Black In Business

My first job. was washing a car for one of my father’s friends.Chester Miller was a private chauffer and spent much of his free time at our home. Chester taught me how to clean his pride and joy properly. I would hose down the car, soap it up, hose again, and then dry it with semi wet towels.

Car washing today  is much more detailed and prosperous. Chester would pay me between 2 and 3 dollars for washing his car. Today  you can spend as much as 20 dollars.

There are times for the guys to be together. I did a post about my barber shop in October of last year. My barber shop is 95% black. Another place for the guys are the Car Wash and detail shop. I have 3 I frequent, one, all black, one diverse;black,white,and Hispanic. I have another that is mostly Italian. For now we will leave out the sports bar.

I remember, when former St Bonaventure basketball star, Matt Gantt, worked for me, he sold his car wash. Matt played with former NBA Bob Laneir, and lead the Bonnies to the final 4. The Bonnies may have won the national champsionship but Laneir went down with a knee injury. Matt, who is 6ft 7in jumped center in the place of 6ft11in Bob Laneir. Matt jumped against 7ft 4 in, Artis Gilmore and won the jump ball to start the game.

OK back to car wash, Matt sold his car wash for 200,000 dollars. A lot of jack in those days. I had forgotten how lucrative the car wash business  was valued untill I was reminded. I read Crane Chicago business magazine and found a couple of car washes for sale at 750,000 for 1 and the other was priced at 800,000 dollars. These are hand car washes so there is not  a lot of equipment cost.

On Division street in Chicago in the Austin neighborhood is a car wash owned by a young black man. He has had this business for over 12 years and at least one of his employees has been with him the whole time. On a busy day he has cars lined upped the block waiting to get in. He has an line concept and can have 5 or 6 cars being cleaned at once. He has a lounge area with reading material and the men’s room has pin ups. They do a great job and are pros.

One of the other shops sells crome wheels, in some cases these wheels cost more than the cars. They also sell a lot of car accessories and have at least 5 other shops

I have noticed, all of the owners will wash cars and hussle to ensure customer satisfaction. They all have a loyal customer base and are building equity in an asset that will bring a healthy selling price in the future.

A car wash in the right location will allways make money. On rainy days they can still wax or do dealers cars for extra cash. All the car washes I visited offer mutlple cleaning services.The biggest worry for the owners are, work force stability and the weather.

This is a great blue collar business but is also very demanding. These guys are good business men and employee several mostly men. The employees are able to care for their families and  have hope for a brighter future. So, Instead of naming this working at the car wash, we should name it owning the car wash!

We are citizens of the world ! I came across this site and wanted to share the accomplishments. As mentioned prior, examples of greatness provides hope for all. Enjoy the link.

http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/list.html

One aspect of the big corporate world I never cared for or miss is extremely boring and long meetings. We use to have meetings scheduled from 8 to 5 with little free time.It seemed as though meetings increased over the years. One of the worst situations is to work in the same building as your boss. They have to have something to do so meet it is.

I did a similar post about internal focus vs external focus. Much of my career I had managed teams in remote cities and we had to have meetings a few times a year. These events would last for a couple of days. My goal was to make my meetings an event and something of value. I wanted team dynamics and a learning environment. Here are blackinbusiness, 10 ways to a great meeting.

1) Ask yourself is this meeting neccessary? Is having this meeting going to help build share holder value? The point is not to meet just to fill that activity. I have been a part of organizations where a strategy to improve sales was to meet more often. With customers or prospects? No with each other.

2) When people have to travel for the meeting, combine topics to minimize trips and save on expenses. Ensure proper notice, for busy team members a minimum of 30 day notice is professional. You should try to  provide a yearly calendar with key meeting dates noted. This should be published  in late December.

3) Communicate in writing the meeting time, date and place. Ensure everyone knows what is expected of them. If you want them to review facts and data at the meeting provide the time to do so.

4) You should have a team nick name or theme to build on for the year.IE, Circle of Winners, Greatness is a state of mind.Make sure you use the occasion to recognize achievement. Your team members will love the peer respect.

5) Share ownership of the meeting. I always would give my managers that reported to me some topics to lead discussion and facilitate ideas. Topics were situations that everyone faced and will have interest in. I have had presentions on issues like,motivation tactics, managing performance problems, interviewing, competition. You will find the presenters will really step up and the dialog will be free flowing. This will also benefit the team dynamics in a postive way, along with individual growth.

6) If in the budget, meet off site at a nice site. You want to get away from distractions and you want the team members to feel special. Since your remote team will only meet 3 to 4 times a year put them in a comfortable venue. Have a team building event. Spend some time having fun.

7) Bring in some company guest.You may have some product managers provide  some information about a new product or a VP because you have some team members you want to get exposure for

8)Establish some agreed upon action items that will improve performance. Set objectives, tactics, and time frames. Quantifly your goals that the action items will meet.

9) Have time for just you and the team members to round table discussion. Talk about frustrations and topics of interest to them. ask for feedback and listen. Do not agree to something unless you plan to deliever.If you have reason to belive there will be a lot of frustrations, do this prior to your meeting adgenda and take as much time neccessary to listen.

10)It has to be fun. Play loud music to start the meeting and during breaks. Let your team get up and walk around, do your best to make every one relaxed. As the leader this is your moment, make it great.

I was the leader of a 7 manager, 70 sales rep team in the medical equipment business. My position was new and I headed a specialty group. I was National Sales Manager and the sales team sold blood testing analyzers. The average selling price was 75,000 dollars.

My previous role was as a senior recruitment manager, where I was responsible for helping to hire 100 additional sales people for the company’s general sales force. The Vice President of sales asked me to analyze the results of our clinical chemistry sales and to recommend a business plan that would increase sales.

The chemistry sales force was made up of Abbott’s top salesmen and they were promoted from the general force. These were capital equipment sales pros and were managed by specialty sales managers. The area for improvement was whom the sales managers reported into. They reported into a regional manager for the general product line.

My solution was to, have the specialist be their own team, outside of the regions and hire a national sales manager. We would have consistent coaching, complete focus and accountability.There would be no other product distractions and no place to hide.

I was so excited when the boss said great plan, I like it. My excitment turned to worry when he also added, since you are so sure this will work, congratulations on your promotion you are the National Sales Manager.

We kicked butt, from day one the sales reached record levels.Many other leaders would ask what did you do? A lot of planning and effort but at the end of the day 2 things stood out. One, we raised the level of expectation. It was no longer acceptable to fail. Two, we let every one know it was possible. We ensured every new business deal was announced and celebrated. I would leave voice mail all over the US for an average of 40 new closes per month.

The thought was for those sales people going throught a slump in business, that some where some one was doing well.We wanted the team to know it is possible.

Saying all that to say this for blacks in business, it is possible. Most people in business want to move up.  Black Enterprise has noted 18 black CEO’s in corporate America. Not long ago it was not possible. We all may not be CEO material but it is possible to move up. Keep hope alive and enjoy the article linked below.

http://afgen.com/black_ceos.html

I have and I come from a Union family. As a child, I remember my father, an active union member, saying we need to fight for our future. My Dad had a third grade formal schooling but had taught himself how to read and write. He ran for a Union Officer position for US steel workers union,but this was the times of Dr. King and George Wallace and not Barrack Obama and Bill Clinton. Heros to white America were Mickey Mantle and Frank Sinatra. No Michael Jordon, and no Ophra. My dad ran but his white opponent won. I was still proud.

I remember a few labor strikes, one lasted over a year.It was quite a family scrifice. We use to wait in line to get government cheese and peanut butter, as a hand out. We still did not know we were poor because every one was in the same boat. Many mining families had to find temporary work.Some gave up their mining work all together. My father’s vision paid off with retirement benefits for him and many black miners that they were pleased with.

I saw  a lot being said during  the Super Bowl week about poor retired football players living on, in some cases, 150 to 200 dollars per month and no health insurance.This is very sad is it appears the pro football owners and current players do not care about their in danger of living in proverty, brothers. Many of the players played around the time when miners throught out the US were fighting for rights.

I side with the retired players but I have to wonder. If underground miners, many lacking  in formal studies, had the foresight and courage to make their union powerful, what’s up with the retired players. The NFL use to make their players spend 4 years in college. Was the union and now retired players too greedy and only concerned about money now, live for today? Worry about tomorrow tomorrow!

Now many of us do not work in mines or play pro football. The life lesson is tp prepare for your rainy day. Consider retirement early and save. You will be under pressure to live for today and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. The problem is tomorrow may arrive sooner than you think. Be ready, save and plan.