Investing and Ingenuity

Sometimes you make do with what is available.  I couldn't resist taking a photo of this shovel I spotted on a trip to Niger some years ago.  I've replaced a number of shovel handles through the years, but never had to go find a tree, cut a branch and trim it to fit.  I usually just went to the farm store and bought a handle.  Some people replace the shovel.

I have to applaud the ingenuity of whoever did this.  It was leaning against the wall in a small enclosure where there was a group of young men making mud bricks.  You will notice the wall behind the shovel is made of mud bricks and plastered over to seal it.  Most of the housing in the village where I spotted this was made of the same mud bricks and plaster.  The building materials were primitive, but effective.

I've been involved in a number of startup businesses through the years.  Some burn through cash on the biggest, best and brightest.  Those for which I was responsible for running operated a little differently -- we did our best to get by on ingenuity.  Where possible, we made do with what we had, found an inexpensive way to accomplish the task, or, if it couldn't be avoided, focused our spending on the things that were most critical to growing the business.

I guess my thinking came from both my father and grandfather (maternal).  Both had a knack for figuring out ingenious ways to either build or, substitute something else for what was needed to get things done.  They were the "hands on" type.  They didn't hire someone to change the oil in their pickup, they did it themselves.  Grandpa's barn was a place of repairs.  He had tire-repair tools -- some of which had been made in his shop with a welder and cutting torch -- for patching the tires on the many wheeled trailers, implements and vehicles on his farm.  It didn't make sense to take a tire off and haul it 10 miles one-way to town to have it fixed.  He had a tire patching kit and did it himself.

I wonder today if many new businesses fail because they don't know how to "make do" but, instead act as though they are already successful, spending money on things they could do themselves.  Those are the things "behind the scenes" that are away from the customer eye.  You want your public persona to be polished and professional, but there are always things behind the scenes that don't require the biggest and best -- like the desk and high-dollar artwork on the wall.  If you don't need $5,000 computers, why buy them? Don't sink money into brick-and-mortar until you have to -- rent.  If you don't need a full-time bookkeeper, hire a service.  "Fix your own flats" -- or, replace the handle in your own shovel.

Each situation is different and requires a thoughtful approach.  My point is that if you start a business spending money like a Hollywood Movie Star your chances of failure increase dramatically.  Conserve your resources until they begin to build.  Then, rather than burning through cash, invest back into your business in ways that are meaningful -- that will help it to continue growing.

I remember back in the 90's the primary stockholder of a company I worked for brought his wife, a former beauty queen, with him to see a prototype of a machine my group had been developing.  She was on her knees, looking under the equipment, studying it, trying to understand how it worked and asking great questions.  I'll never forget her comment -- "It's important to see what we are investing in.  I know we are making lots of money but, we don't see much of it; it all goes back into the company!"

It changed my perspective.