Everybody’s got a dream. For some, it’s a dream house or a fantasy car. For others, it’s an exotic vacation or a collection of fine wines. Still others have dreams that are more reality-based, but less easily acquired.
SBN queried local entrepreneurs and executives about their dreams. Their answers might surprise you.
Fantasy vs. reality
“Dream houses, fantasy cars and exotic vacations … the reality is that, as entrepreneurs, many of us strive for more family time, personal resources and minor luxuries,” says Edward Tromczynski, president and COO of PlanSoft Corp. in Twinsburg.
“Many of the executives with whom I am associated look for functional family cars, homes, neighborhoods and the resource to better unite their families. Family vacations and family challenges can all be improved if personal time can be made more available to the family,” he says.
Tromczynski protests that while entrepreneurs and executives are often proclaimed workaholics, many actually choose family time first, and view their employment or business as a means to that end.
In contrast, he concedes that perhaps this is just a “Midwestern family-first values system.”
“I understand this may not play in other parts of the country, but I tend to believe that under the executive veneer, there are many other business leaders out there with similar goals, values and direction,” he says.
Tromczynski reveals he hasn’t spent more than $20 for a haircut, $300 for a business suit or $100 for a pair of shoes.
“Quality investments for me include hosting underprivileged children’s holiday gift wrapping parties, enjoying extended-family vacations and attending family sporting events,” he says.
I second that emotion
As president of a high-profile university, Luis Proenza agrees wholeheartedly with Tromczynski.
“In a high profile environment, time is not one’s own, and time to be with family, time to think and to reflect, is a scarce commodity,” observes the president of the University of Akron.
While Proenza says neither a fancy car nor a dream home fit into his fantasies, he does reveal that he and his wife, Theresa Butler Proenza, worked together to design and construct a two-mast, 44-foot sailing vessel, which they sail on Lake Erie and dock at Catawba Island.
“My wife and I enjoy being on the water, sailing and cruising on the boat. That is the time when she sees me at my most relaxed, and that is the time when all things related to work recede into the background — something that does not happen otherwise, even on weekends,” says Proenza.
Reflecting on the experience of building their dream boat together, Proenza says the couple started in 1977 with nothing more than a bare hull. The craft took them 15 years to construct, partly because they had no carpentry or mechanical experience. Major challenges included installing the engine, building the bulkheads, crafting the cabinetry — and melting 12,000 pounds of lead.
“Now our dream is to be able to have more personal time, perhaps acquire a vacation and retirement home on the water somewhere on the Chesapeake Bay where we could also enjoy the boat,” says Proenza.
“Some travel by way of the boat would also lead to relaxation and help in finding more of that precious commodity of time with one’s spouse!”
Wine not?
When it comes to living the good life, Linda Murfin, owner of Above The Crowds Travel & Meeting Planning, says she’s lucky.
“I’m in the travel business so I have a lot of access to ‘fantasy vacations.’ My husband, Don, and I love taking vacations to wine growing regions of the world, because we both enjoy wines. We have a pretty neat wine cellar that we built in our home — it holds about 2,000 bottles.”
So enamored of wines are Murfin and her husband that they spent their honeymoon on a barge to Burgundy, France — a trip they purchased at the Akron Art Museum’s annual wine auction.
“We loved that trip so much that we went back nine months later to the same fabulous barge, which was then cruising through Bordeaux,” she says.
Most recently, they ventured to another vineyard in Bordeaux.
“We were able to get an appointment for a tour and tasting at the famed Chateau d’Yquem, the maker of what is most probably the finest Sauterne wine in the world.”
But Murfin says the couple doesn’t have to set sail on some exotic vacation to relish The Good Life.
“We love living on the Portage Lakes and one of our greatest pleasures in the summer is to prepare a great meal together, then take it out to the deck to enjoy — with a glass of wine, of course!”
And now you know how “the other half” lives.
