John Swiatkowski, President at Pacer Group, who pursued a fine arts career in Italy before joining Pacer, appreciates the value of perspective. He is a member of GrowFL’s CEO Roundtable, a partnership program with FloridaMakes, to ensure he gets plenty of perspective.

“Business owners don’t often step away from their businesses to understand what’s happening in the business,” he said. “They can’t see the forest for the trees in some cases. This exercise of four hours a month with the CEO Roundtable is like jumping to 30,000 feet and taking a look around. You often come to different conclusions about things because it provides you with perspective.”

Pacer Group is a wire and cable manufacturer that makes wire primarily for battery operated vehicles including boats, RVs, and golf carts.

“We go to market by manufacturing wire and cable and value adding the product by cutting, spooling, striping, making electrical assemblies, wire harnesses and electrical panels,” Swiatkowski explained. “That’s our differentiator. Through the value added process, we find ways to be profitable off a commodity.”

Swiatkowski’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is to get help. “Find a great team of experts to advise you on key steps in business,” he said. “If you don’t have the experts, you’ll make a lot of mistakes that will be costly and will limit your growth. It could be friends, advisors, or fellow business people. Tap into that experience.”