When you see a CEO smiling on the cover of a magazine, it can be very tempting to wish you could be even half as lucky as that person.
In most cases, though, great companies are not built by luck – or not just luck. Successful entrepreneurs thrive because they’ve developed excellent habits and made wise decisions during tough times.
They made their own luck—and so can you. Here’s how.
Add a Higher Value
Technology Group Solutions’ revenues grew from $14.4 million to $40 million in 2012, an amazing accomplishment. The company’s partners—Lenora Payne, Doug Floersch and Frank Martin—say they’ve built their company by focusing on customer service.
If someone buys 1,000 computers from them, TGS goes in and sets up the machines, puts asset tags on to track them, deploys the hardware and removes the old equipment.
“You can sell a product, but if you want to get to a higher level, like selling servers, storage, networking and doing installs or configurations, you want to make sure you understand the product,” Payne said. “Anyone can sell something. We want to add value.”
Know When to Change Directions
Today, consulting firm ECCO Select’s business is booming with 60 percent bottom-line growth since 2010. But Jeanette Hernandez Prenger has been forced to steer the consulting services firm through difficult times, such as 2002, when a lot of her private-sector business dried up post-9/11.
Prenger survived by taking the company back to basics by staffing call centers and by adding supplemental staffing and other professional services to business units outside of IT, her specialty.
“One-on-one supplemental staffing saved the day,” Prenger said. “We simply switched directions once we understood where there was demand.”
Develop a Reputation for Reliability
Some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical and animal health companies turn to Ecto Development Corporation for contract R&D services. The Blue Springs company has worked with some of the industry’s biggest players to develop products that keep fleas, ticks and other pests off livestock and pets.
Many of those businesses have their own R&D departments, but they use Ecto because they know they can trust John Rose and his team.
“One thing about our business is that we have to accommodate our clients,” Rose said. “A lot of those large pharmaceutical companies demand you meet deadlines. We meet our deadlines, and if we can’t, we have a good reason. A lot of companies don’t do that.”
‘Do One Thing and Be the Best at It’
Strawberry Hill Povitica Co.’s dessert breads are a longtime Kansas City favorite, but brothers Marc and Dennis O’Leary are doing their best to turn povitica into a national sensation.
It sounds like they’re well on their way. Sales have gone through the roof since the company was featured on QVC, and it’s won national distribution through Costco during the holidays.
“Our father’s philosophy was always, ‘Do one thing and be the best at it,’” said Marc O’Leary. “We have continued doing that for the last 30 years, and it has brought us to where we are today.”
Respect Your Employees
At Global Control Systems, Manuel David needs the best possible team of engineers to work on his company’s industrial automation
jobs. He’s able to recruit excellent talent because he operates a workplace where employees’ input is sought on every part of a project. And he pays everyone by the hour, including overtime. Basically, he said, “we pay them for every hour they work.”
“The way I look at that,” David said, “I just could not look at somebody in the face and go, ‘Why don’t you leave your family behind this weekend, come in here, work for me, so I can make more money. I’m not going to pay you anything, but just come help me because you’re a good engineer.’ I can’t do that.”
Know Your Finances
Centric Projects—the commercial construction firm led by Courtney Kounkel, Steve Swanson and Richard Wetzel—has experienced swift growth since it launched in 2010. The company has won jobs from The Roasterie, H&R Block, Haas & Wilkerson and other major clients.
They’re known for running an innovative, collaborative workplace—but they maintain a razor-sharp focus on spending. (They’ve even gotten into discussions about the best place to buy batteries, they joke.)
The single biggest piece of advice the Centric partners would offer? Know your finances, backwards and forewards, and don’t spend money unless there is a real need.
“It always scares me when somebody has a logo and a business card before they know what their revenue needs to be,” Wetzel said.
Never Stop Learning
Benny Lee has found entrepreneurial success with a huge lineup of products: portable sewing machines, Ginsu knives, fabric steamers and more. His latest company, DuraComm, produces power supplies, solar panels and custom LED lighting solutions—and it was named one of the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s top 100 small businesses in 2013.
One of the keys to Lee’s success is that he’s got a great sense of curiosity. He’s always on the lookout for new opportunities.
“You will never know everything, so don’t be afraid of what you don’t know,” Lee said. “Keep asking questions and learning all of your life.”
