I guess they don’t understand we are doing well, not because of the economy; we are doing well despite it!
Most are hoping and waiting for the economy to recover… it’s like waiting for your business to turn around when all your fundamentals are upside down and you are beyond the point of no return… Oh, and also, you and your partners have radically different views of what needs to be done!

The US has a debt of almost $15 Trillion (ok some exclude internal debt so subtract 4 or some include Fannie & Freddy so add another 5…) , cost of working capital is on the rise while access to working capital is diminishing. Inflation will go up and economic growth is on a downward momentum. Our budget deficit last year was close to $1 ½ trillion (3.5 trillion expenditure with a $2.1 trillion revenue). Our debt is 98% of GDP. The highest ratio since the tail end of the US depression in the 40’s… By the way, Latin America’s is about 25%…

I can only see things getting a lot worse…. It will probably take many, many…. years before our Economy can get back on track, and that’s assuming that our government, people and businesses take appropriate and immediate action… And we can all see our government’s ability and will to manage this problem …. How are we going to operate our business, grow and thrive in a long term environment of uncertainty, economic distress, high financial cost, and many other significantly adverse conditions?

The bad news is that most businesses won’t be able to…. They will fail and fade…

The good news is for those businesses that will prepare to weather the storm, differentiate themselves significantly, and commit to delivering excellence & significant value to their customers. They will succeed and most probably enjoy long term competitive advantage in their markets for many years to come.

Barriers to entry are way down, most competitors are in survival mode, not innovative, “lets take over the world” mode!
While most of us are hoping for better times, I believe we all should be preparing for an even worse and severe storm…

The upside of being prepared is significantly higher than the downside of having too many canned goods in the pantry…

OpX Advisors -

This summer we had my team over to our home for a company barbeque. The superintendents, carpenters, plumber, designer and almost all of our other team members were there with their wives and kids. I grilled more than 20 lbs of skirt steak (which I marinated for 3 days in my secret sauce) to go with the many dishes that each family brought. As I looked around, I felt pride and satisfaction…

Four years ago we were forced by the downturn in the economy to quickly shift gears from land acquisitions, development and new construction to remodeling services. We built and grew a remodeling business from scratch. In less than 2 years our production grew from 0 to seven figures… and has been climbing significantly since…

How were we able to accomplish such rapid progress despite the weakening economy that many called the worst recession in modern time…? As I began reflecting, I wondered… was there a specific formula or special sauce that led to our rapid growth and extraordinary success…?

Was it our geographic focus, standardized operating procedures, our commitment to quality, our obsession to exceed customer expectations, our dedication to leaving the work site impeccable at the end of each day or our detail oriented project management process that ensured we anticipated most problems before they had an opportunity to occur…?

Sure, we communicated constantly with our clients, partners and each other, we built strategic relationships with our vendors and subs, but above all, we made sure we always did the right thing. Decency, honesty and integrity came first. So how did we achieve consistent profitable growth?

Oh, I know… it must have been our prospect qualification criteria and our discipline to only take on profitable projects that fit our sweet spot…

Wait a minute… we couldn’t have done any of this without the hard work, loyalty and passion of our team, whom we have considered extended family and made sure they understood they would always be our most important asset.

Finally, it became obvious to me! There was not one thing or even just a few main ingredients that made up the recipe for our success. It had been the sum of all parts (especially the small nuances) that made up our business culture and the purposeful details in our process. It was the monitoring, measuring, tracking and enforcing of everything we felt was important to deliver an exceptional customer experience to our customers. It also included the foresight that we needed to provide more than just a job for our team members; we needed to provide them with a sense of purpose and a means to achieve fulfillment way beyond just monetary gain.

In an industry that has been saturated with mediocrity, stigma, lower profit margins and skeptical home owners, it has become more important than ever to integrate excellence into our day to day operations beyond just focusing on delivering a quality renovation. The process has become as important as the end product.

Over the past few years I have developed a set of tools, principles and methods that I have applied in my own services businesses including one of my most succesfull, LEFKO Renovations. I have packaged these tools, principles and methods into an actionable framework that I call OpX (short for Operationalizing Excellence).

The purpose of OpX is to help other service businesses like yours, to grow rapidly, effectively and profitably and to achieve long term competitive advantage in their markets.

My business philosophy, as well as the OpX framework, is centered on 5 core areas:

1) Differentiation – operating significantly different from your competition in order to achieve long term competitive advantage

2) Alignment – to be strategically and operationally aligned with my team, partners and customers

3) Systematization – to standardize processes and operating procedures to ensure predictable and consistent results

4) Culturization™ – To lead by example… and to develop and drive a business culture that is focused on each individual. Helping each employee, partner and customer fulfill their broad range of needs

5) Quantification – to constantly monitor and measure customer experience, progress and our bottom line results.

I love teaching and am passionate about helping other remodeling and service businesses get extraordinary results. Let’s continue raising the bar in the service industry!

OpX Advisors -