Week 1 at Sunright — My first week working at a 19 yr-old family business
This week was my first week working full-time at Sunright, the 9-person motorsports vehicle and safety product distributor that my dad started 19 years ago.
After 10 years working in various roles in New York City and with my parents getting older, it felt like the right time to join the business and see what I can do to help.
This is both a personally and professionally meaningful endeavor for me, so I want to record some of the activities and thoughts going through my mind.
Monday: 1:1 with Dad, got context for the business and tried to get a sense of priorities. Reviewed graphic concepts with Dad for Project M, a prospective deal to sell our scooters and golf carts to a major lifestyle brand. After getting a sense that there were 4–5 people involved but no one leading, I asked to be the lead for getting graphic designs across the line. Decided we should design multiple concepts so we can hedge M’s response and learn their preferences faster.
Made a note to myself to just ask questions, listen, and be sensitive to possibilities. Don’t make assumptions and form opinions too early.
Tuesday: Talked to Greg our sales rep to get more context on Project M from his perspective. Confirmed multiple concepts is a good way to go. Did some research on the lifestyle brand.
Right before leaving the office, Dad asked me to look into a letter from our insurance company that says our workers comp insurance is going way up. Sorted out the issue with my Mom, and we came up with a plan for sending in a response that’d lower our rates back down.
Not sure how the initial notifications got lost, but want to make sure it’s not the sort of thing that happens all the time.
Wednesday: Got training for Zoho CRM and RingCentral. Had a follow up 1:1 with Greg to talk about some personal matters for him and collect his opinions on Sunright. Went on Craigslist and sourced a designer for Project M. Went over specifications, timeline, and negotiated payment with the designer.
Learned that there is an entire industry for designing vehicle wraps. Feels like there can be 100 things I could be doing, but I want to find the areas with highest ROI and focus on them right away. Realized that this expectation is not realistic. Have to juggle many plates in order to get as much context as possible. No one can tell me where the best area to focus is, I’ll have to figure it out through conversations and my own judgment.
Thursday: Took better photos of our golf cart for the designer. Received the first draft of designs and was happy with results. Spent 90 minutes talking with Jim, our VP for Customer Support and Tech Support. Got more context on the business and our operational needs for supporting our dealers and consumers.
Dealer retention has come up a few times in conversations. A possible area to focus everyone’s attention on. First, need to do more diligence and see if that’s a real problem.
Glad we got the Project M design early!
Friday: Woke up at 5:15AM to travel to Redmond, Oregon (population 29,322) to visit our largest helmets buyer. Got a tour of facilities (it was impressive!) from the owner Steve. We then discussed market trends, product development needs, reviewed finances and receivables, and had dinner around 8:00 pm.
Learned a lot about how to make fuel cells, and a little about helmets too. Didn’t realize that almost 2/3 of racing in the US is done off-road. This affects helmet design quite a bit. For example, with dirt every where, adding vents right in front of the mouth guard is a horrible idea, since it’d go straight into the driver’s mouth.
Saturday: Collect helmet manufacturing suggestions from Steve’s Dad Bill and Steve’s Son Tanner. The suggestions are designed to improve standardization and precision, so that the helmets coming from factory in China doesn’t require as much adjustments when they get to Oregon. Reviewed purchase orders, and small billing mistakes with Steve. On the plane ride back, reviewed notes for the trip and also reviewed Project M material.
Learned that making good, quality helmets is more complicated than I thought. Also got some great stories from Steve and memorable advice from Bill who is a serial entrepreneur himself.
Sunday: Review the week (by writing this blog entry and organizing ideas), and prepare for next week.
My favorite part of the week was going to visit our helmet customer in Oregon. Being in the warehouse, smelling the chemicals in the air, and seeing blue-collared workers making products by hand was invigorating. Listening to Steve and Bill share the stories of how they built their businesses from product to process to people was inspiring.
My first week working at Sunright has been eye-opening and fun. There’s so much to learn, process, and do.
It’s hard to shut off my brain’s pattern-matching machine and try to identify problems and prescribe solutions from my past jobs right away, but I have to keep reminding myself to be patient and make sure I have all the context. I’m operating in a completely different environment now and what first appears to be the same might not have the same root causes.
In medicine, medical errors is the no 3. cause of death. In business, especially a family one, the costs can be pretty bad too.
Most importantly, I’m grateful to have the opportunity to work with my mom and dad.
