Focus

If we had a crystal ball, life would be grand. But, because we don’t, we often find ourselves at the mercy of hindsight. Hindsight being 20/20, what is one setback you faced in your career that ended up being a blessing in disguise?

One of the characteristics of an entrepreneur is that we like to launch. Start up is in our blood and takes discipline to pass up bigger and better ideas and opportunities in favor of sticking with the plan that works. Painful experience has taught me the importance of avoiding the lure of under calculated risks.

Back in the day, despite owning a thriving temporary help agency specializing in a unique niche, we started up many off-shoots along the way. Eventually realizing that these ideas cost too much money and devoured more time than we had, we closed many of them. However, the company felt the strain and we might have been better positioned had we simply stayed in staffing.

We sold that company in 2002 and founded Workway three years later. Early on, we repeated some mistakes and experimented with other business lines.  Fortunately, we were able to see through the trees and stopped the off-shoot entities in order to do only what we do best.  I have learned that there is a giant relief in understanding where your competencies lie and that a company thrives when focused and dedicated to its core.

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