Serial Entrepreneurs Share Secrets of Successful Startups

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">While the media often glamorizes entrepreneurship&comma; starting—and growing—a business is hard work&period; Doing it three&comma; four or five times&quest; That’s an uncommon and in some ways even astonishing achievement&period; We checked in with several of Canada’s serial entrepreneurs to uncover a few secrets of their range of successes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;superbcrew&period;com&sol;the-qa-with-kris-thorkelson-entrepreneur-and-owner-of-my-place-realty&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Winnipeg’s Kris Thorkelson<&sol;a> says serial entrepreneurs are always trying something new and they aren’t afraid to fail&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;You have to be bolder and braver and stop worrying about rejection or making mistakes&comma; because both can be instructional over time&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;ideamensch&period;com&sol;kris-thorkelson&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Thorkelson<&sol;a> began his<a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;theprescriptionshop&period;ca&sol;kris-thorkelson&period;html" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"> career<&sol;a> in the pharmaceutical industry&comma; opening a chain of four pharmacies in his native Winnipeg&comma; Manitoba&comma; as well as two medical clinics&period; In 2001&comma; he founded Canada Drugs&comma; an online pharmacy company&period; Most recently&comma; Thorkelson has made the transition into real estate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">According to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;hear&period;ceoblognation&period;com&sol;2018&sol;08&sol;31&sol;kris-thorkelson-innovating-in-one-industry-at-a-time-sponsored-post&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Kris Thorkelson<&sol;a>&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It’s the drive to create something out of nothing and watch it grow that motivates a person to shake off failure in order to achieve a degree of success in life – whether you’re a writer with a rejected manuscript&comma; or like me&comma; you have experienced some failures in business&period; It’s the motivation to create something new that helps you get past it&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Peter Thomas&comma; who recently turned 80&comma; is the chairman emeritus of Entrepreneurs’ Organization and the past chairman and founder of Century 21 Real Estate Canada Ltd&period;<em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<&sol;em>I’m happy to report that life as an entrepreneur has kept me young&comma;” <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;business&period;financialpost&period;com&sol;entrepreneur&sol;a-lifetime-of-tips-from-a-wise-old-canadian-serial-entrepreneur" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">says Thomas<&sol;a>&period; Thanks to a portfolio of investments and ventures such as Dogtopia&comma; Thomas is just as busy today as when he started down the entrepreneurial path in his early twenties&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur who’s looking to change the world&comma;” Thomas says&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I want to encourage you&comma; because this life isn’t always easy&period; It’s difficult and often exasperating&comma; with no guarantee of fame or fortune&period; But the rewards outweigh the risk if you position yourself for success&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Rivers Corbett&comma; another serial entrepreneur&comma; is a TedX speaker&comma; host of the Startup Canada Podcast&comma; and founder of GoForth Garage for entrepreneurs&period; His passion is to use the experience and knowledge he has accumulated to be a mentor to those just starting out&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;These days&comma;” says Corbett&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I am proudly fulfilling the role as Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Opportunities New Brunswick&comma; where my focus is to significantly move the needle on the spirit and actions of entrepreneurship throughout the province&period; In 2018&comma; I founded HeadSpaceFE&comma; a strong community of Global Entrepreneurs&comma; all sharing lessons from their journey and helping each other succeed&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Joanna Track&comma; the co-founder of Good Eggs &amp&semi; Co&period;&comma; also launched Sweetspot&period;ca and eLUXE&comma; two of Canada’s top online destinations for women&period; She’s the force behind The Bullet&comma; a Canadian destination for national and international news<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;With all of my businesses&comma;” <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;huffingtonpost&period;ca&sol;joanna-track&sol;entrepreneur-tips&lowbar;b&lowbar;14915924&period;html" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">says Track<&sol;a>&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;each one has had a distinct offering&comma; yet they have all met a similar consumer need&comma; which is making people&&num;8217&semi;s lives easier&period; A basic principle of economics says that the end consumer&&num;8217&semi;s desire and willingness to pay for a specific good or service depends on its ability to fulfill one of their needs&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Track advises aspiring entrepreneurs to do research and identify a gap in the market that you can fill—&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;and then make sure you do it better than anyone else&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;