Brother, Do You Need a Speedo?
Warren Buffet once wrote, “After all, you only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.” http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2001ar/2001letter.html.
Now, the closest we ever got to share an experience with Warren Buffet was when we ordered a cherry Coke at a Dairy Queen, which we understand is Buffet’s favorite drink at his favorite restaurant chain. But as a small business owner, we find ourselves reaching down frequently these days to check the status of our shorts.
Southern has grown constantly since I invested in the company in 2002. We moved to a new factory in 2002, added production lines almost every year since, added new ERP systems and incorporated Lean Manufacturing , plus expanded the product lines offered. All this meant we were able to grow with our customers and create good paying jobs with excellent benefits. I still am proud of the day we added full medical benefits at a very affordable cost to the employees in 2006. This was a watershed day for a small business.
We work very hard to make Southern a preferred place to work.
So it was almost an overwhelming feeling when we faced last week’s austerity programs. The state of the economy comes very close to home when outstanding people are laid off. We know we are not alone. If you are a building material professional, you are probably feeling the strong pull of the tide. You may find yourself implementing your own set of austerity programs. Or been the recipient of one.
Yes, we are working on entrepreneurial solutions to get all of our people back to work. We now sell beyond our traditional markets of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. We court governmental sales and commercial sales, taking advantage of our hubzone status. We are working on export. We added new product lines recently, like aluminum rail and aluminum fence. We are using this website as one tool to communicate these opportunities to our customers.
Until this housing market gets some help and consumers start consuming again, we all will be looking for creative ways to swim with the current in order to prosper and thrive.
The premise of this blog is that building material professionals share similar experiences and we could use a forum to talk about our concerns. Can you share what is on your mind? What would you like to talk about concerning how the economy has affected you? How have you been hit by the downturn in the economy? What are your hopes for the coming months? And how can we at Southern help you through this difficult period.
Rod Matthews, Managing Partner, Southern Vinyl Manufacturing, LLC
