Did you know that top notch bull sperm is worth in excess of $75,000 a gallon?

This is something I know personally thanks to Fred, the CEO of a refrigerator warehouse company in Texas, who, instead of grabbing the bull by the horns, kept his eye on the ball a little too much.

Fred’s hobby was breeding the perfect bull. He wanted the black spots on one side and the white spots on the other side, but he got it backwards and had to keep working. Thinking that breeding the perfect bull would be the next step in his career, Fred put all of his time and energy into this hobby and none into the “no-ball” endeavor of actually saving his family’s struggling refrigeration business.

Fred bet the ranch.

If Fred had been more concerned about getting busy with his business rather than his bull, he may have saved the company. Unfortunately, though, the core competency of his company was not bull sperm. It was refrigeration.

Thus, Fred’s hobby got in the way, and he stopped paying attention to refrigeration. When the bank realized that Fred was distracted, they defaulted him on his loans and brought me in.

I had a mismanaged and neglected refrigeration company to deal with that was over $500,000 behind in debt to the bank, had maintenance issues that created spoiled product for its clients, and that had a CEO who was focusing on bull balls rather than the family jewels.

Since the company was already being forced into bankruptcy and on the path to being sold, it was my job to recover as many assets for the bank as I could. I fired his 85 year old mother who was on the payroll, and even though the bank thought the bull seed was worthless, I held a little auction at which I sold off bull sperm by the gallon at anywhere from $75,000 – $100,000.

When your company is having difficulties, put your hobbies aside and keep your eye on the prize – not your eye on the ball.