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Personality of the Week – Glenda Arthurs Ferguson

FeaturesPersonality of the Week - Glenda Arthurs Ferguson

As she says, "This is a journey. I’m not even half way on it. As you journey on, the script changes."

Her foundation came from her grandmother, Emeline Uter, who gave Miss Glenda her earliest lessons in the culinary arts. She said that her grandmother had her make her own birthday cake, a white cake, when she turned 12. There were no electrical appliances then; she had to use a bucket and a stick to beat her batter.

"She was an excellent cook and she made white rice and meat taste out of this world," Miss Glenda said of her grandmother. She taught her what not to mix together, as well as the purpose of certain types of foods: what is good for the immune system or to build bones, for example. These skills she has also employed in nurturing her two daughters, Kimiko and Michelle.

Too blessed to be stressed, she does not focus on the hardships of doing business, but on the upside; that it means a lot to her to be doing something she is passionate about.

"Having the business gives me time to interact with my children, to sit with the girls and have a conversation," she said. "Kim was 12 when the business started. She knew her responsibility. What’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable, and the consequences. We would communicate by phone. She had to call me as soon as she got home from school, and I would call her and check up on her."

Back then, the business climate was very conducive to success, but last year, she saw her biggest challenge.

In 2005, she did contemplate closing shop, but she remembered a conversation with a male customer.

He said, "Business will always teach you. This is your blessing and your lesson at the same time to trust who has you in the palm of their hands. Hang in there and He’ll show you the light,?" she recalled.

She now declares, "I can’t allow what God has blessed me with to cause me to become frustrated."

To readers, she encourages: "Do your best and the rest will follow."

Advise for Mothers in Business

1. Put family first: According to Miss Glenda, she wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and makes herself a cup of tea. Her younger daughter, Kimiko Ferguson, gets up about that time and starts to get ready to take her bus to Belmopan, where she attends the University of Belize. That’s their opportunity to connect with an early morning chat, which, she said, is their talk for the daytime. Then, her elder daughter, Michelle Lawrence Lockwood, picks her up to take her to the restaurant and they also get a chance to connect before their workday begins.

"I am determined to keep a strong relationship with my daughters," she elaborated.

2. Put customers before business

3. Put God before all things

Other Advice

Stay humble and be very honest with customers.

"If it has in pigtail, let the customer know," she advises.

If there is something in your soul to do, do it and don’t let anyone stop you. It might not have worked for them, but it could work for you.

Be dedicated. Be consistent: If you give quality today, strive to give that same quality 25 years from now; don’t pinch when you start making money.

If you make 50 cents in business, only 10 cents of that is for you. Don’t get in it for the money, but for the love of what you’re doing.

Hire people with good personality; you can always train them. Don’t hire people because you are friends or are related

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