Episode 30: An Interview with Business Owner Lisa Pfau

Show Notes

00:38

Hey everybody, I’m Robert Cairns, the CEO and Chief creator of amazing ideas of selling digital marketing Comm. I hope everybody’s having an amazing day. Today, I’m here with my special guest, Lisa foul we serve is the owner of FAU academic writing, editing and coaching experts, a business where she works with students typically in university to improve their academic endeavors. If you want more about lease after this podcast, you can see spelled p f au.ca. So please sit back, relax, and enjoy our conversation. Hey, everybody, I’m here with my friend Lisa foul. And how are you today? Lisa?

01:30

Pretty good, Rob. Good. So, you know, we’ve

01:33

done work together, we’ve gotten to know each other. And I thought it would be great to sit and talk about something different. That’s not a technology business. And tell me a little bit about your background and why you got into the business you’re in and a bit about your business.

01:53

So I have an academic background, mostly, I have an undergraduate degree in political science and history. And then I spent a few years in China learning Mandarin. And then I went to graduate school, and I continued to study Chinese politics and Chinese history. And I got a master’s degree in Asian Studies. And then I sort of traveled around, lived in China worked in the Canadian Embassy, taught some English, learn some more Chinese was a project coordinator for a research project on HIV AIDS in China. So I did a lot of China things. And also what I was doing, and that was kind of my process of figuring out what I what I was good at what I liked. And I was also helping people always on the side, like helping them a lot with writing, communicating when I was teaching English as a second language. And so, you know, over time, I felt like the government sectors not really for me, because it’s a little bit too structured. And the academic sector like I like it, I like to challenge I like working with ideas. But there was just too much pressure to produce publications and do research. And what I really loved was helping students and teaching people. And so eventually, I went through a little bit of a moment in my when I turned 30, kind of like a life crisis. And it, there was a moment where it was like, Well, you know, at least so you could just try this out, just make it a thing, like just try it as a business. And so I made a commitment of three years to myself, like, I’m going to try this for three years. And if it doesn’t work out, I’m going to apply for graduate school and do my PhD. And so three years went by, and it became so I started out with one client in Japan that I was teaching on Skype, and it grew. And three years went by and it turned into a real business and now I have other people working for me and an office space. And I’m I used to work part time somewhere else. So I’m just doing this full time and I’m pretty happy like this is what I want to do. And I think I like the part about being an entrepreneur because it gives you a lot more freedom and you have to constantly be creative and Solving problems, figuring out how to market yourself, training people, the next step. So, you know, on the one side, that can be very stressful, because there’s a lot of uncertainty. But on the other side, it’s fun, because there’s a lot of uncertainty. So you can try new things out. So it’s kind of hard to balance it.

05:29

But But you know, you and I both know, you learn from what doesn’t work, right. So like, you know, as you know, I’m in the marketing game. And somebody said to me, the other day you make Facebook ads really work really well. And I said, Yeah, but if you saw the ads that have failed on other people’s dimes, you know, you would you would be shocked, like you You eat the failures helped make the successes and and that’s like, so strew I don’t think anybody that hasn’t failed. succeed very well. And some of the greatest people in history have failed multiple times. Yeah.

06:07

Well, there’s a really good proverb in Chinese that whenever things are going to remember, and it translates to failure is the mother of success.

06:19

I so agree with that. And I and I also think a lot of it is the recent people like you, and I get into the entrepreneurs game growing for themselves working for themselves as that freedom factor. And it’s, it’s not that we don’t have clients, like, people think you get out to the corporate world, you don’t have a boss, it’s not true clients are actually your bosses, and

06:42

you have many,

06:44

many bosses, which in that sense, can sometimes be more stressful than having one boss. But the reality of it all is, it’s that freedom a little bit like, I know, for example, you don’t work Mondays, typically. So that’s good for you. I know, if I’ve got something I have to do in the middle of the day, I book it into my schedule, like a book a client appointment, and just find time to do it. Oh, you know, and it doesn’t mean you don’t get the work done. It means you can play around with the schedule, sometimes a little bit. So somebody said, Could you tell me about the services that your company offers you what your company does, and for the benefits of our listeners, please?

07:34

Sure. So our core business is essay writing, and essay writing support, let me be clear, we do not write essays for people, there’s an entire business out there that does that, which I do not support, that’s plagiarism. So we provide writing support. And we also provide academic essay editing. And so what that means is sort of directing students through the whole process of writing an essay, doing, learning about how to do good research, learning about how to plan out your essay, the process of writing different parts of your essay revisions, and, you know, adding in more research, different styles, that kind of stuff. And then we also edit essays for publication. Or when graduate students need to finish up their thesis and they want some extra editing. So we do that. But another thing we do, because students need extra help transitioning from high school to university or university into their career. So we also provide support with the application writing process. So if you’re applying to undergrad or college, graduate school, Business School law school, you often have to write personal statements or essays related to that you have to put together a good package. So we provide that kind of support. And also transitioning from college or university into the professional sphere. We provide that kind of support, especially for people with arts degrees, because if you have an engineering degree or a business degree, they often provide a lot of career transition support in those departments. But if you have an English degree, they don’t and they kind of expect you’re going to work in a coffee shop or something. So So we really try to help those students figure out what skills you have and if they come in early enough. Like if I have a first year student, I’m a start record. Many things to them at that point that I know will help them to get a job in the future, for example, like, not just doing your schoolwork well, but volunteering in something you’re interested in making contacts and you’re gaining other transferable skills. So my whole was started out in writing. But over time, I realized that the education system is missing a few things. And really specifically, support and development around life skills or professional skills. So I think if you come here, you don’t just get a tutor, you get a coach, and you get someone who’s going to support you through your whole educational process, and really help you to develop into a confident, young adult, who has the skills they need to succeed, you know, to get a job to balance life and relationships, to learn how to manage money to find good

11:17

housing. We also provide like this kind of support and workshops more recently, so I’m trying to build what I like to call holistic, holistic education approach. Yeah. So students, students come out well rounded.

11:37

I would agree with that. And you sort of talk about a little bit about one volunteering, I think that’s one of the best ways you can network to meet great people. I’ve met amazing people over the years in my network. And you know, my wife always looks at me and says, you know, there’s a lot of people you do know, and I said, a lot of it’s just from being involved. I mean, I’ve met everything from politicians to reporters to, you know, you name it. And then the other thing I really like to talk about, is you talked about, not just the academic side, but the money side, the relationship side, and all the other stuff because I think it all intertwines, and people kind of lose sight of that and say, No, it’s just about marks. Well, guess what, if the relationship side and the money such not good, it impacts what you do in the school to when you agree. So

12:31

yeah, and there’s actually more and more research on that, like research on sleep, connection degrees, we’re going to do a talk on nutrition. And there’s a link between like what you eat, and your ability to concentrate and to take in new information. And I think we kind of know this, because there’s all these campaigns in the States, especially with these free lunch programs, because kids are going to school hungry, and they’re younger, and that’s affecting their grades. But it’s also more subtle than that. Like, it’s also what are you eating, you know, like, and, and how, and really like understanding these things, not from the point of view of like, Oh, I want to be really cute and like attractive, so I’m just going to eat salad. But really, you know, how all these things actually help you to be the best person you can be. And just by the way, just eating salad is not good enough. So I think the person cherylin friend of mine is going to come in on August 10. And talk more about that, how different foods have different nutrients and how that feeds your brain or hinders your brain performance. So yeah, all these things are linked,

13:56

even.

13:58

Even simple little things like if you’re studying for, say, three hours for an exam, do you think to take a 10 minute walk break in between the structure body until and I know like from somebody who runs out of a home office, I have three dogs, as you know, and I tend to take them outside in nice weather every two hours. And the reason for that is it forces me to get out of the chair every two hours. So even little things like that. Little things like do you have the right chair in your office? Do you have the right Heidi or your computer? Do you you know all this is just greatly impact on on the student experience today. So I would agree.

14:43

Yeah. And that’s why we now are offering Tuesday meditations meditation, because that you know, being able to calm your learning, breathing techniques, and visualization and positive self talk can really help you to calm yourself down before you take an exam. I personally used to blackout before every exam and all of a sudden, my brain would go blank. And somehow I just taught myself to take deep breaths, and then about like, a few minutes, everything would come back. But that can be really scary. And so, and I think that’s just very human.

15:26

Yeah. And I think the word positive self talks really, really important. I mean, people, you know, have a tendency to gravitate around people who have similar problems to them. The problem with that is they tend to vent about their problems. And I’m not so sure all that negative venting is really good for the academics or anything in life. I think you’re, you know, it’s one thing to talk about it, but then either deal with it or move on kind of thing. I think being pushed official, better, personally.

15:58

Yeah, well, I think that can happen when people get a bad grade as they look for someone to blame. Yep. Or they look something to blame. And so like, you know, and, and I always kind of tell my students, Okay, first of all, let’s take a look at what happened here. Did we make mistakes? Is there a mistake? Let’s own some of those mistakes? And then let’s, if there’s questions, let’s go talk to the teacher, the teaching assistant, or whatever, and get some additional feedback. And don’t look at this, like don’t take this your grade personally don’t think of it as a fail, but as an opportunity to learn something new. And really think of how boring it would be if you always got straight A’s. I mean, it’d be great to always get straight A’s. But are you learnt like, I think it’s much more satisfying. If you got 60 in the beginning, and then you work your way up to 95,

17:01

or something,

17:02

I would agree.

17:04

That means you, you’re learning a lot. You didn’t go in with 95 and come out with 95. I mean, then what are you learning one person? I mean, you might be working really hard and be super great. Student, right. Um, but I think there’s something really satisfying about improving, like, feeling that you’ve improved. So before you go blaming someone, see what you can learn. And it’s a process. It’s a natural process, you know, a lot of it’s about expectation, you didn’t understand the expectations of the professor, especially in arts degrees, right. So it’s not necessarily about you wrote a bad paper he or he is or bad, it’s just about communication.

17:55

And no doubt, no doubt I on how to get better. Yeah, I agree with that philosophy, like 100%. So, in university today, kids today have different challenges. And when you went school, I went to school. That all said, I still took courses. What is the biggest challenge of students today in the university world?

18:24

I mean, I think they’re under a lot more pressure than you and me, like, I’m not that much older than them, like 10 or 15 years older, and I feel like University is a lot less fun. Like I was. So it’s, I think it’s just more competitive and higher expectations, maybe put on them by the parents society, the school, and a little less space for fun, challenging authority, having protests, doing silly things. That’s kind of hindering their growth and their confidence and their ability to kind of think creatively, then it’s okay to do that. And it’s safe to do that. So I’m not really sure what the cause of that it is. But I keep seeing it over and over and reading about it and reading about the increasing anxiety levels of students and students are not going out with their friends as much and they’re studying all the time. And so I’m not sure really exactly what’s behind that but it to me, it seems like a problem not only like in school,

19:56

but

19:57

building individuals for our future. society that there has to be space to be creative and critical of the dominant ideas, you know? So yeah,

20:15

I would, I would agree with you, I mean, your cat, you know, even young adults who have come out of school today, they don’t go out with their friends as much. They’re not as creative. I think people in creative jobs that are younger have a problem thinking creatively, they think a lot of them think too linear for my liking, if you know what I mean. It’s like 1234, instead of one 273. One, like if you ask them to think that process, they, they don’t always get it. And, and I think it’s just creating this whole mess where square, you know, as people, I don’t think we’re as open today, doctors. And I think that’s just a byproduct of how kids are learning. Like,

21:07

you know, there’s a really good sociologist, she’s very popular. Now, Rene Brown, she has several books, she had a TED talk, she’s been on Oprah. And I really like her stuff. And she talks a lot about vulnerability and shame. And one thing she writes about, and she’s primarily writing about the US, but I think Canada’s, you know, influenced by the US is that there’s a culture now of fear. There’s a culture of fear, fear failure. And so maybe that’s what I’m feeling is like a real fear from my students of getting a failing, getting up. And I feel like, I didn’t have that same fear as much. When I was in school, I remember once I wrote a play, instead of an essay, between like, Karl Marx and john Locke. And that was a big risk. And you know, what my professor liked it, it was not what I was supposed to do. But I got the point across and, and I got extra points for being creative. And I feel like now you probably get marked down for

22:25

that. It’s like I can recall doing a speech in an English class. And I walked up to my speech with three points on a piece of paper, and my process is that all you’re handing and I said, watch. And I, and I, and I rattled off a 10 minute speech with three points on the pay per foot. And he looked at me and said, Okay, I don’t even want to see the notes done. So sometimes you have to take a risk. And I think a lot of it comes from, to be honest, I think kids are having problems, kids, young adults, are having problems finding their support system. So using a company like yours is a support system, finding the right friends and family is a support system. And by the way, support doesn’t mean all you got didn’t get an A so what’s wrong with you? That’s not support support is finding the right positive people to keep the energy level up to be able to earn effectively and share ideas that support and that’s, and we’re very much in a society where marks almost matter more than the ability to do stuff. So some of the brightest people I know, Mark wise, if you put them in front and say, Now, apply what you learned. They can’t do it. Because your true academics and what they haven’t learned is how to apply what they learned. And that’s the next step. And that’s, that’s a problem.

24:00

Yeah.

24:04

So in business as a business owner, what is been your biggest challenge?

24:13

Think balance is the biggest challenge. I think, I feel actually better than I have an office to go to and that helps a lot. Like I don’t have the internet at home, I don’t have a TV. I try to stay off my phone so that when I go home, like I tried to like Shut up, like, take a break. But I think as a business owner, and especially in the modern world with all this technology. It’s really hard to draw the line and it’s really hard to stop working and it’s really hard to not feel guilty. Yes, like, Oh, it’s Monday, but you know, I have it’s my day. But really, what am I doing now I could reply to this person’s text. So the guilt and also the fear of if I don’t reply to their text today, like they’ll be gone tomorrow, because we live in such a fast paced society. So I think finding a way to relax and create those boundaries and the balance in the space and that kind of thing.

25:29

I would agree with you. I mean, I know like, as you know, I worked from home. And one of the things I do is when my wife is working, when she’s out of the house for a day, the minute she walks in, I drop what I’m doing pretty well, at the end of the day, and I drop it now if I’ve got stuff to do, I might pick it back up, she still goes to bed early, but earlier than I do, but I’ll drop it because your family time in your balance is important. You can’t miss family stuff, you can’t miss friends stuff. I think email and texts are the biggest causes of that. And as you know, on my email, I’ve actually got a note up saying I reply to emails within 48 hours. No, usually I get back to them faster than that. But you know, the reality is that sets an expectation. And if you set the expectations, right, then the balance comes into play, if you know what I mean. So you got to find a way to maintain them. So we’ve talked about that a little bit. Now. What is the biggest thing that you’ve learned being a business owner?

26:43

Biggest there’s so many things I’ve learned? Okay, what is the

26:48

big deal? Give me Oracle, a couple of things you’ve learned,

26:51

okay, this, this may sound not really cruel, but so the other day, my mom said this to me, and because I’m a very helpful person. And really, I want to help people, I want to see people do better. And I wouldn’t do what I’m doing. Like, if we, if we lived in a communist society or whatever, and we don’t get paid for things, you know, this is what I would be doing. Yeah. So what my mom said to me, though, but Lisa, this is a business, not a charity. And so I think Yeah, the biggest thing I learned and continue to learn is maybe you can’t help everybody. There’s different places people can go for different types of health. Yes, if it’s okay for me to say, Listen, I can help this kind of clients. Yes, but a different kind of clients might not be the best fit for me. So I guess it’s kind of maybe like your podcast. I just listened to today about the importance of saying no, um, yeah, so I feel like I’m not totally making sense.

28:19

But you are I mean, it’s

28:23

Yeah, that bound like it’s okay to set that boundary and say no, and you don’t have to help everyone and really see to protect your energy your your business, your bottom line, like all these things and not feel bad about and I think a lot of this not to get too much into gender roles, but I feel like a lot of this is really difficult for women in business. Yep. More than Mr. concession Yeah, when we’re young to be very generous and giving and it’s very difficult to say no, not only at work but in others if you don’t want to hurt people’s feelings, like all this kind of idea about you have to be like polite and kind and nice and and if you’re not still society will put you in a box of you know, you’re cold hearted like so. I yeah, I think it’s really tricky for what I think it’s tricky for everyone in business but it’s particularly tricky if you’re a woman to to say no and to be okay with that and be okay with some of the backlash you might get. Not that’s gonna be thought about your business but just but actually about you as a woman.

29:52

I think that’s absolutely bang on and one of the reasons I did that was I’ve gone through this personally a bad faith. Lately where I’ve said no to a lot of people, for a lot of things and people forget, because I work from home, that doesn’t mean I don’t have things to do during the day people forget that my priorities after work or my family, people forget. And I, I’ve gone through this phase where people will call me who don’t call me to see how I am. They don’t reach out and say How you doing? They call me when there’s something they need. And I always kind of look at the relationship and say, okay, so so good friend. Yes. Have we helped each other mutual? Yes. And I spend some time helping them? are they calling me because they need something? And I haven’t heard from them six months? Yes. Then the first word out of my mouth is the word no. And they often say to me why? And I frankly, say because I don’t want to. And and I don’t qualify, because the worst thing you can do is say maybe, or I’ll think about it. Because if you know you really don’t want to do it, just say you don’t want to do it or, or say I don’t want to do it. But I know somebody else that can help you know that somebody might charge them or not charge them. That’s up to them. But and they don’t want that because often what they’re looking for is to help without spending the expense. So you kind of guide us say, No, I’m not. I’m not going.

31:32

Yeah, it’s a tricky thing also, like a friend. Or like, I don’t know, people, people have a hard time. Like, seeing you in another hat. I know. Like, okay, this, Lisa, Rob, my friend. This is Lisa bobbitt work. And it’s almost like if you if if they had to go to a place of work, like say you’re like a doctor. And they went to the doctor to see you and they know you. I don’t think they would have the same expectations. Like somehow they can understand that in some way. I mean, not all people, but I feel like it’s easier, like, you know, but if you’re doing your own thing, running your own business, they don’t. it’s sometimes hard for people to get

32:20

like, Oh, yeah, it is. And it’s, and I think I think what a business owner needs to do is start setting those boundaries early. Because the earlier you set them, the the easier it becomes. And that’s been my, my opinion like I I set them early with some people and it’s just easier. So you, so they know what the answer is going to be before you go there. If you know what I mean. Yeah, that’s hard. I agree. So any academic space? What is the one thing Lisa would change? If you could?

32:57

That’s the one thing I would change

32:59

any academic space tomorrow, if you could wave a magic wand, what would you change?

33:05

I’m hard to explain. I think, and this might be kind of like romantic. But I feel like the ancient Greeks kind of had education, right? Or more, right. And it might not be possible to do that anymore. But what I’m talking about is, if you read Plato or Aristotle or know about Socrates, the way they used to teach is they used to literally wander around with their mentor in a garden or wherever, and talk about ideas or try little experiments. And there was a kind of deeper, more collegial relationship between the teacher and the students. And even in Chinese philosophy, like Confucius kind of expected that eventually, I can’t remember the exact quote, but it’s paraphrases as that you know, eventually the student will teach the teacher and so this idea that education is a relationship and someone and your teacher doesn’t necessarily know more than you or is like super brilliant or something. It’s just that maybe they know a little bit more than you at that moment because they have more experience. Yes. And but you can learn from each other. I have students because especially tech, they’re way better at technology and like to see like what’s going on in the contemporary world than me, because things changed so much. And I learned a lot from them about that. So, yeah, I think I think now the classes are so big, like, for example, at UT, like some classes are 1000s of students to one professor like, that’s the size of my small town that I grew up with. Imagine if there was one teacher for every single person, entire town. Yes. So like. And I think that that’s really the source of a lot of these issues that I’m seeing, like fear of failure. Not having fun, the not learning life skills, you having a hard time transitioning from school to career, the lack of support the mental health issues, is because it’s very isolating, socially just a number. And especially if you’re a young adult, like this is the point in your life when you really need mentors and support. And I’m very grateful that I had some really good professors in undergrad like some I still keep in touch with a few of them, actually. And I wouldn’t have gone to China and I wouldn’t have learned Chinese. I wouldn’t even have my Chinese name, if it wasn’t for my one Eastern Studies professor. And so to me, that’s what, that’s what a teacher is. And

36:42

I think,

36:43

I think we’re kind of losing that.

36:46

I would, I would agree with that. I mean, I I’m not a university grad, I am a college grad. But I keep warming I keep taking courses. The big difference with colleges, the when you got in the second year, and third year, the class room sizes were were small. I used to have a couple instructors, who used students to the best of their ability to help to classes and get and challenge them. So I was lucky that way. A couple I’m still in really big. I still talk to the retired, but we talked and I even have a an image of shared this within a conversation. I even had an old debating high school culture to Quebec when I was 15, who’s retired, I’m still I still talk to a mentor of mine. Without him, I don’t know if I be in many places that I am now. I mean, there’s no question. And those mentors are important. And I think I think people need to, to go out and seek them and help and I think anybody as long as people are organized, like I know, I’ve had people come to me and ask me to spend time and as long as they’re organized and and actually want to get it. I have all the time in the world for people because they have to learn somehow. And that’s, that’s so hard.

38:19

Yeah, I think I think our society really focuses so much on being self reliant. Yes. Like, up like being this independent, kind of like, I can’t think of the word but you know, because North America, America sort of built on this person that shows up and it’s wilderness, and you turn it into something. And somehow there’s this idea that they did it on their own. But listen up the strength of human beings, compared to other a lot of other mammals is that we’re social, and we help each other out. Like compared to other animals, we’re pretty vulnerable. We don’t have claws, we don’t have big teeth, we can’t see at night. You know, we don’t fly. We don’t have for recruiting pretty vulnerable creatures. And the reason we’re able to achieve so much as animals, let us not forget we’re animals is that we’re social. And we put our ideas together. And we work in teams, and we build things as a team. And so I think we need to remember that and that’s the important role of a teacher or a mentor is to kind of bring people together with different talents or help them to foster their talents and go off and do what you know they’re meant to do.

39:52

I would agree with that. I mean, I know even in my business today, one Other places I go is there’s a couple really great discussion groups on on of all places, Facebook, where people bounce business ideas off each other every day in my space. And that’s important because a lot of us either work on our own or work, you know, differently. And that social aspect has to come in to impact. And I think those people who don’t get to social impact are actually the ones who end up in the mental health issues with the anxiety, distress, the loneliness, because they’re not getting out there. And in the end, it doesn’t benefit them very well, actually.

40:43

Right. And just this idea that business is about competition. And it is about competition to a certain extent, because you know, you want to provide something different. You want to do a little bit better than the next guy, but also, So who are you competing against? And ultimately, I think you should be competing against yourself more than x y Zed business. And also, that doesn’t mean you can’t collaborate. Like if you look at if you look at big companies, like successful companies. There’s, like I’m reading a book, not with me right now, I can’t remember the title, not as good as Robert remembering book title. And I’ve been reading a long time, not as fast as Robert reading books, but I’m the guy who created airmiles. And one of the points of loyalty programs is creating, like, connections between multiple businesses. So if you look here, miles, you can collect air miles at many different places. And this helps all the businesses on the air with air miles to grow, because someone with an air miles car, they’re going to go to shell, and then I think shells on air. Yes, they’re going to go to you know, like soulbeast, or Metro or Metro saw me. Yeah, I’m thinking it also gives this limit. So he’s no, so

42:30

any lcbo.

42:33

Right. And yeah, that’s true that so these businesses, in a way, I mean, they’re not really directly collaborating, but they kind of offer and it’s not to say they don’t, they’re not compete, like if it’s competing with each other with different loyalty programs, they might not do as well. That’s not the best example. But also, you can see lots of businesses with partnerships. And really, I think those are the more six set like that’s, that’s how you can become more successful. You can’t just kind of just be on your own, like being the best at what you do. Unless you’re some sort of super genius. And even then,

43:21

I don’t know, I I agree with that. So true. And it just, and sometimes you need those collaborations to grow and people don’t get that so. So next question. Yeah, they don’t have any is kind of an I know you have a website? Do you have three online tools that help you in your business that you can think of

43:52

online tools online? Um, well, I do use a Google Docs, Google Drive all that stuff a lot. It’s a good way to collaborate on a project with my students. So I think that’s like the top one, um, with some of my interns and stuff, we’ve been trying to use slack and Trello to stay organized, in terms of like the projects we’re working on. And just having a separate channel communication because there’s so many different types of communication. Yeah.

44:34

Yeah, does I’ve actually stayed out as a slack rabbit hole personally, but that’s

44:40

no, I

44:42

kind of the way I look at it is it’s another email box. So that’s, that’s kind of but but it’s not for everybody. And for some people, it works really well. So that’s cool.

44:55

for work and kind of good in terms of like getting boundary like, okay, slack message to work message are bits of text that could be either or.

45:07

Yes. or something. And I guess your website would probably be a sort of to some degree.

45:15

It’s a tool. You know, it means work. Yeah.

45:22

Yeah, that’s okay. So, in the online world, what do you hate most that impacts the way you do business? If anything?

45:34

Like, okay, what do I hate most likes?

45:39

Oh, you don’t like, like settle?

45:43

I mean, I like getting likes. But I think the whole I think likes are tricky. Because like, if I say, I don’t think they always reflect the value of your content, or who you’re going to attract? Or I think they kind of contribute to the like, shame or not feeling good enough or whatever. Like, they’re kind of superficial. If that makes

46:26

any sense? It sure does. It sure does. And

46:30

they’re useful to on the other side, they can start to affect your confidence. Like if all of a sudden you’re not getting a lot of likes, you might start doubting yourself and stuff. But

46:42

you know, it’s funny, when you talk about that 10 years ago, if you had a website, and you were in the online space, the discussion about an article would happen in the comment section on a blog. And yeah, you know, you I used to, like, I kind of look back at some past incarnations of business blogs I’ve done over the years, over nine years. And I would bet you seven or eight years ago, I got 10 times the comments I got today. And part of the problem is people are lazy. And we all know that most of the communication and stuff like that tends to happen on Facebook, so people don’t comment on the blog itself. Now, the other thing that’s kind of gone on when you talk about likes is we’ve all heard the term and I don’t know if you hopefully so called an airline magazine person. So you’d read an article in seat pocket, that was two paragraphs, and the person would think they’re an expert. Well, the problem is now along the term with likes, we’ve got what I call the headline person, don’t read the article, they base all their generalization on what the headline says. And and that’s become, especially with news outlets, it’s become a big phenomenon. And you can tell based on the comments, they didn’t read the article that was attached, right. So I would agree with your likes is probably probably an issue.

48:10

Now, for a lot of statues with so much information. It’s hard to keep track of it all, you know,

48:19

what do you like most about the online world? for your business?

48:26

Or my business? Well, I mean, I think that you can reach people and do business with people you traditionally maybe couldn’t. Like I said, my first one was in Japan, because I can teach your English using Skype. Or tools like zoom might be better today. But um, you know, I wouldn’t have been able to do that. And I made that contact when I was in China. And then I was able to continue the lessons for a few years after because of those kind of tools. So I think it expands our world, our kind of markets, our connections. And that’s the benefit of the internet.

49:17

It actually can even expand friendships. I mean, I’ve got a really good friend of mine who’s done some work for me in past but, and he’s in India. And we already had a conversation this morning. Now he’s India’s about 12 hours ahead of us. But I don’t think there’s a week that goes by that we don’t talk for 15 minutes on the zoom call and there’s constant message box open. So I mean, you know, you have people like that, like where could you develop friends all over this country and all over the world, or business associates or anything without the internet. I

49:59

agree with that. Yeah, I mean, I’m able to keep in touch with, like, one of my friends just messaged me from Italy, on WhatsApp, and I met her in China. Like we went to school in China together. Yeah. So Facebook, all this social media. It, it really helps me to keep in touch with people. I mean, I live far away from my family. Yep. So that’s a benefit. I answer because you asked your business.

50:27

Yeah. But it’s sometimes business and personal goes hand in hand, too, right. So, but but the point is, you couldn’t do business? I mean, I do. I do. I spend a lot of time on conference calls. And I couldn’t run the way you did. I had a professor in college back in 1987. And his dream was to be able to sit on the beach with a laptop and run his business. And I had lunch. I had lunch with him the other day, and people thought he was crazy. His name was Bill Warren. And he used to call him Dali, Bach, people thought he was crazy. I always named Tim bill was a visionary. I had lunch with him a couple weeks ago, and I said, you ever remember that dream of yours? And we got talking about the whole dream. And I said, you laid it out really nice. And then 1988. The technology the internet, wasn’t there. The stuff wasn’t there. There were some academic networks, but that was it. And, and his dream is a reality. So you know. I wish I wish she’s retired. Lisa, thanks for joining me. Where can people get a hold? Yeah. And what’s the best way they can find you? Want to talk to you?

51:44

Yeah, well, you can look up my website, which is my last name, which is wwe.out.ca. And FAU is p as in Peter F, as in Frank, au. Or you can text me because if I’m with a student, often I don’t answer the phone. So my number is 647-785-2387. Or you can find me all over social media if you just look for like I’m on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn as my name used to found, but if you look for FAU underscore academic writing, then I should pop up.

52:29

And if any, if you’re looking on Instagram, Lisa has a really cool comic book feature that she uses to talk about things in the academic world. You should check it out. So thanks so much. And have a great day.

52:47

Thanks, Rob.

52:49

Thank you for listening to the SDM business marketing WordPress podcast. This show is hosted by Robert Cairns, the CEO and Chief creator of amazing ideas to stunning digital marketing.com. This podcast comes out on a weekly basis with multiple episodes during the week. If you’d like to be a guest on this podcast, please email us at podcasts at stunning digital marketing.com. If you’d like to find more about digital marketing services we provide please go to stunning digital marketing.com. If you’re interested in all projects, our CEO and Chief creator of mixing ideas Robert Cairns is working on please go to Robert Cairns calm. This podcast is dedicated to Robert slate father percents have an amazing day. Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars make your business 60