Find Business That Fits

You’ve seen books and articles like the “The 100 Best Businesses To Own,” but what you want to look for is a “A Business that Fits” you. In some ways this is extremely simple, because I believe you should look to your God-given talents and interests for at least the first business you own. In this video, I explore ways you can look “inside yourself” to find a business that fits you! #000085

by Gary Shotton

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Find Business That Fits

By Gary Shotton

Hello, my name’s Gary Shotton. We’re sitting here inside my machine shop, where we have workers working in the background. I told them, “Just keep on working. We’re doing fine over here.” I’m presenting this video and teaching, as part of a training session. You should have heard a couple videos or read a bit before this time. It’s part of a series. Hopefully, in the process of this series, someone’s learning and thinking through how to own and operate a business. This is not for everybody. Please don’t beat yourself up if that’s not on your radar right now. I think you could learn from this, and be excited about this, even if you weren’t ready to start a business right now. Maybe down the line you’ll say, “Hey, this has become very natural.” I know many cases where somebody had no intention of owning their own business, and then low and behold, they got good at something. They got into it. They were at the right place at the right time. They stepped into ownership. Not everyone is designed though, to own their own business.

Today, I’m going to talk about the subject of “Finding a Business that Fits You”. It’s kind of like a glove. When you put on a glove, it needs to fit. I also call it a corridor or pathway. It’s like an avenue or a river that has two banks. Somewhere between those two banks is where the river flows. The river flows faster in the center, maybe slower on the outside. Still, unless there’s a flood, it flows within those banks. Think about what you’re going to do. Is what I’m going to do flow, like a funnel or channel within the corridor of your interest and skill-set? I believe God’s created us uniquely, and individually.

I don’t think that people are intended to be all the same. Guess what? If we all were, we’d all have opened 10,000 pizza stores and everybody would own a pizza store. This is not the way it works. If you’re interested in cooking, if you have that idea, that corridor, that influence, that background, that provision, then follow the cooking route. If you’re interested in sports, follow the route of sports. Not everybody has to be an athlete to be in the marketplace in the sports industry. There’s businesses, all the way from trading cards  (like baseball cards), there’s supplying different sports equipment, there’s broadcasting. There are a ton of things connected to sports. Whatever your interest, something follow that path. In my case, I have interest in manufacturing.

Let me talk about my corridor real quick.  Number one: I was born and raised on a farm and ranch and it was a wonderful upbringing. It was common to have torn jeans before this was fashionable. I had grease under my fingers. I worked for my dad driving tractor and occasionally riding a horse. Hey, that kind of established my corridor to begin with.

Then, I went to and graduated from college and I went to work for a big oil company at a manufacturing company. Actually, we were grinding up dirt and putting it in a bag. Not literally, it was called bentonite. It’s what’s used in the oilfield. It was expensive dirt once we put it in that bag.  I worked in a dirty, filthy environment, again worked with welders, electricians, other construction workers.

In my next phase, I moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma but I couldn’t get a job. When I arrived in Tulsa, I started and owned a moving and storage business. I moved using a horse trailer pulled behind my car.  My job took me inside houses, where I’m sweating as I’m carrying furniture. I’m carrying a sofa up to the 2nd floor and putting it in the game-room. I’m carrying mattresses. I’m moving offices.   We’re really sweating. We’re hot, we’re out in the field.

I now own a machine shop, and these guys behind me in this business are great people. This is my corridor. A little grease on the floor, my workers doesn’t have to wear suits and ties. I mean, this is the place I feel comfortable. I’ve stayed inside my corridor. This is where I function best. I suggest that you have a corridor. You have an interest realm and God made you that way. You must look inside yourself and find your corridor and this will be something that fits you. It’s very important. You’re going to have a 6th sense about it. There’s another entire teaching I’ll make on the experience. Once you’re inside that corridor you’ve got to get some experience. Right now find that corridor. Find that business that fits inside of there.

There’s a couple of particular things you could do to find a business for you. One suggestion is to find something that’s in surplus, and sell it. You know, you could actually sell something, or make a tentative sale, before you even own it? I’ve heard this over and over again and let me give an example. I’m in Wyoming, working for the big oil company in a manufacturing plant that is processing bentonite, putting it in bags, or putting it on bulk containers to go on the railroad. In this process we need pallets. This requires pallets being purchased from a business. In this case these pallets must be exactly the right dimension: 42” x 48”, which were the 2 dimensions, 2 must be two way pallets. The bags didn’t fit on a 46” x 50”, they need to be exactly the correct size. Of course, we had a pallet supplier that supplied them new. But, I could see there was an opportunity for business in used pallets. A large number of pallets are coming back from all over the United States in our containers, railroad containers. We were dumping them. Were burning them. Were trying to get rid of them.

I found a way to sell those palates before I even owned them. They were going to the dump but on seven times (while I’m going to Bible School), I picked up the phone, and I made a sale. I knew where the pallets were as they were under my control. I sold them before I actually had possession of them. That created a $1,000.00 profit on each truck load.  And, this happened seven different times in the early ’80’s. I’m telling you what, that helped.

Suggestion number two, Find a need a fill it. Find a need and fill it. God will show you different needs when you come in contact with them. In that regard, finding a need and filling it. When I moved to Broken Arrow, go to Bible School, I couldn’t get a job in my own profession, my own experience where I had ten years experience. I was here and I noticed people were moving. People had a propensity to move a lot which is true of most people in the United States. People, I think, move from one house to another house for a various number of reasons. One house is too small, they want to go to a bigger house. This house is too big, I want to go to a smaller house. I actually think some people move because their house got too dirty and they wanted to move in to a clean house. I mean, wild reasons. They move all across the United States: move from Tulsa to Detroit, from Detroit to Dallas.  And moving was a need. There wasn’t that many people in this business because, guess what, it was sweaty, it was hot, it was hard work. I came to a conclusion that since I’d moved here using my dad’s horse trailer, pulled behind my family car, I’d put an ad in the paper saying, “Let me help you move. I have a 5 x 16 trailer.”

I can tell you a whole lot more story about that. The reality was I saw a need. I started moving people with little or no money. I had an ad in the paper that said, “Let me help you move.” I didn’t put the word “horse” inside my advertisement. I said, “We have a 5’ x 16’ trailer.” People started calling me. This need was prevalent and I found there were thousands of realtors selling homes, and a very, very few people moving the furniture, as a result of somebody moving into that home. From starting with a trailer,  I went from one truck, to two trucks, and then to three trucks. I then became a truck rental dealer, where I rented trucks from another big company. Then, I became an agent for a major van lines. I had on semi then a second semi, and then I had seven semi’s that would go anywhere in the United States. I employed fifty to seventy-five employees. I had a little under $3 million in annual sales and I owned the business for seventeen years. This all started because I saw a need and it was inside my corridor and I purposed to fill it

I think there are ways to start like businesses like this all the time. I think that if you are interested and wanting to enter in the business, wanting to create a free revenue streams, and wanting an extra revenue streams, you can start some of these businesses while you have a full-time job. Don’t short your full-time job by always putting in more time in your full-time job than you ever expected to be paid for. On the side, put in some extra time for an extra revenue stream that you can guide yourself, challenge you, and work yourself. You can believe that with God’s help, you will find something inside your corridor that will be an idea. Later, we will talk about writing a plan, understanding financial statements, understanding the first steps, how to put systems in place. It is important to start with the right business.