A LOOK BACK AT A LIFE IN BUSINESS:
Talking with Corporate Head and Entrepreneur Rod Sibley

by Lucas Fairchild

"Nothing in life is more exciting than creating value from nothing. That's was entrepreneurship is all about. That's the real high, the most wonderful drug for those who experience it—you become a deal addict, you want to create that value again because it is so wonderful."
—Rod Sibley

By 1997, after 32 years in the hotel industry, Rod Sibley was on the upper rungs of the corporate ladder: Choice Hotels, senior VP of franchise operations, and at age 47 able to retire.

He did just that...for four months. Then he u-turned back into business but this time on the path less traveled: he turned entrepreneur. By 1998, he headed his own hotel brokerage development company. Six years later, he was heading a mature hotel brokerage development company and sold out to his partners to pursue his real passion: non-profit.

But does the entrepreneurial itch ever really go away?

As part of his non-profit work, Rod also co-founded and now manages an unusual clothing line called "Life After! Rocks"—this is in addition to his work with Eagle Ranch for children, and several other non-profits. The point is that Rod Sibley knows employment—corporate and self. He also knows mistakes, storms, and about keeping faith in God and himself.

We asked Rod about business in general, entrepreneurship in particular, and how they affected his views on life.

Rod, what makes a person an entrepreneur, and what made you one?

I think a belief in yourself and your specific talents—and the ability to take reasonable, logical, and well calculated risks. I spent a fair number of years in corporate America at a relatively early age. While still young, I founded a real estate development company in Texas. It proved to be a difficult time, but I came to learn that I enjoyed working for myself. I accepted the risk associated with it. And it was fulfilling to me.

Many people get lodged in corporate America and never leave—never getting to feel the immediate sense of gratification from their efforts. They are cogs in a big wheel. Owning my own business, I touched each aspect of the company I created. I got to see the results of my efforts both good and bad. I was hooked.

What kind of personality makes a good entrepreneur?

Someone with the two C's: the ability to commit and the courage to commit. A good entrepreneur has a tremendous sense of self-confidence and the courage to step out and exercise a talent or skill. A successful business usually is a long, slow process. You don't have to be necessarily smart. You do need to be street savvy.

How did you choose what field to pursue your own work in?

My first business experience was related to the hotel industry, so I was leveraging all the relationships I had garnered over 30 years. It was a natural flow: after working for a publicly traded hotel company, I banked on my knowledge of franchise and development. I knew the industry and the players.

Along the way, did you fail at anything, and what did it teach you?

From 1980-1985, I was a partner in real estate development company in Dallas. In the early '80s, Dallas and all of Texas was in a boom—a boom which we rode to the ground. We were a highly leveraged company. We built up tremendous debt and our real estate portfolio suffered from falling real estate values.

I found solace in people a lot bigger and smarter than I was who were in my same boat. I learned to live through the personal embarrassment, hurt, and difficulty that resulted in having to move my family out of Dallas. I had to find an inner strength and faith to realize that I still had a wife and two children, a mortgage, and bills to pay. I realized that my knowledge and expertise in my specific field could not be stripped from me. I trusted in my faith and commitment that things would work out.

I accepted it would be a difficult road, and it proved to be. Those were some difficult times. It would have been easy to quit—to check out. Fortunately, because of God's grace and the fact that I believe He has a plan for us (and it's not always pleasant), it was my time to be humbled. Things had gone well for us up until then, almost a fairyland. That setback made me a stronger person on a lot of levels—as a father and a husband. It strengthened my relationship with God.

When there's no boss to mentor you, how do you learn and grow in your career?

My early career was full of great mentors in corporate America. Fortunately, one of my first jobs was working for the entrepreneur Cecil Day—a wonderful Christian businessman who taught me by example. My immediate boss at Days Inn taught me about the business and true life lessons: how people are to be treated, what's important. My core values tended to be the barometer by which my actions were gauged.

My boss and CEO of Choice Hotels was a creative "big thinking" guy who hated bureaucracy. He implemented a structure that allowed his employees to be the best they could be without the corporate entanglement.

When I started alone, I applied my all of my experiences. You call on your past experience and core values to guide your actions and decisions.

What's the hardest lesson you remember learning—particularly in the early years?

Patience. I considered myself a bright man with big dreams and big goals. I was in a hurry to get there. At that time in my life, I failed to realize that I was on this large learning curve. I had to learn to be patient and wait for the opportune time to come along. It was very difficult.

Impatience is typically a part of your immaturity that frankly needs to be overcome if you're going to be successful. Successful people didn't get there overnight. It took months and years of hard work, staying the course, to get to where they did. At 26 years old, if I had gone out and tried to do something on my own, I would have been too impatient to stay the course. The true sign of my own immaturity was that I was impatient. Let your maturity catch up with your intellect.

Given what you know now, what would you have done differently?

I wouldn't have invested in the real estate business in Texas. [Laughs] I would be more in tune to who I was working with and even more so to whom my partners were.

Everyone, even those who start their own businesses alone, have partners: a bank, lender, lawyer, wife, family...they're all stakeholders. I want to partner with people who share my goals, dreams, desires, vision, and, as closely as possible, my moral code. Many people get into trouble when dealing with stakeholders with different goals, dreams, desires, and visions.

What has business taught you about life?

That it's not horrific to fail—to dust yourself off and do it again. It taught me perseverance that has applied to my personal life.

Certain parts of business have helped me be a better husband and father. In business and in life, you often have problems with no immediate solution. Patience and perseverance are required. Life and business bring times of no easy answers. They require a tremendous amount of reflection and consideration.

What decisions are you proudest of?

I'm proudest of starting this new business, Life After! Rocks with my friend and business partner Barry Smith, primarily because it's outside the lodging business. It's an arena where I have no base or core knowledge, and we have the ability to impact peoples' lives in a lasting way. In other words, it's a business bigger than its balance sheet. (lifeafterrocks.com)

If I wanted to go into business for myself tomorrow, what advice would you have for me?

The Old Testament has a story about a man who was going to build a house. He was told to make sure that he had all the money he needed before he started construction because if he ran out of money, everyone would laugh at him.

I would tell you to have the things you need before you go into a business: the knowledge and dynamics of the business, and adequate cash and financial backing so you can build that business into profitability.

Also, it's crucial to strategically plan that business to the smallest detail. So many people go into small, owner-operated businesses where they just didn't understand the scope of what they're going into. They lack a thoughtful and intricate plan. I'm a firm believer that we don't do anything in our business unless it is part of our plan. I hate surprises. I would encourage any young entrepreneur to have all the money, talent, knowledge, temperament, and understanding of the full scope before he or she begins.

It's natural to fear risk but self-employment is all about risk—can you talk about risk and fear?

A little dose of fear is helpful. You can never remove all the risk out of your business equation. I'm firm believer in very calculated and educated risk decisions. I have to have a tremendous amount of faith and confidence to manage those risk points. Also, you have to emotionally manage what it would feel like if your particular business failed. Ask yourself, "Could I live through this, could my family, emotions, relationships and self image survive it if my business failed?" That's how I approach the fear side of the risk equation. Then it becomes calculable. I look at my talents, financial resources, knowledge, and then I balance my assets against my natural fear of that failure.

What price, if any, did your family pay for the road you took?

My family paid a huge price. They lived through a failed business, and they witnessed firsthand the stress, the financial difficulties, I brought home.

Most entrepreneurs have such a hot, burning focus on their business dream and vision that they have a difficult time separating and segmenting themselves from their business. Your family pays a price for it. At times I couldn't untangle myself from the company to deal with the real problems of a thirteen-year-old daughter.

You must have seen people around you both succeed and fail—what did you learn about why some succeed and others don't?

I have friends who were ill prepared, had no plan or understanding of the intensity of a particular business. And they became overwhelmed. You need to fully understand the business through due diligence. Undercapitalization—the most frequent cause of failure—is lack of due diligence and strategic planning.

Nothing in life is more exciting than creating value from nothing. That's what entrepreneurship is all about. That's the real high, the most wonderful drug for those who experience it—you become a deal addict, you want to create that value again because it is so wonderful.