HATTIE: This is the Renaissance Center in Detroit, and like any tall building, it's bolted to its foundation. You may wonder who makes the bolts?

This is the blacksmith shop of the '90s. Tell me, what do you do here at Quality Bending?

MATTHEW SEELEY (CEO/President): Well, basically, we fabricate custom fasteners to a particular engineered design. Most of the fasteners are non-production parts, and they're used for just maybe one particular unique application. Someone's building a high-rise building, or an overpass or a bridge. A lot of times that design may never be duplicated again, so it's all custom to that particular application.

HATTIE: Now what are these things?

MATT: This is the tooling that we actually machine the steel with.

HATTIE: (Voiceover) Thirty-five years ago, Russ Seely started Quality Bending and Threading, and now he's turning it over to his son, Matt. They have seven employees and will do $2 million in sales this year.

This is the gauge?

MATT: Yeah.

HATTIE: And so if it threads, it works. This can be very dirty work.

When you were a small child, did you see yourself here as president?

MATT: Definitely. Yeah. In fact, I used to tell my mom and dad when I was a little kid that one day I would run Quality Bending and Threading.

HATTIE: Russ, do you really think this guy can run this business?

RUSS SEELY (Quality Bending & Threading, Detroit): I'm convinced he can, now. It still gets down to horseflesh. I hope that I can judge horseflesh, and I think that he has the imagination.

HATTIE: How old were you when you actually made the purchase, did the negotiation?

MATT: I became president of Quality Bending and Threading when I was 26 years old. I'm a very independent person.

RUSS: He's certainly not a lazy kind of a guy.

MATT: You know, I'll put in 100 hours a week plus, if I have to.

HATTIE: So some advice to other sons or daughters who are getting into their parents' businesses. Use some outside help?

MATT: Definitely. Definitely. And I would say really, I think one of the things that my dad and I did right, and we didn't even know we were doing it at the time, is the CPA was a longtime contact--in fact, it's my uncle, it's my dad's brother-in-law--and they were longtime partners in the sense that he has always been the CPA for this business.

HATTIE: So he knew the CPA knew this place inside and out.

MATT: Right. And then I chose somebody that I felt comfortable with, so we both felt like we were being represented, and even though we're father and son, there are some issues that become pretty touchy when you're talking about, you know, someone's life's work and a large amount of money and the transferring of that, and I think it's good for each side to have a little independent counsel where the counselors can talk to each other and represent the, you know, misgivings or any of the fears that that party may have.

HATTIE: Matt, you're telling me he didn't just give you this business? You had to buy it from your dad?

MATT: That's right, yeah.

RUSS: Whether we like it or not, when we're young people, there's a lot to be learned from just plain experience. Most people, when they get out of university or high school or wherever their background may be, will rarely find those tools are the ones that run that identical business, whether it be in manufacturing or the dry cleaners or whatever. They never really learned anything specifically for that particular field. So you really have to depend on the people that have already been in that business, and take--like going to the supermarket. You pick the good advice and you leave the bad advice behind.

MATT: When I first got involved, all's I was interested in is how I would do things. And now, as time has gone by, all I want to know is how he would do it. You want to just--every time you're exposed to that person, you know, you want to learn the philosophy, and I really think that at this point in our relationship, he is a mentor. And learning the philosophy, to me, is more important than how I would do it. I know how I would do it. But you can't argue with 35 years of success.

HATTIE: What kind of advice would you give a young person, any young person, who wants to run a business?

RUSS: I think steadiness, more than anything. If they're making a transition from one regime to another, is to give the customer the idea that there has been no big radical change.

HATTIE: What are the problems? What is it that just makes you want to pull your hair out, or cry, or...

MATT: I'd say in manufacturing, at least in our particular instance, is finding good employees. That, to me, is probably the biggest challenge.

HATTIE: And because you only have seven every single person is so important.

MATT: Right. I've found that money is not the issue, because I've thrown money at the problem, beyond my father's advice, like, where, `You're nuts,' you know. `I've never paid a machinist that type of money.' I actually run an ad, printed in the language of Polish. Isn't that unbelievable? `Must read and speak English,' it says, in Polish, in the ad. And I hire immigrants, and they're hard workers, they have a work ethic. They come to work every day. There isn't a day that I pull up to the gate where they're not there before me. They're ready to work, and I've had this luxury of these employees for about the last year.

No, that's fine.

HATTIE: You know how to do all those things out there?

MATT: Yeah. There isn't a machine I can't break down and set up completely by myself.

HATTIE: Do you think that's important for a business owner?

MATT: Definitely.

RUSS: I like small business, and I kind of get the impression that Matt does, too.

MATT: Owning a business is like nothing else in the world, because it's like a marriage, almost. It's hard to equate that, but it really is. This is a--this place is like an entity of it's own. It's a being. And no matter how much effort you put into it, you could still put more.

RUSS: We're kind of overly aggressive, and we're control people, you know. In some cases, it's a downfall. (Voiceover) But I like the idea that we can formulate an order and do the purchasing and do the manufacturing, the quality control, right down to making out the shipping papers. And we see the job from its onset to the final shipment, and posting the accounts receivable, and that check, we hope, comes in on time.

HATTIE: (Voiceover) What does it take to run a business?

MATT: You know what I think--and my father said this to me, and I really believe it--I think what it takes is just being honest and showing up every day. Very few people tend the store, and that's what my dad always says to me: `Just mind the store.'

HATTIE: OK, Matt, would you come over here? And I know that the two of you also have the same hobby, and that's singing, and maybe you'd sing something for us.

MATT: (Singing) `Let me call you sweetheart, I'm in love with you...' HATTIE: Oh, my God!

HATTIE: Here's what I learned about running a small business from Russ and Matt Seely:
First, show up every day to mind the store.
Second, be honest.
And third, be the type of person who loves the entire process.

• Ron Willingham, Integrity Selling
• Jeff Slutsky, Streetfighter Marketing (not quite over 55 yet!)
• Laura Nash, a look at the heart of integrity (academics are quick studies!)
• John Dolan, A pro-business Lawyer

HATTIE: I've spent the last 15 years teaching leadership, sales and customer service skills. If you have people problems, you're normal. And you will always have people problems. Life is constantly unfolding for everyone, and you will feel the struggle and strain of every life which is attached to your business. However, you can still have fun and be successful with people, even though you will never feel you have a perfect team.

Several weeks ago, I gave you a tip on how to increase the productivity of everyone in your office. I said, `Stop telling, start asking.' Let me give you one more tip today. Tell people you appreciate them. Say `Thank you.' Pat them on the back. Reward them with your approval.

This takes no money, just a piece of yourself. You can raise the energy level in your office simply by noticing when people do something right. I know you're busy, and you think, `I'm paying these people. What else do they want from me?' I'm telling you, they want your approval. Set a goal to give positive feedback to at least one person every day.

"The head of a company has no greater responsibility than identifying a successor who will be equally or more successful in running the operation.
It's job number one of a good leader." -Small Business Success