First things first, let me give some credit where it's due. I borrowed my headline, "Work in tomorrow, not yesterday," from an e-mail sent by Dave Hamby of Express Autobody in Georgetown, Texas. Hamby actually was commenting on last month's column on upgrading the way you measure your financials. Innovative business training has helped his shop hit record sales two out of the last three months. He used this phrase to critique the attitudes of many of his industry colleagues who refuse to adopt new thinking and as a result pay a terrible price in the form of failing or suffering businesses.
That same lesson can be attached to this month's cover story and project, becoming a green shop, and specifically to the negative and ultimately self-defeating attitude some industry members have taken toward environmentalism.
Lets go back a little in time. When I was growing up in the 1970s being an environmentalist was regarded as a good thing. It just made sense. We all benefit from clean air and water, so let's do what we can to ensure it for ourselves and for our kids tomorrow. Somewhere along the line environmentalism became twisted into a negative term. Environmentalists were written off as "wackos," "tree huggers" and extremists. Oh, and caring about the environment suddenly made you anti-business.
This view popped to some degree as our industry began moving toward waterborne finishes. I heard complaints that using waterborne products was impractical or even pointless because of the VOC level of other finishes. Does this sound familiar: "That's just one finish and the others are high in VOCs, so what does it matter?" Then there was the charge that the waterborne movement was simply and solely the product of California "left coast" thinking and was therefore deserving of far more contempt than consideration.
What these detractors of waterborne overlooked or simply failed to anticipate were the terrific waterborne products manufacturers produced. Now, listening to the praises of waterborne by shop owners who made the transition, you have to wonder why we waited for a legislative mandate to go this direction. Shops using these products say that not only do they provide a superior finish versus their solvent-based counterparts, they also are less expensive and more efficient to use. They provide a better ROI.
So much for environmentalism being bad for business, which brings me to my point for the month.
Running any business is a matter of meeting challenges, the same kinds of challenges we encounter every day in our private, non-professional lives. Meeting these challenges makes us better as people and improves our businesses. When paint manufacturers were challenged with developing low-VOC solutions, they responded with superior products that protect the environment and improve your bottom line. That's what happens when you innovate.
These same manufacturers presently are in a heated competition to build on these products with new developments that will be even cleaner and offer shops even greater opportunities to cut costs and raise profits. That's very good news for all of us and our communities.
If you're still balking at the notion of going green for fear of having to immediately overhaul your operation or lay out a significant monetary investment, relax. Just looking for ways to cut your energy usage and waste is all part of being green. Not every change is going to produce a high dollar reward. Far more important is staying on track to continually innovate, looking at the big picture and making big changes when you can.
All this helps guarantee you'll be around to "work in tomorrow." Tomorrow is a great place to be.
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