One change in ownership is usually more than a company can take, but Helen Shickel, president of Shickel Corporation, a custom metal fabricating and repair shop in Bridgewater, Va., says her company has been through three ownership changes since the business began in 1938. And now the next generation is beginning to work there, too, doing odd jobs and lawn maintenance or working in the office.
When John Shickel bought the business from his partner in 1938, he renamed it Shickel Machine Shop and continued offering the same metal repair and welding services as they had previously provided. By the time his son, Carlton, joined him 10 years later, John's health was deteriorating and he soon came to rely heavily on his son to run the business.
No Loan Was Needed To Purchase The Business
In 1956, Carlton and Helen Shickel bought it from John, paying monthly installments without having to secure a loan. There was no appraisal, no negotiating. "We pretty much added up what we thought the equipment and building were worth— and I guess we had tax evaluations of what that piece of property was worth. And his dad was satisfied with that, but it wasn't very much—just $15,000," says Helen.
Since then, the company has expanded six times, including erecting a brand new building once and buying two surrounding properties. Each time they waited until they couldn't wait any longer to build. In fact, she says, "We rented some office trailers because we didn't have enough office space. We were getting into fabricating big items, so we were beginning to hire more project engineers and we didn't have any places for them to work. For many years we had office trailers sitting outside the shop, and we rented the house next to us, turning it into offices. Meanwhile, we were waiting until we had enough money because we just didn't borrow money."
Yes, you read that right. The company has never borrowed any money in the almost 50 years since Helen and Carlton Shickel purchased it. No short-term or long-term debt. They simply save what they need from profits until they have enough to do what they need to do—even for expensive capital investments like buildings and equipment. So they never have interest expense to eat into their profits. Helen uses her bachelor's of science degree in business education wisely!
Good Timing
Helen and Carlton knew that building or expanding the business before it was absolutely necessary could be detrimental to their business. They didn't want their customers to think, "They just built this big, fabulous, new building and now I'm going to have to pay more for my services." But they didn't have to worry because by the time they expanded, everyone was saying, "Well, you certainly needed it!" Helen says, "It was obvious, and they could see that."
[When we bought the business,] "it was such a small business—just three people and a shop that was about 900 square feet," says Helen. And because of this, she continued to work full time as an assistant to the Dean and Registrar at Bridgewater College, while doing the shop's bookkeeping and payroll evenings and weekends for many years. "I would come home on Friday evening and ask the guys what time they were going to get off work, and do the payroll right on the spot—pay them for whatever time until they were going to quit," she says. "So that was kind of unusual."
With about 80 employees currently, that's not the way Shickel Corporation does it today. Now there's a chief financial officer, human resources director, and more complicated systems.
Joining the Company Full Time
She took a break from both jobs from 1960 to 1975 while she raised her children. Then, in 1975 she joined her husband at Shickel full time as the office manager.
The company now provides a whole host of benefits for their employees, which is one of the reasons people seldom leave the company. Another is the family atmosphere and the feeling of being treated kindly and fairly. There have been as many as 100 employees, Helen says, but "that was right before 9/11. Then with the economy, and all the effects of that, we dropped off." In the recent months, the number of employees has again begun to rise as the economy recovers.
Leadership Roles Split
According to Helen, her husband was a very strong leader for the company, but they always made business and personal decisions together. "We always had the philosophy that if we couldn't agree, we wouldn't make any changes until we could compromise or agree." She says she considers herself the "backbone" of the company because she oversees all of the financial operations and stays in the background helping to run the business instead of presiding over meetings.
When Carlton died in 1994, Helen became president. Soon afterward, the company incorporated and again changed its name—to Shickel Corporation. Her two sons, Gary and Mark, had already been working for the company for many years and Carlton had been actively training them for leadership roles about four years before his death.
"And it was really smart on our part to have done that," she says. "If we hadn't done that, we would probably have had to sell out when he died because no one would have been ready, and I couldn't have run it by myself. For an easy transition, it's so important to start training some other people to be able to take over before it's time to do so."
Transitioning Again
For several years before Carlton's death, Helen and her husband had gifted stock to both sons, and Helen continues to do that now each year as a way to transition the ownership.
The business has changed from one primarily doing repair work to one doing highly engineered, custom fabrication. They have never done any advertising except community support sponsorship and employment ads, until recently when they invested in a highly targeted direct-mail campaign. This effort has helped them expand their reach throughout Eastern U.S. "We know that a satisfied customer is our best advertising, so we do very little of it—mostly just for employees," says Helen.
Today, she and her sons run the company jointly, dividing the responsibilities. "One of the things that I believe made us successful was a definite division of responsibilities," says Helen. She and her husband worked together, but they were in charge of different things. She handled finances and he took care of operations and sales.
She still oversees finances, but now Mark, 42, is in charge of engineering, quoting, and sales and Gary, 44, is manager of operations. Today, Helen sees Gary as the company leader, but Shickel employees know that she is a strong force in the management of the company even though she now only works part-time. She continues to hold a firm hand on the financial reins, but decisions are made jointly between the owners, just as they were made when Carlton was alive.
Kudos
In 2004, in an unusual decision (since it's usually given to only one person), the Harrisonburg-Rockingham County Chamber of Commerce presented their coveted "Businessperson of the Year" award to Helen, Gary and Mark Shickel jointly. Helen is looking forward to 2006 when the company will mark it's 50th anniversary since the Shickel family bought the business.
|
