Patti and Larry Durand have always embodied the entrepreneurial spirit of rural Canada. Both worked corporate jobs for years in the agricultural economy around their hometown of Humboldt, Sask. but also had ‘side hustles’ on the go. Over the past few years, those part-time gigs have gradually become full-time consulting businesses, enabling the couple to improve their work-life balance.

In 2014, Mr. Durand, 52, left his full-time job at Ducks Unlimited Canada to focus on his consulting business, Field Good Agronomics. Meanwhile, Ms. Durand, 49, recently left her position as a financial adviser at Farm Credit Canada to focus on her company, Brightrack Consulting.

In this series, Reimagining Wealth, we explore the evolving definition of wealth in today’s world. Here is more from the Durands on their decision to become full-time entrepreneurs:

Can you describe your career paths?

Patti: We’ve been married 26 years, and throughout our marriage, one of us has always had a corporate role, typically in agriculture, and then there have always been side hustles. It was a way for us to always have one parent home with the kids, which was a priority until they were about six or seven.

Larry: It was important for one of us to always have [one] corporate job with a good benefits package while the other one might have been doing a consulting job or working for ourselves. But as time went on and we gained experience and became more well known, opportunities kept arising. I started my consulting business, Field Good Agronomics, in 2001; I give crop production advice to farmers. When it grew to the point where I couldn’t do both any more, I left Ducks Unlimited Canada to consult full time.

Patti, when did you make the transition to running your own business?

Patti: In 2018, I was recruited to do a program at Farm Credit Canada (FCC) in family farm transition. At FCC, I witnessed the challenges of family businesses but also patterns that I believed needed more attention. I departed in about 2020 and built up Brightrack Consulting, which allows me to help more businesses faster.

Now, I’m continuing with a limited amount of family engagement like coaching families in decision-making conversations, but I also hold workshops to train other advisers to do this kind of work. I’m also a keynote speaker and I’ve written my first book, which is really designed to help successors prepare themselves.

Why did you decide the time was right for both of you to go all-in with your side hustles?

Patti: [Over the years], we’ve been good at generating businesses, but our time isn’t an infinite resource. If our ability to live depends on us putting in more and more hours, it’s not an equation that’s sustainable in the long term, so it’s rethinking how we’re going about what we want to achieve. By both of us working independently, it’s created opportunities and more flexibility.

Larry: And we’re at a stage in our professional careers and in our lives where we’ve got things that are paid for now, so that also made it easier to fully leave the corporate world.

How has your work-life balance changed?

Patti: We’re both committed volunteers, so we have more time for that. I’m involved in the music ministry and Larry is president of the church council. He also sits on the board of PARTNERS Family Services, which is an organization in Humboldt which provides care for those in distress in the community because of things like abuse or scarcity.

We’re both more physically active in terms of walking, running, pickleball, volleyball, you name it. We like the social aspect of it. I also coach high-school sports – our two girls have long since graduated but I find it really meaningful to shape good humans. Contributing to that means a lot to me.

It sounds like you’ve created the life that you’ve always wanted, but are there any downsides to your decision?

Larry: There were times when our girls were younger and one of us was at home not earning a paycheque that we had to do without. And starting these businesses, stepping into the unknown, it’s a little bit unnerving; but you have to take those risks sometimes.

I think today we’re feeling really good about how it all turned out. It allowed us to have a healthy family relationship and I think that’s probably the biggest benefit of being at home. We could not be prouder of our girls – Claire who is 23 and Jocelyne who is 21. They’re so responsible and kind. They’re studious at university and there’s no doubt in our minds that they will do great things. They might have done just as well under different circumstances, but we’re happy that we were able to play a part in that.

Patti: We chose to invest in our family and each other and sometimes that requires other sacrifices. Our world tells us, work, work, work, work, save, save, save, save until it’s time to stop and then you live off what you’ve saved. That may benefit the world, but it’s not necessarily healthy for everybody, so perhaps there’s a better way. I believe we are proof of that.