24+ years of experience in aviation, started with an A&P license and ambition. With his experience and entrepreneurship, he’s doing everything from aircraft maintenance, brokerage, and management, to chartered flights with 15 FTEs. (Travis Lamance)

May 30, 2023

In this Grow A Small Business Podcast episode, Troy interviews Travis Lamance, from Dallas Texas, United States. Travis is the CEO of Haven Aero. He started his humble aviation career with an A&P license he got in 1999. He worked for several individuals for a few years, later on, Travis then launched his maintenance business. Years went by, and with his garnered experience in the aviation business, he decided to combine it with his entrepreneurial aspirations. Launching two successful unique aviation companies, Flight Mechanix and Haven Aero.

To build, run, or grow a business, you need money or more specifically, capital. It’s hard generating funding, it’s twice as hard especially if you’re starting a capital-intensive industry such as aviation. However, that’s not a problem for Travis, he took a partnership and minor credit and he built from there. Travis also utilized the concept of sweat equity in marketing their business, gaining popularity and fame through appearances in podcasts and social media; preserving cash and budget. 

Looking back at all of it now, Travis would tell himself on day one of starting out, “Be patient, be persistent, and stick with it, it’ll all come to fruition.” You don’t have to be in a race to get to the finish line. You can arrive there at your own pace, enjoying the view along the way; don’t forget the goal is nothing without the journey it took to get there.

This Cast Covers:  

• Increased demand for private aircraft since the pandemic.
• Taking the next necessary big step to grow the scale of your business.
• Winning the daily battles to win the war.
• Successfully launching and legalizing your startup to the government to start operations.
• Getting the right team around you and the right people in the room.
• Marketing creatively to abide by the limits of a capital-intensive budget.
• Being smart with money, not putting all your assets in one basket.
• Figuring out the business's cash flow to not draw in more debt.
• Seeing returns on hiring a coach that is willing to get critical about you.
• Staying lean and mean, contemplating carefully whether to hire the next person on the team.

Links:  

• Travis’ Linkedin
• Travis’ Company Website

Additional Resources: 

• Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins, Jerry I Porras

• The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
  

 

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Quotes:

“The biggest challenge is getting the right team around you and the right people in the room.” — Travis Lamance.

“Marketing is a lot more about creative marketing.” — Travis Lamance.

“Things don't get solved smoothly and permanently when you just fix them with money, you've got to fix them at the root.” — Travis Lamance.

“You got to get an outside impartial person to come in there and give you brutal feedback about where you suck and where you don't.” — Travis Lamance.

“Be patient, be persistent, and it'll all come to fruition.” — Travis Lamance.