We were lucky to catch up with Erin Sisko recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Erin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

Moving from Good to Great

I worked in the Canadian banking system for 15 years starting off in personal banking and shifting to commercial and corporate banking for the last 10 years. I loved my job because I loved my clients and helping Canadian small and medium sized businesses access the right capital and advice to grow world class businesses.

In 2019, as a senior manager, I was asked to lead the strategy for women entrepreneurship for Eastern and Northern Ontario. Together with my employer, we wanted to do more to support women.

For me this meant having meaningful conversations with as many women entrepreneurs as I could. After about a 2 month research period the results were clear, the biggest challenge that women were facing growing their businesses was making the right connections. Now what was I going to do about it. I spent some time on this, googled and brainstormed and eventually emailed every women entrepreneur in my network and said ‘if I start a group, would you come?’ We would meet once monthly for 2 hours, talk about business and support one another.

By October 2019 I had 10 women and that is exactly what we did. It was powerful and magical beyond my wildest dreams.

Eventually it got a name, The Elleiance Network. Also, new groups of 10 kept launching over time. Witnessing the impact of these mastermind meetings was the most fulfilling and purpose driven work I had ever done. I couldn’t quit.

August 2021 I received a call from HR, the message was clear, shut down Elleiance or quit your job.
At this time Elleiance was not even a side hustle, it was an extension of my corporate job and it was a free service. Plus Covid was still lingering and I had a 4 year old and 6 year old at home.

However, every cell in my body told me what I needed to do and that was quit my job. So I did.

Step #1` was to monetize Elleiance and grow it into the membership based business mastermind network for Canadian women entrepreneurs that it is today. I achieved my real estate license and coaching certification and I bought and invested in businesses.

I had never bet on myself in such a big way before. I took a risk to follow my heart and my dreams and I have never looked back. The Elleiance Network is transforming into Canada’s fastest growing community for women entrepreneurs and I am growing in ways I never knew were possible.

Erin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have always loved and been interested in business. To me business offered endless opportunity in so many different directions. That excited me but also caused me some stress in the beginning because I didn’t know where or how to even begin my business journey or what that would like.

I am business educated with a business administration degree from Lakehead University and a business marketing diploma from Conestoga College.

My banking career began completely by accident and truthfully desperation. I was struggling to land a full time business job out of college and applied on whim. I got hired on at Scotiabank which set me on the path.

In 2012 I was hired at the Business Development Bank of Canada to work with Canadian small and medium sized business owners. I had no idea at the time how this role would change my life. I finally had a job I loved and had discovered my passion, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. In this job, I had the privilege of studying business everyday, working closely with entrepreneurs and getting to hang out with them behind the scenes to understand the good, the bad and the ugly. I got to see what worked and what didn’t, I witnessed great triumph and falls. I was hooked.

The Elleiance Network was born October 2019. I wanted to do more tangible and impactful work to support women growing businesses and the bank was on board.

The Elleiance Network is Canada’s fastest growing business mastermind network for ambitious women entrepreneurs. With a short application form about you and your business we will thoughtfully hand place you inside your own private mastermind group with like-minded women in complementary industries and stages of business that perfectly align with your goals. Each meeting takes place once monthly and is 2 hours long. The meetings are facilitated and guided by an agenda that has been expertly designed with each member in mind.

In addition to the mastermind meetings there are various other monthly events, workshops and an online community to support the members in building wildly successful and profitable businesses together.

The best feedback we receive and the thing we are most proud of is that they no longer feel alone. That building inside a supportive community that inspires, holds them accountable and buys from them is the best thing they have ever done.

Entrepreneurship can be really lonely but it doesn’t have to be. Cultivating your network in business is the most powerful business move you can make. The top 1% in your industry focus on relationships and networking and you need to as well.

As this community grows and valuable relationships are formed leading to profitable outcomes, it has become clear that the missing piece is the access to capital.

The statistics around women and growth capital are bleak with no improvement in the last many years. You are unable to grow a business without access to the right capital at the right time.

The Elleiance Network is working on launching it’s own fund to support it’s membership which we are so excited about. As more and more ambitious, resilient, brilliant, innovative women join The Elleiance Network and are supported to grow wildly successful businesses they will soon be able to access the capital alongside this offering the optimal services for success.

We believe in women and their power to use their knowledge and resources to make this world a better place through entrepreneurship. We will be Canada’s #1 community to support, encourage and fund women owned businesses to go farther then they ever could have imagined on their own.

Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses.

Yes I have bought a business! I bought a local bake shop called Carol’s Cakes. Fun fact, I do not know how to bake.

Here is why I bought this business and how I became majority shareholder only working on the business 2 hours per week from home.

Carol’s Cakes was a beloved local brand showing up at everyones celebrations for the past 30 years. Owned by Carol, the last 7 years had been rough. Grieving family loss, business loss and health struggles herself, Carol was tired and looking for her exit plan.

However, she was not a business person and had no idea how to succession plan. Eventually she put a forsale sign in her window but sadly by the time the business was declining. The for sale sign stayed in her window for 3 years with a few offers coming in but always falling apart.

By the time I saw this business as an opportunity it was no longer profitable however I saw the diamond in the rough. I also had the perfect partnership coming together. My business partner Jen was miserable in her current job and worked for Carol for 15 years on an off. She loved Carol’s Cakes and dreamed of owning it. My business partner Dee owned a successful product based business in town and had a team gifted in marketing and events. My business partner Donna also saw the opportunity and funded the entire thing.

We bought the assets of this company September 2022 and immediately got to work reviewing pricing, re-branding, marketing, renovating and growing the team. We incorporated, designed a shareholder agreement with clear roles and responsibilities and trusted each other to do what we promised.

With such a talented and diverse ownership group we have been able to double the revenue, provide benefits to our staff, launch into e-commerce, give back to our community and now in talks to buy another bakery that perfectly compliments Carol’s Cakes.

When we do business together and leverage the strengths of a team we can go so much further.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

Serving the Elleiance members is of top priority and we do that in a variety ways to ensure each member feels connected to the community and the brand.

We have a newsletter that goes out once or twice a week sharing member highlights, business inspiration, network events, grants, programs and more.

We have a member only online community where we check in and provide value several times per week.
This platform also allows our members to chat with us and each other in real time.

Free LinkedIn online community open to all women entrepreneurs where we can share ideas, questions, celebrations, resources and more.

Monthly mastermind meetings and events where our community shows up live to connect and support.

1:1 programs where women can work with us privately to get additional business support beyond the network.

Social media with regular posts to inspire and inform the audience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.elleiance.ca
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elle.iance/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-sisko-85456251/