One of the biggest challenges when considering a career in an industry that is new to you, is finding out what it’s really like to work in that environment. This is just as true for veterans looking for a second career as it is for new grads looking for their first big job.
 
A great way to get a realistic job preview is to conduct what the human resources industry calls an informational interview. What’s an informational interview? In plain language, it’s what’s known as inviting someone for coffee. The thing is that most employers are too busy to go for coffee, and they’d rather not leave work to meet with people who are looking for jobs.
 
How do you get around that obstacle? Contact an employer that you’d like to work with and ask them if you could stop by with a cup of tea or coffee for a 15 to 20 minute conversation to talk to them about what it’s like to work in their industry.
 
There are a few ways you can figure out who would be open to this sort of conversation. You can ask people in your network if they know someone in the industry you’re interested in, or more specifically at the organization you think you might like to work at, and then ask your contact to introduce you, by email, phone, LinkedIn, it doesn’t have to be an in-person introduction.
 
Another way, is to research employers yourself (read Job Search Tips #1 blog) and then reach out with a targeted message, explaining why you’d like to chat, and offer to drop by with a caffeinated beverage of their choice in exchange for 15 to 20 minutes of their time.
 
Many people find the warm introduction more comfortable. The person you want to interview already has a trusting relationship with your mutual connection, and is likely to be open to talking with you.
 
The second type of connection can be just as effective, if you’re clear about why you want to meet. A great way to connect online is through the LinkedIn platform which over 19 million people in Canada use.
 
The rest of this post outlines how the conversation might go, and includes some prompts.
 
When we’re out of lock down the first contact by phone, email, LinkedIn message, would ask when would be a good time for you to drop by their work place with a caffeinated beverage of their choice for a 15 to 20 minute chat.
 
For now, let’s imaging that you reach out with a phone call. Start by asking if it's a good time for a short chat, 15 to 20 minutes. If they say no, ask when would be a good time to call back.
 
If they say yes, thank them and introduce yourself, how you got their number, you're about to become a veteran, a new grad, exploring potential careers, etc.
 
Phrases with the letters ROE before them are Rules of Engagement (ROE) for more you can download my short free e-book “Networking: Identifying and Connecting with Friendly Forces.”
 
ROE - Get to know the person and what they’re interested in - you already know that the person you’re contacting is in the industry that you want to learn more about, you could start by asking how they decided to get into this business, and what they most enjoy about their current role.

ROE - Tell them a little about you - you started this during your opening comments, tell them why you're interested in learning more about their industry, what you already know that makes this industry appealing to you, what skill sets and knowledge you hope would make you a good fit.
 
You could use the following types of phrases:
“I’m getting ready to transition to a new career”
“I’m starting to explore my options …”
 
Be prepared with a list of 4-5 questions written down before you call or meet in person.
 
The person you’re interviewing may answer some of your questions when they tell you why they got into the industry.
 
The last question you ask should be "Do you know someone else I should/can talk to about being in this industry?”
 
ROE - Things to avoid bringing up, unless they ask you about it first
Don't ask for a job!  If they offer, feel free to explore that opportunity.
Don't tell them too much personal information, they don't need to know everything about you. You’re there to learn about their industry, not to share all of your hopes and fears.
 
Don't under any circumstances bring a resume with you.
 
If they OFFER you a job
And you feel comfortable with the idea of working with them (they seem like a good person, their values seem to match yours, they shared good info)
THEN say something like, "I wasn't expecting this, I'd love to explore that further, can we set up a meeting to discuss this?" and "What information would you like from me for that meeting?" 

Not everyone uses resumes to hire!
 
OR you don't feel comfortable at all, and don't like the values they share while answering your questions
THEN say something along the lines of "Thank you, that's a generous offer. I'm still exploring my options, and not quite ready to work for someone outside of the military yet.” Or for new grads “….I’m still considering where I’m going to live.”
And end with “Can I get back to you?”
 
The reason that I recommend NOT bringing a resume with you, is to avoid putting you into job search mode, which sends off unconscious body tells, that the person you’re interviewing may very well perceive as needy and off-putting. You give off a completely different vibe if you’re asking someone about their job, and how they got started in that industry, then if you’re asking questions as part of a job interview.
 
If you enjoyed reading this post you may also enjoy:
 
Job Search Tips #1
To Speak, or Not to Speak: Professionally
​
To get a free copy of my eBook “Networking: Identifying and Connecting with Friendly Forces” click here

Honesty is something we owe ourselves and the others in our lives. Honesty requires reflection, and facing uncomfortable truths. To me living honestly means that the person I show the world is the person I am. It’s about being genuine and authentic, being true to myself. 

I genuinely believe that we all have gifts to share, and I want everyone to thrive. That means, as I prepared to become a veteran, I reflected on what I enjoyed doing the most, speaking, training, and writing, and decided to use those three gifts to help people reach their full potential.

Over time, I realized that my special interests in leadership, inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility and mentoring also lent themselves to coaching. Now I speak, train, write, coach and mentor. The speaking gigs I accept, the words I write and the training, coaching and mentoring I provide all serve the same purpose: to help people learn how to help themselves, their communities and organizations thrive.

In 2019, I attended my first ever retreat, called a Transition Lifeshop, delivered by another veteran Sandra Perron. It was 2 days and 2 nights for military affiliated women, that is women who are veterans, serving in the military or the spouse of someone who was serving in the military or a veteran. At the end of the weekend, as we were sharing what we learned, one of the women turned to me and said something along the lines of:

"When I saw you here the first night, I thought, aha, now I’m going to learn if this person is really who she says she is. I’ve heard you speak several times at the Second Career Assistance Network events and at an International Women’s Day event, and I’ve seen what you post on social media. I couldn’t believe that someone could be that honest about who they were. Well, you got me, everything you’ve said and done this weekend proved that you are who you tell people you are."

Being honest about who you are, especially to yourself, is critically important. Once you’re honest with yourself, about what truly motivates you, what brings you joy, which people uplift you, what activities and learning energize you, then you can start making choices that will help you lead a balanced, happy and successful life.

Each person should create their own definitions for balance, happy and successful. These definitions are most likely going to change over time. For years, I felt I was living a balanced life, working full time, studying part time, raising three young children with the help of my spouse and some amazing childcare providers, and volunteering. I even made time to be physically fit, most of the time!

I loved that life and felt happy. As my children grew, and the positions I was offered became what I’d originally used as my definition for a successful military career, I realized that my definition of balance, happiness and success had changed. As Dr Stephen R. Covey describes it, I realized I was climbing the wrong ladder.

The last position that the military offered me would have meant radical change for my family. As I pondered whether to accept the appointment or not, I realized that I wanted to be more present in my children’s and spouse’s lives, I wanted to volunteer more in my community, I wanted to be the change I wanted to see in the world, to influence people more widely than I could as a senior officer. I also wanted to share my gifts of speaking, training and writing to help create a new more equitable world.
 
Becoming a veteran and launching my own business was a bit like jumping off a cliff and learning how to fly on the way down, as I had no prior business experience. My only paid work up until that time had been a handful of baby-sitting gigs as a teen, a summer job with the Air Cadets before my last year of high school, and my 28 years in the Canadian Armed Forces.
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Now looking back over the past 9 years, I realize that the skills I learned in my military career, the knowledge I gained through education and continue to gain as an entrepreneur, my willingness to continue learning new things, to explore the unknown and embrace new opportunities are what set me up for success as an entrepreneur.

Listening to Jamie Spencer-Blanchet, another military college graduate, in an episode of the Women’s Mentoring Network (WMN) Canada podcast, with Amanda Kalhous, inspired the metaphor that finding your path to success is more like exploring a jungle gym than climbing a ladder.

To stretch this metaphor even further, there is more than one path to success, sometimes you climb a ladder, only to realize that what you want to achieve is on the other side of the structure. This gives you choices, do you cross over, under or around what’s between you and your goal? Do you go down a slide and start again, climbing a new ladder that leads to your goal? Do you jump onto the monkey bars and cross an imaginary ocean full of sharks and monsters, while starting a new business?

When making career choices it’s important to be honest with yourself about what brings you joy, what kind of work environment you really want to be a part of, and which of your gifts you want to share with the world.

We all excel at different things. To me, the definition of a successful career, is finding or creating your own career, where you get to spend most of your time doing the things you love, and are good at, while being paid at least a living wage to do so.

Being honest with yourself about who you are and what is truly important to you can be world changing and terrifying at the same time. Particularly if you live and work in places that have narrow definitions of what is “acceptable” or that don’t care about what you want. It’s OK to keep some of your truth about what your career goals are to yourself until you find people, workplaces and communities that support you.

If you enjoyed reading this post you may also enjoy:

Treat Everyone with Respect
Our New Normal: Respecting Apprenticeships 

To sign up for my monthly newsletter click here 

Leadership and Inclusion are two of my special interests. I’ve been learning how to lead people for more than 40 years. Yes, I started learning about leadership while I was a young teenager, as an Air Cadet. I continued to learn more during my military career. Now I’m an entrepreneur and I call myself a Thought Partner.

One of the lessons that I’ve learned, and share, about being an effective leader, is that people pay more attention to what you do, than what you say. If a leader invests their time and money into creating an inclusive workplace, then their team will become more inclusive. This can be as simple as showing up for an event to promote equity and STAYING for the entire event. When a leader stays and interacts with people, rather than leaving to do “more important things” after saying a few welcoming remarks, the leader's choice demonstrates that they genuinely believe in creating an inclusive workplace. I will be forever grateful to Becky Groves for teaching me that lesson when I was a Major.

Over time, I’ve learned that Inclusion is much more complex than striving for gender equity and welcoming people from different backgrounds. I’ve learned that to be truly inclusive, I must also recognize that there are many different ways of learning and processing information. Being inclusive is a life long journey, one that I’ll always be able to improve upon.

This June, I’ll be launching an online course using Thinkific and Zoom. I'm trying to make the course as accessible as possible. Over the last few months, I’ve sought feedback from Canadian entrepreneurs including Sarina Cormier and Natalie Minnema from Two Canes Consulting, Brooke Woboditsch from CCS Inc., Leah Riddell from Signable Vi5ion and others.

This post shares what I plan to do with my course. I’m looking for your feedback to help me provide the most inclusive course that I can.

Here’s an outline of the structure for the course, focusing on accessibility features.
8 group sessions, with professional closed captioning, recordings and transcripts provided after
2 individual sessions, with closed captioning, ASL or LSQ interpreter (on request) through Zoom, may be recorded on request
Participants choice for cameras/audio being turned on/off, and may use chat to participate in all Zoom sessions
Handouts in different formats including two versions of slides available the day of group session, pdf and a plain text version including all words on the slides
Homework assignments, in pdf and plain text versions
Options on how homework is completed for example: journal style, vision board, audio or video format

I would love your feedback, so I can make adjustments as I build the course over the next few weeks.

If you enjoyed reading this post you may also enjoy:

Invisible Disabilities & Accessibility 
Amplifying Black Peoples Voices 

To sign up for my monthly newsletter click here 

Many people imagine that the only way to grow your network is to go to events and exchange business cards. While this might have been true in the past, technology now offers dozens of ways to meet and connect with people from literally around the world.

Since I started my business in 2012, I’ve met and worked with many people who I’ve never met in real life (IRL). We “meet” by phone, video and email.

For example, in 2014 as I was researching a project for another client, I came across a company now called Indigenous Link. I’ve been developing and delivering training for Indigenous Link ever since.  Among other things, they’re great marketers, they find me audiences from across Canada. I get to concentrate on doing what I enjoy most, sharing information through online webinars to help people achieve their goals. I’ve only met one of the Indigenous Link team IRL, he joined the team after me!

In the last year, meeting people online has become even more important. I’ve met and connected with people from around the world. Several have become valued professional contacts.

Many people use social media platforms to grow their networks online. The four applications (apps) I’d like to tell you about are the ones I’m most familiar with: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

I use each of these apps for a different reason.

LinkedIn: for professional networking and learning, and for getting the word out about issues I care about, including my business!

Facebook: for friends, the occasional post about my business, and networking with like minded entrepreneurs and other groups in a more informal way.

Instagram: for connecting with people in a very informal way, while still being professional. This platform is new to me, I resisted joining for years, because I’m not a visual thinker. I originally joined to follow entrepreneurs who I wanted to support, then I realized you can microblog on Instagram!

Twitter: for micro learning opportunities, particularly for learning from people whose lived experiences are vastly different than mine.

A great place to get a lead on people you’d like to network with is to attend free online learning sessions. Many people will share their full name, and some even share their social media handles in the chat. If you meet people whose comments resonate with you during these trainings, jot down their names (carefully copying the spelling) and any other identifying comments, like where they live or work. Then look for them on LinkedIn or your preferred social media app.

Caution: Do not use information gained during an online learning session, or found on a social media app for dating. There are dating apps for that! As a middle-aged woman who’s been happily married for more than 20 years, I find it really irritating when people try to connect with me romantically on social media. Seriously, stay in your lane.

Here’s a story about appropriate networking from the shared experience of an online learning session, using social media. I recently moderated a morning of online learning for one of my professional associations, HRPA. During the breakout sessions I met and learned from others who were attending.  As I was writing this post, I remembered that I meant to connect with these people.

I skipped over to LinkedIn, found everyone who'd shared their full name, and sent them personalized connection requests.  The personalized messages reminded them where we met and included something about the experience. Before I finished writing the first had already accepted my request. Within 24 hours of sending the invitations, all had connected.

We all voluntarily decided to invest our time in the webinar, we met for 10-15 minutes through Zoom audio in breakout rooms, and now we’re connected. This is potentially the start of long-standing professional relationships.

If you enjoyed reading this post you may also enjoy:
 
Social Media and Networking
Creating a Sense of Community Online 

You may also be interested in getting a copy of my new e-book, "Networking: Identifying and Connecting with Friendly Forces." Its hot off the digital presses! You can find the link in the Contact page on my website.

Spring is the season for new beginnings.

New beginnings can range from extreme radical change to tiny adjustments to how you live your life.

Deciding to become more fit, by adding a few extra stretches into your day, is a new beginning worth celebrating. Signing up for an online course, on a topic that interests you, and has absolutely nothing to do with your current role can also be a new beginning. Choosing to do something creative like colouring or doing jigsaw puzzles can be enough of a change to re-energize you. (Thanks to Ashley Lamothe, Creative Kwe for the last two suggestions.)

This spring, consider creating your own new beginning, by doing something you’ve been thinking about, but haven’t gotten around to yet. Trying something new often opens you up to possibilities you weren’t aware of. If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, try something new and fun, just for you. “A change is as good as a rest” is an expression I remember from my youth. I interpret this to mean, that much as people are creatures of habit, most of us enjoy some change in our lives, as long as we get to pick what that change will be!  Change can be restful.

One of the new things I’ve been trying this spring is microblogging on Instagram. It’s a lot of fun! Unfortunately, microblogging has influenced my writing, to the point where writing longer blogs is somewhat of a challenge. That’s one of the reasons I haven’t been blogging as regularly lately.

Another reason that my blogging has been inconsistent is that I’m collaborating with a bunch of creative and smart experts to bring my very first independent online course to fruition. I’ve set a goal of naming the program by April 20, and launching it before spring 2021 ends.

Coordinating all the moving pieces for a new course takes a fair bit of energy and creative thinking.  Next week I’ll be participating in a demo for the Learning Management System I’m leaning towards using. I have some questions about accessibility…

As someone who believes in Inclusion Diversity Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) I am consciously investing in getting outside help to make my course as accessible as I can. Will it be 100% Platinum standard first time out of the box? Probably not, because I’m human and I’m bound to make mistakes.  And that’s OK, I’ll be able to learn from my mistakes!

What new beginnings are you looking forward to?
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If you enjoyed reading this post, you may also enjoy:
“Mercenary” Partnerships and Trust https://www.empoweredpath.ca/blog/mercenary-partnerships-and-trust
Respecting I Can’t https://www.empoweredpath.ca/blog/respecting-i-cant
Learning from Failure https://www.empoweredpath.ca/blog/learning-from-failure

​I believe that everyone deserves to be treated with respect.

My parents taught me that everyone, regardless of what career they have, where they’re from, or what their belief system is, deserves to be treated with respect.  My parents taught me that the person who cleaned and maintained my school, was just as important as the most famous person I would meet.  They taught me to show my gratitude to everyone who helped me.

I was also taught that people who are communicating in a second or third language, are often less articulate than when they speak in their first language. I was taught to show them respect by listening patiently so that I could be sure I understood what they were sharing. 

While I was attending Military College, I learned that a nice second order effect to treating people with respect, is that they are more willing to do what you ask them to.  About half way through university, I realized that the kitchen staff would customize my meal order, giving me whatever foods, I asked for, as long as it was somewhere on the menu. My friends asked me why I could get whatever I wanted when they had to stick to the set menu choices. The only difference between us that I noticed, was how we communicated with the kitchen staff. I generally made small talk, and thanked the staff for the work they’d done preparing my meal.

Over time I learned that a large part of treating people with respect is learning how to communicate with them, in a way that they understand. Investing the time to understand how best to communicate with people is worth the effort. Especially if you aspire to be a leader.

Showing respect goes beyond words. As I matured my understanding of respect became even more inclusive. As a leader I realized that everyone on my team, had something to offer, that we all have gifts to share. That when people share their gifts and support each other, we all thrive. My understanding of respect grew to include learning what others were interested in, their aptitudes and strengths, and then assigning them roles that leveraged their gifts.

In 2020, my understanding that the planet and all living beings on this planet, are deserving of respect, crystalized into actually apologizing to spiders as I disturbed their homes, while weeding a garden patch in my front yard. I also got in the habit of thanking the greens and herbs as I harvested them to eat. I credit this deeper understanding of respecting all life to reading, and starting to absorb, the lessons in “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants” by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Increasingly in our world, people are so “busy” that they try to find short cuts to “save” time.  I urge you to invest your time in communicating respectfully with everyone you interact with. This can be as simple as showing up for meetings prepared and on time, or choosing to ignore a ringing phone while you’re meeting with someone.

One practical way that you can show that you respect someone else’s preferred mode of communication, is to ask them how they’d like to meet. During a pandemic most meetings take place virtually. Many people enjoy meeting by video, some prefer a simple phone call, and others prefer to communicate in writing. All are great ways to communicate! If you’re having a virtual meeting, you can let participants know that turning on their camera is optional, as is writing responses or questions in the chat.
 
If you enjoyed reading this post, you may also enjoy:

Creating a Sense of Community Online https://www.empoweredpath.ca/blog/creating-a-sense-of-community-online

Content Triggers That May Surprise You https://www.empoweredpath.ca/blog/content-triggers-that-may-surprise-you

What Exactly is a Thought Partner? https://www.empoweredpath.ca/blog/what-exactly-is-a-thought-partner

This blog talks about how creating a career or business can be a bit like fitting the pieces of a puzzle together.

Last Tuesday morning, as I prepared my first cup of tea for the day, my spouse handed me a partially completed puzzle he created as a gift for his mother. He’s learning how to use his new 3D printer and thought making a puzzle would be a great project. The first time he handed me the puzzle and the frame it is supposed to fit into, I quickly realized that the pieces were simply too big!

As I stirred honey into my tea, he handed me a new bigger base with most of the pieces nestled within it. The first thing I did was to count the vacant spaces, to be sure that number was matched by the spaces that could be covered by the remaining pieces, I wanted to make sure that it was feasible to make all the pieces fit!

Then I started moving pieces around while sitting in our sunny kitchen sipping tea. I managed to get all but one of the pieces in, took a picture which I shared on Instagram, and then thought some more about the puzzle. It occurred to me that I should take it apart, and start with the biggest pieces first, fitting them together in several different combinations, adding pieces by size until I found a pattern that worked and fit all the pieces.

I like to remind people that learning opportunities are all around us. In the last month, I’ve repeatedly received the message that creative outlets help open our minds. The rest of this blog is going to unpack how the story of the puzzle can be a metaphor for figuring out how to create the business, career or whole life that works for you.

Learning new skills takes time, often our first attempts at doing new things don’t work. That’s OK, because failure is something we can learn from. Especially if we reflect on what went wrong. Getting feedback from people we know care about us, who want us to thrive, can help point out the areas where we can do things differently.

When my spouse handed me the puzzle he hadn’t figured out where the last two pieces fit. He had the blue print; he could have looked at it and placed all the pieces in their correct places. Instead, because he knows me, and that I love puzzles almost as much as his mother, he handed it to me to complete.  Often the people who are on our side know an answer, something that could work, and they are willing to share what has worked for them with us. It’s a lot more rewarding to figure out the answers for ourselves, especially when we know that we can reach out to those who support us to brainstorm ideas for how to move forward.

On my first try solving the puzzle, I removed several of the pieces my spouse had placed and tried different configurations. After a few minutes, I managed to get all but one piece inside the frame.  Often, we can find hints to our unique journeys to success by building on the experiences and lessons learned by those around us. Libraries are filled with books written by successful people to help others figure out where to go next on their path to abundance. Coaches also run thriving businesses providing a sounding board to their clients.

As I sat there pondering the puzzle and sipping my tea, I decided to take a picture to create a “just for fun” Instagram story. Trying to be active and share my authentic self on Instagram, is helping me identify images that others may relate to. 

As I thought about the puzzle some more, I realized that I had to start again, concentrating on getting the biggest pieces of the puzzle inside the frame first. Then I tried several iterations of getting progressively smaller pieces to fit. Eventually I finished the puzzle, took a picture to send to my husband as proof of completion and went to do the rest of my morning routine. As I was brushing my teeth, I realized that the puzzle I completed was a metaphor for living the life you want. If we concentrate on the big things, and finding ways to make them fit into the frame that we want for our lives, eventually we’ll find ways to fit in the smaller things. Things that are also important, but not critical to the lives we want to lead.

Figure out what a good life means to you (the puzzle frame), think about what’s most important, what must fit in your life (the big pieces). The most important things can sometimes be messy and seem strange when examined in isolation. Find ways to make the most important things fit in your life or business, then as those snap together, add in the other things that you’d like in your life (the smaller pieces) that while important, aren’t critical to your overall well-being. As you get more comfortable with the pieces in your frame, you can try shifting things around until everything fits.

Just like the puzzle in this image, I’m still trying to fit all the pieces in the frame that I chose for my life. Sometimes we need to dream bigger, to fit everything that we want into our lives. It’s OK to change your dreams as you learn and grow.

If you're interested in working with me as your Thought Partner as you figure out how to fit in all the pieces you want in your career or business reach out for a free try before you buy consultation.

If you liked this blog, you may be interested in reading:
 
Growth is Uncomfortable 
Gratitude the Gift that Keeps on Giving!
Thoughts on Why?

Today, I had the honour of being one of five panelists in an International Women’s Week event co-hosted by the University of Ottawa Institute for Science, Society and Politics and the Idea Connector Network. The event was called “Pathways to Leadership and Entrepreneurship - A Conversation with Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Women.” Jace Meyer did a fabulous job moderating the 90-minute panel, and the question-and-answer period. This week’s post is based on my talk called “Indigenous Women are Successful Entrepreneurs.”

This is the first time I’ve participated in an event that was being live streamed on YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter.  A recording of the session is available on YouTube and here's the link to all the resources from that day.

I started with a brief acknowledgement that I’m grateful to live, learn, and work on traditional Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee territory, also known as Quinte West, Ontario. I’m also grateful for the privilege of growing up in a military family, then serving in the military for 28 years. I acknowledge that I benefit from the privilege society grants me as a white coded cis gender heterosexual woman.

Over the past 8 years I’ve realized that the things I enjoyed doing most in the military, speaking, training and coaching can help others learn how to thrive. Since 2015, I’ve been delivering training on behalf of my strategic partners at the Canadian company Indigenous Link. I speak to their clients, mostly mainstream employers, about how to attract, recruit, hire and retain Indigenous employees. I also act as a Thought Partner to people who are changing careers and/or starting or growing their businesses. Sometimes my Thought Partners focus changes during our time together shifting from careers to entrepreneurship and vice versa.

Sharing success stories is one of the most powerful ways to help people learn, and to dispel negative stereotypes. The goal of my post is to share that Indigenous Women are succeeding in every profession and type of business in the lands we call Canada. I’ll illustrate this truth, by sharing a few examples, then I’ll briefly introduce you to three organizations providing resources to help Indigenous women grow and improve their businesses. While Indigenous Women are Successful Entrepreneurs, there are many stages to entrepreneurship, and we can all, no matter where we are on our journey, benefit from the help of others.

When you imagine a successful Indigenous woman entrepreneur what do you think of? Do images of gifted fashion and jewelry designers come to mind? If so, that’s a valid image, however there is much more to the story. While many Indigenous women are running businesses inspired by traditional clothing, foods, art and medicine, many of us run businesses based on our professions.

Vicky auf der Mauer is a proud Inuk woman, raised in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Vicky calls herself an Urban Inuk, as she now lives in Toronto, where she spent 13 years learning entrepreneurship in the restaurant industry, starting as a hostess, working her way to 5-star event manager for A-List celebrities, before co-founding Porchetta + Co. which has since grown to include 4 restaurant locations in downtown Toronto.

Vicky left the restaurant business to follow her dream, and became an intuitive life, business, and money mindset coach, helping clients, mainly Indigenous women, uncover the money beliefs that historically and currently hold us back, so that we can have a greater impact in our own life, our families’ lives, our work and our communities. Vicky created and delivers a program called Decolonizing Money.

Lisa Isaac is a Certified Human Resources Leader who started her career with human resources and leadership roles in the manufacturing, energy, and banking industries in Alberta, Nunavut, Ontario, and in her home community, Moose Deer Point First Nation, on Georgian Bay. Lisa is a University of Ottawa and University of Lethbridge alumni.

In 2018, Lisa became an entrepreneur starting a boutique Human Resources company in Sarnia, Ontario. Her company Lisa Isaac HR Professional Services is Certified as Aboriginal owned by the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Businesses (CCAB). Lisa and her team of 3 employees (from a diverse background) serve a variety of clients, including Indigenous communities and organizations from across the lands we call Canada, and non-Indigenous Northern Ontario businesses and organizations.

Karen MacKenzie is Cree/Metis. In 2003, she co-founded the International consulting company MacIntosh Canada, which is also a Certified Aboriginal Business. Karen and her team help people and organizations find where they are at presently and then provide direction, to help them reach their goals. Macintosh Canada provides services in four main areas:

1. Community Development,
2. Capacity Building,
3. Workplace Readiness, and
4. Consulting Services.

Karen holds an MBA from the University of Dalhousie and a Bachelors of Science in Chemistry from Saint Mary’s University.

Vicky, Lisa and Karen are a few examples of Indigenous women thriving as entrepreneurs based on their professional knowledge and lived experiences.

Now let’s shift the focus, there are dozens of programs offering to help Indigenous women thrive as Entrepreneurs and Leaders from coast to coast to coast. The rest of this blog focuses on three of these programs.

In 2020, the Native Women’s Association of Canada launched the #BeTheDrum Entrepreneur Navigation Program. This program includes one on one coaching sessions with the Entrepreneur Navigators (or in other words Mentors), a group of six women from a vast array of business backgrounds and lived experiences, from across the lands we call Canada.

The #BeThe Drum program offers a weekly group check-in, a weekly bookkeeping and finance session, online learning events, and conferences. My favourite part about the #BeTheDrum program is that the learning is based on where we are in our respective businesses. We learn from subject matter experts, the Entrepreneur Navigators and each other. The program also includes an Indigenous Women’s Business Directory.

Fed Dev Ontario provide Queen’s University and several partner organizations with funding to help aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs in the Greater Kingston Ontario region start and/or grow their businesses. The Women Entrepreneurs CAN project offers 20 programs serving a number of intersectional groups, including Indigenous women. The WE-CAN project partnered with Shyra Barberstock, co-founder of Okwaho Equal Source, to create the Kwe-Biz Supporting Indigenous Women Entrepreneurs program which offers:

1. Business Accelerators cohorts,
2. Business Workshops, and
3. A Mentorship Program

Kwe-Biz is situated on the traditional territories of the Kahnien’kehàka (Mohawk) and Mississauga Anishinaabe peoples in southeastern Ontario. The Kwe-Biz program was designed by Okwaho Equal Source, a 100% Indigenous owned and operated business, proudly headquartered in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Ontario. The co-founders are Kahnien’kehàka and Anishinaabe.

The PARO Centre, in Thunder Bay Ontario, offers an Enterprising Indigenous Women program to assist Indigenous women from remote and rural Northern Ontario communities. This program offers several services including, but not limited to:

1. Financial support,
2. Procurement opportunities, and
3. On-going support from the idea phase, to launching, and operating a business

This blog, gives you an idea of the range of successful Indigenous Women entrepreneurs running businesses in the lands we call Canada. Each of the women mentioned here has found a different path to success.

Just as Canada has dozens of universities, there are many programs in place to help Indigenous women learn how to hone their entrepreneurial skills. There’s still room for more, as there is more than one way to learn. Sometimes we need to experience the same teachings from different sources before they resonate with us!

If you liked this blog, you may be interested in reading:
Finding Mentors
Choose Joy, Until You Choose to Move on
Learning Opportunities are all Around us!

My last post was about the challenges of decluttering my office space. I’m happy to report that my office is actually really tidy right now! The image with this blog was taken using my smartphone to immortalize this rare occurrence.

Now I have a confession to make, having a space this tidy is very uncomfortable for me!!! People who know me from my days in the military, from my time in military college up until the day I retired, know that I thrive when surrounded by what looks like chaos to others. One of my past mentees even commented about the state of my office on the Facebook thread that accompanied my last blog.

I really like to be able to see and lay my hands on every project that I’m working on. That being said, it’s also nice to have all my highlighters and pens in one place, so I don’t have to search for them. I’m seeking a balance between creative chaos and organization.

Monday, when I mentioned the discomfort of working in a clean office to one of my WE-CAN Project at Queens coaches, Orlena Cain, she said that discomfort means that we’re growing. She reminded me that people can become accustomed to and comfortable with situations that are not healthy for them. Orlena suggested several ways of decluttering in our group session that morning, and repeated them during our one-on-one coaching session that afternoon.

One of her suggestions was to declutter email files by unsubscribing to newsletters we don’t read, deleting completed email threads, and emptying spam and trash folders. I know I get a vicarious thrill every time I empty my email trash!

She recommended spending 10 minutes every day decluttering, setting an alarm clock if necessary. One of my high school friends suggests starting with 5 minutes, and a Thought Partner I've worked with suggests starting with 3 minutes. The idea is that by starting with a manageable period of time, we get something done, and often we get into the groove and invest more than the time we originally allotted to the task. 

Orlena shared that listening to inspirational music while sorting emails works for her. That resonated with me, as I regularly listen to two of my favourite CBC Podcasts while filing, Unreserved with Falen Johnson and Under the Influence with Terry O’Reilly.

I’ve learned that sometimes people need to be ready for a lesson before they can absorb it.  I’ve noticed that it may take three or more times before a new idea sinks in as applicable to me.  I’ve written about this before, back in April 2020 in my blog post called Digital Bread Crumbs (See blog post https://www.empoweredpath.ca/blog/digital-bread-crumbs) when I wrote about how many times people shared the value of having your business listed in Google my Business before I finally took action. Shout out to Dionne Baker, Shop Boss Secrets, my eCommerce coach, who sets practical tasks for me such as back linking to previous blogs!

I won’t promise to keep my office this tidy all the time, because that’s simply not realistic. For example, I’ve already put the clear storage box with my draft book manuscript, highlighters, and copious notes, onto the flat surface in front of the flag presentation box. I can still see the flag and medals!  I’ve also temporarily thrown the comfy new fleece sweater my spouse gave me for my birthday onto the gliding rocker. I’ll be taking that with me when I leave my office at the end of the day.

While remaining tidy is uncomfortable, I’ve drafted plans, including seeking help from professional organizers, to help me store and access my papers, books and other resources in my office space. Someday, I may even post photos of the wooden bookshelves I plan to eventually install and of an open closet filled with colour coded file boxes.

What growth is making you uncomfortable this week?

I come from a long line of pack rats, we’re not quite hoarders, we just tend to keep everything that may prove to be useful, someday! I generally view challenges as opportunities. I was going to call this blog “Decluttering: Challenge or Opportunity?” except that I couldn’t quite wrap my head about what opportunities this process is bringing my way.

I decided to celebrate the Lunar New Year, Valentines and Family Day weekend, by doing some strategic decluttering. It’s the second phase of a major decluttering project that started in 2019. That year, with the help of the Mommy Mops team, we reorganized our kitchen, going through every cupboard and shelf, finding things to donate, and some foodstuffs to compost. In addition, several van loads of outgrown children’s clothing, toys, books and some kitchen gadgets we’d never used were donated locally.

By the end of 2019, we hit a bit of a brick wall. The rest of the things that needed to be sorted were mostly work papers, photographs and other family memorabilia. These things take time and personal attention. Dozens of bins and file boxes were dragged upstairs to sort through. Many papers were recycled, more were set aside for shredding. Thanks to Assist in Time, the first file box’s worth of shredding was completed in 2020.

With the pandemic, our family has mostly stayed home. We do go out for work, school, supplies, and exercise. We also tend to stick to what my spouse calls our “pods.” We each have a room in the house to call our own, and spend most of our time indoors in our pods. Emerging periodically for meals and conversations with each other.

It’s easy to ignore those last few boxes of photos and papers, still in the living and family rooms, when I’m in my home office, focusing on my laptop. I love learning, and interacting with people online is a great way to learn. I’m not so fond of tidying, filing or sorting.

I have gathered more things to donate locally. What most people would classify as the entry way to our home, is once again a staging area with a variety of bags and boxes of books, toys and clothing, just waiting for charities to reopen to accepting donations.
 
This weekend, I decided to start decluttering my home office. There are several practical reasons to declutter. I’m working on a few projects, and I’d like to be able to easily find the materials related to each, without resorting to going through piles of notebooks and papers. Another reason is that I’m getting my office ready for a video shoot. I need to declutter to allow the Lot 48. Film Co. access to my office space, so they can create a video about my company Empowered Path Inc.

While my family is helpful when it comes to moving furniture and reinstalling closet doors, they can’t really help with my work papers. Given the current pandemic restrictions, I can’t call on outside help. I have to keep sorting through my files and paperwork by myself!

The easy part of the decluttering was tucking things into cupboards, drawers and closets, matching likes to likes, just as the Mommy Mops team taught me in 2019. I’m pleased to report that I’ve made significant progress with papers, and that the full-sized recycling bin in my office is now half full! I still have six short piles of papers to sort through, some dating back to this time last year. That recycling bin may be full soon.

Why am I writing about decluttering?  This is something I loathe doing, and while I’ve been thinking about what my end goal is, I haven’t been able to concentrate on any other topic long enough to write a blog. I know that experts say blog posts should be written in advance, and scheduled. I get it, that makes sense, and works for a lot of people. I’m trying to play to my strengths, which means writing from the heart, about what’s on my mind each week.

I also like answering people’s questions. However, the questions I’ve received in the last week all require me to do a bit of research before providing a credible response. Once my office is tidy, I’ll get right on those questions!

I’d love suggestions about how to keep my work space tidy moving forward. The only thing is, filing cabinets don’t work for me. I do have and use colour coded file boxes. In addition, while many people thrive with a clear desk, I prefer to keep all the projects I’m working on, out in the open, which is why I did not take a picture of my desk. My clients wouldn’t appreciate seeing my notes about their projects in print!
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Any organizing advice you’d like to share would be appreciated!