Pioneering Environmental Excellence in the Corporate World with Ross Huartt

Pioneering Environmental Excellence in the Corporate World with Ross Huartt

Kelly Kennedy: Hello, welcome to episode 124 of the Business Development Podcast. And on today's expert guest interview, we are bringing back for you Ross Huartt, CEO of MBC Group, founder and chairman of EcoClaim. You are not going to want to miss this. This episode,

Intro: The Great Mark Cuban once said business happens over years and years value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.

And we couldn't agree more. This is the business development podcast based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and broadcasting to the world. You'll get to learn. Expert business development advice, tips, and experiences. And you'll hear interviews with business owners, CEOs, and business development reps. You'll get actionable advice on how to grow business.

Brought to you by Capital Business Development. CapitalBD.ca Let's do it. Welcome to the Business Development Podcast. And now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly Kennedy: Welcome to episode 124 of the business development podcast. And I am absolutely psyched today to welcome back Ross Huartt. Ross is a dynamic leader at the forefront of both business and sustainability.

As the CEO of MBC Group, he's steered the company to new heights with his energy, integrity and client centric approach. Beyond his role at MBC, Ross is also the visionary founder and chairman of EcoClaim, where he is pioneering innovative solutions to revolutionize environmental standards in the industry.

With a passion for driving positive change and a track record of success, Ross Huartt is a force to be reckoned with and it's an absolute pleasure to welcome him back to the show. Ross, it's good to see you, buddy.

Ross Huartt: Yeah, good to see you, Kelly. I think I'm going to have to ask you to do introductions for me more often after that one.

Kelly Kennedy: You know, I, you know, I think you're a visionary.

Ross Huartt: Yeah, no, I don't get tired. I don't get tired of hearing it, but I appreciate that.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, dude. I I absolutely loved our last show. I think it was so informative and, and, you know, we learned so much and then, you know, I got the pleasure to actually meet you just about a month ago.

We grabbed lunch while you were in town and, you know, it was awesome. It was awesome to put a face to the name and You know, I appreciate what you're doing and I think that you're doing a lot of big things. You know, for the listeners that haven't heard your first episode, which by the way, if you haven't listened to it, go back.

It's episode 52. How your path becomes your foundation with Ross Huartt. Awesome show. If you haven't heard that one, go back and then you can come back and listen to this one. But for those that aren't going to do that and they just want to hop in, who is Ross Huartt?

Ross Huartt: The broad question. So as you mentioned.

I spent the last eight years building MBC group started in my basement. I think it was only 27. And I'm a chartered surveyor by training, and we built MBC group into around 140 employees. Now, six offices across Canada and large institutional clients. And I have the benefit now of, you know, looking, looking back and taking stock.

And it's pretty amazing. That's one of the things I, you know, business is creative and that's what I've found is my passion is, is creating things, you know, something that an entity that didn't exist now has 140 people that call it home. And, and the creative, like you have engineers, people are create and surveyors and appraisers and environmental consultants.

And so everyone's, there's a lot of creation going on, it feels like. And then and because I'm an entrepreneur and a bit of sucker for punishment, I then started launched EcoClaim. It was incubated within MBC, but then separated out. And you know, that's, Essentially, a company that has an end to end solution for the financial sector and tracks the greenhouse gas emissions of their supply chain.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes, and we are definitely going to dive deep into that, but I want to talk a little bit about some of the things, like, you know, me and you have kind of followed each other on LinkedIn for a long time, and dude, you travel a ton. Like heck, just in the last like six months, you've been to what? You've been to Florida.

You've been to Vancouver, you've been to Toronto, you were recently in New York, like, my gosh, man, you were like, you're on a plane somewhere every week, it seems.

Ross Huartt: Yeah, this, this year's kicked off kicked off pretty strong. So the, the Florida trip was, was family related. So, you know, I decided to take a, a bit of a month break after, I brought in new investors to MBC to, you know, to, to help us support the next stages of growth.

We appointed a new president, Michelle Groulx, who's just a rock star. And I used the opportunity to take some downtime with the family so they could see me. And then came back in January and I've been on the trail between both MBC customers and EcoClaim. I think I've, where did I? It was Toronto, Vancouver, New York Salt Lake City has been the the last little while of travel.

Salt Lake City was new, I'd never been to Utah, so that's a new one to tick off the tick off the world map.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, it's so funny. I know when we sat down for lunch and we were having this conversation about travel and you're like, man, it's like from the outside looking in, it looks like I must have like the most exciting life ever.

But when I'm on the road, I just want to be home with my family.

Ross Huartt: Yeah. You know, it's That's, I mean, that's, I think you've just summed up the power of social media, right? You know, I'm, if you, anyone who follows me, you'll see that I'm not, I'm pretty candid. Like if I'm not having a good day or I don't enjoy something, like I'll share those things.

It's not always, you know, business is hard and anyone that tells you it isn't is just lying. Yeah. And, you know, but anything worth doing is hard, but yeah, no, it looks luxurious, but they don't see the delays in the airport. They don't see another night in a hotel room and, you know, And now that my son is three and daughter is one and he can tell me he misses me and doesn't want me to go when I'm leaving, like it makes it all the harder.

Whereas when they can't talk and say they miss you, it's so yeah, the last couple of times have actually been a lot harder than they ever have. But I think it will just get harder as they both grow up.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. And, and it's tough and you're absolutely right. It totally tears on your heartstrings.

Like my son is two and a half months old right now. And. My gosh, it is hard for me to leave the house because it's like, I don't want to miss anything. I love all those moments. I love his smiles, right? It's like, they don't teach you how to balance entrepreneurship and parenting.

Ross Huartt: I've been thinking a lot about that, especially the start of this year, because I spent a lot of last year imbalanced for, for, for what I felt were pretty negative reasons.

You can be imbalanced for positive reasons. But now that that fog is cleared with some, we made some big changes that it will again, be very, very positive. And I feel like the, the, the winds are in our sails now, but the imbalance pieces, and I saw a video on this the other day, and I feel like work life balance is not, not a real thing because I feel like you're going to have unbalanced periods of your life.

And then you're going to have balanced periods of your life. And so for me in this short term, as I'm building EcoClaim. You know, there's things I just need to do. And I think I'm lucky enough to have a wonderful wife that, that knows I need to go do these things. And, you know, she supports, supports me in the family and doing it.

Doesn't make it any easier on them. But hopefully the idea is this all pay off and have a great future for them as well. Not just me.

Kelly Kennedy: That's right. That's right. Yeah, it's funny. Me and Shelby actually just recently had like a really similar conversation because we were talking about like, holy crap, like our life right now just feels like a blur, right?

The days are just blurring together, whether it's like work stuff. And it's like, you know, I mean, me and her, we collaborate on pretty much everything. So it's like, We're either talking about work or parenting or what the boys need or whatever, right? But it's like, by the end of the day, it's like, holy crap, we didn't even see each other today.

Like, we were around each other the whole time, but we didn't see each other because we're so in our own worlds trying to accomplish all these amazing things. And it does make you question sometimes, it's like, okay, like, I sure hope all of this is going to be worth it.

Ross Huartt: You know, yeah, 100%. That's what you do have to think.

And, but I'm always, but I'm always reminded of there's this was it, was Elon Musk, I think it was on SNL. And he said, and he said, you know, I I am, I reinvented the electric car and I'm sending people to Mars. Did you really think I was going to be normal? And, and so I'm not that I'm comparing myself to that visionary by any means, but there's a certain personality type of certain traits that lend themselves to entrepreneurship.

And like, and if you don't have, if you're not driven, which is the fundamental one, And so often that comes with imbalances and having to be selfish for a longer term, all around better objective, but where it conflicts is often the family, whilst they may rationally understand the long term, in that short term when they need you and want you, that doesn't get rationalized.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, yeah. You know, like, you know, when we met we were talking about our age. You're 36, right?

Ross Huartt: 36, yes.

Kelly Kennedy: I'm 35, so we're like the same age. And you know, I look at everything that you've done and, you know, you Are more driven than almost anybody that I've had the pleasure to meet with, you know, at our age, at our age, I think most people at our age are not doing what either of us are doing, frankly, most of them are working a career, they're just trying to get ahead, or they're just trying to get by, or, you know, like, in this part of our life, we all, most of us have kids and we have families, we're just trying to do the best we can, right?

But, you know, there was something that I noticed about me and you immediately, and it's like, we're both very bubbly, friendly people. And I do kind of wonder what was it that launched you specifically on this entrepreneurial career, right? Like you could have settled down and just killed it in any position that you try, but you're like, you know what?

I'm just going to start, you know, not one amazing company, but multiple. And not only that, you put in all of the effort, you put all the right pieces in place. How were you able to accomplish so much at your age?

Ross Huartt: No, that's flattering. I mean, again, it's a. When I set out and, so it's a funny one. If I'm, if I'm being totally Frank, how it came about was I was working for a company and I was a top producer.

And I'd only been there a year and had lots of clients was doing well. I picked it up and we just had a disagreement over compensation. A minor disagreement, really. I think it was over 10, 000. And so when we couldn't work that out, I was, I looked and I was only 26. And so I. Decided I could either do a sideways move to another company and do something similar or thought why not just I could do this on my own.

Let's go give it a go. And again, let's not, I think that's one of the things with entrepreneurship is the first time you try it, you're just diving in there. Wasn't necessarily a plan. It was, it was okay. I can do this on my own. What do I need to do to do this on my own? I need to get customers. How do I get customers?

And I was actually reminiscing about this the other day with, with Sanders. He's one of one of the shareholders and was with me from day one. I remember there was a book of insurance contacts. This was before LinkedIn was big and essentially it was an issued book with, with all the adjusters and claims people and insurers.

And I kid you not, every morning I'd get up and I would just start emailing and reaching out to those people. You know, lots of them didn't get back to me. Lots did. Lots are still clients now. And yeah. It wasn't rocket science. You know, I saw a thing from Jack Walsh, one of the another, one of those reels, and I don't, I don't know where the stat comes from, but I can believe it.

And he said, you're only 2000 cold calls away from a million dollars. And that obviously within the parameters of the product, the service, the, the industry that could change, but it sounds about right, you know, it's, it's cold. It's a culmination of lots of effect. Right? To move the needle.

Kelly Kennedy: Yep. Yep. My saying was always, you know, you're only, you, you always have a million dollar phone call.

You just don't know which one it's gonna be. Bingo. Right? And so you gotta take them all. You gotta make them all. Cause you don't know which one is gonna be your million dollar phone call. But it's coming.

Ross Huartt: And you're building your network. That's one thing I would always say. That I, I was always a relationship builder by, like, naturally without Sort of thinking about it, but I realized now that your value really is your network, especially as, you know, as my pond is expanded, you know, we're in the U S now we're going to London.

And so, so has the network, you know, I had lunch last week with the gentleman that runs a 36 billion company now. So again, it's, but that every go back eight years. I was, you know, there's people didn't know who I was. Wouldn't reply to me. Don't get us wrong. Sometimes people still don't reply to me when I reach out.

Cause I still do that occasionally. That's not to say everyone gets back to you. But it's effort, you know, like, yes, as, as the companies have got bigger, the, the, the, the stakes have got bigger, the ponds got bigger, but it's still the effort required doesn't change. Like it's That's one of the things.

So people, it can feel overwhelming because people often overestimate what they can do in a short period of time. Like, I think it was a thing to overestimate what you can do in five years, but underestimate what you can do in a year.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes.

Ross Huartt: And, you know, so like you look at the, if I look at the micro take EcoClaim, for example, which really only when he launched six months ago, officially after taking it out of MBC, micro things take a long time for me.

I'm like, why isn't this done? Why are we doing this? And I'm a driver of that. So, I mean, for better or worse, but then when I take a macro view and say, you know, we have this many customers, we have this many people trained, we have this many contractors certified, like the, the. Results have been huge, but that's the importance of taking stock.

Cause sometimes it can just be like, why isn't this press release done? Why isn't this website there? Why isn't this training done?

Kelly Kennedy: Yes. Right. Yes. And you know what? The little things do make all those big things happen. So, I'm actually not disagreeing with you that you put pressure on the little things. I do too.

But because I recognize that every single little thing moves the needle a little bit. Yeah. And big things aren't going to happen if the little things don't come together. So, you know, I, I get what you're saying. I also think as entrepreneurs, we're not satisfied. We're, we're, we're like, we're like an insatiable appetite, I think.

And I, you know, I've talked with lots of entrepreneurs about how we can get better at this or if there's a way out, but I don't think, I don't think there is. I, I'm not sure, like, for instance, I'm going to call you out a little bit because recently you made a post where you said you are more satisfied or the most satisfied with your professional life than you have ever been.

However, You didn't say that you're completely satisfied. You just said that I'm the most satisfied that I've ever been, which I laughed a little because I'm like, Yep, because the needle moved.

Ross Huartt: Correct. That's exactly what it was. The needle moved. I'm in a new environment. I'm in a new space. And so that's why I'm, I'm more satisfied than I've been.

But I don't think satisfaction is something that is like, Achievable and whole we, and I think that's a sick, and I know a lot of entrepreneurs who've, who've outlined this also is that it's a bit, it can be a bit of a sickness though, because why, like, you think you're going to get to the top of the mountain and there's going to be this, Peak of satisfaction, but there's not like, it's, it's great.

We've done this MBC on it. So if I only ever did MBC, like you can, you should be more than proud of that. Anyone starting a business and creating value for themselves and others should be proud of that. And I am, but it's. I don't know. There's just a drive and voice inside of me that, you know, this EcoClaim won't be my last business.

I just enjoy that. No, it's, it just comes, you know?

Kelly Kennedy: You know what it is. It's the empowerment that you get when you start something and succeeds. Right. Once you realize that you can do it once you're like, I could do this like 50 times. That's what ends up happening. And I know there's like a lot of entrepreneurs listening right now who maybe haven't took that jump and they're afraid to take that initial jump.

But, you know, I mean, That's been my experience is that once you do take that jump and you get some success and you realize, holy crap, I could have done this the whole time. It opens, it's, it's not that one step. It's the gigantic. World vision and your view of the world that changes the moment you're successful in one venture that makes it like, I could do this a hundred times.

Ross Huartt: Absolutely. And in people often forget, I've had lots of failures. I mean, like I started a training business when I was in New Zealand that. That ultimately failed. I had an architectural division within MBC that, that failed. And there's, there's sprinkled among there, but again, you learn lessons. You know, it's a, it's a trial and error piece.

Like I spent the last two years learning a tough lesson at MBC and that lesson was really easily undone far easier than I'd ever imagined it could be undone. But in the time it didn't feel like that. And so again, Don't get me wrong. The success is there, but there's lots of micro and major failures along the way.

And it sounds cliche, but so what like, like, I mean, not as drastically as you know, there's people that go bankrupt, but I know lots of really successful people that have been bankrupt a couple of times. I'm thankfully not one of them, and I don't know why it feels like it would be so bad, but people go on and be successful again because they've just taken a risk and that risk didn't pay off.

But hey, you know, you dust yourself off and you get back after it.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. And so I think we've had the pleasure of interviewing a couple of people who've been through that process here and that, that not only picked themselves up, but built bigger companies than they even had the first time around. So it is.

It is possible. But yeah, I remember listening to it too and thinking like, my God, how did you even like get up?

Ross Huartt: Yeah, 100%. Absolutely.

Kelly Kennedy: I I hate losing, Ross. I hate losing. And you know what? You're absolutely right. Failure is part of winning. But my God, I still hate it.

Ross Huartt: I hate nothing more. It's one of my, one of my core fears.

And I don't know why. Because it's not, it's not that I care about what other people think about my failure. Yeah. It's like this, this like sinking stomach and you're feeling like you failed. And, and so it's again, but you're your own harshest critic typically.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, yeah, I agree. You know, I do think that most of the success I've had in my life is because I just refuse to quit.

And it really is, right? It's just a refusal to quit. I don't want to give up. I want to succeed at most things. And I get that there are going to be times that that's not possible and that sucks. Thank God I haven't had too many of those yet. But yeah, I do. It's, it's funny. We've had so many like, People that run accelerators.

They've been with like, you know, Global 500 and they run these big programs. And they're always telling me, Kelly, you know, you just have to fail, fail quickly, fail fast and do it again. But it's like, I, I'm not alone in this. Most people hate failing. And I think most entrepreneurs more than more than more than like all.

Ross Huartt: No, totally agree. It's a, it's one of those things like drive and fear of failure, because having, I think that's the, having a. A large risk appetite or neglect of risk. I don't think having a large risk appetite is true. If you ask me, I don't, I don't like to gamble. I don't like to, but, but disregarding risks and just lunging into the unknown is different than, than worrying about the risks.

Does that make sense?

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, and what I would argue is that most of the time when you do take that leap, the things that you were afraid of aren't as scary as you thought anyway.

Ross Huartt: Bingo. No, absolutely. Yeah. And again, like I said, it just comes down to doing like, if I look at my, in the last eight years, there's been roadblocks, there's been people who've ended my life for the better.

People who've ended my life for the worst and I'm pushing through, you know, there's a, one thing I've realized about. Call it my personal brand, if you will, which again, I never set out to create a brand. I just share what I'm doing, which is sort of de facto done that. And I've become a bit polarizing in that sense.

You know, we have you know, the people that work with me closely, you're very bought in all rowing the same way. And, you know, one of my team, Chris Christiansen, he's running our, our biggest part of MBC and he's, he's about to become vice president that oversees that. And he said, you know, to someone who was looking to join us, he says, you know, it's not for the faint of heart.

And he's like, it's good, but be prepared to drink from a fire hose.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah.

Ross Huartt: And so I'm aware of that. And that's not for everyone. But I also feel like you can't achieve big things in short spaces of time without a firehose.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, yeah. And you spoke to something rowing in the same direction. I literally just had a show, like my last show, I was talking about how you need everybody on your team bought in.

and ready to fight for what you're, what you're after. Right. And if you have people that are causing negativity, they're causing so much more damage than you can imagine.

Ross Huartt: More than I'd ever realized. Like we had a bit of that at MBC. I'll be frank, like a big part of our group wasn't affected, but it was more at the core of the management executive level.

And thankfully that's all behind us. But it was very much that. People, if you try to row in different directions, the company doesn't move forward and either stagnates or worse. Thankfully, we never, the worst never happened, but the stagnation. And for me, back to your point, stagnation for two years was hell, like we grew.

And, but like, but then it just, that I felt like I wasn't, I wasn't achieving any more of that makes sense. And you could argue that maintaining a. A revenue over two years of a certain size still requires effort because as a service firm, you have a pipeline of work, you have to keep filling it. So, but it just felt like progress had stopped.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. Can I ask you and you know, obviously I don't want any names or anything like that, but that employee who was rowing against the current was it a long time employee?

Ross Huartt: No, a couple of years and there was more than one, but a lot of it was, it was just me again. So the company gets to a certain size and me being.

Well, I, I would say I'm, I'm better educated and wiser now, but I was also wise enough to know that I had built a company of a certain size that required certain infrastructure and required, you know, seasoned people who'd done this before. It just so happened those seasoned individuals I chose were not the right ones for that period of time, sadly.

And I've, and I've reflected a lot on it, you know, and I would never slander anyone, but I go back to the polarizing piece. I think there's an element of, as you said, I'm fairly. Young by business standards albeit definitely don't have an issue holding my own, but then what comes with sometimes seasonality comes big egos.

Sure. And you know, I, you have to have an ego to be an executive, but it needs to be well placed. Like there's a fine balance between confidence and egotistical. Yeah. And I really just think it was a bit of jealousy and that sort of. I don't necessarily think it was on purpose. Me, I couldn't, wouldn't like to think people were that.

Were, were acted in that fashion, shall we say. But at the only, the only, the only reasoning I can think of comes down to a bit of that.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. And, and I guess one of the questions, 'cause I, what I was thinking immediately was there's a lot of companies out there that have employees who are not bought into the, the goals.

They're the negative people. They may say everything at every board meeting, they're the ones saying, this is a stupid idea. Why are we doing this? And yet we still don't get rid of them. So, and I guess. My question to you was how, how were you able to come to that decision where you're like, okay, like I, I can't keep this toxicity on my team anymore.

Ross Huartt: Yeah, that was, that was the hard bit because it was. It was a bit like being gaslighted, if you will. You know, like the emperor does not wear the emperor's wearing clothes scenario. And so, cause I wanted to trust people. You bring people in, you trust they can do a job and you want them to do it. Like you want them to succeed because you succeed.

And so there was a lot of that. And so I think we're looking back, there was a lot of things I sort of maybe pushed aside that I didn't think were a big deal when maybe they were, because. There was, you know, you don't have purview over everything, right? It's impossible, especially at a certain size. And and so that was one just for me, I'm usually very decisive, but I think there was just a lot of factors at play that that didn't make it as simple as removing the Removing the issues and you hit a nail on the head there.

If you, if you go to executive level, I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a driver. I want to do things. And I think it was just a series of negativity and roadblocks that ultimately were leading to friction. And so the ultimately the decision was made when I decided to bring in investors in because I can't circle this bandwagon anymore and collectively we identified the issues very quickly and swiftly address them.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah.

Ross Huartt: And so again, but what do you think you realize when that negative when that this is what I didn't realize normally when you lose some team members, there's, there's concerns and but we weren't losing team members because we because we were in trouble. It was like we lose them because they weren't growing in the right direction.

And honestly, Now that the certain team members are no longer here, the, like the culture, the energy around the place, like the talking to the team members. So you realize it wasn't just you seeing that. And so the interesting thing for me is just how positive an impact this has had on the company in a short space of time.

And so I'm thankful for the team members that we have here. And some of my executive team, you know, Matt Magnus, Kris Kristjansson, Sanders, they. Despite a lot of the roadblocks over the last two years, like there was times again, as an entrepreneur, where you're like, am I just going to quit my own company here?

Is this the easiest route out? And, and, and so, you know, who you, you know, who the people that stay with you through that are? And so we now have a very trusted core team of people that sort of went through the fire and brimstone with you. And which is why MBC feels like it's the best place and it's ever been for that next springboard.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, I always say, whether you believe you can or you believe you can't, you're right. And so you best be believing you can. If you have a team who's constantly like, we can't do it, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether it's possible or not, because they've already decided. And so, yeah, it is.

Ross Huartt: I like that in business, so that's one thing I would say about all business. I'm very good at, and I didn't realize this, but speaking things into existence, like take EcoClaim for example, like it only really launched out of MBC six months ago, but I've been on my soapbox telling people it does, it does the things I wanted to do before it even did.

And now it does, but thankfully again, down to, down to my business partner, CEO, Jodi Scarlett, you know, she's. She's an absolute rock star. She's operationalized EcoClaim to a degree where I could never have done in a time that was extraordinary. And. It's, it's a prime example of the last two years of, I have this big audacious vision and I just keep repeating it.

And then you find the right person such as Jodi and she starts actually making those verticals happen to the fine detail. But without the two, one, you can have a visionary and I can speak it into existence, but I'm definitely, I'm not operational. That's not my strength. I sure. Can I run things? Yes. Do I enjoy it?

No. And if you're doing something you don't enjoy. That comes through.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes, yes. No, and like, you know, getting into this too, when we were talking about it before, like me and you are both like very positive people. We're glass half, half full people, right? We're always looking for the best possible outcome and we're, we're guiding everything there.

But yeah, it's like, I mean, I've run into it just like you have where there's people that are like, you can't do that. Or why are you doing it this way? Or like, it's like, it's like, listen, I can see it. I can see it in my mind. Just let me have it.

Ross Huartt: Yes. Absolutely. And yeah, and I was, and someone described that, described that about me the other day.

That's what the, you know, like the quintessential entrepreneur, like we were talking about going to the U S and opening a U S office with Florida, you know, Florida being lots of, lots of insurance claims there, high frequency. So the logical office and back to our, within a week I had, I've got, you know, we have a, Consultant lined up to, to lead the office was actively searching for the right sales individual to help drive us.

So, I mean, back to your point, we went from being, let's have a Florida office to let's just make it happen. You can, you can do all these strat plans in boardrooms, which, you know, as a company gets a certain size are important because you need KPIs accountability. But sometimes you just have to do it so you can spend all your time mapping out a plan and following it.

Or you can, you know, you need a producer, you know, you need to go get customers. So start and then develop a plan once you have revenue coming in. And it's, I make it, I know I make it my, Sound easier than it really is, but.

Kelly Kennedy: I do it the same way I do it the same way, like me and you are both like, let's just do it and we'll put in, we'll figure out what's not going to work and we'll fix that as quickly as possible, but you know, I mean, I think people like me and you do more.

In our lives, we just do because we don't wait around for eight people to agree to get something done. We just take that leap. If I want to implement something, I'm going to, and you are too. And I think there's something so powerful about that. We can get so stuck in analysis paralysis as business owners.

Should I do this? What are the outcomes? What are the possible things that could happen? But like the reality is if that's what you're doing all the time, you will never do anything.

Ross Huartt: MBC started to suffer from. If I'm being honest, from a executive front was more, We just spent, spent so much time making fancy PowerPoints about what we were going to do rather than actually doing it.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah.

Ross Huartt: So you get to the end of the year and I'm like, well, these, this fancy PowerPoints are excellent, but we didn't do it.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah.

Ross Huartt: And then in pivoting, I would say, you know, we'd often set a strat plan and against my bad judgment, we'd stick to it. But even though if I didn't halfway through, you're like, this isn't right.

Like this isn't working. And, and then rather than. sticking with something that didn't seem to be working. We should have pivoted and adjusted the plan. And so again, that's my fault, but I feel like I'm nothing. If not, I try to be humble. I know there's people that know lots more than I do. I mean, I want to learn from them.

And but I think a lesson for me is recognizing when you know more than the people that you think you're supposed to be learning from and not in an arrogant way. But. Look at the evidence.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. And, and you're absolutely right. It's like, it's like, sometimes you don't know that until you spend some time and it comes later and you're like, okay, yeah, I think, I think we might be able to go a different way here.

And that's a tough space to be too, because especially if you've hired those people to be experts and then you realize that you're more of an expert, that's a bit of a challenge. Ross, you know, we're talking about amazing things and big dreams. Just introduce us to EcoClaim, dude.

Ross Huartt: Yeah, absolutely. So it was quite interesting how it all started.

And again, as it's a, you know, business development, entrepreneur podcast, I think it's important to give the real story behind it, because again, it'll, it'll hopefully, if one person listening to this decides to take a leap after hearing it, then I feel like we've done the right thing. I was I was asked to give a presentation at the CIQS, Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, conference back in 2021, I think it was, the summer of, and so I was looking at the topics that were, that were up for, for presenting and one of them was sustainability.

And so I thought to myself, well, why don't I do sustainability within, within insurance because insurance property. Property sector, 20 billion worth of construction is attributed to the insurance industry. And so I thought that would be quite unique. Everyone's used to sustainability and construction and, you know, it's a common topic.

So I thought, so I thought I would do that. And so I got accepted and then being the. You know, the always seeking opportunities, if you will. So our biggest customer was, was Aviva Canada. And I used the opportunity to reach out to their CEO. I didn't know Jason. They've since switched. He was he's British.

So I, you know, reached out and expat to expat hoping I'd get a response. Yeah. And he did, he got back to me and I actually, they were the first insurance company to announce globally that they would be net zero by 2050. And so I said, well, look, I'm giving this seminar to, to, to this Congress. Did you want to say a few words because A, it's good exposure for yourselves because everyone in here has insurance, needs insurance construction.

And it'll allow you a bit of a platform to show the good that that you've set out to do. And they loved it. And he connected me with his SVP, Paul Gilbody, and he came and said a few words. Now, I didn't think anything of it, but fast forward three months on from there, Aviva, back to, you know, when people say, like, I say this all the time, but luck is opportunity meets preparedness.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes.

Ross Huartt: And so if you think about it, me inviting them was just random. Did they want to get some exposure? Didn't think much of it. Certainly didn't think it was going to lead to a new business. So I get a, we get a call a few months later that Aviva were engaging their supply chain to begin working out how they actually tracked it.

The emissions of the supply chain. And they asked me to join that call. I was the only service provider on the call. It was all contractors. Yeah. And by the, by their own admission, I was on that call and some of the contractors couldn't Couldn't spell ESG, nevermind provide a plan or track it.

I've had lots of them tell me that. So I'm not a tongue in cheek, of course. The, so I'm on this and I'm thinking, well, they don't really have an idea. And so I had a bit of a light bulb. I said, you know, is this MBC as a service, we show up for insurers and we value the loss related damages that occur, the indemnity values.

And so I said to myself, why don't we, when we attend these claims as quantity surveyors, one of the things we can do is measure embodied carbon. And so I said, if we, if Mr. Aviva, if we're given claims, we'll show up and we'll assess the embodied carbon of the project, as well as the value of the construction.

And they loved it. And of course, to me, from a sales perspective, you want more business, you know, we'll do this, but obviously, hopefully the volume of business offsets the additional work is the idea. And so there was also another company called Platinum Proclaim Restoration in Vancouver, who had been essentially mitigating waste, avoiding landfill since 2007.

So before it was, you know,

But again, the gent, they, they, it's one of their core beliefs that the president and owner is one of our now part of our education team. And so one of his core beliefs, I call him the Richard Branson of restoration when you meet him. So and so I said, well, why don't we apply some ways, diversion, measure the avoidance to show that we've, we've, we've driven down the footprint of the claim and then measure the embodied carbon.

And so in discussions, I put a proposal together saying how we do it. So bear in mind this time, it was a service. Okay.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah.

Ross Huartt: And then in the December of 2021, the atmospheric river occurred in Vancouver. So the one in 500 year flood occurred, the lower mainland got flooded, significant amount of damaged infrastructure.

We got on a call with the customer and they said, well, there's no better time to do it. Then drew it like this is a climate change a result of it. Let's do it now. In my vision, I'd envision doing one project at a time just to make sure it worked and pilot it and get it off the ground. So I came off that call being like, okay, well, I guess we got to do a hundred of these.

Let's go. And and one of the, that was the pilot that kicked off EcoClaim still under MBC's banner. And so I remember, Imagine there's a catastrophe. So thousands of properties damaged, the restoration contractors are absolutely slammed to their eyeballs. And here's us coming in together with the insurer saying, we're going to have to do something different.

We're going to have to change process. We're going to have to measure things. So you can see the eye rolls, right? I mean, it's but it was amazing how quickly from that first week, everyone got engaged and on board. And so essentially over a hundred claims, we. We applied this system and process.

Admittedly, that was Platinum Pro claims waste diversion process, which then has become eco divert since. And we mitigated around 52 tons of CO2, avoided it, sorry. And around 63 percent of waste avoided landfill that would have otherwise gone. And so we, I mean. Could, was the data at the time truly verified outside of consultants looking at it?

You know, no, not to the degree we do it now, but it was pretty accurate. I mean, it was give or take, but it demonstrated that by, through very little behavioral change, We had a huge impact. And so I sat back and, and, and thought, how do we, how do we get this to market without it requiring consultants and without it being financially onerous?

Because insurance companies are businesses still, they don't want to increase expenses. They have shareholders and same in construction. You know, when you do a development, anyone can be sustainable if you want to throw lots of money at it. The trick is, how do we do that without it being financially onerous?

And so I took a step back and asked myself, what are we trying to achieve? Well, we're trying to achieve a behavioral change. We're then trying to measure that behavioral change. And we're then trying to present that verified data to someone who cares. That's a key thing for entrepreneurs. Always ask yourself, I always say to my team, I'm like, who cares?

Not in a negative way, but like, that's the key to businesses. You give your LinkedIn ads that reach out and they haven't done their homework and you read it and you're like, who cares? Yeah, because that's the hook you need. And so I said to myself, well, we can train contractors to change behavior in the form of waste diversion.

Remember in Canada I think it's 85 percent of construction waste goes to landfill. That number is higher in restoration. StatsCan doesn't have specific data to split it all out, but I know from experience that it is higher. So meaning, In a world where we have three different bins in our house to put food waste, recycling and garbage in construction, it's all going to the landfill.

And I mean, yes, in Vancouver, it's a little different, different municipalities. There's, there's different bylaws and things coming around the country, but as a whole in Canada, We don't do a very good job of avoiding landfill with our waste.

Kelly Kennedy: Sure, sure.

Ross Huartt: And so we then created a system to track and verify that on site.

So we have, we're various partners, but we track the waste data on site. And then we report that back in dashboard format. That's our software eco tracks. And we report that to the insurer with the ultimate goal of creating a carbon offset and carbon credit as a result of those activities.

Kelly Kennedy: I see. So eventually people will be able to look at multiple construction or restoration companies and see which one is the most eco friendly, basically.

Ross Huartt: Yeah. As I mentioned, you know, we've got 62 branches across Canada now in the first quarter of this year, now fully EcoClaim certified. We're now starting to see real claims processed through EcoClaim and real greenhouse gas emissions avoided. And so what I get, why I get goosebumps about that is we've implemented a system that is now actually having a measurable positive impact on, well, on the world, and there's lots of different products in our roadmap.

Like I said, we're looking at a dry in place. So we, so rather than tear out. You can scientifically dry a building in place, you know, damage depending, and we're going to measure the avoided tear out as a carbon avoidance, because if we dry in place rather than tear out, we've avoided the carbon associated with the construction of demolition and reinstatement.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah.

Ross Huartt: Yeah. And so, and I mean, that's just, you know, these products will start to advance, but it's really measuring. Behavioral change, which incentivizes people even further.

Kelly Kennedy: One of the things that I want to ask you is that, when people think of carbon, they think of like, you know, CO2 coming out of, you know, your car exhaust, or oil and gas emissions, or You know, like methane from cows, right?

Can you explain how we are preventing carbon in construction? Can you explain the construction aspect of it?

Ross Huartt: Yeah, absolutely. You know, so, I mean, I'll take a little step back. So since we started that business back in, I'll say back to March 2023, obviously the financial regulator issued a new mandate that insurance companies had to had to provide financial grade carbon accounting on their scope one to three emissions.

Now, obviously there's a lot of the time people don't know what scope one to three are. The short version for listeners unless they want to go research at scope one and two is your direct emissions, things you control, the energy you use, the travel of your team, depending on what the business is, and then scope three is essentially your supply chain emissions.

So, a lot of the times the scope one and two of companies within the supply chain would make up the scope three of another company. So think of it like a funnel.

Kelly Kennedy: I see. I see. It sounds really hard.

Ross Huartt: Yeah, I mean, in the terms of the insurance industry, you have three buckets. You have underwritten emissions.

So what insurance companies actually insure. They have to, that's part of their scope three. They then have invested emissions. So the, the assets they invest in, what are the emissions associated with that? And then their operational emissions, which is emissions as a result of the supply chain and the activity.

Now, tracking one and two is fairly simple. You know, there's, there's, there's lots of software and things that will track that. The data is relatively easy to get because you control it. Yeah. Whereas how do you control a supply chain, like think about it. If you've got I'll give you an example of a company we talked to who have a billion dollars of CapEx and OPEX spend, they said they have 3000 companies that make up that supply chain.

How do you get 3000 companies to report back something to you?

Kelly Kennedy: No kidding.

Ross Huartt: Right? So that's what we've really developed as a toolkit for them to do that.

Kelly Kennedy: Wow. Wow. And so, okay. Okay. So you're not physically having to make these people comply. Essentially, you're giving, you know, insurance companies the resources to say, look, We need you to comply.

You need to use these tools and report back to us and then your proprietary software can really collaborate that obviously also using some training as well, but you can collaborate and consolidate all that information into into a dashboard basically.

Ross Huartt: Yeah, I mean, I don't love the word comply, but yes, that is largely what it is, but the.

The beauty, we're a certification body as well. So a lot of the supply chain gets certified, EcoClaim certified. So we have various products launched, but right now is. We have a baseline setting because again, back to your point, if the supply chain don't know what scope one to three is, which often they don't, how are we going to begin making improvements?

So we have a baseline setting training course on right now, and then EcoDivert, which is an actual course that teaches the, the, the supply chain to start with diverting waste, that's step one. Low hanging fruit, huge impact, simple to do once it's set up. And so we cer, we certify them, and they have to give recertify every year.

We can perform audits. Again, it's, but it's collaborative. No one's complying. Like again, one of the big roadblocks I envisioned was having all these contractors who had done things a certain way for a long time, having to change their process. However, and I think it's a lot to do with the Canadian social climate is always, you know, Canadians care about the environment as they should.

And there wasn't, the roadblocks were very limited. They saw this was the right thing to do. Why aren't we doing it? And we provided a way for them to actually verify that they're doing it. And I think that's the key.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, okay. So it's, it's actually a really big service and really you're involved in almost every step of the way.

Ross Huartt: Yeah. So the way I like to think of it is and I'm taking this from Jodi, our CEO, but she summed it up very, very, very well. We. Sustainability is a step function. It's impossible to come in with a policy or a magic one and tell everyone they now need to be net zero. Cause what does that even mean? How do we get there?

And so we've sat on this journey with our insurance clients, with, with our supply chain customers to step function. So we're starting with waste diversion and then starting tracking their own scope one and two. But guess what these companies that didn't do anything have now taken a first step on that ladder.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah.

Ross Huartt: So then the next incremental changes aren't that big Because it's a step function. Now, one of the key things I look at here is that there's legislation around the world is coming out. California just announced reporting requirements, the first U. S. state to, and, and so this is coming whether people like it or not.

And so I'm a firm believer in, you can be an early adopter. And, and get the benefit of being an early adopter and making some positive changes. Or you can wait till you're forced to comply to this in five to ten years. Like, in ten years, I guarantee you won't be able to get a building permit or demolition permit without a sustainability plan that needs to be approved by a professional, for example.

Kelly Kennedy: So tell me right now, who are the ideal clients for an EcoClaim?

Ross Huartt: So right now we're, we're targeted on the insurance industry. So at the top of the funnel, we have insurance customers. Again, they drive change within their supply chain, and they also need to report on the supply chain. So it's anyone within that.

So that includes, we have brokers signed up. We have MGAs managing general agents signing up, but anyone in that funnel can benefit from this and, and being an early adopter, however, with. As it applies to a supply chain, we've we identify the adjacent markets. Immediate adjacent markets would be construction or real estate.

So if you're a large multi billion dollar contractor, and this is quite a few in Canada, then this tool kit. Would essentially allow you to, to measure your scope three and drive down those emissions and ultimately generate offsets as a result. Same with real estate. If you're a real estate developer or a large asset management company, you influence the large supply chain.

This would equally apply to that. But in, in my vision, I see a vision where because insurance touches absolutely everything around us, everything in your office is insured. I envision a world that through the insurance channel. We can apply this to as many verticals as possible.

Kelly Kennedy: Wow. It is a big dream, dude.

Ross Huartt: Yeah. I mean, it's I've been inspired recently, you know, like last week when I was at the, or two weeks ago when I was at the accelerator program in New York with, with Metaprop, Yeah, a company called Watershed, who has a similar business model to us again, applied slightly differently, more scope wanted to, but the essence of giving tools to change behaviors, measure the behaviors and create a marketplace to help change behaviors.

Like they just got valued at 1. 8 billion dollars and the most the most valuable climate tech company in the world. And why I got excited about that was I'm like, that's what we're doing just in a different vertical. And so I'm excited because I think we can actually have, it's not the money that excites me.

I'm sure that sounds great, but it's that the impact that they're now having. With that kind of raise and that size is enormous.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes.

Ross Huartt: And that's, that's, that's what we want to do.

Kelly Kennedy: That's what I mean. Like companies don't get to be over a billion dollars without making a gigantic impact in the world. And I know, I know you, and I know that you wouldn't settle for anything less.

Ross Huartt: No, I mean, it's a, that's what it really is. You can't, you know, building a billion dollar engineering firm would be hard without huge capital. And, and even then, now there's some big players. But being on the bleeding edge, as someone called it, of a burgeoning market, which is the carbon markets. Anytime there's a change in legislation and regulation and new markets open up, that's where, that's where innovation comes from.

And I feel like that's really where we found ourselves now. Was this my grandioso plan? No, I just thought I started this because I wanted to do more work with a customer and this is what they needed. But as it happens with legislation and learning more about it, This is big. So back to taking that first step.

If I'd never done that presentation, if I'd never invited that executive, if, if, if, if, right?

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. Well, speaking of, you guys have lots of partners jumping on board. Why don't we talk a little bit about some of the partnerships you've managed to acquire?

Ross Huartt: Yeah, absolutely. We did our Series A funding raise.

And we have some really Exciting businesses is part of that. One of the ones you may have seen on LinkedIn that you referenced was Metaprop Venture Capital. Metaprop are a New York based VC fund. They work with the Economic Development Department of New York City. They're partnered with Columbia University.

And they have an accelerator every year, call it the cohort, if you will. And so we were introduced to them and they were, they'd been searching for something in the realm of sustainability as it, as it applied to the built environment, you know, New York's quite progressive and I believe they require asset owners to report on the body carbon of their assets now.

And so again, fresh in their mind and we met and they loved what we were doing. And we agreed to become. Part of their this year's cohort and come to New York and kick off the accelerator. And now I'd never done an accelerator before, so this was new to me. And I can be honest. I was, I never loved school, the school environment, the restrictive environment that it felt like.

So I was, I don't know, I was weird. I was excited because I knew what these. This company was what they do, who they help. But I was also like, Oh, am I going to have to sit through things? I don't want to sit through.

Kelly Kennedy: Right. You're like, I thought I got out of school?

Ross Huartt: Yeah. Right. I thought I said, but I have the,? The, the people that we've met the, in the other.

Individuals as part of this, the enormous success they have had, the impact some of these individuals have had on the world stage. And back, back to your point of you, you can feel like you've done a lot until you meet others who've done more. Right. There's always someone who's done more. And so that's one of the key things here.

So we've only had the kickoff and then Jodi, who couldn't be here today, is in New York for the, for the second round. But it's been exciting. They take, you know, I think we're a bit more. What did they call us? More mature, if you will, there's a lot of people in the cohort that they've got a great idea.

They're a technical founder. And so Metaprop is bringing that business acumen to helping them develop their pitch. And I think we're in a little bit of different spot because we're in revenue. We have, we have lots of large institutional customers. We know our industry very, very well, but their insights have been amazing.

I mean, One little nugget, even on the first week, which I didn't even think of, they asked us, what's your leading indicator? And so I'm from a service business. What do you, well, my leading indicator is revenue and profit. How else do you know how you're doing? And it turns out in the tech world, it's slightly different because you can inflate revenue or get revenue, but does it mean it's sustainable and into the future?

Okay. And so one of the, one of the things we looked at for our leading indicators to show that we're, cause we're out here to make an impact and make a change. So how do we show that? Well, it would be projects process claims processed, if you will. And greenhouse gas emissions avoided. So rather than sure, revenue is important because it's a business, you have to operate.

But if we have those hamburger clickers, if you will, that show that, like that's showing that we're making a change. So those leading indicators are better than revenue because in a sense, the, the, the, The amount of change you're impacting and continue to do shows very favorably for anyone looking at the business or looking, you know, to raise another round, if you will, and so that was one of the key things for me was looking at leading indicators in a business that weren't just revenue and sales and profit and all your, yeah.

standard textbook business KPIs, if you will.

Kelly Kennedy: Sure. Sure. Do you, do you ever find it weird that like, you know, I mean, it's not fully a tech company, but you're pretty much becoming a tech company. Yeah. Do you ever find it weird that that's like the avenue that you've gone from such a service based business before?

It's still service. It's just a different kind. But do you ever think it's like, wow, like how did I end up here?

Ross Huartt: Yeah, you know, it's funny because I think about that all the time, actually, because my outfits have changed. I went from wearing suits and shirts to now wearing sneakers and Lululemon pants, because that's what you wear in tech.

You go to these conferences and I'd be the only one dressed up like a, like a stuffy CEO. That changed. But yeah, we're very like, you know what? What I, what I love about EcoClaim is that we

are agnostic in the sense that there's lots of solutions that exist. A lot of the technologies that exist, they just, no one has applied them to where you're applying them. So that's why we've got lots of partnerships coming up because for us, I don't want to reinvent the wheel, like carbon tracking software, for example, for, for carbon accounting.

Does, there's millions of companies that have done that. That's not new. However, has someone applied it to the supply chain quite like we have in the niche we have and guided them through it? No. Has anyone collected real live data on, you know, we all know we should do waste diversion. And we all, you know, it's the right thing, but no one's really doing it in this sector.

And so therefore, the combination of all these things is what makes EcoClaim innovative, not necessarily one singular thing on its own, which ultimately makes it hard to replicate.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, I don't, you know, we talked about this and it's like, I don't think you're going to have competition because At least not for a while because it's going to, it's not an easy thing to understand.

It is a challenging thing to understand and you found a way to measure and understand something that most people are like, how in the world, we're not even considering that right now.

Ross Huartt: That is the most concise summary feedback I've ever heard for it. Exactly that. We've taken something that's complex in nature and applied a framework to it that we can measure A benchmark and measure improvements.

And now, of course, there's lots of work to, there's lots of work to do. There's lots more improvements to be developed. I mean, that never stops, but fundamentally, that's it.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, yeah. Well, it's like anything, right? Like, how do you really know that you're doing it right and that you're successful? And it's measured, right?

But how many companies are measuring anything? Like the reality is we should be measuring everything. We live in a time where data has never been more available to us. And yet there's still so many people that just aren't tracking or measuring anything.

Ross Huartt: Well, I mean, you have these billion dollar institutions that still use spreadsheets.

So, I mean, I read a, there was a report, but I think it was KPFG I saw, and they essentially said that over 50 percent of companies are still using spreadsheets to manage their ESG data. Like you don't use spreadsheets for your accounting.

Kelly Kennedy: No.

Ross Huartt: You don't use spreadsheets for your workflow for your, for your projects.

I mean, maybe you do if you're small, but, but typically larger enterprises don't SMEs don't or shouldn't. And so the fact that half of them are, but again, it's also a good sign that half people are tracking something. Let's be clear. I'm not discrediting anyone doing anything with a spreadsheet because it's better than not doing it, but there's better ways to do it now.

Kelly Kennedy: So that's got me questioning. Okay, so EcoClaim, you're, you're, you're measuring ESG on supply chains. This seems really big, Ross. Could you not essentially measure all ESG on behalf of a company?

Ross Huartt: So, yeah, so that, I mean, ultimately, but back to, we've identified a very specific niche and a very specific need that can have, and with a, with, Quite a large impact, which being the supply chain, which is, you know, . Restoration construction companies.

And. Lloyds of London are currently working. They did an RFP and they're currently working with the ratings agency Moody's to develop a system by which they can measure ESG and all its various components. We're very much focused on the environmental side of ESG. How do we measure environmental?

Improvements. Now, do I see back to your point? Do I see a world where if we're taking the scope one and two of these restorers, then we expand out that that measurement protocol to include. The S and the, you know, to include the S and the G, absolutely. I mean that, but again, I've got to be cognizant of not going too wide back to the step function.

We don't want to come in and just bamboozle everyone. Everyone understands construction. Everyone understands waste diversion. Everyone understands that we're measuring it. Like, let's get everyone bought in and rowing together back to that point. And then we can start to make bigger leaps, bigger measures, bigger improvements.

But right now it's garnering, I'm trying to ensure we, we become the industry standard for this. And I think in a very short time, we've garnered, you know, around 20 percent of the insurance market is part of this now.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. And so you're, you're well on the way.

Ross Huartt: But that's, that's what's needed. Like if the, if the, I'm going to get on my soapbox here a little bit, because I'll give the insurance companies in Canada are fantastic with ESG.

They care about it. They genuinely do. And. But a lot of them are working in silos to fix these progress these problems. And unfortunately, ESG is not something that can be fixed in silo, no matter how big a company you are. And so I'm hoping that EcoClaim can unify the industry to do even greater good and measure it.

Kelly Kennedy: You know, you talked about obviously insurance companies in Canada being on board. But this is much bigger than Canada, right?

Ross Huartt: Yes, yes, Canada is a great, I call it, I call it a test market, if you will, you know, common law, you know, Lloyds of London is the largest insurance marketplace in the world, and a lot of innovation is driven out of that market that gets adopted around the world.

They haven't solved this problem. And so we've applied to become part of their, the Lloyd's lab program. We actually find out next week, so fingers crossed. And they, this year's theme, if you will, is, is sustainability in the Americas. So the Lloyd's lab want to bring in companies that are trying to solve sustainable issues or problems around ESG.

And essentially invest and support the growth of those. Now for us, that's a big market for us. And I'm sure that the companies would have valuable insights on the needs and how we develop our products. But ultimately we have the opportunity to make global change. If we're lucky enough for London to adopt EcoClaim as their standard, as it relates to the supply chain, I could be able to, I'd be able to tell my kids, like, look at the, look at what we did.

Look at the positive impact we did. And I think that's really what now the drivers become. I've become a bit of an altruistic capitalist by accident.

Kelly Kennedy: No, we all want to change the world and you want to and I want to. And we all have that impact that we're going to leave, right? Yeah, and it's cool because, you know, I get to leave a cool impact in the business development space.

I get to help lots and lots of companies. And, you know, you get to change the world by frankly, hopefully making the world a better place for our kids. Absolutely. Which. I think is the end goal and the thing that we all hope for. You know, we all want to live good, but we also want to leave the world, you know, hopefully a better place for our children.

Ross Huartt: Absolutely. You know, one of the big things I'll fit in here, you know, the back to the waste diversion for a moment, the gov, you know, the, the federal government has, has protocols and I'll use the, the, the landfill protocol as an example. They essentially, you can garner carbon credits or get projects approved to have certified carbon credits if you have extraction facilities, let's say.

So you put a methane extraction facility on top of a landfill, extracts it out, you can generate carbon credits as a result of that. Where that, where to me, where that falls down is that there's a gray box that acknowledges something goes to landfill, but they actually state they can't envision a world where the waste avoids landfill.

Which is bonkers to me because all we're, what we're doing is incentivizing companies to extract, which, which disincentivizes people to change their behavior for the better. Shouldn't behavioral change be first before we look at, before we look at additional, like we've almost done it backwards. We've put technology, try to put technology in place to capture and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which is excellent.

But with very limited focus on changing how we actually live and operate.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, no, for sure. I know we have lots of people, you know, from the VC world listening right now. Are you still accepting investment?

Ross Huartt: You know, EcoClaim is, I'm always open to key strategic partners for us. It's, you know, that's one of the things we were very key on in the series.

A was not, we had lots, we were very lucky and, and in terms of the funding available to us and the people that wanted to get involved. So the short answer is yes. We're always happy to talk to strategic investors that can help further. Further the business, further the cause, and that's really the key for us.

We don't just want someone to come in with, with money and then take a backseat. I want some, we want people that actively care about this and can bring value to the business, as well as the capital side of things.

Kelly Kennedy: Of course, of course. And you know, I'm sure we have lots of people from the construction industry listening right now thinking I think we should start looking at implementing this.

How, how might they go about doing that?

Ross Huartt: So. Our website, ecoclaim.ca, you can begin the process of exploring what it means for your business, but if you're a, if you're a subcontractor, a restoration contractor, a roofer exterior contractor, you can all be certified. And why that's important is we were creating a marketplace for that.

So the 20 billion of construction that's that's tied to insurance. We're hoping to capture that funnel and bring in sustainable businesses, sustainable materials, sustainable solutions to help further drive down emissions. And so I would say that the benefits initially to any of any, other than it being the absolute right thing to do would be that you get to say it loud, verify it, and then get access to other supply chain customers that value it as much as you do.

Kelly Kennedy: Awesome. And you're talking to an absolute ton of entrepreneurs, which, you know a little bit of motivating advice. You've got a piece of advice for them.

Ross Huartt: Take the first step, just do it. Don't overthink it. It's, it's it's. It's always boded well for me in the beginning. So that would be my advice. And, and I'd also say to anyone, feel free to reach out.

You know, I'm similar to you, Kelly. I'm always open to talking to people, giving some input or as best I can, you know, it's It's always good to help people. I owe my success in inverted commas. I hate using that term, but to certain people along the way. And if I can ever help one person, then that's what I'm happy to do.

Kelly Kennedy: Amazing. Amazing. And I do want to put you on the spot because you are, first off, an amazing speaker. I love chatting with you. Like you, you, you just have this energy that's absolutely perfect. And I always think in these situations, dude, when are you going to start a podcast?

Ross Huartt: Yeah, I know. I've been one of my, I knew you were going to bring this up.

So I do still have all the equipment. Being on the road has made it rather difficult and starting a second business, but again, they're just really excuses because back to my first piece of advice, I just haven't taken the first step. So I am committing to getting that done and starting setting, setting up the equipment as of next week.

And I'll be contacting yours truly there, Kelly, to help me kick it off and get it off the ground using all your knowledge.

Kelly Kennedy: Absolutely. My only requirement is that you bring me on as a guest at some point.

Ross Huartt: You're going to be my first guest, so there you go.

Kelly Kennedy: Awesome, awesome. Man, Ross, I love chatting with you.

You know you're welcome back on the show at any time. I'm, I'm inspired by the work that you do and the change you're leaving in the world. And congratulations on an amazing career. And I'm excited to see, you know, what is the future for Ross Huartt and EcoClaim. This has been episode 124 of the Business Development Podcast.

We've been graced with Ross Huartt, CEO of MBC Group, and founder and chairman of EcoClaim. Until next time, catch you on the flip side.

Outro: This has been the Business Development Podcast with Kelly Kennedy. Kelly has 15 years in. Sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020.

His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development. The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your business development specialists. For more, we invite you to the website @ www.capitalbd.ca. See you next time on the Business Development Podcast.