149 – Direct Selling Masterclass with Michelle Lalonde of Tiber River

Announcer 0:00

Welcome to Elaine's Kitchen Table. This is where we share tips about business and parenting. Being a mom of three CEO of the award winning company Easy Daysies speaker and educator, you're going to learn the tips and secrets of successful and incredible people. Elaine wants you to be inspired, challenged and motivated and that person you want your kids to grow up to be. This is real talk for real life.

Elaine Tan Comeau 0:26

Hi, welcome to Elaine's Kitchen Table where we talk about how to create better how to create better family, self business and health. And I am so delighted and thrilled to have my guest with me today. She is a friend someone who I haven't seen for way too long. But an incredible woman in fact she calls herself the chief happiness officer my friend Michelle Lemond is an entrepreneur, a wife, a mom of three small humans and four that's right for for babies. And she has been growing Tiber River with her business partner and company founder Adriana DeLuca for the past 17 years. And Tiber River is a fast growing vertically integrated company that formulates manufactures and distributes eco friendly personal care and home products and they are beautiful. They all smell like delicious. If I can say that they smell so good. And you definitely need to check this out. And of course, I will have all of this in my show notes. So you can find the website and get a catalog to your door right away. Now they sell their products through retail locations online and a direct sales division with a team of Tiber ambassadors across Canada. And congratulations, they recently expanded into the USA. I want to say welcome, Michelle. Hello.

Michelle Lalonde 1:48

Elaine, thank you so much for having me today. I was so excited. Really looking forward to this.

Elaine Tan Comeau 1:52

I am thrilled. We just I need you to come here so I could take you out for dinner or lunch.

Michelle Lalonde 1:59

Later today. Let's make that happen.

Elaine Tan Comeau 2:01

Okay, now you are in Manitoba.

Michelle Lalonde 2:05

That is correct. When am I right in the center of Canada.

Elaine Tan Comeau 2:09

And how is the weather there? Right now?

Michelle Lalonde 2:13

I can't even tell you they said it was going to be a cold snowy winter and they have delivered. I have not seen this much snow since I was a child. And there it's been crazy. Really, really cold today was minus 26. I don't want to check the spine. More like minus it's like the polar vortex.

Elaine Tan Comeau 2:32

Oh my goodness. Wow. It sounds beautiful. My kids would probably want to fly there just to play in the snow.

Michelle Lalonde 2:40

Beautiful. Yeah. So skiing and we've got a beautiful trail on the river. And skating is you know, it's great to get outside. So

Elaine Tan Comeau 2:48

well it sounds beautiful and cold. And I'm glad you're inside with a hot cup of coffee with me right now. I want you to tell us a little bit about you like, like you are incredible and just lovely. And and you're humble because you've won won multiple awards and all that. But there must have been something in your childhood that helped shape who you are. Is there a story you could tell us if just an example of something that happened in your younger years that shaped you to be where you are today?

Michelle Lalonde 3:22

Certainly, there's many, but I narrowed it down to one common thread. So I'm 51 gonna be 52 in April, and my husband's turning 50. This year, we both share the same birthday. But I grew up in Oakbank and I live in the city but I grew up in the country. And so my where I lived was right beside Brett's Hill Park. It was this beautiful two and a half acre spot where I just had a really beautiful childhood. And I as a child, I was always very creative. I when I look back at growing, starting, growing, building a business and what I get to do every day in my company, there's a lot of creativity. So I look back as a child and I, you know, asked my mom for stories all the time. And I had a very busy, active creative brain. And I did things because I grew up in the country, I would make mud pies and sell them to my neighbors. I think very early on, I was always creating things and I would try to sell them I made comic strips and I'm so sad that my mom didn't keep them but I would I was very creative and always looking at different ideas. And I think that that really led me to where I am today for sure.

Elaine Tan Comeau 4:36

I love it. If you could sell my pie, you could pretty much sell anything girl.

Michelle Lalonde 4:43

It was so funny. And my parents both started their own businesses. My mom had a bakery had a clothing store where I would go after school. So I grew up with that example of my parents, you know, creating their own path in life. And so I think that I was definitely impacted from I think you were born with certain DNA. But these experiences definitely created who I am today and led me to where I am today for sure.

Elaine Tan Comeau 5:08

I love it and you had an entrepreneurial parents and you said your mom had a bakery, selling clothing as well.

Michelle Lalonde 5:15

As part of your first business. She stayed at home with me when I was young, and she would work in retail stores. But she she started to open up a gene store clothing store was her first business Wow. That she opened that with a friend so that and then she had a bakery in the shell. So I think in her clothing store sold videos, so she was always doing, she created her own opportunity.

Elaine Tan Comeau 5:35

Wonderful. And that's awesome. No wonder you were selling my pies. It was part of your nature. That's, you know, how did you then get into Tiber River? Like, how did that path happen?

Michelle Lalonde 5:52

So I went to university I got a degree in business and I went into corporate sales and marketing. My first real career was financial. I was a financial planner. And I worked at a great Westlife and I did that for about five years and working with investments and insurance and all those kinds of things. And then I went to a food company for years as a sales and marketing manager. And then I worked with a company called ATP for about four years. Selling to large businesses. It was payroll and human resource management solutions. And I love that. But I always knew from a young age, I wanted to do my own I wanted to do, I wanted to create something for myself. And I took myself in a good course. And I quit my job and opened a boutique in an area called Osborne village. And I just wanted to create something that was my own and got pregnant shortly after that. But this is where I met Adriana. That's where the Tiber River story began. Was that that one decision to do something different led me down the path for the last 17 years.

Elaine Tan Comeau 6:57

Wow. So like, does she just walk into your store with soap like

Michelle Lalonde 7:04

mine had told me about this amazing soap and these products that Adrianna made at her store. And so I would try them. And then I approached her to make some products specifically for me and my business. And that's where it started. And she closed her store and was focusing on some wholesale customers in the Winnipeg area. And I approached her about, I would sell the products in my retail location. And that was where our business partnership started and developed. And it's interesting because we didn't know each other that well. We weren't personal friends. But we had this connection. And I knew from my background in sales and marketing that you have a great product, you can do amazing things. And at that point they the products were in these just white containers, very plain, very simple hand cat laser printed labels. And that's that's where it began was I would carry her products in my my retail location. Wow.

Elaine Tan Comeau 8:01

That is 17 years. Now, what would you say was one of the biggest pivots in your 17 years?

Michelle Lalonde 8:12

So from when we decided to partner and I think from the beginning, we opened a flagship location we partnered and rebranded in 2005. And that was when our journey began. And from the beginning when we were looking at and I really honored Adriana, asking her questions about why did you create Tiber River? What was your vision. And going back through those conversations, we realized that we needed to go back to a retail to having a retail location where people could experience products that can learn about variance, learn about the environments, creating a community. And from when we opened our first location together, we were very clear on what we wanted the experience that we wanted to to create for our customers.

Elaine Tan Comeau 8:59

I love how versatile your company is that you sell on many different levels right in the retail you sell online and through ambassadors across the country. Just amazing. There's so much that I want to ask you and learn from you. Now, I'm sure that you get asked often by small business owners for advice, but I'd love for you to share right here your your top five tips that every small business owner should know.

Michelle Lalonde 9:34

You should read a book. So to go quickly go back to the last question that you asked me actually. And it was really a pivotal decision that we made was when we launched our direct sales division. Wow. That's eight, nine years ago, we went back to our roots. When Adriana started and I'm sure I'll talk a little bit more back there. But we changed we focused we created a new business model that aligned with where we were in our lives and what we wanted for the kids. Pretty. That's really what got us to here today where we are top five picks, I had a really hard time choosing five, at the top of the list I put down people, we are only as good as the people that we that we have that we work with. And that is something that would be the number one piece of advice is surround yourself with good people. And my second piece of advice is around that is you don't know what you don't know. So surround yourself with experts in different areas and hire those people who are who are smarter than you that know more. Through the years, you know, you wear many hats, you know the human resources and accounting and it's really important to make sure that we surround ourselves with

Elaine Tan Comeau 10:44

I love that I love that. Right? Because often the entrepreneurs warranty and multi multi hats, and you just can't do it all. And so like learning how to do something, exactly what you said hire the expert. He knows how to do that. It took me like 10 years to figure that one out too.

Michelle Lalonde 11:01

We're still figuring that. The third the third tip is to know your numbers. And when we started off on our entrepreneur, entrepreneurial journey together, we did not know our numbers. And we along the way hired people that could help us we knew we didn't know what we needed to know. And so we hired some key people that helped us really understand our numbers and then plan around those numbers. That is, from the beginning, one of the most important things I think that we can do.

Elaine Tan Comeau 11:27

Michelle, would you say that like hiring a bookkeeper or an accountant? Is that what you mean or like a seat.

Michelle Lalonde 11:36

So as you grow from the beginning, having a strong bookkeeper, someone that can keep track of your, all of your expenses and do the things like I remember, there were many days where I was balancing our cash flow sitting at my dining room table. And you know, doing payroll, like outsource some of those things. And it takes a while sometimes to afford them. But just to prioritize. So you know, and having a good accountant. And now you know, we have a really great CFO and a great team, obviously, we built that but from the very beginning, do what you can to have those people to set you up properly because that that data and those numbers and that information, helps you make the right decisions. And it's impossible to make strong business decisions without that information.

Elaine Tan Comeau 12:20

I love that so true. Knowing your numbers because that those spreadsheets are like your your health chart for your business, right. And if you don't know, like, like, it could be like cluttered arteries, which means like, it's just choking out all the cash from your cash flow. And you need to know you need to stay on top of that. So true. Like just even if it's you're starting out, looking at your bank account every day, like just keeping on top of what's coming in going out. That's what just start somewhere. For sure. Number four,

Michelle Lalonde 12:52

before know that this is not easy. This is not there's nothing about starting a business, building a business, growing business, being an entrepreneur, that's easy. Just accept that and know that. And really, there is no such thing as balance. Everyone talks about this this mythical balance, and it does not exist. And I like to call it a perfect imperfect balance. I know you and I both have three kids. And you know, we're growing businesses. And I think it's imperfect balance is going where you're needed at that time. Absolutely. I

Elaine Tan Comeau 13:25

mean, the right choices to and you know, I have the honor of going on stages and sharing about, you know, that when I had a stroke and, and lessons I have learned and one of them is just prioritizing your time, there is no such thing as balance, right? But learning to put your time and energy where your heart is. Because when you do that it takes away mom guilt and people pleasing and all these things that are unnecessary. And I'm gonna say a waste of time, like and, and your motions, right? Like, just learn to say no, yeah, it's all good.

Michelle Lalonde 14:01

I know you're saying yes to other things. And we can do it all and have it all but not all at the same time. Nope. Well, you know, today my kids need me tomorrow, you know, it's just going where you needed most of the time and, and being okay with that?

Elaine Tan Comeau 14:14

No, absolutely. Was that your four and your five, the imperfect balance?

Michelle Lalonde 14:19

No, my number five is again goes back to surrounding yourself with a network and a community to support you because this is not easy. This is this is hard and sometimes you know, it's hard on your family too. So making sure you have a network of support. Having a coach having a mentor having a community like where I met you, you know with revolution, her community of different women, business owners, just surrounding yourself with people that can support you.

Elaine Tan Comeau 14:47

I love that three of your five have to do with people and surrounding yourself with a good team and surrounding yourself with experts. Surrounding yourself with a support network. I I love it. It is so true. It is a lonely path. And I remember when I first started, I felt like I'm doing this by myself. And there weren't met many groups out, like 10 years ago. And I happened to be invited to one on Facebook, in the USA, started in the southern states, someone found me on Facebook and just said, Hey, come join us. And it was a group of women who were manufacturers, and we were learning from each other. And, you know, because often our background is not in manufacturing, or business often, I was a school teacher. And, you know, I've been taken advantage of couple of times, because I'm very trusting. And I still am because I want to see the best in people. And then unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't work out in a good way. But every step I learned from and I move forward, and that's so important. I love that you talk about how it is not easy. And we need to remember that. Because it's a dream when someone's like, Oh, look at Tiber River, they make products, I make products I can sell across the counter, it takes a lot of hard, stinking work. And people need to remember that.

Michelle Lalonde 16:16

I think if I could add number a number six, we just talked about making mistakes, those mistakes are our biggest lessons. And it's only going through those hard times that we really learned the things that we need to learn.

Elaine Tan Comeau 16:26

Oh, absolutely. And sometimes they are expensive lessons. I just say, oh, yeah, that was a $10,000 course, that just dropped at my door. And that was really harsh and painful. But I learned and, and so yes, and learning from each other. Right. And that's how this podcast started. Is so that we can share our lessons and our failures and the way we've picked ourselves up so that other people can hopefully avoid those falls and slips but learn from each other, for sure. Now, I love that you are the chief happiness officer and the president of Tiber River. And you also are the chief of helping this company grow. So I would love to know, Michelle, your top strategies, whether it's one or three, for growing your business, or our business in general, what would you say it's a Elaine these are these strategies growing your business

Michelle Lalonde 17:31

for our business. I specifically was looking at what's been successful for us that applies to many other companies but new products for us is coming out with new products like that is such a driver of our business. And because we're vertically integrated, we can really listen to the markets and bring new products out to out to market and with because we're a direct sales focused company that is the future of our company is our growth comes from new ambassadors and that is inviting new ambassadors into our community because they are are truly are raving fans, and they are the key drivers in our business. Number two,

Elaine Tan Comeau 18:13

I love it. Okay, go ahead with your number three.

Michelle Lalonde 18:18

Number three would be looking always looking at new markets and areas to grow. So for example, we haven't saturated Canada but we wanted to move and move into the new mark, we've we've moved into the US so always looking at growing. And hopefully after the US we go into Brazil. And just make always making sure that you're moving forward looking at looking at markets. Yeah.

Elaine Tan Comeau 18:39

I love it very, I love your plan. And such ambition, like the US alone is huge. And then of course now you have another category of Brazil coming up behind. I love that. And I love how you said come up with new product. I'm going to rehash what you just said, number one come up with new products or services of their service based product company. Invite new ambassadors. Now, if you're listening or like well, I don't have an like I don't direct sales that way. But an ambassador could just be like what you said a raving fan, like keep getting those raving fans get those testimonials, and have social media shares, right. And number three, look for new markets. So true. And I want to tag on to this and I think this is probably one of your number fours is even to focus on your best customers. Because I always say whatever. Having an order is wonderful. But having a reorder is even more fantastic. And I know that you do this in the Hence your new products that you've written release. Like I have a table full right here of your amazing products. And I want to try them all I want to see what else is in your catalog and I just want to try it all. So So I guess number four maybe would be focusing on your best clients and making them return clients.

Michelle Lalonde 20:09

Well, the loop, it's the marketing introducing, whether it's an ambassador or customer, it's having them try the products, and then it's the follow up, and making sure that we're looking after them. 100%

Elaine Tan Comeau 20:22

I love that. Now in your journey, 17 years of Tiber River.

Elaine Tan Comeau 20:29

People look at Tiber River, they look at you and Adriana, they go, Oh, my goodness, that's just such a beautiful company. It looks just perfect. Now, we know that there's no such thing as just perfect, but it's in being an entrepreneur. And there's a saying that says, you know, tough times. Never last but tough people do. Can you share a time a shell of when you had a fail? did a mistake or a lesson that you really learned from that happened during your journey?

Michelle Lalonde 21:06

I have many but there's one that stands out in my mind that I think will share a lot of different messages with people. One, along the way from when we started, we did not, there's always a lack of resources. And we were not properly from the very beginning in terms of, you know, it's easier, almost easier to get finance, financial support, when you're starting a business as opposed to when you're growing, when you need it, or times when you can't get it for whatever reason. And there was a time, a number of years ago, where we needed $50,000 in about 48 hours, or this was back in the day, when I was still helping manage the cash flow at my dining room table. And all of these things would have happened Currently, our payroll would have bounced. And anyways, we tried to get in at that point in time, we could not get the support from our banks. And we I sat down and thought, Well, who do I know, that trust that knows me, or knows us knows our business and trust us enough? And would have the cash that could possibly temporarily borrow us? Temporarily Morris the cash flow? And, and I did, I asked I wrote down three, a list of three people. And I reached out to the first one. And within 24 hours, I remember Adrian and I were sitting in a John Maxwell conference and got the ding on my phone saying come pick up the check tomorrow. And any lessons in that were, you know, just stepping back to because these are these are scary times. And I'd love to say that was the only time that that has happened because it's not. But just stepping back and looking at a situation there's always a solution, and never being afraid to ask because the worst answer you will ever get is no. And you know,

Elaine Tan Comeau 22:52

no, any that's a no doesn't mean you strive worse than when you were it's just a no. So yeah, taking the bravery and the risk to ask and it's okay. It's okay. And you know, I say this, and this is a daily lesson that I'm learning to it's like, it's okay to ask for help. And, you know, in my mind, I'm like, I don't want to bother this person who's like, offered to be a mentor, but I don't want to bother them because I know they're going through, you know, their own business growth and change. And, but yet, we say this to ourselves, like, No, we don't want to bother somebody. But you know what, sometimes and somebody so many people have told me this. It's such a gift to give. And people want to and you know, and because they're wise, they will say no if they can't, but as you said, the worst they could do is say no. So just go for it. Now, I know we've touched on Tiber River, but I'd love to know that. And you've touched on the story of Tiber River. Is there more that you want to add to the story of Tiber River? Michelle? Okay.

Michelle Lalonde 24:03

So it's my business partner Adriana DeLuca, started Tiber River in 1999 as a way to stay at home with her young daughter and her grandmother had taught her how to make soap. Wow, he literally started making soap at home in her kitchen and selling it at home parties. And it's interesting because with our direct sales division, we really gone back to our roots. And that's how it started and quickly led into other products people would ask for, you know, if you can make soap can you make this and it was literally a business that just started and that's how a lot of businesses start. You don't even realize you're following a path. It's amazing where where it can take you and the name Tiber River comes from. There's a there's a legend. My business partner is an avid researcher and there's a legend the Romans used to sacrifice the animals to the gods and on top of Sapele Hill and the ashes of that would would roll went to the Tiber River and the Romans would bathe and get clean. And so that's the story. That's where the name comes from. And it's really interesting because Adrian is ancestries, Italian, and the Tiber River parties. Legend is the birthplace of soap. So it's it's a really interesting,

Elaine Tan Comeau 25:13

very interesting, answer the question because I was like, how did you come up with the name type of river, absolutely beautiful, great story.

Michelle Lalonde 25:21

Want to share, but, you know, the keys the beginning and where it's where it's where we are today, and where we're going.

Elaine Tan Comeau 25:29

Yeah, and, you know, I love that you, your company is, you know, directly involved with your customers. So you get automatic feedback, you get product, new product suggestions. And I love that and, you know, with Easy Daysies, that's how my product was created. It was just when I was in a classroom, and parents asked me all the time, to make these visual schedules to help their children become more cooperative at home, or get out the door faster in the morning. And then And then, you know, I remember different parents saying, you know, if you could just make some labels to help my kids put their clothes away. So we have that now. Or I meant classroom teachers saying, well, where's where's the classroom version? So I love trade shows. Because of that. I don't like trade shows. And I also love trade shows. But part of the reason I love trade shows is I get to meet face to face with people who are using the product. So I love what you do. So on that note, your products sell. Sorry,

Michelle Lalonde 26:32

it's helping my son right now, by the way, your Easy Daysies Yes. So thank you.

Elaine Tan Comeau 26:37

Oh, my goodness. Well, thank you. I'm honored, so honored. And thank you, Michelle. Now, your products they sell in retail online, and, of course, through direct sales through your team of Tibor ambassadors. So which sales model would you say is the most successful? And? And why?

Michelle Lalonde 26:58

A great question. I love that question. So we have one retail location in Winnipeg, our most successful and the future of our business is our direct sales division. And the reason that is so successful is because we have a team of Tibor ambassadors, who they are raving fans, they love our products. We've created this incredible community of passionate individuals. And it's that, you know, our purpose is creating happiness, and they're all rallying behind our purpose and the creating this community and the connection. It's a it's a very personal way to do to do business, and it's very special.

Elaine Tan Comeau 27:38

There's so much awesomeness and selling direct through your ambassadors, right? The best way to sell something is word of mouth. Right? People are saying, Oh, my goodness, you have to try this because they believe in something that they love. So they want to share it. So I love that model. Can I ask how many ambassadors do you have right now?

Michelle Lalonde 27:57

We have around 2000, right? Oh, my goodness, right? Again, we're just launching into the US. And I think what what is the most special, our biggest or best product, I think is our business opportunity. And I so grateful that we get to make an impact on people's lives every day. Just seeing you know, so many women being able to stay at home, it's just it's really life changing. It's helping provide that extra income for you know, kids to go to hockey or it is whatever it you know, people need it to be. And I love that we're able to do that.

Elaine Tan Comeau 28:29

I love that too. And Michelle, if one of if someone's listening right now, and would like to be an ambassador for type of rare, how can they? How can they do that?

Michelle Lalonde 28:40

In Canada, just simply going to our website, tab river.ca, and the US tibor.com. And you can sign up, there's information through there, or you can reach out to us on social media, our amazing community of ambassadors, it's pretty easy to find a type of rubber ambassador, so I welcome you.

Elaine Tan Comeau 28:59

I love it now I'm guessing then that type of rubber products are not sold on Amazon, or they

Michelle Lalonde 29:06

know not and like can I ask? We so from the very beginning when Adriana partnered we, at that time, she was creating products for other companies. And it's very important for us to you know, It's same as wholesaling. It's taking your brand and hoping that it's represented properly on the other end. And we really want to own you know, we're vertically integrated, we really want to own the customer experience from purchasing the products to following up the products and we we just want to own that. And and by putting it on Amazon we are we're not supporting our ambassadors by doing that. And this is their their business and their opportunity, their bread and butter bread and butter and

Elaine Tan Comeau 29:49

how absolutely makes sense. So how do you recruit these ambassadors to sell your product?

Michelle Lalonde 29:54

So we have a lot of really strong leaders obviously. So it's they do a lot of them recruiting and we support and empower them to build their businesses. Some, some people don't want to build a team, and that's completely okay. Before COVID, we would do some really fun events, we call them happiness hours, we would go out very informal, have some have some snacks, have a have a couple of cocktails and connect with people in the community. And our ambassadors would invite their guests. We do some online events, we do opportunity calls, things like that, you know, social media, where we're doing some ads to gather some new recruits, but we really tried to do as much as we can grassroots with our existing community of ambassadors.

Elaine Tan Comeau 30:37

And then you also have, I think he used to have like an annual conference, too.

Michelle Lalonde 30:42

Yeah, we have an annual conference. And we also have so many fun things. And it's unfortunate, we've had our last two, sales incentive trips canceled, we were trying to go to Costa Rica, but with COVID, we unfortunately weren't able to. It there's a lot of and that's the mat. That's really where the magic comes is, you know, connecting with your your people in your community. So

Elaine Tan Comeau 31:02

I love their front line. Right. They are your frontline, your biggest raving fans. And I love that. And of course, your product speaks for itself. Because thank you for my box of goodies. I cannot wait to try them all. Spray my kids as they walked by. They just smell that. No, I love it. I love it all. Now, I am going to ask a question that I know that many of my listeners who are entrepreneur, whether they have products or a service based company, what is your best marketing tip? I can say to a product based business. So someone who's listening saying, I don't know what to do, I don't have funds. Maybe I have a little bit of a budget. What do I do Michelle,

Michelle Lalonde 31:50

the fitness been most successful for us. And it's still our most effective marketing strategy is getting simply getting people to try your products. So from the beginning, we would for example, be everywhere. We were always at different events, different trade shows. And we still do that today. For example, we have a folk festival here, hopefully it happens this year. It's amazing music festival where we have a tiger bowler, we will go and set up and give everybody samples, you know, they're out in the sun, there's a shower, so they'll outdoor, just you know, and they can actually it's a pretty neat experience. So it's it's a lot of fun. And you know, we have a sample program that we're going to be starting where people can sign up and you know, get a free product, it's literally getting the products into people's hands. And it can be as simple as a lot of our Ambassadors will, you know, take little containers and create their own samples. There's, there's there's ways to very cost effectively do things when you're starting out.

Elaine Tan Comeau 32:47

So get your products into people's hands so that they can try them. Because if it's right it's the product will speak for itself. I love that

Michelle Lalonde 32:58

people connect with people they want they want to know the person behind the behind the business.

Elaine Tan Comeau 33:04

I love that. Now I'm going to surprise you with some rapid fire questions and you're like what? So there's no wrong answer. And it's just the first thought that comes to your mind. And I'm going to go right now there's only five. Okay. Number one, your favorite book.

Michelle Lalonde 33:24

My favorite book I have actually behind me it's start with why by Simon Sinek Oh,

Elaine Tan Comeau 33:31

very good. Love that book. Number two, your favorite clothing that you wear that just makes you feel more confident.

Michelle Lalonde 33:41

I like suit jackets. For whatever reason. I like comfy stretchy suit jackets. It just makes me feel well you look stunning.

Elaine Tan Comeau 33:49

I can see you. You look stunning, right and then with a blazer you could put on jeans, a dress dress pants, and you're good to go. I love it. Number three, if three step morning routine that you have to do whatever it is three things that you must do every morning.

Michelle Lalonde 34:08

I like either one a routine that I'm trying to master I'm trying to exercise for 20 minutes I'm trying to meditate for 10 minutes and I'm trying to write for 15 to 20 minutes and right now all I've mastered is the I do spend time reading and writing in the mornings the meditation and the exercise have fallen but those would be my three my top three. That is

Elaine Tan Comeau 34:31

that those are awesome goals. Great routine. I wonder if you can combine the meditating exercising or combined two of them

Michelle Lalonde 34:48

and read because I can do audiobooks while I'm walking.

Elaine Tan Comeau 34:53

There you go.

Michelle Lalonde 34:54

That's the one thing that I want to master this year and 2022 Because that would that is the one thing that I can change that will make it prints on every single day.

Elaine Tan Comeau 35:01

So that is brilliant. I am checking with you. Okay, number four, your favorite breakfast.

Michelle Lalonde 35:10

I've actually gotten away from breakfast, but I love eggs. I love eggs. I can eat eggs every single day. It's a source of protein.

Elaine Tan Comeau 35:18

And is supposedly Nature's Healthiest food is an egg apparently has the contain so much. And last one your social your favorite social media platform and why?

Michelle Lalonde 35:31

No, I have mixed feelings about social media. But for a number of reasons, which I won't get into. But my favorite social media platform for me is Facebook. I think because of my age, my demographic and I love. I love to connect with people. And I find that it's the best platform in order to do that. Love it.

Elaine Tan Comeau 35:49

I love it all. I am I adore you. And I'm just so happy to have had this time with you. Michelle, thank you. Thank you with all my heart for just sharing your wisdom and your heart with all of us today.

Michelle Lalonde 36:02

Thank you so much, Elaine. I look forward to holding me accountable.

Elaine Tan Comeau 36:05

I will. I will find you on Facebook girl.

Michelle Lalonde 36:09

There we go. I get my treadmill fixed.

Elaine Tan Comeau 36:12

I guess you could walk around in snow shoes.

Michelle Lalonde 36:16

I really wanted to Oh,

Elaine Tan Comeau 36:18

no, I'm not gonna make you do that. I want to ask if people wanted to find you, Michelle, where can they go?

Michelle Lalonde 36:26

They can find me on Facebook. That is probably the easiest way. LinkedIn as well. I'm not as active on LinkedIn. But so Yep,

Elaine Tan Comeau 36:33

Perfect. And I will have all of this in our show notes and of course the Tiber River websites. And I also want to say thank you to our listeners. Thank you for joining us and Michelle and I and I know that you probably gained a bunch of wisdom and nuggets from this incredible woman as well. Michelle, thank you again. wishing everybody a fabulous rest of the day. Thank you. Bye for now.