Imagine in its most basic form that for any business to truly excel it requires 3 main pieces. Picture a triangle with following at each point:

1. Sales & Marketing
2. Finance & Administration
3. Operations & Service

Here’s the basic idea, without marketing you can’t sell and you won’t have any customers. Without effective operations and service you can’t install or service what you’ve sold. Without finance and administration you can’t pay your bills, issue paychecks, track if you’re making money, or if your margins are high enough to cover your overhead.

If your business has excellent leaders taking care of all 3 then you’ll be humming right along. Without even 1 piece, and your business will never reach its full potential.

As a team leader I take a portion of the responsibility for each one. Not necessarily because I have to, but because I enjoy it and like to think I’m good at it. My leadership requires me to control marketing, handle financials and payables, and manage all of the numbers and systems. That means I have a few gaps to fill. My business still requires a Sales Leader and Operations/Service Leader. As a matter of fact, nearly any business that I’ll be involved in in the near future will require leaders with a passion for those areas of business. Eventually the goal is to find leaders for all aspects so I can completely step away or simply work on marketing and reviewing the numbers.

Let me explain more thoroughly. As a mechanical engineer, it’s no secret that I love numbers. Cash flow projections, margin calculations, break-even analyses, closing ratios and ROI evaluations are a few things that get me excited. On nearly a daily basis I’m creating one or more spreadsheets to help me track the proficiency of some area of my business in the hopes of finding areas of improvement. Those (and many other) numbers help me find, address, and then ultimately plug holes. Then as we implement changes the numbers again tell me if we’re going in the right direction or if we need to make a U-turn. Every business owner uses his or her “gut” to make decisions, but completely shooting from the hip will never allow you to make the most educated decisions. Additionally, as my aunt recently pointed out to me “You love to know how things work.” For that reason, designing and implementing systems for my business gets me pumped. Scripts, check lists, flow-charts, training materials and on and on are great fun for me. (As a matter of fact, this blog itself is a system of “indoctrinating” my team leaders without having to repeat myself every time.)

My other talent and passion is marketing. Without getting into too much detail, cross-marketing, up-selling, sales scripting, back-end sales, and the like are all areas where I focus a good deal of my time. As Michael Masterson pointed out in Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat (Agora Series) a Stage 1 business’ main priority is sales. If your business doesn’t have an efficient system for generating leads and closing sales then you probably have a lot of room to grow. Which probably also means I’d be interested in buying your business. hahaha

So what do the 3 pieces to the business triangle mean?

1. This is about the most basic way to create an organization chart for your business to make sure you’re taking care of the crucial aspects of leadership.
2. If you’ve read my last blog and are still a little fuzzy on how you could fit into the picture as one of my team leaders this should narrow down the passions my leaders will need.

For example, if I’m looking to buy an oil services business and you don’t know a thing about sales, marketing, finances, administration, or systems BUT you know how to lead people and are passionate about the service and operations of customers in that field, then you have the potential to be the Service and/or Operations Leader.

If you have the ability to sell and you have the talents and motivation to teach others how to sell, you could be a sales leader for almost any business regardless of what you’ve had experience selling before.

However, that thinking is a bit backwards don’t you think?

Before we delve into why that’s backwards, let me quickly reiterate why I keep saying “Leader” instead of “Manager”. My main goal as a Team Leader is to enable all of my team members to do the absolute best that they can at their jobs. Leaders lead people and managers manage resources. To fire on all cylinders, the main leaders of a business need to not just tell someone they aren’t performing up to standards – they need to be able to lead them into improving themselves. James Rhome, I believe, was the one to say “Work harder on yourself then you do on your business” and the same is true for your team members. A leader is willing to invest in her team and gets excited when someone improves. Leaders with a passion for and ability to positively communicate with their teams are the people I’m constantly searching for.

Since my strengths are Finance and Administration its my contention that with the proper Sales and Operations leaders we could grow any business. Conveniently for me, calculating profit margins, closing ratios, lead sources, or creating systems for phone scripts etc. etc. etc. are almost exactly the same for every business everywhere in the world. So with a little adaptation to a few spreadsheets I can quickly get all of the important numbers from any business. However, without a sales leader and operations leader I can’t effectively make the changes the numbers tell me I need to make.

For that reason, my approach to buying businesses is shifting. My first goal is to find the 3 main leaders I’ll need (usually it will be 2 since I can handle Finance & Admin with a bit of help) and THEN I’ll find the business that would allow all of us to excel at something we’re passionate about. That is why I’m completely vague on what businesses I’m researching, evaluating, and looking to purchase in my blog – If you have the ability to be a top-notch leader of service or sales, I’ll find a business we can excel in together.

“The only failure is the failure to participate.” – Brad Sugars

To your success, Bryan

It’s funny. The question I get asked possibly the most often when I talk about buying great businesses to build and sell is “How do you find them???” Interestingly, that’s probably the easiest part. A few weeks ago I bought a motorcycle and the guy I bought it from had some contacts with business owners. So we start talking business since he’s also a young entrepreneur. I tell him a bit about my business philosophies and he takes off. Less than 6 hours later as I take a brief break from riding my new motorcycle he calls me -

“Hey, were you serious about buying more businesses?”

“Yeah, of course, what do you have?”

“My uncle is selling his and he’s standing next to me. You want to talk to him right now.” As I’m sitting on the side of the road straddling my motorcycle I think for about a split second.

“Yeah sure, put him on.”

So hopefully this week I’ll be evaluating that business. More and more have popped up. Almost every week someone calls, emails, or tells me about another business for sale. They’re all over the place. All you have to do is start asking and telling people what you’re looking for. It really is that simple.

Alright since the Buying part of Buy, Build, Sell is easy and, as of yet, I can’t give you any real world experiences with Selling, what’s the toughest thing? Building the business takes a lot of time and work however for the most part if you follow some basic formulas (all of which can be found in the books by Brad Sugars, Marcus Buckingham, and Michael Masterson) the building part can really be broken down in to small, manageable chunks. Things like developing systems, scripts, a niche, a Unique Selling Propostion, improved marketing, Points of Culture, incentive-based pay, cross-marketing, back-end sales etc. etc. etc. are all pieces to the Ethical Business Building puzzle that are relatively easy – they just take time. If you disagree, ask yourself if you’ve truly made the commitment to work “on” your business every single day instead of just “in” it.

Now, if your goal is to own more than one business or to be able to step away from your current business to experience other adventures in your life, you need a Great Manager – excuse me, I mean Team Leader, for each business. Its been told to me by several millionaires (I’ve met so many I can’t recall which) that wealthy people rarely invest in a great idea or product – they invest in the people behind the idea or product.

The book, In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies (Collins Business Essentials) repeatedly points out how “excellent” companies like Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, and 3M have learned through years of trial and error that great ideas die. Texas Instruments did a study that found out that EVERY product that management thought was a great idea that died on the vine had one thing in common – they all had team leaders who were appointed by management. Whereas all the great (i.e. profitable) ideas were started and followed through by teams of people who were led by at least one person who either came up with the idea or who had a great passion for it and approached management with it. At 3M their entire business model is designed around the concept of making your idea work against all odds. There are all kinds of stories and tales of Presidents and Vice Presidents of 3M divisions who were told 2 or 3 or more times that their idea wouldn’t work, but they kept persisting – often working after hours and on weekends – to make their idea successful.

So why is all of that important to Building your business? Well, if you can’t find someone who believes as strongly in your business as you, then how can it ever reach its full potential without you? Granted, if your exit strategy is simply to sell the business and go onto another then you won’t need that great Team Leader since that’ll be you. Keep in mind, that each area of your business – Service, Sales, Operations – needs someone to effectively lead. In my business I certainly can’t be the one to do all of that and so I stick to Operations and leave the Sales and Service up to other Team Leaders. Actually at the moment, I’m working to recruit a great Service Leader.

My bigger goal is to ultimately own lots of businesses. Possibly 2 or 3 or 8 at once. To do that, I need great Team Leaders. This blog is my opening for recruitment.

If you want to learn from and with me on how to Buy, Build, and Sell businesses and you’re willing to relocate to somewhere in New Mexico or Colorado here is your opportunity.

To work with me, the most important things are strong moral ethics (reference my Points of Culture), passion, communication skills, and intelligence. If you have those, experience, education, connections, age etc. etc. etc. become secondary.

If you do possess those qualities, I promise you’ll have the opportunity to work in an exciting, ever-changing atmosphere where we’re always learning something new (reference the Team Building portion of my What would someone pay to learn from you blog). You will be challenged and be held responsible for your performance. If you perform well, you will be paid exceedingly well (reference my blog on Never Paying an Hourly Wage).

Consider this for a moment. Right now I have plenty of business buying opportunities and few Team Leaders available to run them. I am acutely aware of that and will NOT buy another business without first having a Team Leader in place. In your current job does your boss, manager, owner or anyone appreciate, trust, and have the willingness to invest in you that much???

Another potential benefit of working as one of my Team Leaders is the opportunity to buy the business that you lead. What better, quicker, low-risk way to enter the world of owning your own business? Just thinking about working with some new Team Leaders gets me pumped. Developing my team members into being the best at what they do is probably the most exciting part of my job! If that also excites you then send me an email at bryan@ethicalbusinessbuilder.com.

To your success with me , Bryan

A few weeks ago after much research and debate I finally decided to fork over the money and buy my first brand new cell phone of the millenium. The only other new phone I have ever owned was the phone I originally bought when I first started cell service in 2000. Since then I had an Ebay phone and a $20 phone that I bought from my bro. So what prompted me to spend $200 on a brand new Blackberry Curve 8830 and renew my contract for 2 years???

1. The $400 discount was more than the $200 cancellation fee. I absolutely hate phone contracts so I haven’t had one since 2002. The main reason for that is (A) I’m always moving and need to make sure wherever I live the phone service is going to have good reception. (B), and more importantly, on about a yearly basis I would call my phone provider, ask for the cancellation department and get them to give me additional minutes, services, or credits because without a contract they’ll do whatever they can to keep my business. So even if I have to pay the $200 cancellation fee at some point, that’s still better than not signing a contract and forking over an additional $400 up front.
2. I wanted to know immediately if a sales lead or other important email came in. It’s very important to respond to sales leads right away so if someone emails us an inquiry I want to get them a call back within 20 minutes. The only way I could ensure that was if I was in front of my email all day or I was able to check me email on my Blackberry Curve.
3. I needed an efficient way to stay in touch with my office. Not everyone has a company cell phone so text messaging isn’t a good option though it’s used at times. Very often talking on the phone while in a meeting (or out on the golf course) isn’t really acceptable. However a quick IM through GoogleTalk allows people in my office to easily ask questions that I can respond to while someone else is teeing off… err… uhhh… I mean presenting.
4. I moved 1900 miles from home and my sense of direction is lacking… Integrated GPS helps. The GPS has search function to tell you where to find the cheapest gas in your area, how to find businesses and restaurants, or even a friends house. And since it’s all right in my phone it easily moves with me from car to car. It’s even integrated with my calendar so that when my phone texts me to remind me of an appointment, I just click “Drive to” and it tells me how to get there. Time is money so not getting lost is a valuable feature.
5. It is a legitimate business expense. Since I always worked for someone else, forking over $200 after-tax dollars for a phone always seemed like a lot. Now that my business pays that and the monthly service plan pre-tax, its a much better deal.
6. Provided the perfect way to always have my schedule. It instantly syncs with Google Calendar thanks to googles free mobile sync options. Within minutes of putting an appointment on my Google Calendar it’s synced up to my phone wirelessly and vice-versa. No sync cables or docking stations or any of that silly stuff.
7. It has unlimited internet access. So whether I’m checking into a flight while sitting in a car on my way to a wedding, keeping up on the Pens score, looking up the departure gate for my connecting flight, or reviewing the weather forecast at “Current Location” (GPS integration, baby), having the internet at your fingertips never seems to get old.
8. My goal is to be as mobile as possible so I can run multiple businesses at the same time. When you add all of these things together, it sums up the most complete mobile toolbox since a laptop. Obviously I can’t do everything with it, but I can do most things.

Other technologies that are on my “Must-have” list for a mobile work environment:

1. Kindle: Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device – If you’re like me, you read. A LOT. And every time you travel you have 2-4 books to pack away in your bag that you’re working on. Or you’re at the office and need to reference something that’s in a book at home. Well the Kindle gets rid of all of that. Imagine having all of your books (120,000 at last count are available) at your fingertips in a device the size of a single book. Don’t forget you can also have your favorite magazine or newspaper (I prefer The Wall Street Journal) delivered wirelessly to your Kindle. You can even buy new books for $9.95 (less than a paperback version) anywhere you have a cell signal and have it delivered to your Kindle in about 60 seconds. This is by far the coolest thing that has come along in a long time.
2. Document Scanner – How can you possibly be mobile if your important documents and all of your customer’s information is stuck in filing cabinets??? You can’t. Buy a good document scanner and scan EVERYTHING into your computer. The time you invest to do that will payoff 10 fold in just having access to everything you’ll ever need at the click of a button. You’ll be able to serve your customers better and be more efficient. My personal recommendations are anything with Fujitsu ScanSnap as well as the Fujitsu 5110c. The Canon DR2050c and 2080c are also top-notch units. Don’t ever spend less than $100 on your business scanner. It won’t be worth it. Trust me.
3. Server with remote access. Along with my receivables, scheduling and lead-tracking software, this allows me to work from almost anywhere I can find internet access. My preference is a Windows 2003 Server with Terminal Services since I can access it with my Linux laptop, a Macintosh, or obviously any windows based computer.

What technologies are allowing you to become more mobile???

To your success, Bryan

P.S. You can access my blog on both the Kindle and the Blackberry.