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Why re-invent the wheel?! Find out how other successful people achieved what you want to achieve, then do what they did. Success leaves clues! Reading biographies of successful people will provide you with insights you can copy. Here is my story — I hope it helps you build your own success.
In the 1970s, oil-producing countries experienced a surge in construction activity. I rode this wave and travelled the world. After some 15 years controlling the finances of large construction projects for various international contractors, I started my own sub-contracting company. In fact, a joke between colleagues at a project meeting led to me establishing a new company.
Some major construction projects attracted international firms to the region, and I worked for one of these firms. Local plumbers were proving quite incapable of handling the large commercial projects that were suddenly available to them. The local firms were run by tradesmen/owners skilled in service work – repairs, renovations and small home extensions.
They were failing the large projects due to their inexperience with major installations. They didn't have the skills, they lacked the management – the owner's wife was often the entire office staff – and they were grossly inefficient. I saw a need for a well-run plumbing contractor that could handle large projects.
Working with the local architects and engineers while I was employed with the international contractor, proved very useful – they would be the source of our business.
I staffed an office with five people to put my business plan into operation. However, that meant my overheads were thousands of percent higher than the competition.
In addition, all work had to be won on competitive bid. (Which means the lowest price always got the job.) Project specifications were very detailed and very strict, so there could be no cutting corners on materials, equipment or fixtures. We used the same pool of workmen as our competition. Also, I was well-known and respected by the clients' representatives – I knew how to do the job properly, and they knew it, so I was held to a higher standard than any of our competitors. Not fair, perhaps, but a fact of life!
In summary, I was forced to give the highest quality, carried the highest overheads, and had to do the work for the lowest price. Yet, I won nearly every bid submitted, and made a fortune.
Within three years, I was earning almost a million dollars per year and within 2 more years was earning over $3 million. During this time our workforce grew to more than 30 employees.
It's sometimes difficult for people to understand how that was possible – highest quality and lowest price – but I can assure you it was. I have done it. Not watched someone else do it, not read about it in a magazine of hot-shot businesses, actually been in the driver's-seat, won the jobs, got them done, and made the money. And, incidentally, our workcrews were the highest paid in the area, and were sharing in the profits of the company.
I believe that efficiency is a far greater controller of price competitiveness than quality. A service or product can be of the highest quality and still be cheapest due to efficiency – a more efficient manufacturing process, a more efficient service system, more efficient delivery, etc. etc. Nikon cameras beat the socks off Leica, in both quality and price, because they had a very efficient manufacturing process and could produce first-rate cameras at a lower price.
Now it's up to you to leverage what you know to create your own OUTRAGEOUS SUCCESS ....
I can help you do this. (OK, Frederick. I want you to mentor me, NOW!)
Next - Leveraging Your Financial Potential ....
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An Exercise in Life Purpose, Random Acts of Kindness and Generosity
by Frederick Pearce and Angela Christensen
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Biography DVD - Ray Kroc: Fast Food McMillionaire
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George Westinghouse – DVD – America's greatest industrialist.
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DVD : The Kellogg Brothers: Corn Flake Kings – watch how this humble invention became the cornerstone of a corporate giant.
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FREDERICK PEARCE
