YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio –When Jamestown Coating Technologies CEO Ronald Walton joined the family business, his grandfather was still working at the company.
“Early in my career, he pulled me aside after a meeting and reprimanded me for being underprepared,” Walton writes. “He did it privately, so I wasn’t humiliated, but the message came across clearly.”
The interaction offered two lessons: the importance of being prepared and the proper way to coach employees to do their best.
Walton is one of the business owners who responded to a Business Journal survey asking about the resources they used to start and grow their businesses, the best advice they got in the early days of their businesses, their biggest mistakes and something that inspired them early in their careers.
Gavin Switzer, owner of Next Nature in Youngstown, Ohio, writes the best advice he got early in his career was to start now.
“If you have an idea – that’s great,” he notes. “But an idea is just an idea until you build it. At some point, you have to take the risk and start. I believe you can’t dip your toe into business. If you have a plan B, then you won’t fully commit to plan A.”
Switzer lists his biggest mistake as waiting for the work to come to him instead of networking and searching out work.
Ron Taylor, managing partner of SWTHZ in Boardman, learned: “You can’t be afraid of failure. Failure is part of the process, and everyone wants to hedge their bets to try and limit failure. That is fine, but if you are afraid to fail, you will limit your ability to thrive.”
The best advice he got was to begin with the end in mind.
Patricia Summers, founder/CEO of the Youngstown Blue Coats, writes the best advice she got was to expect roadblocks and to have a passion for what she wanted to do. The advice came from the Sub Zero Mission in Painesville.
“It’s not always easy to start up but in my case, it was worth it,” she notes. “Having the passion makes it easier to see the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.”
Her biggest mistake was in thinking everyone who wanted to work with her organization shared the same vision.
George Warren, owner of the Keg Bar & Grille in Sharon, Pa., writes that Small Business Administration loans proved the most helpful to him when he was starting his business.
The best advice he received came from Cornell University where he studied hospitality because his father believed he would be good in that industry.
“Control your costs while increasing your sales,” he relays. “Provide good service at all times. Good service will bring more sales.”
Todd Starr, president of B&R Wholesale Tires in Austintown, writes the best advice he was given was to “never ever give up and you cannot sell what you do not have in stock.” Something that was most helpful to him in his business was hiring valuable, caring employees.
Pictured at top: Ron Taylor, owner of the SweatHouz location in Boardman.