Taking care of business (every day)
Taking care of business (every way)
I’ve been taking care of business (it’s all mine)
Taking care of business and working overtime
These are the lyrics from the refrain of Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s Takin’ Care of Business. Tens of thousands of manufactured housing owners and professionals get up every day, and are trying to take care of business, every way.
The challenge today with the manufactured housing business is that it has become quite complex. The opportunities are certainly there, which is why you and we are both here. But it is no longer a simple proposition.
Why?
In part because of the challenging regulatory environment. I heard a statistic the other day, which if true, underscores the fact. Business-man-turned-politician Herman Cain stated that the annual cost per person to meet regulatory costs is $10,000 per employee. Ouch.
The other challenge today is due to the lending environment. Name virtually any part of the manufactured housing industry, and you have to access capital in order to do business. If you are selling homes, you have to be able to provide financing and have it for your business. If you have a land-lease community, you better be able to access capital. Ditto for manufacturing, suppliers, and so on down the list.
So those who want to return to ‘yesterday’s ways’ of doing business find that it can happen only with a lot of effort. Those who want to move ahead to new ways and today’s business climate, also have their challenges in ‘taking care of business.’
IMHO, to forge ahead successfully today, you better be doing the following:
- Take good care of your customers. They are your bottom line, and if you take care of them, they are more likely to be loyal and take care of you.
- Nurture and cultivate your team members. Be it a company of 2 or 2000, investing in your team’s people skills and training is essential. They are the ones who take care of your customers. So they are the ones who take care of you and your business. Do you need support or a sales or training process that works? Check out MHSpeakerTrainer.org.
- Be marketing, web and tech savvy. If you are not, hire someone who is (please keep us in mind for this – we can get you results that pay).
- Be mindful of the regulatory environment. Maybe the very wealthy can afford the legal and lobbying help needed in this regulatory environment. But for most of us to be successful, we need to be in an association that is doing the job and watching your back. If your association is not as effective as you want it to be, that is a signal that means you need to be more involved. Be a part of the solution!
- Take care of your lender/capital supply. If you burn this bridge, you are done.
The businessman turned politician noted above had this to say in that same talk:
- Stay Informed
- Stay Involved
- Stay Inspired
Frankly, that hits our messages here at MHMSM.com spot on, too!
Our tag line is:
Innovation – Information – Inspiration for Industry Professionals
If you are down in the mouth, please check out our Inspirations blog. We update this routinely and some of those inspirational items come from readers like you. Email submissions to Catherine@mhmsm.com.
For general or specific information – news, tips and views you can use, check out our many feature articles by Industry experts. We and they often provide you with the innovations that you need to get and stay ahead of trends that let you take care of business. You can access podcast versions of these articles here.
For news information: check in daily with the Industry’s exclusive Daily Business News. You get all phases of housing news here, with a focus on factory built home news. You can also get daily market reports there and on our News at Noon Podcasts. You can sign up for this ever growing group of listeners at this link here.
We have had a series of Industry Voices guest blog articles that are critical on Industry issues. Let me share these links:
Open Letter to CFED Regarding Dodd-Frank and its Impact on Affordable Manufactured Housing
FYI, Thayer Long tells us that a bill will be introduced ‘soon,’ and that you can then contact your congressmen to support that key legislation.
The next two are by an author, attorney, MHC owner and industry expert witness:
The Train to Oblivion
The Train to Oblivion Redux
The first article lays out the case for why we are where we are. The second replies to the critiques from readers of the first. Both are essential reading, if you want to navigate these challenging times.
Last and not least is this article by an MH lender who has been doing chattel loans for some 20 years:
If you don’t go forward you are not going to go anywhere.
This lender makes the case that you better partner up with your lender. We will revisit this subject in more depth in the days ahead.
In part due to the articles linked above, we have had record traffic the last 10 days. If others are reading these articles – and they are – you should, too.
Let’s close with this thought today. Our industry is fragile enough today where we have to do things differently, wiser and better. I do not think we will collapse today or tomorrow. But without changes, we only have to look at the 12+ year trend from over 372,000 shipments in 1998 to under 50,000 shipments today. How low can shipments go?
You have to take care of business, your business.
But you also have to help take care of the Industry’s business at large.
Few have a problem with the first point above, but some do the second.
They may think that it seems like you are helping a ‘competitor.’
Let me tell you, the competition are apartments, site built houses, condos and the like.
I would rather have a friendly relationship with so called ‘competitors’ in our industry, and work with them via associations or other arrangements, so we can grow our market share against those real competitors of apartments, site built houses and condos.
Taking care of business. It is your business. It is your industry’s business. Take care of it. We appreciate being part of your support and resource network. Please pass the good word along. # #
