Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / "You Spend Too Much Time at Work to Not Like What You're Doing": An Elevator Journey | Jay Arntzen

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"You Spend Too Much Time at Work to Not Like What You're Doing": An Elevator Journey | Jay Arntzen · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: The most important thing is keep the important things important.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Family.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, don't sacrifice your family for your career.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, put put your family first.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm saying these things because I've made these mistakes and have had to recover from them.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that's important.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Don't take yourself so seriously.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, enjoy what you do.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Have some fun.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, don't make it a grind.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Enjoy the people you're working with.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't, then go do something else.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, spend too much time.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: I usually always tell people, you spend too much time at work to not like what you're doing and not like the people you're doing with.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Matt Alred.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: In this podcast, we talk to the people whose lives and careers are dedicated to the vertical transportation industry.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: To inform, inspire, and care lessons to learn, to build upon the foundation of those who've gone before and inspire the next generation of elevator careers.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: Today our guests is today started first, elevator fifty, presentation, five, six, and four.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Spend twenty-four years with a company.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: Jay, welcome to the show.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, it's good to be here.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Appreciate uh the opportunity.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I'm excited.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's been a little while since we talked, and uh, I'm excited to to get to know you a little bit better, talk about your your career.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and uh just wanted to start at the beginning.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: How did you get started in the elevator industry in the first place?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I needed a job.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um I was graduating from college and it was during a recession.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: So um there weren't a whole lot of opportunities, but there was this company in Moline, Illinois called Montgomery Elevator, and and I was fortunate enough to to get on board with them.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: So, where were you going to school when you uh were graduating?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh northern Iowa.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: And is that where you were from then?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: Just right in that area?
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: From that area.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was from Iowa originally, Cedar Rapids.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh yeah, it was it was uh cold.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: Indeed.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: It was really cold.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: Indeed.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: So you started with uh with Montgomery at the time, and what was your what was your first job?
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: What did they have you doing?
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they had this uh, and I think they still have um Coney's kind of get continued to do it, but they had kind of a unique training program in which when you got hired on, you you stayed in headquarters for about a year.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And um spent time in all the different areas, you know, operations, sales, manufacturing, human resources, legal, um, and then you also processed orders that were coming in from the field.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_04: Oh wow.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so there was usually and they usually had about eight, you know, eight people um every semester would come in and they kind of rotate them out.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh so you made these, you know, really good friends.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: You're all kind of in the same boat right out of college and stuff.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: And and uh um interesting part is years years down the road when my students back in headquarters, I had that that training thing um as part of part of what I was responsible for.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um being part of that again.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's cool.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: So eight eight people at a time, and they would just kind of train you up, like you say, for a year and then what send you off into different departments or parts of the country.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you go mo it most everybody went out to the branch offices.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um it was it was mainly just salespeople that they brought in to do that.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so I I spent my year and and uh they sent me to Dallas, Texas.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: So which was a big deal because I I really hadn't been too much farther than any of the states surrounded surrounded Iowa.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: So sure it was a big move for me.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: So what what uh kind of clicked with you about the elevator industry?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, or did you feel like eh, you know, maybe I'll go do something else?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, what how did you come to stay?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good question.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: And and and I really think it was it wasn't so much elevators as it was Montgomery Elevator.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um they were privately owned, 100-year-old business, third generation.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and they really tried to make it a family.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, they sat you down your your you know, when you're interviewing, say, okay, this is what your next 10 years looks like.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you perform, this is this is how your career more than likely will go.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: No promises.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: But it it really struck me like, wow, you know, I mean, I I knew where I could be within a certain period of time, and and uh, you know, nobody else was telling me that.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: They were, you know, just saying, well, you gotta, you know, you gotta do your job well.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: So that's really what attracted me there was the family, family environment and the history that was associated with that organization.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: So um that's really cool.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: I did I didn't realize they were a hundred-year-old company when you started.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it might have been a couple years after.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um I know I still had hair, so it was probably I don't know, a couple years after that they turned 100, but yeah, it started out as a basically a machine shop.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they built components during the war for battleships and really interesting, interesting history.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: That is interesting.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: And so so at the time, though, primarily escalators, is that correct, or were they doing elevators as well?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: They're doing elevators.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we did a lot of low rise elevators, mid-rise, you know, back then it was geared traction elevators.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, when I started, we were just kind of getting into some higher rise stuff, um, which was exciting, especially being in Dallas, because they were really booming, but um they really got into the higher rise stuff.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um probably about uh geez, that was probably 94, 95 area.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: They came out with a new control system that was accepted by the consults and stuff, and so they put in some pre-high-rise stuff.
• 7:06
  unknown: Cool.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: So it's so you were you were you were in a sales role, is that correct?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: You were well actually that's that's the beauty of of Montgomery, is I got to do a lot of different things.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I started out in sales, then I was a branch manager, then I was a regional sales manager, uh, then I went back to headquarters and was running marketing and sales services, and then then I went uh to New York, ran a company for Coney that was after Coney bought us, and then uh back to Moline for another stint and then to to Atlanta.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: So um we moved down around quite a bit.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, it sounds like it.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: Who along the way, what were who were some of your your mentors that that taught you the ropes and kind of helped you see what was possible?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, my first you know, my first stop was in Dallas, and um there was a prolific branch manager there by the name of Jerry Costanzo, um, who was from Chicago.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh he was he was he was something else.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then the first guy I worked for, my sales manager, was Scott Hutter.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: And um Scott, yeah, kind of, you know, we put cross paths in our careers a couple times, but he ended up being one of the senior vice presidents and in headquarters, and I reported to him up there, and then he left and went and um ran a couple companies.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: But he's he serves on our board for for Genesis Elevator now.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, okay.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: So um it's been it's been great just kind of having that kind of relationship.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: So Scott was um Jim Clausen, who was president one time.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of came up through that that his his lineage, so to speak, and any Lauterbach, and and then a couple of a couple of uh Finns, Ilpo Madiama, who ran the Escalator division, and I was the product manager for Escalator, uh great guy, and then Hamo Mackinen was was the president um of North America for for several years when they first bought Bot Montgomery.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Great guy.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: I learned a ton from him.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Guy never forgot a number.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: So you better have your numbers right because he would remember what you said last month.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's a little intimidating for me because uh yeah, yeah, that's tough.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm curious, you uh you mentioned, you know, kind of joining the Montgomery family.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: And then obviously at some point, uh, I don't I don't know the year, but but Kone came in and purchased it.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: How did you notice the shift?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: Did you notice, I mean, did did Kone come in with with kind of that same family feel, or what was that like for you?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think out of the majors and and you know, Montgomery was was you know a large company in the US, but they they weren't international to any significant degree.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: So Koney has a similar history, 100-year-old business.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um the the um Erlin family started it.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: It is it is traded on the Finnish stock exchange, but vast majority of the stocks still owned by the family.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: They're now in their fourth generation, fifth, fifth, I take that back, fifth generation family, um, really running the company.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, it was different.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: The the the fins are different than we are, obviously.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um a little bit different.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: And Hamo came over right away um and planted him here.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: And he he he uh you know, he'd been he'd been he'd been with Coney for a long time and stockholder and stuff, and he pretty much said, We're gonna run this the way you guys run it for a while.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then he goes, I'll let these guys come in, but I'm not gonna let them come in as fast as they want to.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, so it it just made us feel at ease, you know, it still felt like we were still part of this kind of family environment.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: How long did did it run?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, did he I I guess let it run the way it had before he made changes?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it really the first year there weren't a whole lot of changes.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there was some marketing things that were done, and I was charged of marketing at the time, so I, you know, I got involved in in some of that, which was interesting because there was a lot more of a global influence in that.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but in terms of structure and organization and and at that time products, um it was really just, you know, we just kept kept doing what we were doing.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it was I think it was a great, a great way to to go, you know.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of people a change like that's made, and it's it's like you know, it's a revolving door.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that didn't happen.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he was a great leader, he had his lieutenants, and and we just kept on rocking and rolling, you know.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: But the the key was for us is and this was interesting about Montgomery, is Montgomery could never keep up with the other majors in terms of technology.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: We our our job was we had to follow really fast.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um so with Koney, that that completely flipped, you know.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it was just exciting to be part of you know the introduction of the machine with elevator, and and um, you know, I was part of a global escalator development.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just uh it was just it was just really cool to be part of it from that perspective.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I remember going to, I think it was, I don't know, Universal Studios or something in Florida, and I and I saw Montgomery slash Kone, you know, on the on the moving walk.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: And uh how long did they have share the name essentially?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was about it.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I was up at headquarters, that was when I was doing marketing, and and they kept that for about two years.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Until they finally dropped the the Montgomery side.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um but that was a that was a sad day for us guys been around a long time.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: But so how long were you with Montgomery before the acquisition?
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: 12 years.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: And then after the acquisition, how long did you stay?
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: About 13 years.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I left right at 25 years.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: Gotcha, gotcha.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so you you said you uh moved multiple times, landed in Atlanta, and then uh what what changed for you in Atlanta?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, one of the things that that that changed, I mean I had a a a great a great job, and um there wasn't anything that was necessarily wrong with it.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, as major corporations do, they they restructure quite often.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: And um sometimes that doesn't restructuring doesn't work out for people.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, I had three sons, they were in, you know, they were in school, grade school, and in middle school, and and I just knew that I'd be traveling a lot, you know, overseas, and and I just decided I I needed to do something for my family.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's when I I decided to leave um Kone.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I really didn't want to go to work for any other major companies for the same reasons, you know.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: So um after about a year's worth of um conversations with my bride and and um and some mentors, you know, that weren't in the industry in that, um, we decided to to start the company just before the Great Recession, by the way, which wasn't I do, but but you know, we learned how to run lean and mean pretty early.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you would have to.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_02: So you you started uh Genesis Elevator in in uh 2008, is that correct?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you were right before the the Great Recession.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: We were gonna make a big push into the home elevator market, which was you know that was decimated because of mortgage issues.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, then no, it's interesting because we we moved uh to where we're at, uh I guess in 07, and there were a bunch of of uh subdivisions all stubbed out and ready to go.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: And then yeah, for about 10 years, they all just lay dormant until just a few years ago and started building again.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there was a I remember early on, there's a couple of days there I'm just begging the phone to ring, you know, and and I'd run out to anything and and uh um you know we we decided to switch pretty pretty quickly to get into the commercial side of things too, um, which was always part of the plan, just not that that soon.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: So it actually went in reverse because it sounds like you you you got your big footprint in commercial and then moved to residential, but the plan was to start in residential and move to commercial.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: Is that yeah, correct?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, at the time, up before 2007, the residential residential business was growing at a 25% clip year on year.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_05: Huge.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you know, the the indications with aging population and and you know, land was getting scarce, so people are building up and they have to have access to bedrooms and all that stuff, you know, everything appeared to show that this was going to be a great market.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I really thought it was un at that time was underserved.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of kind of small companies, you know, doing it, but they really hadn't looked at taking more of an industrialized approach.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I had pitched it to Kone to do something like that, and and uh um at the end of the day, they just had too many other things that were on their plate, and the majors just they didn't like what they perceived as the liability associated with with the home elevator market.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm sure it is a different beast.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you you work in both, and so uh I can't imagine what it what it's gonna be like to you to go into an existing home and do a retrofit installation, or you know, it's gonna be very, very, very different than on the commercial side and the people you're dealing with and ultimately the the homeowners uh are gonna care the most, right?
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we we you know, our guys when we do service or anything on a home elevator, you know, we always say you're walking into their inner sanctum, so you got to treat it like that.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so booties and yes, ma'am, yes, sir, you know, um professionalism, it's really it's different than you know pulling service on an office building or school or you know um hospital or something like that.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's just different.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a lot more personal, whereas the office building is is is professional, it's not as personal.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: No, no.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, most of our our guys, you know, and we're um part of our process is that they need to spend about 10 minutes talking to the the homeowner, not necessarily about elevators, just connect with them and and make sure you know that we've done our job and everything, but then just connect with them because then you become a tr a trusted servant, you know, for their home.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: And and that's really important.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we want that anyway.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we want to um we want to share what's going on in our company with with um others and and homeowners are usually pretty interested, they've got time, especially people who are elevators.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, and they're probably not gonna walk away while you're while you got your tools there and you're working on it, right?
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: They're gonna stay there and probably watch you the whole time.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: And and so, you know, the guys we put in in that end of the business, we really make sure that they have these relational skills or and partners as you know important as the technical skills.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: One guy get calls on all the time, you know, from people saying how wonderful he is and all this other kind of stuff.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's a decent mechanic, but he's he's just a great guy.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_02: Really personable, sure.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: It makes all the difference in the world, you know?
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, yep, absolutely.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_02: So I I'm curious, you yeah, so it sounds like you got your start really in the the commercial side.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: And then then in the residential, how long before you actually started manufacturing?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: Because I believe the the other half of your business uh or other part uh revelation, I think you call it right, is the manufacturing a home elevator product, correct?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: We started uh, I mean, we've we talked about it for many years.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, I know enough about I was in manufacturing for a little bit.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: I knew enough about manufacturing to know I didn't know enough about manufacturing.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: Understood.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but a a friend of mine who was in manufacturing his entire career, Al Seba, he he was retiring from John Deere and he had a big job with them.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, you know, what's kind of cool about you, Jay, is you can kind of you don't have to go from a hundred miles an hour to zero.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's what he was he was thinking about as retiring.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: I said, so I thought about it, I said, maybe you don't have to.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so he I dragged him into it.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so he's he went into it with me, and and um he really for the most part, he kind of runs runs the program.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: In terms of leadership, he's it more of a consultant basis for the guy that we have that's there, but he just brings a whole different mindset, you know, sure to the manufacturing.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: We got more three letter acronyms over there than anybody's business, and and uh, you know, it's it's you can eat off the floor, it's so clean.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: So, do you brand the home elevators as revelation or are they still Genesis brands?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Elevators, but the the manufacturing portion is called Revelation.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean for Genesis, we sell Genesis product, it's Revelation, but it's just a it's kind of like a model name.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the reason, and they're actually two completely separate companies.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because one of the things that that that we really are interested in doing is getting into distribution.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and not, you know, not going out installing the elevators or anything like that, but finding, you know, quality home elevator companies that want a good product, um, you know, or are concerned about uh um the way it looks.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're very focused in on what the customer sees.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, we've also developed a one-day installation process for a home elevator.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a that's a big deal.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: We're still, you know, we're still refining that and working on it.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: But one of the things I learned at Koney, um, and the fins are are, I mean, if I heard process out of a finished employee once I heard it a hundred thousand times, is you know, there's only one best process.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: There's only one.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now you got to figure out what that is, but you have to start by at least having a process.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: And then you got to keep refining it and refining it and refining it.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: You got to keep just working it.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so we've we've been we've been doing that.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: And um, we have a great guy running the manufacturing side who's got you know a lot of manufacturing experience, and so they're really getting dialed into it.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the way we look at it is is manufacturing or doesn't stop until we turn the keys over to the customer.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that the manufacturing process moves to site, into the home, essentially.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so we do as much much of the manufacturing process under roof where it can be controlled, and you have better chances at good quality and and low defects.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then what happens out in the field is is uh you know, it's all plug and play, it's easy, kind of an erector set kind of mentality.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: So um we're pretty excited about it.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's uh we still got we still got a lot of work to do, but it's come along.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: And I was gonna you you actually answered my question before I even asked it.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: Are you you know, do you sell it outside or you only uh install, you know, are you the only installer of your product?
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: But it sounds like that's that is part of the the goal is to like you say, find other vendors, other uh installers to to sell your product to.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: So they yeah, we've we've started out.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're not in any big hurry.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: We we want to do it right, and so we had two companies this year.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: We really just started distributing outside of Genesis this year.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: So we've had a couple of companies um they've been buying some product from us, and um um it's gone really well, you know.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's gone really well.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll keep we'll keep expanding um throughout the southeast and then nationwide.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: Have you ever gotten a lot of people?
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody probably will be.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: I won't be around.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and and let's you know, we can um obviously talk a little bit about that.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_02: I I wanted to find out, I know that you as a company, the Genesis Elevator in particular, um, is a huge, you know, a large contributor to a uh I guess it's a a charity, um, a ministry called Saving Susan.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: Is that correct?
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, tell me how that all started.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I uh you know, I I believe in Jesus Christ.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: So um I was in church and and they started talking about some mission trips you're gonna take.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I never I was 48 years old, I wasn't never gonna go on a mission trip.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_02: Too busy.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: God had other other ideas.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, I really felt called to go.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I didn't know why.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: And and we were going to Cambodia, and I man, I didn't know where Cambodia was, I just knew it was over there somewhere in Southeast Asia.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know anything about the country or anything, and so you know, I went and I learned about the country, and it's an amazing place, but it's been just decimated over centuries, I'm sure.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: And and the people they say that people in Cambodia that have that are that are pureblood Cambodia they don't understand the concept of love because they haven't been loved.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, and we found that to be true, we really did.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: But we went to this Christian orphanage that our church was sponsoring, and you know, I love kids, I love kids.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: My wife and I thought about adopting one time, didn't work out, but I just love kids, and so we spent time at that orphanage, fine.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: And we went, you know, to this other orphanage in the middle of the country, and and you know, the the first day we were there, this little girl who was four years old and I just kind of connected, and we didn't even speak the stinking language, you know.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm showing pictures on the phone, we're taking pictures.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, we get up to leave, and and my heart was burdened for this this little girl.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: And right, so I called my wife, and you know, the communication was broken.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: I go, and I didn't know much about adoption or anything else.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: I go, uh girl, adopt uh that's all she heard.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: So she was freaking out thinking I was gonna stuff bring home some kids.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, one thing led to another, and found out she couldn't be adopted because because the borders are closed to human because of human trafficking and corruption in a lot of the the developing countries.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we started just having talked to the I talked to the orphanage director, and we started having video calls, just like you and I are having here.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing led to another, and and so we founded a ministry called Saving Susan.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Her name's actually Wechica, but I couldn't pronounce it, so I said I'm just gonna call her Susan.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how it kind of got wasn't some big marketing um um effort.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, so we've been doing that since since then, and uh it's it's it's been such a huge blessing, just not not just to my wife and I and her family, but to people in the company too, because they sit saving Susan sits in the same office space that we're in.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: Oh wow, okay.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: They're just in a different different area, and so it's kind of become a corporate mission, as it were.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's it sounds like the company overall.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_02: I think you said that there's a certain percent of a percentage of of profits that that go right into that foundation.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, we give 20 we get 24 percent last year, and we're about on the same probably 25 this year.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's a big after after bonuses and everything, you know.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: So we take care of our people, but we give a big chunk of of the money to to that.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: And um it's it was interesting because as we sat this past year and really talked about, okay, what what are what are we here for?
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: What are we really here for?
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: And everybody knew, well, we got this saving Susan, you know, we got this working care thing, and you know, we have this other stuff and everything else, and and it just it just dawned on me, I said, hey guys, here's the deal.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's our purpose.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just something we do because it's good to do that kind of stuff.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we exist.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: We exist for that, and so it became our purpose, and we changed our mission and and everything.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: We our our mission is to elevate orphan care, and uh um so everything we do now is centered around how does this impact our purpose, and um, you know, we we bring our vendors into it, our customers, you know, and it's not that we're looking for everybody to donate money, we're just saying, hey, you know, there's there's uh there's meaning in this, and if you're interested, um you can become part of it in a lot of different ways.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_02: So you've got you've got other partners, it's not just a a the the company that's sponsoring, if you will.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: The company pays for all the overhead costs.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: So all of the programs and everything that goes into um the kids can go direct from if you donate a dollar, a dollar goes to the okay.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's it what's been interesting is it's growing so fast.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, we got to keep growing this company to keep up with it.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we've realized that you know, God's gonna take care of it regardless.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't, it doesn't depend just on us.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: We've got we've got, you know, there's an architectural firm across the street, and we take these kids all the way through college.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: So once they become into part of the program, they're in the program.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we don't, we always advocate them, we always stay in touch with them.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: We pair, we partner them up with other families like Tracy and I did with Weichica.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and we're with them through they get through college and find a job.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, our purpose at the ministry is to give them an opportunity to be people of influence and have an impact for the for for God's kingdom.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: We have to get them out of poverty, we have to get them out of the out of the path of human trafficking and all these things that happen to orphans, whether they're in the orphanage or not.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, once most orphanages or children's homes, when you turn a certain age, you're you're out on your own.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they don't have the means to do anything.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: So they what do they do?
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: They end up going back to where they came from and just repeating the cycle.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: So um we found businesses that actually they they fund the ministry because they're like industries.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: So this architectural firm is funding a kid in Guatemala to become an architect.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: We have a restaurant that's we have our first or our first kid out of culinary school just graduated.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: He was funded by a restaurant, and we got teachers doing that.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: We've got uh an IT company that's supporting another kid.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: We have a doctor that's we've got two kids that are in their fifth year of medical school, and this doctor's paying for both of their medical education.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: So um that's that's really and again, it's it's cool, Matthew, how God works.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't know that that that was going to be the end game, sure, you know, and now we're seeing these kids.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: We had one uh girl that that graduated from college, she was supported by some teachers, she went back to her orphanage that has a school there and she's teaching, and now she wants to become a lawyer.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, and this is a girl who was afraid of her own shadow.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_04: Sure.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: Just she was she was a a wallflower, you know, she wasn't gonna go out and do anything.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: And my wife went on her school visit with her in Cambodia, and and it's just it's just been cool.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: And my so my my reason for telling you all this is I believe this is what business is supposed to do.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: How many times have you run into or I've run into a business owner or a uh you know uh an exec that are completely miserable because they've gotten everything they've ever wanted materially, and and the all the power and procedure goes with it, and it didn't deliver what they thought it would.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: I absolutely convinced is because they didn't find their purpose.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's not their purpose, sure.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't, you know, you don't have to be Christian.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: You can still, there's a lot of great purposes out there, but you gotta do something that is beyond you and what you do for a living.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what I hear you say.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_02: Do do something greater than yourself, right?
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_02: As you find something greater than yourself, that that's where you can find a deeper joy, purpose, you know, uh contribute in a bigger way than just maybe having all the toys and and you know, those aren't gonna necessarily deliver the the joy you're looking for.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: They never will, they never will.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: You'll they're great for a while.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like when you're a kid, you got a new toy, man, it's best thing, and it lasted what a couple of days.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's no different when you get older, it's the same stinking thing.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: How many cars can you have or boats or trips or whatever the case is?
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're not gonna, they're not gonna give you the kind of joy that comes from truly being committed to doing something for somebody else without any strings attached, right?
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: That that is pure joy.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: I can't imagine my life without it.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I tell you what, you you go back 20 years, I wasn't that guy.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you know, sure.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: I was all about Jay, what's Jay gonna do, you know?
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: And and I was I'm the fortune, the god called me out of called me out of that and said, No, you you the only reason you're doing this elevator company is I got something else in mind for you.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that was the truth.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_02: So so as you get ready to retire, um, how how is this gonna play out?
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it sounds like you're probably on the board.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_02: I think you said your wife is heavily involved.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_02: What what is that gonna look like for you?
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_02: And are you concerned that uh maybe the the foundation, the the the mission of the the charity won't carry forward, or what does that look like?
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a good question.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're those are questions that we're we're really challenged with right now.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's an organization called Mission Increase.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's really been great.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: They're helping us through this transition.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that they say, you know, really for your mission to really take take wings, the founders need to be out of it.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: Interesting.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_02: So you're saying you're saying that the mission can grow once you get out of the way?
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_02: Is that what you're saying?
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it really and it really, I mean, it's grown pretty fast.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's because of my my wife is is phenomenal with that.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: But the reality is that's not how most ministries go.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I mean, you get older and you're just I mean, how many how many teams of people can you take to these far off places?
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: It it's uh it's it gets to be a struggle.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, trust me.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, you gotta you gotta get in fresh blood.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's no different than transitioning out of this this role here, too, is you know, there's there's uh I'm sure there's better ways than what I learned.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't know what they are.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: So you gotta bring people in that can do it.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's it's uh it's amazing work you're doing.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_02: And and uh I'm sure yeah, you've got a plan in place, and it's just a matter of kind of executing it to to make sure you've got people running the the uh the Genesis and Revelation side and the and the Saving Susan side.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_02: And um So we're we're kind of running out of time, but as we as we wrap up, what what's some of the I don't know, some of the greatest lessons you've learned or or some advice you would give to those in the industry or just you know anybody who's listening um over over because you've you've had a remarkable career, I'm sure you've you've learned a lot.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh um the the most important thing is keep the important things important.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um family, you know, don't sacrifice your family for your career.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, put put your family first and and I'm saying these things because I've made these mistakes and have had to recover from them.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think that's important.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: Don't take yourself so seriously, you know, enjoy what you do, have some fun, you know, don't make it a grind.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: Enjoy the people you're working with.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't, then go do something else.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, spend too much time.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: I used to always tell people, you spend too much time at work to not like what you're doing and not like the people you're doing with.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_05: True.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: So the industry is interesting though, because people who get in rarely rarely leave.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's you know, there's there's I think it happens more more nowadays.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it used to be, man, once you're it was kind of like the what's what is about you elevator guys?
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: You never leave.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: But it's fascinating, it's interesting, it's there, it's always different.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's just uh it's a lot of fun.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it from having exposure to a lot of different industries, I've never found anything quite like the elevator industry, the camaraderie, the the lifetime friendships, the the way people can reach out and uh you know ask somebody for help, even at totally different companies 20 years after they worked with each other.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, it's a it's a it's a tribe.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: There's no question, it is a tribe.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: I left it for a couple years and went off and worked for another company, and I got bored.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm going, geez, this is all there is.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I went back, I went back to Koney, you know, and and finished out my corporate career with them because I, you know, elevators were just, I don't know.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: There's just so many, so many different things you can do, and and uh um it's it's always neat driving down the road and knowing that that building you had a part of and it's gonna last a lot longer than you.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: The worst part is though, is when they start modernizing those buildings that you sold the new equipment in.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_02: Then you're starting to feel your age a little bit, huh?
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: Then you know it's time for you to get out and let somebody else in the chair.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_02: Gotcha, gotcha.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Jay, this has been very fun.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate your time.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate all your wisdom and and um thank you for coming on to share it with us.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: No problem, Matthew.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: You have a great uh great holiday.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: Bye-bye, bye-bye.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers podcast.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_02: You can check us out online at elevatorcareers.net.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_02: Please subscribe, and until next time, stay safe.