take away from this experience.

Unknown: 11:17

Yeah, there's, there's so much and you know, a lot of the things that we're doing right now virtually are going to stay virtually, post COVID. Because, you know, even for our accelerator program, it's a three month program, you're meeting with people every week, you're meeting with a mentor one on one. So now we're cutting your commute time you get to network and connect with people from the comfort of your home, in the middle of your workday for a lot of these things, you get access to an expert mentor, who might be in a different city in a different country, there's so many things that we were going to when we were going to launch this in person, and it's so great that we got to launch it during COVID. Because now we're like, this is something we can do virtually and continue doing for people because it's just so brilliant. And you know, live things will come back in different ways. But for something like this accelerator, it gives so many people access that they didn't have before.

JP Gaston: 12:09

Yeah, I imagine like for me, what the pandemic has really opened up is my ability to roll down the stairs and start work. So I imagine that you're getting a lot more participation just from people who thought, you know, especially around Toronto, like, you know, people who live in like the Etobicoke and outside Toronto and have to commute in and out. I'm sure at times they were like, I'd love to attend. But it's it's quite a commitment of time just in the commute alone, totally. And money,

Unknown: 12:36

time and money. And we and you know, we just signed up a member who's from Texas, she's an entrepreneur, she's going through the same things that we're going through, whether she's there or here, it's the same stuff. So it's pretty cool that there's, you know, this access now,

Seth Anderson: 12:52

I think that's a thing that resonates with us as well, having started the podcast, sort of mid COVID. We started in October. And originally we were going to keep it to just Calgary but being able to do it on zoom before just to talk to anyone, even you guys in Toronto. So it's awesome. And I think prior to you know, if you would have started a podcast a year, or I guess a year and a half or two years ago, you would predominantly be doing it in studio with people. So just the doors that have been opened by this has been amazing. I think maybe we jumped we jumped straight into city moguls, which is great. And I think we'll probably got more to talk about there. But also curious about your guys's journey. Like you said, you guys are entrepreneurs you guys have been working together for for quite some time. How did you guys originally Connect? And I guess what did you? What did you find in each other that you knew you would be good partners in business? that's always an interesting thing to kind of double click into?

Unknown: 13:39

that's a that's a great question. People ask us this all the time. Because you know, there's a lot of people who are trying to find business partners, but I'm thinking I met at the University of Toronto, we were both auditioning for the first the blues dance team. And we were both we looked at it was one of those moments, we just kind of knew even from that audition, that we were going to be friends and do really cool things together. We just really vibed and the after the first year of dancing and competing together, and we both became the CO captains of the team. And we were like really intense about it. We were like we want to make this super professional and super cool and awesome, which we did. And they get like so much funding now, which we'd never got. And one of the things we did was, you know, we ran events that ensued, we ran fundraisers and bar nights and we did all these things to really elevate the dance team and make it super competitive and professional. And we loved it. We were so passionate about it. And while we were there actually, that first year being co captains together. We were like let's run a charity event together and like give back to the community and showcase some things that we love, which is you know, dance and arts and music. So we brought together local dance troupes and fashion designers who would showcase new collections Really a lot of up and comers, you know, we were like, oh, we'll put it together, a few family members will come 40 people will count as a few 100 bucks for a charity. And, you know, our first event we had about, I think we had like 200 people there, we raised about$5,000 for Autism Speaks Canada. And we were like, okay, we have something here, this is really cool. And so we continue doing that event for a few years. And that was kind of the seed of the mogul awards. And Funny enough, the a bit of a longer story, I'll try and condense it. But the third year, we did this event, which was called raise the rhythm, one of our designers didn't show up. And we had to fill this piece of the show. And so, Victoria and I were like, Okay, no problem, we're just gonna ask all of our boyfriends at the time, and dads too, who are in snazzy suits to get backstage and walk the runway so that we can fill this like nine minute gap. And it was the most successful part of the entire show, because everyone loves seeing their friends up on stage. And so that was kind of like an aha moment for Vic and I because we were, we basically said, okay, people love seeing people they know, up on a stage or up on a runway. And so that's kind of how we decided to start the mobile awards and feature entrepreneurs who were doing amazing things in the community and starting innovative companies. So yeah, it was a pretty, it was a pretty wild moment, because we were so pissed that this designer didn't show up. And lo and behold, we were so blessed that he did. Because that was really the idea behind the Mughal Lords

Seth Anderson: 16:38

Necessity is the mother of innovation, I think is what they say. So you Yeah, that's that's awesome. Victoria any any top ups to the to that

Unknown: 16:47

I always forget that I've had like, I think for Danny and I, it's been a journey we've been we've been running things together doing businesses and and we've been very good friends, best friends for over 12 years now. So we we look at our relationship, like a marriage, like she has a husband, I have a boyfriend, but like, this is we're married and our business is our babies. So it's a lot. And over the years, we've had a lot of tough conversations. And the most important things I think, for us have been communication has been number one, we talk to each other 24 hours a day, basically, constantly and tapping into our strength. I think in the last few years, we've really honed in on what are called them what you will zones of genius, what we really excel at in our teams with Danny and I would try to do everything and help each other with everything when we were first starting. And you soon realize, okay, I'm not maybe I'm not so great at that part of the business. But, you know, my partner really is. So really tapping into our strengths, and dividing and conquering running our businesses rather than trying to do everything together. Yeah, it's so important to find someone who you trust and can really, you can really get through the mud together. Because I feel like the ups are so amazing. And they are so wonderful. But you know, that you're with someone is also determined to make your business successful when you can get through the mud, like Vic said, like, we've had a lot of tough conversations. And you know, we're both so passionate about the business. So we can butt heads sometimes. But you know, at the end of the day, we both know that the end goal is, you know, making the business successful and doing what we can for the community. And so it's taken a long time to get here. But yeah, like Vic said, the last few years, we've really tapped into what our strengths are. And because done in a meet, like Vic's amazing and bringing new people onto our team. And that's been such a blessing because I suck at that. And she's really good at finding good talent. And that's also helped our business expand. And so when you can allow the space for your partner to do what they do best, it really like can lead to amazing thing. So we've gotten to this place, but it takes time. It's a journey. It doesn't happen overnight. Yeah,

JP Gaston: 19:19

I noticed on your website, as I went through and looked at the board and the people on your team that you have a ton of diversity, your immediate team, you have a lot of females and I'm wondering if that's intentional, because women are severely underrepresented, or if it's just kind of happened naturally.

Unknown: 19:35

I think it's happened naturally like I think women are drawn to our brand. Generally speaking like the community is really I would say it's about like 65 70% women but I think that we just found some amazing women that are really like are incredible at what they do or really driven like sometimes we find people that are just really smart and get it and with it and have a lot of street smarts and maybe they don't have something nice about them but they can be Hot anything. So those are the people that have just kind of come into our, into our world. Yeah, and and diversity is such a big piece for us too. Like, it's always been a big piece for us even since we started in 2016. It was a big part of us choosing our entrepreneurs and our board selecting entrepreneurs that were diverse, and getting people on the runway that could identify with anyone in the audience. So that was always a big piece for us. And it's become even more integral in the last year obvious for obvious reasons. When we started city moguls, we really wanted every person that was attending, to be able to see themselves on stage as like a mogul as someone who could one day, get that award be acknowledged for all of the incredible work they've done. So it's, it's been important for us since our roots. But like Danny said, this year, with so much more focus on diversity, inclusion and stuff, a lot of the energy and effort we're putting into is to really level out the opportunity. So for example, for a lot of our events, we did a speed mentorship event A few weeks ago, our advisory committee was responsible for choosing the top 20 people to be a part of that speed mentorship. And we we made it very clear. And it was important to us to ensure that bipoc entrepreneurs had priority access to that event.

JP Gaston: 21:28

That's awesome. There's, there's far too much too many businesses out there who don't take the time and effort to make sure that that's done. And I think a lot of people don't realize that there's there's a lot of value in making sure that there's the right representation, it eliminates, you know, all of your biases when not all of them, but it'll eliminate a lot of your biases by having the right people there to be able to speak from different perspectives, including, I mean, culture is one of many perspectives. Totally.

Unknown: 21:58

And we are looking for men always to add to our team. So you know, it is up, dude, I

Seth Anderson: 22:06

think that's the gap right there. That's the Pro. One of the things, you know, just sort of building on that, that I noticed in your vision statement. And just kind of as we've been talking here is part of part of what your vision is, is to give back to the world. What does that mean to you guys? I mean, obviously, at the local level in Toronto, Victoria, I was looking at your LinkedIn profile, you've done quite a bit of volunteering over the years. But you know, when you put that statement out there, what Woody, what are you guys trying to accomplish there?

Unknown: 22:36

I mean, yes, for Danny and I giving back has been an important part of who we are as people, it's what draw drew us to one another because the first type of events we were doing were charity events. And as we evolved as people and started building businesses together, we just realized how important it is that when you're building a business, that there's purpose behind it, it's more than just like being your own boss and making your own money, the value of being an entrepreneur is that you're trying to like make this world a better place in some kind of way. I mean, that's the definition that we've landed on, to really become a mogul is you, you have to have purpose. So serving the world and doing something. And I'm not saying that when you start a business, it should be a nonprofit, or a B Corp or a social enterprise, I just think that there has to be some kind of bigger purpose behind it, whether you're giving back monetarily with a charity partner, or you're genuinely just helping people with whatever products or service you do. But I think there has to be some kind of betterment in the world with whatever business you're building. And like with us doing events at a young age, and, and showing people that you can do things and still give back. And it's not really that hard to do. It has been really integral because, you know, we're able to show other people that this is something that is will make you a better a better person and you will better others around you. And karma is like a real thing. Like, we just that our philosophy is just give, give give because the people who did that for us, we respect them so much and look up to them so much as role models and good things really happened to them. So, you know, it's really cyclical in that way. But it really isn't that hard to build a business or do something on the side where you're able to like help people around you. It opens up your whole world to like we in our our second year of the mobile awards are the third I can't keep track of the years now but we were donating our proceeds to Covenant House Toronto, you know, not just that we also help them build a A new housing program for victims of sex trafficking in Canada. And for us to go there and see this house and understand what happens to these women, when they're coming straight from police department and have no safe place to go, and what kind of rehab they need, like to be involved in that it really opens up your eyes and, and makes you want to give back because you realize that we don't live in a vacuum, we don't live in a bubble there, there's ways that you can help people around you. And to be open to that and, and, and access that and see, it really helps you understand the world around you and the way the ways you can help and your business, it doesn't need to just be, you know, money in money out.

JP Gaston: 25:43

And it feels good. I mean, frankly, at least for me, I would much rather get that give back feeling, then you know that Seth, close your ears because we work at the same place. But then that $100 that I made for however long I worked for I'd like there's something about I will talk for months about, you know, that time that I met someone and was able to help them out with something and how it was eye opening. And it was 10 minutes of my time, or$20 out of my pocket, not not only you know, being able to give back, but the feeling that you get in return.

Unknown: 26:17

Yeah, and don't get me wrong, we're we're running a business, we're running a for profit business with with a purpose. It's important to us, you know, to be able to give back because money makes the world go round. And we've raised almost $250,000 for these Canadian charities. So that doesn't just happen, you know, by us just giving our time. But at the same time, they're like fixed, there's got to be a purpose behind it. And it and like you said JP, like it's so it feels amazing to do it. And those are the things people remember. And you remember for sure.

Seth Anderson: 26:50

Oh, that's super inspiring. And 250k and that's nothing to sneeze at. Well done. Well done. That's awesome. In that vein, you know, you touched on a little bit around your accelerator program and some of the entrepreneurs that you've had, you know, go through your programs and come into your your world. Are there any stories or any of those entrepreneurs that you just kind of sit back and go wow, like that was really cool what they were able to kind of do after going through your program or just to your your paths crossed.

Unknown: 27:18

We just launched our membership in June. So it's it's we're just about a year of really like supporting our community year round with all of our programming and services. But I think for me, Danny, I don't know if if you have anyone else but one one community member that really stands out for me is one of our members. Her name's Linda Stam. co she runs the an app called the style app. It's an app that like helps people find a fashioned or a stylist to help them with their outfits and all of that. So very cool. Very cool way to you know, bridge the gap between finding a stylist and helping someone you know look trendier and better and feel good. And so for her when she first came to city moguls, she's mature, she's not, you know, a spring chicken, she's, he has a couple of kids that are in university. So starting a business, you know, in your 40s, late 40s, early 50s is is scary, you know you've planted a lot of your roots. So when she came to us everything was there was a lot of fear, holding her back from really going for it. So when she was joining our mastermind group and was coming into all of our networking events and was starting to meet other people like her that were also starting businesses she realized, like she wasn't alone and she had a lot of people that were also going through the same type of things. And it really we really just saw her like finally step into her voice like she was so scared to post videos about herself talking about her brand and so it was like this huge boost in confidence that this community gave her and connections she managed to you know through our network find the right PR people to help her really get the app to like a whole other level like you You never know who you're going to meet within the community or who's going to be able to introduce you to who so it's just been yeah it's been wild to see her and just just like now so confident and be able to I think she was on like cp 20 for like a week or so ago talking about her app so to see her like less than a year ago be so timid and be like oh I don't know if I should be the face of our brand to like talk to God Cz 24 about her brand is just been very cool to watch.

Seth Anderson: 29:56

That's amazing. I love I love hearing stories like that. Oh no, on that vein around digital experience branding, I wanted to give you guys a compliment, like your guys's website is awesome,

Unknown: 30:09

things are actually going through a full revamp. So it's literally half of one website and half of another hosting website like hosting platforms. So thank you for saying that we're going through a serious transition. But we really appreciate that because we've, it's been, it's been a journey with our websites.

Seth Anderson: 30:27

And it was super helpful. You know, when we prepped for these shows, often, it's kind of hard to get information and zero in on what we're going to talk about and what you know what the company or the person may be all about. But you guys just lay it out so nicely, and it's so easy to kind of get around and every link actually leads somewhere. So I don't know, I had to give some feedback that I thought it was really good.

Unknown: 30:48

Wow, we're so happy to hear that. It's it's been a journey. It's, I think people like forget about how important your website is to, because you're, you're basically driving a lot of your traffic there, like anything on social, you're eventually driving your traffic to your website. So we appreciate that. It's taken us also a long time to really finesse our why and what we're doing, and you know how we're doing it. So we're glad it's finally clear on our website. So thanks.

Seth Anderson: 31:17

Oh, you're most welcome, what? Maybe we go from there. from what I gather, you sort of have three main pillars in terms of your service offering. So you've got your experiences, accelerator program, as well as the membership, you guys want to give a little color to each one of those and you know how a person will get involved?

Unknown: 31:37

Yeah, so we've we've built out we started over a year ago with launching mobile cruise the our flagship program. as Danny mentioned earlier, it's iterated and evolved a lot with us really listening to our community and adapting it based on the feedback they gave us. So the program as it sounds, stands now is really a reflection of what our community wants and needs through this time. So that's been exciting. So when we launched the program, we, we have so many other things going on. So we wanted to everyone to be able to access everything that we do, not just the accelerator program with the mastermind and mentorship, but also we do a monthly networking event that I think you're coming right,

Seth Anderson: 32:24

I'm actually gonna come this time. Yeah. Okay, you're gonna come in.

Unknown: 32:29

So we do it, we do it at 5pm, Eastern Standard Time, the last Wednesday of every month, because we like to encourage you know, a little wine, a little fun. Usually, sometimes there's a dance party, but it's, it's great. It's speed networking. Yeah, we've got monthly things happening. We also do member only events and experiences. And a lot of those member only events are actually hosted by members themselves. So really diving deeper into their knowledge and expertise and sharing that with the community. So we wanted everything to be accessible. That's why we really launched our membership. So people could access everything we're doing just for an annual fee. And we recently just launched our six month membership for people who are looking to test the waters but aren't ready to make the full year commitment. So members, members get access. If they're doing an annual plan, they get access to two accelerator programs, so three months in the spring and three months in the fall. So two mentors to mastermind groups, they get access to our monthly networking events, they get access to all of our insider workshops hosted by members, like Vic said. And they're also getting access to like me and Vic, like they can book calls with us and tap into our networks. There's a portal that we have on our website as well. So members can connect with other members and, you know, really network with the right people and just continuously be meeting people, which is so crucial to entrepreneurs business. And yeah, there's hopefully going to be some in person stuff coming up soon. So yeah, we'll, we'll keep you posted on that. But like Vic said, we wanted to just give everyone access to kind of everything in an all encompassing membership so that they're not just kind of coming to one off things, but they're really part of this community in a in a much more meaningful way.

JP Gaston: 34:22

And maybe just for our listeners understanding like what's, what is a mastermind or what is meant like what what defines those roles?

Unknown: 34:29

Yeah, it's tough because who you hear that word you're like, Oh, yes, yes, yes. of mastermind. Yes. Um, you know, it's funny because they've actually been around for hundreds and hundreds of years and masterminds. And for those history buffs out there, like Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, they used to they used to get together in masterminds and basically what a mastermind is, it's a weekly gathering of like minded people to share things and be accountable to one another to achieving things together. group think accountability, setting goals, that's what it's at its basis and having that trusted group to come to and support you through your journey. Yeah, so we've created this, this master guide that really facilitates your weekly calls with your, with your group, and you're meeting with them every week for three months. So you really get to know and develop deep connections with the people in your mastermind and, and it's a way to also like get out of your day to day and tap in to other things in your business and get new perspectives on what's going on in your world. So it's a great way to kind of step out of your comfort zone, talk to people who don't know much about your business and can give you really sound advice. Because we find like peer to peer, like mentorship is, is so valuable. People in different industries can give you a lot of great feedback on, you know, things you're struggling with, or ideas or resources or connections. And so we've developed this really cool master guide that allows you to kind of get into the nitty gritty of your business every week and chat to everyone in a really meaningful, casual but, you know, constructive way. So it's pretty cool that can I actually participated in, you know, help facilitate some conversations earlier on this year. And just the stuff that comes out of it is just so awesome, like people are so people, listen, people who do these types of things are people who want to grow, right, like they're people who believe in self development, believe in like business growth, through programs like these. So they're really eager to kind of get into it. And it's amazing to see like what can happen when you just meet with people on a weekly basis and talk about your business and share things that you don't typically share with people during your your week. So it's a great way to kind of step outside your your day to day and do something a little bit more interesting.

JP Gaston: 37:12

I feel like you were almost talking about our audience there. Because that's, that's kind of similar to what happens here. We have some people like yourselves on in your I mean, you're talking to listeners right now who are probably listening from multiple industries and who were, you know, really starting to understand the benefit of what you're doing, they probably have some ideas about what you're doing. And I think that's great that you're giving people a space to have that interaction, our conversation, despite having it with you, is very one directional to our listener. But there's there's not a lot of interaction there except on the social platform. So it's awesome that there's a space for them to you to connect and share. Yeah,

Unknown: 37:47

and I think it's important for people to know it, there's a there's a difference between like peer to peer, masterminding and a coach, right. And both very, both very much have a purpose, and our importance of coach our relationship with a coach, because we get this a lot people are like, oh, like I'm looking at getting a coach. We're like, That's amazing. But what you're doing with your mastermind is completely different. The coach is really helping you work through your personal mindset, you know, things, there's many different types of coaches, but the mastermind is really to have as a support group and accountability group, like Danny said, so well, just to really have a space to come to each week to step out of your business and into this new world and get new ideas and insights from really cool and successful people.

Seth Anderson: 38:39

Very cool. have many thoughts swimming in my head. I guess one one more question. Before we get out of here, though. What are what are you guys working on? Personally, you know, we talked a lot about growth and development. Obviously, you guys got this amazing platform, you're interacting with all kinds of cool people. I imagine, like JP said, similar to us, like we're just getting to interact with so many amazing people. What do you guys take from that? And, you know, leveraging for self development on your own side of the equation.

Unknown: 39:06

Can I actually both recently got coaches, you can get coaches, by the way. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I'd love to hear about that too. Because I like Vic said, like, all coaches kind of do something a little different or have a different kind of program structure or whatever. And so we're both working with two different coaches from this company called frame of mind coaching. And it's just been the missing piece for us. I think, in a lot of ways. Like, we are learning so much about mindset, and it's a lot of personal development, which obviously, funnels into running your business and leadership. So that's been a huge game changer. For me personally, I've been doing it now for they have like a 10 week program. So I'm like, kind of in week seven already. And it's just been a huge game changer in like changing my beliefs and thinking about the stories I do. taught myself and, you know, are these stories real? Or I have I fabricated them. I'm, you're like nodding your head because this is like the guess what a lot of coaches do, they really kind of get into that stuff. So it's been really helpful just for my personal growth. And I know this all of this stuff is going to filter into how I run my business. And you know how I am with Victoria and how I am in my marriage and who I am as a parent and all this kind of stuff. So that's been a big game changer for me. Yeah, for Danny and I, it's been huge, I think for me over the past year. And I'm sure a lot of people feel this way, the pandemic just really helped us all slow down, like slow down and really take a step back and that of a healthier way of living in and you know, more time to take care of yourself. So I really, over the past year structured my mornings to just be Laureus, like, I wake up at 6am every day and I'm like, I'm so excited. I have two hours of just Victoria time and I do my workouts and I meditate I do all sorts of random things but really truly setting setting that morning routine and sticking to it for over a year and a half has been huge. And just helping me get to that next level in my my growth and just you know valuing myself and my my self worth.

JP Gaston: 41:25

I feel like you and Seth have gone to the same. I'm just thinking Jesus said some morning guy talks about the same juice. Yeah, doing his morning routine. Danny, are you are you more a night person? Are you in the morning camp too? I am I'm pregnant. So I'm always tired. And the whenever you can do it camp.

Unknown: 41:47

I'm the I'm in the camp of I'm going to get as much sleep as I can right now. Because that's going to go out the window in a few months. So no, but this really inspired me to take a hold of my morning. I'm not a 6am er, but I've become like a 7am or, which is a really big deal for me. And I have my own morning routine to like I do yoga in the morning and stretch and I juice and there's like so many, it really has been a game changer for me to just to kind of have that morning routine. But yeah, I mean, Seth, I can see your daughter in the background. So like, I'm guessing I'm looking into my future where like, God will eventually go out the window. But I love it. Well, if you're doing it now I have hope

Seth Anderson: 42:27

I'm all in on the morning routine, I get up at five 530 somewhere in there. And if like, if I sleep until seven, I feel like I missed half the day my whole day goes for a loop. And so I'm with you, Victoria. And I'm excited. Like I said this on the pod the other day, I think I said when I said it's somewhere, you know that feeling when you're like going on vacation, and you're like looking forward to something. And it's sort of like built Well, we used to go on vacation. And it sort of builds up inside, you're getting excited. I honestly feel that way. Like when I go to bed every night, maybe not like to full effect. But like I'm excited for my morning because like I know what to expect. And I'm always looking forward to and it's made such a big difference. And the coaching staff to like you were talking about Danny, for me, I've been working with a with a coach since two months probably and it's been life changing, honestly, and just in that short amount of time. So it's a it's a big investment in yourself, but I don't have a

JP Gaston: 43:19

coach but i i literally spent all of the pandemic getting certified to be a coach. And it's cool until you start coaching yourself doing and you realize, Oh, I gotta fix this. And I got to fix that. And how can I tell people to do it this way? If I'm not doing it that way. So it's it's had its pluses and minuses for yeah.

Unknown: 43:41

Oh, yeah. I like Vic and I also act as coaches to just for our community, like people book calls with us and just want to like talk about what they're doing. So we're on calls with people like two, three times a day and just listening to other people. So actually, having a coach now has been really helpful in those conversations. So kudos to both of you. It's, it's it's a serious investment. Like we're not spending like $20 on a coach. This is like 1000s and 1000s of dollars. But I think wow, I wish I just did it earlier. I think that you and I were talking about this. There's some there's like this weird stigma. I don't know what it is. But there's something about when people haven't had coaches and they, you talk about coaches with them. You can sense there's like something and I and I and I'm curious, like where that comes from because they profoundly change people's lives. Like why? When I was talking with someone, or my coach, he was like, he was like Victor, Danny and I are, you know, we were professional dancers. He's like, Well, did you teach yourself all of that dance by yourself? I was like, No, I had a coach like I spent six to eight hours a day. Sometimes it's my my dance coach. So it's the exact same principle when you're when you're going You're going into that personal growth journey and really trying to expand your and improve your mindset, you need someone to kind of help you because it's a it's a lot to unpack.

Seth Anderson: 45:11

So true. And you know, people don't think twice about having a coach in sports or, you know, acting coach, whatever, like there's all these coaches that are out in the world. But then when it comes to like business life coach, it's like, Oh, really? Like, is that a thing? And it totally is, I think part of it is, it's a profession that has like, almost no entry, like bar for entry, anybody can say they're a coach, which I think is part of that stigma. But honestly, if you can find someone that you connect with that can start to on I mean, ultimately, you have to do the work still, right? Like it's you that has to surface the thing. And then one of the things my coach said was, your inner wisdom will always be be greater than any advice that I give you. So you know, his whole thing is creating the space and like drawing things out of me through thoughtful questions through active listening. And one of the things I've learned to do or have been really trying to do is honestly just to shut the hell up. Because like, when I'm when I'm coaching people, because in my day job, there's like, 100 people, like I'm constantly coaching. But like, I find a lot of times as leaders, we jump to trying to help or give advice or tell people what we think based on our experience, which comes from a good place, but honestly, half the time, we just need to shut the hell up and listen to the person and let them figure it out. And so that's one of the things that I've really been not only learning, but trying to put into practice as I go through my day to day,

Unknown: 46:37

it's so true, like, I feel the exact same way. And I feel like now I will preface something even just my husband being like, I actually I'm going to tell you something, right now, I don't want feedback, I've just one event. And it's been so helpful, because it's just like, now we know how to communicate a little bit better. And, you know, you don't always need the advice. It's just like, it's a it's a good person that you can and that's a good point you need to find someone you connect with the reason I went with this particular coaching company was because I loved how they were laying out their program. And I had a great like, initial initial call with them. So I really felt like I was in good hands and there was a lot of you know, data behind it and science and they really did their due diligence and I had a really hard time like I did therapy for like years, like I did therapy for like 10 years and I could never really connect with a therapist and I would jump around a bit and I would do like a couple sessions and cry on someone's couch and leave and it was just this kind of one way conversation. And so I felt like and that works for a lot of people don't get me wrong like my sister's a therapist. So like kudos to her and like she has a lot of success with her clients. It just wasn't for me and finding a coach where it was very like mutual and she talks to me about stuff too which I really appreciate it's like a very two way relationship it's been yeah it's it's been a game changer

Seth Anderson: 48:00

like you said I really appreciate you guys making the time and off and on today. Hopefully I don't know I don't know where this leads but I feel like there's some good synergy here with what we're doing

Unknown: 48:09

totally there's gonna be good things coming out of this for sure. I

Seth Anderson: 48:13

don't think we ever actually where can people find you? I guess let's let's let's end off there. Where is the best place for people to engage and find out more about city moguls,

Unknown: 48:23

so people can go to city moguls comm check out our membership. We have our annual membership up there. Our six month membership reopens in the summer, so you can get waitlisted for that and check us out on social media at City moguls emoji you lm

Seth Anderson: 48:39

amazing. Well, thanks again, Victoria. Danny, have a great day. And thanks again for joining.

JP Gaston: 48:45

Thanks for having us. So fun, guys. Thank you guys. Thanks for joining.

Voiceover: 48:53

Thanks to Danny Kagan and Victoria marshman. From city moguls for joining us today. Now, stay tuned for the podium. Brought to you by beyond the beaten path visit beyond the beaten path.ca

Seth Anderson: 49:14

All right, well, that was a ton of fun hanging out with Danny and Victoria from city moguls. And, you know heading heading into this week we're coming off of Easter weekend, JP

JP Gaston: 49:27

few extra days. Some days I guess some people get more days than others but at least at least one extra day for most.

Seth Anderson: 49:34

No Yeah, it's a it's a long weekend. You know some people I think it over actually this week it is spring break. So some people may even have the week off. Maybe we'll get a bump in listeners

JP Gaston: 49:45

maybe and well and the nice thing too is it's kind of nice outside looking out my window right now. It's kind of nice outside spring, spring has just recently sprung, and hopefully folks got a chance to enjoy their weekend and spend some time out. side and get out of the house for a change. It's been a year.

Seth Anderson: 50:04

here's here's hoping on on that or in that vein, I suppose. probably have some some easter eggs or some chocolate hanging around the house if if you have kids,

JP Gaston: 50:16

certainly, if you have kids and you've found a way to hide it from them because I don't know, I don't know what you were like as a kid. But if I found chocolate as a kid, it was gone.

Seth Anderson: 50:25

Yeah, no, it was a problem.

JP Gaston: 50:28

It's a real problem. I

Seth Anderson: 50:31

don't mean to get into my my gorging habits. Effective a large portion of my adult life. Anyway, we thought it would be kind of fun to do top three Easter treats on this week's beyond a beaten path podium.

JP Gaston: 50:48

I'm excited about this one. And this time, I'm going to make you go first. You can you can start with your fifth and sixth and seventh place finishers. Like usually.

Seth Anderson: 50:58

I have no runner ups this week. I'm gonna clear

JP Gaston: 51:01

top three.

Seth Anderson: 51:02

I think so although, you know, there's a little variability within there. Like it's not necessarily one specific treat. So I think that's probably good.

JP Gaston: 51:11

Yeah, you have a podium where any of them could be at any place at any time but they are your top three kind

Seth Anderson: 51:16

of Have you ever taken like a chocolate bunny? And like shaved it with like, not shaved it? I guess she's great at it and ice cream. That's the thing.

JP Gaston: 51:24

I have not I have I've broken one. Only the hollow ones though. Because those southwind sort of real hard to break

Seth Anderson: 51:33

through ever putting them in the freezer back in the day and then going on it like a frickin

JP Gaston: 51:37

Yep. Yeah, it's probably you were talking about your gorging issues. That's probably part of my tooth issues is having worn to them down on frozen chocolate for years. Totally.

Seth Anderson: 51:50

I can still picture the teeth marks in those bad boy. Yeah. So anyway, number three for me. Again, this is sort of a an ambidextrous treat,

JP Gaston: 52:02

if you will, you can use both hands. And this is not only for right handed individuals, if you're a lefty works for you.

Seth Anderson: 52:11

The left hand and for him.

JP Gaston: 52:14

The left for you do it.

Seth Anderson: 52:17

Isn't that what Ned Flanders? What's this place called? I thought it was the left for him. Maybe

JP Gaston: 52:21

it's something like that. Something like that. Anyway.

Seth Anderson: 52:25

Basically, my number three is any chocolate that has like the crunchy bits in it. I think sometimes it's Rice Krispies. Sometimes it's other stuff I think the rice krispies is probably the best one like those little eggs when they have that little extra crunch in there. Yep, that is a that is a favorite of mine. Number two is and this is this is a relatively new thing that as far as I'm aware of, I usually drink my coffee black as most people would know. My The Biz Dojo dark roast, or masters for the new masters medium blend new masters medium head to www dot The Biz dojo.com and get yours now. And while you're at it paired up with a beautiful his dojo mug, which you can customize with your own name on it. Anyway, now that that infomercials done cream egg recently, Cadbury creme egg actually has a coffee sweetener, and it is delightful. Especially with the dojo dark roast, just because of the rich blend that it is it really, really it's really good. I mean, I would I would suggest it it's like a chocolaty flavor. Obviously that makes newsflash that's my number two and coming in hot at number one and we kind of alluded to it in the preamble is the white chocolate money.

JP Gaston: 53:59

You know why chocolates? Not actually chocolate?

Seth Anderson: 54:01

I did not know that. What is it?

JP Gaston: 54:02

It's a combination of like sugars and whatnot but there's no actual chocolate involved in white chocolate at all.

Seth Anderson: 54:08

Well, there you have it. I didn't know that. But when I think of Easter and treats, the only thing that really actually comes to my mind is the white chocolate Bunny, the frozen white chocolate and white chocolate bunny. I have not had one of those many years but maybe this year I will have to go find one source one there probably at the dollar store. To be honest.

JP Gaston: 54:32

Well, now that this is airing just after Easter, they're probably on sale to their 90 cents at the dollar store

Seth Anderson: 54:42

with the chocolate cream egg creamer.

JP Gaston: 54:45

I love the white chocolate like that used to be. That used to be the thing like everyone in my family we'd get little you know we'd wake up and we get little things on the table when we wake up and we'd be excited to do an Easter egg hunt but there would always be some white chocolate there. For me and then some for my sister as well, she quite enjoyed the white chocolate. So the white chocolate that's not chocolate.

Seth Anderson: 55:05

Yes, the fake white chocolate. So there it is. That is my exclusive list of top Easter treats. What do you got? JP

JP Gaston: 55:14

that's a pretty good list. I couldn't decide on the order for mine. So I'm very very so I think I have a clear number one but two and three are a little bit interchangeable. I'll start with the Laura c cord egg. Have you ever had a Laura c cord egg?

Seth Anderson: 55:28

Um, it's not a thing that I'm like putting a face to the name as it were

JP Gaston: 55:33

so Laura c cord was this person who in $18 there is for those who don't know there is a story with Laura C chord and and the war of 1812. And it's a very, I grew up in the area where that story was very popular because of where she's from and what happened but look up that story. But there's a chocolate company, the Laura secret chocolate company, they make this chocolate egg and it's it's almost like a Cadbury creme egg but huge. And by huge I mean like the size of a tennis ball. Maybe I didn't really enjoy them as a younger kid. I'm just not the cremate guy, but I quite like them now. And I cut them because they're so huge. You can't possibly eat that all I mean, I guess you could try and eat it all in one sitting. But if you want to be a reasonable human being you need to cut it up into smaller chunks. But yeah, in Ontario, those letters, Laura C chord stores and like partner stores everywhere. And, you know, I think the only one in Alberta. Actually, I'm not even sure. I don't think there is one in Alberta. I think there's one in Golden. And that's the closest one to Calgary. So unfortunately it's not a thing near us but they're very good to know. And they always remind me because they are the egg shape. And that's this is when they come out they always remind me of Easter. Number two favorite of my wife, mini eggs. The Cadbury mini eggs are really good I'm just gonna say mini eggs in general because I really love the foil ones. And they usually like the only time you can really get them are like Christmas and Easter when you can get like foil covered chocolate balls. And they are like the perfect amount of chocolate. To me. I know some people really like to eat a ton of junk. But I have like one or two of those and that's like the perfect little chocolate fix and I don't need to eat an entire chocolate bar or whatnot. So I love I love when those come out. So this is one of my favorite times of year for that number one Have you ever had a personalized ache? Hmm.

Seth Anderson: 57:33

Thinking back like a like it's like a big chocolate egg with like your name on it? Yeah, I don't remember the particulars, but it's in the reaches of my brain somewhere

JP Gaston: 57:44

in the reaches of your brain. Yeah, so every year as a kid and actually into adult life, we would get a chocolate or the hollow chocolate egg sometimes there was something inside like the they have like the hollow chocolate Reese eggs and those sorts of things now that have like Reese's Pieces in a bag inside the egg. Typically ours would be just straight hollow though, and the they'd be personalized so they'd have our name scrolled across the egg as if it was like Happy Birthday JP it would just say JP on the egg but

Seth Anderson: 58:17

that's gonna say to say JP are john paul or like you want to get your money out or is it cheaper to just do JP Well, I

JP Gaston: 58:23

think yeah, I think you pay i think i think you probably pay for the chocolate egg and they'll write whatever on it. So if you want war in peace then go ahead. But I used to get my family used to call me PJ so I used to get PJ on mine.

Seth Anderson: 58:38

But I didn't invent that

JP Gaston: 58:40

really you did not you did not invent that.

Seth Anderson: 58:43

Here I thought that that was like our thing.

JP Gaston: 58:49

No, but it was it was always a thing and like I said it went into adult life so even when I wasn't living at home, we would go to visit on Easter for Easter dinner. And well not a treat my my real number one would be Easter dinner with a turkey because it's the only time other than Thanksgiving and Christmas where you always get Turkey and my and I love turkey so

Seth Anderson: 59:14

well not like some people like Easter is like a ham thing.

JP Gaston: 59:17

Yeah. That we usually do both because our family so we cook a turkey and we cook a ham and

Seth Anderson: 59:24

I don't really know if we have a tradition like that. I can't think of one. Maybe we do.

JP Gaston: 59:31

You're gonna you're gonna find out in a couple of days and then you'll listen to this episode. You'll be like I should have mentioned that.

Seth Anderson: 59:38

All right, well, it's a solid list of treats. I'm now really wanting at blizzard. I don't know why. Maybe it's killing. Yeah, maybe I'll go get a seasonal I don't know what they have the mini egg or cream egg Blizzard maybe?

JP Gaston: 59:50

I think they have mini egg. I'm pretty sure they have mini egg blizzards right now. To try maybe I'm maybe I'm wrong, but then just ask for vanilla ice cream in a cup. But

Seth Anderson: 1:00:02

I quite like making my own blizzards I make coffee corresponds speaking of crunchy chocolates. Yeah, no, it's delightful. So. Okay, well, I think I got it you got anything else?

JP Gaston: 1:00:15

No, but let us know what your Easter chocolates are in the comments or Eastern traditions interested in that team. Throw them in the comments, let us know.

Seth Anderson: 1:00:24

Also if you if you're looking for a unique customized treat in the vein of what JP was just mentioning, be on the beaten path. Does laser engrave marshmallows?

JP Gaston: 1:00:35

That is cool. That's pretty cool. So I can barely use a marshmallow over a fight. I can't imagine if someone gave me a laser what would happen to my marshmallows. So that's cool.

Seth Anderson: 1:00:45

Check it out@www.gfi.ca it's your laser engraved marshmallows.

JP Gaston: 1:00:52

Laser.

Seth Anderson: 1:00:53

Awesome. Have a great week, everybody.

JP Gaston: 1:00:56

Yeah, enjoy your chocolate through the week.

Seth Anderson: 1:00:58

Yeah, try not to chocolate. Thanks for