Latest / It's Time for Success: The Business Insights Podcast / Beyond Benefits: Building Businesses Where People Thrive with Lori Power

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Beyond Benefits: Building Businesses Where People Thrive with Lori Power · It's Time for Success: The Business Insights Podcast

• Sharon: [00:00:17] Welcome back to It's Time for Success, The Business Insights podcast. Today, I have the privilege of sitting down with someone who I know is going to inspire you. Her name is Lori Power. I met Lori at our WPO retreat in Canmore just this past couple of months ago. I think we had an instant connection, myself. I think when we sat beside each other, it was instant relationship that we built there. Lori is the owner of MP Benefits, and she's not just in the benefits business. She's a true innovator in how we think about people, performance, and workplace health. Known as an industrial athlete benefit specialist, Lori has made it her mission to help organizations take care of their most valuable assets, which is their people. But that's just the start. She's also an author, certified exit planning advisor, certified facilitator, and a passionate advocate for workplace mental health leadership. With her blend of professionalism, expertise, and personal drive, Lori brings unique perspectives on how businesses can thrive by aligning their culture, their benefits, and their leadership with the real needs of their people. In our conversation today, we're going to dig into her journey, her philosophies on leadership and wellness, and why building resilient workplaces isn't just a nice idea; it's a business necessity. Lori, thank you so much for being here with me today. Lori: [00:01:35] Oh, it's such a treat and a pleasure. I really, I agree with you. We had an instant connection and conversation just flows, doesn't it, when you meet like-minded people? And that was a room of a lot of like-minded people. But I really appreciated my time with you. Sharon: [00:01:50] Yes it was. I really enjoyed it as well. I learned so much too. Okay, we're going to talk about your story. And I think before I jump into this first question with you, Lori, is when I was introducing you, we talked about workplace mental health, and it's more and more. So this is really exciting for me to learn your intake on this, because I've seen it. And I can tell you a little bit of story of what we've encountered over here, but I'm really excited to hear your take on this. So can you share a bit about your journey before we jump into some of those more in depth questions? What led you to start MP Benefits and step into this role as an Industrial athlete benefits specialist? And what exactly is an industrial athlete benefits specialist? Lori: [00:02:30] Well, I'm really glad you asked. My journey was a bit of a winding one. My background is journalism. I worked in radio, which I always say is my first love. I love broadcasting. Podcasts are just such a evolution of radio, and it's the voice and it's the person's identity really comes out by listening to them. How you ask the questions, how a person answers the questions. From there, I was, I worked in newspaper for a while and I chose those industries apparently at all of the wrong times. So, you know, it's… they've gone through a lot of change. If you go back, I date myself, you go back to the 90s and into the early 2000s, and they just weren't sustainable in the capacity to which I started in them. Or when you come out of university and you have great and grand ideas. It had never been my intention, ever, or even on the radar, to ever be an entrepreneur. So I'm what I term myself to be an accidental entrepreneur. But in working in journalism, we always had the adage of, you know, see a need, fill a need, find the story. The story is there. Go to the root of the story. And I got hired by a consulting firm as a writer, researcher and the consulting firm just happened to be in insurance and specifically in employee group benefits. So I came into insurance, not in the traditional means of somebody who is trained to sell life insurance or financial solutions. I came into the business specifically to write and research about how benefit plans are used to attract and retain staff. Lori: [00:04:22] And over the years when, you know, quickly go forward and I became independent in the early 2000s and went out onto my own. That adage of attracting and retaining employees as it applies to a benefit program really bothered me. It bothered me. I just… it was like a brick wall. I could see where a benefit plan absolutely would do it. But there, the more you talk about rates and the more you talk about what a benefit plan is going to cost versus what the usage is, it just doesn't make any sense, right? Why should a business go under to provide a benefit program in the hope that it's going to attract and retain employees? There was no strategy to that. Hence, that's where we get to the industrial athlete. And the industrial athlete came about. I had the absolute fortune of consulting with Boeing. It's very intimidating to sit in a Boeing room with all of their safety people from North America and three lawyers and, and go through some items with regards to their benefit program and what they used on site. And it was mostly aligned with ergonomics, was they called their staff industrial athletes. And what they in… much like Disney calls everybody their guest and everybody and their people are cast members. The… Boeing used the term the industrial athlete and I started to look into that. And then I thought, well, actually aren't all employees an athlete in and of themselves. We're hiring them for specific skills. So if you take it back and I say, you know what? Today, if you had the opportunity to own a sports team. Lori: [00:06:09] Okay, let's say you own the Blue Jays. What a good time to own the Blue Jays. What's your number one priority as the Blue Jays go into the next phase of winning their championship? Right? Your priority right now is to keep all of your players, not just your key players, but keep all of your players, make sure you have your contingency plan, you want them healthy and fit and be able to get on the field and hit those home runs. That's your priority. The money is made by the people in the stands and the people viewing the game. Advertisers come in because this is a great team to support. That is no different than any business out there. Whether you are a law firm or an accounting firm, whether you own a construction company. We are all hiring those athletes. If we take care of our people and allow them to do the job you've hired them to do, they will service your customers, those are those people, seats in the chair, and they will be able to sell the widgets or the services and be engaged. Right? And have people be engaged in you, which are your advertisers, right? That's how you build your brand. So that is the evolution of how I went through the selling of a benefit program to looking at how does a benefit plan align with your productivity, your safety and your compensation strategy to attract and retain those staff? Sharon: [00:07:52] Holy hell, woman. That's amazing. I love your, this, how you talked about my team. Healthy and fit. And so I focus on them. I did a podcast with a gentleman. He says, water your own grass. Don't worry about somebody else's grass. And I really like that, that wording. Anyway, so focus on healthy and fit for your team. And then everybody else comes to you because of that. Lori: [00:08:20] Yeah. Sharon: [00:08:21] It's simple. You make it sound simple. Lori: [00:08:23] It isn't hard, right? And I I believe that like if I go back to when I first sold my first health spending account as part of a benefit program, and I'm going to go back to 2001. And again, it's a background of researching and it's a background of being able to write it and move it into wording that people can understand it. And I’d go and I’d sit in front of somebody and I'd say, well, it's money in, money out. Exactly. But it's a tax vehicle. So if you don't want to pay tax, right, or you because it's nontaxable in Canada, outside of Quebec, this is the best use of your money, right? Like it's a corporate tax deduction. It's nontaxable to employees. Sky's the limit here. People would say it's too easy, right? It has to be more complicated than that. Do it really have to be more complicated than that? I don't think so. Right? Sharon: [00:09:16] Sometimes I feel like. So the benefits, they're expensive, like, and they're confusing. They're confusing as all heck. Like, I don't understand. I just got an email today from our supplier and I was like, oh, I'm gonna hit that unread and read that again later because I need some processing. So anyways, so that is a thing. But also a lot of employees, they don't treat it as not saying my employees, I've just heard other people as well, but they just don't, it's an expectation. So they don't recognize it as what you're saying it should. Right? Like unfortunately. And is it because we're not delivering it properly or we're not showing it properly? Or what are we doing wrong on our end? Because a lot of people just expect it. Lori: [00:09:57] Well, you know, I think it comes down to strategy and communication, right? What was the strategy in putting a benefit plan in place if it was okay? People are asking for a benefit plan. So it's just a check box. Ding dong. We have a benefit program and then thereafter you're just chasing the rates. I would say the most expensive benefit programs out there are those that chase the rates. Because if you're going for the lowest dollar out there, then I guarantee you you've put in a plan that has a lot of definitions and a lot of exclusions for coverage and is not actually aligned with the productivity expectation of your staff. So, for instance, I went into a law firm a number of years ago and they said, okay, well, we want a quote. I'm like, what do you want a quote for, right? We haven't even looked at what your benefit plan is offering right now, what's working and how you've aligned it to your people. And he said, well, we just need the best rates out there. I said, well, you'll get the best rates when you can see where it's helping your people make you money. Like, let's be mercenary in a little bit. We hire our people to make us the organization money. Lori: [00:11:05] That's it. Right? We have a job to do and that job is to be successful. So I said to him, I said, well, how much time do people spend on the computer? It's like eight, ten hours a day. And I said, okay, well, let's have a look at your benefit program right now. You don't have a health spending account, and your vision is limited to $150 every two years. All right. Are you going to give them a pad and paper and expect it to do the same thing as a computer? And he looked at me and he laughed. And he's like, no. And I said, okay, well, you have somebody who you're expecting to be on the computer 8 to 10 hours a day, depending on their role within the law firm. So they're going to need access to eyewear. If they don't have good eyewear, how is it that you're going to expect them to do the job to the best of their ability? So I would suggest then after that's a strategy, right? But now you need to communicate that to your staff. And I agree with you. You'll always have some people in organizations that see it as an entitlement. Lori: [00:12:09] But how many times do people go in to look for a job and ask the person who's hiring them, what does the benefit plan look like? And they say, oh, it's the best plan ever. Okay, tell me a little bit more. And they can't. Well, in their head, what they're saying is I pay enough for it, so it must be good. Is it really? Is it really good? Is it a least cost alternative plan? Is it a plan that perhaps doesn't even align with what you do? You have somebody who's on a construction site and you've made sure they're wearing the hard hat. They've got the ear protectors and they got the safety boots on. But if you have not alerted them, communicate it to them that they have orthotics, they have compression hose. That's going to allow them to be all day on their feet, right? And be okay. Health and safety. Right? If you haven't told them that they have a hearing aid, that they can access hearing aids so they can hear across the yard when there's something that needs their attention, right? Safety glasses. Those things are already in a benefit plan. It's the strategy of aligning that benefit plan with the productivity results that we want. Sharon: [00:13:30] Okay. I have a question for you. Because this is genius. Because if you ask me right now what I'm paying for, I have no flipping idea. Lori: [00:13:37] Yeah, and that's a problem. Sharon: [00:13:40] So with that being said. So when you talk. So it's up to us as an entrepreneur to know this and teach them what's there. What's my take on this? Lori: [00:13:50] No, it's up to the consultant that you work with to work with you. Right? The same way as you hire a lawyer. I mean, when I've hired a lawyer, the lawyer said, well, there's no sense of you worrying anymore. That's my job. Right? Sharon: [00:14:04] Okay. Lori: [00:14:05] You have a fire professional goes in to take care of that fire. Is a fire a fire to a fire person? No, it's the job. Right? So it comes down to the person that you're working with. Is that person that you're working with, the consultant that you need, that's going to help you build out the strategy and help you build out that communication to your people. It's not your job as the entrepreneur to take on and wear all these hats. It's perhaps your job as the entrepreneur, which I see is to hire the people who are going to wear those hats and make me look awesome. Right? Sharon: [00:14:47] Okay, okay, so it's not outside of an entrepreneurial question. Say, hey, can you come and, for me, I have multiple locations, so jump on Zoom and outline and go do a quick overview with my team? Lori: [00:15:01] Yeah that's part of the service offering, right? That's what a consultant does. Otherwise we're just rate brokers. And I am not a rate broker; I am a benefit broker and consultant. Sharon: [00:15:13] I love it. Thank you so very much for that clarification. Awesome. Okay. Lori: [00:15:18] Thank you for asking the question. That's good. Sharon: [00:15:19] Well, you know, it's a thing and it's very confusing. And I get those forms and I say I read it because it's a lot in my head and I don't think I have any more capacity to learn anything else right now. Okay. We're going to jump ahead to leadership and workplace culture. So in your experience, what separates a workplace where people just show up? Because that is a thing from one where they truly thrive. And I wear this as a job versus a career. That's my take on this whole sentence. Yeah. So what do you see separates those two? Lori: [00:15:52] Well, I think it's are they respected for what they bring to the organization? We, you know, if you give somebody a problem to solve and they come back to you because they are the person that you've hired, so they're coming back to you and say, you know what? I've thought about this problem. This is the strategy I may apply to the solution, but instead of actually listening or actioning that solution, you go yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and you go and do your own thing. That I think is a problem, because the next time you put a problem in front of that staff member, how engaged are they going to be? How trusting are they going to be that you're even going to listen? Doesn't mean you have to action it. It just means you have to listen and appreciate that that employee is engaged enough to want the organization to move forward. My husband and I were talking about this the other day, and he said something which, you know, it comes out of great conversation, but he said, I want it when people ask for help from me that they actually listen to what I'm giving back to them. And he said and a simple thank you is fine, but how often do we hire the best people? We hire the best people, and we know what they're really good at, and then micromanage them or not allow them to do the job that you actually hired them to do, and then hold them accountable when that job or the solution hasn't been applied. Sharon: [00:17:24] So, there's a thing on that, too. I feel that you talked about micromanaging or telling them. Sometimes, like I'm the kind of person, I do. And how do I lead by example? That's the word I'm looking for, lead by example. And I don't know if that's the proper way of doing it. I think there's two different ways of doing it, but I lead by example more so than the other way. But sometimes they're not following. Lori: [00:17:53] No. And I agree with you. My background as a journalist. So I've never been shy of hiring coaches, mentors, things like that. And when I was thinking about this on how am I going to give over, one of the people I hired was Marnie. And I said, Marnie, I want, I know, I don't want to give over. I mean, if I have a piece of paper, you're going to have to, like, drag it out of my hands before I'm going to give it over to you, because that's my first instinct, right? Like a journalist, they work alone, right? They get this story, and they work alone. So I need to learn how to work in a team and trust that team. And that's as much on me as the leader as it is on the people that I hire to be part of my team. So when we approached it, I had said to Marnie, I said, I need some help on this. And I said, the number one thing that I need is I need my team to understand me. I want to understand them. But in hiring them, I want them to also understand me. And it was a really good beginning point because the staff member, one in particular, had, like was really uptight about going through this process. And Marni had to reassure them, this isn't about you. This is about creating an effective team so you can be the best you're going to be at the job while understanding the boss. Sharon: [00:19:25] Because you have to be in the line. There's just no way around it. Like I've hired other, I remember because I'm a big advocate for coaching and mentors as well. And I have a business coach and I remember we hired somebody. So I don't, I no longer hire. We have somebody else that does it in our company here. So she fit in great. She was, she… not fit in great. That's not the right word. She understood our software. She caught on really quick. She was able to do quotes really fast. You know she was, the phone etiquette was great. Like she was always on time, you know, perfect. Everything was great. But we had a personality conflict. Yeah. So I remember phoning my coach and I says, okay, what do I do in this situation? Because it's hard. Like, I don't even want to be in my four walls. I'm paying her and I don't want to be at work, so something's not sitting well with me. So what do I do? Said Sharon, as long as she's doing her job, you don't have to go for coffee with her. I'm like, okay, so I took that with a grain of salt and then it progressed and it progressed. And then I thought to myself, okay, if I'm not liking her, my customers are coming here and she has to deal with my customers. So she has to have the proper personality for my customers as well. So that's what I based it on. I says, yeah, you're not a fit for what we represent. And I had to let her go. Lori: [00:20:38] Yeah. And that's okay. Like I read these things sometimes on leadership and some are applicable and some are not to me. And I try to learn, but you know, people are like, I have an open door policy. Well, part of mine was I have a times of the day where I'm going to close the door. Sharon: [00:20:58] And you need to. Lori: [00:20:59] And it's not always going to be open. And the reason for that is because I need to think and strategize on behalf of the project I'm working on, you know? So it can't always be open. And you're right. And then Disney, I did the Disney leadership courses. And one of the things they say is, you know what, in your case, Sharon, it's like you need to find your happiness elsewhere because you're not creating happiness here, right? Sharon: [00:21:26] That's right. And I always believe you might not be the right, you know, we might not be the right fit for you. But I'll help you find the right foot fit. Like, you know, if you're a good person and it's fine, I will help you. I will help you. But I need this ship running smoothly. Lori: [00:21:40] Well, we don't have to part as enemies just because there's no alignment. It's the same way with our customers, right? We can't be all things to all customers. I'm not going to be everybody's cup of tea, you know? And that's okay. That's okay. But for those that I am the cup of tea for, man, I want to soar with you. Right? Like, I just want to take it to the heights that we're able to take it. Sharon: [00:22:03] Yeah. Absolutely. Love it. Thank you. I feel like this whole podcast could be, like, four hours long, so I'm going to jump ahead to the next question. Okay, so you're a strong advocate for workplace mental health leadership. And this is a huge subject right now. So what does that really mean in practice for leaders and teams? Tell me what that means to you. Lori: [00:22:22] Well, my journey in that and I'm a lifelong learner. So Queen's University has the workplace mental health leadership course. And you can take it. You can apply it to your teams. I did it three different times. One, I did it just for me to understand what it was. Then I opened it up to the team and then the third is I opened it up to our clients at the time to to help them. And I'm glad that I did this long before Covid. And so what an excellent foundation to then go through something like Covid and help you stop to listen, to understand. I am no expert in that. There are so many people that are so much better. My job is to align the business with the right product that's going to help them be leaders and apply those theories to their business. So that's where I see my role as that facilitator to say your interest in workplace mental health, you want the best fit to help both you, your employees and your teams do that. And so the main learning out of the university program there is, you know, just listen to understand. And in that, it suspends that judgment because what may seem light to us could be heavy for another person. Right? We don't know where we're sitting on the boat. We don't know where we're sitting on the bus. We don't know any of those things. And I always use the example in this keynote of Harvard, I believe, is, you know, if you have a cup and this is where I challenge employees, and I do these sessions probably at least once a week, I have a client session where I'll walk through the benefit plan, but I include this as part of that benefit program. Lori: [00:24:19] When I'm talking to the employees, I'll say, well, I want you to hold up your cup. And they laugh a little bit and I go, okay, now we're going to make a commitment. We're going to hold that cup in that exact spot for 24 hours, and we are not going to move it. Now, even if I was going to hold my hand up, you and I both know my hands are going to fall down. It's going to get tired. And I then challenged the employees to look around the room with their most judgmental look, and point out those that they know have drank everything in their cup, and the cup is actually empty versus those that just filled it up before the session. Right? And we're going to say, well, those cups are heavier than those ones. Who are we to judge what's heavy in that cup? I have a clay cup here. I could then make the argument. My cup is clay. Yours is plastic, right? But it's not the excuse of saying that my burden is heavy. It's the understanding that everybody has a burden that is heavy. That's it. We don't need to judge it on why it's heavy for that person. That's not our business, right? It's just the understanding that everybody has a burden. Sharon: [00:25:27] Wow. I don't even have a comment back from that, because I think you've summarized everything up. That is very wisely spoken. Because sometimes as a… the word anxiety, back in the day, we never used anxiety. That wasn't a word. And now it's like everybody has anxiety. So I think I hear it 15 times a day and I often think to myself, WTF? What's happening in this world? Like what's going on? I don't comprehend it. And I like how you explained this because it's not up to me to comprehend it. I don't need to, I don't know, I just got to understand that everybody's weight is different is what you had mentioned, right? So thank you for that. Yes, yes. Lori: [00:26:08] And some people don't have the vocabulary either. I'm always on my son. He'll say, oh, let me tell you something funny, and I'll shoot back to him and I'll go, well, is it funny “ha ha?” Is it going to make me cry with laughter? Is it going to do this? And he's like, mom, it was something strange. It was something weird. It was this. It was that. So sometimes it's just a lack of vocabulary as well. That's the expression. That's how it's being blanketed across. And it could be something altogether different. But I like the way that you phrased it. It's just, you know, it is what it is. Sharon: [00:26:44] Mhm. Mhm. Interesting. So that whole lack of vocabulary thing I read somewhere, if you say literally ,and a swear word, I could say it because we do allow swearing in the podcast. But if you say literally and the f bomb you have very limited vocabulary and I'm like, uh oh. Lori: [00:27:00] I know, I know. I used to like go into that. But then I think, well, look at the creativity that goes along with that, right? Because we don't just use the f bomb anymore. We do the what the actual? Right? Or…. Sharon: [00:27:16] And the whole wording like the pronunciation behind it. Oh yeah. Lori: [00:27:20] I'm very. Sharon: [00:27:21] Creative. Lori: [00:27:21] With it. You know how many words out there are a verb, a noun, an adverb, adjective, you know? and then it can stand on its own as just the complete understanding in the moment. Sharon: [00:27:33] Like I even went and bought one of those calendars. You can buy them actually on Amazon. So like every day is a new word. So like I went and bought those like every day at a new word and I'm like, okay, so I can't remember what one of the words was. So I would try to implement and say it regularly throughout the day. And my staff is like, okay, that's the new word for the day. It's like, yep. It was so funny. Lori: [00:27:57] Oh my goodness. Sharon: [00:27:58] Anywho. Okay, what do you see as some of the most common mistakes employers make when it comes to supporting their employees? Lori: [00:28:07] I think when I was writing some notes, thinking about this question, I think one of the things that comes to mind is assuming the people will always be there, right? If our goal is to attract the top talent for our organization or the best in the position, the best of the applicants coming in, are we making the assumption that they've only applied to work with us, or have they applied to work for ten others and we have to be their best foot forward? So now we've hired them, and perhaps we're not living up to what we said we were going to hire them to do, and the job duties were just something we put on Indeed, versus what that job actually looks like in real life. So making that assumption, I think that those people are going to stick around or that they're replaceable, right? Like I have people that I know that have 100% turnover and staff and I'm like, oh my God, the money that is going and walking out your door. And the thought process behind that is, well, there's always going to be somebody new to come in. Wow. That's a lot of money on recruiting and training. And how much more is it? You know, bird in the hand kind of thing versus one you have to go out and hunt for. So I think that's probably my number one is people who think that their people are going to stay and take the abuse, if there is abuse. But abuse can happen when they're not being able to do their own job as well. Like, you know, so I'm using that term very, very loosely and broadly. Or making the assumption that that person is replaceable. And then they may say, well, I got a better candidate the next time. Well, did you change your focus? Was it… did your strategy change? Did you actually put that person in the right fit job? Sharon: [00:30:05] We talk about that a lot. Here we had one girl, and we thought she'd be great at sales because she was a little outgoing and stuff, but we quickly recognized after about a week of training that she wasn't the one for the front staff, but we found a different seat in the bus. We chatted with her, you know, would you be willing to do something like that? I think you'd fit better here. And even that, it kind of goes back to I think, anyways, and correct me if I'm wrong, I tell this all the time. If they're comfortable at work, if they feel proud of what they do at work, if they leave work feeling accomplished, that boils down to mental health. That goes down to being happy. That goes down to so much more. So I literally believe that it's up to us to hire properly, first of all, because it is very costly. So we have to do our due diligence and hire properly. Second of all, to work with them, to find them the right seat on the bus. And then hopefully we have the retention of keeping them. Because also when you talk about that 100% turnover. People are always turnover. Doesn't matter. Whatever. Whatever. Whatever. No. Because you also talked about the people in the stands watching. Right? So like if you don't have the right team, which we talked about earlier right off the get go and you're going to lose your people coming to watch that game. Lori: [00:31:17] Yeah. And you nailed it. You absolutely nailed it. I'll give you a couple of really good success stories on where it works. So three years ago, four years ago, I started to work with a construction company that was at 75% turnover in staff. Turnover in staff so bad, in fact, that they would have people ghosting them. So they would hire somebody, go the next day expecting that person to show up on the job site, and that person never showed up. Or they'd have somebody show up one day and not the next, and they couldn't even contact them to pay them out that one day. They were just being ghosted that badly. And we started to work together and we started to look at, okay, you have. And they came and they were like, we've got a good benefit plan. We have this, we have that. But there was no alignment of the business to what they're offering staff. Staff is not going to appreciate what you offer them if it's not communicated and strategized out there. You fast forward four years later and this last year. So I met with them two weeks ago. This last year, they have zero turnover and they're on another hiring spree now because the company is growing. The company is growing because they don't have the turnover. They have the people who are doing the job and it is, their words, they are applying the benefit program to all four quadrants of their business, whether that's your finance, your operations, your sales, your strategy, your human resources, that sort of thing. It's all how they align it to the benefit program. Lori: [00:33:01] And so in saying that, they say, you know what? We're hiring in construction. Everybody knows what the hourly rates are. There's no surprises there. They're coming in to us and it's a couple cents here or there based on our competition. Right? They know from the ad what they're going to do. It's… they're going to be on the job site. They're going to be using their carpentry skills. They're going to be doing this. But our main differentiator is how we have applied the benefit plan to our safety program, how we constantly communicate it out, and how we make sure that we are encouraging them to use it to be productive, to use it to be proactive. We know it's going to be hard on them to be all day out on the job site. So they actually have somebody now who comes into their main office and offers physiotherapy and massage. Yeah, so they're making it not only part of what they do with their staff, but they're making it accessible because if they have a worker's comp claim, first thing that person that worker's comp is going to assess that individual and send them over for physio, send them for chiropractic, whatever those services are. So why not be proactive and which is what they've done, right? And so that is where that alignment and that looking at the investment and that return on investment. So what's the return on investment? They haven't had to hire to replace; they are hiring due to growth. They're growing because the jobs are getting done on time on budget. Sharon: [00:34:43] Love it. Love it. We talked about... Now my brain is like on fire because like I treat massages, I call it my preventative maintenance. I book it because I'm going to lose my mind and I need it, and I hurt all the time. So I call it preventative maintenance. But I've never thought of… because even like my silk screener, he pulls. He pulls ink all day long like he's on his feet. He's pulling, he's pulling. Have you booked a massage? No. Because he's like that, you know, he's just very he's so low-key and he's so… I don't know, I just love him so much. But anyways, so like, if I was to organize something like. That's brilliant. I love that if anybody's listening to this, that's a key takeaway. Lori: [00:35:21] Well, imagine all of the practitioners in your local area. Okay? And this is where we build that alignment further out, right? We are building a community. There's going to be a practitioner in your area that says, yeah, Sharon, I can take one lunch hour, one day a week and come on over and provide special pricing. They're still getting paid for it, right? But they know, one, they're going to have a guaranteed contact or they're going to have a guaranteed client. And these are long-term relationships. These are long-term strategies. So now, you aren't paying for it as the business. Your benefit plan is paying for it on a non taxable basis. Right? So you're just creating that alignment and that strategy. Sharon: [00:36:09] I absolutely, absolutely love it. That is so… and I love the word community. I'm a very advocate for community hence the podcast as well. Community, I always say it takes a community to build a business and a business to build a community, and we are in it together. So that's a very key takeaway on that one word that you used there. Thank you for that. Okay. Benefits and retention I think is where we're at. I was… instead of reading my notes, I was watching you and taking as many of my personal notes as I could. So. Oh yeah. So we talked, we talked, I talked about it… benefits being a cost. And we did talk about reframing it and actually using your provider, is that kind of a thing, to treat it as an investment? Can you elaborate a little bit more on this or what I should be doing with this? Lori: [00:36:50] So the insurance carriers, the carriers that are out there. So you have your Sun Lifes, your Manulife's, your Canada Lifes, those are your carrier underwriters. Those are the providers of the benefit program. And then there's your organization, which is yourself. In the middle is your broker consultant. That's where companies like mine, MP Benefits, come into play. So carriers by and large do not deal directly with clients. They go through a broker. So the companies the organizations pick their broker, their consultant that they are going to work with. And then we can canvass the entire, you know, community of underwriters and find the right plan that's going to fit for you. Because just like I perhaps am not everybody's cup of tea, nor so is a benefit plan from one particular carrier going to be the be all and end all for everybody. Every carrier has particular mix and matches and the way that they do things, that's going to better suit that company. Sharon: [00:37:57] Because I think a lot of businesses like myself, we treat it as an expense instead of an investment. Until right until this moment, this conversation, literally, it's a cost, not an investment. So I think as an entrepreneur, you’ve got to look at it as an investment. And your whole conversation and this whole podcast outlines that for sure. Am I picking up what you're laying down? Lori: [00:38:16] You're definitely picking up what I'm putting down. But yeah. And it's exactly it. It's… the most costly plans out there are, I can't say it enough are plans that are based on the rates. Because when you don't know what you're paying for, and it's one of the few things in our business that we would literally pay for and not know what we're paying for. Like, can you… can you imagine putting tires on your vehicle and not knowing if they were going to be winter tires or all season or summer, right? We just wouldn't do that. We know what we're paying for. So if you're only looking at the rates and not actually what is the meat in that, or if you're vegan, right? Like what's going into that sandwich? Right? It's hard to be so correct. You know, to look at these things. But if you're not looking at what you're actually paying for and how it will actually help your business and your people, then that is the wastage of the money. Sharon: [00:39:16] Right. I love it. So if there's a small business owner listening today and he already has investments, what's one change that you would suggest that he looks at? Like one thing that he wanted to change in his plan to their benefit plan. What would that be? Lori: [00:39:31] Is just mostly, it's just communication. How often do we communicate it to the staff? They're never going to appreciate what they never know is there. Sharon: [00:39:42] Okay. Awesome. Okay. We're going to talk a little bit about exit planning. This is something that's huge for me. And I think we can probably do a whole separate podcast on this if you're up for it. But let's just touch base on it right now because you're also a certified exit planning advisor, correct? Lori: [00:39:57] Yes. Sharon: [00:39:58] Why is exit planning something entrepreneurs should be thinking about much earlier than most do? Which is me. I've never thought about it, and I'm 57 years old. I should probably be working on this and I'm getting tired. So what… What's your key takeaway on that? Lori: [00:40:11] Well, if we wait until we're triggered to make that move toward thinking of our succession plan, we've just set ourselves up for success. So, or so we've set ourselves up for failure. So think about this. If the trigger is I'm tired. I'm distressed. I've been diagnosed with dementia. I have a disability. Somebody has just died. And that's the trigger. Now you want out now. And you're not going to get the value out of your business. Because your business isn't just what you sell, what you service. You hit on a big part of it. It's, what does it mean to the community at large? What does your business do for the community that you serve? And so, in that, ethically, you have the responsibility to look at it as soon as you can and make it part of your ongoing business strategy. There should be a contingency plan in there because your… it's not just your employees that are important to your business, but you're important to your community. And when a community loses a business because they had to either shut their doors or they just walked away or they died, or there was not a contingency plan. Think about all of the other businesses that depend on you as their client. Sharon: [00:41:37] Mhm. And even our workers, our people, our team. Lori: [00:41:41] That's right, that's right. Sharon: [00:41:42] And their families. It's a whole record. They’ve got mortgages. They’ve got to buy groceries, you know, like it's. Yes. That's really… Lori: [00:41:50] Uncertainty is chaos, right? It's like walking into that chaos and certainty provides that clarity. So it doesn't have to be scary. It has to be, where is MP Benefits going to sit if something happens to me? What is the contingency plan so that my customers can continue to get the value that they've come to expect? If I just close my doors and I walk away one day, or I die and they're just left floating, then it's not just the clients I serve, it's their employees that are going to be impacted as well. It's the community that I align myself with. It's the businesses that depend on me as their customer. Sharon: [00:42:39] That's remarkable. Absolutely remarkable. I never thought of it like that, to that depth. Like, even for our own company, which is, you know, we’re a promotional products, basically. We have people's logos, we have people's, you know, Pantone colors. We’ve got all this kind of stuff on file. They don't keep it because they can't open it. So what happens if I was to just say bye! Like literally everything is inside these… well up in the cloud now, but whatever. Right? So like it's important that yeah, their files are basically our files. Like that's crazy. That's kind of scary actually. So thank you for that. Lori: [00:43:11] Well you… when we talk about small business sometimes we'll get the response back. Well, I'm a small business. I really don't make that much of impact. Right? I'm just not that impactful. And we take that word small business and we apply it in the excuse level. But if you look at Canada, more than 90% of Canadian business, right? This is the engine that fuels our country, our small businesses. If we start to think that we are just, as I said before, that we are replaceable, that there will be somebody else to talk to us about. Well, they should go to my small town in Nova Scotia where there isn't business anymore, right? And what happens to a community that finds itself without a corner store, without a gas station, without a promotions company? Sharon: [00:44:06] Mhm. It's true. I grew up in a little town in Manitoba and it's, I don't know, 300 people, but my mom had the restaurant and then she opened up a grocery store, blah blah blah blah. Fast forward now, my brother runs the grocery store and he bought the gas station just to keep it alive. The grocery store burnt down. And so now what, we're looking at real estate values crash. There's a senior living there with I think 8 or 10 rooms or something like that. They're not going to want to go there. They're going to have to go somewhere where there's groceries. Like it's a very devastating, devastating. It was devastating to the community. People were in tears. So anyways, they're now rebuilding. But my brother, he's ten years older, so he's like almost 70, mid-60s and he's rebuilding because he knows that the community needs it. Lori: [00:44:53] Yeah. And that's just like when you think about when we go into retirement Sharon, we're going to want to be part of a community. We're going to want to be in walking distance where we can go and have a coffee or a small meal with our friends. It's all about that community at that point in time. And I think it's important for us as small business owners to have that contingency plan. It's not something fearful. It is something that I think just aligns really well with our ethics and our values. Sharon: [00:45:25] Yeah, I love it. Okay, I'm going to jump over that just a little bit. But I do want to have you back on because I think that's a whole different topic. Is that okay? Lori: [00:45:32] Yeah. That's great. Sharon: [00:45:33] Yeah. Okay. That's… Yeah. It's fun. So I think that would be fantastic. Okay. We're going to jump over to mindset and personal growth because you've worn a lot of hats. You’ve got, you're an owner. You're an author. You're a facilitator. You're an advisor. What mindset has allowed you to keep growing and reinventing yourself? What's a mindset that keeps you growing and flourishing? Lori: [00:45:52] I think it's a lifelong learner. And again, I'm going to go back to those journalistic tendencies of being curious. Of, you know, being… I don't consider it different hats, I really don't. I just consider it as… Well, I'll put it another way, every time I go to take a course or I have to go through continuing education, which we do in our regulated industry, right? We have to continuously do education seminars. So I had to say, okay, well, do I want to sit through another boring, you know, afternoon talking about tax. Like, really scratch my eyeballs out. So my mindset there is, can I go into this afternoon and challenge myself to find one nugget that I can apply not just to my business, but to my business practice? And if I can do that, then I'm walking away with a lot of gold. But I've also changed the mindset. So I've changed myself from being, I'm going in with boredom and expecting the worst, to going in as a hunter looking for that one nugget. Sharon: [00:47:02] And I think there's two different people. There's people like that, which is me as well. I think I can always learn something. I don't care if I've taken it ten times, I'm going to learn something. And then there's people who are like, oh, you know. There's two different people. So again, but there's also entrepreneurs and there's not an entrepreneur. So there's two different mindsets. I'm a strong believer in learning and I absorb and I love learning stuff I read. I'm a strong advocate for reading as well. And I do want you to explain at the end of our session here a little bit more about those couple programs, because I think our listeners might be interested in those couple programs. So thank you for that. So it's just a matter of going, taking something away with a positive mindset and with, a flipping your mind to recognize that there's always something to take away from it. I like it. Lori: [00:47:42] It's almost mercenary, right? Like it's I think it's that's the entrepreneur in us. It's like, what can I glean from this? Or there's a book that was written, it's called Steal Like an Artist, right? Like, what can I… what can I take away from this and apply it to my own practice? Well, that's just stealing somebody else's idea and applying it to yourself and making it new. Right? But the idea of generosity is universal, but it's how we apply it. Sharon: [00:48:13] I love it, thank you. That's awesome. Okay, so you balance family. You balance business. You are into leadership. What lessons from your own journey could help them? Our listeners believe it is possible. What lessons did you take away from all that? Lori: [00:48:26] I'm not alone. That's the first and foremost is I'm not alone. So I look at that and I go, yeah, no, if I was standing by myself, there's no balance. There's no balance at all, right? I'm either all the way over here or I'm on the other side. So I'm not alone. I have an excellent partner. I have great family and support. And I've also, you know, outsourced a lot of things to pull in experts to do what they do best that just make me look like a hero. So that's a great line and allows me to do the things that I do. But it's only because I don't do it by myself. Sharon: [00:49:04] Right? So that's recognition. I always think like, people have work-life balance and I say bullshit like, honest to goodness, you can't. There's no if you're an entrepreneur, there's no work-life balance. It's not a freaking thing. Like, and you've got to... Lori: [00:49:17] And why are we so afraid of the word workaholic. Like, when did that become a bad word? I think back to my grandparents and their work ethic, which carried on to my parents. And I'm like, I'm not going to apologize to anybody because I love doing what I do. Do you want to work with somebody who really loves what they want to do, or do you have, want to work with somebody whose main goal is to be off somewhere else, doing something else? No no. Sharon: [00:49:45] I agree, I love doing what I do. I love being in these four walls. I love my customers. I love creating cool stuff. Like, I love it. So is it, you know, exhausting? Yeah, I'm getting tired, but it's not like… it's also our Christmas season right now, so it's very busy right now. Yeah. But it's something I enjoy doing and something I'm good at. And I leave feeling good about myself. So that's. Yeah. So I call work-life balance bullshit. Lori: [00:50:13] Bullshit. Sharon: [00:50:14] Bullshit, bullshit. But there is a way to offset it. So like I do have a family as well. So. And my family knows, like, okay, see you. You know, January 2026. Yeah, because it's our busy season. But as for my key takeaway on that is I tell them I want two times a year of your undivided attention for two weekends of the year or a week. So we go to Mexico or we go to whatever, like all of us go together, we go houseboating where they're stuck in a building with me, or we go downhill skiing where they're stuck in a cabin with me. So just make it work for you. Figure out what that is. That's my key takeaway on my life experiences. Make it work for you, whatever that may be. And you can't do it alone. Like I just hired my, Sherry, who you've been talking to. I just hired her, so she's in learning. But I recognize I couldn't do all these bookings and I couldn't do everything myself. So outsource what you can, like you had mentioned, recognize you have people in the corner, say thank you to them. You can't do it without them. So just be mindful of your surroundings and gratitude, I think. Lori: [00:51:09] 100%. You've said it. Sharon: [00:51:12] Okay. Looking forward, what trends do you see shaping the future of workplace benefits and leadership? That's a very large question. I'm sorry about that one. Lori: [00:51:21] That's all right. I think we went through a lot of this on, on the, in the smaller parts. But when you bring it all together it's just alignment, right? You wouldn't go… You don't look at your business in any other way. You start off with a strategy and benefit plans are no different. The evolution of how you apply benefit plans isn't based on the insurance carrier releasing some product, right? That's just another product for them. That's them applying their strategy. In my opinion, the future of benefits is how a business owner strategizes how they're going to use it within. But I mean, if you buy… I could buy no different than anybody else, you know, the shiny toys. I have bought gadgets over the years and they sit. Almost like I took them out of the box and then I go, how am I going to use that? Geez. I'm embarrassed I bought it. I'll put it back in the box, throw it in the drawer. Every once in a while I'll dust it off. It's ended up at, you know, the local charity shop in the end, because I could have no use for it. So that's money that I've wasted because there was no strategy involved in applying it. Sharon: [00:52:37] Absolutely. Okay. We always end with a couple of rapid fire questions. I'm not going to do all of them. One book every business owner should read. Lori: [00:52:46] Oh, Humour, Seriously. Sharon: [00:52:48] Oh, I've never you know, I like to pride myself. I'm a book reader and I don't know that one. Humor, Seriously. Okay, writing that down, let's see. What's the most surprising thing people don't know about benefits? Lori: [00:53:01] How they can use it as a strategic tool. Sharon: [00:53:05] Okay. Oh, I like this one more question. If you weren't in this career, what do you think you'd be doing? Lori: [00:53:11] Oh, I would hope I would still be in journalism. That's what I would… I think everything I do lends me back to those same principles. So I would suggest that had I not been that windy, twisty road that started me working with a consultant in that avenue, I think I'd still be in journalism. Sharon: [00:53:31] That's awesome. I just want to quickly recap and jump in if I'm wrong. So you talked about a couple of books. I want to stress them again, because our editors actually put links on the bottom for it. So you have Humor, Seriously, which I'm definitely going to download. You have Steal like an Artist. Lori: [00:53:47] Steal like an artist. So this is Humour, Seriously? So right there. Sharon: [00:53:55] Okay. Oh, it doesn't even look that, like that big a book. Lori: [00:53:58] Oh, no, it's not a big book at all. Sharon: [00:54:00] It's an easy read. Lori: [00:54:01] Read at all. Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play. And the other good one, it's a fabulous book. Really, really small. It's called The Psychology of Money. Sharon: [00:54:13] Oh. Lori: [00:54:13] And that is a fabulous book as well. Sharon: [00:54:17] Perfect. Thank you. And then a couple other things you talked about was, I think it was, Disney Leadership Program. Did I get that right? Lori: [00:54:23] Yeah. So you have the… Disney does… they do a number of business courses that you can now take them online. I did them in person, but you can take them online. And they have a lot of… So all of the business strategies that Disney has applied over the years, in which they seem to have walked away from most recently. But, if we go back to their core, their Disney Institute does a lot of really good courses. Sharon: [00:54:53] That's very interesting. And I think I didn't get it all university program. I think I'm missing something on that one. You talked about that.. Lori: [00:54:58] Oh, that was Queen's University, does the Workplace Mental Health Leadership course. Sharon: [00:55:06] Awesome. Okay. I'm just making some notes. So thank you. I'm going to wrap this up because we're almost at a whole hour. That was awesome. Thank you so very much. And I will have Sherry reach out to you again because I think we got more to explore, and I think our listeners are going to, or it's not going to be broadcasted for a few weeks. So when I say going to, they will be loving you. And I know they'll want to learn more because you're very wise. Lori: [00:55:27] Oh, you're very kind. It's all in the questions that you ask. So thank you. Sharon: [00:55:32] Thank you. I always say I'm doing this a little bit selfishly because I get to learn so much. So people… like the podcast, I guess I want to help entrepreneurs, but like my… I have a whole sheet of notes. I get to learn so much at the same time. So it's a little bit selfish as well. Lori: [00:55:44] That's okay. Sharon: [00:55:45] Okay. Anything you want to share with our listeners before I close? Lori: [00:55:50] Just that, you know, they should appreciate that you're asking these questions to help them do better at their own job. And I appreciate the wisdom that you're sharing from, sharing it with other people as well. So thank you for that. Sharon: [00:56:03] Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Okay, Lori. Well, thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience. Before we wrap up, if our listeners want to connect with you or learn more about MP Benefits, where's the best place they can find you? Lori: [00:56:15] Well, if they want to be snoopers, they can go on LinkedIn and check out the things that I write about and post about. That's usually the best place to find out is this person really a fit for me? Or they can go through our website which is MPbenefits.com. So benefits with an S. Sharon: [00:56:31] Okay, so I'll get our editing team to share your LinkedIn link right on the transcript as well. So thank you. So thank you again for joining me. That's a wrap for It's Time for Success Business Insights podcast. Stay real people. If you have any questions please reach out to Lori. Thank you everybody. Lori: [00:56:49] Thank you so much. This was awesome. Sharon: [00:56:51] It was so much fun.