Posts

Lunch Buckets.

Summer is officially here. I am blessed to live on Vancouver Island. We live and work on our fairly large rambling property. We have a workshop and an office. We are conveniently situated five minutes from the ferry terminal in one direction, and the airport in the other. It's the perfect location for a small business - especially if you are like us and don't want to live on the Mainland in the City. We love the quality of our life, being near the ocean. And happily, lots of our customers are commercial fishermen - so it all works out. You know what else is great? Everyone and their dog gets to come and spend their summer vacation at our place. Why wouldn't you? There's room for a camper or two, we're near the River for swimming, and the ocean for fishing. And better yet, my husband has a boat - so free fishing too! Here's the problem. Business doesn't stop for summer. Not if you want to keep revenue coming in. Before I became an entrepreneur

Nine Lives.

I don't take much notice of statistics. In a previous life I was an accountant - and trust me, it was one of the most "creative" jobs I ever had. (One boss used to tell me the profit number he needed to make his bonus that year, and "work back from there". Audit time was VERY stressful). So I know that numbers DO INDEED lie. The other day, I heard a statistic that made me stop and think. Surely THAT can't be true? Apparently, entrepreneurs start, on average, NINE businesses before one succeeds. Just for kicks, I sat down with my serial entrepreneurial husband, and we listed all the business start-ups we had been involved in - and I can tell you that between us, the number wasn't nine. Oh no. It was many more than that. Holy fuck. What does that say about us? Are we "entrepreneurial junkies", addicted to the thrill of start-ups? Have we been really, really unlucky? Or are we just really shit at business? We delved further.