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Here’s a good question: When your business
takes on a life of its own, where does it leave you?
Most business leaders will acknowledge that, during
the tough years of a company’s early growth
phase, it’s best not to take your eye off the
ball. But sometimes you can only see the right opportunities
when you step back and take a dispassionate look at
why you got into business in the first place. In the
Growth Guide feature by Kevin Yarr on page 25, three
entrepreneurs provide some insight into this common
problem.
At different times in their business experiences,
Patricia Gibson, Tim Banks, and Bruce MacNaughton
all found themselves uncertain about how to balance
the demands of their fast-growing companies with their
human desires to fulfill themselves in other ways.
For Gibson, there was the added difficulty of trying
to “get a life,” given the fact that her
flooring-business partner also happened to be her
husband. Only when they retrenched as a couple and
evaluated their business plan with each other’s
personal goals in mind were they able to set the business
on its natural — and manageable — growth
course.
Tim Banks has the battle scars that come from steering
his development business through some near catastrophes
in the early ‘80s. But once the company was
profitable, diversified, and influential, he became
consumed by a desire to mentor the next generation
of Prince Edward Island entrepreneurs and show them
that it is possible to grow a multi-million-dollar
business from scratch. In 2003, as a 50th birthday
gift to himself, he launched a youth business-development
program called Yip/Yap. The name has fun with acronyms:
Instead of just yapping about keeping our best and
brightest in the region, Banks is actually doing something
about it.
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Over a year ago, Bruce
MacNaughton wondered if he was too passionate about
his preserve business to run it objectively, so he
fired himself. Expansion, he realized, was not necessarily
the road to glory, and success should not be measured
by the increase in one’s line of credit. The
business was jam, yes, but the act of buying it at
his beautifully designed retail outlet and restaurant
was also a pleasant experience for his customers.
Enriching that experience was the outlet for MacNaughton’s
passion. He is now focused on creating a themed destination
garden along the banks of the Clyde River in New Glasgow,
P.E.I. — a natural extension of his original
brand. The insight was not toning down his own passion
but rather ensuring that the right people were in
place to run the preserve company profitably so he
could focus on a sideline venture that fulfills him
personally.
Maybe you’ll recognize snippets of yourself
in the experiences of these highly self-aware individuals.
If so, you can rest easy knowing you’re not
alone. What’s more, there’s a place you
can go to meet others like them, an Entrepreneurs
Anonymous of sorts: Face to Face, Progress’s
annual conference. Gibson, Banks, and MacNaughton
all have been past presenters, and their stories never
tire for me in the retelling. In fact, it’s
quite the opposite. Having just spent the last weekend
in May with a new crop of diehard entrepreneurs, I
am again energized by the long-term benefit of learning
from the experiences of others—the good and
the ugly. Though you can’t substitute getting
it straight from the source, if you missed Face to
Face this year I can help you. The next best thing
is a good magazine article.
Enjoy.
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