– by Ian Chisholm –
When I moved here 10 years ago, the first thing I noticed was the high number of what author Bo Burlingham calls “Small Giants” (smallgiantsbook.com) – businesses that choose to be great instead of big.
Behind each of the stories in this issue is the question of why anyone chooses to own and operate a small business? It’s daunting: the investment, the sacrifice, the hours, the effort, the risk and the responsibility.
Here are a few of the reasons I work the way I do and why I love owning a small business.
1. I like being an owner. It’s hard for me to remember a morning when I didn’t put my feet on the floor and feel like an owner. Even if I didn’t own a company in any legal or financial way, I acted like I did. I like having my mettle tested. I like early mornings, I like long hours and I like going to bed knowing that I have given the world my all. Owning my work is a state of mind that has never left me, and I hope it never does.
2. I like being with entrepreneurs. I never imagined myself as an entrepreneur. As a university student, I made a wide berth around the business faculty, hoping to avoid the ruthless networking, presentations and endless selling. Did these people ever turn off?
Today, I feel at my best when I’m surrounded by people who dream big, make it happen and know how to have some serious fun doing it. Entrepreneurs are tribal. They champion each other. They approach friendships with each other with the same passion and commitment they take to their endeavours. As independent as they are, they keep each other hustling.
3. I like what small business adds to the community. Having lived in Scotland, I’ve seen what happens when communities lose their entrepreneurs over hundreds of years. When the get-up-and-go gets up and leaves, there is a formidable price paid. Small businesses create the work, the employment, the wealth and the community that makes life good for everyone.
4. I like discovering who I am. I like the personal connection I have to the concepts my business takes out to market. I like trusting my own understanding of what customers need and trusting my gut when the offering is right. Even though it comes with some pressure, I like the fact that the way that I conduct myself has a lot to do with my company’s brand.
At the end of the day, the biggest reason behind why I make the investment and the sacrifice, put in the hours and the effort, face the risk and carry the responsibility is that my company is a vehicle that I am using to become the person I want to be in the world.
Ian Chisholm is the Founding Partner of RoyGroup.net – a boutique leadership development firm based in North Saanich.
