I have been posting this week about creating and sustaining a bootstrap culture. In my previous posts I wrote about the importance of using recruiting and rewards to build a bootstrap culture. My final post on this to stress the importance of both talking the talk and walking the walk.
Entrepreneurs should communicate a consistent message about bootstrapping. Highlight the importance of bootstrapping, in every form of communication ranging from informal conversations with employees to formal communications such as newsletters, annual reports and policy manuals. A consistent message reinforces the importance of bootstrapping behaviors. For example, include a feature in every company newsletter about an employee who was the “bootstrapper of the month,” offering a story of how they accomplished a task with minimal resources. Story telling is a fundamental part of building a culture in a business.
But also remember that your actions speak loudly. The actions taken by leaders speak more loudly than what they say. The company Fastenal has become legendary for its bootstrapping culture. Fastenal sells industrial and construction supplies wholesale and retail from its 2,160 store locations located in 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Singapore, China and the Netherlands. Even with over $2 billion in revenues, the company’s leadership takes bootstrapping actions that reinforce their culture.
This story comes from a 1997 feature about Fastenal in Inc magazine:
[Robert] Kierlin [now Chairman of the Board] and chief financial officer Dan Florness could easily have taken a flight to a conference in Chicago, a little more than an hour away by plane. Instead, they drove five and a half hours in a van, saving Fastenal hundreds of dollars. They lunched at A&W, feasting on burgers and root beers. (Cost: $5 a person.) They spent the night at a motel in Rockford, a Chicago suburb, to avoid the high city prices. The pair even shared a room. “This sends a message that cost control is important to everybody in the organization,” Kierlin says. “By being attentive to all expenditures, you can really set the example at the top.”
Talking the talk, walking the walk, using rewards to reinforce bootstrapping, and recruiting those who fit in the culture will all help create an enduring bootstrap culture in an entrepreneurial venture.