Jolene Watson #18 Know Yourself, Change Your Life

In this episode of Life is Limitless, Cody Demerais sits down with Jolene Watson—speaker, entrepreneur, coach, and networking expert—for an inspiring conversation about personal growth, resilience, and living with purpose.

Jolene shares her unique journey from working as a veterinary technologist in a cat hospital to becoming a sought-after speaker, business owner, and leadership coach. Together, Cody and Jolene explore the power of understanding your personality, the value of mentorship, emotional regulation, adaptability, networking, and using vision boards to create a meaningful future.

Filled with practical wisdom, honest stories, and plenty of encouragement, this episode is a reminder that success isn't about following a traditional path—it's about knowing yourself, embracing change, and creating a life and business that genuinely lights you up.

Key Takeaways from this Episode:

• Why understanding your personality can transform your relationships, career, and leadership style.
• The importance of building genuine connections instead of simply collecting contacts.
• How mentorship can accelerate personal and professional growth.
• Why adaptability is one of the greatest skills for navigating life's unexpected changes.
• Practical strategies for managing emotions and responding with intention instead of reacting.
• How vision boards can help create clarity and keep your goals front of mind.
• The value of stepping outside your comfort zone to discover new opportunities.
• Why success isn't about having a perfect plan—it's about staying curious, resilient, and willing to evolve.
• How finding work that aligns with your strengths and passions leads to greater fulfillment.
• A reminder that the relationships you build today can open doors you never imagined tomorrow.

Here is Jolene's Website: https://www.jolenewatson.com/

Thank you for sharing two of the most precious resources one human being can share with another: your time and your energy.

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Until next time, remember: life is limitless.

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Music Intro and Outro:

Track Title: City Of Angels
Artist Name(s): LNDÖ

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:21

Okay. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Life is Limitless Podcast. My name is Cody Demery, and today I have an old friend by the name of Jolene Watson. That's what I've known her by for a lot of years until she was recently married a couple years back now, Jolene, right? So what is your what is your last name now? Also.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

It's still Watson. Watson, okay.

SPEAKER_03 0:49

Beautiful, beautiful. I just want to make sure I got that correct. And I didn't mispronounce anything because I didn't want to insult an old friend like that at all. So we have Jolene Watson, a high-energy speaker, well known as Canada's networking expert. She makes learning fun, insightful, and unforgettable. As president of Clarity Coaching and Development, she is a certified Myers Briggs practitioner with dignity in motional regulation practitioner, executive business coach, emotion-centered coach, and best-selling author. Jolene has won eight business excellent awards in the categories of entrepreneurship, customer service, excellence, resilience, growth and expansion, and the pursuit of excellence. She looks forward to continuing to expand her business across Canada in the upcoming year and truly loves being an entrepreneur. Outside of her professional work, Jolene is a longtime cat enthusiast. I didn't want to miss that last part, especially, because I know how much you love your cats and all your incredible accomplishments. I know there's probably even more that we could have described you by, but then we'd have to go a few more minutes into the introduction. But I think that really capitalizes a lot of the great things that you've done in your life in business and entrepreneurship and everything you've been able to make happen in this world, which is incredible, Jolene. I am really thankful that we get this moment, this time, to have a conversation with each other. It's been a long time, and I'm looking forward to catching up with you. Yeah. So, Miss Jolene, do you want to maybe start us off by letting us know a little bit more about your background, maybe a little bit how you grew up, and just let's get to know Jolene a little bit more for those who might be tuning in.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Absolutely. So we'll start pre-entrepreneurship. My first documented word in my baby book was kitty. So my mom knew I would do something in the veterinary realm related to cats, even from day one. And so when I graduated high school, I was like, oh, I wanna I wanna be a dentist or a veterinary technologist. Those were my two options. Or dental hygienist. I was really fascinated with the teeth as well. So I was like, huh, what should I do? So I ended up becoming a registered veterinary technologist, and then I took extra courses to become the head dentist. So I ended up getting both in one career. I was the head veterinary dentist, the head veterinary technologist, and pretty soon in that career I ended up working at my dream job, which was a cat hospital, first one to ever exist that I helped to design. So that really got me into entrepreneurship, not on the ownership side, but learning how to create a business because I helped my boss with everything. And she got me into the HR side eventually, against my will. That wasn't something that was on my bucket list, but I was helping fire people, hire people, which really eventually got me fascinated with human psychology and why people do what they do and how to motivate them and how to figure out their natural strength. So that started close to 20 years ago, that fascination with psychology. After that, I ended up working at a human metabolomic research facility at Innovation Place here in Saskatoon, and totally different path, but I learned all about human health and how to prevent disease through lifestyle and diet change, and it was just the most phenomenal experience. And I was a manager, so I really got more leadership experience at that time. And then after that, and this is super random, but I ended up managing four companies in the natural resource sector. So I know a lot about fracking, a lot about oil, potash, geothermal energy, and natural gas, which again I had no background in that, but I was just really fascinated with the leader that I had. And he ran five companies very successfully. He was up at 5 a.m. every morning, so he ended up becoming one of my first mentors. But that leads you right up to where I became an entrepreneur. So I really experienced a lot of different industries in the leadership realm.

SPEAKER_03 4:53

Beautiful. Yeah, well, when you go from one industry to the next like that, you definitely gather a lot of intel and a lot of understandings from the vet tech world to oil and gas, which is you know quite a bit different for sure, but you get a full scope of a lot of different realities in life and the professional world, which is incredible, which is definitely a great asset as well when you work with human beings for workshops and everything else that you offer in this world, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:24

Um what got you into entrepreneurship exactly? What was like the draw? What was the thing that lit a fire in your stomach for the pivotal moment? The pivotal moment.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

It was really interesting. My boss and I weren't getting along. I have four bosses, but my main boss and I weren't necessarily getting along, and it was the potash company specifically. And I was gonna quit. I had my resignation letter ready, and he's like, wait, I have a feeling about you. Don't quit yet. He's like, I want you to pay for your Full Myers Briggs, so the personality report. And I was like, Oh, I love that stuff. I'm like, yeah, I'll stay till Monday. I'm like, let's do this. So we ended up doing that, and it turns out that we're both extroverts, we're both big picture thinkers, we're both very scheduled. However, in the decision-making side of personality, he was an extreme thinker, meaning very logic-based, and I was an extreme feeler in all of my behaviors, meaning very value-based. So that one personality area was causing conflict in our business relationship. And in that moment, because he was so insightful, such a great leader, he ended up changing his entire leadership approach. He promoted me to client relationship manager, he took away the bookkeeping, some of the stuff that didn't light me up. He ended up paying for my entire certification to become certified in personality profiling myself. What an amazing guy. But the funny part of that is four months later he laid me off and he said, That was my gift to you. I really think you should become a speaker. I think you should really dive into this personality psychology. Podesh does not light up your soul. And he was right. And it didn't. And so I felt a little bit lost though, because once I was laid off, I was like, ooh, I don't know how to be an entrepreneur. Like, is there a school? Like, how do I do this? And he goes, Well, I'll be your mentor, just go find a school. Turns out I walked into a trade show a week later, met a career counselor, found out about Praxis School of Entrepreneurship, which is a 10-month business incubator where entrepreneurs teach entrepreneurs, ended up teaching there for a decade after, but being a student changed my life. The mentorship, learning how to run a business, the bookkeeping side, which wasn't my favorite, but they basically taught you everything you need to know from labor standards to sales to the finance side. So that's really where I started to think, okay, I got the speaker side, I got the personality stuff. Like that was my idea, but then I ran all the career reports on myself because I have access to all of those, and I thought, huh, let's see what the top careers are in the world for my personality type. Veterinary, dentistry were in the top ten. I already did those. So I was like, what else? Career counseling, teaching, coaching, and speaking. I was like, great, I'll take those four and make an entire career out of it. So that's really what led me into creating clarity coaching and development.

SPEAKER_03 8:08

Beautiful. And just for a little background, that is how Miss Jolene and I know each other because I actually took Praxis School of Entrepreneurship as well, where Jolene was one of the fantastic facilitators. And it was, you know, quoted from myself that that is the first time I felt like I belonged in a classroom with Praxis School of Entrepreneurship. Because, you know, when something doesn't light you up, as you just kind of mentioned, it just you go through the emotions, but when something does light you up, it brings a little sparkle to your eyes, and you know, you really draw to it. So that's been a beautiful journey for yourself. Over how many years now have you been a facilitator with Praxis?

SPEAKER_00 8:52

13. I actually became a teacher there or a facilitator while I was still a student because one of the teachers had called in sick and it was in my business plan, and they're like, You already took the course, are you ready to teach it? So they had a lot of faith in me, which was really cool. Again, my first experience with true mentorship.

SPEAKER_03 9:08

Yeah. So you've been a person that has been mentored on one side, and you have been a person that has mentored others on the other side.

unknown 9:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:18

Can you please explain some of the times that you've mentored somebody and some of the you know lessons that you've been able to share across your journey as an entrepreneur?

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Oh, I was actually a mentor in the Rajmanic mentorship program. I actually was a mentee or a protege three times, but then I flipped around and became a mentor, and that was actually one of my favorite experiences because the person that was mentoring me after one year asked that we switch rules. And then I became his mentor. And the cool thing about that is we were polar opposite in our personality preferences in all four areas, and with him as my mentor, my business increased by 126% in one year. And then he realized that maybe perhaps my compassion, my empathy, my big picture thinking could also serve him in his CEO role. So we ended up switching. So that was, I think the most important part of mentorship is that often you learn just as much from the protege, right? It goes both ways. So most definitely sometimes works very well. So and then I mentor my clients, of course, but that was in a professional mentorship program.

SPEAKER_03 10:21

I love that train of thought, actually, switching roles back and forth like that, because that is very true. You know, everybody can learn a little bit something from each other. And when you go into this world as with an open mindset basically, and being willing to kind of learn and grow and adapt, uh, you can definitely learn a lot more in this world instead of thinking you know everything in this world. Before we're on camera here, you're sharing that one of your highest things that you know know you know about yourself is that you're a growth type of person. So when it comes to all these uh certifications that you have, please maybe let's explore a little bit more of that. Where does that want and that desire to have growth in your life uh come from?

SPEAKER_00 11:08

I remember back when I worked at the Cat Hospital of Saskatoon, I was taking every holiday day to take courses. And I remember back then it was Fred Pyre leadership track or career track, and it was like dealing with difficult people, project management, and then I paid the whole fee where you got to take as many courses as you wanted. So this would have been over 15 years ago. I took all my holiday days to take courses just to really learn and pump up my resume. And so I've always had that innate learning ability to be like, can I learn something new? Curiosity, I think, would be the emotion that I've always had when it comes to professional development. And in my business, how that served me is 13 years now doing this. Every year I have no limit on my professional development budget because I'm my own boss. I don't have a limit. I can spend whatever I want, it's a write-off. Is I get a new certification and something that I'm very interested in or something that my clients have been asking for, and then I get a new logo, I get a new course, I develop new keynotes, so it never gets boring for me. And if my clients really like my speaking approach or my workshops, I have something new every one to two years so that I can use my clients again in terms of being repeat. Like, hey, come back again for another keynote, you have a new topic now. So I think that's really important in entrepreneurship to keep growing, keep learning, and most importantly, what do your clients need and want? So make sure you get a lot of feedback from your clients. You know, what's the issue this month, what's the issue this year that you want to cover, and then I just get certifications in those areas. So that's something that since since I was very young, that I've been very interested in is learning and growing.

SPEAKER_03 12:47

Yeah, well, that's I definitely agree with you. To be multidiverse is incredibly valuable for anybody. I definitely know it's something that I've also been a fan of over the years as well. Too, I haven't definitely dove in as much, you know, certifications and uh learning as much as yourself because I don't think I know anyone personally who has as much as yourself, and that's a compliment. That's knowing how educated, how well versed, how well diversed you are. Um, I definitely know that you have a list of things that you have trained and worked in for sure. And that's a great asset, especially like you said, from client to client. Um, maybe you know you don't work with a client on a regular basis, maybe you come back in a year and a half after you learn a new tool to offer them and a new service. Yeah, and that's I think that's um very important, especially in today's day and age in entrepreneurship. I think having a little bit of diversity is very important. Um I know for myself, if it wasn't for having the clothing and the speaking and you know, wanting to do coaching as well, all those three things tied together, I know that there's been moments where there's been ebbs and flows, of course, just like a roller coaster in life and in business, that one has helped the other make sure we stay where we need to stay. And I can definitely tell, um, for those who want to stay in business for a long time, it it comes with a little diversity as well, too.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Yeah, and I I teach vision board workshops, but I've been doing them for over 20 years. But I think it's really important to get very clear on exactly what it is that you want, because then you activate the reticular activating system in your brain and you're into solution mindset orientation. And a really fun example of that is when I went to praxis, I was like, Oh, I want to be a teacher. That was one of the things that came up in my career report, but I was very clear that I did not want to fail students. I didn't want to mark students, that part did not light me up. And so what I did over the next decade is I ended up designing an entire 16-hour course for the veterinary technology program on presentation skills, stress management, personality, customer service, and it was passfail. If you show up and try, you pass. I taught at Edwards School of Business, I taught in Alberta at Lakeland College, and all my courses were specifically set up that I did not have to mark or fail anyone. So I think even if you want something to go even a little bit more detailed, I think is important to be able to find the person that's going to help you get there.

SPEAKER_03 15:19

Well, that definitely is uh some of the oldest scriptures as well, too, when it comes to know thyself. I think that's one of the things a person needs to do in this world. And I think actually a lot of disagreements, you know, maybe I shouldn't say disagreements, a lot of agreements that don't go in a very healthy shape or manner direction between two people, I think it could actually be resolved a lot more if people knew each other a little bit more, knew knew their triggers, knew the things that they weren't super happy with or okay with, or just knew how they reacted to things a little bit and why they reacted to things. I definitely um realize over the years of you know trying to learn self-discovery and whatnot with myself, I know it's definitely been a lot more of an asset when you figure out who you are as a person, what lights you up and what makes you upset. I I know your husband is uh industrial mechanic, and before I took on uh practice entrepreneurship with you guys, of course, that was a role that I was following myself until one day one of my instructors said, Have you ever got checked out for a learning disability? I I laughed at it because he used to poke and prod at me and I thought it was just another joke. And then I actually went and got checked out at SAS Polytechnic for learning disabilities, and it for the first time in my life at 23 and a half, I think I was at that time. I learned that I had severe to high ADHD. That day I found out about it, I was quite upset because I thought I was flawed. I thought I was, you know, not proper. But then I realized after reading the you know what it could entail for somebody having severe to high ADHD. Well, they can sometimes be emotional, but sometimes they can be impulsive, sometimes they can have addictive personalities. And all these things, as I read them, I was like, this has been my life journey that I didn't know how to put a name to it until now, at age 23. And, you know, some of those things I just learned how to channel it in a different direction. And when you learn how to channel who you are, how your DNA makeup is in a different direction, in the right path for yourself, I think that's where some of the ultimate strengths in a person's life comes from. And you are one of those experts who can help people kind of get to the bottom of that, which is definitely needed in this world.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Yeah, well, and something interesting ADHD and intuition in Myers Briggs have similar tendencies, which is get bored really quick, love the big picture, visionary, can see stuff that other people can't see, and they tend to be very successful in entrepreneurship. So that's something I've noted over the last decade.

SPEAKER_03 18:08

Yeah, and that's that's definitely a beautiful segue. Sorry. Sorry. One of the things that I have definitely realized as well with any family or friends that I've came to realize that have ADHD, and you can tell when you have ADHD or if you know what you're looking for with ADHD, you can definitely tell anyone you come across who has it. Um a big kind of pattern recognition that I've noticed with people is when people have severe to high ADHD and you can see it, they at times can definitely struggle with addictions, and sometimes it's not just a little bit. They can go in fully, fully despair, unfortunately. I've seen it in a lot of people. But when they've learned to channel it in a productive, a healthy manner, whether it's physical exercise, exploring different ideas, being curious, uh curious, like you kind of mentioned, they can really expand and grow into a lot of different levels because that impulsivity comes in handy, actually. I came to realize it can be a detriment too, as well. It can be damaging. And I've my wife has learned that a few times in my life. I can jump without overly thinking things, but um recovering and pivoting and adapting and shifting is extremely important in any entrepreneurship life as well. So I want to chat about what have been some of the contributing factors in the success of your business. We talked about growth, of course, we talked about learning, uh you know, shifting with what your clients' needs are what else do you think is some of those contributing factors?

SPEAKER_00 19:48

I think the fact that I started out one of my services was career coaching when I went to practice, is I started to really dive into what's an engineer versus a veterinarian versus a nurse and what are their personality preferences. And it's really fascinating when you dive in, like engineers. There's two personality types that there's 16 in overall, but two, over 80% of engineers are these two types. So it really helped me customize my sessions, my keynotes, depending on the industry. So that was one contributing factor to my success, is I can absolutely change my approach, my word choices, my slides that I use, depending on the industry. So that really helps for customization. The other thing is again, I've mentioned I have over seven services. You know, I do marriage coaching, the career side, team building, keynote speaking, the vision board workshops, private coaching, and during the pandemic, and I probably you experienced this as well as a speaker, is speaking guide, right? I actually had a contract, I was so excited to speak in Paris, and it was on the veterinari, really exciting, and then overnight everything was canceled worldwide. And in that moment, I remember thinking, all right, I have six other services, how can I really leverage this? And I got certified as a virtual presenter, designed a full-day course on stress management, which doubled my business. So, what was needed in that moment, what extra certifications might help me? So I think that ability to move very quickly, depending on the environment, the economy, has been very much a success for me in that case. Yeah. Also, I have different topics. I could do leadership, customer service. I'm Canada's networking expert, that's my favorite, and my newest emotional regulation side. So depending on the theme of the conference or the event, I really do have something to offer everyone. So I think that's been a big part of my success.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

Yeah, well, I think that's definitely helpful and useful for sure, especially when we go through uncertain times like we did in 2020 and whatever that was. Um yeah, because I remember working alongside you here and there with practice. And Deanna and Monica and Brent at you know in Saskatoon. I was doing school with you guys Monday to Friday in classrooms and you know workshops in that setting. And then I would drive back to PA and try and work on my store and getting it up and running. And then I was open for three months, and then COVID said we're gonna just pause the world for a moment, which has never been done in this world before. So if you're not willing to adapt, when the last train of thought, last thing that could ever happen in this world happens, you are not going to unfortunately be able to withstand things because the only consistency in this world is change and unfortunately passing to the other side of life, right? Um I know most people don't like change. It's uh it's tough.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

It's not that people don't like change, they don't like the emotion or feeling of uncertainty. Yeah. It's that emotion that people don't necessarily love, which I I understand that, but our personality type, you and I are almost identical in our Myers-Briggs. We tend to gravitate to change and we like to change things just for fun sometimes, right? Because there's newness to that. I remember I did a workshop once for Brandt Tractor, and it was on stress management, and I was so excited, I was I knew this, I was an expert in this, I had specific reports for this, and two weeks prior they said, Oh, by the way, can you just add change management? And as an entrepreneur, you say yes, and then you panic. And I was like, Oh, I don't really know a lot about change. So I ended up finding a course in Edmonton, so 10-hour round trip, drove straight there, took the certification, drove home, updated my PowerPoint, and off we went. But again, I think it's that that I'm gonna use the word pivot, which I know was used a lot in the pandemic, but if you can't do that, entrepreneurship can be pretty tough and life in general.

SPEAKER_03 23:49

Yeah. Yeah, because I knew businesses, unfortunately, for 30, 40 years. I talked about this last episode with a my friend Des, but um, you know, 30, 40 years, some businesses have been around, unfortunately, that weren't able to change or adapt or pivot because they were doing business one way for so many years that I mean it would be tough to change and pivot and adapt after doing something for so long in your life. I think I actually had uh a benefit to only open it in my store for three months prior to that because I just I really didn't know anything different. I didn't know anything different, and so that just allowed me to show up every day, just you know, like what are we doing today to make things work? And that was basically the mindset that I've almost had since. Um yeah. So some people are a little a little bit more planners. I'm kind of go by the whim, go by the gut feeling. Thankfully, you know, after a few corrections here and there off path off course, it's I've learned to navigate a few of those and we're back on track. But not to say that I haven't had a few mistakes here and there because of it, but it's the way I operate, it's the way I work, and I don't think anybody can ever tell me anything different now at this point because it it's who I am.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

And you've won awards as well. You didn't mention that in the beginning, so I'm very proud of you as well for how resilient you are as an entrepreneur.

SPEAKER_03 25:12

Well, I I appreciate that, Jolene. I know it's very thankful to be named aside with uh you on a few of those, you know, business award nights. Um I know we've been fine lesson a few nights together, which is incredible. Um very thankful. Um yeah. I you caught me off guard there. I'll be honest. But uh yeah, I think every time that's happened for me, it's been extremely emotional. Not because you get into business to win awards, but I think just because um it's kind of clarity to know that maybe you chose the right path, and out of all the paths in life that you could have chosen that anyone can choose, when you know that there's clarity in what you've done in your life to overcome the things that you've had to overcome and to be recognized by a lot of your peers and people that you know are doing amazing things also in this world. It's uh it's uh a nice feeling to have for sure to say the least. Yeah, but thank you for that, Jolene. What are some of your plans moving forward with everything? Whether it's your life, entrepreneurship, let's go with entrepreneurship next, and then let's go with your life next. I know they're tied together, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

I try to keep them slightly separate, you know, to choose which 16 hours of the day you work, right? That's right. Yes, yeah. So going forward, I'm still doing the full Myers Briggs stress management, communication, leadership. I have the reports. But the newest thing, and I'm so excited about this, I've spent the last year weekly really diving in with my two coaches in Spain and Texas, and I'm now an emotional regulation practitioner. And we've they've developed the first assessment in the world, the emotional regulation dashboard assessment, that actually really has the correlation between personality and emotional regulation. And it's not just emotional intelligence, which is what most people know about, it's emotional literacy. Can you actually name it in order to process the emotion? And intelligence is to be aware of yourself and others. Those two are very important, but those are knowledge-based. What's even more important is the action, which is resilience. Can you bounce back really quickly? And agility, can I be flexible in the moment? And between the four of those, that equals your emotional regulation, which is to be in choice. And you mentioned before to be able to react appropriately, right? To respond, perhaps not react in the moment, take pause. And if you can, this is really cool, this is based on neuroscience. If you can name the emotion when you're in a high stress state, it actually activates the prefrontal cortex and gets you out of fight, flight, or freeze. So if the vagus nerve is stimulated. So I'm really diving into the neuroscience of emotional regulation. I'm developing courses. My brand new keynote, which I'm so excited about, I have business cards already, is no thank you, forever. Emotional regulation and setting boundaries. That's my new keynote. Developing the courses. I'm also so excited to be co-authoring a book called Dignity in Communication with my two coaches. And then next year, Dignity in Veterinary Medicine. So I'm I'm still a registered vet tech and I still speak a lot in that industry. So it's one of my passions because again, the veterinary, that'll never leave me. That overwhelming passion to help animals is still a big part of my life. So in the next five years, I really want to do more keynote speaking, more workshops, maybe get a couple more certifications, because why not? And just keep on the trajectory that I'm going on the entrepreneurship side.

SPEAKER_03 28:46

Beautiful, beautiful. Well, I'm looking forward to the one day that we get to share the same stage together, Jolene. Me too. I know we have never had just yet, but we will. I know because we don't plan on going anywhere anywhere for quite a long time in this world. I know we're both part of the caps world. Um, do you happen to be going on the the big caps year-end kind of trip in Toronto this year?

SPEAKER_00 29:12

I put down my deposit and right now it's open in my schedule, so I am so excited. I went quite a few years ago to the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, for those of you that don't know what CAPS is, and it was the most amazing experience. So I'm really excited to go to to Toronto this year, and it's a it's an easy flight, right? So I'm excited to see you there.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

Yeah, well um I'm looking forward to making it happen too. The wife already signed off. She she knows this is a part of life for us now, like all together, right? This isn't me just going and flying just because this is this is personal development, this is you know, network and connection, um, d being in a room of what I love, you know, all that kind of stuff. Um what is something that you learned by taking the trip a few years ago to convention?

SPEAKER_00 30:00

It was the the networking opportunity, really. I mean the speakers were absolutely incredible, but the connections I made and then the referrals we've given each other, I think. And that's that's why networking is one of my favorite topics. If you can be curious and have dignity, right? I am worthy, I decide, and be curious about other people. Connection's actually quite easy. Yes. And this is, in my opinion, and Saskatchewan's a little bit different than the rest of the provinces, we're a little more agriculture based, but it is all about shaking hands, showing up, getting to know people at that deeper level in order to do business with them. And so I think CAPS is really that for speakers only, which why wouldn't we want to be there?

SPEAKER_03 30:38

Yeah, I know it was, you know, when I first even heard what CAPS was, I knew it was a goal. Uh never put it on the vision board or anything like that, but I knew it was a goal on the back of my head. Just you know, going through daily life. I knew just okay, that's where I want to go one day. I'm thankful to be a part of that association with yourself. And I know there's not too many members here in Saskatchewan that are a part of CAPS. I know I think Lisa Peters is a brand new member, of course. Um, but yeah, it's not very many individuals here in Saskatchewan that are part of that association. So to be part of it with yourself and amazing other people like Lisa now, brand new and other folks across Canada has been pretty pretty amazing. Eye-opening um lessons have definitely learned by just being watching from afar, kind of through social media with other people and their worlds and stuff, and having a few of them actually on this podcast together have learned a lot of great things from just having conversations with people. And you want to talk about networking. It is the place to be for sure. If you are a speaker, I've definitely learned that. You know, to talk about the importance of you know just being genuinely interested in other people and stuff like that, networking and shaking hands. I remember the first time I went out of province to go do a mental health workshop. A gentleman came into my store, I think four months prior, and he was working for a bank company here in Prince Albert. I'm not gonna say the bank or anything like that, but he was asking if I wanted to transfer my business accounting into his bank. And I told him two minutes after meeting him, I'm sorry, buddy. I'm just gonna be transparent with you. That's who I am. I am no I have no plans in changing whatsoever. I'm just being real real with you. I don't want you to take offense. I just I appreciate your efforts. And he just looked at me and he was like, Wow, that's kind of refreshing for somebody not to, you know, beat around the bush, just be straight with me. And he just was actually extremely so thankful that I didn't want to, you know, lead somebody on. I just want to be real, that's what it was. And then four months later, he ended up moving to Thunder Bay, Ontario, and worked for the Nishnabi ASCII Nation in uh Thunder Bay that like helps uh work with a lot of nations in Ontario. And he was the person who shared with the corporate group, you should hire this Cody Demory from Prince Albert. And that was just a crazy experience for myself. Um, and I told a few mentors of my you know in my circle of that story, and they said, that's how incredible this world is that you can have one conversation that can lead you to uh whatever the next part of your life is. And at that point, quite frankly, I wasn't doing very many workshops at that point. I'm still not a big workshop person, I really honestly prefer the keynotes, uh more or less myself, but I do enjoy workshops, but at that point, I don't think I was really doing any at that point. So you know, the learning, the adapting, the research, and a lot came into it within a few weeks of that um ask of myself. So you mentioned Rajmonic program. How many years have you been a part of the Rajmonic program and mentorship? And for those who don't know what that is, can you please explain what that is?

SPEAKER_00 34:02

It's Saskatchewan-based and Edmonton and the Rajmanic family, just incredible. They've been partnered with the chamber for over 30 years, and it's a mentorship program for entrepreneurs, and the mentors volunteer their time. And it's very low cost for us as the mentees or proteges, and it's a one-year program. And not only do you get access to that mentor, they also have an event where they have awards, there's a banquet, there's also networking opportunities, they bring in speakers. So I've been a speaker multiple times and helped them out in that regard on the networking front, stress management. I've also been a protege three times, and then, as I mentioned prior, was a mentor as well for a year. So that's it's a family I keep in touch with, and I think it's something that not all provinces have. And I'm really proud that we have that here for our entrepreneurs because mentorship can be very expensive and they've made it very affordable for any entrepreneur wanting to succeed.

SPEAKER_03 34:59

You know what? After this, I've been wanting to touch base with them for a while, and you know, maybe looking to get a mentor myself, a different mentor. I've had other mentors, you know, in the speaking world and stuff like that, and they've helped change my life. Mentorship has helped change my life. I know that for a fact. I worked with them a few years ago, but very I was very thankful. You know, one of the awards you were talking about is when I received an award from them last year, the Find a Way Award. And I was very thankful for that and the family, and that evening that me and my wife got to come together with just me and the wife, um, no kids at that point, so it wasn't uh a regular thing that we get to do too often, but I was very thankful for that. But you know, after this phone call, or sorry, this zoom chat or you know, podcast that we're having together, I think I'm gonna send an email to that family and start that process again because it has been I believe it's helped a lot of people, truly. And they are a humble, kind family, great people. Um, yeah, and I was thankful to connect with them over the years as well through you guys here at Praxis, because I know Monica, yourself, Deanna have been, you know, close with that, what they've done in their world too, and that's a beautiful thing. Once again, it comes back to networking, right? Um, you know, if I had never met you guys, I would have never met them, and vice versa, different things like that. Um, yeah, the world goes full circles because of those kind of things for sure.

SPEAKER_00 36:27

I remember my favorite story with networking is again back to the vision boarding. I put Austin, Texas on my vision board.

SPEAKER_02 36:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:33

That's the only place in the states I wanted to speak. I was very specific, so that was on my vision board. I'm a country girl, right? Had cows growing up. Texas just seemed to be a good fit. Yeah. And I was speaking out in Ontario and I met a veterinarian from Tennessee who was also a speaker. And she didn't ask, but I very quickly told her that my dream was to speak in Austin, Texas, and she's like, noted. But conversation to your point. A few months later she sent me a call for speakers, and a few months later I was speaking in Texas. So again, if you don't tell people your goals, how are you going to get them, right? You can't get all your goals yourself. I think it's a network is very important. So be very clear on your goals, but tell other people and help other people get their goals. I think that's the most important part of networking.

SPEAKER_03 37:18

Yeah, no, I definitely agree. I I know you know a good chunk of my engagements have come because people said you should hire this guy or book this guy. And it was people who don't knew me or heard me speak before, and without those people want to share the word of what another person does with other people who haven't heard or know anything about, I mean, uh it's really uh a beautiful chainfall effect, you know, of just continuously being able to continue. And as an entrepreneur, nothing more or better than hearing somebody told me about you and I want to look into you. I mean, that just kind of also is clarity to know that you know you once again you're on the right path. Because if you're not getting referrals from other folks, um maybe you gotta, you know, adapt and shift and pivot at that time for sure. Agreed. Yeah, I think vision boards are one of the most extremely powerful tools a human being has to their ability. I don't think many people even think that's true. I don't think many people utilize them, and I don't think people even want to give the train of thought for much time at all. But I have been a personal witness to many different circumstances and experiences of how powerful vision boards can be. Not them by themselves to stand alone, of course, because you need the work, you need the consistency, you need the right conversations to happen for in order to make those things come true as well. But when it comes to narrowing down what you want in this world, I think there's nothing more powerful than to look at an image each and every day. And you know, it just gets put in your subconscious, basically. And then, you know, it's like the the system of the what you mentioned earlier. Um, you know, it's like if you have never bought or drove a a white minivan, but you go and buy a white minivan, you really see how many white minivans are out and around. And that was an experience for me and my wife after I get in our van. Um, of course they've always been there, right? But you really know that they are there more when you enter that world specifically.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

The clarity piece, right? I have three right beside me right now. One's for Mexico, one's for all the courses I want to complete. I think I do about six to seven a year. Beautiful maybe overkill, but I think that's important for my personality type to do that. And my workshops, there's 90s music, I have over 300 magazines, eight tables of supplies, and there's a workbook, so there's a neuroscience component to it. But then we get into the creative side, and to your point, it's actually a very effective way of setting goals.

SPEAKER_03 40:05

Yeah. I know one of the most powerful experiences that I've had with a vision board is when Praxis School of Entrepreneurship was up for business of the year in Saskatoon. That was what, three years ago? Yeah. So thankfully I was invited to attend with everybody as being a past, you know, alumni as well, somebody who helped facilitate a workshop with uh people who have served time uh in jail or penitentiaries, you know, to see if there'd be interest in entrepreneurship in their lifestyles. And I was thankful to offer that kind of connection between the two because you know, my past and entrepreneurship as well. But uh it was at TCU Place in Saskatoon, and Deanna, you know, after the night was kind of winding down, she said, Cody, go stand on the stage as everyone was like connecting and you know, handshaking and t chatting with each other. She said, Because I'm gonna take a picture of you one day because that's where you're gonna stand under those bright lights. I love it. Yeah, she took a picture, she sent it to me. I think it was two days later, I put it on my vision board in my uh my store in my office, and I I just looked at that picture, you know, at TCU place under the stage, and then I think it was about four months later where I was signing a contract to go and speak for SUMA for their keynote for their convention a few years ago. It was like four months later. My big like the biggest audience was 200, 250, 300 people, all the way to 1100 people at that center. And so, I mean, that's one experience, right? Do you want to share maybe a another experience of vision boards that you've had uh from the past that you've seen came true, that maybe there's a part of you that just maybe it didn't feel like it was connected or not?

SPEAKER_00 42:01

But going back 20 years, I was a veterinist, very happy being a vet tech, loved my career, didn't ever think I was gonna change, but I was doing vision boards just for fun. And I had a yoga meditation room, I had veterinary, like it was it was a normal vision board for me, but then I all of a sudden I put a suit jacket because I found it in a magazine, it was a brown suit jacket, and I thought, I don't know why I'm drawn to that, I have no idea, but maybe one day I'm gonna be on a stage wearing a suit because I was only wearing scrubs at the time because I didn't I didn't own a suit, and I still have that vision board, and I did a video the other day and I it's falling apart, but I held it up, and sure enough, 20 years later I'm a professional speaker. But so sometimes you might not know why you're drawn to something, but it might be part of your future. So I think that was probably one of my most prominent examples of you just never know where your life is gonna take you. And I remember the actually it happened shortly after that, the head of the veterinology program, I was already graduated, I was top of the class, we had a great relationship, and she said, I want you to come speak to the class. And I said, Oh no, thank you, I'm not a speaker, and she said, I'm not asking. So I did it. It was 20 minutes, and I didn't do the best because nobody's born a speaker, right? And that was when I joined Toastmasters for the next three years, just because I wasn't good, so I wanted to be better. So that goes back to my desire for learning and growth. But that was a moment where I was like, huh, I could get better at this. So I guess I did speak way back then, and my first keynote actually happened before I even had a business. So again, you just never know.

SPEAKER_03 43:36

Now it's for me personally, it's hard to picture you without a suit coat, like you know, because I've seen you in so many different colors and variations, and uh, I think the only time I've seen you in not a business or suit coat is an awards gala, where of course you have a dress, you know.

SPEAKER_00 43:51

Yes, well give an example for the audience on color psychology. So this suit jacket, love it, it's half sleeve, so it's it always fits no matter what. It doesn't wrinkle. I have 32 of this jacket in all the colors they've ever made. If you wear the color of shirt or suit jacket that matches the logo of the company you're speaking for, want to work with if it's a potential client, they immediately feel more warmly towards you. So this is why I have so many colors. I have 52 pairs of glasses. I have different colors, different shapes depending on the generation I'm speaking to. So again, psychology is just so fascinating. And if you can use it in marketing and sales, why wouldn't you?

SPEAKER_03 44:31

Yeah, no, fair enough. It's the subtle kind of things in life that kind of add up to a whole lot. Um and it's it also comes down to pattern recognition. Um, you know, so I've definitely noticed different trends when I've gone and spoke to different groups and audiences, whether or not there is a connection piece that was missed or not. So I now know that I don't wear suit coats myself to teenagers. It's just I don't do it.

SPEAKER_00 44:56

You gotta fit the audience, right?

SPEAKER_03 44:58

And you know, I pull up my sleeves, I'm just the casual guy wearing a hoodie, you know. Sometimes they see my hoodies or sorry, my uh tattoos, and they, you know, of course it's not the questions I want asked during the presentation, what's your tattoo say, or what's it look, or what is it? You know, that's normally questions for after if they want to connect and stuff, but I've definitely noticed a change when I kind of realize just you know what, the moment I walk in with a suit, you know, fully dressed to a group of high school students, uh especially if it's a little bit more um you know, farther away from kind of um you know, a bigger community, like more remote, it's definitely in more of a disconnection as well. And I came to realize that, but those are the things that you kind of just you learn as you go a little bit, unless you you know get certified a little bit too. All are all beneficial for sure.

SPEAKER_00 45:49

I know there's this version of me, which is the clarity coaching Jolene entrepreneur version. And I wore running shoes one day, and my sister's like, I didn't know you owned running shoes, but I go back to high school. I used to wear a Polaris skidoo jacket, right? I was a full farm girl. So I think again, depending on my audience, the people I'm working with, I think it's okay to have different versions of yourself, right? Definitely be authentic, but be able to change your behaviors when needed.

SPEAKER_03 46:14

Yeah, no, I think it's important for sure. Yeah. Miss Jolene, what is a life-changing quote somebody has given you in your past that has been absolutely a game changer for yourself?

SPEAKER_00 46:31

So I have two, if I can have two, and then I'm gonna give two, so I'll do both. I love it. So my first one, and this has never stopped since I was in high school, is it's a song. So it's the title of the song, The New Radicals, You Get What You Give. So that song, I used to play it on continuous loop when I was studying, and that's one of the reasons I was the distinguished graduate of my veterinology class. It's one of the reasons I got 99% average when I got certified in personality, because if you don't put in the full effort, you're not gonna get much out of it. So that song was just so poignant to me of you really do get what you give. Like I think there's no better title for life than that one, and how much effort you put into something, how much passion you have for something, or ambition. Ambition's even better because there's action with ambition, there's not with passion, you need both. So that's the first quote. The second one I learned when I got certified in personality, which is the platinum rule, treat people the way they want, which is opposite to the golden rule, which is treat people the way you want. When it comes to respect, the emotion of respect is to treat that person as if they're very important. I think you can use the golden rule for that. But when it comes to sales, networking, marketing, you really have to adapt big picture or details, logic or values, extrovert or introvert. You might have to change your approach, your word choices. So I think the platinum rule really shaped my entire business because everything I do is based on adapting to others while still holding your authentic self. True. So those are the two. And if I were to give to, it would be my favorite quote that I came up with is you cannot change your personality type, but you can always change your behaviors and emotions. Just so you don't use personality as a crutch and say, well, this is who I am. Well, that's nice. That's your strength, that's your innate preference. But be willing to change your behaviors to get your desired outcomes. And that's really important in goal setting. You might have to get out of your comfort zone and embrace change. The final one, I was recently a co-author in Janet Dutton's third book, Conversations Over Coffee, and the last sentence, What lights you up, do that. That would be my final piece of advice for life in general, especially for entrepreneurs that get to choose.

SPEAKER_03 48:56

Well, when you talk to uh thank you for sharing those. I love all four of them for sure. Um yeah, when it comes to, you know, what lights you up, just like the suit coat thing, right? Something internally instinctively told you that you want that, you like that, you know, that that poles to you. And I was literally reading a book two nights ago in the camper while we're at the lake having some family time, and um there's a book from an author, but he talked about Socrates basically had a quote saying that you know, everyone basically knows everything in this world. They're just going through life with their experiences in life, and it comes to them. They know this knowledge already, they know this education already, they're just going through life with their different experiences, and then they learn that knowledge again, they get that knowledge again. And something inside of you just knew that that suit coat was a part of you, right? And that's that's beautiful, and you chase that because that instinct pulled you towards it.

SPEAKER_00 49:59

And you know it's interesting about the chapter I wrote, it was about figuring out your life purpose. Yeah. Business versus personal, and I think we need to have both. Yeah. And so networking and cats is how I explained it, but I just want people to connect, I want them to see how amazing they are based on their intrinsic strengths. That's my business purpose.

SPEAKER_02 50:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:17

But when it comes to personal purpose, never lose that, which is I want to rescue as many cats that have seen trauma as I can before I die. And I'm going to become 17 years from now, when I retire, I already have the vision board. I'm going to be the best foster parent. I'm going to get a certification in cat behavior psychology, and I'm going to make these cats adoptable that perhaps have seen trauma, that maybe need some work. And I'll get to bottle feed kittens because I'll have time. So I think it's that's my final tip is make sure that you have both purposes because you never want to identify as your career. You want to make sure that you separate that out, especially in entrepreneurship, because it's easy to identify as your business because you put so much work into it.

SPEAKER_03 50:58

Yep. And I've I've been a person that has done that for sure myself. So, you know, what you share there is very valuable for people. I have been a person that has done things on both sides, very passion, you know, purpose-driven, and that is actually what I've led most of my life by, honestly, when it came into entrepreneurship. But then there's the analytical side, and when you only run things by an analytical side and numbers and everything like that, it also takes away from the authentic side and everything like that. And finding that right combination of a mixture of everything is the right path for sure for success. I know I'm a person that does one extreme to the next often. And you know, I'm diving in the water basically without learning how to swim beforehand, just to try and learn how to swim kind of person, but I know there that combination of having both passion, purpose driven, but also being analytical, you know, numb numbers kind of experience and knowledge and education is very important to run a smooth ship, basically. Yeah. Well, Miss Julian, I thank you very much for this time that we spent together for sure. I really appreciate it. I don't know if that's on my end, little kids screaming or not, but uh I just have cats. Okay. That's probably my kids in the backyard right now. So I think that's uh cue for us to kind of get to a close here. So really appreciate it. I know a lot of people are gonna grab a lot of good information, a lot of gold nuggets from this conversation. Um, Jolene, you're one of the most diverse, well uh elegant people that I know, you know, always professional but always friendly. And I have a lot of appreciation for you, Jolene, and you've done a lot of amazing things with a lot of recognitions, and I want to thank you for spending the you know almost hour together here today.

SPEAKER_00 52:53

I feel the same about you. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_03 52:56

Appreciate that, Jolene. So if people want to get a hold of you, Jolene, if they hear this podcast today, which it's gonna be out today, or if they hear it a year from now, where are people gonna find you if they want to get a hold of you for whatever that you want that they are interested in your services?

SPEAKER_00 53:16

So JoleneWatson.com, super easy to find me, or JoleneWatson at live.com is my email. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:23

Beautiful. And if you'd like, I can put that in the description as well of this YouTube and Spotify and all that kind of fun stuff. So thank you very much, Jolene. And for everybody who is listening to this podcast or going to watch this podcast, thank you very much for giving me and Jolene two of the most precious resources another human being can give to another human being. That's your time and that's your energy. When once you believe you have the ability and capacity to do great things, that's when I truly believe life can become limitless. Thank you.