Episode 12: Entrepreneurial Mindset - It’s Not What You Think with Ami McKay and Charles Chang

ABOUT THE EPISODE

“You have to have grit and you have to have passion. Hunger. You have to drive and sparkle and shine. You have to be at your best and let yourself be your worst and accept it.” – Ami McKay, Pure Design Inc

Grit, resilience, determination; these are often the words that describe an entrepreneur. Having the right mindset is key to a successful business and that means taking risks, facing failure, and bouncing back as part of the daily grind. In this episode of The Go-To, we discuss what mindset really means with two serial entrepreneurs: Ami McKay, Principal and Creative Director of Pure Design and Charles Chang, former President and Founder of Vega and current President and Founder of Lyra Growth Partners. Entrepreneurship is a rocky ride and having an entrepreneurial mindset can make or break your journey.

In this episode:

Ami McKay how she overcame failure when every store that carried her furniture in North America went out of business
Discover how to approach entrepreneurship and what you must understand before you take the leap
Charles Chang shares how he thinks mindset is a superpower
Learn ways in which to change your mindset and how to integrate it into your company and leadership techniques

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Play and don’t forget to leave a review!

“Umm... I Missed That”

Entrepreneurship is a world of its own, which means the some of the lingo used might get lost in translation. Don’t worry, we’ve got your back. Here are a few of the key terms you’ll hear on this episode of The Go-To and what they actually mean.

Gratitude: being thankful or showing appreciation

Pollyanna: an excessively cheerful or optimistic person

Mindset: a person’s way of thinking or their attitudes

Radical ownership: taking full responsibility for your thoughts, words, behaviours, and actions, including all your successes and all your failures

Meet Our Guests

Ami McKay, Principal & Creative Director, Pure Design

Ami McKay is the Principal and Creative Director of Pure Design, a full-service interior design and build firm. The work of her award-winning design team has been recognized internationally for their design and build of mid to high end interiors.

Former Leo Nominated Host & Designer on HGTV Canada's “Makeover Wish”, Ami is currently privately producing a new webseries - launching soon and is one of the most published interior designers in Canada. A serial entrepreneur, Ami previously ran an international company manufacturing a sustainable line of furniture – which failed due to the economic meltdown in 2010 - she says about that experience “So that’s awesome”. She also designed a bedding line sold at Bed Bath and Beyond and created a Pillow Project with a Syrian Refugee artisan creating a line of handmade designer pillows with proceeds benefiting Syrian refugees. Always on the go, Ami has two other high-profile projects in the works and we are excited to see what comes next!

Ami’s “Go-To” Advice:

Gratitude starts with gratitude - share with your team how much you appreciate them
Understand that entrepreneurship is going to be hard - you need to know that you can handle constant stress and be able to let go of it
Grab a mentor (check out FWE’s Mentor Program)

Follow Ami + Pure Design on social media at @puredesigninc on Instagram and Pure Design Inc on Facebook.

Charles Chang, President & Founder, Lyra Growth Partners

Charles is a serial entrepreneur -today he runs Lyra Growth Partners, a growth equity firm he founded in 2015. Lyra provides flexible, founder-friendly capital and brand savvy coaching to fast-growing consumer-facing companies.

Prior to Lyra, Charles was founder and President of Vega, which he started from scratch from his basement in 2004.Financed by his life savings, a second mortgage on his house and credit cards, Charles led Vega to become a leading brand of clean, plant–based nutritional products in North America.

Honouring a triple bottom line approach to business and recognizing people are the greatest source of sustainable competitive advantage, Vega and Charles have received many accolades, including: Fastest Growing Companies, Best Workplace, Best Managed Companies and Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2015, Charles led the sale of Vega to White Wave Foods (NYSE: WWAV) for US$550 million.

In 2016, Charles helped establish the Charles Chang Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Simon Fraser University, an interdisciplinary home and academic hub where people and ideas converge to foster entrepreneurial thinking and action.

Charles’ “Go-To” Advice:

Your mindset (how you look at something, how you look at the world, how you look at problems) can determine your success more than how bright you are
Look at problems as opportunities
Don’t be afraid to try new things and fail

Find Charles on LinkedIn and learn more about Lyra Growth Partners on their website.