Pharmpreneur of the week Paul Sinclair: ‘Success is getting up each day and loving what I do’

SnapshotEducation:I was very fortunate to have a Jesuit secondary education at St Ignatius College in Sydney, Australia. As I grew up in rural New South Wales, I was a boarder from year 7 to year 12. Some of the friendships I made at boarding school have been life long, and these friends have had a very positive influence on my lifeBachelor of Pharmacy, Sydney University, 1981 Diploma Company Director, New England University, 1995Role/Title:Community pharmacy owner in Sydney, the Southern Highlands and the Central Coast of NSW for 35 years. I have had a long-term engagement with pharmacy representative organizations including:Pharmacy Guild of Australia, NSW President and National Vice PresidentMember of the Pharmacy Council NSWChair and Board member of the Australian Association of Consultant PharmacyCurrently President International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)What excites you about being an entrepreneur?I guess the thought of being able to create an enterprise and see it prosper and deliver health outcomes and services that improve the lives of our patients every day. Also, the opportunity to employ pharmacists and other staff within that enterprise. How has your entrepreneurial career evolved since your graduation?I was fortunate to have my father as my mentor. He was an entrepreneurial small businessman and offered me unlimited support, particularly in the early part of my career. He instilled in me the notion of “backing myself” if I thought a new business or acquisition would work. I have always worked on consolidation of a current opportunity before moving to the next challenge. The community pharmacy environment in Australia has afforded me many opportunities.What was your key driving force to become an entrepreneur?I was always happy to work hard and give every opportunity the best chance of success. I enjoyed the challenge of business and of being successful in business. Even when things may not have worked out as expected, there was always the drive to look for other opportunities.How do you define success?Success for me is being happy in what I do and maximizing outcomes for everyone involved. This includes creating great workplaces where people are happy to work and find it easy to give their best. Success is getting up each day and loving what I do.As a successful entrepreneur, what continues to drive you?I guess you always want to do more, whether that means new ventures or new involvements which may afford you the opportunity to contribute back to our pharmacy profession. I see now the importance of supporting younger pharmacists and mentoring them whenever possible. I always welcome the opportunity to speak to younger pharmacists and encourage them to be the best pharmacists (either as pharmacy owners or employees) that they can be.What are the biggest challenges to being an entrepreneur?Tempering expectations and designing and implementing business plans which are designed for success. Patience is a real virtue in business and I learnt early on that you cannot always control external factors which may affect your business. How do you manage work/life balance?Work/life balance is such an important consideration. Early on I had very poor work/life balance because everything was focused on making the business work. Having had a large family of five children, I made a conscious decision to prioritize them by delegating a lot my business responsibilities to very competent staff. My wife Sandy has always supported all of our business ventures and has managed to keep me focused on work and family in a very balanced way.What books/resources do you recommend for every entrepreneur to check-out?I would suggest any aspiring entrepreneur should look at other peoples’ successes. Why do they work, what are their points of difference and how can I do it better? It is also instructive to look at other people’s failures: why do ventures that look like such good ideas fail? Are they undercapitalized, are they poorly positioned or is the business plan poorly executed? There are any number of books on successful entrepreneurs which may be helpful.What advice would you give to colleagues who want to become entrepreneurs?Always perform appropriate due diligence before undertaking any venture and always be prepared to take advice from qualified people.LinkedIn: @SherifGuorguiInstagram: @SherifGuorguiFacebook: @Sherif Seif GuorguiTwitter: @Sherif_Guorgui

Pharmpreneur of the week Paul Sinclair: ‘Success is getting up each day and loving what I do’

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