PERMANENT HAIR REMOVAL

Proven successfull since the late 1800's
Clients treated To.a relaxed home atmosphere and

~ complere privacy. Waxing and pedicures also available. -
“Invest in Yourself”. For an APPOINIMENT OR information

call 10128 3rd St. 656- 4231

: Sidney

. “Evening A pointmenrs Available
Simply 4 done ... oy Mae pe

~ Doors open 8:30 pm son

- Ail ladies will receive « corsage Fale cites NOL hs ea
Members $35.00 Non-Members $45.00. aah
Music by “Bar None” starts 9:00 pm till 2:00 am.

Chinese Food (8 course] will be served ~
‘starting at 10: 00 pm till. 1:00 am

“At 11:30 champagne will be given o out.

Also a 2000 New Years Commemorative Glass,
one for every one fo keep. -

12:30am Door Prize draw 2 night Sweetheart
7 Package at “Tigh Na Mara” Resort Hotel

Bar closes 2:15 am & out by 2:45 am
Jan. 1, 2000. “Bar Nene" 2-6 pm.

Victoria
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| | Peete ence san SENET MORON RN Hm EH Rm TTY WN HNOOUE i LpnmeP Ym eR Mires

oe SIDNEY

- 656-0961
2468 Beacon Ave,
James Bay Shelbourne -

" BRENTWOOD BAY
-, 652-3981.

Trafalgar Square...

Cloverdale
“478-6474
Soi Horne het

386-8427
: James Ou cata

ATT-ONS

~ Stvelbourne

can save millions of dollars,” he said.
|. ~The business flourished; building up
“f toa staff of about 50. But it was a lot of

q PUERTO VALLARTA Allegro bes Nuevo Vallarta |

Peninsula News Review
, eter Berrang could be sitting on

a gold mine, but it’s likely the

3. — lessons learned getting there
that are the most valuable. While his
business ventures have been success-
ful, it’s his willingness to take risks that
have made them so.

But if you listen to Berrang himself,
he says the secret to his success was _
actually a series of mistakes — mis-
takes that turned lucky.

His story starts in a Victoria pancake
house, sitting at a table with two
friends. The three had recently gradu-
ated from university, and the prospects
of getting a job were slightly daunting.

“The government wasn’t hiring, so
we decided we could start a business

December 9 for a meeting of the”
Breakfast Club. ae
The young men began by starting a.

consulting company, despite the fact ~
Berrang’s background: was in science,

~ not business. ° face
“< “Jlearned a lot about ‘business’ "he é
|: said, “Although it would have been less .
“stressful to hire an MBA.” He finally
~ hired-a chartered accountant, which °-

Berrang said was the best thing he did
: — “by watching what's happening; ‘you

work. :

“T was watching my friends i in manu: : ve
» facturing. It seemed to me their lives

were easier, and they were having

‘more fun, so I decided to make a:
7 change.”

His next step, after some research,

‘ was to begin manufacturing chemicals,
“1 - optics and electronic instruments un-
~.-der the name SeaStar.

“I probably did everything wrong. I
had-no business plan, I hadn't done a
market study. My business plan was .
probably: ‘make it to the next payday’ I I
was just lucky. ] happened to hit three

good things,” he told the crowd.

His method was the shotgun ap-
proach: He put together a data sheet -
for several products and sent them to
people he thought might be customers,

“We didn't actually make any of
those things, we just asked iftcompa:

fox Chraiat mas.

g,

61 gH ese

i i rT i ite

ourselves. We talked about putting up
$100 each to get going,” Berrang told
_the crowd of about 40 who had come

! out at 7am., gathering at Mystic Pizza

| rabbit.” m4

Gio ve the Ultimate Sf

of 3) one

 BERVIGE LTO,

Call Today! 656- 9905

We: aar0 Boacon Ave, Sidnoy, B.C. VAL IX? :
stil ged Toll fice 1.800 225-6256 +"

a SIDNEY. VTRAVEL & CRUISE

Wednesday, December 15, 1999

| mae oz: Ea ELE a = TR: E _ ae

“Vou have to chase one
rabbit — and make sure

all the people working for

you are chasing the same

: nies would be willing to » buy them fi ‘om _

Si”. The orders started pouring in,
e had to quickly 1 manufacture the
: goods and send them out. 9.
--Then he noticed he was getting a.

; a growing number of orders from Je apan
- fora certain module. “I realized there |
was something important going on out

there [in the marketplace] that I didn’ t
understand, so I went to find out,” said
Berrang. It was the beginning of anew |

_ way of doing business for him. He _

started to focus his attention on certain
products and to follow through on de-
velopment and marketing.

“J accidentally hit the front wave in
the optics field, and it took off,” he said.
That company ‘became SDL Optics.

Then, as he became solidly success-
ful, something happened: Berrang got

bored.

“Tl have come to realize I'ma zero to
20 person — I'm good at starting com-

panies and taking them to the $20 mil-

lion level; probally people more skilled
than me can take it from the $20 mil- ”
lion to the $100 million level."

Jneremereinaene seawater

£%.

: Peter Berrang : oy

-) “persons, Epic Biosonics Inc. and he’s

Peter Berrang has parlayed his
ideas into successful ventures for
the past 30 years. After years of
working, he decided to try retire-
ment. But circumstances, a little
boredom and some frightening sta-
tistics lured him back into the
business world.

JUDY REIMCHE PHOTO

So he retired.

“I traveled — my wind-surfing got
pretty good .. - then I read some statis-
tics that said the average length of time
people live after retirement is two

years. I'd been retired a year and a half.
I figured I'd better find something new-

to do —I only had another six

- months!”. Sees

- He has now gotten involved i ina.
manufacturing enterprise with an ear.

surgeon, developing a new type of to
‘tally. implantable, ear prosthesis for deaf .

way. ©
{I decided, to b ; soosssful: you:
have to ‘chase one “rabbit — ‘and make:
~ sure all the people working for you are
i chasing the same rabbit.”
~He advocates using government °
grants, where available, to kick- start”
the business, but “like a drug; only use
itas needed.” He also advocates form-
ing a strong board, and then accepting
its authority. “It’s hard forsometo
change their nature. I see a lot of i inven-
tors who won't let go of their idea,
won't listen to a board. It becomes too
personal — they're their own worst en-
emy. You have to be practical: who
needs the product, who are the compe-
- tition, how can I meet the customers’
“needs?” And he believes in getting
patents.
Does he have a business plan this
time? “Yes, it’s the first business plan
I've written in my life.”
And his best advice to people i in busi-
ness js that they should retire every,
ie or five years -= for a year and a
valf. .

Be

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