Starting at the Ground Level

Listen to Karl as he recounts his experience starting to work at the ground level of his family business. Having the rising generation work from the bottom of the business to the top, will allow them to have a comprehensive view of the company. Earning their way to the top will also allow the next generation to take pride in their accomplishments and be committed to the success of the business.

I’m in the office and I do a bit of fieldwork, so I’ll go around, do inspections of the buildings, go to the bank, even do some construction work sometimes, I’m in the office doing counting work. Over the years I’ve learned a lot so wherever I’m needed, I’m usually there. I was very fortunate that I got it young. I started when I was 15, my dad handed me a sweep – or broom, sorry, and he said, you’re going to start here, and I want you to clean up this furnace room and at first I didn’t understand, like, you know, why am I here? Why am I doing this? But, looking back, I’m very happy cause, you know, I started with the rough work and now I’m in the office. Only recently that I started thinking about it seriously, once he started giving me more responsibility and I started seeing the big picture, I thought, you know, there really is a future in this for me. I get along with my dad at work so I thought we can definitely work together to sustain and grow the business in the coming years. His mentality was, if you can sweep a room properly, then I’ll give you something more important to do, and you build up slowly.