Page 107 - The Way to the Top

little note did a lot to get me pointed in the right direction. By the way, I
never did take any money from those slimy venture vultures and found my

own way instead.

Another guiding principle came to me when I was just starting out in the
yogurt business. Then we were milking cows and putting our thumbs in
countless dykes as we tried to stay afloat, and I had no idea what I was
doing and could not distinguish which among the countless tasks that lay

before me should be the highest priority. I knew that we needed to keep
our quality high, manufacturing and transportation costs under control,
sales pitches sharp, marketing materials magnificent, employees satisfied
and growing, cash flowing, and all the while ensuring that our mission and

core values were not compromised. But in the inevitable pressure cooker
of rough times, particularly in start-up, it was clear that something had to
give. As a pathological optimist, I had no clue which of these fundamental
requirements could possibly be allowed to slip a bit.

So I cold-called the CEO of Veryfine Juices, another local brand that I

admired enormously, and which had been owned by the same family for
over a century. I weaseled an invitation to go down to the Veryfine plant
for lunch. After sizing me up for about an hour, the CEO offered this

poignant, terse, and very Yankee summary that has been among my
guiding principles ever since: “Keep it tight,” he offered. In other words,
keep your expectations for income conservative, and ruthlessly watch
expenses. I have run things pretty tight ever since, and today we’ve grown
from five cows and about $50,000 in local sales to a national firm with

over $150 million in sales—the largest organic yogurt company in the
world.

Stay determined (but keep it tight)