Avoid Money & Client Mistakes
Avoid Money & Client Mistakes
How can a business owner recover from financial setbacks?
So early in my career, a few years in business, real estate was booming. I didn't know any better. I bought seven lots, built a show home, and had another spec house on the books when the financial crash happened.
My bank went out of business. When they did that FDIC came in, and we had a couple of loans with them. They seized all of our accounts, took all the money, and paid down the principal on the loan. I think that was probably the overarching thing there is. When you're new in business, it's a double-edged sword because you don't know what you don't know.
That's not an everyday event, but that could be around the corner. That's made me much more prudent moving forward. For the next eight years, I took every project that I could. I sold the house on Craigslist by offering to build it at cost. I remember being up against it and needing to sell a lot.
For eight years, I did nothing but dig myself out of that hole. I think that's probably one of the things I'm most proud of that no one could take away from me. I watched other guys go bankrupt and they're further along now, but I think there's something to be said about, you know, who you are as a person and whether you do right by people and meet your commitments.
How do business owners promote transparency with clients?
I tell every client that we build for, there's probably something that's going to get screwed up on your project, and if somebody else doesn't tell you that they're probably lying to you. The difference with us is I'm going to tell you about it when it happens and I'm going to fix it.
I want all the people that work with us to have that same culture versus we better hide this before somebody finds out. I want to tell them about it before they find out about it. When something does get screwed up, as long as you fix it, I think most people are, are probably, more appreciative of that, than even having it not happen.
*This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.*
