Ad Hoc: The New Ad Rem

Mar 9, 2011 10:01 AM, by Bill Gardner

Bill Gardner, of PDM Consulting, shares his thoughts about driving revenue in business while maintaining and valuing required industry compliance efforts.

You have probably seen the bumper sticker that reads, “A good-day fishing is better than a great-day working.” That may be true and it is probably an oblique indication of how one perceives the value of one’s time. Those of us struggling with making a small business survive, especially those of us in an aviation or airplane related business, have an equally emphatic, but slightly different time perspective than the bumper sticker resonates. Our bumper sticker might read, “A good-day producing revenue is better than a great day certifying compliance.” And that, fellow victims of many times misguided and often overzealous, oversight is just the smaller part of the bigger problem.

We chose to invest in our business so we could lose money. Well, if that was not the intent, the rest of what I am about to say probably is ad rem. If “ad rem” is a foreign language to you, just ask your lawyer. I bet you have one and maybe even a CPA! If you think making money is relevant, and revenue and savings are words common in your lexicon, my point will be understood and perhaps you will, and I hope you do, read on.

In planning your business in a way that will allow you to improve, or maybe just save your assets, you elect to have professionals assist with the topics too intricate, time consuming or distracting to accomplish efficiently when performed solo. Besides, it’s more fun to make money then to account for it! Or, for that matter, then to argue justification to keep it! So what happened? You may wonder how did we got to the place where we spend more time, in our business activities, doing things that cost us resources than we do producing revenue. I will share a story.

There was a man. He was a motorcycle aficionado and spent lots of hours working-on, riding and teaching his two sons about motorcycles. He passed to the sons his love and passion for the sport. The boys were riding motorcycles when most kids their age were dreaming about bicycles. They grew-up on motorcycles. When the older son came of legal age to have a riders permit the father bought him a man-sized street legal bike and promised the younger son that next year when he came of age, he too would get a bike. Just like his brother’s.

Well, boys being boys, and especially brothers being brothers, nature’s law of family firmly grasped the progeny by the gonads. If you don’t understand that reference consult another of your outside professionals, your doctor. As months dragged by the argument could be heard across the fence next to their garage: “Let me ride it.” “No way!” Week after week: “Let me ride it. I can handle it!” “I told you, no! Besides Dad would kill us.” Day after day: “Let me ride it.”“ No!” ”I can handle it. Just around the block.” “No way. Dad would kill us.” Until one day: “Let me ride it. Just around the block. I’ll go really slow. Dad won’t know. I can handle it.” So it came to pass. Dad may not have known, but for a while dad’s was the only motorcycle noise in the neighborhood.

Perhaps he really could handle it, or perhaps it was the love and passion for it that propelled the younger son to become a successful competition rider. His successes gave him the confidence and provided him the resources to launch an affinity business. We do something we love and we find a way to make a living doing it. In our industry this seems especially so. We spend time developing careers doing something we love. If there was doubt that we could handle it there probably would have been no passion to propel us to move forward. So it is. We invest and accumulate resources. We plan. We develop. We manage. Then one day it happens. We realize that more of our time is spent doing fewer things about which we are passionate than there is spent doing the things that must be done. If the passion for what we do has brought us only half our wishes, we may find what was wished for is not what doubles our troubles. Let me explain.

Three significant events happened at Kitty Hawk, N.C., on December 17, 1903. The first occurred when Orville took to the air. Later that night, probably at the local Hooters, (purveyors of wings and aviators’ fuel), when the brothers were instructing the first potential aviatrix, “And there I was 10 feet off the ground …” the rest is history and the second significant event occurred. Fishermen took second place as the worlds’ best liars. The third event of significance began and is to this day remaining a work in progress,the aviation industry.

Sometime after the Wright brothers shook the sand out of their knickers, the cost of aviation progress shifted from the pockets of individuals to corporate coffers. But the effects of individual efforts, long suffering from a lack of knowledge, bereft of information sharing, the absence precedent, and no regulations, began to show up in local news stories. “Fisherman drowns under main street bridge when his boat capsized while avoiding an aero machine!” “The West and Onward Rail Service was disrupted Wednesday morning. A locomotive derailed in the Better Than The Donners’ Luck Tunnel when struck by a flying machine operated by Lt. Downon Hisluck. Those of you expecting overnight delivery might telegraph Fred Smith in a few years.” Ergo, it came to pass; government would regulate and safety would prevail.

As often happens, entrepreneurial endeavors, conceived from passion, birth a business. The collective and typically autonomous passions of those individuals, and the perceived need for a new world order, became the genesis of our industry. A trans-global industry consisting of what is arguably one of the most regulated, capital intensive ventures and eclectic business groups in the world. All have a common impediment to making money, compliance. There is not any credible evidence that indicates compliance is anything other than a cost center and there is no way to eliminate it. The good news is, like risk, compliance can be mitigated. Regulatory compliance is the common denominator in our industry. As such, there is an opportunity to capitalize on expertise offered ad hoc from outside your company. Outsourcing the compliance burden yields more time you or other company personnel can concentrate on what matters most to your business, producing revenue. Regulatory compliance, Safety Compliance and Business Practices Compliance disciplines, despite their homologous nature are usually examined independently. If you want to hit a home run, try to homogenize and promote them.

Compliance should be promoted as a valuable asset within your company and to your clients. I say “within” because no employee wants to be in an unsafe or questionably illegal activity, especially when that activity involves airplanes and pilot or technician certificates. Value to clients should be obvious to you, but if you are not promoting compliance to clients you are missing a key point in your marketing strategy. Investors and vendors alike will appreciate and respond more favorably when Regulatory, Safety and Business Practices Compliance is presented as a valued asset.

A lifelong entrepreneur, Bill Gardner has been a leader in the aviation industry since 1965. In addition to being a licensed airline transport pilot with multiple type ratings, he has founded and managed a number of successful aviation business ventures, including the management of numerous Part 91 and 135 flight operations. He also holds FAA certification as an Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic with Inspection Authority, and is a current CFI, CFII, MEI with Land and Sea Airplane Ratings. Bill is also a U.S. Army veteran and was assigned to serve in the Presidential Honor Guard for presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.

Today, Bill utilizes his expert aviation knowledge and insights to provide comprehensive consulting services related to IS-BAO and regulatory compliance audits, aviation management and litigation testimony. Bill is focused on helping his clients maximize their growth potential and achieve operational excellence.

Contact Information:
Bill Gardner
PDM Consulting
Phone: (772) 221-9031
Email: bill.gardner@pdmconsultinginc.com

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