Business Law Firm Help Watch Company Grow
When Rick Bell and Mark Stegman started Build Your Own Watch in 2016 we knew we wanted to hire a local watchmaker. We transitioned Build Your Own Watch to Cincinnati Watch Company in 2018 while actively interviewing local watchmakers. We knew Jordan Ficklin as he was the President of the AWCI, American Watch and Clock Institute here in Cincinnati, Ohio. If you want to learn how to become a watchmaker, Jordan Ficklin at the AWCI is the certified watchmaker you would learn from.
BHMK Law Enabled Us To Bring On Our In-house Watchmaker
While we were Build Your Own Watch, Jordan was traveling the country presenting a Build Your Own Watch class where he guided students through the entire process of building a watch. Of course, we knew Jordan, and we attempted to find ways to work together that never panned out.
When Jordan Ficklin gave us the slightest opening that he was open to new opportunities Rick and Mark jumped at the chance to have Jordan Ficklin become the head watchmaker at Cincinnati Watch Company. But we faced immediate challenges.
The biggest issue is cash on hand; how does a small company attain the talent necessary to grow on a shoestring budget? We had to make our offer one that stood the test of time, that is, we could not risk advertising that we are assembling our watches in house only to have Jordan leave for a better opportunity in 6 months. This meant that even if we came up with a budget to pay the watchmaker well, it was likely that a better offer from companies like Seiko could hire Jordan away with ease. This would leave us interviewing watchmakers again. I can not express how far advanced Jordan Ficklin is over the watchmakers we interviewed. Simply put, there is not a better watchmaker in Ohio than Jordan Ficklin.
From a small business perspective, we wanted to grow, but we did not have a plan to get there. We met with a business attorney from BHMK
Within minutes, the attorney from BHMK caught up with the scenario Rick and I had been discussing for weeks. The attorney understood the growing pain points we were experiencing because they have seen these issues thousands of times, and have crafted solutions that work for businesses for them to grow and expand when necessary. We were in a bind; in order to land the talent we needed to grow and have the talent stay on board we needed to offer them a lot. We did not have a lot of money to offer the talent. To get there, we needed the talent, a catch-22 type scenario many business owners find themselves in.
BHMK law in Cincinnati took in the details and crafted a plan that was suitable for everyone and allowed for all parties to be bought in for the long term. That allowed for all parties to have control over their future and goals—that motivated all parties to work toward a shared growth vision.
Since we worked with BHMK Law to form our partnership, we have a clear understanding of the business expectations and roles. This clarity allows us to focus on growth by eliminating time spent in a grey area, or time spent dealing with fallout from not having a plan, and losing our talent.
It has been almost 5 years since BHMK Law established our current business formation and model; we have seen nothing but growth. Our business structure created by BHMK Law has been a sound foundation that all parties trust, are happy with, and have been able to grow on over the last 5 years.
BHMK Law created a solution for us that worked for all parties involved. Their solution has led to business growth and profitability, buy-in, and internal confidence growing on a solid foundation.
These words may seem like just cliche promotional language, but I assure you that we are only here because we avoided failure in the first place, we established a solid foundation that everyone liked; we were all able to focus on the goal of designing and assembling beautiful watches here in Cincinnati, Ohio.
