By Shelley Rogers

How would I describe my entrepreneurial start? It was a lot like running my first triathlon. Although I trained heavily, I had no idea what to expect. The result: plenty of sweat, scratches, tears and a few curse words. And yet, when I crossed that finish line for the first time, I felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment and pride. Above all, I was motivated to keep moving forward at all costs. The same went for building my first business, though it wasn’t easy.

Like many of my peers, my entrepreneurial sprint brought with it several “a-ha” moments and quite a few failures. After going public with my business, we found ourselves growing exponentially. Before long, we had acquired a company in Silicon Valley, expanded to three locations in Canada, opened a facility in Mexico City and completed a joint venture in Chile. We had hit a wildly successful rhythm … and then came the obstacles in the road.