While here at Western Carolina University I have met a plethora of people that I now hold close and dear to my heart. One of these people is Conner Orr, A tight end for the WCU football team. His father is Jim Orr, an Entrepreneur and the subject for my entrepreneur interview
Jim received his undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia in Business Administration. He worked for IBM directly out of college; soon after this he opened his own dry cleaning business for 10 years before selling it. His next couple of jobs was with MTI whirlpools, SFI and most recently he worked for National Print Group Incorporated in Chattanooga, Tennessee. While working for this business he simultaneously began his company Uppercut Promotions Incorporated.
Jim arrived at the idea of starting his business when his biggest customer told him that they hated the company that he worked for. The only reason that they continued to do business with the company is because they were working with him. With that being said he decided to start Uppercut Promotions and cater to the needs of customers in his own personal way. Another reason this appeared to be a good opportunity to him. Another reason for leaving National Print Group is the limited income potential. They were trying to reduce the pay of their sales representatives, which of course became a hindrance and further motivated him to pursue a new career in his new business. Further motivation was provided when he realized that he knew everything that he needed to know and that he needed to do.
But being the “savvy” businessman that he is Jim waited until he officially left his business, he waited a total of 18 months. Why you may ask? Because he did not want to borrow money from the bank, instead he wanted to have his own capitol to start his business. Jim feels that is the biggest mistake people make in starting their own business is borrowing capital instead of generating their own first. It ends up taking a substantial amount of time to pay off that debt and your new business is at a disadvantage because of it. So for that time period Jim bought and sold products for his new business, while still working his other job, and did not spend any of his profit that he made for Uppercut Promotions. This allowed him to have working capital when he turned Uppercut into his full time job. He has now been an operating one-man business since 2007, and business is good.
Uppercut Promotions prints personal as well as promotional products, and is also a promotional product broker. He helps the customer set up an order and gives their order to a company with an efficient printing press that can do their job at the cheapest price. He knows the companies with the most efficient printing presses that don’t actually distribute the products themselves, which is cheaper for his company. Because he purchases a large volume of products from these companies they charge him less to have products printed. The cheaper cost of production allows him to add his business charge to the total cost and keep it low enough to keep his consumers happy with the product and the price it will cost them.
Speaking with Jim made me so aware of so many different things that I really had no clue about. One thing that really stuck out to me that he told me was that sometimes your cash poor even when your business is booming. This is because in his business a client will place an order and he must first go to his supplier and ask them to fulfill the order, in which he pays for it at the same time. Once the order has been fulfilled he then gives the order to his client, at that point in time he then receives his fee and makes his profit. During a certain time period he did not have the capital in his account to make orders in which he had to receive loans from banks in order to keep his credit good with the printing press businesses that he places his orders with. In explaining this he explained to me that you use the debt to fuel growth, and that is good. It is only bad when you use debt to pay of the companies pay roll is when you run into problems. Uppercut is a business when the only person on the pay roll is Jim himself. So of course he does not have this problem.
Jim also helped me to understand his philosophy on good business: “ The key to a small company surviving is if you pay them (vendors) and keep your credit good with them, then you are good. You can get good prices from vendors. They want to sale to you more than they do big companies because smaller companies have a quicker turnover of about 30 days, compared to bigger companies having a turnover of about 60 days. Good planning is the key to his business.”
The biggest challenge that Jim faces now is trying to figure out how to grow beyond what he can sale. He needs to establish a sales force and be able to expand business past the point of the one-man business that he runs now. If he can duplicate his expertise it will help him in the long run, but the difficulty is getting a group of people properly trained to work in his business the way he wants them to. The biggest “perk” that he encounters is basically the same thing, which it is a one-man business that he is in charge of. Uppercut is an “a very lean” business that does not have a lot of overhead. If Uppercut has a slow month he can adapt, and he does not have to meet salaries and employment benefits. It would only be beneficial to expand and make hires if the workers he hires sale more than they cost.
With that being said, the future for Jim Orr and Uppercut Promotions is somewhat of an uncertain one. Business is good for Uppercut, Last year he sold $1.2 million, and this year he is on track to sale $1 to $1.1 million. But he is not sure if he would like to hire people unless he has the money to do it. He is going to adapt to the economy. But if he gets a big enough account that demands for him to hire then he will hire, but he will not hire personnel for no reason or because he has the capital to. Only if it works into his plan and benefits Uppercut Promotions in the long run.
If you would like to research the company more the company’s web page link is:
http://www.uppercutpromotion.com/
