Balance WTF
Lisa Will is the CEO and Founder of Stonz, a Vancouver apparel and footwear brand helping parents spend more time with their kids, outside. Stonz makes the highest quality kid's outerwear and was built from scratch by Lisa. It was during a weekend in Whistler with her first child, when she couldn’t find appropriate winter footwear for the baby that was warm and stayed on, that the inspiration for Stonz took hold. She is an entrepreneur who follows her passion with hard work, focus and perseverance and has grown Stonz from its 2004 humble beginnings in her Vancouver basement and garage into the company it is today.
Stonz is now selling internationally in over 16 countries. Lisa has been a 2010 RBC Women Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist and Stonz has earned the accolades of 2012 Earnshaw's Best Shoe Company Finalist and the 2013 Best Kids' Shoes Award Winner from Red Tricycle Awards.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
How Lisa Will’s first child, her son, inspired the need for Stonz with his sleeping preference
How she decided to take Stonz from a hobby business to a full-time endeavor
Lisa’s personal thoughts on “Mompreneur” versus entrepreneur
How an entrepreneurial spirit has always driven Lisa throughout life
Why balance often requires asking yourself a lot of questions and understanding which buckets can be filled at which time
How sustainability continues to remain important to Lisa
What the quote “Do you hear me, do you see me, do I matter?” means to Lisa
How not just a single mentor can be attributed to Lisa’s drive but rather many valuable lessons from all over
Why she views her job now, as CEO, as partly to create a safe environment for her staff
In this episode….
Lisa Will is the CEO and Founder of Stonz kid-focused outerwear/footwear company. Her mission for Stonz is “making outside easy” and she works to make Stonz a brand that is synonymous with quality and also ease in terms of getting both parents and children outside to enjoy life. Prior to founding Stonz in 2004, Lisa worked as an energy trader and marketer and in her own words, loved every minute of it. She has always had an entrepreneurial spirit.
In listening to her own creative drive and body, she found the right time to both have children and start her own company, finding ways to balance both without sacrificing quality. She understands intuitively that not everything can be done at once but that achieving balance and striving for quality in both time and work is a large part of her success.
In this episode of What CEOs Talk About, host Martin Hunter discusses the idea of balance - balancing family, career, entrepreneurship, children, personal fulfillment - with Lisa Will. Lisa reveals how she works at things she loves, where she draws inspiration from, and how having a very supportive partner has been vital to her growth. They explore what books Lisa values and how she views being an entrepreneur.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Contact email: info@urgeo.com
‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People®’ by Stephen R. Covey
‘Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman’ by Yvon Chouinard
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