Think Big, Grow Big!

When I started my Construction Business I came right out of the Corporate world and understood the value of laying out a solid foundation for my business that would be ready when we were big. In other words, we acted like a big company even though we were small. From the outside looking in we were well established as was demonstrated with the professional organizations we were members of, the equipment and vehicles we used, the signage on our office and the documentation we provided to our customers.

• First thing first, we secured a professional accounting firm to ensure our taxes and book keeping was sound. Then we built a relationship with an investment accountant to ensure we were protecting as much of our revenue from the tax man as possible. Contrary to popular belief, not all accountants are the same.

• Secondly, we joined the local Chamber of Commerce and our Industry Associations and became working members sitting on various committees. This was important to garner current and relevant knowledge that my competition might not have that would be beneficial to my customer.

• Third, we put a great deal of money into new vehicles that saved us money over the years in maintenance and operating costs. We leased the vehicles to increase our expenses to lower our tax burden at the end of the year. When the lease was up we could have bought the vehicles out with a bank loan which would also be an expense to the business but we did not. We took out a new lease every 2 years so we continued to have new vehicles, demonstrating to our clients success.

• Fourth, all our tools were leading edge, for example; laser tools and cordless ergonomic designs. This created more efficiency on the work site, reducing time and creating more profit. Again the clients perception was that we were a big and successful company who can afford the best.

• Fifth, our office was promoted with professional signage and we had a website at a time when most businesses were debating if a fax machine was a useful tool or not for their business.

• Sixth, all our documentation, including proposals and invoices, promoted our logo and the logos of our memberships and provided a very professional look and feel.

In our first year of business we had more money going out than coming in. This certainly made for some very interesting late night partner meetings. But our persistence paid off and before long we started receiving very large clients with very large projects. As we hired more people to meet the demand, (we grew internally), our thinking big attitude had made the transition to a bank account with now millions much more manageable. This was planned growth. We thought we were big and therefore we were big.