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If you want to find Blog Homework to help you come up with things to write about, you can find it HERE, or the much older ones HERE.
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If you could run your own business, what would it be? (Or if you already do, tell us about it)
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Here is a rare glimpse into my work life and history. I do not mean this to be bragging, whining, competing or self-serving. I don't wish to compare myself to anyone else, I am just explaining my 'work' history up to this point in life to better explain where I am today. Also why I have been not-as-engaged here as I usually am.
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I have had a long and varied career. First, when I was 14, I started working for my father, who had a bit of an empire (2 hardware stores, a lumber yard, 2 concrete plants, many rentals homes, a full construction crew building homes and businesses, 2 gas stations, a small engine repair shop, an automotive repair shop, rental equipment, buying and selling homes, a condo site, etc.). He was a product of the 70's and 80's and did a lot of corrupt and immoral business decisions to become successful. As his son, I got treated the worst by him and everyone else, and had to become an expert with a lot of skills in order to earn the respect of my co-workers. While going to High School.
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To top that off, my mother did not give one whit about me working a brutal job, achieving honour roll in school, tutoring people in just about every subject, and trying to maintain a social life. So, when home, I did my share of cooking, cleaning, and organizing. And 100% of maintaining the yard, too. To say I had no free time or time for a relationship is a bit of an understatement.
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It also taught me to be entirely self-sufficient, and to enjoy my down time when I have it. I bought my 1st house when I was 17 and sold it in 5 days to a decent profit, I bought my 2nd house when 18 and moved out of my parents' place while still in High School. At 20 I loaded up my car and drove 13 hours from my little southern Alberta town to Vancouver, BC. No job, home, school, friends, family, or anything. I ended up staying 2 nights in a hotel that had a strip club and that used the rooms to ... help ... some ladies earn income. That was the first part of my eye-opening experiences in Vancouver, which would come to include getting over my bigotry towards LGBTQ+ and SW and drug use and many other prejudices I held at the time.
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In 2 days, I had a place to live, was enrolled in Multi-media college, and started exploring the city. From there, I got a job in a tech room at the college, then as a security guard, while attending college. Graduated and became Head of Security. Then became a Facilities/maintenance person, then Head of Facilities, and finally became an Administrator in charge of Trade Shows (84 per a year) and Program Advisor to close to 600 students a year.
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During that time, I also created and ran my own music/band promotion business, had my own brand management business, and hosted a live internet broadcast about random acts of violence, hate crimes, bullying and racism. This also became my first encounter with burn-out. and being so poor that I didn't know where my next meal was coming from. I do not recommend it.
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Finally, I stopped all of it and went to work as a DJ in a strip club. It was a casual, fun job that became a 12 hour a day slog over time. The good days were awesome days. The bad days were horrid. During this time, I met a waitress that worked there and we fell in love. We left Vancouver back to my home town, and I helped my father close his now-failing businesses (being a bad businessman in a time when things were tight, he couldn't succeed), and bought my 3rd house. And, actually, my 4th, which I sold right after I did some renos for some profit.
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We lived happily. She waitressed, I worked on selling items of my father's online and at his Engine Shop. But, I couldn't handle working with him and she wanted to get into being a chef. I took a job at a local farm-supply store and eventually got promoted to be a manager in their Calgary branch. My then-fiancé started going to school to become a Red Seal Chef. We moved to Calgary, and she finished her schooling. I left the farm supply store and got a job at Home Depot. This is when everything really changed.
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Her and I built a gourmet catering company, while she kept working waitressing and working in kitchens. We got married in Greece and I bought my 5th home. I kept getting promoted and breaking records, until I eventually realized that I was very successful at running and improving businesses. Eventually, I started a new career path in something I called "Retail Correction." I started getting hired at very high rates to fix stores, districts and companies. I worked 'with' Walmart, IKEA, Home Depot, Petsmart and that same farm supply company I once worked for. Essentially, I would look at a business that I felt was failing in their metrics and approach them with a business plan on how I could fix things. I'd get hired and I would get everything to within 1% of my projected outcome. All while being ethical and fair to the staff. Sometimes at store manager level, sometimes at home office level, but always immersed in the business to help facilitate the changes. I also did casual consulting for friends on the side, to help grow their businesses in entertainment, web design, oilfield instrumentation, advertising, and more. I made a lot of money and was in high-demand for my skillset.
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Then I caught, in person, my wife having sex with one of her bosses. The crash. Divorce, selling the house, shutting down the catering company, and my future gone. The worst time of my life.
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Dad got diagnosed with cancer, so I made the proposal to him that I would come back home to help run his business and improve it with a 2 year plan. He agreed readily. A little too readily. I took a very sparse wage and moved into my grandparents' old home. Dad owned it and it had been vacant for 15 years, while he hoarded things into it. I had to clean and empty it and repair things. And a lot of other bad things I won't get into now. This blog is already long enough.
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Dad went into remission and I started to see the potential for his business to really thrive, so I decided to stay. Signed on as a partner (along with my mom and dad) and started really getting down to work. But dad fought every single change, every improvement, every step. Fighting daily, and about ridiculous things, until one day I realized that the way he was acting was akin to dementia. Sure enough, the more I watched and consulted experts, the more I became convinced he had dementia. Again, a story for another day.
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Which brings me to what I do today. I run a very successful Small Engine repair business that works on anything from a chainsaw to a Side-by-Side. We sell new and used parts, and sell new and used equipment. Dad had already been running it as a UHaul as well for a decade. I layered in Purolator, FedEx, UPS, ICS, Canpar, Pudopoint, DHL, and Loomis. I am also building an inventory system (which he never had), a Point of Sale system, an online store, all feeding into an accounting system. I do all the advertising, hiring (we are currently at 8 staff, including me and my parents), training, etc. And site maintenance. All while looking after and trying to corral an old man who acts like a petulant toddler while I work solo to get him into a doctor. My mother and sisters and family ran away from helping.
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Normally, working in farm community, this is our busiest time of year. I had worked and built it up to handle the volume to carry us through it comfortably. I was too successful, and not one, but two competitors shut down just before busy season and we got absolutely flooded. We are struggling to stay caught up and we are definitely not able to keep working on the growth right now. That also means that I can't seem to find the time and energy to stay caught up here on SG, and I apologize to all the folks I owe messages, likes, comments, and support to. Believe me, you are all top-of-mind for me and I really love and value this community. You keep me connected to the world I want to be part of and I appreciate you all greatly. I wish there was a way to load the feed by specific dates, so I could go back and catch up day-by-day.
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With the above lengthy blog, I hope you will all give me a bit of leeway for a while to try to catch up and get back to level. I know I have missed sets and posts and new Hopefuls and a bunch of other things, and some of my own posts I committed to doing, and I promise I will try to find a way to be balanced here again. I just need some time. At least now you know why.
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In case you were wondering, I still have people approach me from around the world for Retail Correction, but I find that I don't have the energy to deal with the ego and denial that is always present in offering to improve someone's business. Maybe some time in the future, but not right now.
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(all images except the catering one were stock images on Google)
Thank you my friends and future friends.
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@missy @penny
