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Community Spotlight by Xact Nutrition: The Xact Story with Lawrence Colsell. His motivations, challenges and triumphs over the last 12 years of living his dream
118 Plays7 months ago
It’s been just over a year since I’ve started this new show and I have you to thank for standing by me as we’ve seen it grow. I’ve also been blessed to be supported by exceptional people who have believed in this project from the very beginning, so I’m thrilled to share a little bit more about one of their stories with you here today.
On this episode of Just In Stride Community Spotlight Edition, we’ll get to dig a little deeper into what fuels the man behind Xact Nutrition, founder, entrepreneur and community builder Lawrence Colsell.
You might recognize Lawrence from interview number 2 but we wanted to bring him back to learn more about what makes him tick. We try to get a glimpse of what motivates him, the challenges he faces and how he stays so passionate after 12 years of building his dream.
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Offer from Xact Nutrition: This episode is presented by our friends at Xact Nutrition and they are offering you 15% OFF your order when you use the code JUSTINSTRIDE. So head to xactnutrition.com and fuel your goals today! Now shipping in Canada and the U.S.
Thanks for tuning in to the Just In Stride Podcast. I truly appreciate you taking the time to listen and I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. Please take a minute after this to rate and review our show on Apple Podcasts. With your feedback we’ll be able to make the show even better and it’ll help us reach new listeners too. You can also find us on Instagram @justinstridepod and YouTube @justinstridepod for all the latest episodes and updates. Glad you came along for the ride with Just In Stride!
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Transcript
Introduction to Podcast and Purpose
00:00:03
Speaker
Hello, and welcome to the Justin's Drive podcast. I'm your host, Justin Puyese. If you love endurance sports, you've definitely come to the right place. On this show, we'll talk to athletes, coaches, and professionals who can help us reach our true potential. Being a student of distance running for over 10 years and interviewing people in the sport for the last five, I've learned a ton, but there's always more to discover. Everyone has a story, and I know you'll resonate with each of our guests as we embark on this new journey together.
00:00:34
Speaker
Join us at home, on the road, or while you run. Together, we'll have some fun. So follow along on Instagram at justinstridepod and your favorite podcast platform and prepare to be inspired.
Sponsorship and Podcast Growth
00:00:47
Speaker
Come along for the ride with Justin Stride.
00:00:51
Speaker
This episode is presented by our friends at Exact Nutrition, a tasty and healthy way for you to fuel your body before, during, and after a solid training session. I can't leave the house without a few fruit bars in my pocket and they never make it back home. Exact is offering you 50% off your order when you use the code justinstride. So head to exactnutrition.com and fuel your goals today.
00:01:14
Speaker
It's been just over a year since I've started this new show and I have you to thank for standing by me as we've seen it grow. I've also been blessed to be supported by exceptional people who have believed in this project from the very beginning. So I'm thrilled to share a little bit more about one of their stories with you here today.
Guest Introduction: Lawrence Colsell
00:01:32
Speaker
On this episode of Justin Stride Community Spotlight Edition, we'll get to dig a little deeper into what fuels the man behind exact nutrition.
00:01:41
Speaker
founder, entrepreneur, and community builder, Lawrence Colsell. You might recognize Lawrence from interview number two, but we wanted to bring him back to learn more about what makes him tick. We try to get a glimpse of what motivates him, the challenges he faces, and how he stays so passionate after 12 years of building his dream.
Exact Nutrition: Motivation and Beginnings
00:02:01
Speaker
Lawrence, welcome back to the Justin Stride podcast.
00:02:04
Speaker
Thanks Justin, happy to be here. Yeah, this one's a community spotlight. We want to shed some light on you and, and exact and tell the exact story as I'm calling it and get your side of this story, get your motivations, your challenges, what you face kind of, or what you faced over the last 12 years building this company. And it's wild that it's been this long.
00:02:32
Speaker
It certainly is what it's been that long after. I'm glad you mentioned that because it doesn't feel like 12 years. And like when you achieve anything or get anywhere in life, I think you look back and then you can kind of see all the things that have happened.
00:02:47
Speaker
maybe things that you didn't expect would happen or go the way you thought they would go. I guess my first question is, you know, where was the motivation at the very onset of starting this thing and what in your mind were the goals that you were set out to achieve? Yeah, well, I think the
00:03:08
Speaker
The motivation really, I don't think it was necessarily wanting to do something specific in run or even in sports, per se. It was really, it came from, sounds a little bit grand, but wanting to do something with my life. And what I mean by that is, you know, I've been working in, you know, various jobs and was, you know, pretty happy in them.
00:03:35
Speaker
I felt really compelled to make a significant change in what I did for work. I think that was the big background thing that maybe was bubbling along, but that just meant that I was perhaps a little bit more on the lookout for an opportunity and a little bit more aware of
00:03:57
Speaker
I felt I didn't see myself just working for the the employer I had back then, who I'm super grateful for.
Personal Journey: Moving and Career Shift
00:04:05
Speaker
I mean they took me from Britain to Paris, they had wonderful training opportunities and in fact
00:04:11
Speaker
They sponsored me to come to Canada. So it's thanks to them that I was able to bring my family here. And they paid for the move. It was awesome. And helped me with permanent residence and all those things. But at a certain point in my life, I don't know if maybe it's a midlife crisis. Who knows? But I kind of felt that I didn't see an exciting future for myself and for my family.
00:04:39
Speaker
um staying there and I guess I think that as a certain point maybe I felt I wasn't really learning um as much as I had been in the years before which I found really really stimulating and fun I love learning um whether it be uh well particularly cooking like I love learning to cook
00:04:58
Speaker
And, um, I love learning to, you know, organize things properly. I love all those things and that's very stimulating for me. And that, that really kind of feeds, um, feeds my energy, uh, if you know what I mean. So, um, and then I think it was, then it was more just perhaps circumstances. Um, I've, I've always, always, as far as I can remember, like going back right as a kid, probably one of my first, like really,
00:05:27
Speaker
Cool experiences was the first time I was given like total autonomy and not just not by myself but.
00:05:33
Speaker
a small bunch of kids from here. So we went to being 11 or something like that. And it was a multi-day hike where you have to be completely autonomous. And it's done safely, all that stuff, but it doesn't feel like that. So you're out on the more Dartmoor, which is known for just like, it's like the wet bit of Britain. So Britain's wet. Everyone knows it's where everyone takes the piss. But this is like the wettest bit. And so you've got, you know, it's like a 20, no, 30 mile hike.
00:05:58
Speaker
But you have to have your tent, your food, your everything, your navigation. There's no waypoints or anything like that. It's map and compass and six 12-year-olds. But I always tend to go back to that feeling that was like at the end of that. So whilst we're doing it, importantly, it didn't seem fun at all. It seemed a bit shit.
00:06:22
Speaker
Um, but at the end of it, it was a really, really awesome feeling. And I think, I think I was kind of looking for that maybe when I was like in my, I guess early forties. Um, and kind of trying to think about, well, what's the next, you know, 10, 20 years going to look like, you know, what can me and Marianne, my, my wife and the co-founder of exact, what are we going to end up doing?
Starting a Business with Limited Resources
00:06:47
Speaker
And we saw some opportunities to basically make what we enjoyed for our leisure, our professional life. And I think that's where, let's give that a shot. And I think it was, it wasn't like we didn't felt like we really had like a whole lot to lose, to be honest, apart from any bit of money. But even then it wasn't a huge amount because we did start off exact,
00:07:14
Speaker
pretty much on a very low budget because the things that would be typically very expensive like in terms of product development we were able to do ourselves that we had those skills ourselves between me Marianne and most importantly Marianne's dad and the way we set up manufacturing and import and all those things
00:07:35
Speaker
We managed to do it incredibly cheaply, basically because we didn't have investors or a whole load of cash. We had some savings and so we did have a pretty bare bones go at it. We had a very clear focus which was just like, let's get the product made and take it to some run stores. That was basically it.
00:08:05
Speaker
Yeah. And that's, I mean, that's basically like how you began, right? And with that, it sounds like you're very confident in your ability, but like you had to start a new business. You became an entrepreneur essentially. Like were there fears attached to that for yourself? You said, you know, other than losing a bit of money, but
00:08:28
Speaker
You know, the stakes are, you know, higher when you're raising a family and, and kind of the unknown, you know, did you face any of that? So not to, well, maybe it doesn't come across as arrogant, but I had no fear at all, because, you know, to be honest, um, we're, we're very fortunate, Mary and I, we've, you know, we, we were in a really privileged position, like, you know, uh, our parents like have jobs in their own houses and everything.
00:08:58
Speaker
So, you know, and we had a car and, you know, a mortgage on a house. If everything did go absolutely awfully, like nothing bad was going to happen. We'd have to sell the house and downsize and move to Hoshilaga or something. But I like Hoshilaga, you know, it wouldn't be bad. Like really, like it wouldn't be that bad. It's kind of a little bit like, maybe you'd lose a couple of years of work sort of thing, but I don't think, I don't look at it like that at all.
00:09:27
Speaker
an interesting experience. And I'd have had, I don't think, well, I don't think I'd ever had, if I had to go back and get the job, maybe similar as I had before, I don't think I'd have too much difficulty finding one. It'd be inconvenient, but nothing sort of dreadful would happen. So no, I didn't really have anything. But I also didn't, I must admit, I didn't spend the whole time thinking about, you know, what that would look like. That's not one of my strengths is sort of predicting doom.
00:09:57
Speaker
I think more power too, because I think for a lot of people, at certain points, they just get stuck in a rut. Eventually, they're like, oh, I want to quit my job. I want to do this. I want to do that. Taking action is the hardest part. Did you find that was a challenge for you? Did that come quite easily in terms of
00:10:18
Speaker
getting the ball rolling and doing everything you needed to do in order to make a success story.
Building a Team and Network
00:10:25
Speaker
So starting stuff isn't something I'm bad at. So taking action is fine. My personal challenge is the following it through to completion, the ongoing management. Even though I personally believe all those things like, well, if it's worth starting, it's worth finishing, I believe that. But the actual doing of it, that is a bit more challenging.
00:10:47
Speaker
getting stuff started, jumping an idea, like having a project and sort of harnessing like the excitement and the optimism with that. I don't struggle with that at all. It's kind of, I feel like it controls me more than I control it. But that's where the other personalities that were in the team, that's how it really came together. So I'm maybe good at
00:11:14
Speaker
Starting the action and I'm my skill set isn't the best at you know, making sure it goes to completion Marianne on the other hand is a ninja at at planning and management and project management and she picked up those skills in in her career to win.
00:11:30
Speaker
you know, working in teams on industrial performance and things like that in the food industry, funnily enough. And so, and that's kind of even what I find to this present day is, you know, as the company expands, and we're hiring people and creating, you know, real jobs that people have to do and get paid for, is really
00:11:53
Speaker
making sure that the different skill sets that we need or that we have an abundance but we need more of. That's actually a really fun thing is making sure that as an entity we're able to do the things competently that we have to have to do. And so it's kind of maybe doesn't sound super sexy or exciting but I actually think that
00:12:21
Speaker
that sort of taking the necessary time to sort of plan a project through so that you really do succeed when it comes to fruition. I think that's something collectively, by myself, I'm awful, but collectively, we do a really good job. And that's probably one of the things I'm actually proudest of with Xact to be honest. Right. And certainly at the beginning and throughout the beginning of the early years, you had to get your hands dirty. So what were some of the things that
00:12:51
Speaker
that Lawrence had to do in order to make sure that this project came to fruition. I say it early because I think eventually you figure them out. I don't think all problems go away. You can probably attest to that, but what did you have to do in order to make sure that you held up your part of the bargain?
00:13:15
Speaker
Well, it kind of, it kind of felt, I feel like saying everything. And when I say, so what does that actually mean when it means like, so initially when, when the product would arrive in, in Canada, it was in these white boxes and there's just like a shitload of bars in there. And the, the actual presenter boxes, they got made on the West Island and designed by my uncle in like
00:13:38
Speaker
flashy green and yellow and pink colors. And so the evening activity would be filling these boxes up with bars. And of course, as we did get more successful, we started sponsoring races. It actually takes quite a long time to fit 24 of those bars into one box and you have to do hundreds of these boxes. So that's just
00:14:00
Speaker
Funnily enough, I do still do that today as well, like slightly less often, but it does have the added bonus if you do actually, when we now contract that work well, it gets done by the manufacturer.
00:14:15
Speaker
and but when even when we're like negotiating the price a bit like we have a pretty good idea of just exactly what it entails because we've been doing it for 11 years ourselves personally in our living rooms so um there's that but i think also maybe um just like just getting a store to carry the product i mean that
00:14:33
Speaker
in terms of like getting hands dirty.
Overcoming Distribution Challenges
00:14:38
Speaker
The only thing which, and it's still right to this day, true to this day is you do literally, I don't think people, just because the product tastes good on and looks good and people like it, that isn't enough for a store to pick it up.
00:14:53
Speaker
And it's been quite an eye opener of just the amount of effort you need to put in for a customer to actually get on board with the product.
00:15:07
Speaker
I mean, there was a big frustration as they'd be there eating the product, saying it was great. And like, yeah, no, we're not going to we don't see a place for it. And, you know, they're eating them as like they're eating bar after bar as they're talking to you. And maybe that their partner is there too. And like, oh, yeah, these days great. So you can order them. No. And just getting through that still to this day is is a really tough one. And I think that's just any any sort of startup
00:15:33
Speaker
brand or purveyor of services will have lived up. That's nothing unique for us at all. But that was definitely a struggle. And of course, the further you are away from your home, the more effort that requires. So I recall driving out to Kingston, Ontario to try and get our first account in Eastern Ontario. And yeah, you make the drive out. I opened the account. It was great.
00:16:01
Speaker
and then drive back, but you realize like, okay, so that was an 11 hour day for a $150 order. That's not covering lunch, let alone a gas and one's time to do that. So there was definitely, we were definitely running on belief
00:16:21
Speaker
and knowing that being confident enough like that the product was good and the athlete feedback and we kind of felt at all times we're kind of fighting against every other piece in the equation but I always was reassured the fact that well if the person who's running their half marathon in the trails likes the product
00:16:41
Speaker
We will get there eventually, but I completely, massively underestimated just how long it would take to create, build up a distribution network, have a logistics platform, 12 calls with the store before they gave it a shot. Because also at the same time, I've always felt strongly, but we can't just give it away for free because then you devalue your product and your service.
00:17:09
Speaker
So the whole business of the brand recognition and the distribution of the product never ceases to, well maybe it doesn't amaze me anymore, but certainly the first nine years never cease to amaze me just how grueling it can be, even when you have a completely differentiated product
00:17:31
Speaker
And when custom testimonials are pouring in like, you know, every week these days, not those days. And when people are using language like this saved my race, you know, this saved my race. I mean, that's, that's a, that's a pretty good compliment. I'll take that. Yeah. So we're getting this feedback on one side and the other side and saying, no, I'm good. I've got, you know, I've got my hammer being like,
00:17:54
Speaker
And what do they mean by that? Do you save my race? Is that a specific situation? Absolutely. They were just completely bonked out and they're going through the feed station and they don't feel like eating anything. And there's one thing there and they pick that up and they're like, oh, like I can eat this. This is the one thing I can eat today in this moment, you know, with what I've been through. And when we're in an expo situation or doing a tasting,
00:18:24
Speaker
That's something, I mean, it brings me like massive joy every time I hear it, but I've heard it like hundreds of thousands of times now over the years. So I think that is massive fuel. Like when you know that, well, the end user, like the athlete, if they believe in the product, we can.
Marketing Strategies and Community Engagement
00:18:46
Speaker
fight through the rest of it like you know the distribution working with like these bigger stores working with buyers and their and their and their terms are there any yeah their terms yeah that's always fun um there are there any stories that stand out to you is like you don't know how you got through this specific situation but whether it's a trade show or a race weekend or
00:19:11
Speaker
You know, I mean, it's always the chunkier car. I don't know. Yeah. All of those. I mean, there was, I guess, I don't know. I mean, I remember there's one particular weekend and, um, you know, see the thing is when your brand is so tiny.
00:19:28
Speaker
It's kind of like you can actually go anywhere. I could go on the street in front of my apartment and there'll be someone on a bike and someone running past within 10 minutes. So no matter what action you do, you will find a customer. So the problem is when every particular race or run club outing or bike ride or triathlon
00:19:52
Speaker
Because no one knows you, you can go to any of them and you will get yourself known to more people. But the problem is, that's not really a strategy, right? That's just, okay, if we just turn up somewhere, we'll find someone that doesn't know us and we can taste it and they'll probably like it.
00:20:07
Speaker
But it took us a while to kind of digest that, so I always remember one of my favorite stories is there was a snowshoe racing event in Sherbrooke, you know, which is, you know, a summit to an hour drive to Montreal. It started, I don't know, at 7am.
00:20:25
Speaker
There's a particularly, like, it's in February, so Quebec, February. I don't know, it wasn't a minus a thousand, but you know, it's close. And I just remember, you know, driving out there, the kids must have been like seven and five or seven or six and eight or something like that, you know. But we always bundled them into the car, so they'd take them with us and we'd drive there. And so we're driving, like, it's not going to be light for a while.
00:20:50
Speaker
And by at least you're driving, it's like, well, you know, we're going to go there, we're going to print the bars, you know, it's, you know, there's, it's the local rowers there, like, you know, we got to, you know, we got to impress them when we get there. Because the weather was so shitty, there's literally, I think there's like 16 people at this race. So, so our numbers brought it up to 20, just us four. And, and you kind of think just like, what are we doing here? But I also seem to remember at the time, not even
00:21:16
Speaker
thinking, what are we doing there? Just like, okay, let's go. Let's promote to the 16 people that are here. And we kind of run off that blind optimism, I think, for quite a while. But I also am pretty convinced that it did pay benefits because you also, you never know who is at those races. And you usually, I mean, so
00:21:43
Speaker
It's not like I didn't think it before, but if there's one thing I've learned, and this actually only gets true and true in the later years, the power of turning up in person with some bars or your beer or a great pair of socks is
00:22:04
Speaker
is a very effective way of promoting the problem is it's very expensive to scale and I think a lot of companies from as far as I can tell have either forgotten how to do it or stop for one way but that's something we've always really persevered with and I think it's one of the ways I know a lot of brands are very good at doing that so I wouldn't say we differentiate ourselves but we certainly
00:22:30
Speaker
have an impact on the communities we choose to promote in. And it's something where we put a lot of energy and time in making sure when we do that, we do it right. And it touches many aspects of the business.
00:22:46
Speaker
who we recruit to help us do that. I think of Pierre-Luc, Pierre-Luc Cartier in Quebec City, who's our tech rep, and is taking over that part of coordinating where we turn up and invent and how we work with our ambassadors to do a really good job. But also the type of folks that end up being ambassadors for us. We're always way more interested in people that all have a connection with a sporting community rather than
00:23:14
Speaker
how many podiums have done or how many followers they have on whatever. And what we're actually looking for is people who will like kind of do the same thing as we were doing the equivalent, maybe try to do a slightly better job than 16 people for Snowshoe Race. But what we found is like is when we can get the product into the mouth of someone,
00:23:38
Speaker
then it all works out. So it's all about trying to make that happen and that people can communicate well and that it's authentic. And that's kind of how we've built out our whole promotional strategy, which now stretches from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland and down to Washington DC, where I have the pleasure of going once every six weeks there.
00:24:05
Speaker
Yeah. It's amazing. I mean, and you keep showing up and I think that's, but that's like, that's part of who you are too, Lawrence. You know, you're very like social guy. I do have difficulty to turn down invitation. I must admit. Yeah. You love to show up. You love to connect and you know, just getting to know you, I'm sure goes a long way too. Right. When you, when you, when someone comes in, says hi to you and you know, a handshake and a smile and uh,
00:24:32
Speaker
There's, you know, you're, you're essentially the face of the brand that you're, that you've created. Are your motivations today the same as they were at the beginning of this thing or have they evolved? In all honesty, I really think they are. I don't.
00:24:50
Speaker
I don't see a big difference. I guess, is it one day a week? So Sunday was run around 125. Phenomenal event in our hometown in Montreal. A six person relay where we do the tour of Montreal Island, 125k.
00:25:07
Speaker
I wasn't able to run this year, so I've got a small injury in my knee, but just the energy and even though I think we had a very, I've had a very highly charged last two and a half weeks with lots of travel and
00:25:23
Speaker
On Friday was the first day I was, we'd just gotten back from Europe and I knew that there was this race coming up. And on Friday, it was kind of like, oh my God, I can't believe like I've planned myself for this thing. But in the same breath, I'm also saying, but I know like,
00:25:38
Speaker
It'll be awesome on the day on I have a like a shitload of fun and we've got this, you know a fantastic team of friends who are you know, we're running for exact and another new element we've integrated the marathon of Montreal into our team and to basically to kick off our Partnership for the year. We wanted to to communicate on that but again once again, I
00:26:04
Speaker
Instead of just communicating it, we wanted to do an event together.
00:26:11
Speaker
director of Beneva Montreal Marathon. He came in our team and we all ran together. We're running in the Montreal Marathon shirts. Because once again, how much more fun to communicate on something we've just done and built together, fueling with exact and trying to just let people know that Montreal Marathon is a great event and they're turning up too in different run clubs around Montreal.
00:26:39
Speaker
maybe and repairing the reputation it maybe once did have but just you know having fun together doing something that we love which is you know run against the clock and and working as a team and and sure enough I had an absolutely brilliant time despite the fact that I'd been traveling and working my ass off for the last three weeks and hadn't been home
00:27:03
Speaker
but I'm lucky in that senses I will, I get energy, I'll feed off that. So even if I'm like, if I'm tired and worn out, but if you plonk me in espaciele, handing out bars for people to go off in the different races, that will bring me energy and that will wake me up and that will energize me. And I'll be good for another, I don't know, 12 hours or whatever. So I do,
00:27:31
Speaker
I do actually feed off that. So it's not a coincidence that that's kind of become my job, I guess.
00:27:42
Speaker
And maybe the biggest challenge is not having more Lawrence, uh, more of what's your definition. What would you say is your definition for success? Like you, you have some kind of, um, re your own recipe for what success is and what it means to you. Can you, can you explain that in words? Um,
00:28:09
Speaker
I think I can have a knock at it. I think I can certainly talk to it for how me as a person and secondarily the brand have become, I must admit, I haven't fully integrated the fact that we are successful, to be honest. I kind of think it's like, well, we're working and it's working. We're working and it's working out. It's more.
00:28:36
Speaker
the words I choose but I thank you for describing that as success. I think certainly from my perspective I think passion has to be number one and so passion for me is the combination of sort of belief and excitement. So I do funnily enough every day I am actually still excited by the idea of our bars like
00:29:05
Speaker
being used to fuel someone's race or be in someone's store or strapped to someone's top bar. It doesn't really make any logical sense why that should be exciting. But to me, I find that exciting. In the same way, I guess, I mean, one thing that excites me very much is cooking dinner.
Passion for Business and Cooking Connection
00:29:24
Speaker
And when I bring in whatever the thing I've been making, whether it's, you know,
00:29:31
Speaker
a massive lamb curry or a beautiful pizza that I've just pulled out of my uni oven. Great product. 550 degrees in five minutes. Portable. Amazing. Off wood pellets. So there you go. But like when you bring that food out and like you
00:29:53
Speaker
put it on the table or on like the lump of rock, if you happen to be like on Mount Royal at a tailgate party with Cut the Trail Mollyanne or your campsite or wherever it is. When people like, when their face lights up because of the food you just put on the table, that's my sort of personal happy fuel.
00:30:19
Speaker
I can't think of many things that bring me more joy than just the awesome meal that you'll have together. And I suppose baking the bars and the protein wafers and all those things, that's kind of a little bit like that. I know that these things taste awesome. They help people out on their trainings, on their races, on their adventures.
00:30:47
Speaker
Um, and where the amount of energy we put when we're trying to make them right is, is, is, um, well, it's actually a bit more complex than planning a menu for a dinner party, but they, um, I see some real parallels and I don't think it's, it's, it's so surprising that both of them, uh, get me super excited. So I think that that passion and belief and interest, just interest caring about, okay, what's that?
00:31:15
Speaker
What's the thing that I'm going to make for these friends? Or what's the product we're going to make for our customers? If you care enough about it, I think the other things kind of should work themselves out and you'll arrive with a desirable product that people will be happy to purchase and purchase again and again and again. And as far as the company's concerned, that's the success, right? We need to
00:31:43
Speaker
sell all the product that we get made and if that happens that's kind of the game as far as the business is concerned. Yeah and like back when we spoke in your interview like that passion for cooking and the company it's kind of this synergy that you have with it where you're making product that tastes good that people can eat and makes them feel good too and it's just kind of this ecosystem of
00:32:12
Speaker
of good that you can enjoy, that will help you, and for you, you're plating it for them. So that's super a fun way to look at it too. And I think the surprise was, and what was really rewarding was, so we changed
00:32:37
Speaker
professions. And we moved to, okay, so we're now working in this, this, you know, basically, I guess it's the running sporting outdoors industry is our industry, like we provide a product in that space. So the surprise and the coolest thing was when we brought our product and our commitment and our passion and our time, it was reciprocated and continues to be reciprocated
00:33:06
Speaker
in cool and surprising and seemingly random ways, which builds up and kind of takes on an energy of its own. And anyone that's been running for a while would have experienced that. And anyone that's been cycling for a while would have experienced that as well, is you develop these friendships and relationships, these people that if you weren't at that race together or running that
00:33:32
Speaker
that nasty stretch, running on empty, waiting to get to the next aid station for 15K or whatever. It's kind of, I don't know, a mutual attraction of people that get energized by similar things.
Role of Ambassadors and Team
00:33:50
Speaker
And I must admit, early days I remember someone who had been in the industry a while, they're saying, oh, by the way, you're gonna start getting emails from people wanting to be ambassadors and things like that.
00:34:02
Speaker
talking about? What's an ambassador? This isn't the State Department. And he says, no, just bear in mind, and sure enough, that's something I think that's really cool and something that I've not experienced in professional walk of life. And coming from any quarter, it could be other races, it could be race organizers, it could be just people who are volunteering in the event, and they're just like, we like what you're doing,
00:34:33
Speaker
We'd like to help you out. And that, I thought, was something really quite, that was something unexpected. And actually, that was a key ingredient for success because we're a super small team. Like in Canada, we're, I don't know, it's with 6.5 employees, I guess, with part-timers. Yeah, when we, at the end of next month, weekend of 24th, 26th of May,
00:35:01
Speaker
with the main nutrition sponsor, Ottawa Race Weekend and Calgary Marathon. And if you're a runner, I do those two events. I think our team will be upwards of 20 people in Ottawa, 10 people in Calgary, so we can show up and we'll appear as this big machine, but no we ain't. We've got a great hardcore of a fantastic team of employees.
00:35:28
Speaker
but we're supported and accompanied and made awesome by a network of friends and ambassadors and customers and partners. Because even in those cases, we want to create a good experience for the runners there, right? And it makes good promotion sense. That's how we promote because we want them to buy
Creating Memorable Race Experiences
00:35:50
Speaker
our bar. Of course, we don't get our bar, but we want them to buy it because we think it's
00:35:54
Speaker
good bloody bar. But we also want to join in the fun. We want to have a good experience. We want to be remembered as the folks that high-fived when they crossed the finish line. And when they're kind of totally spent and just all they feel like doing is collapsing in a heap in Confederation Park, we want them to be some nice music. So we'll put them in the nice music. And so on and so forth. So
00:36:20
Speaker
And I think there's also one of the things that I really love is there's a great outlet for creative energy too. So, you know,
00:36:30
Speaker
I now consider myself a student of the cheer station. I want to thank District Running Collective in Washington DC for showing me the way. Those people, man, unbelievable. They are serious about their fun. I've never seen a group of volunteers come together.
00:36:51
Speaker
and just so well organized to create the most insane party for four and a half hours that I've ever seen anywhere. And that's actually quite an accomplishment too. So I guess that's a thing that's like, I wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for the bars, but the bars weren't part of that.
00:37:08
Speaker
It was the run event that was part of that. And that's just, I just felt like a little kid. Just feeding off that energy and then I come back here back to Montreal and trying to reproduce little bits of it in my own little way.
00:37:26
Speaker
And I think the space that working the events and how we promote exact and so on, that gives me like free canvas to basically go out and play and have fun and other people always join in. So then it's kind of worth it.
Handling Rejection and Leaving a Legacy
00:37:43
Speaker
So I've yet to have, I think the day when I'm just not there and I'm thinking, hey, come on, let's go do this. And everyone's just there.
00:37:50
Speaker
Then it won't be fun, right? They'll just feel like an idiot. And they might feel like an idiot. No, absolutely not. But it sounds like it was a very memorable experience and like each race is unique and memorable in its own regard. When it's all said and done, Lawrence, like how, how would you like to be remembered? Like in your contribution to all of this, not just through the brand, you know, but
00:38:17
Speaker
How I'd like to be remembered is like, wow, what an amazing dancer, but that's not going to happen. That's not going to happen. That ship sailed. I'm now practicing my meniscus friendly moves. That's actually very liberating. But no, in seriousness, I think, I don't know, just, it's actually really simple. It's just like,
00:38:41
Speaker
I want to be remembered as a great partner, a great guest, a great partner, a great contributor, someone that our event, community, race, club, city, house, was block quarter.
00:39:10
Speaker
a good vibe and a good energy, which was increased thanks to the presence of that person and his team, if there's a bunch of us. I think as simple as that, we want to be invited back with that guest. Yeah. And I think you are. Time and time again, you just keep showing up and every year I see photos of you guys at more and more and more events.
00:39:33
Speaker
Um, you know, for that smile with first and foremost, the human aspect is something that you always put forth. And I think that's what people remember the most, you know, uh, and then of course there's a good product behind it too. So that's, that's awesome. Um, I think, yeah, I think it would be.
00:39:52
Speaker
It wouldn't be worthwhile if the product wasn't there. I think that was like, it's very much, we have to get that, get that right. And when that's right, then, you know, we kind of, I feel like if the product's good enough and you know, it's embraced enough and it's generally, you know, a good product, then it kind of like,
00:40:12
Speaker
I don't know, somehow it feels like it gives us the right to celebrate and be a part of it. And we want to be a part of it. We want to make a contribution. But that can't compensate for a less than great product. Exactly.
00:40:32
Speaker
Well, that's all for the exact story. We got a lot in there, and I appreciate you sharing a bit more the personal side of you, Lawrence, and kind of what you bring to the table. And we appreciate you, and certainly our listeners, too, eating up those codes. No pun intended.
00:40:52
Speaker
yeah well thank you man and and thanks for the opportunity to to talk about it it's been it's been a while so um really really appreciate that and um sounds good okay cheers mate bye
00:41:08
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to the Just In Strive Podcast. I truly appreciate you taking the time to listen and I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. Please take a minute after this to rate and review our show on Apple Podcasts. With your feedback, we'll be able to make the show even better and it'll help us reach new listeners too. You can also find us on Instagram at JustInStrivePod for all the latest episodes and updates.
00:41:32
Speaker
Of course, this show wouldn't be possible without a solid team behind me. With logo and design by Vanessa Pugliese, as well as audio, music, and editing by Forest McKay, a huge thank you goes out to both of them. Guest outreach, social media, writing, and advertising are handled by me, your host, Justin Pugliese. Finally, we'd like to thank you, our listeners, for coming along for the ride with Justin Strad.