Author: Kyley Paul

Published on July 26, 2019

As my five-year journey (to date) in entrepreneurship is quickly approaching, I wanted to share some thoughts and a glimpse into my journey. Although I am no where near my definition of successful, I am very proud of where I started and where I am today.

Five years ago, I was 27 years old, had a 17-month-old baby and a decision. I had been presented the opportunity to go out “on my own”. I was feverishly into personal development podcasts and programs at the time and decided that I was up for the challenge! Completely oblivious to the hurdles that lay ahead of me. I had sought counsel from mentors and family members and believed my transition was relatively “low risk” because of my niche skill set and experience. (I had been offered multiple other opportunities at other companies).

From Science Geek to Businesswoman!

Up until that point my sole education background had been science-based. I focused on upper level sciences courses in high school, graduated from Carleton University in Biology, then Pharmaceutical Regulatory Affairs at TIPT. No business knowledge at all. No seriously none. I grew up in Chatham Ontario which is full of teachers and farmers- then very few entrepreneurs. At that ZERO entrepreneurs in my direct environment.

So, I decided I had better learn something about business, FAST- especially if I was going to attempt to start one. I enrolled in the Small Business Centre in Windsor, and then we quickly moved to Kitchener ON…so I enrolled there! I learned some key terminology and was grateful to receive the $5,000 start-up grant. Fantastic! During the following and first 2+ years, I had another baby, hired summer student researchers, made some money, lost money, enrolled in other local accelerator programs and was fortunate to gain amazing mentors and community support along the way.

I felt like my business didn’t really start until April 2018 when I was able to have an offsite workplace (huge risk) and hired my TWO co-op students for that summer. What an overwhelming and fortunate turn of events that was- we learned a lot and bonded as a team. Next, deciding to have one of the co-op students transition to fulltime employee was the biggest step I had taken to date. Putting an employee on payroll was TERRIFYING and likely the best decision I have made to date. David is not only still with me acting as our Regulatory Manager but has taken on the role of backbone of the company! His leadership and client management are second to none and I know our clients always receive top notch service!

Shortly after we hired Steve, our now Regulatory Coordinator who excels at customer service, research, analytical problems and acts as our in-house IT! Steve will be with us a year in September and I am eternally grateful to David and Steve for being so loyal to me and the company and really believing in and living our vision.

Emily and Cory are now on board and helping a tremendous amount on the administrative and process development side. I am so grateful with our expanding team we can provide additional valuable services to our Rockstar clients!

I wanted to essentially write a love/thank-you letter to entrepreneurship being the most challenging and gratifying (along with parenthood) last five years of my life. I never could have anticipated the obstacles I would run into. The ENORMOUS setbacks, failures, learning moments and the ridiculous emotional tole this would have on me. Not to mention the effect this decision would have on my personal and all relationships. Given all of that I would be no where near where I am today without it. I am stronger, smarter, more mature and so READY for all the challenges that lay ahead of me. BRING IT ON!!!

A HUGE thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way and been a part of this crazy ride and continues with me!

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