Episode Details

Broke in Canada. Knocking on doors for a local rec centre. Thirty years later, still at it.

Shane Ward spotted something in a door-knocking gig in Canada that most people would have dismissed as a summer job. He saw a model, a mindset, and eventually a business the Finn Agency, an outsourced sales force he's been running for over 30 years, with key staff who have been with him for much of that journey. He's a straight shooter and a deep thinker on leadership, people and the long game. His advice for business owners navigating a difficult 2026 is characteristically steady: stop thinking about today's problems and start mapping where you want to be in five years then work backwards.

IN THIS EPISODE

How a broke trip to Canada and a door-knocking job became the foundation for a 30-year business The shift from doing everything himself to working on the business and the time discipline that made it possible to scale The 'show don't tell' leadership philosophy, traced back to watching a gun tree planter silently double his output in two days Early feedback on the line between being approachable and being a leader people respect and how long it took to find it Why daily training not just onboarding is the single biggest contributor to the business working the way it does His advice for 2026: think in five-year blocks, work backwards, and don't be afraid to strip back and go again