Running a small business and resembling the Ginsu knife.

When most kids are asked what they want to be when they grow up the jobs they conjure up are jobs which are much closer to fantasy than reality. I was probably the same way. No matter what job it was that I thought of, either a race car driver, an astronaut, Indiana Jones etc, each had a specific role or task to follow. I never would have thought that the role of a small business owner would encompass likely more specific responsibilities as those other jobs.

If I could go back and tell my grade school teachers what it is I do today I would literally have to name 6+ specific jobs I do as a small business owner. And it is not something I am revolutionizing here. I'm not reinventing the wheel. This is something all young small business owners go through. I am a marketing manager, a salesman, an account manager, a service technician, a bookkeeper, a mechanic, a fertilizer specialist as well as an agronomist (soil and turfgrass specialist). That's just how it goes. Until a customer base is large enough to justify and compensate employees to take on some of those jobs, it is up to yours truly.

While each day of business may not incorporate all of these tasks, most days do in fact require proficiency in most. It's the life of a small business owner and some of these skills are not always learned in a formal classroom setting. Of course, the scientific background I learned during 4 years of college but the other skills I've learned were from less formal settings. You find the marketing techniques that work from trial and error and you stick to them. You build relationships with other business owners and you learn what has worked for them. I've been lucky enough to learn a lot of the small business skills I need from successful business owners which came before me. You learn a lot "on the fly" and you find what works and you stick to it.

While the daily grind of being a small business owner takes a lot of twists and turns and mostly unpredictable, one thing that it never is...is boring. Indiana Jones could even learn a thing or two from small business owners. Except for out-running boulders. He's still better at that.

The role of spilled ketchup in my path to business ownership.

I've been associated with Teed & Brown for almost 5 years and the past 2 years have seen the most change. I got my degree from the University of Connecticut in 2005 in Agronomy with a concentration on Turfgrass Science. When most graduates in my program had dreams of managing golf courses, I always knew I wanted to own my own business. Looking back to before college I'm not really sure why I thought having my own business looked so enticing.

During the first two summers I was in college I cut lawns for the Parks Department in my home town. I would spend late afternoons and weekends doing side work for people making what I perceived to be "awesome" money. ($15/ hr cash trimming trees, clearing brush, picking weeds, spreading mulch...you know... the glamorous stuff.) At that point running my own "business" was a way to make extra cash that went to paying for tuition, books and rent along with the cheapest brand of fermented hops and barley with what was left over. The two summers I spent with the Parks Department showed me that a focus on the science of turf maintenance was what I wanted as a career. The following summer at an extremely high-end country club proved that punching a clock with minimal advancement and little career ownership was something I didn't want in my future.

Then everything changed. At a random Turf club meeting during the fall of my senior year in college we had a guest speaker, Christopher Brown (not the singer/ dancer) who was talking about a business as an asset, sellable for profit, much like a home is. He talked about brand building, franchises as a network of small business using the benefits of a well recognized brand for a like cause. You know what to expect when you purchase from any franchise. (Someone says "McDonald's" and you can immediately think of what the burgers are like.) It was the mention of franchises like McDonald's that led Chris to mention why he was donning the perfectly creased/pressed UCONN shirt. We all just assumed he buys shirts from all the schools where he speaks so he fits in or as a way to unify the room or something. (Chris's explanation that the burger he had on the way to UCONN had left his shirt covered in ketchup, leaving him in need of a clean one, which he purchased at the CO-OP.) Aside from the talk of a Heinz covered shirt, the talk about business changed my perception of business ownership, franchises and assets, forever. It was a captivating talk about being able to have a business and own my career. Chris's talk was the 30 or so minutes that most had me sure of what I would be working toward after college.

After graduating college I started working with Teed & Brown to see what running a service business was all about. After three years of learning day-to-day operations, sales, production, billing, building better business relationships and the like, I opened the first independent Teed & Brown franchise in January 2008. Two years into true business ownership, I often look back and wonder how things professionally would be different had I not heard the business talk that changed everything. I wonder if that famous ketchup stain ever came out either?