11 / 12
Finding Your Path to Success
BY: DOUG IRELAND, FREELAND PAINTING
Starting and growing a small business is
tough. Those of us who have tried it know
this all too well. We joke about the wearing
of the hats. Sales, HR, accounting, business
development, production and customer
service tasks top the list. There is much to
learn and many of the lessons don’t come
as a result of successes, but as a result of
mistakes, of failures.
Before I started Freeland Painting, I
owned a real estate investment company.
From 2002 to 2007, I built a business
buying, selling, renovating and renting
single-family homes. However, 2007 was not
a good year. It was a portent of the financial
crisis to come. By 2009, I was ready to begin
anew with the creation of Freeland Painting.
I learned a lot during my real estate
investment years. But my most important
lessons came from the demise of the
business. There were many parts of my
business that I did not actually run like a
business. I realized, that I was functioning
like I had a job, not a business.
Almost immediately after starting
Freeland Painting, I made the decision
to join the Gwinnett Chamber. That has
proven to be one of the best decisions I
ever made in business. Not just because
of the opportunity to grow the business,
but because I have been able to grow as a
businessperson. Now, I don’t just learn from
my mistakes, but I’m also learning from
others in the business community.
As the leader of Freeland Painting, I
hold the vision for my business. But I am
certainly not an expert on every aspect of
running a small business. Hiring, firing,
cash flow, financing and even accounting
practices can be tough to learn. So where can
you find help?
One of the greatest values of my
Chamber membership has been my ability
to leverage the relationships I’ve cultivated
with members who have “been there, done
that”. However, in order to learn from your
community you have to be willing to ask
questions and be open enough to admit
that you don’t know everything. Ironically,
this can be tough for a small business
owner to do. As a group, we tend to think
we know exactly what our businesses need
and don’t need.
But there’s a great deal that you can
learn from your peers by watching, listening
and, most important and sometimes most
difficult, asking. We each possess a unique
body of knowledge and experience that can
benefit someone. The challenge is tapping
into the resource.
At any point in our business journey we
can learn from others, teach others, or do
both simultaneously. That kind of sharing
is difficult, if not impossible, for those
struggling in isolation outside of a business
focused group like the Chamber. In contrast,
within the Chamber, the process is ongoing.
But you must participate. Standing on the
sidelines doesn’t work. You get nothing and
you give nothing.
To get the most from your membership,
you have to give the most. We endeavor to
learn these things and be successful and we
do so as a community.
THE EXECUTIVE – Q4 2015
PAGE 11