60 April 18 • 2019
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very business or idea started
with a watershed moment. A
moment in time where you as
the leader became
inspired to do what
you do. By recogniz-
ing your watershed
moment, you’
ll have a
foundation built that
will help to build a
resilient attitude and
perspective to defend
against any negative
situation that may arise.
You must remember your water-
shed moments. Ruth Zuckerman,
founder of SoulCycle and Flywheel,
knows all about these watershed
moments and the way hers created
resiliency to chase her passion. She
went from dreaming of dancing for
a living to a desperate position after
letting that dream die. It was in this
moment she felt a push to join a daily
spin class that led to her starting
SoulCycle.
She recalls her watershed moment
this way: “I feel that I was so desper-
ate for something at that juncture
in my life … it was traumatic, and I
wasn’
t really experiencing much plea-
sure. And there was something, there
was a kind of an energy I felt from the
spinning room, from looking from
the outside in … it felt very intense
and focused, and there was a group
energy and community.”
She eventually joined the class,
which led to her becoming the
instructor of the class, which in turn
led to her starting SoulCycle — an all
spinning fitness center. Her water-
shed became her passion. “My main
motivation in wanting to bring this
to a bigger audience was to simply be
able to spread the wealth and let other
people experience this, too,” she said.
FROM WATERSHED TO RESILIENT
For all business leaders, it should look
very similar to this. Our watershed
moment begins our journey to chase
our passion. And when the bumps
come, that watershed becomes a
source of resiliency.
Zuckerman defines resiliency in
this way: “Resilience means not giv-
ing up, sticking to your core passion
and beliefs and trying to maintain a
certain hopefulness when things feel
really bad or are feeling hopeless. It’
s
having faith and, at the end of the day,
having faith in yourself.”
Resilience is a choice, but even
more, it’
s a sign of preparedness and
good planning. If you have used your
watershed moment to chase a passion,
then you can always return to that
place to draw strength and re-center
your soul to take on the challenges
you face. It will mark you as a good
leader if you can take in stride the
twists and turns that business will
bring and, through them, prove your
stalwart can-do attitude as a living
example to your company.
Resiliency is something that every
CEO-minded person needs to have.
Zuckerman is a great example and
her story radiates from watershed to
resilient. But, it also goes a step fur-
ther. When we have that watershed
moment, even through the resiliency,
we still have one thing that must hap-
pen to grow our business: We must
take risks.
BE RESILIENT AND TAKE RISKS
Risk-taking is second nature to some
and scares the daylights out of others.
But risks are a natural part of growing
a business. Feeling the nudge from the
universe to move our company in a
different direction requires that we be
in tune with our soul and the soul of
our company.
This connectedness will allow us to
analyze decisions in light of the pas-
sions behind our watershed moment.
Risk shouldn’
t be shied away from,
but rather celebrated as a way to take
our business
to newer heights.
The nature of risk means there will
be moments where you won’
t reach
the mountain top; this is where your
resiliency comes back to the fore-
front. But, by nature, risk also means
that there will be celebratory moun-
tain-top experiences — moments
where you step back and think, Wow,
we did it!
If we are to grow our businesses in
sustainable ways, we have to be able to
handle and experience each of these
moments in stride. Learning from
the lower moments and celebrating
the high mountain-top moments —
always striving to better ourselves.
Our watershed moment is the
reason we do what we do. It powers
everything. It also permits us to take
risks. Remember: Take risks. Try
something new. Be resilient. Why?
Because your business matters! ■
Jon Dwoskin is a business coach and exec-
utive adviser who grows businesses. He is
the author of “The Think Big Movement.” Visit
jondwoskin.com for more or email him at jon@
jondwoskin.com.
Jon Dwoskin
Use Your Watershed
Moment to Create
Resiliency and
Take Risks
D
etroit Popcorn Co. has a
new owner: Evan Singer
purchased the 95-year-
old Detroit Popcorn Company for
approximately $1 million from
co-owner David Farber. Singer started
at Detroit Popcorn Company 15 years
ago as general manager and has been
half owner the past four years.
The company has annual revenues
of approximately $4 million per year.
Farber purchased the business in 2006
and moved it to Telegraph and Five
Mile Road in Redford four years later.
The company has had steady growth
of 5 to 7 percent per year since the
purchase and Singer plans to increase
that to between 10 to 20 percent by
2020.
Singer plans on making some
significant changes to the company’
s
business model, including taking
on three-to-five franchises, possible
satellite locations, new fully printed
packaging for convenience stores or
“grab-and-go” bags, and adding more
products that customers request. The
company’
s popular holiday gift tins
will also be available.
What started as a small popcorn
business in 1923 has blossomed into a
multi-million dollar company under
Singer’
s leadership and specializes in
variety of ready-to-eat snack foods,
and a broad range of concession
equipment and supplies for all types
of fun foods, including popcorn,
cotton candy, nachos, frozen drinks,
corn dogs, candy apples and more.
“My uncle was from the retail
business and he taught me a lot about
how I need wholesale and retail cus-
tomers,
” Singer says. “He also taught
me that the secret to a successful busi-
ness is to listen to your customer base
and have happy employees. I now
have a new motto — listen to every-
one, watch everyone and learn.
” ■
Evan Singer
Detroit Popcorn
Detroit Popcorn
Company Gets
Company Gets
New Owner
New Owner