I met recently with a local businessman at The Riverbend Inn in Niagara-on-the-Lake. It was our first meeting and it was a great one – spectacular food, great service and excellent conversation. This gentleman has an amazing entrepreneurial success story. He arrived to Canada from Europe as a young man with very little money and began working for a company in an industry he was passionate about. He quickly impressed the owners with his work ethic and dedication and was fortunate to find a way to purchase the business. He worked hard over the next decades to grow the company. He lived modestly and invested heavily back into the company. He was in a growing sector and worked hard to establish himself. He made a couple of interesting statements that I took from the meeting: (a) You can’t run a business and expect to outsource everything – you’re going to have to do the dirty work early and often (b) There’s no value in paying yourself a high wage. It’s better to keep your wage as low as possible and bonus yourself at the end of the year, when you have a sense for where things have ended up (c) having a winning attitude and being highly optimistic and passionate are critically important. This stuff sounds so cliché but each time I sit down with someone who has started and grown a successful business I’m reminded of these basic steps. I am not sure if we’re going to be able to work with this individual (I hope so!) but regardless of what happens, it is always refreshing and inspiring to break bread with entrepreneurs and hear their stories - it is truly one of the most amazing parts of my job!
CK
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