Local ‘Blue Collar Backer’ says startups should be self-reliant

FREDERICK — Almost daily, BizWest reports the stories of entrepreneurs raising money to grow their new businesses. Startup X raises $5 million in its latest funding round. Startup Y wins a “pitch slam” and attracts the interest of angel investors. Startup Z allies with a group of venture capitalists.

Ron Douglas has a different idea: Forget all that. Make that money yourself.

“You spend all that time courting those yay-hoos and then they try to tell you how to run your business,” he said. “Or you spend hours with venture capitalists trying to nerd out how you’re going to succeed.”

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Raising that capital months or years before a startup even becomes profitable is a waste of time, he said. “All that time, you could be doing business and making money.”

For Douglas, 42, a self-made millionaire who got his own start flipping cars and then realized the real money could come through helping others, time is the most valuable asset. He allocates three days a week for his family in Frederick — including seven children. For the rest of the week, however, he’s all business, working at his home computer or driving his Ford Raptor — which he described as “the Shelby of the F-150s” — to visit struggling businesses that have asked for his help.

“My office is my truck. The world is my office,” Douglas said. “Sometimes, they’re a little shocked to see me pull up. I just say, ‘Here’s my office. I’ve got a window view wherever I go.”

Time is so precious for Douglas that it may not let him stay involved with “Blue-Collar Backers,” a reality television show that aired for four episodes on Friday nights in August and September on The Discovery Channel.

“TV was fine,” Douglas said, “but the tough part was that I like to go get things done. I don’t like to waste time. Walking through a door five times so they can get the right angles drove me crazy.

“It was a lot of work and it took a lot of time away from the family,” he said. “I was definitely plenty busy before Discovery; now I feel like I’m eight months behind. I haven’t decided if I’m going to do it again.”

Even so, the show helped him promote his role as president of the National Self-Reliance Organization, which he founded in Frederick in 2009. NSRO’s offerings include a podcast, webinars taught by Douglas that offer to “coach your company to go from zero to six figures in six months — or less,” and even an annual Self-Reliance Expo, which was held during the first weekend of November at the National Western complex in Denver.

“We had close to 10,000 people,” Douglas said. “We ended our show at 5 on Saturday night just as the line for a Donald Trump rally was starting.”

He has helped such diverse businesses as publishers, greenhouse manufacturers, makers of tiny houses and shipping-container homes, and sellers of food and water-storage systems.

The idea for teaching self-reliance extends beyond business, Douglas said. It might also include gardening, home canning — or simply surviving in an emergency.

“A couple years ago, a snowstorm shut down the city for three or four days,” he said. “We had a neighbor say his family was starving, but we’re having fun with the fireplace going. Fifty feet apart, one’s fending for their life and the other’s having fun with their family, So, I knew teaching self-reliance was a need that’s out there.”

The seeds for “Blue-Collar Backers” were planted after Douglas helped a business whose owners knew people at Leftfield Entertainment, producers of such cable-TV reality shows as “Pawn Stars” on the History Channel and “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” on Bravo!

“They just happened to know Leftfield, and one mentioned that Discovery was looking for a show,” Douglas said. “I told them, ‘Thank you very much’ and turned them down at first, but they were pretty persistent.”

The show featured Douglas and several other unassuming millionaires who mentor budding entrepreneurs who want to make their dreams come true. Its promotional materials noted that, “with traditional banks and lenders rejecting over 80 percent of small business loans, there’s been a resurgence of a new breed of investors. They provide cash and, more importantly, a hands-on approach to help dreams become reality. … How does a business stick out in this ever-competitive marketplace? And what’s the best decision for the business to move forward? Our experts will share tried-and-true methods, and the resources, to take these businesses to the next level. They will also reveal tips on how to be successful in their industries from lessons learned in the field. These one-of-a-kind endeavors will be built from the ground up – with our team of experts helping to navigate every step of the way to find that path to fortune.”

Besides Douglas, the cast of mentors included a pair of Arizona-based builders, twin-brother contractors from Biloxi, Miss., and a San Antonio food-truck tycoon.

The show was entertaining and informative — but “Shark Tank” it wasn’t. Douglas prefers building a business through enthusiasm, hustle and sweat equity, starting with whatever money is in the entrepreneur’s pocket and then creating a brand or model.

The first episode featured Douglas, clad in blue overalls and wide-brimmed brown hat, helping Brian Klees revive business at his Elevations Bikes and Boards at 2395 S. Downing St. in Denver after a robbery that nearly had put the shop out of business. Douglas donated $20,000 in equipment to the shop and helped Klees find a better point-of-sale system, while Klees oversaw a physical renovation. In compensation for his services, Douglas asked for a portion of the reinvigorated store’s profits for six months — and a bicycle.

Whether or not he returns to television, Douglas will keep feeding his passion for coaching.

“I love speaking at schools,” he said. “I was at Niwot High last week. I love seeing that spark in their eye when I tell them they can run their own business and do it quickly. I’ve even been invited to Singapore to talk to a group of entrepreneurs.”

Among his most-rewarding experiences, he said, was working with “a guy that had about 100 employees and really wasn’t sure if he was going to file for bankruptcy. We were able to turn it around. Now he’s up to 150 employees.

“That’s kind of cool when you can save jobs like that.”