Entrepreneurship
From Being Perceived As Crazy To Being Asked How He Did It With Connor LaRocque
What’s your backstory?
I was a goofy C student in high school and a prankster. I was always into hip-hop so I dressed like a gangster to stand out and hide my fears. I was literally terrified growing up but I never showed it because I had a big mouth. My brother and all of his hockey mates used to beat me up. I was a punching bag, which leads me to become a martial artist. I’ve practiced and trained the art of Muay Thai for over 10 years now.
I competed briefly and was blessed to have had the opportunity to train with some of the best kickboxers in Canada. I even got to be the punching bag for Team Canada who was fighting in the worlds. The best part was that after all of those beatings from my brother and his hockey mates, I always have a smile on when facing adversity or in hardcore training situations. I feel that they conditioned me to never be broken. This leads me to write 2 books, one bestseller called “Mindset is Everything” which formulated my philosophy and helped me launch a successful brand as a speaker and author.
From C student to now having published more books than most of my teachers gave me the confidence to take on the world. I didn’t want to be just another speaker and didn’t fit into the societal norm which leads me to become a full-time entrepreneur. All those years of prank phone calls really helped me when picking up the phone and selling! Knocking door to door in -40 helped build grit and character.
I’ve been blessed through my failures to have grown a 6-figure marketing agency (SocialRise) today that focuses on lead generation. I also do coaching now and help young adults and entrepreneurs become leaders and they monetize their brands to generate leads.
Ultimately my life’s mission is to help people build self-sustaining platforms for the rest of their lives. We are building the next generation of entrepreneurs and leaders and Canada and I am excited to be at the forefront as one of the top millennial leadership experts throughout our proud nation!
What made you decide to choose this career path?
I didn’t want to be another lawyer. I know some friends who make great lawyers and are meant to be. However, as for myself, I have always been someone who wants to go down a different path and create my own. Entrepreneurship is the perfect avenue to create a life by design.
I’ve always been good at communication and sales! Two of the most important things in my opinion when it comes to business. Like I always told my students, you can either work for a company or corporation, or you can OWN the company or corporation. I am all about extreme ownership and entrepreneurship provides me an opportunity to take full control of my life.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When we started our first business selling door to door we had so many doors slammed in our face that when we finally got in someone’s home and we’re sitting at the table we were like deer in the headlights. I was so good at pitching at the door when we sat down at the table I had nothing else to say. I had already told them everything. It was a rookie mistake!
What I learned was give enough to peak someone’s interest, but always have a few moves in your back pocket to close the deal. You’re always going to get objected so have as many angles as possible.
What do you think makes your company/personal brand stand out?
I’m Canadian! No, but really being a Canadian in a competitive US market is a great advantage because it gives me an opportunity to show our culture and how we do business. What I teach “how to monetize your brand to generate leads” takes a different angle then just basic lead gen. Our system allows you to align with some of the biggest charitable brands in the world, give them donations, and leverage their networks. It’s pretty awesome!
At the end of the day, I’m just being me! Some crazy, hardcore, lover Canadian dude!
What’s a quote that you live by?
“Everyone told me I was crazy, to tone it down, to slow down. Now those same people are asking me how I did it.”
