Junkyard Management Archives - Page 13 of 13

Call Lloyd

My friend Lloyd retired last week. He didn’t really want to retire. What he wanted to do was go on vacation and never come back. Which I guess he did. He’s on vacation now in Kauai, where he plans to stay for the rest of his life.

Lloyd has worked for my family for about 30 years. From the junkyard to the warehouses, he fixed, swept, repaired, tuned, tweaked, oiled, overhauled, or patched just about everything we’ve owned. Lloyd was the guy I’d call when I had something I couldn’t figure out. Windshield cracked? Call Lloyd. The toy railroad track …

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Civility, Humility, Tragedy

The tragic violence in Tucson has led to more conversation about civility in our society. Whether the action of an unstable young man was fueled by the violent language of politics or not is important, of course. I tend to think that he was not. But having said that, this is the time to reflect on a key point that too many have forgotten: our words matter.

Democratic Congressman and Methodist minister Emanuel Cleaver said it well, “Whether the shooter was inspired by speech or not to do his dastardly deeds is irrelevant. The truth of the matter is the …

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Competition

I’ve been thinking a lot about competition lately. We compete in business, politics, global affairs, sports, and even in many personal pursuits (I know people who live in angst because they have fewer twitter followers than a competitor). Competition can be good because it can bring out the best in us, but other times it can be ugly and harmful. The trick is knowing how to manage our competitive instincts.

One easy junkyard tip to share on this is to first identify who your competition is.

A recent conversation had me thinking about how our competitive natures can interfere with …

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Attila, by John Man

It was common to have customers who couldn’t pay their bills at the junkyard. People would buy parts on credit, be unable to pay the bill, and we’d end up having to chase them down. It was even more common in property management; tenants regularly fell behind on their rent.

When this happened, in would step our favorite bill collecting agency and process server: Attila the Hun School of Charm. Seriously, that was the business name! And they did a great job. All of the guys working there looked like Hells Angels, so they had a knack for getting …

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National Prozac

What this country needs now is a giant dose of Prozac.

It really amazes me how much whining is going on these days. People worry about all kinds of things, the bulk of which are issues that exist only in the imagination of cable news producers. All of this national angst seems to come out in the form of fear. There is fear of a “double dip” recession despite the fact that corporate earnings are breaking records. There is fear of the rise of China, despite the fact that our economy is still 3 times as large. There is fear …

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New Blog!

Today marks the first day that Junkyard Wisdom has gone live under its own domain. I’m excited about that and eager to add new elements to the blog. Any suggestions?

To start it off, I thought I’d share a fun family photograph of the junkyard. This is an old photo in bad condition, but it strikes a chord with me because it is so…well, it’s so junkyard. I remember seeing my Dad in exactly this pose many times, and I remember the clutter and chaos of the stuff that filled the place. Somebody suggested I have it restored. But I …

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Rework

Just finished “Rework” by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson. What a great book! Truly a small treasure in the midst of so many horrible business books. By the way, the authors contribute to a a great blog that I read often and I’d recommend you check it out.

My business philosophy has always been a bit unorthodox, no doubt influenced by my junkyard upbringing. I prefer bread/butter opportunities, not flashy stuff. I like keeping things small and never gave in to “bigger is better”. I hate meetings, strategic plans, outside investors, and 60-hour work weeks. That stuff may be …

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Too Big to Fail?

A few months back there was a lot of talk about a bank or other company being “too big to fail.” Along with that talk is a lot of concern about “big government”.

Personally, I think the conversation is a bit shallow. People haven’t fully thought this through, in my humble opinion, which I admit isn’t so humble.

If big is bad….then the logic needs to go the full way.

I’m concerned about companies that are supposedly too big too fail and I have long been a trust buster, as Teddy Roosevelt might have said. I’m against big government, in …

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