SPEAKER_01 0:05

You ever notice the people doing the most aren't asking for advice? This is built without permission. I'm Matthew Mack. Before I ever drew a blueprint or sign a business deal, I was folding suits, hauling snow, and washing glasses until 2 a.m. Bank game architecture, tow trucks, and a built business for the ground up with my partner. No blueprint, no safety net, no approval. Just real stories, hard pivots, and what it actually takes to build something from nothing. Let's get to work.

SPEAKER_03 0:41

Where are you?

SPEAKER_05 0:42

I am in Valdez Source. So it used to be known as asbestos. And in my backyard, there is a giant pit where they used to mine asbestos. And this is where they want to be the center of sustainable textiles. So who doesn't want a woolen yarn textile mill weaving operation right in the middle of all that? So here I am.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Awesome. Awesome.

SPEAKER_05 1:03

So yeah, I didn't I didn't set out to be here. Um I was really, really aiming for. I have uh a plot of land in an industrial park and I'm waiting for permit one in Ontario. Stop me if that sounds familiar at all in your industry.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:20

In three years. And I own the land in an industrial park. Yeah, it's like a complete shit show. So don't even get me started on the politics of that one. It makes me makes me crazy. But uh anyway, I had uh ordered this three-meter-wide fully digital Jacquard weaving machine from Belgium. Okay, and those are north of a couple million.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Yeah. Just just peanuts, you know.

SPEAKER_05 1:48

A little north of that. Well, and in the intramile someone picked up a Belfast mini mill, which is like a miniature spinning mill. So it's like all these little machines. So it's they're aimed at for me, it's my lab, but they're aimed at the farmer that wants to process their wool and those of like maybe a few of their neighbors from the sheep to like usable fibers, so like into yarn, bats roving, that kind of shit.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

That's cool.

SPEAKER_05 2:13

So yeah, I got one of these that there's a there, there's there's a waiting list of like three years all over the world for these things. They're made in PEI and like they're brilliant. Like for sheep farmers everywhere, it's like it's the thing to have. Anyway, I had a chance to buy one and I grabbed it.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Yeah, no, that's amazing. Congratulations. That's awesome. So now you gotta do some Yeah, now you gotta do some like content on how that thing's operating and moving and everything, because that'll be pretty cool to see.

SPEAKER_05 2:40

I have been actually, and and I'm I'm gonna be starting my own podcast. It's sort of more in the textile art space, like the high art end of it. Um, but I mean you interested me because of the machinery aspect. Like I'm obsessed with machines. I just came back from Frankfurt last week, okay, and I was doing research on all the next phases of my business. When Dan said this week, like this Yeah, yeah. Yes, Dan, I hear you. I hear you. Yeah, because uh for me, like I just want to get more and more. So the next phase is how to get those long threads into the loom. I'm I'm looking at a highly technical robotic solution, which is I played around with it in RD like two or three years ago when I went to Belgium for all my training, but yeah, yeah. I now I'm I'm a few steps closer, and it's just it's gonna take my efficiency, like me, one loom, and my little spinning mill from like here to somewhere above my 22-foot ceiling, like overnight.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Amazing. Amazing. Yeah, that's that's really cool. Yeah, yeah, machines are fun. They are. Yeah, all I could say is I wish whatever I had like I have going on now that I had that when I was my son's age, getting to enjoy the bigger toys. Because he's uh my my I have three kids. So my youngest, um sorry, my oldest is my son, and I got two girls. My oldest, he's uh nine right now.

SPEAKER_05 4:11

And oh my god, the magic age. Yeah, nine to eleven.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Yeah, so when he was six, I already started him, I already started teaching him how to operate a bobcat, like just to move it around, lift the arms up, excavator, things like that. And he loves it. I'm like, oh man, if I was his age, I'd be so excited too.

SPEAKER_05 4:31

I mean, I had motorbikes, yeah. My my parents had a greenhouse, like I got to drive a lawn tractor, I got to drive a forklift. I didn't have scooters, I had pallet jacks.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

That's cool, right? Whatever you're exposed to, the environment you're exposed to, right? That's that's cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:47

I well, so when I started this place, I I needed a new car. I was driving at the time. My my original Volvo station wagon was um I think 23 years old. Okay. So 22 or 23 years old, and I just kept bursting along and I bought a forklift. The car's not gonna make me money. The forklift is like I had to build this place, yeah, from the ground up. So I I calculated like a back of the envelope rentals cost, and it was like, oh yeah. So yeah, I bought myself a nice little shiny, a nice little shiny Toyota.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

There, hey, there you go, right? And you know, that's cool, like the way that you're saying that and explaining it, uh, because that's how you know we I would look at it too, on what's gonna make me the money and what I do, right? Which is the machine versus like you gotta weigh the odds, right? If something's just gonna sit there and just rot, or is it gonna actually make you money?

SPEAKER_05 5:45

Well, and for me, so I need it to move pallets of yarn around. So I have like you know, the typical Quebec setup, like I've got the big steel building, and then out in the side yard I have the container.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Yeah, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 5:59

The seacan full of like all my average shit. And so to move the pallets of yarn, like you know, when I get uh shipment in, if I'm doing samples, it's a couple hundred pounds. If I'm doing like a run, it's like a couple thousand. Yeah, that comes all nicely palletized, and so yeah, that it just it sure as hell beats hand bombing it every time.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Like, no, and then when you're in like and when you're like uh collecting um uh all that material from the sheep and all that, like are you sending it out somewhere? Or are you or are you um so no, this is just it.

SPEAKER_05 6:31

I'm processing so I will go. Processing everything.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_05 6:35

I'm processing everything. So I go and I get the raw wool right from the sheep. It's still warm from the sheep, and I pick out all the crappy bits, and I they leave that for their compost heap, because by the way, sheep sheepy bits are super good for your garden. Like they hold moisture, they've got like sheep poo in them. They're it's amazing. Anyway, but I get all the I get all the good stuff and I shove it in the bags and shove it in my little Volvo station wagon, my new one that's only 10 years old. Um, and then I bring it back here. So then we have a scouring process, we air dry it, so they've got like racks, we put it through a picker, an opener, a carter, a draw frame, we spin it, we ply it, we put it in skeins or on cones, off to the off to the races we go. So cool. It's it's literally, and then we've developed a couple of different yarns. Like I'm I've been a master hand weaver for 35 years. Like, I can't believe it, but yeah, it's that's and I love how you can see ma a master of it.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

That's awesome. I like that.

SPEAKER_05 7:33

Well, at this stage, yeah, it's kind of like, and then but then I made the jump into manufacturing. I was just kind of like, oh yeah, I gotta make bigger blankets. I'm gonna go get one of those machines that plugs in. Like, I'm not gonna throw I so it's three meters wide.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:47

Wow, wow throwing a shuttle and then running to the other end to catch it.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

No, it doesn't.

SPEAKER_05 7:52

But I no, I've been approached by um several, well, not several, but enough that it made me think three or four different like corporations that wanted to hire me to do my wool blankets for uh like boutique hotels, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:09

So I was on the road to that, and then the pandemic happened. So my whole life, and then I got sick. And then so now I'm here and I'm doing the thing, but it's taken me. I woke up on March 1st, 2023, and I was determined that I was gonna buy a loom. But I had been sort of researching it for six months, nobody was getting back to me. Lucky for me, the international uh sales of those things kind of took a nosedive um right around COVID because everybody stopped buying fast fashion.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 8:40

So that's the other thing that you know the machinery kept being produced because they were they were selling them at like at amazing prices. Right. 2017, 2015, 2017.

SPEAKER_03 8:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:53

So some of them were due for like a re-up, then a lot of them just said like not with this uncertainty, no way, like and mills are closing left, right, and center.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

I could have got used, but yeah, no, yeah. But you know what I mean? Use forklift is one thing.

SPEAKER_05 9:08

Every yeah, something from Belgium, yeah, that's high tech. No, I want all the customer service.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Yes, yeah, no, for sure. Yeah, that's that's really cool. So, and and now was this uh was this something that you always kind of planned that you wanted to get into, or no? Oh like or or like the the weaving part of it.

SPEAKER_05 9:30

I mean, I've always been weaving and it's been a part of my art. So I studied fabric surface design, which is like dye chemistry and uh weaving, no, sorry, and screen printing, yeah fatigue, like a lot of those sort of hippie skippy, and then my next degree just kind of flowed into that, which was was textiles, which was I majored in weaving and I did a minor in felting, and of course I still had all these other skills. And I think I graduated all of that at the ripe old age of 21. So I had to make diplomas. So I worked in art galleries for a lot of years and I did like as a preparatory so I did installations and shipping and packaging and like all this stuff. Um, and then when I moved to Toronto, I just I don't know, I continued my art career. I had an art studio for most of the time I was there. I went to OCAD and studied painting and drawing, so that kind of kept that going on. Yeah, and then I don't know, like at some point I just realized I'm still making textiles, I'm still doing art stuff. Like I just now I don't know. I don't even know what to call myself. Am I an artist? Am I a craftsperson? Am I a designer? Like all the above. Yeah, you're all the above.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Yeah, all the above. No, just check all of the above. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:36

So I mean, I think this was the logical endpoint of all of that knowledge coming together.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:42

And I mean, I've got to produce, produce, produce. I this is I'm coming to sort of the end of my prototype period. That's been that's been exciting and a little terrifying. And I'm trying to find like the right people. I've got a few teammates right now that are like awesome. I've got a marketing and sales team that's pointing my nose in the right direction. They know what they're doing. Yeah. Uh my accounting guys, like they're great. My biggest stress is like trying to find the right EA.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Yeah. Same here, by the way. Same here. Yeah, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_05 11:12

Again, I'm so are you looking to interns for any of this? Because I'm gonna have I'm working with a couple of colleges and universities right now. I'm gonna have some interns coming through, and that will hold some potential.

unknown 11:24

Cool.

SPEAKER_05 11:24

Because if I can double up and they're gonna be able to work in the mill and on the mill floor and in the office.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Yeah, I I never I never actually thought about that. Because like um, yeah, I haven't thought about that, but that's a good that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_05 11:39

Yeah, well, and go to like go to the ones like that teach the drivers and the heavy equipment guys and like just say, like, hey, does anyone want to come in and and get some fun experience? And even if it's for a month, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Yeah, just yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_05 11:51

What's the what is the I should know the minimum wage in Toronto or Ontario right now? Is it 17 or is it 18?

SPEAKER_01 11:58

I think it I think it's almost 18, just under 18.

SPEAKER_05 12:01

Yeah, under 18 announcement. We're we're very similar. But I mean, I pay my guys, I start at 20. I'm not starting any less.

unknown 12:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:09

Minimum wage. Like, yeah, you don't you walk in, you don't know anything. Like, I get it. Yeah. That's completely fine, but I'm not paying you shit.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:17

Slightly better shit.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 12:19

Slightly better than shit.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:21

But yeah, like it's yeah, I can't, I don't know how people do that.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:26

Anyway, so cool.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

So like so, then it seems like that you um you like the entrepreneurship and all like you started already like back then, right? But like around 21, like you were saying, like when you start, or or you were kind of waiting for it.

SPEAKER_05 12:42

Yeah, so it was 2023. 2023. I was teaching, I was still teaching at uh Halliburton, I guess. Halliburton School of Art and Design.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

In Halliburton?

SPEAKER_05 12:50

Halliburton, Ontario. Yeah. Yeah. I well, so I have a house in Toronto.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_05 12:57

And I have a house in Feneland Falls. That's where I'm going this afternoon. I will sleep in my own bed in Feneland Falls tonight. Do you know do you know Fenelin?

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Uh no, I do not. I just know I know Halliburton. I I bought a I bought a King Shepherd dog from there. I drove over the ball. Did you really?

SPEAKER_05 13:11

Oh my god, I know the breeders. Yes, you know. Oh my god. Well, I did well, I think they they are patrons of the art school, so they would always come with these like gorgeous animals.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Yeah, they would um they're not breeding anymore. Uh, but it was just like an accident, let's call it, of a batch.

SPEAKER_05 13:28

So they were like, okay, cool, let's go get a dog.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

So yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:33

Yeah, no, Halliburton is is well, it's about an hour further north of Fenland Falls. Yeah, I mean, Lindsay is basically Lindsay Gambros is close to where where I'll be. But yeah, so that so I tried to set up the studio there and did everything right. And yeah, at the end of the day, like they're just not coming, like nobody's returning my calls, nobody's getting back to me about permits, and it's like, guy, you don't want a sustainable industry industry with like eight jobs?

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Like, yeah, but you know what the challenge is about like about like now how you're saying about the permits and you're waiting on that and and and the the timing that's taking so long is because of COVID when it hit, um, it backlogged the city people of all the all across that they're so behind. That's why it's like it's not like it's you your fault. No, it's just it's terrible, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:25

Like prior prior to the and it's worse, like I find it's worse in the smaller municipalities because I had a couple of things I was working on and finishing up in Toronto, like in our house in Toronto, this kind of like, okay, they want to close the permit. I'm like, no, yeah, we're not done. Yeah, so you know, they finally caught up. I think that was 2022.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 14:44

Um, yeah, but yeah, it's been it's and I mean it it it they gotta hire more people, that's all they're gonna do. Of course they're doing it. Like, screw those budgets, like at the bottleneck. Well, we do because yeah, we've got good management training, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Yeah. Prior to what I'm doing now, um yeah, so like prior to what I'm doing now, I was an architect for 10 years. I was designing residential homes.

SPEAKER_05 15:05

You're a reformed architect.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

I love so that's why like when you bring up permits and stuff, I'm like, oh, it's all so familiar.

SPEAKER_05 15:14

Are you okay? Do you need to have a moment? Yeah, it's like it's kind of like me in the art world, right? Like, yeah, I when COVID happened, all of my news, I had five museum shows canceled overnight. I thought I was gonna have to close a studio. Like it was it was like, holy shit. And my now ex-husband was kind of like, yeah, you know, that art studio is not making so much money. Well, it was, but yeah, it's a whole other story.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Yeah, that's a whole other story. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:42

But um, no, anyway, uh so it lived right under my ass to like, you know, and it's not like I had to drive the kids to hockey every day or cook everyone dinner, they were home. So I just had to brave the grocery store and I I was working like 12 and 14 hours in the studio.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:57

And I started making like weird times t-shirts. Actually, hacking hacking a laser, you know, those laser cutters, they're like they look like printers, but they cut, so it would it would you could load a file into it and it would um laser cut like whatever you were typing. So I was doing like these printed t-shirts for people. Yeah, yeah. I did a whole bunch, well, anyway, it doesn't matter. Still do that and weaving. And so yeah, I do like I've I've got it here. I finally bought my own. Um, but it was supposed to be my when the loom got up and running, I would get to play with that. And I daddy, the loom's been running for almost a year, but it's okay. The printing, the printing thing is like it's next to my heart. I I know I'm gonna get there.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

So I'm keeping that in mind, by the way. So like when I you know get some you know shirts and stuff and things like that, we can talk about some cool custom designs and special things. So why not?

SPEAKER_05 16:50

And it's one of those things, like I've got a program that I use to uh design shit for my my loom, and I'm pretty sure it's the exact same software, it's a little more sophisticated than the software that the laser cutter came with.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:03

So yeah, I can and I'm getting I'm getting good. That was the other thing. Like learning machinery, because it's right in front of you, and it will often tell you what it needs, but learning software, oh my god, the faithful factor of that is like uh because then also with that, you you got calibration that needs to be calibrated from software to like let's say you need to be feeding the brain to equipment, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:26

So, like, and then it's just like that, and that's where I learned when I was uh back in what I was previously doing was we use AutoCAD, right? So, like just as simple as a printer, my laptop or computer versus your computer versus whatever you're using, connecting to the printer, the calibration could be completely off when you print.

SPEAKER_05 17:45

Completely done scaling and everything, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

And it's but but how, right? Like you're like, it's just connecting the same connection. Like, how does that make sense?

SPEAKER_05 17:53

It's a couple of bits in the wrong direction. And yeah, it's I mean, I I see it every day in my Jacquard because like literally there'll be glitches in the machinery up above. Yes, and it it shows up. You can see like these fate lines, kind of like with the printer. It's the craziest thing. When my dad saw it, he was like, Oh, that's like when the printer screws up, and I'm like, Yeah, yeah, I guess so, Dad. Dad's 85.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

Oh, God bless. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_05 18:16

I know, right? He was like, he got lots of insight.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

So yeah, yeah, that's that's cool. So like um the it's pretty cool, like um, now that you know how you said like with COVID and you know the shutting down when you had to, and where you are now, right?

SPEAKER_05 18:36

Like, yeah, that kind of thing is is some breast cancer thrown in the middle in case I didn't mention that one too, right? Like a divorce, breast cancer, and like moving provinces where I speak no French really.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Yeah. But like now you like what like when you now when you look back at all that and where you are today, like tell me what like what what what that feeling? What like how do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_05 19:00

Like I don't I don't often do it. I'm so busy sort of looking forward. Okay, but now putting you on the spot. But now, like, well, I'm not nostalgic. Like, it's I I listened to ideas last night or this morning before I got out of bed, and they were interviewing somebody that was talking about how if you're nostalgic and you look back too much, you don't believe in the future. And I think my whole life I've believed in the future. Like it's it's all about like okay, now what? Okay, now what? Yes. And so every now and again, like I do take I do stop and take a breath and look over my shoulder and go, shit, did I do that?

SPEAKER_02 19:34

Yeah. And it's such a great feeling, right?

SPEAKER_05 19:38

Yeah, well, and I mean ultimately I want to change how we valorize and how we value wool and the wool chain in Canada. And I've had a few people that I've worked with that that say they want to do that, but then they don't do anything to forward the agenda. They just talk about it and then they bitch about it. And actually, my posts yesterday were all about it, where it was like, oh man, like, you know, I just can't get ahead. Everything's on AI. And she's like, not even looking at anybody that's written a cover letter with AI, because it's like it's the same, it's the same. It's like, yeah, they're all neurodivergents whose bedroom was their friggin' classroom for three years, and like what adult taught them how to do any of that stuff? Like, education is anyway.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

Let's just say what you describe is the 90%.

SPEAKER_05 20:23

I gain followers, but I lost some. Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 20:27

So so yeah, I mean, it's it's kind of I've I've when Dan says I gotta I gotta die empty, that's the thing too, is that I am well no, I'm the one that carries so the wool industry died in Canada. All the machinery, all the knowledge, it's three generations gone. So 50s and 60s when synthetics came in, but that just was gone.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Like gone.

SPEAKER_05 20:51

So now we're realizing that we have to get it back because it's the sustainable solution and it's the made in Canada solution, and and and like there's all these reasons. And the people that kept that knowledge alive were hand weavers because that's what we did. So I had all this knowledge like in my body, I call it embodied knowledge, and like this idea of just get it out. Yeah, I've gotta download all this shit. Yeah, so that's why I mean I'm doing everything very scientifically. So the thing that I'm most excited about is the fact that I can now quantify and speak intellectually and intelligently about like what a 2 nm piece of fiber is in wool, in linen, like all these things, and and I can talk about it in a way that I can communicate to the industry, yeah. Which as a you know, little artsy girl, yeah, they they people and they still don't expect that. Like, and that was the thing, and with the economic downturn, they had the time to look at me because they didn't have the orders for twenty or thirty. So this like pipsqueak saying, like, hey, I want to buy one, I want one, and they charged me.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:57

There was no discount because I Only buying one. They were like, no, yeah, you so you do, do you?

SPEAKER_02 22:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:04

So but I did it and they're watching me. And they're some of my biggest supporters. So the people in the industry that I bought from that were most skeptical and made me work really hard, even when I didn't have the language, um are now the ones that are some of my biggest supporters, and they they sort of can't wait to see what I'm doing next.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

That's fantastic. Yeah, that's that's fantastic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:25

Oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Listen, for me, you're the only one I know now that does that.

SPEAKER_05 22:30

You know what? I've met another one, except she's she's in uh the Netherlands and she's she's working with linen. And we're gonna we're gonna hang out. We're gonna have we're gonna, I think we're gonna do lab. We are gonna do a collab because she's got the piece of technology that's next for me. So I'm gonna go and learn with her and bring my stuff. Amazing. The machinery expert. Anyway, that's yeah, that's this year. That's I that's what happened in Frankfurt. So that's why I was like, I've been riding on a cloud since then. It was like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Yeah. More machines, more machines, yeah. More machines, isn't it great? Like when it just like things just click and then you're just like that's I think that's what gets you going, right? It's just like you know what when you say putting yourself in the rooms, exactly.

SPEAKER_05 23:13

It's putting yourself in the rooms, it's putting yourself in that position and like like raising your hand and saying, Hey, like we gotta do this, like it's it's not gonna do itself.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

So absolutely, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 23:24

People can complain about it all they want, but you know what? It's just literally sitting down and going through all the leads. I have only a quarter through of them. But I'll get there. That's that's this weekend's yeah in excitement.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

That's the uh that's the whole execution, right? That's the that's what defines the difference between people like yourself and and versus the rest of the world is that you you do it, you execute it. You you know, you don't wait for anyone, right? And that's one of the things. And I'll credit yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:52

And I'll credit the people whose ideas it might have been, or that you know, whose conversations led me to this, but no, like you're not you don't get credit unless you actually do the hundred percent, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:05

Yeah, and now when when I was putting this together, so I'm I was uh I've been working on this whole podcasting with uh Sebastian Rusk.

SPEAKER_05 24:13

Um yeah, yeah, I think I would I would like to work with him too.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

I think Sebastian, he's he's awesome, cool, great vibes, and uh and like when we came up with the name, like it just sat on me, and I said, This is this is a good name, like the with the uh built without permission, because it just relates I find that it relates to so many of us, entrepreneurs and you know, executioners and however you want to call it, but it just it speaks to your your your heart and your and your and your mind.

SPEAKER_05 24:41

It's like wait, that's like me, you know, like at every at every turn, yeah. I you know, I tried to go through a broker. Well, he was wined and dined in Italy, and nobody from the Italian company ever got back to me.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:55

So yeah, and so yeah, and again, like when I I just joking. I love Italian. I love Italian. No, I mean too. I do.

SPEAKER_02 25:02

I'm just joking.

SPEAKER_05 25:04

It was like the old boys club.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:07

Oh, sorry. Um, it was the old boys' club that uh that's my next meeting calling. Yikes is two minutes early.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 25:15

Um it's okay. Uh but but it's the old boys' club that you know, that like what is what is this young upstart woman? Well, and I wasn't that young, but what what's this woman doing, like making this jump? Like this is flaky. She doesn't and when I tell people here, like, oh, you know, this is my industry, and they're like, industry, like they picture grandma sitting at her or weavingly, it's like, oh yeah, I have I have 15 of those too. But no, no, no, this is the one that plugs in and it takes three phase power.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Awesome.

SPEAKER_05 25:42

Yeah, they're like, like, yeah, it's full on. That's so yeah, you're building it without permission, and people people don't get what you're doing half the time, and it's yeah, it's frustrating.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Nor you don't need to explain it. You don't thank you for that.

SPEAKER_05 25:58

I needed that permission.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

Yes, nor you don't you don't need to explain.

SPEAKER_05 26:02

I don't need to explain myself.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Nope, you don't.

SPEAKER_05 26:04

Maybe the bank, they're gonna give you more money.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Only them, yes, the ones that will give you the money. And that's that's one thing I I learned myself more recently is that even to the closest people to you, not even just who you strong yourself business-wise, but even family. Like I love family, I love everyone, but I I have learned a very tough you know decision to make that I can't explain everything to family because they'll never understand a lot of them. Right? And I think a a lot of people I when I speak to about that, they go through the same thing.

SPEAKER_03 26:39

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

It's not easy because they're family, especially if you have a good relationship with the family.

SPEAKER_05 26:43

Well, no, and and right so my dad sort of got it, and then when he came and saw it, he was like, Oh, he lives in New Brunswick, so you know, it's seven hours for him to drove, and he was like, Okay. Um there's not a lot of people that get what I'm doing. And those that do oh, hang on.

SPEAKER_04 27:00

I gotta take it at least for here. Give me give me one second. Hello? Good. Can I call you right back in about four minutes? I'm just finishing your call. Thanks, I'm gonna go. Okay. I've always another four. My computers have all fried.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

Yeah. It's all good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:25

Okay, so what are next steps for you? What what where do we what should we plan on next? Do you do you do you want me as a guest? Was this the precursor? Was this the thing? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Like, this is this is the thing. This is the raw take. This is this is what we're gonna put together. Yeah, this is the raw take. Don't you love it? Like it's it's good, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:44

Okay, and then Sebastian's hi Sebastian is just gonna reel this up and yeah, he's gonna reel this up and put something together.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

No, no. Listen, it's good, it's perfect. This is what I like. So it was funny because I I just had uh also another call uh prior to, and the same thing he was like, wait, I thought this was the pre. I'm like, no, no, no, this is it. I like it raw. But we Liz, we can do more. Like, I I would love to do more, you know?

SPEAKER_05 28:10

Like we just yeah, so if you want to if you've got some more specific questions like to what I'm doing, I I do throw a lot of stuff up on uh like my Instagram, obviously. That's my biggest one.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

So that's where everyone can find you is your Instagram.

SPEAKER_05 28:25

Yeah, at Liz Pede and at um Moulin Len Pierre. I tag that a lot. That's the business. I try I try not to post too much on that because my I'm English and it's gotta be French. And I I'm in Quebec, and it's really important to me that I don't come in here as the English and impose my ideas because that's what happened with asbestos. Not doing it. Sorry, not doing it. Like so I want I want the culture, even though most of the people that are are here have some English, um are very good in English actually compared to my French. It's uh it's important to me that the culture of this place stays French, and so by extension, I'm trying to post more and more at Moulin. I'll I'll repost my Lispine. Yes, but the business I haven't I again I don't have a call to action because my website is not great. Um, I'm just coming out of prototypes, so I'm I'm getting to the point where it's like, okay, I'm learning how to do that photography. Actually, I'm not doing that photography, that's not my job. That's like so not my job.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

I with the website stuff, with the yes, and then with the website, are you are you using the tools that you need for it? Like you yourself, or do you have someone working?

SPEAKER_05 29:35

Yeah, I mean, I have in the past, but I I'm leaving it to my marketing and sales guys. Like they they both have very successful podcasts and a deep understanding of agriculture, of um politics, how to write a grant, banking systems, like they are so deep in in what I need. Like these are two teammates that I just I couldn't find them anywhere else. So they they have successful podcasts and websites and all the rest of it. So I'm just gonna trust them and and just that's they're they're off and running with that. Like, tell me what you need and I'll get it to you. I'm going back to weave. That's kind of how I structure everything.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

So amazing. So I know the time's getting short now, but uh I'll throw it in there like really quick. Um uh further to you, like directly even off the call. But I'm working on some things for whatever I do for my business, which is a software. I'm building a software for my company that my team's already using. It's active, it's live. I'm just working as we go, fixing the kinks and here and there. But I'm super excited about that because I feel like it's something that I can build and eventually subscribe worldwide, not even just North America in my market.

SPEAKER_05 30:44

So that's that's where I am coming at too. In that exactly, I don't I don't want to be a software builder, but I know I'm already doing it. Like I'm already codifying everything. I've got all my stats and my data, and I'm just grinding through it and waiting to figure out waiting to find the five hours to sit down.

SPEAKER_01 31:01

Yeah, and then when you like put that and when you put that in play that you already know how to set it up, it's then getting the person that you need that can continue it. Right? Because you set them up.

SPEAKER_05 31:13

I no, I just want an iPad that we enter stuff in and it grinds itself out. That's my point.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

Or just get the or get the whisper. I I need to download whisper, that's what I need. I need to get that whisper that Dan keeps talking about, and so I can keep talking to myself all day long. Whisper flow. Whisper flow, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:28

Nothing new for me, really.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Yeah, for me, I haven't utilize that, right? But I did I did create myself personally for for my own use, uh, my own Jarvis, like Iron Man, like Jarvis. I'm like, I want a Jarvis that can talk to me. So I created my calendar so I can talk to my Jarvis and he will schedule my day and organize it. I'm excited about that.

SPEAKER_05 31:48

That's a good idea.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Just throwing it out there.

SPEAKER_05 31:52

No, I I've got various bits of paper stuck all over the place. And I mean it's I I write it four different times. Yeah. So if I write something down, I I'm a I'm a writer. I'm like a pen girl.

SPEAKER_01 32:02

There you go. Yeah. And I even asked you to write write notes for me too. If I want to talk about it, like put this note down. If I need to add it to the calendar, I will. Or reminder. You might might be on something there for you.

SPEAKER_05 32:16

Yeah, I mean, I just I know I know what I want to do with it, and I've got enough data. Yeah. Um, I had somebody doing the raw data entry for me, and your filing skills were great. So I have to sort of go and re-enter everything. Yeah. Um, and then, you know, well, not re-enter it, but I have to plug it into cloud code and see what I can work out of it. Because there's I'm I'm at the point now where it's like everything's starting to make sense. Yeah. And so putting that into some kind of app that, yeah, then anybody with a Belfast mini mail can run my software and like get my my yarn recipes or you know, find yarn recipes that make sense because that's been that's been the biggest thing that they that they just you know. Where do you start?

SPEAKER_00 33:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:03

When you start with a sheep, what what next?

SPEAKER_01 33:07

Sweet.

SPEAKER_05 33:08

Oh crap, the sun just came out. I know there you go. Well, Liz, I'm really two of my three computers are that's all good.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

Thank you so much for your time, and thank you for joining Built Without Permission. I really appreciate it. We'll talk soon. All right, take care. Okay. All right, cheers. Bye. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_05 33:26

See you soon. Bye.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

If you're waiting for permission, you're already behind. The life you're building starts with the decisions you make today. So stop thinking and start moving. Subscribe, share this with someone still thinking about it, and start building something of your own. No blueprint, no approval, no excuses. I'm Matthew Mack. This is built without permission.