HATTIE: Fifty years ago, you started out. How long did it take before you were making a living?

BOB: Fortunately, at that time, there was a banker that understood farming and was willing to stick his neck out and make a character loan. You know, that's very rare today. There was this one bank that loaned us money way beyond our net equity. Would you believe that 20 years after that, they appointed me to be a director of that bank?

HATTIE: So from the beginning, you had a banker. BOB: Yes.

HATTIE: So what piece of advice might you give someone starting a business today about money, cash flow, finances?

BOB: First of all, you have to know your business; know your business inside out. I probably had the toughest challenge at that point because there were a lot of intangibles. It could flood, it could rain, and so forth, but I had a five-year cash flow program that I gave to the bank of what we would be doing in five years.

HATTIE: That was based on you were expecting...

BOB: Yes.

HATTIE: You put the numbers on paper.

BOB: Numbers on paper, on the spreadsheet, from January to December, and all the vendors that we would be buying things from. Then on the bottom was income--of what my potential income would be and how it would balance out cash flow-wise.

HATTIE: So you demonstrated to these persons that you thought it through.

BOB: Yes.

HATTIE: When did you get your first huge customer? 50 years ago, Albertsons didn't exist. Safeway didn't exist and they didn't have big grocery chains back then.

BOB: We found out many years ago that this business was becoming so competitive that whatever vendors we were using to help us would be better integrated and do it ourselves. So little by little, why we kept integrating our tool operations to this day. The only thing we don't have is a grocery store.

HATTIE: So you made a decision: This is what we do.

BOB: Yes.

HATTIE: And by having all the pieces, you have more management control and cost control.

BOB: Service. We got quality, continuity of supply and service. You've got to have service. You know what my father told me? My father told me that, `Bob,' he said, `I don't care whether you choose a business as a shoe shiner on the street corner, but,' he said, `I want to tell you this. If you decide to shine shoes on the street corner, just do it better than the other guy on that other corner.' Simple as that.

HATTIE: That's the secret-- be the best?

BOB: Yes, be the best. No matter what you do, be the best. And be creative.

HATTIE: Be willing to change, then, to try new things.

BOB: Yes, right. That's one thing I've been blessed with. Seventy-two years old, and I still think like that young man.

HATTIE: What is it that wakes you up in the morning? Why are you so happy you're doing what you're doing?

BOB: You bring a good point. The first thing I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of the bed and pound my fist and thank God for giving me another day and all the blessings that he's bestowed upon me. And the way you could really believe that truly is to just look out there, look out there and see that beauty. That's where it is.