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A sip from the hydrant: Gary Hoover at the BiGBreakfast

Overheard: “Listening to Gary speak is like taking a sip from a water hydrant. I’ve heard him give this talk several times, and each time I pick up something new”. There was quite a bit of discussion after Gary’s speech, all of it overwhelmingly positive. There is something very compelling about getting a direct peak inside the mind of an actionary visionary, the kind of person who not only sees what will be, but also acts on his vision to great success. Gary Hoover revealed his “8 Keys to a Successful Business” at the BiGBreakfast event put on by BiGAUSTIN yesterday. His talk was a very pleasant surprise for me, I had no idea I was in for such a treat.

Another look at Gary’s name reveals the level of success he’s had, since he founded and sold a company bearing his name, one that you’ve heard of. If your first thought was that his products sucked, then don’t think Hoover the vacuums, think Hoovers the business information company. You know, the one he sold to Dun and Bradstreet. Curiously, his talk didn’t mention that business except in passing. Instead, he focused on his earlier success, Bookstop, Inc, which was the first book superstore, and which he sold to Barnes & Noble in 1998.

Certainly, the story of the start of that business ties in well with his first two keys: Curiosity and History. The successful entrepreneur is curious to a fault, always seeking new knowledge, always wanting to know more, about anything and everything. This last is really the important part – he cited examples such as Michael Dell and Bill Gates, people who constantly broaden their knowledge of the world outside of their “business”. Oh, and by the way, Gary knew the person who purchased books for Gates to read, so he is familiar with his quest for knowledge – just another example of the torrent of information that spews forth from Gary’s talk that can whoosh past you if you don’t pay attention.

Something else I picked up on as I listened: Just as vision remains vapor if not implemented, the satisfaction of curiosity remains cerebral without the context of history to give shape to the information. Ok, that’s nice, but what does it mean in real terms to the person in the trenches? To quote Gary “the difference between winners and losers is that the loser spends 100% of his time on tactical issues, the winners spend 99%” with the rest spent on big-picture, step-back-and-look-around-you type activities.

As Gary gave examples to back up these two keys, to me, the bigger point seemed to be that the successful entrepreneur will actually believe the facts in front of him. When your car is slowly sinking to the bottom of the lake, it’s too late to be thinking – gee, I wonder of those big orange signs and flashing lights were something I should have paid more attention to? Or, as Gary himself put it, don’t let the train of change smack you in the back as you peer down the tracks in the wrong direction, searching for a glimpse of the future.

Closely behind curiosity and history is the third key, Geography, which also ties in with history to help shape the information you get as a result of your curiosity. “Keep in mind the spacial relationships of things” said Gary, and “keep track of space and time”. It’s all part of the theme of seeing the larger picture.

Gary spent so much time on the first three keys, that I feared the BiGBreakfast event was going to morph into the BiGBrunchAndLateAfternoonSnack seminar. Don’t get me wrong, I could have listened all day (in fact, after the talk, I just listened to him as he informally answered various people’s questions one-on-one. His approachability was refreshing, and even just watching how he handled no-particular-question, just-want-to-ramble-on-and-on type people was an education in itself). As it happens, the next four keys are closely tied together. They are Clarity, Vision, Consistency, and Purpose. Each one is important, and the successful entrepreneur will pay attention to each one individually, but in reality it is the implementation of the four as a group that propels the business, or so it seemed to me. Oh, and there is only one right answer to the purpose question: your purpose as a business is to provide a product or service. <-- note the period at the end of that sentence.

The test for the successful implementation of the next key involves closing your eyes, or better yet, using a blindfold. Ok, I guess this test is safer if done as a “thought experiment” ala Einstein, but the idea is that you place yourself in a business sightless, and when you remove the blindfold, you should be able to tell where you are. If you can’t, the business fails the uniqueness test. If you are not Unique, there’s little reason for your customers to come back.

There was one more key, Passion, and for those of you keeping track, that makes nine keys. What can I say? Maybe my note-taking needs work, maybe I heard more than was said, maybe – who knows? Whatever, the last key was simple: love your work. ‘Nough said.

Gary’s talk was very engaging, and even better, he continued to spill valuable nuggets during the all-too-short formal Q&A afterwards. For example, responding to a question about business metrics, he mentioned the ideal way to create a business plan is to oscillate between Word and Excel. Use Word to describe your ideal business scenario several years in the future. Use Excel to crunch the numerical realities of such a dream. It is guaranteed the two will not jive, so modify both to bridge the gap. The resulting documents become part of your business plan.

After the breakfast, I attended the BiGMarketplace, a vendor exhibition of BiGAustin client companies. From solar-powered backpacks, to beef jerkey and scrapbooking, the selection was varied and interesting. The “memorable name” award should certainly go to Dancing Dingo Organic Bath & Body, makers of fragrances for both man’s best friend and his boss (or wannabe). I bought a bottle of Dog De-funkifier™ to keep both happy in my household, only to discover a $2-off coupon in my goodie bag when I got home. Oh well.