Don’t Quit your Day Job! By Leland Stafford Kropp pot

Don’t Quit your Day Job! But if you do, this book is for you. By Leland Stafford Kropp Jr. 1 “Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill “I was told by a friend from the Eureka Chamber of Commerce that her biggest criticism of my speaking style was that I give the impression that I know it all. Let me be the first and last to say that I don’t. I have just made a lot of mistakes, most of which I have tried to learn from,” Lee Kropp Jr., straight from the heart. “Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work.” Robert Orben Looking back on my life I now see that I was doomed to be in business for myself. I was never given a specific direction as to what to do with my life when I was a child. I had many role models throughout my life, but none were constant enough to see and direct me into the life of an entrepreneur. So I floated through life until I found my calling. I do not regret anything that has happened in my life and would not change a single thing. My point is to watch your children, directing and encouraging them to think outside the box. “Snow and adolescence are the only problems that disappear if you ignore them long enough.” Earl Wilson I was driving one night with my grandson, Andrew, who was 5 years old at the time. I asked him if he wanted to come to work for me when he got older and he said, “No, I’m going to start my own business.” “Really,” I replied, “and what type of business are you going to start?” Andrew proudly replied that he was going to start a “Folding Company.” 2 I adjusted my rearview mirror so that I could see him eye-to-eye and asked about the nature of this new business idea since I had never heard of a Folding Company. He proceeded to tell me how he wanted to fold sheets, towels, dishrags, and socks, but he mainly wanted to fold wash cloths because he enjoyed folding them the most. So, I asked him if he had done any research on other companies that did the same thing, who his ideal clients would be, how much he would charge for the items that he folded, and where he would base his business. Now these questions were all asked in the spirit of fun and he answered most of them pretty well, but as we drove along he grew so quiet I thought he had fallen asleep. However, when I glanced in the mirror I saw that Andrew was crying. So, I asked him what was wrong. And, he said in a sad little voice, “Papa Lee I don’t know if I am smart enough to run my own business.” “Don’t worry,” I answered him. “I will be here to help you do anything that you choose to do. Besides you’re only five so you have a couple of years before you have to worry about that stuff.” “Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.” Howard Aiken My first attempt at business was the proverbial lemonade stand. When I was 9 years old I had a friend named Brad that had a brand new, crisp $20 bill that he had gotten for his birthday. After seeing some kids run a lemonade stand down the street I thought Brad, his $20 bill and I could do a better job. So I told Brad about the idea and the perfect location for our lemonade stand was at the corner by the YMCA. So, Brad and I became 50/50 equal partners; we walked to the store and bought $4.00 worth of cups and some “Old Time Lemonade,” the good stuff. 3 Our business venture lasted about three hours and we sold $28.00 worth of lemonade. Brad could not grasp that since we were equal partners in the lemonade stand business—his money, my idea—we were to share in the profits equally. So, he went home looking confused as to why he was going home $6.00 lighter than when he started the day. We remained friends for a few years, but for some reason we never did business again. “Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.” Aristotle My first year in Junior High School was a very profitable time and it all started from a package of “Bubble Yum” chewing gum. I was never a child that liked to share, so when a kid in class asked if he could have a piece of gum I said no, but I would be more than happy to sell him a piece for a dime. Within a few minutes I sold three pieces, which allowed me to buy another package with a nickel profit. Within a month I was the bubble gum king. I was buying packs for a quarter and selling them for fifty cents. By the time the principal put an end to my business venture I had three friends dealing gum for me and I was buying my gum by the case with several flavors to choose from. Imagine what might have been if that principal had not interfered; I could have branched out to other grades, other schools and maybe even other school districts. Looking back, I guess I was lucky that I liked gum and not drugs otherwise I might be writing a different type of book. “The fastest way to succeed is to look as if you're playing by somebody else's rules, while quietly playing by your own.” Michael Korda 4 High school brought new challenges and new opportunities in my developing quest into the business world. This time it started in an after school activity called Junior Achievement [JA]. If you have not heard of JA it gives kids the chance to run their own business. Kids met once a week; they sold stock to their parents to raise money to buy supplies to make products that they would then sell back to the same parents who had bought their stock. The kids would elect officers, some kids would be employees and everyone was in sales. The JA program ran from the start of the new school year and ended just before Christmas. Halfway though my freshmen term my group elected me president after the current president move away. I was not happy with what we were doing so I switched the product that we were making from cookie sheets to spice ropes. This was very lucrative and our group made record sales. I was involved in JA for all four years of high school and was president for all four years. With the biggest and most profitable year being my senior year. We named our company “Bears Unlimited.” Our products were embroidery rings with a little bear pattern on them and lace trim and mason jars filled with hard candy and the same bear pattern on the top with a bow. These two products were easy to make and had great profit margins. We experienced record sales form the beginning and I guess that was where the problem started. You see every cent we made was given back to our stockholders at the end of our session each of the employees’ made a few dollars and the rest of the money went back to JA. Consequently, I took matters into my own hands and formed a mirror company that met at my parent’s house on Thursday nights. I explained to my parents that we had so much work that JA said we could work on our own as long as it did not effect our school work. Needless to say, we did quite well and when the term ended we folded our company at the same time as JA ended for the year and divided up over $1,500 between the seven of us in the group. That year our JA 5 group won an award for the most profitable business, and I being president was invited to go to a special awards dinner where I received a $1,000 college scholarship. If you are reading this and you have ties to Junior Achievement I would like to state that what I did was really wrong and I am really sorry and I will never do it again, and if you are a kid reading this and you are involved in JA don’t do what I did because it was wrong. “Well, if there ain’t going to be any rules, let's get the fight started.” Butch Cassidy The last memory of childhood business that comes to mind was in my senior year at Ritenour High School. I was taking a radio production class with one of my favorite teachers, Mr. Alan Mitchell. He assigned a project that was to last an entire quarter and divided the class into four different business teams. Each team would put together radio commercials for fake clients; we would then have a board of teachers listen to the commercials and vote for the best one. Each team started off with $2,500 in play money. Then the winner would get the “contract” and win a certain dollar amount of play money. Well, the crux to this project was that the first place team with the most money would receive an “A,” second place a “B”, third a “C”, and fourth a “D” for the quarter. There were eleven students in this class with 3 teams of 3 and one of two. Everyone knew the team of two was destined to win; they grew up to be in radio and even in high school everyone knew where their future lay. The team that I expected to get the “D” was made up of three guys who were considered part of the “Stoner” crowd. The “C” team consisted of three girls who were more concerned with looking pretty than getting good grades. Then there was my team. Now, I never really cared about good grades, but I did hate to lose. After the first 6 assignment the winners fell into place just like I called it. However, I knew if I did not come up with a business plan I would lose or as Mr. Mitchell called it I would receive a lower grade. Therefore, for our second project I took the attitude of “if you can’t beat them join them.” And I hired the “radio guys” to record my commercial. I thought this would give us a chance to win first place. But, after the production of the second round of commercials the “radio guys” won again. Mr. Mitchell told us just as he did in the beginning that we were to run this just like a business in the real world. So, I did what I thought any good businessperson would do in the same position. I sued the “radio guys” for not putting the same effort into our commercial as they did for theirs. The “radio guys” had a fit and of course they claimed that we could not do this, but Mr. Mitchell agreed with our team and we were given the chance to plead our case to the teachers grading our commercials. We replayed both commercials and the teachers agreed that the “radio guys” did not record our spot with the same passion as they did theirs, and since they took money for the spot they produced for us they should have given it the same effort. We were awarded the money that we paid them and half of what they won for their spot. With several more commercials to go before the end of the quarter, I determined that the “radio guys” were not going to produce anymore commercials for my team. Therefore, I needed a new plan if I wanted to win. There were other ways to make money by doing smaller projects and each of the teams had a fair share but none of us had enough to break out of our grade designation. So with the “radio guys” holding a healthy lead and only one day left in class I met with the “stoners” and the “pretty girls” and proposed a merger. I had figured out that in combining our play money we would have enough to give us all an “A.” They agreed and I wrote out the plan and took it to the judging teachers who approved the idea. The last day of the project was wonderful; the “radio guys” never saw it coming. One of them was on the honor roll and had never gotten anything 7 less than an “A”. He was so mad that he brought his parents in claiming that this was unfair and should not be allowed to happen. Mr. Mitchell approached me just before graduation and told me that in all of the years of teaching this project, ours was the most interesting and most memorable one that he had ever taught. “Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know.” Daniel J. Boorstin Chambers vs. networking groups Deciding which type of business group to join has always been one of the biggest problems for business people to work out. Let me explain my take on the two. Please remember this is just my opinion drawn from my own business experiences. To me “the chamber is like being in college whereas the BNI (Business Network International) groups are like being in high school.” What this means is that you can join a chamber group and it really doesn’t matter if you attend or not. You pay your dues just like college but it is your decision if you go and make it work. Whereas with most well run networking groups they have rules. Once you join you have to go, just like high school. If you miss a certain number of meetings within a certain period of time they will close your position (in laymen’s terms that means they kick you out). The reason for this is that they believe in the out of sight, out of mind theory. BNI over the course of years has come up with a bulletproof program on running an effective business group that I will talk about later. The chamber should be about networking, but most are about community and a business’s place in it. Networking groups are about helping to make members more successful. My goal in 8 writing this is to help small business people make more money through the knowledge that I have gained though my networking experience. I have put together some of the important issues that I think every businessperson should know. With these I have also included my personal experiences and stories. “Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge Theatrical Concepts History My true business story begins when I was 18. I had just graduated from high school and my parents arranged for a summer job at Mallinckrodt medical as a delivery driver. I worked there for two years and on my 20 th birthday Mallinckrodt hosted a cost savings program. I was put on a team of sales people that ended up saving the company a lot of money and we were awarded prizes for our effort. This is where my true love for electronics began. I received a big screen TV and sound system along with a lot of other things. Within a couple of months I received a promotion into the nuclear labs. That spring Mallinckrodt hosted another cost savings program. This time my team took seventh in the world. I really won a lot this time around; a refrigerator, stove, microwave, kitchen set, washer and dryer, dining room set, living room set, bedroom set, a lawn mower, a vacuum cleaner, and of course a lot of home theater equipment. I won so much stuff that my parents kicked me out into the world because they no longer had room for me. So when I was 21 I bought my first house in Webster Groves Missouri. It was nice to be able to 9 move into a fully furnished house at that age. I set up my new house with TV’s and speakers throughout the house, along with two home theater systems. That was when my first personal business challenge began. I started to get calls from friends and family asking if I could help them hook up their VCRs or stereo systems. Helping them really was me working and them sitting there talking to me. I graduated from free help to beer and from there to BBQ, and the people I was helping were no longer friends and family but friends of family and friends. Well, at the time I did not like beer much so I started to charge cash. In 1993 I met my future wife Donna Nienhaus at Mallinckrodt. Thanksgiving weekend in 1993, I moved into to her home in Eureka and as most people who start to set up a home, I began working on setting up my home theater system—a touch more extensive than most peoples. Donna came home to holes in the drywall from where I had decided to inset the TV and stereo system into the hall closet. A quick side note: do not I mean do not tear apart drywall in a woman’s home while you’re just dating. It wasn’t long before Donna came to love the system that I installed and she began to encourage me to turn my hobby into a business. So in June of 1994 my new wife and I started Theatrical Concepts. Theatrical concepts started as a part-time business, mainly after work and weekends. During the first months I was fortunate enough to meet my first mentor, the manager of the Speaker & Stereo Store in Kirkwood Missouri and I still remember the first advice he ever gave me. “A lot of guys go into to this business and most fail. If you survive your first year, don’t quit your day job. If you are doing well your second year, don’t quit your day job.” And, on and on until he finally said, “If you are still around at year five you may think about quitting your day 10 [...]...job, but I wouldn’t” Well, I followed his advice almost to the day, and at year five I quit my day job As well as we did in our first five years I soon learned that by quitting my day job I also quit getting a steady paycheck The phone, which always seemed to be ringing off the hook when I was fully employed, now seemed unusually... stud or that you replace that one person who can’t give a referral with someone who is putting cash into your hand each week? Your attitude would change completely, because it is fun to make money “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” Bill Cosby How to make more money networking Lots of business people join a network group and do all the right things... meetings outside of meetings Still they don’t know why they are not getting the referrals that they think they should We always talk about thinking outside the box, and networking for some is outside of the box If we take it 25 a step further then your networking group or Chamber you can really have fun By fun, I really mean making money Let’s start by looking at who is in your business group Most groups have... businessperson you are the face of your company Everyone knows the saying about how most people would rather jump out of a plane at 10,000 feet than talk in public However, you have made the decision to make money for yourself You are your own best tool, and as with any tool if you don’t use it, you won’t be any good with it 30 Any opportunity that you get to talk about your self and do not seize is wasted... and just like anything in life, if it does not seem right it is probably wrong You are vested from the time you write your check, so if things are not going well take charge of your investment It just like advertising, if your ad is wrong and you know it, then it is no ones fault up your own “Because there's money in it, I don't work on it; I sit and think about something else.” Whitfield Diffie What... perfect card It had the globe in gold with every flag from every country She 21 placed and paid for the order in August, with a nice message “happy holiday to you and your families from your friends in the states.” We were supposed to have the cards by October 15th On December 7th we received the wrong cards and without the inscription Needless to say, we weren’t happy, and that is just an understatement... right person hears you say the right thing then bam; you just made a big sale Remember in networking it is your responsibility to educate your sales team, if you cannot talk about your business, how do you expect others to? Another way to look at it is to imagine you walking into an elevator with your dream client, would you be prepared to give him a perfect 30 to 60 second sales pitch while you’re between... and help tally the business that is brought in It is a place to become a successful 24/7 member You have to always be thinking about your group and your group will be thinking about you You have to show that you care about someone other than yourself Members have stopped by my store just to say, “I did not know you did home theater” and my reply is always “why not I talk about it every week.” After years... members who attended 31 Life is constant learning; everyone that you encounter everyday is teaching and learning, most just do not know it The trainings that are sponsored by Chamber groups and networking groups are given by people who have made it, and just want to help other business owners the way they were helped by others in the past “To succeed, you need to find something to hold on to, something... that they have become like fixtures in the meeting room My answer to them is to learn how or get out Can you imagine hiring a salesperson who says that they can’t sell? You don’t hire them, You fire them from your business that day This is usually allowed to happen because of weak leadership, or leadership that just wants a large group Quantity rather than quality I would rather have a great group . to this business and most fail. If you survive your first year, don’t quit your day job. If you are doing well your second year, don’t quit your day job.” And, on and on until he finally said,. Don’t Quit your Day Job! But if you do, this book is for you. By Leland Stafford Kropp Jr. 1 “Success is going from failure to failure without. about quitting your day 10 job, but I wouldn’t” Well, I followed his advice almost to the day, and at year five I quit my day job. As well as we did in our first five years I soon learned that by