Designing the perfect life – Naturally

John “Beefy” Huston was the guest speaker in Midwest Entrepreneurs today.  He operates a successful landscaping business in his hometown of Roseville, IL.  John was born into a family where everyone was self-employed – “no one in my family ever had a factory job.  Everyone has always been their own boss.”  Entrepreneurship is comes naturally to him – as does landscaping.

 

John graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in animal sciences in 1991.  Then he returned to Roseville to work on the family farm.  In his spare time, he began landscaping his own yard.  He discovered that he had a natural talent for arranging nature.  Friends and neighbors admired his work and asked him to work on their yards.  One thing lead to another and by 1995 he was in the landscaping business.  His hobby and natural talent had morphed into his career.  He now has a large machine shed and six vehicles to support his thriving enterprise.

 

He has never had any classes, internships or prior work experience in landscaping.  It is just something that he knows how to do.  He does not use a computer to plan each job; or even sketch the design out on paper – he can just see it in his head.  In fact, he does not own a computer or have an email account.  He prefers small quick jobs to large commercial projects or new construction.  “Oh I will do them but I prefer small residential properties.”  It fits his nature.  He talks, moves and acts quickly – perhaps impulsively at times – he answer to no one but himself.  He does what he likes, when he likes.  Life is too short to do things you don’t like.

 

In the early years, he supplemented his income by substitute teaching in the winter.  He still substitute teaches when the landscaping season ends (and drives a school bus for the basketball team) but nowadays it is for something to do and a reason to get up each day rather than the money.  Today his landscaping business generates plenty of revenue to support in the manner he chooses and it could generate much more revenue.  Although it is his profession to grow things, he chooses not to grow the business.  He intentionally keeps it small.  There is only one small crew – Beefy and two or three high school students.  Beefy believes in hard work for himself and his workers.  It is a high energy, hard work, get-er done operation.  Finish this job and get to the next one.  His business has strong word of mouth street cred.  Customers say “He shows up when he says he will, he works hard, he does a good job at a fair price.  He won’t quit until the customer is happy.”

 

As a part of the low-profile operation, there is no advertising.  Not even a yellow pages ad.  In fact, he not even have a business phone.  Beefy believes in being a part of the community and seeing his customers in person.  He urged the students to “read the local newspaper and attend every church social and pancake breakfast you can.”  Know your customers, see your customers, be a part of the community.  Good advice for a small business owner in a small community.

 

The small personal character of the business carries over to everything he does.  He runs the business as a sole proprietorship.  He keeps a paper ledger of expenses.  He carries a notebook of appointments and job details in his pocket.  He hand writes bills and thank you notes to his customers.  He hand delivers a pile of documents to his accountant at the end of the year and trusts that she will get it done right.

 

To survive as a one man business, you have to know a little bit about everything – insurance, finance, banking, marketing, bill collection and cash flow.  Beefy told the students about many of the small things that he does to keep costs down and avoid expenses.  He refinances, gets every discount available, and looks for deals and rebates.  A one-man circus performer has to juggle a lot of balls.

 

Beefy is a natural business man – by birth and by personality and by career.  It is clear that lifestyle is more important to him than money.  He has arranged his life to live it on the terms of his choosing.  He is the quintessential small business entrepreneur – a passion for his work, a fulfilling occupation and a contributing member of the community.  Many people aspire to be an entrepreneur to be their own boss — Beefy Huston gets the job done.

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About Don Capener

Dr. Capener joined the Monmouth College business faculty in 2001. He is best known as the co-founder of Above The Rim Basketball that sold to Reebok in 1993. Capener recently accepted the Deanship at Jacksonville University’s Davis School of Business in Florida. As an Emmy award winning advertising professional in the Southern CA region, Don was the CMO and marketing architect for Above The Rim and ClickRewards.com. He directed national efforts for Visa’s promotional campaigns such as Visa Rewards at Frankel & Company in Chicago and San Francisco. He rose to Managing Director of Frankel’s San Francisco office. He is now a Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship and consults for start-up and mid-sized companies

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