A Hard Stop And One Question

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What happens to a person when everything they have built is running at full speed and life suddenly forces them to stop? Not a burnout, not a breakdown, but something far more person. Something that strips away every metric of success and asks one simple question What actually matters to you?

Redefining Success Beyond Fame

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Welcome to Healthy Mind, Healthy Life. I'm your host Yousuf, and today I have the privilege of sitting down with Billy Asin, CEO of the festival company, producer of Extreme Mudfest, now Canada's largest mud and music festival, and one of the BC's top 30 under 30 entrepreneurs and festival pro to watch, according to Bill Boot. Billy has spent over a decade building large-scale live events across North America. And most recently took her brand international with a major arena show in Abu Dhabi. She also leads a non-profit focused on youth mental health through music and events. Billy, welcome to the show. So glad you made this time for us.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

Thank you so much for having me, Yusuf.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Perfect. So before we go anywhere else, I want to start with something simple. When you look back at the version of you that first starting building in this industry before the scale, before the milestones, before the hard seasons, what did that person believe about success that you now know is not true?

SPEAKER_02 1:48

So I came from a really, really small town. You know, my grad class was 27 people, rural Canada. And I grew up in a household with a lot of love, but a lot of issues. And my mom struggled with addiction my whole life growing up. And so for some reason, little Billy in that small town kind of thought, if I were to able, if I was able to go and build something successful, and I always had my eyes on entertainment. I always loved music. It was kind of my escape. I thought, if I do that, then it changes my story. If I do that, then all of a sudden I'm, you know, not the little girl with composition issues. I'm now someone that everyone looks up to. And the truth is, is that there really is no end game in success. And as you grow and you accomplish more, you realize that that goalpost just moves and that your version of success changes. Like when I was young, I thought being famous was successful. I've I've now spent my whole career around famous people in this industry. And fame does not equate to success at all. Success is really waking up excited to do what you do every day, you know, being able to have the freedom to build the things that you want to build to be the change you want to see. And as I've I've grown in my career, and especially as we founded Lifted Youth and Mental Health Foundation, to me, being able to make those big changes in people's lives, that that's been successful for me.

Burnout In High Pressure Leadership

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And you have spent over a decade building in live events and festivals, industries that are high pressure, fast moving, and as you named it, largely male-dominated. And that's a particular kind of mental load to carry. Not just the stress of the work itself, but you know the constant quiet effort of proving you belong in the room. So, what did actually cost you, and how long did it take you to name that cost?

SPEAKER_01 4:00

I don't think it really cost me anything in that it's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

I I don't regret any way that I built. I think I went at it full steam ahead. I made a ton of mistakes. I lost money along the way. I would say the one thing that I've realized now as I get older that I would have preferred to do maybe back then, or if I was, you know, turning around and having a conversation myself back then. I would say it's okay to take a break. It's okay to take care of you. You know, I've I've definitely hit burnout multiple times in my career just by running too hard and not letting go of the reins to other people who are fully capable and allowing them to fail through things. So that would be the one thing I would say is just you can push yourself only so far, and then you hit burnout and you lose a lot of time because burnout comes in in very different ways. I used to say after festival season, I was just tired why I would go to bed at 8 p.m. and and wake up at 8 a.m. That's not true. That was a sign of burnout. And I was losing precious time where I could have been in a much better headspace to build in a better way, but I burnt the candle at both ends for a long time. But I think that that's, you know, all entrepreneurs do that. I think just with time and experience, you start to figure out what works for you. I won't say balance because I don't agree with balance. I think that it's it's very individualized, but you'll figure out what works for you so that you can find joy and still take care of yourself and your family and have fun and let loose, but still go and build the thing.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

And uh there is something important in that because I think a lot of women in leadership are managing two jobs simultaneously the actual work and the invisible labor of navigating spaces that were not originally built with them in mind. And most of

Women, Worth, And Asking For More

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the time they don't get credit for the second win.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Yes, to an extent.

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But I will say this. I've been very, very fortunate of having a lot of fantastic male mentors throughout my life and throughout my career. I think it's more so, yes, navigating women, you know, it it still is true. We're way undercompensated comparatively to men. That being said, I think women, we all naturally have this nurturing side to us and this, well, I'll take care of everybody first before I take care of me. That happens whether you're you're raising a home and a family or whether you're building a business. I think that there's pros and cons to both of those. I think the con from a female perspective is that sometimes we don't like the light shone on us and we won't ask for for what for what we really feel were worth. But I I do starting, you know, you got a lot of powerhouses out there right now, and this is starting to become a big point of the conversation. I think, like anybody, do the work, prove it. I think the difference is is that, and this just comes down to nature. I think naturally men are more comfortable just saying, hey, I'm worth X amount of money, or this is what it's gonna take. And they can say that with conviction. Whereas women are like, well, normally we're at this fee, but you let me know what works for you. I just think that that's a natural thing. It doesn't make anybody weak. No, it's a skill that needs to be taught.

The NICU Pivot And Control

SPEAKER_00 7:53

I want to go to the NICU because I think that is where the real pivot happened for you. You had premature twin daughters and you spent months in that environment. That is a specific kind of fear. You know, are slow, sustained, and completely outside your control. What was happening inside you during that time? And what did it do to the way you were holding your work?

SPEAKER_02 8:24

Well, it completely changed me. I think I for anyone, becoming a parent is is and should be a life-changing moment. But we, you know, when we were able to have the girls, that that moment of joy when your baby enters the world and everybody's so excited, that was kind of ripped away from us. You know, we had our our moment of, of course, excitement, but it was more so, is she breathing? Oh my God, okay. It was like relief and fear, relief and fear. And we kind of lived in that zone for uh quite a long time. It was really hard, I think, for both my husband and I, because we both like to control situations, we're both pretty high achievers to be in a scenario where you're not the top performing and you don't really understand it. It was for us, it was learning an entirely different language. You know, what is what is a DSAT, like sitting there in rounds every morning, hearing the doctors speak medical terms that we didn't know. I think we both felt very overwhelmed and needing to catch up quickly. And and we did, and um, we took the time to really learn everything so that we could be making educated decisions, not just emotional decisions based on our children's health. But I will say, you know, I worked the whole time I was in the NICU and not because I had to, but because it actually saved me. If I if I spent all my and I I worked from the hospital room, like I would not leave that room. But if I left to my own mind on what could be that fact versus fear mentality, I think I would have drove myself crazy. Being able to work through it and kind of have a little bit of a distraction allowed me to go back in with a clear mind on how to move forward. And I think work allowed me to have something that I was in control of. But what I will say, the reason it was pivotal for me from a career perspective is when you're there, you see things you can't unsee. And all of a sudden I realized that our foundation could do so much more than what we were doing, and that there was so much more to fix. And in Canada, the the healthcare system, everything's fully covered. There's pros and cons to that. And the con is that there's not enough doctors, there's, you know, not enough knowledge. It's the 10,000-hour rule, right? Like you have some of the top people in the world, they're placed all over the world based on how much can be paid. And Canada has certain salary caps for a reason. That being said, our doctors were super, super knowledgeable, but I still felt I had to go out and find other resources. And I'm still doing that today with both of my daughters on what they need to be the best version of themselves. And so that moment of realizing there's so much more work to do, the government is not going to save us. It is up to small business owners and business owners and people who have megaphones in their fields. It doesn't just mean celebrity megaphones. It means, you know, you may be the top realtor in your area, you may be the head of the PTA, whatever it is, we all have megaphones and we need to use them to shine light on these issues. And we all need to come together to help, you know, bridge the gap on some of these pretty significant issues that are happening in our own backyards.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

You know, that is such a profound reorientation because most of us change our minds about things slowly over years. But you are describing sounds like the kind of clarity that only comes from having something that matters far more than output, more than revenue, more than reputation, sitting right in front of you and needing all of you.

Building Profit With Community Impact

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Yeah, I think it it changed the way that I approach even you know our general productions. You look at Mudfest, I instead of trying to make it the this cool badass thing, which it is, I'm more so focused on the family and the community aspect of it and really building it that way. And having that brand is kind of what brought us to Abu Dhabi, to be honest with you. I changed my approach on how I did business. I actually doubled down on my small town values versus trying to kind of pretend like I, you know, came from LA or New York or wherever. I very much doubled down on those small town values, sharing my story. It softened me having the girls in a lot of ways, but it made me a lot more focused and it made me realize that I had a platform that I could, I could use for good. We we actually went through and came up with non-negotiables in our companies. And the number one non-negotiable that we have is that we will not do business unless we are leaving an impact in the community we serve. So even if we're taking on a new client, if they don't have a philanthropic arm, which is totally fine, a lot of people don't, we show them how we can give back to the community by, you know, instead of just hiring hourly workers, we're gonna hire charities and we're gonna give them that hourly wage to put towards their cause. You know, we'll donate X amount of dollars per ticket to a certain cause. We'll run an event within our events that goes towards a certain cause. But I think it's it's just really important. Again, whether you're a festival and event producer like I am, or whether you have a local nail salon, you can make a big difference. And you're allowed to, I think people get this mixed up. You are allowed to have a for-profit entity and still have a nonprofit give back. It's okay to make money, it's encouraged to make money. The more you make, the more you can give. So I don't want people to shy away from that of thinking like, oh, I've got to give away all my profit. That's not the case. It's you, you have to build profit to build that megaphone, to build that brand, to then be able to turn around and build a model within your business that you can use that megaphone for good and serve the communities that you live in.

Lifted Youth Programs And Access

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Your nonprofit sits at the intersection of music, events, and youth mental health. And that is personal for you, not just professional. So, what made you decide that the platform you were building needed to be used for that specially?

SPEAKER_02 15:15

Uh, it wasn't me that came up with the concept for lifted. It was my partner in lifted, Dallas Smith. It was a cause that was really important to him. And to be honest, when we first started it, I didn't really know 100% of what that meant. I didn't know how to run a nonprofit. I but as I dug into it and as I saw more, I realized that mental health means so many things. It's it's really making sure that people are safe and that they are able to chase impossible dreams and that they are able to, you know, have access to services. So we we have a lot of different programs. One big one that we're going after right now is, you know, in the youth space of teaching kids that they can be the hero of their own story. They don't have to be a victim of circumstance, you know, that they can chase that impossible dream. And it's totally possible. Teaching them how to be the hero of their own story. And, you know, that you're not, you aren't who you're born into. So if you are in a situation where, you know, your home life isn't great, or maybe there's some poverty in your family, or substance abuse, or physical abuse, that doesn't mean that that's your future. It just means that unfortunately that was your start. However, that start has taught you how to survive. And now we're here to help you thrive. So I think that, you know, mental health is so many different things. So you look at that side. We also have a counseling program we're we're rolling out. People shouldn't have to pay $160 an hour to talk to a professional, even though I deserve, I agree that the professional obviously deserves to make that amount of money, but so many people can't afford that. And if having that sounding board is the difference between a kid surviving or a kid taking their own life or someone else's life, I think that that is something that we all need to focus on being fully accessible. The other side of it is obviously my daughter has cerebral palsy. I openly speak about that. We are now creating a program called Moves for Movement, and it's moving for those who can't, where we will create a sub-account within lifted, and that account will go towards paying for things like physiotherapy, surgeries, you know, different physical programs for kids to get into that will help them create those new neural pathways to move a little bit better with cerebral palsy specifically in British Columbia. All of your funding, depending on what level you're at. But if you're you're a kiddo who is, there's five levels to CP, but if you're level three and below, meaning that you do have quite a bit of independence, not full independence, but quite a bit, depending on where you you land, all of your funding ends at five years old. So now these kids who need to be in physiotherapy once or twice a week, they need, you know, maybe they need private swimming lessons, maybe they need, excuse me, occupational therapy, maybe they need speech therapy. After the age of five, that fully falls onto the parents. And again, physio, $170 an hour. Speech therapy, if you can get into it, $150 an hour. If you are, you know, going through a DMI intervention, which is like an intensive physio to kind of help kiddos gain strength, that intensive is about $3,000. And parents are expected to be able to pay that on their own. And that's just not a reality. And so I think that we we should be able to do some really significant work by opening up this account so that people can apply for that funding. Because I don't think that families or children who have parents that have more resources have the right to thrive more than families and parents who don't have those resources. So again, it's a mental health thing across the board, seeing your kids thrive and and not having to worry about money so that they can actually be the version of themselves. That's a mental health thing. Counseling, that's a mental health thing. You know, healthy snacks for kids and food in schools. That's a mental health thing. So I love the fact that we have a nonprofit that our blanket is mental health because it allows us to cover so many different areas.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

I see.

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For

The Megaphone Project And How To Join

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people who want to learn more about you or just want to connect with you, where can they do that?

SPEAKER_02 19:48

Connect with me on Instagram. It's at Billy JoeAison and Yusuf, if you want to put it in your link, that's great. We have a a project that we're rolling out right now for women in business called the Megaphone Project. And in this project, I've been a part of a lot of CEO groups, and I love them. I'm still a part of a few, and and I have a business coach, but I felt like there wasn't anything that really encompassed all of the areas that I wanted to hit. So mentals for myself. So I've got like a book club in there. You've got a monthly meetup with yourself and two other entrepreneurs, whether you meet up for coffee on Zoom, whether you go for a walk or a hike, just really creating that community vibe. We teach uh entrepreneurs how to build philanthropy into their brands and how doing good is good for business and using it as part of their marketing. We have a daily journal that we go through and we help people on the EO system, the entrepreneur operating system, to show them how to work through their big goals and make them all attainable. I'm constantly asked how do I manage all of it? And the truth is I don't always, but I'm very strategic on the things that I do do and I'm very, very good at breaking those big goals into achievable chunks. And that's what the megaphone project is about. So if anybody wants to kind of join our community, please again reach out to me at Billy JoeAison or go to megaphoneproject.com. Join today. We would we would love to have you. I think that I think that small businesses will change the world. And I would be very proud to be a small part of that.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Perfect.

Legacy, Fear, And First Steps

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And to everyone listening, all these links will be in the show notes. So just go and check those out. Really, thank you genuinely. You know, this was the kind of conversation that I think reminds people that the most meaningful things we build are the ones that actually last. And they are always rooted in something real and something personal.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

I agree completely. And and I think people stop themselves because they're they're fearful that they're not good enough or that they can't do the thing. But the truth is everyone starts scared. And if you're not scared, you're not pushing hard enough. And you know, we all deserve to build a legacy. We all deserve to build something that lasts, whether that's in our home, in our community, or in the world. But it takes you taking that first step to go do it.

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So and to everyone listening, you don't have to choose between building something big and living something meaningful. Billy's story is proof of that. We'll be back soon with more conversations like this one. Take care of yourselves and the people around you.