Bella
Edward Paget is an osteopath, movement trainer, and entrepreneur. Ten years ago he emigrated to Canada from the UK after graduating as an Osteopath in the UK. He was the first osteopath in the province of Alberta, and as a result, no one knew what osteopathy was (It’s a manual therapy like physiotherapy and chiropractor).
Edward and his wife set up a clinic and worked hard to get osteopathy recognized by the major insurance companies. They started a professional association and paved the way for 50 other osteopaths to come to Alberta.
At one point their clinic was the largest osteopathic clinic in Canada. Last year they successfully sold the clinic which will allow them to take their kids out of school and travel the world for two years. In addition to their investments from the sale of the clinic, they will be funding their trip via an online training program that he launched a year ago helping people use exercise and movement to manage their scoliosis.
StarCentral Magazine recently sat down with Edward to find out more about his journey to entrepreneurship and here’s what went down.
Could you please tell our readers a brief background about yourself and how you started your business?
Born and educated in the UK I felt as though the south of England was too overcrowded and competitive to start my career as an osteopath. My wife, also an osteopath, is Canadian so we decided to move to Calgary for a fresh start. What we didn’t know was that we would be the first osteopaths in Alberta, a province the size of France! We started with the two of us working 60-70 hour weeks doing everything from the cleaning to answering the phones as well as treating people who were suffering from injury and illness.
Can you describe your journey to success? When did you start? Did you ever imagine you would become this successful?
I started in 2007 and hired our first employee a year later. I quickly realized that in order to take the business and promote the profession of osteopathy as much as I wanted to I would need a bigger team. In the early years, we hired one more osteopath and a receptionist. At its peak, we had a full-time manager, 4 receptionists, and 8 full-time osteopaths. Last year we sold the business in order to be able to take our kids out of school and travel the world, giving them an education that they would never have in Canada.
What is your main source of income?
Currently, my main source of income is from osteopathy as I still see clients, but that is supplemented by a Natural Movement Fitness Centre I own and an online program for people who suffer from scoliosis.
What are you currently doing to maintain/grow your business?
We used a variety of strategies to gain members. These include free workshops, community events, social media, and networking.
What is the toughest decision you had to make in the last few months?
When we first started we struggled with our location. We wanted to get a good deal but also wanted the potential to expand and not have potential clients to think less of us due to our location. We ended up going with a premium location that gave the business great exposure.
What money mistakes have you made along the way that others can learn from (or something you’d do differently)?
We spent a lot of money on software. On solutions that we thought we needed but eventually cost us a lot financially and a lot in manpower.
Even though we tried to do our research we found that some software companies promise the world when they are starting up but fail to deliver.
What have you learned in the process of becoming wealthy that others can learn from?
I’ve learned that a scarcity mentality breeds scarcity. If you refer to your network there is a law of reciprocity that means it will come back to you.
What new business would you love to start?
I would love to open a retreat center for health and wellness with a business coaching aspect to it. Lots of people sacrifice their health for their jobs in the pursuit of getting wealthy. I would like to help people get their health back and also coach them on how to be better in business so they don’t end up sacrificing their health again.
If you could go back in a time machine to the time when you were just getting started, what would you do differently?
I would spend longer hiring people and be quicker to fire people. When we started we accepted anyone with a pulse to come and work with us but soon realized that the way the person interacted with the team was almost more important than their skill set. Skills can be taught, but the way a person is, their personality, most of the time it can’t be changed.
If you could go back in a time machine to the time when you were first making a name for yourself, what advice would you give yourself?
Don’t jump at every opportunity that comes along. Be super strategic in where you invest your time.
Do you have any favorite business-related or personal development related books that you can recommend to other entrepreneurs?
Time Ferris – 4 hour work week. Gary Keller – The One Thing and also one on human nature – Dan Ariely Predictably Irrational
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
When it comes to business try not to take it personally
What advice would you give to a newbie Entrepreneur setting up their first business?
Pace yourself. The work is never done, and your passion might just burn you out. It’s not the destination, it the journey.
Jason Harris
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