In this episode of The Disruptive Successor Show, Jonathan speaks with Jeffrey Jappa, the CEO and President of JMC Wood Manufacturing (formerly Jappa Construction Company). Jeffrey's father started Jappa Construction in 1972. His father, being a handyman by trade, decided to enter industrial manufacturing. At the time his father started the business, Jeffrey was only twelve years old. His father shared the factory space with another factory which became his sole customer. He would run the business at night, after the client company's regular business hours. Jeffrey describes how his father ran the factory and sometimes he and his buddies would help out. One of his fond memories as a teenager is taking out his father's houseboat at Alton Lake. This experience is similar to what many of Jonathan's clients go through as they take over family businesses and work to improve them. Jeffrey would eventually fall in love and start his own family and he decided to go out and try his own path first. However, by the age of 31, he decided to go back home and raise his family in the midwest. He entered the business at a time when his father wanted to quit it already, but this was just the beginning of his problems. Working for his father was a nightmare. He was erratic and would blame Jeffrey for problems that he did not cause, even citing instances like getting a pay cut when there was no real justification for it. However, seeing that their company was getting lots of inquiries but no business, he decided to lower their prices to capture more business. From there, he would add value through additional services. This business strategy was helpful during critical times in Jeffrey's career. Eventually, his gambler of a brother was brought into the family business at Jeffrey's father's insistence and against Jeffrey's wishes. In a few years, Jeffrey asked for stock options knowing that the company would eventually become his. The catch was that his brother would get stocks too. Jason would wear Jeffrey down and Jeffrey would eventually give his father an ultimatum: choose one to run the business. Against all his expectations, Jeffrey's father fired him. A few cold years pass of no communication, then his father reconnected in 2003 and informed him that Jason, unsurprisingly, was found to be stealing from the company. Jeffrey came back and found out that from making 6 million a year, they went back to sub 2 million and his father was losing $10,000 a month to Jason. Jeffrey bought the company at this point. In 4 years, he was able to bring the company back to the $6 million mark. He shares how he invented a subway-looking tile that wasn’t a subway tile and how this project, which was expensive, attracted the attention of buyers and became a commercial success. Last year alone, Jeffrey made $23 million. HIGHLIGHT QUOTES JEFFREY: Entering a family business is a practical way for entrepreneurship "The easiest path to getting to what my goals were over time I learned was really through my dad's business. It's really tough to start stuff on your own and finding ideas and money and capital. And so, when you got a goal of running and owning your own business and there's one in the family, I realized that would be a good path." JEFFREY: Lower margins for a commoditized product win business "I don't necessarily need high margins. I need cash. And so, the first thing I did, and I'll be honest with you, I've repeated this 2 or 3 times during my career when things have started to go the wrong way, and that is lower my margin and win business." JEFFREY: Reviving the fledgling business back to profitability "I found out that during the time I was gone, my brother brought in 0 customers. Business went from $6.8 million back to under $2 million. And my dad was losing $10,000 a month. And that's when he called me. Gee, you could have called me a little sooner, dad. So I came back and eventually, he would tell me couldn't afford me and this and that... and I said, well then, just let me buy the company." Connect with Jeffrey in the following link: About Jeffrey If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe, review and share with a friend who would benefit from the message. If you’re interested in picking up a copy of Jonathan Goldhill’s book, Disruptive Successor, go to the website at www.DisruptiveSuccessor.com
In this episode of The Disruptive Successor Show, Jonathan speaks with Jeffrey Jappa, the CEO and President of JMC Wood Manufacturing (formerly Jappa Construction Company). Jeffrey's father started Jappa Construction in 1972. His father, being a handyman by trade, decided to enter industrial manufacturing.
At the time his father started the business, Jeffrey was only twelve years old. His father shared the factory space with another factory which became his sole customer. He would run the business at night, after the client company's regular business hours.
Jeffrey describes how his father ran the factory and sometimes he and his buddies would help out. One of his fond memories as a teenager is taking out his father's houseboat at Alton Lake. This experience is similar to what many of Jonathan's clients go through as they take over family businesses and work to improve them.
Jeffrey would eventually fall in love and start his own family and he decided to go out and try his own path first. However, by the age of 31, he decided to go back home and raise his family in the midwest. He entered the business at a time when his father wanted to quit it already, but this was just the beginning of his problems.
Working for his father was a nightmare. He was erratic and would blame Jeffrey for problems that he did not cause, even citing instances like getting a pay cut when there was no real justification for it.
However, seeing that their company was getting lots of inquiries but no business, he decided to lower their prices to capture more business. From there, he would add value through additional services. This business strategy was helpful during critical times in Jeffrey's career.
Eventually, his gambler of a brother was brought into the family business at Jeffrey's father's insistence and against Jeffrey's wishes. In a few years, Jeffrey asked for stock options knowing that the company would eventually become his. The catch was that his brother would get stocks too.
Jason would wear Jeffrey down and Jeffrey would eventually give his father an ultimatum: choose one to run the business. Against all his expectations, Jeffrey's father fired him. A few cold years pass of no communication, then his father reconnected in 2003 and informed him that Jason, unsurprisingly, was found to be stealing from the company.
Jeffrey came back and found out that from making 6 million a year, they went back to sub 2 million and his father was losing $10,000 a month to Jason. Jeffrey bought the company at this point. In 4 years, he was able to bring the company back to the $6 million mark.
He shares how he invented a subway-looking tile that wasn’t a subway tile and how this project, which was expensive, attracted the attention of buyers and became a commercial success. Last year alone, Jeffrey made $23 million.
HIGHLIGHT QUOTES
JEFFREY: Entering a family business is a practical way for entrepreneurship
"The easiest path to getting to what my goals were over time I learned was really through my dad's business. It's really tough to start stuff on your own and finding ideas and money and capital. And so, when you got a goal of running and owning your own business and there's one in the family, I realized that would be a good path."
JEFFREY: Lower margins for a commoditized product win business
"I don't necessarily need high margins. I need cash. And so, the first thing I did, and I'll be honest with you, I've repeated this 2 or 3 times during my career when things have started to go the wrong way, and that is lower my margin and win business."
JEFFREY: Reviving the fledgling business back to profitability
"I found out that during the time I was gone, my brother brought in 0 customers. Business went from $6.8 million back to under $2 million. And my dad was losing $10,000 a month. And that's when he called me. Gee, you could have called me a little sooner, dad. So I came back and eventually, he would tell me couldn't afford me and this and that... and I said, well then, just let me buy the company."
Connect with Jeffrey in the following link:
If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe, review and share with a friend who would benefit from the message. If you’re interested in picking up a copy of Jonathan Goldhill’s book, Disruptive Successor, go to the website at www.DisruptiveSuccessor.com