The Tribune

By D’Arcy Rahming

I remember one of my mentors telling me about this guy he met at a business seminar. This guy seemed convinced he had produced a way of making hamburgers that tasted better than those currently available at most fast food franchises. My mentor said this guy carried on like a crazy man about how to make the perfect hamburger. Years later he saw an interview on television with this very same guy: It was Dave from Wendys.

Every business has a story to tell. Usually the story itself is unfolding as the business goes through its many challenges. This is particularly true of small family businesses. Often you will have a very dedicated entrepreneur who risks quite a bit to get everything going. Sometimes he passes this love down to the next generation, who take the business to a higher level but, more often than not, the business does not survive more than the second generation.

One of the reasons for this is that the story of the business is not written down. Oh yes, the secret recipes are passed on. Maybe even the processes that made the business successful at the time are passed on. Even the customer list can be passed on. But what is not passed on is the passion. And the reason for that is no one really writes it down.

Let us say your business is really, really boring. When you look, any business can be quite boring. It is the struggle and the passion of building it, maintaining it and growing it until you create something so valuable that people are willing to pay you over and over for it, that makes a good story. In fact, even though a book about your business may not be an international best seller, it will be important for your key stakeholders. These are your employees, customers, vendors and even generations to come.

This book should be in waiting rooms, distributed to your larger customers, used as a calling card for future clients that you are wooing, and read by any employee that wants to be a part of your company.

The problem is that most people cannot write a book. So you find someone who can write it for you. The first book of this kind that I did was for a self-defense teacher. He died in 1999, yet his legacy lives on today where thousands of people practice his art, all because he had the foresight to produce a book, Secrets of Combat Jujutsu, that records his history, techniques and passion of his business.

• NB: D’Arcy Rahming holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. A lecturer at the College of the Bahamas, Mr Rahming has clients in general insurance, the retail, health and medical fields, sports federations and financial services. He is also treasurer of the Bahamas Olympic Committee. To contact him he can be reached at DArcyRahmingsr@gmail.com.