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Life Lessons: Nathan Slee

Carve out room for life outside of business
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entrepreneur, Life Lessons: Nathan Slee

At the age of 24, and before he had finished his last semester of university, Nathan Slee co-founded his own company. Credilogic, an online lender, grew steadily, and in October 2011, Kansas-based QC Holdings bought it for $12 million.

But Slee found there was a downside to his early success. Credilogic was the only work experience he'd ever had, and as he approached his 30s, he began to feel as though he was missing out on exploring other interests.

"After four or five years, the learning curve had started to flatten a bit," said Slee. "It had kind of moved from that exciting startup to a little bit more of a mature business – which was still exciting, just not quite as exciting as it was in the beginning."

Luckily, Slee was able to negotiate a more flexible work schedule with his business partners. The company hired a CEO to focus on operations.

Meanwhile, Slee started working three days a week and using the other two days to experience other disciplines.

One by one, he tried each one out: mediation, politics and international relations. He took classes in negotiation and mediation, did master's-level global affairs courses at NYU and became the riding association president for his MLA, Margaret McDiarmid.

After all the experimenting, Slee returned to his first love, entrepreneurship, with renewed passion and appreciation.

"I think lifestyle and flexibility was a big one, obviously being your own boss you control your own schedule to a large degree," he said. "And I value the direct correlation between your effort and your potential for reward."

Slee's role now is to help QC Holdings, a traditional storefront lender in the U.S., develop an online presence.

He continues to work a flexible schedule – something he values more than ever as the father of two young children.