Slippery Rock Gazette

Eric Rolseth

Stone Fabricator’s Alliance

Find it. Buy it. Read it. Implement it.

On occasion, I’ve wondered if owning a countertop business didn’t qualify me for elite-level status in the idiot group. The countertop business is capital intensive, breakage typically means working for free, customers are picky, margins can be thin, and finding talented people for jobs that require significant physical labor only seems to be getting harder.  Any of this sound familiar?  Well, you’re not alone. What follows is a humbling personal story of my struggle operating a business and an unforgettable “Aha!” moment that helped me spend less time in the idiot group (a.k.a. frustrated and stressed) and begin scoring more of the wins gained by those in the “great minds” group.  Read along as I share my introduction to the term EOS, (Entrepreneurial Operating System) and the significance those three letters had on my business and life. It’s my sincere hope that this could make a difference for you as well.  Here’s how it began.

There’s always been this goal in my head to get to the point where someone makes a snap judgment about my life and business and says, “Must be rough!” All the while thinking if they only knew!  Heck, if I only knew what I was in for, would I have even started this journey? Many times, the answer to that question has been “no.” Face it, there’s no school to prepare us for what we do, and even though most of us have some sense of how to make money, none of us could fathom the breadth of skills needed to build and run a business until we do it. From fabrication skills to insurance audits, to machine purchases, to payroll, there are 1,000 different things that come at us from 1,000 different directions! It can be overwhelming even for the hardiest of us.  If there’s a one size fits all manual that tells us how to do it, I could never find it, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was this hard for everyone else.  Thoughts like these led to more frustration, but not everything was bad.  It was evident that my fabrication skills were good as I had a great reputation and little problem finding work. The challenge was getting it all done, keeping the bills paid and having a life worth living. To go along with that there was a list of nagging questions that I couldn’t answer.

Why was my company hitting the sales ceiling of only 2 million dollars? Why couldn’t I grow beyond 14 employees?  Why is delegating so hard, and if I want something done right, do I really have to do it myself?  Business author John Maxwell addresses situations like these with what he calls the “Law of the Lid,” which states, “Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness.” Simply meaning that as the owner, leader, and ultimate authority in my business, I was responsible for holding it back and I was the “lid.” Therein lies the problem that we all have at some level whether it be 2 million, or 20 million.  Even if we understand that we are the “Lid”, how do we correct that?

Determined to find the answer I joined a peer group of 12 business owners.  Turns out we had a lot in common – a group of frustrated lunatics riding the highs and lows of owning and growing a business. We quickly became friends. It was in the group that I recognized the need for a coach and hired one for $200/hr. He was scheduled to visit my shop every other week for 2 hours per visit, and after the first session of getting acquainted, he asked me to read a book he thought would help me, by Gino Wickman:  Traction: Get A Grip On Your Business.  You may think I would have simply complied, but this irritated me a bit as I wanted him to give me the answers, not force me to find them. So, I defied any sense of logic and spent the next 2- hour session and $400 arguing with a successful business owner and coach about the need to read a $14 book. Talk about irony! What an absurd way to start. The saving grace was that at that precise moment I was feeling overwhelmed and desperate. I was like a drowning swimmer who a lifeguard can’t save until they’re so exhausted they stop flailing about, which could potentially drown them both. I stopped resisting and listened to the audiobook.  Turns out the book is fantastic, and I searched for places that needed driving to just so I could listen to it over the next few days!  In hindsight, I must have spent a lot of time daydreaming while listening to it, because I missed a LOT, which is demonstrated in the story that follows.

One of the first things the coach had me do from the book was to determine what my core values were.  At the time I thought mission statements and cores values were all a bunch of blah-blah BS – worthless business jargon that didn’t apply to the real-world problems of unreasonable customers and uncaring employees I was dealing with. I got riled up thinking about wasting time on core values, so I did what any pigheaded business owner would do and argued with the coach for two months while he tried to get my core values defined and in writing. “Yes, I love the book, but let’s skip this part,” I’d say, and move on. My coach wouldn’t have it. It took five meetings, and $2,000 down the drain, but he persisted and pulled it out of me. He was relentless, and I thank God for that now. At the beginning of meeting number 6, he asked me for my core values. I returned to my notes and shared the four core values and their definitions as written in my own frustrated words. 

Character – If you lie, cheat, steal, manipulate, throw temper tantrums, you don’t have the character to be around me.

Teamwork – If Momma didn’t teach you to play nice with others, you can’t be around me.

Service – I have an almost overwhelming need to take care of my customers and employees, alike. If you don’t care when customers or your fellow workers aren’t being properly treated, you can’t be around me.

Pioneer – I’m an inventor and there is a certain level of chaos and change associated with this.  It also forces change which is sometimes substantial. If change drives you crazy, I’ll drive you crazy. You won’t be happy around me.

After that, coach handed me a notepad and said quickly write down the last ten people you’ve had to terminate. He pushed me to do it fast and not overthink it. After completing that he said next to each person’s name write the core value they violated. Doing this part was stunningly easy!  Alongside each name was a core value, or multiple core values, that had been so obviously broken I couldn’t deny it. This was my “Aha” moment, and it struck me almost like a physical slap. Up to that point I’d paid no attention to someone’s core values during the hiring process, and it showed. Yes, we had some talented people, but we were a disjointed group. Imagine 14 people on a boat and each rowing when they wanted, which direction they wanted, and whatever rowing style they thought best. The captain, me, was the visionary who hadn’t communicated my vision to each person on the boat, and confirmed that they both knew it and were capable of rowing in the way needed of them.  If the picture you get of this ship in your head is a bit chaotic, I can confirm that it was in business, as well.  Sure, some folks would work together in that scenario as they did in real life, but some didn’t. In fact, some worked in direct opposition to my vision and it was a lesson I’ll never forget. The fact that this was once hidden from me and was now so obvious was eye opening. I wanted to get to the next steps in the process ASAP, but my coach assured me that EOS has a proven order that needed to be followed. 

Implementing the remainder of EOS from the book took me several months. The good news is that things got easier quickly after removing four of the five employees who didn’t fit the core values. This happened using something EOS refers to as the people analyzer. Letting people go was painful, and in hindsight, I should have ripped the band aid off right away, and just cut them all at once and dealt with it at the time, but I didn’t.  Hindsight is a bugger, so don’t give it the time of day. Just do your best and be encouraged that when meaningful change begins happening. It’ll give you an extra energy boost that you’ll need and appreciate.

You may be thinking, Interesting story, Eric, but how can any of this matter to me? Well, there’s an opportunity to learn directly from the author of Traction and creator of EOS, Gino Wickman. You can do this and more for your business and skip a bunch of the mistakes I made, too! Gino has agreed to do a half-day workshop at the SFA’s StoneBiz On The Beach, with the sole focus being stone fabricators. This workshop won’t be about hyperbole and theory, but rather Gino will be taking this time to work through the EOS process for stone shops. You will gain ideas from real working shops using EOS, as he will be using these real life examples from stone shops to help us work through the process so we have something we can bring back to our companies and make changes. This is a workshop in the truest sense of the word, and it is very special as Gino only does these two or three times a year. This workshop is designed to make a difference for those who show up and do the work. Gino’s doing it to make a difference in the lives of business owners like you and me. 

Here’s the plan for this event:  The SFA will host the workshop at a gorgeous resort in Puerto Rico.  We will kick off the event with a reception Wednesday evening, November 1, 2023.  The focus Thursday and Friday mornings will be business training, with afternoons and evenings open for fun networking opportunities and activities.  We will wrap up the event Saturday morning, but you are welcome to come early, or stay longer to extend the trip. There is a cost to register, but it includes your stay at the resort, several meals, and admission to the workshops each day. You can find event details and registration information at www.stonebizonthebeach.com .

Ever hear the quote “When the student is ready, the master will appear?”  Are you ready?

If you want to grow your business and operate more efficiently, please join us this November 1-4 at StoneBiz On The Beach in Puerto Rico.

Eric Rolseth has been making countertops since 1985 and he’s been a company owner for 32 of those years.  He’s also an inventor and current Board member of the Stone Fabricators Alliance. For more information, please visit stonefabricatorsalliance.com .