Sample Stories

FROM SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR TO SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

For most of my life, I’ve been a consummate deal maker and passionate entrepreneur. I started in business as a mutual fund salesman in my mid twenties, which launched me into a 30-year sales career in investment and real-estate across North America. I’ve lived through four recessions and seen my net-worth in the 80’s drop from $150 million to a negative $70 million within a few days, yet I persevered through all the ups and downs. What kept me on track through all of the chaos and successes I experienced in life, was my entrepreneurial spirit and a “can do” attitude, approaching every challenge with the motto “it’s easy; it’s a piece of cake!” However, I owe much of my success to understanding the philosophy of living my life in accordance with my values.

It started in my early thirties when I attended a Young Presidents' Organization University class in Hawaii taught by Red Scott. It was a warm sunny day and Mr. Scott decided to move the class to the beach. There, he asked us to make a list of our values and a list of our daily activities. He then asked us to align the two lists to see how many of our activities reflected our values. This was a huge wake-up call for me – I had an epiphany! I realized that most of what I was doing did not align with my core values. I learned the power of recognizing what is important to me in life and setting priorities in accordance with my values – and I never looked back. I strive to live my life in alignment with my values every single day.

It was also during that time in Hawaii that one of my colleagues pointed out the Century 21 Real Estate franchise opportunity. “Hey Peter,” he said, “you seem to be a franchise kind of guy. Why don’t you go and check it out.” So I did and ended up buying the rights to Century 21 Real Estate in Canada for $100,000 with $5,000 down. When I sold my interests in 1987, the company had reached nine billion dollars in annual sales through 450 offices with over 8,000 sales agents.

I started life from very humble beginnings, watching my single mom struggle to make a living as a nanny in London, England during World War II. After the war, she re-married and we immigrated to Canada, where I grew up on a remote farm outside Perryvale near Athabasca in northern Alberta. Although the concept of philanthropy was not instilled in me growing up, I heeded my mother’s advice to try to be the best at whatever I decided to do. After a seven-year stint in the Canadian Military, I launched my business career and established myself and my family in Victoria, British Columbia. My first charitable experience was for the Board of Directors of my children’s private school in Victoria. Since then, I’ve enjoyed contributing both time and money to many causes I am passionate about. It has always been clear to me that I could make a difference in the lives of others and my community. However, my quest to help others did not fully solidify until I was struck by tragedy. My life came to an abrupt halt in 2000 when my only son, Todd, who had suffered from a series of mental challenges, committed suicide by jumping from the 14th floor of the New York Plaza Hotel. I was devastated, and for the first time was faced with something I could not fix. I continued to exist but my passion was gone. I had made and lost millions of dollars and had no problem dealing with either. But losing Todd was different. I felt the first true low point of my life. Eventually I emerged from this state of shock by looking back at my personal system of values-based living. I had a choice: either drown in grief or find myself in my values and “can-do” attitude and focus all my energy in a positive direction to honour and celebrate Todd’s life.

Todd has been our angel. He gives us direction on what to do and where to go. Through the inspiration of Todd’s memory, my wife Rita, and our close friends, I began my mission in two ways: First, we founded the Todd Thomas Foundation in 2000 to celebrate and honor Todd’s life, to help raise awareness of mental illness, to address the stigma associated with it, and to support research for effective treatments. We held a fundraising gala at the Four Seasons Resort in Scottsdale on January 19, 2001 to raise awareness and funds for the Foundation, which was established as a component fund of the Arizona Community Foundation in Phoenix.

Second, with the encouragement of a good colleague and friend from the World Presidents’ Organization, I decided to galvanize my method of values-based goal setting and share it with others through LifePilot – a British Columbia based, not-for-profit organization that provides programs that empower and teach people from all walks of life to live in alignment with their values. I founded LifePilot in 2002 and have since spent countless hours traveling the world with Rita to teach the half-day workshop and touch as many lives with my message as possible. We’ve grown into an organization with highly-qualified navigators and have taught over 5,000 individuals ranging from business leaders, students, and families, to prison inmates.

The passionate entrepreneur in me will never cease to exist, and I’ve dedicated the past twenty years to an international network organization called Entrepreneurs’ Organization, EO. As one of the founding members and now Chairman Emeritus, I absolutely love donating my resources and time and sharing my experience and wisdom with young entrepreneurs and our leaders of tomorrow. For the past two years, I’ve been fortunate to participate as a judge at EO’s Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) and represent the 2008 Judges as Chairman of the committee. The 2007 and 2008 competitions in Chicago were among my best days. I have also become a very enthusiastic fan of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO) of which I am now the Vice-Chairman.

My passion for teaching young individuals and entrepreneurs about the importance of values has presented an opportunity to come full circle. In keeping with my message of values-based living and leadership, I collaborated with Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia, to establish the Todd Thomas Institute for Values-Based Leadership. Through the Thomas Foundation, we made a gift in December 2006 to initiate the process. We successfully launched the Institute in July 2008 with a commitment to global leadership for social, environmental, and economic sustainability, and to advance the theory and practice of values-based leadership through applied research with partners in the workplaces and communities.

As an ardent mentor, I always like to leave my readers with the following thoughts: Be individuals of integrity first and foremost and find balance in your lives. It is critical to identify and keep your core values in front of you at all times (record them in writing) before saying yes to anything so that your choices align with your values. Be passionate – be and do your best every single day without exception. Don’t ever settle for mediocrity from yourself or others. And lastly, irrespective of the difficulties in life, which will inevitably come your way, never give up, be positive always, and remember: “It’s easy; it’s a piece of cake!”

Peter H. Thomas

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS: Integrity, Finding Balance in Your Life, Passion, Positive Thinking, Never Giving Up

RECOMMENDED BOOKS: The Man who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe by Glenn Clark, Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

WEBSITE: www.lifepilot.org

EDITOR’S NOTES: At age 70, Peter continues to pursue ways of providing support for the causes that he holds dear. He is a role model and values-based leader who has made a major impact both in the business community and in the lives of the many people he has met and touched throughout his illustrious life. An entrepreneur at heart, Peter’s life has taken him from serial entrepreneurship to social entrepreneurship, a vocation which he will continue to passionately pursue to enrich the lives of others.

KEY SUCCESSES AS SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

PETER’S RULES FOR SUCCESS

1. KISS: Keep it s imple simple
2. Ignore people who say “It can’t be done”
3. Work smart, not hard
4. Become a student of your chosen career
5. Don’t be an innovator; study what works and do it better
6. Emulate the best in your field, but with your own spin
7. Write down everything, track goals, follow through daily
8. Stay focused
9. Act enthusiastic and you will be enthusiastic
10. Be persistent
11. Practice delegation every day (empower others)
12. Avoid extensive meetings
13. Make decisions quickly –don’t be afraid to make mistakes
14. Make the most of your day –get up early
15. Have at least 5 mentors
16. Visualize – As Covey said, “Begin with the end in mind”
17. Add an element of fun to all your activities

HE HAD CLIENTS—I HAD CREDIT

I knew something was up the afternoon my boss walked into the office at 2:00 and asked, “Wanna go have a beer?” It turned out that he and I were both looking for new jobs: he because he and his partners no longer shared a common vision; me because his partners and I had never shared a common vision. Two minutes into the meeting over beer, he asked if I would leave the law firm to go with him to start a new one. Then he offered to make me an equal partner. I was 33 years old, had no clients of my own, had no business training, and had no background in running a business, my own or someone else’s.

I consulted with my dad’s elderly lawyer friend in Hugo, Oklahoma, who to this day laughs that there is nothing he knows more about than starting a law firm in Houston! However, he gave me great advice: “You’re young and you don’t have much money. If it doesn’t work out, you won’t have lost much and you can find another job.” He was right on both counts. I closed my eyes and jumped off the precipice. I had become an entrepreneur without really planning to.

We started on a shoe string, including paying payroll the first two months with my credit card. I always say that we were the perfect professional partnership: he had clients; I had credit. In addition to practicing law, I spent the first two years manning the phones and learning to run the billing software. By the time we could afford a professional office manager, I almost understood the intricacies of business accounting, but can’t say that it was ever easy for me. Despite the cost, we hired an outside firm to handle payroll and taxes. We also hired a CPA as well as a business lawyer, on the theory that a lawyer who represents himself (or, in this case herself) has a fool for a client. It was months before we could take any money for ourselves and even then the amount was small. Nonetheless, the ability to control our destiny made the struggle worth it.

Fourteen years later, we have weathered everything from being replaced by a cheaper competitor to enduring legal reforms that have made us largely irrelevant to changes in the business climate that have resulted in a rollercoaster ride of economics—mostly toward the bottom loop of the roller. The worst day of my life was Monday, April 16, 2000, when our largest – essentially our only – client called to inform us they had gone bankrupt, owing us months and months of outstanding invoices. After going to the courthouse to tell the judge that I was no longer going to be a participant in the ongoing trial, I came back to the office where we informed our lawyers and support staff that we were going to have to lay all of them off because we did not have any work for them to do, nor hope of getting any quickly. The rent was paid for the month and the computers were available, so they could stay until we were kicked out, but we couldn’t afford to pay them. I made it through the speech without breaking down, then went to my office for a nice, deep sobbing cry before getting on the phone and trying to find new jobs for my now ex-employees.

Fortunately for me, a new client called that same day and we landed an interview for something new before I could get all my people placed. The new people came to interview us the following Wednesday, when we had only five actual employees. But we had called each of our former employees and asked if they would be willing to come and sit at their desks for the day. We would pay them for their time if we got hired, but couldn’t afford to if we didn’t. I have never been so gratified as that day: all but two of them (who had already started at new jobs) came for the presentation. One of those who came took a day off from her other job to come sit at her desk. The presentation went well, the client loved our employees, we got hired, we paid all those who came for dress rehearsal, and both life and business moved on. The bankrupt client is still in bankruptcy almost ten years later. We are still owed a fortune that we may never get, but the experience made us resilient and determined. We have weathered other events; fortunately, none that catastrophic. But the experience taught us to not put all our work with one client, no matter how insistent the client might be.

Over time, we added people and partners, many of them women. As a result, a few years ago, the firm became certified as a women-owned business. That certification has given us an opportunity and a platform for encouraging other women to take the plunge and jump into business themselves. I participate in many seminars and activities around the country, focusing strongly on the need for women lawyers to develop businesses of their own. I have spoken to a variety of audiences, not just lawyers, on the necessity of being able to support your own business without having to rely on someone else.

All these years later, my original male partner and I are still business partners and we have weathered many, many storms. We have offices in both Texas and Maryland. Our firm has a national reputation and a book of clients based not just around the country, but around the world. We continue to face difficult market circumstances and to work through them. Our firm has had as many as 125 employees and as few as five. No phase of business has been easy, but each has been educational in its own way.

The biggest difference between when we started and now is that now I also have clients and we both have credit. I would jump off the precipice again in a heartbeat, even knowing what I did not know then. I really believe that hard work, focus, and determination make a difference. If I could return to the past and change something, I would take a few business classes in college and be more strategic in my business plan, but the business has worked out pretty well despite those deficiencies, so I am not sure that I would change much.

Sharla J. Frost

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS: Perseverance, Determination, Work Ethic, and Focus

RECOMMENDED BOOKS: Brand You by Tom Peters, Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt, TheTipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

WEBSITE: www.powersfrost.com

EDITOR’S NOTES: Sharla J. Frost calls Houston her home-base. She is the managing partner of Powers & Frost, L.L.P., a boutique litigation firm with offices in both Houston, Texas and Towson, Maryland. When not on an airplane or in a courtroom, she spends as much time as she can at Frogsailles, her ranch property in Frogville, Oklahoma, where she has a boyfriend, a herd of cattle, and a motley collection of cats.