Why we created Rope Access Management, LLC

For those that know us, the question is more likely, “what took you guys so long to start your own business?”

That is a fair question. Starting a new business is about as personal as choices get, so this is just my perspective. I do not wish to speak for my business partners, who will likely provide their own accounts in the coming weeks.

I understand why many folks have been surprised by my reluctance to build a rope access business for myself. Looking at the macro pattern of my career, it becomes very clear that I enjoy building rope access businesses. There’s always been a certain romance to it, for me anyways.

Starting from zero revenue, no procedures or processes, no staff, often no demand yet… Creating something where there was nothing provides two critical elements of adventure: the possibility of failure existing simultaneously with the devasting consequences of failure. More concisely, failure is probable, and yet, it cannot happen.

It took writing this article for me to realize that I am a bit of a business idealist. I should probably define my concept of business idealism before that last statement draws too many chuckles and scoffs.

To me, business idealism boils down to a successful company needing these three elements:

·      A problem that needs to be solved.

·      An elegant and novel solution.

·      A belief that you and/or your team are uniquely qualified to deliver that solution.

If this sounds like the most basic way to think of a business, it is.

It is so basic that virtually nobody would challenge these elements as being necessary to create a healthy business. Yet I would argue that very few companies even attempt to possess these three criteria.

Business realism has taught us that you can build a very successful company in a competitive landscape by simply solving a problem that has already been solved better, faster, or cheaper than your competitors. Most markets are large enough to support dozens of companies that do the same things, with the same methods, and often with the same people.

If you’ve ever caught yourself realizing that the success of your business stems from the value of your word or the value of your professional relationships, then you fit into the business realist camp, which is not a bad thing. Until just a few hours ago, I had always assumed that I was firmly rooted in business realism. You must be to enjoy any sort of career longevity.

I am not entirely sure why I am so surprised to discover my idealist side. If you were involved in the early days of North American rope access, it would be almost impossible to walk away from those experiences without at least a bit of the founder’s idealism. The folks that mentored us, and the companies that we worked for in our early careers, truly did possess all three of the requisites to satisfy the business idealist: need, novelty, and unique capability.

I consider it one of the greatest privileges of my life to have been able to learn directly from these people, and to have worked in their companies.

The folks that came before us found their opportunity by introducing rope access to North American industry, but for the next wave, we would have to find our opportunity by broadening its application. Niches were created by expanding the services offered on ropes, and often assembling teams in unique ways to eliminate barriers to work and increase efficiency.

I had always considered it a practice of shrewd realism to seek out companies that had a very strong specialization and offer to build them a rope access program within their organization, but I now realize I was merely honoring the third requisite of idealism, unique capability.

These days, North American rope access is experiencing mass adoption. The proliferation of rope access in North America is likely to produce a similar trajectory to that of the United Kingdom, whose history began a few decades earlier.

There will likely be a dramatic increase of smaller contracting companies offering rope access. Requests for proposals and bidding opportunities will require the participating contractors to possess rope access capabilities, which will lead to there being a rope access program present within virtually every industrial services company.

Ultimately, this is the goal that we’ve all dedicated our lives to achieve. However, one does wonder how all these businesses will be managed.

Are there enough appropriately experienced rope access professionals out there to build a rope access program and responsibly manage it within every service corporation in North America?

Can industrial facility owners and prime contractors rely on the rope access trade associations to hold their rope access service providers to account?

Do the executives and shareholders of larger firms have the knowledge to judge the quality and safety compliance of the rope access programs within their own organizations?

Though it seems that it was our idealism that prevented us from starting our own business sooner, our adherence to the ideals of need, novelty and unique capability caused us to form Rope Access Management, LLC when we attempted to answer the questions above.

Need:

The rope access industry in North America will experience additional growth that will dilute its base of knowledge. This will need to be addressed for the health of the industry.

Novelty:

We are the first multi-member consulting firm focusing solely on the development, implementation, and safety management of rope access programs. We do not offer any other services that could lead to conflicts of interests with our customers. We have structured our business to keep costs as low as possible.

Unique Capability:

Each of our consultants has more than 20 years of experience working in the rope access industry at all organizational levels. You would be hard pressed to find a more capable and competent team of rope access professionals available on a consultation basis. You can read more about our team here.

by Scott Archibald