Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / To Succeed in Business, You Need Other People | Chris Gutkes

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To Succeed in Business, You Need Other People | Chris Gutkes · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: You literally can't do anything in the elevator industry by yourself.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: But if you want to do anything meaningful, you have to have other people.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: I am your host, Matt Allred.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: In this podcast, we talk to the people whose lives and careers are dedicated to the vertical transportation industry to inform and share lessons learned, building upon the foundation of those who have gone before, to inspire the next generation of elevator careers.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Today on the Elevator Careers podcast, we are speaking with a passionate problem solver who represents the fourth generation of his family to find their career in the elevator industry.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: He's a U.S.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Army veteran, a graduate of the NEET Apprenticeship Program, he's a mechanic, an adjuster, a certified QEI inspector, and a TTS certified instructor.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: He's currently the president of Island Elevator, a People First Company.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I would like to welcome Chris Gutkiss.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Chris, welcome to the show.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, thank you very much.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: I uh I appreciate the invitation.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: I am a fan of the podcast, so uh being a uh a participant of it uh is very exciting for me.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it very much, and I'm excited to to to talk to you, uh, obviously get to know your story a little bit more.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I always love to start with a question of tell me how you got started in the elevator industry.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, I was born into the elevator business.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: So um I am fourth generation elevator man.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my brother, my cousins, my uncles, uh, they were all in it.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the family story is that my great-great-grandfather worked in a um worked in the uh the train yards, and he was in charge of delegating which train cart would get uh unloaded first or second.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: And um he had, according to the family story, he had uh a representative from Otis there, and they wanted to get their equipment off of the train cart.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: They needed his permission in order to do that as the the foreman or whatever the whatever his uh his job was.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: And uh he said, Yeah, you know, this seems like a really good uh career.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't you hire my son, who was my great-grandfather?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um and um and the guy was like, No, I don't think so.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have to go to the office for that.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: And the guy was like, Well, I don't know what to tell you.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think I'm gonna be able to unload your stuff today.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: So uh after a little bit of um uh maneuvering there, uh they were able to hire my uh my um my great-grandfather.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he was uh in, I believe he started with Otis.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh then my grandfather was uh I don't know where he started with, but he eventually worked his way up from the field uh into uh taking on some elective positions and then eventually became the uh president of local one IUEC um in, I forget when it was, but he was president for about 20 years.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and then when he was in, he got his um sons-in-laws and and sons into the business.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh one of which was my father, was his son-in-law.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and my father was in the business from I guess the early 80s, I think 81 was his first year.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: And um in 1989, he started his first elevator company, which was Regal Elevator.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it ended up failing.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: And in the uh the division of the assets, um, his partner took everything that was in the five boroughs, he took everything that was on the island, and he partnered up with his cousin, and they created uh island elevator um first rendition.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: So um I came up um, you know, just as an idiot kid.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um and there's one thing that I knew that I definitely didn't want to be was in the elevator industry um because every party, all of the uncles, uh everybody, you know, uh even my aunts, everybody was familiar with it, everybody's chit-chatting about it, this job, that job, yada, yada, yada.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: So um I got out of high school, and then um I would there was a short stint, I'll skip that, and then I went right into the army.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and uh after I got out, I got out, it was peacetime military, and uh I got out in February 01.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh the next day, I still have all my stuff in the truck.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: The next day I saw my uh father, I said, Listen, I need a job.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: He said, Fine, come on in.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: And uh from that point, now more mature, I got in front of elevators and it really just kind of hit everything that I that I ever wanted to do um as a uh career.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: I I I was addicted.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: I was I was I got the bug.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: How how long until you got that bug?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: What at what point did you think?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Because the challenge was there, and that's what I needed.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: I needed something that was the the industry is just so dynamic.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there are so many different moving parts.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: There are there's so many.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you stand in front of a patrol for the first time, and it's like uh Christmas trees uh celebration with all of the blinking, everything, and the relays and all of the stuff, and you're like, oh my goodness, this is crazy, but it's crazy good because it's like uh if I can learn this, if I can do this, I can do anything.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: So um there was uh, you know, with the electrical and the the plumbing and the the carpentry and and the mechanical and the the welding, and it was just too much to even consume.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so I was in it and I was addicted to it right away.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um then my grandfather was president of the union decided to uh uh he got me in with uh TISSIN.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I did my uh I did about three and a half, four years over at TISSEN, went through a union school, uh, gr uh passed the mechanics exam.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then uh shortly thereafter I was hired by my father in 05.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh I've been with the company since then.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Very cool, very cool.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you've never looked back.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um I've looked back.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's challenging.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh when we first started, uh my father had uh um had separated from his uh his partner.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: So it was basically me and him.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um and there was one other guy who was working part-time for us, but it was me and him uh in a windowless office in uh wine dance with uh 85 units on service.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: And um we built everything from there.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: And um it was very challenging, and a lot of times you kind of look back and you're like, boy, you know, it'd be a lot easier if I did this.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: But um if I just stayed out in the field, if I just you know stayed in that area, but you know, if anything worth having isn't easy to get.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: So um I don't, although there was a lot of um challenges to overcome, I think that it made me a uh a stronger person.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: And um I I can't really say that I regret it, even though I hated it sometimes.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: I hear you.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, talk to me through your your journey from mechanic to president of Island Elevator.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: How has that transpired and and what are some of the things you've had to learn along the way?
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh what have I learned along the way?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Everything.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so when I first got here, um we didn't have uh a website.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I built a website.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know how to build a website.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: I like one of those simple drag and drops.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: Took me forever, looked terrible, but we were online.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I didn't know about uh email or Microsoft Word or anything like that.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Everything had to be learned, uh sales theory, uh cold calling.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um it just I learned by picking up the phone and then just hammering away at it until uh somebody said yes.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: And when they said yes, I was like, yes.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then like five seconds later, I'm like, all right, I gotta get back on the phone.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: And that was all while I was um um continuing to develop as a mechanic and a troubleshooter out in the field because I had to build while maintaining um with my father, who was mostly running things from the office and he was taking care of the financial stuff and this, that, and third.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I was doing more of the uh the sales stuff.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I'll tell you a story is that uh for a while there, what happened was uh I would go out, fix some elevators, run some service calls, this, that, and third.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: Then I'd come back and I would co-call until you know six, seven o'clock at night, hopefully setting up a couple of meetings for the following day.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I would have to bring a change of clothes in my car so that I went and this happened a lot, especially during uh while we were trying to get to a to a level where we could hire somebody, uh, where I would go, I'd fix an elevator, then I would drive over there, then I would change into my my sales clothes, then I would go in there, have a sales meeting.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, I'm Chris the salesman.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: No, I'm not the same Chris from the office that called you on the cold call.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's a different Chris.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: And no, I'm not the Chris from uh who fixed your elevator last week.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's a different Chris.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, grease under my own.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: They thought like too many Chris has worked for the company.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: So uh, and then and then I would get done with my sales call, and then boom, I'd have to go in, change back into my field clothes, go fix an elevator, and then uh at the end of the day, round it up back at the office, punch out a service agreement, punch out a repair proposal, whatever it is.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Just you you just do whatever it is, you know.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: And there was there was times where uh especially early on where uh we went weeks without a paycheck just because there just wasn't uh there wasn't the cash flow that we were uh um we were aiming to achieve.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: And um it was very it was very difficult, but I learned a lot.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um I wouldn't uh if if if Chris today went back and had to do it all over again, I wouldn't do it.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'd be like, no way, you know, I need I need financing, I need a team, I need to hire all this stuff, but to build it from the ground up on your own, it is very, very difficult.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it takes a long time.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so uh I kind of moved my way up, and then we were able to hire some people, and then we were able to get some more stuff done, and we were able to bring on more customers.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then in uh 2016, uh my father died suddenly.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: So now I went from like this troubleshooting engineer, management of the field, VP of uh operations type, uh, and I became shotgun president.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: So um there was now I'm at this level.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the need to learn a whole different skill set was now presented in front of me, and uh that was very challenging for me uh because I was used to managing uh men and I was used to managing equipment, but I wasn't used to um the finances and the uh and all the demands of running a business.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't get a formalized education.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm a guy with a high school graduate, uh high school uh diploma.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: So um I went ahead and um kind of after we stabilized the company and were able to build confidence both in our customers and our teammates, and then start to drive things forward.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's when I made it a point to go out and get educated on how to become uh a better businessman.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh basically, you know, I didn't know what tools weren't in my tool bag.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I needed to get into a classroom um and have somebody tell me what I didn't know because I was just I was just so lost, I was so focused, I was so stuck in the trenches um and just grinding away that I was I I was actually at a certain point becoming my own worst enemy because I wasn't sure a good job at delegating and kind of come up for error at some point and building out uh the structure of a company.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know what it looked like.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: I knew I could fix anything in the field, but I didn't know what it like, you know, I could build an elevator, but I didn't know how to build uh a company.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: The company, sure.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean anybody can start a business.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you you mentioned at one point that that you had some uh that you called upon some people, some some support when when you actually had to step into you called it shotgun president.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Who are some of those people and what what was that like to kind of say, oh my gosh, I've I've got to ramp up, you know.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: I just didn't know where to start, so I got kind of like stuck.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um like I don't know what the first step is.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: I I I didn't know where to go or what to think or or how to do it.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: So um I remember that um prior to um my father's passing, I had a uh I had a conversational professional relationship with um Mike Bernardi.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh he was uh VP of operations at the time at DD Elevator because we only work on Long Island, right?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: We don't go into the five boroughs, we don't go anywhere else.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: We're just a Long Island company.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's our dream to build that.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um so we were in like this um uh passing each other uh leads.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I would still get people calling me that needed help in Queens, that needed help in Brooklyn, and I would call Mike and I'd say, hey, listen, I got this person, do you want to help them out?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I I always uh liked what DD stood for.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I felt comfortable kind of passing on because when you pass on anything, you're kind of putting your name on it.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't want to um recommend a company that I didn't think was gonna do the right thing, not just in the field, but also by the customer.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: So um I called up Mike and uh I told him, I said, listen, you know, I'm in this position now.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh this is what happened.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, do you think that it's possible that I could just come by and talk to you for a little bit?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, maybe get some understanding or some ideas.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: You've been doing this for a while, so you you know a lot more than me.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: And uh he was like, Yeah, no problem.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: Come on up.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and I was I was a little shocked by that, but uh I set it up with him.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um at the time, I'm still I had to give my vehicle to uh a field guy.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm driving around in my father's car.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, you know, uh, you know, we still hadn't gotten to the point where we were able to, you know, get that off.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: And um so I went up there and um and I sat down with Mike, and he was just like so incredibly generous with his time and information sharing.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I was able to ask him lots of questions about business operations and how the elevator industry works on that corporate, you know, uh understanding.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: And at one moment uh during the meeting while we're chit-chatting, uh Bob Schaefer comes in and uh Bob Schaefer was uh president of uh of um of uh DD Elevator and um hey Bob and yada yada and then I start, you know, I I don't really have like that that uh thing in my brain that says stop.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I just as soon as Bob comes in, I'm like, hey Bob, can I ask you a couple questions?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: So um uh and he was just like super nice.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: He was I was like, well, what do you use uh for operation software?
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, Oh, well, we'll use this, and he's showing me on his phone how it works, and uh it was just really it was just just a fantastic experience, and it meant a lot to me as far as um being able to under start the process of understanding what it was gonna take to kind of drive this idea forward.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then since then, and this is just how I approach things, both on the uh on the I everything's about learning.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like when I first got into the business, my my grandfather told me that um you know, you gotta learn something every day, you got to constantly be pushing yourself to be better because um by the time you know everything that there is to know about this industry, you're too old to do it anymore.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's how much it's gonna change, that's how much there is out there to put your hands on.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: So uh whenever I have the opportunity to learn from um, you know, I had some great mechanics.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um though I couldn't be any more um uh respectful and uh appreciative of my first mechanic coming in through Tyson, which was uh Anthony Anderson, great guy.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he taught me so much, I can't even tell you.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know that I'd be able to make a living the same way that I am today if I hadn't had Anthony Anderson uh as my mechanic for two years while I was over at Tyson.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: And uh that's but that's because I wanted to learn how to become a better mechanic.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: Now I wanted to learn how to become a better businessman and a better business leader.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: So whenever I'm in a room with somebody like that, I always kind of hone in, especially if they're in the elevator industry, and I try to listen and pick up because if they give me just a few moments, a few opportunities to they don't even know that they're teaching me stuff half of the time.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just sitting there and I'm taking it in, and then I turn it around and I go back and I aggravate the crap out of my team by telling them, Hey, I just got this great idea, we're gonna do this, you know.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: So they're like, stop with the ideas, let's just get done with the last idea.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: So uh, but I I've um I since then I've maintained a uh a good relationship with um uh Mike and with um uh Bobby Schaefer, because um not only do I look at them with um you know a high level of respect, not only for what they're accomplished, but what they continue to accomplish.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Because uh Bobby, as far as I'm concerned, is like a captain in this industry.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um and he should be recognized as such uh with all of the effort and and um uh resources that he poured into uh creating uh an education program uh when he was uh president of NAEC, you know, he was one of the uh the driving forces behind the CET program, which is now uh recognized by New York State DOL and federal DOL as an approved uh apprenticeship program or education for an apprenticeship program.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he started the uh Elevator Learning Center, uh, which was a basically the only trade school that I know of that was dedicated right to them.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: Now he and and he had this great little school and this institution and these beautiful ideas.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: And when I asked him if my people could participate in that, he said yes.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know anywhere else or have heard anywhere else where a company would dump this amount of resources into building a uh a facility dedicated to training up and providing safety courses for uh the elevator uh technician and the elevator professional, and then allow another company and their employees to participate in that.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I can't be I can't be nice enough uh and and thankful enough for uh Bobby and Mike, and um they they really helped to shape this this second half, third half part of my career um and and what I become today.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: So as much as Anthony helped to influence my ability to be able to put my hands on the equipment, uh these guys have helped to influence my ability to be able to um to have a vision and to push things forward and to not give up and to understand that um in the elevator industry, in the elevator business, there is room to make the impossible possible.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm really uh I'm really thankful to those guys.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: But I I've spent time in a room with uh uh the president of uh Unitech Elevator, um Jake Flamers, or Jake Shake Lamers, I'm sorry, Jake.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so uh they and we're just talking and I'm just listening to him, and he's mentioning things that I had concepts that I didn't really put together.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Jake's like a savant, you know, he's been like uh president of that company since he was in like his late 20s, early 30s or something like that.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: This is a this is a huge elevator company.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and uh and he talked and I listened and I took home and I took to heart when he had conversations about disciplined growth, which is something it was a concept that I had never really understood, you know, how to be more narrow and uh focused on a goal.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Or uh or I sat in a room with uh Don Gelastino, who is another guy who I just can't, you know, I just I love listening to him talk because he just shares so much.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and he's just completely fearless about it because he just doesn't care.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing that he's gonna tell you is gonna prevent him from being as successful as he's so but to listen to him and hear him talk about um, you know, uh different events, how to give back to people, how to how to provide different services, how to, you know, he's giving me ideas on how to increase revenue.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even, it's not even like he said, listen, Chris, this is how you do it.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: No, he just started talking, and I'm like, oh, this is this is what I'm talking about.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: This is big.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: So uh and so I try to envision myself and I envision Island Elevator team as taking the best pieces of everything and putting it together out here.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and I love the way you you really highlight what I hear as a theme over and over, which is mentors and you know, somebody who's really willing to kind of take you under the wing.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it sounds like you've had several along the way.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: To even if they were at uh competing companies, which uh to me is uh it's fascinating because I've I've worked in other industries and I've not seen that in other industries.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: But just the uh there's like a deep connection among elevator people that said, Hey, I can I can call my buddy and and he'll help me through something, even if we're bidding against each other.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's absolutely a little mind boggling for me.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: I I had uh I just uh uh had a conversation.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: With a uh, I don't know, he's an owner, I don't know what his official title is, at a competitive uh elevator company.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if he wants me to use his name.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: So uh, and I told him about a modernization bid that I was doing uh that was in his area.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: It was in a strike zone.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: He could have easily just gone in and scooped and picked it up.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we were talking back and forth.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: And then he's like, you know what?
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: I know the guy who's uh leveling those bids over at that company.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm gonna give him a call and give you a recommendation.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, that's fantastic.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate that so much.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: I've had the opportunity to help him out a couple of times, but really it's just a uh um when it comes to the elevator industry, uh, the way that I kind of look at things in general is that knowledge is like love.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you can't take it with you, you got to give it to somebody else.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I and people have been very generous with their knowledge with me.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel uh it is my duty to be just as generous with other people that I interact with, um, with the future generations that are coming up.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: It I don't know if it's like a mentorship per se, but it's definitely a um a professional respect for what we've done.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I find that that that professional respect tends to gravitate towards guys who came in from the bottom up.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you know that I was out there putting my hands on that equipment, and I know you were, and we both understand the struggle of coming from there and going to where we're where we want to be.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: Forget about where we are, where we want to be.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like a Mike Bernardi, like a uh Bob Schaefer, like a uh Don Gelastino, where they actually know what it feels like to have carbon dust underneath your fingers and to go home and scrub all night trying to get this off.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: For what reason you don't know, probably just to keep your wife quiet.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: But then, you know, you're going because you know you're going back out tomorrow to get completely covered in whatever it is that is inside this elevator shaft.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and feel good about it and want to like try to bring this opportunity to other people.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know that I answered you.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: No, I love that.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sometimes I just talk too much.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're good.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: You're good, and I can see that.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm curious though, because you you brought up the fact that that this bond seems to be with with those who who have the carbon fiber dust on their fingers.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Do you feel like it gets lost sometimes for those?
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Or or maybe there's I wonder, and I guess what I'm getting at is is it harder for others to kind of tap into that?
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Or or is there a way for somebody, you know, maybe they come out of the military and they come in as a superintendent.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Is there a way to to kind of get that uh that respect, if you will?
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: From sure.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I am a firm believer of you got to give respect in order to get respect.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: You got to give trust in order to get trust.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I know a lot of people are like trust but verify.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh some people are like, uh, you know, I don't trust anybody, they got to prove it first.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: Me, I take a different path.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: My path is I will give this to you.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: I will trust you, I will plan for you to be unsuccessful at this, and then we will build this thing back up to where it needs to be together.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I would rather give trust and be disappointed than to uh try to micromanage and and control everything.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: Not to say that I don't have control issues.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: I do.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I'm working on that, trying a lot a lot more self-awareness.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: But uh to go back to your question, can people from different industries that kind of insert themselves at different levels in the elevator industry make it?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you get guys that come in from a different uh industry.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: Now it takes a little while in order to be able to earn that respect from the guys that started from the ground up.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, we'll talk about your military super that comes in from hard hats to helmets or helmets to hard hats.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and uh yeah, I mean, uh this person, man, woman, whatever it is, as long as you're you you give the people the respect that are in the field and to understand the pressure and the level of difficulty that it takes to fix an elevator and then leave the front of that elevator and then go fix a different elevator from a different manufacturer from a different year, um, you will be able to earn their respect very quickly.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: I've had guys that come into my uh company that don't know a lick about elevators, but they they carry themselves well and they uh they take that position and they understand that leadership at Island Elevator is not about telling people what to do, it's about service.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: So, what are you doing today that's helping your guys become more successful, men or women, become more successful tomorrow?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you're not doing anything and the only thing that you're giving them is grief or blame, then you're not doing a good job.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: You're not a good leader.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what we try to kind of constantly emphasize.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: So if somebody comes in with good leadership skills, gives respect, gives trust, and uh and and commits themselves to being able to make sure that their team and their personnel and their people are going to be successful, um, it's all about what you can give to your people.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you can't, you you have to give everything that you can to your people, and then you have to give a little bit more until you have nothing else to give, and that's when the magic happens.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: And one day when you're at your weakest, when you feel like you know the world is caving in on you, that's when you're gonna look over your shoulder and they're gonna be there to give it back.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: And it's always at the point that you need it the most.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, that's I feel that that's probably um a good lesson that I've kind of tried to exercise over the course of my life, but it it it definitely works inside the elevator industry.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: So people can't be intimidated by the familial uh experience of it.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you just gotta hold yourself high and remember that you are there to help, you are not there to manage.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: We manage equipment, we lead people.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's beautiful.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um so uh if you were to, and you've talked about, you know, kind of giving back as as others are, you know, giving back to you, but if you were to give one piece of advice to our listeners, whether they be coming up from the bottom or from the side, or maybe they're you know leading a company like you, um, what would you say?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think that the one the the two lessons, the one is just don't stop learning.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: You just gotta keep, you've got to be um what I tell my guys who want to be able to, excuse me, men and women.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when I came up, there was less women.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: There's more women now.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think that women uh add uh just a much needed dynamic to this industry.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I and I really appreciate their participation.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we had the opportunity to hire a female technician, and it's just been it's just been fantastic for everybody.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: So um what I tell them when they want to be good is that you need to have a little bit of what's what I call obsessive curiosity.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: So you need to be uh things that don't make sense, you can't just put them aside and then just say, that's it, I'll figure it out later on.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to be good in this industry, you have to be pushing yourself, you have to constantly be learning.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a learning process over the long course of the uh, and you got to look at things infinitely.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you're looking to be at a certain point three months from now, six months from now, 12 months from now, you're gonna be super disappointed because we're talking about learning over a lifetime, right?
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then the other thing that I've learned um is that you literally can't do anything in the elevator industry by yourself.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: Almost there's there's a very small portion.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you can fix an elevator here, maybe you can do a little service, this, that, and the third.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: But if you want to do anything meaningful, uh, you have to have other people.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to build an elevator, uh two stories, 20 stories, you have to have at least one other person with you.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: You want to do a rope job, you need a you need a helper.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: You need a purchasing person to make sure that the right equipment comes in and a truck driver that makes sure that it gets there in a timely fashion.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it goes the same thing with not just uh um being out in the field, but being in a uh a leadership position or being inside the the office uh trying to set direction and help people out.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: You can't do it on your own.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: So you've got to reach out, you have got to uh make connections, you will, and I've heard it on some of your other podcasts where people will uh they'll make certain connections at one company, and then they don't see the people again for like 20 years, and then you see them again, and it's almost like, hey, what have you been up to?
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: Let's kind of catch up and yada yada yada.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's a that's a real connection with uh real humility to really understand that um you cannot do anything meaningful on your own.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: You can only cap out at a certain point.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's you you can you can one person fixing elevators, maybe kind of, you know, you subcontract out to a team for doing this, that, and the third, you're gonna get to a certain point where you know 85 to 135 elevators, and that's it.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's as big as your company is gonna get until you realize that you need other people.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: And the more time that you spend building them up and making them better, uh is what it's what's gonna help the entire dream kind of manifest itself.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, high tide raises all ships.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's awesome because I think that's what you've you've done a good job articulating that.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: That you know, we we lift each other, that we we all succeed together.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, even if we're competing against each other, we're still we're still both succeeding.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: For sure, because there's enough work out there for everybody.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: Because fortunately for us, um there's a um there's a noticeable barrier to entry.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: And even if you took all of the uh the licensing requirements and the insurance requirements and all of that stuff, uh elevator people are different, right?
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: So you need to be um you need to be what I tell everybody that comes and works for Island Elevator on their first day is our equipment, even if they work for another elevator company, our equipment is different than your equipment that you were used to working on in Queens.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: You need, if you want to be successful at Island Elevator, you need to be comfortable being uncomfortable because you're just going to be constantly challenged.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're not okay with that challenge, you're just not really gonna be that successful here.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh some people just want to, which is fine.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: You need those people in this world.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: But uh a majority of elevator people are uh are looking for that challenge or looking for the next challenge after that.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh love the the pace.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to be okay with a fast pace.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you've got to be okay working under pressure because this industry will beat you down.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um you've got to um you've got to be okay working in teams.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: And what I find is that uh, especially people here at Island Elevator, that they have two common traits.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, um, they are competitive.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: So it's um man versus machine, person versus machine.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, like you want to get that, and when you don't, you feel something less about yourself, almost like I don't belong in this industry anymore.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then you fix the elevator and you're like, I am the god of this industry.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: So uh you've got to be competitive and you've got to gain pleasure in being able to help somebody else because that's what we do.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: We just help, we help when we show up to a building and somebody you see these people, and we need to get from here to there.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: And the only way we can get there is if this elevator is running and running properly and running safely and running in co-compliance and all of these things, and you show up and you're able to understand and empathize with them and deliver for them, it's like Christmas every time you fix an elevator, like that feeling of giving to somebody else, and you're constantly doing that over the course of your career.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: So people the that those are the personality traits that I think are most common in the elevator industry, successful elevator industry personnel, and especially here at Island Elevator.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we're we're about out of time.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I just wanted to ask you, I guess the final question what do you love the most?
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: We've talked about a lot of good things here, but what if you were to distill it down to one thing?
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: One thing I love the most about the industry, yeah.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um I love the challenge.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: It will never get old for me.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: And no matter how comfortable you are doing what you're doing, there will always be a new challenge.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: There will always be some other hurdle that's thrown in your way.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I love the process, I love the challenge, I love to try to solve these problems, whether in business or out in the field or whatever it is that I can do, putting people together, organizing management, fixing things.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's just there's there's I would be so bored if there were if I was in front of a spreadsheet and there weren't any problems for me to solve.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I need.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I love it.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for being here today.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a pleasure talking with you.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I wish you the very best in your business.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's a pleasure talking to you.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm hoping that we can come back here a year from now and then do something else.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: Let's do it again.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I can interview you.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: Love it.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: All right, that's what I'm talking about.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Chris.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: You got it.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: Have a great day.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: You too.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the All Red Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can check us out online at elevatorcareers.net.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Please subscribe, and until next time, stay safe.