September 3, 2025 • 53 mins
In this inspiring episode, Jess sits down with Erin Sisko, founder of The Elleiance Network and Capital Elle Business Impact Award, to talk about what it really takes to fuel women entrepreneurs. Erin shares her journey from the corporate finance world into building a movement that empowers women through community, mentorship, and access to capital.
You’ll hear:
✅ The story behind creating The Elleiance Network and why it matters for women in business
✅ The challenges women face in accessing funding—and how Erin is changing that narrative
✅ How to shift from corporate achievement to purpose-driven impact
✅ Practical advice for women entrepreneurs who are ready to grow their influence and access opportunities
Whether you’re an early-stage founder, a coach, or a creative building your dream business, this episode will give you both the inspiration and the practical insight to take your next step with confidence.
🎧 Tune in now and discover how you can step into the future of women’s entrepreneurship with more support, more capital, and more power than ever before.
**Apply for the Capital Elle Business Impact Award**
https://www.elleiance.ca/impact-award-2025
Key Dates
Applications Open: September 2, 2025
Applications Close: October 28, 2025
Top 10 Announcement: November 13, 2025
Winner Announcement: November 27, 2025
CONNECT WITH ERIN SISKO:
Website: https://www.elleiance.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-sisko/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elle.iance/
EPISODE TIMELINE:
00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
02:12 Erin Sisko's Background and Entrepreneurial Journey
06:29 Building The Elleiance Network
12:55 The Capital Elle Business Impact Award - HOW TO APPLY
13:53 Challenges and Growth in Entrepreneurship
48:24 Expanding The Elleiance Network
50:52 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
__
✨ Ready to reprogram your subconscious, release visibility fears, and embody your most confident, magnetic self, grab your Just Elevate! Bundle: https://www.tresorhouse.ca/justelevatebundle
CONNECT with Jess on IG: https://www.instagram.com/jessicalmwest/
SUBSCRIBE to our YOUTUBE CHANNEL, here.
GET A COPY OF MY BOOK: Manifesting with Purpose
VISIT the Website: https://www.jessicalmwest.com/podcast
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
Welcome to Feminine Initiate podcast.
I'm your host, Jess West, and I hope you're having a fantastic.
Day so far. I'm excited to be bringing back
Aaron Cisco on the show today. Aaron is the founder of the
Alliance Network, Canada's business mastermind network for
ambitious, growth minded women entrepreneurs.
(00:28):
She helps women raise the most powerful, yet often overlooked
form of capital, which is socialcapital.
Through strategic connections and curated communities, Erin
helps entrepreneurs unlock financial opportunity, amplify
impact and lead with confidence.Aaron is also the creator of the
(00:49):
Capital L Business Impact Award,a $50,000 funding program
supporting women who are often overlooked by traditional
capital systems like early stagefounders, underestimated
entrepreneurs, and those that are denied access to loans or
grants. With 29 partners, 27 of them
being women owned businesses, this national award is Canada's
(01:13):
largest collaboration project for women entrepreneurs.
Aaron's on a mission to ensure that no woman builds a loan.
Today we talk about Aaron's background story, how she built
the Alliance Network and we talkabout the Capital L Business
Fund, how you can qualify, how you could apply because
applications have officially opened as of yesterday and they
(01:37):
will remain open until October 28th, 2025.
So if you are a woman entrepreneur in Canada, I highly
recommend that you apply. And if you are not an
entrepreneur or not in Canada, but you know of a Canadian women
business owner, then you can nominate them to let them know
(01:58):
that you're thinking about them and that you believe in their
mission and the success of theirbusiness.
It is such a beautiful gift thatyou can offer them.
So without any further ado, let's get into this incredible
conversation. All right, hello, Aaron, welcome
back to the podcast. I'm really excited to have this
(02:18):
conversation with you today. So last year you were on the
podcast in episode one O 4 titled the one thing that holds
women back in business. And we were talking about your
business that you founded the Alliance Network and you had
just recently introduced the L Capital business fund, which was
(02:42):
really exciting. So I feel like our last episode
you really talked about your business and the fun this
episode. I would really love for us to
get to know you, who's Aaron behind all of this.
So maybe we can start off with that today.
Would you mind telling us, you know who is Aaron?
And did you always have a desireto want to become an
(03:02):
entrepreneur, let alone a serialentrepreneur and let alone
mentor other women entrepreneurs?
OK. Hi.
Thank you for having me back. Wow.
Who is Aria? That's just it feels like such a
loaded question. I'm like, I can go in so many
directions because there's so many aspects to how I got here
(03:28):
and what I do right now. But did I always want to be an
entrepreneur? So I guess going back, I no, the
short answer to that is no, I never actually saw myself as an
entrepreneur. And I think part of that is
because I had no examples of entrepreneurship around me in
(03:50):
any aspect when I was a kid or growing up.
Like no family members, no friends.
So. I was I I just looked at my
parents as to examples of how tolive life and.
I feel like I really just took that on as the one way to do
(04:14):
things. And both of my parents had jobs
and we grew up modestly, so I wanted to make a little bit of
money and live in a little houseand just be OK at my job.
And I really also had no idea what I wanted to do for the
(04:34):
longest time. I felt like I wasn't
extraordinary or like really good or had a deep interest and
passion in anything. So that was really kind of
confusing and disappointing for me when everyone's trying to
figure out like outside of high school, what you're going to be
when you grow up. I had no idea.
(04:56):
So, but it was always my plan togo to post secondary and I ended
up landing on getting a businessmarketing diploma and thought
that business was a broad enoughcareer path that I had options.
So that was my thought process there.
(05:18):
I got my business marketing diploma and then it was actually
really difficult for me to get ajob anywhere.
And I waitressed for quite a while and then I finally got a
job working for Scotia Bank in personal banking And so not
really related to marketing and actually numbers and math and
(05:41):
accounting were always the most difficult subjects for me.
So it was, I was like, oh, I guess I'm but I was desperate at
the time and it was mostly a positive first professional job
experience. I didn't love it, but I didn't
(06:04):
hate it. So I thought that was OK.
And then I went back to school and I got my business degree and
I eventually landed a job in 2012 working for the Business
Development Bank of Canada. And that was unbeknownst to me
(06:25):
at the time, but a very pivotal part of my story.
So I worked for the Business Development Bank of Canada.
I got hired on as an account manager and then later a senior
account manager and I worked there for just shy of 10 years.
So I worked directly with Canadian small and medium sized
(06:45):
business owners, entrepreneurs and helped them with financing
and advisory services for their business.
So this was really my first exposure to entrepreneurship and
I realized that I loved them, that they were the most
interesting people I'd ever met in my entire life.
(07:07):
And as much as I did not see myself at the time as an
entrepreneur, but I had always seen myself as someone who was
very interested in personal and professional development.
So I was always like, I saw myself as a lifelong learner and
(07:29):
I was like always seeking out opportunities to learn and grow
and just never in a capacity of being my own business owner.
So I think that that's where I did see a little bit of myself
in them because I find that entrepreneurs are very growth
(07:52):
minded, of course. So that alignment was there and
anyways, I I thought that I would never leave the bank.
I really liked my job because I loved my clients and I loved
supporting entrepreneurs and growing their business and
hearing their stories. In 2019, the bank also appointed
(08:13):
me the Ambassador for Women Entrepreneurs for Eastern and
Northern Ontario. And the timing was just very
serendipitous for that because Iwas just back from my second
maternity leave with my daughterand I was starting to get pretty
curious as to why I was only doing business with men at the
(08:33):
bank and only men were borrowingto grow their businesses.
I had very few women that I worked with at any given time.
So when the bank asked me if I wanted to take on this
additional role, I gladly said yes because I really wanted to
understand better why there was this discrepancy in who was
(08:55):
building these $1,000,000 plus businesses and borrowing like
bigger amounts of money to grow.So I went on a mission to talk
to as many women entrepreneurs as I could get my hands on.
And the one question that I asked all of them was what is
the biggest challenge that you face in growing your business?
(09:16):
And to my surprise, the answer from every single one of them
was the exact same. And it was something along the
lines of making the right connections so that I wanted to
do something to help in that area.
But it was a bit of a departure from my job as a lender.
(09:37):
And what I ended up doing was I reached out to everybody and I
said, if I start a group, would you come?
And in October of 2019, I had 10women around a table and I had
set an agenda. And it was just this very casual
(09:58):
thing. But I said, let's meet once a
month and let's we're going to talk about every single aspect
of building and growing a business and support one another
and deepen our relationships with other women to our right as
similar stage and phase of business as you at the table.
And. Again, unbeknownst to me, that
(10:19):
was the start of something that I could not have even dreamed.
Of. That of what it could be.
But people started to reach out.So I launched another group in
February of 2020 and then a few months after that another group
and another group and another group and obviously we know what
(10:40):
happened in 2020. So everything went virtual.
People kept showing up. It was just.
This. Wild thing that was happening,
but again, I was obsessed with doing it because I was seeing
the impact it was having and eventually in August of 2021,
the bank came to me and said I had to choose between continuing
(11:03):
to grow the alliance network or continuing on with the bank.
And that was my push into entrepreneurship.
I ended up leaving the bank to grow the Alliance Network full
time and with no real plan. I don't know that I would
(11:24):
recommend what I had built a community, but up until this
point, the Alliance Network was free and I had two little kids
at home. So that was probably one of the
scariest things that I have everdone.
And that caused me to, well, I had to monetize the Alliance
Network right away. So it's now a membership based
(11:46):
business mastermind community for Canadian women
entrepreneurs. I grew it outside of my city
which is Thunder Bay ON so we now have members from BC to PEI
currently. A shout out to anyone living in
Newfoundland. I'm coming for you.
(12:08):
But yeah, we're almost close to coast in Canada and growing.
So that's really exciting. But I also, I got my real estate
license and I'm licensed in Ontario and I have a bit of a
niche practice where I focus on business acquisition and
succession planning. And in and around that I wanted
(12:32):
to get my own hands on experience and doing that.
So I acquired a business myself with a business partner and we
bought a local bakery here and are looking to possibly acquire
more businesses as the years go on.
And I took a 12 month business coaching certification program.
(12:55):
And so I'm a certified business coach.
And as you mentioned, under the umbrella of the Alliance
Network, I created the Capital LBusiness Impact Award, which
this year is a $50,000 funding program for Canadian women
entrepreneurs. Amazing what a journey I love.
(13:19):
That. You lay it all out like that
because it really does show how one thing kind of led to the
other. And now here you are.
And when you mentioned that you see entrepreneurs as having a
growth mindset, and I 100% totally agree with that.
And one of my favorite sayings is that entrepreneurship is one
of the best forms of personal development because you're
growing as a person. And when you're looking at your
(13:42):
bottom line and you're note, youknow that it's a reflection of
how you're showing up to you. And so you're kind of like
working on yourself and, and your business at the same time.
And it's just so powerful. And I want to get into, I mean,
now that you're saying that the Alliance Network is pretty much
Canada wide and I don't know if it was that last year when we
(14:04):
were talking. So I'd love to get into the
growth that you have seen in this first year since launching
Capital Fund and you've been on so many other podcasts and
really getting the message out there.
But first I'd like to touch on what that really felt like and
maybe some of the the fears thatyou had to go through, like when
(14:25):
you were saying you were essentially given that ultimatum
by the Business Bank of Canada, like, you know, stay here or
your alliance has to shut it down.
And then you, you know, took that decision.
It was scary. What do you think it was that
just like, allowed you to take that leap?
(14:47):
I there was a few factors at play for sure.
It wasn't just one thing like a lot of factors actually when I
look back like. One of those.
Perfect storm type of things that it couldn't have happened
in any other way. I mentioned I have never
identified as an entrepreneur asmuch as I, I loved supporting
(15:12):
them, but and I took that role so seriously, but I wasn't them.
I did not. I thought they were a little bit
crazy. Like I had clients that hadn't
pulled a wage out of their business for five, 6-7 years.
Like I, I didn't know how these people survived some of them and
just what they put on the line to build something that had
(15:36):
never existed before that they just felt so passionate about.
You know, I understand it all sodeeply now, but at the time I
admired it. But I also didn't like it wasn't
for me, you know, Or at least I told myself that.
But what ended up like the a fewkey factors, I guess is my role
(16:00):
at the BDC did I spent day in and day out inside these
businesses working very closely with entrepreneurs.
So I had was building a network and I was learning lots about
business and educating myself onthe job, not with an intention
(16:22):
to leave, just with an intentionto get better at my job and to
understand entrepreneurship better so that I could be a
better support person. But you know, building that
knowledge bank and base I think did help to give me some
confidence when the time came tomake a decision.
(16:44):
Building the Alliance network and like I said, I.
Absolutely loved it. So like serving these women and
watching the impact that was coming out of every single
mastermind meeting was like had my cup overflowing for how like
(17:07):
joyful and purposeful and like something that I had just
created out of thin air in an effort to help was really
working. And so that was my first taste.
It was free, but it was growing.And I had these women who
(17:28):
believed in me as much as I I believed in them and that
supported me as hard as I supported them.
And I had never had that before.So that was a big factor.
I remember talking to many of myalliance members when I was in
(17:49):
this like, you know, phase, let's say two weeks of a
decision making space. And all of them were so
supportive and built me up and said they would continue to
support me and told me that I was brave enough and smart
enough and good enough to continue to do this.
(18:12):
And like, I can't tell I, I truly don't think I would have
been able to do it without thosecheerleaders telling me that
they believed in me. Because as much as I was working
on building my belief in myself,I feel like I still really
needed other people who saw it in me in times when I was had a
(18:36):
little bit of doubt still. So that was another important
factor. I had been with the bank at this
point for 10 years and we were at the tail end of COVID.
So much had changed in my job and a lot of it not in a way
that was lighting me up in the same way.
(18:58):
And I think when I look back on that, it wasn't necessarily like
all an organizational thing. Me as a person, I was growing
and changing and like seeking out this path of development and
growth so intentionally that I had just outgrown the
(19:23):
opportunities that were available for me at a corporate
level. So all of these factors mixed in
together. Honestly, it was, it was as much
as it was scary. I also couldn't have done
anything else. Do you know what I mean?
(19:43):
Like, you know, when it's just like, like every cell in my body
is like, Aaron, if you don't do this, you are going to forever
wonder if you could have done it.
And I also knew I'd been in banking.
I was in personal banking for five years, then business
banking for 10 years. So I had this skill set that was
(20:08):
I knew I was employable. But as you know, as an
entrepreneur, it doesn't take long inside the world of
entrepreneurship until you're like, oh, I'm actually not
employable anymore because I can't imagine going back to a
job. So, you know, but I also knew
(20:28):
that like, worse comes to worse,if I'm like homeless in the
ditch, I can go and get it. Like somebody probably.
From bank will probably take me on um.
So I had this like Plan B way back there, but I also knew that
like it was time to go all in and see and see what it could
(20:49):
be. And it has been.
There's definitely been points of stress.
However, it's one of those things, and I've heard it from
so many entrepreneurs over the years.
It's like, I can't do anything else.
(21:09):
Like there's just no options. I have to figure it out.
And every day I literally wake up like so excited to see what
the day is going to bring and towork on what I'm building and to
serve who I'm serving. And to be open to all of the
(21:31):
opportunities that are going to show up in often what feels like
magical ways to continue to growand develop and grow and develop
and like where this path is going to take me.
And you know all the stakeholders here is just.
(21:54):
I don't know it's. It's like a career path like no
other, where it's not necessarily easy, but man, it is
so fulfilling and exciting and it just brings like such a next
level of purpose to my life thatI didn't know was available to
(22:15):
me until I took the leap. Hmm.
Yeah, you touch on something that hits home really for me.
And my personal story is like, and having that regret, if I
don't do this, I know I'm going to live with the regret of not
taking the chance. And I think like with getting
into that perspective and starting to look at it in that
(22:36):
way, like it makes it so much easier to be able to move
forward. But like you were saying, you
had the network, you had the knowledge network and people who
believe in you even before you believe in yourself.
And especially having the great supportive network.
I mean, they say we're like the five people that we hang around
with most. And so if we're around people
who don't really believe in us, we're kind of like, no, keep the
(22:56):
secure job, right? That's not an environment to
allow us to be able to move forward and take that leap.
Did you ever, I love that you have the Plan B And I, I feel
like many of us that's entrepreneurs, we do have that
Plan B that we never want to getto.
But it's in the back of our mind.
We're like, OK, if like really worse comes to shove, like we
(23:16):
could just go back and do something, right.
But was there ever a time when you were starting at the L
Alliance network that you were like, oh, you know, maybe maybe
I, maybe I went too soon or you kind of regretted your decision.
Maybe I should have stayed at the bank.
And I'm saying this because I feel like a lot of newer
(23:36):
entrepreneurs find themselves there of like regretting not
seeing the results in their business right away.
And then their second guessing themselves like, oh, should I
keep going and or should I have stayed?
And I love just to be able to share examples.
Feel like you're not alone in feeling this.
No one's immune to this feeling.And you can keep going if you
(23:57):
you can really create the business of your dreams.
Yeah, yeah. Like for me, my story is a
little bit unique because I was,I was forced to make a choice
and in a very short time frame. And at the time, it was a lot of
(24:19):
pressure and I felt, um, you know, I didn't have like, I had
some negative emotions around it.
Like, I was like a bit mad that I was forced into this position.
However, I also know that for me, I don't know that it could
have gone any other way because I was scared and I feel like I
(24:45):
would have tried to do both for as long as humanly possible.
But then I also know that I would have either stinted my
growth by an extreme amount because I was holding down like
a professional full time job of two kids at home.
It was COVID like I was busy as it was.
(25:07):
And then I'm trying to build this network.
And so there would just the capacity was not there.
I did not have the space to invest what was required into
the alliance network like what it deserved.
And but at the time I'm looking for a safety net, right?
(25:27):
So I'm like, well, just let me do both.
Let me do both like. We can figure this out.
And they were like, no, that that's not an option.
So I had no option. So I never thought to myself
like maybe I could have stayed for longer because that wasn't
really an option. But what I will say is I have
(25:48):
thought so many times, maybe I'mjust not the right person to do
this. Maybe this isn't for me, it's
for other people, but it's not for me.
I I'm just not designed to buildwhat I like can see in my mind,
(26:09):
but maybe I just don't have whatit takes.
Like I just don't maybe. And I am now equipped in like
enough mindset tools and trainings, you know, like I've
invested so much because you can't, it's not that you can't
(26:30):
have those thoughts. It's just you need to know how
to shift them back into a state of abundance and you know, flow
and growth and like all of the things quicker.
(26:50):
You can't sit there for that long because you're just, you're
sabotaging yourself with those types of thoughts.
And like, of course, of course, why not me?
Of course, you know, now I'm more buy into them.
It's so lovely to buy into the mindset and I do like there.
(27:12):
There's just so many factors at play.
But what I do believe when I'm in my like, best mindset is that
this vision and dream wouldn't be on my heart and in my mind if
it wasn't meant for me in some way.
And like, of course, why not me?Why not you?
(27:33):
You have a dream. Why not?
You know, of course. But there are moments when it's
hard and there's compounding things that feel like they're
not going your way. And cash flow is really tight
and bills are due and. You feel like, what are you
going to do? You know, like I did.
(27:55):
I was just. Every month I host an event
inside the Alliance Network called the Podcast Club, where I
choose a podcast episode in my like repertoire of podcasts that
I listen to because I love podcasts.
So this one, the Podcast Club ismeeting this week on Thursday.
(28:16):
So I'm listening to this episodeagain so that I can, you know,
pull out the Nuggets and we can go deep on it.
And the show is the diary of a CEO show.
And he has three guests, mine. And so it's Alex Hormozi, Cody
Sanchez and Daniel. I always forget his last name.
(28:40):
Some gentleman named Daniel withan English accent.
Anyways, these three business experts and her Mazi says that
80% of businesses fail because they run out of cash and and and
20% just quit too soon because it feels hard.
So and that was just, you know, I was like, that makes a lot of
(29:05):
sense. Like a lot of people don't wanna
quit, but you literally run out of money and what are you gonna
do? You know what, like you can't
survive so you have no choice. And I feel like there's such
this balance. And actually I also just heard
(29:25):
that 60% of service based businesses fail versus 50% of
product based businesses becauseit's so hard to price yourself
as a service based business. There's not this formula that
like my material cost this much and then I mark it up by 3040
(29:48):
fifty 60% and you know my marketing this that it's the
market is willing to pay this like it's so much more
difficult. So yeah, anyways, that's it's
not that it hasn't been, I haven't considered it.
But you keep holding on and figuring things out.
(30:13):
And like, I have been so proud of myself for understanding,
like how my brain works when it's put in difficult
situations. You know, like, you don't feel
that pressure when you have a job to nearly the same degree to
(30:34):
when you're trying to figure outa business model and how to make
your dreams come to life. Like, it's pretty wild the
creativity and the capacity of what you can actually create
when you're forced to do so. And it does make you pretty
proud of yourself, you know? Yeah, I feel like when you do
(30:59):
enter in entrepreneurship with that knowledge too, that like
it's not just this business thatyou're growing, you're also
growing yourself. So embracing it as an experience
on you too and exploring and yeah, realizing, OK, how how am
I under pressure? Like it's almost like as if you
have like this lens of curiosityof yourself and then kind of awe
at just what you're capable of when you really need to make
(31:23):
things happen. I love that you gave that stat
that 60% of service based businesses fail because they
can't get the pricing right. Because I do feel I mean in
doing both, you know, I had a product based business and now
in the online coaching space andit is harder.
And even for example, my productbased business, I looked at the
direct competitors, what are they charging?
(31:44):
OK, that's kind of the range that I can go and put my prices
for my product as well. But being in the online space, I
mean there's such a wide range of of pricing too.
So how do you even compare? You really have to go within and
look at everything that you've uniquely experienced, the time
that you put in the learning like all of it to really figure
(32:04):
out like what that pricing is. So it is really difficult.
You also mentioned 80% of businesses fail because they
don't have any more cash flow and you this is the second year
that you are doing the Capital LImpact award.
So at what point when you were just running the Alliance
Network, did you realize that I'm going to put together an
(32:28):
award because this is really needed in this space?
So yeah, I shared that I startedthe Alliance Network initially
because I was hearing women say their biggest challenge and
growing their business was making the right connections.
And then in 2021, I ended up leaving the bank going all in on
(32:48):
helping to build these connections.
And I still 100% believe that making the right connections in
business is the number one thingthat you should be working on
like every day at figuring out like how to make the right
(33:08):
connections for your business. Like it's just people.
The fact that I get to sit here with you today is because
somebody introduced us, you know, a year and a half ago and
we've built a relationship and now I get to talk about my story
to your audience. And you know, it's just, it's,
(33:30):
it's people that help build yourbusiness and you need that.
But my unique background of skills lies in banking.
That's where I've spent the majority of my professional
career and I feel like it's justwhere I can add so much value
(33:54):
because I understand it so deeply.
And a big part of the reason whyI got started here as well is
because I was getting really curious as to why I was only
dealing with men. So there is this big gap in the
financing sector between who is getting funded and how.
(34:15):
And as much as making the right connections, I think is the
number one piece of capital, social capital I call it, that
you need to be raising every dayand every week as an
entrepreneur. I don't think it's, I just felt
like it was irresponsible for me, especially based off of this
(34:37):
unique set of knowledge and skills and experience that I had
in the funding and financing world for so long, to not talk
about that. Because what I was seeing is I
could help you make the right connections.
You could join the Alliance Network and together we could
get really good at that. But then what's going to happen
(34:59):
eventually is you're going to need to raise financial capital
to keep going. So it's social capital is
something that you should be focusing on raising every day,
every week, every month. Financial capital is very
different. You don't need to focus on
(35:19):
raising financial capital every day.
That's not necessary. But there are key points in your
businesses growth cycle where you do need to focus on
financial capital. Now, if you're doing really good
at raising social capital, then hopefully in your network you
(35:40):
have people that that is their zone of genius.
So you have people like me, for example, where I have helped
hundreds and hundreds of Canadian business owners both
raise grant money and raise bankmoney.
And since leaving the bank, I'vereally focused on building my
knowledge base around raising private capital.
(36:03):
So that's how I was able to buy a business in 2022.
And I've since helped people access money through angels or
VC's or you know, what that private money world looks like.
And I've been an Angel investor myself, so through these three
(36:23):
buckets of capital, I look at them.
So grants, banks, private, that is probably going to be required
at certain inflection points of your growth cycle.
And I feel like I understand that it's like this unique set
(36:45):
of knowledge that I have that I could bring to the table where I
can add value. So my big goal is that I did
want, I want one day to launch my own venture capital fund
where I invest in like meaningful amounts of capital
and women owned businesses. But while I'm on my journey to
(37:06):
bringing that goal to life, I thought, what can I do in the
meantime? And that is how the Capital L
Business Impact Award was born. One of my other main values in
business is collaboration. So I believe that really the top
(37:27):
way of building social capital is by being open to
collaboration. And when you meet somebody to
just show up so generously that there's no option, that at some
point, like the karma that's going to come back to you is
just going to be 10X or 100X of what you put out there in the
(37:52):
1st place. And collaboration is just such a
cool way to do that in business.So, so yeah, this award just, it
fell into place and it is such afun project to work on.
The fact that I get to build something that is going to give
(38:14):
$50,000 of cash and critical business services to Canadian
women entrepreneurs is like justthe most fulfilling and exciting
dream come true for me, to be honest.
So it feels super good. And this year we're doing
(38:37):
something a little bit different.
So as you mentioned, the amount went up in 2024, our first year,
we had nine partners and $20,000in cash and prizes.
This year we have 29 partners and $50,000 in cash and prizes.
But we are specifically also opening up a really important
(39:00):
conversation from my perspectiveand we are specifically funding
women who have been left out of the funding landscape in Canada
historically. So whether you have been denied
funding in the past or you are building a business in one of
(39:21):
the three industries that are the most unfunded industries in
Canada, which are social impact,service and creative industries,
which ironically are largely LEDby women entrepreneurs.
That is specifically who we are funding.
(39:43):
And as much as I know the impactthat the actual prizes can have
to the up to 10 winners of this award, what I'm also really
excited about is unlocking and sharing this conversation with
(40:04):
as many people as I can talk to about it that the funding
frameworks. Are old, they're outdated, they
are meant for businesses that are buying brick and mortar,
that are buying tractors, that are buying massive amounts of
inventory. And entrepreneurship in this
(40:28):
country has shifted so much thatthere's this big piece that's
being left out of all of the funding in this country because
we don't look like how businesses looked in 1950.
And we haven't been able to change these like dinosaur
(40:49):
frameworks. And partially that's because
we're dealing, we're not dealingwith entrepreneurs, we're
dealing with government. We're dealing with big banks and
organizations of like this size and complexity.
It's so hard to shift how thingswere built and like how business
(41:10):
gets done, but that's where it leaves these like pockets of
super cool and interesting opportunity for the
entrepreneurs of the world to identify where there's a gap and
a challenge and a problem and doit better.
So that's what I am on a missionto do.
(41:32):
I love it. I love what you're doing and I
love that, you know, I have the opportunity to do this full
circle moment with you here having last year and now we're
just a couple days away between the this next year opening up
And congratulations to all of the growth that you had in the
last year and all of the other, you know, partnerships that you
(41:54):
have created and everybody involved and everyone who is
nominated. And I saw on your website too
that you also opened up two nominations.
So if you, because I have a lot of audience members that are in
the States right now, but if youdo know of a woman entrepreneur
in Canada, you can also nominatean entrepreneur and they can
(42:15):
choose to follow through and apply if they don't already know
about it. 100%. Yes, yeah, that was that's new
this year again, we're this award is 2 years old.
So it is a baby toddler and it is getting better every year.
I can't wait to see what next year and the year after look
like. But I'm excited about the
(42:37):
nomination aspect of it. And a reason for that is just
because I just feel like as women, it's in our DNA to want
to elevate and lift up other women.
And how awesome does it feel to be able to like, for me to write
(42:58):
your name down and say, I think that Jessica W deserves to be in
the running for this. And then an e-mail lands in your
inbox saying, somebody thought about you, you should consider
applying for this because you deserve it.
And it's just, again, it's such a generous way to show up for
(43:21):
somebody. It doesn't cost you anything,
but by me doing that for you or for any other women entrepreneur
in this country, all of a suddenI'm in their inbox and they're
thinking about me while I'm thinking about them.
And who knows, you know, whetheryou win the award or not.
(43:41):
But now we're in conversation and we're potentially building
something really amazing together because all because I
took 5 or 10 minutes out of my day to be like, yeah, I think
that you should. You need to know about this
because you deserve to win this.And I just love to find those
(44:04):
like pockets of opportunity to generously like drop into
somebody's world because I know what that's done for me.
Like sometimes I just, I'll be like, I'm going to take 15
minutes and go on LinkedIn and comment thoughtfully on three
(44:24):
peoples posts that I just want to be top of mind for them again
because I feel like, you know, they deserve it.
And maybe there's something coolthat we could do together.
And I can't tell you just by doing that how many times then a
DM has come in being like, Aaron, we need to reconnect.
(44:46):
We need to talk about this. I have this cool opportunity and
I want to share it with you and like it.
Just never like by showing up for somebody in that way.
You just never know what is going to come from that.
And that is the excitement of entrepreneurship and the power
(45:07):
of social capital. Yeah, absolutely.
And, and it's making me think ofwhat you were saying right at
the beginning when you had a network of people who believed
in you more than you may have believed in yourself at that
moment. And so receiving that, having
someone believe in you so much that they're going to nominate
you. And then you see that that's
kind of like you can borrow someone's belief and, and maybe
(45:28):
it can even be something that that person may have never even
thought about it for themselves.Maybe maybe thought, oh, you
know, I, I, I can't apply for that.
Like I'll never get chosen. But if someone else believes in
me, then oh maybe like it could have really make that big of a.
Difference. Exactly.
And think about the ripple effect with that.
Now that I've nominated you. Well, now you see a button to
(45:48):
nominate and you're like 100. I'm paying this forward.
I am. I'm sending this to so and so
because I think she deserves it.So I'm excited about that.
I'm excited about the ripple effect of just what a simple one
minute nomination can do to change the lives of like so many
(46:09):
women. So yeah, I'm excited about that
too. Yeah, absolutely.
So let's talk about the logistics.
What are the dates? How long do people have to apply
themselves or nominate someone and where do they go for them?
Yeah, OK. Applications open on September
2nd and you can find the application and all the
(46:33):
information about the award on the Alliance website,
soitsalliance.ca. And then to get right to the
award, it's back slash Impact Dash Award Dash 2025.
But if you just more simplyalliance.ca right in the
(46:56):
top bar, you'll see 2025 award and that will take you.
I'll give you all the information you need to learn
about what we're looking for andto find the application and to
nominate etcetera. Applications are open until
October 28th. And then after that there's
(47:17):
going to be a top ten selected and every single woman who lands
in the top 10 is going to receive $1500 in critical
business services to help them grow.
And then the top three chosen from the top 10 get like the
(47:38):
most amazing prize packages. So the first prize package
number one has a $25,000 value, the 2nd place prize has a
$10,000 value, and the third place prize has a $5000 value.
And these prize packages are allmade-up of cash and critical
business services to help you grow your business.
(48:00):
Amazing. That's awesome.
And I'm going to be including all of those links in the show
notes of this episode too, so you can click on that and get to
the page right away. And once they're also on the
alliance.ca, that's where they can learn about the Mastermind
group that you now have in, you know, Canada wide, which has
(48:20):
grown significantly since last year as well.
Yeah, so last year at this time we, so I mentioned I live in
Thunder Bay ON. So we had I was leading in
person masterminding in my city and then I was leading 2 virtual
(48:42):
mastermind groups in order to serve women outside of my city.
But since then, which has happened.
Another really exciting part about the growth of the Alliance
network is that we are partnering with women in every
city across the country to launch in person masterminding
(49:05):
in every city across Canada. So this started in November of
2024 where we launched an in person mastermind group in
Medicine Hat, AB and then we launched in Dartmouth, NS,
Cochrane, AB and North Bay ON. And in September and October
(49:31):
coming up, we are also launchingin Langley, BC, Lethbridge, AB,
Calgary AB, Huntsville ON, Ottawa, ON.
PEI. Monk 10, I think that's it.
(49:55):
And I apologize if I missed somebody, but those are the
newest cities launching this fall.
And I have a very lofty goal that I want there to be an
alliance mastermind group in 5000 cities across Canada.
So this will be 11 and I can't wait to see what how this is
(50:21):
going to grow. I can't wait to see it either.
It's so incredible. And I really, I love everything
that you're doing. I think it's so necessary and
it's just, it's amazing. It's so exciting to be able to
see your growth with it all since launching.
So thank you so much for coming back on the show today and
sharing all of this with us. And again, I'm going to be
(50:43):
including all of the links in the show notes so you can go and
apply for the business fund and also check out the mastermind to
join. Aaron, did you have any last
words that you wanted to share with the audience today?
I would say my last words are especially when it comes to the
(51:03):
award is you kind of said it just apply.
It is absolutely free to apply. We have designed the application
very intentionally to be easy and not overwhelming.
There's just a written componentuntil you get to the top 10.
(51:24):
So I know from last year that and from just supporting so many
women apply for grants, that sometimes a video component can
be a stressful component for some.
But to get started, just don't count yourself out before you
even put your foot forward. I encourage you that if you are
(51:48):
a woman running a business, especially in service, social
impact or creative industry, this fund was specifically
designed to support your businesses growth and your
application and your business matters and you just never know
(52:09):
where this award could take you.There's so much more than just
cash involved in this. The marketing opportunities, the
partnerships, the collaboration,the opportunities that have come
just because you took 5 or 10 minutes out of your day and
(52:30):
applied can truly change your life.
So I encourage you to apply and I encourage you to nominate as
many women as you can because you never know who else needs
the push to see themselves reflected in this award and to
feel worthy enough to win this award.
(52:53):
So yes, please apply. Yes, amazing.
Thank you for sharing everythingthat you shared today.
Lastly, where can people find you personally if they wanted to
connect? Yeah, so I am mainly on 2
platforms personally on LinkedInat Aaron Cisco and the Alliance
(53:16):
Network on Instagram which is LELL e.in IANCE is the best 2
places to find us. Hey, amazing.
Well, thank you so much, Aaron. It's so great to have you back
on the show today and share everything that's happened in
the last year and and beyond that.
(53:38):
So thanks for being on. I really appreciate you having
me on. Thank you.
Thanks for joining me. If you enjoyed this
conversation, don't forget to hit subscribe so that you never
miss an episode and I'll see younext time.
Welcome to Feminine Initiate podcast.
I'm your host, Jess West, and I hope you're having a fantastic.
Day so far. I'm excited to be bringing back
Aaron Cisco on the show today. Aaron is the founder of the
Alliance Network, Canada's business mastermind network for
ambitious, growth minded women entrepreneurs.
(00:28):
She helps women raise the most powerful, yet often overlooked
form of capital, which is socialcapital.
Through strategic connections and curated communities, Erin
helps entrepreneurs unlock financial opportunity, amplify
impact and lead with confidence.Aaron is also the creator of the
(00:49):
Capital L Business Impact Award,a $50,000 funding program
supporting women who are often overlooked by traditional
capital systems like early stagefounders, underestimated
entrepreneurs, and those that are denied access to loans or
grants. With 29 partners, 27 of them
being women owned businesses, this national award is Canada's
(01:13):
largest collaboration project for women entrepreneurs.
Aaron's on a mission to ensure that no woman builds a loan.
Today we talk about Aaron's background story, how she built
the Alliance Network and we talkabout the Capital L Business
Fund, how you can qualify, how you could apply because
applications have officially opened as of yesterday and they
(01:37):
will remain open until October 28th, 2025.
So if you are a woman entrepreneur in Canada, I highly
recommend that you apply. And if you are not an
entrepreneur or not in Canada, but you know of a Canadian women
business owner, then you can nominate them to let them know
(01:58):
that you're thinking about them and that you believe in their
mission and the success of theirbusiness.
It is such a beautiful gift thatyou can offer them.
So without any further ado, let's get into this incredible
conversation. All right, hello, Aaron, welcome
back to the podcast. I'm really excited to have this
(02:18):
conversation with you today. So last year you were on the
podcast in episode one O 4 titled the one thing that holds
women back in business. And we were talking about your
business that you founded the Alliance Network and you had
just recently introduced the L Capital business fund, which was
(02:42):
really exciting. So I feel like our last episode
you really talked about your business and the fun this
episode. I would really love for us to
get to know you, who's Aaron behind all of this.
So maybe we can start off with that today.
Would you mind telling us, you know who is Aaron?
And did you always have a desireto want to become an
(03:02):
entrepreneur, let alone a serialentrepreneur and let alone
mentor other women entrepreneurs?
OK. Hi.
Thank you for having me back. Wow.
Who is Aria? That's just it feels like such a
loaded question. I'm like, I can go in so many
directions because there's so many aspects to how I got here
(03:28):
and what I do right now. But did I always want to be an
entrepreneur? So I guess going back, I no, the
short answer to that is no, I never actually saw myself as an
entrepreneur. And I think part of that is
because I had no examples of entrepreneurship around me in
(03:50):
any aspect when I was a kid or growing up.
Like no family members, no friends.
So. I was I I just looked at my
parents as to examples of how tolive life and.
I feel like I really just took that on as the one way to do
(04:14):
things. And both of my parents had jobs
and we grew up modestly, so I wanted to make a little bit of
money and live in a little houseand just be OK at my job.
And I really also had no idea what I wanted to do for the
(04:34):
longest time. I felt like I wasn't
extraordinary or like really good or had a deep interest and
passion in anything. So that was really kind of
confusing and disappointing for me when everyone's trying to
figure out like outside of high school, what you're going to be
when you grow up. I had no idea.
(04:56):
So, but it was always my plan togo to post secondary and I ended
up landing on getting a businessmarketing diploma and thought
that business was a broad enoughcareer path that I had options.
So that was my thought process there.
(05:18):
I got my business marketing diploma and then it was actually
really difficult for me to get ajob anywhere.
And I waitressed for quite a while and then I finally got a
job working for Scotia Bank in personal banking And so not
really related to marketing and actually numbers and math and
(05:41):
accounting were always the most difficult subjects for me.
So it was, I was like, oh, I guess I'm but I was desperate at
the time and it was mostly a positive first professional job
experience. I didn't love it, but I didn't
(06:04):
hate it. So I thought that was OK.
And then I went back to school and I got my business degree and
I eventually landed a job in 2012 working for the Business
Development Bank of Canada. And that was unbeknownst to me
(06:25):
at the time, but a very pivotal part of my story.
So I worked for the Business Development Bank of Canada.
I got hired on as an account manager and then later a senior
account manager and I worked there for just shy of 10 years.
So I worked directly with Canadian small and medium sized
(06:45):
business owners, entrepreneurs and helped them with financing
and advisory services for their business.
So this was really my first exposure to entrepreneurship and
I realized that I loved them, that they were the most
interesting people I'd ever met in my entire life.
(07:07):
And as much as I did not see myself at the time as an
entrepreneur, but I had always seen myself as someone who was
very interested in personal and professional development.
So I was always like, I saw myself as a lifelong learner and
(07:29):
I was like always seeking out opportunities to learn and grow
and just never in a capacity of being my own business owner.
So I think that that's where I did see a little bit of myself
in them because I find that entrepreneurs are very growth
(07:52):
minded, of course. So that alignment was there and
anyways, I I thought that I would never leave the bank.
I really liked my job because I loved my clients and I loved
supporting entrepreneurs and growing their business and
hearing their stories. In 2019, the bank also appointed
(08:13):
me the Ambassador for Women Entrepreneurs for Eastern and
Northern Ontario. And the timing was just very
serendipitous for that because Iwas just back from my second
maternity leave with my daughterand I was starting to get pretty
curious as to why I was only doing business with men at the
(08:33):
bank and only men were borrowingto grow their businesses.
I had very few women that I worked with at any given time.
So when the bank asked me if I wanted to take on this
additional role, I gladly said yes because I really wanted to
understand better why there was this discrepancy in who was
(08:55):
building these $1,000,000 plus businesses and borrowing like
bigger amounts of money to grow.So I went on a mission to talk
to as many women entrepreneurs as I could get my hands on.
And the one question that I asked all of them was what is
the biggest challenge that you face in growing your business?
(09:16):
And to my surprise, the answer from every single one of them
was the exact same. And it was something along the
lines of making the right connections so that I wanted to
do something to help in that area.
But it was a bit of a departure from my job as a lender.
(09:37):
And what I ended up doing was I reached out to everybody and I
said, if I start a group, would you come?
And in October of 2019, I had 10women around a table and I had
set an agenda. And it was just this very casual
(09:58):
thing. But I said, let's meet once a
month and let's we're going to talk about every single aspect
of building and growing a business and support one another
and deepen our relationships with other women to our right as
similar stage and phase of business as you at the table.
And. Again, unbeknownst to me, that
(10:19):
was the start of something that I could not have even dreamed.
Of. That of what it could be.
But people started to reach out.So I launched another group in
February of 2020 and then a few months after that another group
and another group and another group and obviously we know what
(10:40):
happened in 2020. So everything went virtual.
People kept showing up. It was just.
This. Wild thing that was happening,
but again, I was obsessed with doing it because I was seeing
the impact it was having and eventually in August of 2021,
the bank came to me and said I had to choose between continuing
(11:03):
to grow the alliance network or continuing on with the bank.
And that was my push into entrepreneurship.
I ended up leaving the bank to grow the Alliance Network full
time and with no real plan. I don't know that I would
(11:24):
recommend what I had built a community, but up until this
point, the Alliance Network was free and I had two little kids
at home. So that was probably one of the
scariest things that I have everdone.
And that caused me to, well, I had to monetize the Alliance
Network right away. So it's now a membership based
(11:46):
business mastermind community for Canadian women
entrepreneurs. I grew it outside of my city
which is Thunder Bay ON so we now have members from BC to PEI
currently. A shout out to anyone living in
Newfoundland. I'm coming for you.
(12:08):
But yeah, we're almost close to coast in Canada and growing.
So that's really exciting. But I also, I got my real estate
license and I'm licensed in Ontario and I have a bit of a
niche practice where I focus on business acquisition and
succession planning. And in and around that I wanted
(12:32):
to get my own hands on experience and doing that.
So I acquired a business myself with a business partner and we
bought a local bakery here and are looking to possibly acquire
more businesses as the years go on.
And I took a 12 month business coaching certification program.
(12:55):
And so I'm a certified business coach.
And as you mentioned, under the umbrella of the Alliance
Network, I created the Capital LBusiness Impact Award, which
this year is a $50,000 funding program for Canadian women
entrepreneurs. Amazing what a journey I love.
(13:19):
That. You lay it all out like that
because it really does show how one thing kind of led to the
other. And now here you are.
And when you mentioned that you see entrepreneurs as having a
growth mindset, and I 100% totally agree with that.
And one of my favorite sayings is that entrepreneurship is one
of the best forms of personal development because you're
growing as a person. And when you're looking at your
(13:42):
bottom line and you're note, youknow that it's a reflection of
how you're showing up to you. And so you're kind of like
working on yourself and, and your business at the same time.
And it's just so powerful. And I want to get into, I mean,
now that you're saying that the Alliance Network is pretty much
Canada wide and I don't know if it was that last year when we
(14:04):
were talking. So I'd love to get into the
growth that you have seen in this first year since launching
Capital Fund and you've been on so many other podcasts and
really getting the message out there.
But first I'd like to touch on what that really felt like and
maybe some of the the fears thatyou had to go through, like when
(14:25):
you were saying you were essentially given that ultimatum
by the Business Bank of Canada, like, you know, stay here or
your alliance has to shut it down.
And then you, you know, took that decision.
It was scary. What do you think it was that
just like, allowed you to take that leap?
(14:47):
I there was a few factors at play for sure.
It wasn't just one thing like a lot of factors actually when I
look back like. One of those.
Perfect storm type of things that it couldn't have happened
in any other way. I mentioned I have never
identified as an entrepreneur asmuch as I, I loved supporting
(15:12):
them, but and I took that role so seriously, but I wasn't them.
I did not. I thought they were a little bit
crazy. Like I had clients that hadn't
pulled a wage out of their business for five, 6-7 years.
Like I, I didn't know how these people survived some of them and
just what they put on the line to build something that had
(15:36):
never existed before that they just felt so passionate about.
You know, I understand it all sodeeply now, but at the time I
admired it. But I also didn't like it wasn't
for me, you know, Or at least I told myself that.
But what ended up like the a fewkey factors, I guess is my role
(16:00):
at the BDC did I spent day in and day out inside these
businesses working very closely with entrepreneurs.
So I had was building a network and I was learning lots about
business and educating myself onthe job, not with an intention
(16:22):
to leave, just with an intentionto get better at my job and to
understand entrepreneurship better so that I could be a
better support person. But you know, building that
knowledge bank and base I think did help to give me some
confidence when the time came tomake a decision.
(16:44):
Building the Alliance network and like I said, I.
Absolutely loved it. So like serving these women and
watching the impact that was coming out of every single
mastermind meeting was like had my cup overflowing for how like
(17:07):
joyful and purposeful and like something that I had just
created out of thin air in an effort to help was really
working. And so that was my first taste.
It was free, but it was growing.And I had these women who
(17:28):
believed in me as much as I I believed in them and that
supported me as hard as I supported them.
And I had never had that before.So that was a big factor.
I remember talking to many of myalliance members when I was in
(17:49):
this like, you know, phase, let's say two weeks of a
decision making space. And all of them were so
supportive and built me up and said they would continue to
support me and told me that I was brave enough and smart
enough and good enough to continue to do this.
(18:12):
And like, I can't tell I, I truly don't think I would have
been able to do it without thosecheerleaders telling me that
they believed in me. Because as much as I was working
on building my belief in myself,I feel like I still really
needed other people who saw it in me in times when I was had a
(18:36):
little bit of doubt still. So that was another important
factor. I had been with the bank at this
point for 10 years and we were at the tail end of COVID.
So much had changed in my job and a lot of it not in a way
that was lighting me up in the same way.
(18:58):
And I think when I look back on that, it wasn't necessarily like
all an organizational thing. Me as a person, I was growing
and changing and like seeking out this path of development and
growth so intentionally that I had just outgrown the
(19:23):
opportunities that were available for me at a corporate
level. So all of these factors mixed in
together. Honestly, it was, it was as much
as it was scary. I also couldn't have done
anything else. Do you know what I mean?
(19:43):
Like, you know, when it's just like, like every cell in my body
is like, Aaron, if you don't do this, you are going to forever
wonder if you could have done it.
And I also knew I'd been in banking.
I was in personal banking for five years, then business
banking for 10 years. So I had this skill set that was
(20:08):
I knew I was employable. But as you know, as an
entrepreneur, it doesn't take long inside the world of
entrepreneurship until you're like, oh, I'm actually not
employable anymore because I can't imagine going back to a
job. So, you know, but I also knew
(20:28):
that like, worse comes to worse,if I'm like homeless in the
ditch, I can go and get it. Like somebody probably.
From bank will probably take me on um.
So I had this like Plan B way back there, but I also knew that
like it was time to go all in and see and see what it could
(20:49):
be. And it has been.
There's definitely been points of stress.
However, it's one of those things, and I've heard it from
so many entrepreneurs over the years.
It's like, I can't do anything else.
(21:09):
Like there's just no options. I have to figure it out.
And every day I literally wake up like so excited to see what
the day is going to bring and towork on what I'm building and to
serve who I'm serving. And to be open to all of the
(21:31):
opportunities that are going to show up in often what feels like
magical ways to continue to growand develop and grow and develop
and like where this path is going to take me.
And you know all the stakeholders here is just.
(21:54):
I don't know it's. It's like a career path like no
other, where it's not necessarily easy, but man, it is
so fulfilling and exciting and it just brings like such a next
level of purpose to my life thatI didn't know was available to
(22:15):
me until I took the leap. Hmm.
Yeah, you touch on something that hits home really for me.
And my personal story is like, and having that regret, if I
don't do this, I know I'm going to live with the regret of not
taking the chance. And I think like with getting
into that perspective and starting to look at it in that
(22:36):
way, like it makes it so much easier to be able to move
forward. But like you were saying, you
had the network, you had the knowledge network and people who
believe in you even before you believe in yourself.
And especially having the great supportive network.
I mean, they say we're like the five people that we hang around
with most. And so if we're around people
who don't really believe in us, we're kind of like, no, keep the
(22:56):
secure job, right? That's not an environment to
allow us to be able to move forward and take that leap.
Did you ever, I love that you have the Plan B And I, I feel
like many of us that's entrepreneurs, we do have that
Plan B that we never want to getto.
But it's in the back of our mind.
We're like, OK, if like really worse comes to shove, like we
(23:16):
could just go back and do something, right.
But was there ever a time when you were starting at the L
Alliance network that you were like, oh, you know, maybe maybe
I, maybe I went too soon or you kind of regretted your decision.
Maybe I should have stayed at the bank.
And I'm saying this because I feel like a lot of newer
(23:36):
entrepreneurs find themselves there of like regretting not
seeing the results in their business right away.
And then their second guessing themselves like, oh, should I
keep going and or should I have stayed?
And I love just to be able to share examples.
Feel like you're not alone in feeling this.
No one's immune to this feeling.And you can keep going if you
(23:57):
you can really create the business of your dreams.
Yeah, yeah. Like for me, my story is a
little bit unique because I was,I was forced to make a choice
and in a very short time frame. And at the time, it was a lot of
(24:19):
pressure and I felt, um, you know, I didn't have like, I had
some negative emotions around it.
Like, I was like a bit mad that I was forced into this position.
However, I also know that for me, I don't know that it could
have gone any other way because I was scared and I feel like I
(24:45):
would have tried to do both for as long as humanly possible.
But then I also know that I would have either stinted my
growth by an extreme amount because I was holding down like
a professional full time job of two kids at home.
It was COVID like I was busy as it was.
(25:07):
And then I'm trying to build this network.
And so there would just the capacity was not there.
I did not have the space to invest what was required into
the alliance network like what it deserved.
And but at the time I'm looking for a safety net, right?
(25:27):
So I'm like, well, just let me do both.
Let me do both like. We can figure this out.
And they were like, no, that that's not an option.
So I had no option. So I never thought to myself
like maybe I could have stayed for longer because that wasn't
really an option. But what I will say is I have
(25:48):
thought so many times, maybe I'mjust not the right person to do
this. Maybe this isn't for me, it's
for other people, but it's not for me.
I I'm just not designed to buildwhat I like can see in my mind,
(26:09):
but maybe I just don't have whatit takes.
Like I just don't maybe. And I am now equipped in like
enough mindset tools and trainings, you know, like I've
invested so much because you can't, it's not that you can't
(26:30):
have those thoughts. It's just you need to know how
to shift them back into a state of abundance and you know, flow
and growth and like all of the things quicker.
(26:50):
You can't sit there for that long because you're just, you're
sabotaging yourself with those types of thoughts.
And like, of course, of course, why not me?
Of course, you know, now I'm more buy into them.
It's so lovely to buy into the mindset and I do like there.
(27:12):
There's just so many factors at play.
But what I do believe when I'm in my like, best mindset is that
this vision and dream wouldn't be on my heart and in my mind if
it wasn't meant for me in some way.
And like, of course, why not me?Why not you?
(27:33):
You have a dream. Why not?
You know, of course. But there are moments when it's
hard and there's compounding things that feel like they're
not going your way. And cash flow is really tight
and bills are due and. You feel like, what are you
going to do? You know, like I did.
(27:55):
I was just. Every month I host an event
inside the Alliance Network called the Podcast Club, where I
choose a podcast episode in my like repertoire of podcasts that
I listen to because I love podcasts.
So this one, the Podcast Club ismeeting this week on Thursday.
(28:16):
So I'm listening to this episodeagain so that I can, you know,
pull out the Nuggets and we can go deep on it.
And the show is the diary of a CEO show.
And he has three guests, mine. And so it's Alex Hormozi, Cody
Sanchez and Daniel. I always forget his last name.
(28:40):
Some gentleman named Daniel withan English accent.
Anyways, these three business experts and her Mazi says that
80% of businesses fail because they run out of cash and and and
20% just quit too soon because it feels hard.
So and that was just, you know, I was like, that makes a lot of
(29:05):
sense. Like a lot of people don't wanna
quit, but you literally run out of money and what are you gonna
do? You know what, like you can't
survive so you have no choice. And I feel like there's such
this balance. And actually I also just heard
(29:25):
that 60% of service based businesses fail versus 50% of
product based businesses becauseit's so hard to price yourself
as a service based business. There's not this formula that
like my material cost this much and then I mark it up by 3040
(29:48):
fifty 60% and you know my marketing this that it's the
market is willing to pay this like it's so much more
difficult. So yeah, anyways, that's it's
not that it hasn't been, I haven't considered it.
But you keep holding on and figuring things out.
(30:13):
And like, I have been so proud of myself for understanding,
like how my brain works when it's put in difficult
situations. You know, like, you don't feel
that pressure when you have a job to nearly the same degree to
(30:34):
when you're trying to figure outa business model and how to make
your dreams come to life. Like, it's pretty wild the
creativity and the capacity of what you can actually create
when you're forced to do so. And it does make you pretty
proud of yourself, you know? Yeah, I feel like when you do
(30:59):
enter in entrepreneurship with that knowledge too, that like
it's not just this business thatyou're growing, you're also
growing yourself. So embracing it as an experience
on you too and exploring and yeah, realizing, OK, how how am
I under pressure? Like it's almost like as if you
have like this lens of curiosityof yourself and then kind of awe
at just what you're capable of when you really need to make
(31:23):
things happen. I love that you gave that stat
that 60% of service based businesses fail because they
can't get the pricing right. Because I do feel I mean in
doing both, you know, I had a product based business and now
in the online coaching space andit is harder.
And even for example, my productbased business, I looked at the
direct competitors, what are they charging?
(31:44):
OK, that's kind of the range that I can go and put my prices
for my product as well. But being in the online space, I
mean there's such a wide range of of pricing too.
So how do you even compare? You really have to go within and
look at everything that you've uniquely experienced, the time
that you put in the learning like all of it to really figure
(32:04):
out like what that pricing is. So it is really difficult.
You also mentioned 80% of businesses fail because they
don't have any more cash flow and you this is the second year
that you are doing the Capital LImpact award.
So at what point when you were just running the Alliance
Network, did you realize that I'm going to put together an
(32:28):
award because this is really needed in this space?
So yeah, I shared that I startedthe Alliance Network initially
because I was hearing women say their biggest challenge and
growing their business was making the right connections.
And then in 2021, I ended up leaving the bank going all in on
(32:48):
helping to build these connections.
And I still 100% believe that making the right connections in
business is the number one thingthat you should be working on
like every day at figuring out like how to make the right
(33:08):
connections for your business. Like it's just people.
The fact that I get to sit here with you today is because
somebody introduced us, you know, a year and a half ago and
we've built a relationship and now I get to talk about my story
to your audience. And you know, it's just, it's,
(33:30):
it's people that help build yourbusiness and you need that.
But my unique background of skills lies in banking.
That's where I've spent the majority of my professional
career and I feel like it's justwhere I can add so much value
(33:54):
because I understand it so deeply.
And a big part of the reason whyI got started here as well is
because I was getting really curious as to why I was only
dealing with men. So there is this big gap in the
financing sector between who is getting funded and how.
(34:15):
And as much as making the right connections, I think is the
number one piece of capital, social capital I call it, that
you need to be raising every dayand every week as an
entrepreneur. I don't think it's, I just felt
like it was irresponsible for me, especially based off of this
(34:37):
unique set of knowledge and skills and experience that I had
in the funding and financing world for so long, to not talk
about that. Because what I was seeing is I
could help you make the right connections.
You could join the Alliance Network and together we could
get really good at that. But then what's going to happen
(34:59):
eventually is you're going to need to raise financial capital
to keep going. So it's social capital is
something that you should be focusing on raising every day,
every week, every month. Financial capital is very
different. You don't need to focus on
(35:19):
raising financial capital every day.
That's not necessary. But there are key points in your
businesses growth cycle where you do need to focus on
financial capital. Now, if you're doing really good
at raising social capital, then hopefully in your network you
(35:40):
have people that that is their zone of genius.
So you have people like me, for example, where I have helped
hundreds and hundreds of Canadian business owners both
raise grant money and raise bankmoney.
And since leaving the bank, I'vereally focused on building my
knowledge base around raising private capital.
(36:03):
So that's how I was able to buy a business in 2022.
And I've since helped people access money through angels or
VC's or you know, what that private money world looks like.
And I've been an Angel investor myself, so through these three
(36:23):
buckets of capital, I look at them.
So grants, banks, private, that is probably going to be required
at certain inflection points of your growth cycle.
And I feel like I understand that it's like this unique set
(36:45):
of knowledge that I have that I could bring to the table where I
can add value. So my big goal is that I did
want, I want one day to launch my own venture capital fund
where I invest in like meaningful amounts of capital
and women owned businesses. But while I'm on my journey to
(37:06):
bringing that goal to life, I thought, what can I do in the
meantime? And that is how the Capital L
Business Impact Award was born. One of my other main values in
business is collaboration. So I believe that really the top
(37:27):
way of building social capital is by being open to
collaboration. And when you meet somebody to
just show up so generously that there's no option, that at some
point, like the karma that's going to come back to you is
just going to be 10X or 100X of what you put out there in the
(37:52):
1st place. And collaboration is just such a
cool way to do that in business.So, so yeah, this award just, it
fell into place and it is such afun project to work on.
The fact that I get to build something that is going to give
(38:14):
$50,000 of cash and critical business services to Canadian
women entrepreneurs is like justthe most fulfilling and exciting
dream come true for me, to be honest.
So it feels super good. And this year we're doing
(38:37):
something a little bit different.
So as you mentioned, the amount went up in 2024, our first year,
we had nine partners and $20,000in cash and prizes.
This year we have 29 partners and $50,000 in cash and prizes.
But we are specifically also opening up a really important
(39:00):
conversation from my perspectiveand we are specifically funding
women who have been left out of the funding landscape in Canada
historically. So whether you have been denied
funding in the past or you are building a business in one of
(39:21):
the three industries that are the most unfunded industries in
Canada, which are social impact,service and creative industries,
which ironically are largely LEDby women entrepreneurs.
That is specifically who we are funding.
(39:43):
And as much as I know the impactthat the actual prizes can have
to the up to 10 winners of this award, what I'm also really
excited about is unlocking and sharing this conversation with
(40:04):
as many people as I can talk to about it that the funding
frameworks. Are old, they're outdated, they
are meant for businesses that are buying brick and mortar,
that are buying tractors, that are buying massive amounts of
inventory. And entrepreneurship in this
(40:28):
country has shifted so much thatthere's this big piece that's
being left out of all of the funding in this country because
we don't look like how businesses looked in 1950.
And we haven't been able to change these like dinosaur
(40:49):
frameworks. And partially that's because
we're dealing, we're not dealingwith entrepreneurs, we're
dealing with government. We're dealing with big banks and
organizations of like this size and complexity.
It's so hard to shift how thingswere built and like how business
(41:10):
gets done, but that's where it leaves these like pockets of
super cool and interesting opportunity for the
entrepreneurs of the world to identify where there's a gap and
a challenge and a problem and doit better.
So that's what I am on a missionto do.
(41:32):
I love it. I love what you're doing and I
love that, you know, I have the opportunity to do this full
circle moment with you here having last year and now we're
just a couple days away between the this next year opening up
And congratulations to all of the growth that you had in the
last year and all of the other, you know, partnerships that you
(41:54):
have created and everybody involved and everyone who is
nominated. And I saw on your website too
that you also opened up two nominations.
So if you, because I have a lot of audience members that are in
the States right now, but if youdo know of a woman entrepreneur
in Canada, you can also nominatean entrepreneur and they can
(42:15):
choose to follow through and apply if they don't already know
about it. 100%. Yes, yeah, that was that's new
this year again, we're this award is 2 years old.
So it is a baby toddler and it is getting better every year.
I can't wait to see what next year and the year after look
like. But I'm excited about the
(42:37):
nomination aspect of it. And a reason for that is just
because I just feel like as women, it's in our DNA to want
to elevate and lift up other women.
And how awesome does it feel to be able to like, for me to write
(42:58):
your name down and say, I think that Jessica W deserves to be in
the running for this. And then an e-mail lands in your
inbox saying, somebody thought about you, you should consider
applying for this because you deserve it.
And it's just, again, it's such a generous way to show up for
(43:21):
somebody. It doesn't cost you anything,
but by me doing that for you or for any other women entrepreneur
in this country, all of a suddenI'm in their inbox and they're
thinking about me while I'm thinking about them.
And who knows, you know, whetheryou win the award or not.
(43:41):
But now we're in conversation and we're potentially building
something really amazing together because all because I
took 5 or 10 minutes out of my day to be like, yeah, I think
that you should. You need to know about this
because you deserve to win this.And I just love to find those
(44:04):
like pockets of opportunity to generously like drop into
somebody's world because I know what that's done for me.
Like sometimes I just, I'll be like, I'm going to take 15
minutes and go on LinkedIn and comment thoughtfully on three
(44:24):
peoples posts that I just want to be top of mind for them again
because I feel like, you know, they deserve it.
And maybe there's something coolthat we could do together.
And I can't tell you just by doing that how many times then a
DM has come in being like, Aaron, we need to reconnect.
(44:46):
We need to talk about this. I have this cool opportunity and
I want to share it with you and like it.
Just never like by showing up for somebody in that way.
You just never know what is going to come from that.
And that is the excitement of entrepreneurship and the power
(45:07):
of social capital. Yeah, absolutely.
And, and it's making me think ofwhat you were saying right at
the beginning when you had a network of people who believed
in you more than you may have believed in yourself at that
moment. And so receiving that, having
someone believe in you so much that they're going to nominate
you. And then you see that that's
kind of like you can borrow someone's belief and, and maybe
(45:28):
it can even be something that that person may have never even
thought about it for themselves.Maybe maybe thought, oh, you
know, I, I, I can't apply for that.
Like I'll never get chosen. But if someone else believes in
me, then oh maybe like it could have really make that big of a.
Difference. Exactly.
And think about the ripple effect with that.
Now that I've nominated you. Well, now you see a button to
(45:48):
nominate and you're like 100. I'm paying this forward.
I am. I'm sending this to so and so
because I think she deserves it.So I'm excited about that.
I'm excited about the ripple effect of just what a simple one
minute nomination can do to change the lives of like so many
(46:09):
women. So yeah, I'm excited about that
too. Yeah, absolutely.
So let's talk about the logistics.
What are the dates? How long do people have to apply
themselves or nominate someone and where do they go for them?
Yeah, OK. Applications open on September
2nd and you can find the application and all the
(46:33):
information about the award on the Alliance website,
soitsalliance.ca. And then to get right to the
award, it's back slash Impact Dash Award Dash 2025.
But if you just more simplyalliance.ca right in the
(46:56):
top bar, you'll see 2025 award and that will take you.
I'll give you all the information you need to learn
about what we're looking for andto find the application and to
nominate etcetera. Applications are open until
October 28th. And then after that there's
(47:17):
going to be a top ten selected and every single woman who lands
in the top 10 is going to receive $1500 in critical
business services to help them grow.
And then the top three chosen from the top 10 get like the
(47:38):
most amazing prize packages. So the first prize package
number one has a $25,000 value, the 2nd place prize has a
$10,000 value, and the third place prize has a $5000 value.
And these prize packages are allmade-up of cash and critical
business services to help you grow your business.
(48:00):
Amazing. That's awesome.
And I'm going to be including all of those links in the show
notes of this episode too, so you can click on that and get to
the page right away. And once they're also on the
alliance.ca, that's where they can learn about the Mastermind
group that you now have in, you know, Canada wide, which has
(48:20):
grown significantly since last year as well.
Yeah, so last year at this time we, so I mentioned I live in
Thunder Bay ON. So we had I was leading in
person masterminding in my city and then I was leading 2 virtual
(48:42):
mastermind groups in order to serve women outside of my city.
But since then, which has happened.
Another really exciting part about the growth of the Alliance
network is that we are partnering with women in every
city across the country to launch in person masterminding
(49:05):
in every city across Canada. So this started in November of
2024 where we launched an in person mastermind group in
Medicine Hat, AB and then we launched in Dartmouth, NS,
Cochrane, AB and North Bay ON. And in September and October
(49:31):
coming up, we are also launchingin Langley, BC, Lethbridge, AB,
Calgary AB, Huntsville ON, Ottawa, ON.
PEI. Monk 10, I think that's it.
(49:55):
And I apologize if I missed somebody, but those are the
newest cities launching this fall.
And I have a very lofty goal that I want there to be an
alliance mastermind group in 5000 cities across Canada.
So this will be 11 and I can't wait to see what how this is
(50:21):
going to grow. I can't wait to see it either.
It's so incredible. And I really, I love everything
that you're doing. I think it's so necessary and
it's just, it's amazing. It's so exciting to be able to
see your growth with it all since launching.
So thank you so much for coming back on the show today and
sharing all of this with us. And again, I'm going to be
(50:43):
including all of the links in the show notes so you can go and
apply for the business fund and also check out the mastermind to
join. Aaron, did you have any last
words that you wanted to share with the audience today?
I would say my last words are especially when it comes to the
(51:03):
award is you kind of said it just apply.
It is absolutely free to apply. We have designed the application
very intentionally to be easy and not overwhelming.
There's just a written componentuntil you get to the top 10.
(51:24):
So I know from last year that and from just supporting so many
women apply for grants, that sometimes a video component can
be a stressful component for some.
But to get started, just don't count yourself out before you
even put your foot forward. I encourage you that if you are
(51:48):
a woman running a business, especially in service, social
impact or creative industry, this fund was specifically
designed to support your businesses growth and your
application and your business matters and you just never know
(52:09):
where this award could take you.There's so much more than just
cash involved in this. The marketing opportunities, the
partnerships, the collaboration,the opportunities that have come
just because you took 5 or 10 minutes out of your day and
(52:30):
applied can truly change your life.
So I encourage you to apply and I encourage you to nominate as
many women as you can because you never know who else needs
the push to see themselves reflected in this award and to
feel worthy enough to win this award.
(52:53):
So yes, please apply. Yes, amazing.
Thank you for sharing everythingthat you shared today.
Lastly, where can people find you personally if they wanted to
connect? Yeah, so I am mainly on 2
platforms personally on LinkedInat Aaron Cisco and the Alliance
(53:16):
Network on Instagram which is LELL e.in IANCE is the best 2
places to find us. Hey, amazing.
Well, thank you so much, Aaron. It's so great to have you back
on the show today and share everything that's happened in
the last year and and beyond that.
(53:38):
So thanks for being on. I really appreciate you having
me on. Thank you.
Thanks for joining me. If you enjoyed this
conversation, don't forget to hit subscribe so that you never
miss an episode and I'll see younext time.
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