She Rebuilt from Rock Bottom to Blockchain Leader with Koleya Karringten

She Rebuilt from Rock Bottom to Blockchain Leader with Koleya Karringten

Kelly Kennedy: Welcome to episode 224 of the Business Development Podcast, and today I sit down with Koleya Karringten, a trailblazing, clean tech, entrepreneur, and blockchain leader whose story took this podcast in a direction I never expected from unimaginable setbacks to leading national innovation. This episode was absolutely powerful and left me impacted for hours.

You are not gonna want to miss it. Stick with us.

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.

In broadcasting to the world, you'll get 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 The Business Development Podcast, and now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy. Hello,

Kelly Kennedy: welcome to episode 224 of the Business Development Podcast. And on today's expert guest interview, I bring you Koleya Karringten. c is a trailblazing technology entrepreneur and advocate hailing from Alberta, Canada as the co-founder and CEO of Absolute Combustion International, A.C.I.

She has revolutionized the clean tech industry with groundbreaking solutions that span sectors such as aerospace and oil and gas. With over a decade of experience in designing and developing innovative industrial combustion technologies,  Koleya has led A.C.I. To the forefront of environmental sustainability, championing reduced emissions, lower fuel consumption, and enhanced safety measures.

Beyond her achievements in Cleantech,  Koleya is a prominent figure in Canada's blockchain ecosystem. She serves as the executive director of the Canadian Blockchain Consortium, CBC, and co-founder of the Canadian Blockchain Association for Women, CBAW, where she leverages her expertise to foster collaboration among industry leaders and government bodies.

Building the nation's largest blockchain community.  Koleya's dedication to emerging technology with social good has made her a powerful force in advocating for a fairer and more inclusive tech industry. Her passion for uniting diverse voices behind a common goal resonates in her roles as an influential public speaker, writer, and community volunteer.

Raised in a family that valued business and innovation.  Koleya's vision and leadership are rooted in lifelong commitment to pushing boundaries and challenging the status quo. She stands as a testament to the power of resilience and innovation, inspiring others to join her in creating a sustainable, prosperous future with a relentless drive to make a positive impact.

Koleya Karringten is not just shaping industries. She is shaping the future of Canada. Koleya, it's a pleasure to have you on the show today.

Koleya Karringten: Woo. That's an intro. My god, I hope I looked to it. My goodness!

Kelly Kennedy: My gosh. My I, I screwed up my last intro too, and it's so funny 'cause I fixed them all so nobody will ever know.

But my last one that I did too, my throat, by the time I get to the end of, it's like

you guys gotta stop being so damn successful. I need you to quit being so successful. Okay.

Koleya Karringten: I, I gonna, whatever you wrote, I gotta use as my bio and they start introducing me for like public speaking things.

Kelly Kennedy: Oh my goodness. I have wanted to have you on the show for quite a while. I think we chatted, I wanna say like back in April. I, I want to say it was when we first talked about having you on the show and we've had a couple reschedules, you had a, a tragic, crazy accident on vacation. Thank God you're alive.

Yep. My goodness. It's it's great to have you here today and you know, you have been called the woman Elon Musk, and so, you know, honestly, after reading your story in Mike Mac's book yeah, I might have to agree with that. You're quite the impressive person.

Koleya Karringten: I, I, I love that. I wish I had Elon's money, so I don't think I'm quite there yet, but like, you know, maybe one day.

Kelly Kennedy: Well it'll catch up. I'm fairly confident at that. So talk to me, you know, you have done so much. Obviously I know a lot about you. I've, I've read your book, I know your background, but you know, for our listeners who are just meeting you for the first time, you know, who is Koleya Karringten?

Koleya Karringten: Oh, goodness.

That's, that sounds like one of those existential crisis kind of questions. Like, who am I as I go? Poise that to the universe. So just. Help me frame it. Like what, what would you like to, where would you like me to start?

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, take me back. Take me back to the beginning, you know, like you've been, you grew up in an entrepreneurial family, your father was an extremely successful entrepreneur himself, you know, take me back.

What was it like growing up in a family like that?

Koleya Karringten: Ah, okay. Well, you know how I actually like to preface this story because my, my dad's story is an important part of how my story kinda came to be. So, my dad was raised in, in BC young black family. And my grandma used, I dunno if you ever saw the movie, the Help, but my grandma would've been one of those women.

She would've been one of the, you know, ladies that came in taking care of children, cleaning and to make supplemental money. She had her kids get into music. My dad was actually a musician most of his life. Didn't finish high school. And then when he got out of music, he ended up meeting my mom, and my mom got pregnant with my sister.

And my dad was just like, oh God, how am I gonna make money? Because I think he was just doing construction at the time and he just, I don't know. He was a bit of a visionary back then. He tried to figure out how to become a Fortune 500 executive without having to go back to school or work his way up a corporate ladder.

He's like, there must be a shortcut to this. And so he did this like diagram and figured out that the one thing that everyone had in common that was a Fortune 500 executive, is when they would come into town at that time. And you're talking like early eighties, there'd be a concierge service. It's, they wouldn't really rent a car.

They, they would rent a driver. And so my dad ended up getting a loan from the bank and deciding that he was going to create a ground transportation company, but he only wanted to drive around the Fortune 500 executives. By the time I was born, my dad had ended up raising, I think close to $2 million, and again, you're going back to the eighties, so it was a decent sum of money and started his whole fleet.

I think by the time he was done, he had like 13. 13 limos and drivers, and he toured around everybody, like CEO of Coca-Cola, fortune 500 execs, and they would actually keep the partition on the window down. 'cause he would just ask them all these questions. So over the eight years, it's like he went from having no education to a master's in business.

By the time I was three, my dad realized, he's like, okay. I don't have anyone to talk to. There wasn't like a CEO forum back then where, you know, today you can go meet with other CEOs and talk about your problems. I think I was just like a really quiet, compliant kind of child. So my dad was like, I'm just gonna talk to you about all the things that are I'm learning.

I know you probably won't understand it, but I need someone to talk to and it's gonna be you. So I started getting this like interesting education in business, just like everything that happened to my dad in the day. And then by the time I was five, my dad realized he wanted me to be in business too.

He's like, I think this is a really good path for a girl, but if you're gonna be a woman in business, you also have to learn how to be a lady. So he started putting me in etiquette classes by the time I was five years old. 'cause he is like. I just wanted to make sure that there was no room, I couldn't sit in or door, I couldn't open based on my manners.

By the time I was eight, my father was contemplating, like selling his concierge service and anything that my dad did in terms of like education and training, he always brought me with, that was kind of like his little shadow or little protege or something. So I just remember him bringing like financial people to the table and they would talk all about everything from like.

Fiduciary responsibilities and compounding interest rates and scaling and selling and public companies and all these different things. And again, I didn't know a ton, but I knew that if I save like $25 a week at my age, I, by the time I was like 25, I'd be a millionaire. And it really fascinated me that you could save that much money from eight and just be like super well off.

Not that that happened, like I'm pretty sure by the time I hit 15 I was just like, I can go shopping and yeah.

But I remember when I was 11, my dad had gotten outta the concierge business and he really wanted to be like an international public speaker. And there was a gentleman at the time, his name was Jim Rohn.

He was very influential at the time. He actually turned out, turned into Tony Robbins, that was his mentor. So if you, if you ever go to Tony Robbins and he kind of talks about his origins. My dad and Tony were in the same classes together, like they both did the same thing. And I just remember being a kid and I'd be in these weekend workshops with Jim Rohn and like 50 plus other business people.

And I realized by that point I wanted to be in business. I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I just knew it had to involve business. And I remember my favorite story about this. I was like feverishly taking notes throughout the entire weekend workshop. And then by the end of it, like I think he must have noticed how much notes I was taking.

And I was guaranteed the youngest person in that room by a farm market. And he just asked everyone like, okay, raise your hands and keep 'em up. Like, how many of you took like five pages of notes and then, you know. So many people had their hands up, 10 pages of notes. How many people dropped their hands? I think by the time I was, I was the only one with the hand left up.

And he asked me to come to the front of the room with my little notebook. And I'll also preface that my writing at 11 was trash. And I'm pretty sure that it would've equated to maybe an adult handwritings five pages of notes. But like, I was very eager. And so I had 16 pages of notes and he just made a comment.

Wow. And he is just like, you know, she's 11 years old. She came in for the entire weekend. She paid attention the whole time. Like, this girl's gonna go places. Like, she took more notes in every one of the adults in this room. And I was just like, I just remember this like feeling of pride, like, yes, I'm gonna be in business and this guy thinks I could be successful and I think that time I was 13. I started my first company. Now mind you, it wasn't like anything special. It was like a lawn mowing business. My dad let me take classes for something called Corral Draw. I mean, way back before you had all these amazing tools today that you can make any graphic you want, you had to literally learn how to make your own circle and color it on.

So I made my own little posters and went around my entire community posting them, and I was making 20 bucks a lawn and I was even getting offers like three communities over to like mow all these different lawns. And I, I made like a lot of money that summer and I was super proud about it. I just like walk around with my lawnmower in a gas can and sometimes even get my dad to do free labor.

He thought I was very shrewd salesman considering it was his equipment and his gas and sometimes his energy that I was making all the money. He's like, it's not normally how business works. I was like, I know, but. I'm young entrepreneur, gotta gotta help me start off somewhere. Right? And then by the time I was 20 to my dad's, a bit of my dad's chagrin, I ended up becoming a young mom, very young mom.

I was engaged at the time and my dad ended up having this entire, like, I think he just went through a whole other crisis. Like the first crisis was, dear God, I'm gonna be a father. The second crisis, like, dear God, my daughter's gonna be a mother. And around that time I think Al Gore was doing a lot of discussions around climate change and we were, you know, just, I think he was a lot more conscientious of what that could mean than I was at my age.

And he was very concerned like, is there gonna be clean air? Is there gonna be clean water? Is there going to be, you know, like playgrounds that weren't previously landfills. Like what's, what's the world gonna look like for, you know, his grandchild when the time they hit 20. And so my dad decided that we were going to start a business.

The business had to be a technology based business. That technology had to benefit the environment because it benefited the environment, it would benefit the people in it. And I'm 20, I barely passed high school. I don't think I knew what I knew, if that made any sense. Right. Like, granted, my father had been talking to me Sure.

Since I was three. But it's not like I had all this real world experience to think we could start a tech company. Yeah. To do what my father was wanting to achieve. But we tried partnering with a lot of different inventors. Like my dad was really good at, you know, business consulting. He'd been doing it all around the world.

He was making like really good cash at the time. I. So he understood business. He might not have understood tech, but he is like, I could help these guys get their, their tech to market. And I definitely realized that trying to work with engineers, I like to describe it, like trying to work with that golem character from Lord of the Rings.

You know, it was just like that, that tech, that ring was their precious and that ring was never getting off their finger. Yeah, it was never ready for market, but it was also, everything was always a billion dollar idea. Even if they hadn't made a penny for it, it was still sitting in their garage. And I think after a few years of that, my dad and I were like, I don't know how this is supposed to work.

Like, not for lack of trying, but this was becoming a, a difficult endeavor. And we are, I have a bit of a unique cultural background. So like, there's indigenous, there's African American, there's Irish French, and from the indigenous side, in fact it's Choctaw from Oklahoma. And my dad's elder was in Calgary.

My dad went to our indigenous elder and he is like, okay, I have this idea, like I really feel called to like, support the planet. I don't quite know how here's my struggle. And so the elder did a sweat with him. So like an indigenous culture, like you can kinda have like a vision quest through doing like a sweat.

So basically you just go into like a teepee and it's very, very, very hot. Now my dad definitely had a vision, or he was heavily hy, dehydrated and hallucinated, but we're gonna go with vision. And he ended up seeing like his spirit animal in, in this sweat, which was really quite beautiful. It was a wolf in within 24 hours of having this sweat, I just remember him like waking me up in the middle of the night.

He just had this insane dream and he wrote it down on paper and my dad couldn't draw a stick figure on a good day. So it was very confusing trying to figure out what he wrote down on this piece of paper. But he is like, he described it like he was sitting in a holographic projector. Now mind you, we like Star Trek back in the day and he was like.

He saw the internal workings of a combustion burner system. He didn't quite know what it was, but he saw this like basically internal device. He describes it like it was being downloaded to him and he couldn't wake up until he had literally memorized everything, every striation in the nozzle, everything.

And he was like, I really feel called like this. This is something. So we went to a woman that was part of like a spiritual group. My mother and father and I did a lot of like, you know, emotional self-development as a family, trying to just, you know, move through whatever our generational traumas could have been.

And this woman my dad sat down with, of course, he explained his vision and she literally just wrote a check and handed it to him for a hundred thousand dollars. And she's just like, I just, I know I'm called to give this to you. And from there, I think we ended up raising about three and a half million dollars to start while my dad was, was still alive.

We went to this gentleman who ended up Wow. Being our head of r and d and my dad asked him, he's just like, okay, what do you think this is? And he is like, well, it looks like a nozzle. He is like, okay, well what do you think it goes to? He is like, well, I think it goes to a burner. Which is really interesting because like we didn't have any background in that.

And what it ended up being was the nozzle system to a burner that came, became one of the cleanest burning systems in the world. It had a hundred percent combustion. Wow. Produce zero carbon monoxide, zero nitrous oxide, and can reduce carbon dioxide by 44%, at least up to 72. And so I ended up getting a bit of a crash course in everything to do with combustion and oil and gas, and you name it, it, I spent 17 years of my life in this.

My father, unfortunately passed away Wow. In 2014. And at that time, the tech hadn't been out of a lab, but we had gotten it to a point where we, we'd fully automated, we'd worked with Nate, we'd worked with Alberta Innovates, we'd worked with N-R-C-I-R rep, we'd worked with Alberta Innovates. And we'd done funding.

We'd done shred, we've raised money and it was a fully automated forced air, 3.5 million BTU system that CRL was gonna do a field trial with. And I remember the month he passed away, my dad won Canada's top energy innovator award for what he had done. Wow. And we were putting it out into the field.

Unfortunately, after I think like a month or so of it operating, the oil and gas prices kind of, it crashed, right? So it was right around the time where 2015, everything kind of went to crap. And I was like, I just lost my dad. We couldn't keep our field trial going because it was, it was very successful in terms of the trial.

Like we'd actually proven to them we could reduce their fuel emissions by the same amount. We could also increase their production. So we could increase their process by like 99 or something barrels per hour, which was massive. Wow. Or we could reduce their overall fuel and energy cost by 44%. So it was a really versatile, phenomenal technology.

But because of the fact that it didn't have this massive track record of being purchased, it was like, you know, and everything was cutting budgets. It took me probably 18 months to find a new company that was willing to try it, commercialize it. It was, yeah, it was an interesting crash course. I had to learn how to raise money.

I, I had to learn how to do all the r and d. I had to learn how to try and get a product to market, developing out all these relationships. But my dad had done me a really big solid when I was working with him, and he sent me all around North America and I got to learn from guys like Jay Abrams, George Ross, Eric Trump, Nido Qubein, all around, like branding and partnerships and relationships.

And I'd been mentored since, basically I was three and I never stopped being mentored. So. I got to go to this woman in leadership lunch and I saw a woman named Suzanne West speak. And funny enough, this is how I got into crypto. If anyone's ever curious how I got in, this is how I got in. And it was my very first time trying to socialize and network.

I was kind of nervous. I wasn't exactly an extrovert. But Suzanne spoke and I just, I just knew, I was like, I'm gonna work with her. I have to work with her. I dunno how I'm gonna work with her, but I'm going to work with her. And she taught me this really powerful message when she was talking. It was, and not, or it was like, you can be a woman in business and you can be a mom.

Like, you're not limited, right? You're only limited by your belief system, but you're not limited by what you can do just because of the fact that you're, you're a woman or you're a minority, or whatever it is that you know, you feel your bailiwick is. So my dad's really good friend at the time I found out was her chief marketing officer.

So he helped me get a meeting with Suzanne and I showed her like the technology, I showed her videos of my dad and I just remember he called me like one night, like I think it was like 10 o'clock at night after watching a video about my dad talking about his, his vision quest, the sweat, the tech. And she's crying and she's just like, your father was my sole brother.

Like I know that we were meant, we were meant to do this together. I'm so sad I didn't get to meet him, but I'm going to invest in your technology. I'm gonna invest in you personally. I'm going to commercialize it for you. So we'll buy your first unit and we'll set up a contract to help you, like get this out there.

Like she's like, we're gonna partner. And I was. Wow. Like I was just in tears. I was like, oh my God, I can't believe this happened. Like I just, I knew it was meant to be. And over the time that we were partnering and we're commercializing this technology, you know, she talked a lot about this idea for an organization.

She wanted to kind of kick off called the Alberta Blockchain Consortium, like the A, b, C. She really wanted to see how this blockchain from an enterprise technology perspective could revolutionize the oil and gas industry. 'cause she was very focused on like environmental stewardship, like the three Ps, people, planet, profit.

And my dad was like, planet people profit. So I was like, we're so aligned on that, just maybe a little bit different in like what, what we put first. But it was just, it was a phenomenal opportunity. And then it was it was very devastating. It was like the week that she turned on the tech. She ended up her investors at the time.

Thought that she was just way too, kind of like woo woo out there, way too focused on clean tech, not enough on like traditional oil and gas production. And she got removed from her company and they basically shut down the 17 clean techs that she brought in. Everything just got removed. I got my tech back and it was really disheartening 'cause they even ripped up my, like I had a contract for 17 units worth $4 million.

And they basically just told me like, so sue me. I was like, you sue an oil and gas company, you're never gonna get business in this industry again. So I just knew it wasn't worth it. But sure I was pregnant at the time. I didn't know quite what I was gonna do. And then she ended up, dying of a very aggressive brain cancer within three months of being removed from her company.

And I just remember hearing the news and hitting the floor, it just felt like losing my dad all over again because it was like the first time I got to have a female mentor. Yeah. You know, I just, I was so honored to be able to work with this incredible human being and all the conversations she was having about blockchain really got me into it.

But again, from like a, an oil and gas kind of energy perspective. And I was really fascinated on like digital asset mining and then how that would, you know, support the oil and gas sector. And so a gentleman named James Graham, who works with a company called Guild One, took me out for shots of tequila and said, Hey, Kay.

That's what he, he would call me as Kay versus my whole name. And he's just like. I really think that you should take on Suzanne's legacy and like do something with the A, B, C, like you're growing your name in the community. I was actually like doing free lunch and learns and stuff like that at the time, trying to teach people about like how to do their own due diligence about like what crypto really is about, like the, the parts of it that were securities about, you know, the history of money and economics.

I, I guess, you know, people were like, yeah, we. We'd love to see you do this. So I was like, really? Okay. So I, I reached out to my lawyer just to ask, like, I wasn't really sure because I'd never talked to Suzanne about something like this. And I was like, is it incorporated? Is it a business? And so we did a nuance search and it had never been incorporated.

There was no website. I was able to buy the domain name, domain name incorporated. And I wanted to make sure it was a not-for-profit. I was like, if we're gonna keep her legacy going like this can't be a for-profit, this needs to be not-for-profit. It needs to, you know, follow her legacy. So every time we host an event, everything we did, we just wanted to make sure everyone always knew about Luke, Suzanne, the work that she did, what an incredible human being she was, and follow through with the things that meant the most to her, like our charitable give back and stuff.

And I think from there I was kind of trying to do two things at the same time. Interestingly enough, like I was, I think I was like five months pregnant and I had. Incorporated the A, B, C. But I got a phone call from the Alberta government asking, Hey, would you be interested in coming along on a trade mission with us to Japan for an aviation conference?

And since oil and gas didn't really seem like it was going to be, you know, work out for me, I was like, okay, but you, you need to bring someone from aviation over to see the tech. I don't know how these two things relate at the time. Sure. And I know my friend Kimberly Van Fleet was talking about like, she was starting this conference called Convergex and it's all where industry lines blur and how, you know, technologies can work across multiple industry sectors.

And I was like, okay. Like I'm, I'm very open to it. Yeah. I just don't understand it. So he brought me the VP of the Edmonton airport, who's now their current CEO and he brought me the chief pilot for Canadian North Airlines and an engineer and someone that worked in the Alberta government, had been in the aviation division and they saw it and.

Next thing I know, they're like, I, I think we just saw the future of space travel. Like they were so impressed with the technology and they said, look, we'll work with you, but you have to come to Japan. So I was like, oh my God, how am I gonna make this happen? I knew my baby would be nine weeks old by the time this trade mission would happen.

So I packed up my kids. Oh my goodness. I packed up my husband at the time. I packed up my sister-in-law. I even packed up my friend who was a doctor. I was like, I was like, I'm traveling with a nine week old. I was a little freaked out. I was like, we're going to Japan guys. Like we're gonna look for opportunities.

And I remember they walked me around the trade show floor and they showed me this like very antiquated in their minds, very antiquated system for heating up aircraft. And they're like, can you take your technology and do something with it to help re like make this better? And I just automatically said yes.

I had no freaking clue, but I was like, absolutely, yeah, we could figure this out. Yeah. And we ended up 75% of the people that came on that trade mission with us, with the Alberta government invested. We got a partnership with the Edmonton Airport where we spent four years designing and testing with Canadian North, a brand new piece of ground heating equipment that would save 72% on fuel costs and emissions, and was able to heat an aircraft up to temperatures of like minus 50 without them having to turn on their engines and burn more fuel.

Like it was revolutionary. And we did such amazing work with them. We were so honored for the partnership we got and the, the week we launched, like I think we launched on a Monday and sometime within that week Trudeau stood up and said, we are canceling all flights across the country, COVID pandemic and

Kelly Kennedy: Oh no.

And I was like,

Koleya Karringten: what? So everything that we had done for four years to build relationships with aviation, all the partnerships we had, the funding opportunities, you name it, you know, watch that just go up and smoke. But at the same time, my Alberta Blockchain consortium, we'd been doing like a lot of in-person things.

We just did our first Alberta blockchain week. We're hosting summits and symposiums. We're bringing in like the top Bitcoin experts from all around the world to come and speak, like we're growing it and everything was growing based on being in person. So now I'm not allowed to host events. My product line in aviation has gone to the absolute pooper.

I had a three-year-old child, well two kids, a husband and mortgage people to look after. I was like, oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. And I ended up having like a bit of a major health crisis at this point. 'cause my stress level was somewhere through the roof. So the, yeah, Alberta Blockchain Consortium went digitally, basically overnight.

We launched as a Canadian blockchain consortium, and we just started putting out webinars every single week. We were like, all right, let's find a new innovative business model. What can we do? What's gonna make sense? And it, we exponentially grew. It was absolutely incredible. Like, we went from having like 20 members, we're now, I think, like 85 growing to a hundred, and we just completely shifted our value proposition due to Covid.

And then with the, with A.C.I., it was a bit more, a bit more sad. Like we, we definitely tried to give it a, a kick at the cat. Aviation was not gonna recover for a very long time just because they lost a hundred percent of their revenues. They're not like government funded agencies. We, you know, did more r and d and tried to get into the oil and gas space, but.

Unfortunately it was or not, oil and gas, right construction space, but it unfortunately was just too hard of a road to keep climbing. And it was one of those experiences where I felt like it was like pushing a boulder up a hill and washing it, crutch you on a daily basis, but then keep pushing it up a hill.

And I did 17 years of it and finally I was like, okay, I think we're. I think we're just being told no. And what was happening with the consortium was just really, really growing in such a beautiful way and everything just seemed to be going so well and the relationships that I had built from like, basically my energy and tech background or just coming in so nicely to, to the space I'm in right now.

And so I've been doing, I guess since like 2017 ish, I've been in the digital asset space and of course I'm still with CBC and now we're launching a brand new company in partnership with it, which is an association. It'll be the world's first association base captive insurance company specifically for digital asset businesses.

So you know. Can't stop, won't stop always on this path of like being an entrepreneur and keeping things going. I wish I could have kept my dad's legacy with his tech going not for, for lack of trying and all the funding I, I had even sold my house to try and keep it going, but it was like, okay, I'm being other things.

Like, wow, it's just not, not working out the way I would love it to. So yeah, so where I'm sitting today is like, I'm very excited about the work that we're doing in the digital asset space. You know, we have grown the largest and long, longest running industry association in Canada. You know, we have amazing relationships with government, with regulators, you know, major heads of industry, and you we're just keeping going.

Kelly Kennedy: Your story is amazing and I can't wait to talk to you about blockchain because it's something that I like talking about. We talked about this before the show. To me, it seems like magic. It's like, how does this thing work? What does it all mean? And I know I'm not alone in that, so I'm hoping at some point we can do a little bit of a crash course.

I know we talked about this, there's, there's plenty of different ways to look at it depending on how you're, you're applying it, which is interesting and I didn't know that, but you know, before we get into that, Koleya, one of the things that really stood out about your journey to me that I wanted to talk to you about is that you are like the queen of resilience.

You are like the queen of resilience. Like the amount of of adversity that you have had to overcome in your entrepreneurial career is absolutely unbelievable. You know, when I was just kind of looking at the timeline, obviously losing your father in 2015, right? At the same time heading into obviously the worst oil and gas, you know, turn since, since 2008 for Canada, we went through.

I think, I don't think we've ever completely recovered from that. It was a total mess. I was in the inspection industry in that time, oil and gas inspection. And that company that I was with was frankly just lucky to make it out. We had some great contracts that rode out 'cause they had maintenance needs, but many companies died.

Many, many, many service-based companies died at the 2015 downturn in Alberta. And it's come up multiple times on the show. But to go through that, come out and, you know, have, have 2018 come where things were looking really great for you 2017, and then losing your mentor and having your contract torn up at the same time like.

How, like, how, how are you able to keep going? Like why? I think so many people would've just been like, I can't do this. Like I can't do this. But I have a feeling that you, you didn't give up because it is frankly a part of your blood. I really think for some people they just are entrepreneurs through and through and come hell or high water come failure after failure.

They just don't give up. But I wanna know your, like, talk to me in those experiences, obviously losing any family member is horrible and tragic and going through loss like that, three years apart, two major losses, the loss of frankly, you know, the business that you've been working on as well. Walk me through this, like what was, how were you able to come back from that?

Koleya Karringten: Well, there's also like divorce near bankruptcy, near death. I mean, I think I, they said I had, six of the seven major life experiences within like a three year period. But I would say that and this is what gets me into being a big, big champion for mental health. I started when I was 20 or 21, actually, my son was about four months old.

I knew I was gonna be, you know, a, a single mom, and I really wanted to make sure that. I could support my child, you know, like I wanted to be a better parent. Like, not that I didn't have amazing parents, but like I wanted to make sure I could be the best parent that I could be. And so I started trying to figure out how to, you know, just work on myself.

I had had, I know I didn't get into this in, in this podcast, but I was, I was raised in a cult. I had a lot of kind of like trauma growing up in my background, even though I had a lot of, you know, amazing opportunities with my dad. There was still a lot of things that happened from being like raised in the cult and, you know, I got into drugs and I was a teenager because, you know, of things that happened in my past and you know, going through heat rehab and all this kind of stuff.

So I was like, okay, I need to be a good person. And I started doing this work with a gentleman named Andre McKinnon and. It was all around learning how to, like, feel your feelings, right? Like a lot of people think about feelings and they're like, happy, sad, angry, and they don't kind of really get into it and they're not, and it, it's scary to get into those places where it's like, I'm unlovable, I'm unworthy them, all these different feelings.

Yeah. And really they, they teach you how to feel it, to heal it, right? So it's like whatever traumas you've gone through, fusion with your mother or your father, abuse, whatever it be. And I was really grateful. My parents actually dove into it with me. They're like, as a family, let's heal. And I think every year for about six years, we did about 1600 hours together of these like workshops.

So it was very, very intensive On top of it. My mother was very into spirituality, so we were doing every alternative kind of thing you could imagine from like reiki healings. And we would do like, like past life generational therapy, like you name it, we were doing it. And then I found this amazing woman, I think my son was.

Four and her name was Sues Casey. And she does this work called Belief re-Patterning. And what I loved with the combination of like working with Andre on really learning how to like go through these feelings and learn how to move through my traumas and learn how to kind of recognize and take this radical account like self-acceptance and self-accountability.

But I kind of felt like I was getting stuck in the mud in some places. And with SU's work, she would actually help you re reprogram your neural pathways to become your own best self-talk coach. So it's like where you think you're unworthy, how are you worthy when you think you're unlovable, how like to get you to a point of being lovable, always focusing on making decisions from what she calls the upside of the line.

And it's like a form of cognitive behavioral therapy. And I just dove into that. And to this day, I work with her every single week. I, I strongly believe that if you're gonna be an entrepreneur and you wanna have resilience, you need to learn how to navigate anything and everything and learn how to move through things, not get stuck in things, recognize where it's at.

I did a lot of work with this woman named Byron Katie, and she really focused on, it's an is it is what it is. Like, you know, should or coulda what is they do not matter. You just focus on, okay, this, this experience happened and how do we navigate, how do we move forward? How do we talk positively to ourselves?

How do we emotionally, you know, make sure that we're, we're meeting our own needs. So I think like I, I did a mental health summit a couple years ago and I tallied close to 12,000 hours worth of just personal development work over the last 18. Wow. 18, 19 years. So I'm a very big component to that. So when people go like, how have you navigated all these different things?

A lot of it is like, I have failed, fallen on my ass, nearly hit bankruptcy about twice, you know, I've been divorced twice. I, you know, like, it's like some people think like, oh, you're so lucky. It's just like, I'm resilient. I'm willing to work my butt off. You know? Yeah. I can recognize where I have failed and you know, I constantly just strive, like, do better tomorrow than you did, you know, the previous day.

Like, just waking up and being grateful. Like every opportunity, even the smallest one, it's like I am, I am so grateful. I'm grateful for this meeting. I'm grateful for this kind interaction. I'm grateful for this, this good email. And just like working to make sure that I live my life in a state of like gratitude.

You know, and, and positivity.

Kelly Kennedy: Wow. Wow. Yeah. It's like, I just remember reading your story and just like, I, I like immediately was like, how in the world did she keep going? Like, it was just, it seemed so challenging, but it's so much about mindset. But you know, like as a guy, I know we've struggled a lot. I've struggled a lot in my life with, with getting in touch with my feelings.

I'm one of those people that just, I just shut down and, you know, and. I, I love my fiance. She's an amazing woman, and she's called me out. You know, she's probably put me through more of my own, like self-growth than anybody that I've, I've ever been with or known because she'll sit down and be like, okay, like you're shutting down on me.

Like, she knows my feelings better than I know my feelings, but I've definitely struggled with dealing with a lot of my challenges and I think, you know. 2020 really, COVID really opened up that door to say like, you know what? It's okay to deal with your mental health. It's okay if you're feeling a certain set of ways.

Right? Like, I was one of those people who just shoved it all down. I'm tough. I'll figure it out. I'll, I'll come out the other end of that. But it's like, my gosh, like I started to realize there are some really negative consequences to just burying everything that comes your way. And I know as a guy, I'm trying to do better at this, but yeah, it is a struggle for sure.

And I, you know, talking to all my men out there, guys, I know, I know you're tough. I know you're tough, but it's, you don't have to hold it all yourself. Like, therapy is amazing. I've done therapy. I'm sure there's a lot more therapy and a lot more things like that I need to do and should go do. But I will say it's not as scary as you think.

Koleya Karringten: It definitely isn't. Like I, I'll say this, like when you really, truly start. Diving in and learning about yourself. You know, it's like there are parts where you're like, I'd rather not look at that. But if you're willing and like, yeah, have the courage, because the other side of that is just it. There's peace.

You know, there's, there's happiness. Like happiness is not a destination. It's not, if I do this, I'll be there. It look at it like a train ride, and there's many stops along that before you get to the end of your destination, which is like, you know, the end of your life. It is, you're gonna go through ups and downs and tunnels and, and hills and all kinds of things.

It's, it's a journey. And it's okay to have moments on that journey that you're like. Am I gonna make it through this tunnel? And it's so, and it's amazing to have moments on that journey where you're like, you know, I'm so excited. I can't believe this is happening to me. Right? Yeah. And it's like, and all things are okay.

It's just, it, it is what it is. You're gonna go through feelings and, but if you're willing to take accountability and look at yourself, you're only going to benefit your own life. And, and that of the people around you as well. Like, you know, when, when men and women are both committed, like you will never go through more emotional challenges than you will when you're in partnership, right.

Because when you're alone, your stuff doesn't come up. Yeah. When you're in partnership, all the stuff gets brought up. Your abandonment issues, your fear of rejection. Yeah. Your fear of, you know, if she really gets to know me, will she still love me? Right. And everyone's trying to just, they, they have different masks on like, I'm a mother, I'm a father, I'm a this, I'm a that.

As opposed to just trying to figure out who they are as people. You know, and just, it's a journey. It's a part of life. And I'm, I'm grateful I kind of pushed myself into it at, at a young age and can't stop, won't stop. Like, I've tried everything from like PTSD therapy, EMDR or brain spotting, traditional therapy, alternative therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, energy frequency therapy.

Like, one of my favorite things right now is actually I am at this place called Nirvana, and they do a form of how would I describe this properly? But they map your brain and they figure out exactly where your brain is sitting. Like how is, how is the left side communicating with the right side? Is there inflammation in your brain?

How are your neurological functions, functions happening? And then they actually help you to rewire your brain. So it works. It's like a, it's like a reset, like it works optimally. And I've done probably 30 something sessions over the last year, and I remember having a partner when I started and I think three quarters of the way through, it's like.

My own energy, my own frequency. It just shifted so much that both of us are like, you know, I think great people, but who I was when I met you and who I am now, not really aligned, but we can be friends, you know? Wow. And you really start to kind of, it just, it resets your brain to really come back to a place.

'cause I still had anxiety. I was still like, you know, very nervous about relationships and am I good enough of this and that. And after doing all these sessions that like, it just kind of reset my head to be like, there's no more anxiousness. There's no nervousness. Like all the, the, the brain talking, that wouldn't shut off.

You know? I was like, wow, that was a really amazing thing. And the guy who leads that is like, you know, a lot of people who've done work like you for like 20 something years who just kept kind of questioning, why isn't it sinking in if your body and your brain aren't in line with your emotions and your energy?

It's just like, so, it's just, it's so holistic how you have to, to kind of look at, yeah. I know we've kind of gone off on a weird tangent. It's not about blockchain.

Kelly Kennedy: No, that's okay.

Koleya Karringten: That that is a part of entrepreneurship. It's you gotta get your mind, your body, your spirit, everything aligned at the same time.

You're trying to move, move it, move your business forward. And, and when those two things are in sync, you know, like beautiful things happen.

Kelly Kennedy: Well, and it sounds to me like you've been, you've gone down this path for so long that you've, you've come, you've, you've been in it long enough to know that these are important things, right?

I think like for younger entrepreneurs or like, you know what I mean? Just take me for example. I've only been an entrepreneur myself for four years. So in the grand scheme, I'm young. Like I get, you got many, many, many years on me on that front. But, you know, entrepreneurship, the one thing that I've really learned along the way is it is hard.

It is a rollercoaster of emotions and it does get very lonely at times because, you know, if you don't have a lot of entrepreneurial friends or family. You can really end up in this weird place yourself where you're like, who do I talk to? Because you don't wanna drive your, your fiance or your wife, your husband.

Crazy. Right? And it's, it's a really interesting journey that I feel like it's a unique journey that unless you are an entrepreneur yourself, it's really hard to understand. But like emotionally and mentally, it can be really, really hard. And, and the last thing that you can think about sometimes is how am I physically, like I, I've hit many days where it's like, no, we're putting physical on the back burner and we're just dealing with the mental challenges that I have to deal with today.

But yeah, it's like. Real balance is really hard. And it's come up plenty of times on this show. And you know, that was something I wanted to spend some time with you today because when we talked initially, one of the feelings that I got was you did eventually find a balance. And so many people that I've talked to, they never find the balance.

Koleya Karringten: And I say balance looks different to every person, right? So the elusive work-life balance, like, there's times where it's like, okay, I'm gonna be on, like I remember like from probably March until March, April and May, it was like nonstop travel, constantly gone. Busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. And then I was like, okay, I'm gonna be home for at least six weeks.

And in that six week period, it's kinda like my reset. It's like, okay, I'll take my meetings, but now I'm gonna, if I'm gonna travel, it's gonna be with my kids. I'm gonna do less meetings. So it's not like you're gonna have times where you have to be on, and then you're gonna have times where you have to pick your down times.

And if you don't. Kind of book in your own down times. For me at least, this is my strategy. I book in my down times so I don't burn out. 'cause I've had it where it's just like you're going 12 months of the year, you're never stopping. But then what's the point of life? Right? Like for me, I love hunting.

Yeah. I love my horses. I love riding in the mountains. I love dirt biking with my kids. I love camping. I love gardening. I love homesteading. You know, I love making my own things like my own body butters and my own condiments. And I like canning. I like freeze drying. So I was trying to find like, okay, the things that really bring me joy are all of this.

And when I am, when I'm able to actually take the downtime, all the, like, it's amazing how many wind come through. Like, I remember I was on vacation, I took three weeks off and I was like, okay, it's my 40th, I'm gonna Costa Rica and Panama. Just about every single day that I was away, it was just like invoice was coming out.

It was just like, Hey, we'd like to join us, this member, we'd like to come back into this member. We wanna renew with this member. And I was like. Yeah, that was pretty sweet. And then like even in Jamaica, it's just like, you know, I la like I was gone and I probably did, you know, 50 plus K in invoicing. It was like, woo.

You know, it's just like, so it's, your business doesn't stop just because you take time off. And I think that's a big fear for people and that why they don't find work life balance. But you know, if you set things up well and you find that balance and you find that time to just rejuvenate yourself, it's like the work will always be there.

You know, like you don't have to pause your life, pause the things that make you happy in life to be successful in business. Like you can do both, but it's What does balance look like for you? Mine is kind of go hard for a few months and then take a bit of a break and really reconnect and then go hard for a few months.

But that's just me.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, that sounds amazing. It also, it also like, I know when we talked before, you're like, Kelly, typically I put in, you know, roughly about a four hour workday at this point in my career. And it's like, I think everybody's just like, that would be amazing. Like, if I only had to work four hours, that would be absolutely amazing.

And I'm sure like, I'm sure you're killing it for that four hours, but I think that that is something to inspire, to aspire to. That's the right word. That is something to aspire to. And, you know, talk to me a little bit about that. How did you manage to eventually achieve that?

Koleya Karringten: A really, really amazing executive assistant?

Kelly Kennedy: I love it.

Koleya Karringten: I mean, you really need to have a team. It's, it's teamwork makes the dream work. And like when I say like four hours, like there's times where I don't get to do four hours. Like there's time where I could do zero work and still be pro successful. And there's times where it's like four hours and then there's times where it's like, okay, you're gonna be on, like I did a whole week trade mission in July where I'm pretty sure it was 14 hours for six days straight.

I like, there was no way around it, but it was like, it was a lot of in-person things, right? So, and I make my own schedule, I make my own work. And then outside of that it's just like, okay, you know, couple hours here, couple hours there. But it's how, how I got there, it took a lot. 'cause originally it was like, how do I get to a place where I can focus on the things I'm really, really good at and get support for the things that I'm not, I'm not a lawyer.

Why am I doing my own legal, I'm not an accountant. Why would I do my own books? Yeah. You know, like I have a DHD to the max, it's called Squirrel and it's really fricking shiny and it's, you know, I need a lot of different things to keep me active. So if it's a low dopamine task, the likelihood of it getting done is about five eighths of F all.

So having someone who can help me do those low dopamine tasks and now it's like a tag team. It's like, okay, I'll have like, you know, six hours, sometimes four hours, sometimes eight. Like it really kind of depends of just like nonstop meetings. But while I'm having those meetings, I'm able to message her like, Hey, I need to get this, Hey, I need to do this.

Right. And so like we're just tag teaming on everything By the time five o'clock rolls around or four o'clock whenever I'm done work, it's like, all right, done. You know, I don't have to try and figure out how to get all these other things done because there's such a good team to help, you know, keep things on track.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. Like I completely agree, I think with a lot of people, like that's the, that's the feedback we've gotten plenty of times, right? Like put a good team around you. 'cause it makes all the difference. I totally agree. I think, you know, I think a lot of companies, that's the dream.

It takes a little while to get there. I think it's, it's easier to do things yourself or you feel like it's easier to do things yourself for quite a while and then it's like, okay, wait a sec, you gotta stop doing this because you're never gonna grow if you do everything yourself. Definitely a realization we've come to.

Koleya Karringten: I definitely don't like the micro, the need to micro imagine staying in control I think is probably the death sentence to any business. Like, you need to give people, you need to put the kind of people that you can trust that are competent, you know, trust, but verify always. Like, don't completely ignore your business, but be, if you're gonna be the leader of your business, be on your business.

Don't be in your business and be a leader in your business. Like, it's very, very important not to be a boss. Nobody wants a boss. Nobody wants someone who's just like telling them what to do. And I am the great I am and listen to me, you pleb. You know, it's very like, I wouldn't ask my assistant to do something I wasn't willing to do myself, and my dad taught me that.

It's just like. I don't care. You will all don't. You can be the CEO and you'll still clean that toilet. Right? It's everybody is equal. There's no one better than or less than. You need to be able to trust that people are competent to do the job. If they prove that they're not, then okay. You learned, and maybe you learned in your hiring process and maybe you learned in your policy process, and maybe you learn in your communication process, but you learn something so that next person that comes is gonna be even more effective.

Like I tell you, like I definitely went through a series of of assistance where I was like, oh my God, like. And I learned from each one where I was like, okay, is it my communication? Is it my policies? Is like, what is it? To get to a point where I could find someone who's like, I can collaborate with you and I want you to feel like you work with me, not just for me, you know, and understand here's my working style, here's how I can be at times, and really kind of explain myself.

She explains herself and we find a way to like work work together. But I have to give her tasks and trust that they're going to get done, you know, and follow up sometimes when needed. Yeah. But there's no way I'd be where I'm at right now. Sorry. Excuse me. Tickle my throat. There's no way I'd be where I'm at right now if I didn't, if I wasn't able to delegate and have other people support the work that I'm doing too.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. No, no, absolutely. Absolutely. Agreed. Klay, I wanted to get into the Canadian Blockchain Consortium and the reason is like it to me, I wanna know the story here, like, and I get it, it was you and your mentor and you'd spent some time together, but like, how do you, how do you make that connection? You go from essentially an inventor, a technology inventor, and I get that they're still technology, but walk me through the connection.

Where did the passion come from for blockchain for you?

Koleya Karringten: Oh goodness. Okay. So I would say this is actually a multifaceted story. 'cause it's not just like one origin point, right? So when hearing Suzanne talk, I was just like, I, I loved her enthusiasm. I wasn't exactly from hearing her talk or like, ah, I need to be in crypto.

Right? What kind of got me in was two things in tandem. One, I saw my mother post on Facebook. If you want to buy Bitcoin, let me know. And I just sat there and I was like, oh my effing God. I was like, mom, what are you doing? What is this? I didn't know about it at the time. I was just like, oh crap. Whatcha in now?

Like Jesus mom.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah.

Koleya Karringten: And so I show up at her house and next thing I know, my fricking like 70-year-old aunt and my mom and her sixties are sitting there with this old man, like white haired old man. Well, he's trying to explain to them why they need to give him cash to buy Bitcoin where he makes like fricking 15% off of it and then turn around once they get that Bitcoin and invest in something called USI tech.

And, and because I'd done so much in fundraising and I understood like securities law, right? I was like, hold on. Why would you need to buy Bitcoin, which is like anonymous and use that to buy into this company? You're not a shareholder at that point. You're like, it just, it red flag went off for me, but my mom and my, yeah, they invested.

Luckily, they, they lost everything. They invested. It's not like they lost all their money. Like they, they were at least cautious, but, you know, it was, it was like a good 10 grand between the two of them. And I was so frustrated because I was like, this kind of crap shouldn't be happening. Like this doesn't make sense to me.

And then at the same time, I had a company reach out to me that want to invest in my company, and they're like, yeah, we'd like to invest. We're a Bitcoin company. And I was just like, I. They were talking about like, you know, investing like $3 million for some percent of my business. And I just remember like leaving that going like, are you giving me like actual money?

Is this like funny money? Like do I supposed to do with the Bitcoins? Like I'm not giving you this much in my company for whatever your internet fund money is. And I called my lawyer immediately and I was like, I just had this meeting. I don't know what it means. And he was just like, well that's really fascinating.

Let me go do some research on the company. Which they weren't very happy that I had my lawyer look into them for some reason. But hey, you know but I asked the guys that round this company, I was like, could you just give me some kind of information? Like just point me in the right direction, what is this?

And I go, I go to one of their events that they're hosting and this guy named, I guess I probably shouldn't say his proper name, but this guy was there and I, I asked, I was like, Hey, could you teach me about Bitcoin? He's just like, Nope, this guy could though. And this guy's like, Hey, I'm Bitcoin. I got like 25 grand in this pocket and like 30 grand in this pocket.

And like, I, I, I did crypto and I was like, sir, you are a very skinny white man. Like, I would not say this in public. You are going to get robbed. Like, why are you telling people you have this tax going on? I was, I was, but do you, do you teach classes on this? He's like, yeah. I was like, okay, great. Can I sign up?

So I up for his classes? And I was like. So, because I have a tech background, I just didn't get it. Like he was trying to teach me about trading and, you know, look, look on this trade view site and if you see this go up like this percentage your margin and like, buy in on this. I like everything about it was like, is this what this, is this like internet funny money?

Yeah. You know, I just, I, I'm not a trader, I can't get into trading. So it didn't make a lot of sense for me. I was like, and then all of a sudden this, this guy shows up, his name is Russ. And at the same class I was taking, 'cause he knew this person and he started talking to me about Bitcoin mining and I was like, so there's like a side of this that isn't like finance where you don't have to like try and play with funny money.

And he says like, yeah, no, like there's just this, this whole component to it about mining. And I was like, could I have, could I buy one of these mining like devices and figure it out? So he sent me the Bitcoin white paper I bought, it's like a seven card GPU rig. He set it up and from there I was just like.

Okay. Mining white paper. What is cryptography went through the entire like, and because I'm A DHD, I'm also a type. I have to research absolutely everything. So the entire history, sure. Of encryption, tr cryptography, learning about Phil Zimmerman, learning about the enigma machine, everything. I was like, that is so fascinating.

And then the mathematical component to it, right? Like what are Merkel trees? What's the whole like math and science behind this proof of work mining concept. And I got, so, you know, kind of like a little obsessed with it. Ended up retrofitting my entire basement to have these like about 250 GPU devices running in tandem, mining, you know, all these different coins.

I was reading every white paper. I was like, we staking, we were mining, we were doing all these different things. And I was like, I was working on hpi I during the day on my combustion company and then at night I'd be sitting there in like a fricking bathing suit trying to like modify these miners 'cause there's so hot.

And my kids were upstairs like, it's too hot in here. I'm like trying to figure out how to do cooling venting. I'm like, oh my lord. My obsession was, it was, it was, it was epic. But from there I realized after reading like every white paper I could find, I was like, oh my freaking God, these are securities.

Like this, like 90% of this shit is a scam. Correct. And I just felt called, I was like, I don't wanna get my mom scam like other people to get scammed the same way my mom did. So I literally started just like publicly posting free classes, like learn how to build your own mining equipment, learn how to do your own due diligence, don't treat crypto, you know, in a different way than you treat like a public stock.

How to do your own due diligence, safety classes, all kinds of stuff. And then I started really getting into the economic side. So I host, I started hosting really big events like the blockchain Technology Symposium was my first like really, really big one. And I brought in like ministers from the NDP party.

I had Alberta Innovates there, and Nate, Nate there. All the AI companies, IOT companies. Blockchain kind of companies really focusing on the tech, and it was great. It was like 350 like C-suite executives. Like let's dive into what this technology is and what it can do. We flew in safety in Moose to do a keynote.

We had guys like Francis Pier and Rodolfo like talking about like privacy and security and Bitcoin and all this stuff. And like you're talking like 2018 hosting this conference and like, I just remember like safety and giving like the ministers, like his his book, like the Bitcoin standard and I just dove in.

I was like, everything about economics, like after I learned about energy and proof of work and everything computational, then it was all economics. I was reading everything I could by like Mariam Rothbard, I was studying Keynesian verse osteo economics. I was like flying and taking classes by safety and I was like, okay, this.

This now makes sense. Well, at the same time I was asked like, because I was, guess I was building a name for myself in this space. Would you take on Suzanne's legacy and and create this A, B, C? And so I will tell you one thing, this is a not a very well known story, but part of my willingness to do it was one, I definitely wanted to keep Suzanne's legacy going.

But on the other hand, I really want A.C.I. To be successful. And I was working with an emotional intelligence coach at the time around kinda like emotionally intelligent marketing. And when I was working on like what's my life goal, I was like, I'm having a very difficult time 'cause I'm a salesman. Like when you're a salesman within your own company.

Who wants to answer the phone to a salesman like you see a one 800 number you block, you delete you. You know, like if you know you're being asked something, you're not inclined to take that call or want that meeting because you know you're gonna be asked something. And when I worked with her and I saw that this was an opportunity, I was like, you know, I could really reposition myself.

I could find a way because there's already like an IOT group, there's already ai, but no one's really taking on blockchain and really doing something with it. And because of the ties into energy and the fact that I'm designing technology in kinda like energy aviation, et cetera, I was like, I think there's enough of a crossover that if I do this really well in strategically position myself, I could become.

An influencer in this space, I could become someone that you come to because you want access to either a network or knowledge or whatever it is. And the way that I built the consortium was I did a, because I've had so many years in therapy as well, it was all around like emotionally intelligently how to build a community, right?

Like how do you bring people to the table? How do you get buy-in? How do you motivate and inspire people authentically? Like not doing anything that, you know, I didn't feel was best for the community. But at the same time, it's like how do you build and grow something that could create a, a grassroots movement that could propel you?

To become someone influential enough that one day an oil and gas company would come to me and be like, Hey, we're really interested in this. And at the same time I could go, Hey, blockchain, and, and hey, here's my tech at the same time, right? Like, now you're kept me and I have two pitches.

Kelly Kennedy: Sure.

Koleya Karringten: So it was kind of like, it was a great way, like synergistically or I guess intentionally congruently.

I was able to build, build my own brand and profile so I could be seen as something other than a salesperson keep the legacy going of two people who were near and dear to my heart, which was my dad, who, you know, with the technology and Suzanne, you know, with her vision. While at the same time wanting like, I found a way to help.

Create a credible enough organization that people knew if you worked with any single brand that's listed on my website, those are people I would tell my mother to do business with. And my mother does. She has accounts with these exchanges. 'cause I can trust them because I've vetted them and I've helped build a credible ecosystem.

So now there's a place for people can go to get education, real education. You're not being pitched anything. No one's being asked, you're not being asked of anything. You're not getting investment advice. You're learning, you know, specifically about the space, how to keep yourself safe in the space and who you know, yeah.

Who, who are people that are worth partnering in the space because you know, they're also reputable and credible. So like it does fit within everything that I was doing. Yeah. So it's kind of a long drawn out backstory.

Kelly Kennedy: No, I love it. I love it. And so you kind of led into the Canadian Blockchain consortium, but can you just once again go a little bit deeper?

1. Who is it for? Is it for companies? Is it for individuals? Who are the people who become your partners? Walk us through the whole kind of ecosystem as to what it is and how it works.

Koleya Karringten: Okay. So I would say that what it's evolved to now is it's very much like if you're a company. So if you are a digital asset mining company and you are looking at, you know, either coming into the country or you're currently in the country, reasons why you'd wanna be a part of us is, you know, we will help with connections for you.

We'll help you make the right connections. If you're coming into the country, we act like a consulate. Do you need, we'll support you with legal, we know all the lawyers that you could work with, accounting, all the accounting firms that you could work with, consulting. Do you need access to. Power companies, utility companies, you know regulators government officials that support with these particular files, all the concierge work.

Plus, you know, do you wanna expand your brand within this country? Do you want to speak at different events on key topics? Do you want to get embedded with the executives within this entire ecosystem? Is there particular provinces that you're focusing on, or is it just nationally as strategy as a whole?

So companies that come in, we basically act as like business development, marketing, ecosystem, building connections, consulate. That's kind of where it would look from the finance side. Very, very similar, but like, are you looking to. You know, are you regulated? If you are regulated, what are some of your key issues?

Do you wanna get involved in the industry responses? Are you looking to get better you know, better relationships with banks? Are you looking at, you know, bolstering up your cybersecurity? You know, we have alignments with, you know, law enforcement, with banks, with regulators, with, you know, again, the law firms, consulting firms, accounting firms, et cetera.

So it's very corporate driven as well, like, so. Corporately, that's why you'd wanna join. And at the same time, we also build the ecosystem through events. So we host events in every single province in Canada. Each year we call it a mini summit series. And like just kind of bringing in the ecosystem, like talking about what's kind of prominent within different provinces.

You go to Quebec, you know, bitcoin, mining on hydro is a big conversation. Let's have events on that. You go to Ontario, Toronto, little bit of mining, but you know, you have Bay Street. It's very, very focused and exchange heavy. You come to Alberta, it's a balance. It's like the major custodians for digital assets are here, the miners are here and exchanges are here, right?

You go to BC it's, it's more of a Web3 community, more focused in on like the NFTs and the artists and you know, the metaverse token asset tokenization and stuff like that, right? So there's so much going on all across the country and we're here to support. Building that ecosystem, creating that credibility and really finding this balance between bringing government regulators and industry to the table to make sure that there's alignment, you know, for any kind of policies and legislations and, and what could be impacting the industry long term.

And then there's the public relations side, right? It's like, how do we help educate the general people who aren't very aware of this and make sure that they understand. As a whole, this industry is actually positive, right? Like I know they get a lot of the negative narrative from the mainstream news, but that's because the mainstream news is all about clickbait.

It's like sensationalizing a story and negativity sells, which is very unfortunate. So, you know, the PR to help educate, here's the jobs, economic growth and and value it brings. Here's how it's gonna transform the finance industry, but here's why it's important for you. Here's how it's gonna transform the energy sector, but here's also why, you know, for the general person what it could mean for you.

Right? So helping with that kind of messaging. And then, you know, a big component of what we do is also charity work, right? So partnering with, you know, charities and different organizations and doing fundraisers that are gonna support the local communities that we're going into as well.

Kelly Kennedy: Okay, well now, now my wheels are turning because I think I have a much better understanding.

But honestly, the further you go down this path, the more I'm like, okay, like what does this really mean? Like to somebody who goes to the store and I tap my debit card to buy something, the question for me comes in, how does blockchain or crypto integrate with the world we live in today? Right? Like how, what is the connection between the energy industry and blockchain?

What is the connection between, I guess like traveling or buying things at the store and blockchain, like it sounds to me like you have such a different, a futuristic view that we just can't understand. It's, it's almost like you're living 15 years ahead of the rest of us. And so can you like, and I know I'm asking a lot here.

I'm asking a lot of ukulele. Bring us into your future. What does it look like? How does this all integrate? What happens?

Koleya Karringten: Well, let's start on the, so I live in Alberta, the province of Alberta, and we are the third largest energy resource in the world. So let's just kind of talk about what does that mean, right?

In terms of equalization payments, if you're in any other part of Canada, Alberta is the reason why you receive equalization payments. We mine these resources, but we can't seem to get these resources. To tide water, right? Like we can't seem to get 'em on a boat. Yeah. Our Alberta resources are very, very landlocked.

Like America is our largest purchaser, but again, as a third largest reserve of heavy oil in the world or energy in the world, we're not utilizing this to the max capacity that we could, that would actually support Albertans. Albertans don't have to pay for healthcare right now, and we don't have a provincial sales tax because of the royalties that are paid by the energy companies that produce the cleanest energy in the world.

So I know there's some people that go, oh, dirty oil and gas. If the concept that somehow you're going to be able to. Run an entire country on solar and wind. That is the equivalent of thinking that you're going to run it on unicorn piss and fairy farts. It's not going to happen. Renewables rely on hydrocarbons to actually be able to operate.

And here's a really good example. In Alberta, when we had that rolling blackout where we had to borrow 150 megawatts from Saskatchewan, it was because the wind farm in Alberta was not operational due to the cold temperatures because of the climate that we live in, and we had to go borrow power. Now what does this mean for digital asset mining?

Well, it means energy security. If you can't get your energy on a boat, you can't get it on a pipeline and you can barely get it on a train and your landlocked, how do you use those? That energy supply, you can sell it. You can sell it through fiber optic cables, you can sell it through the internet and the royalties that you make off of being able to sell it through the internet.

Provide value to the province. Now, here's another one. Miners, when they come in and they do off grid mining, so this isn't trying to connect to your grid. This isn't, oh, we don't have enough power in our grid to sustain it. We completely, fully understand and know that we're not trying to come in and take away grandma's power.

What we wanna do is place these miners in an area where there's stranded resources that are currently not making it to market where they can basically utilize the power, the resources of that region. Create a commodity that's basically sold on the international market, which is Bitcoin, and then be able to participate in what you would call curtailment or demand response.

So because they build, build their own power generation sites, if the Alberta government said, Hey, we need 150 megawatts and you have a one gigawatt site, yeah, happy, we can shut down this many miners within three seconds, put that power to the grid and make sure that nobody has to turn off their stove.

Nobody has to turn off their washing machine. So you actually can create energy security while utilizing and mining resources in an environmentally sustain, sustainable way. Because natural gas is one of the cleanest power sources in the world. Right? They can be involved in our tier program, you know, they can pay their royalties, which benefit the Alberta government and they create mortgage paying jobs, right?

Like we are a lot of, like, we have tradesmen and we have like engineers and lawyers. It's kinda like what we're known for here. Yeah. And we can, yeah, and we can teach them how to. How to manage these data centers. Bitcoin Mining is really just a data center and the Alberta government wants to create, you know, an entire ecosystem to attract the NVIDIAs and the Googles and all these other major ones in the world.

But most of what they don't realize is these companies, they're not power producing companies, they're companies that are gonna go to power producers and be like, Hey, we need to rack this many GPUs. What do you have for me? I need like this many megawatts. And it's generally grid connected. So you need miners who are willing to build off grid facilities.

That can manage this, right? To be able to attract them. And by attracting miners, which is a multi-billion dollar industry that can invest in this province, you'll attract, you know, the whole Metaverse chat, CPT ai, which is where the world is going, which is a multi-trillion dollar industry, right? So what this could mean for Alberts in terms of jobs economic value, you know, being able to actually harvest our resources that are forcibly being landlocked.

Like there's no reason why they shouldn't be on a boat. There's no reason why this, we shouldn't be supplying the entire other half of the country with clean energy. And to the carbon comment, it's like we have one of the largest forests across this country, and each one of those trees captures carbon.

We don't emit. As, as much carbon as these trees could absorb and capture, right? So it's a very clean, sustainable way of being able to utilize resources, support energy, abundance and security, create more jobs, and create more wealth for this province. So that's a good way to, to me to look at it. But from there then you, okay.

The financial side, and you can look at Bitcoin. So that's like a whole history of money that we don't have time to get into. But as a really, really quick reference. Right, right now, the way that your money is being produced, it is it's followed by what you call Keynes in economics, which is spend theory, right?

And with spend theory, the government believes they need to inflate your money by two to three basis points every single year. And by inflating the money and in, in increasing the amount of money in supply, your M1, M two, M zero, all these different ways that they metric this, they encourage and stimulate the economy.

So here's what that means to every single person that doesn't study economics. You have one of the most valuable resources, which is your time. You cannot recreate it. You cannot double spend it. You cannot do anything but store it, and you store it through. Spending your time working and receiving money is remuneration for it, and you store that time and that money in your bank account, right?

You exchange your time for money. That money goes into your account and ideally you wanna use it towards, you know, things that you're able to, you know, reimburse it for down the road trips and travel and things that make you happy, right? That's the exchange of goods and services, your time for money.

When the government increases the money in supply every single year, that means that the value of your spend, right? Your spend power with those dollars at your saving, when you're, you know, giving up your time for it, go down by two to three points per year. Now, when Bitcoin came out, it was in response to the 2008 housing crisis, right?

What happens there is when you have, you know, sub interest rates out there, 0% down, you know, you've basically inflated your money. Supply interest rates are, are kind of through the roof people. When, when the, I think it was like the Dow Jones, something dropped. I think there was like a 700 point drop in the stock market on a Friday.

Monday opens up, everyone's just like, oh my God, what's happening here? People are having to foreclose on their houses because when the value of their dollar dropped, the value of their home was like, okay, we gave you a $500,000 mortgage for a house that was really only worth 450. We gave you the extra 50.

Yeah. Put that money into the economy. Go buy a truck, a car, or whatever you're encouraged to spend. Right? You are not encouraged to save. So when there's a call and it's like your home is now. You know, worth less than what you owe on it. And now the mortgage lenders have to call that money back in and you don't have the money to pay for it.

What happens? You have really no choice but to abandon your home. And there were some states that one in every four homes was being abandoned. We need something called sound money. You need something where your money cannot be hyperinflated by the government. Cannot be double spent. Cannot be manipulated.

'cause right now the government, your money isn't really real. I mean, if you think about it, your money's been losing value since the 1950s, since they've taken it digital with the invention of like the checkbook. And then you had the credit card and then you had interact. Now your money's all kind of ones and zeros, and the bank doesn't have to hold your money.

They do what's called quantitative easing. So if you put 20 bucks in the bank, they can loan that out a hundred times over. Right? So if you think that if anything was gonna happen, you're gonna get a hundred percent of your money back, you'd be lucky to get 10%, realistically, 5%. Wow. The Federal Reserve doesn't have to hold zero.

The Canadian government maybe holds 5% of your money. And the craziest thing about Covid was covid. The government increased the money in supply in Canada. I mean, the entire money that was circulating in Canada was increased by 200 times. In 18 months, you have not felt the effects, truly felt the effects of the inflation.

It's not, oh, maybe 5%, maybe 7%. You're talking about like a 20% jump within a singular year. Right? That is a massive increase that you still haven't seen the effects of. That's why the housing market is going nuts. It's not just a carbon tax and everything else. It's the fact that you now have an unlimited supply of capital.

It was coming in at three or $4 billion a week with a limited supply of goods, supply and demand. Unlimited capital, limited goods, what happens to the goods? They start the cost. The cost of everything is going through the roof, right? So what does that mean for why Bitcoin, right? Like what? What does that mean for you?

If you are storing your time for money and the government is basically robbing you of that by inflation, which really is theft, and then they're adding taxation to the inflation, you need some way of storing your money that is actually going to be able to either be stable and maintain value or increase in value over time.

Now, I get that for a lot of people when they think of Bitcoin, they think, oh my God, this is very scary. It's very volatile. But if you look at it from 2009 when the first Bitcoin was mine from the first Genesis block. Now being confirmed to, now you're going from absolutely zero value, not a concept of value to what?

$90,000 Canadian per coin. I'm telling you, in a very short period of time, that is an exponential gain long term. Like it's, it's not a get rich quick scheme that is not Bitcoin. It is sound money. It is digital gold. It is something that is, you cannot replicate it. You cannot double spend it. You cannot inflate it.

There will never be more than the $21 million in supply. So to me, if a country actually either held this asset on its balance sheet or back their digital dollar by Bitcoin, you, you need an asset to back your dollar by, we don't have that. We have what we call GDP. A gross domestic product with basically the gross domestic product is people, so when you do your census report, they determine what tax dollars they have available based on how many people.

That's why you're required to do it, and they figure how much debt they can take on based on the amount of taxation dollars they can get over a long period of time. Currently, Canada's debt to GDP is 385 times, so I mean corporate debt, government debt, and personal debt is 385 times that of what we can bring into pay it off.

Greece wasn't this bad, like France wasn't this bad. We are the worst in the G seven. Your dollar is going the way of Venezuelan petro. It is just absolute trash at this point, and the current federal government are not helping this situation. Interest rates will not fix this situation. Your cost of living is only going to get worse.

I will not hold fiat currency anymore because of this exact reason. So I want to encourage Alberta to be the destination for Bitcoin mining and for the digital asset industry because I would like to see the Alberta government put Bitcoin on its balance sheet. I would like to see, you know, an incredible abundance of this industry in this province to help educate our people on you need an alternative form of money.

You, you need a way to save. I don't wanna see people when the dollar finally collapses. And to me, I know this is gonna sound kind of doom and gloom, but how does your dollar not collapse when your debt to equity ratio is? Is is that bad? Like, sure. Venezuela, Zimbabwe, like all of these different places that have had this exact same issue, it's because of the same thing.

When you have too many dollars when your government has nothing to base it on, right? You. You don't have any value. Like the Nigerian president was telling people to drop the US dollar. You're now seeing in the Middle East, they're not willing to renew their contract to transact in the US dollar anymore through their Federal reserve.

If the US dollar goes, the Canadian dollar follows with it, and we're already 35 points below what they are. So to me, the digital asset industry is like a safe haven asset class. And I don't mean crypto, I mean Bitcoin specifically. I don't hold other cryptos for this exact reason. All the most. The reason why I don't like the other cryptos is most of 'em follow a Keynesian economic principle.

Right? It's like they're constantly producing more of it. You know, like I just not a big fan of it. Same problem. Sound money, silver, gold, you know, things that aren't replaceable. Interesting thing about gold is, you know, it's an unknown scarcity, right? When we had the gold standard, at least when governments could only spend what they had as a backing for gold, there was a lot more economic there.

Prosperity. Right. Or when kings and, and Queens could only spend what they had in their coffers, it's either you had to tax people to get access to the gold, and if you overtaxed 'em, you had a very miserable population. And back then the population, which like kind of cut off your head if you, you know, overtax the capital and they, so there was some accountability with the government there, right?

But when you had the gold standard and people trusted their money, they saved to buy a whole house, right? They saved to buy that car. They, they saved for the things that they needed, right? And they left what they had. They built generational wealth. The second you started quantitative easing and you started taking things off the gold standard World War, I did that.

You had Roosevelt give us the American Green back in the 19 thirteens, and the American government gave the right to produce money to the Federal Reserve, which is not an American government corporation. It's a private entity, which is basically the central bank. So you have private industry printing money, loaning it to the government, the government taking that loan and then forcing you to pay taxes to pay off their debt.

What are you getting? What are you getting to spend your money for? Like what Your taxes, what are they going for? I still have potholes in my road. Yeah, the education system is trash. No kidding. Where is this going? Yeah, so I think that, you know, through supporting the, you know, adoption or not adoption Missouri, but like supporting, harvesting our resources to support the soundest money the world has ever seen, and then encouraging our financial system to adopt sound money principles and showing the value of things like Bitcoin or at least getting people to learn how to store, you know, in this asset class.

I think there's huge value to that because I'm looking at the financial landscape in candor right now, and it's like, it's, it's scary. Your children's, children's children won't pay off. The debt that this current prime minister has, has put us into. That's probably not the topic you go down, but if that's kind of why I'm so passionate.

So I'm sorry, you'll at everything from mental health?

Kelly Kennedy: No, no. This is awesome. Okay. I was, I was literally gonna ask you before, before we went on this tangent, I was gonna ask you, do you think this is something that the average person should get smart on now? I know the answer is absolute resolute. Yes. 100%.

We need to get smart on the future. On, on the future of, of, of all money. For the most part, for the most part. And, and economics. But, you know, obviously one of the challenges with Bitcoin or crypto or anything along these lines is that people don't know where to go. If people haven't started this journey, they're hearing this for the first time.

You scared the bejesus out of them. By the way. There's a lot of people that are like, oh my God, right now. But if they're in that moment and they're freaking out a little bit, do you have like a book Yes. Or something that you can recommend?

Koleya Karringten: Absolutely, Saifedean Ammous wrote the Bitcoin standard. It is the Bible.

It is the reason that Michael Saylor and he publicly, he publicly said this. The reason Michael Saylor got into Bitcoin is he read the Bitcoin standard. Saifedean is a brilliant, brilliant man. He is a PH PhD economist, right? He has taught, his book is brilliant. The Bitcoin standard is where you need to go. You can get it on Audible if you don't like to read.

He's also wrote in the Principles of Economics and he wrote another book on fiat currency. I highly recommend that's a starting point. Understand the history of money. 'cause if you understand your history, history does repeat itself. Right? We're it's, it's, it's an interesting thing with human beings. We just, every generation, we seem to keep repeating the same patterns.

Understand the history of money, because what we're experiencing today is something that has been experienced for centuries. I. A lack of sound. Money has collapsed every major civilization around the world. People who live in Western economies because you haven't been in the Nigerias and the Venezuelas and all that kind of stuff.

We really, truly sit in privilege and because of that, we cannot conceive of the way that we currently live, life changing and altering. But I travel around the world. I have been in so many countries. I have seen the devastation of bad government and bad money, and understanding economics has really helped me to know how do I protect my children?

How do I protect, you know, myself? How do I encourage people to start seeing what could happen? I'm not doom and gloom going, oh my God, the world's gonna blow up in World War III and nuclear bombs are gonna drop. And right, like it's not that. It's like, just look at the history of money. See what's happened around the world.

Look into what's happened in Italy. Look like Asia right now. Like in in China, they just lost 20 banks. Do you know how many banks are, are going under in America right now? And people are not able to access their bank accounts? Do you know how many places around the world right now, like Australia is not letting people pull out cash?

The, the UK is telling people that if you spend more than a thousand pounds in cash in a single transaction, you're now in the gray market. Why are they forcing you to go cashless? Right? Because it costs so much money to print it. If you don't have to print it, you don't have to back it by anything. It's just ones and zeros.

And then they can introduce a central bank. Digital currencies. Yeah, because everyone's in so much debt. China increased their money in supply years ago, years ago by 2%, which was trillions of dollars. Nobody noticed. And guess what they did? They just once since zeroed increased their money in supply and then they started loaning it out.

America owes China money. Canada owes China money, like they're printing your money and then they're loaning the money and then we're stuck paying for this debt through our tax dollars and we're getting taxed through the teeth.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, yeah.

No, it's I agree. I think any way that we can figure out how to keep more of our money in our pockets, I'm on board for that.

Like you're absolutely right in Canada, our taxes are bonkers. I, our inflation is through the roof. You know, we have a family of six going to the grocery store at this point. Might as well be like paying a mortgage. It is absolutely ridiculous what has happened in the past few years. Yeah, I agree completely.

So if there are ways, man, this is, I have to say, in 224 episodes, Scalia, we have not had an episode like this. This is, this started off so differently than the way that it ended. I did not see this coming at all, listeners. I did not see this coming at all. This is, but you know what? I think that this had to happen.

This talk had to happen, and I really appreciated having you come on today, Kal. And I think, you know, like I said, if there's ways that we can help people, even if it is just to protect yourself and your assets, even if nothing's gonna happen in the next 50 years, a hundred years, does that mean that you shouldn't try to protect yourself?

I, I, I don't think so. I think, I think you should protect yourself regardless, because we never know what could happen.

Koleya Karringten: You, you know, honestly, I'm a big fan of sovereignty, all right? So like the whole reason I'm in everything that I do right now is like, I think that people should have. The right to take care of themselves, the right to bodily autonomy, the right to, you know, financial prosperity.

And there's different ways to get there. And the more educated you are about your financial system, your healthcare system, you know, your, your government systems, you know, the, the better you are to navigate. It doesn't mean that like, I'm not trying to scare anybody. I don't wanna put you into depression.

I don't want you to feel defeated or deflated. Right. I want you to have an opportunity to go, okay. X, Y, and Z could happen. And if it does, do I have a strategy? Do I have a game plan? Am I willing to open my mind to new perspectives? Did what I say make you angry? Did what I say make you afraid? If so, if you're triggered, how come you're triggered?

Right? And look into that a little bit further. Be willing to explore it. Be willing to open your mind to the fact that there's other ways to view the world than maybe that you're currently seeing it. That does not make me completely accurate. I'm gonna tell you right now, I am more than happy for people to come back and say, you know, I think what you have to say is absolute trash.

It's like, and, and, and so be it. If that's how you wanna take it, that this is my perspective, right? That's all it is. It's not the word of God, it's just this is what motivates me and what it drives me and what I'm passionate about. And if it resonates with some great, if it doesn't with others, just drop it.

Leave. It doesn't need to be for you.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, I agree. I think. I think people are gonna have a lot of reactions. I agree completely. I think there's people that, that scares the bejesus out of them, especially when they've been investing in, you know, in, or they've been saving their money their whole life. They haven't necessarily been investing it.

Maybe they've just been saving it and keeping it a bank account. The idea that that's gone or that that could go, I think is very triggering for a lot of people.

Koleya Karringten: But, sorry, I just wanna say, sorry, go ahead. Specifically not go, I mean, your, your ability to, like, if you have a hundred grand in your bank account, if you had that back in the 1920s.

Versus today, what does that a hundred thousand dollars get you? So it's not so much that the money's gonna go, it's just what can you do with that money? Yeah. Right. Take a look at what you could buy 10 years ago at the grocery store, two years ago at the grocery store. Like nothing I'm saying isn't things that you could research, but you're spending power with those dollars.

Right? There's ways to preserve your assets, and that might be alternative currencies such as Bitcoin or buying land because, you know, or, or real estate, those tend to appreciate and value quicker than other things. I don't know, Canadian real estate markets in a bubble. So that kind of concerns me. But, you know, just, just, just being mindful and, and paying attention.

What could I do? Can this be fixed? Do you think a new government's gonna come in and somehow eradicate what's, what's gone on all this new money that's been introduced and supplied? Very unlikely, right? So you're gonna be in a situation where you're gonna see inflation for a while, and what does that mean?

And is there a way for you to protect yourself? Just start looking at it.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, no, I I love it. I love it. Yeah. Essentially shrink inflation is a real thing. Like you're seeing the sizes of everything in the grocery store going down and charging the same price for it, right? Like that's, they're hiding it in very, very.

Maybe not hiding it, but it's not observable. If you're not paying attention, you're not seeing what's happening. But even like you look at your pack of bacon, it's gone down to like 375 grams. From 500 grams, like right. It's little things like that that you're just not quite seeing, but that's how they're hiding it.

But yeah, it is, it is interesting and I think we are seeing it and we're trying to figure out kind of how to handle it, but I think you're right. Anything that can preserve your money long term is going to gonna be the way to go. Koleya, we're talking to a lot of entrepreneurs today. You have been an absolute lifelong rockstar entrepreneur.

You've been in rooms with people that are absolutely next level since you were 11 years old. What's the best piece of advice you could give to some of our new entrepreneurs who are listening today that either maybe they're on the fence, maybe they haven't quite launched their company, or they're right in the beginning stages of it.

What is the best piece of advice you can give them to inspire them to keep going?

Koleya Karringten: If you're passionate about what you're doing, you'll be successful. Right. So I, I heard this a long time ago. Make money doing what you love. And if it feels like a job, it, it's gonna be hard to stay motivated. But if you're passionate about it and you believe in it, and you think that there's gonna be value created from it, do not stop.

Right? Like I can tell you now, you can get 5,000 nos and every one of those nos can feel deflating, like a slap in the face, and you'll wonder if you'll ever be successful. It takes one. Yes. Right? Learn how to create that. Yes. Read books on the art of negotiation, right? Learn how, learn about yourself so you can learn about how other people think, right?

So you can understand how to go into those conversations to create those yeses, but do not take those nos as, as complete utter of rejection, that you're not valuable, you're not worthy, what your, your idea, you know, can't be successful. You need to, you know, if you believe in it. And it has value. Just, just keep going.

It just takes that one, yes.

Kelly Kennedy: Amazing. Just takes the one. Yes, I agree. Koleya, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been episode 224 of the Business Development Podcast. My gosh, was that an episode? Until next time. We'll 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.