Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / Waking Up With Purpose in the Elevator Trade | Ken Hickey

Transcript

Waking Up With Purpose in the Elevator Trade | Ken Hickey · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: I love that it's a challenge.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I I love that every day I go up and I go into an elevator, and uh it's just something that how am I gonna make this better?
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_03: How how am I gonna you know fix this or how am I gonna accomplish that?
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't know, it's just it's hard to explain the the the the feel I have that I love waking up and going to work.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: You know, a lot of people don't have that, and and I I'm lucky enough to say that I I love working in elevators.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: I am your host, Matt Allred.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: 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, when talent is mission critical.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Call the All Red Group with industry expertise, top talent, and accepted customer service.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: You need the all-red group on your side.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Your priority is therefore 404-550-0445.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: From fixing cars to test talent to installing elevators in the heart of work, and eventually helping shape elevator innovation overseas.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: NAT 37 year journey in the industry is anything but ordinary.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Today he opens up about the tough early days, the mentors to take tech, the shift from union to non-union work, and the leadership lessons that have helped him build teams and move elevators.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: If you've ever wondered what it means to really grow in this business, Ken Story gives a great example.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: So, Ken, welcome to the show.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_03: Matt, thank you for having me.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's a pleasure.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's uh I'm honored to be here.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm excited.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's been several years since you and I first connected and correct.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: And to be able to have this conversation, you know, after all those years, yeah, it's it's uh it's fun.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: I enjoy it.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I appreciate it.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: So um I did want to, you know, kind of start at the beginning and you know, just you know, curious how you got started in elevators back in, I think you said 1988, is that right?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_03: Correct.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh March, okay, 1988.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_03: I still remember that.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: I went to high school for automotive.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: My father was an auto mechanic, graduated, went to a technical school for automotive.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_03: I was working at a four dealership, and you know, I kind of liked it, but I didn't love it.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_03: It was okay.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the girl I was dating at the time, who turned out to be my wife, uh, her neighbor asked if I wanted to get into the elevator industry.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_03: And being a kid on Staten Island, I'm like, I don't know anything about elevators.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think I was ever on an elevator before.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm trying to rack my brain.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I'm like, maybe at the mall with my parents or something.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_03: I went on an elevator, I don't know.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um I'm like, sure, I'll give it a shot.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_03: And and uh I went on and and I he I worked for Mango Elevator out of Long Island City.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, they made me an monetization helper, and my first job was Bushwick Houses in New York City.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_03: And here I am a kid from Staten Island going to Bushwick Houses, and it was an eye-opening experience, and I didn't know anything about it.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: And they threw me into this environment, and uh it was different, it was very different.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, I'm looking at these things going up and down, I'm like, what is that?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_03: What is that?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_03: What is that?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, it was very overwhelming at the time.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_03: And I remember going home and thinking, what am I doing?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_03: Just go back to fixing cars.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna ask you that.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: What was your impression?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, when he says elevators, what was it that that made you say yes?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you had just little to no experience with them, at least you knew what a car was.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: I did, I did.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_03: I did know what a car was.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: I I know I didn't love it, I liked it.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_03: I still dabble in it sometimes.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it was just something new, it was just something a challenge.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: I was always a kid, you know, that taking things apart.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_03: Remember my parents had this VCR, top-loading VCR.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: And it ate the tape one day.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: The next thing I know, my mother comes home, it was in pieces, you know, it was taking things apart.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't get back together, never worked again.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, it was always challenging.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: And and and an elevator was, you know, I you see pictures and these things going up and down.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, this is something I want to do.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: It was, it was I I don't know, it just seemed like it was something, a challenge that I wanted to accept.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, yeah.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: So that you said you kind of second guessed question, like, what am I doing?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Two months.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, for my I was gonna ask you, how long?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: How long did you like shake your head and just go, What am I doing here?
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_03: This is the first two years.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_03: Because you know, I was a helper.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it was very, very it was hard, you know.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: I was back in the late 80s, early 90s.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_03: It was, you know, I was dirty, it was filthy.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: I was driving here, driving there.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_03: It was a lot going on.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_03: So the first two years were very challenging.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_03: And once I started, I didn't want to quit.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_03: You know, my father sat me down.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: He was like, you know, do you do you love it doing it?
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I'm getting there.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, just stick it out.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I was going to union school.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, finish that, and then you decide what you want to do.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm glad for that little bit of advice that I got.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: So it sounds like wise advice, right?
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: You at least at least get the experience enough to know what it is you you've got, right?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: At least go long enough that you can make an informed decision, I guess, is what I'm getting at.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: I just didn't want to start a couple years and then stop it and then go back to this and then realize, well, I didn't really love this, but maybe that could have been something, and that opportunity would have been lost.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: So for sure, for sure.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, what what was it that really finally clicked for you in the elevator space?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_03: Well, so they had moved me out of, I was still in modernization, but they've moved me to the the private sector.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_03: So I was doing a modernization at NYU university.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, and my mechanic at the time was a gentleman named Jim Donnegan.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_03: He was your typical old school elevator guy, you know.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: I remember one time we were eating lunch together, and supervisor showed up, and there's three other teams.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: So there's, you know, you got like six, seven guys in one room eating lunch, and you joined in a conversation and it was about sports or whatever we were talking about.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_03: And you look over next to me and he was like, Laddie, help it should be seen, not heard.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like, don't talk.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: Laddie.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_03: Laddie, that's what he said.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_03: And and we'll never forget that.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_03: But he taught me so much.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_03: He, you know, where the some mechanics were doing the work, and I was watching, he made me do the work, he made me learn, he made me watch this, and and he and he explained, you know, this happens, but why this happens.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: This happens for a reason, you know.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_03: We're we're moving this elevator, moving it up two floors before a reason.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_03: So that really where I developed a passion why I wanted to be more like him, right?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_03: So he brought me there.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: So that's uh how long did you work with him?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: I was there.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I finished my apprenticeship with him.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I was with him for two years.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: So you mentioned, you know, obviously going to uh um you know to union school and and finishing, you know, finishing your apprenticeship.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it sounds like you probably finished up your your license, but then you told me about kind of a tough experience that ultimately pushed you towards uh non-union work.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm curious, how did that decision change your path, your career?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I I had switched unions and I I was I wasn't really happy in this in the other union and it wasn't it just wasn't a right fit for me and uh the people around me, the the management that was there.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_03: And I had other opportunities, other companies in the non-union that I did take advantage of.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_03: And I just thought it opened more of a door where I can not just do maintenance, or I could just not do monetization, where I can do management, or I can do some engineering work, or I can do sales of the elevator, you know, the more customer aspect of it.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_03: And and I think it just broadened my horizon totally in the elevator industry.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: So tell me a little bit more about that.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: Just it it broadened your horizon, just give you you you're saying more opportunities, more knowledge, more opportunity.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_03: Where I was I wasn't just you know fixing elevators, I was you know, supervising them, I was dealing with customers, I was uh eventually selling elevators, everything inside the office of violations we were doing, you know, okay, everything.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_03: It was just a more of an opportunity I thought that I had for me in the smaller non-union elevator company.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you you I mean you talked a little bit about that.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um once you made that switch, that uh in particular, you know, working at JG.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you told me about like designing elevators, which is which is a different track altogether.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh we weren't, you know, with totally designing elevators.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_03: So at the time, MRL elevators were really coming popular.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_03: You know, Otis had them, you know, Tyson had them, and the market in New York City was very non-competitive.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_03: It was the only non-proprietary equipment was a global target for equipment.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_03: So we were installing LG Otis elevators, and that was a package from South Korea sold through SEMCO in Pennsylvania, and they wanted to develop to get into the MRO package.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we had gone to South Korea, a couple of us, it was a six weeks.
• 9:51
  unknown: Cool.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_03: They had owned a now I'm gonna say the name of the city, Dung Jung City.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not sure.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: I'll take your word for it.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: It's a long time, you know.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_03: I knew like three words in Korean, it had totally lost itself.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we had developed they had they had developed an MRL elevator and we had kind of like made sure that we wanted to make it New York City approved.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: So we brought our experience with what you know New York City was needed to be approved to them, and we merged it together, and then we presented it to the New York City Department of Buildings.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_03: For an entire week, we went there with paperwork, engineering that we had, and we wanted to install it, and they approved the package, they improved our drawings.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: 16 weeks later, we installed one elevator in uh Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: Six weeks after that, we had six Department of Building inspectors with an acceptance test for two days expecting this elevator.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: And it passed.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_03: And that just that it was great, it was wonderful.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_03: And uh all the fruits of that just came to this.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't think it would ever get done.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't think there was a chance that we were gonna get this done.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we were just a bunch of mitzfit guys from New Jersey, New York, you know, going into Korea and and developing the system that New York City would later approve.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: How did that come about?
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the the opportunity to go to Korea for six weeks, how did that experience even uh come up on the radar and say, hey, let's buy tickets to Korea?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm just curious, what was that?
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_03: So uh the company HM Tech was earlier was uh LG Otis, and then they'd bought the uh the LG Otis part of it.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, and they really wanted to break in.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_03: They were selling uh they were selling packages in Puerto Rico and Canada, but they wanted to break into the Northeast market.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_03: That's where you know a lot of the elevators are being sold.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_03: And since we had a connection through the LG, you know, we had a couple of guys with us from South Korea.
• 12:06
  unknown: Okay.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_03: So that was really our connection to the to the gentleman, you know, his name was Mr.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_03: Lee in South Korea.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: So he came here, we met him, we met his wife, and we took him around, we showed him what we wanted to do, we showed him what what we needed, and then we went back there and uh we worked with him.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_03: The struggle was communication.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure, I can't imagine.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, sure.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_03: So once we overcome that with people who you know could speak English, because there was no way we were learning, you know, Korean, and there wasn't it wasn't Google like you could speak a da phone back then, interpreter that wasn't happening.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: So uh once we overcome the obstacle of communication, then it just kind of just snowballed and we just kind of worked together.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: Gotcha, gotcha.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: So it sounds like LG Otis had a product, but maybe it just wasn't it wasn't MRO, it was just an overhead traction elevator.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_03: So okay, we needed to develop an MRL.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: Gotcha, gotcha.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what you were doing for those six weeks, and then obviously you had to come back, get it approved, and then get it get installed inspected and installed, and yeah, yeah.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_03: It was it was challenging.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_03: Now it's throughout the city.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: So uh there's a company now that's that sells it as a package throughout the whole country.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_03: So it's really it's come a long way.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_03: It's really a great problem because when it it comes off, you know, if anybody's buying an elevator, you know, it comes from this vendor or this vendor, this vendor.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_03: This comes off a container, so everything's one.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_03: Every nut and bolt you need is in that container.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow, yeah.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: Controllers, everything it's everything, everything, not just a package of like you say, different parts.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_03: It was challenging, but it but it was great.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: I I mean that sounds like a very intense learning experience, uh, a little bit scary to pour whatever time, effort, money into it, and and kind of hope it pays off, right?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the scariest part was meeting with the department of buildings.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_03: It was because there was an intimidating bunch of people, and uh, and you know, they're inspectors and sure, and they're going through it, and that and you can't they're playing like their cards, their black face is like you don't know if they're like it, you know if they're accepting it, just and then once they came back and gave us this the seal of approval, it was uh I'm like wow.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean they got a big job to do, right?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: So I mean yeah, they have to yeah, make sure that it's safe, yeah.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: So you said that that uh you you know once you kind of got that approved and you were doing like 25 installs a year with a small non-union shop, and that to me that sounds intense.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: What how did you keep that pace that workflow uh up?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it sounds like you were just gonna go, go, go, go, go.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_03: We were it was a boomy time.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_03: So it's the time with in Brooklyn, Queens, you know, uh the Bronx, Manhattan, they were ripping down a lot of these old vacant buildings to build up a lot of apartments, so there was a lot of opportunity, there was everything going on at once.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_03: So we became efficient at getting it set up, getting stage one in, then getting stage two in and keeping track of this.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_03: And then the thing that would slow us down was you know, sometimes the buildings didn't keep up.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_03: So uh it was it was once we had uh momentum, it kind of all fell into place.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_03: And and and the people in the field were excellent, sure.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_03: Excellent, and we got efficient at getting stage one and getting stage two in.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_03: And once we became efficient at that, it all just kind of like meshed together.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: So were it was it all new install, or did you do some some mods with this as well?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_03: It was all new install.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, which you know, new install is easier than mod.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, as I understand, right?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_03: I've never done one, but yeah, because it you got a blank canvas, you just it's an open shafts as long as it's plum, right?
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you make it plum, you kind of like budget a little bit, so got to, yeah, yeah, I'm sure, yeah.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, no, that's awesome.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: So um you mentioned, you know, kind of kind of butting heads of the company and then uh learning a ton at another.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Can you talk about how those experiences shaped your technical skills and and even leadership perspective?
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_03: The the company I I learned obviously was GGL, right?
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_03: I learned a ton.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_03: And and then my consolidated elevator I was at for a while.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_03: And my leadership skills really took off then because we I walked into a company that it was established, but it just needed uh a direction.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_03: So I wanted to give that company uh more of an identity, you know, a real leader behind who can talk to the customer, who can guide the people in the field, you know, and and just help educate the mechanics that are going on.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_03: And I was always a guy that, you know, I want to teach you what I know.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_03: And listen, I don't know everything, but whatever useless knowledge is in my head, I will give it to you.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_03: And I have a ton of useless elevator knowledge in my head.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_03: And I I really wanted to give that out.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: And that and the owner really uh gave me the tools to make that happen and really trusted me to kind of take over and gave me the reins of, you know, here it is, here's your maintenance department, your repair department, and kind of go with it.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm really thankful for that.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, tell me, tell me how just kind of let's let's peel that onion just a little bit, because I think leadership is something that you know, it's it's not cut and dried.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh, you know, there's there's obviously some art, some nuance.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um what would you say was the most critical lesson you learned about leading others?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_03: It's listening to everybody, and and everybody's an individual.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, and nothing's a cookie-cutter way of dealing with people, and and realizing that work is work and home is home, and and trying to mesh that together was the most difficult aspect of it.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: And realizing you're talking to one person and you don't know what they're going through, right?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_03: You know, what's on their mind, you know, how they're how's their home life, then that affects everything.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: And and just trying to listen to them and and and and and hear them out and be in their shoes, right?
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_03: So, but realize that you know, we come here and the job does have to get done, right?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: And we have to focus on what we're doing.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_03: And and if we're able to focus on what we're doing, we're gonna be successful at the end of the day, and we're all gonna go home.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_03: And that was our main objective.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: So for sure, for sure.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it sounds like and and what I'm kind of taking away is that that yes, you know, obviously the work is important, but you can't you got to get to know somebody enough, and and they gotta know you care about them enough that hey, if things are breaking down at home, we need to talk about it.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Or, you know, you you need a a safe place, safe person to be able to share some concerns or some issues or whatever.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because to your point, everybody's not only individual, but you know, we're all people, we all have lives, we all have concerns, and and to me, you know, we we go to work to to try to take care of our lives, not not the other way around, right?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's like just just kind of keeping those priorities straight.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I I just wanted to to tell them that, you know, if we just act as a team, we just tell each other what's going on.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_03: If something's affecting you at home, it could affect you at work.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_03: And this is an industry where things can change in a moment.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: For sure.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's it we're putting ourselves in in sometimes in harm's way.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you need to focus on what you're doing.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_03: If we can't focus on what we're doing, then being there in that environment is not the right place.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: You put everybody at risk, right?
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yourself, your coworkers, I mean, you gotta have to.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_03: The general public.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 20:04
  unknown: Yeah.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um hey everyone, thank you for listening.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: This is Matt with a brief message from our sponsor.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: The All Red Group has been recruiting elevator industry talent for over 14 years.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: If you are looking to grow your business and hire great people, contact the all-red group at allredgroup.com.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's A-L-L-R-E-D, G-R-O-U-P.com, and talk with Matt and his team about how they can assist you.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: And now back to the show.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: So you you said um you talked about some industry change and uh you know that it changed a lot when you started, and uh, especially when it comes to training, mentorship, daily operations.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: What are some of the biggest changes that you've seen?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: Listen, I'm gonna sound like an old fuddy duddy right now.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_03: The biggest change is the cell phone.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_03: It is such a distracting device.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_03: It's something that just takes, you know, you're on top of an elevator, you're in the motor room, and you know, you hear that beep beep or you hear that the text tone going off.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know, and you pick it up and then you focus on that, you're not focus on what you're doing.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_03: I've done it, we've all done it.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's just something that uh can change at a moment's notice, and that you tell yourself that it's like I try to tell everybody, it's like driving a car, you know.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_03: Don't text while you drive, right?
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_03: Don't text while you're working.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_03: For me, that's that's it's a great device to have because it leads to this industry where you need help.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_03: I can call somebody.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_03: You know, now there's these Facebook groups where you can just go online and see uh, you know, I have a code 77.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_03: What does that mean?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: This is you can see what's going on.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_03: And it's a great tool to have, and it's it's it's like a double edged sword.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_03: It's it can cut you at the second.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's in I hear you because yeah, I know of software, there's all kinds of information you can act.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Even beyond calling your buddy.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and and some of the software is even, you know, for the business is on your phone, right?
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_03: That's how you how you tell me nowadays are being dictated about where to go on their phone.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_03: You know, their phone's telling them your route.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_03: I have you have to go to 123 Main Street, then you're going here.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: And the phone is a necessity at the time, but you know, we really have to get a balance of it.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good point.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: Have you seen I'm guessing you have, but tell me about some experiences where you've seen a phone actually be a safety hazard.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_03: I went to a mechanic once and uh I knew he was falling behind because one was calling me complaining about you know certain maintenance aspects that weren't going on.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_03: And I went upstairs, I went into the elevator room, and he was sitting on the bed plate of the machine with his headphones in and he was watching a movie.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I just tapped him on the shoulder, we gotta go.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_03: So we brought him back to the office.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we we had a talk, we wrote him up, uh, and I just explained, I'm like, you know, that first of all, that just doesn't look good.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_03: If if somebody else walked into the elevator room, you know, these paper paying money for you to do quality maintenance.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_03: And here you are sitting there watching a movie.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_03: You could have got hurt.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_03: You could have hurt somebody.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_03: Just don't be there.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_03: You know, put the phone down.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_03: And that was really the first thing that I saw.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_03: And then the next week we had a whole discussion about cell phone use at work.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_03: That really it scared me because I I I thought something could happen.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_03: I I didn't want him to get hurt.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't want anybody to get hurt.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's just sure that made me nervous.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, certain certainly the time waster, yeah.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: But if but if you're so far removed mentally from what you're doing, yeah, who knows, who knows what could happen, right?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: You're just not paying attention to your surroundings, moving parts, moving pieces, high voltage electricity.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, anything can could happen.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_03: So anything could happen.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_03: And anything, it just the the ideas that were running in my head that, oh my God, you know, this could happen, that can happen, just made me a little scared.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: So absolutely.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it takes certainly, you know, just discipline to say, okay, this is a tool, but I need to be disciplined about when I use it, when I don't use it.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if I need information, then you know, I need to be somewhere safe and maybe use it to get that information, but then I need to shut it off and and get my head back in the game.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_03: And it's not as easy as sounds all the time, but yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: So you you told me that uh Champion is the best company you've worked at.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just curious what makes it stand out from the others over your 37-year career.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_03: I was at Consolidated Elevator, and Consolidated was coming to the end.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_03: They were being purchased by the American group.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_03: And I made the decision to come to Champion.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, it was funny.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_03: When we I was leaving at the time, a good friend of mine who works at the office, she says, you know, you're gonna go drink the the Kool-Aid at Champion kind of thing.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, no, no, no, no, I'm just you know, I'm gonna work there.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I texted her a picture of me drinking a purple Kool-Aid six months after I came in.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, this is the best company I was ever at.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, uh, I do surveys and quality control here.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_03: So uh if you're a customer and you call up and you're like, well, you know, I'm thinking about having switching my maintenance company.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I would come, or the other one of the other two people from Champion would come and we would do a soup the nuts survey of your device.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_03: Top to bottom, I'd ride the top, I'd look underneath, you know, I'd walk floor to floor, everything.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_03: I check everything because I want to make sure that if I put my name on something, that champion doesn't get caught saying that they would take care of something that wasn't taken care of.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_03: I send that full report with an email to Champion, to the sales department, to the repair department, and they listen to what I have to say.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_03: You know, they take my advice.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_03: They I and they're like, well, you know, uh, so these ropes don't look great, but three years from now they're gonna need changing.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_03: They listen to me.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_03: And it's it's not that other companies haven't listened to me.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_03: It's just I feel like, you know, this the sales team is working with me, the the repair department's working.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_03: I I just I feel like they value my opinion a lot.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_03: And uh and I like that.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: So it's awesome.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: I and I and not to yeah, put any anybody down at all, I I like highlighting what what works, what you know, what what is successful, and and I mean if it's some something as simple as hey, I feel valued, I feel listened to, I feel like my input counts or something, that's huge.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_03: It is, it is, and uh you ask everybody a champion, you're you're gonna get different answers.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_03: I understand that.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I've been around a long time.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_03: But if you ask me about it, you know, this is one of the better companies out there.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's great.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I'm glad you you found someplace that that you feel I feel valued, heard, listened to, and and that your you know, your experience, your insights really matter.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, just kind of looking back on the beginning of your career, you said you grew up on Staten Island, didn't know if you'd even ridden an elevator.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: How do you reflect on that now, having spent your whole career working on that?
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_03: I love every day of going to work.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_03: It sounds weird, it sounds geeky.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_03: I love the challenge.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_03: I love walking into different buildings every day.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_03: You see the different elevators, seeing how they work.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_03: You know, uh, no two days are the same in this industry.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_03: Every day's different.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_03: You don't know what you're gonna walk into, and it's just a challenge.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_03: It's just I love it.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_03: There's nothing more than I love than I walk into a building to do a monetization survey, and right away I'm looking.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_03: Well, the how are we getting it up there?
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_03: How are we getting the elevator out?
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_03: You know, how is this button coming off the wall?
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_03: How are we gonna lower this button?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_03: What's behind that wall?
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, what's in this door?
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: You know, how are we gonna get this door off the track?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_03: And all these things are going through my head, and uh and I I just I just love it.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I write it all down and I go to these places, and then people are like, you know, what are you doing?
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm telling them how to do this and tell them how to do that.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_03: When he's like, that's the office problem.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_03: No, that's my problem.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_03: I want to give them as much information as possible to make them succeed, you know.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_03: If champion picks up this project, then we do better and I do better.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_03: That's how I look at it.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think it's great that you you take that kind of ownership, right?
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: That that it's not just somebody else's problem, but hey, we're a team.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna do this together, we're gonna work together, we're gonna succeed.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, because we're all given just a little bit more to to make this sure that this happens.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_03: I love the the camaraderie in this business.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_03: I had people who I worked with for 10, 15 years, and we call each other up all the time.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_03: And like, hey, I got a problem with this, or I got a problem with that.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, I walked into a cornea controller before the other day.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_03: I'd never seen this thing before.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: I I knew I called up and I'm FaceTiming and I'm like, what is this?
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_03: What is how does this work?
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_03: And he was explaining it to me.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_03: It's something that I I really truly like about this business.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_03: I think, you know, I don't know how it is everywhere, but we all kind of look after each other.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we walk through, we do a survey with people, and we're all pointing, hey, you know what?
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_03: I seen this, I seen that.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_03: And I I do like that about it.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_03: And we're all here, we're here to do a job, and we're here to be successful, and we want to do the best.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it what it reminds me of is it's kind of like that old saying, it takes a village to raise a child.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: And what what you're bringing to mind is that it it takes a village to take care of elevators because no one person has all the answers.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so as a village, we're we're having to come together, ask each other, you know, show each other what I'm seeing, what and listen to what they're seeing, and and as a whole, we can make it work.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: But if it's just up to one person, it's not gonna work.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_03: No, my job and everybody's job is to educate everybody about what we know, you know, me holding all this knowledge in isn't gonna do anybody any good.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_03: You know, the next generation of elevated people coming out, you know, maybe they've never seen, you know, a wessing house or an oldest flathead drum machine.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_03: You know, they walk into this basement.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, what is that?
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, and you explain, you know, some some people have never seen a generator.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_03: And you just try to explain to them, you know, well, this is how it works, that's how it works.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I really like doing that.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_03: So I kind of get off on that.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: So, what what would you say is one of the most impactful stories that you can share from your career thus far?
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things that impacted you most deeply.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_03: So back at JG Elevator, we used to have weekly safety meetings.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_03: And we we talked about experiences that we saw in the field and things that we see and and things that we accomplish and things that we we potentially try to foresee what we're gonna run into.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_03: And we had one of the mechanics, you know, he decided to leave, he went to another company, and he was at this other company, I'm guessing, for about a year, and somebody got hurt.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_03: And he was almost put into position by the person who got hurt that they wanted him to do something, and he didn't feel comfortable doing it.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_03: And it led to the other person getting hurt.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_03: And he called me up and I heard about the accident, and I I reached out to him, but he didn't get back to me.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_03: And then he got back to me.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, I want to thank you, you know, for those weekly safety meetings.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, I think that it it helped me a lot because you always told us that if you don't feel comfortable doing something, don't do it.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_03: And and he didn't do it.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I and that really, you know, that brought it home to me that you know, first while they're listening to me, you know, right.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_03: And this is making a difference.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_03: So after that, I continued to do it wherever I go.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_03: Every week we would have meetings and talk, you know, at consolidated elevator.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_03: I would bring guys in on Friday, you know, we started at eight o'clock, and I'm like, I'm gonna have a controller class at seven o'clock.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_03: If you guys want to come in, I'll share my knowledge of what I know.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_03: We had a makeshift controller set up, you know.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_03: We powered it up, we tampered with it to break it on purpose, and they had to fix it.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_03: And and we loved it, and it was a great experience, you know, throughout the year.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: So that's great.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it kind of yeah, it kind of drives home the need to to continue, like you say, to to share your experience.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure it felt really gratifying that your your coworker didn't get hurt, right?
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: That he followed some of your advice, that he didn't get hurt, and that he was he could look at it and say, Wow, I'm I'm super glad I listened to Ken and took his advice.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: So um, and you you've had a long journey after all these years, and you're still saying, I love it, which I I love hearing it.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what is it that you love so much about what you do?
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: And you talked a little bit about it, but how would you how would you capsule encapsulate that?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_03: I love that it's a challenge.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I I love that every day I go up and I go into an elevator, and uh it's just something that how am I gonna make this better?
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_03: How how am I gonna you know fix this or how am I gonna accomplish that?
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't know, it's just it's hard to explain the the the the feel I have that I love waking up and going to work.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_03: You know, a lot of people don't have that.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_03: And I I'm lucky enough to say that I I love working in elevators.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: I I think not only do a lot of people not have it, they they probably look at you sideways and go, how can you say that?
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: They and that's part of the reason I ask the question, because it's I think it's important to convey to to others who maybe have a similar skill set and passion to you.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe they still haven't found their place.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, elevator industry, the elevator industry to me is a place where you know a lot of people really love what they do.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, maybe calling on other talented individuals to hey, take a look at the elevator industry because you can kind of write a ticket a lot of different directions based on what you you've learned.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: And you could you could do a lot of different things, right?
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: You're you're choosing to do what you what you're doing right now, but you know, because you have the skill set, you could go a lot of different directions with it if that's what you want to do.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, there's there's a ton of directions.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_03: You can go into to sales, to engineering, to to to violations, you management, for sure.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: Consulting.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_03: That hopefully, you know, that's my my next venture, you know, a couple of years from down the road.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_03: But that's always something that's you can go into testing.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_03: And there's there's so many branches of this industry that can reach out to different people and and tap into what they think and what they like, that this industry can uh get everybody together.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_03: I just think that there's there's there's something for everybody here.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: So last question for you, Ken.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: What advice would you give to someone who is maybe just starting out, or maybe they are even considering going into the trade?
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_03: I would say just come and give it your all.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I I made sure I gave it all I had.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_03: You know, there were sacrifices along the way.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_03: You know, there was time away from the family in the beginning, uh, you know, long hours.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_03: But whatever I put into it, I got out of it.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_03: I I I put a lot of effort into this.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I think if you put a lot of effort into it, if you're really passionate about whatever you're doing, you know, just put effort into something that you're doing and you're gonna get something out of it.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_03: If you don't put anything into this, you know, you're just gonna go from here, there, here, there.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_03: And you're not really gonna make a career out of it.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_03: It'll be just a job, you know, just a paycheck.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we used to say it's this guy's just in it for the paycheck.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you know, I'm in it for a career.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_03: That's different, I think.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I don't want to say you have to love what you're doing.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_03: You really have to like this business, you know.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_03: It's uh it's a strange industry.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_03: It really is.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_03: It's uh it's changed a lot, it's changing every day.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_03: The office aspect of it, you know, is is expanding.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_03: You know, back in the 80s when I was there.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_03: I hate to say it, there wasn't any women in the office.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_03: They're and they're in the field now.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_03: Is I think it's wonderful.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_03: I tried to get my daughter here.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_03: I'm you know, my my youngest is she's you know, school's not for everybody.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I'm into the elevator industry.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I'm I'm thinking about getting her in the business.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_03: It's I think it's great.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: Good, good.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it sounds like what what I'm taking away is that if you put your heart into it, you're gonna you're gonna be rewarded greatly.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_03: You will be.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_03: It is a rewarding business, not not just financially, it's just it's you you see something that you can take care of and it's working.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's it's a functioning device moving people safely through a building.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_03: That when I walked into this building, there was either nothing there or it wasn't working.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_03: And now this device is actually working and doing the job it's supposed to be doing because of me.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_03: No, there was there's no better feeling than that.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: So awesome.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_01: Ken, thank you so much.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate your time.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_01: Glad we could talk through this and uh stay safe out there as we as you continue to build your career.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Matt.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm sure I'll be in touch.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so I'm honored to be here.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_03: I I I can't express my thought my thankful enough.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_01: Please visit our YouTube channel at Elevator Careers or check us out online at elevatorcareers.net.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: Please like and subscribe.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: And until next time, stay safe.