Tell me about your vision.
I think when you talk about vision,
I have had the privilege of running
a couple of businesses in my career
and also being in leadership positions in others.
So I think vision has a lot to do with the time in your life
that you're at.
So because I've been running businesses now
for 30 years, you get a lot of things
that change from an optimistic person before I had family
and not having built a business and then
having built a business.
And I'm not saying cynicism comes into this at all.
I'm just saying that the vision changes
or the application of the vision.
My vision has always been about contribution.
It's how can I contribute to whatever industry I'm in
or the people that I work with or, alternatively,
the business that I'm trying to build.
So probably the common theme through everything for me
would be contribution and creating a little less
friction and taking away a little bit of pain.
So I think that would probably be the way that I
would classify as my vision.
That's a pretty broad term.
And you're absolutely correct.
As life passes on, our vision changes and our goals change.
So what is your current focus?
Very good.
The business that I'm building at the moment is,
I'm very fortunate.
It's my second.
I have had the privilege of exiting my first.
This business is really about how
we can contribute to the growth digitally
of the financial industry, the FI space.
And how can we do it with a way that it's a win for everybody?
And how can we do it so that we're actually
building financial literacy and financial understanding
while still contributing to the growth
factors of the financial institutions,
whether they be a bank or a fintech, how can we help?
How can we help grow them?
So that's my vision, is actually to change the way
that financial institutions see acquisition of new customers
as a way of not only just building their brand,
but also building really good quality relationships.
Wow.
Tell me more about that.
It's a very intriguing thing.
Really?
And how you think about banks is not
the norm that most people want to think about.
Because, hey, I missed a payment.
I did something.
I did crazy, right?
Oh, my house is gone.
Maybe my business is gone now.
So where did this all come from?
I think, like anything, it evolves.
The type of business and technology that we have
is partner marketing or affiliate marketing.
So I've always had a very strong pull towards relationship
building and having relationships.
I think it was Stephen Covey that said,
begin with the end in mind and always be in a win-win situation.
And those two things really stuck with me over time.
And what I really feel that we do as a technology business
is we are looking to growing in a win-win-win, where
the bank wins, the customer wins, we win,
and then the third parties that we work with,
being the publishers, also win.
So technologically, our business model
is based on everybody winning.
And I see where finance is such an important factor
in quality of life.
So things like financial literacy,
things like having access to the right product
at the right time of your life, having the ability
to have really good, innovative products available
to the market.
I feel like we can contribute to all of this.
We're not the driver of any of it,
but we're the driver of growth for all of it.
So that's the way that I see it.
How did you get started into the financial sector?
Like most things, I see life as about windows and doors
that you can either open and crawl out of or doors
that you open and walk through.
And I think what happens is that there
is no right way of doing it and no wrong way of doing it.
But what I have always been very appreciative of
is that if I choose to walk through it,
I choose to walk through it with a gusto.
So there is no prize for the faint-hearted.
And what I mean by that is I've been
doing affiliate marketing or partnership marketing
for about 22 years, so a very long time.
My first business was in the same type of genre.
And what happened was a client came to us and said,
you're in Canada.
We're a Canadian business.
We've got legacy technology.
Can you integrate with legacy technology?
And we don't quite know what we're doing,
but you seem to.
Can you please work with us or respond to our RFP
or whatever else?
And I said yes.
And that happened to be Scotiabank, which
is one of Canada's top five banks.
And I started working with them in the early 2010s.
So I think we started working with them 2010 or 2012.
So I've been around this portion of the industry
for a long time, but I owned my other business
at that time, which was much, much bigger.
So this business literally just moved at its own pace,
just gently evolved itself.
And then once I'd sold the other business,
I took a little bit of time off.
And then I decided to see if I could scale this one.
And that's how it happened.
So I literally took an opportunity
that was presented.
Nikki, I want you to know there's
a very few people who can see the scope of things you do.
I'm one of them.
And I'm fortunate to be one of them.
Then goes to my next question for you.
Then what is your goal for being on the show?
I think it's very pragmatically, I
think that we all learn from one another.
So if I can share something that is just a little bit of insight
or a little bit of support for somebody else out there that
is doing what they're doing and know that there is a light
at the end of the tunnel, it's to be encouraging.
I think that's probably the best way of doing it,
the best way of saying it.
So how long ago did you started getting on podcasts
and talking about this?
Where there is an interest from someone else,
I'm very happy to participate.
And there's just a lot of different people
out there doing a lot of different, very cool stuff.
And sometimes our agendas meet, and sometimes they don't,
and sometimes it's the next time.
But I think there is the opportunity
to get out there and just share stories.
I mean, this is just really stories.
It's just my experience, and it's just a story.
And somebody will actually hear it and say,
that took courage, or that's a risk.
I can do that in my world and my little sector,
because I don't think it really matters how big something is.
And I don't think it really matters about how small it is.
But it's our journey to be able to go
through those different stages.
So somebody's mountain is somebody else's molehill
and vice versa.
So I just have the privilege of doing something
that other people think is pretty cool,
and it is, because I really like it.
And so sometimes just sharing and saying,
we're all just human beings doing the very best we can.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these
episodes continue to move forward.
This is going to get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show.
And thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your vision
and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.