From basement radio shows and charging family members for tickets to building global brands and redefining industries.

This week on The Open House, we sit down with entrepreneur and longtime friend Justin De Bernardi to talk about his journey from competitive dance, to scaling View into an international powerhouse, to building luxury jewelry brand el&elle with his partner Louis.

We dive into burnout, ambition, leadership, OKRs, live shopping, entrepreneurship with your partner, and what it really takes to build something meaningful from the ground up.

Plus:
• Ben accidentally admits this wasn’t his first podcast
• Richard discovers Justin’s mosquito sticker empire
• Madonna gets name-dropped casually
• And somehow we end up talking black moissanite bracelets and emotional maturity in business

Honestly, one of our favourite conversations yet.

Check out el&elle.

#TheOpenHousePodcast #Entrepreneurship #BusinessPodcast #Leadership #Jewelry #Moissanite #SmallBusiness #CanadianPodcast #RealEstatePodcast #LuxuryBrand #FounderStory

In this episode of The Open House, we sit down with Georgian Bay artist Alex McLaughlin and her story is anything but a straight line.

From growing up in Honey Harbour surrounded by nature… to working as a Toronto paramedic… to eventually taking a leap of faith into full-time art, Alex shares what it really looks like to follow a creative calling (even when it doesn’t make logical sense at first).

We get into:

• What it was like growing up in a small waterfront community—and how that shaped her work
• The reality of leaving a stable career to pursue something uncertain
• Why water has such a powerful emotional pull (and the science behind it)
• The behind-the-scenes of building a successful art business
• How creativity, mindset, and energy all play a role in her success

This one’s part mindset, part entrepreneurship, and part “maybe I should quit my job and follow my passion”… but responsibly.

If you’ve ever felt pulled toward something bigger or wondered what it actually takes to bet on yourself, this episode’s for you.

What do a raccoon in the attic, a call center job taking 100+ calls a day, and a leap from Royal Bank of Canada into entrepreneurship all have in common?

This episode.

We sit down with Joel Fox, co-founder and COO of Ownright, to unpack the real story behind building a company from scratch, and why it’s a lot less glamorous (and a lot more valuable) than most people think.

Joel walks us through:

• The unexpected lessons from his early career (including getting yelled at about mutual funds… a lot)
• Why leaving a stable corporate role is both terrifying and necessary
• The reality of starting a business during COVID—and what actually goes into those first few months
• How a frustrating real estate closing experience turned into a scalable business idea
• The truth about raising money, building a pitch deck, and finding the right investors
• Why most people underestimate the importance of their real estate lawyer (until it’s too late)
• We also get into the mindset side of things, fear, failure, and how to make decisions based on what you’ll regret not doing.

And yes… we do eventually address the raccoon situation.

If you’re an entrepreneur, thinking about making the leap, or just want a behind-the-scenes look at how modern real estate services are evolving, this one’s worth your time.