Garage door industry magazine for garage door dealers, garage door manufacturers, garage door distributors, garage door installers, loading docks, garage door operators and openers, gates, and tools for the door industry.
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30 International Door & Operator Industry™ Las Vegas, April 23-26, 2014 by Todd Thomas Looking to Key Employees – Redux FORT MYERS, FL – George Ebel has been through this once before, successfully. As a college student in Northern Ohio, Ebel wagered $100 in 1974 with a small newspaper ad offering to sell and install automatic garage door openers. He had 13 of them for sale, and he sold and installed each of them. The return on that $100 investment was all the motivation the young entrepreneur would need to launch Toledo Door and Window. Ebel had learned that if you take care of your customers, do what you tell them you will do, and make your products and services known to the community, you can succeed. Within seven years, Ebel had succeeded to the point that he was ready for a second location. He had his sights set on Southwest Florida, where the sun not only shined all year, but where the business climate was heating up as well. The Southwest region was at the time one of the fastest grow- ing residential markets in the nation, as more and more Florida transplants learned there was another coast in The Sunshine State. In 1981, Ebel launched Action Automatic Door & Gate in Naples, Florida, as a division of Toledo Automatic Door Company. In 1984, he would add a second Florida location, in nearby Fort Myers. In order to devote the time necessary to gain a foothold in a new market, Ebel left his Toledo store in the hands of two trusted managers. After a few years establishing his business operations in Florida, Ebel looked back to the north, about 1,200 miles, and decided it was time to sell his Toledo location. One of the two employees he left in charge of the Ohio store, Robert Bollin, accepted the opportunity, and an arrangement was put in place by which Bollin would acquire stock, over time, and eventually take formal ownership of the Toledo business in 2006. Although George Ebel neither looks nor acts 60, when he hit that age, he Continued on page 32 But, there isn't a simple approach to it that would work for just anyone! Business Succession... It's Important to Every Business Owner George Ebel MANAGEMENT EDITOR'S NOTE: The 2014 IDAExpo™ will feature Business Succession Planning and Family Business expert Wayne Rivers, who will present two in-depth seminars on the best procedures for preparing a business for the sale, or passing down to the next generation. His presentations will take place on Thursday, April 24, at the Las Vegas Convention Center. In planning for this important educational opportunity, International Door & Operator Industry visited with four longstanding IDA members who have either been through the succession process or are in the process of doing so. 1/24/14 10:51 AM