“There’s always something inside of you that keeps pushing you”
A panel of business owners Monday shared insights into the characteristics of what makes a good entrepreneur.
The panel, Entrepreneurs on Leadership, assembled by Leadership Prince William, featured leaders from businesses like manufacturing, auto repair, communications, medicine, and retail.
The majority of those who spoke said they never intended to become a successful business owner. However, they decided it was a goal worth pursuing.
“I didn’t want another business,” said Sarah Pitkin, owner of Pitkin’s Hardware in Dale City.
She bought the store from her father, and she said owning your own business is a mix of trial and error.
“There’s always something inside of you that keeps pushing you to keep moving for and having ideas and seeing what works,” said Pitkin.
Many entrepreneurs search for their niche and some niches may not always be the most popular ideas.
“I listen for things like ‘you shouldn’t do that,’ or I listen for ‘I wouldn’t do that’ when talking to others. That is a trigger point for me to look into something,” said ST Billingsley, owner of Steve’s Auto Repair and Tire in Woodbridge.
Teamwork was also a much-discussed topic at Monday’s session.
“Entrepreneurism is taking advantage, taking risk, and saying ‘it’s going to work’ and ‘I can figure it out with other people helping me,’” said Patty Baisden, owner of QMT Wind Chimes.
The discussion later morphed into a conversation about how to better promote Prince William County, its amenities, and the quality business community it has to offer. Many said only negative news is reported about the county and few “good news” stories are told about Prince William.
Mark Shaaber, of SCS Integrated Support Solutions, hosted the event. He chose to retire from his job at the Pentagon in Arlington and live in Prince William County.
“I heard the community options were good and the price of housing was lower. What got me to stay here in prince William County is when I looked at a map of Prince William and saw I can take a ride on a country road, and saw it was a place that had a tree or two left we could be proud of,” he said.
While there were many comparisons between Prince William’s larger neighbors Fairfax and Loudoun counties.
“We’re a really great community, but were not [Fairfax], and that’s OK because we have enough. It’s just a sense that we’re good, and that’s enough,” said Baisden.
The Prince William Association of Realtors building in Woodbridge hosted the event.
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To celebrate Air Quality Awareness Week (May 6-10, 2024), Clean Air Partners is working with A Few Cool Hardware Stores to exchange DC, Maryland and Virginia residents’ gas-powered lawnmowers, trimmers, and leaf blowers at select Ace Hardware locations in the region. DMV residents who turn in their gas-powered lawn tools will receive a FREE Ego Power+ replacement including batteries and chargers, while supplies last.
Compared to gas, electric lawn equipment can reduce emissions, noise pollution, health risks and maintenance costs and time. The program aims to remove about a hundred gas-powered polluting tools from yards in the greater Baltimore-Washington region.
The exchanges will take place the weekends of May 17-19, 2024, and May 31-June 2, 2024, at A Few Cool Hardware Stores network of employee-owned Ace Hardware stores in the DC and Baltimore metro areas. To participate and get your free Ego Power+ lawn tool, sign up at https://qrco.de/CAPExchange to reserve your tool and select your trade-in date and location.
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Free Irish Music Concert
Welcoming Spring with music from the Emerald Isle, the New Dominion Choraliers offer a FREE concert on Saturday, April 27 at 7:30 p.m. at the First United Presbyterian Church of Dale City.
Joined by Legacy Brass and members of Old
Spring Ceili: An Irish Music Festival
The New Dominion Choraliers of Prince William County and McGrath Morgan Academy of Irish Dance invite you to join them at our Ceili, a grand celebration of Irish music and dance.
A gathering of performance groups throughout Prince William County
