DESCRIBING AN ENTREPRENEUR
The world is not made up of many entrepreneurs . They are a small proportion of the world`s population.But certain religions and nationalities, and I have no statistics to back me up, have more of such people amongst themselves, out of proportion to their numbers in the world. Entrepreneurs are found among all groups,religions, female and male, races and nationalities.
What distinguishes an entrepreneur is the ability to see gain for a cause or for oneself , where no other person sees it. There are entrepreneurs in every facet of life, and I intend in this piece to describe how entrepreneurial activity works by giving a history of my own experience. I considered myself an entrepreneurial pharmacist but my experience in pharmacy exemplifies the principles which can be applied to any job or vocation.
Ideas by any entrepreneur do not have to be original, but for success it is important to be original in a specific area, like a country, city or province. Being first with an idea increases the chances of success. Before I forget there is one other requirement for success. TIMING AND LUCK!
I graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Pharmacy in 1954, which luckily corresponded with the discovery of many ground-breaking pharmaceutical that were effective and expensive. Gone were the days of dispensing thyroid, phenobarb aspirin vitamin C etc. I refer to tolbutamide for diabetes, cortisone for arthritis and skin conditions and tetracycline for infections like pneumonia. These drugs were at the time very expensive but ,in fact, much more effective. For pricing of each prescription the pharmacist used the retail price issued by the drug companies and since the pharmacist received a discount of 40-50% their profit was more than with the old drugs. It could be as high as $10.00 for each prescription. At the same time the Ontario College of Pharmacy OCP issued a directive (not binding) that the pharmacist should sell at cost plus a dispensing fee. Our pharmacy used a fee of $1.25 plus the cost of the drug which made our prices less expensive by a wide margin. Most pharmacies stayed with the retail prices given to them because they made more money. It happened at this time that the federal government allowed generic drug companies to sell the same drugs as the brands but under their chemical name and at a much cheaper price. Our pharmacy started phoning doctors who were not acquainted with the generic names, recommending the less expensive drugs (they were exactly the same and the manufacturing facility was inspected by the Ministry of Health). We were located in the second floor of a building at St Clair and Dufferin in order to save on rent and to be honest we had very little business. And then it happened. The OCP took us to court for various reasons which were not covered under the law and OCP lost. We broke NO LAWS, got a headline in the Toronto Star. We became credible and moved to a location at St Clair and Oakwood on the street level Our Rx numbers quickly increased.
While this was going on we became aware that the American government was filling Rx`s for their veterans and mailing the drugs to their homes. Why not in Ontario? We became the first mail-order pharmacy in the province and mailed the medicine, after calling the doctors, to the patient. By phoning each doctor to get permission to use the generic brand we became known throughout the province to the patient and the doctors and eventually opened pharmacies in many small towns . The cost of sending medicine COD at the time was very low. We mailed the medicine in small handy boxes. We eventually ended up with about 35 small pharmacies throughout Ontario and eventually sold out to Rexall drugs.
Do you remember at the beginning of this essay I stated you need TIMING AND LUCK. It is now impossible to duplicate Vanguard Pharmacy. Why? The Ontario government by law mandates that the pharmacist use the generic drugs at the low prices. No choice! It is illegal to mail drugs and in any case the cost would eat up any savings and when you open a new pharmacy you must have all the equipment and paraphernalia as required by the OCP. You cannot open on the cheap For your information I had 1 partner, Mervin Kerzner and we opened with an investment of $100.. each
