The fixer

  • By Mina Williams Enterprise editor
  • Tuesday, March 23, 2010 7:12pm

EDMONDS — Following a lifetime of experience — from newspapers to auto body repair to home development — entrepreneur Kim Pierce is now helping others turn their businesses around.

“Everything I buy is a fixer-upper,” he said. “I focus on how to fix something and then I move on.”

One of his current projects is serving at the helm of the Edmonds Yacht Club as it launches in a new direction.

The structure of the yacht club has shifted, Pierce said. The annually elected commodore will continue to direct the community side of the club’s activities while Pierce, serving a three-year term as volunteer chief executive officer, will lead the business activities, including overseeing a new facility.

“There was a desire to change the corporation,” said Wally Croasdall, commodore of the Edmonds Yacht Club. “It was purely business and falls into line with other yacht clubs, separating the business side from the social side.”

At the end of 2001, the lease of the yacht club space was up for renewal with the Port of Edmonds. When the amount was lifted to “fair market value,” yacht club leaders decided to build their own building on land leased from the Port at 326 Admiral Way. An anchor tenant was secured to contribute to the bottom line. The grand opening of the building will be in May.

“A lot of people have worked hard. Now is the time to refocus and have fun,” Pierce said.

Pierce began his turn-around career “practicing” on a business his father owned. He jump-started a floundering newspaper in California by making production and distribution shifts that tripled revenue within one quarter.

From there, Pierce bought commercial land and built an auto body business in Lynnwood. “The economy was similar to what it is now,” he said. “Despite that, we had to add on an additional 70 percent of square footage within the first year.”

Not satisfied with sitting still, Pierce built Collision 1 as an advertising co-op, developed Mark 2 Collision Center into a franchise operation in 1992 and initiated an Edmonds van conversion business in 2001 before purchasing 300 acres in Bellingham for home development.

His advice to entrepreneurs is to thoroughly analyze a business, where it’s been and where it’s going.

“Look for the missing link,” Pierce said. “Figure out what is wrong and seek ways to make it better. No matter how good or bad a business is, there is always something not working right.

“With the yacht club we looked at the forecast of rentals of the event center against the amount the rentals would bring in,” he said. “We analyzed two years of history, looking at peak times and different days of the week.”

Now every Saturday in the summer of 2010 is booked and yacht club leaders are looking at filling 2011. The old facility seated 135. The new club seats 280.

Rental revenue is aimed at keeping the club afloat. “The forecast per rental is higher,” Pierce said. “We are strong on weddings, but there are other business opportunities to be had.”

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