One Entrepreneurs Story – Ray MacNeil

I started my career many years ago in a well paid professional Purchasing role with 4 plus weeks of vacation and plenty of paid benefits. I was young, ambitious and very much a glass half full kind of person. I moved through a few large corporate organizations in my Purchasing roles and was always head hunted by the Senior Executives in each company. You want to believe I had an ego. Then something humbling happens, LAYOFFS! I was just an expendable position along with the hundreds of others let go in the same week across the country.

I was fortunate to get hired fairly soon but I took a pay cut. Guess what, 2 years later that company had layoffs. Looking back on that time, I now realize that it was the best moment in my life. This is the point that I went full-time into my General Construction business that I started with my brother as a side gig two years prior. Going full-time meant full-time effort and within 3 years we built it into mid-size company doing multi-million dollar projects for some very well know international companies. Early on we brought in a third partner who has an Engineering background and expanded into custom homes. Crazy to think that I was so set on my Professional Purchasing career and all the years of night school I invested not to mention the money, that I had blinders on to the other possibilities for a better life. A life where I’m in control of my time, my future stability and my wealth management.

Eventually, as many good and successful Rock Bands do, the partners split up to pursue other individual goals. All good. We did what we were meant to do together. However, as I was the President of our company my role was very much Sales and Marketing. From Purchasing to Sales. Now that has to be a little crazy for the mind to accept. It actually made me a good salesperson as I would know and even point out, I sat in your seat and I believe I have a good understanding of what I need to do to win your business and more importantly, keep your business. It was true and it worked, I was the all rounded sales person.

What I’m trying to convey here in my long winded story is, don’t let your career goals determined in your youth dictate your career desires emerging now as you are older, more mature and more experienced. You have skills, talents and resources that abound and a franchise business could be exactly what you need to put all the pieces together and make you that well rounded entrepreneur.