What do you do when you’ve achieved your vision and then find out it’s not what you actually wanted?
Gary Wood began his journey in construction in 1995, when the Wood family started a small, residential renovation business specializing in single family homes. Sixteen years later – fueled with a passion to grow and armed with the life lessons that entrepreneurship brings – Gary launched Stryker Construction and tackled the demanding world of commercial construction.
“We wanted to grow. We wanted to avoid referring existing customers to other builders when projects outside of our specialty areas arose. So as clients’ needs increased, we expanded. We got bigger. Clients got bigger. Projects got bigger.”
But seven years later, despite this success, something didn’t feel quite right.
Then in late 2017, Gary had the opportunity to hear Ari Weinzweig speak at an Entrepreneur’s Organization event. Ari’s message centered on using visioning in your business. Gary took to heart what Ari had to share, and immediately embarked on a bit of personal discovery.
“I always thought I wanted to run this huge company one day, but when I would sit and really think about it, I just didn’t like how reality had failed to align with who I am as a person. I realized that big companies tend to get so big that they start to lose the personal touch and laser-focused action that can be necessary in the construction world. A big company may not even know the customers’ names.
Changing something may take weeks. They just can’t deliver like a smaller, more focused enterprise. And while that may be wonderful for some people, it just wasn’t right for me. When I really thought about it, I realized that by applying a single set of values and creating several smaller companies, each with a more narrow focus, I could achieve the growth I wanted while maintaining the culture I needed.
Early the next year, Gary acted on his new vision of growing horizontally instead of vertically when he launched Total Warehouse Solutions – a niche material handling business that serves the warehousing space. Customers who store and move products rely on us for providing, installing, servicing and maintaining docks, doors, material handling equipment, safety products and storage racking solutions. “By being a one-stop shop for customers in the warehousing space we can provide a high level of service and personal touch that will be paramount in establishing our company as an industry leader.
Next was the launch of FastTrac Rentals – providing rental equipment to the construction, industrial and real estate markets. “In this instance our focus is renting small- to mid-sized equipment such as scissor lifts, boom lifts, forklifts, telehandlers, skid steers, mini-excavators, and more”.
“All of Stryker’s companies amassed together will one day form one large and vibrant organization. Instead of becoming a large company that has lost its way, we’ll be a family of smaller companies with shared values, all striving for greatness.”
