Norman’s Story

While smoking one of my cigars, one breezy afternoon, a friend of mine called me. He asked if I knew someone who could help him with a certain issue-business related of course.

Let me take you many years back where it all started. Growing up, I was influenced and moved by my father who was a successful entrepreneur. His motto: ‘Try to do things that nobody else will think of’. With this in mind, I embarked on a relentless pursuit of finding success as an entrepreneur, following the steps of my father. I loved the title ‘serial entrepreneur’ way before such a thing ever existed.

Over the years, I met all kinds of people and have earned myself a few titles along the way. Call me an international speaker, the Beard Guy, and a business coach cum serial entrepreneur.

Back to my story.

 I quickly replied, ’I know this guy who can help you…’

An hour later, the same thing happened.

A friend rings me and says, ’Hey Norm, I need help with…”

I reply, ’I know this guy over in…’

This situation played out again and again until it dawned on me.

‘‘I know this guy…the PODCAST!’’

It is these conversations that laid down the foundation of my podcast that is launching soon. In the new podcast, I explore my vast network and connections acquired over the years to find captivating stories behind the lives of everyday people. My son, Hayden Farrar, is the producer of the podcast and together we seek out these accounts.

What do we investigate? We discuss their successes, their failures, and everything in between that has contributed to who they are this far. We team up to find the perspectives of the populace from all different backgrounds along with their own stories and advice for a good living.

The podcast is my way of sharing the knowledge of my set of connections with the rest of the world. With a solid career as a self-made entrepreneur, spanning over 30 years, I have met people from all works of life from all over the world. People love to refer to me as the ‘networker’.

To break it down further, I am an Amazon, ecommerce, and online market expert as well as a branding expert with 20 years of experience. I am an avid podcaster and an international public speaker and I am passionate about mentoring and coaching people with any level of experience. In these forums, I offer private group mentoring where I help persons looking to launch, the right way, and ecommerce businesses on Amazon as well as help them put together strategies that will help them stick on the same platform. I also provide Amazon managed services on AMZ Club where my team helps optimize Amazon seller accounts. We bring in the right experts to help you handle business while you focus on important matters.

 The team is made up of leading industry experts that include social media experts, PPC experts, listing optimization specialists, and sourcing gurus that help your company grow without overloading your daily workload. We also help businesses ‘get seen’ by generating rich content that drives traffic through our content marketing services via prREACH.

 If you need marketing consultancy services, a skilled presenter for your business, or in-depth and well-researched marketing strategies, trust our team to deliver. I wear many coats- a speaker, a coach and mentor, a business advisor, and a brand growth strategist.

I have gained vast experience in almost every facet of internet marketing and thanks to this; I manage the following business portfolios under these titles:

• prReach that uses Press releases and content marketing to rank business online
• Honu Worldwide – a boutique logistics company that meets outsourcing and logistics needs for sellers on online platforms.
• AMZ Club – it manages ecommerce businesses for clients on and off Amazon.

I have made it my mission to use all the wisdom and insights I have gained through my years of experience to help business owners develop a strong support network that can enable them to achieve their highest potential.

After launching and investing in multiple companies over the years, one thing is for sure that failure is inevitable in entrepreneurship and in life. The discussions help listeners understand and evaluate risks in business and other pillars in life and how to come out on the other side, successfully.

Hayden Farrar doubles up as the show producer and a freelance musician. He brings vital elements into the podcast thanks to his experience as a touring musician. The music tours have opened his eyes to the importance of strong community values. He shares with me-like father like son-his curiosity for the stories behind everyday people. He hopes, I hope that this podcast eventually creates a community of its own, in shared stories and life experience that anyone can find value in.

We are approaching the new podcast from a community perspective. By this, we mean that it is community-based in that every guest is a referral from a previous guest on the show. We are trying to set up a bit of a pay-it-forward community. This means that if you are featured on the show this week, you are welcome to invite someone you know to the next show as well and this person will refer another and the same goes on and on.

To further build on the community approach model, our shows extends to a private Facebook Group that we have created. People can join the group through Patreon. The private FB group not only supports the podcast and gives members to bonus material but we are also trying to cultivate a place or a platform where people can discuss the show. From the discussions, we hope that the members can eventually help each other.

Hayden’s Story

Hayden is my son and my show producer. We both share a curiosity of stories behind people and we work together to bring this into play through the podcast and the podcast listeners community at large.

Because of COVID and its effect as well as the measures put in place by the government and health authorities, all of his gigs have been canceled along with all of the teaching that he was doing at a non-profit music school. For a very long time, I have been meaning to start a podcast of my own. I shared the idea with Hayden and he bought it immediately. He took up the idea since he wanted a perfect opportunity where he could get involved directly.

Through the show, Hayden says that he is able to make use of the skills that he learnt over the years and picked up from editing music as he directly involved with editing and producing the show together with me. Hayden has gathered a lot as a studio musician and he readily applies this to our podcast platform.

His Take

I’m primarily a jazz double bass player but I also compose contemporary jazz and freelance in a variety of other styles from bluegrass to indie rock. I’ve performed at the Montreal, Panama, Dominican Republic, and Nanjing Festivals and have also taught at the Global Music Institute in New Delhi.

While I was on tour with the Berklee Global Jazz ambassadors in the Dominican Republic, I was moved by a concert we performed at the Mustard Seed Foundation. This foundation provides shelter for abandoned children, often with severe disabilities. I saw how music affected them and visibly raised their spirits. Since then, I try to be actively giving back to the community around me, whether it’s teaching music lessons at a community around me, whether that’s teaching music lessons at a non-profit-The Music Project Toronto, or playing gigs for the elderly or producing this podcast.

 I hope that this particular manifestation of that can provide something valuable for at least one person out there.

Through the podcast and the stories featured therein, my dad and I shine a light on the stories that everyday people have and share that with the world. We tend to focus on the struggles and hard times and how people persevered through those circumstances and how that contributed to the people who they are today.

Some of the guests we have featured on the podcast show include:

• Colin Campbell- founder of Tucows and Hostopia
• James Hill- Band member of BADBADNOTGOOD
• Matthew Shed- American Special Forces
• Isabella Hamilton- founder of Rankbell
• Melissa Simonson- Founder of Empowery

In Conclusion

As a plus, I have a website normanfarrar.com that is tailor-made for persons looking to launch successful online businesses. Through this platform, I take time to deliver content and knowledge that is relevant to entrepreneurs. The content cuts across the board meeting the needs of a new entrepreneur and an established individual or team. Through the ‘Ask me Anything’ feature, I answer all questions related to business submitted to business enthusiasts. The podcast, which is launching soon, is the epitome of the same.