By tlahuicalva
I always had been an advocate of CEO’s ability to move seamlessly across industries getting companies to succeed no matter what. If you can make and sell bread you can make and sell toothpaste, right? Not so…
Since I had done it in the past, I thought doing it again, in a new country and field was just a matter of focus. How mistaken I was.
So I went into the IT field and used all the “beginners luck” credit I had. In less than 3 years I was able to turn Blue Ball into a profitable company with over 40 engineers.Then luck dried off.
It wasn’t in my hands to prevent a coup d’état, but I certainly wasn’t ready to face one. If I had just studied enough Thai history I would have learned that political crisis here are as common as their green papaya salad. As a CEO you can’t be only informed about current issues, but you must learn what has happened in the country you are working for at least 50 years.
And it wasn’t only the coup,
Top it all with the worst global crisis in the last 80 years and that we just had invested to set up a company in
We just had become a fat, ugly over-stretched cow, and if we didn’t do something fast, we would have died in no time.
We realize that growing fast means growing fat. The first years were so good that I cared very little for the side effects of non-planned growth and the consequences of inefficiency. When money is abundant you stop counting the cents
We were in need of a fast and surely enough painful transition, that would put a lot of pressure on me and my teams, but ultimately would transform the company into a highly efficient, highly focused company that would take us out of mediocrity (no matter how big the profits were) and into the top leagues (no matter when the big profits will come).
So what did we do? What did we learn?
Control, control and then control a bit more. What to control? Everything. Yes, in the good times you cannot compromise opportunities by trying to control everything, but don’t just forget about it. The higher you build the heavier your fall will be. I strongly believe that if times are being good, you should allocate resources to bring experts into areas of management, operations, quality and finances. Establish processes and detect weaknesses. Use the money you are receiving to build structures, otherwise you will use all that money rying to stop the bleeding when bad times come. And believe me, they will come.
Improve efficiency. If you have never tried to improve efficiency in your company most certainly means that your company is terribly inefficient. If you have tried, it still means that you have a good chance to improve by 50%. If you had done the above it means that there is still room for improvement. If you have statistical data of all your processes you are really getting there!
Outsource as much as you can. Give the job to the specialist and get involved with them. Do not just through the ball to someone else. Sit with the outsourcing providers and discuss your aim, make sure they understand what you want them to achieve. Then meet them periodically. No matter how important you think you are or how busy your schedule is, make time for it, or pay the consequences. What should you outsource? Accounting, system development, design and e-marketing are some areas that most can outsource. Your business may have other needs that can be too delegated to outside providers.
Systematize. No matter how cheap labour is in your country, invest on systems. They may look expensive, but on the long run, labor end up being more expensive, not reliable, never repeatable and subject to all the bad things relative to human nature. Once a system is there, it is there for good and it generates valuable data that if well read, can help your company succeed or at worse survive when the bad times come.
Go for added value services. Yes, it is easy to make money the easy way, but if it is that easy, means that almost everyone can do it. That is why there is a zillion of mediocre IT companies and freelancers. You must distinguish yourself adding value to what you do. This is not a guarantee for immediate success but is a good start, you will still need to find educated buyers, but they come with deeper pockets.
Concentrate your efforts. Detect your segments and your markets. It will improve your products and services and it will save you tons of money on sales and marketing, maybe even production. Also try to do less. Reduce your range of products and services, remember, these are the good times, now you have the time to analyze and define your strategy for the future. The more vertical your expertise is the easier to sell, the better price you charge and the easier to market it effectively.
Do marketing. Do not fall in the temptation of not developing a marketing strategy just because you are doing well! Your aim is not to sell more now, but to make sure you develop a strategy that will keep your company healthy when good time ain’t there anymore. Nothing was more difficult to me that developing international marketing when the company had ZERO resources to pay for it. Invest time understanding your company, make sure the person for your marketing is 110% with you and if not, cut his head and replace. Make sure to get the best website money can buy, it is your window to the world. Make sure to go and pay for SEO.
Do not depend on a single big customer. Looking back, I should had sacrificed short term growth to favor medium term growth with a larger pool of customers. Again, you must try to find the balance between getting the benefits of today’s opportunities and building the opportunities for tomorrow. They don’t go hand in hand unless you have a plan.
Blue Ball is not out of the woods just yet, but we are definitely on the path. We are still implementing the same points I just talked about. Having operations in different countries and customers in 8 different countries forces you to improve on daily bases.
We are leaner than ever but we can be more so. Quality is high, really high, but we want higher. Our controls are good, but still not world class, the balance between growth, investment, cash flow, inside pressure, expectations and performance is one that require all my attention and dedication. I learn the hard way, you don’t become an astronaut by mistake, neither you become a decent CEO by having the 3 letters under your name on a name card.
Blueball.co.ltd
Tlahui Calva – CEO
Has extensive experience on the field of IT offshoring
Tel: +66 8 9699 3358
Email: tlahui@blueballgroup.com
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Vietnam Production Center
Thailand
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Huay Kwang, 10310, Bangkok Thailand
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Anna building,
T: 084371032
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