Welcome to the Adaptive Mindset. I'm Brett Gallant, cybersecurity thought leader and founder of Adaptive Office Solutions. Here, we don't just talk tech, we unlock the strategies, stories, and mindset shifts you need to stay secure, lead boldly, and thrive in a digital world. Let's get started. Welcome back to the Adaptive Mindset. I'm really pleased to have with us today, Marc Smith. Marc is a manager for an events marketing organization in Eastern Canada. Before the show started, he told me he's on his 75th career. I don't believe him, but he's had all sorts of different roles, 20 years as an entrepreneur, a content creator, events marketing, among many things. Marc's story is a story of overcoming mindset shifts, reinvention. I'm really pleased to have Marc with us today. This is going to be a show filled with so many takeaways. Marc, Thank you so much. I hope this show is going to be filled with takeaways. I'm going I am fully caffeinated. I just fueled up here, and I got a saying on it, life with coffee helps. Yes, and I'm also a day drinker, so as soon as it hits noon, I put a little Baileys in my coffee, so nothing So Marc, tell our audience a little bit about yourself. Let's dig into your story and what you do and how you help people. Yeah, so I don't know if it's 75. I mean, I'm only 56, but I've definitely had quite a few careers. And I seem to sort of, I was ahead of the curve in terms of not lasting in any one company for, you know, a lifetime. I seem to have every three, five, I think the longest time I was an employee for one particular company was seven years. So I, I guess you would say I like change. Um, I need to stay interested and I tend to, um, once I've sort of mastered something, you know, what used to maybe took me eight hours to do, then takes me three to four hours. And so then I always have to fill the time with other things. So my roles over the years have always expanded and expanded and expanded. And then it gets to a point where it's too much. And then I want to change and want something different. So I have been a, I think my title was special event coordinator. I was basically a community manager for organic grocery store chain in Vancouver. I'm originally from BC. And then that led me to starting my own event production company in Vancouver. So I did that for almost 10 years, produced close to 300 client events over that time and everything from really small, intimate, high value customer engagement events could be a dinner could have been on the 50 something floor of the Shangri-La watching the symphony of fire as it was then called in Vancouver the light the fireworks light show to 750 people in a old. converted train station where everything including power had to be brought in. So I've got kind of run the gamut. And then I've also, I also used to run an optical wholesale warehouse. So the customer service and all the inventory and was really, that was good. That was a good four years of my life when I first moved to Vancouver. And then prior to relocating and moving to Fredericton after COVID was, I was a content creator for almost 10 years, so I had my own travel blog. It started out as, it started out being called 30 Day Adventures and then it transitioned to the new name, which was Marc My Travels. So a play off of my name and also kind of a postage stamp and tracking where I go and what I did. And that's actually my first time in the Maritimes was actually in Fredericton just over 10 years ago, July of 2015. And so when I went nomad in 2016, you know, I've been, I don't wanna say I've been around the world, but I've definitely traveled a chunk and I've written close to 1500 stories. So when COVID happened, I was kind of ready to sort of just, slow down a little bit, and also the hustle on everything was getting a little exhausting. So COVID was a great pause, and when the COVID dust settled, I was like, okay, where am I gonna pick myself up, and where am I gonna go to? And I thought, you know, I'd never lived in the Maritimes, so let's try it. So I came here- I think a lot of people did that during They really looked at themselves and said, what am I doing? What shift do I have to take in my life? Is this worth it? A lot I talked to a lot of friends. For me, COVID was actually not devastating. It was devastating to my bank account, but it was not devastating to me personally. I just happened to be, I literally happened to fly in the day of the BC lockdown. My mom picked me up at the airport, I was going to go have a visit with her. So I was like, oh God, okay, I guess I'm staying for more than a couple of days. But every day, basically, I would get up, there was a grocery store a very short walk from our house, and of course, grocery stores were allowed to be open. They had a decent little coffee shop, so I would go in there, I'd get an Americano, And then I'd go for a good hour, hour and a half walk every single day. And what I would do is I would just grab my phone and I would kind of spin the contacts folder like a Rolodex. And I would just call someone every day that I hadn't chatted with for a long time. I would have these like just, you know, conversations. And interesting for me, I kind of, it was during all of that time that I just realized it's only when you stop running that you realize how fast you've been going. And so the COVID allowed me to pause and could I have kept going? Sure. But I, uh, I really did not want to pivot within the content creation world any more than I had already done. I mean, I'd been doing it for, like I said, eight, eight to 10 years, and I'd already changed four or five times how I was doing things because you know, that world of content creation. I mean, first I was a blogger, then it was an influencer, then it was, you know, everything changes so rapidly. And so it just, I, you know, again, I'm in my fifties. And so I was like, I don't know if I want to be working that hard all the time, like 24 seven to So, and I think you, a little bit of what I'm picking up is, what I discovered in my own journey, especially in the last few years, my coach has always said to me, Brett, you need to put your own oxygen mask on. And I really started to embrace that two years ago. Did I try? Yes. But you started to say, hey, I'm going to choose me first. I'm going to do things that give me fulfillment, that give me energy. And so you said, OK, this old way is not Well, and also the other thing too was, again, even though I love to travel, but travel was work for me. It wasn't a vacation. That's a mistake people think when they think that you're a writer. In fact, I literally just got a message before we jumped on the Zoom from a friend of mine who is a travel writer. writes more for traditional publications, newspapers, and et cetera. And so I coached him a lot during COVID. And he's like, hey, guess who's in Fredericton today? He says, I need to make some life choices. He says, I'm booking you for dinner on Thursday night. He says, let's have some chats. He says, I need to bounce a bunch of stuff off of you. And so I'm like, OK, yeah, I'm available. It is I love this. You know, it's that thing of like, when every single week, like in any given week back when I was a content creator, I could be in two different destinations. So that is not a vacation. My idea of a vacation right now would be an all-inclusive with a drinks package and sitting in a cabana having a lovely like a Mai Tai or a rum punch or something and going out for a swim in the water and relaxing. When I was a content creator, I was up at six thirty seven o'clock in the morning i was answering emails i was writing my story of the day i was scheduling my social media for that for those post for the promotion that i would go out and then i would hit a breakfast spot because i need to have content on where that was the content in the even the destination was part of the story so it was yes. Yes. I'd always have to do an unboxing of my hotel room. You have all this association with that travel Actually, to be fair, I probably only post on social media once a week, maybe once every two weeks because I did it for so long. Now I'm like, I don't care if you don't see what I'm eating for breakfast today. Exactly. Meanwhile, here I am posting everything, but I come from the mindset of sharing my journey to help people and inspire people. You haven't done you're doing it because it's work. Like I still post, you know, I do the social for, for the cultural center where I work. That's different. I don't have a problem with that because it's intentional and everything else. But when it's about my own life, I'm like, yeah, you know, my entire life Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So now, now you have this new opportunity and you're, you're giving it the love and actually finding new ways to, to, find ways to enjoy travel in new ways. At least having the mindset and the recognition to know what fuels you and gives you energy. going for a, you know, jumping on a plane and going to three different destinations, probably Well, if the bank account was like fully funded and I didn't have to work, I would do that in a heartbeat. But I would certainly, but I would not jam every single day with two adventures, three restaurants and Well, and let me tell you this, how many ways can you talk about how juicy a burger is? You know, after a while, you know, I was starting to lose adjectives to describe things. And it was kind of like, oh, you know. And I mean, I'll also say now, obviously, everyone's a little different, but eating restaurant food three days a week is not great for your waistline. And I actually love to cook. So from 2016 to the end of COVID, I didn't have a kitchen because I was a nomad. And the reason that I didn't cook at my mom's place during COVID was because my mom's celiac. So I was, I mean, I did do some cooking, but obviously cooking with flour is not allowed. So like, there was a lot of things, it was very different. So I just let my mom do it. But when I relocated here to Fredericton and set down roots here, it was really fun to kind of get back in the kitchen. And I'm like, oh, I'm going to make beef stroganoff. Or like, you know, I had people over for Thanksgiving Yesterday, Canadian Thanksgiving, if any of your listeners are American, so in October. And I did a baked ham, and I did scallop potatoes, and roasted Brussels sprouts with a balsamic glaze, and that was fun. I enjoyed that. And then I made a pumpkin cheesecake. That And just picking up on a theme that I was talking about, I recorded a, I went for a walk this morning, I was reflecting on Canadian Thanksgiving and something I heard in a service this weekend. It was all centered around gratitude. Imagine you have immense gratitude for all the journeys that Well, I mean, I, I think I kind of annoy people. I'm certainly not a Pollyanna, but I, you know, I wake, my glasses always have full, even when things are a little struggle. I, I certainly recognize that I'm blessed. Um, and you know, I also, I'm a big believer that, um, I've got a couple of, well, I've got many sayings, but one of my, um, one of my truths is that everything I need to get out or to, to solve a problem, I already have. I already have the answers. I just have to tap into what that is. And so sometimes that's asking for help, and I'm absolutely not afraid to ask for help. I certainly have surrounded myself in my life with people that are a lot smarter than me in a lot of different areas. So I lean on those people. You're making me think of Think and Grow Rich. Have No, I absolutely detest reading business books and self-help books because they're so dry. I I watched the movie, okay? There's a movie, actually, okay? Short version is Henry Ford was put on trial because they were trying to prove that he wasn't educated. And his argument was why should I fill myself with knowledge that I don't really need to do when I can just pick up my phone and contact somebody and give me the information I need. So your network, I think the way what you were saying is, your network is your net worth. You can just pick up the phone and call someone. I know somebody in my network, Daylene Allen, She's really inspired me on this. She says, you just need to reach out to somebody within your network, even LinkedIn. Like what you did during COVID, you were reaching out, having those connections, fostering those relationships. But you can just pick up the phone if you're struggling with something. And sometimes, a lot of times, what happens In life, we're struggling with a challenge, and we don't even realize that we can just pick up the phone or send a DM Well, and I think that... Don't lean into that enough. No, and I think people spend... So, in my event business, I was always getting co-op students or interns, whatever you wanted to call them, for work experience, part of their schooling. And I started them from zero to 100. I was like, you are literally going to do everything that I do in a day. And every morning, we'd sit down, and we'd sit down, and we'd discuss kind of like what needed to be accomplished that day on any given project that we were doing. And I would say to them, I said, listen, OK, I'm going to get you to do this. We've not had a conversation about it and whatever. I said, but I'm going to show you some examples of things that I've done. And I said, spend 15 minutes on it. If you can't figure it out, don't spin your wheels any longer than 15 minutes. Call me. Like, you know, I would be in a different area. I'm like, call me and I'll walk you through it. But I said, I want you to give it a shot. And Yeah. And I said, come back to me with the questions. Like, so, you know, but I'm going to give you a shot. And I knew that they weren't going to, of course, they're not going to be able to do exactly what I did because they're, you know, they're, I did it. It's me. So, and they're new. And so, but the idea was I needed them to try. And then I would like, okay, so now that you've read it, you've gone through it, but I also didn't want them to sit there for half an hour to an hour wasting their time. And I'm, I very much look at my life that way that I'm like, you know, when I was younger, maybe I would spend more time on a project on a problem because we thought we could solve anything. Yeah. Or I thought I was, I thought I was supposed to solve it. Right. And then, yes, that was a strength, but in a way it was a weakness not to rely on other people to let them in to But I w I would also say one, I am, so going back to the gratitude thing, I always give credit when someone has, you know, moved me, shifted me further along on a problem that I've solved. So I never claim somebody else's work as mine. But two, it's sort of like, there's And I've used this term a lot, they call it a solopreneur, or you're a single business owner. But there's no such thing, because nobody who runs a business says it alone, even if they're a solopreneur. I, in my event business, every year, and during more challenging times, I would do it multiple times. What I would do is I would convene a quote-unquote board of directors. And the idea was that I would pick people in categories that I needed that were smarter than me or more of an expert, so to speak, in that area. But then the other qualification was They had to absolutely want me to succeed. So would you just grab people from the community and you're from you know that I knew yes people that I knew and then so but the idea was is that because I knew they were gonna rip apart my business plan or the challenge or whatever it was I was doing, but I needed them to not, like they had to know me and I had to, because it was, I was sharing really sensitive to me information about my business, the financial situation, all those things. So I needed the trust that when everything, when the dust settled from the meeting, their ultimate goal was they wanted me to thrive. And so that- Power of a mastermind. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and I, and I, I mean, I know people that do it once a month and stuff like that. I, for me, that wasn't, isn't really for me, but I did it when I was, when I, when I would be pivoting or when I had to make big decisions, I would do it. They were like my, you know, like I said, my, my board of Oh, no. Yeah. Oh, I brought the food in. I had a couple of bottles of wine. And then I, what I always do is I would always hire someone. If I did not have an assistant at that time, I would hire someone to document the meeting and take notes because I would present. my plan, my situation, whatever it is, and then they would be coming Yeah, and I wouldn't have the opportunity to document or to keep, like, remember everything. So I had somebody else there just capture all that. And when I would start, the very first time I started one of these, I said, listen, I said, you know, I am absolutely gonna guarantee that I'm going to, at some point in time, cry during this session because I've put a lot of work into this. I said, but I don't want you to think that my tears are a reason for you to stop. That's how we grow. I'm a big boy. I'm like, yes, it's hurting my feelings, but the minute you leave, 10 minutes later, I'm going to be like, oh, yeah. Because again, I set the premise in the invitation that these were people that I trusted wanted me to succeed. I want Now you understand why that was such a... It does, but I want to dig into it a little bit for a minute. Because there's some entrepreneurs listening to this right now. And I've been doing my own version of this. I met with... I was in a mastermind. We'd have deep dives on our business. Every six weeks, we'd do a deep dive on each other's business. Sometimes it'd be two months. And then I've also been using ChatGPT and I made my own virtual AI board of directors. But what you just said really unlocked something for me. And I think I want to ask a few more questions because I'm thinking, and I believe that there's some of our listeners are listening to this idea. I'm like, oh, I never thought of that. So how would somebody go about getting their board of directors? Like, what did you do? Like, how did you, like, how did you, like, So absolutely once a year. Yeah. Cause I was an event producer. I wasn't creating, you know, it's not like I was that I had a physical product that I would have different iterations of. I produced events that, so the structure of that and what I, the product is fairly simple. What, what I was always challenged was, was finding the clients. and what types of events and what types of, you know, where I needed to be. And so really a lot of business development, marketing, that kind of sort of stuff. So for me, that was a once a year thing when there were so during the 2008, 2009 housing crisis in the States and in America, when the market crashed and marketing budgets dropped, So up until that point, I had been doing a lot of BNI. I'm sure you know what that is. Yes, I do. I had done that for probably two or three years. But I had sort of convened a casual board of directors with just two or three people over coffee. And I was talking about the various, they're like, what's your business development mark, what's your whatever. Marceting was the first thing that was cut, if you remember back then, from people's budgets. And then in the marketing space, the first thing that was cut was face-to-face events, which is of course is the complete back ass logic. People were still doing events. So the problem was is that I didn't, there were still events happening, but they were, but in all honesty, and I love BNI, but my chapter was not producing any actual clients for me that I didn't have to discount to get because I didn't start working until my fee was at 2,000, 2,500, which meant their budgets were close to 15 to $20,000. So there was not a lot of, I gave a lot of referrals. I didn't get a lot. So as a result of this conversation, you know, one, I was doing an hour and a half every single week. Then there was the $25 fee for the, you know, the breakfast and everything. But on top of that, there was all the coffees with the different members every single week to sort of stay connected and to find out more about their business. So there was a very large cost outside of money To be in that bni and after three years i wasn't getting the same are why that i did at the beginning even if you have to make that change yeah and so the board like but i was you know i was kind of doubling down doing it and then the board of directors was sort of like. yeah, Marc, you're not, any work you're getting out of this, you have to discount because they don't have the budget. So just so they can see what you do. So they're like, you need to get out of it and you need to like figure out where your actual customer base is. And then of course, I already knew the thing is like, who hires me? Agency, you know, so I would go through the list and I realized there was a little thing, In early 2009, I joined Twitter, I quit BNI, and I put the same amount of energy into Twitter that I did into BNI. But what I did was, and I used to do some talks about social media in Vancouver, my Twitter strategy was networking at a cocktail party. So I would walk into a room, no one, I didn't know anybody. So I would just, that's just logging into Twitter. I don't know who's in the room. I would see someone, or I'd go over to an area and I would overhear the conversation. That's just like checking out people's tweets on Twitter. If I liked what they were saying, I would introduce myself, get their Then I'd have a little back and forth. That's tweeting back and forth with this person. Then I would move on to another group of people and I would repeat something that the person I just met had said that I thought was really interesting. That's a retweet. And then, you know, and then I would book a coffee with them. And that's a DM, because like, you're taking it off, you know, out of the public space, and you're going private. So like, all I did this, and but my purpose on Twitter was always to follow. So agencies, marketing agencies, PR agencies, All the groups of previous clients that I'd had, where did that business come from? Everyone listening, these are things you can still do today with Instagram and LinkedIn. If you're not doing it, I would encourage you to think about this is gold, spot on advice. Reach out, your And here's the thing, and this is, so like, you know, when I'm meeting someone, like, I never want my first meeting with you to be when I want to sell or buy something from you. No, no. Because, you know, I, and everyone laughs at me when I say this, there is a cologne that a sales pitch has that is very similar to me is driving by a What I've heard people say is it's commissioned breath. Come to the table with something of value. But the one thing I think though, if you're meeting with somebody and you know you have something that can help them, you're doing a crime Oh, a hundred percent. And like, and don't get me wrong. It's not like, I I want to get to know you a little bit more before I commission breath. Yeah. Yeah. Where I just sort of, and even, and even if my sales pitch, so to speak, has nothing to do with my business, I'm a sort of like, Oh, you know what? I can, I am more than happy to, I My nickname was Marcus one phone call. I Yeah, that's why we're here to help each other though. Like, like, Yes. I don't know a guy, but I have a general contractor that probably works with a guy who does. So it's the one phone call, right? It's that Kevin Bacon, six degrees of separation thing where, you know, and the thing is, and so even when I moved to Fredericton, I actually threw a party for myself. I had five acquaintances in Fredericton and, um, I secured a location. Someone that was a cider company here in town local that had just bought a farm they offered up one of their barns if I cleaned it out, then I could have the barn for an event space I hired a local caterer. The cider obviously I bought cider from them and I friend of mine had just opened a brewery so they came with their beer and then I had the five acquaintances in Fredericton. that I had maintained a relationship since my first visit in 2015. I said to them, I'm like, I'm going to throw a party. I'm taking care of the food and the booze. I said, can you just invite some interesting people you think I should meet? And so I arrived on October 22nd, my party was October 25th. There were 30 people there and it was called a get to know Marc party. And I literally just kind of like said, you know, thank you for coming. You know, it cost me about, I think in total it cost me about just under $2,000. But I asked all those people that were there to book a coffee with me, and I wanted to get to know them. And I still have relationships with That is brilliant, Marc. I love it. I'm going to remember that. It's the same variation what I've heard. I'm in Dan Martell's group coaching program, and he does something that I know quite a few people do that are inspired by him. he does a founder's dinner. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I actually, so weirdly enough, I actually got a job out of that kind of thing. Um, it was a year, I did a year that was, you know, there was, there wasn't really a plan to actually, you know, go any further than that. But so I went in, I helped, I helped someone's business. They needed some operational help. So I went in, did some, you know, help them do some cleanup and reorganization. And then, uh, I took some time off because even though I just had COVID off, I was actually still kind of burnt out. Um, and I really didn't have a real Fredericton. And then, so then I, so I took the, that summer off and, um, I ended up doing a, uh, a talk at the Fredericton chamber of commerce. And about efficiency and how to make your day more efficient work wise and things like that, and so I gave my talk and. I wasn't actually that thrilled with it, because the people who I thought were the audience that i've written my presentation for was not the people in the room. No one's fault other than my own, I should have asked more questions. But out of that mistake, I felt bad that I did not feel that I had given the value that I'd wanted to give. So I reached out to every single attendee and invited them for a coffee so that I could have more one-on-one time with them. I would say about 35% took me up on that. And one of those people, while we were having coffee, she was like, you should meet my husband. He really needs some help with the not-for-profit that he's running. And that is how I landed the job that I'm in right now. I had a coffee meeting with him a couple of months after that, because it was around Christmas time this all happened. Yeah. And, you know, he says, I need some help. And he says, send me your resume. And so we had this conversation. And it just so happens that my resume kind of fit, you know, what he was needing to take off of his plate. And so it's almost a year now. And yeah, I couldn't be any happier. So So many great takeaways from what you've shared. You put yourself out there. You've had the get to know Marc party. How many people are like, we hold back from just making those coffee or getting out and speaking to people, networking, just for clarification. So we let's, let's just turn the spotlight on for a little minute to, so our audience knows what you're doing now with this organization, Fredericton, what's your title and what So the cultural center is, so we are spaces for community collaboration and connection. So we are a not-for-profit hub. We are a not-for-profit landlord in the west end of downtown Fredericton. And so we have about 60,000 square feet and we have about 13 different organizations. that rent office space. We have a child daycare in there. And so we do have a couple of for-profit businesses, but most of the businesses in there are not-for-profit or community organizations. And so we make that space available for them at a rate that is less than if we were a commercial for-profit. And so part of my role and what they brought me on to do was, so obviously I overhauled I tightened the branding, I overhauled the website, launched a brand new website, reactivated our social media presence. And, but then we have a 3,700 square foot multi-purpose event space towards the back of the building. And so it has been my job to build relationships and to make that space a revenue source for the building. Cause it's the only space that is not booked 24 seven. There is absolutely no space in that building for me to even have an office. So I literally either work in a coffee shop or I work from home. I mean, I tend to, I'm used to waking up and going for coffee. So I usually just wake up, grab my laptop, go to my favorite coffee shop in town here for a couple of hours. I tend to do my coffee meetings first thing in the morning. That's my favorite time to chat, so to speak. And then I come home and do the rest of my work from my home office. And And you're a connector, Marc, like you're a connector. Yes. Yes. And, you know, that is, and it, honestly, I don't know. I mean, obviously I, you know, need to make money and all the rest of the things, but I don't think anything gives me any more joy than when I am able to pair businesses or people together and to see magic happens. And I'm, um, When I do an introduction, I'm always, especially if it's an email introduction and someone doesn't know what's coming, I always include a brief bio on each of the parties that I'm introducing and why I think there's a fit. You need to put some meat on the bones when you do an introduction. And so if I'm offering that, that I'm thrilled to do, there are times where people have asked me to make introductions for them, and I'm always happy to do so. But I also say my introduction comes with a price. And that price is don't fuck it up because I have put my name on the line for you. So I need you to do your best. Don't let the, don't let this, you know, show up, show up, show And you obviously thought highly enough for both parties that they need to be together. So at least show up and take a shot at it and have a conversation. even if you're not in the mindset of not wanting to have the conversation. There was a version of me many number of years ago that wouldn't do it, but now I intentionally meet with people, even help somebody that's on their journey. I've even met with people that are in their journey of trying to start their own career in this field. I speak to them. I learned that from from a HR manager for a firm that I used to work for. He said, Brett, this is Carmen saying this, I'm feeling them right now. I always make an effort to meet with somebody. If they come, I at least have a conversation because you never know how much my Well, and obviously someone gave you advice at some point in time that you've taken and whatever. So I mean, Obviously I love coffee and I love the act of coffee, which so But I am, um, but I have a, I personally have a policy of never saying no to coffee. with someone. Because, and the reason is, so I get, you know, I mean, I cold email people to have coffee with me. And I get cold called, not so much in Fredericton, because I'm still relatively new here, you know, and that so not as many people reach out to me here, I'm doing most of the reach out. But the back in Vancouver, people would reach out to me all the time for coffees. And I would always say yes, I'd, you know, I'm like, sure, here's half an hour, let's do it, whatever. And I would, and the person who asked for the coffee, it's their, as far as I'm concerned, it's their agenda. So when we sit down, I'm like, okay, this is your coffee. What do you go? Like, tell me, what are you looking for? What are you, what, you know, are you just want to get to know me or whatever, but it's their agenda. I let them set it and I just follow what they're, what they're putting down. But the reason that I do this, is I don't know who they are until I meet with them, and I don't know, more importantly, who they're going to be. Because I have often sat down with people that were wanting to get in the event space or other things, and that I'd met at a talk I gave or something. And then a couple of years later, they would show up or reach out to me, email, phone, and they'd be like, hey, Any chance you're looking for a blank?" And I'm like, oh yeah, I could, yeah, what's going on? Well, you know, I'm with XPR company and we have this as a client and I've been tasked with identifying 10 people in Vancouver to give one of these things to, to get them to try it out and just to share your honest feedback, good, bad, or otherwise. And I'm like, oh, so like, and like that, I mean, that's a very simple and whatever, but All sorts of people that I did not know that I did have a coffee with have all gone on to do great things. And they all answer the phone when I call. And there's a, you know what I mean? And now they may not answer it immediately, but I always get a response. And so there's a magic that happens in that relationship. And they were like, oh, you were so nice to me when nobody else would meet with me, you did. Yeah, and so I often find, especially in my content creation days, I often punched above my weight in terms of trips and opportunities because the agency rep, the destination rep, really, one, they liked my content. two, You know, so they had to sort of like, yes, they have numbers and they have, you know, they have to justify all those, you know, all the trips that they host and everything. But there was one time, uh, I'd met, uh, I'd met a rep from a California destination at an event in Vancouver. And him and his husband were, you know, they had a couple of personal days. So and I had just chatted with them at the thing. And they were like, they're like, Oh, where should we go for whatever? And I'm like, Oh, my God, let me make a list for you. And I said, Why don't you come to my place for drinks, you know, when you're done, or before you go, and then I'll have a whole list of things for you. So they came to my place, you know, because it was close to where they were staying. We had some drinks on my balcony. I gave them a list of places. They called me the next day. They like, we want to take you out because we really appreciate it. So we went out the next day. And then two weeks later, I got an email from him. And he's like, Marc, he says, he says, I primarily look after travel or after meetings and convention goers and stuff like that. He says, but I've got, he says, I've got one spot left on my fam trip. And he says, and I know the other three people, I know they're all booking conferences. So he says, I've hit my targets. He says, do you want to come to our destination for five days? It's all expenses paid. And I was like, yes! And he's like, because, you know, he'd hit his sales targets. He knew that everyone that was on that trip was a guaranteed sale. So for me, and I went and wrote stories and I never would have probably gone to that destination. So, but I wrote about the wineries and then he actually ended up using my stories in some of his, you know, you know, press kits when he would be sending them out to potential clients about all the things that you can do in his destination, because they weren't sexy like San Francisco or, you know, L.A. or Santa Barbara, things like that. So, yeah, so it's the Tri-Valley, like, so it's like it is a wine region, but it's not as sexy and as big of a name. So, yeah, so, you know, it was great. And again, never would have anticipated that coming from See, this is really making me think of somebody else in my network that I've met, and I really admire him. He says, who's missing out because you're not showing up? You show up. You make the connections. And you make the connections not with the intention of getting anything back. It's just knowing, I believe, you give the universe will eventually come back to you. Yeah. And it's Yeah. My cheesy, my, my cheesy holiday season email sign off in my personal email is if you give with both hands, you're open to a hug. So, I mean, obviously that's personal and that's cheesy and everything else, but it's like, if you only give with one hand, then the other one's tied behind You're making me think of this lady I met this past week. I do cybersecurity and I had the great pleasure of serving a community, two communities in Labrador. And I went to this Northern community that the only way to get there is by plane or boat. And when I came in, they really needed help. And the lady came up and she gave me biggest hug. I'm so glad you're here. That's one of the most memorable parts of my trip. The lady giving me the hug and then later the Yes. Well, you know, I mean, when I was a content creator and on trips, You know, it's, and I always, and I see this from all of my friends that still write about their destinations. You know, we get given so much swag, um, on these trips, the pens, the notepads, the dot, dot, dot, dot, dot But you know, when you, when you go there and the person that's booked you on the trip and that's arranged everything, remembers that it's your birthday. And so there's a little birthday card in your hotel or there's like, you know, for example, they know that you love doughnuts. I love doughnuts. And so they would be like some fresh doughnuts and they're like, we booked them on your itinerary, you know, so dah, dah, dah, you know, so like all, those are the little, it's those connection points, You know what? Small things matter the most. Yes. You know, we People also stay in jobs because of managers, you know, or the people that they work with and everything else. And so again, like going back to, I feel, and it's just my own intuition about this, but I believe I punched way above my weight in terms of the opportunities I was given. when my website numbers maybe didn't open that door, the likability factor did. And then I would work really hard to produce content that I thought was good and that was engaging. And then they would be, you know, I mean, and I always say, like in my event days, they always ask me like, what's your, what are your metrics for a successful event? And the answer is super simple. Will the client hire me again? And did they have a smile on their face when they wrote their final check to me? That is a successful event. That's success. So Marc, wrapping up here, I told you that this was going to be an incredible episode. And I'm a talker. Yeah, no, there's so many great takeaways from this. I'm richer because of this conversation. So I want to thank you for this. How do people connect with you, So obviously, love LinkedIn. So it's Marc with a C. Marc H. Smith is my LinkedIn. And you can tell it's me because I've got a mic in my hand and I'm talking to a journalist at the Toronto Pearson Airport. So that is probably the best because My Instagram and Facebook, I don't actually use that much. But if you want to follow me on Instagram, I'm TheMarcSmith. And again, I'm Marc the French way with a C. So they can do that. And obviously, theculturalcenter.ca, if you are interested in looking at my event space and want to do Yes, for people that are in Atlantic Canada, definitely connect with Marc, but connect with Marc, and perhaps if you're even from outside of this region, connect with him on LinkedIn, have a virtual coffee, grow, advance Yeah, I know, I know. We'll have to have a real coffee soon, I will say that if we do, if I do do a virtual coffee with someone, probably chances are I'm going to say no to a Zoom because I'm tired of looking at my own face. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to take my coffee to go. I'm going to put my AirPods in and I'm probably going to go for a walk on one of the 120 kilometers of urban trails in Fredericton because I love a coffee walk, even if it's cold out. I started doing that too. I've started doing one-on-one meetings with my team and walk and get that oxygen in and I just find them so much If you do not have to take copious notes, I highly recommend coffee walks or tea walks, whatever you want them to be, because one, you're not facing each other. So it's not whether it's even friendly, it's not adversarial to the oxygen and the exercise of just moving your legs. Actually, I find it allows for a lot of creativity. And it allows for the conversation to go places that it may not have gone if you were sitting in a coffee shop Absolutely. And for me, just adding on to that, I meet with my coach weekly and about four months ago, actually six, I started doing the calls while walking. The effectiveness for me went Yeah, I just think, yeah, I mean, I don't love going to the gym, but I do find that physical movement along with that outside oxygen really does spike the creativity. And a lot of times I will have phone meetings where I need to come up with something, and it Marc, it was a real great pleasure to have you here today. Thank you for having me. And everyone, Marc's contact info will be in the show notes. Reach out, connect and share this episode with somebody who needs to hear. There's so many great takeaways from board of directors to get to know Marc. Maybe it'd be your get to know that you should really think about doing all because of you've heard some great, great Thanks for tuning into the Adaptive Mindset. If you found value in today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who's ready to thrive in the digital age.