Episode 62. A good career always starts one way and ends another. As you get older, not everything comes about moving up and more money, eventually the goal of legacy becomes the focus.

Brenda Ha began her career in the corporate world, but when she started a family and started craving more flexibility, she decided to start her own business—a concierge service called Check Box Services. Building a business that suits her personal life has helped her create the kind of balance in her life that she values.

The topic of legacy is something that has come up often in Brenda’s work. During the episode, she discusses what she’s learned about her own legacy and values since starting her business. She also shares great tips for those people in the initial stages of growing their career and how the older clients she has today are all striving for legacy and impact in their work.

Key Takeaways and Discussion

• Brenda’s educational background and the experience she had in consulting and IT before starting her own company.
• How her life changed when she had kids and what she realized she needed to do.
• What they do at Check Box Services and who their typical client is.
• Why she’s made the intentional decision to keep her team small.
• How she becomes like family to her clients and why it matters.
• How working for yourself differs from working for another business.
• Why legacy is important to Brenda and what it inspired her to get involved with.
• The importance of having role models who resemble you when you’re young.
• The most translatable skills you can have in the workplace and how Brenda used them.
• Opportunities that you should keep your eyes open for as you start your career.
• Brenda’s advice for figuring out what you want to do for work if you aren’t sure.

Episode 61. How do you know you should start a business, and how do you put the pieces of your life together to do it and be successful?

Richa Gupta is a food entrepreneur who founded Good Food for Good, a fantastic lineup of sauces, condiments and related food products sold in grocery stores across North America. Richa’s experience in becoming a mom combined with her desire to do something meaningful influenced her journey in bringing Good Food for Good into the world. In this episode, she shares the story of her journey into entrepreneurship and shares her tips for other people who are looking to build a meaningful career for themselves too.

On top of all that, Richa has now transitioned into an advising role for similar businesses and is the Vice President of Partnerships and Development at the Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN) and discusses how this next step will help her make an even bigger impact.

Key Takeaways and Discussion

• Where her career started, and the role Richa is filling today.
• Why Richa says she was always a believer and how that has helped her career.
• Where you should go if you don’t know which career path is right for you.
• What Richa’s (first) midlife crisis pushed her to pursue and where it led.
• Why insight is important in entrepreneurship.
• What sets Good Food for Good apart from other food companies.
• What she wishes she’d done first before starting her business.
• The model of business that became her saving grace.
• The role she still plays in Good Food for Good after stepping away.
• The goal of CFIN and what they’re on a mission to help food manufacturers do.
• How having several mentors has helped Richa find the success she has today.
• How leaning into your journey can help you get through the challenges of your career.

Episode 60. Check out this unique and really cool episode of the Lifetime at Work podcast, though it’s a bit different than the others.

Instead of our host, Greg Martin, asking the questions, this episode features an interview that Greg did as the guest on another podcast. The show is called Own Your Role with Dino Watt and it highlights leaders in the field of business sharing advice to guests.

This is a great interview which is why we’re replaying it here covering Greg’s story and career, advice from his career and podcasts experiences and lots of other good nuggets along the way.