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    Mountain Climbing
    Mountain Climbing
    Mountain Climbing
    Ebook163 pages2 hours

    Mountain Climbing

    By Dave Guenthner

    ()

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    About this ebook

    According to the United States Census, there are about 27.5 million businesses in the United States. Each year about 590,000 new businesses start. Only 5% of these businesses ever reach $1 million in sales. Less than half of those businesses ever get to $5 million in sales, and fewer still get to $10 million in revenue.

    Despite the odds, some people have created companies multiple times that have grown to $10 million and beyond in revenue.

    How do they do it?

    Is there a secret formula?

    There is no secret formula for profitable business growth. There is no company you can copy that will guarantee your success. No two companies can do exactly the same things and achieve exactly the same results. All companies have different cultures, resources, people, skill sets and access to capital that, even if they do the same things, will provide different results.

    While there is no secret formula, there is a correct way to view your business, and there are proven principles that can be integrated into your business model to grow and optimize your performance. These principles work every time.

    It bothers me when I see executives and companies fail because they don’t know what I know.

    Once you know what I know, you can grow and optimize your business. It’s time for you to cast aside those commonly held "myths" that are preventing you and your company from moving forward and adopt the seven core philosophies or principles of optimization into your company. It’s worked twice for me. Let the same ideas work for you.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDave Guenthner
    Release dateSep 4, 2012
    ISBN9781476365916
    Mountain Climbing
    Author

    Dave Guenthner

    Dave Guenthner is a business executive, consultant, speaker, author and avid golfer. Born and raised in South Dakota, Dave received his Bachelors degree in business and attended law school at the University of South Dakota. Dave resides and golf’s in Omaha, Nebraska. Dave has played the “business course” under par in several different industries and companies in his 30 + year career. He began his career as a Certified Public Accountant and has held senior executive positions in companies in food products, manufacturing, distribution, medical staffing and information technology. Dave co-founded and was instrumental in growing a company, InaCom, from an idea into a $6 billion publicly traded Fortune 500 company. He has worked with companies that have been named numerous times to the Inc. 500 fastest growing private companies in the United States. Dave writes about business and is focused on sharing his experiences to help other executives and companies optimize their business and achieve their growth and profitability goals. When he golf’s, Dave always shoots in the 70’s....the only question is how many holes he has to play before the round is finished.

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      Book preview

      Mountain Climbing - Dave Guenthner

      MOUNTAIN CLIMBING

      Seven Principles to Optimize Business Growth

      Dave Guenthner

      -

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2012 Dave Guenthner

      License Notes: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Dedication

      To my wife, Gale. She went through it all with me. She stuck with me and supported me even when I wasn’t sure if I could stick with myself. Without her, I might still be sitting at the bottom of the mountain and talking about writing a book.

      Acknowledgements

      Over the years I have come in contact with many outstanding people who have had a profound effect on my thinking and the actions I have taken in my life and in business. There is not room to acknowledge all those people who have helped me over the years. Even though you may not be mentioned here, I know who you are and appreciate the assistance, guidance and friendship that you have given me.

      My grandfather, Emil Guenthner, was the first person to stoke my interest in business. He taught me that there isn’t much use in doing business with someone if you’re not going to get paid for it. He was right.

      My parents, Ernie and Mary Lee, taught me to persevere and be persistent. They encouraged me, taught me right from wrong and instilled the principle that you can achieve what you want if you are willing to work hard and be persistent.

      The people I worked with at Peat Marwick and Mitchell, Certified Public Accountants, exposed me to a number of different clients and gave me the opportunity to learn how they operated their businesses and dealt with issues. Those experiences contributed a great deal to my business philosophy.

      Valmont Industries, Inc. and its management team showed me the importance of infrastructure and capital. They also gave me a chance to cofound a business and launch one of the great adventures of my life. Thanks for your help and the memories.

      IBM, in my view, launched the micro-computer revolution that enabled us to launch ValCom. I appreciate your efforts and your personnel, who taught me one of the important things in business is to do the right thing. Eventually they always did.

      Most of the people at ValCom/Inacom contributed mightily to my success. I will never forget the help you gave me.

      Duncan Grant, Harris Devor, Ken Lehn and David Zisser taught me about the Securities and Exchange Commission and helped through one of the darkest periods of my professional life.

      And finally, my nephew Jeremy Guenthner and his partners Charlie and Chris Janssen who gave me a second chance when no one else would. Thanks for believing.

      Table of Contents

      Mountain Climbing

      Introduction

      Part I: The Executive

      Chapter One: Myths and Optimization

      Chapter Two: Your Attitude

      Chapter Three: Focus Leads to Freedom

      Chapter Four: How to Make Better Decisions

      Chapter Five: Communications

      Part II: The Principles

      Chapter Six: Plan for Success

      Chapter Seven: Capital: Show Me the Money

      Chapter Eight: People: Your Most Important Asset

      Chapter Nine: Sales Growth

      Chapter Ten: Infrastructure

      Chapter Eleven: Execution

      Conclusion

      About the Author

      Mountain Climbing

      St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1982, was the day I stopped preparing and began climbing the mountain of business success. On March 17, 1982, I met Bill Fairfield and interviewed for the Controller position of the Irrigation Products Division of Valmont Industries, Inc. in Valley, Nebraska. This was the day that changed my career and life forever.

      Striding down the hallway to the Blue Room at Valmont to meet Bill, many thoughts raced through my mind. I knew the Controller position had been open for over a year. I knew that over 300 resumes had been reviewed and that more than 25 interviews had taken place. My boss, the Chief Internal Auditor at Valmont Industries, had interviewed for the job and had been rejected despite the support of the Chief Financial Officer of Valmont.

      I reflected on the fact that Bill was 32 years old, had played basketball, was a Harvard MBA, had worked at Eastman Kodak and had been sought out by Valmont to run the Irrigation Division. Bill was charismatic, politically astute and laser-focused on what was best for his career. Bill was on the fast track at Valmont. In Bill’s mind and in the mind of every other Valmont employee’s mind, he was in the running to be the next CEO at Valmont.

      I wasn’t sure what Fairfield was looking for in a Controller. I came to the conclusion he wasn't sure either, given the 300 resumes he had reviewed, the 25 interviews he had conducted and the fact that no viable candidate had yet been identified.

      As it turned out, Bill wanted a business partner trained as an accountant—me. In me, he had found someone who would tell him what he needed to know, not just what he wanted to hear.

      One week later, after meeting with Bill’s other Direct Reports, I was named the new Controller of the Irrigation Products Division of Valmont Industries. A partnership was forged that would last 17 years and ultimately turn an idea into a $6 billion dollar publicly-traded Fortune 500 company with over 10,000 employees. On the way we would successfully complete over twenty-five acquisitions, raise over $2 billion in growth capital and do one bad deal that would cost us control of InaCom, drive it into bankruptcy in 2000, and result in over five years of personal litigation with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

      In 2003, two and a half years after Inacom and I parted ways on less than amicable terms, I joined RTG Medical. RTG was a $ 3 million company in the temporary medical staffing industry that wanted help growing. Using the principles learned and developed while growing InaCom, RTG’s growth exploded. The Company grew to $7 million in 2004, $13.6 million in 2005, and was named by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest growing companies in the country. By 2008 the company had over $35 million in revenue and had earned recognition by Inc. Magazine two more times. What I’d learned while growing InaCom was transferable and worked equally as well at RTG.

      I’ve scaled the mountain of business success, got shoved off the pinnacle, and landed with a thud at the bottom of the other side. Bruised and battered, I picked myself up, dusted myself off and began climbing back up the mountain. I’m still climbing but each day brings me a step or two closer to the summit.

      Introduction

      According to the United States Census, there are about 27.5 million businesses in the United States. Each year about 590,000 new businesses start. Only 5% of these businesses ever reach $1 million in sales. Less than half of those businesses ever get to $5 million in sales, and fewer still get to $10 million in revenue.

      Despite the odds, some people have created companies multiple times that have grown to $10 million and beyond in revenue.

      How do they do it?

      Is there a secret formula?

      There is no secret formula for profitable business growth. There is no company you can copy that will guarantee your success. No two companies can do exactly the same things and achieve exactly the same results. All companies have different cultures, resources, people, skill sets and access to capital that, even if they do the same things, will provide different results.

      While there is no secret formula, there is a correct way to view your business, and there are proven principles that can be integrated into your business model to grow and optimize your performance. These principles work every time.

      It bothers me when I see executives and companies fail because they don’t know what I know.

      Once you know what I know, you can grow and optimize your business. It’s time for you to cast aside those commonly held myths that are preventing you and your company from moving forward and adopt the seven core philosophies or principles of optimization into your company. It’s worked twice for me. Let the same ideas work for you.

      The Question

      Albert Einstein once said that if he had an hour to solve a problem, he would spend the first 55 minutes making sure he knew the right question. Once he knew the right question, he could solve the problem in five minutes.

      Lots of books answer the question of how to increase sales. That's not the right question.

      Business is not just about sales. Business is about people working to ensure the long term viability of a company through profitable growth.

      This book answers the right question—the question of how to create profitable business growth and build a company that is viable in the long term. This book answers the question of how to optimize a business.

      This book isn’t just about entrepreneurship; it’s about established companies optimizing their performance. This book is about principles that you must employ to grow and ensure the long term viability of your company. This book is about optimizing your company and creating freedom for you to pursue all the things that are important to you.

      The 7 Principles of Profitable Growth

      In Part I of the book we will expose 10 business myths that kill optimization and define your role in optimizing the business. We’ll address the importance of your attitude to the optimization of the company. We will explore and provide the tools required to get the right focus and create more time and freedom for you. We’ll give you tools you need to make better decisions in your company and provide tips to improve your communications with all your constituencies.

      Part II of the book will explain the principles to achieve optimization. We will describe why and how you can plan for success and set the way forward for your company. We will address the importance of capital or access to capital for the growth

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