Fascinating Women

Grace Yan -Entrepreneur - Vision - negotiations - child confidence building - commercial agent

April 01, 2020 Grace Yan Season 1 Episode 10
Fascinating Women
Grace Yan -Entrepreneur - Vision - negotiations - child confidence building - commercial agent
Show Notes Transcript

Grace Yan is a woman with unique visions and drive. She opens how her desire to play piano at 10 started with an 80-year-old legendary teacher. Her discipline from that start, her early embracing of failure as growth became her foundation.

In her profession as a Commercial Real Estate Agent, she lives by the words. - We Have Only Solutions. It guides all aspects of her life. 

She realized not just the value of teamwork but the necessity of it if you want to reach high goals. Through this becomes the drive to create win-win-win situations.

Her approach to negotiations, her instinct on what people are going to do. She shares some of her training and approaches. How luck plays into things.

How she keeps the approach of being positive all the time and how that works for her.

She also announces her intent to run for the Calgary Mayorship. Grace expresses how she would approach running Calgary and why she feels the need to run.

Want to learn more about Grace or reach out to her,

Grace Yan, MiCP Commercial Agent – We only have solutions

Coldwell Banker Commercial
Director of Sales and Marketing | Recruitment
Notary Public
t 403 660 6778 | f 403 476 5412
TopGlobalRealEstate.com
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Distinctive Women of Canada:  http://www.distinctivewomenmagazine.com/distinctive-women/Canada/Calgary-AB/2017-18/Grace-Yan.php

Jetset:  http://www.jetsetmag.com/real-estate/grace-yan/

 About Mark Laurie - Host.
Mark has been transforming how women see themselves, enlarging their sense of sexy, expanding their confidence in an exciting adventure that is transformational photography. 
http://innerspiritphotography.com

Sound Production by 
Lee Ellis  - myofficemedia@gmail.com

Mark Laurie:   0:03
you're listening to Fascinating Women with Mark Laurie and now Mark Laurie. Hello and welcome back. Today I'm got Grace Yan and as my guest. And she is a marvelous woman. She has amazing accomplishments. She's pretty incredible. Welcome. Thanks

Grace Yan:   0:20
Thanks, for having me here as it's an honor. Yeah.

Mark Laurie:   0:24
You call yourself an A-type personality? You've got high, big dreams, high goals.

Grace Yan:   0:31
 High achiever that started early when you were young. always been and not high. Yeah, well, I think it started when I was 10 u. I, uh I had to beg my parents to play the piano lessons. I mean, you know, those kids just like a little thing. And then the parents forced them right to take piano lessons.

:   0:42


Grace Yan:   0:52
But no, no, I mean, my parents said No, no, you don't want to take piano lessons.  It's too expensive, you have to buy a piano; you have to drive me. So they said No. No, you don't want to take piano lessons. And I think maybe that's what you should tell kids. You don't want to take and they do the opposite right.

Mark Laurie:   1:10
Right.

Grace Yan:   1:14
But I begged and I begged. Finally, my 10th birthday I came home. It's a brand new piano. And then I started taking piano lessons right away at the local music studio. And, uh so I started there, and my parents had to tell me to stop playing the piano. I kept playing and playing, you know, You play the same pieces were in over and over again

:   1:36


Grace Yan:   1:40
so my parents said stop, just stop playing. But anyway, they realized that I didn't really want to play the piano, and I was really serious about not just fiddling around with it. So then a piano teacher was recommended to my parents at Mount Royal, and that was Dr Munn, and she was blind. She was the first woman in the world to get her PhD in music.  

Mark Laurie:   2:05
Wow.  

Grace Yan:   2:06
And, um it was really something. You had to audition to be her student, and she was 80 at the time. She was teaching me and she was a concert pianist for the Queen of England. She was British, Actually.

Mark Laurie:   2:24
That says a lot right there. Yeah. 80 year old British person  

Grace Yan:   2:28
So you know she was mean, I was crying most of the

Grace Yan:   2:32
time and the lessons because she was very strict, right? You know, she told you when to go to bed. You know, you couldn't take the Royal Conservatory exams unless you had first-class honors. Right? Because it reflects on her.

Mark Laurie:   2:45
Right  

Grace Yan:   2:47
Your marks.

Mark Laurie:   2:47
Yeah. So I'm here. I don't  tolerate the 

Grace Yan:   2:52
No, no, she's not gonna put somebody there That's barely gonna pass. No. No. So she trained you at a level that these royal conservatory exams were so easy.

Mark Laurie:   3:01
10 years old underline that. 

Grace Yan:   3:05
So then, I'm 14. Well, but it's still, you know,

Mark Laurie:   3:07
THere is the arc,

Grace Yan:   3:08
like, um, to be at that level. And the stress is very stressful taking those royal conservatory exams. And anyway, so she trained you at this level. So my mars were 98 99. It was, you know, easy. And she would put you in recitals, and she wouldn't put you in a recital again unless you could. You

Mark Laurie:   3:32
work with those

Grace Yan:   3:33
were top, top, you know, And one recital I messed up a little bit. You have to fail many times

Mark Laurie:   3:42
Yes you do to,

Grace Yan:   3:45
you know, work your way up. And so then she made me play every Wednesday at the Calgary Public Library because she found one. Yet you have stage fright or something. Okay, so but see from that earlier on, that discipline carried on through my whole life.

Mark Laurie:   4:06
From what you're saying, though, I really got the discipline because that that went to  your bone. But you also had a comment about the failure that it is You became embracing failure like that became recognized as a stepping stone. And most people avoid failure situations where they're gonna fail.

Grace Yan:   4:25
Well, I think as an Entrepreneur, a business person. You fail many times.

Mark Laurie:   4:31
Yeah, that's that's how you learn were judges as entrepreneurs. That's what I am as well. we're judged by not how many times you fail. How many times do get up? Yes, And that's

Grace Yan:   4:40
how you how you move all that's right. You learn from those failures. Without those failures, you wouldn't get to the next level.

Mark Laurie:   4:48
Yeah, you Yeah, I remember one guys tell me says Yeah, if I meet someone who's never failed, either they are a liar or they're really not equipped for the for the challenges ahead of

Grace Yan:   4:57
them, that's it like to be. You know what? You have to be honest with yourself and say yes, you know, because of these failures that I was able to achieve this level of success, you know,

Mark Laurie:   5:12
And leaders need failures. Like if you don't fail, if the people around you don't fail at it. One time I had a team, I was growing up on stuff, and he said, I if you don't fail, you're not really pushing hard enough like you're not moving out on the thin part of the branch where you grow. You're just being safe is that we don't have much room for safe people.

Grace Yan:   5:36
And well and comfortable and safe. You're just staying at the same situation. Yeah. You don't move ahead, you don't move forward.

Mark Laurie:   5:47
So is your next big learning thing. So you got that discipline and the sense of failure and overcoming it behind you. What was your next big thing?

Grace Yan:   5:53
And then you just, um if you focus, you have to have a focus in life. My focus has always been helping people. And what I do, I don't consider a job, right. I just help people and everything falls into place. Opportunities come and just amazing meet amazing, amazing people. You know,

Mark Laurie:   6:19
I totally appreciate that We've got hits My thing fascinating women is that I looked around. I realized that people are drawn to us are really like yourself. Intricate, interesting folks. And the thread of helping people has been pretty common.

Grace Yan:   6:34
Yeah. I mean, you know what I I always say, is you know, you want to go far. You go alone. Yeah, Well, farther you go together.

Mark Laurie:   6:42
So what was you Where did you first learn that? Like what? Was there a point where you go oh this is a good path.

Grace Yan:   6:48
Well, I think you know, just through various experiences working with people, you have to work together to go farther. Yes. I mean, you know, it really takes teamwork. And, um, you can't You can't do everything yourself. No, you know, and you know, everyone is good at certain things. So you have to use, you know, the talents of everyone else. Like like I'm not gonna all of a sudden start taking pictures, you know, it's not you. It's not realistic

Mark Laurie:   7:32
is true.

Grace Yan:   7:33
So I think, and that's where you know, people fail because they, you know, you think you can do everything yourself and you can't

Mark Laurie:   7:44
know and they become mediocrity. Like like they kind of people that there's some brilliant people who could do a lot by themselves. But most of them, they tend not to. The school teaches is OK. You go in. You okay? You're good at this. Let's ignore that. Let's work at what you're bad at now. Well, what? You've got no talent for it or interests or skill set. We're gonna work on that. And we're gonna let this wither this thing that you're so good at, I believe. And I think you found this in many levels of your life that you've got to find your your passion, your unique talent, and then life is easy.

Grace Yan:   8:16
Well, you you have to, and that comes with learning and experience. And that's like that saying, if your judge a fish by climbing a tree, it's not, you know, your gonna think it's useless. right. But that's But that's because the purpose, everyone has a purpose. The purpose of the fish is not to climb the tree. Exactly. And so we all have to find our purpose and what we're good at and focus on that

Mark Laurie:   8:43
now. Did you find your purpose? Early on or has that been something's been shaped over the years.

Grace Yan:   8:49
Well, I think you as you go through life, and, um I mean, I haven't had that many jobs, actually, and it just seemed like the jobs I've had were very beneficial in my career. I was a pralegal for 25 years. I was president, paralegal society, NAFTA. You don't go to the highest level with that. And then that background has then help me in my real estate career because everything was just easy. Great. You know, uhm, filling in forms is one thing. Knowing real estate is one thing, but the knowledge of the legal and the combined experience and my parents had real estate, you know, all over. Right? Um so it's always sort of been natural progression for me, too. Fall into real estate and help people with that

Mark Laurie:   9:59
I way decades ago. Um, how's the realtor that was back it would be in the late seventies? I guess that was a really a whole different kind of town there. But I caught on really quickly. That the guy really did back then was change made it. But now I didn't really know much about it as long as he could aford it he was happy. But the woman the wife that she was the one that's okay. I gotta live in this place. This is my domain. And so I. It wasn't selling houses. I was solving her problem, which is what you do

Grace Yan:   10:29
well. And this is why I think we focus on give us your problems. We only have solutions. Yes, there's always a solution for every problem. There's many options, you know that. But find people just focus on the problem. Yeah, rather than solutions. And this is sort of what's happening in the economy today, you know, with the real estate and you know, the ratio is not working and it's, you know, people like landlords. They're just focusing on the problem. But there's

Mark Laurie:   11:05
a solution for everybody. There's a book called Da Vinci and the 40 Questions, and there's a gentleman than the states. Russia actually determined that to any problem, social business, wherever there's 40 solutions and only 40 solutions, and 20 of those are a flip of the other 20. But there is always a solution.

Grace Yan:   11:27
There is, and it's it's whether both sides you have to be willing to look at it right, understand and work with it because even though their solutions one side, I might just say

Mark Laurie:   11:43
we're not doing anything that's right, so that nothing happens, you know? So I think a lot of times people tend to forget what the ball is like. Keep running the ball. You know, they tend to forget that there's a purpose why we're here to get today, and this is what it is that's not lose. Lose track of that,

Grace Yan:   12:02
right, because it's win win for everyone. But again, you know, it's getting people to agree. And negotiations is a big, big part of what I do. And

Mark Laurie:   12:18
a lot of that must be reading people, like watching body language and words to differently. That's a really how do you know reading a person is that just intuitive reserve? Is there things that you watch for?

Grace Yan:   12:30
I always get a sense, right? With people rarely, I am rarely wrong Mark.. And you know, I will just and I'll just say it, You know, I think this is what's you know what this person that's gonna do and they do it.

Mark Laurie:   12:47
psychic. It hasn't failied me yet.  Wow, that's a powerful tool. Is that something you've honed, or is that something just You're

Grace Yan:   12:59
you? Well, you know, at first I thought Ok, you know, I don't know why I'm feeling this way about but this person What they're going to do right? And then I could just kind of embraced it. And I thought, Okay, well, we'll see. Cause time tells

Mark Laurie:   13:15
everyone does Time

Grace Yan:   13:16
tells everything Mark. So you just sit back and you just wait for to play out and it happens. It happens exactly the way I say it. Yeah, not hasn't failed me.  

Mark Laurie:   13:28
Well, that's impressive. Yeah, so it's

Mark Laurie:   13:31
It's kind of spooky, too. It's like there's a psychic realtor.

Grace Yan:   13:36
It's, uh yeah, it's a gift, you know? And, um, it's it's well, I mean, especially negotiations if And I've had so much training negotiations because it's so such a big part of

Mark Laurie:   13:51
what you do. You

Grace Yan:   13:51
you know, everything. Everything we do in life is actually negotiations.

Mark Laurie:   13:55
It is right. I get a kick out of people I want to sell. You know you want a cup of coffee. You want to go for dinner tonight? You want to watch this movie? She wants to watch that movie. You're negotiating all the time and you're gonna lose half them. Um, unless you recognize there's a win win when you got your orientation for it. But yeah, like all of life, is that you negotiate with yourself you. You do I gonna take this roll today. That role I gotta talk myself into exercising or that turffle.

Grace Yan:   14:26
Yeah, My

Mark Laurie:   14:27
life was nothing but a negotiation, every

Grace Yan:   14:30
everything. And so I've taken so many negotiation courses, I have my master's in negotiations I took in Vancouver because it's very, very It's crucial.

Mark Laurie:   14:43
Yeah, would be What would be if you had something come up that you're trying? So Okay, so here's what to watch for in the start of negotiation regards what happens to be what would be the two things that you would impart to that person. The two key things as they are starting to Learn how to negotiate properly.

Grace Yan:   14:58
Well, you see, the level of training I have is like a hostage taker.

Mark Laurie:   15:04
Okay? You know you're negotiating leases. Yes, it's It's almost like that. A lot on the line.

Grace Yan:   15:15
Yeah. You know what you have to realize? I think what's important negotiations is is knowledge is everything. You gotta know all the, you know, options, right? You know, and then work with that and then what works for your client, You know, in varying degrees. And then you go from there, but, um, you know Yeah, And just be realistic about what possible outcome would be. You know, you give people the options and knowing the different outcome so that, you know, there's no surprises.

Mark Laurie:   15:53
So when you're negotiating, you're really educating that at some point. So before you get into it, you're educating yourself and you're educating your client. Like, Okay, here's what's gonna happen. So take that pie in the sky and put in the garbage can. This is reality, Okay? So don't you know, don't assume this and be upset if you don't get it? Yeah. And then then when you have a person, you negotiating with you then have to educate them as well. So Okay, well, here is where we're coming from. And and here's what we know Is that good?

Grace Yan:   16:19
Of course you have to educate and the knowledge knowing all the moving pieces, you know, and, um basically yeah. And then go from there with the goal. You know, this is the goal you have in mind. Yeah.

Mark Laurie:   16:37
They must have grays,  like you have a line. This is okay. Whatever we do way can't go. These things can't drop little. This line This is our line in the sand. I guess and we hope for these things. But in reality, it's gonna be this gray zone here. Is that sort of, ah mindset you'd have

Grace Yan:   16:50
Oh, yeah. I mean, well, it's mainly it's black and white, right? There's no gray area. Okay, or else is around then It's wishy washy negotiations because it's really hard. Like here, here, these air. It's ABC, right? You know, And I mean, for example, people try to  negotiate my fees all the time.

Mark Laurie:   17:13
over Oh, yes.

Grace Yan:   17:17
But you know, when you're so busy and you know you want to help everybody, but you know what they did. That's the fees. Yeah, that's what the fees are. And, um, and that's

Mark Laurie:   17:31
and fees were built with if you've been around for a long time, if you're a successful person, there's people fly in they get the same  fees with what I do and what you do there. They're built to include your costs and experience as a whole bunch of stuff that goes into them. And artists get beat up a lot like there's like Artists are are, are abused and, as you know, is it kind of grows up the scale. But remember, as a realtor, that was the same thing. I have conversations back then that they would never have with a lawyer, a doctor. It was like, really having a conversation.

Grace Yan:   18:05
Wow, my fees are the same. Actually,

Mark Laurie:   18:08
yes, this is what it is.

Grace Yan:   18:09
Yeah, there's no surprises. That's what it is you want for guessing. You know, you'll get these results from my experience you got you know, you get what

Mark Laurie:   18:22
you pay for. You do

Grace Yan:   18:24
like why? Why does somebody buy a bag that's worth as much as a car? And then you could buy a bank? That's, you know, $3.

Mark Laurie:   18:31
And so there's a reason for it, right? I remember I had a fellow on us when I was doing was in my early days, my photography on I was was really under charging for what I was doing. This guy's lucky signal I'm aware of the problem is, he says, before what you're charging, you can't deliver what I need, and I don't know where that's gonna fall apart. But I just know that I have You know that at this level, their skills there's there's different things that happen, you know, quality paper on what it is, he said. But But that price you can't deliver what you need and that and then that I've carried that through with everything. My life is that, you know, when I go to buy stuff, that's what I learned. My dad, he says. You could buy something cheap three times or buy something good. Once it goes, it works out with that way. Have you? Do you have any, I guess quotes, inspirational quotes that you have driven. You are a youth, Go. That's that's kind of

Grace Yan:   19:23
cool. Well, one that I always like to use issue. No. We rise by lifting others. That's a good one. That's a good look. It's because the more you help people, other people, you know, it's really when To me, that's what's been. You know, it's it's what inspires me.

Mark Laurie:   19:48
I think when you get I can see the value that I employ myself, I think what happens as you as you help other people, the people above you, the ones that you're aspiring to be. They notice that and they step up and help you with that, that that cycle works.

Grace Yan:   20:04
Oh, yeah, I think it's karma. I really, really believe in that. You know, um, spent e mean I just I think I have horseshoe Someone s So this is the thing. I've just always been a lucky person, and all my life I

Mark Laurie:   20:29
just happened. I studied, make a study of, like, actually came across the book code has been studies done on it. And there is There is one that was really cool is called the Drunken the drunken drunkards walk. And that's a molecule because it it looks likely if you have those dots, it bounces around. But there's a fellow that was talk about luck, and he says, Like, is what you assume. So if you always talk about being lucky, and every time something good happens to you so wasn't lucky that that happened. I'm like that with driving spaces. These things Are you attracted to them like they're attracted to You Keep on spotting lucky things and people go, Oh, she's always like, you know. Yes, I am. Yeah. And the lucky thing start the Hamelin

Grace Yan:   21:08
and it happened all my life. Like, uh, I can write a book, You know, Mark like, um, for example. I mean, I was young. It was a kid driving, uh, in all of us heading my car was That's always drifting off of it. Right? But it was actually smoking. Um, Okay, so I thought and it was I was in between red deer and I'm intended driving. There's no cell phones back. Right? So I mean,

Mark Laurie:   21:42
it's all day. Did you hear that?

Grace Yan:   21:43
I pull over. Okay. What am I gonna do? I'll just start walking. I was closer to read, dear. Great. Okay. Yeah. I'm just gonna walk,

Mark Laurie:   21:54
You know, you have to do something. That's right. They just can't Doers do as we walk, just start walking

Grace Yan:   22:03
and that all of a sudden I don't know where that there was a car, right? Like I didn't hear a car. And, you know, there's a car there. The guy comes out. He says, I'm a mechanic. I've been treating you. So says, let me see what's wrong with your car. Get the parts, go to write, dear, get the parts. And, um, I fix a car. So what's this car we get? The parents fixes the car, and he says, um on and I said, Okay. So what do I owe you? He says, Well, no. Nothing. He says, um, he drove from a caution. Right on his days off, You drive the highway to see if anyone needs how

Mark Laurie:   22:51
Really. That's good. Supernatural. Wow.

Grace Yan:   22:55
We didn't take my money and I found my caution. My don't. This whole story, Yeah, You know how you know, just to give him a good word, right? And yeah, you know, I like you know, I have nowhere

Mark Laurie:   23:10
mechanic there, but what's It's interesting because that story starts off with Your car broke down and most people go. And I was so lucky my car broke down, and that's their story. And your story is my car broke out and this really cool thing happened That proved I was lucky person. And so many people forget the second part of the story. All that

Grace Yan:   23:31
happens all the time with me. You know,

Mark Laurie:   23:36
I gotta spend more time with you. I can see that right now. I

Grace Yan:   23:39
know. I know. I'm seriously.

Mark Laurie:   23:40
Yeah, that is amazing.

Grace Yan:   23:42
You name it.

Mark Laurie:   23:43
So is that because your mindset to believe or it is just because you're really lucky you think will

Grace Yan:   23:48
happen? Yes. You believe well, well mapping. Yes.

Mark Laurie:   23:53
So you spent a lot time imagining your date. You imagine your life. So that happens when you wanted. Yes. How's that work? Because it is something to in the morning or how you

Grace Yan:   24:02
You focus, right? You have to focus on just that. The good things being positive,

Mark Laurie:   24:12
right? You is a time of day. You do that or you just threw the horse the whole day. You're just all the time, but I

Grace Yan:   24:19
just keep it in your head all in your mind. Always think positive. Think positive, you know? And, um, it happens. That's

Mark Laurie:   24:28
a powerful. That's a powerful message. You clearly then that much all your life, it probably goes back to a lesson. You learn to go too far back.

Grace Yan:   24:36
Well, because, I mean, it takes as much time to think worse. It's the same energy,

Mark Laurie:   24:44
I think the worst.

Grace Yan:   24:47
So why not just think positive?

Mark Laurie:   24:50
Yeah. This is this good turnout for me, because if you think negative, that's what happened. So you get your lightning rods wherever you want. Yeah. Good or bad? Yeah.

Grace Yan:   25:01
No. No. And so for me, it's really important, because thanks. Wayne is really big for me. Okay, So

Mark Laurie:   25:10
how do you interpret that? Looks like that negative energy security stuff also Freddie

Grace Yan:   25:14
away from it

Mark Laurie:   25:15
because the French way in my mind's always been a furniture thing. But you know OK, what? OK, so this is new to me.

Grace Yan:   25:21
Oh yeah, it's life. It's it's it's numbers, its energy with people.

Mark Laurie:   25:28
So is there a place you can learn that like, is it old French way of Dana's counters? Go here, really know?

Grace Yan:   25:36
Oh, no, Only so I think you can get a Barbara. Okay. The French waits on life okay on the energy because actually, for Asians even, you know, they can read your face right? And they'll tell you whether you're a lucky person or not.

Mark Laurie:   25:53
I really don't know if I should ask that I like you first. I'm not sure that's right. You don't have to revise. Yes, I quit his master's thankfully masters,

Grace Yan:   26:05
But yeah, you're certain everything they can see. Like from the time you're born, your birthdate numbers is very important. So I'm very like, just born lucky.

Mark Laurie:   26:21
I know there's people who struggle all the time and that could be turned around, although I think when they're middle of struck, that's a hard thing to imagine. I believe the world needs as many lucky positive people as possible That shifts the whole I mean, just imagine a whole community of everyone in the community thought positively how that community would shift.

Grace Yan:   26:40
Well, of course, if everyone thought positively, we'd all you know, the world would just get along better. It would be right, and things would work smoothly. And, um but, you know, we all go through different things in life, and how we react to things is really from a lot of it is your upbringing in your experience in life. But you have to focus and say, Take the good from that and move forward. What

Mark Laurie:   27:11
has been your biggest, I guess Failure challenge where everything went wrong and you still took a lesson. You kind of grew up going back here your big what most people do. All that was a disaster because we've all had them meet you. It happens all the time. But what's the biggest one that while you sit back and go? Oh, yeah, that was That was a learner. That was big.

Grace Yan:   27:31
Um, I think you know, we all anything trust that person and, you know, we all went until money,

Mark Laurie:   27:41
right? Yes. Where is like, Why? Why do they dio right? Okay, I think

Grace Yan:   27:48
you know when you're young, you just assume everyone's just gonna be honest, just like you and you don't trust and you're trusting. And that's fine, you know, because even though things like that has happened, you learn from that and you know, and you avoid certain mistakes will make everyone has made that

Mark Laurie:   28:14
your big change was a loan Money that went South

Grace Yan:   28:17
Wales like investments are, you know, losing money. And right now I think everyone's lost money in the stock market

Mark Laurie:   28:25
that we're all equally abused.

Grace Yan:   28:28
All you really poor now stock market crashing four days in a row.

Mark Laurie:   28:34
I wiped my stock down. There's a small bird that goes up. Let's try that. It goes down again. No, because I just

Grace Yan:   28:41
think, you know, it's dropped like 16%.

Mark Laurie:   28:45
And yet I was listening to in the middle of all this Berk Shyer. His name's gonna loot me anyways. Warren Buffett. Warren Buffett is talking and he says, Yeah, he says right now in the middle of it, he says. But you got him the long view when he says, Really, 10 years from now, this will be one more blip in the marketplace will be a deep one, but it'll and I'm

Grace Yan:   29:06
But I'm thinking, Well, who's gonna wait 10 years for this

Mark Laurie:   29:09
thing to come back to the same level? Yeah,

Grace Yan:   29:13
you know, it's just unfortunate. What? See, you know, that's life. We don't know Now all of a sudden, there's this virus that's collapsed the world. Yeah, it's the whole world. Is that when I break? Yeah, like it's empty. Everywhere.

Mark Laurie:   29:30
Yeah, venues. There was kind of wealth, and and you've got two goes back. Toto, how you react to things like Lacey people rack in a panic which which this is broad. I think for any situation that first reactions on my God panic and go into, uh um, like a desperate situation, we sit back and say, Okay, let's just take a look at this and figure what best move is

Grace Yan:   29:53
why no one knows how to react to this thing. It's never happened before.

Mark Laurie:   29:57
No, not in our lifetime to go back. The bank that's in this big the other one's have been bad. If you're going way back from 1900 theories that black players, Ironically, though it was after the ability of one that Bill Gates said. This is what's happened. This is what we have to do. It won't cost that much, but it's coming like another one's gonna be coming a CZ. We bump into the environment in ways we've never had before. So he was this back in the eighties. I think it was their nineties eating to that. So there's been people that knew. And then the politicians have recited toe do what should've been done to get

Grace Yan:   30:32
things in place. Well, I think you know, it's it's tough to know what to do. Yes, because this virus, you know, attaches itself to you know, each individual differently and it mutates. Yeah, it's trying to find this vaccine. That's a scary thing, right? Because it's it's spreading so fast. Yeah, it looks over to, you know, and that's why you know, the social distancing. It's a whole new

Mark Laurie:   31:03
stuff to be like that. They're talking about the demise of the handshake slowly fading. Note. No, no, it's gone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is really well on the salt. It's gonna change the side of social distancing. That's a that's gonna wind up in the new decks log of perfect I e.

Grace Yan:   31:27
I mean, like I posted today, like you and I are healthy people will survive this thing, but you don't want to carry it to someone that that won't be able to search through it. That that's that's

Mark Laurie:   31:43
That's a concern. Yeah, that's responsibility. Is that your you're healthy? But not everyone is

Grace Yan:   31:49
right. And so people are kind of annoying with this everything canceling or suspending. But it's the social responsibility of controlling this thing. So it's not, you know, out of while it's getting out of control. Because right now I mean, there's 1 200 cases in Canada. 30 in Alberta. Yeah, I mean,

Mark Laurie:   32:13
it keeps climbing. That's a thing, right? That's dominant conversations. Yeah, but that aside because the future is gonna come to us. Do you have any big goals? Big dreams?

Grace Yan:   32:27
Yeah, well, I would like to, you know, offer my skills, my experience and, um, run for mayor.

Mark Laurie:   32:43
I think that's great. Europe 1st 2021 2020 one's coming.

Grace Yan:   32:49
Yeah. And, uh, this is sort of, you know what were

Mark Laurie:   32:57
But you've been observing a lot of things when we had conversations. A while back of things you saw working Las Vegas systems like you kind of systems were maintained. Person, Aren't you like you? Progress programs

Grace Yan:   33:06
want to focus on progresses. Uh, time is money. You know the arena. The Legion error arena in Vegas, which is the Raiders football stadium was built in two years. Onley 1.8 billion. And it is paid for because they told the States, right? Gave naming rights to an airline. Yeah. Smart. Yes. Like, you know, you know, the taxpayers don't need to pay for this stuff. There's ways to, you know, I have this don't with so

Mark Laurie:   33:44
two years that's a stoning

Grace Yan:   33:46
are green eyes Now, I don't know, 20 years still trying to build this thing because there's a who's a study on the train on the stamp Aintree study. What do we do with it? You know, So you know, we want to focus on progressing and developing the city again and really bringing I It doesn't matter. I t you know, industries diversity different way have to diversify 40% vacancy downtown office towers. When you No way we can give it sometimes. Yeah, to develop and And if it's gonna just like Vegas if it's gonna make money, do it. You know, just not this whole long variant of nothing

Mark Laurie:   34:44
bring you their hands. Yeah. Yeah, that's a pretty simple business approach. If it makes money do it, it doesn't stay away from them. It's really simple. Real straight for this

Grace Yan:   34:51
ring. Road has taken 50 years. No. Okay. Yeah. Why way? Need efficiency. Transparency. Okay, especially in the taxpayer's money in the spending. And, um, you know, taxpayers money on a tree study of $250,000 is not fiscally responsible.

Mark Laurie:   35:15
How do you get your mind set ready to take on the role? That because that's a really large. It's a big job. Yeah, like that's a big job. Your tobacco. You know, I could do a better job. Is Mayor sip of a beer? We should do that next week. Like before we get to that point that say, Here's what I'm putting the pieces together. Um,

Grace Yan:   35:36
well, it's not any easy. Of course, it's not an easy job. It's a big job. I don't think anybody wants to do it. I might even win by

Mark Laurie:   35:45
acclamation. People are just falling off because it's a huge. I

Grace Yan:   35:51
mean, we've got a number of issues that need to be dealt with, you know, from City Council, you know, infighting, not even getting along

Mark Laurie:   36:03
all those things, all these things. But going back to that because it could be for you. It's the mayorship. But for anybody else, it could be just a big a big job they're gonna take on. What's the thinking? That kind of gets you ready The stuff in the box to check off to do that. This is that thing's a huge lessen your star. This it's a it's expensive. The risk is high commitment time. If you're successful, the work is hard. How do you at the very initial stage when you get decided to do something, this would be like a broader terms. What kind of thinking? To have to do it to make a reasonable, um, stab but decided to do this

Grace Yan:   36:42
while mark it's you need an army of people to help you.

Mark Laurie:   36:50
But before that, what? We're sitting back just yourself. You're thinking, I think I'm gonna do this. Like what? You got it. You got to decide. Do I have the skills to do like I I've got those kind of things.

Grace Yan:   37:01
I don't know my skills, right? Right? No, I think it's because other people have approached me okay and said, Why don't you run for mayor? Right? We need a mayor. That's a bulldog Rain. That's a barren Cuda that can get things done.

Mark Laurie:   37:25
A leader,

Grace Yan:   37:26
a leader that's gonna made changes for the better, right? Because we can't just have somebody, you know. Oh, well, you know, kind of person.

Mark Laurie:   37:38
Yeah, and I think a lot of people tend to forget that a leader's job is providing the vision, but it's also making tough calls. Like a leader is not always a pleasant person like you. Look back over the years, Churchill was a bear cat because I got to get things done. If you look at the people who take them on their people, Okay, so here's what we're doing is we don't do There's no gray areas that

Grace Yan:   38:02
that's right. That's right, Mark, because you know, in life and as you know and what we do and work, you're not, and not everybody's gonna like. You

Mark Laurie:   38:13
know how to get comfortable with that. Or do you

Grace Yan:   38:16
just you? Well, you just have to be comfortable in your own.

Mark Laurie:   38:20
So you just sit back. It's okay. Comforts what I'm doing to go in knowing nothing but happy off course.

Grace Yan:   38:26
And you cat. And, you know, I'm sure I offend some people. And that's okay, you know, because not everyone's gonna like you. But the ultimate goal isn't the results, right? Okay. I mean, there's gonna be, you know, some, you know, people that are No, I'm not gonna be happy about everything. But I think if the majority of what you do helps people,

Mark Laurie:   38:56
you've gotta be able to communicate that I've seen a lot of people in different organizations abroad for a long time. Whether their intent is good for dream is valid. It's gonna It's gonna be painful at some points, but they don't communicate that like they don't communicate what they're doing. They commit. No one's involved. Their vision.

Grace Yan:   39:14
Yeah, it's a fact of communication. You're right. It's You have to actively communicate. You know, the ultimate results in the goals.

Mark Laurie:   39:24
So I think people have to buy in. I know the various organizations have been involved in. If I learned this because the first time I did it. I didn't. I was sheer willpower. It was gonna happen. And I discovered when I stepped away just collapsed. Because without my sheer willpower, there was no real support for it. So you have to You just go

Grace Yan:   39:42
for it. That's why I say you need

Mark Laurie:   39:43
the army that you need.

Grace Yan:   39:45
You need an army of of people. Um, and that will definitely, you know, support you and help you and, uh, to achieve that goal. I mean, I would be the first female I know Asian mayor

Mark Laurie:   40:04
yet to check off a whole bunch of boxes because first of all, the 11 bundle of

Grace Yan:   40:08
women the women support that Asian community, you know, So is a lot going for

Mark Laurie:   40:15
you, Do you? Lucky person. Oh, wait. We've covered that. If you get the job, you're really lucky.

Grace Yan:   40:25
Exactly, because it is a big job, and it's all gonna be a lot of work

Mark Laurie:   40:32
to think it is. I think the job of being later from any political strike from the alderman to a mayor to premiere of our province. It's different than it was 20 years ago. Like the expectations of what should be open. We know what not to be opened. It's a more invasive period of time as well. Like politicians today aren't nearly as they don't have as much private life. Private time, Roman seems, have a right to dig into some aspect of your life, and they don't belong in half a place that they go into

Grace Yan:   41:09
rather than just focusing on the job. Yeah, you know, and forget about all this other garbage.

Mark Laurie:   41:16
It's, um that's one of the weaknesses of the system. I guess that's the twitterverse what it feels, Frito move this entity and beaten support collapse and growing.

Grace Yan:   41:25
Wow, Exactly. And I think it was just time to run this city as a business and start developing again. You know, move forward will be We've been moving backwards,

Mark Laurie:   41:38
and that's I know all growing up. And I just read in the paper that someone else was talking about this. They said, Calgary is of all the cities in the country, most in trumpeter based, I think we are the most going home is it was always is anything came along like we could get that done waken do that Will will commit to it, and we'll forget lot later how to make it work, and that's our legacy. And it's been lost a bit over the years as he fumbled a little bit. But I think we have a potential. There's still that mindset. People still started still starting new businesses.

Grace Yan:   42:10
Why I truly believe we can bring it all back. You know, if you believe that it will happen, we

Mark Laurie:   42:18
can bring it back. That's part of the thing is that you have to believe that it can happen. I think that's that's why I'm so impressed with new moms when I was there. When a parent brings a child in this world, they have to believe in the future like you don't bring a child. If you don't believe there's a future, this doesn't happen.

Grace Yan:   42:37
You know, I always raise Nathan because we're born with no opinion, likes or dislikes.

Mark Laurie:   42:44
Yep, that's true.

Grace Yan:   42:45
So from the time Nathan was born, everything was awesome. We're going

Mark Laurie:   42:51
to the dentist s o s so much fun way Kansas.

Grace Yan:   43:00
Screamingly like bloody murder. And I'm like

Mark Laurie:   43:03
you good news. We're going to kind of fun things funny, right? Okay. Just for fun. It was fun. Everything's an adventure.

Grace Yan:   43:13
So that it's that's all they think off his positivity. It's very

Mark Laurie:   43:19
important. That's a powerful viewpoint to give a child Oh, to give anybody is

Grace Yan:   43:24
no like we'd be flying. You know, Nathan's nine months old And, of course, you see a kid you're gonna think I know you know, this kid's gonna cry and scream the whole time. You know, you could see people's faces wanna international flight, and they're sitting beside my kids and I Oh, no, You know what? I had all these

Mark Laurie:   43:47
toys, everything. You're ready. You're prepared. Yes. Yeah, you're prepared to make in the game.

Grace Yan:   43:52
Everything was fun. Not a peep. Not a peep, you know. So it's really how you, um, you know, help your child and dried them through life of how they think So. Nathan, even though he's a little kid, thinks he's bigger than he is. So

Mark Laurie:   44:15
I came to see you instilling that because you are bigger than life first. Okay, so cool, because you're this e. I should tell you audience she's not a big, tall person. And yet when she walks in fills the space, there's an energy about you that it's noticeable. If I can, I can see passing that down today. It's

Grace Yan:   44:33
important, you know, because it's it's it's how they're gonna keep thinking through life. Yeah, right. Yeah.

Mark Laurie:   44:40
Once you get that framework, it's a really My years was in real estate. One of the first speakers were coming through five day course in the 1st 2 days. It was This is going back in the mid seventies, right? The 1st 2 days, it was like, Whoa, this is amazing. This is so it was yes, butterflies and I scream. You pumped that on. The third date was Wednesday. He sat back, and he has this grim looking baseball cases today. I'ma show you how come it's not gonna happen? Where you gonna feel if you don't go back to the butterflies in your records? He was talking about that. You know, the flea trainer that year you put this piece of glass ceiling, you hit the glass ceiling until you've been longer jump very high and this this whole thing. And then the third day he goes back. He said, not that big last ones that people your life that aren't that are going to support you. They don't believe in your dreams and you either leave them behind and grow or not and to be. And I was like my mom was Mom's mom, too. She is. It was right, wasn't she, said Mark. There's only two people in this world. There's good people, is bad, you know. They come in different colors, different religions, different sexes, different ethnic Santis ity, ese, but the core to good people and bad people. So if you spend your time with good people, you're gonna be okay. It's been with bad people who could be really bad. It's not gonna work out Well, yeah, and later on through the years should reinforce up. I say, Spend your time with not just good people, but people with vision, people with thes things and that was probably one of them. Should make gave me very many gifts, but that's one of the biggest. When she gave was that was fine. People who were

Grace Yan:   46:13
well, and that's exactly what my mom would say. She'd say, Tell me who your friends are. I'll tell you who you are.

Mark Laurie:   46:23
That's brilliant. It's true. Yeah, look at your foot, Spike. I think the number is five or seven. There's a number about that I've heard that there's But you see who your friends are and you can tell I think back My dad did that as well. He'd look atyou by friends and said, You know, uh, he's looking that there is some some other members, the family, he'd look at their friends. It's okay, So this one's gonna accomplish this. This is when they were teenagers. This one's gonna accomplish that, right? And he was used to tell me. So Yeah, life's like this Cannonball says you've got the arch going was pretty close. Yeah, you He nailed a nail him down because he's like your mom. It's not that hard. If you're surrounded by people who push you, challenge you and support you, you're gonna go far. You're gonna be inquisitive if you certainly view surround your friends by who really don't want to. Don't want to support you. If you start to grow, they pull you back. If their choice is, let's go into the O thes leisure things in the corner and don't do anything. Just leave. And every day he turned to me one time when I was talking, says it's really not that complicated Mark. That's what you're with. These opportunities are gonna come to you If this is who you're with, the people are gonna challenge you. You entry more challenging life like that's That's what I know. And I've discovered that in my photography I would be sort of like people whose had high goals like the longest time. I've accomplished some some degree of pornography skills, but I'm always feeling inadequate. I talked to this specific, This amazing photographer. Look at these guys killed my peers like they're amazing. Like they've got skills that I'm still trying to acquire. Okay, And then I tend to forget that, Yeah, that's because I'm running with, like when you're running with. So I'm like the low god, How the time thinking. I hope they don't notice that I'm here because, God, they're really good, because that's where you've been a cz. Well, you've followed your mom's advice, and you're pretty impressive.

Grace Yan:   48:25
You know, when you think of I think of all these things, you know, my mom would say, you know, it really is true. You know what your parents tell

Mark Laurie:   48:37
you? You're the oh, that was rushed, right? Like the fact that it's like silly I say when I was younger, Tigrett talking's photographers and the guy said, No, we're going to talk about stupid I think because you're an old man, you know how you're doing. But this could work. Now I'm the old guy now, enough talk about things like Diego. That's the stupid. I've talked about it like Oh my God, there is I'm not being arrogant. That's just a bad idea. We're gonna. But when you have a good idea, we'll spend lot of time with it. So it girls in that

Grace Yan:   49:14
and I think it's important to listen Oh, listening to people that actually have the experience Yes, you know, that's in itself. A lot of people don't do it doesn't work. They just don't listen, you know? And that's what I do. I take, you know, people that have accomplished a lot. And umm listen to what they say because especially, you know, your parents and older people they've been through so much and experience a lot, you know, you just yeah, my mom when my mom said that, you know, it really does make sense, you know? You know, tell me who your friends are. I'll tell

Mark Laurie:   50:00
you you are. It's true. So we bring by your really good friends out having friends i e b r r but it's getting kind of come well, you have lots of friends. And I I wish you the best of success. And I were there to help you. Anything you need for your your drive, your very big dream. Thank you,

Grace Yan:   50:20
Mark. It's been fine.

Mark Laurie:   50:21
It's been great. We'll have to do to get our thank you. Amazing. Thank you. This has been fascinating. Women with Mark Lauri join us on our website and subscribe at Fascinating Women. Dossier Fascinating Women has been sponsored by Inner Spirit Photography of Calgary, Alberta, and has produced in Calgary by Lee Ellis and my office media.