A Leader’s Journey – Embracing Success and Sorrow

A Leader’s Journey – Embracing Success and Sorrow with Steve Cody

Steve Cody:
And, you

Steve Cody:
know, the $1200, I said, can I take that and, you know, basically buy a squeegee ladder in a bucket and, start a window cleaning company? Knew nothing about window cleaning, and, we bid on the scaffolding. And, and we got this we got the scaffolding contract, with and we had no clue what we’re doing, and we didn’t own any scaffolding. Now when we start businesses, we purposely don’t hire anybody from that industry because we wanna come at it almost, like, with a with

Steve Cody:
a totally

Steve Cody:
fresh balance. One of our kids, Nicholas passed away. He was drug related. And, yeah, that totally changed everything. Like, all I could do in terms of functioning was either be in bed, have a hot bath, or go for a long walk because the anxiety was just wild in my body.

Rob Dale:
Welcome to the Living Richly podcast. It’s so great to have you join us. We are so excited today to have a special guest with Steve Cody, an incredible Corey, you’re about to hear of a guy, an entrepreneur, who has just absolutely done so much. Steve, it’s great to have you here with us.

Steve Cody:
Thank you very much for having me on. Yeah. Really appreciate it.

Rob Dale:
Yeah. So you Started out as an entrepreneur when you were a teenager. I think in your own words, it was like when you were 15 years old. Yeah. You bucket, of A squeegee? Squeegee Yeah.

Steve Cody:
And 1200 bucks. Dollars. And and

Steve Cody:
and Got it.

Rob Dale:
Yeah. And and you started washing windows out. What a lot of people don’t know is I actually that’s my very first job and my first No way. Guy whose name was also Steve, Steve White, And started whites window washing, and I was doing that around the age of 16, I think. We would

Steve Cody:
have been competitors. So we

Rob Dale:
were we were competitors at The time

Steve Cody:
and the promo promoting is even better

Rob Dale:
on the

Steve Cody:
show than the guest. I don’t think second.

Rob Dale:
I don’t think lights window watching is in business anymore. So nor nor is No.

Steve Cody:
We are. Of course they are. Movie. Hey. Come on. Over over so I’ll just take over hosting now.

Rob Dale:
Oh, yeah. Over over 36 years, I mean, you have built an empire of businesses over 20 businesses, I believe, in those, 36 years, or 35 years over $750,000,000 in revenue. I mean, my god, you have had your hand in so many different, Kinda pies, different businesses, different, events, and stuff like that. It’s been incredible journey for you.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Yeah. It’s, it’s It’s amazing to look back, and we live at Lansdowne now. And so much of kinda what we built is down there. This Cody Window Cleaning is down there. They clean the windows. So

Rob Dale:
So I’ll sell the

Steve Cody:
truck all the time. I don’t know the new owner. It’s been 2 owners since we had it. We’ve got bobcats rolling around down there all the time. So we had we had the Bobcat dealership. We had bought it out of bankruptcy. We got lifts down there. The cattle castle, that was our 1st our 1st scaffolding job.

Steve Cody:
So So, anyways, you kinda it just brings back a lot of memories.

Rob Dale:
We’ve we’ve got we’ve amazing. We’ve got listeners from all over the world, but certainly a lot of them from Ottawa, and you start Scribing some of those hairy

Steve Cody:
stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Rob Dale:
And, of course, they’ll be like,

Steve Cody:
oh, that’s him.

Steve Cody:
Oh, that’s him. Yeah. So There’s not much in Ottawa that Steve hasn’t touched one way

Rob Dale:
or another. Right? And then and so you’ve got all these businesses, and then you you’ve gone also through some personal tragedies in 20 and we’ll get into that and talk a bit more. But in 2013, Teen, you and your wife, went through an incredibly, difficult time and a difficult season, and that led you into some advocacy work and, certainly some support work. It’s just an incredible story of resilience, and and so excited to be getting into it with you today.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Absolutely. Same here.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Great to have you here. Tell us a little bit. I mean, we’re I’m always curious about the origin story. Right? Like, here you are, an accomplished entrepreneur now. People know of your work, in the city. You’ve accomplished so many great things, but, tell us a little bit about your background and what actually like, when we talk about the 15 years old with a squeegee in your hand and $1200 in your pocket, What drew you to to that life? Like, so many people are afraid of that life, and yet you hear you are a kid

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Cody:
Drawn to kinda start your own thing.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Well, I mean, it wasn’t entrepreneurship. I don’t even think it was a word then.

Steve Cody:
Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Cody:
Right. Right.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. I gotta make some money. Yeah. So, you know, grew up with a single mother. We moved around every year, maybe 2 years, so moved around all of Ottawa. My mother cleaned houses for a living. I went with her to clean those houses. So you kinda I think that’s where it was set in.

Steve Cody:
You know, you do some work. There’s some cash on the table, and you’re paid at the end of the job. And that’s kind of all I really knew growing up. And, my grandfather, he He was pretty determined I’d go to university, so he’d put I think it was $20 a month in the bank. It was either 10 or 20. Every month he’d put in the bank. So by the time I was in grade 10, this was $1200. And I I was very dyslexic.

Steve Cody:
We didn’t even know what dyslexia was at that time. Right? So Right. School was was not for me, and, I was with a bunch of guys. 1 I was on a Sunday and talking to 1 guy. So what do you do? From a window cleaner window cleaner? Like, people get their windows clean? Oh, yeah. We’re really busy and, that’s so, anyways, I kinda thought about that, and I I went to my grandfather. I said, you know, the $1200. I said, can I take that and, you know, basically buy a squeegee ladder in a bucket and, start a window cleaning company? Knew nothing about window cleaning, and, my grand my grandmother’s actually the one that told him he had to do it because he was, You know, he wanted me to go to school, but, anyways, got the $1200, quit school in grade 10, and started a window cleaning company.

Steve Cody:
Wow. Wow. And then I found out I was scared of heights.

Steve Cody:
I I don’t know.

Rob Dale:
I was gonna say because I was gonna say, I remember, we would do when I was doing that at that age

Steve Cody:
Oh, that’s amazing.

Rob Dale:
And and, of course, it’s such a different world back then. Right? Safety regulations and rules. I mean, we were doing houses in the Glebe. Safety. No. We’re doing houses in the Glebe where you had you know, your ladders were, were, you know, on on roofs, on you know, it was just wild. I think this the idea that we survived those days Of washing windows in some of those places, but to be afraid of heights would have even been I was brutal.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. It was brutal. And, I remember, like, the 1st high rally. Like, this was on residential. I was scared of heights going up the ladder. Like, this was a problem, but then we got into commercial and started doing high rises. Right. And I’d kinda recruited my high school buddy, Chris, and I met, like, he, like, he was so mad at me.

Steve Cody:
Why the hell did you know, we’d be coming down these wing stage is coming down the side of buildings, and the the wind had be taken us out. And, our safety line was tied to, like, a stair. Yeah. It was. There was no safeties. No roof anchors. And yeah. Yeah.

Steve Cody:
Anyways, it was a Wow. Wow. So I think that’s and, I mean, I had I was scared, so I had to hire people. So here I am now hiring kinda 30, 40 year olds

Steve Cody:
Yeah.

Steve Cody:
And, you know, like, you’re 15, 16. So it was it was, like, probably one of the best learning experiences. Oh,

Steve Cody:
I know.

Steve Cody:
Because it’s a tough hire. Right? Like, they’re I mean, to be doing that, and you don’t get paid what you should get paid. So Right. You know? So, anyways, I learned a lot for sure.

Steve Cody:
What a great I I did not know That about your story, about you being afraid of of heights, but, I mean, that just that just makes a story even better, to be honest, because, we we just had Nas Ahmed, which I who Yeah.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. That’s right. Nas and,

Steve Cody:
also an entrepreneur that’s done some amazing things, and he told the stories of thing of Fears he had to overcome. And a lot of the folks that watch the show, part of why they watch it is because of, of its message about Following your heart and and not just living life according to other people’s expectations, that supposed life that society, family, All of it sort of imposes on you, and yours is certainly a story of following your heart. And it you know, the first the first, one was the window washing company. You’d go on to launch a number of things. Fast forward a little bit, into your journey. I’m always fascinated, not just by the origin story, but the shifts in mindset that you must have gone through. I mean, overcoming I love I was afraid of heights, so I hired people to do it for me. I mean, I love that.

Steve Cody:
But what were some of those shifts in mindset in those early years of of of your journey?

Steve Cody:
Yeah. And when you when you think about those years, like, what makes it really easy is you have nothing to lose. Mhmm. Right? Mhmm. You’re all you only have something to gain, and I often than think about that. Like, it’s a lot easier to start building

Steve Cody:
Right.

Steve Cody:
When you have nothing to lose. When we sold our 1st big company when I was our 1st big sale, I froze. I froze for about a year because now I had something to lose. Wow. So, you know, there’s a if you know, just mind shift. So anyways, So we’re we’ve we’ve had the window cleaning company. We’re renting these machines, swing stages that bring you down the side of buildings. And we rented them a couple of times, and I’m thinking, this is kinda dumb.

Steve Cody:
Like, maybe I should buy them, and I’ll rent them out. And And then back then, you had you know, like, where do you buy this stuff? So you literally go to the library. You’re Amazon. No. There’s no Amazon. And and, go

Rob Dale:
rockify where you

Steve Cody:
rock and

Steve Cody:
poop. Perfect.

Steve Cody:
So you literally go to the library, and you’re looking for swing stage Age suppliers, I remember doing that. I was actually at the Bar Haven library. Couldn’t find anything. So then the next thing was, well, I’m gonna go to Toronto, and I’d never been to Toronto. So my friend and I get in the car, go to Toronto, and you’re driving around Toronto. You’re looking up in the air because you’re looking for these machines. You wanna get the names and then call the manufacturers, and, it’s exactly what I did. I got ahold of a company named Spider.

Steve Cody:
They’re out of Seattle. We became their national dealer, and so that got us into swing stages. Wow. Wow. So that was so that was kind of the next thing. Then we’re we We got the swing stages going. Now we’re renting scaffolding. Right? So because to cover the sidewalks and things like that.

Steve Cody:
And, I talked about the cattle castle. At the time, that was the biggest restoration project going on in Ottawa. And, one of the one of the guys says, you know, we should bid on the scaffolding. I’m like, well, we don’t even own any scaffolding, you know. Right. So anyways, we we bid on the scaffolding, And, and we got this we got the scaffolding contract, which and we had no clue what we’re doing, and we didn’t own any scaffolding. There There there were 2 competitors that had bid against us, and I had to go to them to get the scaffolding. And they’re

Steve Cody:
like, oh, Steve. How do

Steve Cody:
you have the nerve to come in here and ask me to? Because I said, I gotta get the scaffolding. I gotta make 20 points. Right? So, anyway so that all worked out really well. So that got us in the scaffolding business.

Rob Dale:
That’s crazy. Yeah. Incredible when you think about it. And we, again, we often hear people where they they they wait until they’ve Figured everything out before they act. And one of the I love one of the things one

Steve Cody:
of the things yeah.

Steve Cody:
Exactly. Right? In hindsight. Boy wise. Yeah.

Rob Dale:
Yeah. And and Nas talked about that where he where he said he just you know, when he was on the show, he said he had just posted even about this notion of just just fucking do it. Like,

Steve Cody:
just just

Steve Cody:
to start.

Steve Cody:
Stop And then figure it out.

Rob Dale:
Yeah. Stop waiting till everything is lined up and every answer is there, and it sounds like You’ve gotta lived your life by that model. Yeah.

Steve Cody:
In a bit and I and we purposely now when we start businesses, we purposely don’t hire anybody from that industry because we wanna come at it almost, like, with a with

Steve Cody:
a totally fresh perspective.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. When we started, Cody Party Rentals, knew nothing about party rentals. All I knew is my mom got married, and I had a really bad experience renting chairs and tables and things like that. So, I said, I think I can create a better experience. So I would literally again, with my wife, we would drive to Toronto, Montreal, and I’d go in the back door of the party rental companies and talk to the employees kind of until you got thrown out. But that’s I learned from them, but we didn’t hire anybody from the industry. So we just kinda, you know, took what we thought was good and then went with I don’t know.

Steve Cody:
Again, I I it’s so it’s so, fascinating to hear you talk about how, just about every venture you’ve mentioned started with you just seeing a need, and then meeting a need. And then that opened up another door, and you saw another opportunity. You stepped through that, and opportunity after opportunity led you to, again, 20 companies later, $750,000,000 in lifetime sales. Like, that is so impressive, but a lot of folks are afraid of just even taking that first step. You know, 1, they’re how am I gonna do it? I’m not sure how this is gonna unfold. Fear is a real thing. How do you like, When you think about that, where did fear show up for you, other than being afraid of heights? And and how did you cope with that throughout your journey?

Steve Cody:
I think fear I can remember 2 times in my life. So when we sold so we we sold our equipment rental company to Hertz, which was owned by the Ford Motor Company. So it was my goal to be to be a millionaire by the time I was 30. On my 30th 1st birthday, we had driven to New York to the Hertz headquarters to sign the paperwork to sell the company. So literally on my birthday, my wife had planned a surprise birthday They party for me. So we had to drive back. We’re way too cheap to fly around. So so, anyways, we drove back for that.

Steve Cody:
We didn’t get there till about midnight, but that was, so After we sold that company, I was like that. Now I had something to lose. So I was I was paralyzed.

Steve Cody:
Right. Right. Right.

Steve Cody:
And, you know How’d you

Steve Cody:
move through that? Like you said, when you’re paralyzed, how did you get unparalyzed and get back into motion?

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Like so I took a year, traded stocks, and I think I probably broke even luckily. I think at the end, like, luckily.

Steve Cody:
Right? That’s too good paying that for

Rob Dale:
a living.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Cody:
And I haven’t traded a stock since

Steve Cody:
because Smarter people. Some smart people do

Steve Cody:
that. Yeah. Yeah. And, I mean and that’s when my mother got married. Mhmm. And that kinda got got me out of the funk, but I kept I was just looking at all these ideas and all these opportunities and just always getting paralyzed by overthinking them.

Steve Cody:
Right.

Steve Cody:
Right.

Steve Cody:
And I think that was that that really, like, just having that bad experience renting. Yeah. I said, okay. Well, I guess I’ll go in that direction.

Steve Cody:
It it almost got you back To your roots in some ways. In terms of getting back to that, there’s a need. I think I can do better, and stepping through that door.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. And, you know, when I think about it, even when we started so we we’re celebrating 25 years this year with Coty Party Rentals. But amazing. Even when we started, like, you didn’t start with this I didn’t start with the same rawness.

Rob Dale:
Right.

Steve Cody:
And I think that rawness is like gold. Mhmm. We’re just selling a, a rent anything territory to a guy that that closes today in Pennsylvania. And I was telling Brad, like, the guy is so raw. And he’s gonna he’s he’s he’s willing to go to anybody and ask anything to get it all. Like, I don’t know. There’s something special about rawness, like and just you’re fearless. Right? Right.

Steve Cody:
And

Rob Dale:
yeah. Well, it’s that it’s the the entrepreneur, you almost use the you romanticize it with the pioneer Spirit. Right? That that no. I’m gonna I’m gonna blaze my own path. I’m going to find, you know, take the journey that no one else has taken, and And you’re right. That requires a certain, rawness.

Steve Cody:
Like, when we go on on holidays and you’re down in the Caribbean or whatever, I’ll I’ll see a fish market, and I’ll just I just love I just love watching raw entrepreneur Right. Doing their thing.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Even at Lansdowne, like, on a Sunday when they do the market thing, and you’re just watching people hustle. And I don’t know. There’s something magical about that.

Rob Dale:
My guess is when you go driving somewhere, you purposely ignore your GPS.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Rob Dale:
I’m not turning left just because you told me.

Steve Cody:
There’s a company to sit down.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Right.

Steve Cody:
We do that with the kids, literally. So we drive to Florida every year. You know, you we have 5 kids, so you you we drive from here to Florida to get on a cruise ship, and we would literally stop at so many businesses and would wanna analyze them after. Like, we went into a Starbucks. I said, can I have your barista book? We got the barista book and, you know, read through it. And, you know, like, how was the service? How was it merchandised? Then this is how you know, listen to.

Steve Cody:
This is how you learn. This is how you learn.

Steve Cody:
And it was just, like, totally I don’t know. Anyways, that’s our life.

Rob Dale:
I think

Steve Cody:
it’s but I think, again, it’s fascinating that there are so many different ways to learn. Yeah. And in our society, again, we prize education, and education certainly has its place. You know, I, Like you, I didn’t go to college. I have I’ve got a Bible college degree, but I’m not sure how far that gets you in life. Alright? But there’s so many different ways to learn whether it’s, through reading books or listening to podcast, especially this one. Right? Or or doing what you did, which is talk to people that are doing cool shit and learn as much as you can. Because in that learning process, I think the learning I don’t know.

Steve Cody:
You tell me. But I think the the more you learn, it almost, like, fuels courage. Right? Because Yeah. We

Steve Cody:
gives you confidence. Right?

Steve Cody:
Right. Because we fear what we don’t know. Yep. And and so, like, part of I think getting unstuck might be, like, Start learning. Start asking people questions. Start, start looking for things that are gonna feed, your your vision or feed that dream that you have. Right?

Steve Cody:
And I don’t even think, like, some people say, well, you you need to be passionate about something before you get into it, or you can only be successful if you’re passionate about it. I don’t like, I don’t there’s not a lot of things that we’ve started that I’ve really been passionate about. Party rentals, I’m not passionate about it. We had a Bobcat dealership. I don’t even think I ever drove a bobcat. So Yeah. Like, which is you know, it just it wasn’t my thing. Right? But what what gets you excited is what you’re saying is learning about it.

Steve Cody:
Right. So with asking and learning Yeah. And just what can I do with that? And I think that’s anyway, that that’s what works for me.

Rob Dale:
The I love that. It was interesting, Saying, and and I recognize we’re referencing Nas’s episode. We really did enjoy some of the things he talked about and and, of course, both

Steve Cody:
of

Rob Dale:
you being entrepreneurs. He talked about the idea that the more successful you are, the more you, continue you’ll as you get bigger in business and all of this, The the more it’s necessary that you’re constantly growing and learning and and kind of discovering about yourself in order to show up best In these companies at different stages. Maybe what what’s your take on that? How do you how do you how do you continue to be to stay fresh and curious and all of that?

Steve Cody:
Probably for myself, I think it’s realizing What I love to do and what I’m good at, I was in a tech group with Nas Yeah. And, I just had lunch with the guy that ran it, Tim, Tim Redpath, great guy. And, you’d be in the tech group and it was a CEO tech group and there’d be these guys in there, including Nas, like, they love being CEOs. And, you know, and they’re they’re like awesome CEOs.

Steve Cody:
Yeah.

Steve Cody:
Like, for me, that was a realization. I don’t wake up, like, excited about being a CEO. Like, I I love creating. I’m I feel like it’s an artist with a with a canvas, and

Steve Cody:
Love that.

Steve Cody:
You’re creating something. You have to be the CEO, I guess. Like but at some point, you’re and and that’s why we’ve created these companies and sold them, and they keep going. Right? Right. Right. Because there’s there’s great operators that, that do them. So it’s not not to say I don’t like operating companies, but my passion is creating.

Steve Cody:
It’s creating. And I love the analogy to the artist there. What what were some of it when you go back and you look at the businesses that you started and you were at the helm of for at least those initial stages until the sale took place and the Transition. What were some of the some of the biggest challenges when you look back? What were, like, top 2 or 3 challenges or obstacles you had to face, when you were building those companies?

Steve Cody:
Yeah. It’s a it’s a great question. I and I was just talking to somebody about it, and it’s it’s kinda related to the CEO conversation. When we built our lift company, so the lifts are like booms and scissor lifts. You know, you get guys up 90 or a 100 feet in the air type of thing.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Not me.

Steve Cody:
And say I’m with you. I’m with you. Heights are

Steve Cody:
for someone else. We we’re renting to our customer down at at the Rideau Centre, a big mall in Ottawa, and, we were doing Christmas decorations for a customer. And I I happen to be there, and the customer’s like, can you come up on the scissor lift and help me do something? I’m like, nope. He’s like, are you joking? No. You own the company. Yeah. Anyways, yeah. So just getting back to the Lyft business.

Steve Cody:
So we grew that business. I think was, like, 2 years, grew it to $6,000,000. Net profit would have been $1,000,000 the year we sold it. It was a great business, and I sold it because I was bored. Mhmm. And, like, which is really stupid. Right? Like, you know, I think just hanging on to it, you’d you you could do really well in building that business. So for me, You know, you talk about, like, some of the challenges, I think, is is and and I’ve changed.

Steve Cody:
I’ve recognized that. So I’d get bored of things and then sell them. Yeah. And they’d carry on, which is great, and I love that. But now I I you know, the importance of hanging on to it too. Right. Right. So they’re hard to build.

Steve Cody:
Like, they’re so freaking hard to build. Right. Right.

Rob Dale:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s not

Steve Cody:
for the faint of heart, we say.

Steve Cody:
Oh, man.

Rob Dale:
So you’re on this journey. It’s been it sounds like it’s been an incredible journey of of building businesses, of doing all of that, of all the excitement of Building it, creating, building, all of that. We alluded to it at the beginning that in 2013, you had, probably The most difficult moment for you and your wife, also on your birthday, when this experience happened. Maybe talk to us Just share a little bit as you’re comfortable in the story of your, you know, kinda what went on in that time, in the moment, and the experience that you had in 2013.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Definitely Definitely realize a lot as an entrepreneur, when that happens. So when you you know, we have significant tragedy in your league. So for us, you know, just to kinda set where we’re at. We had, Cody party, I think we had 9 franchises. We had built Monster Halloween, so it’s a temporary Halloween business. We had about 26 locations that would open up for September, October, And we had just started coding mobile, so mobile auto detailing and different mobile businesses, and that was a franchise, and it it was actually working quite well. And then on my birthday, like I said, we have 5 kids.

Steve Cody:
One of our kids, Nicholas passed away.

Rob Dale:
He

Steve Cody:
was drug related. And, yeah, that totally changed everything. And and at the time, you don’t even realize it. So an entrepreneur, you’ve got all these balls in the air Yeah. And the balls start falling, and you don’t even know it. And, you know, when I look back afterwards, it’s like that hope like, all I could do in terms of functioning was either be in bed, have a hot bath, or go for a long walk because the anxiety was just wild in my body. And, you know, these these balls are dropping. And, there starts to be some significant problems from a business standpoint, and Halloween was coming up.

Steve Cody:
We had, like, tons of inventory. And so, you know, we had to sell the companies, all 3 of them. So we ended up, and it was it was really a fire sale. So everything we had built up until that period of time, we got, you know, everybody, like, you gotta go bankrupt. Yeah. Like, there’s no way I’m doing that. So, we got through it, but at the end of it, you know, we had a significant amount of debt that we had to pay back. So and, you know, about a year and a half into it, I’d say, is kinda just going out for a walk one day and and and I’m and I’m looking down, you’re looking down at the path, and I I know exactly to where I was.

Steve Cody:
And I just decided I’m gonna look up. And I looked up, and I kinda saw the sky and everything through the trees. And that’s that’s that was the change of my mindset. Like, how like, why, how? You know? Yeah. Yeah. But looking up and So then I was kinda okay, like, you know, we gotta get back on the horse here,

Steve Cody:
and

Steve Cody:
we gotta provide for the family and, but we had nothing left. So

Rob Dale:
I I got I got chills when you use that language. So my partner, Wendy, and I, we have a Phrase that we say to each other all the time, and it’s always look up. Mhmm. Oh, interesting. Yeah. So for you to say those exact Backed words, I was like, oh, there it is. And whenever we’re you know, anything that you’re looking at or what whatever that might be, it’s a always look up. Yeah.

Rob Dale:
And it’s a reminder to ourselves that, you know, just exactly that. And, so an incredible, Yeah. Experience, I can imagine. We had, Janine Charon on the show not that long ago, and she talked about the gift, seasons of silence. So she talked about the gift of silence and how that helped her through her her bankruptcy and breast cancer and a bunch of the the difficulties that she went through. Maybe just talk about that season of stillness, where you are processing that. And and and it sounds like, you know, obviously, A lot of things that were going on there, but what were some of the lessons that maybe you were learning? And as you began to look up again, what did you Take from that that made you different than before in how you went into business back into business.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Well, it goes back to not have anything to lose because now I had nothing to lose. I’d lost everything. Yeah. Right? We didn’t we didn’t go bankrupt. Right? But now we we had nothing to lose. And Right. Right.

Steve Cody:
When I look back, I’m like, like, that was like almost like coming out of the water. Like, It was very refreshing from an entrepreneur standpoint of view. It made it a lot easier. You know, but it’s like so we have Nothing. We really don’t have any money, so what do you do? We had built this software to help run our different businesses. And, just I knew nothing about software, but we had hired a guy even for several years just you know, because we’re in retail, rentals, all this. So he created a really nice software package for us. And, I just got home from the walk, and I said to my wife, I said, we’re gonna get in the software business.

Steve Cody:
It’s like, what? Are you joking? Like, you don’t know anything about software? And I’d like that feels very intimidating. Right? You’re Of course. You’re a traditional entrepreneur. You left school in grade 10. Now I’m gonna get into software. Right?

Rob Dale:
Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Steve Cody:
And I can remember my kids. It’s like, dad, are you like, anyways, they thought I was nuts. And but I had no like, I I had no idea how to even get there. Right. And, my wife was on Twitter. We were in bed, and she saw this thing about an accelerator program called L SPARK that was happening in Canada

Steve Cody:
Right.

Steve Cody:
That Timothy Matthews was was part of. Yeah. And she told me, and I what what the hell is an accelerator program? Like, I’d never even heard the name. And, but she told me, you know, you can apply to this thing and Doesn’t cost you anything. They’re gonna show you how to get into the software business. You’re there for 9 months. And, you know, it just went on and on. I’m like, man, this this is, like, this is exactly what I need.

Steve Cody:
So, I filled in the application, and I sent the information. This so this was their 1st cohort, and I think, like, 300 companies or something had applied. And they were gonna select 20, and the 20 would pitch to a room full of investors and VCs and all this stuff, and then they would pick who they want to become part of this this thing. Right. So, anyways, I sent in my application and it was, like, 2 days before the the presentation happens. It was at night again I get an email from this guy saying thanks for sending in your application, but try again next time. And I’m like so I wrote him back. I said, well, His name was Marco.

Steve Cody:
I said, well, Marco, I think you made a mistake. Can I come and see it tomorrow? And the pictures were happening the day after. So he say, yeah. You come and see me. I think it was 1 o’clock or something. So, anyway so he’s out in Canada. Drive out to Canada, get out of the car, look at just look at my phone. Marco’s canceled the meeting.

Steve Cody:
Something’s come up. Mhmm.

Steve Cody:
K.

Steve Cody:
Well, that’s not good.

Steve Cody:
So,

Steve Cody:
anyways, I look up Marco on LinkedIn, and I find his picture. And and then I went in the building and I just started looking for a guy that looked like Marco. Marco, I found him. So I said, I’m Steve. I’m the guy you’re supposed to be meeting with. And, oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Cody:
Anyway, so we sit down and I went through it all, and he’s like, Yeah. You know? He says, I I think we may have a spot. Let me go check. And so he goes and checks, and he comes back. He’s, yeah, we we can get you in tomorrow. You can present. I said, well, what does this mean present? So when you you need a PowerPoint presentation, and there’s gonna be a room, like 40 people or whatever it is. Yeah.

Steve Cody:
And I’m like, okay. I said, I got a a couple of problems. I said, I have no idea how to put a PowerPoint presentation on there. Wow. And I’ve never presented to a group of people in my life.

Rob Dale:
I’m I’m I’m waiting for you to say that you basically the same as with the scaffolding is that you just went to one of the presenters like a Said, hey. I need your keynote. Can you give

Steve Cody:
me your key can I

Rob Dale:
have your presentation? Because, you’re you’re

Steve Cody:
the $20. Yeah. Yeah. Slide deck. Well, I got it done for free. Okay. Of course, you did.

Steve Cody:
Of course, you did. Yeah. So So I know as I said, we’re gonna get you a guy, and the guy ended up being a a gentleman named, Laurie Davis, ended up being a mentor. Great, great guy in the COO of the company. So he came in. We did some pitch practicing. He put the deck together. They let me present at the end of the day.

Steve Cody:
So I went in. First thing I told these guys was I know nothing about software, but I can sell. Mhmm. And that was kind of the opening to my pitch. Yeah. So did my thing, went home. We got some Chinese food. Phone rang, and, they said you got in.

Steve Cody:
Wow. So and there were only 2 companies that got in that year. So that was kind of our start to building the better software for a company. Wow.

Steve Cody:
That’s That’s what

Steve Cody:
yeah. And that’s actually it was in during those days while we when we, yeah, when we met you, you were you were involved in a better software company at the time. And, I I I wanna go if we can. I wanna just come back to to, you know, Nick’s passing. And, you describe, You know, for a season, you know, what all I could do was sleep, take a bath, take a long walk. You know, I’m a father of 3. You got kids of your own. I can’t imagine.

Steve Cody:
I I really just Can’t imagine what that must have been like for you and and and your wife, Natalie. Other than just the process of walking through that Dark Valley. Were there resources? Were there people? Were there things that helped you move through that loss? Because there’s people watching the show that I although I can’t imagine what it’s like. I’ve lost people close to me, but not a child. There’s people watching that, that have, what were some of the ways you move through that?

Steve Cody:
I mean, we had tremendous support from friends, really good friends. But I don’t think until you walk in those shoes, I don’t you know, you don’t you just don’t know. Right? Like, they just it’s hard. And, and you’re still trying to live life, like, you’re still trying to survive, and you’ve got 4 other kids, and How are they doing, and how’s my wife doing? And, you know, I ended up I went I ended up going to therapy because I I could not find a way out. And the therapist helped quite a bit, breathing exercises and, you know, continue with the exercise. And, Yeah. I can’t really pinpoint. There was so much happening, and you’re trying to survive that Then it was just really that walking that one day and and deciding to look up.

Steve Cody:
So is that time to process? Or Right. Right. You know, so, Like, I I don’t know what kinda I wish I could say what got me there. They say the 2nd year is the hardest. Right? So, like, the 1st year, you’re in a haze, 2nd year is hard. There’s no question because then it’s like anniversaries and birthdays.

Steve Cody:
Right. Right.

Steve Cody:
You know, there’s There’s things happening.

Rob Dale:
And it never it never goes away. Right? No. You know, my daughter was a lot much younger.

Steve Cody:
I know

Steve Cody:
the story. Yeah.

Rob Dale:
Yeah. And but I do know, and I remember at the time someone saying who had also gone through the loss of of, their teenage, son, who had said to me, it is a grief that one thing you will always be able to do is, stand with others Because there’s no greater grief than losing a child. And so whatever someone might be going through, you may not still understand. You you know, I I I I I’d way too many people say to me, I I understand how hard this must be, and it’s like, no. You don’t have a fucking clue.

Steve Cody:
Right. Until you walk

Rob Dale:
in those shoes. Walk through those shoes. But I but and so I’ve learned that is I don’t understand someone’s grief from where they’re at. Yeah. But you can at least from your place Of your own grief, begin to stand with people and be there with people because of that. And I think that’s something certainly I see as A gift that I got from going through that experience is how I choose to look at it is is the opportunity and the ability now to be able to stand with someone Regardless of what they’re going through and at least understand pain Yeah. To that level.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Totally agree. Yeah. It’s like a club you don’t really don’t wanna be in.

Rob Dale:
Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Right?

Steve Cody:
And yet

Steve Cody:
and it’s it’s amazing to me that even, whatever tragedy, and there’s probably no tragedy greater than losing a child. But even in the midst of terrible suffering, the good that can come out of that in time

Rob Dale:
Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Cody:
And I recently been reading a great book. Highly recommended. It’s the book of joy, it’s called. And it was an interview Oh, yes.

Steve Cody:
Oh, yeah.

Steve Cody:
Between, the the former, the late archbishop Desmond Tutu And the Dalai Lama, they spent a week in Damsala where the Dalai Lama’s been had at that point had been in exile for 56 years. And he’s asked the and that the whole conversation for the whole week, the author that interviewed them and then, wrote the wrote the book. It was on the nature of joy, in In the midst of suffering. And the Dalai Lama was was asked the question, you know, for 56 years, you’ve been banished from your homeland. To this day, the Chinese government still impedes his movements around the world. He’s still persecuted. And he would, he goes on to talk about in the book how without that, he couldn’t have traveled the world like he did. He couldn’t have met The people that he’s met, he couldn’t have expanded his horizons the way that he did.

Steve Cody:
It’s amazing. Again, it’s it it doesn’t diminish. The pain is still there, But it’s it’s amazing to me how the universe

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Just turned it around. I’m positive. Right?

Steve Cody:
And I think and I think for you, you know, you and your wife would go on, to to to launch the, Say No For Nick Foundation. Yeah. Tell us about that and and tell us about that

Steve Cody:
work. Yeah, it was So it really started what like before son’s passing,

Rob Dale:
it

Steve Cody:
started with, You know, my son coming to the door at 6:30 in the morning and and saying that he had done cocaine and he couldn’t stop and he needed help. And We got in the car and, you know, we went to the Queensborough Carleton, we went to the Royal Ottawa, But, oh, we went to Rideau Wood, we went to Dave Smith, none of them could help. And there’s kind of a a long story about it. Went to Pierre Polibier’s office at the time, I mean, he said, not a federal problem. Went to Lisa McLeod. You know, she said, no problem. I’ll get you help. And Came back about 20 minutes later, said there is no help.

Steve Cody:
And that was kinda Mhmm.

Steve Cody:
You

Steve Cody:
know, and so and then, you know, when so then we had the result we had. And, So we went to there was a child, a young girl that had died in Kanata, and Sean O’Leary, You know, it was things about his house, and he was quite shook up, and he realized that we had the same problem. So he held a community forum out in Kanata. And my wife and I at that time, like, we’re we’re still like, we had a hard time. We’re still processing. And this is probably about 2 years after. And just went to the meeting and they were. Somebody was talking about how much help there is and how easy it is to get help and, you know, I just hand I just stood up as a dad and I’m like, are you kidding me? Like Yeah.

Steve Cody:
And I’m like, I think about a single mom. Like, here’s like, I’m a dad. I’ve got my own business. I’ve got a great wife at home. I can spend the day doing this. Right. Even though you know? But what about a single mom? Like, what happens to that? You know? So I look at it from that perspective. And, Anyways, that really kinda got us fired up in terms of getting reengaged and, you know, Worked a lot with a lot of different government agencies, ended up chairing that has ever awarded $1,000,000 on a challenge.

Steve Cody:
Wow. And that was for testing for Fentanyl in drugs. And, you know, so that was a very rewarding process. Test. Yeah. And I remember giving the money and and I, like, I cried. You know, like, that was like, it just I don’t know. And it did brought up a lot of emotion.

Steve Cody:
We worked with a lot of parents because, I mean, it’s just So many people struggle with this then, today, and I I might even be worse today. Like, it’s it’s really tough. Yeah. We kinda got, like and, you know, we would we had a couple of nice events in Ottawa, the Kaleidoscope of Hope events. We put that on with Kevin and Tony, they were the founders of it. It was I mean, it’s a great event, and I remember the last one we did was a year before COVID, and I stood up to do a speech, and I was just I was done. Like, it was the the the emotion that comes out when you have to, like, even now. Right? Like, you probably sleep really well.

Steve Cody:
Right.

Rob Dale:
Yeah. We Yeah. The So and and the the emotion.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. So it’s just like Yeah. And I wish I like, now I’m at the point where I wish I could do more, and I had to pull right back because you kinda have to take care of yourself. Yeah. Or or you can’t take care of anybody. So we pulled right back, and I’m still in that pulled back, you know, I’m I’m gonna get back at it. I Yeah. I’m you know? I know it’s something will trigger it, and, I just I I right now, I don’t have the strength.

Rob Dale:
Oh, and and

Steve Cody:
But but isn’t that beautiful, though? Like, one, that you’re here today sharing your story. So on behalf of our listeners, thank you For your vulnerability, I mean, I can feel it in your I can see it in your eyes. I can I can feel it in the way that you’re sharing that this is, this is still so hard for you, but to have the wisdom to know when to step out and lead, and advocate and fight for a greater cause and what a cause? And and to know when to step back, and I need to take care of me right now.

Steve Cody:
Yeah.

Steve Cody:
I think there’s people listening to this episode right now. You might be in that place where perhaps it’s time for you to take a step back. The growth journey, we often are all about The step forward. I think understanding when it’s time to step out of that limelight and take care of you is something that’s underappreciated, And I think you’ve you’ve shared that beautifully today.

Rob Dale:
Yeah. What I and I again, I meant I referenced Janine and that that that phrase has become in the last few weeks. One of my favorite phrases, the season of silence. Mhmm. And the season of silence isn’t and when she talked about it in the episode, it wasn’t What she was really referring to was she needed a season where she put herself into a self imposed silence Mhmm. Yeah. Off of social media, off getting all the noise, getting out of it, all of it, to step back, to just allow herself to heal So that she could come back, as that new version of who she who she now is, and begin to do the stuff that she’s doing. And that it’s Such a power, and yet so many of us almost feel guilty letting ourselves go into that season of salads.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Absolutely.

Steve Cody:
We learned it, was actually through. So they had a course if you, you know, you had a if you’re dealing with somebody who had a substance abuse issue, and That’s where they said you really gotta take care of yourself or you’re not gonna take care of anybody, and I think that was our 1st big moment going through it. And yeah.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. So How is the Steve of today different from the Steve pre Pre pre loss of your son. Like, these events shape us pretty significantly. How would you say you have Changed, evolved, grown as a result.

Steve Cody:
I think really reflecting and enjoying, like, minutes, days, and hours. Mhmm. Like, there you know, there’s because we’re running so fast that sometimes you forget to sit and just appreciate. And I think, I think I’m much better at that than I was then, running really hard. I think I was a lot more combative before then. Mhmm. So if problem came up, I’d love to duke it out. The scrappery.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. French and Irish. I don’t know. Let’s go. Tavernite.

Steve Cody:
It’s. Yeah. Yeah. May we You know, now it’s like yeah. It’s just I don’t know. I I just let things go. Or, you know, if there’s a problem in business or a partnership issue, like, I’d walk away. Like, it’s just not worth life’s too short.

Steve Cody:
Right? It’s just not worth, you I don’t know. Maybe look you you’re looking for joy more. Yeah.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. I we Go back to your book. Maybe it’s in there.

Steve Cody:
Oh, yeah.

Steve Cody:
Tell you best top 3 books of the year, we’ll put it in the show notes. Book of joy. Yep. It’s worth the read. That’s beautiful. We wanna

Rob Dale:
get into the what you’re doing now and and and, you know, kind of have a a little bit of a focus on that for a few minutes. But maybe before we do, I don’t wanna shift away from this too quickly because there may be those watching or listening who are either struggling with addictions themselves, or have a you know, are are right in the midst of that where they’re sitting there and, you know, probably with tears right now hearing you share. Maybe a parent with a child where they’re thinking if, you know, if I don’t figure this out, I’m gonna be in Steve’s shoes. Maybe, you know, even just Talk to the camera. Share your to the listener right now. What would you share with them? What advice would you give to someone who might be listening right now Oh, and and and their hands kinda going up saying, that’s me.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. I think probably You know, if somebody had like, we were rate against drugs. So if, like, if our child would have talked about smoking marijuana or somebody else doing that. And we did it when we were young, but, you know, you grow up and and, we’re we’re I was just dead set against it. And what I came to realize through the process is I think there’s If somebody has a substance abuse problem, there’s a reason. And, you know, how do you get to the to the root of it? And it could be bipolar. Like, you know, a lot of people have a bipolar Yeah. And they’re and they’re self medicating going on.

Steve Cody:
So it’s it’s really kinda looking at it almost going around the problem and saying, like, why are they self medicating?

Steve Cody:
Right. Right.

Steve Cody:
So may you know, maybe it’s it’s having the person, have a bunch of tests done, psychological whatever it is. Maybe it’s some therapy. So it might not like, it might not be like they have to go right to rehab, like or or, you know, Anyway, you you’ve gotta find out why they have the problem. I think it’s important to take care of yourself. First, you have to because this’ll totally burn you out. I mean, I remember driving 2, 3 in the morning looking around, you know, for my son because, you know, you’re you’re just panicky and scared. Yeah. You’ve gotta you’ve gotta do with what you’re comfortable, there is no silver bullet.

Steve Cody:
Like, there there like, there people are asking all the time, what can you do? It really comes down to the person with the problem Yeah. They’re the ones that have to make the decision to fix a problem.

Rob Dale:
Carry it for them.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Yeah. You you just can’t. And you can try to put guard rails in, you know, like, try to get them around to, like, why is like, why are they self medicating, which is just It’s so often the problem. Right. And some you know? I don’t know. Like, it’s like, you talk about a safe drug supply now. I I’m a total advocate for it because the like, with Fentanyl and just all the issues with all the drugs on the streets, like, you know, The risk is so high.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Like in BC, you can get prescribed, like, very powerful drugs now. And, you know, I don’t know. Like, maybe that has to be a consider like, yeah. Sometimes you have to follow them on their journey, like align with them till they find it’s the right time. I met a man, Gord, And, he’s a huge advocate now, but he was, I think, a heroin addict for like 40 years. Wow. And he was an economist, and he lived at the top of a building like in the broom closet.

Steve Cody:
And he’d go to work in a suit every day. Smart, smart man. And and I was like, what got you off this? And he stole from his parents and everybody disowned him, like, all the, you know, all the things that happened. And he said, it was on his, I think it was his 60th birthday. His brother bought him a book. And he decided to read the book, and it showed him it wasn’t his fault. It was something wrong chemically in his brain. Wow.

Steve Cody:
That was having himself medicate. And who’s like that book. Like, here’s you know, somebody who’s been a hardcore user for 40 years.

Rob Dale:
Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Cody:
Right? And, Yeah. It’s a book. Yeah. So and, I mean, there’s so much hope. We had a guy, Josh, we helped. Think he was pronounced dead maybe 12 times. Wow. And, we worked with him quite a bit and, great kid, and, now he’s studying to be a lawyer.

Rob Dale:
Wow. Wow.

Steve Cody:
You know? And you’d look at him, and you’d say there’s like, does he have a chance? But everybody has a chance. Yeah. Everybody has a chance. Yeah. So you just yep. Sometimes it’s like following them follow along, you know. Don’t judge. Yeah.

Steve Cody:
They they don’t wanna be doing it either.

Steve Cody:
Like, there’s

Steve Cody:
like there’s something happening. There’s a reason.

Steve Cody:
I I love that because the, in essence, the very definition of compassion, if you go back to the Passion, if you go back to the etymology of the word, is to suffer with, to suffer alongside. And I think, you know, like mental health issues, drug addiction, gin, substance abuse. There is so much and and so many other things we could list that there is so much stigma attached to it that, we often wanna deal with the stigma, but we’re we’re we’re not looking at the pain that’s causing it. We’re not and to your point, we’re we’re we we gotta get past pass

Steve Cody:
the stigma. You’re totally

Steve Cody:
right. Stigma, pass the presenting issue because the presenting issue is often the symptom. It’s not the root cause. And, again, I love the notion of sometimes you just gotta follow someone for a while. That’s the very, essence, very essence of compassion. Steve, powerful. You’re you’re up to some cool new things these days. And, again, I I admire you all the more.

Steve Cody:
I’ve admired you from a distance since I met you back in the Better Software, days. When When I met you, I remember at your office, in the West End, and, you walked me through a really cool experience. And I admire you even more getting to know your story, even more What you’ve had to overcome, and now you’re doing this really cool thing with bunking.com. Yep. Give us what what’s what’s the sale what’s the, elevator pitch? Mister salesman, what’s the elevator pitch for Booking .com?

Steve Cody:
It I mean, it’s

Steve Cody:
a marketplace that helps to connect, like minded people for, like, shared travel, retreats, things like that. So it’s I think post pandemic, You know, my son and daughter were gonna go to Tofino for 3 months. And, when they found out what rent would be for a short term rental, like, they couldn’t afford it. And I said, well, get get some roommates, get some people sleeping on the floor on the couch and stuff. And my daughter’s like, well, what about axe murders? You know? Like, how are

Steve Cody:
people gonna pay? Well, because they exist. They’re they’re out there.

Rob Dale:
Ox birders need to sleep.

Steve Cody:
They like

Steve Cody:
to travel. They travel. Charge them a premium. Right.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, that that’s where the idea came from is, like, you know, to help people to connect. We’ve recently launched the the Rent Anything Store, so that’s a marketplace where, you know, you can you can rent anything. And, so that’s super exciting. We’re selling territories for that, and we’re our first one is is closing today, so that’s in Philadelphia. That’s amazing. And then we’re getting ready to launch helping companions, which, I think will be a really good one.

Steve Cody:
And, that one was just around my my mother. We were gonna my wife and I, we were gonna kinda live halftime in Mont Tremblant, halftime in Costa Rica, but I was worried about, You know, who’s gonna visit my mother? And, and she was really sick at the time, which is why we didn’t we didn’t go there. And, so she got through it. But through the process of looking to, like, how can I find companionship for? It’s you can’t find companionship for older people. Right. And, so helping companions is a marketplace where we help to connect seniors with companions.

Rob Dale:
Yeah. Wow. Wow. Yeah. I love it. I love it. I love all the stuff that you’re doing. Yeah.

Rob Dale:
One of the our favorite questions that we like to ask whenever we have a guest, on on the show, and we’d love to ask you this is kind of as we wrap up here is, what and I know you’ve been a listener of the podcast. Yep. But what is living richly mean to you?

Steve Cody:
I don’t like, when I look at your podcast rate from the beginning, like, well, it’s I might not answer your question, but what does this podcast mean to me? It’s like Just what is living

Rob Dale:
raw what does it mean for you to live your best life?

Steve Cody:
Yeah.

Steve Cody:
Living your best life.

Rob Dale:
Yeah.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. But I think what you do the the format here is the rawness of it. Like, the real like, you guys, how how how vulnerable you have been speaking. Mhmm. And I think that gives other people permission to do the same. Right. Right? So it’s not about it’s not about being cool and being strong, and It’s about being open and honest and vulnerable, and I think that’s how we all learn. Yeah.

Steve Cody:
So, anyways, you guys have a great job. Really good job.

Steve Cody:
Thank you. And thank you so much for being on the show. Well, In the show notes, we’re gonna post where we’re gonna get all the information from you about where people can connect with you, how they can connect with you. So we’ll make that all Available to our listeners for sure. Steve, this has been amazing. Thank you so much for honoring us with your story today, and we wish you all the best in, all your current endeavors and future because we know Steve’s up to more in the future.

Steve Cody:
Yeah. Yeah. Thank Hopefully not.

Rob Dale:
Yeah. We really do wanna thank you so much, and and thank you for, for taking the time to to tune in, to listen. I don’t know if you’re feeling it, whether you’re listening or watching this. I was feeling it today. Mhmm. Just the emotion of the moment. If this has spoken to you today, really wanna encourage you to like, to comment, and most importantly, share out this episode with others that you feel might, Yeah. Benefit from hearing Steve’s story and a little bit of his journey that he’s taken is you can check out all the show notes, all the other information at livingrichley.me, where you’ll find all that information.

Rob Dale:
Again, we thank you so much for tuning in, and we will see you again next week.

.