Help for business at a crossroads.

Michael Pearson's career track reveals two qualities that could be considered the linchpins of his business success. The first is that he isn't afraid to change direction if the path he initially chose seems like the wrong one. The second is that when he decides to make a change, he sits down and carefully considers his options, including getting advice from other business professionals if he thinks he needs it.

The owner of Yeadon, Penn.-based Union Packaging LLC, has already encountered several crossroads with his company, and he finds himself at another one in 2008.

In nine years, Pearson's paper-container making company has grown to 94 employees and $20 million in annual sales. As a manufacturer of individual food containers for the fast-food industry, Union Packaging can count itself as a supplier to the big three of what professionals refer to as the QSR, or quick-service restaurant, business.

Union Packaging makes sandwich, french-fry and other finger-food containers for McDonald's Corp., Burger King Corp. and Wendy's International Inc.

So far so good; nothing wrong with those connections. But Pearson has a dilemma. Sales have leveled the past two years and he wants to continue to grow his business. The question is how and in which direction.

"For me the dream is about growth organically and watching Union Packaging move into more segments of the folding-carton industry beyond just food," said Pearson.

Whether that might be in pharmaceuticals or some other segment, Pearson isn't sure at this point.

"That's the dilemma where I am at fight now," said Pearson.

If past performance is any indication of future results, Pearson will rely on a combination of his gut and expert opinions before making his decision.

As a younger man, Pearson had a dream of being a Marine pilot. But he came from a family that placed a strong emphasis on higher education. So after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Pearson enrolled at the University of Michigan Law School. That made his parents happy, but one year into it he started having misgivings. It was during his first summer law clerking that it hit him.

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"It wasn't me," said Pearson. Even though his family opposed it, Pearson left law school for Army officer candidate school. He now wore eyeglasses, so flight school was out of the question.

Pearson ended up serving in military intelligence and spent nine months in the Middle East during the first Gulf War. After the service, Pearson went to work for Pfizer Inc. It wasn't long before a college football buddy recruited him to Westvaco Corp. (now MeadWestvaco Corp.), a packaging-container maker that wanted to beef up contracts in the pharmaceutical industry.

Pearson got good training in the packaging business at WestVaco. But he was working with relatives of the company's founders, who were also shareholders. He wasn't. Something started rumbling in his gut again.

"I would have liked to think that I was their contemporary, but I was not. The name of the game in business in America is equity," said Pearson.

At his father's urging, Pearson began making plans to return to his native Philadelphia and start his own packaging business. He had written a business plan, but his ever-active intuition told him the plan could probably use some improvement.

"I had come out of a corporate background and systems and principles and things of that nature. I had a respect for process, and I knew that I needed to talk to experts or to people who could direct me to experts to get my business plan to the point where I could attract the capital to get my idea off of the ground," said Pearson.

That's when he turned to the Small Business Development Center at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business.

The Wharton SBDC is part of a network of centers that provide guidance to entrepreneurs in a partnership between educators, the private sector and government. Wharton's SBDC is one of more than 1,100 SBDC service locations across the country.

At his alma mater. Pearson had access to the gray matter of highly regarded Wharton MBA students. The MBAs, many of whom had experience in business, tore his plan apart and built it back up better and stronger.

Pearson not only had a better business plan. He absorbed plenty in the process.

"I learned the language that I needed to deal with the financial folks. And I also learned that there are many vehicles to raise capital," said Pearson.

That's typical Pearson, humility combined with a sharp mind, according to an executive with a Philadelphia-area business development group. Jeff Vermeulen, president of the Delaware Valley Chamber of Commerce, says Pearson, who serves on the chamber board, is one of the smartest people he's ever met.

"He's just has got a way about him, where he is intellectual, but he's not intimidating at all," said Vermeulen.

Therese Flaherty, director of the Wharton SBDC, said Pearson is working with the center again as he plots his next move.

"I'm proud that Mike has come to the Wharton SBDC again to help him challenge his thinking and analysis as he makes his next strategic decisions," Flaherty said.

Pearson also serves on the national SBDC advisory board for the SBA. He was named 2005 Small Business Person of the Year for Eastern Pennsylvania by the SBA.

PEARSON'S BEST DECISION?

"Leaving Corporate America and deciding to venture out on my own."

HIS BIGGEST RISK?

"Signing a personal guarantee, putting everything on the line, I have children, so that is a big deal."

ADVICE FOR A STARTUP?

"First thing, make sure you have the passion for your idea or concept and you believe in it wholeheartedly. And secondly, can you afford to be wrong and risk stuff and look back and not regret it?"

Union Packagin LLC * 6520 Baltimor Ave., Yeadon, Penn. 19050 * (610) 622-7001 www.unionpkg.com * Founded 1999 * 94 employees * 2007 revenue: $20 million