The Road to Seven

“Your entire health of your business is rooted in the numbers.” -  Shelagh Cummins    Are your emotions around money hurting your business? It’s no secret that numbers can hold incredible power over us. The number on a test, scale, or bank balance can fill us with pride or shame. But letting emotions take the wheel when dealing with numbers doesn’t lead to good decision-making — in fact, it can cl...

“I don’t want to do corporate America… I needed something that was different.” - Precious Rodgers Have you tapped into the awesome power of Pinterest for business yet? If not, you won’t want to miss this episode! My guest is Precious Rodgers, a Pinterest marketing expert and ad specialist who helps online entrepreneurs unlock Pinterest’s potential to get more eyes on their content and grow their a...

“When you can make money from your messaging, the right people are going to start lining up for your offers.” - Shelagh Cummins In this episode, I’m going to reveal seven areas where women entrepreneurs tend to unknowingly sabotage their own businesses — and in many cases, actually rob themselves of substantial revenue! Be warned — the content in this episode may throw you for a loop. But that’s a...

“I just wanted to have choices. I just wanted to be able to do the things that I wanted to do, when I wanted to do them.” - Sandy Forster Is it possible to move from welfare to millionaire through coaching? It absolutely is — and Sandy Forster is living proof. While Sandy is now a respected money mindset mentor with a bestselling book under her belt, she didn’t always enjoy financial freedom — or...

“I show you the path. I never take the wheel.” — Hadriana Leo Personal finance coach Hadriana Leo (AKA The Money Navigator) teaches women how to be the heroes of their own financial stories! Hadriana started as a traditional financial advisor, something she could do while at home with her daughters. She fell in love with financial service and through truly listening to her clients realized that th...

“You have to be in it for the right reason.” — Ariana Jackson Ariana Jackson has a long history of supporting the vulnerable in her community. After adopting her daughter and closing down their therapeutic foster home, Ariana co-founded an assisted living home to support a friend’s foster son who was aging out of foster care and facing homelessness. When Ariana realized how challenging the process...

“You’ve got to let go. You have to let people do things their way, because what you care about is the result of their work.” - Shelagh Cummins Are you looking to hire? Are you considering it? Or have you started to hire? If so, you’re not going to want to miss this episode! I’m going to dig deep into the details of what you need to know when stepping into a leadership role in your small business. ...

“We kind of broke a lot of the rules.” - Suzie Yorke Suzie Yorke is on a mission to bring healthy fats back. In this episode, Suzie guides us through her step-by-step journey from coming up with an initial high-fat snack bar concept to having a full line of products on the shelves — including practical, actionable tips on how to secure distribution in Canada! An eleven-time Ironman competitor, Suz...

“What matters most to your longevity as an entrepreneur is what you do when the going gets tough.” - Shelagh Cummins It’s not always rainbows and unicorns when we’re building our businesses. When the going gets tough, how you react and the choices you make can have a huge impact. Entrepreneurs tend to love sharing the highlights of their businesses — those breakthroughs that help them tap into the...

“I will give anyone advice on their images and what they should be doing.” - Trina Turl Could branding photography be the missing ingredient your business website needs? Trina Turl specializes in capturing vibrant, stunning images that help small businesses and brands stand out from the crowd! A former wedding photographer, Trina shifted to photography for small businesses, shooting interiors, pro...

“Today, we’re talking about increasing your sales, but our strategy to do this is not necessarily what you think it’s going to be!” - Shelagh Cummins Increase your revenue, and you’ll be able to invest in your business, serve more people, and make an even bigger impact. But you don’t want to increase your sales by doubling the time that you’re working or holding gimmicky flash sales where you decr...

“This group, despite all the impact they have, remain the most overlooked and undervalued sector of the economy by banks, by investors, and the general public.” - Shelagh Cummins Did you know that more than half of all new businesses are run by sole proprietors, with two employees or fewer? These microbusiness operate on a smaller scale with leaner operations, and tend to use contractors, rather t...

“We offer all of our team a day every month that they can go and volunteer at their favourite cause, and we’ll pay for that.” - Desirée Bombenon How do you shift from a profit-driven business to a purpose-driven one? And what are the benefits? Desirée Bombenon wanted to become a community builder — so she made a commitment to utilizing her business as a force for good. Her company, SureCall, is a...

I hope you’re ready for a spicy episode today! This week’s topic is gender equity in the workplace. My guest is Paul Harrietha, co-author of the excellent book ‘The Invisible Rules: What’s Really Holding Women Back in Business—and How to Fix It’, which is based on the personal insights of 50 senior female executives, including some high-profile Canadian business leaders.  Paul’s wife is a senior e...

Women entrepreneurs are absolutely vital to the global economy… and there are more of us than ever. We are starting businesses at a faster rate than men.  The Road to Seven is dedicated to removing barriers to business growth for women entrepreneurs of all ages, races, sexual orientations, religions, and creeds.  Our clients have a common goal: to build a profitable business that fuels their dream...

Nita Tandon started her company for what she calls a selfish reason. She left her career in biopharma after the birth of her child, the same year Canada issued a ban on BPA in baby bottles. As a pharmaceutical scientist, she was well aware of the dangers posed by BPA and other chemicals, and wanted sleek, non-toxic food containers for her family. Despite her efforts, she couldn’t find any that she...

“I didn’t have a lot of clients, so I set aside two weeks and created a six-week course... That was my first launch. I had like 4 people…and then I had 8… then it was 20.” — Danielle Binns Danielle Binns has achieved the entrepreneur’s dream — a business that lands her sales while she sleeps. As a nutritionist and picky eating expert, she helps families push through mealtime frustrations. It’s a n...

Hailey Verity has made multiple enormously successful entrepreneurial pivots. Her secret? A knack for tapping into the needs of her community and developing solutions that resonate.  Hailey left her job as a classroom teacher after the premature birth of her son. Through speaking with parents on the playground, she discovered a need for a half-day kindergarten enrichment program in the area. Haile...

Fitness instructor Reena Parekh runs a thriving Instagram community of South Asian moms, offering fitness classes and speaking frankly about important topics that are stigmatized in her community, such as maternal mental health, inequity, and pelvic health. How did Reena build such a strong following?  A few years ago, Reena realized that her entire feed was full of thin, white women. She knew tha...

“I’ve heard one too many of you call yourselves a failure because you’re not able to keep up, and many of your worlds right now are completely upside-down.” —  Shelagh Cummins So many entrepreneurs right now are struggling to manage homeschooling, running our businesses, and keeping on top of all of our other obligations — all at once.  If you added up your To-Do List right now, chances are it exc...

A former wildlife biologist, Carla Wainwright now helps women connect with the divine feminine. Carla believes that the wisdom we tap into when reconnected with our bodies and the divine feminine can guide us in running our businesses, navigating our relationships, and raising our children.  “When we recognize that the body has this wisdom that we can listen to, this really then begins to radicall...

“It’s not the programs that you offer or the products that you sell… it’s about the bigger picture.” —  Shelagh Cummins Does your brand need a refresh? I’d known for a while that something intangible was missing in my business, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what. I’d run my business under my own name for over ten years. And honestly, I’ve been THRILLED with its success, the revenue it’s ea...

“My biggest challenge is probably myself... in terms of growing, I think I felt like ‘Who am I to get too much bigger?’” —  Laura Bonnett If you discovered your true, fulfilling purpose in life, would you be ready to embrace it? My guest for this episode, Laura Bonnett, is the founder and CEO of YellowTree Grant Writing. Laura worked for the federal government for nearly 10 years and now uses that...

What do you have to let go of in order to create a bigger impact? My guest Laura Beauparlant ran a custom stationery business for 12 years. She was highly successful, and her innovative wedding invitation designs had been featured in many magazines. Laura was making good money and building a name, but she knew that she wanted to leave the wedding industry. She wanted something bigger and better. S...

“‘One day’ doesn’t have to be far away. ‘One day’ can be today.” —  Shelagh Cummins I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the importance of flexibility. Perhaps you have, too. 2020 was full of new challenges and new problems, which required new solutions and ways of thinking. In this pandemic age, it’s important to cultivate flexibility in what you offer, how you offer, and how you show up. The tr...