Get your motor runnin’ Head out on the highway Lookin’ for adventure And whatever comes our way . . .

- Born To Be Wild, the Steppenwolf theme song from Easy Rider, a song, perhaps, about the life and times of Harley-Davidson of Southern Alberta owner and cruisin’ entrepreneur Jim Wild.

Larry MacDougal, Business Edge
Harley dealer Jim Wild counts Kant and Aristotle among his role models.

1. What was your boyhood dream?

“My dream was to work with Harley-Davidson. In junior high school, I got interested in motorcycles, and that brought me down to the Harley-Davidson shop on 97th Street in Edmonton, which was not a good part of town. Harley shops in those days – the late 1960s and early 1970s - were pretty rough-and-tumble places. But I just liked the people there, I liked the spark and I felt it was a calling in a way. I got my first job at that Harley shop as a mechanic’s helper at age 15.”

2. How were you formally introduced to Harley-Davidson?

“I first saw the Edmonton city police riding Harleys, but what really grabbed my attention was the movie Easy Rider in 1969. It captured the whole spirit of that era where you could go out and do your own thing. I guess I was always a non-conformist anyways, maybe like a Bart Simpson kind of guy. The Harley world at that time seemed to accentuate my non-conformity and desire to be different. I was kind of a rebel without a cause. I think the word we used then was greaser. I wore the black leather jacket, tight black jeans, motorcycle boots and combed my hair in a ducktail. Although I was a free spirit, I never lost the way. Some free spirits tend to drift away and lose their path in life. I always knew where I wanted to go and had the right set of values to stay on that path.”

3. How did it impact you watching friends who veered off the path?

“Guys that I knew ended up in prison or got in trouble with drugs or had problems with gangs. I’ve had friends who have lost legs in bike accidents and others who died over the years. It causes you to pause and reflect on life. It makes you more firm in your convictions to have a sense of purpose and to give back to life. It taught me the importance of family and remembering those who have helped you.”

4. Your first Harley was . . . ?

“I bought my first Harley in boxes and put it together. It was a 1942 Harley-Davidson 45-cubic-inch model and I converted it into a chopper. I was so proud of that thing. I enjoyed working on it, I enjoyed the people you’d meet working on Harleys, but the bike was not a performer. It leaked oil, it rattled and it did all the things Harleys were supposed to do in those days. It was very old-fashioned, with a hand shift and a foot clutch.”

5. Who are your heroes or role models?

“In the general context of the big world, I’ve always liked the German philosopher (Immanuel) Kant and the Greek philosopher Aristotle. They’ve helped me to understand the importance of becoming a world citizen and to live a life of high standards and good values.”

6. What is your philosophy of life?

“A life lived with fear is a life half lived. You don’t want to say, ‘woulda, shoulda, coulda’ when you’re older. You can go out and make mistakes as long as you’re responsible for the consequences. I think everybody has to explore their fullest potential right out to the outer limits of their self-actualization. I don’t feel you should live with fear.”

7. What do you remember about the trials and tribulations of launching Harley-Davidson of Southern Alberta 20 years ago?

“It took us years to build it up. There’s no get-rich-quick method. It has been hard work for 20 years and I’d tell anyone getting into business that’s what it takes. The company has always been profitable, but the funny reason for that is that I didn’t take a salary until I thought the company could pay me. Harley is where my heart is, but my business head takes me other places.” (Wild is also president of Calgary-based Devco Projects, Phedrus Consulting and Codfather Charters, director and former CEO of First Logistics Distribution in Romania and manager of the Pegasus Investment Fund.)

8. Are you pleased with the growth of the company?

“The Calgary market is one of the strongest for Harley in the entire world. We actually have the best demographics of any market. The combination of education and disposable income plus low-cost delivery makes the Calgary market very hot. This market disproportionately outperforms other cities of the same size, and that’s a credit to the Alberta Advantage. (Wild projects record revenue of $10 million this year.) People here probably have enjoyed oil and gas revenues and stock market gains, so now they’re buying toys. Until 1992, our customer base was the Calgary city police and very solid blue-collar wage earners. In those years (first decade), we had very slow growth. In 1993, we started to see the market shifting towards the white-collar workers and we saw spectacular growth since then. We probably have a 60-40 ratio in favour of white-collar customers now.”

9. What kind of people are buying Harleys?

“We’re now seeing a lot of growth in sales to women, who are about 15 to 20 per cent of our market, and that has come from about one per cent.We sell to everybody. We run a pretty even-steven shop. We’ve sold to every motorcycle club that you can imagine, to the Calgary city police, lawyers, doctors . . . . I think people realize this is a middle-of-the-road fair player. We don’t give preferential treatment to anyone.”

10. What are your recollections of the fire to your former shop in 1994?

“That was a real shock. That kicked us in the teeth. You’re never prepared for these traumatic events in your life. It just gives you fortitude to press on. At the time, you don’t know why you’ve been, you know, singled out for trouble. But you press it and you come back even stronger. That was a pivotal point for the business. The fire made us recommit to our business. They tell me it’s an arson investigation that never closed.”

11. What’s the key to running a business with family members (wife Diane is the general manager, brother Tim is a partsman and brother Tom is an assistant manager)?

“We’re pretty basic people and we seem to get along. You can be dead honest with family and say what you really mean and sometimes there are emotional flare-ups. But the truth never hurts and families do stay together. The reality is that, at the end of the day, it’s that brutal honesty that family has with each other that fixes problems a lot quicker without the politics and without the tiptoeing around eggshells that corporate environments lend themselves to.”

12. Have you given a raise to the general manager (wife Diane)?

“At one time, she asked for a raise. I asked her what she was taking out of the company and she told me it was a thousand dollars a month. I thought she was worth 10 times that amount. I said: ‘How about if I get you a car as a bonus and I’ll get you any car you want in the whole world?’ She shopped hard all over the city and I fully expected her to come back with a Mercedes or BMW. She came back with a little Volkswagen Bug and she’s happy with that.”

13. What’s the greatest lesson business has taught you?

“Integrity is the only thing that matters. There are no shortcuts in life.”

14. As an entrepreneur involved in venture capital, how do you see the Alberta business environment evolving?

“I think Alberta’s the success story of Canada, but I think reality has come back into the market. I don’t think we’re going to see the take-a-chance dot-com startups anymore. I think venture capital is going to mature and do more bridging and mezzanine financings opposed to startups. I think people are going to get back to business fundamentals and do proper evaluations and proper analysis before investing. I see a lot of wealth being created and a lot of wealth transfer as the older generation passes it on to the kids and the accumulated gains in oil and gas get put back into the market.”

15. What’s your view of the Enron accounting scandal?

“I’m shocked that it could happen to a company that large. It’s very typical of some of the games that were going on that I was aware of in the venture capital world and with investment bankers and with high-tech companies, especially telecom. It’s just awful how the small investors always get hurt and it speaks of the greed that, unfortunately, is still part of the American culture.”

16. What is your most treasured possession?

“I’d say it’s my book collection of classic literature. Through my years of travelling the world, I’ve amassed a very good collection of hard-cover books and it’s something I know will take me into my old age and retirement. When you read a very good piece of classic literature, it stays with you and it’s a gift that nobody can take from you. Reading a good book with a nice glass of port in the sunshine is something you can cherish. It’s maybe the backlash to our high-tech, info-age, Internet way of thinking. I’ve got some interesting hot rods and some cool bikes, but your moods shift and you can swing from loving one bike one year to loving another one the next year. I view the bikes as transitory possessions.”

17. Do you vacation on your Harleys?

“I’ve had the good fortune to ride motorcycles in many countries. I presently keep motorcycles in storage that I can travel with in Australia, England and Germany. Luckily, the business has put us in a position to be able to do that. My favourite spot is Queensland, Australia. A Harley is designed to be cruised. I’m comfortable enjoying the world and nature at 60 miles per hour.”

18. How important is money to you?

“I’ve never chased money. I’ve only followed my heart. When you do things with conviction and mean it, and you hold on to a vision, the money comes as a secondary benefit of achieving your goals.”

19. Do you live extravagantly?

“I think my wife and I have mastered the art of living beneath our means. I’m living the same way I did when I was 18. I wear cowboy boots and blue jeans and I drive a 32-year-old muscle car (1972 Pontiac GTO). My ego’s not so big where I think I need to show off.”

20. What’s your next great adventure?

“It’s to take a motorcycle trip through Transylvania (Romania) in the Carpathian Mountains in Eastern Europe in September. On the road with a Harley. That’s my passion.”

IN PROFILE: Jim Wild

* Born/raised/age: Fairview, AB; Edmonton; 45.

* Title: President/founder, Harley-Davidson of Southern Alberta.

* Education: Bachelor of Science (engineering), University of Alberta; Masters of Business Administration, University of Sydney (Australia), pending BA Baccalaureate, University of Calgary.

* Family: Wife Diane.

* Career: Began his career with a 10-year stint as a professional engineer on world-wide oil and gas projects with Ingersoll-Rand and Dresser Industries. Founded Harley-Davidson of Southern Alberta in 1982 and is the sole owner. Worked with Harley-Davidson as an Eastern European distributor, instructor and consultant. President of Devco Projects Inc. (property development), Phedrus Consulting and Codfather Fishing Charters; director of Romanian food distributor First Logistics Distribution, manager of the Pegasus Investment Fund and is a global venture capitalist.

* Claim to fame: Wild holds the Vancouver Island record salmon catch with a 63-pounder.

THE COMPANY: Harley Davidson of Southern Alberta

* Brass: Jim Wild, president; Diane Wild, general manager.

* Profile: It is one of Canada's largest Harley-Davidson dealerships, projecting record revenue of $10 million this year, about 15 per cent above 2001 revenue. During peak season, the company employs 35 people.

* Website: www.harley-davidson.ca

* Address: 2245 Pegasus Rd. N.E., Calgary, AB T2E 8C3.

* Phone/Fax: 403-250-3141, 403-291-0582.