Latest / The Commercial Builders’ Network (TCBN) / Where Can a Skilled Trade Take You? From Electrician to Business Owner
Transcript
- speaker-0: What can a career in construction actually change? For today's guests, the answer is much bigger than a job. Craig Harris has spent 35 years in the electrical industry. He's worked in the field, estimating, purchasing, project management, operations, and executive leadership. He's managed multi-million dollar projects, earned his unrestricted electrical contractor's license, and today is the founder and CEO of New Beginnings Electrical Services. But his path to business ownership wasn't a straight one. Craig is also a returning citizen whose story is proof of what can happen when someone gets an opportunity, develops a skill, and builds on it. And now he's focused on making sure that the next generation understands the opportunities that exist in construction. And that where Actually preparing them to succeed when they get there. Today we're talking about second chances, the electrical trade, entrepreneurship, and why exposure without real hands-on training isn't enough. Let's get into it. This is the Commercial Builders Network where we say construction can change your life and it's starting to look a lot like you. This is the Commercial Builders Network, where trust is restored, power is reclaimed. And legacy is built. Let's get to work. Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to another episode of the Commercial Builders Network. My name is Tanisha Reed and I'm your host. And today we have the amazing Craig Harris from New Beginnings Electrical Services. How are you doing today? speaker-1: Doing fantastic, Tanisha. How are you? speaker-0: I am awesome, awesome. I'm glad that you're here. speaker-1: Happy to be here. speaker-0: Awesome, awesome. So we're gonna dive right in. Thirty-five years in this industry, doing your thing. How does it feel? speaker-1: It feels great. feels feels fantastic. Feels fantastic to be a business owner. I worked for other people for a really long time. And, you know, three years ago I decided that it was just time for me to do my own thing. So that's what we did. And here we are. speaker-0: So for someone who may be you're not really familiar with what the electrical services are, other than having your lights on and pulling wire, what is that pathway, what did that pathway look like for you to get into the industry? speaker-1: So for me it it looked like I took a a class in a in high school in electronics. the gentleman knew much more about electrical work than he did about electronics. from there, you know, so that kinda piqued my interest in it. I still hadn't fully committed to it. I wound up getting in some trouble. wound up being incarcerated for a while when I was young, in my late teens. but during that process I wound up being on a maintenance detail. the gentleman with whom I wound up was a master electrician. and he did a little bit of everything, but we pretty much specialized in H V A C and electrical. I tried a couple of other things, you know, during that whole time frame as well, like plumbing and carpentry, those things didn't stick with me. The electrical and H V A C work stuck with me, but the electrical work really had me when he started teaching me those things. So once I was once I got out, I was able to go to an apprenticeship program, the independent electrical contractors. so I did four years in that program. I was working for a company at that time. Once I finished my apprenticeship program You know, they brought me into the office to do some I did purchasing and manage the warehouse for a few months and then I moved into project management. from there I learned estimating. I learned a little bit about the business side of things. I worked with that company for 18 years and wound up being basically right under the owners. so I had I was privy to a lot of information that a lot of folks don't don't get, you know, going through the trade. And I'm really happy for that experience because once I decided to go into business for myself, you know, I already understood the business side of this. and I think that's where a lot of people fall short. You know, you spend twenty years as an electrician, you decide to go into your own business, but you don't know the business end of it. you can do electrical work from top to bottom, but you know, learning the business side is really hard. speaker-0: I love the fact and I'm not gonna hop on it too long that you did some time, you gotta trade. it gives hope to people who, you know, have have had some some missteps in the beginning and you can change your life around. There are still opportunities where there can be a shift and a change. what did you have to take as a mindset shift when it came from learning to trade to obtaining soft skills and and you know, taking advantage of being able to get access to this opportunity. speaker-1: for me it was and and and I think this is a life lesson. I had to learn that I all I had to do was decide. You just have to decide what it is that you want. You have to decide that you want to be something and then you become it. for me it was I'm not gonna go back, I'm not gonna go do this thing. I have examples of people who spent their whole lives, you know, going in and out of prison, that wasn't that wasn't for me. I also have great examples of people who've done great things. My father, my mother, you know, I have, you know, great uncles who were business owners that, you know, my father told me stories about. So I had way more good examples than I did bad. and I had way more drive to be be successful. I made myself a promise at 18 that, you know, I was gonna do better than my parents. did and my parents did well. you know, so that's that's nothing about them. I just decided that I was gonna have more and I was gonna, you know, be able to control my own destiny. So for me, being a business owner was always a thought when I started doing electrical work. I didn't have a path to it. I had to kind of just develop that as I went along. but I did set some goals for myself up front. Before I even went into an apprenticeship program, I knew that I wanted to finish an apprenti apprenticeship program. I wanted to get my license. I wanted to own my own business one day. And I wanted to be successful. And I wanted to be able to reach back and give other people hope. speaker-0: I see that a lot of times right now was what's tough is learning the soft skills. Yeah, you can learn the trait but the the being on time and having the team mentality and being a team player and those things. Where did you learn that from? Because that's what we need now and that's what a lot of employers are saying they're lacking. speaker-1: Yeah, a a and for me, it was just something that was ingrained in me when I, you know, as I was growing up. you know, I think a lot of the the team thing came from playing sports as a kid. you know, I played a lot of football, played baseball, and you know, those things are team efforts. but you know, work around my house when I was growing up was a team effort. Everybody had chores, everybody had a job. And if you didn't do your job, there was consequences. so I just think that those things for me were always ingrained. But again, I go back to decisions. I don't care if you grew up with it or not, if you know that it's something that you need. it's 2026. There's no reason that you can't go out and find the information, that you can't learn it. YouTube university is a real thing. and I'm I'm I'm all for it. So I think that every every you know, so excuse me, but I think everybody, you know, can have those skills and they're not hard to develop. speaker-0: Yes, sir. So your company is New Beginnings. Is there a story behind the name? Why New Beginnings? speaker-1: actually there there is a story behind it. I so I worked the first company that I worked for, I worked for them for about eighteen years. And I was let go unexpectedly, in the middle of getting a divorce and you know, just trying to figure out what my life looked like post divorce. so I wound up getting let go. I had the break, I guess, of being contacted by another company to come and work even as I was packing my things at that comp at the first company. So I went I went literally went right to work for that other company. Well, you know, five or six months in, this guy told me that, you know, he didn't want to grow. And which was the the reason that he'd hired me in the first place was to help his company grow. And, you know, he said that, you know, he was, you know, a little afraid. He was kind of backing off. So I look, I'm gonna have to go. And You know, once he and I parted ways, I was literally driving home that day and I was like, I'm just gonna go and do this for myself. And I was just thinking about, you know, names and and the name New Beginnings kept coming up in my head. So I went home and I started looking it up and there were, you know, all kind of new begins. There's a New Beginnings Church and there's a matter of fact, right down the street from our office, there's a New Beginnings beauty shop or something like that. So I started the company. and this was back in twenty thirteen. And I went out and printed up a bunch of flyers and I went to the post office and got a mailing list and I sent out all of these flyers and I was like, I'm just gonna I'm a business owner now. two weeks passed and the phone didn't ring, but a headhunter called with a job offer, so I went back to work. and but I kept this company going, you know, I did a little bit of side work out of it. but in twenty twenty three, after, you know, managing a company for most of that year, you know, we parted ways and I just decided that it was time it was time for new beginners to, you know, just rise and fly. speaker-0: I do love the fact that there's always still a demand for for your trade. I mean that's the one of the biggest reasons why I I'm the this platform is here to push it is because it's too many times that we people are getting let go. People are currently a lot of people are in a place where they need to pivot. How about you pivot somewhere where there's a demand for the skills? And so that's awesome that you have been able to You know, 'cause entrepreneurship ain't for everybody. It is not for the faint at heart at all. speaker-1: Most certainly not. speaker-0: Everybody think you're gonna get rich tomorrow and that is not. I don't work. I'ma start it and the people will come. speaker-1: That's right. That's right. speaker-0: Eventually. We just don't know what that is. So, what is the what did you have to learn between what is the the the the difference between you being in work and working for somebody and then having to put on the owner cap now? What did you have to develop? speaker-1: so again for me I I had the benefit of being an executive, being in an office setting, always having to attend business meetings. You know, being a project manager, I was always dealing with other project managers, you know, company owners or whatever. So I had the I had the the benefit of doing that. So the business end of this wasn't so hard for me. I think the hardest transition for me going into business for myself was actually going and working in the field. you know, when I when I started, I was literally getting up every morning and hustling sealing fans and changing outlets, adding outlets, you know, whatever it was that somebody needed. It was a lot of residential stuff. And that was the hardest transition for me and my knees. so my knees didn't like it very much. for the first probably year that I was doing it. But, you know, we we got through it. we grew. I devel I was able to develop some helpers into, you know, folks that I could turn loose on separate projects and didn't have to just be with all the time. but for me I think the hardest transition was going back and working in the field after, you know, twenty plus years of not doing so. speaker-0: Awesome. So with your background, I saw that in your description this you said that you understand the job site and the balance sheet which you just described. How what do you tell the person who wants to become an entrepreneur through this process? What are some things that they need to make sure they, you know, focus on and hone into so that they can be successful? speaker-1: for me I think the the most important thing is understanding the difference between revenue and profit. you know, when when I first started out in the business for myself, obviously, you know, I was trying to figure out pricing. You know, what does everybody else charge to change a CL fan? What does everybody else charge to add an outlet in somebody else's house? And you have to figure out the difference between just making enough to pay yourself and actually making a profit and making the work worth it. one of one of my mentors, Dave Moody, told me, he said, you know, it's not about being the biggest, it's about being profitable. so I live by that. I try to make sure that we don't take projects that aren't going to actually be profitable. you know, it's just it's just not worth it. you know, at some point, you know, in your early stages you will have to take those projects. You will hustle those ceiling fans and you will just worry about making you know, enough money to pay the mortgage or your rent or the car note. But at some point when it becomes a legitimate business, you have to start worrying about making profit and having money put away so that your company has money on its balance sheet. you know, and not just you making enough money to survive. that's the difference I think between a a business and a hustle. speaker-0: Awesome, awesome. Yeah, that's that's a word right there. A business and a hustle. I've been hustling backwards for a long time, but I'm learning. Learning. speaker-1: You got it. You got it. This is gonna blow up for you. speaker-0: I appreciate that. I received that. So you have spent thirty-five years in this industry. Actually just turned 35 two Fridays ago. speaker-1: Happy happy belated burke. speaker-0: Thank you. Thank you. so 35 years in this industry and now you're working to educate other people about the amazing parts of this industry. Can you tell me where the gaps are currently that you're seeing in the education? speaker-1: for me for a really long time it was actually just exposing these high school kids and and kids in general to an alternate path besides you gotta go to college, you gotta go to college, you gotta go to college. I'm lucky enough to be old enough to remember when, you know, everybody didn't have to go to college. but I'm also old enough to remember I I started Trying to talk to high school kids and judging skills USA competitions way back in the early two thousands. and I kind of pulled away from it because when you went into the high schools, they used to tell me like you can't actually talk to the kids about going into the trades. it it was a very weird time. You know, everybody was pushing, you have to go to college, you have to go to college, you have to go to college. But these trades are now short people, you know. I I read articles all the time where, you know, we're short on electricians, we're short on HVAC technicians, we're short on plumbers. because a lot of people want to go to college. then you come out of college and you want to go try to use that business degree that you have. So you go do, you know, white-collar work, you go do all of these office positions. Back when I first started hiring and and firing, you know, doing interviews, I started Finding out that the average person coming in for an interview was thirty-five years old. You know, usually they have rent to pay, a mortgage, probably, you know, wife, kids, dogs, you know, so they needed more money than just the minimum that we were paying at the time. but we weren't getting a lot of eighteen year olds, nineteen year olds, twenty year olds coming in because they just were being told to go do other things. And I think that's what's attributed greatly to the shortage that we have right now. And all of the guys that taught me electrical work when I was in the field are now older, they're retiring, their bodies are giving up. And so you now have this shortage because there weren't enough people coming in behind those guys. And, you know, right now I am a part of the Clayton County CTA C T A E advisory board. which is going to give me access to talk to the students that are in the construction programs in Clayton County. and, you know, just try to help grow this and people wanting to get into the trades. you know, there are some organizations out here that are really recruiting. the IEC, Independent Electrical Contractors is one. The IBEW are actively recruiting, trying to get people into the trades. but I think a lot of times you're having a shortage of actual electricians to be able to teach those apprentices. And That's that's the hard part for me right now and there's a ton of money to be made around here doing speaker-0: I I feel like I I hate that that's what happened because the money potential nobody talks about that there is the potential to make six figures on this side. You think of trays and you think of just getting your hands dirty and you know, you think you're gonna be making minimum wage and I think part of where my passion comes in is I see the people that weren't destined to go to college and now they're working these jobs at whether the department stores, fast food. Maybe get a warehouse job, but not an actual skill. And so they're stuck in this cycle of just making it. where they could have had the opportunity to actually put their hands to good use. So my passion behind that. now the other problem I'm hearing is that, you know, once they even get into the trade schools and stuff, but they're not getting the hands on experience, so they're not getting job offers. How do we How do we fix that? speaker-1: That is a bigger problem. and I really don't know how to fix that. you know, you have to and it's kind of an age-old problem. I've been, you know, dealing with that for years and years. When I first started hiring, people would call, hey, I want to get a job, and you ask them, Okay, well, do you have any experience? And they say, No. Well, you say, Well, look, we're only looking for experienced people. And the question is, well, how do I get experience if nobody will hire me? And it's really hard for us as business owners because if I have work going on and I need help, I need people that don't need constant management. I need people to come in that I can give projects to or give tasks to that can go out and do them. so that obviously requires skill. Now what we've done is we try to bring in some people who don't necessarily have experience and mix them in with with our crews so that they can get some experience, but it's also a process. It takes a it I'm not gonna say a long time, but it takes a while for you to grasp what you're doing and why you're doing it. And you don't really get any mean meaningful experience until you do understand why you're doing this. I can give you a piece of wire and tell you to pull it from point A to point B, but It's just a skill that you have. You just understand how to do the work. You don't understand what that wire does once we start hooking it up. And those things take time to learn. I think that there's, you know, probably a really good market for some programs that could start to bridge that gap, giving people some experience, not necessarily in the field, but, you know, maybe just some classroom things. And I know there are some schools that are doing that. I get calls from some of those kids sometimes. But that's a really hard question to answer. just because, you know, if I'm calling and I need help it's because I have work. And if I have work I need to I need to get going. speaker-0: Do you think that if some more small businesses were to step in, I know part of my vision in my head now, you know how you thoughts in your head is one thing then to reality is that the small businesses need hands. But if we help it where they are actually getting these hands on training through these small small businesses that they can work hand in hand and help. And I know that there are some programs through the state that will help pay for some of these things. Do you think that that would help if we can get some more small businesses on board to say, Okay, I'll train I guess one or two people from your program to be able to get the hands on then now they have, you know, they're training their next potential worker to I guess go to the next level and stay within their company. speaker-1: Yeah, those those things help. I think the apprenticeship programs actually help more. you know, the four year programs are are really good because you're going in and getting some training in the classroom. and I'll keep mentioning the independent electrical contractors, the IEC Atlanta, I'll call them from here on out. But when you go to school there, they have a huge lab. in which you learn how to do some wiring, motor control centers, disconnects, things of that nature that can help in the field. when I was going through the program, you know, we did in first year we we did like conduit bending. and, you know, that was like several weeks of class where we would come in and just bend pipe and the instructor would show us different things, different tips, different tricks. But that helped us when we when we got out into the field because that's those are the things that we were actually working on. is as far as small businesses training, we can do that, but the greater need is is so much bigger than my company training three apprentices. That's that's just a drop in a bucket, even if it's a if it's even a drop. we need thousands and thousands and thousands of of electricians. right now. you know, so it again the answer isn't just one particular thing. It's gonna have to be a big group effort. The apprenticeship programs are gonna play a huge role in that. speaker-0: So I wanna go back to what you're doing at Clayton County again. And I I wanna know what do you think would be a program that you would like to develop for if you could develop it yourself from ninth grade to twelfth grade, what would they do to get them prepared for the trade industry? speaker-1: for me, and that that's a good question. I like that. from ninth to twelfth, if somebody is really on that path to, you know, getting a trade, construction, whatever, I think that they ought to be able those kids ought to be able to have electives that deal in the trades. But not only with the trades, but the finances, business finance, personal finance. Like I think you know, finance is something that's missing in our schools and it has been for a really long time. and I have a f I got a friend of mine that that has a passion for teaching kids finance. So I'm gonna get him involved in this in Clayton County schools as well. But I think that those kids should there should be electives available to them, even if it's just having a construction class with a teacher that has general knowledge of all of the trades. And then they can bring in people like myself or, you know, HVAC guys, plumbers or whatever, to teach different modules. And I think Clayton County is setting up to do that. they have an electrical module coming up in the spring. And I've already talked to them about coming in and talking to those kids. They have a teacher. but you know, my my passion is just to come in and talk to them and and talk to them about the different avenues that they can take in the trades. But for me, I think that, you know, from ninth to twelfth grade, if a kid is already on that construction path, they ought to be able to choose electives that are in the construction path. whether that like I said, whether that be business, finance, or whatever it is. speaker-0: So what current role do you think that people who are already in the industry, the contractors that are there, what role do you think they play in helping to sustain this industry so that it keeps thriving? speaker-1: we just have to keep going. We have to keep encouraging the youth to to come in behind us. We have to make sure that we are number one being good examples and doing, you know, doing the right things and and you know, we gotta give back. We have to go in and talk to kids about doing this at a at an earlier age. you know, one of the things I tell people all the time is I'll probably some days I feel like I did my kids a disservice. Because I was always in an office, you know, all you know, my kids never knew me to have tools and and do electrical work. I was always handy around the house. I work on cars and, you know, all kind of stuff. So, you know, my boys understand how to do a tune up on a car, but for the most part, they couldn't do anything electrically. you know, while they were in college after I first started, you know, I would take them with me on projects in, you know, during the summer when they were home. My youngest son, because I raised him, you know, his whole life. He did go do some electrical things with me, you know, when I would do side work for friends and stuff like that. But you know, it's really just about exposing them to it and letting them know that it's okay not to go to college. It's okay. And just because you don't go to college for four years, six years, eight years, whatever it is, doesn't mean that you're not gonna have a good job. I made well into six figures doing this, you know, before I went into my own business. And There's a lot of money out there. There's a lot of different paths once you get into the trade, no matter what it is, that you can take. speaker-0: So what did you receive from this industry that's beyond the check? speaker-1: What I received from this industry that is beyond a check is experience. I learned that no matter where I go, no matter where I am, I can make money. Right? I have a trade, so I can go to anywhere in the world and do electrical work. I learned to I learned confidence in myself and in and my skills from this that You know, obviously all of these things will equate to money at some point, but I just don't I don't know if I would have if I would be the same person without having gone into this. I don't know that if I had done something else, if I had gone to college for four years, if I would be a business owner. I don't know if I would be in the same place in life. but you know, what I got from this is a skill that I know that I can take anywhere. and and always, you know, at least sustain myself. speaker-0: What do you say to the person who's either looking for a pivot, need a second chance at a career path, or a second chance being a returning citizen? What is your advice to them? speaker-1: Decide what you want to be and go for it. That's it. To me, it's very, very simple at this point in my life. And I know where you're in the throes of that. I remember that time in my life. coming back and not being sure and this, that, and the third. And the the point of it is is you have to make a decision and you have to go. I believe that God will give you anything that you want if you just keep walking towards it. You know, you have to get up every day. And you have to be about that business. And if you continue to do that, success will come. I think if you if you get into it, you slack off and you decide that you're only gonna do it, pardon my French but half ass, you know, that's what you're gonna get. You're gonna get out of life what you put into it. But, you know, for the person that's that's, you know, re entering society or somebody that's needing a pivot, make a decision, do the research and start walking. speaker-0: Awesome. One of the big pillars of this podcast is how do we rebuild trust in our community and not just our community, ourselves and our own decision making for mistakes that we have. Could you could you tell me what what do you think is needed for us to rebuild trust? speaker-1: aga for me everything is about the decision. Right? you know, I know people that have come from all walks of life. I know people that have been in all types of situations. I know people who have gone from, you know, the dirt to the penthouse. And the overwhelming thing, and I keep going back to it, is just making the decision. If you want to rebuild trust, if you want people to trust you, you have to decide that that's the kind of person that you are. You have to decide that you're a trustworthy person and then act accordingly. it may not come quickly just depending on your past. it may take people a while to get it, but if they s if people see you continuously walking the path that you say you're on and they see you doing the things that you say that you'll do, then that trust is inevitable. You know, as long as you haven't burnt the bridge. I tell my kids all the time, I you know, I got four twenty somethums. and I tell them all the time, like, it's hard to trust a person that will lie to themselves. So if you'll lie to yourself, you got no respect for me at all. So for me, it's just about, you know, you have to first tell yourself the truth. You know, if I say if I wake up in the morning and I say, Look, I'm I'm gonna work out. And I'm gonna work out every day from now on, you know, through the rest of my life. And that's the path that I walk, then I build trust in myself. If I do that for a week and I say, Man, I'm gonna slack off today, guess what? I just lied to myself. So if I lie to myself, I'll definitely tell, you know, tell you anything. speaker-0: Do you have an ask from the community? speaker-1: I have an ask. I haven't ask. I asked that everybody be open in allowing their kids to look into other paths. I for me, I believe that all of us, and not just everybody else, but myself included, got caught up in telling our kids to go to college. I got four that all went to college. And that really wasn't that really wasn't the path for all of you know, and I I coached a lot of baseball, basketball, did scouts and all of this stuff when my youngest son was was younger. So, you know, I still see the parents of kids that I coached and and then led and, you know, some of those kids went to college, or up a good many of those kids went to college. Some of wound up not finishing. I have one that didn't decide, you know, two years in not to finish. But she's doing great, right? Because she found something that she liked to do. She found something that she had a passion for. And that passion does you know, a kid's passion doesn't necessarily involve going to get a degree. I know p I know plenty of people with degrees looking for jobs. So, I would just ask that, you know, parents be open to allowing their kids to choose alternate paths. And I'm not talking about anything crazy. you know, being a influencer. I've heard several kids say, I want to be an influencer. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: So, you know, my next question to him is influencer do what? Yeah, influencer who to do what. but you know, I'm just talking about like, you know, things that are tangible, things that you could put your hands on. and other than that, my other ask is everybody call New Beginners Electrical Services when you need electrical work. Let's go. speaker-0: All right, well tell the people how do they contact you? speaker-1: So guys can contact us at our website, New Beginners Electrical Services dot com. we are on Facebook, we're on Instagram, we are on LinkedIn. you can contact us at any of those. It's New Beginners Electrical Services. our office line is six seven eight four eight nine twenty seven sixty n six seven eight four eight nine twenty-six six seventy-nine. that's our office line. You can call us. We are happy to speak to you about any electrical work that you have. We do residential, commercial, we do service work, and we work all over Metro Atlanta. speaker-0: Awesome. Well thank you, sir, for your time. I appreciate ya. speaker-1: No, thank you. Thank you for having me. We appreciate the opportunity.