A best friend once pointed out to me that I come from a long line of Entrepreneurs. As if to say it was “inevitable” for me to be one as well. Growing up, I just thought everyone owned their own business. That’s what I saw on both sides of my family. On my mom’s side, my grand father owned a Gas Station. When I was coming up, it was a “Texaco” gas station. It was him and a drunk friend that owned it. But his drunk friend Raymond, was a GENIUS, but a drunk none the less.
Lesson Learned Early: Alcohol and Substance abuse keeps you from reaching your full potential. All the time!
On my fathers side, that grandfather built an empire! It really was. It truly is a story of the “American Dream” come to life. He started from the BOTTOM! His family hails from the BACKWOODS of Mississippi. He made it up to Gary, IN. by way of a cousin. He got there, met a nice lady and he too started getting drunk. Crashing his car all the time. He realized, he didn’t want to keep “paying” for crashing his car. So, he went to the local auto body shop and asked to learn from them. They obliged. Some time later, he decided he knew enough and wanted to get started on his own. So he went to bank to get a loan. This is a black man in the 50’s going to the bank to get a loan. They said naw. But, Otho Lyles did not let that deter him. He had a house, so he started his auto body business in his garage. It started to take off and right across the street was a wooden building that he brought and moved his new flourishing business into. The Bank Manager actually stopped by to see what he was up to, realized it was working and gave my Grandfather the loan.
Lesson Learned #2- If you believe in you and work at it, others will help you when they see you help yourself. Miracles DO HAPPEN!
That loan helped him secure another property right across the street. The auto body expanded and he added “towing services”(which he used his offspring to work, my dad and uncle had to go out at night to tow people). He won a contract from the City which allowed for more expansion. My grandfather’s ingenuity is quite admirable to say the least.
See, when he got the City Contract, people wouldn’t pick up their cars. They would abandon them, so he got another property to start storing the cars, selling them for parts and “crushing” the leftovers. It got busy there. So, they brought a tractor to move them around on the yard, then they had to buy a big shovel and a backhoe to level the ground from where they jacked it up moving the cars. So one day, someone comes by the yard and says “Hey, do you think you can dig me a hole for a basement?” My grandfather said “Sure, I don’t see why not” and then “Lyles and Sons Excavation and Demolition” was born. He jacked up a few yards before he got the hang of it. But that business grew as well. My father had to make a “life decision” at this time as he was getting out of the military. “Do I go back and help the family business? or chase my radio dreams”. My grandfather promised him double salary of what he was making, so he went back to help.”
Lesson Learned #3- Opportunity literally stops by sometimes. Don’t look at anything as “new work”. Seize the opportunity !
Lyles and Sons is taking off, it now has “Auto Body, Car Sales and Excavation and Demolition” It was “Literally” my granddaddy and his sons. He took on more staff. This is about the time I was born, 1979. My father says that one night he was in the office late about 8pm and a man from the Sanitary District stopped by. They were going after a “major contract” and wanted to increase their “Minority Participation”. They hit it off, built a joint partnership and won their first ever 1.4 Million Dollar Contract. This was in 1981. That was a BIG DEAL in 1981! BUT, in true negro fashion, do they save any of the money? NOPE!
What did they do?
Well, they did “invest” back into the business, remodeled again, added more additions to take on more cars, purchased more excavation equipment. But then they also “Balled Out” of control! Huge Parties at the Sheraton! What did my dad do? He brought a plane! 🙂 What a life.
The company had several more HUGE deals after that…but here’s what happens when you grow. “Egos Grow”, Age keeps going. My grandfather had a KEY decision to make. He needed to “upgrade” to the “times”. Invest in technology and the new equipment and like every idea that dies a slow death, he said “NO, I want to keep it the way it is”. That is the “DEATH PHRASE”.
In business if you want to die…keep everything the same. Don’t change nothing. If you want to succeed, you ADAPT and INNOVATE.
Amazon started with books and got the DROP on Sears! HOW? Classic case of Leadership. People, simple every day people come up with these “ideas” and manifest them into “businesses” that grow and support others. When the “originator” of the idea dies, an actual piece of the business dies forever. It in essence loses it’s “heart”.
From Ebony Magazine and Johnson Publications, to Sears and Mr. Sears. Time and time again, we watch the businesses go down. Apple will NEVER be the same. Because Steve Jobs is gone. It’s just a fact of life.
So, all of this is to say. IF you have an “idea” and you WORK on that “idea”. That idea can support YOU!
I’m not only a client, I’m an “Idea President”. 🙂 Live your dreams. One day at a time.
