Ep 5./ Rosemary Horwood - Advisor, Philanthropist & Farmer

Rosemary is an entrepreneur with more than a decade of experience in wealth & tax advisory where she has been recognised with multiple awards and repeatedly in industry media for her business standards and quality of service. 

Just a decade into her advisory career, Rosemary managed $220M in assets under management for her clients.

She is a published author of Practicing Hospitality: The Art and Science of Hosting in Your Home. She is an advocate of women, and lives by the philosophy – there are no stupid questions.

Rosemary is deeply passionate about agriculture and dedicates much of her time to Livingstone Farm 1860, a multifaceted agricultural property she owns and operates just an hour outside of the Greater Toronto Area. 

The farm is home to a thriving luxury bed & breakfast, offering guests a peaceful escape in a rural setting. It is a hub for sustainable farming practices, lifestyle & corporate retreats. 

Rosemary is deeply devoted to philanthropy and volunteerism, focused on faith-based causes close to home. She has served on the board of three non-profit organizations. 

She and I know each other from volunteering in Toronto together and I really loved re-engaging her energy, and her passion for hospitality in this thought-provoking interview.

The interview highlights: 

1. Inspiring Career Journey: Rosemary shares her path from university to managing $220 million in investments, highlighting her strategic focus and dedication.
2. Personal Transformation: She opens up about a mental health crisis that led to a significant lifestyle change, emphasizing the importance of self-care and balance.
3. Vision for the Future: Rosemary discusses her ambitious goal of owning 10,000 acres of farmland, driven by her passion for business and hospitality.
4. Mentorship and Influence: She reflects on the impact of her mentor, Jim Hunter, and the lessons she carries forward in her career.
5. Purpose and Legacy: Rosemary speaks about living with purpose, encouraging others to focus on making a significant impact in the world.

Social Links:

LinkedIn: Rosemary Horwood 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosemaryhorwood/

Instagram: @rosemary.on.fire 

Transcript

Kirstyn DeVries (00:01.122)
Hello, welcome Rosemary, it's so amazing to have you on.

Rosemary Horwood (00:06.766)
Thank you so much. I'm really excited to be here today.

Kirstyn DeVries (00:10.958)
Awesome. I really wanted to invite you on because of your inspiring story and a story that started out with quite a clear vision of your life. You and I know each other from back in Toronto. This was sort of in the time between, I think it was 2012 to about 2017 times. In that sort of moment in which we encountered each other during a volunteer experience, I remember you were in the midst of...

you know, multiple award-winning advisory moments, you were strategically focused on helping families and successful businesses achieve their goals in the financial sector. And I know that throughout all of that, what I saw come out in your ethos as a human is just this connectivity of giving back to the people in your life through what I would say is the spirit of hospitality.

And I'm really, really excited to dive into your story today. And I'm looking forward to having a conversation.

Rosemary Horwood (01:10.126)
Sweet, so am I.

Kirstyn DeVries (01:12.622)
So I want to just start out by asking you Rosemary to take us through your personal journey that's led to where you are today.

Rosemary Horwood (01:21.976)
Yes, I'll start in university years. I went to school at University of Waterloo, which is about an hour outside of Toronto. It is the place for the infamous Blackberry was founded. If anyone remembers those scrolly, QWERTY keyboard, amazing smartphones that nobody has anymore, but I still wish they were in existence. went to school there. It was a really tech-focused school, extremely challenging experience.

Kirstyn DeVries (01:44.309)
absolutely.

Rosemary Horwood (01:52.04)
a technical standpoint and I did the co-op program over a five-year period which was a really great foundation for building work ethic, networking, building lots of great connections with managers and teams in different organizations. So while I was in school I was also working full-time at the tennis club nearby.

and part-time actually, part-time while I was in school and then I was doing co-op semesters. So for co-ops, I had six corporate placements. I was nominated three times for co-op student of the year from outstanding performance reviews, which I still hold near and dear to my heart, even though that was like almost 20 years ago. Maybe I'm exaggerating. It was a long time ago.

Kirstyn DeVries (02:42.069)
Wow.

Rosemary Horwood (02:42.102)
And it was pretty amazing. I had lots of full-time job offers after university, which was really uncommon. Most of the people who I knew were trying to find a job, trying to get a job, going to do extra school because they couldn't find one. And I had to make a decision about what I was gonna do, where I was gonna go. My soul search journey happened in Italy.

where I did some food and beverage management courses, loved it, drank a lot of wine, it was fantastic, and decided while I was there that I was going to accept a position as an assistant for my dad. His name's John, and he worked in finance and wealth management. So he just kind of pitched me and said, you can come be my assistant and you're gonna make half as much money as you did if you're working at the best job that I know you have an offer for.

but you'll have a chance to build a business here and you won't have that in other places.

And because I'm such a lover of business and strategy, I took them up on the offer and became an assistant. So for the first year and a half or two years of working in finance, I worked full time. And then on top of that, I studied for exams to become an investment advisor. And I was also doing business development, building my network. So was working quite a lot those first two years and then started my own team.

Ultimately, by about 10 years into my career, I was managing about $220 million of people's money. Myself as the investment advisor, I had an associate I was working with as well. And we worked together as a seamless team with the most incredible clients. Absolutely amazing people, lots of Christian families, lots of entrepreneurs, business owners, people with multi-generational wealth. And that was...

Rosemary Horwood (04:34.164)
a huge accomplishment to get to that level of success. There were really, really hard times that came with it and it was absolutely a grind and created a lot of grit in me and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm so grateful for that. Now I have pivoted.

my career to focus more on advisory for consulting and CEO advisory and I also do some tax strategy work which I absolutely love and I spend lots and lots of time on my farm.

Kirstyn DeVries (05:09.421)
That's amazing. And I do want to dive into in a little bit what you're doing with the business on the farm a bit later on in the conversation. But I just wanted to touch on the section of starting out that career and being in your dad's business and being asked that question as someone fresh out of university. What was it like working with the caliber of clients and building that portfolio as someone in your 20s starting out your career? And what did it feel like to be in rooms of people with that influential

background and financial acumen and what did that mean for you in that moment?

Rosemary Horwood (05:46.082)
was very high pressure. As much as I can say that, that's how I felt all the time. I was under so much pressure and stress, some self-inflicted, some externally inflicted. And often I did have experiences while I was still a co-op student and working at large multinational companies and on really amazing consulting teams that full of professionals. I had experiences with really successful people.

And it wasn't intimidating for me because I kind of grew up in a family that had a lot of parties and events where most of the people were not my age. They didn't look like me. A lot of really successful people were around our family when I was younger and growing up. And then as I became a professional, I was really only around people who were really successful.

I didn't have a lot of experience or interest in working with people who were as close to or around my age when it came to team stuff because I was always the youngest one and I didn't really want to be the youngest one learning from somebody who was around my pay grade, I would say. I was always interested in learning and serving people who were...

really high up in organizations so that I could learn the most and serve the best of the people who really needed it. So I was used to being around people who a lot of folks would have found extremely intimidating. And as much as I was definitely under a lot of pressure, that was not my biggest concern.

Kirstyn DeVries (07:27.853)
Right. Now, that time of your life, I know that you were sort of burning the candle at both ends. And I would love to take the audience through sort of what a typical day in your life was then, sort of maybe versus what it's looking like now. Can you walk us through what that was like and then now sort of what it's turned into years on?

Rosemary Horwood (07:34.062)
Thank

Rosemary Horwood (07:49.016)
Yes, when I was, I would say typical day in the life I was living in downtown Toronto within about a 10 minute walk to work wherever I lived. I was very close by to the office and very close by in the financial core of the city. That was important to me for getting to and from work and events that I didn't want to waste time in transit because I was doing so much business development that I needed to be close and I was at the office quite a lot.

Normally I'd wake up between five and six in the morning, have a coffee, sometimes go for a walk once I was in more of a healthy state of mind, and get dressed, get ready, full dress, jewelry, hair, blazer, suit, whatever it was, most of those days, and then walk to work. And I would get to the office between seven and probably 7.20.

most days and then I would work through meetings and computer work that type of thing until about four o'clock. Often our teams were released at four so we would get in quite early in the morning and we didn't we didn't really have extremely long hours which was a huge blessing but I would go home at about four, relax for a little bit, probably eat something and then I'd be back out at networking events and galas probably two to three days a week for quite a lot of that part of my career.

Kirstyn DeVries (09:13.911)
Wow, and that makes me feel really privileged that at some point during that time when you did have a group of us over for food at your condo in Toronto, that that must have been quite a stretch. my gosh, that sounds manic. So to contrast that, what does your schedule look like now and what is a typical day in the life in 2025?

Rosemary Horwood (09:40.782)
I a few days a week, I, well, generally I love waking up on the farm. I have easy, slow mornings. I do like to enjoy my coffee on the patio with my dog. She runs around and chases crows and birds and things like that. And I just keep drinking coffee until I feel like I'm done, usually in my pajamas. Nobody else is around. It's beautiful and it's serene. I absolutely love it. The contrast of needing to...

go as fast as I could every morning in the morning from the second that I opened my eyes until I got to the office, compared to the way that I live life now is 360 degree turn, which is, it's been a huge blessing, or maybe people call it a 180. In the morning I do.

that I relax, have easy slow mornings, enjoy my coffee. I do normally check emails on my phone and get back to anything that's urgent or specific for that day. Check my calendar, make sure I know what's going on for the day, whether it be farm related things, when my Pilates class is, what meetings I have that day, what I need to do, where I need to be that evening as well. And then I get to chores. I have a lot of chickens on my farm. Some lay eggs, some are for meat. So they do

need to be fed and checked on and they need to have fresh water every day and I get around to doing that usually when I'm done my coffee. And then sometimes I head to a Pilates class and sometimes I start doing farm work just depends on what's going on around the property. And I do tend to have...

If I have phone calls and meetings or podcast recordings or anything like that that requires my computer, I have one or two days a week that I often schedule those meetings on and those would be the days that I know I'm not gonna have other things ongoing and I've let other people know around the farm that I won't be available. So I do spend a couple hours.

Rosemary Horwood (11:40.554)
on each of those days in calls and meetings that require me to be sitting by a computer during the day and then often have more work in the afternoon that involves a lot of stuff outside. There's business concept wise.

I'll go into that later, but this has to do with the time, time is money business kind of principle that's really been challenged since I've been on the farm. And then after I finish work, I usually jump in the pool, start to make dinner and put my feet up by probably eight or nine o'clock at night. So that's normally what my days look like now.

Kirstyn DeVries (12:20.471)
That's amazing. And I've purposefully had you tell the audience a little bit about this. feel that there's a bit of obscurity here in terms of how you've made that transition, but I'm kind of going there on purpose because there was a moment, you know, when I was chatting with you the other week over coffee and we were speaking a little bit about, you know, that journey and working in Bay Street in Toronto, which for those who don't know Toronto is like the Wall Street of Toronto, the financial district.

crazy busy area. Obviously that section of your life was pre-COVID. The expectations, you know, were a bit different in terms of showing face in the office, less hybrid working, a lot of that. And I'm sure the audience is wondering how it is that you found yourself on a farm, in fact, running a luxury bed and breakfast. But what I wanted to do was actually talk about a moment in your life that you shared with me where

you got thrown off pace. So what happened in that moment, Rosemary, and how did you find your rhythm again?

Rosemary Horwood (13:26.286)
The number of years ago I had an experience that was awful and there was definitely a lead up to it of a lot of stress, not a lot of self care. I was in a really dark place spiritually. I did not have good relationships. I wasn't eating very much. I was smoking a lot of cigarettes. I was really over drinking and I wasn't sleeping.

And overall, I was more focused on the way things looked than the way things were. And after a number of years of behaving like that, it really, really caught up with me and I landed in a mental health crisis where I had a series of panic attacks that took me out. And the first one I remember being, I was driving and had a panic attack and I'd had a really stressful morning with some really challenging

circumstances for a family member and I thought I was having a heart attack and I went to the emergency room and I ended up in the same emergency room as my family member but for very different reasons that morning and for about the next week I felt like my body was almost paralyzed I could barely walk I couldn't really go outside my friends were all worried about me I was saying like if you want to see me you have to come to where I am because I physically like I

can't go anywhere. And from being a hyper independent, extremely successful business owner working in finance, who lived the high life for so long to pretty much being couch ridden for a period of time, that was an absolutely insane transition for me. It was a wake up call, but I was also terrified.

Kirstyn DeVries (15:12.941)
Just a question on that. Right before that happened, you had mentioned this perception versus reality mindset that you were in almost the external view of what you were versus what was going on in the background. What did it feel like to sort of be in that dichotomy and looking at that now, do you feel that that was partially what was playing into that response?

Rosemary Horwood (15:35.286)
it was really only being focused on results and not focused on the whole picture. So what that could look like in a specific example is really over-exercising at the gym to be really thin.

without having any muscle mass or focusing on just really constricting what I was eating because I wanted to look a certain way but I wasn't getting the nutrition that I needed. Pushing myself to be out really late knowing I had an early morning the next day and doing that for a few days in a row. That type of thing, was really just not considerate of the overall health of my body. it...

led to a lot of issues. took me quite some time to unwind.

Kirstyn DeVries (16:27.639)
So tell us about that moment when you found yourself in the emergency room, in that same emergency room with your family member. What did that feel like for you and what was going on in your mind at that time?

Rosemary Horwood (16:38.488)
I was just scared, I didn't know what happened or what was going to happen. And I just was suffering with a lot of anxiety and I was still panicking. Like this response was still very visceral in my body while I was there. The only, you know, funny part of it was a doctor asking me if I'd smoked crack cocaine the night before. And I was like, look at me. Like I am way too wealthy to smoke crack cocaine, okay? I'm not doing that.

But otherwise they just said, you're overly stressed and you need to manage it. And I was happy with that response because it didn't say that, you you're having liver failure, you're having a heart attack or something really scary. But the thing is managing stress is so much more complicated than taking a medication and having a really clear path to be able to unwind a medical condition. Well, it was that for me.

Kirstyn DeVries (17:38.19)
Right. When we were chatting earlier as well, you had mentioned at that moment, there was a lot of introductory of things like herbalists and chiropractic and things like that that you had to bring into your lifestyle. But that there was also a moment sort of where you had this experience in your office of what your previous success had been and what that meant for you. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Rosemary Horwood (18:03.554)
There was, from that day that I just explained, I started on a journey of healing in a variety of different ways and changing my lifestyle was a big part of that. And that journey took a long time. It was not a week, it was not a month, it was probably more like four or five years.

Throughout that time I did everything holistically that you could do. I searched all the therapies all the modalities Everything natural that could possibly be done change diet change exercise lifestyle, whatever whatever you could imagine and throughout that time I was making slow progress towards improvement constantly

even though I was making progress, it was very challenging to see as somebody who's been so driven by results that got to that place. And there was a day where I remember sitting in my office and I was really suffering. had not just, you know, once in a while had a panic attack or anxiety, but that would lead to things like not being able to read on a screen. So I couldn't like scroll through my emails and read them at periods of time. And a variety of different things, lot of

digestive issues and really weird stuff. So I remember sitting in my office one day and my computer was in front of me and there was kind of like a set of overhead cabinets on top of my office or on top of my computer and on top of those were all of these picture frames and the picture frames had covers of magazines in them and they were all these magazines that my face was on the cover and they were like financial marketing style magazines.

magazines with awards, documentation and things like that. And I remember looking up at them and just having this revelation in the moment that I had had so much success at a very, very early age in life and a very early stage of my career. And I couldn't really celebrate it that much then because I was just so focused on the next thing. But in that moment,

Rosemary Horwood (20:08.874)
It was made really clear to me that those were a reminder of what's gone on and they weren't necessarily for the time that I received them. They were more for the time that I was looking at them in the darkest valley of not knowing if when I was going to be able to read emails on my computer again or function like a normal person or spend a full day at work. And I just got the sense like you need to keep going. You can't stop here.

And that's when in that moment, just, it's not like everything changed the next day, but I had a renewed sense of purpose that working in that business and continuing to work with my clients is what I really needed to keep moving towards.

Kirstyn DeVries (20:54.443)
Wow, what a journey and what a long journey really. I mean, I think a lot of people think that when there's this moment where we make a decision that all of a sudden things begin to turn around straight away. And I think that it's really vulnerable knowing that it took you this sort of five years and that you had to kind of go step by step.

One of the statements that you said when we had first talked about that moment, which really stood out to me was that when you were sat there having that anxiety in your office and sort of received that reminder when you glanced up at the accolades is that you said it actually made an impression on your heart. And I love that. Can you speak a little bit more about almost how it felt in your body at that moment and how that really changed where your direction was from that point?

Rosemary Horwood (21:48.724)
say that it was God and that it spoke to me in a way that

I knew it wasn't me because if it was me I would have made that decision earlier. But I knew that there was something else that was at play there and this was totally the opposite of the way that I was feeling at the time. I was feeling like I just, I can't do this right now. And this impression just really...

spoke to me and the revelation was so deep that I knew like this is the total opposite of the way that I'm feeling but I'm going to grab onto it and I'm going to go. And it wasn't something that I ever looked back from. I remember

from there just continuing to push forward and obviously it's hard and it didn't really get that much easier quickly but it did become extremely clear to me that that was not me and that that wasn't just a choice I was making in the time or something that I was thinking myself that was something supernatural.

Kirstyn DeVries (23:00.449)
Right. And I know that you share a deep faith and that that's been really foundational in the way that you serve others, even now in your hospitality business. But I can imagine that in that moment to feel something that was completely contrary to what your body had been feeling was almost like a wake up call. you had said to me a little bit about straight after that, you actually rejigged the expectation at the office and the team. Can you talk a bit about that?

Rosemary Horwood (23:30.03)
Yeah, I was really focused on doing everything that I could for my team to be successful as people and just understanding that if we're going to be 100 % driven by results in a perfectionist sense that all of us are gonna end up really sick. So what I did then was try to relax things a little bit. I wasn't as focused on exactly what time I was getting to work in the morning, exactly what time I was leaving. Same thing for my team.

I refocused outfits and wardrobes as well, and I changed the way that my schedule was structured going forward to allow for a lot more flexibility for me. What that looked like. Would you like me to go through what my week looked like? Yeah, okay.

Kirstyn DeVries (24:21.89)
sure.

Rosemary Horwood (24:22.668)
So normally on Mondays, my team would do prep day. So everything that we had going on in the week, we would prepare on Mondays. We took no meetings on Mondays, no calls, nothing like that. And having one full prep day gave us the space to transition from the weekend. Also consider, my weekend would have looked different than most people. I very actively serve at my church and expend an enormous amount of energy and effort on Sundays and generally have quite long

So for me a Monday coming off of an intense Sunday is not the same as somebody having a two-day weekend. So Mondays were even more important for me to have no calls and no meetings and just be able to completely refocus, unwind from the weekend and get ready for the week. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday we would do meetings at very specific times. We had time slots. I think it was like 10

1130, one o'clock and 230, which were the only times that we would take meetings. We would take them those three days. All of our team would get professionally dressed for those days. I would do more of my hair, more of my makeup those days than I would have done on a Monday or a Friday. We would do all of our meetings during the week.

whether those were in person or virtual. And then on Fridays, we would do follow-up days. So Mondays, we would open all the files, get ready for our meetings. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, execute. And Friday, we would close the file and do all of our follow-up. Then we could go into the weekend or even Friday night knowing.

you know, I don't have anything else to do. The rhythm of the way that we were working worked exceptionally well for us. And it was a lot easier to manage not having as much of a haphazard schedule where we all had to put so much more effort into dressing really professionally, doing all of the makeup, getting to places that we needed to be in person because we had a more consistent schedule.

Kirstyn DeVries (26:27.169)
How similar or different would that have been to other types of firms that were doing private wealth management at that time? Was that uniquely you or was that something quite industry specific?

Rosemary Horwood (26:40.266)
It was, it's very unique. That was, I would say wealth management could be similar to legal or accounting practices.

because we're all client focused and we're also all professionals. And people want your time no matter what time of day. It is much more convenient for people to have meetings with their investment advisors in the evening, but it is very inconvenient for investment advisors to have meetings in the evening. So this was something that our team decided was, and it was ultimately my decision that this was gonna be the right thing for us, was gonna be the easiest thing on me, which is what I really needed at the time.

and it was gonna work really well for our clients. Everybody would have options for when they could make meetings. We just didn't take any meetings in the evening. We did not take meetings Mondays or Fridays.

Kirstyn DeVries (27:35.245)
What an incredible shift and ultimately what did that do for the team? What did you see as the outcome?

Rosemary Horwood (27:40.618)
It was just so much easier. We were dropping the ball less, not that we dropped the ball a huge amount before, but because we had the space to be able to prepare on a Monday and the space to be able to follow up on a Friday, we were happier. I think a lot of us were healthier anyway. It was just so much easier to manage things. And most of us really do thrive on structure. It's just we don't have the best boundaries.

is a real issue, especially with entrepreneurs and high level sales people and professionals. Boundaries are massively lacking. So now we take the week and structure it and put a bunch of boundaries around it and it becomes a much healthier thing to do, but still a hard thing to continue to execute.

Kirstyn DeVries (28:32.481)
That's perfect and really on theme with what I was going to ask you next, which is what is one non-negotiable system or habit that you have in your routine that pulls you back when everything feels off course?

Rosemary Horwood (28:46.274)
Yeah, I would say nature. Being in nature for me is extremely important and for me it's not just like nature, it's actually being in the woods. And this is like kind of might sound like a weird thing to people and it would have sounded like a weird thing to me until it became a really important thing to me. So what's most important to me about that is that I get 25 minutes of an active walk minimum.

in the woods. And I've noticed that for my nervous system, it's the best thing I could possibly do. There is a very clear difference by the way that I feel before I go in and the way that I feel when I come out. And no matter where I am, I'm still going to try to do that.

So whether I'm at my farm, I have trails on property that I walk constantly with my dog. Whether I'm in the city, there's a lot of places and parks that I know of with trails that I also spend quite a lot of time in. Or if I'm on vacation, I will always find a place to do that. find it very grounding.

Kirstyn DeVries (29:56.236)
I find that extremely relatable as, you know, I live up close to the Hampstead Heath in London, and that is at one point, you know, was a private estate that was quite far outside of central London. And at one point you could actually hear the from St. Paul's Cathedral when you were up in the forest before the city, you know, got extremely populated. And one thing I relate to is sort of, you're right, these paths that are in the forest where

There's this almost sense of protection and calm, and especially with no headphones. I don't know if you go in there without headphones. I choose none because just hearing the forest also helps me. Do you relate to that?

Rosemary Horwood (30:40.846)
Yep, the quiet is beautiful. It's just for people who have really overactive nervous systems, they can't handle it because it seems really unfamiliar. So a lot of people I'm sure start with the headphones, or they're like, I need the noise, because they're just so used to it, it's normal for them. I just go in, you know, just raw dog it.

Sandals, shorts sometimes. I'll walk through the sketchiest things and I don't care. To me, no headphones, not caring what I'm wearing. I'd sometimes often go in in really bad bug times, no bug spray. I'd rather be eaten alive. I don't care. I'm very happy being in the woods.

Kirstyn DeVries (31:24.449)
Yeah, and when we first talked about this, mean, you said that because you go in there because it helps you know what it's like to have a nervous system that is functioning well, finally. And I love that. And I think that that's something that a lot of us can take away. Another question I really wanted to ask, and you've touched a bit on this, but do you have like a barometer? Like, do you know how these days when it's time to push harder towards a goal and when it's time to pull back?

Rosemary Horwood (31:56.014)
That's a very loaded question and a tough one because there can be different circumstances for both. I think being in tune with your goals and what you want is really important. I tend to be a very strategy focused person, so if there's a roadblock in my way, the first thing I'm thinking is how do I get around this? And sometimes...

It's better to not go through and just to wait But I don't think that that is the best decision to make most of the time I think that's a marginal decision that once in a while people should make However, way too many people are wasting so much time standing in a roadblock thinking this roadblocks here So I should wait not realizing that the roadblock is there because being successful takes a lot of hard decisions Takes a lot of rerouting. It takes a lot of strategy

And that's why not many people are truly successful because they're standing at roadblocks waiting for them to move or waiting for someone to tell them you need to go around this way or do that when you should have figured it out by now and just push through. So I would encourage people to bulldoze their way through much more than I would encourage people to wait at things like that. I think there is a time to wait, but I am normally the person who will push through.

Kirstyn DeVries (33:05.207)
Wow.

Kirstyn DeVries (33:23.565)
Right. Can you think of an example where that was successful, where you kind of now looking back can identify, oh my gosh, you know, that was a roadblock that was completely in my way and I really had to do A, B, and C to push through that barrier to get there.

Rosemary Horwood (33:43.694)
There's, I would say like the best examples are probably real estate where you're doing a renovation and there's always problems and there's always things that come up. But if you don't get past the problem, you're still stuck, you're stuck in exactly what you had at the beginning. So things become more expensive. It's just really common with real estate and especially with renovations. I think...

Kirstyn DeVries (33:54.605)
Mm.

Rosemary Horwood (34:11.444)
Every area and every single thing I've done, I've reached roadblocks. When I was buying the farm, it really is a business. So it's a commercial property. I own 115 acres. There is a barn, an outbuilding, and a farmhouse with a little cabin in the woods, which I love. It has a pool and the hot tub and all that.

and there is an agricultural business here. And buying a property of that means is serious. Getting lending for that, for commercial lending is serious. Getting legal set up and all of that stuff and the tax for it is serious. So every time that I would come up to something, could have given me, know, people are always looking for a sign to not do things, and I'm looking for the opposite. I'm just looking away around the sign. So for instance, I come up to the conversation about...

Kirstyn DeVries (35:00.749)
That is so good.

Rosemary Horwood (35:02.188)
buying the farm and it turns out when you buy a commercial property, HST, which is our sales tax, goods and harmonized sales tax, whatever goods and services tax here in Canada, HST is often charged. But my farm was like north of three million dollars and our sales tax is 13%. So I would have probably been paying like almost $500,000 just in taxes and figuring out, first of all, that is insane.

property. Secondly, there has to be a way around this. So if I had to pay $500,000 in taxes, I would have not bought the farm, period. And when I found out that that's something that comes with buying commercial property, that could have easily been something that stopped me right in my tracks because number one, we pay way too much taxes Canadians, like a massive amount more than 50 % on average, for me anyway.

And I just didn't have, who has an extra $500,000 sitting around when they're buying a property that they want to use to pay for taxes? Like I wouldn't have done it. So I needed to work a way around it and found a way around it using some tax planning, which was extremely helpful. But that would have stopped me from buying the farm if I let it be a roadblock.

Kirstyn DeVries (36:28.293)
inspiring journey to be able to say that you're sitting on that farm right now. I'm actually going to jump to asking you a question around your future goal or vision and what you're working towards. I love to ask my guests on what is something that you're working on that scares you just a little and what does that stretch demand of you to get there? Can you share?

Rosemary Horwood (36:50.382)
My overall goal with this property was to become one of many, and I would love to have 10,000 acres of farmland that would be part of a portfolio that I'm working towards. Currently have 115, so I 900, 9,885 to go, which is a lot of farms. It's like another 99 farms-ish, maybe more, depending on the size.

And that's really where I wanna go. Figuring out how to cash flow a farm property so that it can sustain itself and build value and equity to be able to pull out to finance and fund another farm property is a big part of the overall strategy that I have.

As most people know, the farmland around the area that I'm in, well, most people don't know this, but this is the most expensive farmland per acre that you can get in Canada, the area that I'm in currently. And it's quite a large area. It's not like one town or right by Toronto or anything like that. It's very expensive and it does not cash flow with the land. So working out ways to be able to cash flow it as a business has been my focus for the last two years.

And then taking that model and applying it other places to be able to create a sustainable model to purchase and run a series of farms is one of my big picture goals, just one of them.

Kirstyn DeVries (38:20.521)
There's a follow-up question to that. Not only is it this learning curve, as you mentioned, where it sounds like you've had to obtain a lot of skills, a lot of research that's gone into how it is to make this vision from the practical sense, not only financially, but also just logistically move forward. I actually am curious more about how does it that you actually build the space in yourself to hold a vision that big?

I don't meet many people who have a goal that is that broad, that wide, and that ambitious. So can you share for this audience just how does Rosemary actually hold a vision of that size and what does that mean for you?

Rosemary Horwood (39:04.462)
I think I've heard a lot of people say that's crazy and I don't want to be a normal average person. So I really appreciate those comments. I don't want to have average goals. I don't want to be mediocre. I am absolutely exceptional and have been made that way and it's on display and there's no hiding it and I'm not trying to nor do I need to. So I just...

Kirstyn DeVries (39:09.569)
Good.

Rosemary Horwood (39:31.128)
have ultimate confidence in God in what he is calling me to do, what I feel is the purpose of my life. And a big part of that is to be able to very generously fund expansion of churches and what we would call the kingdom of God, is opportunities for people to hear about the gospel and also give their life to Christ. The way that I do that, which I find the most effective, is by financially supporting in very significant ways.

local church, which the one I'm part of is called C3 Toronto that I absolutely love. Been there for 10 years. It's been an incredible experience of growth for me and it's changed my life. There's been thousands of people saved through that church and it's a really effective place for me to invest. Knowing that, I have to find ways to make the money and

This is definitely going to be one of them. So my ultimate goal is continuing to increase in business so that I can continue to fund the church. That's a big part of it.

Kirstyn DeVries (40:39.021)
And what I love about that is that you are also being a model for so many others. We met in that organization and the amount of young, ambitious leaders, business people, folks that are looking to build their life and actually form a vision for themselves will be no doubt seeing what is that you're doing from a goal stretch perspective in the way that you're doing this.

And they, know, I'm certain because you've inspired me to be a big goal setter and I met you probably over 10 years ago now and you already had that ethos. So yeah, I just love it. And in with that vision to have that farmland, you're also able to outwork sort of in my opinion, what your ultimate skill is, which is hospitality. I love that about you.

And so what do you kind of see for the hospitality vision of that property off the back of the fact that you're able to sort of fund these projects, the C3 church, and then also continue to run the business? Tell us more about what that business will involve.

Rosemary Horwood (41:54.926)
Hospitality is so important to me. It's definitely something that's been in another thing that's been in my heart for a long time, probably since I was a kid. One of the first times I had friends over for a tea party, we were like nine, and I was really specific about the pastries I wanted and the cups we were gonna use and all those things. And it's always been something that I've included in no matter what business I was in, there was always a hospitality element, whether that was

creating charcuterie boards for work functions, or even hosting work functions at my farm, or building cool olive bars for a martini night at work, something like that. There's always been something around food and around the generosity of providing it in a way that people will really enjoy it in a high quality experience. On the farm,

I do run a luxury bed and breakfast, which is a whole house. It's not like a one bedroom with a bathroom type of situation. It's the whole house. And I have focused on every little detail to make it extremely comfortable and to make it a generous offering for guests. We do provide

lots of opportunities for people to organize private Pilates classes. We offer our private chef as an option for people who are looking for catering or private dinners that they can take advantage of. We do meet with people and show them around our farm setup to give them an idea of what our chicken coop looks like and how all of our eggs are collected and that type of stuff. That is overall a part of hospitality. It is the experience related

But we just give people all of the options that they could possibly want to choose their own experience while they're here.

Kirstyn DeVries (43:53.878)
is an absolutely incredible description and makes me want to visit there straight away. Now, in this conversation, you've spoken a lot about things that you are single-handedly leading as part of your vision. And one of the questions I wanted to ask is, is there a person that has deeply impacted your journey? And if so, what have you learned from them that you still carry with you?

Rosemary Horwood (43:58.85)
Yeah.

Rosemary Horwood (44:17.506)
There is one person who in the financial realm was somebody who really was extremely encouraging and who I respected a ton. And his name was Jim Hunter. He's passed away. He had, sadly at a fairly young age, had ALS. And he was a mentor to me. I worked as a receptionist at the company that he started. There were probably 30 or 40 people working there at the time. I would see him every morning. He was one of the first people to come in.

got in earlier than him and I left later than him quite a lot just so everybody here knows that when I was a co-op student and I dressed really well exceptionally well as a receptionist which I think is really important I'm just trying to speak to some people here anyway in my relationship with him with him being a mentor of mine I really respected how

A couple of things, how he treated people and how he really believed in them, how he believed in what his company was doing and this entrepreneurial nature that he had. the story there is him and one of his partners, I believe, was running a financial firm. It was purchased by another large company and I'm sure that they stayed on for a while. They both retired and during their retirement decided they were going to start up

this new financial company and he was just such a genius. He had like taken the Tax Act and reverse engineered the Tax Act to create the most incredible investment products. This guy was really smart but he was also very generous with his time and with his expertise to be able to share it with me and a lot of things that I learned from him I'll never forget.

Kirstyn DeVries (46:10.081)
Yeah, I think also, right, just when people want to share their knowledge and when they just do that through the way that they show up, no wonder you were able to catch some of that ethos, right? It sounded like he showed up really intentionally as a person and thank you for sharing that. So this is a perfect segue to our last question and I'd like to ask, what does purpose mean to you right now?

Rosemary Horwood (46:38.35)
Purpose to me right now means that there is a very unique assignment on each of our lives. Most people will never get there or even question it or know what it is. And that assignment has the most impact that you could ever have in influence in this world. It's really what people are going to remember you as when you...

have passed away and the only thing left is a tombstone with the date you were born, a dash and the date that you died. And what happened in that dash is your purpose. Well, it could be, or you could squander it and really not have much going on there. Purpose is ultimately the one thing that we are called to, that we are great at, that is an assignment for each of us, which if we run after it will make the biggest impact in this world.

I would challenge everybody listening to this. I know it's very challenging what I just said and you're probably thinking this is a little bit morbid. something I want to leave everybody with, this may seem dark, is that our lives are really short and that dash is also very short. And the most important thing we can do is stay focused on big things because the small things and the worrying,

doesn't help us and it doesn't end up creating a beautiful life where we can live on purpose and make a really big difference for people. We will be forgotten if we don't leave something really significant behind in this world. So if you need any encouragement for your career, do something really big, something really big that nobody will forget.

and that can be your legacy. Your family is your legacy and that can also be your legacy. But if you waste your time worrying, thinking about what other people are thinking about you, living out other people's expectations, that dash between the year you were born and the year that you died will be wasted and that's really your only opportunity here.

Kirstyn DeVries (48:49.153)
Wow, there is no follow-up needed to that piece of advice that you have just said. This has been so incredible, Rosemary, and the stories that you've shared and this advice that you've left with others is absolutely going to be practical tools that people, if they apply them, will really transform their life. So if people want to follow your journey, where can they go find you?

Rosemary Horwood (49:16.354)
you can connect with me on LinkedIn. My whole name is Rosemary Horwood, H-O-R-W-O-O-D. And my little tagline thing just says entrepreneur, so you won't get it twisted. And you can also follow me on Instagram for more personal and faith-based side. And my Instagram handle is rosemary with a period, on with a period, and fire. rosemary.on.fire.

Kirstyn DeVries (49:43.351)
Thank you so much Rosemary for joining me today and I hope to see you face to face at some point.

Rosemary Horwood (49:49.186)
Yes, thank you so much for the opportunity and thank you to everybody who got this far in our conversation and I hope that we can connect in the future.