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Make Money for Bob - The Bottom Line on...
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Make Money for Bob - The Bottom Line on Entrepreneurship and Bob Gourley of Lee's Summit
Entrepreneur and now author, Bob Gourley holds the results of his latest project; Make Money for Bob intended to serve as a blueprint for success in anyone’s entrepreneurial endeavors.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
By Mary Pechar
Entrepreneur defines someone who organizes and manages a business usually with considerable initiative and risk. Those entrepreneurs who have the best chance of success are those who ensure they have the necessary skills, commitment and attitude in addition to subject specific knowledge in their personal tool box.
It seems human nature leads us to learn our lessons the hard way. We are often quite black and blue as we learn to dodge the knock down punch. But dodging those punches takes time away from your goals. So you seek what you don’t know, look for the support and guidance to bring your vision to a positive outcome.
But where to you look? You can attend Harvard or another prestigious school and master the soft skills of entrepreneurship, but they won’t teach you the hard skill basics. Another school can train you to be a wiz at accounting or marketing, but never mention the skills needed to successfully implement those tools.
Make Money for Bob (MMFB) written by Lee’s Summit resident Bob Gourley will close the gaps and serve as your blueprint for success. Don’t judge this book by its title. It is much more than just making money. Wait until you read the story affiliated with the title.
Bob is a very successful entrepreneur but more importantly he is what we used to call ‘a lifelong learner’. A generous man, open to sharing all of his life lessons. What is so impressive to me is the ongoing analysis that has obviously become his way of life. No matter how great or small the success or failure, Bob takes the time to learn its lessons.
“Entrepreneurship requires vision and perseverance,” commented Gourley, “while normally these are qualities one brings to the table, they can be learned, grown, and enhanced. A business class will teach you how to look at or build a financial statement; an entrepreneur needs to know how to really read a financial statement. I can look at one and know if it was prepared by a salesman, an accountant, or an engineer.”
MMFB will remind you of the importance of blending skill sets as you build your team and provide examples of how to apply these same skills. Throughout the book, Bob open and honestly shares the lessons he has learned, his failures and his successes. Whether it was selling encyclopedias door to door, working his way through college selling shoes or selling a substantial business to Fuji, Bob will take you through the lessons, the mistakes, and the successes.
What I won’t forget after reading MMFB are:
1. Research, research, research, the level of detail in a truly effective business plan takes extensive research.
2. Manners still matter – my favorite being “if you wear shoes shine them.”
3. You need to go in with an alternate Plan B and an exit strategy…actually two, how you leave a success, how do you cut your losses if your plans fail.
4. Your business plan needs to be a complete life plan – how do you give back, how do you maintain your role within your family.
Bob cautions us to always remember that when you have expertise in one field some of it will carry over, but you need to research and learn new skills. “I wish I could have learned from a good mentor rather than the experience of struggling through my mistake laden learning cure”.
Gourley served as President of the Lee’s Summit R-7 School Board for 10 years. “That was one of my toughest jobs,” he continued. “People can become emotional over financial issues, but they often become irrational when you impact their children.”
His experience with Lawrence Photo-Graphic, Inc. was perhaps his most gratifying business endeavor. Taking something that isn’t doing well, turning it around, seeing the growth, then selling a highly successful business was extremely rewarding.
Although only two chapters are devoted to The Work Life Balancing Act, all throughout the book you hear the importance of family, balance and giving back. Beginning with the book dedication, you begin to understand the true partnership Bob and his wife, Marlese share. The one meeting that Gourley held sacred despite his busy schedule each week was Saturday morning Board Meetings with Marlese. Over coffee they would discuss, analyze and strategize.
Not only does Gourley credit his wife with sound personnel judgment, he credits her with keeping him fully engaged with his family. He is grateful never to have missed an important occasion with his children, but is quick to add that he regrets not having been more engaged in their day to day activities. It is apparent that they have learned Bob’s lessons well as they are active participants in the Gourley Family Foundation.
Giving back is a thread that continues throughout the book and Gourley’s life. In addition to the R-7 School Board, Gourley has served on various other boards and organizations, often as Chairman or President. He has been active with the Lee’s Summit Optimist Club, served on the Lee’s Summit Hospital Board, American Red Cross/KC Board Chairman, Health Midwest Chairman, National Graphics Arts Board, 1st Business Bank KC Chairman, Gold Bank Chairman, Lee’s Summit Symphony Board Chairman among many others. He currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Powell Gardens Board.
Steve Arbo, City Manager has seen first hand Gourley’s contributions to the community and offered these comments. “During my professional career as City Manager, I have worked in several communities. Each one has that special person or group of persons who are well-respected and command immediate attention when they speak. Mr. Gourley is one of those individuals. The strength of Lee’s Summit is built upon the same great characteristics that he possesses; quiet yet strong self-confidence, a passion for making a positive difference both in the business world and society, and a desire to inspire others to excel. He reflects what is best in all of us. Now the rest of the world will understand why Lee’s Summit is such a great community…it is because we have Bob Gourley!”
Bob Gourley will be the guest speaker at the Downtown Lee’s Summit Mainstreet annual membership meeting in June of this year. Mainstreet board member Gary Fruits also served with Gourley on the Lee’s Summit Symphony Board. He stated, “We are absolutely thrilled to have him as our guest speaker and consider it huge honor to have a person with these qualities and experiences address our organization. Bob is the epitome of entrepreneurship; He brings a very wide variety of business experience and plain old common sense to the table. Bob has taken on many business challenges during his career with great success. Since our organization is composed of many small business entrepreneurs, we thought it would be fitting to have Bob speak to this group.”
To enhance your entrepreneurial skills and to learn the story behind the title, get your copy of Make Money For Bob at Author House.com, Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, bordersbooks,com, booksonboard.com and other sources.
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I don't know if you can forward this on to Bob, but I worked for Bob at Lawrence Photo-Graphic, now living in Lancaster, Pa, working as a loan officer.
Congratulations to Bob on his book. Sounds very interesting.
I have many fond memories of working for Bob and reading this article brings back many of those memories.
Thanks for the article.