Business Advice From My Grandfather

Knowing the right people is only part of the equation. My Grandfather knew all the right people. Howie Robbins worked repairing appliances for a company similar to Lowe’s or Sears called Coghlin’s, back when everything was local, and you had the company that sold you an appliance, fix that appliance, should it break.

He ran the appliance repair shop at Coghlin’s like a well-run ship (he was ex-Navy after all, serving in WWII). But, as times changed, appliance repair became less of a money maker than just selling new appliances. The owners of the company came to my Grandfather and told him they were shutting that entire branch of their company down. 

They offered to give my Grandfather all of the customers, he could keep what staff he wanted, and he could take all the remaining inventory they had. They wanted to cut costs, but still have the outstanding service Howie and the team gave. The owners trusted him to the point of building his business for him.

My Grandfather jumped at the opportunity and went head-first into the unknown ups and downs of owning his own business. He had a leg up as a start-up company, having a consistent flow of business from customers that were used to getting their appliances fixed by Howie. But as time went on, the family that owned the appliance business moved into other areas of investment, meaning my Grandfather had to go out and get his own customers something he had never had to do before. 

As he tells it, he made a million mistakes. One of the biggest, in his mind, was not educating my father on what it took to run the company. He thought he would give my father the company like the Coghlin’s gave it to him, but it wasn’t the same. He loved what he did and worked for the Coghlin family for a number of years prior to going into business for himself. My father worked at Robbins, Inc. as a job, and wasn’t ready to take on the responsibilities of owning the company.

Shortly after my Grandfather retired, Robbins, Inc. went bankrupt. My father assumed it was his failure at running the business that caused the bankruptcy, but listening to my Grandfather talk, he takes all of the blame, because he never told him that running a business and the “job” of the business took two completely different skill sets. He is so proud of my father for landing on his feet, working for both the State of Massachusetts and the State of Oklahoma in jobs he loved and excelled at.

Dad, like my Grandfather, never intended to be an entrepreneur, so that life was overwhelming and unstable. Before I started Beachwood, I called my Grandfather and asked him his opinion about me going into business for myself. I didn’t know the story of how the Coghlin family set him up, I just assumed that he had built the business from scratch. He told me this whole story and his regret of never telling my father the same.

He told me: “Owning your own business is not 9 to 5. It’s not 5 days a week. It’s something that consumes you. 24 hours a day, 7 days of the week for your whole life. You think about problems, ideas, and customers when you sleep, when you pour your morning coffee and at holiday parties with family. It never stops, because owning a company is a part of you. If you can’t handle that type of work, I recommend you don’t start your own company. It’s not about the money you can make, or the freedom that you can have, it’s about the time you need to devote to it. You have always had this fire about you, inquisitiveness and curiosity of how things work. You know how to sell, because you have seen a failed business and know the importance of a customer base. You have everything you need to build a business; you just need to know that it will become a part of you. You have such a supportive wife, and your kids love you – you need to remember that although the business is never-ending, you must make family first.”

After talking to him, I decided to start Beachwood and now, five and a half years later continue to check in with him about the ups and downs of the company. He loves to hear about the travel and has absolutely no idea about anything oil and gas, but his encouragement knows no bounds.  

He is 93 years old and still, every now and again, will fix someone’s heating element in their oven at the retirement village in Florida. Because, as he says, “If I can help, I help.” And that is the kind of legacy I want to leave. It’s not about who you know, it’s who you help.