Road To Seven

Nita Tandon started her company for what she calls a selfish reason.She left her career in biopharma after the birth of her child, the same year Canada issued a ban on BPA in baby bottles.As a pharmaceutical scientist, she was well aware of the dangers posed by BPA and other chemicals, and wanted sleek, non-toxic food containers for her family.Despite her efforts, she couldn’t find any that she loved.“If I couldn’t find the products I wanted, I decided I was going to create them,” Nita explains. “No company was going to take me seriously, so I said ‘why don’t I just register a company name, and let me see if I can make these containers for myself?’”The next thing she knew, she had two products under her belt. She signed up for a booth at the Baby Time trade show shortly afterward. When another woman urged her to apply for the start-up award at the show, Nita did so, intending only to get a few more eyes on her products.To her surprise, she won!Since then, she’s secured financing through SheEO, developed more

“I didn’t have a lot of clients, so I set aside two weeks and created a six-week course... That was my first launch. I had like 4 people…and then I had 8… then it was 20.”— Danielle BinnsDanielle Binns has achieved the entrepreneur’s dream — a business that lands her sales while she sleeps.As a nutritionist and picky eating expert, she helps families push through mealtime frustrations.It’s a niche she fell into accidentally, after attempting to launch a business supporting new mothers in a more general way. When a brief story about her daughter’s pickiness resonated with her audience, Danielle niched down into picky eating consulting, which was exactly the right move for her business.Her first lead magnet? A list of high-calorie foods for underweight kids.Her unusual approach of focusing on “how to eat” in addition to “what to eat” helped establish her as a leader in her field and attracted an audience eager for her expertise, which she supplies via a set of low-ticket digital products.“I do wake up in the mo

Hailey Verity has made multiple enormously successful entrepreneurial pivots. Her secret? A knack for tapping into the needs of her community and developing solutions that resonate. Hailey left her job as a classroom teacher after the premature birth of her son. Through speaking with parents on the playground, she discovered a need for a half-day kindergarten enrichment program in the area.Hailey launched a kindergarten enrichment program out of her home — her first entrepreneurial venture. Her only marketing effort was an email sent to a handful of other parents in the community.She was booked solid within just three days.Years later, after learning that her area was transitioning to full-day kindergarten, Hailey signed with a direct sales company. Rather than using the pushy hard sell, she sold in alignment with her values — becoming a top seller!Hailey realized that many women her age struggled to feel good about themselves and their clothes. She wanted to help them express themselves through their style a

Fitness instructor Reena Parekh runs a thriving Instagram community of South Asian moms, offering fitness classes and speaking frankly about important topics that are stigmatized in her community, such as maternal mental health, inequity, and pelvic health.How did Reena build such a strong following? A few years ago, Reena realized that her entire feed was full of thin, white women. She knew that fitness leadership in Toronto was very white, despite the city’s diversity. There was a need for new faces in fitness leadership, and there was also a niche that deserved attention — new mothers. She started looking for other South Asian people in fitness and followed them on Instagram, eventually building her incredible base.“When I realized that my feed was looking the same over and over again, I realized that I was striving to also be that ideal. I’m never going to be that ideal, and that’s okay,” Reena explains. “My whole life has been about trying to fit in and assimilate. But the more I recognize how much my cu

“I’ve heard one too many of you call yourselves a failure because you’re not able to keep up, and many of your worlds right now are completely upside-down.”—  Shelagh CumminsSo many entrepreneurs right now are struggling to manage homeschooling, running our businesses, and keeping on top of all of our other obligations — all at once. If you added up your To-Do List right now, chances are it exceeds the available hours in the day!And yet so many of us are considering ourselves failures if we can’t keep up with the impossible expectations we’ve put on ourselves.I’m here to tell you to stop!If you’re expecting to be able to handle all of the new responsibilities that lockdown brings — along with your regular work of building and growing your business — then I urge you to start being kinder to yourself.You will not be able to do it all the way that you want to… but you CAN take steps to make amazing progress without running yourself into the ground.In this episode, I’ll be sharing tips and strategies on how to br

A former wildlife biologist, Carla Wainwright now helps women connect with the divine feminine.Carla believes that the wisdom we tap into when reconnected with our bodies and the divine feminine can guide us in running our businesses, navigating our relationships, and raising our children. “When we recognize that the body has this wisdom that we can listen to, this really then begins to radically shift how we operate in the world,” Carla explains. “Because we are able to connect to the deeper ‘felt-sense’ — that inner knowing.”Leveraging this connection helps us as entrepreneurs, as we will operate from a place of deep inner knowing, rather than just letting our egos make guesses... and hoping for the best!Carla herself made an unlikely decision based on this wisdom. The day after deciding to make the leap from biologist to bodyworker, she received an offer for a government job — one that just a year earlier would have been a dream job! But Carla knew that it wasn’t what she needed to do. She turned it down a

“It’s not the programs that you offer or the products that you sell… it’s about the bigger picture.”—  Shelagh CumminsDoes your brand need a refresh?I’d known for a while that something intangible was missing in my business, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what.I’d run my business under my own name for over ten years. And honestly, I’ve been THRILLED with its success, the revenue it’s earned, and — most of all — its impact on my clients.But deep down, I’ve been feeling an itch to expand my business and add a new vertical — and I realized I was having trouble figuring out what that could look like within the Shelagh Cummins brand.That’s when it hit me: my business had gotten much bigger than me.My role in my business is as the visionary. My goal has been to become a global leader in educating, supporting, and financing women entrepreneurs.It was during an education session for my clients that I myself learned something new!I hosted a seminar on branding for a group of women entrepreneurs, and listening t

“My biggest challenge is probably myself... in terms of growing, I think I felt like ‘Who am I to get too much bigger?’” —  Laura BonnettIf you discovered your true, fulfilling purpose in life, would you be ready to embrace it?My guest for this episode, Laura Bonnett, is the founder and CEO of YellowTree Grant Writing. Laura worked for the federal government for nearly 10 years and now uses that experience to make an incredible impact on the world by helping organizations access grants that help them effect change.Shifting from academia to entrepreneurship meant letting go of structure and embracing a level of fluidity. While she was used to a requirement of absolute perfectionism in her former career, she found that entrepreneurship is more fluid and adaptable — and you’re allowed to fail and learn from it.As she grew, she developed her own structure by putting systems in place for bookkeeping and time management, and creating a schedule that worked for her.But what she really struggled with was believing th

What do you have to let go of in order to create a bigger impact?My guest Laura Beauparlant ran a custom stationery business for 12 years. She was highly successful, and her innovative wedding invitation designs had been featured in many magazines.Laura was making good money and building a name, but she knew that she wanted to leave the wedding industry. She wanted something bigger and better. She’d been doing design work for small businesses and soon realized she was making more money from small business branding than from her wedding invitations.She knew she needed to shift where she put her energy.In November of 2015, she quit doing wedding design completely and within 5 or 6 months she’d launched her new company, Lab Creative, and started her Brand Camp program.The lesson? Sometimes, you need to let go of something in order to grow.As Laura scaled up, she realized that couldn’t move beyond a certain revenue point without hiring a team and letting go of having full control.She needed to recognize that her

“‘One day’ doesn’t have to be far away. ‘One day’ can be today.” —  Shelagh CumminsI’ve been thinking a lot lately about the importance of flexibility. Perhaps you have, too.2020 was full of new challenges and new problems, which required new solutions and ways of thinking.In this pandemic age, it’s important to cultivate flexibility in what you offer, how you offer, and how you show up. The truth is, we don’t know when or if things will ever go back to “normal.” It is very likely that they won’t.We need to start living flexibly in this new reality.Think of the fable of the oak and the reed — one bends with the wind and survives, while the oak tree falls. As an entrepreneur or business owner, the way of the reed is the route to success.I see many store owners who are hesitant about moving online or speakers who are resisting moving to delivering speeches online.They tell themselves that they’ll do it “one day.” And this “one day”-ism isn’t exclusive to the pandemic — it’s always been a way to avoid the things

2020 was a very tough year for most of us. A devastating year for others. Personally and professionally, we’ve all been trying to weather the storm.But 2020 has also presented us with a number of hidden gifts.For many of us, the pains of 2020 are still too fresh and it’s too soon to appreciate these silver linings — and that’s okay! For those of us who are ready, I’d love to look back on the way that this challenging time has changed us for the better, revealed new strengths, and highlighted the importance of support.We’ve tapped into new heights of RESOURCEFULNESS as we figure out how to evolve and work around brand new challenges. We will not go back to life as we knew it — so now is the time to make amazing pivots and shifts, rather than waiting for the old normal to return.We’ve tapped into the power of COMMUNITY by reaching out to members of our own community or joining new ones. We’ve found new ways to socialize and come together online, making new connections with other women entrepreneurs and gaining

“The human side of your team and business can sometimes be the hardest to manage.”—  Shelagh CumminsLaura Tolhoek grew up in a family that owned a small business, so from an early age she was familiar with the tenacity, resilience, and hard work that go into growing a livelihood. After going to school for HR, she worked for large companies in hospitality and food service.She desired a healthier work-life balance and requested that her role be made part-time — a request that her then-employer balked at.She looked at different part-time opportunities, but realized that she was already doing a lot of unpaid consulting work.So, she decided to strike out on her own.Laura realized that many small businesses can’t afford or don’t need a full-time HR person on their payroll, but could still benefit from having someone they can turn to for HR support.She started her own agency offering flexible and customized outsourced HR options.It wasn’t an instant success.When she first launched her business, it took some time to

“I started Green at Home by accident. It was not something that I intentionally knew; that I was going to launch my own business.”—  Emma RohmannWhen it comes to creating a life that will fulfill you, passion is everything.Running a business focused only on making money will eventually just feel like a job — it will be hard for you to show up, let alone show up as a leader.A business focused on money and passion? That’s the key to fulfillment.In 2015, Green at Home founder Emma Rohmann left her corporate job to pursue her passion. And it all started with a blog. Emma was working on a research project to discover how to make healthier choices for herself and her family while on maternity leave with her second child. Her blog served as a record of this research and a space where she could make sense of the information she learned.She realized that she wasn’t the only mother with these interests, and that there was a hunger out there for information about green, healthy, eco-friendly products.So, how did she mov

“If you say that you want something and then you do nothing to get it, you do not want it. To me, it’s that simple.”—  Christen N. JamesChristen N. James never felt like she fit into corporate life. But she loved the work that she did.How did she create space for herself to follow her passion outside of the corporate world?Christen worked in a corporate management role for over 10 years, helping her team confidently apply their skills, reach their full professional potential, and live balanced personal lives. The role was a great fit for her BA in psychology and certification in solution-focused therapy.She realized that this type of work was her true path, but that the corporate environment was stifling. She willed the universe to free her from her corporate job. And it worked — her department was closed and she was happily laid off. Christen went back to school and became a certified life coach. She knew from her previous role that she wanted to focus on transition coaching, because she got so much joy when

Are you using gratitude the right way?There are some major misconceptions out there about how we should experience gratitude.Gratitude can be experienced in ways that can drive your business growth, but a lot of people approach gratitude in ways that can actually hinder growth, based on this misunderstanding.It’s easy to compare our lives to the lives of people less fortunate and feel as though we should be grateful for what we have, and that wanting MORE would be greedy. Being too full of gratitude for the life that you have can stop you from acting on your hunger for more.Many of us question whether wanting more is in alignment with living in gratitude for what we have.In this way, gratitude can act as a cage instead of a path.Please remember that wanting more isn’t greedy and that you shouldn’t feel guilty about it.We can live in gratitude AND still want more. And work toward it.In fact, working toward more can be an act of generosity, as having more for ourselves can create a positive snowball effect for

“When you run your own business, not everything is going to be perfect … there’s going to be days when there are losses and you have to understand that, as a business person, that’s part of the risk that you take … that’s probably one of the biggest learning things — just trust the process and put your faith into it.” —  Sasha SeniorCovid-19 has created an interesting era for business. While many businesses have unfortunately been forced to shutter, others have found ways to adapt to the new normal ... or even grow! Sasha Senior actually LAUNCHED her business at the start of the pandemic, and her story is both a source of inspiration and a practical guide to savvy entrepreneurship.A skateboarder since the age of 13, Sasha had never dreamed about owning a business — until she realized that Windsor did not have a local skate shop. It was a golden opportunity that she couldn’t pass up.She researched costs and found a perfect location, opening in March of 2020 — the start of the global pandemic and economic shutd

 ‌“Unfinished business is in every facet of our lives. There are things that we want that we just keep not getting, for whatever reason.” —  Shelagh CumminsWe all set goals, all the time.“I am going to lose 15 lbs.”“I am going to start meditating twice a day.”“I am going to launch my course this year.”“I am going to start writing my book.”Setting goals is so easy. But how often do we actually follow through?And, more importantly, what is stopping us?Whether or not we are able to achieve our goals and conquer our unfinished business falls on our mindset and the commitments that we’ve already made to ourselves. These conflicting commitments are based on limiting beliefs about what we are capable of, what is best for us, and whether we can handle success … or even deserve it.Without identifying and altering these negative internal commitments, it will be very challenging to move forward and meet your goals — if not impossible.I’ve developed a process called Unfinished Business to help you identify limiting commi

 ‌“You can’t just put it out there and have a vision of it and not take action towards it. A lot of people forget or don’t know or haven’t been taught that the Law of Attraction goes hand-in-hand with the Law of Action.”  —  Kristine KolzingWhat would your life look like if you were swimming in abundance?My guest for this episode, Kristine Kolzing, has built her business around helping her clients answer that question firsthand. Kristine is a transformational mindset expert, success coach, and the CEO of the Alignment Tribe, and she teaches her clients how to envision the life that would truly make them happy — and then make it HAPPEN. “We’re told from a very young age who we’re supposed to be and what we’re supposed to want,” she says, “and, especially for women, we really lose sight of what it is that we want just for ourselves.”Not only can we not always recognize the goals that would truly fulfill us, but our subconscious can actively work against us when we start to pursue them — if you have spent most o

We all have our roles, whether it’s wisdom-sharer, or marcher, or healer. I was waiting for that healer part to be called forward.  - Asha FrostAre you rooted in the path you’re meant to be walking?This episode features an interview with a very special and powerful guest, Asha Frost, an Ojibwe healer, spiritual mentor, and businesswoman. A sensitive and empathic child growing up, Asha soon realized that she had the ability to engage in visionary practices, receiving messages from ancestors. “The healer path was printed in my soul,” she says. “But it took me my lifetime to awaken it through experience.”Asha facilitates powerful healing journeys for her clients, helping them to move through past judgment, trauma, ancestral disconnection,  mental disorders, and enables them to discover, explore, and celebrate their true purpose and power.This is all the more important during our current period of discovery and uprising.Effective allyship and action requires healing, on multiple levels.For people with good intent

This episode is a little bit different. You know I like to shake things up and keep thingsfresh for you. I did a training inside my Women of Action Group as a response to what Iwas seeing was happening with my women. We've just come out of a crazy quarter.The last quarter of 2020 has just been mind-blowing. I don't think anybody could have predicted that the challenges that you faced and that you've overcome would ever havebeen a part of our conversation, for lack of a better word. What I noticed is that lots ofyou were in fight with your business. You were fighting with it, trying to make it work,and trying to make it fit. I can tell that that's draining you so I did a special training within my private Facebook group and gosh, I would love to have you be a part of it. This is the kind of conversation that we have within the group and do a deep dive. I wanted to share it with you because I think it's so important for women entrepreneurs right now. If you're in fight with your bu