Behind the Scenes of TIFF's 50th with Mariangel Urdaneta

Consistency, Follow-Up, and Luxury Hospitality Principles for Sales and Leadership with Cindy Novotny

Host Michael Coombs interviews sales, leadership, and customer service trainer Cindy Novotny about building sustainable businesses through the combination of strong sales, exceptional service, and leadership. Drawing from her experience with the Ritz-Carlton Learning Institute and Malcolm Baldrige quality standards, she shared how vision, mission, onboarding, daily standards, reviews, and communication huddles all contribute to long-term success — and how luxury hospitality practices can translate into corporate industries. She also emphasized the importance of fast, personalized follow-up through “personal automation,” avoiding public pricing for customized work, and consistently pursuing business through referrals, outreach, and re-engaging after lost bids. We discussed the value of asking for honest feedback after losses, the reality that most prospects need 6–13 touchpoints, and the importance of staying connected with clients at least every six months. Some of the biggest themes throughout the conversation were consistency, blocking one hour daily for business development, understanding your numbers and ROI, using AI for call notes and speech prep, improving presentation skills, and staying curious and coachable across generations. 00:00 Consistency Wins 00:40 Meet Cindy Novotny 01:27 Sales Service Leadership Trio 02:56 Luxury Hospitality Playbook 04:08 Vision Mission Standards 05:13 Processes for Solo Entrepreneurs 06:06 Fast Follow Up Example 07:47 Personal Automation System 09:04 Why No Website Pricing 10:32 Referrals and Lost Deals 11:40 Handling Rejection and Feedback 14:36 Ghosting and Mystery Shopping 16:04 No Fluff Direct Leadership 19:14 Truth and Ethics in Sales 20:53 What Makes Winners Consistent 21:25 Daily Sales Consistency 21:42 Practice Beats Talent 23:11 One Hour Business Block 24:27 Capture Leads Fast 25:36 Follow Up Cadence 29:59 Know Your Numbers 31:26 Build Lists And Referrals 33:30 Get Help To Scale 36:37 AI As Your Assistant 38:13 Mentors And Learning 40:25 Closing Thanks And Subscribe Links: Cindy Novotny [https://cindynovotny.com/] Michael Coombs [http://www.michaelcoombs.ca/]

Josh Spiegel of Birch Events: Listening as Luxury, Surviving Debt, and Scaling Creativity

Host Michael Coombs interviews Josh Spiegel, founder and chief creative officer of Birch Events, about his path from selling florals in his dad’s Brooklyn balloon shop to producing 200+ events a year. Spiegel says Birch’s foundation is service and listening, defining luxury as how clients feel and how heard they are. He recounts early financial naivety that led to about $1.5M in debt, and describes steps to regain control: paying himself a salary, using an “envelope diet,” finding partners with complementary skills, and selling 70% of the company to gain operational and financial support; he says the debt took about 10 years to resolve. He discusses partnership lessons, resilience through COVID, designing by extracting clients’ stories, the role of relationships and authenticity, excitement about AI-driven internal tools, hiring CEO Lance Emanuel in 2023, and plans for global growth and broader market service. 00:00 Service Is Luxury 00:16 From Balloon Shop 01:20 Listening Builds Birch 02:33 Debt And Naivete 04:20 Envelope Budgeting 07:15 Finding The Right Partner 09:59 A Decade To Debt Free 10:55 Surviving COVID 13:44 Resilience Mountain Mindset 16:47 Humility And Authenticity 18:17 Innovation At Scale 19:47 Client Discovery Process 20:45 Design Starts With Questions 21:07 Reimagining Navy Theme 21:50 Jewel Box Event Reveal 23:22 Listening As Superpower 25:52 Luxury Means Whole Sentence 27:18 Relationships Build Success 29:55 Social Media And Privacy 31:30 Standing Out In Luxury 33:46 AI Transforms Workflow 36:20 Why Hire A CEO 39:18 Whats Next For Birch 40:27 Final Thanks And Signoff Links: Michael Coombs [https://michaelcoombs.ca/] Birch Events [https://birchevents.com/about/]

Mo Govindji of Mango Studios - Wedding Photography with Systems, Trust and a Visual Planning Process

Host Michael Coons interviews Mo Govindji of Mango Studios, a wedding photography company founded in Toronto in 2005 that now shoots globally with a boutique team across Toronto, Miami, and destination markets. Mo attributes 20+ years of consistency to quality as a prerequisite, plus strong people, customer service, consistency, systems, and embracing change. He explains Mango’s three “machines” (sales/marketing, hiring/training and shooting, and production) and how their funnel uses tools like Instagram, Typeform, Acuity, Salesforce, and ShootQ. After COVID reduced in-person consultations, Mango built an in-house, collaborative system that transcribes calls and turns them into a visual canvas/plan (vision-board style) to align expectations and build trust, reducing post-wedding disconnects. Mo argues trust is the key differentiator in saturated markets, advises focusing on what you’re obsessive about, strengthening foundations to fix “leaky buckets,” prioritizing distribution, and applying “pain plus reflection equals progress” to adapt. 00:00 Adapt Or Die Mindset 00:49 Meet Mango Studios 01:51 Three Keys To Longevity 02:36 Building Consistency At Scale 03:50 Systems That Run The Studio 05:12 Sales Funnel And CRM Stack 06:39 Consultations Before And After COVID 09:42 Vision Board For Creative Alignment 12:03 Why Clients Stop Booking 13:38 From Portfolio To Plan 15:13 Integrating Tools Into One Canvas 18:25 Trust As The Differentiator 23:04 Advice To Rise Above 25:47 Start With A Strong Foundation 27:47 Distribution Beats The Product 29:51 Pain Plus Reflection Equals Progress 31:53 Closing And Farewell Links: Mango Studios [https://mangostudios.com/] Michael Coombs [https://michaelcoombs.ca/]

Kathy Romero on Certainty, Alignment, and Building a Premium Event Planning Brand

Host Michael Coombs interviews global event planner and brand strategist Kathy Romero following her surprise talk at Toronto’s client appreciation party, The Interlude. Romero explains that reaching high-profile work required complete self-trust, strong boundaries, and projecting certainty because clients “hire a presence,” not just a planner. She emphasizes leaving fear by choosing yourself, vetting client alignment through experience, and building a clear, evolving vision rooted in the life and lifestyle you want rather than comparison or volume. Romero discusses recurring doubts, grief-driven overcompensation, burnout, and recovering through certainty. She defends a lean three-person team and fewer, higher-value clients, warning that scaling for status can trap businesses in overhead and ego. She outlines raising prices as a positioning signal, guiding clients away from trends, maintaining expert authority, handling vendor pushback through documented recommendations, fostering abundance-minded collaboration, and selling transferable skills when switching event niches. 00:00 Interlude Event Setup 00:47 Meet Kathy Romero 01:19 Becoming Certain 03:22 Leaving Fear Behind 05:30 Client Alignment Mindset 06:16 Vision And Foundation 09:18 Lifestyle First Business 10:35 Grief And Boundaries 13:11 Burnout And Certainty 15:19 Small Team Big Value 18:32 Status Ego Trap 20:57 Raising Prices Upmarket 25:26 Charge What You’re Worth 26:31 When to Raise Rates 27:59 Pricing With Integrity 28:48 Positioning Your Brand 29:52 Trends vs Timeless Taste 32:19 Stop Being a Yes Man 34:57 Handling Bad Vendor Picks 38:17 Confrontation and Accountability 38:51 Referrals Ego and Scarcity 43:11 Find Your People 46:40 Pivot Without a Portfolio 49:29 Closing Thanks and Subscribe Links: Michael Coombs [http://www.michaelcoombs.ca/] Kathy Romero [https://kathyromero.com/]

Behind the Scenes of TIFF's 50th with Mariangel Urdaneta

Toronto International Film Festival isn’t just a festival—it’s a cultural force.  TIFF’s Director of Special Events, Mariangel Urdaneta, pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to bring it to life. At its core, TIFF operates as a charity with a bold mission: to shift how people see the world through film. For its 50th anniversary, the focus wasn’t on doing more—it was on doing better. Think elevated experiences. Opening day set the tone with a Walk of Fame moment, back-to-back premieres, and a high-energy kickoff party that only TIFF can deliver. Behind the scenes? It’s all about intentional design—keeping events accessible, maintaining a seamless brand feel, and building with sustainability in mind (yes, even repurposing florals across 100+ events).  Because at TIFF, every detail isn’t just planned—it’s curated. 00:00 TIFF Vision Intro 00:42 TIFF 50 Highlights 03:33 Budget And Partners 05:38 Event Guidelines 07:17 Sustainability In Action 09:59 Hangar Party Logistics 12:40 Keeping It Fresh 14:45 Content Market Explained 18:20 Behind The Scenes Ops 22:30 Permits Visas Logistics 23:50 Tribute Gala Evolution 26:40 Honorees Star Power 27:45 Breaking Into Events 30:00 Weddings Versus Festivals 31:15 Drone Show Planning 35:50 Looking Ahead To 2026 37:40 Final Thanks And Wrap Links: Michael Coombs [http://www.michaelcoombs.ca/] Marieangel [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariangelurdaneta/?originalSubdomain=ca] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/mariangelurdaneta/?hl=en] tiff [https://www.tiff.net/]