Top 8 Reasons to be Grateful – an Entrepreneur’s Perspective

October 07, 2013, by HR à la carte | Work Environment and Policies

 “Let’s do it!” I had just finished a meeting with my future business partner, Stephanie Messier, who had presented me with a very intriguing idea for a new HR consulting business.  We had similar HR backgrounds, having both forged a successful career at GE, and felt that we would be a great team.  Stephanie’s idea to bring Fortune 500 HR best practices to growing small to mid-sized businesses was something I had contemplated a few years back but had not had the courage to do anything about at the time.  With big dreams and boundless enthusiasm, we tackled our project and HR à la carte was born. 

It’s our third anniversary and with Thanksgiving just around the corner we realized we had many things for which to be thankful as we enter our fourth year of business.

It’s been an amazing journey so far for which we are truly thankful.  What are you grateful for?  Tell us today via info@hralacarte.ca for your chance to win a $100 donation to your local Food Bank.  Entries must be received by 5 p.m. EST Friday October 25, 2013; contest is open to current and past clients of HR à la carte Inc.

Entrepreneur Grateful Reason #1:  A truly amazing partnership

Any successful business partnership is like a great marriage. It takes commitment, constant communication and boundless respect for the other’s key strengths and value add to the business.  It also means realizing that we sometimes make mistakes, but we learn and grow from them.  By giving each other the space to take risks our business has grown and thrived.

Entrepreneur Grateful Reason #2:  Learning new skills

I had never tweeted in my life until I took on the Social Media aspect of our business.  Learning how to navigate the Twitterverse, and experimenting with ideas on Twitter and LinkedIn have been skills that I would most likely not have learned in the corporate world.  Early on in our business Stephanie shared with me that she loved Business Development.  It was something that she had never contemplated before in her corporate life and she had found a new passion in sales. 

Entrepreneur Grateful Reason #3:  Complementary skills

An entrepreneur’s tendency is to try to do everything oneself.  However, in a partnership operation this often means tripping over each other, resulting in an ineffective operation.  We recognized early on the need to establish roles and responsibilities such as who is in charge of IT, Business Development, Customer Service, Marketing, etc.  And what we’re truly thankful for is that we ended up with roles that we both enjoy and for which we’re well-suited!

Entrepreneur Grateful Reason #4:  Meeting New People

Networking is an entrepreneur’s bread and butter.  The many amazing people we’ve met throughout the past three years have served to enrich not only our business but also forged new friendships along the way.  We truly appreciate being able to help others within our networks and continue to connect people for their mutual benefit. 

Entrepreneur Grateful Reason #5:  Client Relationships

We pride ourselves on our customer service and have been fortunate to work with clients whose values mesh with our own.  The diversity of our clients is also something for which we are grateful and keeps us fully engaged and continuing to learn.

Entrepreneur Grateful Reason #6: Business Alliances  

Forging strategic business alliances with like-minded and complementary businesses is also something for which we are grateful.  Partners such as NEBS PAYweb.ca, PPI Advisory and EventsWork.ca help keep us at the top of our game as we strive to bring even more value-add to clients.

Entrepreneur Grateful Reason #7:  Flexibility

The entrepreneurial life enables us to better blend our work and personal lives.  No longer tied to office hours or an office environment, we work to our deadlines and deliverables.  We’re available for our clients at a moment’s notice, but we’re also able to take time out to do things that are important to us; if that means catching up on evenings or on weekends that’s our call; talk about empowerment!

Entrepreneur Grateful Reason #8:  Virtual HR Team

We have surrounded ourselves with trusted HR advisors from various HR specialties, such as compensation specialists, recruiters, as well as seasoned HR generalists.  Some of them have been with us since our earliest days and others have recently joined our growing group of trusted associates.  We’re grateful for each and every one of them and are thrilled that they have chosen to hitch their wagon to our caravan as part of their own entrepreneurial journey!

What are you grateful for?