“Success, however you choose to measure it, will have much more impressive results if it includes the foundation of strong relationships.”
Gloria Hatfield
Page’s Resort Group
Email: mail@pagesresort.com
Website: pagesresortgroup.com
Here I am with my 10-year-old puppy Morgan. Now that you see her, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that it is pictures with her that get the biggest engagement on social media. People want to get to know her and are nowhere near as interested that, for example, I have new couches in the cottages.
While I watched her following grow, it reinforced what I knew; as an entrepreneur, success however you choose to measure it will have much more impressive results if it includes the foundation of strong relationships. For example in 2017, we were handed the opportunity to expand Page’s Resort Group by the purchase of what is now Page’s Inn on Silva Bay. The previous owner approached me directly and presented a sort of first-right-of-refusal offer. They did this because we had built a mutually supportive relationship and they appreciated the business our family had built. Their legacy would be in good hands.
As we struggled through the first year and a half of our expansion, I approached Jolynn Green, the ED of Community Futures for a much-needed cash infusion. I had met Jolynn through the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance. She understood the importance of creating relationships that will, maybe today, maybe a few years down the line, provide opportunities to collaborate and improve economic vitality. There was no question she was the one I would call.
Then, along comes COVID19. We needed to listen and adjust to the needs of our customers and find new opportunities to secure our business. I sat down with the owners of Woodfire Restaurant and brainstormed the creation of a food truck, a way to feed Gabriolans and visitors during this time of complete or partial restaurant closures. Without the existing relationship and respect for one another’s way of doing business, there is not a chance that either of us would have taken the risk we did, especially during the time we were in.
And that led me to reach out to a group of Gabriolan artists who I knew and respected both for their art and their focus on the business of art. With the two Page’s properties and the food truck in the process of being created, I started to get the sense of how, despite the challenges and responsibilities that COVID brought, I could create a safe (and fun!) environment for gathering, driving revenue and creating jobs. Again, had I not already known and respected the work of this group, the Pier Gallery Artists’ Collective would not have opened its doors at Page’s Inn on Silva Bay during these particularly challenging times.
The proof is in the pudding as they say. Instead of hunkering down and holding on tight over these past few years, I have built up starting from the strength of existing relationships. Included are those amongst my family, the Page’s team, and of course Morgan whose support I know is there, especially when I see in their eyes that “here-she-goes-again” look as I begin to share the next new idea.
