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Global Summit
of Women 2007 Remarks People call me a difficult woman. And I must admit that I am and more than that, I’m proud of it and wear it as a badge of honor. The Women Presidents Organization or WPO is made up of difficult women like me. Women who know what they want and aren’t afraid to go after it. Let me tell you a little bit about myself, just one members story. My uncle Charlie was the only one that knew I existed as a kid. I was the middle child and even that I shared with a brother. There were 4 of us. Charlie would take just me out on adventures. On one of these we went swimming in Lake Simcoe, in Canada. Yes I am Canadian. He put me on his shoulders to jump into the deep water. I was terrified. I can’t I can’t I was screaming. Take a deep breath he said and do it anyway. So I jumped and the crazy thing was I loved it. In 1990 I was a gog in the wheel of a large corporation, divorced, with a big mortgage and less than $500.in the bank. I was down on my luck. Fourteen years later I was on top of the world. I was happily married, money in the bank, no mortgage and the owner of a multi million dollar school bus company. How did I get there? I jumped off Uncle Charlie’s shoulders. It was crazy really. I didn’t have enough money or personal credit to buy a car, but with the help of my VISA and a bank loan I bought 8 buses and started Student Express. I wasn’t easy. I kept my corporate job for 5 years, while I built the company. WPO includes hundreds of women who took the leap off Uncle Charlie’s shoulders, survived a near drowning or two and thrived. That’s why I love WPO. Every month I meet with a group of talented, seasoned, difficult women who share their experiences, wisdom, and stories. A little over a year ago, I got a fantastic offer from a large multi national to buy my company. This was one of the most difficult decisions of my career. You must think I’m crazy. Someone offers you more money than you’ve ever dreamt of and all you feel is sadness. Well for those of you who have started your own business, I think you can understand my sadness and feeling of loss. Student Express was part of me and I was part of Student Express. I had started it, nurtured it, grown with it and in fact I loved it. I worked hard and long hours but it wasn’t work me to it was fun, it was what I liked to do. I couldn’t imagine someone else, sitting in my chair, talking to my customers, and being me. It would be like living in the same house as my first husband and his new girlfriend and watch them sleeping in my bed. In fact I realized later that selling a business you started, built and loved is as difficult and traumatic as a divorce. I spent the next sleepless weeks thinking about what would be the best for me, both personally and professionally. I came up with a plan and reviewed it with my lawyer and accountant. As expected, they told me they had never seen a sale done this way and the purchaser would never agree. Well they were right about it never being done this way before, but they were wrong about the purchaser agreeing. I will share with you an example of just how difficult I was. The buyers wanted to inspect the terminal and buses. A reasonable request. The only problem was I didn’t want employees or customers to know that about the sale in case it didn’t go through, so the purchaser had to inspect the bus terminal and buses in the middle of the night. Picture this I’m inside the terminal at midnight after any chance of drivers coming in was gone. Next door at the industrial mall, 2 cars were running waiting for my cell phone call so they could walk next door and inspect the terminal and the buses. They had to bring flash lights because I didn’t want to turn on the lights and alert anyone. To make matters worse it was January. And January in Canada is unbelievably cold, with most days being -20o or colder. So while one group was inspecting the terminal, the other group was outside in the snow on dollies under the buses. It was the shortest due diligence on record – 2 hours. So the moral of the story is take charge, dare to be difficult and remember the sale is all about what works for you and the buyer. They say it’s lonely at the top. I agree with that. But fortunately for me the last four years I’ve had my WPO advisory board. In fact 2 of the best pieces of strategic advice for the sale of my company came from my Platinum WPO group. The Platinum Group is made up of women who own business with annual revenues over $10,000. I belong to both my local Toronto chapter and the Platinum group. While I’m the only Canadian in the group, I feel at home surrounded by supportive, fabulous women. Fortunately for many of you, WPO is expanding beyond North America so you will be able to be part of this fabulous organization. WPO is what I do for me. After all, no one of
us is as smart as all of us. |
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