Why Do We Do What We Do?
Perhaps it was only natural that I should have found an interest in, and work closely with two very different demographic groups, Entrepreneurs and Retirees. As a youngster on a small poultry and fruit farm in the Alberni Valley, I enjoyed a very close relationship with my Grandparents, particularly my Grandfather who was very entrepreneurial, having been a manager and owner of small coal mines in Alberta in the 1920s and 1930s as well as a poultry and raspberry farmer in the Alberni Valley in the 1950s and 1960s.
But when the British decided to reduce the subsidy that they provided to Canadian egg producers in the early 1950s, the price of eggs dropped and the price of feed skyrocketed, meaning that my father had to go to work as a steamfitter and my Grandfather lost most of what he had put away for retirement.
A very unforeseen financial chasm opened up in front of them and it was too late to build a Financial Bridge to get across. From this and many life and business experiences, I have developed the following values and business philosophies.
Our Values and Business Philosophies
- We believe that nothing is as easy to postpone as proper business and personal estate planning. Yet nothing can cost a family or surviving business associates quite so dearly!
- We believe that the greatest currency of life, is time, and not money!
- We believe that your life should be exciting, not your investments!
- We believe that the key reason to build a successful business is to give the business owner more life. Your business is there to support your life, not take it away!
- We believe that one should never confuse their career or their business with their life. While they are intertwined, they are two different things!
- We believe in clarity and balance in both our personal and business lives and that "The beginning of definiteness means the end of confusion"!
- We believe that anyone can get anything that they want in life if they will just help enough people get what they want!
- We believe that one of life's greatest challenges is learning to be both ambitious and content. To be happy with what we have, while we pursue what we want!
- We believe that when one understands their values, decisions are easy!
- We believe that the richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one that needs the least!