When people tell me that I was born to be an entrepreneur I have to smile and agree with them.
I
love everything about being an entrepreneur: the challenges, the independence, the thrill of success, the immense sense of
pride as you watch your company grow. It’s exhilarating! Being an entrepreneur is a passion that we live, breathe and
feel to our very core. I can’t imagine being anything else.
Tales of an Enterprising Young Woman
My
leadership abilities emerged at an early age as I rounded up my fellow elementary schoolmates and told them that they were
going to act in a play and I was going to direct! By the time I got to high school, I fully understood the laws of supply
and demand, as I was able to parlay my neatly organized, complete study notes into $10-a-pop student “must haves.”
Therefore,
it was to no one’s surprise that, fresh out of college, I went into business for myself. At the age of 22 I opened a
pet food and supply store. It was an amazing experience. From balancing the books
to creating advertising – I did it all! In my first year I expanded, offering pet grooming and dog training services
as well as creating an adopt-a-pet program. After a few years, I felt I needed something more challenging, something that
would help develop my skills and put me on the cutting edge. I sold my business, and ventured into something new. I went to
work for a bustling and expanding dot-com company.
While
I was soaking up as much as I could learn about the possibility and potential of the Internet, my father, a successful entrepreneur in
international shipping, commercial real estate, and most recently the car leasing industry, was looking for someone to
run his car rental business. He needed someone with excellent management skills and customer service skills as well as someone
who could handle a wide array of tasks that included Web site marketing, data reports and handling Small Claims Court issues.
He was also looking for someone he could trust. So, in 2001, I went to work for my father. In the two and a half years that I was there, the company went from being a local vehicle
rental company with 18 cars to being a car rental and leasing company with over 100 vehicles on the road, and a branch office
in Ottawa.
