Episode 40: Nancy Campana | 40 Years of Event Planning Success

In Episode 40 of Cracking the Success Vault, Sean Penhale sits down with Nancy Campana, founder and president of Nouveau Event Planning, to explore what it takes to build and sustain a successful business for more than four decades.

Since 1988, Nancy has become one of Canada’s most respected event professionals — producing large-scale corporate events, conventions, fashion shows, and Southern Ontario’s largest wedding shows, including the renowned Wedding Extravaganza.

This conversation dives into the evolution of the events industry, adapting to changing trends, and the mindset required to remain relevant through decades of economic shifts, technological changes, and post-COVID transformation.

Nancy shares:
 • How she transitioned from fashion into event planning
 • The growth of Nouveau Event Planning and the Wedding Extravaganza
 • The importance of trust, fairness, and relationships in business
 • How social media changed the wedding and events industry
 • Balancing entrepreneurship with family life
 • Supporting local entrepreneurs and community initiatives

Nancy also opens up about resilience through personal and professional challenges, while emphasizing the importance of celebrating life, supporting others, and staying connected to your community.

At the core of her philosophy is a simple reminder:

Life is short. Celebrate it.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, event professional, or business owner looking to build something long-lasting, this episode is packed with insight, experience, and practical wisdom.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction and Nancy’s Background
02:01 – Growing Up in Windsor and Family Influence
04:00 – Transition from Fashion to Event Planning
07:04 – Founding the Wedding Shows
10:02 – Work-Life Balance and Business Philosophy
14:51 – Adapting to Trends and Post-COVID Changes
19:01 – Supporting Entrepreneurs and Marketing Strategies
22:02 – Industry Trends and Gut Instincts
26:49 – Community Engagement and Run for Rocky
39:59 – Personal Challenges and Resilience
52:09 – Supporting the LGBTQ+ Community
01:02:03 – Upcoming Events and Final Thoughts

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Not everyone has the same type of wedding anymore. Because I had a customer say to me, You're tough, Nancy, but you're fair. Everyone knows you're fair. I don't discount booths. If someone gives up their booth because something happened, you know, the week before and oh, they've decided to go on vacation, which people do, they'll invest and then decide to go on vacation. You know, I could call a whole bunch of people and say, I'll give you a booth for half price. Never have done that. I give it to the two people beside that, split it in half. I really have a successful formula, although always have to be open to change.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Nancy Campana is the owner of Nouveau Event Planning and Wedding Shows Windsor, and one of Canada's longest established corporate event management and trade show production specialists. She's built a career creating and producing large-scale events, including Windsor Essex Wedding Show Extravaganza and the Fall Wedding Event, connecting engaged couples with local wedding professionals. Nancy's also the co-founder of the Run for Rocky Legacy Project, which we'll talk more about in the podcast. Nancy, welcome to Cracking the Success Vault. Welcome to another episode of Cracking the Success Vault here with Spectre Group. Uh today we are joined with our guest, Nancy Campana from Nouveau Events Planning. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to chat with us.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Thank you, Sean. I'm happy to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Good, great. Uh I'm really excited. Uh obviously we ran into each other at an event. We're gonna talk about what that event was. Um, but Jason and I have come to the wedding shows, which you run uh at the Kaboto Club, and they are fantastic events. Um, they they've they've always been, you know, great uh great networking for different businesses, uh, meeting all of the you know brides and and and and uh and groomsmen that are coming up in the area. Um, and you also run other events. Uh so we're gonna talk a little bit about a lot of different things here today, as well as personal life, but let's kind of start at the beginning. So, where did Nancy grow up? Where what kind of family did you come from? Uh, and then we're gonna talk a little bit how it spiraled into this business you run.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

Yeah, so I I grew up here in Windsor, Ontario. Uh, grew up on Aubin Road. My mother still lives in that house and she's almost 98. Uh, seven of us lived in a small, at the time it was two-bedroom. My dad added a third bedroom, so we lived very close together, seven of us. I shared my bedroom with two other sisters, and um grew up, I would say, like very normal in a in a neighborhood that was very blue-collar worker. A lot of people were uh Chrysler workers, lived close to the plant. Um, but my dad worked in an office, which was really different from most of the the neighbors. And my dad eventually became the president of Green Shield. So my dad was very business minded, and I always say um that business um kind of adeptness is a gene. And I think I got that gene. Probably the only one in the family that really had the business gene. Really? I think so. I mean, the natural ability to run businesses or no, no, uh no, no, not at all. So um, yeah, I I was uh I was pointed into the direction of taking fashion merchandising at Fanshaw College after thinking I wanted to be uh an English teacher. Um, just saw that there was such a course at the back of some fashion magazines and started looking into what was available in Ontario. And I went to Fanshawe College for three years, and that was a cooperative program. And at the time was I was working part-time at Simpsons, which is going way back, and they took me on a full-time, actually, I had a full-time buying job when I got out of school in Toronto, uh, and I turned it down to come home because my boyfriend was here and wasn't moving to Toronto, he said. So I chose my now spouse of 40 years married, uh, and never really regretted that at all. Um, so I was uh I was a few years into being uh the counter manager for Clarence, which was a new line here in Windsor, and Stendhal and Lise Watier. Uh I ran those counters. Again, I was offered a couple jobs to be uh territorial supervisor by Clarence. I had to move to Toronto. I stayed where I was, and after a couple of years of working at Simpsons, I decided to start my own business. And that was a fashion consulting and cosmetic consulting business. And within a year of doing that, I realized there's no wedding shows to get into in this area. And I wanted to promote my business through a wedding show, so I thought, well, maybe it's a good time to start a wedding show. And when I did my research, they were just starting up in in Canada.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Okay. And and so okay, so I didn't need the the first part's kind of wild. So out of seven siblings, five siblings. There's five both of us, yeah. Five of you guys you're the only one who runs a business. Yeah. How come you think that kind of rubbed off from your dad on on you, but not on the other siblings? Is it just they were interested in other things?

SPEAKER_03 5:12

Yeah, I just think I had that that business sense, maybe. Uh I had that. I think entrepreneurial spirit is is something, again, that's kind of ingrained in you, where you always have you're an idea person. I was the entertainment director at Herman Secondary School on Student Council. So again, had that natural ability to organize and uh and it it just all came together.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Yeah. It wasn't like any particular lesson your dad taught you or you anything like that.

SPEAKER_03 5:42

You just kind of kind of no, and I never even took a business program in high school because um my mother was very much she take your maths, your sciences, like stay on track. I I I would have loved to take art and business, but that was kind of something that I wasn't directed to at all. So it wasn't until college that I I moved in that direction. And yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Interesting. And so what was it obviously working for a a company like Simpsons? Yeah. Um what made you then was it more than just like there's no wedding shows in the area and I wanted to promote myself through that, right? That you just decided I'm gonna go create this event company and do all these things? Or was it and then I'm assuming you did both at the same time for a while?

SPEAKER_03 6:31

Um, I didn't. You just quit and just started running this. I didn't. So I and and it was a fashion stylizing and cosmetic stylizing at the time getting people's colors done was in, so I had taken that certification in course. And I also was at Simpsons at the time that it it changed over to Hudson Bay. So I saw that whole transition, which was very cool too. Um, but yeah, no, at the time it was just like I think I knew I I wanted to be a mother. I knew that working in retail really didn't give me the flexibility I wanted to be a mother. So I think the push was probably more I want to start a home-based business. And I'm gonna start off with what I know. I know cosmetics now and I know fashion. So I'm gonna do individual fashion stylizing and cosmetic um consulting. And I I did people's weddings for makeup. There was no one doing any of that back then. Yeah. So um, yeah, that's that's then evolved into there's no wedding shows. And I I think and I dropped the other business and started that.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

And just started it right away. Yeah. And so did you go through the typical transition that most entrepreneurs go through where like they think they're gonna have this great flexibility and time and freedom to do all these things, but then they're actually working like 14-hour days all the time. Or I know that you do the shows now, you do the winter show in January and you do the fall show in September. Um now you also do other events throughout the year, right? But you guys are going, this is your 40th year, which is amazing. Congratulations. Uh, but 40 years ago, that uh were you just doing the two shows? Were you doing more? Was it just one?

SPEAKER_03 8:14

Yeah. So when I started, um, when I started the wedding show business, um, we j just did the January show.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 8:23

And I did have a partner who is a family member uh for two of those years, but we had very different visions of how to grow the business. Um my sister and brother-in-law wanted to do a lot more outdoor events, which proved to be very risky. We did a ribbon chicken cook-off and um got hit by weather really bad and had brought in big names. So it wasn't a direction I wanted to take. So at that time we decided to split up the business, and that's when I um really started um growing the side of corporate event planning and the wedding show. Devonshire Mall came to me probably about six years in and wanted me to do a fall, uh wedding show in the mall. So we did it almost, it was almost a week-long show in Devonshire Mall, and that was the fall show. And then Devonshire Mall asked me to be their fashion stylist. So for years, I did their produced all their fashion shows. I produced a magazine, uh, helped them produce a magazine called uh Look Magazine, which was put out five times a year. And I did all the fashion writing for that. I did all the um pulling of clothes, booking of models. Um, so the business kind of grew in in the way that I wanted it to as I as we had family.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Right.

SPEAKER_03 9:40

Uh when we had our second son, Connor, my husband who was working at Merrivale, had the opportunity to job share at Meryvale. So he went down to two and a half days a week, which then allowed me to do a little bit more again. Yeah. So, you know, the whole point of starting my own business was to be a mom and go on my kids' field trips. And uh I would say beside the many like very late nights I might have worked once the kids went to bed and um close to events, I think we lived a pretty balanced life. And against all, I guess, business advice, I didn't join a lot of associations, I didn't do a lot of that because we sat down and ate dinner every night together as often as we could. And uh yeah, so I kept my focus on having a successful business, but for you know, with the purpose in mind that I I had wanted to raise my kids and be a mom.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Yeah, and I think people need to hear that because it getting into business for yourself or being this independent salesperson or building your own business or whatever, it doesn't have to be a 24-hour, seven-day a week, four years thing. You can set your parameters and as long as you're efficient and you're focused, you can get done a lot of work in a short window of time if you don't have any distractions.

SPEAKER_03 10:59

Yeah, and that's really what I you know concentrated on. And the I find these days the biggest distraction is I'll have a list of things I want to get done today, and then the emails come in, and and I might try to be a 24-hour response time in my emails, and sometimes it's two o'clock in the afternoon and I haven't checked off one thing because I'm working on emails.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

So yeah, yeah. I mean, between emails, uh social media, like it's just so easy to get distracted by so many things nowadays. It is right because everything's at our fingertips, yeah, right. So but when you started this business, it wasn't. It wasn't like that. No, so I So you guys were 40 years ago.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Uh you mentioned to me that your first show was in the basement of what is now the St. Clair Center for the Arts. I forget the old name.

SPEAKER_03 11:43

Correct. It was um it used to be the Cleary Auditorium. The Cleary. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Uh everybody calls it the Cleary now, and I'm like, what are you talking about? Yeah um Saint Clair Center for the Arts. Uh, and then you did it one year there? We were actually there two years. Two years.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

Yes. Yeah. We were there two years. The first year I was pregnant for our firstborn child. Um, and um and then we did the second year there, and then they were closing down for the renovations that you you see today, the modern St. Clair Center for the Arts. And at that time, Kaboto Club was just opening with their huge new expansion. They used to only have the Kaboto Hall, which is that back hall with the wooden floor. Yeah. So they put on that whole front of the building, and that was a dream come true. Yeah, from there, we out, you know, felt like we were outgrowing that at some point, and we've waited for years and years for a trade show space in this city, and it's never, it's never come about. So uh the Kaboto Clubs where we're at for our for our January show, we use every single hall in the building, every hallway. Um and it works, it really does work for us, you know. So um, and and the Kubota Club knows us and we know them, so we've got a great working relationship too.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

And so, did it take long uh with no because I I'm assuming that wedding shows, let's say 40 years ago, were around, but just not in the Windsor area, right? Were there others in London or Toronto and you brought you made the idea happen down here?

SPEAKER_03 13:13

Yeah, you know what? I think at the time that I started the wedding show, there was one in Calgary and there was one in Toronto that had just started. So looking back on it, I could have expanded very easily across Canada, but that would have lost the focus of why it was doing it right.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

So and so the very first so the first couple years, did you uh again? Sometimes businesses start slow, sometimes they start really fast. Did you sell out everything you thought you would sell out first few years and then moving to the Kaboto? Or did you did you start a little slower and just gain traction as it grew every year?

SPEAKER_03 13:47

So the first year we st we started sales late. I want to say I came up with the idea in November and we had the show in January. So I want to say we maybe had about 40, 45 booths. That's a lot. And then the next year at St. Clair, well, the Cleary Auditorium, we sold 80 to 85, and then we moved into the Kubota Club. And then from there, just expand it every year. At the Kaboto Club, we used that old Kabodo Hall for full-scale fashion shows. Nothing like you see today. Back then, fashion shows were huge. There was no internet for brides to be able to see like a full production uh fashion show was a big deal. We used to have fights in the hallway, people trying to like literally trying to get into the room because we could only accommodate so many people at each show. So um, you know, it just keeps evolving and changing today. Like I say, we use every room. We've gone to one of the lower level halls for our fashion shows and more boutique style, intimate. Uh, we use that Kubota hall for booths, and then we use a couple of rooms downstairs for booths. Um, and um yeah, we at one time the Kubota hall was used for an interactive wedding gallery. So we had a little smaller fashion shows, we had food tasting that changed after COVID. So it just keeps evolving, and we try to stay. I try to stay, you know, in tune with trends. And um, I think more than ever, what I'm seeing in the last couple of years is our our attendance is increasing again. And I think it's because um couples are just tired of being online and they're really valuing face-to-face communication. They're actually shocked when they come to the door and they get a gift, like what they get versus their admission. They walk out with a lot more than what they would have imagined, and our staff greets them at the front door and they're always like, Oh, everyone was so nice. They just not used to that. Yeah, and so um, you know, it's very valuable to couples to meet people who they're actually gonna be hanging out with a lot, especially after COVID.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

I mean, like, I don't know if I did the right thing, let's say, but for me, when COVID happened, I was kind of like, Yeah, like I have enough savings and I'll get through it and it's not a big deal and and stuff like that. But everybody was like, Oh, this is fantastic. I can just meet a ton of people online, I don't have to leave my house. And I was like, But I like I like meeting in person, I like having face-to-face conversations. Uh, like I never figured a person would want to meet with me once or twice on a virtual thing and then invest their life savings with some person they've never met in person, and uh, so I didn't really do a lot of business um during COVID, but once everything was back open, everybody wanted to meet in person all the time. And I think, like you're saying, I think the certain it's taken just a couple years for I think other people to be like we do like the interaction with people, and we as human beings need that interaction with people. Um and so I love the fact that because my wife said the same thing when we I think we we I proposed in February of 23. We got married in June of 23, but we uh we did go to the show in January before that just to like see um because I convinced her. Um but she loved it, she loved showing up, she loved getting the gift, she like it was just different.

SPEAKER_03 17:07

Yeah, and I think you know it's not a flea market show, it's not just table set up in an empty room, it's a beautiful show. Like you can really come and imagine what your wedding might look like, um, and also a wide range of you know, uh vendors for different budgets, which is really important too, for people to be able to shop around because not everyone has the same type of budget more and more in the wedding industry. Not everyone has the same type of wedding anymore. We're seeing weddings in restaurants, backyards. Uh I I'm getting calls from um camper dealerships, like rental dealerships, because so many people are having their weddings on farmland or you know, relatives' farmland, and they're bringing in campers for their out-of-town guests to stay in right on site. So it's really whatever your imagine is, whatever your budget is, what what your your ideas, yeah, you can really do it these days. Uh another thing we're seeing is a lot of uh more cocktail kind of shwanky receptions where not a sit-down meal, but really great hors d'oeuvre service and then amazing um food bars and and then get the dancing going with not a lot of formalities. So it's all over the place, and I think that's wonderful. And and then that brings in new vendors that we've never had before either. I would have never imagined we'd have a camper rental company in the business.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

I was just about to say, like, so it I mean it's amazing to not only again be in business for 40 years, but like to keep up with the trends and to like see, like are you're not obviously going to all these other wedding shows. Are you just searching things online? Are you asking people or just getting feedback from people like what they're doing? Like, how have you managed to keep up with these constant changes of what brides and grooms are thinking about and how to add a different vendor into the show that you haven't had before? Right.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

So I think what I see is the inquiries coming in. Like in the last couple of years, wedding planners, like it used to be one or two wedding planners in the city. There are so many wedding planners now. That's a product of COVID. So many people realize that all the work it took to do the cancellations, do the rebooking, uh, rewrite contracts. I uh uh wedding planner is invaluable. Whether you want someone from start to finish, a month of the wedding or day of the wedding. I think even parents understand like we're not gonna be the ones loading up the car before and after, getting everything there. Um, wedding planner has almost become a staple where it never, never, ever was. It was like a luxury product. Now it's in the budget line for a lot of couples. Um, and like I say, that that might be just day of, but it it just relieves a lot of stress for a lot of people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Yeah. I mean, my wife and I, we got married at Wedding in the Woods, and Alex like ultimately kind of came with the service to an extent. I mean, we paid her the additional service to like help, but she thought of so many things that we didn't even think of. And we were one of those crazy couples that like I think there was like 110 days between our engagement and our wedding. That's the best way to go. And it was just like we would never have thought of all of these things that she thought of. And it was having a planner was just like an amazing thing to have because there would have been so many things that were missed.

SPEAKER_03 20:27

And then another trend we're seeing because of outdoor weddings is food carts and and specialty foods. Even a lot of people will bring them in indoors for late-night snacks, bartending services. Those are, you know, businesses that really they they were there, but they weren't thriving. Now they're thriving because of the change in the wedding industry. We're seeing uh a huge increase in restaurant weddings here in the city where people are just renting out the restaurant and having, you know, depending on the capacity, 50 to 125 people, and that's where people are doing their wedding. Um Instagram has changed the whole wedding industry, and it's all about the picture. And yeah, a lot of people will say to me, no, and I go, Oh yes. Like decorating is over the top when you're having that bigger wedding and a more lavish wedding. I mean, it's it's all about the Instagram pictures, and couples are looking for vendors who can create that Instagram picture for them.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Yeah. And so is that how you've managed to just keep up with trends then? Is just pay attention to the Instagram, the social media, what other people are doing?

SPEAKER_03 21:32

I read a lot. I mean, you know, I read a lot of uh wedding material and um um, like I say, watch my suppliers, really stay in tune with new people that are reaching out to me or new people locally that I see on Instagram in the wedding industry. When you start looking at wedding stuff, of course, you get lots of wedding. So yeah, and I think I also um have always had an intuition with where things are going. In business too. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Interesting. And when you say you have an intuition in business, like is this a you have a gut feeling of something that's happening and you follow it? Have you ever not followed your gut on something?

SPEAKER_03 22:13

Oh God, yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

And has it been a good idea?

SPEAKER_03 22:14

But I got I have gotten better and better at that.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Well, it's it's just funny because I I always tell people, even my own sales guys, I'm like, if you have a gut feeling that you like that it you shouldn't do this thing or should do it, like you should probably do it. Right. Because anytime I've looked back on my life and been like, this didn't work the way I thought it was gonna work, it's because I didn't go with my gut feeling.

SPEAKER_03 22:35

Yeah. And and that's part of the risk of being an entrepreneur, right? Um that gut, I think, works out a majority of the time than not for sure. And and you know, you're you're a financial planner, so picking stocks and things like that. I'm sure you've had lots of guts where you say, I should have done that, and so have I, right? But yeah, listening to your gut, I think is is important, and then knowing how to decipher the noise around that feeling, like why do you have that gut feeling? But um, yeah, I also, you know, watch fashion a lot, and fashion often depicts wedding trends, things like the Grammy Awards and the Oscars and what people are wearing and trends in those after parties, they they all trickle down.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

Yeah. Because everybody sees it online and wants to try to recreate it in some fashion because it looked cool or great or beautiful.

unknown 23:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:31

Our first show, our first few shows, there wasn't even a decorator in the city. There's no such thing as a decorator. And by the way, if anyone's looking for a business, uh I'm decorating is a business where there's a shortage of in this in this area right now. There's a larger investment, right, to get into the business. But um definitely I'm seeing a uh decline since COVID, and and a lot of um business owners are getting to an age where they don't want to be on a ladder for hours at a time. Yeah. So it's an amazing business uh if anyone's looking for business ideas.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Interesting. What other things are you seeing right now that that maybe are declining or aren't where they could be besides decorators?

SPEAKER_03 24:15

Um I think in our shows, I think the photography market got so saturated. That those photographers that go into the show do very well because they get that face-to-face. But we at one time had a wait list, I I would say before COVID, of like 60 photographers. And then after COVID, even more people got into it. So I think it's hard to make a living just being a wedding photographer. Uh, I think you know, you have to be unique maybe in other products you're delivering and maybe tie social media uh if you're good at social media to your business.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Yeah. So when you're running the show then, how do you determine how many from each market you bring uh or allow a person to have a booth? Obviously, you don't want to have 60 photographers at the show. So is there typically uh is there typically like a certain number that you like to have?

SPEAKER_03 25:13

Yeah, you know, at one time we had limits and now we don't. Once again, after 40 years, you kind of know like um 30 financial planners are not why the people people are coming to the show. So, you know, we usually keep that to under five for our larger show. Um, so it's again just uh uh and a lot of times photographers now offer different services. Some might offer video. I I have a photographer that does decor as well. So it you know, it's just a matter of judgment um at this point. And and we try to make sure that when people walk through our shows, they're not seeing a photographer after photographer.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

So even if there are five or six or so, they're spread out throughout all the different walls that you use. Interesting. Okay. And so uh is the business then is it where you always envisioned it to be? Did you did you have a vision to get it to this point like 40 years ago? Did you think it was gonna be bigger? Or was it just very much about balance between business and family?

SPEAKER_03 26:18

That's a really good question. Um I think the point where I'm at now is um I really have a successful formula, although we always have to be open to change. Um so I guess when anyone starts out a business, they hope for success, right? And they hope it it so that's a hard question because I I do think I don't know if I envisioned it the way it is today, right? But I I did want it to be like successful and big and the wedding show that people came to. And I was able to buy weddingshows.com over the years as well and weddingshows.ca. So that's given me a lot of leverage as well. Um, yeah, so I I think it's probably um definitely where I would have wanted it if you said to me back 40 years ago, you know, what do you want this business to look like? Did I think I'd be going at it for 40 years? I maybe not, but at the same time, I love what I'm doing. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:23

Yeah, I mean, when we had coffee the other day, you you seem like you absolutely just like love putting on an event, putting on a show, making sure that uh those that come to the event have just an absolutely phenomenal experience and uh you want that standard to continue.

SPEAKER_03 27:41

Yeah, and you know what really drives me at this point is helping young entrepreneurs start their businesses. That I have a passion for that, and we see a lot of new businesses like pretty much start their business at the wedding show. You know, they might be six months old and they're like, I don't know how to find engaged couples or how do I increase it. Everyone kind of thinks Instagram's gonna be the magic bullet. It's not, not the way Instagram, you know, the algorithms now. Um, so we can pretty much guarantee the numbers through each of our shows. And it's just that's the other difference. We used to do a show and walk away. We used to do 10 days of advertising on the Windsor Star, 10 days of advertising on AM 800, and then walk away. Posters up around the city in the stores. That's it. Now we market all year long. So Facebook and Instagram, every day, every single day, maybe the odd day missed in a year, we post and we only post about our vendors. Um, our vendors get a lead list that couples sign off on that we can share. Um, so the lead list comes after the show to them. Um, our vendors get a digital listing on weddingshows.com. It's a shop online planning wedding, and a lot of small businesses are telling me that's where people are finding them all year long. So it's coming up high in Google searches. Um, that was developed through COVID. I was able to get a woman's entrepreneur grant, and that digital site was um, yeah. So if you search now limousines in Windsor or you know, wedding limousines, anything wedding category, it's our our website will come up fairly high. I didn't know that. Yeah, so every you have a you have a digital listing up there. I know, but I never searched anything, right? So, like I say, a lot of our smaller businesses, like officiants for one, they don't have much presence, right? A lot of people find them after the show there. Um, and then we also give discounted um ads in our programs um and our digital listing if people want to upgrade. Um, and the final thing we do is when new businesses come into the show, we try to help them. Like I'll tell them, call me. Like, not too many questions is okay. Like a lot of them say, I don't want to bother you. And I'm like, no, that's what I'm there for. So very open to help answer questions leading into the show. We give vendors uh a work, kind of a vendor success workbook, um, what to do before the show, what to do at the show, what to do after the show. We keep updating that.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

We've done it so many years in a row that we're just we're used to what's going on. Right. When we first started, I want to say four years ago when we did the show, uh, it was a huge help because you don't really know, especially as someone like brand new, you don't really know like what you're walking into, or like how many people are actually gonna be at this show, or uh, you know, how to get people to make sure they stop at your booth, or make sure that you have enough people at your booth that you can answer all the questions when there's five couples that come up to you at the same time, right? Like small business owners and and people who are starting on this entrepreneur journey. The the biggest thing that I have always told people is like there is no dumb question. Yeah, like ask. If people, if if you're running a restaurant, like a I don't know, whatever, if you're running a pastry shop, go ask some people that run pastry shops some questions because most likely business owners are willing to help you because they don't want you to see the same mistakes that they had. Right. Right. So being able to ask those questions and being able to open yourself up to answer all of those questions from from new business owners at the show is like just such a um like an irreplaceable feature that you add that no other person does.

SPEAKER_03 31:24

Yeah, and you know, I mean, we want to distinguish ourselves. We're not a flea market show. Yes, our booth prices might be double of what just setting up a table might be somewhere. Um, but you're going to get someone when they come in helping you set up, like showing you where your booth is. You're you're gonna get direction before, after, and during the show. Um, and so we pride ourselves in that. With that being said, our booth prices are probably half, at least half the price of Toronto shows now, and and uh definitely less than even London, Ontario by a large margin. So again, at 40 years, my passion is to help young entrepreneurs continue helping established customers in the wedding industry. Uh and and could I charge more booth for booths? Yeah, I could, but that I don't need to. That's not where I'm at. I want to see people in the wedding industry uh survive and thrive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Yeah, I mean, listen, I love it. I and I and I love the story because you you're you're just so well, I guess the right way to say it would be like uh I don't want to use word balanced, but you're whether it's like personal life and business life or making money versus having business owners succeed, like you're like I want to be in the middle where I'm successful and others are successful, but at the same time, I don't want to charge them an arm and a leg for a booth. And I also want to have like time with my family. Like you're in this like really middle ground, which is amazing because I think most of us would love to be there.

SPEAKER_03 32:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

Right. Like I always say And it is hard sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 32:55

It's hard.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

I always say when I got into business for myself, like it's because I wanted to have control of my time, yeah, freedom to be at my kids' sporting events and stuff like that when I had kids. Um, and you know, luckily I have a one-year-old, so like I've got more time until that happens. Right. Uh, and that was because my dad was always working when I was competing and swimming, and he was never there because he had to work. Yeah. Right. And so I just had this like growing up, I was like, that's my dad worked for me so that I could do these things, but I didn't want to have to be that person that missed all my kids' events, right? Yeah. Um, and so, you know, hopefully when my kid is old enough that I'm, you know, making time to make sure that I'm there for those things. Um I think you'll be able to do that.

SPEAKER_03 33:34

You just have this good balance. It's just amazing. You know, the the one thing I had a vendor, probably uh to me, the most um the nicest compliment I've ever gotten from a customer is I had a customer say to me, You're tough, Nancy, but you're fair. Everyone knows you're fair. I don't discount booths. If someone gives up their booth because something happened, you know, the week before, and oh, they've decided to go on vacation, which people do, they'll invest and then decide to go on vacation. You know, I could call a whole bunch of people and say, I'll give you a booth for half price. Never have done that. I give it to the two people beside that, split it in half. So I've always tried to be bare to my customers and keep their best interests because it's not gonna do me any good to be discounting booths and then my customers that have been with me for you know 30 years find out the person next to them paid for half the booth price. And they're gonna if you don't, I won't do it.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

And if you don't think they're gonna find out, they're gonna find out. Yeah, they do. Like they talk, everybody, everybody talks, they talk, you know, like yeah, I I'm fully on board with that because I love even just uh Jay and I Jay and I in the office were joking about this the other day because you you one of the strictest rules you have is no one packs up before the end of the day. And I love it, but you always see those like five or ten boots, and they're like, well, you know, it's it's 455 and no one's really here, and Nancy's giving away the prizes, so we're gonna pack up early, and you're always like, put your stuff back.

SPEAKER_03 35:03

Yeah, it's so unprofessional, it's so unprofessional. I honestly um last year's fall wedding show, I had someone do the biggest deal he had ever done, a DJ. Um within five minutes, and I we waited. It we waited, you know, for him. We didn't push him out. He was there for an hour after the show, and he was like, Thank you. Like that person came to my booth five minutes before they raced through. They knew they wanted to get a DJ and and uh they booked with me.

SPEAKER_00 35:31

So yeah, it's uh I learned this interesting rule. Probably, I want to say, I guess, uh when was I working at Sleep Country? Probably eight years ago, right before nine years ago, probably right before I moved here. And uh there was always a so the the the regional sales guy told us this story where one of the sales guys he would always leave uh like 10 to say 20 minutes early. Yeah, if he was at the bottom of the list. And so, you know, if four guy, if four sales guys are working that day, they have like an up system where, you know, this person gets the first person who walks in the door and so on and so on. And if the guy was at the bottom of the list, he would always leave five or 10, uh, five or uh 20, 10 to 15 minutes, let's say, early every day. And at the end of the year, he didn't make quite the sales target that he wanted to make for himself and was kind of upset. And the regional manager just said, listen, uh, if there's one thing you change this whole next year, I just want you to stay to the end of your shift. Every shift. Yeah, just just stay the extra 15 or 20 minutes. Just just do that for me. Don't change anything else. You're you know, your sales process is good and your customer service is good, but just stay the extra 20 minutes. And at the end of the year, he made 30% more money because the amount of people that are like, the store's closing in 10 minutes. I gotta and it there would be like five or six or seven more people that would come in in the last 10 minutes. That's it.

SPEAKER_03 36:54

But he would always miss, yeah, right?

SPEAKER_00 36:56

Like we always I did it the other day. I was my wife was like, uh um we need whatever, we need chicken for tonight. And I was like, oh, Steve Green's down the street. Oh, he closes in 10 minutes. I gotta get there. Yeah, and you get there at like two minutes early, uh before or two minutes before the the door locks. Yeah. But then you, you know, you sell something that you weren't expecting to sell that day if you would close the door five minutes early.

SPEAKER_03 37:17

Yeah, it's pre proven research that people that come the last 30 minutes into a store or a trade show are there for a reason. They're not paying. Well, we don't charge them probably if they come in 30 minutes before, but you know, even that last hour, they're not paying to come because they just want to leisurely walk through the show. They're paying to buy something or to get things done at a trade show. And it's it's proven research. Yeah, they want to get it. And they want to get it done. They have they have goals and they want to get it done. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:45

Yeah, I love that rule because it's just it like for me, it's the it's the professionalism, right? Because it's not just the it's not just you, it's a reflection of reflection of the entire show. Absolutely. If a bunch of people start leaving before the show's over and there are still people coming and walking through, like it's not just the business that's it's and it's their liability as well.

SPEAKER_03 38:08

It's their liability. It's like, yeah, there's a lot involved in it. Um, and a lot of times um it could be head office owns, so the head office doesn't know this is happening. So we always, you know, if there's a blatant, a blatant packing up early and out of there, and we've seen it like even an hour before, we let head offices know like your staff wasn't there until the end of the show, and they're like, What? Yeah, they're paying these people to be there, right?

SPEAKER_00 38:33

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's crazy. Um, so let's okay, let's change topic a little bit. Um so you've been running this business for 40 years, you also have a family life that you've done lots of uh I'll call it balance with, making sure that you're home for dinners and stuff like that. Um, but where we sort of reconnected outside of the wedding show itself, um, I want to talk a little bit about this since we have some time. Is um I came out to Harrow uh to the run for Rocky, and I was completely blown away because of the story that you told, but I didn't expect to obviously see you there. And then I was like, oh, Nancy's here, I should go talk to Nancy. And then Craig Ramsey brought you up to speak about Rocky. Um, and I was kind of blown away because I I too, and I've shown I've I've shared on the podcast um with my uncle taking his own life. Um what I mean, what is that like as and you can obviously explain the story with with Rocky uh to whatever extent you want to explain the story. Um, but what is that like running a business and having something so dramatic um happen in your personal life and still being you know this self-employed person that doesn't just have benefits and breathement time and all this kind of stuff? Like you still have to do stuff, right? Because you are self-employed and you are the but but at the same time such a tragic thing happens. Like, how did you manage all of that?

SPEAKER_03 40:04

It was awful. Yeah. Um with that being said, um you never prepare for that, but my husband had had a heart attack when he was 43. Um, so I had gone through tragedy um at that age and still having to run a business. And at that time being alone, you know, try making sure he was recouping and we had the three kids at that time. So um, and then I lost a brother a year before that to suicide, a year before Rocky passed away, and I was the person that stepped in and oversaw all his finances and uh totally unexpected. Uh again, the emotional turmoil of that was was huge, but I still had a business to run. Uh, had three pregnancies while running a business. The first one, the business was just starting, so I took, you know, I think I just worked one or two days a week and took maybe two months off before I went at it. And then the second one was more like three weeks off. And my third one was a little bit of a surprise. So I had her on a Saturday, was out of the hospital Sunday and back to work Monday. Now, thank God I had Rob taking paternity leave for Kirsten and Connor or second and third. So that helped. But I mean, the office was in the house and I was still able to feed the kids, and uh, you know, it it all worked out well. When Rocky took his life, um, of course it was devastating. And uh I was probably you know, from from what psychologists will tell you, you're in a kind of state of um PDSD for probably five years. So, you know, I'll meet people now and they'll say, Oh, I met you like in this year, I met you in a it's like a fog almost. So I want to say I traveled through time in somewhat of a fog, but on autopilot of doing what I knew how to do best, and that was event planning. So Rocky passed away two weeks later. Uh I I was organizing an event for Devonshar Mall. It was called the Big Reveal, and it was it was produced uh on film and it was show, it was a show. Um, David Klemmer from Toronto, who's a big fashion stylist, came down to do it and it was a fundraiser, and I was his backup person. So, David, I was the person that pulled all the clothes and fitted all the models, but David acted like he did when he came in and did the show. So it was a really cool opportunity. It was two weeks after Rocky passed away. I had a co-op student, Chantal Parent, who's business-minded, uh family-owned family's first funeral home at the time. And Chantel had been my co-op student and was planning on moving to Toronto. And right after Rocky passed away, she said, Do you need help? And I said, Chantel, yes. And she came and didn't go to Toronto and worked with me in the office for two years. And uh, what a perfect person, a person who had been around, you know, grief her whole life, young but wise beyond her years, and uh really is like a daughter to me. Um, so um I had her in the office, and one of my best friends is a psychologist, and uh we golfed a lot together, and she was like a second mother to Rocky. They have no children, and so she was going through the same grief, but um yeah, I I got on autopilot and I knew the work that Rocky wanted done because um he talked a lot to us. He came out when he was in grade 12. Uh, he talked about the challenges he had faced, and he also, you know, talked about he had just gotten a job with Procter and Gamble, and it was his dream job, and only 0.01% of graduates in Canada get an interview with Proctor and Gamble. So through Procter and Gamble, he had to do community service work, and he wanted to go and talk to GSAs, which were just mandated by the the Interior government, that if a student asked for a GSA, um, a GSA had to be formed. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

And you said this at Coffee GSA. What exactly is GSA?

SPEAKER_03 44:04

So GSA, um, back when they started in 2012, or under the the uh name Gay Straight Alliances. Okay. A lot of schools have now uh moved to gender and sexuality alliances. Other schools have, I have one school in the city that calls herself the quilt bag group because there's a book about a quilt bag and the different pieces that come together. So um yeah, so it's it's a club that supports um people under the two S LGBTQIA plus community uh and their allies. A lot of times we see allies um being part uh of the club and doing advocacy work, or just even students who feel like they don't have a place in the school and they can go to the club and just be part of being accepted for who they are.

SPEAKER_01 44:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:54

So um I met with the director of Windsor Pride in October. Rocky passed away in August and uh Bob Williams at the time, and um, he asked to meet with me, and I said, Yeah, we've never met, but we should meet. And we both said at the same time, I said, I want to do a fundraiser, I want to do something, and we both said run for Rocky. And Rocky had just run in the Pride, the Toronto Pride run. Uh he had done it for two years in a row in June, and the second the second year he did it, he was the third highest fundraiser, and he had just moved to Toronto, so he was very successful at everything. He touched Rocky. Rocky had that business gene. He was a graduate of Ivy Business School, and he knew how to make money from when he was 13 years old, and um, he was just very business-minded and very smart. So um yeah, so the first run for Rocky happened in April of 2013. And um at the time Rocky uh attempted to take his life, he was alive for two days, and we couldn't donate his organs and or anything, eyes, anything. And, you know, the the conversation basically led to he was gay, and so at that time there wasn't standard policy, although there was policy, but no one really knew what it was. So um during that October to April time, I started we started a uh Canada-wide petition that all healthy donors should be able to donate. And there was a testing system out at the time, but they weren't using it, saying it was too expensive. So, you know, there's a lot of people, whether they're uh straight or gay, that have risky sexual behavior. And so there's a test that tells you. Yeah, a hundred percent. Actually, in Canada in the last two months, that's just finally been approved. So that's amazing. The petition did go to parliament, was tabled in parliament, and after that, I've sat on a number of patient advocacy groups uh in Canada through Health Canada and through uh a doctor that's doing research out of Manitoba. And so change was made, um, I think through some of those processes. Yeah. Yeah. So the first run for Rocky was way more successful than what we imagined. Uh, we raised over $70,000.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 47:09

It was a kind of dreary, cold April day, and um yeah, that's why you moved it to August when it would be sunny. Well, well, it we did the run for five years, the run, it's a run walk.

SPEAKER_00 47:22

So I was gonna say because I so I met again, we met Craig. I did a podcast with Craig. That's kind of how I ran into this, and and my wife and I are gonna do the walk with with our son. Hopefully he's walking by then. If not, we'll push him in the stroller or whatnot. Um, but uh my understanding is you guys did did it for a period of time and then you took a break.

SPEAKER_03 47:42

So we did it for five years. Uh, we had uh a funding model that was really working well. We had money in the bank, and as a family, we needed a break. Like every year it was rehashing, rehashing, rehashing. Uh, and it was something that we we did, we would have never done the run without our kids saying, do it. It's something they totally supported. Um, but we just needed a break. Um, and you know, talking to the news every year. And so um, and at the time, Bob Williams at Windsor Pride was looking at possibly retiring. There was some shift. So we thought this is a good time just to take a break. So we took a five-year break, and a lot of people were saying, we're missing this so much, we're missing this so much. And and the funding model was being used more and more. So it's good to replenish, right? To continue that. Um, so we spoke with uh Windsor Pride Fest and they said we'd love to have it as part of our lineup in August, and that's why we moved it to August. Okay. So it's part of Windsor Pride Fest now. Um, if the day comes that Rob and I can no longer organize it, they can. So hopefully it will be an event that stays in Windsor for many, many years to come.

SPEAKER_00 48:54

Yeah. Yeah. For sure. And so uh the funds that are raised, where do they go? Okay. So people know.

SPEAKER_03 49:00

Yep. So if anyone wants to look at the exact funding model, runforrocky.com, everything's there, but I'll I'll just spew up a few of the things. Uh GSA Leadership Scholarships. We're awarding that uh in two weeks. We just went through applications and um once we award that, we've given out $69,000 in scholarships. Um GSA grants. So schools can um apply for grants, GSA clubs every year, whether that's for books in the library. Yes, we're the book people. Um, books in the library that all kids can relate to, uh, murals on walls. I just was at Catholic Central today. Believe it, Catholic Central has a whole safe space area with the Pride Color Fork, Pride Color and Direct Chairs. So they they applied for a run for grant uh a few years back, and and then uh actual art piece, and now they've got a big mural on the wall and they want to continue it into the stairwell. So um, yeah, that's amazing. Um all kinds of grants. We've given out grants for speakers, we've given out grants for um uh teacher resources, we've given out grants for oh, there's just so many things.

SPEAKER_00 50:12

I'd have and so any and so anybody that is uh uh looking for grants, they can find everything on Run for Walking.

SPEAKER_03 50:24

As well as the scholarship application. Um and then we do um Caesars Windsor has given us um a substantial amount of money over the years directed only to educating educators. So we just bought a $70 resource book for uh 50 schools in the city that have GSAs. Um we also do teacher training. Uh egal Canada has come in and done training for guidance counselors. So there's one person in the school that if parents come to them, they can help direct them. Um so educators, educating educators is a big component. We now do what we call a GSA booster bag. Um it was a big box that we distributed full of supplies for GSA teachers. So they had it would be like a basketball team not having uniforms, or you know, whether these are games, uh conversation cards, all kinds of resource materials for for teachers that they can distribute to other educators in the school when they're asking or to parents. So just a ton of resources. Every year now we do a booster bag to up those supplies. Those go out every April. Um, we also do uh help educate their training through the University of Windsor. Uh they have a summer program uh that gives uh I believe it's called an EQA, that additional credits that teacher can get, teachers can get on um uh understanding diversity in their students. Um we get students and educators to conferences. Um and tomorrow, no, Thursday, Egal Canada uh is doing a GSA conference here in Windsor, and it's they picked Windsor as their Ontario location. Um they used to do it all over Canada, and we used to get students like help fund students and educators to get there. Life-changing. I've had students tell me it saved their literally saved their life going to a conference like that and being around other people.

SPEAKER_00 52:23

I remember you saying at coffee the the the one really big story that kind of that kind of stuck with me, and again, I've I've never felt like this, right? Was you said something along the lines of the amount of times that you've heard people say uh that they weren't the minority in a room. Um they weren't the majority. Sorry, yeah, they were the majority in the room. Walking into a conference for a student like that, yeah. Like like I tried to process that for like a couple days. Like I was like, I don't know if I've ever walked into a room and not been the majority of something.

SPEAKER_03 52:59

It it was a really profound statement by a grade 11 student who was attending the Canada-wide uh GSA conference that I gal put on here. I want to say that was in 2017, maybe 2019, and they walked right up to me within the first five minutes and said, This is the first time I've ever been a majority in a room. And to me, I had to sit back and think about that. And just as a straight person, do not know that feeling, right? And then think if you're a person of color and part of the LGBTQ community, like just like goes down the line. Right. It really, really does. I think you know, the most important thing that Ren Feraki does is the support and visibility we give in in the community. Oh, another thing we do is we we have QR code signs where that businesses, doctors' offices can get, and it says uh support for your rainbow family uh in the community, and it QR codes all the agencies in the city. Uh, so we make sure those those are, you know, whoever wants one, we I pick up 50 of them tomorrow. So just that education. We've always been about education, not pushing, you know, perspectives, just education. And that has really worked. Uh, it's helped a lot of families. A lot of parents have come to us and said, thank you for being a voice. Because a lot of parents have been embarrassed to talk about their kids, you know, being part of the community for whatever reason. Sometimes they don't know how their family's gonna react, sometimes they don't know how their friends are gonna act. It's given people some empowerment of voice, and they feel like their family belongs. And and yeah, so that another big goal for me was uh we used to have a lot of LGBTQ people leaving to go to Toronto because they didn't feel there was any place in Windsor or schools, maybe once they had their children. Windsor now has um the largest number of GSAs, probably from here to to bigger communities, whether that's Kitchener or Waterloo. For community air size, there's a lot of support here and a lot of great agencies doing work and we're all working together.

SPEAKER_00 55:08

Yeah, listening to the story that Craig told, um, obviously I knew his personal story from doing the podcast with him, but hearing you and him talk uh that day out at the run for Rocky launch, um like just how things have changed in the area for people is completely different than where it was 10 years ago, right? Like all these bigger cities obviously are gonna change a little bit faster. There are more people, bigger community already, because there's just more people. But you know, I'll call it little old Windsor Essex is just it's just different, right? You're you're farther away from the bigger cities, um, there's less people, um and just hearing how things have changed.

SPEAKER_03 55:52

Yeah. And you know, we've uh we're going through a time of pushback because of what we're seeing in the United States. And and you see the rhetoric online here in comment sections, but I say to people, something as simple as flying that pride flag at schools for one week, one week in June. I don't know how many people I've had email me um or say to me, I was back in Windsor and I couldn't believe I saw that flag flying out back in Amherst, right? And it's like I never thought I would see that. That just made my day. And and I think you know, these people who want to talk the hate, want to push the ideology that's really false. Um need to think maybe one day that flag might help your child, your grandchild, or your great grandchild just to walk through the doors of a school. And if that saves that person's life or having a GSA in a school helps them get through their high school years, which we all know are the hardest years, um then just let it go. Yeah. Everyone needs a place. A hundred percent. Yeah, and these teacher leaders that we have in the school are so passionate about just being there for these students. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:14

Yeah. I mean, it's about support, right? And and whether it's whether it's through GSAs, whether it's through business, whether it's like it's just like support is just, it's so uh it's just needed. Yeah. Right. I mean, even just looking at your business from the event planning side of things and and how much you support new business owners who are trying to get their career off, there's no difference between that and trying to support someone who's trying to understand who they are at such a pivotal moment in their life. Right. Right. I mean, just being able to be there to to have a conversation with someone is just super important. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_03 57:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:52

Um, but running but doing all of that and running a business, I mean, that's just like uh obviously it's something you got more involved in, obviously, after Rocky passed. Um have you found it challenging to do both?

SPEAKER_03 58:07

Um certain times of the year. I mean, the good thing is kind of uh run for Rocky gets very, very busy uh towards the end of March, April, May, June's a busy month, July, August. And that's kind of my lead up time more for the wedding shows where I'm selling. So it's not like the managing, you know, all those final details. So the balance is okay. Yes, you know, I work more hours again, closer to events than maybe I'd like to sometimes. But yeah, again, a passion for it, right? So, and it's something that will kind of keep me in the event planning business one day if I do retire.

SPEAKER_00 58:48

Yeah. Yeah, who knows? Yeah, but who knows where it leads, right?

SPEAKER_03 58:51

Yeah, it's it's good work, and it's work that uh, you know, I could make more time for um when that happens.

SPEAKER_00 58:57

So for sure. Yeah. Uh well, we are running out of time. I've kept you a little bit longer than I said I'd keep you. Uh, we always end the podcast uh asking our guest one question, okay, which is to Nancy, what does success mean to you?

SPEAKER_03 59:13

I think you already described it for me. And it it was that I was able to have a business that um has been fulfilling, um, has uh made me an independent woman, I think, uh, who could share that with the family, right? The fruits of of my labor. My husband was able to go part-time uh to give us that balance of family life. And um I I I think I've most of the time had that balance as well. I know I've definitely um, you know, been a mom that's been there um almost all the time, whether it's a a kid's soccer game, like you said, or a a field trip or a a call. Mom, I need you right now, and I'm in the middle of work. I can drop it and I can go. And so um that's the success I was looking for. And that's really what it's meant to me, the reason I started my business. And um yeah, I'm I've always been uh very grateful that I have been able to achieve that balance.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:20

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I think balance is one of the things that I think most entrepreneurs are are sort of trying to look for, right? Uh obviously sometimes maybe it takes a little bit longer than what maybe people thought it would be, uh, or they need to work on things like systems and processes or something like that. But uh I think that's what we're all out there for. A little bit more control of time, yeah, a little bit more freedom, flexibility. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:40

And I think um knowing when to say no is important, which is hard for entrepreneurs. So knowing when to say no and knowing when um enough is enough.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:52

Even as far as um money, right? Because like I said, I could expand at the wedding shows throughout Canada and probably been uh very, very um wealthy, you know, extremely wealthy um many years ago. But in the end, what's wasn't the vision you had. As as we know, uh as a family, life is short and we embrace we we do big events all the time. Like every event, birthdays, whatever, they're big events. I'm not the gardener who doesn't garden.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:23

Our house is the event house, and we we really um we really celebrate life when it's the happy times.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:31

Yeah, you need to. Yeah, absolutely. And uh as you just mentioned, I mean, you know, unfortunately, as you guys are aware, life is short, right? And and and some of those moments, they just uh, you know, they need to be celebrated when you have them because you we all need to be aware that you just don't know.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:48

Yeah, I just watched Martin Short's documentary this week and it just came out, and he's a Canadian. Um, but it it's I highly suggest it. I have a feeling he had the same mentality, and uh it was really, really a good watch. And he's Canadian. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:03

I love a good documentary.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:04

Yeah, it was very good.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:05

Interesting. Awesome. Well, uh, is there anything else that you want to say to the to the people listening or watching, whether it's uh about the events that you have, uh what's coming up, where they can find you, anything like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:16

Well, if anyone's interested in in participating in the wedding show as a vendor or coming to the wedding show, it's weddingshows.com on Facebook, Wedding Shows Windsor, as well as on Instagram, Wedding ShowsWindsor, and then Run for Rocky, we are open for registration. It's a 5K run, 3K walk, Saturday, August 8th. Um, everyone says it's one of the most uplifting events that they've ever been part of. It's not competitive, it's fun, it's community. Um, and that happens August 8th at Deep Gardens, and registration is open at runforcky.com. And there you can find out a lot more about, you know, the funding model, uh, applications for scholarships and uh grants as well.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:57

Awesome. Great. Well, Nancy, thank you so much for taking the time to chat about your business and obviously, you know, uh what you got going on in your personal life and everything that there is uh going on with Run for Rocky. Um, I really appreciate the time. Thank you. Awesome. Uh everybody, that's another episode of Cracking the Success Vault here with Spectre Group. Uh, I appreciate you guys taking the time to watch. As always, you can find us everywhere, whether it's uh, you know, YouTube, um, Spotify, Apple Music Podcasts, uh, you know where to find us. Until next time.