Just down to earth

There are some days when you meet someone that restores your faith in mankind.  Yesterday I met with Jim Keeton of Keeton Enterprises just north of Fort Collins.

Jim is one of those guys who has been trying to retire for a couple of years now, but when you talk to him you know he'll never retire for the simple fact that he just loves what he does.  Oh, what does he do?  He is one of those guys that is into aquatics.  It might be as simple as helping that beautiful pond in your yard stay healthy, to keeping a lake healthy or as in my case helping me get off the ground with the shrimp/prawn business.  He's been all over the world helping shrimp farmers keep their farms afloat, and has saved many of them when others went away for one reason or another.

But he didn't sit there and brag about his resume'.  What he did do was sit and listen to what I needed, talked to me about some options, and we talked some more.  In the long run he talked about how I can do what I am trying to accomplish and still save money.  In addition he also talked about the possibility of investors once we got up and going.  He felt that I had what it takes to do this.  He made me feel like I belonged.  It was more than just stroking my ego.  The reason I say that is because although it is my name on the business, it could ultimately be his name behind that.  If he was out to make money he would be trying to sell me the latest and greatest of everything.  But instead of  telling me that I needed a top of the line $2000.00 water test meter, he told me how I could do the same thing with about $700.00 of equipment.  He also gave me ideas on how I could do several other things without sacrificing quality but still saving money, and I would be able to grow into the system.  There was never any talk of trying to go bigger than I needed at this point.  He knew my plan for growth in the future, so we talked about how this current system would fit into that.

But the bottom line was he was just a man who has been doing business long enough that he knows he doesn't have to throw a lot of fluff and B.S. your way just to get your business.  If he wasn't sure of something he was genuine enough to say let me check on that.

Do you think I'll continue doing business out there?  Ya, I think so too.  A Colorado company that is located 30 minutes away, they stand behind what they do, and they want to see this succeed as well. But mostly because there is an owner of a business that I could just sit down and talk to like I had known him all of my life.  After an hour there is a trust factor there I haven't been able to match.

Thanks Jim.

Scott