Shorty’s Caboy Hattery

She wasn’t sure what to expect from meeting with Center Director Susan Urbach. What she wanted was money. What she has received over a period of time from the SBDC has been invaluable. And that loan? She never did get it. The company didn’t need it!

Koger and Urbach laugh about the first meeting at the SBDC office. After a visit to the business and talking about the business, Urbach drew a tangled mess of lines on the white board to illustrate the company condition. That illustration became the guiding focus, that you can’t do everything all at once, but you begin to start unraveling, and eventually, there will be order.

Shorty’s hats have always been of top quality. They are worn by those well known in the western world; winners of horse shows, rodeos and even country music stars. But a visit to the company itself didn’t reflect the product. The shop itself at that time looked like chaos. In addition to the manufacturing of high-end custom cowboy hats, the company had a retail end, and a renovation end, where a cowboy hat is completely refurbished for the owner. There were dirty, beat up hats stacked everywhere, with no knowledge of when they might be done and back to their owners. There were orders for custom hats, and like with the renovated hats, they were great quality, but you never knew when it would be completed. The retail portion wasn’t bringing in the sales it should.

Work began on the tangled threads, and began with personnel issues and work flow. We walked her through letting go and hiring new people. In a company that depends upon craftsmanship, that seemed to be the first thing to be addressed. We spent a great deal of time talking about financial information and how to use it to help make management decisions. This meant getting set up on Quickbooks, and beginning to understand how it can help you. We used information to look at cost of goods, pricing, salaries, and how she could get the most benefit out of income and maximizing every dollar. We have worked on numerous technology items, small computer questions, use of databases to keep track of customers and orders. She also is integrating the Point of Sale program with her Quickbooks. We have advised on marketing issues, looking at where she is spending her advertising dollar. In fact, recent advice has included redoing the building awning and thinking of it as a billboard, which has been helpful in increasing visibility for her retail business. And we have been working with her on redoing the layout of the retail end to maximize the sales from the space.

Shorty’s is a team client for the office. She has worked with each staff member at some point of time. The result of the consulting? When you walk into the business, instead of chaos, it’s a nice looking store and it is obvious there is production going on. When you have ordered a custom hat or sent your hat in for renovation, they can tell you when you are going to have it. It’s not unknown months, but weeks. Sales have increased 400%. Staff has doubled, the company has better salaries, and now offers benefits, making them better jobs. The company is bursting at the seams. There is no more room for additional personnel, manufacturing or retail space, and the SBDC is now helping them assess the next move.