Some entrepreneurs would describe starting their business like giving birth, while others see it like entering a marriage with an uncompromising tyrant. One business owner looks at his business as wrestling with a grizzly, happy at the end of each day that he did not get devoured. Regardless of the metaphor, all agree that it’s tough out there for small businesses, and no one survives on their own.

What advice would
you give to someone
looking to start their
own business?

Love it enough to go through
hell with it. —Terry Galloway, Mickee Faust Club, Tallahassee

I would strongly recommend
finding a strong mentor with business experience. Having two mentors myself has been invaluable. —Rebecca Beard, Niceville Tutoring, Niceville

Research the industry you desire to enter. Each one has unique opportunities to mine nuggets of gold outside the primary sales driver. Be prepared to invest in the countless hours needed to get you past the tipping point. And absolutely leave the excuses out of your vocabulary. There are only solutions that you haven’t found yet. —Michael Carro, SVN, Southland Commercial, Pensacola

Hope for the best but plan for the worst. Sometimes it will feel easy, but many times it will feel so frustratingly hard. Stick with it, believe in yourself, and believe in the passion you have for your business. —Jason McArthur, Argonaut Coffee, Tallahassee

Do your homework, and ask
a lot of questions. Talk to other people who are or have been in the business, and learn from them. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for and accept help. If people believe in what you’re doing,
they will offer it! —Carrie Hamby, Blue Tavern, Tallahassee

Work hard, don’t give up, and
give it your all. —Chef George Lazi,
Pearl & Horn, Pensacola

→ What are you most looking forward to
in your business?

I’m most looking forward to seeing where we go from here. Our business is relatively young, and if the next five years are anything like the first, then we
are in for an exciting ride.
—Jason McArthur

Creating a new future for ourselves now that Faust no longer has a permanent home. Instead of bemoaning or throwing in the towel after the twin tornados blew the roof off our Clubhouse, the
37 current members of Mickee Faust started looking for fun, new ways to make our kind of original, sometimes scandalous community theater in different places around Tallahassee.
—Terry Galloway 

I absolutely love what I do. I advise others in buying, selling, or leasing commercial real estate. Some are investment opportunities, other clients are growing or shrinking their businesses, and some are selling their businesses after a lifetime of achievement. Each has a story of opportunity and success. —Michael Carro

I’m most looking forward to hearing more success stories from children who have achieved academic growth or earned top scholarships with our help. —Rebecca Beard

Staying consistent with
our quality and service, and to keep growing.
—Chef George Lazi

→ What is the most memorable moment from starting your business? 

It had to be when we got our
first T-shirts, and I would see not just my friends and family wearing them but also regular customers. It meant a lot to me that someone would wear something with our logo on it for no other reason than they liked what we did. —Jason McArthur 

I started my first business in high school selling seat covers on street corners in Arizona. Some people (usually in very beat-up cars) would honk and yell, “Get a real job.” I always laughed at what others consider real work. I was fortunate to own that company for seven years. We imported containers of seat covers from overseas, and I grew to nine locations with many fraternity brothers working corners as well. —Michael Carro

The most memorable moment was when I billed a school for the first time to teach a series of classes. It was a thrilling and new experience. —Rebecca Beard 

It was the night 36 years ago when Mickee Faust made its debut on Gaines, and the place sold out within 10 minutes of opening its doors. We loved that audience just as much as they loved us. —Terry Galloway

The most memorable moment was when my wife and I first put up a banner with zip ties for George Artisan Bakery & Bistro on Garden Street. It was a special moment because everyone was now going to see my name, and I remember feeling excited, scared, and butterflies all at the same time. —Chef George Lazi

In recent years, concern for inclusion and equality has been a focal point for discussion often fueled by a tremendous amount of emotional energy. Rightfully so.

From a societal perspective and consistent with the founding principles and ideals of our country, we can agree that all people are equal and should be treated in a similar manner, no matter what their race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, gender and physical abilities may be.

What a wonderful world it would be if it were dominated by tolerance, acceptance and understanding.

Always, there are differences between the real and the ideal. Throughout recorded history, collectives ranging from tribes to alliances of nations have engaged in conflict. Wars are being waged today.

Daily, we see scenes from the war in Ukraine in what has become a prolonged battle. Millions of people have been wounded, killed or displaced. Cities lie in ruins. Refugees flee to destinations unknown. We sympathize with the war’s victims, and wonder, “Isn’t the human race better than this?”

It is easy to become discouraged by or even numbed by the news. Still, we must avoid thinking that war is unavoidable, and we must continuously embrace peace as a goal.

Within our own country, deep divisions exist. People have a tendency to gather information only from sources with whom they are philosophically and politically aligned, and differences harden. Cooperation, even conversation, becomes difficult.

Absolutely, it is not easy for someone to turn to another and say, “I find some of your actions and opinions to be hurtful. Can we talk?”

The audience for our magazines at Rowland Publishing is diverse, and we make a conscious effort to write stories about people with diverse backgrounds and frames of reference. That is, we are intentionally inclusive. But in being so, it is important that we always consider how any story we publish may affect readers with beliefs and points of view that may depart from those of the subject of a story.

Within the past few months, Rowland Publishing made an error in judgment in allowing a story to run without incorporating an opposing outlook. We should have done better. Because we did not, we appeared to be endorsing one opinion to the exclusion of others.

When I heard from people who were disturbed by the story, I extended them a heartfelt apology and immediately removed the story from our websites.

As an employer, Rowland Publishing strives in every aspect to be inclusive and treat every member of our team in an equal manner. That is the law, and it is the right thing to do. It is also the smart thing to do. Workplaces are enriched by diversity.

As a publisher, I deliver magazines to more people than I will ever know. But one day, you may be inclined to reach out to me and ask, “Can we talk?” When you do, please know that my answer will be yes.

Respectfully,

Brian Rowland
browland@rowlandpublishing.com

In this edition of 850 Business Magazine, we have poked around the subject of corporate values. My thanks go out to author Denise Lee Yohn for her helpful article about ensuring brand/values consistency and to the panel of students from FSU Panama City who fielded questions about their habits as consumers of products, services and information.

I have from time to time been involved in discussions aimed at arriving at values statements — or vision or mission statements or what have come to be known as diversity/equity/inclusion statements. Many of those meetings lacked genuineness. It was as if coming up with core values was a requirement that had been imposed by an outside authority; the effort, then, was to come up with something that sounded right.

But when honestly arrived at and consistently applied, values statements can serve a business or organization as guideposts. A company contemplating a new product initiative, relationship or acquisition may ask itself whether the action aligns with the values it espouses.

Today, I arrived at the following core values list …

Industriousness: We derive satisfaction and achieve a sense of purpose by working hard in pursuit of ambitious goals.

Loyalty: We benefit as individuals from the combined efforts of all members of our community and in exchange devote ourselves to shared pursuits.     

Perseverance: We meet setbacks with a renewed sense of resolve and a commitment to always building back better.

Cooperation: We demonstrate every day that we are greater than the sum of our parts. With all of our oars in the water and pulling in the same direction, we conquer tall challenges.   

Respect: We value and appreciate the contributions made and roles played by everyone with whom we work.

… and did so not with a particular business in mind. Rather, I wrote it to reflect an ant colony. While people may struggle to steadily live by the values listed, ants seem never to depart from them. Such consistency has brought ants great success. They have been around for some 140 million years, and according to a study published last year by researchers at the University of Hong Kong, there are 20 quadrillion ants on Earth — 2.5 million for every man, woman and child on the planet. Indeed, there seems sometimes to be 5 million fire ants in my backyard, alone.

Farhad Manjoo, writing in The New York Times, noted similarities between ants and humans: “They live in societies, they’ve all got jobs, they endure arduous daily commutes to work,” while also remarking that much of ant life confounds him.

“There’s the abject selflessness, the subsuming of the individual to the collective,” Manjoo wrote. “There’s the absence of any leadership or coordination, their lives dictated by instinct and algorithm, out of which emerges collective intelligence.”

Manjoo cites the late E.O. Wilson, for whom the Biolphilia Center on State 20 near Freeport is named. Wilson, a leading expert on ants in his day, marveled at ant nests that he viewed as “cities to rival anything in the human world.” In the latter stages of his career, he focused on people and the notion of self, concluding that the conscious mind cannot be separated from the neurobiological system of which it is a part.

Nonetheless, we humans operate based on free will more than instinct and present more individual differences than any other species. Those FSU PC students I mentioned prize individuality. Young people arrive in workplaces today with the expectation that job sites will conform to them. The individual demands expression. Consider the young woman who bagged my groceries the other day. She wore a company green shirt and conformed to a dress code calling for black pants, a black belt and black sneakers. But she also wore purple pigtails. Her apron was dotted with pins and her wrists were spotted with tattoos. Tackle hung from her ears.

We live in interesting times. Paranoia strikes deep, the self sounds a beat, divisions are steep and yet we must somehow arrive at a kind of global cooperation the world has never seen if we are to survive ourselves. Can we summon what we need? Can we conquer the challenges that confront us? The ant-swers are blowin’ in the wind.

Value this day, 

Steve Bornhoft

Editor, 850 Business Magazine
sbornhoft@rowlandpublishing.com

Actively involving your business in the local community helps increase brand awareness and promotes a positive brand image.

At Cox Business, we emphasize civic participation and volunteerism and have seen employee satisfaction and retention as a result.

Oftentimes you will see our employees cleaning up a city park, participating in a charity run or serving on a non-profit’s board of directors. Follow these steps to get involved in community partnerships this year.

1. Do your research. There are several resources, such as VolunteerMatch.org, that will align your business with volunteer opportunities in your area.
2. Ask your employees. Conduct an employee survey to gather insight on where they’d like to see your business have a presence in the community.
3. Think strategically. Partner with an organization that aligns with your business goals, or has a similar target audience. Through these partnerships, you can accomplish more than you can by yourself.
4. Serve on a board. Serving on a board of directors doesn’t have to be a large time commitment. It can offer great opportunities for networking, especially if it’s for an organization that matches your personal interests. Also, it gives employees one more avenue to hone their leadership talents.
5. Offer in-kind support. Donating in-kind products or pro bono services to a nonprofit organization is a great way to get your business noticed in the community. Cox has donated over a million dollars in cash and in-kind services to Gulf Coast non-profits each of the past 10 years.
6. Consider sponsorships. Some of the longest-lasting partnerships are created through sponsorships. Sponsoring a nonprofit organization’s fundraising event is an effective way to promote your brand locally.
7. Volunteer. Allocate a designated number of employee hours per year to volunteering with local nonprofit organizations.
8. Open your space. Nonprofit organizations often lack the space to host events and meetings. Offering up your building space for events is a great way to showcase your business for free.
9. Create a scholarship. Collaborating with an organization to create a scholarship for Tucson students demonstrates your commitment to investing in the future of your community.
10. Make it known. Consider publishing a joint press release or request that your new partnership is included in the organization’s newsletter and social media posts to maximize exposure.

Q & A With Justin Beck

850: Describe the culture at Beck Partners.

Justin Beck: We have a good time and work hard, and there’s plenty of lunches, gatherings and activities like that, but we define ourselves by our core values: Fearless, Agile, Smart and Transparent or FAST, for short. Fearless because our clients deserve to hear the best advice, not just what is easy to say. Beck Partners is a small regional firm, but we compete against the largest real estate and insurance firms in the country by being extremely agile. We need people who understand finance and legal matters and complex deals, but they must also understand people. That requires significant smarts. Finally, our clients deserve transparency and frankness about their assets. One aspect of our culture that’s really been impressive to me is how our people make it their own: They do things together and for each other, they celebrate personal milestones and it’s not something manufactured. 

850: What are the core competencies of your business? That is, what do you do especially well?

JB: Beck Partners provides service to owners and occupiers of real estate through the entire life cycle of the asset. This means we connect our clients to the best opportunities through sales and leasing. We protect them by assisting them with their insurance needs and we add value by managing the property. We really know our markets. Real estate remains a really inefficient market, and we pride ourselves on adding value for our customers with information that can’t be found online. Maybe it’s the unique traffic pattern at an intersection, or when certain leases are expiring — these are the bits of information that can make a huge difference in a decision an investor or company makes.

850: What attributes or values do you most look for in an employee?

JB: In addition to seeking people who exemplify our core values, we look for people with great self-awareness about their strengths and weaknesses. I look for people who see opportunities. It’s the difference between deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning. In school, students are tested on their ability to find the single best answer — that’s deductive — but in business there may be 12 different ways to get something done, and that’s inductive. I want the person who can see all 12 ways; those people are special.

850: Speak to commercial real estate trends. With growing numbers of people working remotely and given the ascendancy of online retailing, is the demand for commercial real estate declining?

JB: I love real estate because it’s one of the most entrepreneurial industries in the world. Our industry is changing, yes, but it’s always been changing, and commercial real estate will always play a huge role in making people’s life easier, more enjoyable or more successful. The retailers who are going to survive are going to provide a special experience for the shopper, and they are going to have great customer service. Office environments are going to be more like hotels; they’ll have great amenities. People will always want to get out of their house and apartment, but now and in the future, their options are limitless, so you better wow them. Driverless cars will have a huge impact on commercial real estate, and for the better, I believe. Imagine no more massive parking lots; that land will become much more valuable when you can put something there instead of just asphalt.

850: To what extent do you find yourself dealing with businesses from outside the region who have an interest in moving to Northwest Florida or establishing locations here?

JB: The data is clear. The majority of any community’s growth comes from expansion of local businesses. That said, the secret is out: Northwest Florida is an unbelievable space in which to live and do business. We are seeing new businesses look to move to the area every day and, more importantly, I talk with brilliant young people who see opportunity here when just a few years they had to go to Atlanta, Miami or elsewhere for opportunity.

850: What aspects of property management does Beck Partners devote the most time and energy to?

JB: Good property management requires really good accounting. We have a great accounting team that works with our property managers, and that takes a lot of time when you have several hundred tenants. Beyond the day-to-day, we focus on the overall property health such as the building components, and major assets. More importantly, a great deal of time is spent working to maximize tenant satisfaction and generating returns for investors.

850: Talk about the decision by then-Beck Properties to get into the insurance business via merger with McGraw Insurance. Was that part of a deliberate strategy or did that move result organically when an opportunity presented itself?

JB: We were both looking for opportunities to expand our offerings to better our relationships with clients, but the reason the partnership has worked so well is that we started by asking “Why” and we talked about how we could work together from a personality perspective. We have very complementary skill sets, so it works great.

850: What advice do you have for your insurance clients, particularly in view of the devastation caused by Hurricane Michael?

JB: Know your coverage, deductibles and limits. We are finding that many clients have not looked at the cost of reconstruction in a long time, and they may be underinsured. Most policies also have percentage wind deductibles of from 1 to 10 percent on the total value of insurance and the insured needs to plan for a large out-of-pocket expense. The other main issue we are seeing is ordinance and law coverage is becoming a big deal after Michael. Many of these older buildings are having to be upgraded to current building code standards, and without ordinance and law coverage to cover the additional cost to comply with codes, the insured may find they have to pay out of pocket for these additional costs. We learned from Ivan, just like Michael, how important flood insurance is for everyone. What people don’t understand is that everyone in Florida is in a flood hazard zone. They may be in a high- or low-hazard flood zone, but we are all in a flood zone. Being in a low hazard zone and not being required by your mortgage holder to have flood insurance does not mean that you are not at risk of a flood loss.

850: Your insurance customer retention rate hovers around 95%. What are the keys to that success?

JB: Communicating and advising our customers is one of our reasons we have a high retention ratio. Our team advises our insureds on what the insurance coverage options really are. We hear time and time again that they have never had an agent actually explain the coverages that are being offered and what they mean. We are not here to just sell policies. We want our insureds to know what their coverage is and how it works. Insurance is complicated, and our team helps explain the coverages and options in an understandable way.

850: What are the three best things about living in Northwest Florida?

JB: First, our environment is so precious. The waterways, beaches, forests and wildlife are so unique and add so much to the quality of life here. If you look at what’s happened in South Florida, you can see what can happen if the environment is not taken care of. I hope we can be proactive about preserving our natural environment in Northwest Florida. Next, our history is unbelievable, not just for tourists but for residents. I get to walk around downtown Pensacola with my kids and see firsthand hundreds of years of history. Our communities are getting really good at telling that story. UWF Historic Trust and Visit Pensacola are doing great work. Finally, the spirit of “betterment” is the only term I can think of to describe the attitude I see around Northwest Florida today. When I came back to town 14 years ago, everyone seemed happy with the status quo. Today everyone wants to get better, improve something, be more inclusive and try out new ideas. It’s really exciting.