Hello entrepreneurs and self starters, this is Rick Phillips from Yeti and you're listening to the Startup Sandwich podcast, the show that unpacks the bread winning basics, Juicy Phil journey and secret sauce of entrepreneurship. Let's go. Hello again fellow and spenders. Today we meet Karen Fox. I will learn how she is combining the power of connection with technology, transforming chance encounters into real relationships. This sounds interesting. Let's get rid of the paper and say, oh, hi, how are you, Karen? Great. How are you? Very good. Today we're gonna learn a bit about your business.And I guess the first thing we wanna talk about is what's the name of the business.Oh, hi, haha, that's right, I gotta let you into that one. So something about connections, something about technology. There may be some people out there going, oh no, is this another, you know, AI replacement of humans?Is this some sort of chat GPT thing? So why don't you tell us a little bit about this business so that we understand what we're talking about today.So, you know, you go to many conferences and there is, you're lost in the crowd and then you don't know who to talk with, what to say, who to speak with.And then maybe you have the best person right behind you that you don't even know existed and you will miss it and a great breakthrough because you didn't speak to him.So what we do, we are in, we are scanning the people in the room, introduce you to the people that you're in need to meet that are more aligned with your goals.We give you conversation starters that are specific to the, to the match. And then we don't only do that because the most problematic things is not the introduction, is the relationship development and the follow up that fall through.So what we do, we help you to develop the relationship and nurture the relationship over time that will open the door to you when you most need it. Because it's the relationship that make the difference, not the introduction, introduction.There are many. Hmm, so we're gonna go beyond the introduction. So there may be some people in the audience going, okay, so it's an app, but it's more than an app.So tell me a little bit about what we're dealing with. Are we dealing with an app that we download on our phone and, and does it send us emails, reminders? Does it give us templates?Give us a little bit about what this, this Ohio product will do. So it's not an app, it's not a platform, it's a new universe, a universe that we call intentional serendipity where meaningful connection don't happen by accident but by design.So everything is, it's not, you know, it's connection. There are many people have many shallow connection. They're addicted to their social media platform, but what missing is their relationship building and wearing an epidemic of loneliness actually.One of two adults are lonely or isolated or feel unseen. And what's missing is the, in most, most people missing is the relationship aspect. So this is what we focus in introduction. Everyone do introduction. It's not a problem with AI today. It's not a problem.What's more problematic is the relationship building, especially after Covid. But I wanna ask, maybe it's a bit of an unfair question, but why is it?Do you think that people are less connected or maybe they're having shallower conversations? They're not going as deep as they could or maybe that they did before. What what is, what's going on?So first of all, we're in Canada. Canada is a more conservative country. You're afraid to ask a question that will trigger something.Even at the school, you don't teach anything that can be controversial or can trigger something. So from the culture, we already are a few step behind. And then we have Covid.Covid people were isolated. They were used to close themselves in, in their homes, in their smaller groups. And then we have the older adults that stayed there by themselves. We have the youth that were scrolling to the screens all the time.So we already like and like in below for even we start the conversation, and people forgot how to, how to create meaningful connection with new people.Not, I'm not speaking with people they know for years, and even there many times, you don't go that deep and then, but people are craving it, right, especially after Covid.I was just gonna say that, and again in business, there's an extra layer of conservative behavior too, because it's business, right?Okay, understood. But in regard to that, what we realize in when we tested, like, over 800 people in 10 different event, what we realize is that people are sharing a lot online.So you can go deep, and our, our conversation starters are just, don't just on the surface there. We allow ourself to give the conversation starters that are coming from what people shared online.So they are willing to talk about it if they share, so we can go a little bit deeper even in professional setting.Yes, yes, and as you mention, there are other people or cultures who are much more comfortable, and so why not very good? And also there is the difference between culture, right? Someone from Canada speaking with someone from the islands or a warm countries.It's a different type of conversation that can happen actually have a funny story about it.Well, go ahead with your funny story. So when I was learning Trent University for my master at the beginning of the year, they were like Mingelin, and we had a circle of people standing together from different countries, and I realize I'm from Israel.There was someone there from the Middle East, one of the other countries. And we started talking with each other, and we started to go really deep, asking really personal question on their life on this country.And I suddenly stopped and realized that people around me are, like amazed or shocked from the depth the conversation went. And I, then I turned to her, I said, okay, this is how we are in the Middle East, right, so it's a cultural things, then, like, it's hard to start a conversation.No, and, and the, the thing is that we ask ourselves, where are we doing business?Right. And so if your market is Canada, then you astutely are saying, what is the what is the what are the typical ways that people introduce and interact in business? And then how can I make them speed up the process so they can build a poor faster, get deeper?And you're helping them with questions to get the conversation going, but it's not only that because we're it today, it's a flatward, right?So even though we are Canada, we are making international businesses that are international conferences, right? So it's not necessary. Even in Canada, there are immigrants from all this country. So it's not as simple as saying like talk in a Canadian type of language, right?It's, it's what I call the operational, operational language and culture. It doesn't mean that everybody has to do it, but there's, there's a there's a curiosity and there's a willingness to learn, you know, what do Canadians do here? What do Canadians do there?And then somebody might rightly say, well, it depends on this and that and culture. That's absolutely true, but at the end of the day, the still is the idea of what is the general way that people do business in Canada, even Americans, God bless them.When they wanna do business with Canada, they have to, if they're smart, they're gonna learn what are the differences to commit and assume that we're the same is, is they're gonna accidentally offend a lot of Canadians because we're too sensitive for that.That's another story, so it's really great that you're, you're able to, to put your finger on that and say, let me try to help. So this brings me to my next question, how did this all get started for you?This, this Ohio business, so it started in covid. I had a vision to help solve loneliness for social for older adults, and I develop a whole program of engagement for older adults.And then I moved to Canada and it was, it started to to be very successful in Israel with collaboration with the retirement organization, but then I moved to Canada and I tried to do the same year. And here, different culture, different infrastructure, whatever I could do there, I couldn't do here.And then I was looking for another way to serve loneliness, but this is too big to, to solve loneliness. You need to get to scale. And then I said to myself, okay, it's easier to start from the professional world because there is a real problem in the professional world during event and conferences.And then even in the professional world, if you look today at LinkedIn, there is a mixture today of the professional and the social.It's not pure professional anymore. The world is evolving. And then I went back to, and if I speak only on the event conference and on the networking, I'm not different than anyone else.Then I went back to my original ideas elevated this time and focus on the relationship building because even today, this is what opened the door for me. Whenever I need it, it's not the person I just met. It's a person who knows me, who trust me over time, and notice what people make, do mistakes.Today networking events, they are using it as transactional, they are treated as transaction. Okay, if this person I'm not, I'm speaking now, doesn't have immediate value for me, let's move on. And this is the mistake, because the value, the real value comes from really interacting with the people.You're memorable when you really appreciate the person in front of you, and are really interested in the person in front of you. And the relationship grow over time. And then when you need it, you remember if you kept the relationship, you remember that this person are working in certain place.Maybe you can open the door for you, or introduce you to the, your other half, even right, right, or your new half, whatever the case may be.Yeah, um, it reminds me of cause you're speaking about Lincoln, and Lincoln is by far the most popular, let's say business social network here in North America. He's Canada in America.And out of all the connections we have, we all proudly have 500 plus 5000+ all these connections, but how many of the people do we actually talk to even through the chat?And there's one individual I know who, who makes an effort to, to go back and forth three, four, five times in this kind of conversation. And most people don't. They kind of ask, hey, how's it going?How's your weekend, by the way? Did you see this new product I have? Or, and as you said, it's transactional.It's okay, people don't get too offended usually. But at the same time, it goes to your point that we're not going deep, we're not getting to know people, and maybe then we're not front of mind when something comes up.So tell us more about your, your experience in the business world here in Canada. What adjustments have you had to make personally and professionally to make sure that you can survive and thrive in the business world here?That's a good question because we look at the western culture, we think they are all the same. And it's the biggest mistake, like every culture, the fact that everyone speak English doesn't mean they have the same culture.And this, in this same mentality where I come from Israel, everything is informal. You can approach people like right and left and center, doesn't matter what their position, and speak with them like you speak on the beach, right?And also in the workplaces, there are lots of informal conversation next to the coffee station. People are know everything almost about each other, about the co worker.He was completely different when I just came 15 years ago, I was working for the Canada desert, some, of course, and I was working downtown and I had this experience of working in a firm downtown, no small talk.People there didn't even know the name of my husband or my, you know, that they don't know anything about. And there are no small talks only on Thursday afternoon.So the culture I had told us and also when you work with people, you can't yell at them in Israel, you are freely, you yell at the politicians even in the Knessa. Yeah, you don't care. I've seen that.Yes, but like, I Learned to appreciate the coming to Canada. I Learned to appreciate their respect and the space, right? People give each other because it's have a value, it's give you a way to breathe. And you can't come when you move to a new country. You can't come with the same culture to the new country. You have to make adjustment, right?Right. This is what I like about your business idea, is that you're, I mean, it's correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand, you're kind of saying, okay, let's at least start in Canada as one of the main target markets.Obviously, there's other countries like America and Britain and all these other places. But it's like, let's make sure that we are respecting or acknowledging the Canadian conservativeness.And, and let's let them ease into it. Because if you were to come in really strong and say you guys doing it all wrong, you have to do exactly this, this, this, like we do back home. You're gonna lose people. So you're saying, okay, here we are. Let's, let's bring them up to speed.I love that. As I, as I said before I think that there are people, few people on LinkedIn who will go a bit deeper, not as much. And, and when you meet, you go to a networking event, you might remember one or two people that you had a really, really great conversation with.So if we can have some sort of business that can help us go deep with more people and make that longer, it just makes sense for business people, especially entrepreneurs. They need to meet people, don't they? And they are also lonely.I told you one of two adults feel isolated socialization and loneliness even in the business world.I go to, to business event sometimes if I'm not at my best, I look and I really don't know who to talk with, and only again just talking with the people next to me on the line, which is easier to start many times.I'm lucky and I had amazing conversation, like, in the last week with the in elevate, but most of the time, I am missing so many amazing people.Yeah, yeah, and as you said, it's transaction. A lot of people talk for a couple minutes, maybe they think they have to do some sort of one minute elevator pitch that they think that they need to do.And then if they don't realize from their point of view, there's a, there's a value there they politely try to leave the conversations to meet someone else, as opposed to really saying to themselves what there could be future gold in this relationship.And exactly one of the, one of the things well there is another way where people start telling you all their self, right, catch you for like five or 10 minutes, and we're trying to find your way to you try to escape, yeah, and that's the thing, right, so either maybe someone's not speaking at all, or someone is, is talking too much, and you wanna have a balance.So if you're, if you're uh, company can help them find that balance, like, as a communication professional for me, it's always interesting what is active listing, what is, what is not a good question, but a great question, you know, what's gonna give you that valuable relationship, etc, etc, little tricks I've Learned along the way about now working, for example, no matter what you think the relationship is at the end of it, say, you know, thanks to let's connect him, by the way, do you happen to know somebody who is dot, dot, dot, and that's the person I'm interested in meeting? Like, do you happen to know someone who's a recruiter? Do you happen to know someone who's in finance?Do you happen to know someone who's a lawyer, and then at the very least, you're leaving that person with an idea that they may be able to say, you know, my uncle does that, or I think I met that person over there that I think they're a lawyer.And that's just an easy question to throw at the end of that conversation to maybe get you a warm lead elsewhere. Um, what are the things?Tell us a bit more about your business, cause now I'm getting all charged up. Tell us a bit what people can expect. Do, do they sign up privately? Do you want companies to come and use you for their events? Tell us a bit more about how your business or high works.So it's like, stage, we're early stage, so right now we're work with community managers with event organizers, and we elevate the experience in the, in the event, because basically these event organizers, they want to give better experience to their attendees.And actually statistically, 43% of people are disappointed from event because they didn't meet the people they came to meet, and they didn't get the results they were hoping to meet.So I'm helping first this event managers and event organization, we develop a, kind of a flow in a deck of cards, a concept to basically spice up the, the conversation.And we are testing it out now in different event. We just sign partnership with the network and brew it an event place, not big, but small event place where we'll hold in events there. And we will learn the one, the coming upcoming in the October 24,Friday. It's called Spicy Serenity.Spicy Serenity yes, it's basically a morning where you come, you first, you know, it's, it's a kind of retreat without buying a plane ticket.Nice, nice. So you come, you enjoy some shakes, healthy shakes and then a little bit of movement and then curated conversation with the prompting, you know, between people that we are much before, then healthy breakfast and then you can stay and go work for the day.What we're trying to build is a sense of community and this is, this is the kind of customers we're looking now, event organizers and committee manager and to create engagement because engagement is what straighten your, eh, imagine your brand identity and keep people loyal to you.And you don't need to work hard to convince them to stay because they will give them real sense of belonging, what most people crave, sense of belonging and like meaningful connection that can happen over time.So this is what we're trying to create in this space and also with every corporate we're working with in the later stage when we get to scale, then we'll work on the individual and on the relationship building aspect of a time. Right now, it's basic.Community is a word that gets spoken a lot in the entrepreneurs circles, certainly in our podcast, we come, we come across that word a lot.And I hope that the new entrepreneurs out there don't take that word for granted. Because communities is really, really vital or is a success and, and company wants to help build their community making stronger. They can use your, your product to help them with their events.Yes, I want to say something about it because most people mistaken communities. They call community distribution is, so you have a community, like lots of thousands on them on, on your distribution is to send them in invites for event, they're attending event in, in this event.The people who know each other already speak with each other. There is a little bit interaction between the people you don't know, then they go home and nothing happened between event.This is not a community, a community is a place you feel you belong. A community is a place where you can, you know, if you need something, you can find the support and whatever you need to, to succeed there.The community is a feeling. It's a feeling of belonging and you can't just get it from attending events from time to time. This is not a community, it's a distribution list.Yes, and for you to be able to have that clear definition is important. And then you can have these conversations with potential clients and also with people that you, as the company grows higher on, and you can let them know this is what we mean by community. This is what we're aiming for. Very important for the founder to have a vision, right?Yes, as Murat taught, very good. Let's learn a bit about you. How did you become an entrepreneur?Is this your first swing entrepreneurship? Did you, were you selling lemonade when you were 5 years old? Like tell us a bit about your entrepreneurial journey.So I always had the entrepreneurial spirit, but then I worked and I suffered working for a salary, right? And then during Covid, I decided to, I basically I, before Covid, I had a small business online fashion store in Israel and it was going well and then Covid came and everything stopped.There was no, nothing, nothing happened and at the first two weeks I was in shock like every other person on earth. And then I was thinking, started the process of thinking, okay, if the world going crazies, what can I do that will survive time?And then I started to think, and then that moment, people were not getting their invitation from the supermarket on time.So I met, I went, I drove like three hours for a farm, no more five hours because I lived in the north and they were in the south for a farmers that I knew from the south. I got orders from my community before and I drove there and brought them the west way directly from the field and distributed. This is how I survived through a covid.An entrepreneur is someone that, like when there is a wall, they find another wall.You have to be resilience like entrepreneurship. You can call yourself entrepreneurs if you're not resilience because there are always was there are always holes that you would go deep and you always need to get up and keep trying. Eventually you will succeed, but only if you keep trying and pivoting.And so this is what happened in the Covid, and then I was looking for something.I started to be bored with my brain. I wanted some challenge, and then I met a dear friend that told me I was thinking just to take a salary and, like, something in technology. Because I used to work in the past in startup companies. And then he told me, no, you need to be an entrepreneur.You have an entrepreneur in mind, and although I knew it for you, and the one person that tell me that and open made the switch, and said, and, and, and I said okay, it's time to, to start, and then I started to learn AI.I start to learn different things in order to be able to not have small internship, like, with the fashion, right, but, like, have something bigger.And then they say, oh, hi, haha, oh, hi, and basically, you know, how you you meet the reason for the name, you know, how you go to events, and, like, someone behind you didn't realize, and suddenly you turn, and you realize the value of the person behind you, and you say, oh, hi, exactly, exactly, so this is where the name came exactly from the wife of my cofounder.Oh, nice, nice, nice, yeah sometimes, and this is not exactly what you're talking about, but it reminds me of, uh, this kind of, I don't know if it's real or not statistically speaking, but the expression is what's the best pick up line for guys to try to pick up a girl in a bar like that for those urges, what's the best pickup line, and people have all these corny lines, and the answer is no, just saying hello, like, hi, like, that's, that's it, like, just keep it simple, and so in the business world, it's the same idea, you're just meeting people, and you, you can't do that without that hi, and the next step is getting their name because then that, that breaks down bears as soon as you know someone's name, that starts to break down barriers and it builds a sense of responsibility.So if you and I sit on a train or plane for hours and hours and hours beside each other, we may be cordial, friendly, smile, but as soon as we actually exchange names, we both have a sense of responsibility for each other. That's different than not exchanging names.The statistics of Adela, that's really, really interesting, but also not asking what do you do? Oh, that's for sure. Because we made an experiment in one of the event with the Cato on the bus to win. And we said that people, we met people before they didn't know that.And we said them next to each other, we didn't tell them why and wanted to see what type of conversation are going on between when, when they are a match. So the conversation, we're okay, not too much Canadian way. And then we gave them an envelope, each with their conversation starters.And then you see, you could see, because after that we follow up and spoke with him. You could see the depth suddenly of a people speaking. Because the conversation starter are there to initiate a deeper conversation right on the allowance level, right on the level that is allowed. And there was a huge difference just from going a little bit deeper. Yeah, small talk should lead to big talk, yes, and to meaningful connections.Yeah, another thing I, I picked up along the way is just a lot of people, kind of, leave it at one question or two. But if you force yourself to have three questions, so whoever you're meeting, whatever situation if you go, whatever the first response is, hi, how are you? Okay, that's one, right, you know, how was your weekend?That's two, but if you force yourself to have a third, anything, that's when it starts to get creative, cause you've done the basic standard. Hi, how are you? Fine things all weekends, good.That third thing might be something more interesting, so again, getting deeper is gonna help us with our social life and certainly in our business life. Because, yeah, and why is it important to build rapport in business?Why you tell her audience why that's so important for them to have deeper relationships, how does that help their business when they, when they speak on a deeper level? When you build report, you build trust, that's right. Okay, in small when you go, even when you go to a store.I used to sell like I used to sell all sorts of things in my past. Yeah, it doesn't matter what you sell, it's the matter of the referee build with the person and with the trust. The moment the person likes you, the moment the person trust you, they will buy from you. It doesn't matter what you sell, and the trust is built on listening. You can set without listening to what they need.Once you listening to what they need and what the real need that is, and you provide real solution, then, you know, this is the, where the closing happen yeah, and it's built on trust to develop trust, it takes time, especially in when you are selling something that is not just a small transaction, when you are selling something that is a, a big business deal. It takes sometimes weeks or months to develop.It will never happen without trust, right? It will never happen over the phone, right. You have to meet the person in, in, and fill the person to actually close the deal, the final closing.One of the words I also use in connection to building report and trust is comfort, right. People, people underestimate the power of being comfortable.So when you're comfortable with someone again, you let your guard down more both psychologically and other and emotionally. And then you, you're more vulnerable, you open yourself up more, you have more honest conversations, you feel than the trust builds as well.So and also when you realize you have something in common, right, and this is where our conversation starters go.Yeah, then you are lighting up and you're go out of your square of the professional square, and they can see a little bit more of you, right, cause with what you do or you don't do something that any down, you're still in the square, no one would know who you truly are.Yeah, we wanna always find same tribe, um, what brought you to YEDI, so YEDI have a good day right in, okay, good. I drove there many times, and it's not far from my house, and I like the, the thorough program because it's very thorough.I participate in many other programs, but this program of 4 months, I participate in a program.There are many other program, but I participate in the 4 months, it's like mini MBA, it's in the depth of them, and the lectures are really like a lecture on in university, and it's not just lecturing. After that you go home and forget.They make you, you make us work after each lecture and submit what we needed to submit, and it's make it more serious and more a, a personal, a guarantee that it will lead somewhere.So it's a more serious, right, a comparing to other. Each program have their advantage, but advantage of your deeds really total and really, like, very high level. Thank you for that.So what's next for Ohio? What's you tell me next four months, six months, one year, two years? What's, maybe you could share with our audience a little bit of what you've got planned for Ohio right now in the next for three to four months, we are working to test our connection model, relationship building model in the events that we're collaborating with corporate partners. And, and then we fund raise.We're in the process. We're just starting soon to fundraise in order to develop the, the platform, the intentional serenityity platform that can help you build the nature of the relationship that will bring a lead to your breakthrough and look to the opening door when you need. It takes time.Scary. And then we focus at the beginning in Canada because we are from Canada, but the idea is that once we established here in Canada, there are only 4,000 event.In the US, it's like 40,000 event a year. So we're expanding, will expand to North America and then to English speaking Europe and then to Asia. Very good plan. Um.A good sandwich has a lasting, hopefully memorable taste. Sometimes it's what we call the secret sauce or the secret recipe. Like KFC has its 11 herbs and spices for example, the Coca Cola recipe is still apparently under lock and key. So a good sandwich should have a special sauce.A good business should have a special sauce. Maybe it's innovation, maybe it's something else. What would you say is the special sauce for Ohio?So it's our grand vision. Our grand vision is to build a world with intentional Serenity in it, where meaningful connection don't happen by chance when you don't miss the person behind you because you didn't even know he existed.A world where your next breakthrough we start from or your other half, we start from a simple genuine, oh, hi, moment, awesome, awesome.Thank you so much, Karen. As a communication professional myself, this has been a really fun conversation because you and I've had some conversations on this topic before, and we go back and forth, but it's really great opportunity to let our audience know, uh, that entrepreneurs cannot, I don't wanna say dismiss small talk and individual skills, but sometimes they downplayed a bit.They're more worried about their, their financial projections, or maybe they're worried about their prototype, which are very important things. So maybe the lasting comment, maybe you could give your opinion or experience with the importance of, of communication skills as an entrepreneur.First of all, the communication skills help you to feel less lonely in the journey, because you're not keeping it to yourself. It can be very lonely, so when you are in, when you learn how to build your village, it takes a village to grow startup.You can build it on your own, you're expanding your outfit, you're expanding your network, and it's very helpful also for your mental health, cause that's of entrepreneurs are dealing with mental health issues.Cause it's very stressful, and when you're down in the trenches in the halls, it can be very depressing, right? And by developing your communications, kid, by being able to speak about what you feel, even with your partners, even with your investor, even by the ability to connect.This is what will move the neither for you, not the, you know, this, this graph are important for the next stage, but if there is no basic connection, nothing will go beyond this point.Well said, thank you, Karen Fox of, oh, hi, unfortunately, we have to say, oh bye, but I'll see you at the next Yeti Adventure, next event, and, and good luck with everything. And if people wanna find you, we will put your, your social media, your links in the description.So people may connect with you and reach out to you, and ask you any questions about yourself or about your business.Okay, okay, thanks for, thanks for being here thank you for watching, and be sure to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you check out your podcast until next time. Keep turning small bites into big wins.