The son of our founder was doing a research project on sustainable communities a few years ago. The two of them traveled in a small RV to several towns in Northern Ontario where the son had arranged meetings with politicians and entrepreneurs. In Hearst, the mayor suggested they visit a local business for lunch if they wanted a good story about sustainable businesses. They were treated to a lesson on dealing with difficulties that would be hard to forget.
They entered a storefront promoting burgers, fries and retail meats. Coolers and freezers displayed an assortment of beef, pork, chicken, ostrich, deer and bison. On the opposite wall was a counter to order lunch. The owner, a short, lean, middle-aged woman came out.
Being a Creative Owner
When asked about how she started the business, she laughed and said, “It all started with rabbits.”
“We got rabbits for the kids, but the neighbour’s dog killed them. So, we replaced them with chicks and soon we were selling eggs.”
“My husband was building a shop for his snowmobile repair business and I asked him to make it big enough to house the chickens too. But when winter came they needed heat to survive and my husband refused to heat the shed for a few chickens. I decided to get a couple of cows to keep the the chickens warm.”
“We started milking the cows and selling the milk. I learned to make cheese. Along came calves and, after a while, I had a small herd. We started selling some for beef and that worked well so we continued to grow.”
“One winter we were sending a trailer load of steers to market in Timmins – about eight hours away. There was a nasty storm, the truck got stuck and the temperature dropped to -40C. I was terrified that all our steers would die on the truck and we’d lose everything. It was out of my control.”
“They didn’t die but I resolved not to be in that situation again. There was no abattoir in Hearst: I took courses, got certified and opened an abattoir so we could butcher our own meat. Soon we were butchering for neighbours and hunters as well.
We sold pepperettes to a major food chain, but when certain rules changed we lost their business. We had nowhere else to sell the meat. So we started a burger restaurant and began doing a better job of marketing to our own community. And now we have trouble keeping up with the demand.”
Adapt to Thrive
Some people get lemons and make lemonade. Others get rabbits and build a thriving egg, milk, and cheese business, start an abattoir, a beef herd, a retail store, and a restaurant.
The lesson was that often people have to adapt and find ways for dealing with difficulties. Adapting requires accepting change. Our Coaching for Success program helps leaders help their teams navigate change.
We could all learn from them.