December 22, 2003
They’re in the business of people
Two owners know little about metal, lots about metal workers.
A PLAN: Peter Robbins had no manufacturing experience before he and a
partner bought Best Way Metal Stamping, but they had a leadership vision.
The company’s sales are the highest in three years.
What do a couple of clinical psychologists know about running a metal-stamping
business?
It may have been the first question to cross the minds of the clinical psychologists,
who are also ordained ministers – Peter Robbins and Kevin Downing –
when they bought Best Way Metal Stamping in La Mirada in 2001.
The answer illustrates the difference between technical competence and leadership.
The former is probably the most-common basis on which people start small businesses.
The latter is the necessary ingredient in running small businesses that last.
Michael Gerber stresses the difference in his classic, "The E-Myth Revisited:
Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It."
Robbins is well-versed in this book and its follow-up, "The E-Myth Manager."
"The higher you go in a company, the less technical you need to be but
the better leader you have to be," Robbins explained.
What Robbins and Downing lacked in technical expertise, they made up in management
experience. The pair had been partners for two decades in Turning Point Counseling
, providing marriage and family counseling at more than a dozen Southern California
churches. They also teamed up on a call-in radio program, "Journey of
the Heart," on KKLA/99.5 FM for nine years.
Their counseling and radio show taught them that many problems arise from
financial issues, so they started Turning Point Financial Counseling to provide
debt counseling and consolidation. They continue to run Turning Point separately
from Best Way.
Still, conventional wisdom suggests that such experience would not prepare
them to run a 13-employee, $1.5 million manufacturer that specializes in short
runs as small as 500 pieces. But both businesses require a vision, the right
employees and clear communication, Robbins said.
He had been a close personal friend for many years of Best Way founder Phil
Osburn of Fullerton.
"If I was going to sell to anyone, it would be Peter," Osburn said.
"He certainly has entrepreneurial spirit and business knowledge."
Robbins and Downing made Osburn several promises: They would be committed
to Best Way’s employees and customers. They would continue to support
several ministries Best Way had financed. And Osburn could park his motor
home at Best Way whenever he wasn’t traveling.
The ministries, including Turning Point Financial and Focus on the Family,
were the real purposes behind the company.
"I’m not a teacher or a preacher, but the Lord has blessed us financially,"
Osburn said. "My wife and I wanted ministry support to continue."
If a competitor bought the firm, it might end that support or lay off workers,
Robbins said. "I understood Phil’s vision."
And vision is the foundation on which every company must be built.
"Everyone must get the right picture of what you’re trying to accomplish,"
Robbins said.
He used the fable of three bricklayers who were asked what they were doing.
One said he was laying bricks, a second said he was building a wall, a third
said he was building a great cathedral.
When Robbins arrived at Best Way, he discovered that some workers had no idea
of the ultimate purpose of the odd-shaped metal pieces they were making. So
Robbins brought in photographs of off-road vehicles and motorcycles and pointed
out the specific pieces.
Founders tend to know everything and assume others do too, Robbins said. Because
he, too, was learning, he easily shared his research and big picture with
employees.
The first goal for Robbins and Downing upon buying Best Way was to get the
staff excited about the vision, "because if they left, we’d be
in trouble."
They met with Best Way employees and instead of laying down new rules, the
pair said, "We need you."
The new owners took to heart "E-Myth" guru Gerber’s insistence
that successful entrepreneurs work on their business, not in their business.
They manage people and company goals; they don’t run the machines. The
owners also apply lessons from Jim Collins’ "Good to Great,"
which stresses the importance of hiring and promoting the right people.
They recently hired a general manager with manufacturing sales skills they
lacked. They also stress goal-setting and personal accountability that encourage
career growth for their employees.
Even the best company with a great staff and a well-honed vision will fail
for lack of communication, Robbins says.
"You must be excited and passionate about what you’re trying to
do," he said, "You must communicate the vision and inspire people
to carry it out."
The strategies are paying off. Best Way is experiencing its highest sales
in three years. That builds Osburn’s ministry vision. Not bad for a
couple of psychologists.
JAN NORMAN
Register writer
Anxious hearts are very heavy, but a word of encouragement does wonders!
Proverbs 12:25
The good man asks advice from friends;
the wicked plunge ahead - and fall.
Proverbs 12:26
A man finds joy in giving an apt reply
- and how good is a timely word!
Proverbs 15:23
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet
to the soul and healing to the bones.
Proverbs 16:24
A word aptly spoken is like apples of
gold in settings of silver.
Proverbs 25:11
Finally, brothers, whatever is true,
whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about
such things.
Philippians 4:8
