Insider just read The Road Out of Town is a Two-Way Street, The Story of Wes Gilbreath, Sr. & SignAd.  Here are three lessons from the book together Wes Gilbreath Sr’s comments.

Work with a lender who understands the out of home business.

I visited twelve banks in the Houston area asking for a loan.  All twelve banks turned me down…I needed a lender who understood the outdoor advertising business.  Ever since starting SignAd, I had been doing electrical work on the side for a number of billboard companies…I knew the owners very well, and I approached the owner of Dixie Outdoor Advertising Company about a loan…The owner of Dixie Outdoor agreed to make the loan…I paid off the entire note to Dixie Outdoor including interest in six months.

Buy easements.

I started Wes Gilbreath Company…in large part for the purpose of buying tracts of land and strips of real estate along the freeways of Houston to rect out signs…It occurred to me that if I owned the land where our signs were located I would not have to pay the lease and I would own a sign of great value…So in a way SignAd is in the business of real estate…And when we sell a property, we retain the ability to keep or erect a billboard there, and we retain an easement so that the billboards can be built and serviced.

Take the long view and don’t try to get even.

You have to treat people right, even if you are not always treated that way yourself.  Never try to get even, and always make the best of every situation…Thornewood is a development owned by Dr W.W. Thorne, a Houston businessman…Dr Thorne was my friend, and I had three billboards on his property…One day I got a call that the property was sold and that the new owner gave the lease on the signs to one or my competitors who within days had my ads removed and his own installed…several weeks later Dr Thorne called and told me hat he repossessed the property…I could have shut out my competitor, just as he had shut me out the first time the property was sold, but I chose not to do that.  My competitor had an investment in those signs, as I did, and it only seemed fair that I contact him and negotiate a business deal that was mutually agreeable and would protect both our investments.  He wanted those locations and I agreed to lease them back to him at a reasonable cost.  He never forgot that, and later that man sold me five signs and gave me a prime location just off Highway 59 South.  You reap what you sow.

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