Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / Building a Career in the Elevator Industry with Global Experience | Tom McMahan

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Building a Career in the Elevator Industry with Global Experience | Tom McMahan · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Become a subject matter expert.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we talked before this is like no one would have planned this is what my career is, but pick something and just work at it.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's that whole mentality of how does uh uh how do you become good at something?
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's 10,000 hours.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, if you put a little time and and continue to work on one thing as you go through your career, whether it's a discipline, whether it's sales or marketing or HR or or you know finance uh or an industry, take a couple things and just continue to you know work at study and and learn and develop your your talents within that area.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: I am your host, Matt Allred.
• 0:49
  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.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Today our guest is Tom McMahon, business development manager with Delaware Elevator, headquartered in Salisbury, Maryland.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Tom started his career at Miami Elevator right after graduating from Florida State University in 1990.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: And after two years, Tom left the industry for a time to experience international business.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: After returning to the elevator industry, Tom was able to apply his international experience, opening Lurch Bay's first office in Latin America in 2017.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Tom values his friendship, connection, and all he has learned in the elevator industry.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: He believes your name and reputation are like gold that should not be gambled with.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Tom, welcome to the show.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Hi.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate it, Matt.
• 1:47
  unknown: Yeah.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Good to good to talk with you again.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's always a pleasure, and I appreciate you being on here to with me.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I I I enjoy these podcasts, so it's nice to be a part of one.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: I know you've been super busy, so I appreciate you taking the time.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: And um I obviously want to start with my my favorite question, which is tell me how you got started in the elevator industry in the first place.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd uh you know, typical college graduate, applied for a couple of different companies, and I was fortunate that um Miami Elevator was uh doing interviews in um Tallahassee, went to Florida State, and um got on with them and uh was fortunate they you know went through the whole process and answered all the questions and and took the test and did some interviews and was fortunate to come on board with uh Miami Elevator, who was uh representative of Dover at the time.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Did you uh had you ever thought of of working in the elevator industry?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Is there anything that ever crossed your mind?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: No, not not at all.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: My my I grew up in construction.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: My dad was a contractor who built homes, so I grew up in construction, did some you know, some concrete work on down in Texas and and some different places, but no, I never uh thought about the industry until I got involved with it.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: There's probably the connection with comfortable with the construction area, so there was a good connection there, though.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: What what was your degree in from Florida State?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Multinational marketing.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously you weren't doing a whole lot of that initially with with Miami Elevator, but and I assume you were what in a sales role?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Is that right?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Right, yeah.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: I was uh I it was a great opportunity because it came in as as a sales representative, but the first six months were in the field.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, I wasn't aware, wasn't sure what that was going to entail.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: But my my first job was in a 20-story building in West Palm Beach.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh with within that first 30 days, I was putting a deflector shave up, 20 stories up.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um at that time, you know, standing on a two by eight.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh wow with not some protection, I'm sure I was at a harness there, but nothing like today.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: No, I can't even imagine.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I yeah, haven't haven't been there, but uh so six months you were out in the field kind of as a helper, essentially, right?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I did uh six months, mainly new construction, but also some repair and uh I don't think modernization was a thing at that time, but repair and service side and mainly the construction side.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: What uh how long did it take before the elevator industry kind of clicked and you're like, hey, this is this is cool?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I it was a great company.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean it was the good onboarding.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think about what they what typically uh a new sales rep gets in today is probably not nothing compared to what that was.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, six months in the field.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: The other six months, I had uh a mentor, one of the senior salespeople that met with us on a weekly basis.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: We had um, you know, books to read, um documents to learn everything about the contract, reading through a contract and how to negotiate a contract, how to sell, uh customer contacts, understanding the product line.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I was I was very fortunate to come in on a very professional.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: I was impressed on that side.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Good people.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I had a lot of good mentors just starting off from my first job.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: How long were you with uh Miami Elevator?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: So, but I was young and didn't know what I had, so I I I kind of took off.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I had a little few years away from the L but I got it went to work for um um uh Lipton, Thomas J.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Lipton, got in the food business for a while, and then um did a few things that took me off course from the elevator business, but uh but eventually um part of it was just I wanted to wanted to work overseas, so I was always trying to find some connection to use my experience internationally.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um I backpacked Europe right before I finished college for a month and kind of got that itch to uh you know, I'm from the Midwest, small town.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um didn't speak any language, really had no experience, you know.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: My experience with international travel is crossing the border to go fish in Canada.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but then I moved to Latin America and gained some experience, worked for a couple other Australian companies, some other industries.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then when I came back, uh came back to the States and got plugged back into Tyson Crupp, um I you know basically capitalized on some connections I had from the Miami Elbiter days.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Reed Kelly was a mentor of mine, really great guy, and just always professional.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, always stayed in contact with him and was able to get plugged back in with Tyson.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: And what what was it that led you back to the States at that time?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Oh um, I to be honest with you, I I had an opportunity to go to Australia and I'd lived in Latin America for five years, and I just felt it was kind of time to not go further away, but get closer to I'm a very, very pretty good sized family, so I want to get closer to my family.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: My parents were living in Florida.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that was short story, kind of why I ended up coming back to back to you.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I I I've been gone long enough, is what it sounds like.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly, exactly.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but then but then getting plugged plugged back in with Tiss and Cropp, um working in an office that I worked in prior on Miami Elevator, same owners there in Fort Lauderdale.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um they itched back overseas, and the conversation started to come up again, and um got the opportunity to um start having conversations about going to Chile.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: My wife um is from Santiago, so she came up, and then you know, our daughter was born, and then there's a little bit of push, like, you know, I'd like to live back in Chile.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of back and forth, and uh would go down there once a year and talk with a branch manager of Tissin Krupp and start a meeting the regional managers, and um then eventually um came back to Chile with TISSEN.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so so there was already a branch.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, obviously it's a big city, and were you running the branch?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Were you doing sales?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: What was that role like?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: No, actually actually I'd had conversations for a while, and um no, it was uh regional position for 13 countries.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: So that is a big position, okay.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I went from um um sales manager and then a mod mod man working mods in Fort Lauderdale to moving to Latin America and kind of bringing some of what I'd learned in the past, the best practices I'd learned and trying to bring that to the service sales side for Tyson Krupp and and Latin America, uh managed for Mexico South.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Basically, Tyson had 13 countries minus Brazil, and I helped um another VP manage uh that that side of the business.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of travel, it sounds like.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, first first six months was uh nonstop just getting it out, just you know, just seeing the countries, you know.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: It was uh it's a challenge, and most most of the countries had one major branch, maybe some smaller branches, um, like Mexico, but in general, the main branch was either in Santiago for Chile or in Lima for Peru, um Bogota for Colombia.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: So and I'm just curious, does does the elevator industry operate like significantly different in other countries or and maybe it's different from country to country?
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: I just I wouldn't know, but what was your experience from the US to Latin America and just kind of seeing how how business is done?
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, start starting with the mechanic, uh, like many things, I don't really know if we really appreciate what we have here.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the an opportunity for a mechanic in the States, and I've seen many go from a mechanic to an ops guy to a branch manager to as high up as they want to climb, right?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: To the president of the company.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um in Latin America, it's much more difficult climb.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: You're you're you start off as a mechanic, you really don't see yourself as ever getting much higher than a supervisor, um, um, maybe a regional guy, but you know, it's it's a little more little more tougher for a climb.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then the unions in the states the uh have much more support, much more training.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the unions I I saw the few were you know less mature, uh working on benefits versus you know training and and proper um helper, you know, apprentice programs and stuff like that.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so just a lot more resources is what it sounds like.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: So how how long were you with uh TK again in in that role?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I was with them for like two and a half years.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um almost three years, and then um, and then I moved from there to um got an opportunity talk to Lurch Bates, and uh got an opportunity to open the office up for Lurch Bates in Santiago and helped start to develop the their their business in Latin America.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: So again, kind of the whole of Latin America, were you still the multi- multi-country responsibility?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: It was all countries, yeah.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that they didn't, I mean Lurch Bates is is you know great, great people, great company.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but they didn't have anybody that spoke Spanish, really connected.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: Typically, they would send send a consultant to to Brazil or wherever, and they would do a good job, but their day-to-day is just busy with you know their local work, wherever it's at in Florida or Texas or New York.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um wow.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's a it's a tough, you know, it's also maturity.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's very difficult to sell the owners on paying a premium for the consulting side of the service.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: So so the the industry hadn't really, like you say, matured to the point where the owners are like, hey, I I I see the value in this extra service.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they they saw the value, they just didn't want to pay for it.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's like uh where where here it's just more of a natural.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: I I think that's the difference too, like uh preventive maintenance.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, unless you're talking about a Ford factory or some you know more international company, a Bechtel, uh the average smaller companies aren't gonna invest and pay.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: They'll let's let's let's figure fix when it's right exactly.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a little bit more of a little more challenge.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: We had some good successes with the Metro in Chile and sure some other things, and they continue to have success.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: And and um Mexico is a little closer to the market.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: There's also a cultural fit.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um so Mexico is a little more, uh it's part of North America, and there's many more, uh much more connection there.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: A lot more, yeah.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: American companies are are producing right, you know, just across the border.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: I I know from companies I worked with before that a lot of them have a presence there.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it sounds like it was a lot of it was maybe an education or just a a relationship building process that probably took a little while to just develop it.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, th things take longer.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: It'd take me three years to get into uh a clinic or with the metro, it took about that long to build the relationships and talk through things.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: And versus the states, it's like either like you don't, and if you if you can come back again, if it's a good product, um it's many things are that way.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like I was saying, appre appreciating what we have here, uh in the United States, if you're a hard worker and you you show up on time and you put forth the effort, we're gonna give you an opportunity.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe an opportunity over the person that's better educated but doesn't have the same discipline, right?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um in Chile it's a little more difficult that way.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: In Latin America, you know, you have to have a name, you have to know who you know, and uh there's not as much up uh grassroots opportunity as there would be uh organic opportunities you would have here.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks for describing that because uh so many people I talk to are kind of kind of like what you're saying.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: They start at the bottom, you learn what you need, and then you know, if you want to start your own company, if you want to create your own consulting company, if you want, you know, it's it's there's opportunities are plenty for those who want them or and are willing to to go after them.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're hard working, show up on time, have your honest, have your integrity, the right mindset.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's it's uh not not it's not easy.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's hard to run a business.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: You can be a good mechanic, but you may not run a business, but there's an opportunity there.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so how how long with Larch Bates in that role?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: So Larch Bates uh was uh about another two, two and a half years.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: The issue there was um just got started.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: First full year was 2019, and then the pandemic hit in March 2020, and it hit Latin America harder than than the states, you know, things just shut down.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um how did that affect your work?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you probably couldn't travel probably at all for quite a while.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, it was uh much more difficult to travel.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean we in October of 2022, which was just last year, right?
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: They removed the the public uh masks being oh my gosh, okay, okay.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, during the pandemic, I had to pull a permit twice a week with a barcode to go to the grocery store, and I had to show them this barcode now.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't have it to go home.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine imagine how you know we all just laughed when we were like you're complaining about masks.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what if you told someone in the States you can't leave your house unless you have this bar?
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't that just go to the supermarket, you couldn't leave the house.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: You had the right twice a week.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um but it would they had a different it was you know it was it it got pretty ugly, right?
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um system to supplement.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: So it was it was kind of hairy there for a while.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sounds painful.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: So um so I guess from there to to where you are now, correct?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: So tell me, yeah, tell me what you're doing now and and so you know I I just have very fortunate to have found Delaware Elevator.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I met with uh had an interview and talked with the owner and got plugged in with uh Pete Meeks.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, and and it's been been great.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh when I when I was out looking and kind of searching companies, um I was looking for kind of like the old elevator days with with uh Dover and Miami Elevator.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't mention the the Baileys, the owners of of uh Miami Elevator were just the right people.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: You if you worked hard, you did the right thing, then you you were rewarded for that.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um not to say that doesn't happen within the OEMs, but sometimes it's a corporation, right?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's all about the numbers.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um so uh um found found Delaware and got plugged in and started off in business development um back in in May of this year, um April, May.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: And now I've kind of uh gotten more involved with um some of the ongoing strategic planning meetings, and uh we have leadership meetings twice a month, um, getting into lean manufacturing or implementing ERP.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: So um, and the lovely thing is uh my office is above the factory floor, and that's a first for me.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: So it's kind of uh, you know, I started in the field, kind of went corporate um regional manager, um, and now actually working out of the factory is um very nice because I get to walk down and and see, you know, we we we and Delaware does a lot of custom work, so you know, we'll have a platform for 20,000 pound capacity elevator being built on the floor.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Nice, yeah.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: You can be there and witness all so obviously back in the states, right?
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh I guess kind of the coming back from Chile.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so Delaware is based in actually Salisbury, Maryland.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's originally from started in Delaware with it's this third generation.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: So Pete's grandfather is the one that started it, uh, a little north of here.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: But great part of the country, too.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm from the Midwest.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, didn't know much about Maryland, but I get here it's all cornfields and kind of small town.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, but it's got the plus that's four hours from New York, a couple hours from DC, Philly, Baltimore.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: So it's in a great well-position in the mid-Atlantic for for business-wise.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Or you can get out to the ocean if you want to do some sailing, right?
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: You're not too far from I I I I walk and watch the sunrise every morning here.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: Ocean now from the distance.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's nice.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: Very nice, very nice.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: So um obviously you you've had a very unique career from you know starting out and then going international and then coming back and going back international, but this time in elevators.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: And what are what are some of the biggest lessons that you've uh gleaned along the way?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, um first just never burn bridges, stay connected.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that helped that that has helped me uh not only for my career, but but also just friendships, you know.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the opposite David Spencer was my, you know, in Fort Fort Myers when I got plugged into my first branch in sales, he was the operations manager.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: And uh he's he's like a brother to me.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: We've we're part of the family, you know.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I think relationships are key.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's good to network, right.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: You're in sales, you got a network, that's how and you know, uh uh not to be the the influencer track, but you gotta do a little of that to get your career going, but don't look past the friendships you're building, right?
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you it's it's it's one thing liking the industry you're in, but you need to have those go-to people that you like, you love to do business with.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's key.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I I'm completely blessed.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: I I get phone calls from uh uh a hotel manager in Peru that's still having problems with XOEM, I won't mention, or or um a guy that worked for me, that is now in charge of had started his own company and he's in Monterey, Mexico at a factory.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh or or or people from my hometown, you know, I just got this network that's uh it's amazing.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that and I've seen that from so many people and even even myself, just friendships, uh, people I've talked to just the other day.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: I was talking to a gentleman and and uh just looking at at my notes from in in my database where I kind of keep track of everything.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, you realize we first started talking like 10 years ago, never met him in person, right?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: But we've been on the phone off and on for like 10 years.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, that's uh that's kind of interesting, you know.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, tech technology is awesome as well.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I I was um through the pandemic, I was I was talking to Yanni, who um works with Lurch Bates, and and uh you know, I hadn't really talked to them much since I came back up and I keep in touch with some people, but I was at the New York office and I walk in, had all the consultants there, and she walked in and you know, we've talked through the like this, right?
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, through the pandemic, we never actually met.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, hey, fine, nice to finally meet you.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, that's right, we never met.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: You just I think that's the beauty of today's technology that we didn't have before.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Just you know, the face-to-face.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's it's uh it's amazing that how to continue to build and keep in touch with people.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's true.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, I mean it.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's one thing I love about the uh like the NAC conference.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you and I first met in person in October.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: We'd been talking for probably a year off and on about you know different things, opportunities, especially as you were looking to move back to the state.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, no, and um, so then you solidify with a face-to-face, but then you can continue and build the relationships, uh continue to network like yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's it's a remarkable industry, and uh I enjoy it.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoy these conversations.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's nice for to me to have to have real relationships.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas um, I don't know, I just my my previous more corporate experience was like, you know, it's this is transactional, but it's not personal, right?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, hey, we're just doing business together, we don't talk, we don't necessarily care about each other, we're just getting something done.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas in in the elevator industry, I I see people all the time that that care deeply for friends and and associates, and you know, hey, we worked together 20 years and we're still best of friends, and that was not my experience prior to.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's amazing, too.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I mentioned working with Dover, for example, and um we were at uh went to the starting to work international business in Canada, and and actually we'll be going to Mexico soon as well in January.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: But a couple mechanics in Toronto, and they're like, Yeah, you were Dover, and you just think that connection.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, I was on a call a little while ago with a guy that worked for uh Northern uh earlier today.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: So those connections continue and those commonalities and those you know common things that we have, that's what relationships are built on, right?
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, there's definitely something something special.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so uh, you know, as we kind of get well before before I ask my final question, I'm just curious.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Anything you wanted to bring up before um any, you know, any parts we missed or anything you want to just kind of share about your journey?
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um no, I kind of go on everything.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: I I would say I'm very um very happy where I'm at now, you know, back with um hopefully this, you know, you never you can never say never, who knows where I'll be or five years from now.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm very excited to work with with Delaware.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: Pete Meeks is you know, just a great guy that um I've traveled throughout the region, Canada, um, Texas, Chicago, and wherever I go, he has um you know a good reputation, and that's important for me.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when I started with Lurch Bates, I told him I'm gonna open up an office here, and most importantly, I'm not sure how the business will go, but I'll always protect and respect your name.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because the name's what really all we have at the end of the day, right?
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: And the older you get, the more that's that makes uh more important it is.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm very very happy to be at Delaware and and uh working alongside Pete to take his business forward.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, very cool.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: So the last question I want to ask is um what advice would you give?
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you could uh look back in time at at uh young Tom coming out of uh Florida State and you know embarking on his new elevator industry career.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: What would you say to the newbies that are just starting out?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: I think one of the challenges uh any anyone with a drive has is just you know hold the course.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I would don't be impatient.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh stick with something.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I was fortunate that I I'd bounced around a little bit and I came back um and I jumped back to the elevator industry and said, I'm gonna stay here.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: Got some good advice from some mentors, and that's also become a subject matter expert.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we talked before this, it's like no one would have planned this is what my career is, but pick something and just work at it.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's that whole mentality of how does uh uh how do you become good at something?
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's 10,000 hours.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, if you put a little time and and continue to work on one thing as you go through your career, whether it's a discipline, whether it's sales or marketing or HR or or you know finance uh or an industry, take a couple things and just continue to you know work at study and and learn and develop your your talents within that area.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and as you do, you become more valuable.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: You become, you know, you can in a lot of ways write your own ticket or or at least write a lot of you have a lot of different options, I guess, is what I was getting at as uh as you become more valuable.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it became you become it becomes easier and you're more comfortable.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: And and what do people what do people buy, they buy confidence.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: True, right?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's I've I've been in many meetings when someone else I'm looking at and like he doesn't know what he's talking about, but they're they're buying into it.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: And that's part of it.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's that it's that confidence.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: And if you have the the knowledge, but you know, you have to get you have to get the experience too as well, right?
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean in our industry, you've gotta you it um you you have to had a customer with a difficult situation and go through it to be able to deal with with the next challenge.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: True, true.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, yeah, obviously you gotta you gotta have the the challenges, make some mistakes, you know.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's how I always learn is land on my face a few times, and then I'm like, oh, I I start to so yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I got my my daughter's uh gonna be going to college next year.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: So already this has been difficult because they're she's finishing up school in in uh Chile and then uh be going to college up here.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: But I think some ways it's been good.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: I've been away, so she's you know, it's like look, you got another year.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever you're feeling is a challenge here, it's gonna be twice in a year.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's gonna be more complicated.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: And then when you get out in a career, it's more.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: So you just gotta get through it and know that you, you know, you'll you'll get through it with no problem.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's great advice, Tom.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you again for for being on with me.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: And uh wish you the best as you continue to build your career.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: Very good.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you at the next show.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, take care.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the All Red Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: You can check us out online at elevatorcareers.net.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Please subscribe, and until next time, stay safe.