By Alice Combs
After running my own business for forty-five years, I am able to reflect on what I did right and wrong over the years. Looking back, I can distill what I learned into eight basic business lessons. My hope is that the next generation of women business leaders can take these lessons and enjoy their own successes while avoiding the many unfortunate consequences that I did due to my initial ignorance.
Lesson one: worthy product
The first and most important lesson is that your chosen product must be a worthy one. With my company Vulcan Wire, which sells baling wire, I found a need and filled it, which every new self-directed businessperson must do. I suggest any future businesswoman research the likelihood that her potential product will be desirable and profitable.
Lesson two: money management
Most businesses fail due to poor money management. Due to inadequate working capital, I had intermittent experiences that bordered on failure. I learned that exponential growth might bankrupt a business, and that adequate seed money for slow growth is not adequate for speedy growth. This applies to industries where payment must be made for inventory before payment is received for sales.
Lesson three: product knowledge
Initially I knew nothing about industrial baler wire—and the first wire I sold broke! Then, I thoroughly researched the necessary qualities and had “good wire” samples tested. A wise and less foolhardy entrepreneur would learn about his or her potential product before even attempting to sell it.
Lesson four: marketing
Unlike some entrepreneurs, I wasn’t challenged with introducing a previously unknown product. However, not all of my potential customers had difficulty securing baler wire from established suppliers, so I had to convince them that switching to Vulcan Wire would be beneficial. Therefore, representing an unknown company meant I had to market myself as a responsible, knowledgeable, and trustworthy businessperson.
Lesson five: perseverance
In other words, one must be prepared to be knocked down and get back up as soon as possible. I also taught my employees to never accept “no” for an answer—unless they received a very good reason why not. That entails repeat missives, phone calls and/or visits—but without being too much of a pest.
Lesson six: integrity
Your word is your badge of honor, not only to your customers, but to your suppliers, employees, and anyone else under the sun. In 1997 the man who now runs Vulcan and I—without having met—signed and faxed a 15-year contract with each other. Neither of us would have done so without knowing that we both had stellar reputations.
Lesson seven: delegation
Delegation is a necessity, not only of growing a business, but also of maintaining a sound mind and good health. It wasn’t until I hardly had a life outside of my business—not sleeping enough, and close to a nervous breakdown—that I realized I could no longer go this alone. However, the Catch-22 was that delegation wasn’t free, and would therefore reduce profits from my then shoe-string operation.
Originally, top quality and experienced assistants weren’t affordable. In fact, my first assistant received only minimum wage. Now that Vulcan is a mature business, it can’t afford to lower its efficiency standards with minimum-wage employees. I will always remember when long ago I built up a nest egg for the additional expense of an office manager.
During a thirty-seven-year period I delegated myself out of the two top jobs: President and CEO. However, I remained Chief Financial Officer for another few years, but now my only Vulcan responsibilities are Vice President of Stock, Consultant, and Board Member. Otherwise, I wouldn’t currently be enjoying life as much.
Lesson eight: adaptation
In these days anyone who’s been in the working force for as little as 3 to 5 years has noticed unpredictable changes. That means to be a successful entrepreneur over a long period of time requires being cognizant of and adaptive to new happenings on a local, state, national and world level.
Due to COVID-19, I believe that most U.S. business have been affected for either better or worse. Vulcan initially saw an increase in sales because supermarkets are its largest sector. We all know how fears of this deadly virus prompted panic-buying to hoard basic items such as toilet paper, which are received in large boxes. Also, people then and now are not patronizing restaurants as frequently—even including take-out—and are preparing more meals at home. Thus, until indoor-restaurant restrictions are lifted, there will be greater grocery volume. Consequently, Vulcan’s supermarket wire used to secure bales of recyclable boxes is selling at all-time highs.
However, many of our customers that aren’t essential businesses, and many of those that are, have experienced lower sales volume. Accordingly, Vulcan and many other establishments that sell on a 30-day credit basis are experiencing record-breaking overdue receivables. Many of the businesses owing these receivables aren’t even answering their phones. This means that Vulcan and other companies will have their historically worst year of bad debts, at least since the Great Depression ninety-one years ago. This domino effect on the whole U.S. economy is currently tempered with governmental measures such as the Paycheck Protection Plan and other fiscal bailouts.
Like my own company, many businesses and individuals alike are currently facing Darwinian challenges. Some of the weak and weakened will die out, leaving new opportunities for enterprising people. Only time will tell who will survive and flourish.
ALICE COMBS is the author of The Lady with Balls. She graduated from Cal State Hayward, where she earned a place on the Dean’s List. After a painful divorce, Alice took a variety of unrewarding jobs. She persevered through every obstacle; she taught herself to be a skilled entrepreneur and expert employer, and slowly developed her startup company, Vulcan Wire, into a thriving business. By Vulcan Wire’s forty-fifth year, it boasted $10 million in annual sales. Now semi-retired, she and her husband live on Mendocino County’s scenic north coast. One of her ongoing missions is to empower women to pursue careers in business, especially in a male-dominated industry.
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