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Ellen Rohr - The Queen of Everything
I almost sunk our family business. I assumed I knew enough about business to run a dinky little plumbing company. After all, I had spent about $100,000 of my parents’ money on my college degree in Business Administration. In fact, I graduated at the top of my class. Still, I didn’t know how to balance a checkbook!
I got involved in my husband’s company after his partner died unexpectedly. Boy was I humbled! It seemed like lots of money was moving through the company, but at the end of the month there was never any money left. Thankfully, I found a mentor, a savvy plumbing contractor. Frank Blau wrote a column in Plumbing & Mechanical magazine. I wrote to him and asked for help.He took me under his wing, and taught me how to keep score in business. He taught me how to read and use financial reports. He taught me how to make money.
We turned our company around. We paid off our business loan. We doubled sales and tripled the amount of money we took out of the company. Very cool. My husband and I went middle-age crazy. We sold the company to our employees – a friendly coup d’etat! - and bought a gentleman’s farm in the country. (Picture “Green Acres.”) At this point, I realized that I wanted to share what I’d learned. After all, if a smart, highly educated person like me didn’t know how to read a balance sheet, I figured business illiteracy must be rampant. I was right.
My experiences since then have included teaching and consulting with hundreds of small businesses, primarily plumbing and heating companies. I was right about the business illiteracy problem. In my seminars, I rarely find a student who creates and reads financial statements on a regular basis, much less uses financial information to make management decisions. In fact, few know their assets from their liabilities!
I started Bare Bones Biz– a training and consulting company – in 1995, to help folks turn their big ideas into successful businesses. I teach the basics, the simple disciplines that can take your company from flab to fit. I’ve written three books on business basics, Where Did the Money Go? – Accounting Basics for the Business Owner Who Hates Numbers, and How Much Should I Charge? – Pricing Basics for Making Money Doing What You Love and The Bare Bones Biz Plan – a simple Plan for creating a winning business.
My consulting work led to a position as president of Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, a home service plumbing franchise company. We grew from zero to $40 million in sales, the 18th fastest growing franchise in 2003. I learned a lot about what works to grow fast and profitably…and what doesn’t. Guess what! The basics never go out of style, no matter how big a company gets.
The Bare Bones Biz Plan, is the third book in the Bare Bones Biz Basics series and an essential part of our plan to help improve business literacy. So is this website...www.barebonesbiz.com...THE community for BASIC business information. We can help you get off the dime, and put dollars in your pocket.
Bare Bones Biz is an exciting company. I love my team! We work together to develop books, products, seminars and services designed to help you have more fun and make more money in business. We apply the principles we recommend in the books. It is a matter of integrity. Our company is a living, breathing testimonial to the power of The Bare Bones Biz Plan.
Our Mission: Worldwide Business Literacy.
Basic Business information is empowering.
Good people with an understanding of business can positively
impact the world in a profound way. A society with a peaceful,
ethical, honorable exchange of goods and services works...in
your business, in our country, across the planet. Let me know how we can be of service to YOU.  |
