The Art of Shaping New Opportunities with Skip Thaler, Part II

Episode 254: The Art of Shaping New Opportunities with Skip Thaler, Part II

We have had plenty of terrifying moments this year. Multi-venture entrepreneur Skip Thaler talks about his terrifying moment after merging his Fleetwood Franchise with Tires Plus and how he influenced a workable partnership with Tom Gegax and Don Gullett to expand Tires Plus from 11 retail stores to 40 or from $25M to a $50M business.

I marvel at Skip’s impeccable timing in the launch of a new venture, growing and shaping it, and am inspired by his ability to let go and the knowingness it takes to move on. Even his hobbies of growing 1,000 orchids and sailing worldwide have a depth of time mastery in their life cycle.

When the idea starts taking shape and curiosity grows, does Skip’s passion emerge, engaging his focus, skillsets, and energy? You decide.

We discuss the timing within the windows of opportunity where critical decisions are made that create wealth. Skip has mastered the transitional leaps and lands firmly on his feet with boundaries that support healthy relationships.

Here are some of those pivotal moments we discuss.

The business model of the wholesale and retail side of the tire business begin competing with each other. Now what?
Turning over inventory. How about someone else worry about turning the inventory? Skip has another idea that works better for him and his temperament.
Who of the four partners has the most significant financial exposure? How long can one sustain financial exposure? Maybe the better question is, how many nights can you go without sleep before changing your financial model?
A hiring technique that works for each new hire.
Regaining self-productivity by founding Intercontinental Marketing Corporation.
Learning the international marketplace with a $5,000 investment: bank site drafts and third-party freight forwarders lowers financial risk and is efficient.
Tires have cosmetic issues too. How Skip capitalized on blemishes. Building a family-owned business.
Passing the baton from one generation to the next.

A meaningful conversation you don’t want to miss! DOWNLOAD

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Episode Resources

Tires Plus Brief History

Tires Plus Brief History

Conscious Attentive Leadership Mentoring

After listening, do the following three WeMentor C.A.L.M. Exercises:

Take this risk: create a list of this year’s terrifying moments in your life and business and the opportunities within those moments. You heard Skip’s terrifying moment that led him to get out of his Tires Plus partnership and launch his next venture, International Marketing Corporation. I started a monthly list for this year because so much happened each month.
Apply Self-Compassion: As you complete your list, make sure you name your feelings tied to the terrifying moment. I felt frozen and a rude awakening like I am coming out of a trance or horror movie when a second wave of the coronavirus took hold in September/October. Our spirits are awakened. We are alive. Acknowledge the courage it has taken you to name your feelings and sort out the opportunities within each tragedy and heartbreak, and then make tough decisions. Experience the sheer fragileness of your existence. This is what humanity feels like and what it means to be in the present moment.
Welcome Appreciation: I appreciate the effort you are taking to complete today’s risk. Say this to yourself: “I am grateful for being able to release the emotions in my heart and in my being. I appreciate having the ability to give my feelings a name. I appreciate the time I am taking to acknowledge the difficulties in living through this year and being circled by so much loss, tragedies, and sheer chaos. I have felt out of control and uncertain. When I acknowledge my feelings, courage surfaces, and I can see opportunities to grow from learned lessons. I can decide what to do with what I am feeling. My feelings are giving me good information that I can use and then let go of. I appreciate myself and those around me. I am right where I need to be. Present and aware, ready to make tough decisions.”

“I believe finally, that education must be conceived as a continuing reconstruction of experience; that the process and the goal of education are one and the same thing.” – John Dewey

Mine your experiences with new learnings so you can reinvent (or evolve) yourself as you redesign your business. When WeMentor… your life gets better!!! Mentoring WORKS.

Podcast Guest Mentor

Skip Thaler. Multi-venture entrepreneur, Skip Thaler, loves the challenge of starting and growing successful new businesses. He is hard-working, generous, and competitive. Prospecting and capitalizing on opportunities in the marketplace to create new businesses has been the lifeblood of his success.

Skip was raised in Chippewa Falls, WI, as the eldest of 4 children. His father was influential in his successful entrepreneurial journey that began in the 1960s. He married his childhood sweetheart Jill Kroll and was blessed to have raised three adult children: George, Sara, and Tim. They now have seven grandchildren.

Skip’s undergraduate degree was earned from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN in Business and Economics. His master’s degree is in International Business from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

His first job out of school was in sales with IBM. He left there to start a manufacturer rep. A business selling Fleetwood tires. And that led to the most successful Fleetwood Franchise in the United States. He created a brokerage tire business to sell discontinued and blemished tires that grew into $13M in sales per year. This financial success positioned him to merge his company with Tires Plus, combining the sales volume to $25M.

At Tires Plus, Skip worked to help grow the business to $50M, selling his ownership in 1991 to his two business partners. Semi-retirement allowed Skip to pursue his love of sailing and found an international tire wholesale business, Intercontinental Marketing Corporation (IMC), while upholding his 5-year United States non-compete agreement. IMC is the birthplace of three pledges Skip made to himself. No more hiring of W-2 employees. IMC will not carry accounts receivable. He will not own inventory.

Keeping faithful to his three promises, Skip prepared his company for George, his son, to join him in 1998 to learn the tire trading business. Skip and Jill are in the background. Sara has her arm around George in the picture with Tim below them. They diversified into motorcycle tires and used truck tires (casings) for retreaders. That business generated more than $10M in sales. Uniquely positioned in the marketplace, they kept their expenses under 8% of their gross profit, so 92 cents out of every dollar went to the bottom line.

In 2012, his other son, Tim, joined the business as Skip transitioned into a new business. The business of acquiring brownstone apartment buildings in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Skip acquired 25 buildings with more than 400 apartment units. The picture below is of Skip and his buddies at a Gopher Football game before the coronavirus pandemic settled into our lives.