Ron Sturgeon

Ron Sturgeon is a classic American entrepreneur. When Ron was 17, his father died and Ron was left homeless with only a small inheritance and a half interest in a VW bug. Ron taught himself to maintain and fix it and soon started an auto repair business.

When he noticed that he was making as much money from selling used parts as from fixing cars, he entered the auto salvage business. Beginning with a single employee, Ron grew his salvage operation to one of the largest in the United States.

Drawing upon the many lessons he learned growing this enterprise, Ron wrote his first book, How to Salvage Millions from Your Small Business, now in its second edition.

Ron attributes much of his early success to his decision to join a group composed of a dozen yard owners. The members of the group shared their metrics and the innovations they were making to lower costs and increase revenues.

Ron called the technique the group used peer benchmarking. Ron says, “Peer Benchmarking kept me miles ahead of the competition for decades. It’s a million dollar secret.” To share this powerful technique with other business owners, Ron wrote Peer Benchmarking Groups.

As Ron grew his business, he learned many valuable lessons about working with bankers. He says, “Among the most important relationships any successful small business owners has are those with bankers.” Ron reveals how to find the right banker and start and nurture a relationship with that person in Getting to Yes with Your Banker.

In 1999, Ford Motor Company purchased his auto salvage business. Ron’s stint in the boardroom at Ford sparked an interest in the many colorful expressions that enliven top-level discussions of business. He was inspired to write Green Weenies and Due Diligence, a fun, irreverent lexicon for the C-suite.

Several years later, he and a pair of partners repurchased Ford’s auto salvage division, GreenLeaf. Ron and his partners returned it to profitability before selling it to a publicly traded company 18 months later.

Throughout his business career, Ron has had a flair for marketing and promotion. He has helped many of his small business consulting clients develop successful event marketing programs. Based upon this experience, he coauthored 409 Low Cost Events That Will Produce New Clients for Your Small Business in Any Economy.

Finding himself single at midlife, Ron turned his attention to affairs of the heart. Using the same curiosity and openness to innovation that have made him a success as a businessperson, he began to investigate the reasons some people are more successful in love and marriage. The result is his most recent book, Men are Pigs and That’s a Good Thing.

Today Ron is a successful real estate investor and small business consultant, sought after speaker, and proprietor of DFW Elite Toy Museum. Ron’s current ventures include a chain of salon and spas, a self-storage business, and a car storage business.