Bruce Bruce

Talk about a born business man. Bruce Schwartz is, “that guy.” His father was a pool hustler turned salesman. While Bruce became a real life hustler turned In-House Realty CEO. Finding opportunity after opportunity and using his social network and streets smarts to his advantage every step of the way.

Bruce is a true serial entrepreneur. His laundry list of businesses sounded like a couple pages out of mobster’s rolodex. From a gambling hotline to construction and even a little arcade game services he’s had a piece of nearly all the mafia related businesses short of hired hand (at least I hope).  Bruce never stopped seeking out opportunities. His continued pursuit of business exploits even after complete destruction is what impressed me most about Bruce. His gambling hotline was put out of business by an uprising in credit card fraud and his construction business self imploded after too much demand after a hurricane.

 The more and more I write about this guy the more and more I’d love to see a movie about him. It’s strange, Bruce didn’t seem overly charismatic or shockingly impressive, but he’s one of those guys if you were to sit down with I could guarantee you he has some stories to tell that could keep your attention for hours.

There is no Box

I liked Bill Emerson. As of yet I hadn’t had much of an opportunity to come in contact with Bill or even hear much of him (other than the fictional birthday party for his daughter I was dooped into), but meeting with him was interesting. Having met with most of the top leaders in Quicken Loans it was nice to finally meet with the CEO. Bill had a strong yet humble veiw of leadership. He saw leadership as a role in which to serve people. I’ve heard many leaders say this before, but with Bill it seemed as though he actually believed in this service form of leadership.

As he spoke on leadership he explained in order to lead others you have to lead yourself. I think this is vital in business. Too many times people don’t set goals for their business because they aren’t used to setting goals for themselves. Too many times people don’t manage their business well because they don’t manage their personal lives well. Bill mentioned that we had to have a core belief system in being a leader and being successful and I believe that as well is one of those things that translate from the personal to the business.

A great piece of advice Bill gave was to get new prospects to tell you their goals and then explain your goals to them and then it’s vital to have them explain how they fit in with your goals. This way they confirm that they are on board and conversely you can see where they want to be in your organization. Another piece of advice Bill gave was to “under promise and over deliver” (I’m not sure if I’ve heard that one yet, but it sounds good ; ).

Bill had great nuggets of knowledge, being a guy who admits to love sayings he left us with some great ones to live by. Zig win everyone else zags. That’s an idea I’m taking to heart in my ideas for internet based businesses. He also said start each day asking yourself where can I have the most impact, interestingly my mentor gave similar advice a few weeks back. It’ s interesting that so many strings again and again keep getting pulled from people who don’t have that great of a connection to one another. There is no secert sauce, it seems almost more like a the kool-aid but one I’m glad I’m getting a sip of.

Small Plates; Big Vision

It was strange. As Todd Stern spoke he reminded me a lot of myself growing up. He spoke of doing yard work in the neighborhood at a young age and knowing what an entrepreneur was and wanting to be one long before anyone his age had gone beyond wanting to be a doctor or a fireman. I had all but forgotten that in elementary school I had been the same way. It was only somewhere in middle school that counselors, teachers and peers all but convinced me that picking a ”career” was a must.  It wasn’t until high school that the entrepreneur passion came back for me. Oddly, in a similar way it went with Todd. He began working for small quick serve food establishments and was trusted with the responsibility to manage the establishment a much younger age than typical.

Todd continued to stay in the industry and work his way up. From dishwasher to general manager he had the opportunity to work the restaurant industry from top to bottom. He was good at his jobs and was being paid well, but had to pursue his dream and open small plates. Despite construction outside his establishment for years, he was able to create a profitable business with over a million in revenue. 

Two other things I saw Todd and I had were what we see as important aspects of business development: A strong vision and strong networking skills. Beyond this Todd had lots of great advice to give. Similar to Dan Gilbert and many of the other speakers we’ve had he believes in creating a great environment for employees. And to create opportunity within the company for people to move up is vital to employee retention.

He also had two very unique pieces of advice that I hadn’t heard before but were great. The first was to create a list of things that excite us about the city. He mentioned this in response to a question Andrew had on how to convince outside businesses to team up with us to do things in the city. The other piece of advice that I think was the best advice he gave was not to grow too quickly. Through all the speakers I had heard this is something I don’t recall hearing. In the world of seemingly overnight success and dot com explosions like Facebook and You Tube the idea of not growing until the company has key people in place that can support the business is something I think I have overlooked. All and all, Todd was great and so was his lunch.