JDS Experience “IN” Business
- the Struggles of Everyday
In 1988, I started my own business after being part of a franchise system; I had loved the work and hated the franchise. I found a niche in the job I was doing from my days working with the franchise. When I joined the franchise, I was 34-35 years old with a wife and a young daughter. When I went out on my own and started my own company, I was 39 years old.
I wanted to do something different that was my way and at my risk.
The franchise in my opinion had poor Standards, no Discipline and even worse Quality Systems and Processes. It was still a successful franchise because it was in an emerging industry…… “Fluid Conveying”.
Great News ……I was on the Cusp of a New Industry.
I had worked for 5 years and had no money. I had created at the time what I thought was no wealth.
As it turns out today, I have a lot to be thankful for by being part of that original franchise system. I give little credit to what I learned, yet it was steep learning curve going from farming to business.
In farming, it was all commodity sales (sheep, pigs, cattle, crops) where all weight and grade sales prices were set and invoicing was mostly taken care of.
In the franchise, pricing was set and yet variable through marketing discounts, invoicing was daily and marketing and branding was a battle for the customer’s front of mind.
In the franchise I learned:
1. Accounting procedures,
2. Agreements, both legal and accounting,
3. Education on both products and business development,
4. Branding,
5. Everyday marketing processes, and;
6. Selling technics
The franchise made me aware…. not to the level of my understanding today; just enough to be dangerous. In my opinion, when I talk to entrepreneurs today, it is all about “Make a sale and you will be successful”.
That is not My experience
“Make a sale” is the start of business problems and a sale will test the entrepreneur to the very core. That is the reason you must have systems/processes already thought out. Even the best plans with masterful thinking will not prepare you for business lessons on a daily basis. There are so many twists and turns that you will not see coming towards you, I could recommend you invest in a suit of armour …….. Your Ego and Spirit will be attacked from every angle you can image.
Most Businesses don’t fail because they can’t make Sales.
Most Businesses fail because they run out of Energy to manage the Sales.
A long time before the Money runs out, the Human Energy is Depleted to the point of being Exhausted!
Battered Egos and Bruised Spirits
It’s a battle field out there…..Business is the highest contact sport there is…..
No Contact = No Business!!!!!!!
I started my New Business with No Money….. just a credit card, a reputation for being the best in the business and a high ENERGY with a drive to work and succeed.
Stupid and Naïve
Nobody said I couldn’t……………… So I did
No Money, No Fear, Stupid, Naïve, No Plan, Raw Energy and Strong Belief ….. I can do it!
Enter the Psychotic-Optimist
I had an idea for a niche or a gap in the market at the time. Ultra High Pressure water blasting was taking off in Australia. It was very small in relative market terms. I thought I could do just enough in sales to have a small business and make enough money to take care of my family. If there was a plan, that was the plan.
Being Naïve, I didn’t really understand I should be frightened to lose everything, and really looking very stupid. Oddly enough, both Naivety and Stupidity turned out to be assets; my raw energy won the day. I worked longer, faster, harder than anyone else.
The miracle of Human design is that I got smarter with every experience. It was my Psychotic-Optimism that allowed my at times bruised ego to survive my everyday mistakes, including losing money, leading to costly trial-and-error making events.
26 years later, with a failed marriage, a new wife and 2 more children (making 3 absolute miracles), I write about how I started in my first business venture.
I had this idea that anyone working with Ultra-High Pressures would be frightened of the raw power and the extreme danger potential of the technology. I got exposed to the idea of water cleaning/blasting when I was servicing a client whilst working in my franchise business.
The client will remain nameless, the situation all too familiar. Every business I know teaches that we must buy at the lowest price and sell at the highest margin so we can make maximum profit. I had just sold the company $5 000.00 worth of hose and fittings. At the time, I was the Hot dog sales guy in the franchise. Nobody makes sales like that….well I did.
I was invited to the demo of this new technology, Ultra-High-Pressure water blasting. At the time, I thought that this over-the-top water blasting idea was a foreign concept to me. I drink water, I swim in water, I wash my body in water…..I don’t blast anything with water. After all, water is a life making force.
On the day of the demo of the machine I had supplied hoses for, I was running late for the demo….. I turned into the street where the demo was being held. I can hear this almighty roar of a noise 400 metres away from the demo site. I thought someone was testing a jet engine nearby. As I get to the site, I realize it was the machine, the Ultra-high-pressure Demo that making all the noise.
WOW…. are you Kidding Me?!
This is what I observed:
1. Road base and the concrete being blasted over 100 metres from the nozzle of the water blasting gun.
2. Road base and concrete bouncing off vehicles, buildings, and humans watching the event.
3. The person hold the blasting gun tied to the truck chassis to make sure he could hold the gun.
4. The gun had a cushioned padded grip covering the human holding the gun.
Nobody watching the demo could believe what they were seeing. The test lasted 3 minutes from start to finish before the machine broke down.
Long and the short of it………my lucky day
It was not my hoses that caused the failure. Make no mistake…. they were absolutely the wrong hoses for the job. I may well be stupid…….. I do however have “shit house rat survival instincts”.
I knew that I have a chance to solve a major problem and if I did, I could make a lot of money and nobody would find out I made a major mistake on the hoses I sold for $ 5 000.00!
The machine broke down because it was working at 2 times the design pressure. The machine was supposed to work at 10,000 psi and their test gauge blew up at 20,000 psi. (Another bonus: I had to find a new gauge for them and believe me, they were not cheap to buy). The new niche market was being developed in front of me at that moment.
I went back to the franchisor and told them we would have to find products that were outside of Australia. The Franchisors flatly refused to get involved for a few reasons:
- Insurance and Risk
- The time and energy to find replacements that were suitable, and most of all;
- They did not want to give a credit for the $ 5 000.00 worth of hoses sold.
I went from “hot dog” to “hot head”; from “boy wonder” to “dick head”.
In Australia, not a great look.
I could see this was a huge opportunity……….. I had to Solve the problem.
I have learned that when I am totally committed, Providence takes over and the hands of god look after ME. This was one of hundreds of nights I didn’t sleep. I had to find a product line that would do the job. I have always been a person who knows more about the products I’m serving and selling than anyone else. I had the best product catalogues in Australia and I read them. I remembered reading about a hose that was made in USA that would do the job. I found out who made the product.
My lucky day… got even luckier. Somebody in Australia ordered the exact amount of hose I needed by mistake and the supplier couldn’t sell it. I managed to get the hose for a third of it its retail value. Only a couple more things to do and I’m out of trouble.
- I had to convince the customer that they would have to use a better hose to be safe. It was selling at its best. I had worked out how I could take back the $ 5 000.00 in Hoses and sell the new hoses for
$ 12 500.00….. yes, twice plus. This would pay for the expenses of the first lot of hoses and leave me a large margin for all my work. I got the new order number plus an order number for the blown gauge. Deals that dreams are made of.
- I had to convince the franchisor to accept the deal. As it turns out, it was easy. I had a Purchase order and an extra sale… total sale was $16,800.00. Money talks and bull shit walks. Turns out franchisor was only interested in sales….Go figure!
I was the Top Sales guy again for the month…. not only top in sales, top in margins made too.
That was the start of a multi-billion $$ Global Business… a new Industry was Born.
Next Week, I’m connecting the DOTS of Lessons learned in this lesson.
Stay Tuned… JDS OUT
Comments