Colm C. Maher:

My Small Business Story 

I tell this story only to let you know that I have lived the experience of "the 4 ways we make money":

I got a good education and got a good job, I have been self employed in several capacities and I currently own and operate several home based business'. So I'm not speaking from theory but practical experience.

My story starts in Dublin, Ireland on July 21.1947, the day I was born. I have 3 sisters. My first recollection: being a very disgruntled 5 yr school boy in a very crowded school yard, so much so that I left the school yard to wander the streets of Dublin. I was found by my Aunt Gwen on a street corner. As a working class family in Ireland at the time, life was a constant struggle. Jobs were few and much of Ireland's work force went abroad to the U.K. and North America. We were no exception.

My father,Christopher, a career men's clothing salesperson (when that meant something) left to work as a construction labourer in the developing oil refineries in England.

My mother, Irene a full time, "stay at home mum" and the 4 kids followed. The jobs were 1 or 2 years in length so we ended up moving a lot around the U.K. finally ending up in Wales. Since the work was short term and finding accommodation was difficult, we lived in a travel trailer literally parked in a field. In one spot near Blackfield, we lived in the New Forest where wild horses used to roam. Our "Cowboys and Indian games" were real. By the time we arrived in Canada in September 1961, I had been in 9 schools. In 1961, I was 14 years old and ready to leave school in Wales. I am sure I would have joined the army or navy since I was big on the army cadets back then. I would have had few choices with that kind of education.

Canada: A New Land

 I was used to moving so this was just a great luxury adventure. This was the first time I saw and lived a life that was far different than what I was used to.We came across on the Empress of Canada which was much better than the back of a moving truck which we slept in and traveled in when we moved from England to Pembroke Dock in Wales.

It has taken me a long time to realize how gutsy and unselfish my parents were. They left everything in Ireland: family, friends, their Church, their whole social network and moved to the U.K. and later to Canada to start a new life from scratch. They arrived in Toronto with just a few suitcases with a hope that things would be better for them and their kids. They never talked about dreams, goals or visions but they sure had them. In many ways, I see myself continuing the mission they started.

School was a whole new thing for me in Canada. When I got here, Holy Name School just south of the Danforth near Pape Avenue didn't know what to do with me. I was 14--too old for elementary school and no transcripts from schools in England. They ended up putting me in Grade 7 with 11 year olds. That hurt my pride a lot. I was very quiet.

Something happened to me-- maybe I got a dream for the first time--but I started paying attention and doing something I never had done--I started studying. I became the best home study guy around. I became an A student for the first time in my life. By the time I got to grade 11 going to school became a little bit of a burden because I did most of my real work at home. (Maybe I was preparing for my future). Trouble was, I slept in class and got chalk winged at me. I also took a few unscheduled trips to the beach on the first warm days of summer. I went from being a model student at Neil McNeil HS to being told I was not welcome by the principal, Fr Doyle. So I left and went to Riverdale C.I.

There I got my study habits back and fell in love with history. I loved it so much I got the school 1st Prize in History at my Grade 13 graduation. Should have sent that to Fr Doyle. You know what? I did not even study for this exam. Too busy studying biology. And Latin.

Latin was one of those subjects I was always going to quit, so I never learned anything. Trouble was I needed to get 50% so I could graduate. Luckily for me the prose part was 65%. So I counted the lines of prose and divided them by 6 weeks so I knew exactly how many lines per night I had to memorize so I could pass the exam. I did it. I think it was one of the best examples of goal setting I've ever done in my life, but I didn't call it goal setting. I just had to get the job done.

The University Years

I went to Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario and graduated in History and Politics. I should have gone on to Teacher's College, since I believe that being a teacher is my real vocation. I got sidetracked by 2 things: one was social: I started to drink alcohol; two, I enrolled in a Health Administration course in Ottawa. I never graduated, but I did learn a lot about the health system from the top down.

One big bonus I got from Trent is I met my wife Pat and 35 years later we are still married. Pat has always been my best cheerleader and supporter in life. I certainly married well. She's a great cook too. There are many women who would not have put up with all my career changes. Thanks Pat. I love you.

I Had a Job Once

 Believe it or not I had this job once at Nathan Philip's Square (City Hall Toronto) in 1967 when I was in High School. Later I improved on my government jobs by getting one in the Ministry of Health after university. Some would say a good job. I was Executive Assistant to the Area Planning Coordinator for Southwestern Ontario. We helped communities set up District Health Councils. I got to see a lot of Ontario and see how small towns operate. Being a big city "Toronto boy", I found this refreshing and probably this was behind our decision to move to Cobourg about 15 years ago. I learned a lot about the ambulance service (from Chuck Brubacher & Bob Horton who were the founders of the present day ambulance system in Ontario), mental health service and acute treatment hospitals. One theme that I learned from Dr Sutherland at the Health Administration course was "prevention". I am all for putting salt down so you don't slip and break your foot, leg or hip. Many expensive hospital visits could be saved by a little salt on the road. Not to mention how lives are changed by traffic accidents. So I am big on prevention. That's why I take supplements.

Anyway, the government job was not for me . Too many committees and way too much politics. Now I see it as just a big corporation which I didn't want anything to do with. I had studied politics at school and loved it, but when you see politics at the local level or street level (in the mud), it's not so pretty. I wanted something more than a job.

The Birth of A Dream: My Own Business

 Pat and I had recently bought a house in the mid 1970's. The experience had been good so I thought I'd like to sell real estate in Toronto. I'd like to say I knew all about the Baby Boom and that real estate was a great place to be. I didn't understand this boom. It was just part of the way things were. As a result, I did not do well in Real Estate-- I made a living--the same amount as I was making in the government. But I could have made much more if I had done it right.

I worked 7 days a week for weeks on end. Our children were born in the early 1980's and we decided that Pat would stay home so I worked at real estate appraisals too. That worked out fairly well. I was self employed and working all day and all night now. Great.

The Sausage Business

 Sounds a little weird I know. My grand father was a home based pork butcher in Dublin in the 1940's and 1950's. He did everything including the delivery to stores which he did on a bicycle with a 6 ft aluminum bike trailer. So sausages are in my genes. We discovered the art of making sausages through a real estate buddy- Fred and his wife, Cathy Ploder. I loved it. We made great sausages. Trouble is we blew our brains out making them commercially. We set up shop in 1991 in Bewdley, Ontario where nobody lives so we could guarantee our failure. Since nobody lived there, we took our sausages to markets in Peterborough, Etobicoke, Port Hope and Cobourg. If these markets were year round, we might still be doing it. My focus throughout this experience was to make great sausages.(We should of had a goal to make some money) We made about 35 varieties of sausages--pork,beef,lamb and chicken. Very lean and healthy. No preservatives and totally natural. Maybe we were too far ahead of the market. But it made the transition into the bread business and the wellness business very "natural".

I finally decided that enough was enough. We made far too little money for the effort so I looked around. What could I do now? Now I had no money left, no job in appraisal any more, nothing. I did supply teaching for a while. That hurt because I was good at it but I couldn't teach full time because I hadn't got my Teachers Certificate. I did not want a job. Who would hire a 48 year old broke business owner anyway? Bad attitude too. I looked around our little shop and asked the question: what's here that I could make a living at. The answer was "bread". Several of our customers had told us about Stickling's Bread so I went to see them. Hans Stickling allowed me to sell his bread in our store but I had to pick it up at the bakery. Later I saw them selling bread at their stall in the Peterborough Farmers Market. They always sold out and they always had a crowd around them. I was at my sausage table thinking "I wonder if I can sell this bread to stores--I kept wondering and then I finally started: the birth of Bread Roots Inc (14 years later we still sell bread but now for 20 other suppliers).

Bread Roots Inc

I started Bread Roots with absolutely nothing and just as a way to get by. No great vision. That came later. We started in a small VW Fox station wagon. From there we had a VW van which cost me a fortune in repairs and still gives me a bad feeling towards trucks in general. One time the gear shift in the VW broke off in my hand so the truck was stuck in 3 rd gear. I drove it in 3rd gear for a week before the new part came in. By that time, I needed a new clutch. But the bread got through. Another time I broke my heal and couldn't deliver the bread but I could drive. My sister Marigold came to Cobourg 3 times a week to help me deliver bread. I would drive, she would deliver: the bread got through. She really felt sorry for me and the punny business I had. At one time I had tendonitis so bad in both shoulders that I had no idea how I was going to deliver bread the next day. I couldn't even lift myself out of bed to go to the hospital. I had delivered bread that day with both arms in a sling and I had also hurt my knee, so I was quite a sight. After being treated at Port Hope Hospital, I felt like a new man and was happy to get back to work pain free. They were the early years. Every day seemed like a struggle. It was. The best part was going to the stores to meet and to talk to the people who worked there.

The Re Awakening

Applied Knowledge

 At these Amway conventions, I heard great speakers like Paul Zane Pilzer on the future of the wellness industry in 1996. In 1997, I heard Robert Kiyosaki before he published his first book, Rich Dad Poor Dad. I heard Les Brown on "possibility thinking" and "it's not over 'til I win". I applied all this thinking to Bread Roots Inc and it never looked back. Bottom line is this: I was almost 50 years old before I got a business education via a network marketing/direct sales company. I have found that not only are these companies on the cutting edge of business education and tools but often their products are way ahead of the market place. It was this kind of thinking that made me expand my organic bread business as fast as I could because I knew the market was coming. In 1994, who was promoting water purifying equipment--only NSA a network marketing company. Now you hear ads about water all the time. In 1955, who was promoting vitamins: Nutrilite, the precursor of Amway and a Dr Shaklee. 1955 that was almost before TV in the dark ages. They were the pioneers of the "wellness Industry"

Not only are these companies leaders in product development but they are also pioneers in progressive business mentality. Direct sales/ network marketing companies and mlm  are all based on "COOPERATION AND HELPING OTHERS" not on "Dog Eat Dog Competition" like most conventional business models. This is a huge difference in thinking and much more in tune with a healthy progressive lifestyle.

Not all network marketing/direct sales/pmlm organizations are worth joining. Just like any business, there are some good ones and some bad ones. That's one reason I suggested the Direct Sellers Association as a good place to start. If you are looking for a business, check a number out. You will find one you like where it fits with you. If you don't join with me that's fine, but do something. As Les Brown says "you won't be happy unless you are pursuing your dreams" You may try and ignore them but they will haunt you. As one very memorable Amway tape says "hell is meeting the person you could have been"

Globalization:

The world is getting smaller and smaller due mostly to communication networks in telecommunications, satellite TV and the Internet. The latter is revolutionizing how we do many things. It's not about to stop anytime soon.

If you could get a piece of this pie for yourself, would that interest you? Well, you can have it right here.

Working From Home Advantages:

I have had a home business now since 1976. Since my children were born in 1980 and 1982, someone has always been home for them. When it was time to get the bus to school one of us was always home to see them off and greet them when they got home. Breakfast was always made and someone was home to make dinner. That was normal for our family.

Now my wife works as a teachers assistant and her dinner is usually ready when she gets home. After work she goes to exercise class or yoga and her dinner is home when she gets home because I'm here to make it. I have a job too operating my conventional small business, Bread Roots,(www.breadroots.com) and my on line small business discussed in this website.

No I don't work in my underwear because I have 2 women who work at Bread Roots full time in my home office. My commute in the morning consists of a walk in the park by the beach. We live in Cobourg, Ontario which has a fabulous beach with a great boardwalk. http://www.cobourg.ca . My commute in the evening is very similar except it's in the dark. It's much more pleasant in the summer.

Why am I building another business on line? Well I don't want to be thinking of carrying bread boxes 3 years from now. I don't have to carry them often but I am the back up and rescue driver. It's also financially intelligent to have several sources of income. (Read Rich Dad, Poor Dad  by Robert Kiyosaki). Taking his advice, we have converted our unused 2 nd floor to a small apartment to generate an income to turn out house into more of an asset. The basement is already rented to Bread Roots.

For the past 6 months my routine has changed. At 3 pm when my wife, Pat gets home from school, we drive off to the Y for our daily workout. Pat likes to swim and I prefer the treadmill. This routine is part of my weight losss program detailed at htpp://www.colmcmaher.com/My-Weight-Loss-Story.html. The gym time goes for 2 hours and we get home about 5.30 pm for dinner. It certainly beats commuting. I wouldn't be able to do this if I had not started by own home based business.

Besides having a better family life, the biggest bang for my buck has come from having my independence. I haven't had a boss for over 30 years. Sure my customers and suppliers exercise some control over me but I have control too. That's been a great feeling. It's also very creative work because I have to keep thinking of how to make things better, find new products and new markets. It keeps me busy with never a dull moment.

Quote from Zig Ziglar from "Over The Top"

"You may not be able to change the world, but you can change your world, but when you change your world, you have taken a major step in changing the world. And when you change your world for the better, you have positioned yourself perfectly to change the world of those around you." 

A Word About Taking Action

I used to read every book I could get my hands on about starting a business, building a business, becoming a better person, and network marketing self help books.

After a while, they all said the same thing. "Nothing happens unless you take action". I finally got the message and stopped reading because I needed to take action.

You will learn as you go down the path. Doors will open to you as you take action. It's as if God rewards those who start their journey with the faith that they will succeed.

As you need to know, new paths and  knowledge will reveal itself.This is why you cannot wait until you know all the answers. At the beginning, you don't even know the questions.

Do not wait for other people's permission. That is an employee attitude.

As the great Budda said "you must be your own light".

You don't need permission from anybody to be the best you can be. It is your responsiblity to use your creative gifts given to you by God. To not use these gifts is, in my mind, a sin. Hell has been defined as meeting the person you were supposed to be when you died.

So if you have a dream go for it. If you don't have a dream, find one.

You did not get put on this Earth to exist but be creative. Use that creative power and you will become a better person and make God happy with you. You wouldn't want God to be unhappy with you would you?

Then get moving.

Colm Maher

April 15, 2010

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