Connor Beaton

February 25 2017

GoGetters Vancouver – How to build a business that makes history

ftyang Archive, Business Seminar Business Seminar, Connor Beaton, GoGetters Vancouver, Himanshu Narang, Ryan Joseph Zokol 0

Date: February 13, 2017

Name: GoGetters Vancouver – How to build a business that makes history

Presenters: Himanshu Narang, Ryan Joseph Zokol, and Connor Beaton

Successful entrepreneurs need to acquire the necessary skills, strategies, and ideas to take their business into the next level. GoGetters Vancouver invites Himanshu Narang, the professional speaker, Ryan Joseph Zokol, the Lifestyle entrepreneur, and Connor Beaton, the Founder of ManTalks, to discuss their key lessons from supporting leading entrepreneurs to exceed their businesses. In this presentation, Himanshu Narang will share steps on making actionable decision. Ryan Joseph Zokol will share the importance of storytelling, and Connor Beaton will share his 3 pillars to build a business that lasts.

Decide Tonight

Himanshu Narang is the co-Founder of GoGetters Vancouver. He owns his own company, Himanshu Narang Inc, to help entrepreneurs produce legendary results. He was a chief business strategist for RocketFuel Digital. He won many awards, including the 2016 Graham Anderson Golden Eagle Award, and Top 9 Speakers in Canada. Moreover, he is a reliable mentor for many young entrepreneurs.

Himanshu Narang believes it is important for all entrepreneurs to complete their monthly plan. It provides directions and accountability to overall productivity, success and enjoyment. Entrepreneurs need to think about their “Past Wins”, “Not Doing Anymore”, “Celebrate Life”, and “Not Doing Now”. This exercise will help entrepreneurs to discover their top 3 priorities and 3 actions for that month.

Narang states one of the main moves that most people do not complete is decision. To help entrepreneurs make decision, Narang provides a list of questions.

What problem will your business solve in the world?
How will your business solve that problem better than anyone else?
When you would have built the business of your dreams, what would your life look like? Socially? Intellectually? Financially? Physically? Spiritually?
What are you willing to do and give (for the short / medium term), to get what you want?
Are you ready to decide to build business that will make history?
Are you ready to sacrifice or are you staying for status quo?

The purpose of these questions is to trigger for more inner personal questions. It will also explain the missing pieces of the puzzle. Many entrepreneurs are struggling with the last 2 questions. Many people are not willing to sacrifice their salary and saving to achieve their dreams. Sometimes, entrepreneurs need to let go of something good to get something great. When they make the decision, they need to write it down.

“I decide to build a business that will make history”

Using your story to build your business

Ryan Joseph Zokol is also the co-Founder of GoGetters Vancouver. He is also the Chief Operating Officer for Pacific Institute for Advanced Dental Education. He is a speaker and a coach to help young entrepreneurs be able to breakthrough their life obstacles. He was a Vice President of Strategy in Cerulean. Moreover, he is a gold metal champion in rowing and swimming.

In any networking event, entrepreneurs are often asked two questions: “who are you?” And “what do you do?”. Most answers are the same. They normally list their titles. Zokol believes it is important for entrepreneurs to know who they are and what their business is truly about. They are more than just making money.

There is a difference between listing accomplishments and sharing the hardship and lessons learned. It allows others to remember their values, connections, and emotions.

Zokol shares his life story. Zokol was a meth addict when he was young. His parents were divorced and his life was not going the way he wanted. Nothing was good enough for him because there was no acknowledgement. In high school, he felt empty and suffering. There was abuse in his family. He felt drug was his way of escape the reality. One day, he was checked by a police. He had two options. He could continue to escape or admit and face the demon. He took the second option. The commitment led to realization.

“From story and accomplishment, emotions are different”

Story is important. Entrepreneurs need own the past first. They need to make themselves from victim to hero in their story. They need to own their story and stand out. Everyone has a story and each story is different. That is how entrepreneurs make a difference in the world.

In business, story can set entrepreneurs apart. Story can help them build something that people care about. It frames their scarcity and dictates their values. It also creates loyal and meaningful bonds. It is more than content and a narrative.

“The world’s most successful brands do not behave like commodities and neither should you”

Story tells people what they should believe based on the signals. Signals show what entrepreneurs stand for in a complete picture.

Zokol believes story begins for entrepreneurs when customers hear their names for the first time, see their logos for the first time, visit their website for the first time, and experience about their service for the first time. It is entrepreneur’s job to give customer a story to tell.

Personal and business stories can create powerful impact. It tells the “why”, the passion, and the difference. Entrepreneurs should not downplay their stories because hardships are the most compelling.

Zokol provides a strategy to help entrepreneurs discover their story. It is called “7 levels deep”. This exercise digs down 7 whys to allow entrepreneurs discover their true “why”. It sounds simple, but it is very effective because it touches the core of their story.

Zokol lists 6 tips for storytelling.

Must have “circumstance”, “curiosity”, “characters”, “conversation”, and “conflict”
Stop bragging and start relating
Spark the emotions
Engaged through the senses
Start in the middle
Give the audience what matters

“Not mental problem, it is empowerment problem”

Three pillars to building a life and business that lasts

Connor Beaton is the Founder of ManTalks and the Founder of Real Talk Summit. He creates a movement that connects minded men across Canada and North America. He worked in Apple for over 3 years and his own photography for over 4 years. With his core leadership skills, he supports and mentors many young entrepreneurs. Moreover, he is an international speaker and has spoken on TEDxStanleypark and featured on HeForShe, CBC, and National Post.

When Connor Beaton was 8 years old, his parents brought him a hatchet for gift. He loved going to the background and build his own space. He would invite kids in his neighborhood to play in his secret space.

Beaton asks entrepreneurs to think about these 2 questions: “what is the title of your autobiography?” and “what do your autobiography need to be at the end of my life?”. This should capitulate their story because it defines who they really are.

Beaton was born in Edmonton, Alberta. From a divorced family, Beaton experienced two different families. He saw the opposite forces everywhere he went. He began to see it in his life, like 2 different personalities. In high school, he was miserable. He had no life goals and directions. He once worked in a gravel pit and discovered the people around them are depressed. He was worry his life would become like them. He asked his father for advice. His father left him the advice of following his passion. Beaton loved opera, he took that passion and turned it to his career. However, his life was bad. He became arrogant, stubborn and never reach out for help. He believed reaching out for help is a failure. He lived in his car for a while. Finally, he got himself up and set two goals he wanted to accomplish: go to the most impactful company (Apple), and start a business that impact the world.

Beaton believes the purpose starts with who. Entrepreneurs must understand who they are and they need to be comfortable of saying out loud. The vulnerability creates connection. Beaton develops a strategy called “Life in 90 seconds”. Entrepreneurs need to define their important moments through 90 seconds. It is a great way to engage with people. The exercise will make other entrepreneurs want to know more about them. Everything is routed to purpose.

“People buy who you are not what you know”

Entrepreneurs need to remember by knowing what to do in their jobs is just a prerequisite. Entrepreneurs cannot give others what they do not have. Therefore, self-awareness sells.

Self-awareness makes them stand out. It makes them unique. It allows entrepreneurs to discover their specific reason why they exist. The more awareness they know about themselves, the stronger they are.

Beaton often asks himself, “what is true about your life now that would make your 8-year-old self cry?”. Whatever entrepreneurs are not doing right now, they need to shift. They need to align with their purpose. Often their message is similar to their primary message when they are young.

The 3 purpose pillars are freedom, fulfillment, and contribution. Beaton uses these 3 pillars for his decision making. Beaton believes it is the simplest way to live. It is the foundation of choosing. Beaton will create his virtuous vision. Beaton suggests entrepreneurs to go out to native and explore.

Fulfillment is important. Nobody wants to start a business they hate. Money is not the primary factor. If entrepreneurs choose money, they might look successful, but they are miserable. Passion is the fuel. Success is a combination of purpose and fulfillment.

“Chase fulfillment first, money follows”

Beaton believes motivation is not the answer. People think they need motivation, but their brain will avoid it because the brain is structured to stay comfortable. Inspiration is the key because real change only happens in inspiration or desperation.

Most entrepreneurs have a “Do” list, but not “Be” list. “Be” list is what makes entrepreneurs who they are. They tend to forget about the “Be” list. Many entrepreneurs tend to peddling potential. They sell themselves on potentials, but deep down, they do not have it at all. Beaton recommends entrepreneurs to sell where they are right now. People only cares who they are at that moment. Beaton believes in “heterodox”. If entrepreneurs do the right thing, people will follow.

Entrepreneurs should stop doing what they hate. Beaton suggests them to outsource these activities to someone else. They need to focus on making their own legacy. They need to understand what others want to remember them at the end of their lives. Often people only tend to “get by”, but they need to look more further.

The ultimate currency is human connection. Human connection is the single most important thing in business. No matter what, human connection is not avoidable. Beaton had a golden salary at Apple. When his business was able to support himself and others, he took the chance and chase his dream. Beaton suggests young entrepreneurs to build the net first, then leap.

“Build the net first, then leap”

April 17 2016

ManTalks – School of Greatness

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Date: April 9, 2016

Name: ManTalks – School of Greatness

Presenters: Connor Beaton, Ryan Holmes, and Lewis Howes

All leaders have their own definition of the word “Greatness” in their life journey. Moreover, leaders who are able to live a life of greatness are the true visionaries everyone should look upon. ManTalks invites Connor Beaton, the Founder of ManTalks, Ryan Holmes, the Founder of Hootsuite, and Lewis Howes, the lifestyle entrepreneur and the author of “The School of Greatness”, to share their experiences and challenges that lead to their life of greatness. The presentation is hosted by Riaz Meghji. In this presentation, leaders will learn the value of different perspectives. All presenters will inspire leaders with their stories. In addition, this presentation is for leaders who are on their ways to search for their life purpose and legacy they wish to leave this world with.

The story of Connor Beaton

Connor Beaton mentions the idea behind ManTalks is to create a space for positive masculinity. It focuses on creating quality of personal life. Based on statistic, the suicide rate for men over 45 years has increased over 60%. This means men are 4 times more likely to suicide. Another statistic Beaton mentions is that 50% of men do not have a true best friend in their lives. ManTalks is a place for men to have great conversation.

Many people think greatness is a checklist. They believe by completing the checklist, they will be able to lead extraordinary life. However, Beaton disagrees. In order to achieve greatness, people need to know who they want to be first.

“If you want a great life, it is not what you get, it is what you give”

People need to ignite their passion and give freely to the world. Everyone has the gift of seeing what people want. For example, Richard Branson has provided a great working environment for his team. One day, one of his VP decided to leave. The reason of leaving was to give more to the world. Richard Branson understood the reason and created “Virgin Unite Charity Foundation” to give back to the world.

“Start thinking about giving, it is a purpose”

It is important for people to figure out their life purpose. Purpose can lead people to the right direction. Purpose can understand the inner self and the purpose can fuel people’s lives. Beaton shares his past. Before he got accepted in University of British Columbia, he was lost. He felt there was no meaning in life. Drinking and motorcycling were his form of escape of reality.

He got himself into street racing. It was illegal, but every time when he accelerated, he was able to unleash himself away from his life. He was living in this lifestyle day by day. When he realized he was about to leave everything behind, his body was torn.

Beaton remembers a day that changed everything. He was street racing in a pouring raining. When he was accelerating, he got hit by a jeep. Everything started to slow down and he saw the fear in the driver’s eyes. The bike slid and had a road rash. He got injured and unconscious. When he woke up, he popped back his shoulder. He stopped. He realized he was terrified in new chapter of life. Now he survived and he began to realize he is here for something. He continued to follow the passion and continued to move forward.

“We have deep scar inside, but we choose not to let others to know”

Beaton believes passion and purpose go hand in hand. Passion and purpose are the steps to greatness. Many people have the fear of not being good enough. There are 3 types of fear: lose, process and outcome. For leaders, the biggest fear is outcome. They are afraid the outcome is not what they expect to be. Beaton illustrates another example. When Jim Carrey was 15, he already had standup session, but he got bombed. He continued his passion and wrote a cheque for himself that he would cash this cheque one day. He never gave up on pursuing his passion. Finally, he was able to cash that cheque. However, he is now pursing money. He lost his original passion and afraid to lose what he had built.

Beaton shares during one of the mastermind session, he spoke to a person who worked with kids. This person shared with Beaton his map to change his life. Beaton asked him what is stopping him. He replied that he does not have the right tool. Reality is, he did not believe in himself the map will lead to what he wanted. Leaders need a compass. Compass is their guts. When they are off course, they need a compass to get back on track. Wisdom is different than knowledge. Leaders might have the knowledge, but wisdom takes them to success.

“Success without fulfillment is failure”

Beaton believes busyness is a choice. Busyness is a sign of success in society, but it is also an excuse. Leaders can commit to their excuses or they can commit to their dreams; however, they cannot commit to both. People do not judge what leaders say, yet they judge them by action. Talents can lead leaders to a destination, but determination can lead leaders to the end.

Beaton wants leaders to protect their most important asset, which is their health. Researchers conducted an experiment on a group of Navy Seals Snippers. With 8 hours of sleep, they maintained good accuracy. When researchers reduced their hours of sleep to 5 hours, their accuracy decreased. Researchers noticed they have 0.01 blood alcohol level when they have less than 5 hours of sleep.

To achieve greatness, people need to let go something, especially their wired belief. Beaton considers this as the art of letting go. Leaders are often have “sunk cost bias”, which means they tend to hold on something because they have it. Leaders associate more on things they already have. It is important to know that leaders can measure what they lost, but they cannot measure what they gain. Leaders need to build their tribe by letting go people who are weighting them down. Beaton indicates greatness might not able to have all the right answers in life, but it can have all the right questions in life.

Questions and Answers

Beaton believes the best way for leaders to build their tribe is to present their vision of way to the society. Building the community was a breakthrough moment for Beaton. It is like a “hockey stick moment”, where things can exponentially increases. The most important thing is to deliver the right message to the community.

Beaton notices sometime leaders will fail because they think too much. They need to be conscious on the impact of their lives. Many leaders forget to schedule themselves in their plan. To make the right choice, leaders need to believe in their strength of their internal compass. Keep everything simple. Reflection is leader’s best friend.

The story of Ryan Holmes

There are good hustle and bad hustle. Nevertheless, Ryan Holmes believes as long as leaders understand the core value of their hustle, they will direct themselves to the right hustle. Everyone is busy and it is easy to use that as excuse. Holmes wants leaders to be conscious on it and learn to say “no”.

Holmes creates Hootsuite because he wanted to create the space for entrepreneurs to fight affordability. Holmes defines greatness is passion. What gests Holmes passion is “legacy”. He sees the future of technology and he wants to build 10 more Hootsuite around the world. Holmes continued to pursue his passion. He built a hub for entrepreneurs and a place for entrepreneurs to learn how to build business. He saw many people go out and started their startups.

Holmes believes the element of any good pitch is the person. Holmes is able to sense if the person has what it takes to smash through any walls. He looks for problem solvers who will deal with the wall. Size and opportunity are also important element in good pitch. He believes ideas can grow.

“Entrepreneur first, idea second”

Holmes talks about the market that is currently underserved is Artificial Intelligence. He foresees the world of opportunity in Artificial Intelligence. Holmes mentions leaders get to learn so much more by owning small business. They get to know little bit of everything. Eventually, they will discover things they do not like and they will find the team to balance it out. The evolution of things leaders do is constantly changing.

Holmes shares the 3 core values for entrepreneurs to strive in business. The first core value is hustle. The second core value is passion, and the third core value is communication. Holmes wants leaders to remember to hustle with good reason, do not let passion run out and easy to start small but harder as it gets bigger.

One of the business failures Holmes experienced was managing people. In average, leaders can only manage 10 people max. As business increases to 100 or more, Holmes needs to build another layer of management. It requires new skill set on every layer. Holmes witnessed many great people in the team have decided to depart separate ways. However, Holmes gets to bring new talent to the team.

When it comes to distinguish many talent people, Holmes looks for culture fit. Leaders need to understand their sparks and patient and discover who they really are. The deal breaker is poor feedback from other companies. Therefore, leaders need to be persistent. At the end of every interview, Holmes will ask what he can do for others. Holmes looks for people with proactive attitude to strive and curiosity. In leadership, Holmes wants the best people in his team. In addition, he would still want to bring growth internally.

Holmes comments that Facebook Live is a unique tool to have because everyone has a television broadcast. Holmes still believes content is more relevant. He will try to find deep articles.

The biggest mistake people make online is to do the wrong action at the wrong time. The humor element is important, but good content can take care itself. Holmes hopes people would stop sharing dark and politics exposure. People should spend more investment on education.

To control emotion in business, Holmes will balance it with outdoor sports. In Holmes’ perspective, it is good to do things on the edge because it makes leaders think about the moment and forget everything else. It is great for people to step out and talk about social media. Smart people will attract the right tools to make their time wise. However, social media can disconnect the face to face conversation. Holmes believes this can be a detox even though social media can still have huge benefit.

To build the tribe, Holmes suggests leaders to find the balance from different skill set on partners. Leaders need to provide the right culture and excitement. It is never the case to motivate on money.

The story of Lewis Howes

Lewis Howes is the Founder of the school of greatness. He looks for way to achieve win-win for the audience. He shares his story of chasing fame that leads to his greatness.

In his young age, Howes always have the passion to become a famous guy in America. He told his father he would be a famous athlete, and his father encouraged him to chase his dream. In his school year, he got bullied. He was skinny and weak and people made fun of him, which made him feel pain, anger and frustration. Howes started to believe he was not good enough.

Every horrible moment in school was building up the message of “not good enough” for Howes. He was always at the bottom company with the school peers. He felt challenged, but he continued to chase his dream to prove others they are wrong. This fuel was powerful and it accelerated him to achieve everything. After he achieved his dream, he still felt angry and frustrated. He asked himself, “Why am I not fulfilled?”

He managed to play in national football league, but he was not satisfied. Until one day, his dream shattered. He was able to stand up and get everything back, but the feeling of “not good enough” still remained. He could not figure out what was missing.

Until these recent years, Howes realized he was doing it for the wrong reason. With the help from external source, he discovered the inner pain when he was a kid. He created the belief system to protect himself when he was young, which was a form of escape.

Many leaders chase money to become the king of wealth, but importantly, Howes wants to become the king of heart. Howes starts to realize his purpose has changed to how to make others feel.

Howes shares another past story. When he was playing basketball one day and he got the anger out. He blew up and destroyed the other player physically. It woke him up. He was terrified and he ran home like a coward. He looked himself at the mirror and asked, “Who am I? And why am I doing this?”. Before the realization, the thing driving him forward was holding him back. After the realization, the thing gave him the most pain had given him the most freedom.

Howes believes the secret to achieve greatness is generosity. Leaders need to be generous with their heart and generous with a smile. They will never know what kind of connection they will have with a smile on their face.

Howes wants the audience to do a staring exercise. Everyone will need to find a partner and start each other for 60 seconds. Afterwards, everyone will have the chance to talk about how they feel, what is their biggest lesson and what commit them to move forward. The purpose of the staring exercise is to give generosity with the most basic form of communication.

January 18 2015

ManTalks – Wealth Mindset 4.0

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Date: January 12, 2015

Name: ManTalks – Wealth Mindset 4.0

Presenters: Jonathan Becker, Franco Caligiuri, and Kyle Vucko

ManTalks is a community for men that helps them redefine their manhood. The community creates the space for modern men to connect with meaningful conversations and intensive discussions. The community is founded by Connor Beaton with the values of authenticity, community, purpose, accountability, strength and courage. This presentation invites three local leaders, Jonathan Becker, the founder of Thrive Digital, Franco Caligiuri, the owner of Capital Core Financial, and Kyle Vucko, the CEO of Indochino, to share their inspiration and success stories for entrepreneurs. In addition, the intention of this presentation is to address challenges and breakthroughs for many entrepreneurs.

The founder of Thrive Digital

Jonathan Becker started as a freelancer for 3 years before he hits rock bottom in his career. In age 26, Becker describes his life as depress and glass empty. He felt everyone was going forward and he was fallen behind.

He starts his soul searching to change his life around and reinvents his life by creating a solid foundation. His foundation includes the 3 principles.

Want a career, not a job
Want a technical skill
Want to make progress

Becker realizes his solution is to go back to school and focuses on building his future. He is inspired and interested by the topic of SEO and start learning everything about SEO. His new passion begins his new journey. In addition, it leads to Thrive Digital.

Becker believes the only constant in life is change. Entrepreneurs need to understand that people come and go all the time. The only thing entrepreneurs need to know about the future is that it will be different.

Becker learns successful leaders need to learn how to embrace failure. Many leaders think failure the wrong way; instead, leaders should grow from failure. Success and failure are connected together. Leaders feel unbalanced because they learn that failure is not an option. People can change dramatically by having a positive outlook. Life gets better as time goes on, so leaders should not feel failure is everything. Leaders need to understand failure is a natural and normal part of everyone’s lives.

Becker believes the definition of wealth mindset is the point of view people need in order to provide themselves with a powerful existence.

The CEO of Capital Core Financial

Franco Caligiuri shares a negative moment in grade 9 that impacted his life. He lost the hope of dreaming big when his grade 9 teacher told him he will be a failure. However, his grade 12 teacher empowered him by setting him to a different route, which made him believed anything is possible. Caligiuri believes the words to build is important in his path of success.

When his grandmother told Caligiuri the hidden secret of his father, he was devastated because his father was his role model. He could not accept the reality and make his vow that he will never put family in bad situation ever. Starting that moment, his life has a new meaning, which is work and work harder. During his trip to Cambodia, he was invited by the villagers to a meal with their generosity. He later realized the meal is for the whole village and he begins to make his new vow to give things to less fortunate.

“Why horn the money if it can only benefit one person?”

Caligiuri shares the 5 principles he would like his kids to learn about life.

Give more than what you receive
Put yourself in very uncomfortable situations once in a while
Invest in yourself
Learn to forgive
Just try

Caligiuri uses these 5 principles to accomplish his company, The Capital Core Financial, radio shows media interviews, and author of a book. Caligiuri believes journey is what leaders need to experience and journey is what leaders are looking for. Therefore, leaders need to enjoy the journey. Mentor is important, so leaders should surround themselves with people they can point them to the right direction.

The CEO of Indochino

Kyle Vucko grew up from an entrepreneur family when he was young. His family taught him a valuable money principle of “save before spend”. He was also taught of working hard will pay off and eventually will enjoy life one day. He always wanted to surpass his father’s success and believed starting his career young to mitigate the unnecessary risks. He became wealthy but felt success was not enough.

His father once asked if he ever going to take care of himself, his life purpose disappeared. He began to realize he needs to separate himself from work and observe things differently. His career evolves around his reflection and his mood swing, which makes him feel intensive and worry. In addition, he began to question his fundamental of relationship of success and the reason behind acquiring wealth.

Vucko shares the main reason why leaders acquire wealth is to achieve freedom of time and freedom of purchase.

Freedom of time

Time can separate leaders from work. It can change their daily routine. Vucko suggests leaders to budget every activity equally because it will force leaders to think and work differently. Leaders need to review and rank their goals every morning. Moreover, leaders need to be able to know how and why spend every minute of their life. Therefore, leaders need to learn how to spend their time effectively.

Freedom of purchase

The traditional purchase pattern is to be rich and buy the next best thing. This has to do with ego and comparison. However, leaders need to ask themselves the reason behind any purchasing by understanding what they already own.

Vucko has his 4 steps before purchasing. The first step is to find if there is any alternative. The second step is to look at long term if the purchase is feasible. The third step is to search for used items. The last step is to wait for a while before purchase.

Vucko believes researching products is important. Leaders can learn about themselves, such as insight and personality. It can also build deep connections and values. Leaders can change their wealth mindset by save better and spend better. Vucko hopes leaders can find the joy from researching because leaders can find their traits that leads to their personal wealth mindset.

“Head is free, clarity in life”