“I knew at an early age that I would own my own business,” says Hirsch. “That motivation to make my own money and manage my own company has always been there.”

During his 26 years as the owner of an award-winning small business, he has amassed a wealth of knowledge and business savvy that he constantly uses throughout his day-to-day management of the company.  But to learn a little bit about his business acumen, one has to start back at the beginning.

Think Long-Term

When he founded Island Tile in 1984, Hirsch had no investment capital or inventory, so he literally built Island Tile from the ground up, spending all of his time working to turn his dream into a success.  “I do not recommend starting without capital, but it can be done,” Hirsch emphasizes.  “But if you do, you need to be prepared to work very hard.  Also, you have to recognize it is going to take awhile for your business to take off, thus success will be limited [at the start].”

Hirsch also adds that it took him about 12 to 13 years to grow and develop Island Tile into the business he wanted it to be.  During which he spent most of his time building up inventory and working to transition from reinvesting profits to build the company, to actually having profits leftover at the end of the year.

However, he recognized that he couldn’t just focus on start-up timelines and profit margins.  Hirsch has learned to apply the same long-term mentality to all aspects of his business.  For example, “I bought cheap office furniture when I started out and ended up replacing it after a couple of years,” he remembers.  “Well, that’s more money out of your profit column that you have to use.  I learned my lesson and bought the top of the line equipment; we’re still sitting in those chairs 15 years later.”

Hirsch’s rule of thumb: if you’re planning to keep something more than five years, always invest in quality.

Keeping Things Realistic and Attainable

He also advises to be realistic when setting any goals, policies or prices.  “Set things at the proper price to start with,” he emphasizes.  “Do not get into the habit of having constant sale cycles.”

Without the flux in product pricing, businesses acquire a more realistic and reliable monthly revenue projection, and customers do not come to expect things to always be on sale.  Essentially, a five dollar product is always a five dollar product, and everyone knows what to expect.

In addition, Hirsch looks at past business performance to help him determine what his one- and five-year plans for future growth and development will look like.  He says this planning strategy has been especially useful during the current economic recession.

“I went and got out old financial statements from years when our financials were similar [to now],” Hirsch explains, “and I reviewed how much we spent on advertising, employees, etc. and used that to plan ahead.  It’s allowed us to stay on track as a solid business while continuing to advance in the industry.”

But, Hirsch does not develop his plans alone.  He includes his employees, like Patty Taylor, who has been Island Tile’s office manager for 17 years, and Wayne Lovett, who has been the operations manager for 19 years, in the planning discussions and keeps them in the loop about the company’s goals for the upcoming fiscal year.  As a result, the entire company moves forward at the same pace, with the same goals in mind.  The group planning sessions have also birthed some profitable business ideas.  For example, one solution to combat a decline in customers (caused by the economic downturn) was to create a new outlet store.  Hirsch opened the warehouse outlet directly behind the current Island Tile showroom so customers have the added convenience of shopping all in one place.

Innovation Opens Opportunities

He stocked the outlet with liquidated inventory from distressed manufacturers and suppliers. Hirsch’s move actually opened the doors to new potential buyers.  People like young couples, first time homeowners and renovators on budgets, could now shop at Island Tile and expect to receive the same quality product and service as their more affluent counterparts, but at a more affordable price.

“We purchased liquidated inventory and opened the outlet,” he says, “but, we also continued to stock the regular showroom, and kept the mentality, ‘If we have the goods, they will come.’  It was speculative, but it has put us in a dominate position within the industry and we are now the key stocking distributor for a three-county radius.”

Hirsch listens to his gut instinct, and it has not failed him yet.  He continues to take smart risks to the benefit of Island Tile because he believes that going out of business or remaining at the status quo are “not acceptable options.”  He also recognizes if a company is not actively advancing itself, it will be left behind.

His drive and focus stem from his passion for his work.  He loves that as his own boss he has the freedom to do what he wants to and to run his business the way that he wants.  As Hirsch says, “If you’re happy with what you’re doing, your chances of success will be much greater.”

An evolution in floor and wall coverings means more materials and more choices, and not merely in tile

Few décor elements are as versatile – or as coveted – as tile.

“Twenty-five years ago, tile was very basic. Selections have changed,” says Cliff Hirsch of Island Tile & Marble in Melbourne. “Years ago, everything was beige, then about five years ago, we saw an increase in golds, blues, reds and other brighter colors. Now we’re seeing a return to antique whites and other classic colors. People aren’t going with those deep, dark colors . . . . Possibly because of the economy, they’ve become more conservative again. They’re playing it safer.”

Still, a good theme is not out of the picture, and light colors do not add up to “vanilla.”

For those seeking something up north homey, warm woods and laminates are available in a large number of colors and designs, as are complimentary fixtures.

Although traditional looks are back, ultra-contemporary styles hold their own, with metal-finished tiles made to accompany stainless steel appliances in the kitchen and chrome fixtures in the bath.

The products in Hirsch’s showroom are remarkably diverse, aimed at people embarking on everything from a weekend project to large-scale remodeling.

“We have two distinct buyers. The first is doing a project that is not necessarily big, maybe re-tiling a bathroom, maybe adding a backsplash, for example,” Hirsch says. “This is a (customer) who knows what he wants and will pay the price. Then we have the ones who are looking for bargain prices . . . but who say. ‘Let’s just get it done.’ Either way, we can help.”

Today, Hirsch owns Island Tile and Marble Inc. in Melbourne and spends his free time boating with his family.

Hirsch knew he’d be an entrepreneur “from day one,” he said. Before graduating to the paper route in middle school, he collected soda bottles and milk jugs to return for the deposit money.

Growing up on images of Lloyd Bridges in “Sea Hunt” and the explorations of Jacques Cousteau, Hirsch developed a fascination with the ocean.

He saved his earnings to pay for diving lessons. It was an exotic pursuit for a sixth-grader in Lakeland, where the ocean seemed far away to other children. At 17, he took up surfing.

Hirsch left for the University of North Carolina Wilmington, with a plan to become a marine biologist, but he couldn’t stay away from Florida that long.

He returned to the state and took a position in sales with Lanier Business Products.

“I enjoyed sales, but not the trappings,” said Hirsch, who describes himself at the time as a young surfer guy.

A three-piece suit didn’t feel right on a surfer and diver, and he didn’t care for the high-pressure atmosphere.

Hirsch had gotten an up-close look at the construction industry through his father, a builder, and liked what he saw. So he decided to combine the rewarding work of sales with the relaxed environment of construction, and he started a tile contracting business.

For a location, he chose Brevard County for its rivers and miles of beaches. “I figured I’d be working most of the rest of my life, so I wanted to be close to the things I loved to do,” he said.

He and his family enjoy boating and fishing, and he’s getting to do some surfing as his children are starting to show more interest in the water. Hirsch and his wife, Lesa, have three children: Anastasia, 12; Walker, 8; and Chase, 7.

While getting the business started, Hirsch worked out of his garage for almost two years, then leased 850 square feet of space in Palm Bay. The business slowly grew, moving to a small showroom and warehouse with an 8-foot-square office that housed three people’s desks.

“Our chairs were butting into each other,” Hirsch remembered, noting that the arrangement worked only because one of the three was usually out on a sales call.

Island Tile and Marble landed at its current location on U.S. 1, south of SR 192, in 1988, when Hirsch bought the site of a former surfboard manufacturing plant. The business has expanded four times over the years, and now covers 20,000 square feet.

“Some of these floors have 10 levels of floor tile on them,” Hirsch said of the showroom.

The business distinguishes itself by keeping an extensive inventory, featuring high-quality product mostly imported from Europe and holding distribution rights for several exclusive brands.

“We have brands and styles that sometimes you only see in New York,” Hirsch said.

He’s currently expanding into a new niche with pool tile, a specialty that only a few players focus on.

Hirsch expects Brevard’s housing slowdown to show little change over the next year. “I don’t expect it to get any worse, but I don’t expect it to get better,” he said. He’s looking for the start of a turnaround in late 2009.

In addition to his years in business, he draws on insight gleaned through his work on the board of directors for Sunrise Bank, based in Cocoa Beach.

He has served on various boards and committees over the years, including the Home Builders & Contractors Association of Brevard and the Florida Home Builders Association.

Next year, Hirsch will celebrate his 50th birthday and 25th anniversary in business, within two weeks of each other. He’ll reach the milestones at the helm of a company that does $4 million to $5 million in annual sales.

Not bad for a surfer guy.

Once again a beautiful job of laying tile and it looks FANTASTIC!

Thank you,

Barbara Meredith

I just want to thank everyone for the excellent service we received. Everyone we dealt with from my initial visit to the showroom to the last contact with the carpet re-tack guys was so helpful and professional. I cannot say enough about the excellent job Roger and his son did on our installation! I could not have asked for a better job. We love our new tile. We will definitely return to Island Tile should we have any future flooring needs.

Thanks again,

Debi Griffith

I absolutely love our new bathroom!  From the moment we walked into your store, you were so kind and patient and very helpful, especially since I change my choice of tile three times.

You told us John would do a great job.  Well, he was absolutely fantastic.  He’s such a perfectionist and very talented.

I’ll be sure to recommend you to my customers whenever I can and thank you so much for everything.

Sincerely,

Barbara Kelsey

My Name is Zerrin Langer and I am a customer of Island Tile. I got your name and email from Mia who is one of your sales representatives a the Melbourne store. I meant to send you an email earlier, but the time got away from me.

Tomorrow morning my husband Ben Langer is going to go to Melbourne to pick up the last shipment of tile we need to get the tile work of our house completed.

This is a thank you note, but I am afraid it is going to be longer than a note because without some of the details I need to share with you, I don’t think you can envision our gratitude for the wonderful service we received from Island Tile via your and our sales representative Mia.

We had (what we consider our final and dream) home built in 2004. Our dreams about the house were crashed by our builder and their tile subcontractor who installed ceramic tile with chipped comers throughout our home. In addition to the chipped comers showing red clay color, we later on found out that the floor cracks were not treated and the floor was not properly prepared before the tile was installed. We therefore started having cracks from the kitchen through the family room. The builder did not stand behind the home they built for us. They dismissed our pleas because they said we did not notice the problem during out walk-thru inspection with them. With an exception of three rooms, our entire home has tile floor (over 1900 square feet). We spent terrible days thinking about it and got really depressed. I personally had spent days crying over the situation.

When we bought our home we did not know anything about tile other than what looked nice. Had we known then what we learned later, we would not have selected a ceramic tile to begin with.

Armed with better knowledge, we scoured the internet for months and looked at tile at stores in Virginia where I work at, and narrowed our tile selection to Monocibec’s Domus Aurea in Diana color. I emailed Monocibec and asked for a close by dealership. They wrote back and gave us Island Tile’s phone number. Melbourne is not exactly in our neighborhood (we live in Beverly Hills which is 9 miles from Crystal River on the west coast) and we later found out that we could have dealt with tile dealers closer to our home to buy our tile, but if we had to do this over again we would still want to deal with Island Tile and Mia because she and Island Tile treated us so well, that driving the distance or paying a large amount to get the tile shipped to us was well worth it.

From day one, Mia greeted us like a friend rather than just a customer. She listened, she was sympathetic to our anxiety and she was well-in-tuned to our needs and what we wanted. We felt very comfortable placing the entire tile ordering business in her hands and she kept us informed all along the way about the shipment, its arrival date, etc. She negotiated with a trucking firm on our behalf and stood by us when the quantities of tile we needed changed a number of times because we decided not hire the first tile installation firm who gave us the tile estimate and actually fired the second firm during the tile removal phase of the job. The third tile company did a wonderful job installing the tile. The shipment we will pick up from Island Tile tomorrow will complete the remaining job in the walk through shower and its ceiling.

The tile is gorgeous! We are getting a lot of compliments from friends and neighbors as well. We used the same tile in different sizes on the floors, walls and two ceilings over shower areas. We hope to send some pictures when we can, to Island Tile as well as Monocibec. I need to tell you however that we changed the color name of the tile. For us, it is no longer Diana, we are calling it Mia; she was the one who eased us from our anxiety and depressed state of mind into a wonderful tile shopping and purchasing experience. We will continue to sing Island Tile and Mia’s praises. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for running a business with integrity and employing people like Mia. Please feel free to share my email and our home phone number with any of your customers if they wish to hear what another customer thinks of Island Tile.

Zerrin Langer

Thank you so much for your recent donation of tile & grout for our apartments for homeless women & children.

We greatly appreciate your generosity in helping us to help the least, last, & lost of our county.

Blessings,

Stacia Glavas

Palm Bay East Little League would like to thank you for supporting our league by sponsoring a team this season.  Your support is greatly appreciated!

Thanks again!

Sincerely,

Palm Bay East Little League

I would like to thank you for a job well done.  I couldn’t be happier with my new floor.  I would like to also thank you for sending Roger out to do the installation.  I have never seen a better tile install.  He is the very best!

Thanks again,

Beth