Time is on his side

Prairie Business, August 2006 - By Karel Sovak

Horologist Ken Muggli can't predict the future, but he can help with telling time.

Muggli, owner of Dakota Clock Works, comes from a long line of clockmakers, tracing his ancestry back to William of Trimmis in 1529. Horology is the practice of clock repair and Dakota Clock Works is a success story in the rural town of Glen Ullin (ND), bent on the philosophy of high-quality service.

Muggli actually has three businesses, each with their own specialty.

Dakota Clock Repair specializes in the highest quality repair of antique, modern, and vintage mechanical clocks including Herschede Hall clocks. Muggli also services and repairs timepieces in homes, churches, and offices. His work can be seen on his Web site at www.dakotaclock.com. Muggli is proud to state that there are no partial repairs of clocks with his company. All clocks are completely dismantled, inspected, repaired, and reassembled with about an eight-week turnaround time.

Dakota Clock Works (www.dakotaclockworks.com) is more along the do-it-yourself line that many consumers are looking for these days. Muggli boasts that Dakota Clock Works carries the largest and most in-depth inventory of specialized clock movements, replacement parts, and accessories in the world.

"What I don't have or I can't find, I make it myself:' Muggli asserts. His newest venture is Dakota Clock Sales (www.dakotaclocksales.com), which carries anything from the traditional hourglass to Tower clocks, for those wishing a more 'bold' statement. The business offers unique treasures, including glass thermometers and glass weather forecasters along with traditional clocks and radio-controlled clocks.

Muggli uses a strategy that combines skillful advertising, modern communications, and delivery of goods (read: the Internet), combined with high-quality products and strong, ethical business practices.

"When I first returned from Seattle (he worked for Boeing), I found that I wasn't very employable, despite having all this business experience:' Muggli recalls. "I mean, we don't make a lot of planes around here and I wanted to return to my hometown. I could find menial employment, but not a meaningful position. So I created it:'

It was Muggli's personal experience with his own clock that presented the idea to him to create a niche business in this rural town.

"I had a clock that needed repair," he notes. "After months without it, and no receipt for the clock, then having it returned and finding that it' still was not working properly and paying for it on top of it all, I saw an opening for a person with a professional shop. I saw an opportunity to make a business.'"

Muggli also realized that the region offered a low population base with a limited number of clocks, and he would have to look elsewhere for customers. That elsewhere was the Internet.

"This is really the second revolution," Muggli observes. "We know what the Industrial Revolution did for the rest of the world, and we are now learning what the Internet can do to help market products or services far and wide. lust opening your doors isn't enough anymore, you have to get your business recognized in so many different ways. I've drawn in business from all over the nation. Your Web site has to sell to the search engines, and that's what mine does. A small Internet-based company can easily find their niche, and in turn, success."

The self-taught entrepreneur also has a 'circle of peers' from which he draws expertise all across the country, some who are "leagues above me" Muggli admits. He belongs to professional organizations that provide excellent technical materials, such as books, CD's, and DVD's. He also attends seminars, which are held throughout the United States.

"I have backup beyond my means," Muggli confesses.

Trust plays a large role in such a business, which can see clocks with values in the multiple thousands of dollars being shipped from customers coast to coast. He adds that his site sells appeal and exhibits confidence to each customer, convincing them that he can do the job right the first time.

"There are no shortcuts; that is the message I sell," Muggli asserts. "I don't want the customer to return, unless it is to repair a different clock or to buy another product. That is my goal with each one of the clocks I repair. If there is a hiccup, I want to know about it before I put it back in its case. The marketplace is big enough for all kinds of service -from the bottom feeders to the highest quality. I fall into that latter category. I also make an effort to educate my customers on how to handle their clocks. They appreciate that."

Amid the ticking of the clocks and their chimes, Muggli says he finds a sense of 'self- satisfaction: He admits that it is not all about the money, citing how rewarding it is to see a smile on the face of an owner, or a letter of testimony to the quality of his work.

"I do bring a lot to the community," he feels. "I bring revenue into the community, and I don't pollute, plus I uphold the quality of life here. I conduct myself as a professional and I enjoy growing my business."

This rural North Dakota clockmaker says he hopes to one day bring his daughter into the business, so he can explore other attractive activities. Only time will tell.

(Karel Sovak is an assistant professor at the University of Mary in Bismarck and a freelance writer. He can be reached at karelsovak@yahoo.com.) .

August 2006 Free Subscriptions at www.prairiebizmag.com