Andy Birol, Veteran Business Growth Consultant, to Deliver October 6, 2012 Keynote at IMC’s International Conference “Grow”
Filed under: Business Growth, Pittsburgh, Uncategorized
For Immediate Release
April 13, 2012
Washington, DC – The Institute of Managment Consultants USA (IMC USA), announced that Andy Birol, Founder of Pittsburgh based Birol Growth Consulting (www.andybirol.com), will deliver the keynote address on October 6th 2012 in Orlando, Florida at IMC’s International Conference, “Grow.” In his keynote, titled ”Crossing the Consulting Valley of Death: Lessons and Learnings from a Lone Wolf”, he will share his personal lessons in recapturing success following business setback, breakdown, and trauma amidst financial meltdown, client bailout and family heartache. Through examples and anecdotes of setback, breakthroughs and belly laughs, Birol will describe how he navigated his 15 year-old business past these challenges and how he rediscovered his Best and Highest Use®.
Dr. Gayle Carson, CMC, CSP, Conference Co-Chair says, “I have known Andy for over 10 years and his knowledge, innovation, business acumen and genuine concern and care for his client is stellar. He is the perfect example of how a one person boutique firm can become a giant in the consulting industry.”
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Marcellus Lesson 5: Marcellus Will Be a Boom, and a Bust, and Already a Cultural Collision!
Filed under: Marcellus, Pittsburgh, Profitable Growth, Uncategorized
If you are more confused than ever as to if, when, and how the gas boom will impact your business, you are absolutely lucid and sober. Every month brings new confusing signals and contradicting advances and setbacks. While the fundamentals aren’t changing, it is can be hard to reconcile the following:
Exciting Advances:
- Shell Corporation announces it will invest a $1 billion to build a cracker plant which will convert natural gas into plastics
- 7 coal-fired plants will be retired in WPA in anticipation of diminished reliance on coal
- Critical midstream pipelines to transport Marcellus gas across the US are being announced and funded.
- Governor Corbett signed the severance tax enabling PA municipalities to start benefitting from local gas well revenue.
- Shortages of housing, employees and skills continue to prove that the Marcellus footprint presents a short-term economic bonanza for those who can supply these scarce resources.
Concerning Setbacks
- Seismic concerns in the form of tremors in Eastern Ohio have spurred deep concerns and unclear scientific responses from both pro- and anti-drilling parties.
- There is a huge glut of natural gas in WPA creating the world’s natural largest gas storage field with 13,000 dormant wells.
- Low domestic prices of natural gas (around $2.00) continue to be less than half the breakeven cost of production given current market conditions.
- Weak state and local governments in most Marcellus shale states and counties mean gas drillers must lead in setting standards and assuming risks, liability and public distrust. In other words, they can be damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
- Portions of eastern Ohio have instituted moratoriums on new drilling, but have not taken steps to resolve issues or questions to settle differences.
I am more bullish than ever on the potential for companies who don’t work in or even understand the energy business. Every company in the Marcellus footprint can and must decide how they can benefit from the billions of dollars and thousands of jobs entering our region on a yearly basis. My focus will continue to be on helping growing businesses that are twice removed from gas drillers, landowners and energy giants.
And my growing client base aside, many small businesses are catching on and figuring out how to benefit from the Marcellus Shale. At the Hart Energy Marcellus Midstream Conference, I saw:
- Urgi-centers, selling health care and testing, are actually loading their services onto “health RV’s capable of delivering care to visiting remote gas drilling sites and fracking ponds
- Rental home services. With housing in tight supply and non-existent in Greene County, realtors and other parties are getting creative. Fractional rentals and room-rental brokers are setting up shop.
- Websites like www.themarcellushale.com are springing up offering visibility and educational opportunities for any and all who want to grow and learn.
- Luxury Port-O-Johns for upscale energy customer/client events at gas well sites is also a booming business.
So there is no silver bullet or straight line to opportunity in Marcellus but in anticipation of a future “Marcellus Lesson,” I am beginning to believe that the single biggest obstacle to growing a small business in the Marcellus Shale is the enormous clash between local and “outside business” culture. Specifically, how can a deeply proud and parochial region accept the inevitability of a profound, unstoppable economic change that brings both good and bad? In my workshops, interviews and client work, deep into rural areas in WV and PA, I have seen a level of distrust of outsiders as high as in any of the 68 countries I have visited. Incoming businesses and interlopers who want to start, grow and run businesses must learn to understand and respect the local values and culture of these rural areas. This will continue to be a challenge and underestimated by many newcomers to the region. But just as importantly, local business owners, citizens and governmental leaders will find themselves needing to compromise and open their hearts as well. There is work to be done and I will write more about this in coming months. Keep focused on Marcellus and how you can grow your non-energy business because of the shale opportunity.
Stop Straddling and Suffering! Re-Commit to Your Business With Your BHU®
Filed under: Business Growth, Pittsburgh, Profitable Growth, Uncategorized
Does it really matter why you’re staying on to run your difficult business? Is it out of choice or desperation? If you can’t sell it now, or don’t see an immediate alternative that pays you well and provides a similar lifestyle, then your business must improve and you have to do it.So what can you do and how can you get started? Please consider my matrix with its four choices to scope out your situation and focus your energies on fixing your business.
The BGC Growth/Sale Matrix:
As a re-committed business owner, consider your options. You could grow your business to keep it or sell it. And in doing so, you could focus accountability on your self as the owner or on the company and its management.
| Owner(Your)Roles, Responsibilities and Rewards | Company and Management Roles, Responsibilities and Rewards | |
| Grow and Keep Your Business | ? | ? |
| Grow and Sell Your Business | ? | ? |
To help decide which of the four boxes you should focus your attention, please review my concept of Best and Highest Use here or simply remember:
Your personal and your firm’s Best and Highest Use® is:
- Of all the things you do, what’s your Best and Highest Use® (BHU)
- What you like doing
- What you are good at doing
- What the market has valued in you and your firm
- And again, what’s your firm’s BHU?
- How can your firm focus on its BHU?
- How can your firm leverage its BHU?
With this thinking, let’s revisit The BGC Growth/Sale Matrix and use your and your firm’s BHU to decide which box to focus on and emphasize to fix your company:
| Owner(Your)Roles, Responsibilities and Rewards | Company and Management Roles, Responsibilities and Rewards | |
| Grow and Keep Your Business | A. When your BHU and your firm’s BHU are aligned and valued by your customers | B. When your management’s BHU is in demand by your customers. |
| Grow and Sell Your Business | C. When your own BHU is not in demand by your customers | D. When your management’s BHU is not in demand by your customers. |
To elaborate on the four choices above:
A. You should grow and keep your business by personally devoting yourself to doing so. Your value to the firm is it’s primary reason for its success and your passion in running it and serving customers is very high.
B. Whether or not your customers value your own BHU, your marketplace values your company and it’s management. Fortify and invest in your management and what they need to grow your company.
C. You are not connected or in touch with what makes your company special or profitable. Fix what your company needs to thrive by bringing in professional managers, resources and solutions. Sell your company when your investment can be maximized and your company’s can grow no further with you at the helm.
D. Your staff is not growing your business and you need management talent and solutions your firm may not be able to afford. To make matters worse, your BHU may not be what the business needs to thrive. Consider bringing in an equity partner or reinvesting your retained earnings to beef up what needs to be fixed. Or sell the business as a “turnaround” and move on.
Recommitting to your business doesn’t have to be a decision that takes a lifetime to fulfill. But doing so successfully means taking decisive short-term steps and not straddling or suffering. Your clients, management and employees are counting on you to act responsibly and successfully. Fortunately you have wonderful choices and can make them quickly and based on your BHU and that of your management’s and company. And you can decide to grow it or sell it after you have fixed it.
