Instead of flipping burgers or pumping gas for his first job, Troy Payne plunged headlong into the entrepreneurial world.
At 18, he started a business called Carpe Diem Painting with a staff of one – himself.
A year later, he added a partner, then two more employees. Then he sold his half of the business and went back to school to study business management.
After a number of years as a senior business analyst with the government-funded Community Futures Development Corp. (CFDC), he started a new business called Wellness Realization.
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In a keynote presentation to delegates at last week’s 4-H National Skills and Thrills Conference in Brandon, Payne listed the key steps to the goal of owning your own business.
A quick survey of the 4-H members present found that a wide variety of career dreams had already taken shape, from jazz pianist and teacher to journalist.
All of those can be adapted to a self-employment or a small business model, he said.
“No matter what path you’re going down right now as you explore careers and career options, consider entrepreneurship as an alternative,” said Payne.
“Once you’ve received your certificates and diplomas, maybe think about coming back to your communities and starting small businesses.”
What is an entrepreneur, he asked. The answer is someone who takes risks.
Forget the highly leveraged, jet-setting captains of industry. Entrepreneurs, no matter how modest the operation, are the real heroes of the business world, he added.
That’s because they do the heavy lifting in Canada’s economy. Even though they make up only 17 percent of the population, small business owners employing 50 or fewer people account for 80 percent of all the jobs in the country.
“These are the people who are employing us, our parents and our aunts and uncles,” he said, adding that 47 percent of all entrepreneurs are women.
Young people, aged between 15 and 25, make up only four percent.
“But we’re seeing more and more. This is the highest age group that’s up and coming in entrepreneurship,” he said.
Many people dream about taking the plunge, but few carry through with their ideas.
That’s probably a good thing because there are numerous pitfalls for those who haven’t thought their business plan through.
One way to avoid mistakes is to build up experience first.
Before he started his painting business, at 16, Payne worked in a paint store where he learned necessary background information.
“I just sold people paint. It wasn’t anything exciting or glamorous. But through that, I met a lot of contractors,” he said.
One day, two brothers who owned a painting business invited him to come work with them part time. For the next year, he did residential and commercial painting.
“But after about a year, I started thinking, ‘these guys are only paying me about eight bucks an hour. I’m going to go out on my own and start my own business.’ “
It was a challenge, he noted, as an 18-year-old trying to land jobs from skeptical householders. But through an aggressive pricing strategy and making every effort to satisfy the customer, he was able to build a good reputation.
Eventually, he landed some major contracts and his business grew to employ six full-time workers and three part-timers.
“I loved being a small business owner, being responsible for how much money I made, having the opportunity to make more if I decided to work harder, having my own hours to set …. I loved all of these things,” he said. “But I loved working with people, not painting.”
That’s why it’s important to figure out first what you enjoy doing most, and then find a way to make a viable business operation out of it.
He listed other successful young entrepreneurs. He knows one who turned a love of scuba diving into a business retrieving golf balls from water traps on golf courses.
Another young man invented a gadget to help people improve their golf swing, and is now in high demand as an instructor.
Research has shown that all entrepreneurs exhibit several key characteristics: a willingness to take risks, persistence, goal-oriented thinking, a positive attitude, self-reliance and a desire to innovate.
For youth eager to get started, help is available. CFDC has 259 offices across Canada, offering business counseling and financing to help budding rural entrepreneurs.
The Business Development Bank of Canada can help those aged 19 to 35 get start-up financing, and the Canadian Youth Business Foundation offers a mentoring program to help young people get started, as well as up to $15,000 in funding for a business plan.
“Organizations are out there that want to see youth start businesses. They want to see more than just four percent of you being small business owners.”
One delegate from Deloraine, Man., Jacob Weidenhamer, 16, is already in the business world.
This past summer, he raised 150 Cornish cross broiler chickens using the Joel Salatin pastured poultry model. He got them processed at a small slaughtering facility near Virden, and sold them to neighbours and relatives for $2.50 per pound.
His birds were extra big this year, tipping the scales at about eight lb. each.
“They’re grass-fed, and healthier than normal barn birds, so you can get a little bit more per lb. for them,” he said.
It was risky, because young chicks are notoriously fragile, and coyotes lurk in the fields nearby, but with it taking only one hour a day to feed and water the birds and move the portable pens, it beat getting a summer job.
“It’s a great way to make money. Your inputs are fairly low if you’re on a farm, and it’s not a strenuous job.”
