A bit about
who I am.

I grew up on a farm in rural Ontario. As a teenager I accessed a student venture loan program and used it to buy and sell cattle — probably not what most kids were doing with it, but it worked for a kid with a disability who couldn't find another job. That's pretty much been my approach ever since: find the thing, figure it out, give it a shot.

That said, I did three years of marketing at Lambton College in Sarnia before doing something that made complete sense to me at the time and probably sounds insane to most people:

I bought a grocery store in Oil Springs when I was 21.

Small town. Quiet. My very first customer bought a pound of bananas and I didn't know how the scale worked — or the cash register. I was young and stupid. I didn't know what I didn't know, but I figured it out. I always do. The store ran for about two and a half years. I didn't know what I was doing, but I learned more in those two and a half years than I could have anywhere else.

After the store I got licensed in insurance, mutual funds, and mortgage brokering — financial services sales, which taught me how to have honest conversations with people about money and risk. Then came a stretch of cubicle life: HR at one of Canada's biggest banks, back office at a major mutual fund company, and health claims at one of Canada's largest insurers. I learned a lot. I also learned, beyond any doubt, that I am not built for a cubicle. By 2007 I was already building digital properties on the side — because that itch doesn't go away just because you have a desk job.

"I'm still learning. But I know enough to help a lot of people — and I'm not afraid to say either of those things."

After the cubicle years I spent just over a year at Teen Challenge, setting up and running their outbound call centre for church relations and fundraising. Then a stint at Investors Group before I finally stopped working for other people altogether.

In 2011 I went fully self-employed and founded Blake Strategies Group. That decision has defined everything since.

Between 2012 and 2014, my wife and I ran a café — she ran it, honestly. I was there to talk to people. We were in a building full of small business owners and I loved every minute of it. A lot of the people I met over the counter in that café are clients today.

I also started experimenting with making money online back in 2007 — niche sites, affiliate marketing, SEO. I've built, launched, or owned more than 20 digital properties over the past 18 years. Some did well. Some didn't. All of them taught me something I still use.

Where I'm at now

These days I split my time between running my digital properties, helping business owners with strategy and marketing through BSG, and going deep on AI and automation. I'm not just watching from the sidelines — I'm using these tools in my own businesses every day and helping clients figure out what's actually worth their attention and what's just noise. It's the most interesting shift I've seen in the 18 years I've been doing this. I don't have it all figured out. Nobody does. But I know enough to help you get started without wasting a year going in circles.

What you can expect from me

I work with a small number of people at a time because I'd rather do a few things well than spread myself thin. I'll tell you what I actually think. I won't hand you a report and disappear. And I'll probably introduce you to three other people before we're done — because the network I've built over 30-odd years of being relentlessly curious about business is one of the most useful things I have to offer.