As January 1 dawns, it’s a perfect time to share a little history about how Grammy and I made our dreams a reality by building our own business and helping others along the way.  After all, New Year’s Day is about new beginnings, making promises, trying to improve and getting to a better place.  It’s a never-ending journey for each of us.

At the time of this writing, only Ben, Emma and Camden are really old enough to “get” most of this story, but like other blogs I’ve written over the years, I wanted to capture it for future curious grandchildren (that’s you Molly, Ainsley, Jack and Madigan) when you come of age.  It’s a long blog, but I wanted to cover the full story.  I hope it inspires you to reach for the stars with your own life.

the early years

Grammy and I grew up in Somersworth, met in high school and were married in 1975, the same year I graduated from UNH with a degree in Communications.  She was 20, I was 22.  Our wedding day was squeezed between Grammy’s birthday (Sept. 19 and my birthday, Sept. 21). We’ve always thought that was cool.

Our first apartment was in Manchester, NH (“The Queen City”) at 146 Sagamore Street where there were three other rents in the same building.  We didn’t have enough time or money to go on a nice honeymoon, so we went to Cape Cod for two nights, going back to work on Tuesday.

Our car was a used Ford Torino (pea green exterior color with a black pebbled vinyl top – sweet!), given to us by Grammy’s parents (Great Gram and her husband Bernard aka “Nard”).  I earned $7,500 a year at my first job, The Muscular Dystrophy Association.  Grammy worked at the biggest bank in town (Amoskeag Bank) and made $5,000 per year.

In 1976, we moved back to the Seacoast and got an apartment in Portsmouth (Patriot’s Park). We soon learned Grammy was pregnant with our first child.  She never had easy pregnancies; I remember carrying her on my back from the parking lot to the apartment in the snow because she was so dehydrated and weak after getting home from work.

With a baby on the way, Grammy’s parents wanted us to have our own house.  We didn’t have any money, but were able to find an old Cape in decent condition at 1 Rowland Street in Somersworth.  Our first mortgage was $32,000.  We struggled to make ends meet but had our own place to raise our baby – Timothy Paul Beaupre – who was born November 9, 1977. Our new family was underway!

a growing family, face slaps & building my career

After working at a local and statewide level with The Muscular Dystrophy Association, I wanted to work at a national and international level to acquire “big time” experience. I landed a job with The Strayton Corporation in Wellesley, MA,  the first high technology public relations agency in America.

I commuted over 200 miles a day from Somersworth to Wellesley to build my career and gain major experience.  I’d leave in the morning at 6 am and get back home at 7pm.  Some mornings I was so tired I’d slap my face (hard) as I drove to Massachusetts to keep from falling asleep. Sad, but true! One day I wore two different shoes, never noticing it (the closet was dark and it was early). Grammy called me at work and said “Have you checked your shoes today?”  What a dummy!!

These were challenging days for Karen.  She was alone all day with two little kids; we only had one car and I used it to commute.  She’d be so bored some days she’d vacuum places already vacuumed in our little house.  When we couldn’t pay for our property taxes, she went to work part time so we could pay them – she hated leaving her kids.  I didn’t like it either and felt like a loser.

After The Strayton Corporation, I got a new job with a fast growing technology company called Prime Computer in Wellesley, MA.  Although I liked working at Strayton, making the move to Prime gave me two things: international corporate experience and more money for our growing family – Karen was pregnant again!  It turned out to be a good decision.

I traveled to exciting cities like New York City, Las Vegas and California and organized big time events called “press conferences.”  Grammy and I got a free trip to Orlando, a real treat.  I worked hard, made things happen and climbed my way up the ladder. After several years I was named Public Relations Manager – at the age of 28. I was named to the prestigious Prime “President’s Council,” recognizing outstanding employee performance.

In December, 1980 our second child came into the world – Nicole Michelle Beaupre!  Another major lifetime milestone for us.  There’s nothing more exciting than being there for the birth of your chiildren, and being a Dad or Mom.

dreaming our dream

I treasured my time with my wife and kids, never getting enough of it.  I was building my career but didn’t want to miss major family moments. We both dreamed of something more, something better.  A little more money; two cars, me being closer to home, more time together. Another dream of ours was having the ability to do the things we wanted to do personally when we wanted to do it – this is called “work life balance.”  It’s something everyone struggles to get more of when they work.

We were never the kind of couple who accepted things as unchangeable. We always believed we could improve our “lot” in life and get to a better place.  Instead of waiting for things to magically fix themselves, we talked about our dreams and put new plans in place.  You have to ask yourself questions like “what can I do differently?” and “what will it take to get there?”

One of the decisions we came up with involved me finding a job closer to home.  That seemed like step #1.  We thought, “How can we make that happen?”  Answer? Get out there and check out new opportunities.  So while I was still working at Prime Computer (if you can help it, never quit a job without having a new job lined up), I started searching and interviewing for new jobs.  I did this discretely in my personal time for over a year.

Finally,  I landed a job with a small advertising agency in Hampton, NH called G. Anderson Advertising.  Despite a pay cut, I was finally back in the Granite State, only 30 minutes from home.  While it was awesome to be in NH, I soon discovered my job wasn’t a great fit for me because I didn’t respect the people who ran the business.  But what could I do?  There weren’t many opportunities for communications professionals in the Seacoast area.

making dreams come true

Instead of feeling bad for ourselves and complaining, Karen and I started talking about the possibility of creating our own company to give us more financial and lifestyle freedom.  We still didn’t have any money in the bank – every dime went to our living expenses.  We came up with a new plan.: I’d continue working at G. Anderson Advertising but would reach out to a few people I knew at high tech companies.  I investigated the possibility of doing “freelance” writing for them. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Two companies took me up on my offer and I started writing articles at night, in my spare time.  If I needed to visit my freelance clients or their customers, I’d take a vacation day.  I was juggling two jobs at once, day and night, working my tail off.   But the extra money was sure making a difference.

Soon my satisfied freelance clients asked if I could work with them full time.  We thought about the pros and cons, risks and opportunities.  I had confidence in myself and Karen had confidence in me.  We decided to roll the dice, take a chance and build a new company – Beaupre & Co. Public Relations – from scratch.

Grammy’s parents offered to lend us some money to get started; they were always looking out for us.  To keep our costs low, I worked out of the former nursery Nicole had recently vacated at 1 Rowland Street.  The Mickey Mouse and Raggedy Ann & Andy murals I had painted were still there when Beaupre & Co. began operation May 12, 1983.  I was 29;  Karen was 27. Tim was five; Nicole was two. Lots of risk, but also lots of opportunity. We focused on the latter.

I started off with a cheap pine desk, typewriter and phone.  That’s it.  Computers were just starting to become popular and I certainly couldn’t afford one.  Cell phones, fax machines, email, FedEx and social media were not yet invented.  If I needed to communicate with someone, I’d call them or visit in person. A very different world from the one you live in today. The view from my office was a swingset from Sears in our tiny backyard.

Hard work and growth

The first few year was challenging as we built a business from scratch.  I’d sometimes work all night long and Grammy would drive me to the client in the morning while I slept – Tim and Nicole were doing the same thing in the backseat!  My clients were in Milford, NH; Hudson, MA and Burlington, MA.

After working at home with Raggedy Ann & Andy for nine months, our financial challenges had improved.   All the hard work was paying off and we had a steady stream of business.  We paid off our loan and moved the company to Portsmouth in 1984, renting two rooms on the second floor at 208 Market Street.  That’s where the photo at the top of this blog was taken.

Beaupre & Co. was the first high technology focused communications company in New Hampshire.  Being in Portsmouth was a dream come true; it became a love of our life, a special city that shaped and nourished both of us.  It will always be my favorite place.

At Beaupre & Co., I focused on “counseling” clients and getting new business; Grammy ran the company including financials and HR (managing our people). We were an unbeatable combination, focused, and yet different.  We relied on each other every step of the way and played to our mutual strengths and interests. We always had an honest and equal partnership.

We‘ll always remember the day we could afford to buy a brand new Volvo station wagon – a second car –  within two years of starting our business.  It felt like we had really made it, and compared to our earlier days, we had.  Lots of hard work, but so much progress.  All the effort and money came back to us completely – not to an employer.

Your parents were at Harbour Place, and so were you

Our company was always profitable, which means we never had to borrow money and we never lost money.  We grew carefully and hired thoughtfully.   We hired our first two employees, then a few more.  We gradually got to 10 employees, then 15.  At our peak, in 2000, we had 50 people.

We moved two more times, once to Noble’s Island and finally to a beautiful building called Harbour Place on the water in Portsmouth, on Memorial Bridge.  We started small but expanded many times at Harbour Place, occupying office space on two floors at our peak.  We always had a gorgeous view of Portsmouth Harbour, something we appreciated every day.  Tim and Nicole spent many days playing in the conference room while Grammy and I worked and grew the company.

Each of you spent time at this office, playing in Papa’s office with the spinning fish, blow-up balls, little cars, Yellow Submarine and Beatle Bus.  I stood you on my windowpanes to watch the big boats come into Portsmouth Harbour and see the bridge go up and down. You’d visit Grammy and color in her office.  You loved walking to the kitchen to get snacks and pour water out of the water cooler.  Remember?

Creating a great personal lifestyle

Work life balance was a dream and we kept it front and center, holding it up as something important in our lives.

Despite working every night for the first five years nights and most weekends, I never missed any of the precious moments in our family’s life. I was there when Tim and Nicole laughed the first time, walked the first time, said their first words and later, for all their school events and games.  So was Grammy.

We always took plenty of time to have fun with our family along the way.  Grammy and I installed an in-ground swimming pool at the new house we built in 1986 at 14 Laurel Lane in Somersworth – only three years after starting our company.  We loved that house and pool.  We also took family vacations to Florida and Disney World, Caribbean islands, New York City, Washington, D.C., and other cool places.

Grammy and I have always loved the beach.  Grammy spent summers at her Mom and Dad’s beach house in Wells, Maine when she was in elementary and high school.  My paternal grandmother had a beach house  in Wells.  We went there every summer when my sister and I were little kids. I proposed to Grammy on Ogunquit Beach (May 17, 1975), our favorite place.

One of Grammy and my craziest dreams was buying our own beach house on the same beach where I had proposed.  Talk about a pipe dream!  In the early days when we had nothing and were struggling to make ends meet, this seemed impossible.  But as time went by and we worked harder and got “luckier,” we made this dream come true.  In 1996 – 13 years after starting Beaupre & Co. – we bought our amazing house on Moody Beach (a private beach on the north end of Ogunquit beach).

We’ve had this amazing place for 23 years. You’ve all enjoyed and it became part of your lives.  You’ll always remember Moody Beach in the summertime.  We’re proud we were able to make this dream a reality and create awesome memories that will last forever.

I always liked the expression, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”

Making the world a better place

As we grew more successful, we helped many people including you, your family, friends, relatives and social causes.  We helped people financially, helped your parents buy houses, and helped many social causes.  We’re still doing this.

Nothing feels better than making a difference.

One of the things we did was create a special scholarship for graduates of Somersworth High School (SHS), paying for their college education at the University of New Hampshire (UNH).  It’s called the Beaupre Entrepreneurial Scholarship (still going strong).  It rewards  graduating SHS seniors who exemplify key personal values, in particular being self motivated and making things happen on their own.

Many SHS students have attended UNH because of this scholarship.

Personal drive and persistence

I always loved the following quote from George Bernard Shaw because it speaks to this idea of shaping our own destinies.  It was framed in my office at One Harbour Place in Portsmouth for over 20 years and it’s included within the description of the Beaupre Scholarship on file with UNH.  Remember it and try hard to live by this creed as you grow older and shape your own life directions:

Figure out a way to make your dreams come true. Believe in yourself, plan in advance, go outside the lines, work incredibly hard, be optimistic, and take scary steps forward. Don’t compain; do something about it!  Your dreams will become reality.

Hitting the big time

In 1999, Beaupre & Co. was acquired (bought) by a $13 billion giant company traded on the New York Stock Exchange.  We got paid for having built an awesome company with a well earned reputation.  Even though we had achieved financial success, Grammy and I never did it for that reason.  Success was the end result of working our tails off, taking risks, planning and making a positive difference for the people who worked for us, our clients and our family.

In 2000 I made another dream come true: buying a black Porsche Carerra Cabriolet – a convertible.  It was the car I had always wanted.  Driving that car home from the dealership in Massachusetts was one of the highlights of my life!  I still love driving it around with the top down, Grammy at my side, music filling the air.

Moving on

We kept the Beaupre brand until 2013 when we were “urged” to combine it with Brodeur Partners in Boston.  Seeing the Beaupre name go away was a tough thing to experience; we were so proud of it.  Grammy and I worked for that company for several years, disliked most of our time there, and finally left, she in March, 2016 and me in July 2017.

Lesson learned: once you build and run your own company, nothing is ever as fulfilling or rewarding.

Dreaming new dreams & making them real

By the Fall of 2017, I put plans in place to start a new company called Soulful Advantage.  I have way too much energy to sit in a chair all day, take naps, watch TV or play golf.  Not my thing; not what makes me tick. I love variety and being in the game. I call it “rewirement” vs. retirement. I won’t work full time, just enough to keep the cobwebs from growing in my head.

I love the “Soulful” name – making the world a better place.

It’s fun being an entrepreneur again. Grammy is at my side, doing what she always did best, giving me great advice, helping me with financials and being my best friend.  She’s always had an uncanny ability to read situations objectively, separate chaff from wheat and help me find a better way.  What a life partner and love to have on my side. I bet your glad she’s your Grammy.

By December I had landed my first client, a company in Auckland, New Zealand. I’ve always dreamed of going there… hmm, maybe I’ll try to make that happen vs. waiting for it to magically happen. That’s how you make dreams come true, right?

That’s the lesson of this blog… 

you – and only you –  have the power to make your own special dreams come true.   Make them happen!