Sweet
Running a small business is like preparing for holiday get-togethers. The end goal remains the same year after year: foster better relationships, or grow your circle of close contacts, or just remain standing when it’s all over. But everything else changes.
Last year everyone was lactose-intolerant and following Atkins. This year they’ve given up drinking and are scared of mad cow. Last year the Wisconsin branch of the family didn’t want to be in the rigged gift drawing; this year it’s the California crowd. All you can do is smile and serve the same old pork roast.
So it goes for the companies featured in this issue: they start every year with a goal, then scramble to meet it as everything changes around them.
• Greg Hennes, CEO of Art Holdings Corp. and this month’s cover story subject, was calm when I sat at his table at an event last fall, despite having completed the biggest deal of his career. He had signed with Marshall Field’s to put retail art galleries in its stores, so overnight had set his company up to do twice the revenue next year, $10 million, as this.
He had worked for two years on the relationship, he said. He had also brought in a key person, an experienced retailer from Gap Inc., to run the new operation. By November that person was gone, Hennes says because the position was too costly. Hennes was back running the retail stores in addition to everything else.
• The Forsythe brothers, John and Tim, set out early last year looking for a consultant to give them advice about the direction of Forsythe Appraisals, their 60-year-old real estate appraisal firm. They ended by selling a majority stake to Hillcrest Capital Partners, which is fueling an ambitious expansion plan that will put them in 25 more cities over the next few years.
• Jake Sanders was content with one location for Shop in the City, his self-funded retail boutique. Then a prime south Minneapolis location became vacant and he opened a second store there, too. He says you have to go with your gut even when expansion is not in the business plan.
At Upsize, we started last year with just two issues published. Then we pursued an ambitious Web site upgrade. We started our first contest, the Upsize Growth Challenge. We launched an electronic newsletter, Upsize e-tools. We produced 10 issues aimed at helping the owners of fast-growing companies build bigger and more profitable companies, all the while revising our financial projections, putting in money where needed and going just a bit longer with smaller salaries.
And I, for the first time in a decade, didn’t have to host the holiday gathering — my sister-in-law took it. Life is sweet, and so is business.
— Beth Ewen
Editor and co-founder
bewen@upsizemag.com
