 |
“INTERVIEW WITH AN ENTREPRENEUR” by Lisa Griffioen, Okanagan
University College/Business
9
February, 2004
William
D. Gladstone |
Hi Bil,
I know your business involves micro-based business
challenges and web-based resources.
Would you explain this in more detail?
Sure, Lisa – glad to help with
your research. I have worked with computers in business since 1986, and we’ve
seen the workplace go through a lot of changes since then. Businesses are still
doing the same stuff – buying and selling products, fixing broken items,
printing, painting and a myriad other things – but computers, and especially
the Internet have added new dimensions that savvy entrepreneurs take advantage
of to make their enterprises more efficient and far-reaching.
One dictionary defines an
entrepreneur as “one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a
business or enterprise”. Business is risky alright. But greater efficiency in
organization and management can reduce the risk.
Another meaning for
“entrepreneur” is: one who facilitates the movement of goods, services, or even
ideas between provider and consumer. This interstitial role is where I position
myself. What I do is match solutions that I have gathered over my years in
business (and synthesise brand new solutions) to the problems or needs of my
clients.
·
How would you describe
yourself (goals, risk-taker, money/ambition motivation, energy, and commitment)
I am an unrepentant and
incorrigible entrepreneur. I invent things – some silly and some practical –
and I like to help other people to attain their goals. Business is risky, as I
said; I have been alternately successful and not-so-successful in a wide range
of business efforts in over twenty years in entrepreneurship. I am definitely a
risk-taker by this definition!
·
How did you become an
entrepreneur?
In my late twenties, I became
aware of the advantages of independent business – especially the freedom. I
trained in landscaping, horticulture, and insect pest management. I specialised
in ornamental residential shrubs and trees, pruned fruit trees, and also
performed tree “surgery” and what was called “dangerous tree removal”. I loved
working for myself. And I looked forward every day to getting up and facing new
challenges.
·
What managerial/business
skills do you possess?
I am mostly self-taught,
though I’ve taken what must total several hundreds of hours of management courses
and seminars. I’ve done everything from bookkeeping to TV commercials to tool
maintenance. This is the biggest point to make to someone starting in business
– especially a SOHO (Small Office / Home Office). You have to be versatile and
able, in a pinch, to do everything and anything the business requires. You
might be the finest wood-crafter in the Province, but if you can’t market your
art, or keep the books, your business is at risk. If you don’t have solutions
to those aspects of business, you’re in real trouble!
·
What resources did you utilize
when setting up your business?
My business has undergone
every kind of change in the last few years. In fact, I do multiple things,
centering primarily around my own interests, and with primary presence and
delivery through electronic means - phone, fax, Internet. I try as much as
possible to do two things: stay independent – no loans, etc.; and find
excellent free resources.
In one of my ventures, selling
orthopaedic shoes and inserts over
the internet, I searched for a vendor who would “drop-ship” product for me
(send insoles etc. straight to the customer from the warehouse) so that I
didn’t have to keep inventory. As one aspect of another business, I offer
professional and personal coaching that is provided by a third party
professional.
Basically, I looked at what I
wanted to do and searched for the most efficient way to provide a solution in a
certain niche, while having the least exposure to personal risk.
·
How did you go about financing
your business venture?
In my largest past business, a
mini-chain of florist shops in Kelowna, conventional bank loans were the
easiest answer. It was an existing business with inventory and clientele, so
the bank was a push-over. Well since then, I’ve undertaken more risky ventures
and banks won’t talk to me. When you start up a micro-business, and especially
a SOHO – a home based business – you learn quickly that banks don’t want to
know you. You’d better have lots of cold, hard cash. Or else, like most of us,
you need to have a regular job or second income in the family until you become
independent (indeed, if you ever do!) Sorry
if that sounds cynical, but folks should hear this from the get-go!
·
Did you have a mentor? If so,
tell how they helped you.
I had role models, certainly.
I worked once with an older gardener, Jack Harmsworth,
who was an accomplished stonemason. How he could turn a dumped pile of rocks into
a flagstone walkway was a wonder to behold! He was a self-educated man from the
Old Country who grew his own tobacco and took no nonsense from anyone. He told
me that if a customer wants you to do a job, never turn it down! If the job is
distasteful or inconvenient to you, just look them soberly, square in the eye,
and say, “That’ll be fourteen thousand
dollars, sir.” He maintained, “If
they want it that bad, it’s made the job worth your while!” I guess what I
mean is that earthy folks like Jack (and my Master Mechanic father), willing to
work hard and expecting fair reward for the effort, is where I got my
fundamental business mentoring.
·
How much time per week do you
spend on your business? Has this changed
over time? Does the amount of time
interfere with personal matters?
My business is in transition
right now; it often is. I work informally for perhaps fifteen or twenty hours a
week, and I’m developing another new business called RetiredWorker BC. See it online at RetiredWorker.BCnexus.com. I
am also looking for a suitable employment position (I have some ability
challenges), so the SOHO hours are arranged evenings so as not to interfere
with networking etc.
·
Since opening your business,
have you taken any courses? Have you
needed to familiarize yourself with the computer and technological
industry? Describe how.
Again, I am mostly
self-taught, though I have studied many texts and taken college courses, along with
numerous online study sessions, etc. For the services that I directly provide
to my customers, I am fairly expert and knowledgeable through long experience.
If the client wants something that is beyond my expertise, I do not hesitate to
refer them to people whom I know to be “top shelf”.
·
During various business
stages, what challenges have you faced?
Challenges in my various
enterprises have included: unfair competition practices by fly-by-night
operators; belt-tightening from banks increasingly less willing to offer
financial support to small businesses; needing to personally learn and use
skills in which I have little aptitude or interest (like bookkeeping); business
partners whose priorities were not the same as my own; consumer reluctance to
online purchasing; and many other minor annoyances. The real challenge is to
stick to it and never give up!
·
Why do you feel you operate a
successful business?
If I have any success, I
believe it is due largely to my standard of ethics and honourable dealings with
people. I have sometimes flinched to see less honest competitors succeed
financially where honest entrepreneurs have succumbed. Perhaps I have in some
ways lost out in this, but personal integrity and my reputation for
trustworthiness is worth more to me.
·
Have there been any setbacks?
As I mentioned above, there
have been setbacks because of market conditions, unfair players in the field,
poor management choices, etc. - I have made money and I have also faced
bankruptcy. The big trick is to pick yourself up and start again.
·
Has your business
expanded? Describe how.
I would say contracted,
rather. My recent enterprises have sharpened my focus and been customer driven.
I used to try to be all things to all people, but now I sub-contract specialist
work and am primarily an educator and go-between.
·
Do you see any major changes
to your business due to the industry you are in?
Yes. The Internet has taken me
places I never would have dreamt of years ago. Toll-free numbers and email allow
me to reach farther, but at the same time, I like to deal with local people and
use the Internet to augment my marketing and communication.
·
Has technology played a role
in your business?
It is now central to nearly
everything I do. I couldn’t begin to approach my current business model(s)
without computer technology.
·
Would your business involve
new product technology? Why or why not?
Certainly; computers and
remote product delivery are changing even as we speak. I am constantly fighting
an uphill battle to keep up with new developments.
·
If asked to describe the pros
and cons to operating your own business, what would they be?
Pros: sense of personal
freedom (though the reality may not be as much as people think!); ability to
change rapidly to market and other forces; sense that your reward is
commensurate with your own effort; ability to integrate business and personal
life.
Cons: no one else to blame for
failure; wide range of unexpected skills you have to learn; huge personal and
financial risk; it can take over your life.
·
What would you consider
important things in life?
I like to help people. I love
spending time with my daughters and grandson. I also need lots of time to
myself to pursue whatever interests me, or just to do nothing at all. And it’s
extremely important that whatever we do has a positive impact on the people and
the world around us.
·
Does your family play a role
in your business?
In the past, I did run larger businesses
with family members, and those were great times – we also got our daughters
involved in a small way when they were younger. But I’ve turned to
micro-business now, operating basically single-handed, with support from
specialist affiliate partners.
·
What major lessons have you
learned that you would pass along to others?
· Enterprise is difficult,
requires a lot of sacrifice, and not everyone is cut out for it.
· Spend a lot of time in
research and self-analysis before taking the plunge.
· Make business decisions from
your head, not from your heart. People with the “instinct” for business are rare – you probably are not
one. Neither am I, by the way.
· Avoid banks like the plague.
· Surround yourself with
superior people and be willing to learn from them.
· Never stop learning – you
cannot rest on your laurels and succeed.
· “Don’t quit your day job”
until you have cash enough to support yourself and your dependents for at least
nine months.
Finally, what one piece of advice would you give
regarding setting up my own business?
Can I give you two?
1.
Educate yourself. That is, take courses in all aspects of business
operations, learn all you can about the specific business you want to do, and
research your idea until you are blue in the face.
2.
Be prepared at any point in the start-up process to abandon your idea
if the facts contradict your feelings. I’ve seen too many people (I’ve been
there myself!) fall so in love the idea of their business that they
waited too late to bail out and suffered because if it.
I hope
these comments are of some assistance in your Business Administration research
at Okanagan University College, Lisa.
Best
Regards,
Bil Gladstone
Lagniappe Enterprise Solutions
Lagniappe: la·gniappe (lan-yap')
-
derives from New World Spanish la ñapa, "the gift," and
ultimately from Quechua yapay, "to give
more." The word came into the rich Creole dialect mixture of New Orleans
and there acquired a French spelling. It is still used in the Gulf states,
especially southern Louisiana, to denote a little bonus that a friendly
shopkeeper might add to a purchase. By extension, it may mean "an extra or
unexpected gift or benefit."