I first met Jim Brewer as we served together on the local board of an inner city non-profit. I quickly noted that Jim added a lot of practical ideas as we dealt with challenges, so I asked Jim to help my partner and me with some of the operational and planning decisions we were making in our company. MasterThink helped us during our annual planning session. Jim guided us to focus on projects that had the best probable chance for profit and eliminated those that did not meet our criteria. This helped us long term become more focused and profitable.

Personal issues were never our best strengths and MasterThink helped us deal with both personal problems and partnership weaknesses. As a result, we were able to keep our staff small and use outside consultants when needed.

I would recommend MasterThink to anyone running a business. Jim can help in the areas of weakness and make the team more functional.

Paul Spain, President
Terra Land Development

Jim Brewer and I met in 1990 when his firm, MasterThink, was providing consulting services at the company I had just joined. Jim and his team proved to be valuable partners due to their practical results and focused deliverables. Over the years, Jim and I have kept in touch and he consistently has been a valued partner in diverse projects any time he has assisted me.

Carlos Sepulveda

In our business we constantly put out fires and often found ourselves just working ‘in’ the business instead of working ‘on’ the business.  With Jim and MasterThink we received the coaching and accountability to change that dynamic improving our planning, efficiency and effectiveness.

Mark Cannon 
AHI Operations Manager

I have known and worked with Jim Brewer for more than 20 years at two different companies. He has not only helped the company’s focus on growth and change but has helped many of us develop into good leaders and ambassadors.

Jim helped take our $13 million company to now over $40 million in revenue in 8 years.

We had bad management organization. MasterThink came in and helped get everyone organized and on the same page, and put in accountability measures to reach our goals. We reorganized and brought in better employees to help grow the company.

The coaching that Master think brings to the table is second to none. They can work with office, operations, sales and executives to bring a team together.

One area of significant improvement has been the ability to hold our employees accountable and make them proud to work for AHI.

I have personally benefitted from Jim Brewer as he has taught me knowledge and expertise, and from listening to what he has done to help other companies be successful.

Todd Haddock
President, AHI

Each year, our hospital had to develop a strategic plan that would spell out goals to be achieved. I was looking for a way to insure that these goals would be accomplished and that would keep our managers focused on achieving these goals. After initially talking with Jim Brewer, I was hopeful that MasterThink, and their “Think-Focus-Execute” approach would work in the healthcare environment.

Jim Brewer’s approach to Strategic Planning is unique, and his personnel involvement with the leadership team and our managers was a very positive experience. 

By clearly identifying our various customers and defining what each of them expected from our organization, and by identifying specific goals we wanted to achieve in our business, we were able to develop a business plan that would help us significantly improve customer service and grow our business.

While many organizations develop strategic plans that look good siting on the shelf, MasterThink helps put that plan into action, achieving buy-in at all levels of the company. The “Focused Discipline” approach works because your goals are constantly in front of your staff and your staff becomes accountable for the results.

My leadership team was still in charge of the implementation process while Jim worked closely with us and our managers on a regular basis. He provided us with the clarity and focus we needed to achieve the individual goals that would lead to our accomplishing our facility goals. This method created a clear understanding by the entire staff of how their actions contributed to the overall success of our organization.

My leadership team was so impressed with the results in the first year that we stayed with MasterThink for several years to follow.  I would strongly recommended MasterThink to any business that is trying to grow—MasterThink can help.

Ray Dunning, Jr. CEO (Retired)
Medical Center of Lewisville

Hiring a business consultant is something you only realize how badly you needed after you have completed the process. The process itself that Jim and MasterThink uses is challenging, time consuming, requires persistent devotion, and, most importantly, is so worth it. 

Jim Brewer focuses his decades of experience with a proven process that results in improvement, not just change. Master think’s process is built on listening and developing a unique plan for every business. He commits his energy and wisdom to the process and comes up with something that employees and management can proudly implement, monitor, and use in a meaningful way.

Dallas Cothrum, Ph. D. 
Chief Executive Officer
Masterplan Consultants

MasterThink delivers on the premise of “no stone left unturned” in the business world. Jim’s attention to detail and his team’s tireless efforts to support their clients is second to none. Honesty, integrity, sincerity and an overwhelming desire to help are the key contributions that make MasterThink a reliable and trusted partner for our business.

Justin Stonehocker, President
ES2 – Tulsa

I initially approached MasterThink because my understanding was that they have extensive knowledge in business practices and have helped industry leaders like Interstate Batteries become a successful organization. I had been working for Interstate at the time Jim Brewer of MasterThink was engaged with the company, and worked for Interstate for more than 26 years.

I believe that Jim and his organization played a major role in increasing the business acumen of the people at Interstate. He did this by getting to the root of issues and implementing written standards of how we were to do business. He is willing to get to the core of issues and remove waste from processes even when there is much stigmatism to continue the way things have always been done. This encouraged much needed change and opened the possibility for growth.

The results we saw were significant growth. During Jim’s tenure we went from an estimated 9 million units annually to over 15 million. I know this was due to a lot of hard work from many people, but it is interesting to note that Interstate’s fastest growth period was during Jim’s tenure with the organization.

The experience in going through the detailed processes helped me grow as a manager and impacted other areas of business where I have been since. I apply the same type of philosophy where ever I go, always utilizing documentation and getting with the people who actually perform the work. It is at this rudimentary level where the most impactful benefits are derived.

I would recommend MasterThink to any organization who is either in a growth mode or one who is stagnant and wants to get into a growth pattern and out of a rut. Jim and his organization know how to make this happen.

Mike Lawler 

Jim and MasterThink have really been instrumental in helping me and our company move towards the path of growth that we envision.  Personally, I am learning my strengths and weaknesses and where I need to concentrate my limited time. Overall, my corporate and personal life has gained with more free time to help grow the business and do what I want to do.

Karl Crawley, President
Masterplan Consultants

It is my pleasure to give a letter of recommendation for Jim Brewer and MasterThink. Jim has been helping me and my companies for over twenty years. When I met Jim, I was in desperate need of a plan. My small family company was growing fast, and at times was out of control. Jim helped me develop a strategic plan to put back some order which allowed our company to continue to grow very successfully. Since then, as I have bought and sold companies, I have brought MasterThink in every time for one issue or another. I could not recommend anyone more highly.

Ken Reiser, Executive Director of Staff and Systems
Highland Park UMC

I have had the opportunity to work with Jim for over fifteen years in two separate businesses. In each case, his ability to quickly assess our business challenges, whether people or processes, and lay out a plan for success. Because of Jim’s leadership and direction, we exceeded our goals. His concise approach to vision and individual accountability, with a plan for each, are key components to our continued growth in sales and our leadership team. I would recommend MasterThink to people who need to grow, change and challenge their markets and team.

Billy Norris President
Interstate Batteries of Fort Worth Alliance

There comes a time in every organization where it realizes that if it really wants to get to the next level, it needs some experienced help. You can either hire the help, or rent it. We rent help all the time: attorneys, computer techs, and CPAs, but for some reason we do not consider them as consultants, but as service providers. The decision to hire a consultant seems more difficult for an owner. I think the main reason is that consultants are perhaps seen as doing the work that the owner feels they should be doing.

This is what happened to us. We resisted hiring consultants, not understanding that consultants bring two values to your organization. 1) They have a methodology designed to achieve results in their areas of expertise because they have achieved results working for other firms, and 2) they have a storehouse of knowledge that comes from working with other firms that they can share 
When we first met with MasterThink, we came to the realization that our annual planning was not our annual execution. It was more of a wish list that got set aside during the year because the business of our agency took up everyone’s time. Further, getting each department to buy into the vision and then translating that down to every employee, so that not only is the department accountable but so is each employee, was just not possible within the resources of our staffing.

We had to make a decision—either someone within the organization was going to have to drop some of their current work to take this on, or we would have to hire an outside firm to help us. We decided going outside was 1) cost effective because we would not have to waste time inventing a process, we could adopt one that was proven, and 2) we would have experienced help in executing and tracking.

After interviewing several of MasterThink’s current and previous clients we made the commitment to work with them. Within a few months they had interviewed and set goals throughout our organization. Then we started holding our scheduled meetings to review our successes and plan for our next steps. Each person had a part in this process, and the result was that everyone started working in sync to help the organization achieve its stated goals. 

Working with an outside person allows employees to speak more freely about what they think and feel, and Jim is able to then guide them to where they need to be to become effective members of the team. (A side benefit is that those who cannot keep up are quickly identified and appropriate action can then be taken.) It is not only the organization of the plan and holding meetings that is valuable, it is the counseling and training that is held on an individual level and on a department level. We often forget that the success of our companies is actually the sum of the work performed by each person, not just the work done at the upper level. If all employees are engaged and want to achieve the same end result, your organization will move to the next level.

At the end of the first year we hit our annual plan goals in both revenue and profitability. MasterThink played an import role in this achievement. They also helped us to celebrate our successes. The reinforcement of what we do right is the catalyst for success in subsequent years. We are now closing in on the end of year two with MasterThink and are on track to hit our second year’s set of goals, which means we are also on track to hit our 5-year goals. 

We recommend MasterThink to all those companies that want to get to the next level.

Ricky Locke Owner
Independent Insurance Group