A Season of Growth

Looking ahead to the next step in your business is always wise, but don’t forget to enjoy where you are now

Embrace the seasons of life. And business.

If you look past the cheesiness, it’s good advice.

Sometimes it’s difficult to enjoy where you are. When it’s winter, you wish it was summer; on a sweltering summer day, you might miss the cooler temperatures of autumn. If you live near your family, you’re annoyed by frequent visits; when you move a few states over, you miss them like crazy.

It’s easy to get caught up in wishing for an ideal situation; it’s often less work than appreciating what you have and fully enjoying whatever you’re experiencing.

Sometimes circumstances force you to think ahead. Our editorial schedule for each issue starts long before the magazine reaches you, and during the summer it’s difficult to be planning winter issues. It makes time fly even faster, and the year feels almost over in a lot of ways. So I’m trying to slow those thoughts, and not let planning for winter issues (and 2020 … ) distract me from enjoying my summer.

That’s the nice thing about seasons, work, life — everything is cyclical. You’ll always have ups and downs, busy seasons and times of struggle, but time marches on. And even when things aren’t changing fast enough for your liking, there is plenty to look forward to and enjoy.

When it comes to your business, maybe you won’t see growth and change every month. But you don’t want your business to grow so fast that it gets away from you. Controlling the trajectory of your business is an important skill to learn.

One company that has this pretty well mastered is PipeFlo Contracting, an Ontario-based pipeline rehab company featured in this month’s issue. The company, owned by Bruce and Darlene Noble and their daughter Julia Noble, has doubled its workforce and increased its annual revenue to more than $10 million in the last 10 years.

The Nobles have focused on slowly adding services that fulfill all their customers’ pipeline repair needs and making sure their employees are well trained and happy in order to provide high-quality customer service.

Bruce Noble says the company will continue to grow, but the focus on providing the best technology and best service will never change. One part of that is always staying on top of new technology offerings and continually evaluating the quality and efficiency of field operations. Looking for ways to improve helps foster a mentality of growth: Even if you’re only making a small change here or there, any tweak that improves efficiency will pay off down the road.

Noble’s philosophy for controlled growth has paid off, and he anticipates further growth in the years ahead. “We tend to take a giant leap forward, then pause to assimilate and integrate the new workload as best we can before we take that next leap,” he explains. “We’re very cautious when we expand.”

Embrace those seasons of growth when they come, and don’t stress when things slow down a little. Take that time to catch your breath. Enjoy where you are. Then you can regroup and make your next move.

I hope you enjoy this month’s issue.



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