EnTrends

weekend or four days to go
somewhere, or I play golf in the
middle of the day and come back to
work at night." Bonnet also does
some substitute teaching at a
community college and teaches a
wine class as well.

Bonnet says that, while he likes to
travel, owns a home and drives a nice
car, he does not measure his success
by those things. "One of the best
things I did was take my entire staff
to Cancun for seven days. That type
of thing is important to me. We had a
great time at the beach and it really
pulled the team together. Sure, I
could have taken that money and
gone out and bought a boat or
something, but I get more
satisfaction out of seeing my
employees enjoy their jobs and want
to come to work each day."

In giving advice to other
entrepreneurs, Bonnet says, "You
have to understand that it takes a
couple of years before you're able to
pull money from your business. If
you keep putting money back in, it
will take care of you in the long run.
Constantly upgrade and maintain it."

he says one of his biggest regrets
was missing his sister's wedding.
"She decided to move up her
wedding to Valentine's Day. We had
just let a manger go here at the
restaurant and I couldn't lock the
doors and turn away all of our
expected customers. I called her and
said, 'If you never talk to me again I
will understand, but I have a
situation here that I just can't get
away from.' She understood."

Bonnet credits his father as one of
the people who has been
instrumental to his success, saying,
"He is a person who got married
when he was 17 and worked two or
three jobs in the beginning. He just
retired from thirty-two years with
John Deere. To see someone work
that hard for so long is really
inspirational. Now he works with me
and he loves it. I'm trying show him
that he's helped me, and now it's my
turn to help him."

When asked what he likes the most
about being an entrepreneur, Bonnet
says, "It has to be the flexibility. I
don't have a schedule that says I
have to be here nine to five Monday
through Friday. Sometimes I take a