Business

Trying to Make Ends Meet During the Great Recession Drove Ian Prukner to Reevaluate His Life and Take Initiative to Follow His Dreams and Become an Entrepreneur.

For many people beginning their careers or in the midst of them, the recession in the mid 2000s moved the Earth from underneath their feet. Left and right people were losing their jobs, their homes, and many other assets. Even if you had a job for most of your working life, you were not necessarily safe from the toll that this recession took. Those few years were some of the defining moments in people’s lives.

This was the case for Ian Prukner. At the time the recession hit, Ian was working in Rochester, Michigan as a pastor. When the recession hit, he found himself scrambling to find more ways to make a decent living, but also discovering that it was harder and harder every day.

“I was a pastor in Rochester, Michigan in 2006 when the downturn began to hit. I was working two other jobs because I was only making 30k a year at the church to make ends meet. In the summer of 2006, the church cut our pay by 10% and I was forced to look for a fourth job,” Ian recounts.

However, instead of letting the difficulty of this moment cause him to concede to a life of working three or more jobs just to make ends meet, Ian took a step back and made a decision that would change his life forever. He decided to go back and pursue his dream.

“Instead of looking for another job, I decided to pursue my dream of working for myself and started in the finance industry. Nine years later we were making over $1 million a year in that business and began diversifying into the other businesses. I am now the owner of Prukner and Associates PC. My business has 1000+ agents in the financial services industry. I am also a real estate investor, IP training coaching, and in the consulting business,” Ian explains.

Though his business has been successful, it was not without obstacles for Ian. He was able to reach big milestones, but for a while, that came at a great personal cost that caused him to truly reevaluate the decisions he was making.

My biggest failure was achieving a huge milestone in business, but like so many others, letting my family life suffer as a trade off. It forced me to reevaluate my priorities to rethink how I did everything from spending time to my emotional engagement. I became much more purposeful about where my energy and focus was directed. I learned that the win was empty without the people you were winning for. I also learned that with proper time management it was possible to grow a bit of business and win at home. After making the necessary adjustments, both home life and business life went to the next level. It was the struggle of that situation that caused us to start the marriage retreat. In doing so, we’ve been able to empower hundreds of entrepreneurs to create their best life at home and in business,” Ian says.

What got Ian through these difficult times was the same reason that he chose to get involved in this work in the first place; Ian chose this business because of how much he loves helping people. Just like when becoming a pastor, he wanted a life dedicated to assisting people in any way he could. From real estate to the finance industry, Ian’s work is centered around the people involved and not the profit.

“I chose the industry because I love people. I love helping people make a difference in their lives. I love seeing who somebody can be helping them to develop the skill sets, mindsets and habits to become that person in the walk in their destiny,” Ian remarks.

Ian is excited to continue to scale up his business and continue to do more for his customers. To find out how you can get involved, you can follow Ian on Instagram here.