Meet Joshua George

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joshua George. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joshua below.

Joshua, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

Resilience has a lot to do with connecting to your “why.” Why is this worth all the work, why is this worth the long hours, why do I have to keep putting myself out there? And for me, it’s because failure is not an option. Not when the stakes are this high. My “why,” the thing that keeps me up at night, is knowing that I’m going to make my mom a millionaire. She’s worked too damn hard for anything less.

I’ve watched my mom work 12 hours a day, everyday for my entire life. And to be honest, when I was much younger, I even resented her for it. But she is a single mom, like a lot of good people are. So for her, there were no other options. Giving up, working less, failure, has never been an option for her. So it isn’t an option for me.

Until I was about 12 years old, mom was a pastor. She gave her heart and soul to her community. And they often gave back, They gave us our first freezer, helped us build a deck onto our trailer park home, and made her feel like a rockstar every Sunday. She never once failed to give back. She took in a whole family for 5 years! Because they had nowhere else to go. I’ve watched her give away her last 10 dollars more often than I can count. She helps people as an instinct.

Today, mom is a business owner. And 3 years ago, I joined the family business to help make her vision into a reality. We run an online business network. And we’re building something special. We’re building a community of business owners that acts like a church. Our community is full of generous people, who bring folks together as an instinct.

In hindsight, joining the family business was the best decision I’ve made in my entire life. Six months ago, mom was diagnosed with cancer. She is in chemo now, and it is going well. She’s tired, grumpy, and full of poison; she’s still the hardest working person that I know. If I hadn’t decided to join the business, she would have lost everything. Today our business is growing rapidly. We’re fortunate to have the community that we do. But we work hard, everyday, to continue earning their business.

So where does my resilience come from? I can promise you, that it, like most of my good traits, came from my mom.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am the GM in my family business called CIBN Connect. It is an online business networking community. We facilitate a variety of weekly online meetings that are educational, and community driven. While we do sell a membership, all of our meetings are free to attend. This is because education should be free, and value should be given up front. Lots of folks have told me this isn’t a great business model. I’ve also been told that the paid membership should be more expensive. But what matters most, is being a blessing to our community. The money will follow.

I am a passionate speaker. I’ve done performance poetry, played a few Princes in high school, and I even debated a Canadian senator (and I won). Today I exercise this skill by speaking several times a week to business owners. Our clubs allow be to keep refining this skill. But I am really passionate about standup comedy. And once my mom is recovered from her cancer, I look forward to having more time to pursue that passion.

The most exciting thing about what I do, is seeing the transformations that we’ve played a small part in. It is my adamant belief, that the key to success is having a strong community. Recently, a few of the leaders in our community told me that they feel like they’re part of a sphere of excellence; they’re getting better everyday. I’ve always wanted to be part of something like that, and I feel like we’re damn close. But there is still more work to be done.

I am looking for more people who think like us. My people are hardworking, innovative, community builders. They bring folks together as an instinct. They never admonish good intentions, they don’t exclude people for bad reasons. My people work hard, because they believe in what they’re doing. My people create, collaborate, and connect as a habit. My people are Happy Capitalists. They use their businesses to create the change that they want to see in the world.

If you think you could be a happy capitalist, then I’d like to meet you. I know some people that you may like.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Listen closely, and find people who are smarter than you. It feels good to show people the way, but you need better people to challenge you.

The best thing you can do for someone is believe in them. The world is full of doubt, they don’t need yours.

If you have to criticize, always offer a solution. If you don’t have a solution, connect them with someone who does.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

Take a break, get some sleep, then do something hard. Climb a mountain, jump off a cliff, sing a karaoke song that you’ve never heard before.

This year I told my dad that I was overwhelmed. I said life is too hard, and I don’t know what to do. He said I should have some kids. Immigrant parents can give odd advice sometimes. When he was younger than me, he had to smuggle himself out of his home country with his younger brother. They were escaping war. They spent days in the desert, they were shot at, they wondered around in the pitch black of night while trying to avoid armed soldiers. He came to Canada as a refugee and learned to speak English. If you ask him now, he says that life has never been that hard. Context matters. So why the kids? Because even he says that kids are hard work.

Personally, I think it’s great advice, but the wrong idea. If you’re up against the wall, tired and overwhelmed, take a break. Get some sleep. Then do something hard.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://cibnconnect.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-george-calgary/