Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Finding Harmony in Business: Karl Osterland's Musical Path to Leadership | Staffing Series

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Finding Harmony in Business: Karl Osterland's Musical Path to Leadership | Staffing Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of Inspired Stories where leaders
0:07
share their experiences so we can learn from their successes,
0:10
how they've overcome adversity, and explore current challenges
0:13
they're facing. Welcome to another edition of
0:19
the Inspired Stories podcast, where leaders share their
0:21
experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired
0:25
by how they've overcome adversity.
0:27
My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and today's guest is Carl Osterland,
0:31
president of Fast Temps Employment.
0:33
Fast Temps is a full service staffing agency that connects
0:36
businesses with reliable talent and light industrial, clerical,
0:40
administrative, hospitality and medical roles.
0:44
They believe in balancing growth with genuine care, serving
0:47
clients since 1997. Under Carl's leadership, Fass
0:52
Temps earned honors like the Outstanding Achiever Award from
0:56
the SBA and recognition by Goldline Research as one of the
1:00
most dependable staffing agencies in the Great Lakes
1:03
region. Carl Co founded FASS Temps and
1:07
also serves as music director at Historic Trinity Lutheran
1:11
Church. Reflecting a unique blend of
1:13
leadership and creativity, he has guided the company through
1:17
steady expansion, securing major partnerships.
1:20
Carl's commitment to honesty and personalized service has shaped
1:24
Fast Temp's reputation as a trusted staffing partner.
1:28
Now before we get into all that good stuff, today's episode is
1:30
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2:00
Now back to our guest today, the President of Fast Temps.
2:03
Carl, I appreciate you making the time to Share your story
2:05
today. Hi, how are you?
2:09
OK, so before we get into your career path and what inspired
2:14
you to start Past Temps, I want to go back a little bit earlier
2:17
than that and hear about what first inspired you to get
2:21
involved in music. Well, grew up on a farm.
2:28
I'd had a few piano lessons, and there was a fateful day, I think
2:34
it was 1965. I was sitting in the living room
2:38
of our old farmhouse watching the big old Magnavox TV, big old
2:42
mahogany case with a very little flickery screen.
2:46
And it was an early transcontinental satellite
2:52
broadcast. The technology had not quite
2:54
settled in, and the picture was sometimes going in and out and
2:58
lots of flickering going on. But it was broadcast live from
3:03
Saint Paul's Cathedral in London.
3:07
And I still remember the hymns that Churchill had had picked
3:10
out, Oh God, Our Help in ages past, and the Battle Hymn of the
3:13
Republic. He wanted something very British
3:16
and something very American. And it was the choir and this
3:21
wonderful organ. And it just, it was enchanting
3:26
to me, this these beautiful, beautiful sounds.
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I'd never heard an organ like that.
3:29
I'd never heard a choir like that before and I sat there and
3:34
my 9 year old self said I think I can do that.
3:39
I wanted to make those sounds and so I asked to take organ
3:43
lessons when I had gotten a little bit more piano study
3:46
under my belt and I ended up majoring it in it in college and
3:51
the rest is history. Wow, so this was Winston
3:55
Churchill's funeral being broadcast live from London.
3:58
You're a nine year old sitting in your country farm home living
4:02
room watching, and these sounds inspired you to want to be able
4:07
to do something very similar. And so that sets you on the path
4:11
of practice, practice, practice more practice.
4:14
The arrogance of youth. I was sure I could do that.
4:18
And how close have you gotten? Well, not too bad.
4:23
Right. So tell us a little bit about
4:25
your position at the historic Trinity Lutheran Church.
4:29
I've been there for 33 years. I I always laugh historic
4:34
organist at historic Trinity Lutheran Church.
4:39
It's a a a beautiful beautiful building in downtown Detroit
4:43
National Register of Historic Places and and other historic
4:48
designations. It's a wonderful EM Skinner pipe
4:51
organ, a very spirited volunteer choir and a a vibrant, diverse
5:00
congregation. It's been a great place to make
5:02
music all these years. So strong background in music,
5:08
you're still involved, you still have a, a notable position
5:12
there, but music to temporary staffing like walk us through.
5:18
I, I think there's a bit of a, an interesting path that got you
5:21
there. Let's hear more about that.
5:23
Right. I think back to my college days
5:27
with my dad was so angry with me for majoring in music.
5:32
He wanted me to get a business degree or something sensible and
5:36
I didn't do it. I really, really wanted to
5:38
follow my my dreams and bachelor's and master's and even
5:42
part of a doctorate in in organ performance.
5:46
So then I graduated with no visible means of support.
5:51
You know, I had a part time church job, a great part time
5:53
church job, but how do you make a living?
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So I ended up working for a temporary staffing agency myself
6:03
at that point. And they sent me to various
6:06
assignments and one of the, some of the offices had been very,
6:12
very posh, very wonderful that I was in high level support.
6:17
They sent me to a hospital, to a food service department on a two
6:23
week typing assignment. And I can remember walking in
6:28
and it was a bright fluorescent lights and orange tile on the
6:32
floor and, you know, glossy white walls.
6:36
And I can remember thinking, Oh my gosh, they told me I was
6:40
going to be here for two weeks. Well, that was my office for 10
6:45
years. They ended up hiring me and I
6:49
had a series of promotions when I was at the hospital and ended
6:53
up being a manager of the department.
6:56
Unfortunately, well, all the changes in healthcare, my
7:00
position was downsized and eliminated.
7:04
And so at that point, what, what was I going to do?
7:09
I had taught elementary music in, in the interim for a while,
7:13
for two years. I, I was not good at teaching at
7:15
all. I really wasn't.
7:19
So I ended up applying for a bunch of things and through
7:22
connections I ended up working for Historic Trinity.
7:27
So that was half time and half time for the city of Detroit as
7:31
an administrative assistant to one of the Detroit City Council
7:34
people, which is very interesting.
7:37
I was interacting with the Arts Commission and the Historical
7:42
Commission and, and you know, high level people, the press,
7:48
very interesting. But my Councilman did not get re
7:52
elected. And then I was without a job.
7:56
Then I was applying for anything.
8:00
And one of the, the comments I kept getting on my resume was
8:05
it's unfocused. You know, you've got music
8:08
degrees and hospital management and you've got this
8:11
administrative assistant job for the city of Detroit.
8:14
It doesn't add up to anything. We don't know what you're about
8:17
here. We don't know what you can do.
8:19
And I floundered around for a while and then finally decided
8:22
that, you know, I really needed to start my own business because
8:28
nobody was going to hire me. And by the time I'd met Tim and
8:34
we both had a, a, a background. Tim is your partner.
8:37
Tim is my partner and we both he he'd owned a restaurant and done
8:43
some actually high level restaurant management stuff.
8:47
My role at the hospital was business manager at the in food
8:51
service. So, you know, the, the normal
8:54
thing would to be to, to look at restaurant opportunities.
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And since we didn't really think we knew enough to start our own
9:02
restaurant, you know, we looked at franchises and nothing seemed
9:06
like a good fit. Everything was very expensive to
9:10
get into. The franchise fees were so high
9:14
going forward that nothing seemed to make sense.
9:17
And then I was looking at other franchises and there was a a
9:21
group that was going to sell a franchise in Ann Arbor, MI for a
9:27
temporary staffing agency. So I looked into that and it
9:31
interested me and it was partly because I'd had a good
9:34
experience working for a staffing agency myself.
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And I ended up spending a year being trained by them.
9:44
And it looked like that was going to go forward and, and was
9:47
going to be good. And then they, they decided that
9:51
they were not going to sell franchises in Michigan and, and
9:55
because the numbers were looking really good, they wanted to keep
9:58
it corporate owned. Well, OK, I was out in the cold.
10:02
Other than they had made the error of not having me sign a
10:05
non competition agreement. So, you know, Tim and I just
10:09
decided, well, I mean, I'm kind of half trained.
10:13
We can do this on our own. And so we did that.
10:17
And after six months it was not working.
10:23
Their model was not right at all for this this market.
10:28
It was basically based on a a day labor kind of market, which
10:31
would be, you know, fine for like construction or you know,
10:35
casual labor kinds of situations.
10:37
Ann Arbor is a very white collar kind of town and the businesses
10:41
in the surrounding areas wanted ongoing more skilled temp to
10:47
perm kinds of situations. So we rejected the original
10:52
model and found our own way with our own model, and that was the
10:56
right thing to do because it has been successful.
11:00
That's interesting to hear. A couple of things I want to
11:03
point out. First of all, this idea that
11:06
your resume, your CV seemed unfocused.
11:09
We were joking about this a little bit before we went on
11:11
air. I hear that from entrepreneurs
11:16
all the time when whether they have a successful exit or, you
11:20
know, the business that doesn't work out and they're trying to
11:22
think out what's next. It is a classic story that
11:25
they're like, nobody will hire me because my resume.
11:29
It's like, oh, I saw an opportunity here and I found an
11:31
opportunity there. And it's like I, you know, I
11:34
think a lot of times entrepreneurs like good, bad or
11:38
indifferent, you know, they, they refuse to be sort of
11:40
pigeonholed that they can't be put in a box.
11:43
And your story kind of aligns with that perfectly.
11:46
The, the other interesting thing to call out here is that, you
11:51
know, you spent, what was it a year with the, the, the
11:54
franchise getting trained by them, the franchise we're going
11:57
to buy into. And, and you're like, the, hey,
12:01
this is going to be the thing. This is what I'm going to do.
12:03
And then at the last second they pull the rug out and they're
12:06
like, Nope, we're, we're going to keep this corporate because
12:08
we like this opportunity. And I imagine that had to be
12:11
hugely deflating for you. Like you had been looking,
12:14
looking, looking. Now you found the thing, you're
12:17
pretty well trained in it. And they're like, Nope, sorry.
12:19
You know, you're out in the cold again, but you took that not as
12:24
a this is a door shut. It's like, well, yeah, maybe
12:27
this door closed, but look at this window opened up over here
12:30
for us. Like you, you sort of took the
12:32
lemon and you found the lemonade in it.
12:35
So yes, it was deflating and it was discombobulating to have to
12:40
totally readjust my thinking. There was another part of me,
12:43
though, that didn't necessarily like the corporate people that I
12:47
that I was interacting with. There was a bit of relief to
12:51
have them out of my life too. So in the end, the very good
12:57
thing that that breakup happened.
12:59
But it did, yeah, incidentally, that that national organization
13:03
has long, long since gone out of business.
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You know, if we had been part of that, that organization, we
13:09
would have been pulled under along with the rest of their
13:13
their failure. So another good example of this
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door closes another one or a window or something else opens
13:20
up. So that's kind of the universe
13:23
steering you in the right direction, I think.
13:26
So when you when you Co founded Fast Temps in 1997, initially as
13:30
I understand it, you focused on light industrial staffing.
13:35
What was the catalyst for evolving into more of a full
13:38
service staffing agency and were the key moments along the way
13:43
that you made you realize that you could successfully scale
13:48
into different industries? 2008 was the catalyst, you may
13:55
recall that was there was the the banking crisis that was
13:58
going on here in Michigan. Everything is about the auto
14:03
industry in Southeast Michigan and the auto industry was in
14:07
freefall and most of our clients were suppliers to the auto
14:13
industry and we were just flat on our backs.
14:17
And we made a commitment at that point that we were going to
14:20
diversify, you know, so hospitality, healthcare,
14:26
administrative things, and we did that and that has served us
14:31
well. So give us a picture of the
14:35
different services that Fast Temp offers today.
14:39
Well, it's, it's those areas we still do our original positions,
14:44
staffing, factories. It's, it's, it's pretty basic
14:49
manufacturer will call us up and say we need 5 people on 2nd
14:54
shift to start, you know, Monday or something like that and we
14:58
line them up. Healthcare, we have a couple of
15:04
different areas. One, we have a contract with
15:07
Livingston County to to staff group homes for community mental
15:11
health. We are also, we have been a
15:16
prime vendor at the University of Michigan since 2001 and that
15:20
includes University Hospital and, and all their outpatient
15:24
clinics at various locations. And that includes particularly
15:31
medical assistants, phlebotomists and really a whole
15:35
range of allied health positions that we, we staff for them.
15:39
So that that's another part of our business.
15:42
And then administrative is, is like everything else, it's,
15:46
it's, it's, it's classic, you know, temporary staffing.
15:50
We need a secretary to fill in for the next, you know, month
15:53
or, or or whatever very classic kinds of things hospitality ends
15:59
up being support for can be hotels, cleaning people, food
16:07
service people, cooks, prep cooks, anything that the
16:12
hospitality industry needs. I understand that U of M
16:18
contract that you got was pretty key for where you guys were in
16:22
your development arc. Say more about how that came
16:25
about and what it meant to the company going forward.
16:29
When we opened already in 1997, in my mind that was the Pearl of
16:33
great price. You know that that that was,
16:35
that was the contract to get in Washtenaw County, which is true.
16:39
It's it's probably the best contract in the in the county.
16:46
Is it because of the big brand name or is it more just from a
16:49
business perspective? It opens up so many
16:51
opportunities. So it is the brand name.
16:56
It's also huge. They, they use temporary
16:59
staffing both at the, on the university side and the hospital
17:02
side. So it's administrative, it's
17:04
help with cooks and cleaning people.
17:07
And you know, the, the hospital stuff that we were talking about
17:13
before. It's just a broad range of
17:15
things that it takes to keep that huge organization running.
17:21
And I, I, I, on a personal level, I went to school at the
17:26
University of Michigan, both degrees, you know, I, I, I bleed
17:32
maze and blew if punctured. I was the pianist for the
17:36
University of Michigan Men's Glee Club, which sings, you
17:39
know, Hail to the Victors and all of the, the songs associated
17:43
with the University of Michigan. Coming from a farm, the
17:47
University of Michigan just opened up the world for me.
17:51
It, it, it just hit me at the right time in my life.
17:55
It was just, it was a wonderful experience for me and the idea
17:59
of serving that organization has really pleased me over the
18:03
years. We've been there since 2001.
18:06
I hold my breath every time. It's rebid, but we're still
18:09
there and a a bunch of other organizations are not, so here
18:13
we are. Well, that's fantastic.
18:16
And So what did that mean to your business going forward when
18:18
you got that contract? It is, it's a base, you know it,
18:23
they pay their bills. It's, it's a large quantity.
18:27
Either we, we do it at, we do it cheap enough.
18:29
You know, it's, it's a low markup account based on high
18:33
volume, but it is a base. It doesn't go away.
18:36
You know, that's that's always there.
18:39
It's a very steady Eddy kind of a contract.
18:41
It is, yes. So we've already talked about
18:45
your music background. Still ongoing, The music
18:49
director at the Trinity Lutheran Church, obviously a role that's
18:53
very different from running a staffing firm, has Has that
18:56
musical background influenced your leadership style and the
19:00
culture at Best Temps in any way?
19:04
Creativity is not a bad thing when running a business.
19:08
So in general terms I would say yes, you know it.
19:14
It's just I think it's easier for arts people to think
19:17
out-of-the-box and and think more creatively when it comes to
19:20
solving problems. Tell me more about your mission
19:25
statement, what it is, and why it's so foundational for fast
19:29
EPS. It has not changed since 1997.
19:33
And I think, I don't know, I'm, I'm rather proud of that, that
19:36
we've been true to our, our initial goals point #1 is that
19:41
we will treat all employees with dignity and fairness.
19:45
That is not true for all temporary staffing agencies.
19:48
Some, sometimes the temps end up getting treated as commodities
19:53
and we don't ever want to do that.
19:55
They're they're people, we're going to treat them well.
19:59
And then secondly, we're going to offer excellent service, 100%
20:03
of what our clients want. And then third is profitability
20:10
and we believe that profitability will flow from
20:13
those those first two things and it has.
20:17
So profitability I want to note is third on the list, not first
20:21
or second. So say more about, let's start
20:24
with the the 1st element of your mission statement to treat all
20:28
employees with dignity and fairness.
20:30
Can you maybe give a a specific example of how that has played
20:36
out in Fest temps? Oh, there are many over the
20:42
years. It's been a long history.
20:46
Oh, there. There's a lady who's been
20:48
working for us in various positions at the university for
20:52
over 10 years now. She's very loyal to Bast Hems.
20:56
You know, I know her. I know her story.
21:01
She was an older lady who was downsized early.
21:06
It was an early retirement from an automotive supplier and then
21:10
was pondering around. She didn't have enough
21:12
retirement resources to make it without anything.
21:15
And she came to us for help. Lovely lady, West Indian
21:19
background. So she has this, this, this
21:21
lovely, somewhat British accent and exquisite old fashioned
21:28
manners. And we ended up sending her to
21:31
a, a front desk position at the University of Michigan.
21:33
And she has been in that kind of role now for, for over 10 years.
21:38
The university has loved her. We, you know, and she has loved
21:44
them, but you know, I know who she is.
21:49
I know her story. I take care of her when it's
21:54
time that she should get a raise.
21:55
I make sure that she gets that raise.
21:58
When she needed some time off for surgery, I made sure that
22:02
that was OK with the client department, that they knew what
22:05
was going on. It's just stuff like that,
22:07
knowing the people, knowing their names, knowing their
22:10
stories and and trying to help when you can.
22:15
I have to imagine as you continue to grow that it's
22:19
probably a little bit more difficult for you to know every
22:22
single worker that you guys help employ.
22:27
How do you help to make sure that the the team that you've
22:32
delegated to underneath you is able to kind of represent the
22:37
same values and the same commitment to treating employees
22:41
with integrity and fairness that you would?
22:44
Yeah. Well, I mean, you have to talk
22:46
about those values, remind them in daily staff meetings, we
22:51
often talk about individual employees, what's best for them,
22:55
what can we do for them, Individual clients too,
22:59
obviously, you know, but so it's, it's now a matter of
23:04
trying to share those values with the staff because I don't
23:08
actually do a lot of hands on interviewing and placing myself.
23:15
Let's talk about the commitment to excellent service as well.
23:19
I think again, this is the kind of thing where like an anecdote
23:23
or two would be really helpful to help exhibit how fast temps
23:27
goes above and beyond whenever they can.
23:31
Well, it's, it's a matter of getting to know it's people, you
23:38
know, it's a people business and that includes both the employees
23:42
but also the clients. We like to think that, you know,
23:48
we're a small organization, that we're big enough to get the job
23:52
done, but small enough to care. And that means building
23:57
relationships with the clients. Fast, fast Temps has
24:02
historically spent a lot of time face to face with, with hiring
24:08
managers. Unfortunately, a lot of that
24:10
ended during COVID. We're not quite back to that.
24:13
You know, it became Zoom and, and, and phones and particularly
24:17
e-mail. I'm encouraging the staff to get
24:21
back to where we were at one time with more face to FaceTime.
24:26
But that is, that is how you give excellent service, though
24:30
you interact with the clients, you get to know on a deeper
24:34
level what it is that they need. What it what is the corporate
24:38
culture? When you send in a in a
24:41
temporary employee, are they going to fit in?
24:44
Are they going to be, you know, part of that corporate culture
24:48
or are they going to be, you know, a fifth wheel and just not
24:52
fit in? So I think, I think that that's
24:54
that's important and I think that differentiates us from from
24:58
other agencies that that don't get to know their clients on
25:01
that level. Can you say more about what the
25:06
interview and onboarding process looks like for new employees?
25:09
Guys are servicing a number of clients now and different
25:12
geographies. You're, you're, you're hiring
25:17
for different types of positions, different industries.
25:20
What does that process look like?
25:22
How do you how do you sort of balance efficiency with sort of
25:27
making sure that you find the right culture and skill fit for
25:30
your clients? We still require in, in person,
25:34
face to face interviews for everything.
25:37
Some agencies have either gone to Zoom or in, in some cases
25:42
there's no way, there's really no interview.
25:45
You know, they're filling out online questionnaires and so
25:48
forth. And I'm, I'm really totally
25:49
against that. You've, you've got to see
25:51
people, you know, you've got to read their body language, see
25:56
the expressions on their faces to get to know are they real?
26:00
Are they going to work out? So that's that's step one is, is
26:04
some kind of meaningful face to face interaction.
26:09
And then the screening ends up being unique according to the
26:13
client's needs. They often define that they
26:16
need, they need a A10 panel drug screen, they need a 5 panel drug
26:21
screen. It's marijuana friendly or it's
26:25
not marijuana friendly. They require a national criminal
26:29
background check. They require a a state police
26:34
background check. And, and sometimes there are all
26:39
kinds of little specific things that clients want done.
26:44
So we we just customize according to whatever it is that
26:47
the client needs and expects. You know, I'm looking at your
26:51
website here as we're talking, and it's fast temps
26:54
employment.com, so FAS temps employment.com.
26:59
And I see that you service a few locations there in southern
27:04
Michigan, which makes sense. The geography, you know, kind of
27:07
makes it easier to kind of wrap your hands around and, you know,
27:10
be able to physically travel to different offices.
27:13
Then I also see that you're servicing some locations in
27:16
California, which obviously is a a long ways away.
27:19
Talk to me about how that move came about.
27:22
What was the decision of the motivation to expand to the West
27:26
Coast? So it it was again it was kind
27:30
of economic and and recession driven.
27:34
We had a large client here in Michigan move their operations
27:38
to the Southern California and they offered to bring us along.
27:45
So that was the basis for a new office in California.
27:50
It was not automotive and it was not in the Detroit area.
27:55
It was a way of diversifying and so we did that.
27:59
We took advantage of that opportunity and that we now have
28:02
two offices, one in Los Angeles proper and and one in the far
28:07
Eastern suburbs. But that that the that incident
28:12
though was, was the basis for those those offices.
28:16
Would I be correct in assuming now that you have a bigger base
28:19
of clients out? There, yes, of course, and in
28:21
fact the the the original client is long gone.
28:24
OK. So you can thank them for kind
28:27
of the opportunity to move out West and.
28:30
Yes, you. Guys have been able to make the
28:32
most of that since. Since that move, and then Tim is
28:35
from California, so he runs the show in California.
28:37
I run the show in Michigan. How often does Tim have to go
28:41
back and forth? Oh, maybe once a month or
28:45
something like that. OK, it's it's a complicated way
28:49
of living, but we make it work. So I want to talk about winning
28:56
some of the awards that you guys have, the outstanding achiever
28:59
award from the SBA being named one of the most dependable
29:03
staffing agencies. This suggests, you know a pretty
29:06
high standard of excellence. Talk to us more about how you
29:12
maintain that quality and consistency as as you've
29:15
expanded into these different markets.
29:17
I have to be honest, I'm not sure how either one of those
29:19
organizations make that decision.
29:22
They, they just tell you that, you know, it.
29:24
They, I know that they do surveys of clients.
29:29
I don't know what else they do. But anyway, you just get this
29:32
nice surprise and make both cases and you know, it just goes
29:37
back to those core values, you know, particularly the customer
29:41
service doing it and doing it and doing it, you know, making
29:46
sure that the clients are happy, that you're meeting their
29:48
expectations, making sure you know what the expectations are
29:52
and then meeting them. But you've already talked about,
29:56
Carl, how you are different from a lot of temporary staffing
30:00
agencies in that you still require an in person face to
30:04
face interview. You want to get a feel for that
30:06
person, know their energy, know their personality a little bit
30:09
better. Is there are you guys using some
30:13
tech on the front end to help sort of weed out and get down to
30:19
like a a smaller group of people to do those in person interviews
30:22
with? I sort of balance the, you know,
30:25
the new tech that's available with sort of the, the old
30:28
school, you know, personal hand touch.
30:30
So I don't know about the screening.
30:33
I mean, that is what it is. You know, you, you have to meet
30:36
the person and then run the background checks, do the drug
30:40
screen. That really hasn't changed.
30:43
But what has changed on the back end is the use of technology to
30:48
manage that database of people that you get.
30:51
It has changed enormously. We're in in the process of
30:55
bringing on 1/3 partner Steve Dillon.
30:58
And you know, he's younger and part of his assignment was to
31:03
explore our software, you know, what are the potentials of this
31:07
applicant tracking system that we have that we aren't using?
31:10
And he's done a wonderful job of doing that.
31:13
And so in the last particular year we've we've completely
31:18
revamped how we're placing people.
31:23
We're almost paperless, at least in Michigan.
31:27
Everything gets scanned in and we are almost at the point that,
31:33
you know, if somebody is calling in for, you know, 5 factory
31:40
workers on an afternoon shift, we can do a database search and
31:45
come up with five people who are already pre screened for that
31:48
client, that kind of thing. So that part has become quite
31:54
automated, particularly in last year or two.
31:58
So we're talking about tech, we're talking about automation.
32:01
Have you guys folded in the use of AI in any way yet?
32:05
We use AI sometimes for generating job descriptions and
32:13
ads and things. I don't think that the
32:16
technology is quite there. I'm, I'm not comfortable with a
32:20
lot of AI generated documents that we've experimented with.
32:24
They seem very generic. They're not specific to that
32:28
specific client needs. They're not specific to the the
32:32
job. And sometimes they're just too
32:35
wordy and they all send that sound alike.
32:39
So yes and no. We've played with it.
32:41
I don't think that we're there yet.
32:43
You've got your toe in the water, but you don't like the
32:45
temperature of it quite yet. It needs a little.
32:47
More time to. Cook Yeah, I I think it does.
32:51
Carl, talk to me about the importance of community
32:55
engagement with fast temps. Oh yes, we like being involved
33:02
in the community. We're located in Ypsilanti.
33:06
We're the hometown player for Ypsilanti.
33:08
You know, we, Tim and I, made a decision in 1997 that we were
33:11
going to locate in Ypsilanti because there were a dozen other
33:15
agencies in Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor just didn't need
33:17
another agency. So we are firmly located in, in,
33:22
in Ypsilanti. I have tried to, to be involved
33:26
and I haven't had time to do more of this, but for a while I
33:29
was on the Advisory Board for Jewish Family Services and they
33:33
were resettling refugees from the Middle East at that time.
33:38
They recently reached out to me. I'm hoping that maybe I can get
33:40
more involved in that group again.
33:43
I'm always looking for for opportunities like that though,
33:46
because we have the resources to be able to to help with some of
33:50
those situations and and I would like to be part of the solution.
33:55
I'm going to shift gears on you for a moment, Carl, and I'd like
33:58
to hear about a serious challenge that you've overcome,
34:01
whether it's something personal or professional, what that was
34:04
like going through it, and some lessons that you learned coming
34:07
out the other side. Well, we've already alluded to
34:10
probably the two biggest challenges that that initial six
34:14
months into the business when the model wasn't working at all
34:18
that it would I'd been trained in, that was pretty serious.
34:23
We would not have survived the year if we had started figuring
34:29
out how to attract and screen long term employees.
34:34
That was a bad time. And then the the other one was
34:39
that recession in 2008, 2009 when we found ourselves flat on
34:43
our back 2 anchored in the automotive industry and the
34:50
challenge and it it's, it's not easy to change gears like that,
34:54
you know, having to develop a market and, and even the skills.
34:58
How do you, how do you train? How do you check licenses for
35:03
healthcare professionals? We had to learn all that.
35:07
How do you develop new clients in in the hospitality industry?
35:12
In the healthcare industry, it very challenging stuff to try to
35:16
reinvent yourself like that, but it it just had to happen.
35:20
We could not stay all automotive related manufacturing.
35:26
So 6 months into the the start of the business back in 1997, it
35:30
was clear the business model wasn't working.
35:32
Where did you get the idea or the inspiration to make that
35:37
pivot back then? Is it, you know, did you have
35:40
some some peers that were friends in the industry that
35:44
said, hey, you should zig instead of zagging?
35:46
Like where? How did you come up with the
35:48
idea? I, I would say it was more just
35:50
looking at who is being successful in our market.
35:54
That's what they were doing. So, you know, steal from the
35:57
best. So you just looked at people who
36:00
were kind of local, you know, in, in temporary staffing and
36:03
you're like, oh, they, they're driving nice cars.
36:06
They're in a good building. I I see them around.
36:09
And you know, they, they've got people being placed at, at this
36:13
business. You know, how do we reshape our
36:17
process to be a, a match for that business?
36:20
So it was. And how did you go about doing
36:22
that once you decided that this is the direction we're going to
36:25
try? Did were you just sort of
36:27
fumbling around in the dark? Did you hire somebody who was a
36:29
little bit more experienced in those areas to kind of help you
36:32
put your new processes in place? I wish we would have had the
36:35
money to hire somebody, but we didn't.
36:37
At that point it was Carl and Tim doing it pretty much
36:40
ourselves. So it was it.
36:42
There was some trial and error in, in, in terms of the
36:46
transition mechanically, those organizations that do short term
36:55
assignments rely quite a bit on daily pays.
37:00
In other words, somebody works a day, it's day labor, they come
37:04
in, they get paid that night. You know, people want an, an
37:08
instant paycheck. The part of the downside of that
37:12
is sometimes it's, it attracts people who need cash in a in in
37:17
a hurry. And sometimes that's, that's
37:19
somebody with a substance abuse problem.
37:22
We had to get away from that. I mean, I, I'm very sympathetic
37:25
with those people and their needs, but it, it, they're not
37:29
necessarily successful employees and they're certainly not going
37:32
to be long term successful employees, which is what our
37:35
clients needed. So mechanically the big shift
37:39
was doing away with those day pays and and getting to weekly
37:45
pay only. So this part of your story I
37:49
think is particularly important to draw attention to because you
37:52
guys were very early on, you had not really gotten substantial
37:56
traction yet. A lot of people in those first
37:58
six months, they feel like they're banging their head
38:00
against the wall. They might have just thrown in
38:02
the towel. And I think to hear these
38:05
stories of persistence, resilience, grit, you know, when
38:10
it's hard and it's not going as well as you thought it would,
38:14
and these are really important stories for people to hear.
38:17
I agree. I'm, I'm curious where that
38:20
motivation for you came from. Was it just, hey, I've already
38:23
tried the job market, nobody's going to hire me, so I got to do
38:26
this, there's nothing else. Or is there something else that
38:29
was kind of fuel for your fire? That's a good question.
38:34
Certainly growing up on a farm, you end up with a work ethic,
38:39
that's for sure, because running a far a family farm is not easy.
38:44
It's hard work day in and day out.
38:48
I think maybe that's the foundation of that.
38:51
You know that you just have to keep on.
38:53
If it doesn't rain and you have a bad harvest, you don't give up
38:56
and sell the family farm. You know, you, you regroup and
39:00
do it another year. I I think maybe that's the
39:03
foundation of it. Let's talk about 2008.
39:07
A lot of staffing agencies ran into trouble then because the
39:10
economy was just tanking all the way around.
39:14
Hit you guys particularly hard because you were heavily focused
39:16
and automotive and that dried up in a hurry.
39:21
Tell me more about that stage and the the method of
39:27
reinventing yourself. Then you guys were obviously
39:29
much further along, you know, were at this this time.
39:33
Were you guys able to hire some folks that had experience in
39:36
some of those different industries that you wanted to
39:38
get involved with or was this, you know, really Tim and Carl
39:42
kind of rolling up their sleeves and figuring it out again?
39:45
Unfortunately, it was Tim and Carl rolling up the sleeves
39:48
again. There wasn't money to to really
39:51
hire anybody with that level of expertise that there was also a
39:56
financial crisis for us at that time.
39:59
We had had a relationship with a local bank, a line of credit and
40:03
that's how we we funded payroll every week.
40:07
They had been very good to us. We'd never missed a payment,
40:10
never been late with a payment. And that bought bank was bought
40:15
out by another bank, was bought out by another bank and finally
40:18
was bought out by another bank. The the loan kept being
40:22
serviced, just as it always had been.
40:26
Until the first week in October 2008.
40:29
I went to the bank to fund payroll for the week and the
40:34
loan was gone. It was just gone.
40:38
No heads up. No heads up, this is.
40:41
What's coming? No, and I found out that $84,000
40:46
had been put on a personal credit card in my name, which
40:50
was the balance on that business loan.
40:54
Bank put the balance of the business loan.
40:56
On a credit card. Without so much as a phone call
40:59
or a letter. Right, right.
41:01
And I, you know, I asked, well, you know, if it's a credit card,
41:04
where's the card? Where are the terms and
41:06
conditions? They, they were never able to
41:08
come up with that. So an attorney, you know, was
41:11
advised that no banks can really call a loan.
41:14
They can do anything they want. Banks are pretty deregulated at
41:18
this point. So I had this awful it.
41:22
It ruined my credit. My credit has never recovered
41:25
from that. People see that I go to buy a
41:29
car, I just did it again and they see that awful credit
41:33
disaster and are very reluctant to to loan me personal cash for
41:39
anything. So that made the dilemma a whole
41:42
lot worse. We had to dip heavily into
41:44
personal cash in order to keep the business going, and we
41:48
scrambled and found another loan source.
41:54
It took a while, though, to to do that, and it was just a
41:56
really, really rough time. That was probably the most
41:58
precarious situation that the business has ever been in.
42:02
Was there ever any? Thought to just let's fold this.
42:05
Let's grow in the towel. You know, call it a day.
42:09
Not really. Why?
42:13
Well, I mean, we were committed to this.
42:15
We said that we were going to do this and you know we were going
42:18
to do it. You had faith that you could
42:21
figure it out one way or another.
42:23
We always had, yeah. Any particular mentors, books,
42:31
experiences that have been helpful to you in your life?
42:37
There was an older, very successful businessman at church
42:43
who had some very pithy, helpful things that he he shared with us
42:51
from time to time. Sometimes when we were
42:56
challenged. I can remember him at one time
42:58
saying, well, you know, if it were easy, everybody would do
43:01
it. Yes, it's hard expected, just
43:05
stuff like that, you know that that kept us going.
43:11
I, I got to say he was, he, he was very persistent and very,
43:15
very successful in his business and he was kind of an
43:17
inspiration, a bit of a mentor. What was his name?
43:22
His name was Bob Murawski and he owned Flame Furnace, a very
43:29
large, highly successful heating and cooling contractor in the
43:33
Detroit area. Another person this is very
43:37
strange, but his name is Jack Batharts.
43:40
He, it was the director of the Scherenstein Organ Company.
43:45
This was, is a, a, a really wonderful company that builds
43:50
and rebuilds pipe organs. And he'd done consulting work
43:53
for us at Historic Trinity on our organ.
43:56
And he some of the, his very, very basic nuts and bolts stuff.
44:02
And this was even before we got opened.
44:05
I can remember him saying just answer the phone, return your
44:10
emails, return the letters because the guy down the street
44:15
is not going to do it. And he was absolutely right.
44:19
If you do those basic things, it goes a long way.
44:29
One of my favorite questions to ask and I think you would have a
44:33
particularly insightful perspective on this.
44:36
Part of it you've already alluded to.
44:38
But you know, for a lot of people I talk with, it's still a
44:40
relatively tight labor market. So it's hard to find good folks.
44:45
It's hard to hold on to good folks.
44:48
You know, you've already said, you know, I mean, the the first
44:52
pillar of your mission statement is treat all employees with
44:55
dignity and fairness. And you've talked about some of
44:58
the ways that you do that. You know, once they're on board,
45:01
once they're part of the team. What are some things that you
45:05
have found success with to sort of recruit people in the 1st
45:10
place? How do you find those folks to
45:12
bring into the Fast Temps family?
45:16
Word of mouth is very powerful in our industry.
45:20
If you try to work with existing employees, they tell other
45:25
people that they had a good experience with fast temps.
45:31
I think that's been particularly true with the University of
45:34
Michigan account. Hey, if you want to get hired in
45:38
at the university, go see fast temps.
45:41
It's going to be faster than going in and applying directly,
45:47
which is which is long and bureaucratic.
45:49
But usually after 90 days, most of our positions at the
45:55
university, they get hired in direct at that point, if they're
45:58
working out, if the attendance is good and if they're doing a
46:00
good job. So it's a great foot in the door
46:05
with the best, you know, employer in the county really,
46:10
you know, the benefits are very generous.
46:12
It's a good work environment. So there's that.
46:16
And we, we make much of that. We, we, we talk a lot about, you
46:20
know, getting people hired in at the university.
46:23
It's, it's, it's very good for us.
46:26
So it's just, you know, a lot of it is just reputation keeping a
46:32
high profile. We're still learning how to to
46:34
use social media. We've got a pretty vigorous
46:38
Facebook presence. We really don't have X or
46:44
Instagram yet under control, but we're working on it.
46:50
So it that is still a work in progress.
46:52
It has been a a transition, you know, because print media does
46:58
not seem to do anything anymore in terms of attracting
47:02
employees. Social media and the Internet is
47:05
where it's at. So it's various job boards.
47:08
You post jobs online wherever you can and then try to make as
47:13
much visibility online as you can.
47:16
And that seems to be where it's at these days.
47:20
You know, as business leaders, one of the important roles that
47:24
we have is kind of to your Third Point of your mission statement,
47:27
which is profitability, right? Can't run a charity.
47:31
This has got to be profitable in order for you to keep going and
47:34
you know, be able to service a lot of clients and be able to
47:37
employ a lot of people. And as I think about, you know,
47:40
looking at the PNLI generally think about two levers that we
47:44
can pull, right? And 1 is how do we increase
47:46
sales and the other one is how do we decrease expenses.
47:50
As you think about those two levers, is there anything
47:52
particularly interesting or creative that you have tried and
47:57
found success with? No, there's nothing I can add
48:05
nothing new to that. It's just you have to do the
48:08
work. Do it all business principles.
48:10
Right. And in, in terms of, of
48:12
increasing volume, you know, it's sales and you have to do
48:18
the work. And it's partly a numbers game.
48:21
There's, you know, you can have the best smile and the best
48:25
gifts for gab in the world, but you have to do the work.
48:28
You have to make the calls. You've got to get your face in
48:32
front of people. When I was doing most of the,
48:36
the sales, I was never thinking of it as sales.
48:41
I, I, you know, I'm a friendly person, you know, you go out and
48:44
make friends for fast temps and somebody is going to going to
48:47
place an order, but you had to make a lot of friends.
48:51
You know, it's, it's a numbers thing.
48:53
So that's something which is very important.
48:57
And sometimes we've had a hard time imparting that to
49:03
salespeople. You've got to do the work.
49:07
So in terms of, of, you know, volume, I would say that that's
49:13
the, that's the key. You've got to do the work.
49:15
You've got to make those contacts in terms of decreasing
49:19
costs. It's just, you know, it's a
49:21
grind. You're always looking for, you
49:23
know, a, a point better on the interest rate, you know, a
49:28
cheaper way to, to get, you know, drug screen kits in the
49:33
door, whatever. It's just doing the detailed
49:36
work of trying to control costs all the time.
49:41
Carl, is there something maybe fun or interesting that most
49:45
people wouldn't know about you? Something we haven't already
49:47
touched on. People are very surprised that
49:54
I'm very dedicated to my gym workouts.
49:58
There was a time when I was very serious about bodybuilding.
50:02
I'm 68 now. I, you know, I, I can't get the
50:06
growth that I used to get, but you know, I can, I can stay
50:09
toned and, you know, I, I really have two happy places.
50:15
I have the Oregon bench at historic Trinity, but everybody
50:18
knows that that's very public. The other happy place is, is
50:21
hanging out with my, my buddies at the gym.
50:25
People are very surprised to know about that part of me.
50:28
What do you think are maybe some of the secrets to the physique
50:33
that you've been able to maintain all these years?
50:36
Is it something particular in your diet?
50:37
Something particular in the workout regiment that you found
50:40
success with? Well, motivation comes from, you
50:44
know, profound body dysmorphia. I was a fat kid and I was, I was
50:50
beaten up and I was abused and, and you know, it was some pretty
50:55
miserable times in my past. That's a huge motivation for
50:59
trying to look better. And that started in college
51:01
already, and I started going to the gym and was pleased with the
51:05
results. I mean, that's been the
51:09
motivation. Now during COVID, like so many
51:12
people, I put on quite a bit of weight.
51:17
Since the end of COVID, I've lost about 40 lbs.
51:21
Part of that is working with an online trainer who is, you know,
51:24
he's an elite bodybuilding trainer.
51:27
He really knows his stuff. I I would recommend that anybody
51:30
who is serious about weight loss or you know, bodybuilding should
51:35
find a, a really good coach 'cause there are a lot of people
51:39
doing it out there who don't, you know, they may be certified,
51:42
but they don't really know the details.
51:45
This this guy really knows, you know, he does both the exercise
51:49
part of it and the diet part of it.
51:50
And he's been great for me. So anyway, that's that, that's,
51:55
that's the motivation and that's the mechanics of how I'm doing
51:58
it right now. You want to give a shout out to
52:01
your trainer? What's his name?
52:02
His name is Paul Daugh. He's located in in in Canada.
52:08
He's totally online his I think that his online identity is need
52:17
size now and EED SIZE now. NOWI think that that would bring
52:25
him up, but he he's really, really great.
52:27
We'll try and find his profile and include it in the show.
52:29
Now, yeah, he, he, he has a very low, low key profile online.
52:33
You you may or may not be able to find him.
52:37
He one of the best kept secrets out there, huh?
52:39
Well, and he, he, he's not even always accepting new clients.
52:44
You know, he's pretty popular, that word of mouth thing and and
52:47
people know that he's pretty good.
52:49
Yeah, Carl, I've just got one more question for you.
52:52
Before I ask it, I want to do 2 things for everyone listening
52:56
today. I know that you love today's
52:57
content. Please hit the like Share
52:59
subscribe button on your favorite podcast app.
53:02
Carl, I also want to let people know the best way to get in
53:04
touch with you. What would that be?
53:09
Probably e-mail which is Karl Karl not CKARL at fast temps
53:16
employment one T and fast temps FAST empsemployment.com.
53:23
I would love to talk to anybody if they've got any, any
53:25
questions or anything at all. Right.
53:29
We'll be sure to include that in the show notes as well.
53:31
Last question for you, Carl, Curious, what do you think are
53:35
the big changes that are coming to the staffing space in the
53:38
next couple of years? I think we have to deal with the
53:43
fact that the need for unskilled labor is going to continue to go
53:49
down. The need is for more skilled
53:54
people, people who have some basic math skills, who can
53:59
understand detailed, sometimes complicated written directions,
54:06
people who have technical skills that can operate computers or
54:11
computerized manufacturing equipment.
54:15
People who are going to stay long term, get to know that
54:20
technology and stick with the company and grow with them.
54:24
The the need for unskilled labor, I think is going to
54:27
continue to go down. Why do you think that is?
54:31
It's just the, the, the nature of, of manufacturing for one
54:34
thing, you know, it's, it's becoming more and more technical
54:37
all the time. And everybody is, is looking to,
54:40
to save a buck here and there. And that's often with labor
54:43
costs, and that often means automating things.
54:50
Gotcha. Well, Carl, I want to be the
54:51
first one to thank you for sharing both your time and your
54:54
story with us today. I really appreciate it.
54:56
All right, very good. Thanks so much for your time as
54:58
well. This has been fun.
55:00
Folks, that's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Inspired
55:03
Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us
55:06
today.