Ann Blanchette

The full conversation with Ann Blanchette, transcribed. Lightly formatted for reading.

Once you have your title, you could do everything with that title. Like, it's a base of knowledge that's very useful. So I would like for more people to go get a title of CPA. I would like to have another kind of problem, small, medium businesses, from CPA that had passed a lot of years in a bigger accounting, to connect with my clients, answer questions, look, I got this document from the government.

When we decided to create our accounting firm, we saw that there was no services given to, for consulting hours. So maybe they couldn't even afford it. So when we built our firm, we decreased our price. We wanted to reach out to them and be a bit more part of the team.

Anne, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today. I can't wait to get into a lot of great topics that a lot of entrepreneurs sometimes like, they, they don't know much about. When it comes to accounting, or they avoid the subject altogether. Please introduce yourself and tell us what you do.

First of all, thank you for having me. It's a great pleasure. I think that we share a lot of values in common. Entrepreneurship is the core of our business.

So my name is Anne Blanchette. I've been a CPA for almost 15 years. We have an accounting firm. We're two partners and a team of five in total, and we cater to small and medium businesses all through Montreal and some a bit, uh, in the boonies, let's say.

And the idea of building a relationship with entrepreneurs is really the basis of our business, which is why I'm so glad to be here today. That's fantastic. And for those who do not understand the difference between an accountant and a CPA, can you please elaborate on that? Yes, to become a CPA, you need to do university, you need to have a 2-year stage in an accounting firm, and followed by an exam that is a bit rough.

It's like a 3-day exam. It used to be given only once a year. They changed a bit since then, and it's very rewarding process when you succeed. It's a lot of knowledge that you accumulate.

It's knowledge about how things work in, let's say, here in Quebec, how people think when they have a business, the type of stuff that they need to grow. And it's a lot of knowledge that we accumulate through the years that people could use. So another reason why I'm glad to be here today is to share some of that knowledge and having people waking up to the fact that accounting is not a big green monster and that not everything is complicated. Yes, definitely, because like we, you just said, a lot of business owners, they shy away from talking about that, the balance sheet, the income statement, and all these other things, right?

Exactly. A lot of questions are asked to us by new entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs that have years of experience. There seems to be not an easy way for them to find answers to their questions, and having an accountant on your team really helps you understand what's going on and what to do. Definitely, because who wants to go on YouTube when you have a pressing question that's particular to you?

Yes, exactly. Personalized. Exactly. Okay, perfect.

And what does a typical day look like for you and your business? Yes. So, our firm specializes in financial statements and tax returns for a corporation. Every year, a corporation has to file those, so that's our specialty.

When we decided to create our accounting firm, we saw that there was no services given to small-medium businesses from CPA that had passed a lot of years in a bigger accounting firm. So it felt like they would benefit the most from that knowledge because they don't have a whole accounting team on board, like full-time in their company, and normally the big firms charge a lot. For consulting hours, so maybe they couldn't even afford it. So when we built our firm, we wanted to— we decreased our price.

We wanted to reach out to them and be a bit more part of the team. So part of my day is accounting stuff, and a part of my day is really to connect with, uh, my clients, answer questions. Uh, look, I got this document from the government, what do I do? Or I have a new project, what do you think, where I go from this?

So part of our journey, a lot allowed us to build a very big network of professionals in every field. So it's one of our joys to put people in contact that we could trust so that we know that these people are going to benefit from it. So RDÉ is really trying to think of the next thing that will help people around us. Yeah.

So that means when they receive something from Revenu Québec, for example, they send that to you immediately and then you take care of it. Is that, is that what I'm understanding? That they send it to us. That's a service that we offer actually for our clients.

We do it for free. There's been so many mishaps with government documents that they didn't know what to do. The government speaks a weird language that's not easy for anyone to understand, but dealing with them every day means that we could digest the government language. Exactly, we're the translator.

So yes, to avoid further problems, we told our clients, whatever you get take a picture of it, send it to us, and we'll tell you if it's just to file or if there's something to do. So we could see how to answer the questions that are asked. And you can also speak on their behalf. Yes.

So they give us a procuration and we could call the government to get more information. But with the technology now, a lot of the information is on their website. So the client give us user code and we could go fetch the information ourselves. And when a business owner is looking, maybe they're new in business and they want to hire a CPA, how do they go about the process?

Yeah, I have to say that it seems to be very difficult A lot of people come to us and they were angry at their other accountants. A lot of accountants have a lot of work on their shoulders and maybe a little bit shy to say I'm full. That's the problem that we see. So there's also a lack of employees in accounting.

So what happens is you— a client has an accountant, they are trying to communicate with them and it's not happening. They're trying to get answers or filing their stuff within the due dates and it's not happening. So when they come to us, often they're unhappy about how it went. The strength of our firm is to put them on a straight line, clear the history with the government, put them at ease.

Like, one of the biggest compliments we get from our clients is, oh my God, I could sleep now. Yeah, peace of mind. Peace of mind. Yeah, exactly.

So go ahead and try to find an accountant. I understand that it's not super easy. If you're a bigger company, you could definitely go to the bigger firms. Because they have all the staff.

But let's say you want to deal with a smaller firm because you want personal touch. Yeah, exactly. I think it's a little bit harder. You would benefit from looking within your network to have like a referral.

There's also a big chunk that are retiring soon. So sometimes we get clients from— I used to have my dad's accountant as mine, but now he's retiring. So now I really have to find someone new. So base yourself on your network to find a CPA, I think would be the best bet.

So there's going to be a new— a lot of opportunities for new CPAs probably coming into the field because I would think all of these, the ones that are retiring, basically. Exactly. And the market is not saturated. We see it like sometimes we have clients, oh my God, I'm so happy I found you.

And, uh, so it makes us think that the market is not saturated, but it's not saturated for CPAs. For CPAs, yes. There are a lot of accountants. Yes, it's still really hard to find employees, even for our firm.

When we're ready to add to our team, it's not an easy process. Why Well, the COVID really dented everything in every industry. We see it where our clients is the same for us. People are maybe rethinking how they're living and don't want— like, accounting firms are known to overwork their employees.

We all went through it. It's like a droit de passage. So maybe it looks less sexy to go in accounting, but once you have your title, you could do everything with that title. Like, it's a base of knowledge that's very useful.

So I would like for more people to go get a title of CPA. I would like to have another kind of problem where employees are knocking at my door. We even offer like hybrid work thinking that it would be more attractive, and, uh, it's so difficult still. And now you've been in business, the one that you're in right now, for how long?

How many years? It's gonna be 10 years. 10 years. So before that, I was in finance.

I was still in university. I did 5 years in finance until I started accounting classes at HEC and I fell in love. I really knew that's the way I wanted to go. So I went to work in an accounting firm, which is a big size, and I worked there for 9 years.

I loved my time there. We learned so much. We got to work with every industry that Montreal has to offer. It broadened our knowledge and I met my partner there.

And then at some point after that many years, I discovered that I wanted to have more of an impact as an accountant, and the small-medium businesses kind of needed to have someone that wants to make an impact. So it fit right away, and that's it. It's going to be 10 years soon. And what were some of the challenges that— because you were working for a larger firm.

Yes. And then you decided to make the switch. Did you do it part-time, or did you just say, I quit, let me start my own business? That's it.

So my last year was becoming more difficult, like you're dragging, let's say, because didn't hit home as much as it used to. And then when it clicked that it's because I, I still wanted to be in accounting, but I just wanted to do it a little bit different, it made a lot of sense to me. And the response from my network and clients was so quick and so beautiful that, yes, I went into it full-time right away. There was a demand for that service, and all I want to do is to share the knowledge.

It's interesting where you said that you didn't feel like your last year there was dragging, like you don't wake up feeling passionate about— I wanted to more involved. So our motto at the firm is partners in business. That's what we want to do, and it really works. Were there any mistakes, like when you got into the business and you realized, oh wow, I didn't realize I had to— I think part of me being an accountant, I'm still very cautious about stuff.

I'm taking risk, but like calculated risk. So we advance slower than maybe our clients, let's say, in terms of adding people to the team, of investing in technology, of creating new processes for the firm. So what we do is we kind of stretch the band until we're a little bit more sure, and then we put stuff in place. So it turns out to work really well because we, we take the time to put the effort at the right place.

So we didn't go through mistakes, maybe some period of the year where we overworked ourselves. So a bit less balance, I think, would be like the mistake that we made. I think that's maybe a prerequisite for CPAs, to be a little bit more cautious because you want to make sure— too cautious, but cautious. No, but I think it's a way of life.

Like, my personality is like this. When I was at school, I think that's why it clicked. Yeah, it's a world that's well structured. It's a world where if you want to put the effort, it pays back.

So it's very rewarding. I like that. And for the year 2024, is there anything that we should— like, any trends happening in the accounting or— well, all the AI, uh, ChatGPT, for example. So we've, we've been paperless So almost 10 years, we've always been paperless.

All the virtual meeting, all the tools that technology gives us, we, we try with it. Yes, we're adapting. But now with ChatGPT, I read somewhere last week that ChatGPT won't replace accountants, but accountants that use ChatGPT will replace accountants. We, we're using it.

The technology fan in our business is my partner. He uses It's for— so anything that is repetitive, or like, let's say you have a paper and you want it on Excel or like in the computer, you know, like you could have ChatGPT do it for you so you don't have to spend time. Sometimes when we have— well, we have a newsletter that we issue every month, and for example, the October one, I wanted scary story. So it's an accounting short story.

That talks about an issue in accounting, but as a Halloween one. So I wrote it and then we asked ChatGPT to give it a bit of flair and we loved it. So I think it's your imagination that helps you with ChatGPT. I'll have to read that story.

And in terms of tax planning, I know financial advisors, that's something that they help businesses with. But where do you come in for that? Yes. So we're a bit more on a long-term base.

So if someone has a business, they want to make sure that they're creating wealth for the future. So we look at strategies that will allow the entrepreneur to, to do just that. So it's not a tax planning per se where this year we're doing this credit. We obviously do that too.

But in our head, I think it's long term. It's more long term. So, so org chart involving people in the family when it's possible. Is like to split income per the rule.

I know they changed a couple years ago, but like following the, the, those new rules, uh, making sure that it's structured in a way that if they're thinking of selling, that they could keep their money in their pocket instead of paying taxes. Selling the business, you mean? Yes. So in a case like that, you work along with, if they have a financial advisor, so that you all make sure that you're on the same team, and lawyers, I imagine, as well?

Yes. And we also created a little group where we're an accounting firm, a lawyer firm, a tax specialist, firm and a financial advisor firm. We meet every month and we tackle a subject. For example, uh, if I have real estate, how should I be set up?

And when you have everyone tackling that subject, you broaden your knowledge into— like, for accountants, this is the best way, but for the lawyer, there's another way. Yeah. So I like that. Yes, yes.

And for us, so now if someone asks me a question, I could be like, like, first of all, it should look like this. Second, I have just the team for you to use. So not everyone has a lawyer or a tax specialist because hopefully you don't need them very often. Uh, so having them on board, uh, eases the communication because we could act as a, a project manager a little bit.

But are they part of you? Well, are you in the same building or you just have a group just for you to discuss? Okay, that's it. So they each have their firm but once a month we meet about building, or you just have a group just for you to discuss?

Okay, that's it. So they each have their firm, but once a month we meet, uh, talk about a new subject that, that came up by the government, or a subject that everyone has trouble tackling, and we do it as a team. What a great idea. Yes, we really like that.

Yeah, you guys should record that so we can see the discussion. Maybe we should. That's pretty interesting. Then that way you can refer each other.

Yes, that's a great way. Mastermind for Yes, we also share the same values. So, if I have to refer a client to them, I don't feel shy. I know how they're going to be treated.

It's invaluable. That's amazing. And for entrepreneurs that, you know, year-end is here, right? Maybe they cannot make— they did not foresee the amount of taxes that they have to pay to the government.

What are some of the arrangements that you— how do you help your clients dealing with those situations? Yes, so if the money wasn't there, the money wasn't there. So, there's nothing that could be done about that. But I think major problem here I hear is that they don't know their deadlines, they don't know how much they have to put aside, they don't know when they should plan for things.

So like I said, it's not that they're complicated things, it's just they add up very quickly. Yeah. And if you don't have that knowledge, maybe in your head you're creating something that's way bigger than the real problem, and it's a burden you're carrying. Like, I have people that have a beautiful business as clients, and they, they're nervous I have some people calling me and on the, on the telephone and their voice is shaking from the stress of tackling the admin of their company.

So I think that the main problem is just to get set up and plan ahead. But just as an information in case someone needs to know, uh, you have 2 months after your year-end to pay your income taxes. So if your year-end is December, call your accounted. Okay, a lot of them also have— should they hire— do you offer bookkeeping services as well?

So we team up, team up. Uh, we use software online, okay, where the bank is linked and all the transactions are downloaded in the software. And then the owner or someone in the team just chooses the category of the expenses and if there's taxes, and then we do the rest. So we don't do bookkeeping per se, but we close the months, we make the remittance of taxes So it allows the owner to have someone supporting them in the bookkeeping world of theirs, making sure that everything is done on time.

And we have a very good CRM system that sends them reminders, that asks for documents. So that stuff doesn't fall between two chairs, you know? Yeah, definitely. That's very important.

And for those who already have a bookkeeper on part of their team, then they can collaborate with you. That's it. Exactly. Perfect.

And my other question is for budgeting. Is that something that business owners should, should do, or they just— I don't know why people don't want to budget. Even when I call my client, I'm like, I'm gonna go and do it with you. People don't want to budget.

I think, again, the biggest green monster of accounting is is budget. I think people are afraid of the amount of time it's going to take to make a budget, so they don't do it. I think that every problem that an entrepreneur will have with their business is due to the fact that they don't do a budget. And that's, that's very big.

If you're going to shy away from your family and your friends because you're working 200 hours a week, make sure your business thrives and make sure it's for the long run. So that you could find back your balance and live. Yeah. If you never reach that point, then to us, you're kind of stuck like in a hamster wheel.

So budget. Just as a side note, I give classes at the Polytechnique for new entrepreneurs. Budget is a subject that I tackle because I know how important it is, and I do the sum up of the budget on a whiteboard with a marker. It takes me less than 3 minutes and I want to— the point of this is to show that it's not taking so much time.

It's not complicated. I'm not using Excel with 15 formulas. I'm doing it by hand and everyone understands it. So little sum up, the budget, what people could do, like just quick, you take their last year financial statements and you just put beside every number the number you think you're going to do next year.

As simple as that. But what if they don't know? I think that's a common comment that I get. If you would just take one minute to look, maybe 90% you know.

Rent, you know. Insurance, you know. Salary, you know. It's a fixed cost.

It's fixed cost. So, so you have almost the whole sheet that's gonna be filled up. So what we do with the students, because they didn't even start, so I'm making a budget with them, they don't even have one number, and after 3 minutes they're convinced that it's not complicated. So you start with the stuff you know, and then the rest is just a filler.

So the budget, the most important thing about it is to know if your business is going to go under next year or not. So when I do it with the new entrepreneurs, it's also to show them you might have the best idea, you might be the best salesman, but at the end of the year, if you're not making money, you can't survive. So the budget will show you the price you need to sell your products. If you don't do the exercise, you're selling the products at whatever price you think, and maybe your business is not set up to support that.

It's not profitable. Yeah. Yes. So it's very important.

So I think if I had one advice to give, okay, two advices. First, follow the deadlines from the government. Second, make a budget. And if they don't follow the deadlines, what happens?

What is the worst-case scenario? Well, they could close. The government is able to close the business, to close your numbers, to go pull money in your personal income, your personal bank account. They're able to close your bank account.

It's bad. Like, scary. It's scary. So you want to have a business, follow the deadlines by the government.

They charge heavy penalties if you're late. Uh, their interest rate right now is like 10%. So if you're working really hard to make money, don't just send checks to the government for interest and penalties. It doesn't make quite sense.

But why do you believe that a lot of entrepreneurs are so afraid of that aspect of the business? I think it's a lack of knowledge. I don't think it's a lack of knowledge due to themselves. I think that every entrepreneur we deal with is particularly amazing in one field, which is why they decided to have a company.

Normally that field is not accounting. All the knowledge that I got in accounting was after university in an accounting firm. So I mean, those people don't have access to that. Growing in the schools, people don't get faced with classes on business, on entrepreneurship, on how does the world roll, you know.

Like there's something missing. We think it would be very important the schools to get involved, for the government to get involved, to have that available for kids that are growing in the system. You have to think that 80% of all the companies in Quebec are owned by entrepreneurs. It's a lot.

It means that a lot of people are hired by entrepreneurs. We want them to succeed so that the economy is doing well. And the beauty of entrepreneurs is their imagination and the flexibility that they have to create. So if you want to be in an environment where it is possible to do whatever it is that you want to do.

Everyone has to learn about business. Everyone has to understand some basic items. One of the things that we're doing in our firm is trying to share as much knowledge as we can. So we have a monthly newsletter where we're talking about a subject.

It could be something current like a new law or whatever, or a problem that a lot of entrepreneurs have. ' You know, like a subject to help. We have videos that we're gonna do to try to share that knowledge too, because yes, our clients could always call us with questions, but I don't know, we feel like we could share a little bit more than just answering questions to spread the message even more. Yes, because yes, you can do one-on-one or with 10 people, but if you could speak with 1,000, I mean, why not, right?

Yes, exactly. But it can benefit. Yeah. But on the subject about financing, if a business wants to do that, can you elaborate a little bit on that?

Yes, so to get financing, it means that you're going to go meet someone that has money and you want that money, so you have to convince them that you're a good investment. And one of the best things to do to show that is showing that your books are in order. So when I say books, I mean accounting books, so that you're up to date, that your financial statements and tax return have been done, that you have budgets, that you have budgets for a year or two years to show that you are— show like you're passing time and efforts in the administration of your company to make sure that the foundation of it is solid, so that when they want to invest in your company, they'll be happily surprised that you're set up well, organized, that you know where you're going, and then they'll have more trust to give you that financing you're looking for. A lot of people say that when you're going to ask for money, it's best you do it when you don't need it.

What's your take on that? Well, at the cost of the interest rate right now, I would say maybe not now. Okay. But when they were so low, I understand.

Or maybe we're talking about a line of credit. So you could have a line of credit waiting for you in case you need it. And yes, it is easier to deal for it. Like, the banks are even sending you messages, you're pre-approved for a line of credit.

Still today? I got one like last month. Yeah. So, so yes, it's easier.

But, uh, if you need the money for a good reason— you have a new project, you want to buy a new building, or you want to buy a new machine that is going to help you in the future, what you really need to do is show that you're organized and that it's easy for you to explain what you're going to do the money with. So for sure, if you're going to the bank saying, I have 10 years where I have not made that much profit and now I'm in trouble, they might not want to— they might not want to loan you the money. But if you have a nice project going on, all you need to do is being organized, being able to talk about your project properly, and that's it. We take take classes with banks and creditors to understand how they loan money.

And it's, it's pretty much it. Interesting. Come to the table organized, dress with confidence, show that you're gonna do good by them with the project you want to do, and they're gonna treat you with the importance of, of what entrepreneurship is. So then that business owner should definitely have a sit-down with you and talk over the process.

Yes, exactly. And we always tell our clients, whenever you have a new project in mind, talk to us. That was the exact reason why we cut our fees, is so that they could afford calling us when they have questions, projects, changes, something happening. Does it— does this make sense?

Should I do this? I'm thinking about this new project. How do I know if it's going to be profitable? So we sit down, we make projections.

We brainstorm, and then when that's done and then they go see the bank, they're not stumbling on, you know, like they know where they're going, they know why they need the money, and that's what the finance people want to hear. So, it seems like you really take the time to sit down with your clients to help them from their journey from, you know— Yes. Perfect. Partners in business.

Yes, that makes sense because there's a lot of people, you know, I speak with a lot of business owners and yes, there's a big sometimes a misunderstanding when they said, my accountant doesn't call me, doesn't tell me what to do. It's like I feel like I'm alone. Yes, that's sad to hear even from us. Yes.

But that's pretty interesting. I like that. And if people want to reach out to you, where can they find you? Well, we have our website.

They could search for Anne Blanchette on LinkedIn. com. We have resources available for free as well. We've been starting to do webinars for our clients.

Like, we did one at the beginning of December on how to close the year. We're having one in April for tax season. So, then that means you send the message in your newsletter so that they can come on to the webinar. Exactly.

Perfect. That's pretty interesting. " Or maybe they're stuck in a big firm and then it just clicks. Oh, wow, maybe I should go to my own firm.

Something, what is your message for them? Yes, so in my family we didn't have any accountants, which is, uh, surprising because I have a humongous family. But there was no accountants, and there's, um, I don't know, people think about the accounting thing as boring. Um, so it was not a pull for me when I was doing my studies.

Like I said, I started in finance. When I got the, the first classes in accounting, I really like how they structured world and how with the knowledge that you accumulate, you pass it on and it's useful. That's what I like, that it works, that the current, if you understand it, you could help as many people as you want. So, studying in accounting, I didn't know what I would want to do with that diploma, but I knew that it would open a lot of doors.

Course. So, uh, when you study to be an accountant, you need to do a stage of 2 years, uh, in order to get prepared for that big exam. So it gives you a taste of the life in an accounting firm. I liked that I was working with so many clients, so many partners, so many people.

I like the teamwork. So for me, that work, uh, back then, thinking of people that had small accounting firms, I thought that would be boring. I thought it would be repetitive work because everything would be small. What I got to learn with the years is that because everything is smaller, you could dive in, you could go and spend time with the entrepreneur.

Because where I would spend one month sitting in a room with the door closed when I was at the big firm, not talking to them because I had so much work to do, now I could go in one day, do all their stuff, and then sit down with the owner and be like, okay, what's on the table? Uh, you could always reach me. So every day is extremely different. Yeah, it's not repetitive, it's not boring.

And then you get to partner up when they go to the bank, when they, they're buying a new business, when they're merging, selling, everything. So you see a bit of everything. For us, it's— you're like superheroes. You know what, the Order of CPA had one year as marketing that we were superheroes.

Yes, it is true. You're like the surgeons for said, let me see what's happening in the books. Let's do this, cut this, you know, put stuff together. Yes, yes, yes.

No, we really, really, uh, like it. So for new CPA, it would be follow the, the little path that you have no choice but to do, and then build your network so that you have access to people. Talk to people older than you, like the, the old partners in the firm. Go talk to them.

They have all the knowledge. They could tell you like, oh, if I look back, I would have done this instead. Like, accumulate all that knowledge, try to find a way for yourself. But I have to say, the market is not saturated.

If there's, uh, newbies that want to start firm or join one or work in one, please come find us. But it's, it's a great way of living, and I feel like I'm part of a community helping entrepreneurs. I'm an entrepreneur. It feels good It's good to be part of a group.

So when COVID hit, a lot of companies that were our clients lost their employees because they had to stay home. And some could not open their doors right away, like a gym or a restaurant. And we had a lot of communication with our clients. And what we found was that they felt very isolated.

Maybe you're the only entrepreneur in your family and amongst your friends. Yeah. Maybe your spouse doesn't understand what you're going through and you just look stressed all the time. Yeah, it's true.

So that's when we started our newsletter. And in our newsletter, we have a block that we're presenting one of our clients, and they have to say what they do, the biggest challenge they overcome— overcame, and what's the next project. So we felt like if you read it and at that moment you feel a bit alone, uh, you're not. You're part of a community of entrepreneurs.

You, you did that because you want to create work for people, make a difference in your community, make a difference in your employees' life because you want to give them a better lifestyle. You're not alone. The, the struggles that you have are probably the same as everyone else. But if you're part of a group, I think it creates support.

Definitely, support is important in business because otherwise, like you said, feel isolated. You can't talk about the challenges because then people might just say, well, how about you just quit, go get a job, you know, it's easier. And, uh, yes, right? Yeah, you want to see it through.

Yes. So that's one other thing of, uh, the greatness of being SCP. But earlier, uh, we talked about you thinking about starting a foundation. Yes.

Can you please talk a little bit about that now? Yes. So, like we discussed, I think one of the biggest pitfalls of an entrepreneur, what creates the most obstacles, is the fact that they never got access to business knowledge. It's true that if, like we have some clients that majored in management in university, so of course they were put in front of that information.

But a lot of people that are clients maybe did a grade or like a degree degree that did not even serve them after. So we want to, with the foundation, create a program that would be put in schools— so elementary school, high school— that would allow kids that are interested to have access to an entrepreneurship program. So we're at the beginning, we're talking to schools now. Uh, I would like to implement it for grade 5 and 6 in the elementary, so the 11, 12 years old.

I think that I would like to see it as a project where they would create a project. And let's say on 10 weeks, they would have to, uh, answer a problem. So like, let's say you want to create an ice cream company. I'm just thinking what an 11-year-old would want to do.

Oh, a slime company. Oh yeah. So I would be like, okay, day 1, you need to find a partner. How would you go about it?

Day 2, you need to choose the flavors and the price you're gonna sell it. Day Day 3, you need marketing. Day 4, you need to go talk to people and see if people would be interested. You know what I mean?

Like, it's really interesting, little, uh, but like, again, we're at the beginning. The schools are interested. We have to put it in place. I think it's needed.

I would love it if every kid in everywhere, yes, would have access to a program like this, uh, just so that they're— they feel comfortable starting a business, so that they know what's out there. So that maybe they're the one helping the entrepreneur. Whatever it is, I think entrepreneurship touches every family, and it would make more support for the entrepreneur that would feel less isolated. And what does that mean to you, entrepreneurship?

How would you define it? Entrepreneurship for me is all about challenges. So you wake up, you know that which next challenge you have to tackle. You finish a challenge, it's the next one.

And I don't mean challenge as an obstacle, just challenge like, okay, what is it that we're doing today? I come from a family of entrepreneurs. I've always been so amazed by people that decided to go for it. That's why, like, I spend my days trying to help people in that.

So yes, overcoming challenges. I think I would like to see entrepreneurship to be seen as a group, a community, so that if you decide to be an entrepreneur, it's because you want to make a difference. And I think that sometimes if you've been in business for a couple of years, everyone thinks you're rich. And that, uh, it's true.

Like, we hear, like, employees sometimes, yeah, but he's rich. And I'm like, wow, okay, but he doesn't take vacation, uh, you know what I mean? Like, every day he's thinking about you guys to make sure you're comfortable. Nobody's thinking about them.

So if, if the community would support the entrepreneur, their next challenge wouldn't be just to find support or to understand the world that they're navigating in. It would to thrive. So that's where I would want it to go. I like that.

And yes, employees and entrepreneurs, it's two different perspectives. Yes, it's not the same at all. And when it comes to books, I don't know if you— yes, reader, what are some of the books you would suggest? I'm an avid reader.

Okay. I love everything about reading. I don't know which one is my favorite, but I took note of my next reads. Okay, good.

So I have The Lean Startup by Eric Ries and Good to Great by Jim Collins. So those are my— they're in my stocking at to read during the holidays. I think everyone should find a way to read a couple of, uh, pages. I don't know if you heard about the challenges that are out there.

They're like, uh, 75 Days Challenge, which is more physical, but in there there's read 10 page a day. Okay. Because it gets you out of your routine of like doing your work and going home and making supper. It also makes your brain works in another way.

So for me Reading is super important, and that's what I'm going to be doing during the holidays. That's pretty good. I like those two books. For me, what I do is while I'm cooking something, I'll have my headphones, and I'm listening, and I'm doing my things, or I'm in the car.

Because with 3 kids, I don't always have the time to sit down and relax. Yes. So then the audio for me is very important. It's a great way.

Yeah, it's a great way to get through. I think I still like— like, I have my— I love books too, like you could, you know. Yeah, I have my e-reader, but for some For some reason, the papers, they still win. I don't know.

I love technology and I'm all for it and everything that it brought, I love. But the books, they still— Yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah, because whenever I have the time, I'll go and I'll circle, I'll underline. Tabs.

Yeah. And what do you like about the city of Montreal? Well, I'm not from here. Oh, it's true.

From Sherbrooke. Yes, that's it. I'm from Sherbrooke. We moved here, I was about 6.

16. So Montreal meant something big and exciting, and, uh, I had to learn a new language. I did my university and I didn't see myself going back. I liked what the city offers.

I like how it's like a focal point for all type of people, all type of businesses, all type of knowledge. Uh, I love learning. I love adding stuff to my knowledge base. I like meeting people and listening to where they're from.

So it felt like this was more happening in Montreal. When you want to start a project, it seems like everything's possible here. I— the city of opportunities. Yes, yes, yes.

I— yeah, I think that's, uh, that sums it perfect. And one last message for the audience: be on time with the, the government stuff. Don't feel a alone. People are there to help.

Sometimes it's just a matter of reaching out. There are good accountants out there. I think the knowledge we have in our head is super valuable. Uh, if you do have an accountant, call them once in a while.

Like, um, I'm giving an example. I had, uh, one of my clients calling, uh, he does that in December every year and be like, this is what it's in my mind right now. And we go through it, and at the end he's like, oh, I know exactly where I'm going for next year. And I, I really like that.

Like, use us as team members. It makes our life a lot more fun, makes your life easier. Just team up. I think my last words for today— team up with your accountants.

Well, that's great, and it was really nice to have you on the podcast. Thank you so much. Until next time.