Building Businesses for Success

Once you have done it, done it meaning become a business owner. Afterwards it seemed so simple, owning a business, and you think anyone can do this. But can anyone really do this? Start and run your own business? The question seems simple enough to answer, but is the answer right there, in front of you?

I’m a person that uses a lot of analogies and also a big fan of the Seinfeld. I can recall the episode where Kramer wants to build levels in his apartment. Jerry, knowing that he will never do it, bets Kramer that he won’t get it done. Kramer, sure of himself that he will, takes Jerry’s bet. After a couple of days, Kramer tells Jerry that the bet is off because he decided that he wasn’t going to do it anymore. And Jerry claims, “That was the bet”.

Millions of people go through the motions of their day. They get up, go to work, come home, go to bed and then do it all over again the next day. Even their job is performed the same way. They go to work, perform some job functions, have lunch, perform some more job functions, and then go home. I am sad to say, that these people couldn’t and shouldn’t be looking to go into business for themselves.

Business owners don’t have a set routine in their day or their job. And even if it becomes a little routine, they usually think of ways to make it different or better. For the employee to make the leap from employee to employer, there should be something inside of them that pushes them to want a better day, a better life and even a better job. I’m not even saying a better company to work for, I am saying a better way to do their job, a more efficient way of doing their job and a desire to move up through the chain at their job.

I can recall a story in my job career that helps illustrate what I mean by this mentality.

One of my favorite jobs was running the swim program for the local Y; my job title was Aquatics Director. While I was going to college, I got my lifeguard certificate. Not only a lifeguard certificate, but also a swim instructor certificate, a county certificate and a certificate to teach other people to become lifeguards. After college, I got a job as a stockbroker. My major was in business management with a focus in finance. It was the worst job I ever had. I don’t know why people would want to call people up in their homes and bug them to buy something when they never had heard of you. After a month of this torture, I searched for a job in the Aquatics field. The local Y was looking to hire an assistant director for the aquatics program. Perfect !! Right up my alley. I was there for about 3 months when my boss, the Aquatics Director, was let go. I don’t remember the specifics to why she was let go; I think it had something to do with not being where she was suppose to be. So I thought that would be an easy advancement for me. Not so easy as I had thought or hoped.

The Executive Director of the Y didn’t even bother asking if I wanted the job. I found out that there was an ad placed for a new Aquatics Director. I immediately inquired on why they didn’t ask me and also on how could I be considered for the job. The why answer was that they didn’t think that I would be interested in the job and they weren’t too sure if I had enough experience to do it. The how answer was for me to ask for an interview. Here was an opportunity to impress. Not only did I ask for an interview, I also drafted a nice cover letter and submitted my update resume focusing in on my management experience and my aquatics background. The job was mine.

Here is the lesson within the lesson: If there is an opportunity for advancement in your existing company, and if there is an interview process for it, treat it as if you were an interviewee from outside the company. The fact that you took the opportunity serious will add points in considering you for the position.

Back to the point of the story… After I was hired for the position, my Executive Director wanted to meet with me on what was to be expected of me. He went over the swim program, the summer camp swim program and the budget for the Aquatics Department. As I was scanning through the budget, I saw a -$68,000 at the bottom of the page. Yes, it was a negative $68,000.

I asked him, “What is that number at the bottom of the page?”
His response was, “That’s the net loss for the pool.”
I stated, “Yes, I familiar with a net income (loss), but why is it in the red?”
His response, “The pool loses roughly that much money per year, but don’t worry we have allocated a loss from the pool into the budget for the rest of the Y.”
I stated, “Ah… Give me two years and I will have the pool at least breaking even.”
His response was basically, “Knock yourself out”. There wasn’t any real urgency in his voice. I guess because the pool has been losing money for so many years, who do I think I am to think that I can do any better?

So now here I am, running the Aquatics Department. I treated the job as if I was the “owner” of the pool. I was already there for a few months so I knew what changes could be made immediately as well as changes that would need a little time to develop. I worked extra hours developing an improved program schedule that would increase revenues and decrease costs. After two years, the Aquatics Department went from -$68,000 to a -$7000. Ok, so I didn’t breakeven, but I would have made a profit in the third year.

I know that if I didn’t make any changes and all I did was come in and run things like they were before, I still would have gotten my paycheck and I still would have gotten my annual raises. In fact, I never got a “thank you” or a “good job” from the Executive Director. My other bosses did, but not from the one who didn’t even think I was qualified for the job.

Deep down I didn’t do it for him; I did it for me. It was a chance to test my “business owning” skills. I had to manage people, advertise for swim lessons, work with vendors in ordering chemicals, work with other departments, work on a budget every quarter, interview, hire and train lifeguards and swim instructors, and work with the local Red Cross chapters in getting programs into the Y. The best part was that it wasn’t my money that was invested so if I messed up something, it didn’t hurt me financially. Yes, maybe I could have gotten fired for messing up, but if I was going to get fired for trying something new and failing at it, well then it wasn’t a place I would want to be employed at.

If you can see yourself in my example of an “owner mentality”, then you have the deep down passion and strength to make owning a business a reality. If you read this article and thought that I was crazy for doing all that extra work and for the same amount of pay if I didn’t do all that work, then you are like millions of Americans out there that will always work for someone else.