School of Business

On April 2nd, 2024, BBA student Zach Landry interviewed Mr. Balsor, the Co-op Coordinator for the School of Business. They discussed the Co-op program, Mr. Balsor’s time in the music industry, credit unions, and much more! Read their conversation below.

The Co-op Program

Zach: You've been working as the Co-op Coordinator here at the School of Business for many years now. How did you come into this role?

Mr. Balsor: Well, prior to assuming this role, I had been working in the banking industry for approximately 10 years. While there were many aspects of my role at Vally Credit Union that I still enjoyed, such as the daily interaction with clients, the opportunity to coach my staff, and the overall administration of the branch, it was time to move on. My music career was at its peak and my newly established tax practice was growing – I needed more flexibility than I had in my role at the credit union. I wanted a position that allowed me more control over my schedule so that I could continue to operate my businesses. I believe that we're going to talk more about my entrepreneurial pursuits later on. During the summer of 2017, I was approached by Acadia’s associate registrar at the time, with a job posting for a Co-op coordinator. And to be honest, I wasn't familiar with Cooperative Education before that. But, as a graduate of our BBA program, I was intrigued by the idea of returning to Acadia and supporting students. As I learned more about the Co-op program, I thought I would bring an interesting combination of experiences to the school, where I would have direct involvement with students looking to prepare themselves for the workplace. I guess others agreed and I was offered the position and started on August 17th of that year, and it's been a fun and meaningful experience so far, and I hope my students say the same.

Zach: You found your way back to Acadia like the rest of us, I'm sure. I'm just curious what you think the greatest benefit of the Co-op program is for students who may be thinking about it?

Mr. Balsor: Well, we may have to talk about the greatest benefits because I think there are a few. For readers who are not familiar with co-operative education at Acadia, it's a program that students opt into that provides the opportunity to enhance skills in resume and cover letter writing, interviewing, networking, and business communications. Co-op students complete three work terms over the course of their degree. Work terms are paid and related to the student's program of study. Where co-op is an academic program, students receive course credit upon completion of their work terms and the associated assignments. Co-op provides students with the opportunity to explore different jobs and industries, helping them better understand what they like and dislike before graduating. It allows them to create meaningful connections with people in these industries, often resulting in an increased likelihood of securing full-time employment before or shortly after graduating. I think co-op is also helpful for students who know what they want to do, but don't yet have any practical experience. So, for example, a student may want to pursue a career in accounting. They're not interested in completing a marketing work term. Co-op is still an excellent choice, as it can allow that student to obtain up to 12 months of accounting experience with an employer they're hoping to work for after graduation. In 2023, I established the Business Co-op Student of the Year Award. Award recipient Julia Faloon shared the following: “Acadia’s co-op program provided me with resources and support to navigate the job search process, allowing me to feel more confident when writing resumes and cover letters, and interviewing with prospective employers. I completed three work terms with different organizations in different industries. I learned a lot about different work environments and my preferences. These experiences allowed me to apply what I learned in the classroom to meaningful projects in the workplace. I am thankful to have developed new skills while confirming what I want to do after graduation – things that may not have happened if I didn’t participate in the co-op program. I encourage all business students to consider the co-op program, as it truly enhances your undergraduate experience.” Julia’s testimony is one of many from students who have benefited from the Co-op program, and I'm thankful to be part of the journey with so many great students.

Zach: Absolutely. And I think it also results in a really big question that many people face: “What am I going to do when I graduate?”, and “How am I going to apply what I'm learning in the classes?” I think it definitely does give people insight, it does have that benefit. You know, it's interesting, because sometimes people, they're really good at something in class, then when they go out to do it in a practical setting they realize that they don't like it at all. There's a difference between being good at something and enjoying it, and sometimes it's not until we get to experience it outside of the classroom that we really understand what it's all about. I think sometimes people also mistake their own personal passions for careers. For myself, personally, I really appreciate photography, and as soon as I tried to put a monetary value on it, it wasn't as fun anymore because it's a passion. When you have these opportunities to find out what you'd like to do for work that you can still be passionate about, it's important to separate hobby, passion, and career.

Zach: Earlier you mentioned that you have a lot of students working on getting jobs, refining their resumes, and preparing for the workforce. I'm curious, what is your best advice for someone when it comes to succeeding in a job interview?

Mr. Balsor: So, a former Co-op student once told me that his approach to interviews was to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. This simple phrase stuck with me. I think everyone gets nervous leading up to and during an interview, and we want to do a good job, we want to make a good impression and convince the employer to offer us the position. So, preparation is important. Being able to communicate what interests us about the organization and the position is critical to having a meaningful conversation with the employer. It is important to recognize that in many cases, we do not know who else is being considered for the role, so we must give our best while remaining honest and humble. I do have some general tips that I provide to students, so, I'll share some of them with you now. I encourage people to search for common interview questions online and practice answering them with a friend or family member, and then asking them for feedback. Also, be aware of nonverbal cues, ensure that you are engaged in the conversation, and maintain good eye contact with those who are interviewing you. Remember to smile during the interview as it shows interest and enthusiasm for the opportunity. Dress appropriately and ensure you are well-groomed. You can't go wrong with business casual. You're not required to wear a suit jacket or tie like I often do running around Patterson Hall. This applies to in-person and virtual interviews. If participating in a virtual interview, it's important to be aware of your surroundings. Ensure you are in a quiet location without distractions. Also being mindful of what's in your background. You know, perhaps having your bed in the background of the camera isn't the most appropriate backdrop for you. Also, I recommend folks avoid one-word answers. You want to provide examples and descriptions from school, work, and extracurricular activities, and try to use a variety of examples to support your answers. So, the example that I often use is if you've worked at Walmart, but you've been involved with some extracurriculars, don't only use examples from Walmart to support your answers because if you're asked 10 questions and all 10 answers involve your time at Walmart, that's going to get boring to the employer. Try to be more descriptive and use different examples and different experiences to support your answers. When responding to broad questions such as “Tell us about yourself”, try to summarize information so that it relates to the requirements of the position. Your response may expand on what you mentioned in your cover letter, or resume. When responding to specific questions. It's often valuable to craft your response in relation to the information you've gathered from the job description. Reference key skills or attributes that the interviewer may be most interested in. When responding to questions about weaknesses or challenging situations, I recommend focusing on events, skills, or subjects that are not central to the position. So, for example, if the position focuses heavily on computer skills, you may not want to mention this as a weakness. End your statement by describing how you dealt with difficulty. Explain what you've learned from the experience and if possible, describe how you're going to improve upon these things over time. When asked a question regarding experience that you do not have or a situation that you have not experienced yet, show initiative by responding with something such as, “While I haven't found myself in that situation before, if I did, this is what I would do…” It speaks to your approach to problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Even though you haven't done something the employer is more interested in what you would do if you were in that situation. At the end of an interview, you may be given the opportunity to ask a question or two. While you may think of a question during the interview, you should have one or two questions prepared in advance that will provide you with meaningful additional information about the position or the organization. Write these questions down and take them with you to the interview. Not only does this give you a chance to learn something new about the organization or position, but it also shows the employer that you're curious and engaged. Hopefully these tips help those who may have an upcoming interview.

Zach: Absolutely. I also think being prepared for the next steps is important too because if you don't get a job, it doesn't mean you aren't deserving of the job or you weren't a great candidate. It just means there were many candidates, and there always are.

Mr. Balsor: That's right.

Zach: But always get back up on your feet and be prepared to do it all over again. It can be fun if you make it fun.

Mr. Balsor: Well, you often have to interview for more than one position.

Zach: Yeah.

Mr. Balsor: The people who interview for one job and land it are the exception. That's not normally how it works out. Apply to different positions that you're interested in and don’t be discouraged if you don't get the offer. You don't know who the competition is. Employers are typically interviewing multiple people for roles. So just because you didn't get it doesn't mean that anything is wrong with you, it doesn't mean that you couldn't have done a good job, it just means that maybe somebody else had a different background, a different experience that the employer resonated more with. Keep going, keep applying, keep trying, and you'll end up getting something that's great.

An Entrepreneurial Pursuit: Income Tax Preparation and Advisory Service

Zach: I also see here that in 2017, you created your own income tax preparation and advisory service business, I'm just curious what brought you to start this venture?

Mr. Balsor: So that's a great question, and I don't know if there's anything specific that led me to starting my own practice. Of course, during my time with Valley Credit Union, I was supporting clients with their banking needs. I enjoyed having conversations, getting to know them, and building relationships, and I took pride in my approach to ensuring that they knew more when they left my office than when they came in. While it's fine to trust your banker, or your accountant, or your lawyer or other professionals, I believe it is important to understand your own situation, understand where your money is going, and the implications of your decisions. This guides me in my current practice, and what I enjoyed the most about my time in the banking industry, I still get to do. It's also interesting to note the connection between my approach to clients and my involvement in post-secondary education. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I ended up in education. Starting a tax practice was a pretty low-risk pursuit for me. I operate the business out of my home in Hantsport, which is about 20 minutes from Wolfville. The overhead is low, you can deduct various household expenses against your income, so if it didn't work out, I wouldn't have lost much. Thankfully, it did work out, and over the course of the past seven years with very little advertising, I've grown the business to over 650 clients, where I do personal and small business tax returns, business startup support, HST reporting, estate planning, charitable information returns, among other things, so it's not too bad for a side hustle. I mean, I'm likely at my capacity given the other commitments that I have, including my role here at Acadia, but I did employ two interns this season, which has been very helpful. But managing the growth of a business can be challenging. For me, it's important that clients have the opportunity to meet with me to review their income tax returns. I call this my five minutes of fame, but it typically ends up being at least 15 minutes. And that's what happens when you develop relationships with your clients, you end up chatting about things that are not at all related to the tax return. But that's part of it, and I appreciate my clients, I care about them. I needed to add interns to my team in order to accommodate the growth and still allow time for the personalized service that my clients expect and I expected from myself. I believe that people do business with people, and relationships matter. I've always enjoyed helping people, I guess you could say that if I've mastered anything over my career, including the 25 years in the music business, it's my ability to establish meaningful connections with people, connections that cause people to refer friends and family to you, purchase albums that you release, and so on. And as we talk about these things, I recognize so many connections between the various things that I've done, it really centers on relationships with people and how meaningful those relationships are.

Zach: Absolutely. Relationships can bring so many opportunities, as you touched on. It keeps you busy, and that shows with everything that you do.

Mr. Balsor: Yeah, busy is good. I'm really lucky to have everything that I have going on.

Teaching at the Canadian Institute of Management Distance Education Program

Zach: I also see here that there was a time when you taught Introduction to Management, and Managerial Communications for the Canadian Institute of Management Distance Education Program. I'm just curious if you could provide some context about the position, what it entailed and how you got involved in that.

Mr. Balsor: So, I served on the Mainland Nova Scotia branch board of directors for the Canadian Institute of Management, which, if the readers aren't familiar with the organization, it's the Canadian leader and management certification, accreditation, and professional development since 1942. During my time with the organization, I served as the Director of Finance and the Director of Education for the Mainland Nova Scotia branch, and it was through this involvement that I was approached to become involved with their distance education program. To receive the CIM designation, there are various courses that need to be completed and these can be completed at universities or through the institute itself. I instructed the Intro to Management and Managerial Communications courses for several years. Part of this role involves revising curriculum for the courses, creating assignments and exams, and I enjoyed it. But I prefer in-person learning and if I were to ever teach again, it would certainly be in-person. I think it comes back to the relationships that you can establish with people and I find it easier to establish relationships in an in-person environment than in a virtual environment. Communication is more organic. And if you're in a virtual environment, you have to be so much more intentional with that communication, which, let's be honest, we look for the easiest way out most of the time. And if we don't have to communicate with people, then we may not. So, I'd much rather be teaching in class.

Zach: And that virtual realm is all too familiar for many of us.

Credit Unions and Opportunities

Zach: You mentioned earlier that you had a career working at the Valley Credit Union. Do you see any opportunity for cooperatives and credit unions to grow in today's economic environment?

Mr. Balsor: So, I would say that this is a complex topic. Today's economic environment is presenting challenges across many industries and business models. And of course, I will only speak to my experience with the credit union. There are other forms of cooperatives, of course, but the credit union has become more like a bank over time, they offer the same or very similar products and services. I would argue that most of their customers or members, as referred to within the credit union system, are unfamiliar or don't care about the fact that they belong to a cooperative. Most people are looking for convenience, the best rates on investments or lending products, and of course, great customer service. The fact that as a credit union member, you receive member rebates or dividends and get to vote at the annual AGM isn't of importance to most people. In my experience, as the credit union system grew, it needed to shift and focus on being competitive in a very competitive industry. It will be interesting to see what the next 10, 20, 30 years bring as the values of society change. If we go back to when the credit union, as an idea was first established, it was very much embedded within the manufacturing sector. Credit unions were set up in small communities, often within manufacturing facilities, like there was in Hantsport where I now live. They weren't trying to compete with banks, they were offering something that was different than what banks were offering. But as time went on, if they weren't keeping up with the banks, if they weren't providing the same products or services, people were looking elsewhere. So, to sustain themselves, they had to shift their focus a little bit. So now when most people look at it, they don't see a lot of difference between a credit union as a cooperative or a chartered bank. So, it's changed. I've seen changes during my time there, and I've been gone for a while, but I'm sure that there have been more changes, but you never know. I mean, society is changing, and what's important to people is changing. Community focus and community-mindedness is becoming more important. People are looking for organizations to do business with that are sustainable, that are considerate of the environment that are considerate of community groups, and so on. I think that the credit union will always have a place and as things change, people will gravitate towards the things that are most meaningful to them.

Zach: Absolutely. It's important to see how competition brings change and growth, especially between the banks and credit unions. It's like you said, people can't really tell the difference anymore, just because they had to become what they are now.

 

Matt Balsor: Country Singer

Zach: I also see here that very recently, you retired from your 25-year-long music career. Do you see any connection between your music career and your current career outside of music?

Mr. Balsor: So, it's funny, I had a student once say to me, Mr. Balsor you've been performing for longer than I've been alive. And I mean, what could I say about that? It's true! That's what happens when your students are typically between 18 and 22. I'm long past that, but I've had a wonderful career and one that I'll be forever grateful for. I was able to meet so many great people, work with so many amazing musicians, and accomplish things that I never thought would be possible for this country boy from the Valley. While I didn't set out to turn this hobby into a business, as a young adult, I realized that I could make money doing something that I love to do. And as my friend Leona Williams from Nashville says, “It made me a lot of money, and I spent it!” But while I've been successful in the business, there were certainly lots of sacrifices. Most entrepreneurs make significant sacrifices to start and grow their businesses. While the benefits are easily recognized, the sacrifices may not always be as visible. So, you really have to love what you do. But even then, I think it's important to establish boundaries and maintain a balance. It's easy to get caught up with what you're doing and neglect other things in your life that are as, if not more, important. Unfortunately, for me, I didn't have this perspective until later in my career. You know, the saying that there's more to life than work? Well, that's easier said than done sometimes, especially if you enjoy what you do. But I do wish that I had made more time for family and friends and I share this with anyone that's looking to get into the music business or start any business or any venture for that matter. It's all about establishing clear boundaries and maintaining balance. But to answer your question, I do see a lot of connections between my music career and the other ventures that I've been part of. Of course, I got started in the music business before I completed my undergrad, before I worked at the credit union, or started my income tax practice. So, I guess you could say that I was figuring it out as I went along. I didn't have any training or education to guide me at that point, I didn't have parents who were musicians or business owners, I learned by watching and listening to others in the business. I did a lot of research even as a teenager, and I would say yes to every opportunity that was presented to me. I looked for gaps or holes in the industry that I thought I could fill, and I eventually found my style, perfected it, and then maintained it. I didn't try to reinvent my “brand” every year. I knew my audience, I knew what they wanted, and I knew what would sell. So, part of it was probably good timing, being in the right places at the right time. But I think my approach and consistency served me well. What I learned through my music career certainly helped me in other areas of business. Understanding your audience – whether it being one-on-one with a client, or in front of 5000 people – is critical. I think my ability to create connections with people has been my greatest strength. It has certainly helped grow my tax business. For the things that I've done, I think communication is the key. You can be a great singer, but if you can't create a connection with your audience, you're not going to go very far. You can be a smart banker or accountant, but if your clients don't feel comfortable talking to you, your book of business is probably going to be small. I don't think that it is a coincidence that all of the areas that I found success in involve interacting with people.

Zach: Absolutely. You have such a broad range of experiences that offer you so much to offer to others, which is so important. I’m curious, did you have any challenges turning something that you were so passionate about into a business and do you have any advice you would give to someone that is considering doing the same?

Mr. Balsor: Yeah, I think that for me, where I was so young, getting started in the business, it wasn't a business for the first several years. I didn't think of it as one. Money might have been coming in, but I didn't approach it the same way that I did later on in my career. I just wanted it to be fun, I still wanted to be a good student, and I still worked a part-time job. Even after graduation when my music business was doing better, I still wanted a full-time career. I never wanted to rely on music to pay my bills. I'm not a big risk taker, that's probably why all of my business pursuits have been relatively low-risk and low-overhead, which isn't the same for all entrepreneurs or all industries. Sometimes you have to take big risks to get big returns. But for me, it just slowly morphed into a business. As I started recording and I started getting paid bigger fees for performing, then I started to realize, you know, I have to approach this differently now. I have to be mindful of the money that's coming in and the money that's going out. You know, you can spend a lot more than you're bringing in very quickly, and it's hard to make that back. So, you have to be business-minded, especially if it's something that you enjoy and you're going to put money into it. There are lots of hobbies that cost money. So, I tried to be mindful of that. I wasn't always doing it the right way, but you learn over time. 25 years is a long time, and if you don't learn something over that 25 years, you're in trouble. I had a lot of great people. I like to think that I was savvy in some of the decisions that I made. There were challenges, lots of them. I mean, when you're employing a band, you have people working with you, you have support staff helping with set-up and some of the sales of product and whatever, you know, you try to pick good people, and you hope that they stay with you for the long run. But there's been some turnover and I've had to replace some people. That's hard, you know, that's an obstacle. You trust people to do something and you take it for granted a lot of the time, and then all of a sudden you have somebody new that has to learn how to do that stuff. That's hard, because I was spoiled for a while, not having to do certain things for myself, so that was a challenge. I think that another challenge with being in any sort of public forum, whether it's in the entertainment business or any other sort of client-facing role, you can experience burn out. People can be tiring. Sometimes they bring a lot of joy into your life, but it can be tiring to be in the public. Trying to give the best of yourself all the time, giving people what they expect of you, that's draining.

Zach: Absolutely.

Mr. Balsor: But you can't let that come across during your interactions with them. I mean, people have paid money to see a show, you have to give them a show, and you have to give them what they want. You've got to put your game face on, and you've got to go out and give the people the best of yourself. But when you're doing that 65 nights a year, that's tiring, especially when you have a day job and other stuff that's going on. It’s important that you do things that you enjoy, make your life full of things that you're passionate about, and if you happen to make money at it, then that's a bonus. If you haven't already found that thing that you love that makes you want to get up every morning, then keep looking because life's too short to do something that you don't like doing. You're going to be working for 30 or 35 years. Spend it doing something that brings you joy.

Zach: Do you still enjoy music after all that?

Mr. Balsor: I do, I enjoy it differently now. You know, I can listen to what I want to listen to, without having to think okay, how would I sing that? What arrangement would I put to it? I can just listen to music for the sake of enjoyment because it's not a business anymore. I can go sit in an audience now at a show and be entertained for the first time in a long time. And that's important for me at this stage in my life. 25 years was the perfect number. 24 would have sounded too short, 26 would have sounded too long. 25 is a great run. Could I have gone a little bit longer? Probably, but I wanted to get out while I was still enjoying it. I didn't want to do it if I wasn't enjoying it as much anymore. I wanted to go out on a high note, and I'm glad that we ended it the way that we did. But I still miss the people and I miss performing and it's part of who I am. Even though I might not be in the business anymore, I still sound country, I still act the same. I still talk the same, I still joke and carry on with people the same way as I always did. That's just who I am. You know, you become that after 25 years of doing something, you can't just flip a switch and say, “Oh, well, I'm not that person anymore,” you know. It's who you are.

Zach: You’re not in the show, you are the show.

Mr. Balsor: (Laughs) I should’ve used that line, that’s a good one!

Zach: I also see here that in July of 2012, you released a recording called Matt Balsor & Friends, a 26-song recording compromise of duets featuring a variety of different singers that was considered to be your biggest recording to date. What were some of the biggest logistical challenges involved in putting together a project of this size?

Mr. Balsor: Yeah, well, I guess we can say that it will always be my biggest recording because there aren’t going to be any more. But I was very fortunate to release 15 albums over the course of my career and this project was certainly a lot of fun. Since then, I did release a Matt Balsor & Friends Volume II featuring duets with different artists that were not featured on the 2012 release. I've always enjoyed working with and featuring other singers on my recordings and on all my shows because we have so much talent here in Nova Scotia, you don't need to look elsewhere. Nova Scotia has always been an incubator for the arts. But 2012 was a while ago, and I'll do my best to remember but I think that the recording process in general, is both physically and emotionally draining, and when you add 25 other people to the mix, it becomes even more so. But this project was really special to me, it was going to be the largest compilation project done in Canadian history, a lot of time was spent selecting the artists, picking songs that were suitable for us to sing together and working out the arrangements, getting the music recorded scheduling studio time for all the vocalists and then I co-produced the album. I recall it being a year-long project that required a lot of planning and organization, and keeping in mind here that I was still working full-time at this point as well. But time is money when you're in the recording studio, and thankfully, it wasn't my first recording so I had plenty of experience going into it. So, like a good banker and good accountant, I was managing the time and I was managing the money. But it was well worth it, and it was so much fun. It received international recognition and became the best seller of all of my 15 albums. I'm real grateful for all those wonderful singers and of course for all the people that bought it. Now I heard that you can sometimes buy it at Value Village, Zack, so you know if people say “Where can I get this album?” I say well, if you're lucky, you'll find it at Value Village for 25 cents, which is a lot less than what you pay for it from me!

Zack: I read in a 2017 article on The Grapevine that you said that your simple secret to success is to “be good to the people and they will be good to you.” Do you have any examples in your career of how this philosophy paid off?

Mr. Balsor: I've had many simple statements like this over the years, and some of them I use here at the university, but sometimes you can say a lot in a few words. We talked earlier about the importance of establishing relationships with your clients or your customers or fans, you insert the word that's applicable to you. But while certain things have worked for me over the years, they wouldn't necessarily work for people today. But I think that this statement still holds true. If you're good to people, remember their name, acknowledge them, and thank them for their support, they'll come back, they'll buy your product, and they'll support your business, especially in small communities like we have here in Nova Scotia. Now, of course, for me, keeping in mind that I wasn't looking to go international, I wasn't looking to have a number one record on the Billboard country charts. I chose a certain path, and I did it the way that I wanted to do it. I think that it’s important for any entrepreneur to have an idea as to where they want to go, even if they may not get there tomorrow. But you have to have a vision, you have to have a plan, you have to have a goal that you're working towards because otherwise, you're not going to necessarily always steer yourself in the right direction. If you have something that you're working towards, then that makes it a lot easier. For me, I knew what I wanted and I knew what I didn't want. So, for me, staying in the Maritimes and really focusing on the target audience that I had, I knew what was going to work. If I wanted to go international, I would have had to sing very different music than what I was singing because it wasn't 1970 anymore. The music that was being played on radio wasn't what I was putting out, so I think that for me, I knew who my audience was, I knew what they wanted, and I perfected that. People knew what to expect from me, there were not a lot of surprises so it worked well for me. But it's important for anybody else out there that’s saying, “Well, I want to be in the music business”, or “I want to do this,” or “I want to do that,” it's important to not necessarily copy what other people have done because what may have worked for them may not work for you. You have to find your own way. Certainly, learn from the people who have come before you, but don't think that just because it's worked for somebody else, it's going to work for you. But I don't think you can go wrong with that simple statement about being good to people, they'll be good to you. What's the alternative? Be bad to people and expect them to be good to you? It doesn't typically work that way, right? So, if you're good to people, then more than likely, they will be good back to you.

Zach: Absolutely. I think how you kept it kind of, you know, local, allows you to be more personal with the people and everyone that's here to see you. I also think that so many people say, “I'm gonna do what they're doing.” You mentioned even in the music career, instead of just saying, “I want to be like them,” you said, “I want to be me, but here's where I want to go.” If you know where you’re trying to go, you’ll get there at the end of the day, right? We started connecting your music career to entrepreneurship, and I'm curious, what did your music career specifically teach you about entrepreneurship? We've touched on a lot, but what are the biggest elements that you're always bringing back to this day and your work here with the School of Business?

Mr. Balsor: So, there's no question that I learned a lot about entrepreneurship through my career in music and I might not have necessarily thought of it that way. At the time, I might not have called it entrepreneurship or considered myself to be an entrepreneur. But I think that it's helped me in all of the different ventures that I've been part of. Entrepreneurship can come in many shapes and sizes. It can be part-time, or seasonal gigs or side hustles, it doesn't always require taking big risks either. Often we think about entrepreneurs as being millionaires or billionaires, and they have established some really cool thing. Well, that's true, that is entrepreneurship. But it doesn't mean that you have to make a million dollars to be an entrepreneur. We have all kinds of entrepreneurs here at Acadia that are doing really neat and cool things and maybe someday they’ll be the next millionaire, but maybe they're just happy doing it as a weekend thing. It doesn't make them any less of an entrepreneur. I think that it's important to find things that you're passionate about or are good at. It's important to be interested in learning about whatever it is that you're involved with. I think it's important to also recognize that things change and trends shift, and what sells today may not tomorrow. So, when asked what advice I have for people looking to get started in the music business, or any other business for that matter, I tell them to look at what has been done and what others are doing, but don't assume that it's the right path for you or that it's going to work for you. The music business has changed significantly over the past 25 years. When I got started, we didn't have Facebook, we didn't have TikTok. People bought cassettes and CDs and they played them in their car. Cars don't even have CD players anymore. People your age probably don't even know what a cassette is. Maybe you do, maybe you don't, but people went out to live music on the weekends in local legions and bars and fire halls. Times have changed. But like anything, you need to be prepared to change with it or be content with stepping aside. For me, 25 years was great. I did everything that I wanted to do and more, and now it's on to the next chapter. I don't want to be the next TikTok star, I don't want to have to do Spotify or some of these different things, you know. It's just not for me. I'm glad that I got in it when I did, and I'm glad that I'm out of it when I did. So, I look forward to seeing what the next generation of entrepreneurs can do, and I know that it'll be amazing. I hope they have as much success as I've been able to have. There's so much joy that comes with owning something, knowing that it's yours, knowing that you built it, knowing that you created it. That's very fulfilling. It's not for everybody, but if there are people out there who have ideas, or they like the idea of being able to own something or have control of something, if they think that they have what it takes to make a living doing that, then now's the time to do it because tomorrow it might not be as valuable as it is today. So, strike while the iron is hot, take advantage of the opportunities that you have. Surround yourself with good people, stay focused, and if you don't like it anymore then get out and move on to something else. It's your life, and you get to choose how you spend it. You get to choose at the end of it, whether you were fulfilled by it and whether you did all the things that you wanted to do. For me, I want to figure out what that next step is. I mean, I'm still here at Acadia, and I hope to be here for a while yet. My tax practice, I'm still enjoying it, so I'm going to keep doing it. But to fill that void with music, I don't know what the next step is. Maybe it's watching TV and sitting on the couch, which I haven't done much of. Maybe it's building a home gym, maybe it's traveling, who knows what it is. But I look forward to seeing what that is. I'm thankful that my music career is going to allow me to do that and explore some things that I might not have otherwise been able to do, so I'll be forever grateful. I appreciate everybody that's played a part in this and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today about it.

Zach: I feel like it highlights the importance of being a lifetime learner, we all are alike even through our own experiences. We learn so much and we grow. And that's so important because if you're not growing, you're falling behind. Everyone's growing, everyone's learning. Sometimes we have to pick ourselves back up and find new things. Whether or not you travel or build a home gym, I'm very excited to see what you do next.

Mr. Balsor: Thank you.

Zach: Throughout all that, there's so much to be proud of. I'm curious, what is the thing that you're proudest of? What do you put on that pedestal?

Mr. Balsor: I think that maybe, for me, if I have to pick one thing that I'm proud of, or that I feel most accomplished by it's that I've been able to make a difference. I like to think that I've been able to make people happy. I like to think that I've been able to bring some joy into places. Whether that's through my time here at Acadia, working with students, whether it's through my music, career, music can be healing music can bring a lot of joy to people. It gives them something to look forward to. If I got to play a little part in any of that, then that's a pretty special feeling. I'm fortunate that I've been given the opportunities that I've been given, and that they've all been able to have some sort of influence or impact with other people. My role here, I get to work with students all the time, I get to be a part of their journey, and I get to support them in a small way. In achieving some of the objectives in the bank or my tax business, I'm getting to help people be in a better position financially than they were before. I'm able to help educate them in terms of financial literacy so that they know more about their business and about their finances than what they knew before. That's important, that's rewarding for me to get to play a part in that. We've talked so much about what comes up being in the music business, at least for me. So, I guess the one thing that I'm most proud of is that I've been able to bring a little bit of happiness or joy into the lives of other people.

Zach: Absolutely. Helping people become lifetime learners and keep going. That's your next thing. Thank you so much for coming on. I know everyone reading will appreciate you.

Credits

Special thanks to Nathan Kennie for producing and editing this interview, and also to Axe Radio for providing studio facilities for recording.