Adapting A Positive Mindset - Brett Gallant

In episode 245 of Beyond The Story, Sebastian Rusk interviews Brett Gallant, the Founder of Adaptive Office Solutions, as he discusses the importance of taking risks emphasizing the critical need for proactive cybersecurity measures, the value of masterminds, and the lessons learned along the way. 

 Tune in for an engaging conversation that goes beyond the surface, exploring the personal narratives that drive professional achievements.

TIMESTAMPS

[00:02:22] Ice cream sales success story.

[00:08:01] Importance of masterminds.

[00:11:30] Cybersecurity risk assessment process.

[00:13:41] Cybersecurity prevention strategies.

QUOTES

"I learned that when you execute and show up and put that effort in, good things will come." - Brett Gallant

“We often do deep dives… And it helped me see some things I didn't see and face the truth and some things that needed to happen.” - Brett Gallant

"Only everything's available on the other side of fear.” - Sebastian Rusk

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SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Sebastian Rusk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastlaunchlab/

Facebook: Facebook.com/srusk

LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/in/sebastianrusk/

YouTube: Youtube.com/@PodcastLaunchLab

Brett Gallant

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brett_gallant/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brett.gallant.9

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-gallant-97805726/

WEBSITES

Adaptive Office Solutions: https://www.adaptiveoffice.ca/

The Adaptive Mindset Podcast: https://www.theadaptivemindset.ca/

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Transcript

This is the Beyond the Story podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. And now, Sebastian Rusk Brett welcome to the show. Hey, thank you. It was a pleasure to be here, Sebastian. Pleasure to have you here. We did a little back to back podcast action this morning. I always love guesting on the shows that we have the opportunity to to help launch. So just so proud of all the progress you've made on your show, too. And yeah. It was great to be a guest on your show and now have you on my show to tell your story. I love telling people stories on this podcast. You could probably imagine that because the name of the show is Beyond the Story, right? I mean, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. For to add some context for our listeners, let's let's back up to the beginning of the story. Now, the beginning is different for everyone, so you can define where the beginning is from you. But help us really better understand the beginning of your story and walk us through what really brought you to present day with what you're working on and being the cyber security guru that you are.

Sebastian Rusk

So interesting you brought that up. I can go in so many different directions, but I'll start with when I was younger, I lived in Western Canada and my family didn't really have a lot. And we struggled to, sometimes we had to leverage food banks. And I remember as a young, young teenage boy, I put myself out there to get jobs because if I wanted to have spending money, I had to get out there. I remember my first job was an ice cream salesperson. I got the Dickie D bike and they gave me the route that was the worst route in all the town. And I took that and I learned to execute. And I took, I remember going out and I was consistent going the same place, ringing the bell really loud. And I tell the story to my children, ringing it loud and going really slow. and having the children come to me. And I took the worst route in the city to becoming the most profitable route and made, as a kid, incredible amounts of money for myself and a family that struggled. And I learned that when you execute and show up and put that effort in, good things will come. And so along the way, I decided to move to Eastern Canada. And I decided to take a shot at getting into this field of technology. I was ready to move to Western Canada. with some friends because I didn't have a job and I applied for this wonderful construction fabrication company. I said, you need to let me know by Sunday if I had this job, otherwise I'm moving to Western Canada to go find work. Sunday afternoon, I got a call. and I started my career in IT. And I was with that company for 14 years. In the back of my mind, I always said, especially as I got closer to 2007, I said, I really want to start my own IT company. And I remember I was helping a real estate professional set up a webinar for Brian Tracy. And I was invited to sit and listen to that webinar. listen to that webinar and watch it. And I wrote down what Brian teaches, write down 10 goals. You have three minutes, write down 10 goals for what you want free life. And I wrote them down. And I remember what, before I got on stage earlier in 2024, I rediscovered that book. And goal number four was by April 1st, 2010, I will own my own successful IT company. I found that book and I shared that on stage. And it's been a wild ride since then. So that's a 60 second snapshot of some moments in my life that tell a little bit of my entrepreneurial story. Yeah.

Brett Gallant

And you continue to, I mean, you've continued to grow the brand. I mean, exponentially. You told me a story of a mutual friend of ours that you had done some work with through his training platform, and you had been able to turn your business into a multiple six-figure monthly recurring. What took place with that training that shifted for you to be able to go and do that?

Well, a lot of it was mindset, believing it was possible. And so I went and learned the tools, how to sell cyber and more of the knowledge of it. And I realized I wasn't showing up in the way I needed to, to tell people what they need to hear, because the reality of cyber, A lot of us thought we were doing enough, but we weren't. So I had those necessary conversations and I took my business from 18,000 MRR to over 100,000 in a small community. And a lot of people think, hey, it's not possible to do this. Well, it is possible if you set your mind to it and execute. And I made that decision that I needed to do this not for Brett, but for my clients and for the community I serve. And giving them those tools gives them better tool sets to protect the livelihoods of their employees and their businesses when before we weren't doing enough. So it's an incredible journey.

Yeah, I mean, especially you said, you've done it in a very, you've done it in a small town.

Yeah, I live in a community of 18,000 people. And it's a small market. And now beyond that, though, we serve clients across Canada. I used to have a limiting belief that I couldn't serve in the United States, but I've shattered that. Our market is world. And so we have the privilege now of having clients across Canada. And we still have a strong base in this small, beautiful little community, which I'm really proud to be in. It's amazing. We have the, it's a slice of heaven here. So, so yeah.

What would you say the biggest lessons been through that transition of shifting your mindset and all of everything that's taken place to really help you achieve that success?

Well, I like to quote Wayne Gretzky, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. And so I took that shot and decided that, hey, as much as I had that fear, sometimes I had this fear that I might be causing people to be displeased with me, it was necessary. So I took the shot and I realized that it was all in my head. And a lot of people were appreciative to hear that message. And then we were able to better position ourselves to serve our clients better. Along the way, we decided to shed some of the things we used to do. We used to be the IT company for everyone, residential and doing subcontract. Now we do a security first approach where we can better put our attention on serving our clients' needs. I really learned that I had to leverage and trust like the scouting model that I love to quote, you gotta train them, trust them, let them lead. So I've empowered my team and also empowered my own belief in what is possible.

Yeah, absolutely. Why are masterminds important?

Masterminds, oh man, masterminds are such a gift. The privilege I have with one of mine is I have 14 people in one mastermind. And you have sometimes hundreds of years of experience that can identify gaps that you may not be able to see. So when you have that many business owners, you can ask, challenge or puzzle you have, and they can help you see it from another perspective and give you insights of what you may not have considered on your own. So it's an accelerator to get you somewhere much faster than what you could have done on your own. I have the privilege of being in one and I'm so thankful for it.

Well, we don't know what we don't know.

Yeah, 100%.

We can't see our own blind spots.

No, no.

I found that being in a mastermind group helps us reveal those blind spots, whether we like them or not.

We're definitely in a very... Oh, yeah, you got that right. Yeah. And sometimes you've got to face that truth. I've had, in our mastermind, we often do deep dives, and I've had the privilege of having two deep dives in my business. And it helped me see some things I didn't see and face the truth and some things that needed to happen.

You know what they say, the truth will set you free, but first it will really fucking piss you off.

Yeah, it has sometimes. Yeah, it has. Yeah. Yeah.

So you're a father of five, five children. Wowza. Yeah. Um, what is, what's that been like? And I know they range from several different ages, um, as it stands right now, but you're a busy guy on, on the home front. Um, you know, and it's, it's definitely a top priority to you. Uh, I know scouting is, is a part of that. Let's talk a little bit about that and what it's been like to, to, to be the father of five children.

I can tell you this from a guy that thought he would never have children, I actually thought that was my reality when I was younger, to being blessed with five. I have the privilege of having my oldest, who's 21, who's such a kind, beautiful soul, I'm so proud of her, to my 17, 13, nine, and six. They all have their own unique little personalities, and I see different aspects of myself and aspects of my father and each and every single one of them and my parents. So I get to experience life in a whole different way. And often right now, because of where I live, I have three children in hockey. So I'm living in a rink a lot of weekends. So that's a real fun experience, networking with people and celebrating their wins. but every single one of them have their own beautiful gifts and they bring so much joy to my life. It's incredible.

They do. They are our greatest teachers.

Oh, yeah. Trust me on that. They are.

Yeah. As a parent, you find patients that you didn't even know was possible.

Yeah. Uh, there, I think in Seinfeld, they said serenity now.

So, yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

So let's talk about a little bit about your business, um, and what you do and what kind of businesses you work with. I know it's in the world of cybersecurity, which is very important for any business out there, um, online or offline. Majority of businesses have some sort of online presence on there, but tell me a little bit about your business.

So we help businesses manage their cyber risk, because after all, it is their risk. And sometimes the unfortunate reality, sometimes businesses think that risk has been managed by their existing provider or even in the past by me. So we do a cybersecurity risk assessment, because you really can't prescribe without diagnosing. So we look at the holistic approach to a business and look at their network, their data, their team and more. And then we say, hey, this is what we found. Did you know you when we did a phishing test on your organization, five of your users actually clicked on something and had this been real and what you have in your organization. you could have been a casualty. Because I believe if you're casual about cyber, you could very well, unfortunately, become a casualty. And so presenting them with that risk assessment, that vulnerability findings, is one of the best gifts I get to do because I take them on that education process to show them how real this is and how, unfortunately, sometimes how ill-prepared they are. And then I give them the opportunity to take action. And oftentimes the message I like to say and share with people, hey, what's your plan? Let's say hypothetically, even if you don't believe this can happen, what are you gonna do next week? If you come in, you find all your computers are encrypted or $300,000 has been wired. And when you wire through that much money or even 20,000, we all know that you can't get it back. So what's your plan? What are you doing to manage that so that you can lower the chances of it happening? And I don't take that lightly. It's a great responsibility I have.

Yeah, absolutely. It sure is. Well, man, it's been great to connect with you here and learn more about you. I feel like I've been able to learn a bunch about you, working with you on here, but it's always good to sit down and have a conversation, specifically over a podcast.

I do have something for your audience and I invite them to DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn. If they DM me 15 ways, I have a document, 15 ways that you can help your business prevent a cyber attack. Some actionable advice free for you. And hopefully if you take that and decide to put action with it, I know I would feel great that you've actually used that. That would mean a lot to me to help.

Absolutely. We'll make sure we include that link in the show notes. And thank you for that. So important to do. Just at least, if you've never even heard about the world of cybersecurity, well, hello. Welcome to 2025 on here. But leverage that resource so that you don't leave yourself in a vulnerable situation by any stretch of the imagination.

Absolutely. Yeah.

So thanks again, Brett, for your time. Really proud of you. I'm so excited to see what you're going to do with your podcast and who you get to become because you made a decision to choose yourself, your business, and also being able to choose the opportunity to show up. So congrats on that. I'm wishing you nothing but the best. It's a privilege to call you a friend, and I just thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. Any final thoughts for our listeners?

Yeah, just, folks, Deep down inside, there's probably this voice of something that you want to do, and maybe you've been holding off a little bit of self-doubt or limiting belief. I want to encourage you to take that shot, like Wayne Gretzky said, and take a chance, because on the other side of fear, there's some great possibilities for you in your life. Consider that this week. If there's something you've been holding off, take some action and see what magic happens on the other side of that fear.

Absolutely. Only everything's available on the other side of fear, right? Absolutely.

100%.

Hey, thanks again, Brett. Keep rocking and rolling.

Thank you.

It's a privilege. You got it. Until next time, friends. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story podcast. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. We sure do appreciate it. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios. We'll talk to you next time.