Transcript of Sinders Sisters Podcast
E7: C stands for Corporate And Chris
In this episode, we welcome our first guest, Chris, our business partner. If you caught our inaugural episode, "Welcome to Us - Let's Dive Right In," you'll remember we discussed our experiences with burnout, which ultimately led us to bring Chris into our team. We put Chris in the hot seat to ask him about his decision to join us, his goals, and more. Tune in to hear Chris's story and share some laughs with us.
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Meghan
We have our first guest today on the podcast AC. Do you want to see who it is?
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Stacey
Drumroll please. We have my husband, also a business partner on podcast.
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Meghan
Today he's going to be spilling all the tea.
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Stacey
He's got a lot to spill. It's a lot he does.
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Meghan
Maybe we won't invite him on the podcast.
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Stacey
Never mind guys, it's never mind. Renege on the podcast.
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Stacey
Welcome to the Chronicles of Caffeine and Ambition. hosted by the Sinders Sisters.
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Meghan
I'm Stacey and I'm Meghan, and what we are here to do on our podcast is tell you about business, life, families, essentially everything that we do. We want to share with you because we have a lot of self-confidence. We've learned a lot of self-confidence over the years, and we sure have. And we want to share that with you.
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Meghan
We want to show you how. Let's do this.
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Meghan
Today we welcome a special guest to the podcast. And I've never said such nice words to him before.
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Stacey
That's so that I can’t look at him with a straight face.
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Chris
I sit here humbled.
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Meghan
We welcome Chris to our podcast. These are our business partner. Stacey's real life partner. Yep, my brother in law. He takes a lot of crap for us
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Stacey
It. Whoa, whoa. Don't make it like it's all one sided.
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Meghan
What were you just singing, Chris?
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Chris
I'm sad already
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Meghan
Nobody knows my sorrow
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Chris
the trouble I’ve seen
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Stacey
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Chris
Nobody knows my sorrow
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Meghan
So Chris joined us, Stacey and I've been working together since by. Well, not technically, since we were 16, but we've. It's been a long time.
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Stacey
Yes. So it's been. Yeah, a long time.
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Meghan
It's been a long time. And we've lived together for multiple decades that nobody wants to talk about.
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Chris
They've created their own language that only they understand. just so we're clear.
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Meghan
It's true. Well, I don't know. Not technically. Like. I mean, the kids understand it.
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Stacey
A couple of our kids understand it. Not all of.
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Meghan
Them. Okay. Fair enough. We did mention on a previous podcast, so we ask Chris to join us because we were burnt out. Couldn't handle it anymore. So we knew that we needed input. And Chris came as the savior, as the corporate guru, as the guy that was going to fix everything, right? And we said, please, please come.
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Stacey
And then he showed up and we said, don't touch anything. Don't touch. Don't. No, no, no not that. What are you doing?
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Meghan
Not like that.
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Chris
Really? it was like, what are your ideas like? So I gave them all my ideas. Here are my suggestions. They went. Thanks. And then that was it. For two years. And now? Now we're starting to do some of them. I think the best news I got last week was, we heard this other person say exactly what you did, and, now we believe you.
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Meghan
I think technically, I think it was yesterday, it was this week And I said, hey, you'll be happy we're listening to, I don't remember what. It was a masterclass. I think I was like, you'll never guess what we're listening to you. The girl that says the same things that you said two years ago. Maybe we'll do it now.
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Chris
Yeah.
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Chris
So anyways, that sums up where I sit in the hierarchy really well. But, I'm behind the lady doing the masterclass on YouTube.
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Stacey
I'm very appreciative that my husband is a patient man. Real patient.
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Meghan
Real patient. Two and a half years patient.
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Chris
Unless I'm drive you
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Stacey
That's a good point. That's a good point. That is true. We just keep our heads down.
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Chris
Yeah. I'm better than I used to be.
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Meghan
Chris is our chauffeur as well. Yes, Stacey and I get tickets, like, we have bigger businesses and we do our work in the car, and we have a chauffeur that drives us around. It's true.
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Stacey
Happens to be, you know, you know, we need to get them though. The the glass mirror thing. They get the chauffeurs having the front. You and I said the back and then you can't hear me complain. It'd be a lot.
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Meghan
Better if you actually sat in the back with me. And he drove in the front. So welcome, Chris, to the podcast.
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Chris
Yeah.
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Chris
So I don't know that I need to be here. You've pretty much summed.
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Meghan
I do wonder from your perspective, I'm sorry. So when we asked what you weren't here. I didn't know you. Well, I don't think, but. So when we were having these phone conversations and Steve and I were like, super burnt out, we're like, what are we going to do? Are we going to continue this? We can't do this on our own, all that kind of stuff.
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Meghan
And then you would hear, and I'm sure at home you would hear from Stacey. So then what went through your head because you had this big corporate job. This good job. For better or for worse, that job. I'm sure there were bad times, but you had this job that was serious, and then you were like, sure, I'll join your company.
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Chris
yeah. It was an interesting time. We had it was just post-Covid or, you know, the business Sinders was doing well. You know, people have been waiting several years to get married, and all of a sudden things were taking up. I was in a role at work that I enjoyed. I really enjoyed doing. But just, you know, we had just finished an extremely difficult upgrade and product, release and it was, I think it was ready for a change.
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Chris
And this opportunity came up just by chance by saying, man, I should just come work with you guys and partner in, And I believe Stacey took out her phone, texted me, and Meghan went, sure. And within 11 seconds I went from being corporate to heading towards a small medium business that was starting to grow and expand, and I had a background in that.
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Chris
So it was a I think it was a good fit overall, and it's been an adjustment for sure. But that's how we got where we got.
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Meghan
I'll tell you, it's an adjustment for us to listen to other people as well. Yeah.
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Chris
Yeah, I'll let you know when that actually happens. So and in fairness, you know, I worked at a really neat company called Lee Valley Tools and one of my bosses there who I love to death, she had said, when you go into a new role, your job isn't to change anything. It's to learn and to listen. And I think for the first 3 or 4 months, I did a lot of that just, you know, it's an industry that I hadn't been in bridal and that a lot of guys in bridal historically, maybe that's changing, but, coming from a retail world, I had some understanding, but not the sense, from the female perspective
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Chris
and specifically to such an important day for women. So I had a lot to learn and still am learning. And actually, it's only been, what, three years? Almost. So, yeah, it was definitely an adjustment. And, as I started to implement or want to implement some changes, you know, obviously when you have a homegrown business that, you know, you guys have been doing for a long time, it's your baby.
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Chris
and I understood that, which is part of the reason I was able to be patient. And I think maybe in other cases I might not have been. But I understood, you know, how close it was to your heart. And, it took time for the trust to go both ways, I guess. And that's where we're at now.
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Stacey
Now, now we're essentially like, here's the baby. Take it. Here's all the diapers to go with it. Good luck. We got to go.
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Chris
Not quite. Yeah, close. They're doing it. So yeah, letting go of a lot of different things for sure, which is allowing me to do some stuff that I haven't been able to do. But, you know, it's collaborative. It's a group effort. And, you know, we have a really strong team right now that we love. so I think it's easier to make some of these changes because there's just trust with everyone involved.
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Meghan
It's a good point. You come down comes down trust. Absolutely. And coming into any role, any big role, any big change is a lot about trust. So that's a really good point. Getting to know everybody, getting to know us. You and Stacey were pretty new honestly in the grand scheme of things.
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Chris
Couple of years. I mean I think Covid fast track set quite a bit when you're all of a sudden go from let's move in together to, you know, every single day for a year and a half, you know, with, five kids. So it was, we knew if we could go through that, we could do anything.
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Chris
That's good point.
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Stacey
And by anything, he also means being a building with all women. He is the only man in this building.
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Meghan
15 women and one man. Oh, no, that's not two Guys. Here. now
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Stacey
Oh, yes. That's true. one of our oldest kids is now here working with us.
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Chris
I grew up raised by women, and I don't know about most guys, but I get to work with 15 women, and I don't think there's anything wrong with.
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Stacey
They're all pretty good at raising, though. I would have to say everybody's good for taking a joke and playing a joke. So basically a sense of humor.
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Meghan
It helps for sure.
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Chris
Definitely.
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Meghan
How is it now. We're almost three years. And how is it to try and separate home life and work life.
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Chris
I think we've improved on that. we still talk about work when we're at home, but a lot. Yeah, a lot, but more about where we're going. Not necessarily about the problems of the day. It's more about, you know, what do you think about if we do this or what if we try this or, you know, I know that Meg and Stacey text a lot in the evenings, too.
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Chris
So we're often checking in with each other. And, you know, the business is a big, important part of our lives. So it does come home. But I don't mind it if I was working somewhere else, the first thing I do is ask about her day anyway. So we're going to be talking about work one way or another. It's just easier because we both have an idea of what's going on.
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Meghan
Now's a good point because it's like shared goals and you're supposed to share dreams and goals with your partner anyways, so it's shared dreams and goals personally, but also wrapped up in business. So where's the business going? What are our goals for the business? Those kinds of questions.
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Stacey
Yeah.
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Chris
And like while we do work together, we work in different spaces in the building. We do see each other throughout the day. But honestly it's usually for meetings or Poppins or, you know, one of us just is tired of looking at a screen. so we come to say hello. So we don't actually work that closely together. More by email, text, more of an understanding.
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Chris
The stuff that I'm working on isn't the stuff that Stacey's necessarily working on. A lot of collaboration, though, for some of the bigger picture stuff.
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Meghan
Well, and it was obviously going well enough that we decided the three of us were going to be joint partners in two other corporations. So I guess we can't say that anything is going badly as much as we. And I mean, I'll speak for myself. It was difficult that you already said that getting into the business is difficult.
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Meghan
Running the business can be difficult. Letting people do things for you in the business can be extremely difficult. I have a control issue. You have something to say Stacey?
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Stacey
No. nope
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Chris
But she seems scared.
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Meghan
Two is definitely hard to let some things go, but I do think that it is. I think it's an incredible thing that we are three years in and we're still doing it. We laugh a whole lot more. We went on a trip together and laughed a lot and have created multiple businesses after the fact together as well.
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Chris
Yeah, I mean, everyone knows I love these two, very much. And, you know, for your family you would do anything. And I think maybe, we all realize we'd do anything for each other, and that doesn't happen overnight, so that, you know, sort of respect and trust comes over time. And we're there. So, yeah, I'm excited for the next ten years to see what happens with the various businesses that we're going to be working in.
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Meghan
I'm going to put you on the spot. What is your favorite memory from the past three years business wise?
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Chris
Yeah.
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Stacey
Last week when you said you were letting go.
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Chris
That actually wasn't the moment. It was just, everyone likes to hear that their contributions are valued and or believed in. So, you know, that was good. But, honestly, some of my favorite moments have been more about the team when we implemented, tips, when we, you know, getting to give out the first round of tips and seeing how excited the team was.
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Chris
You know, that's that's a game changer for some people. And so I really enjoyed that. I don't know, I enjoy coming to work. I like it all. I don't know if there's anyone big specific thing, you know. certainly the Peterborough store opening was big. That was a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of conversations and a lot of visits to various buildings.
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Chris
So, I'm pretty proud of that moment as well. But, yeah, I'm not sure. What about you guys? Yeah. Not so easy when you're on the hand yeah?
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Stacey
No. You know what? I was just thinking. What, like the the the time off, actually taking your Saturdays off that, the last three years, I that's like the first.
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Meghan
I think I'd agree with that. So taking a trip which we technically took together so we don't really take any time apart. So that beats to how well we get along.
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Stacey
But we took a trip like we left the building for two weeks. Yeah, that has never happened.
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Meghan
No. And and I do think that these things are possible the the last Saturday working like not working six days a week. Yeah. And taking an actual vacation together. I do attribute these things to Chris.
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Stacey
Agree. Yeah.
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Chris
And I'd like to add that, you know, coming from the corporate world, you know, you took two weeks off maybe a week, here and there, you often work more even when you were on vacation. So that same trip they're talking about, they gave me the opportunity to travel with my son, and I was able to go for four weeks, something I have never been able to do.
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Chris
never been overseas. So, thanks to both of them, I was able to go and really see Europe. I got to see Spain, got to see France. And, it was an incredible trip. So thank you guys for that, because I've never had that opportunity before.
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Meghan
I do have to add that one of my core memories now will always be going around that hairpin turn a little too fast. And knowing from the way that Chris grabbed the side of the car, that I was probably going a little too fast for his heart.
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Stacey
And we are going to have an entire episode with Chris talking about our trip in France, because if you've ever been to Europe, we had two children, an adult, and then two other adults in the front of the car, and you know how small the cars are. So that was just a portion of our trip and the chaos that happened.
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Stacey
So I'm not even going to delve into how insane that was. But that's another episode we're going to have with Chris.
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Meghan
I appreciate that he was able to laugh after the fact.
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Stacey
After the fact.
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Chris
After I will say in the moment, being on the passenger side and looking at the 900ft drop nearly to the bottom with roughly three inches of gravel between us in that fall. that was a little sketchy for me. I will I will admit that.
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Stacey
There's no guardrails, and if you haven't been there, there's no guardrails at all. It's like.
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Meghan
Hairpin turns.
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Stacey
Yeah, that's it then.
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Meghan
Good luck. Trees.
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Stacey
Those trees. Yeah.
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Chris
They're probably at the bottom of the 900. So they may have broken part of the fall anyway. So that was fun. I got better as the trip went on.
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Meghan
It's funny because I readily admit I have a control issue. Right? And we talked about trust needed, like we need the trust. Some of us have trust issues. That's also me. you we joke that you're our chauffeur, but all of these combined in that trip so that I didn't let you drive. I drove that whole trip as a control problem.
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Meghan
You did?
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Chris
Well, I also wasn't allowed to drive, I don't think I wasn't under the insurance.
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Meghan
I.
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Stacey
Wasn't rental car.
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Chris
You still don't think I was being allowed to drive? Anyways, it was seven days of a lot of driving so it's okay. It was nice to have a break because I ended up driving a whole lot in France and Spain afterwards. So the break was good.
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Meghan
It was a lot of fun. But I mean, from laughing on that trip, I appreciate very much that that is mostly what we how we look at day to day. There are some bad times, there are some very hard times, there's some hard decisions to make. But mostly we try to get through with humor. I think that's.
00:14:54:16 - 00:15:11:11
Stacey
A heck of a lot easier than than getting frustrated about the subject, or because I of that solves anything because realistically, whatever the issue was can be solved, and the more you get yourself upset about it, the worse is going to be. And then we're going to fight. And then that's problem because all of us have the cookies and a temper.
00:15:11:11 - 00:15:11:20
Stacey
Yeah.
00:15:11:21 - 00:15:20:18
Chris
Oh yeah. Let's be clear. There are three individuals on this podcast who all have tempers. Yes. different degrees, very even keeled until until.
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Stacey
He's not.
00:15:21:13 - 00:15:40:20
Chris
And then I'm not so good. But, maybe these two are a little bit more heated than I am, but it's been pretty good. We haven't had any, like, severe major blow ups. We've had some, you know, we've had to walk away and take some time for, you know, to breathe and, you know, get back. and then we laugh about it afterwards.
00:15:40:23 - 00:15:43:05
Chris
We have some. Yeah, definitely a lot of laughter.
00:15:43:07 - 00:15:47:06
Meghan
Learning to communicate, too, is a big thing.
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Stacey
None of us do that well
00:15:48:12 - 00:15:52:16
Meghan
I do remember the day that I had to put my foot down and say, you guys aren't allowed to fight at work anymore.
00:15:52:18 - 00:15:58:09
Stacey
Oh, yeah. That's true. Yeah. We don't need more. You don't need. No, we don't do really well, yeah.
00:15:58:12 - 00:16:03:21
Chris
oh that one was Stacey’s fault.
00:16:03:23 - 00:16:07:27
Meghan
I see another fight coming up after this podcast.
00:16:07:29 - 00:16:13:05
Chris
That's why I wear protection here. I have throat protection at all time
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Meghan
Okay. Can you compare for me, Chris, how many years did you do in corporate?
00:16:16:18 - 00:16:34:10
Chris
I worked for larger retail companies for over 21, 22 years and pretty good sized medium company for about 4 or 5 years. Did a bit of consulting in there as well. So for most of my career, I've been in large retail business, Canadian wide retail chains.
00:16:34:15 - 00:16:42:24
Meghan
How does it compare to small like we're technically classified, small, medium, but 16 employees? We're a fairly small, close knit family type business.
00:16:42:24 - 00:17:11:02
Chris
The comparatives are they were all family run businesses and they just had more zeros at the end of the things we were dealing with. a lot of the problems were the same as far as, you know, technology implementation, time, you know, resources. So that hasn't really changed. It's similar. The difference is, is we can decide and pick and choose, and I have much more input than I did at the bigger companies.
00:17:11:09 - 00:17:33:18
Chris
While I had input in areas here, I have input in the overall direction. So that's a huge difference for me. But we're trying to implement some of the things, not all things corporate or bad, you know, like procedures and policy and stuff like that. It just makes it easier for everyone to make a decision when you have some of those things in places supposed to, you know, every time it happens, you know, how do we do this?
00:17:33:18 - 00:17:51:18
Chris
How do we do that? And as we were growing, you know, it kind of felt like there was a need for some of these changes. And we haven't done a ton, but we have put some things in that have made it a bit easier for sure. HR you know, dealing with people, that's something that I've been doing most of my career and I've always enjoyed, so I still like that.
00:17:51:20 - 00:18:12:04
Chris
That's always the same. Whether you're bigger or small, you deal with, the good bad and the ugly. So but this team, like I said, is really solid. I've been very fortunate in my career that almost all of my teams have been like that. it takes a little while to get to the team that you're hoping for, but, you know, if you work hard and, they work hard and it really matches well.
00:18:12:04 - 00:18:15:22
Chris
And so I've been pretty lucky. So then I feel lucky again.
00:18:15:25 - 00:18:22:15
Meghan
Do you feel like Stacey and I joke less about your corporate background now than we used to?
00:18:22:15 - 00:18:34:23
Chris
Not at all. No, I would say it's even more, But what's funny now is they're buying into it. So they do some of it. They're just changing their names. So, you know, if I say we need to.
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Stacey
Accordion.
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Chris
Accordion or not necessarily even accordion, or if I say a KPI, you know, key performance indicators, you know, they'll be like, what's our goal? You know, and which is good. Like, it's just there. It's it's funny. So yes, they make just as much fun of me now, but they listen more.
00:18:50:21 - 00:18:53:08
Stacey
Never going to conform.
00:18:53:11 - 00:19:16:28
Meghan
No man can hold me down. I do want to say bear with me here. I feel like we make less fun of you in the sense that while you were talking, I was picturing the scene from peanuts where the adults talk and all they hear, oh, more, more, no more. But I understood everything you were saying. And I didn't say that over top of, you.
00:19:17:03 - 00:19:38:06
Chris
Know, it's, understand that a lot of our dynamics are also done through memes. They're also done by facial expression. Because I’ll be in the other office on a video zoom call. And we were working with, a consultant from, you know, Business Development Canada. And we were talking in the first couple of minutes. Him and I are getting along just great.
00:19:38:08 - 00:19:55:10
Chris
And I can see the faces and I'm so I'm texting them with my hands, going to start making fun of me. I know you are. So. No, it's a lot better. Yeah, I it's taken with a grain of salt. Like I understand it. It's all fun, cool, corporate.
00:19:55:12 - 00:19:56:12
Meghan
It's like rival football.
00:19:56:12 - 00:19:58:18
This is,
00:19:58:20 - 00:20:04:14
Meghan
Okay. One of my favorite stories. Can you, for me, there's two favorite stories. Tell me how you met our mom.
00:20:04:14 - 00:20:29:26
Chris
Karen. sorry. Sorry, mother in law. We love you. So, the very first time I came into the building at Sinders and Stacey and I had only been dating, maybe a month or two, it hadn't been long, and I thought I would be nice, and I would bring the team some coffee, which I did. So I had a bunch of coffees, and I came in and everyone was super happy, and I dropped them off.
00:20:29:29 - 00:20:49:01
Chris
and then I had my own coffee, and they invited me in to look around, and I put my coffee down on the table, to which I hear this demonic voice from the side, go get that off of that table now. And I'm not joking. That was the voice that came out. And I'm like, panicked, look over and there like that, Stacey's mom.
00:20:49:01 - 00:20:55:28
Chris
I'm like, okay, well, it turns out you don't put coffee down on cutting pads. you know.
00:20:56:00 - 00:21:05:00
Stacey
If you know a seamstress or anybody who sews as green Olfa cutting mats cannot take any heat, they warp they warp and sew and they're very expensive.
00:21:05:03 - 00:21:14:15
Meghan
And mom's been sewing and doing all that kind of stuff for. I couldn't even know how long. 60 years 70 years. Forever since she was born. Yeah. So she's a little bit protective of her Olfa mat
00:21:14:18 - 00:21:24:18
Stacey
Yes. Yeah. So Chris, mistakenly, because he didn't know, put the coffee down on the mat. Now, Meghan I laughed a little because that's funny share right there.
00:21:24:20 - 00:21:26:17
Meghan
We've heard that voice all, our life
00:21:26:17 - 00:21:33:02
Stacey
all our lives. So you were using my scissors to cut paper like crazy?
00:21:33:08 - 00:21:54:09
Chris
I mean, two things went through my head was one. Oh, wow. I should run. That was one. The second one that was like a simple. Could you please not put that on the mat? Because it'll warp. Also would have warped but now knowing Stacey and Meg really well, you know, apple tree, not far.
00:21:54:11 - 00:22:11:02
Meghan
I don't. I feel like if you're going to say that, then you you're one two months in in your relationship with Stacey. She hadn't shown her true colors by that point, that if you if mom was your first indicator, her second indicator, me texting you the Liam Neeson meme that says good luck, good luck.
00:22:11:04 - 00:22:18:25
Chris
They also said tag, you're in no give backs. So there. What did they say? There were signs.
00:22:18:27 - 00:22:19:24
There were signs.
00:22:19:26 - 00:22:21:05
Meghan
Which had you.
00:22:21:08 - 00:22:30:03
Stacey
Don't ever talk about corporate for the amount. The razzing that I get at this shot from this man is absurd. I'm like a peach.
00:22:30:06 - 00:22:31:05
Stacey
Okay, so like a.
00:22:31:05 - 00:22:32:12
Meghan
Little delicate, bruised.
00:22:32:16 - 00:22:34:29
Meghan
Peach.
00:22:35:02 - 00:22:37:24
Chris
what was it? That book, the big massive peach.
00:22:37:24 - 00:22:39:07
Stacey
That was James and the Giant Peach.
00:22:39:07 - 00:22:39:27
Chris
Yeah.
00:22:40:00 - 00:22:40:23
Meghan
You're the giant.
00:22:40:23 - 00:22:43:04
Stacey
Peach with a worm in it.
00:22:43:06 - 00:22:44:00
Stacey
yes
00:22:44:03 - 00:22:46:13
Chris
That's like families living in their I don’t know
00:22:46:14 - 00:22:48:10
Meghan
In it. On the of a house of it
00:22:48:11 - 00:22:48:20
Chris
Yeah.
00:22:48:21 - 00:22:50:21
Stacey
It's been a long time to read that. Yes.
00:22:50:27 - 00:22:53:27
Meghan
Well, she doesn't just have a house. She has, like, seven personalities lived in that house.
00:22:53:29 - 00:22:57:10
Stacey
That's true. It needs to be a big peach. I don't disagree. Yeah, roulette.
00:22:57:10 - 00:22:58:14
Chris
Wheel gets fun every morning.
00:22:58:15 - 00:22:59:25
Stacey
Sure does. Yeah.
00:22:59:28 - 00:23:14:02
Chris
You're welcome. And there was a second story that, you were talking about. It'll come back to her. This is also often in the day where we walk in, and, I don't I don't know why I came in here. I'm not sure what I was going to say.
00:23:14:03 - 00:23:14:20
Meghan
you did all the time.
00:23:14:22 - 00:23:16:01
Chris
Anyways. I'm back.
00:23:16:02 - 00:23:19:18
Meghan
I lost both my wallets today.
00:23:19:21 - 00:23:23:22
Chris
so if anyone is listening to this podcast and you find a wallet, you let us know.
00:23:23:25 - 00:23:26:04
Stacey
It's it's probably Meg's
00:23:26:06 - 00:23:43:12
Meghan
So this is still no where my phone is. No. My second story was when Stacey and I were working late one night, and you came in to hang out with us because Stacey was working late. So you're coming to say hi. And it was a problem. We were having a problem. That's why we were here so late. And then Stace and I had a full conversation in our own language, under our breath.
00:23:43:15 - 00:23:47:07
Meghan
Yes, the look on your face was just priceless. Priceless.
00:23:47:07 - 00:23:49:01
Stacey
Yeah, I wish I'd take that show.
00:23:49:01 - 00:24:12:10
Chris
I had mentioned that they have their own language. I will not lie. This is what it sounded like. I was sitting this close to them. They turned to each other and went, oh no, and I loved it. And the other one, just like that, starts to laugh. And I'm looking in disbelief because not a single word was spoken and I do not know how they understood each other, let alone get that it was a joke of some sort.
00:24:12:12 - 00:24:13:10
Chris
That one was funny.
00:24:13:14 - 00:24:15:22
Meghan
Yeah, that was really funny. It still happens.
00:24:15:22 - 00:24:20:06
Stacey
It does, it does. Yeah, yeah. He's getting better at the Laverne mumble you call it.
00:24:20:12 - 00:24:34:08
Chris
Yeah. Because it wasn't that long after that your dad came in and said something to Meg using the same language, and then it could have been a bear. And Meg responded like she knew what was going on. And again, I was. I'm just going to walk away now.
00:24:34:10 - 00:24:35:04
Meghan
And you're stuck with this?
00:24:35:10 - 00:24:35:20
Stacey
Yep.
00:24:35:25 - 00:24:36:12
Chris
Happily.
00:24:36:19 - 00:24:37:00
Stacey
Yep.
00:24:37:06 - 00:24:38:25
Meghan
It's true. One of the next goals.
00:24:38:25 - 00:24:39:18
Stacey
who you are asking?
00:24:39:25 - 00:24:40:12
Meghan
Everyone.
00:24:40:12 - 00:25:05:06
Chris
Everyone. There's lots of goals. We have business goals Yeah. You know, we want to make this building more efficient. Yeah, we want to improve our business, our model. We're adapting. Business, is changing. The bridal business is changing. So we're working on that. And that's actually been fun. I enjoy those sorts of conversations when we're adapting. It's nice that we're a size that we are, that we can adapt fairly quickly so that start it.
00:25:05:06 - 00:25:27:27
Chris
So I don't know, goals five years. We definitely want to have another location, a third location. We definitely want our digital marketing company, Smart Radish Digital. We'd like that to be well, like well underway. That'll be 4 or 5 years that are all up and going, we want to have a lot of great partners that we're working with and helping a lot of other small and medium businesses grow like we have.
00:25:28:05 - 00:25:42:14
Chris
So that's something that I'm excited about over the next five years. Want to travel on the personal side, I want to travel a lot. So I would love to maybe retire one day in Portugal, Europe, and so start heading over there a little more frequently than we have.
00:25:42:17 - 00:25:43:29
Stacey
All of the above, and.
00:25:44:02 - 00:25:44:06
Chris
A pony
00:25:44:20 - 00:25:49:01
Stacey
and a pony.
00:25:49:04 - 00:25:50:27
Meghan
Sounds funny but it's not actually a joke.
00:25:50:29 - 00:26:01:08
Stacey
That was not a joke. Legit. I'm getting. At some point I would be that crazy horse person. Yeah, except I'll have a horse in Europe somewhere and a castle. Because if I've only been sending Meg castles in France for Three years
00:26:01:27 - 00:26:05:08
Meghan
I was going to say two- three years. Yeah, yeah, it's been years.
00:26:05:08 - 00:26:17:11
Stacey
It's legit. Yeah, I'd like to see this one for sale. This one's all right. We could all live in this one. Think we could get Mom and Dad to go to Europe? We might be able to. We can run everything from this one. That's why I just blocked me at.
00:26:17:12 - 00:26:25:20
Meghan
Oh, one of the last ones he sent. I even responded with. Oh, wow, look at the actual information they gave you on this one. Like that was logical information. If we're going to move there, we need to know that's true.
00:26:25:20 - 00:26:26:12
Stacey
Yes, yes.
00:26:26:19 - 00:26:28:12
Meghan
It was very helpful. Yeah.
00:26:28:15 - 00:26:29:25
Chris
And Meg what are your goals?
00:26:29:28 - 00:26:34:23
Meghan
to survive just small children. Literally to....
00:26:34:25 - 00:26:37:23
Stacey
She's only seeing that today because it was a hell a morning this morning.
00:26:37:24 - 00:26:42:08
Meghan
The hell of the morning. Yeah. To be more appreciative of the people that take care of me.
00:26:42:10 - 00:26:47:01
Stacey
That's both of you. You're welcome. She's never said that in person either. So I have a little bit of a trade on.
00:26:47:02 - 00:26:51:09
Meghan
Records there for the world to hear. Seriously, I would not survive. That's true.
00:26:51:12 - 00:26:56:06
Chris
Still, won’t give us a hug, though.
00:26:56:08 - 00:26:58:12
Chris
That's not true.
00:26:58:15 - 00:27:00:04
Meghan
I'm working on physical contact.
00:27:00:05 - 00:27:01:07
Stacey
Once a month.
00:27:01:07 - 00:27:14:07
Meghan
Don't know. This is supposed to be a grilling podcast about like interview Chris and grow Chris and I think I've just like aired all of my control problems. I have trust issues. Don't touch me.
00:27:14:10 - 00:27:15:11
Chris
Another day in the office.
00:27:15:14 - 00:27:17:14
Stacey
It's a raise. Exactly this.
00:27:17:18 - 00:27:18:14
Chris
This sums it up.
00:27:18:16 - 00:27:20:14
Meghan
Working with me sounds like it sounds like a treat.
00:27:20:21 - 00:27:26:16
Stacey
This is a treat. It's wonderful. Enjoy. Very much. Hiding in my corner.
00:27:26:19 - 00:27:29:07
Stacey
Bear traps around me, just in case. On the.
00:27:29:07 - 00:27:30:18
Stacey
Floor.
00:27:30:20 - 00:27:40:15
Chris
I know in my world, in corporate I know hundreds if not thousands of people who would change places and want to work with you guys. So yeah.
00:27:40:17 - 00:27:45:18
Stacey
No, because we insanity this fun, chaos Yeah. Is how we live.
00:27:45:20 - 00:27:51:09
Meghan
Can either of you guess how many times I have wanted to say corporate for any reason.
00:27:51:11 - 00:27:53:16
Stacey
I started already? Yeah.
00:27:53:19 - 00:27:58:00
Meghan
Kept them all my head and then found myself, I appreciate it, Christopher.
00:27:58:02 - 00:27:58:12
Stacey
Same.
00:27:58:17 - 00:28:06:10
Meghan
Thanks. Here's to however many longer years ahead and multiple businesses and traveling. And on one of the trips I might let you drive.
00:28:06:12 - 00:28:07:11
Chris
In Scotland happens.
00:28:07:18 - 00:28:14:06
Meghan
In Scotland. Side of the road. Exactly. Not easy. One that's easy. It's the one I don't want to do.
00:28:14:08 - 00:28:30:15
Chris
We are doing that. I found a house that I would like to buy in Edinburgh. So we often find houses in places we want to buy, but as we all know, it's not always feasible. But those are some of our goals. Houses in different countries, rentals. We can live there, we can stay there, our friends can be there, we can rent them out.
00:28:30:18 - 00:28:34:06
Chris
So that's I should add that to our goals to go into those places.
00:28:34:06 - 00:28:36:18
Meghan
But so actually spending time there.
00:28:36:20 - 00:28:37:06
Chris
00:28:37:08 - 00:28:39:00
Stacey
Well give me some culture.
00:28:39:00 - 00:28:47:15
Chris
Yeah. Investing in in the community and the people there just like we've done here. So we like to do that elsewhere.
00:28:47:18 - 00:28:54:13
Meghan
Great segue That's what we're about building community. Yeah. Here different countries wherever wherever follow us. Because I think you should.
00:28:54:16 - 00:28:56:23
Stacey
Just do it before she gets angry. Please. Thanks.