If you read the business press you would think the only business that’s worth anything are those in the tech space. I almost never work with folks in that world. My clients and the people I love working with are those who own blue collar businesses.
In today’s video I want to talk about what a blue collar business is and what makes them so special.
Transcript
If you read the business press, you would think the only business worth anything are those in the tech space. You know, I almost never work with folks in that world. My clients and the people I love working with are those who own blue-collar businesses.
So, in today’s video I want to talk about what a blue-collar business is and what makes them so special.
First, I wanna give you my definition of what a blue-collar business is, is any business where the people who deliver the service work with their hands. This could be a construction company, a manufacturing company or even a distribution company. Sometimes it’s retail, but not very often.
So, now that we know what a blue-collar business is, it’s time for me to tell you seven reasons why I love their owners, and love working with their businesses.
- Number one, the owners of the business can’t be anything but authentic. Their employees won’t let them. You know, something? Blue-collar workers are no BS people and they see through it right away. So, if the owners are not telling them the truth, they’re not about to listen. You know, a blue-collar worker never really listens to what the owner says. What they do do, is they watch what you do, and that’s actually true for everybody, but especially in a blue-collar business.
- Number two, blue-collar businesses tend to be local. They participate in their local communities. They’re proud to participate in their local communities. And they’re often even the backbones of their local communities. So, without blue-collar businesses, a lot of the communities would really, really suffer.
- Number three, the owners really care about their reputation and guard it jealously. Now I would say that’s true for the owners of all privately-held businesses. You know, when you’re small, especially when you’re local, because you’re part of the community. The community is part of you. Your reputation is everything. It doesn’t take much to kill your reputation. It takes years and years and years, to build up a good reputation. So, owners of blue-collar businesses really care about their reputation, and they do guard it unbelievably jealously.
- Number four, there are huge opportunities to make these businesses significantly better. It’s the major reason I like to work with them, You know, when I first went into this business about 22, 23 years ago. and moved away from my vending company. I ended up working with an electrical contractor down in Southern Vermont. And his profit margin was 20% and the average electrical contractor’s profit margin was 5%. So I asked him, I said, “Brian, what about your business makes you so successful?” And what he did was, he brought all his people in to plan the job before they went out in the field, so he didn’t waste any time and they did the job significantly faster than other electrical contractors. Well, that’s sort of the basis of what SCRUM is. And, when I work with somebody, I like to use those sort of strategies because it almost gives a business what I call, an unfair advantage. It’s something I think you should be thinking about if you own a blue-collar business. What can you do take waste out of your business and that’s what SCRUM is all about.
- Number five, helping these businesses be successful is enormously satisfying for me. You know, when you’re in the advice business, you want to see success. You want to see your clients get some really big wins. And luckily for me, when I’ve worked with blue-collar businesses over the years, I’ve really had the opportunity to see some huge wins out of my clients. And for me, that’s just really, really satisfying.
- Number six, owners of blue-collar businesses are just down-to-Earth, real people. You know, a lot of these folks have never been to college or they have one or two years worth of college. They often feel a little bit bad about their education and their sophistication when it comes to business. The truth is, if you’re a blue-collar business owner, I never, never, never want to hear you tell me that you’re feeling bad about who you are or where you come from. Because the truth is, without where you’re coming from, and what your do, our country would be a lot less than it actually is today.
- So, number seven, I come from this world, and because I come from this world, I can add tons of value to what people are doing and how business owners work.
So, if you own a blue-collar business, or even if you don’t, why don’t you scroll down, and let me know in the comments below what you love about your business.
And, while you’re at it you should DOWNLOAD our Cheat Sheet on what you need to do to become Financially Free from your business. ’cause the truth is, that’s what everyone wants to do. And this is a really easy way for you to take a look at the steps you need to be doing to do this.
So, this is Josh Patrick. You’re at “The Sustainable Business.” Thanks a lot for stopping by. I hope to see you back here really soon.
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