Always Stay in the Present


Many companies have gone out of business by spending on capacity, space or people for a future growth that simply never materialized. I believe that it is much more prudent to wait to spend money. Some of the best business advice I have received came from my father, who said, Never be in a hurry to spend money.

For example, our company was recently awarded a new contract to build a new piece of software for our largest customer. The project certainly requires us to add more employees. Coincidentally, our lease is about to expire. The natural thought is to buy a new building to hold the new employees . However, once cooler minds prevailed, we realized that a new building (although fun and impressive) does not add anything to the bottom line. Programmers can be as productive in a leased building as an owned building. And since we are not in the business of managing buildings , it really does not make sense for us to spend time and emotion doing so. I would much rather spend the time talking with our customers.

Many people know the three most important factors regarding real-estate valuation: Location, Location, Location. There is a similar corollary for small business: Get the cash, Get the cash, Get the cash. This means that you should never look too far down the road for profits that you can take today.

Bill Johnson is co-founder and President of Alden Systems, Inc., a leading telecom asset management company.

A native of Jackson, Mississippi he attended Mississippi State University where he graduated in 1984. During his college years he operated a number of small businesses including real estate management and photography.

Johnson began his career with BellSouth in 1984 and moved through a variety of job responsibilities over the next several years. During that time he helped with BellSouth's effort to enter the Australian telecommunications market and served as Chairman of the national organization tasked with setting standards for time & frequency distribution throughout the telephone network.

In 1990 he received a Masters of Science degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and in 1993 he received a Master of Business Administration from the University of Alabama.

Johnson left BellSouth in 1995 to start Alden Systems with two partners . During the next six years he watched the company double in size every year. In 2002, Alden Systems was named to the prestigious Inc. 500 list (number121). The company now specializes in providing turn -key solutions to large telecom companies.




Inside the Minds Stuff - Inside the Minds. Managing for Profit. Leading CEOs on Key Strategies for Increasing Profits Exponentially in Any Economy
Inside the Minds Stuff - Inside the Minds. Managing for Profit. Leading CEOs on Key Strategies for Increasing Profits Exponentially in Any Economy
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2004
Pages: 130

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