What do you want?
I consider myself to be a lucky man. I know that personally the journey is much more satisfying than the goal. The journey is life. We are all on a journey of some sort. Unfortunately for most people life is like being lost in the desert without a map, compass or any idea where they want or need to go. I have often fantasized about waking up in a lifeboat out on the ocean with no idea where I was or how I got there. I have played this scenario out in my mind a thousand times as I have traveled countless lours to our offices or to a job somewhere. I ask myself what would be the first things that I would do to insure my survival. Would I try to determine directions, what would the weather be like, how would I eat and what would I drink. What, if any tools or assets do I have. Is anyone else with me on this boat. How can I spend virtually hundreds, maybe over a thousand hours in my imagination going over an event that will probably never happen? Because it explains why some people are happy and successful while others live their lives in misery and regret.
The journey.
When I look back over the past I don't remember how much money was made or lost. I don't really care how big or how great things were. I remember the experiences and the relationships that I enjoyed during that time. I look back over the problems and near disasters and how these situations were turned around. It is never fun to go to the brink of bankruptcy but its a gas to relive the memories of pulling the company through that time. Its always like working a puzzle. Putting the pieces together and seeing the image of what it will look like when finished. I don't know what you are like but when I finish a puzzle I am no longer interested in it. I might keep it on a table for a day or two but soon I take it apart and place it back in the box. I get no pleasure out of the finished product. If I just wanted to see what is would look like I would have just looked at the box.
What drives me?
To understand the things that I do it is important to know what drives me and my life. At an early time in my life I witnessed the death of three people. The first was the untimely death of my uncle Ricky (mom's only brother). He had returned from Vietnam in the late 60's and had an accident while training troops back here in the US. It was a tragedy for our family but especially so for mom's parents. The other two deaths were theirs. Although physically fit they died inside that day. They were no longer happy, they quit living the American dream, they made everyone's life around them a chore. They lived another 30 years without the things in life that I consider the most dear. I decided a long time ago that if I am to be on this earth for 1 day or 100 years I don't want to waste a single day or a single minute. Everything is worth doing if you appreciate that everyday is precious and that our time is limited. We have no time to waste. Nana and Papa made their own choices in life but I was old enough to see the pleasure in their life before Ricky's death and the sadness of the grind after he left. The day before I die I want to look back at the ride with no regrets.
That's Cool
If you have been around me long enough you'll experience my crazy way of looking at life. I tend to cling to the misery and nasty parts of the scale business. When I look back at the "good times" I tend to cling to the times that I was in a dark, wet, miserable, mechanical scale pit with a couple of friends or family where the smell was of rotten feed and the temperature was above 100 degrees or 17. It doesn't matter. The harder the job the more precious the memory. I know that this is in part that the most time that I have spent with my dad and the most affection showed by him were in this environment. There is something about sharing an experience like that together. Isn't it odd how we remember the hard times and the very best times the most while the bland and ordinary are dumped in the trash bin of our brains. What is even more crazy is that I seem to look back on the bad times with as most fondness as the great times.
That's Not Possible
Once I was on a service call in a small scale in a remote location. The specifics are not important. It could have been anywhere and any place. What I remember about the call is that I experience a problem with a junction card on the scale that was unlike anything that I had seen before. It was bazaar. Light caused the scale to be stable while darkness caused the scale to drift uncontrollably. This defied logic but I personally experienced this phenomenon. I call a couple of people in service at Cardinal Scale and I discovered one of the most profound truth about people that day. You can choose to be open minded or you can limit your experiences on this planet. One person I called told me that I was a fool because what I described was not physically possible. He wanted to discredit me and my ability to service scales. The other is still a close friend of mine today. When confronted with my discovery his conclusion was "cool". When life brings me the freakish, the impossible, the difficult, the rotten, the dirty, the painful, the sad, the sublime,; it's "cool". Cool is my wow factor. But only if I can share it with someone else.
Share the Experience
I love skiing as much as anything else that I do physically. There is nothing that equals the thrill of going as fast as possible downhill a little out of control making a thousand decisions with a thousand changes happening instantly. I love the feel of the cold and the warmth of the coat and ski gear. The high altitude and low humidity make the sunshine a lot brighter and beautiful. As much as I love skiing I enjoy it twice as much when I am skiing with someone else. The more the better. Sharing the experiences on the slopes are just like that in life. If you want a great marriage; share the experiences. If you want a great relationship with your children; share the experience. The same is true of business as well as life. Find as many people as you can who enjoy working and share as many experiences as possible. This makes it all worthwhile for me.
The destination again
I'm drawn to skiing for another reason. When you ski you get on the most dangerous ride to get to the top of the mountain that you can imagine. Have you looked at a ladder lately. A new ladder at Home Depot has no less than 8 stickers showing all of the dangers and liabilities associated with getting 3 feet off of the ground. In fact if we leave the ground more than 3' on a jobsite we are required to don a strap suit with a "lifeline" to insure that you don't fall to your imminent death. However you can get on a padded wood bench suspended by a cable 50' off of the ground without a seat belt (they do provide a bar but its not manly to use it) and with no warning labels. Life should be like this, dangerous with no warning labels. You knew the ride you were getting on.
Back the my point. When you ski you go to the top of the mountain and plan on where you want to end up at the bottom. Sometimes you follow the plan and other times you change because of unforeseen obstacles or circumstances. The goal is to get to the bottom. Just like business, in skiing when you reach your goal, you get to go again.
What is Pioneer's Destination?
When I joined dad 25 years ago I was impressed by one thing above all else about his business. Dad has built a customer base that was 100% loyal to him. Why? Well the answer was easy to find. He treated all of his customers with the purest servant based business model that can be imagined. He took care of their needs and he paid attention to those needs. He asked what his customers needed and he listened to what they said. He was not motivated by selling a product except for himself and set out a to make himself the best product available. This should be our ultimate goal at Pioneer Scale. Our decisions that have made the most impact in our company are rooted in this principal.
The World is Changing
We live in a "Throw Away" society that is affecting the core of our industry. Today the typical scale company sends out service technicians that have no idea how the products they are servicing are made, they depend on help from a cell phone from one of the only people in their company who has the most experience, which is more often than not, less than 18 months. This is making an industry of misfits who are incapable of repairing and servicing the weighing equipment that is in the field. Pioneer Scale has an advantage of extensive experience in the field. At a recent manager's meeting we had over 120 years of field experience in just 5 managers in the room. At the same time the scale industry is experiencing a great amount of roll-over. During the years of 1975 and 1985 over eighty percent of the scale industry's companies were born. The vast majority of these businesses are still managed and owned by original owner who are 68-75 years of age. Death, retirement and bankruptcy will change our industry dramatically over the next 10 years.
Where are we going?
Because of how Pioneer has been structured, the quality of its team members and the experience in the field our company is poised to experience explosive growth in the next 5-8 years. The following areas are where we will be spending our time, resources and efforts during that time. Just like skiing we have made it to the end of our run and we are on the way back up to the top of the mountain.
Planned growth of 20% across the board. Some would think that given the information I have already mentioned that 20% would seem a little meager. At a 20% annual growth our company will be 4 times the size it is right now in 7 years. Wow, that means 100 employees in 2019, over $20 million in production and over 20 locations. Twenty percent is a monumental goal. But given our talent and experience combined with the market place anything less should be considered a set back.
Development of team members - new and exisiting. The only way that Pioneer can fuel this growth will be in the hiring and development of future leaders, managers and business owners (yes but more on this later). It is necessary for each of us to recognize what we do better than anyone else, identify core values and develop the means to teach and train these traits to all of our team members. Before modern civilization groups of people spent hours around camp fires telling stories about everything in life. The relived past experiences and hunts. They taught the younger members of the group how to live and they shared their personal experiences. In 2012 we will develop Campfire. Campfire will be an intercompany website dedicated to sharing experiences, posting you tube training videos, company news, and team member development. As opportunities become available it is important that we have the forum that each of our team members needs to be exposed to them.
New Service Facility for Grand Prairie operations. The property has been bought and the planning process is just about completed. It is no longer an option as to when we are going to build this facility. The time is now!
Chupacabre Software. For those of you that might not know Pioneer is developing a software/app company that will bring about great changes both for Pioneer Scale as well as service industries in general. Pioneer Scale will be paperless by June 1st. This means that we will be replacing CRS (the certificate software program from Rice Lake). We will be creating a portal to enter work orders through laptops and tablet devices. We will have a library which will include any service manual available. We will have an entry point to wirelessly do any required state or federal government paperwork. This is a service that will be designed for our business but engineered so well that other companies will jump at the opportunity to use our software. Each team member will be asked to participate in the design and testing of this software. Your support and input are both needed and required to make this successful.
Make yours mine and mine yours. Zig Ziglar always said the you can achieve everything in life that you want if you'll just help as many people achieve what they want. I believe this to be true. My personal goal for 2012 is to help 6 other people reach their big ass hairy goal for 2012. The first 6 get my undivided attention in helping realize their big goal. Just remember that the goal has to be written down, be definable, be larger than what would ordinarily be achieved, be realistic, be measurable and be extraordinary.
Open service branch #5. We have started the process of opening up our fifth location. Right now we have hired a dynamic service professional with over 25 years experience in the scale industry, Steve Canfield. He lives in Springdale, Arkansas which is located in the northwestern portion of the state. This move does not follow the pattern that we desire in opening new locations but Steve is an asset that cannot be ignored. Starting from scratch is going to be tough and a lot of hard work but so is any other new endeavor.
Personal Growth. I believe that I have potential but I am wasting that because I am not focused enough. I know I move in too many directions and that I spread myself thin. This is why I made a decision late in 2011 to replace myself in ever facet of what I currently do. I have held too many good people down by trying to do everything personally. I have started by hiring a Branch Manager in Bossier City (Shreveport Operations) His name is Matt Albritton and he starts on January 2nd. His training period will be fast and furious as he will be hitting the ground running. Shreveport is only worth having if it can stand on its on two feet. The cost to my family and the company is too high should I have to stay full time in the Shreveport operations. Matt is taking on a huge responsibility because if he fails 2 other people will inevitably fail as well. I will be also turning over all of my belt scale installations to 4 key people in the company beginning in February. By the end of the year that number will be no less than 6. I believe the greatest impact that I can leave on Pioneer is in the area of Leadership and Management Training. I will be spending the bulk of my time in 2012 in working with the management of Pioneer Scale to take our company to the next level. Whenever you see me you need to remind me that my job is in Management. (period)
A long time ago I saw a vision of how a scale company should be ran and operated. Each one of you who have received this email have contributed to that vision. This journey is not complete. We have just awoken to realize that this life raft has other people in it with some tools that make survival not just possible but probable. One of the greatest lessons dad taught me was not to say "if" but "when". If leaves the possibility of failure while "when" implies the success is only a matter of time. The time I have personally is limited but with enough of the right people we can amass a fortune in time.
Thank you for all that you mean in my life, my company and the impact you have on my family. You are the people that I want on the ski lift of life. Let go make another run!
