The Aviation Business Is Still A Business
By David Juwel
Hello, my name is David Juwel, and I have been involved in
aviation for over 50 years. Like most people, my aviation
activities were primarily conducted as a hobby, with occasional
business flights mixed in. The business part of my life has always
been spent in some form of management or sales outside of the field
of aviation. One day I decided that I had more than paid my
dues, and that it was time for aviation to return some of the money
that I had invested in it. So I started looking around for a
business opportunity in the field of aviation.

As I was researching the various opportunities, I started
noticing a number of discrepancies in the way many small aviation
businesses were operated. A lot of them seemed to be making money
in spite of themselves (Boy, do I have some stories to
tell...).
At first I couldn’t understand why? But then as I got more
and more involved with a number of different companies, I realized
what the problem was. Many of the people were in the business of
aviation, but not in the business of business. What I mean is, they
were usually highly skilled and experienced in some area of
aviation – but they had minimal skill and experience as a
businessperson. They were having a great time, and they were
excellent aviators, but the money they were making was far below
the real potential of their skill, product or service. The more
insidious aspect of this problem had even deeper roots. Some of
these people were so smug in their aviation expertise, they
couldn’t even conceive of the fact that there were other
areas of their business that needed improvement. Because they were
making a profit, they presumed that everything was going as well as
it could. I was utterly shocked to see small aviation companies
satisfied with such small amounts of revenue, when they had the
potential for so much more. And the potential for success is
everywhere. When I was researching the aviation industry for
opportunity, I found so much of it, that I now believe that anybody
can get into the business and make money at it. Aviation has such a
mystique and magnetism to it, that it almost allows you to gain
business automatically.
Since I had a strong background in management and sales, as well
as aviation, I decided to focus on aviation management strategies.
My first step was to analyze all of the mistakes that I had
observed among aviation businesses over the years, and solve them
in theory, by applying the various successful business and
marketing strategies that I had learned over the past 30 years.
But I needed to test my strategies before writing about them,
and I wasn’t interested in just testing them with someone who
already had an aviation business. I wanted to start out with
someone who had never been in aviation; someone with no experience
or expertise. If I could succeed in helping them to become
successful in the field of aviation, I knew my strategies would
work with anyone. And those who already had aviation experience
would be just that much further ahead. I discovered a couple of men
that had a desire to enter the field of aviation, but they had no
experience in aviation, and limited experience in business. In
fact, they had never even flown in a small airplane before. All
they had was a dream and some innovative ideas for an aviation
product. And, like a lot of people in the aviation field...they had
great technical skills. Their lack of training and experience in
the field of aviation made them perfect candidates for my aviation
business success strategies.
We agreed to team up and I spent a year helping them develop a
profitable aviation business. I put them on a fast track to
success. In that period of time we developed a solid track that
would have sold nearly $200,000 of their product line. We did that
by developing a customer base in 48 states and 10 foreign
countries. We were published 20 different times in nine different
US magazines and several foreign magazines. We were listed in 8
different kit built directories. We had people from all over the
United States and different parts of the world calling us almost
daily. Over 600 people contacted us. We sold over 200
information kits and received commitments for several of the kit
aircraft. We even started delivery of the kits. And we accomplished
all of that in the space of a year with a minimal amount of
expense.
If they had continued to follow my advice, I believe their sales
would have surpassed $1,000,000 in the middle of their third year.
But, unfortunately, they didn’t like the hard work and they
sold their company for a quick profit instead.

So when I say that anyone can earn at least $150,000 in the
field of aviation, I really feel like I’m being conservative.
$150,000 is not a lot of income for a businessperson to generate.
But I started with the low figure of $150,000 because it’s an
obtainable goal for a person who’s just starting out. It
breaks down to less than $2900.00 a week.
If you work as an employee for someone, that weekly figure may
seem awful high to you. The reason it may seem high to you is
because average employee in the United States barely makes that
much in a month. But it’s a low-income figure for the average
successful small business. A typical aviation business can easily
earn over $150,000 every year; and many of the top aviation
businesses earn well over $5,000,000 a year. Is this you? Have you
started your own aviation business yet? If not, it's probably
because you’re not aware of the tremendous opportunities that
are available in the aviation industry today.
Maybe you already have an aviation business. Is it bringing in
at least $150,000 every year? If not, it's probably because
you’re not structured and operating in a manner that acts as
a magnet for this type of income and more
If you are in either category and you are not making at least
$150,000 a year, it might be because you're not taking advantage of
the wealth of opportunities that abound in the field of aviation.
Aviation is not a get rich quick industry. It is an industry where
you can get rich gradually, consistently, doing what you want to
do, while being paid for flying. And anyone can do it. There are
even numerous opportunities for the non–flyer. If you like
the field of aviation, but don’t want to be a pilot, or own
an airplane – the various opportunities in the aviation
support areas are perfect for you.

Aviation is a big field of business!
There are over 700 aviation associations in the world. There are
over 500 different aviation publications being marketed throughout
the world. There are over 300 air shows performed in the United
States alone, and the larger air shows have greater attendance than
almost any other public event held in the U.S. (300,000+ people in
a two–day event). The two largest fly-in’s draw more
than 700,000 people in a week’s time. There are over 10,000
businesses in the United States who earn money in the aviation
field. There are over 1,000,000 aircraft owners in the United
States and Canada alone. And based on the potential for success
that’s available in the field of aviation, there is a lot of
room left for new comers
If You Haven't Started Yet
We all know that the best jobs in the world are those jobs
where you get paid for doing what you enjoy doing most. But few
people are able to accomplish this. The average person spends their
week slaving away at some mundane job, while continuously looking
forward to the weekend when they'll have the opportunity to do the
things they really enjoy in life. If you are like the typical
aviator, you are a person who really enjoys aviation, but you wish
that you could find some way to reverse the cash flow. One of your
dreams in life is to find some way to turn your love for aviation
into a profit making adventure. Well... your time has arrived.
There are an unlimited number of ways to extract money from
aviation (I have a personal list of over 1000 ways to make money in
the field of aviation). If you love flying, and you're one of the
hundreds of thousands that are cash poor because of it - its
because you haven't taken the time to analyze your skills and match
them up with the hundreds of opportunities to reverse that cash
flow. Contrary to popular opinion, the flow of money in
aviation doesn’t have to be one way! You don’t have to
be rich to get started either! There are numerous ways to
make a profit in aviation, and many of them can be started for less
than $5,000. You can even bootstrap your way into an aviation
business...it just takes longer to make a large profit doing it
that way.
Perhaps You Have Already Started An Aviation Business, But
You’re Not Bringing In $150,000 a Year
If you already have an aviation business and you're not making at
least $150,000 a year, it may be because you haven't worked out a
business plan with a $150,000 income goal. If you want to make at
least $150,000 every year, you need to put together a business plan
and then work it.
I have not met a single individual in my life that doesn’t
want to earn more money. But it’s difficult to find an
individual who can show me just exactly how they’re going to
do it. You would be surprised at how many small businesses I
interact with that have never made up any type of plan. The owner
operates off of a mental plan, which is usually more of a mental
hope. Don't let this happen to you. The old adage still applies,
“If you don’t know where you’re going, how will
you know when you get there?” A good business plan
doesn’t just tell you what needs to be done. A good business
plan will be combined with a marketing and operations plan that
outlines exactly what steps to take to accomplish the primary goals
of the business plan. I once wrote a business plan for an aviation
business that is over 280 pages in length. Why so long? Because it
was designed to take the owners by the hand and walk them through,
step–by–step, to success. Does your plan do that?
And limiting your plan to $150,000 isn’t mandatory. The
$150,000 is just a low figure designed to be an achievable goal
that you can start out with. Once you’ve obtained that goal,
it’s just a matter of upgrading the plan to the next
achievable level, i.e., $150,000 gross income to $150,000 net
income.

Do You Know What Your Potential Customers Want To
Achieve
When you become a business owner, you're in the
achievement communication business. Your job is to find out what
your customers want to achieve, and when they want to achieve it.
And then you must communicate to them why you’re the best
solution to help them achieve it. I constantly read ads in the
aviation industry that advertise the individual, their technical
expertise, their product, or their service. Your potential
customers are not interested in any of this. When you go to your
banker with the symptoms of financial failure, you’re not
interested in anything about that banker – you’re only
interested in whether they can meet your financial needs! You
don’t ask them what school they went to, or how many people
they’ve financed, or what type of financial accounting
they’re using. You just want your problem solved! Your
potential customers are the same way. They’re not looking to
promote your success – they’re only looking for someone
to help them promote their own success.
The only thing that will convince your customers to spend money
with you is the expectation of results! Your job, therefore, is not
to sell yourself, your technical expertise, your product, or your
service. Your job is to be a conduit for the success of your
customer, and you have to convince them that the benefit they are
going to receive is more important than the money they are going to
spend to achieve that benefit. Do you know how to do that? If not,
perhaps we can help with that in a future article. Just let us know
about your interest.
Do You Know How To Reach Those Potential Customers
You need to market smart instead of hard. The best way to
do that is to identify who needs or can use your product or
services. Then you identify those who can afford it. Then you need
to develop a plan for reaching out to them and drawing them in. Do
you know how to do this research? If not, perhaps we can help with
that in a future article. Just let us know about your interest.
Do You Conduct Focused Marketing Every
Day
It has commonly been said that a new company should spend 80
percent of its time on marketing and 20 percent of its time on its
purpose. When it gets bigger, then it should spend 80 percent of
its time on its purpose and only 20 percent of its time on
marketing.
I can’t stand this kind of pseudo-management! Why quit or
severely reduce doing something that was making you successful?
There is only one reason why you should ever reduce your emphasis
on marketing, and that’s because your outflow isn’t
capable of keeping up with your inflow. Since this is just a
temporary growth problem looking for a solution, it shouldn’t
result in a permanent reduction in sales activity. Marketing
is something you do every day, like brushing your teeth (you do
brush your teeth don’t you?). Many aviation business people
are so enthused with their technical expertise, and get so caught
up in the work they're doing, they either stop or forget to market.
Don't let this happen to you! Just how much marketing should you
do? The answer is obvious…as much as it takes to realize
your income goals. If you’re not sure how to determine this
for your business, perhaps we can help with that in a future
article. Just let us know about your interest.
The Bottom Line
If you're not doing some of the things we’ve just talked
about, you're not going to achieve an annual income of at least
$150,000...much less make progress towards the middle to high
six-figure incomes that many top small aviation businesses get
these days. You need to take immediate advantage of all the
aviation business management information we have available for you.
Just let us know about your interest.
Knowledge is one of the keys to accomplishing everything you
desire. It takes a balance of knowledge and experience in many
different areas in order to succeed in an aviation related
business. First you need aviation knowledge in the area
you’re going to specialize in. Then you need to combine that
with basic business management knowledge. And finally, you need to
have a certain amount of aviation management knowledge. I know an
individual that has acquired three different aviation dealerships
in his life…and failed with every one of them. He keeps
attributing his failures to problems with the manufacturer, but my
analysis of the situation as he described it to me, indicates that
he lacked a good deal of the preceding knowledge and
experience.
The overwhelming need for this mass of knowledge and experience
is what keeps a lot of people from realizing their dream of one day
making money in the field of
aviation. If you are like most people who enjoy flying, you
spent your life becoming an expert in a different field of
endeavor, and your flying is avocational in nature. Your spare time
is critical to you. You and your family probably look forward to
spending it on things and activities that give you relief from the
pressures that you sustain during the week. You certainly
don't have any desire to spend your spare time studying aviation
business management. But that is exactly what it will take to
successfully turn your flying hobby or avocation into a thriving
business.

But there’s another problem. You can look through scores
of books and manuals on business management, and you can read
scores of books and manuals on aviation topics, but few of them
contain any information about general, experimental, or sport
aviation business management! There just isn’t any place
where the budding aviation entrepreneur, or the small aviation
business manager can go for advice in this area (without having to
attend college). The few aviation associations that offer aviation
management training, all offer it along the lines of major business
or commercial airline management. Wouldn't it be great if there
were someone that could help you solve that problem? Somebody with
a creative mind, excellent marketing skills, and a sound business
management background. Somebody who is very knowledgeable in the
broad field of aviation. Somebody who can offer you quality
business development, management and marketing information in a
condensed format. ANN has access to qualified people that can
write exactly along those topic lines. Just let us know that
you’re interested.
Why Is All This Important
Because developing more aviation businesses that achieve success,
helps to rebuild our General Aviation infrastructure. And we really
need to do that if we’re going to survive as an industry. So
we want to encourage people to develop their own aviation business,
and we want to give them good advice that will help them make their
business more profitable. After all, one of the best way’s to
enjoy aviation is to make a profit at it. Right?