Page 17 - Tree Line - North Carolina Forestry Association - Second Quarter 2021

QAs a small business owner, what lessons have you learned along the way?
The school of hard knocks is definitely your best teacher and a smart man learns from his mistakes, but a smarter man learns from other people’s mistakes. If I had to do it all over again, I would start planning for financial succession at a younger age. Small business owners like myself put these things off when just trying to maintain cash flow to pay bills. I wish I had started sooner.
QIs there anything you practiced a lot as a child, and did practicing help develop
any of the leadership skills you use today?
Yes, absolutely. On both of my parents’ sides of the family, there was never any question of whether or not children and grandchildren would be independent. We were taught the importance of standing on your own two feet. In other words, it was important not to take free handouts from folks and rarely did our family just rely
ncforestry.org / SECOND QUARTER 2021 15