LKN Entrepreneurs Describe Taking the Plunge
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By Mark Washburn – Passion drives entrepreneurship.
Three Lake Norman small business owners shared their successes and setbacks at the most recent Newsmakers Breakfast, organized by Cornelius Today at The Peninsula Club.
Alex Kuz of The Boat Doctor, Bob McIntosh, managing partner of The McIntosh Law Firm in Davidson, and Carla Eustache, founder of Style Perfect Events, all agreed that passion for their work is indispensable.
“People will see through passion that’s not genuine,” McIntosh said. “Go do the things you’re passionate about.”
“All our employees have to love boating,” Kuz said. Much of his community volunteer work involves the water in some way.
Community connections are vital in small business, Eustache said. The Detroit transplant serves on the Cornelius Parks and Recreation Commission and other boards.
“Relationships are the basis of business,” McIntosh said. His firm supports a variety of local nonprofits, from the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce to Davidson Community Players.
Don’t let AI do the talking
Artificial intelligence taught Kuz a lesson. He briefly used it to answer incoming calls to help manage his time.
“Customers absolutely hated it,” he said, adding that he returned to human interaction. He said he does benefit from AI in other areas, including finance.
Eustache, who founded her event-planning agency in 2009, said the personal nature of her business has largely kept it outside AI use, at least so far.
McIntosh said AI will have powerful applications in the legal profession, particularly in arbitration disputes. Like the law, he said, AI is blind.
“It’s dispassionate,” McIntosh said. “It makes you quicker and smarter.”
Staying tough
Starting a business and sticking with it requires courage, the panelists said. All remember rough patches.
For Eustache, it was covid-19. Event planning collapsed, and she had to cut employees. When the pandemic passed, she said, she came back strong.
“I jumped back in afterward,” she said. “You have to bet on yourself.”
McIntosh remembered the early days of his firm, when there were times there was not enough money to pay all the bills.
“You have to walk in the office anyway and do the best you can,” he said. “I come in with a humble attitude every day.”
Kuz, a former banker who has launched six businesses, said resilience is key. “You’re always going to get up and try again,” he said.
Challenges await
Two major challenges, the panelists said, are managing people and growth.
“We had to take risks to bring on a team,” Eustache said. “You need to keep a big-business mindset.”
Kuz said growth can cut both ways. A surge of 20 percent or more is a welcome sign, but can be difficult to manage.
“You’re one person, there are only 24 hours in a day,” he said. “It takes maturity to recognize you have to hold off.”
McIntosh’s staff has grown from two to 60 over 30 years. About 85% of his focus is on employees and finding ways to help them succeed.
“Managing people,” he said, “is the hardest thing I do.”
Photos by Jason Benavides
