Delivering High ROI Solutions - Consortium of Problem Solvers

Team Subkit -

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Len Bertain, Co-Founder of Consortium of Problem Solvers, located in Alameda, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

My business solves business problems with at least a 50 to 1 ROI using teams of client employees. We teach them a 6 step process that mimics the scientific paradigm using the Toyota Production approach to business improvement. The client employees go through our program either in a classroom environment or online using a facilitator. The 6 steps are:

  1. Identify the problem
  2. Find its root cause
  3. Size the problem in terms of how much lost production (in a year) is attributed to the problem (small company problems need to find at least $100,000, and Fortune 500 companies need to find at least $10 MM)
  4. Propose a solution with at least 50 to 1 ROI
  5. Present the idea to the company champion of your project (may include other executives) to include a project implementation plan
  6. Track the results over a year and report monthly

Believe it or not, it has worked with over 100,000 client employees and over 20,000 projects. In a nutshell, my clients are company CEOs or company champion that wants to support a team and their idea.

Tell us about yourself

I started working in this area when I learned about the Toyota Production System. It had all the logical components that I needed to make my idea for productivity improvement work. But I had no magic formula. It just evolved, literally, about 15 minutes into the first class that I was teaching to a company of 200 people at 6:30 in the morning. I was going to cover the details of the Toyota Production System over 10 weeks, 3 days a week, in 1-hour sessions. It was going to be a lecture over that time with overhead projector slides. (Sounds boring, huh?}. Well, about 15 minutes into the class, a lady raised her hand and asked how long this class was going to be, and I answered 10 weeks. She moaned and said, "Boy is this going to be boring?" No, in my mind, I asked myself, "How could this great stuff be boring?" She quickly clarified her point when I asked her why she felt that way. She responded, "I can't read." Wow! So she wouldn't be able to read any of my slides. So, of course, it was going to be boring. So immediately, I change the course to a discussion of problems and solutions in the company. And from that first class, I developed the program that I have improved over the 35 years that I have been delivering it.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Teaching client employees to solve problems and delivering the resultant profits to their respective companies. And from that taught CEOs how to deal with both employees and improved profit as a result of my involvement. That has been a wonderful experience. And I have written about it in 5 books.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Trying to figure a way to pay facilitators when sources of funding for small businesses (80%) came from State funding. I finally came up with an approach that solved the problem to everyone's satisfaction.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Find a mentor - someone you can talk to who helps you without beating around the bush and tell you when you are doing stupid things. I never wanted a business coach, just a mentor.
  2. Get paid - don't do work for free. If what you have to say has value, figure out a way to monetize the advice. Clients without any skin in the game waste your time.
  3. Listen to others - and filter any advice. I have a PhD in Physics, and it really didn't help my business advice. I developed that over time. But one of my oldest business friends saw things in my program that I never could. He would tell me things that I was doing that I didn't understand for 20 years. But eventually, I got it. Over my 35 years in business as a consultant, he has been a good friend, and we have done some business together.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://copsolvers.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leonard.bertain.3
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lenbertain/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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