Best of SBS - Rick Stuart of Listo Corporation

As we enjoy Christmas Day with family and friends, we bring you one of our favorite episodes from 2017. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

What’s more difficult? Starting up a new company or taking over and changing the culture of a 4th generation small business? Join us today on the Small Business Show with our guest Rick Stuart from Listo, a company founded in 1921!

How would you handle taking over and managing employees that have known you since you were a kid? What about “updating” the culture of a company almost a century old? Would you rush in and be in a hurry to make changes to take advantage of current market opportunities, or would you take your time before you started making changes? Dave and Shannon explore these questions and more on today’s show.

During the conversation with Rick, we learn about the importance of pivoting into new markets (sound familiar?), going “low-tech” and getting smaller to grow. Listen in to learn about how Rick adapted himself and his small business to keep it moving beyond the first 100 years.

Chapters/Timestamps/Stuff Mentioned

• 00:00:00 Small Business Show #101 January 11, 2017
• 00:01:18 Interview: Rick Stuart from Listo Pencil Company
• 00:02:01 Multigenerational (4x!) business
• 00:04:22 Low-tech is a quandary… or is it?
• 00:06:21 Pivot, pivot, pivot!
  • It’s (still) all about customer service
• 00:07:46 Started with… and returned to the family business
• 00:09:56 Running a company – and people – older than you are!
• 00:11:23 Changing (updating?) the company culture
• 00:15:07 “Go have fun with it, kiddo!”
• 00:16:33 Real estate as a hedge
• 00:17:56 Estate planning as part of a business plan
• 00:19:54 Looking at things from a different perspective – split out manufacturing
• 00:22:35 Shrinking to grow
• 00:25:33 Evolve: don’t hang on too long!
• 00:28:17 Let the brand live its own life
  • “Be a steward of the brand”
  • It’s OK to let a small business be small
• 00:31:09 Take time to Earn (trust) and Learn (the business)

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