In the early years, I worked as a waiter, foundry worker and coremaker. I became a union stuart and took part in negotiating labour agreements.

When my education expanded into process management, I became an industrial analyst, where motion study, work simplification and prime function analysis were the tools of my trade.

As a project manager, I learned how to select, justify, procure and install capital equipment. Most of the projects centred around cellular manufacturing, inventory control and logistics, where return on investment (ROI) was the deciding factor.

In middle management, production flow, quality assurance, and delivery time reduction were main priorities. Investigating the balance between immediate cost reduction and longer term cost avoidance affected every choice. That is, spend alittle now to avoid spending a lot more later. Finding measurable results became a key part of my decision making process.

In senior management, I was a key player in opening and closing several operating facilities. The importance of responsive customer service and the power of appropriate product branding were often the difference between success and failure. Implementing affective employee empowerment gave me the ability to be in more than one place at a time.

Unfortunately, the economy went through a severe down-turn in the early '90's and I was severed twice within 1993. That was when I decided that being self-employed sounded better than being un-employed. Initially, the pay was about the same!!!