Entrepreneur has drive, goals

Message From Sean Conway, The Millionaires Plan:

Check this article out: young entrepreneur, wants to make money, starts own business - at the age of 20!

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David Freeman, The Leader-Post
Published: Monday, October 23, 2006

If starting your own business is your dream, you need to follow Murray Hugel's lead.

Hugel's drive to be a small business owner has made him a success in just four short months in operation.

"The idea of doing something on my own has been something that has been in my mind for a long time," Hugel said of his 20-year-old goal of becoming a business owner. "I use the old adage, 'If you control your own destiny, somebody else can't control it for you.'

"I wanted to be able to chart my own course without any boundaries and limits," he continued.

"And a lot of times when you're working for somebody else, there's always limits. With this enterprise I've got, there's no limits and I'm working from that point and that's a lot more exciting."

Hugel started Huge L Steel roughly four months ago. He went from nothing -- no building, no equipment, no employees -- to shipping his first product in just 21 days and he hasn't looked back.

"That's what really impressed a lot of people," he said. "So we really had our (stuff) together and we knew what we were doing. I'd like to see somebody else do it that quickly. I'm very proud of that."

Huge L Steel manufactures gasoline and diesel fuel storage tanks for agricultural and commercial use.

The tanks are also used by oilfield companies to store methanol, which is used to separate water from gas. Already the company has expanded its line and size of tanks and is branching out into custom fabricated steel products like ladders and catwalks.

Hugel, who was trained as an industrial systems engineer, has been ready to be a businessman for some time, but he wasn't sure what product he would build his business around until recently when he recognized a need in the oil and gas industry for the product.

"While I didn't really know what product I was going to work with, I definitely knew I was going into business in 2006," he said.

"I didn't really know how I was going to do it, but that was driving me, 'I'm just going to do it.' "
Hugel researched business practices and strategies on the Internet so he would be ready when he found the right product.

"The Internet is just an amazing tool for that because I would even just click in 'entrepreneur' and I would read stories about how other people took the plunge and stuff," he said.

And that research paid off. After 20 years working in the local manufacturing industry, he easily convinced his bank to finance his dream company.

"Murray is very driven. We believed in him the second he walked through the door," said Catherine Vanderzwan, an account manager for small business for a Regina branch of Scotiabank.

"Murray's one of the rare people who came in with a business plan prepared," she said. "Most times people are coming and they don't understand why you won't just write them a cheque. I don't think they really understand it. It's not just for us. It's actually more for them because a lot of times when you actually sit down and do the business plan, they'll come back and say 'Wow, I don't know what I was even thinking. I can't make a living off of that.' "