Photo courtesy of Brad W. Burns
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Expanding a business beyond its original industry presents both remarkable opportunities and complex challenges for entrepreneurs. Through careful planning and keen market awareness, some business leaders have managed to grow their ventures across diverse sectors. Brad Burns stands as an example of this approach, having successfully expanded from construction into signage, concrete, and even seafood distribution without losing operational focus.
Finding opportunities in unexpected places
Brad didn’t set out with a predetermined plan to diversify across industries. “It wasn’t something I necessarily set out to do,” he explains. “You just kind of see opportunities and know there’s a gap in the market, or you see somebody being undervalued and think there’s a way to leverage that situation.” This opportunistic mindset has allowed Brad to build a portfolio of businesses that might seem unrelated at first glance.
His entry into the seafood business particularly highlights this opportunistic approach. “I had zero idea about seafood,” Brad admits. “There was a company that had been around for 40 years with probably 55 to 60% of the market share here in St. Louis for fresh seafood. Their building faced eminent domain, and the owner decided to retire.” Recognizing this market gap, Brad partnered with someone who had worked at the company for 20 years, leveraging established client and vendor relationships.
Maximizing untapped potential
Sometimes expansion comes from recognizing untapped talent. Brad’s signage company emerged when he noticed a partner who wasn’t reaching his potential. “My partner worked for a family print shop since he was a little kid. He knew everything about signage but spent most of his time negotiating quarters and dollars off T-shirts and forms,” Brad shares. “I saw there was something more there. We could re-shift his focus from a small family-owned print shop into something bigger.” The results of this shift proved dramatic. “That company did $8 million this month. The print shop he worked in, their biggest year was like 250-300 thousand. It was a drastic difference in terms of revenue and being an actual business.”
Brad credits much of his cross-industry success to a shared services model. “I have a holdings company. All the employees for all the companies are W2 employees of the holdings company,” he explains. This structure creates significant efficiencies when launching new ventures. “It allows us to mitigate all our overhead, run as lean as possible, and do a proof of concept before adding additional overhead.” This approach delivers substantial cost savings. “If each company had its own bookkeeper, it would probably cost a bookkeeper salary plus benefits, plus matching taxes — probably $100,000 per company,” Brad notes. The shared model also enables hiring higher-quality talent. “We can get a higher quality person because we’re able to pay one person substantially better than if we just paid a bookkeeper.”
For entrepreneurs considering expansion beyond their current industry, Brad emphasizes keeping an open mind. “Ten years ago, if you’d asked me if I’d do any of these things I’m doing now, I’d have said no chance. You can’t be like, ‘I would never consider doing that’ because some businesses you don’t think of, the margins are amazing.” He recommends learning through experience, even before committing to a new venture. “If you’re looking at an acquisition, start reaching out to business brokers and do due diligence, even if it’s a company you don’t think you’ll ever buy. When something comes along that’s in your sweet spot, you already have that part down.”
Mitigating expansion risks
Clear expectations and structure help mitigate risks when venturing into new industries. “Be on the same page with everybody in your organization,” Brad advises. “Here are my non-negotiables — this is who we’re going to use for accounting, this is how we’re going to process transactions, here’s who our insurance company will be. If you want to move forward, that’s the expectation.”
While Brad remains open to future opportunities, his current focus is strengthening existing operations. “I’m not actively pursuing anything to add to our portfolio. Our focus is on getting efficient and looking at scaling. This year, we should see significant growth in a couple of companies.” Nevertheless, he maintains his opportunistic outlook: “I’m never going to turn down an amazing opportunity.”
Connect with Brad W. Burns on LinkedIn to learn more about his strategies for multi-industry success.
In this article:Entrepreneurship
Written ByJon Stojan
Jon Stojan is a professional writer based in Wisconsin. He guides editorial teams consisting of writers across the US to help them become more skilled and diverse writers. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his wife and children.
