Please get a war.

I'm joined just like the anti-gay
ass down taken the good afternoon.

Everything is better with music right.

So who knows what was
playing when you came in

Blue Man Group who said that you get
the first rubber duck of the day.

Bingo.

Guys with my name is
there Higginbotham and

I'm very honored to be asked
to speak to you today and

I know that after a long day in class and
then you've got one more lecture to

go to that the first thing on your mind
is probably to get out of this lecture

go hit dominoes get a pizza Starbucks
get a coffee and jump in your book.

So I'm hoping here for the next forty five
minutes or an hour I can help share with

you some of the things that that was
in full influential to me going through

university and that really helped direct
the way we ended up going as a business.

And personal things as well.

But going going out from the top of
a small power point presentation here and

the title is looking up from the basement
growing a small business and

I was asked speak to Georgia Tech a few
months ago with how story in fluence

the way I grew as a person and Bill Gunn
could not be here today but I understand

that Terry that I got me signed up to
speak to the group again the next spring.

So I'm honored to do that as well.

We have three companies

basically Higginbotham associates
married X. ray and married in D.T.

So we're going to consolidate all of
our operations Marietta in the T.

starting next year but
starting at the beginning.

All you in are you see is
all your life will ever be.

So.

Poet lyricist.

Pink Floyd why.

Album dark side of him and
there you go you get a record.

You get a key chain Robert A.

So everybody has that aha moment.

Everybody has an aha moment.

If you don't have that moment you're
going to live in the dark for

the rest your life.

So for me that awakening came when
I was this a dark side of Moon and

I said you know if I just keep doing
what I've done before the only

thing I have is what I have now.

So what are you going to do about it.

What are you going to do about it and for

me it was moving from
Gainesville Georgia down to Marietta and

going to Southern tech or now it's called
Southern Polytechnic State University and

this photo was taken of me when we were
moving into out the trailer that I

purchased I didn't want to rent
an apartment so we bought a trailer.

So this was moving day so.

The whole this humble photo up for
you for you guys to see but

I'm just nothing more than
a North Georgia redneck that has done

a little bit more than
than than most of us.

All right.

Quick background.

Born not things sixty
two Paris France U.S.

Army base my father was in the service for
twenty two years.

I have a special affinity for veterans.

I really appreciate all of them for
their service to our country and

we will hire a veteran in our office
if there's a very veteran capable and

competent of doing what we need to do.

My mother graduated Young Harris and

she was a stay home mom and I enjoyed
going to school riding my motorcycle and

doing all the normal things until at
age thirteen my parents divorced.

So here it is wham.

My mother at the time was
thirty nine years old me and

my sister were the two dependents and
she ran a paper route to

put food on the table and
it was a challenging time it was it was.

It was difficult to make ends meet but

learned a lot of lessons from
from that challenging time.

So the rest of the story.

How School of the paper out years.

I went to North Hospital in Gainesville
Georgia just just north of the city of

Gainesville very rural school where my
focus was two things I was in band and

I was an auto shop that was why I was
there I was not on the college track.

But going to hospital.

I mentioned to my mother in the paper
route that gave me a instant understanding

of customer service in those days
the paper carriers would buy papers

from the companies and then we would
resell them to each individual customers.

When I was fifteen years old my
mother had a heart attack and

here I am not old enough to drive.

Having to pick up the pace ask a friend
of mine who is sixteen years old

to run the paper route.

So I could leave high school at one
o'clock every day and run the papers and

I did this for four months.

So here I am fifteen years
old running a paper route

handing out invoices collecting money and
paying the gains will times.

So it wasn't by choice.

It was by the fault.

I just absolutely had to do it and

if you didn't do it you would
go hungry it was that simple.

Well my mother recovered she she did she
did very well and she did better was able

to take over the paper route a few
months after we had to do it but

that instant shock into dealing with
customers was really a key thing for me.

So who do you want to be when you grow up.

I mean are you guys get out of bed and
say I'm going to go to Georgia Tech.

And by the way let me guess your
hands how many are undergraduate.

Very good.

How many of you are on a graduate program.

Very good.

How many of you are faculty
in visiting guests.

All right we'll work Welcome
to welcome to everyone.

But who do you want to be
when you grow up where and

when are you going to
have that are harmed.

Moment.

So for

me sharing my life story with you in high
school I was going to be an auto mechanic.

So for not being seventy eight in
one thousand nine hundred one.

I turned to riches a place called F.
in imports and

I was very fortunate to have a very
good bosses Fred Powell and Mark Vaile.

Fred Powell never went to college.

Fred Powell was a very hands on detail
oriented technician he was fantastic.

He also taught me the values
of customer service and

how to deal with customers
on a commercial basis.

But Martin Bell went to
University of Georgia and

I know we could bring up a whole
discussion series on why U.G.A.

should not have an engineering curriculum
but I will not go there today.

But Mart was a business major university
George and from the very beginning started

sharing things with me like they're all
you know buy a house as soon as you can

even if you have to eat baloney sandwiches
buy a house as soon as you can all right.

Markets good.

They're all get to know your own
personal bankers in your small town

get to know them one on one because you
know you're going to need them one day and

all this time he's telling me this and I'm
seventeen eighteen years old and go and

yeah yeah yeah but
you know it's sunk in the back of my head.

Somehow it really stuck
in the back of my head.

My uncle was a machinist at lucky and

he knew that I was going to go on the
mechanic chary of the mechanic track and

he suggested that I
consider something else.

So one open house he brought
me down here to attend

the open house at Lockheed Martin and at
the time we were walking down the main B.

one building they were
building the large C. five B.

aircraft and there was another aha moment
walking through this hangar seeing

these huge airplanes being built out
of aluminum this was just a cool thing.

I mean you can say here you can see
even design and build this stuff and

it was like wow I said well OK well maybe
I will learn how to be a machinist.

So.

Not to eighty one the fall of eighty one
I enrolled into the New Year Linear Tech.

Learn learning how to use
milling machines lathes

making things out of metal machine into
a micro program is what it's called.

That program is still
in existence today and

they're putting out some
wonderful students for industry.

So when I graduated Lanier tech
in it was it was a pretty quick.

It was a two year program I
got done in a year and a half.

I just gravitated toward
building things it was a natural.

And I went to work out an industry and
I was doing great.

You know I was making about maybe seven
fifty an hour and it was really good money

for back in the day and I was doing good
until a friend of mine came down and

said there you know I'm going to Southern
take you need to check this out.

You know it's one thing to just
make the machines out of metal but

when you love how to learn how to
design the machines and instead of

just making them and welding them together
design them you can see them yourself.

And I said you know that's pretty good.

I never really thought about that but
you know I was on the college track and

you know my skills in science
skills aren't that strong.

So I'd have to go do some
my media work and and

thank goodness at the time southern
poly offered some remedial things that I

needed to to get where I needed to go.

So I rolled a sudden Paul in one
thousand nine hundred two and

when I came down here.

You know I was so
nervous hero was a country bumpkin and

I'm coming down to the big
hot lanta to Marietta.

So I go see the mechanical engineering
technology department head Ron Young and

I'm just nervous as can be so I walked in
I stammer the day I walked into the door

and as soon as I walked in I saw sitting
on his desk he had a photograph of

an Austin Healey bug a sprite a nine
hundred fifty eight bug a sprite.

Well I drove down there in one thousand
nine hundred sixty bug ASP right.

So we instantaneously connected and
we are still wonderful friends today.

So it was it was there was a just
a skin a relationship that

started automatically and
I said hey this feels pretty good.

Well it was a lot of.

Hard work you know I started so the poly.

Paid for
school myself without any student loans.

While I was going to university all worked
out were about twenty hours a week.

And thank goodness I worked for

a very fine gentleman by the name of Bill
Gunn who's a Georgia Tech graduate and

at the time he was president
of Brinks engineering and

Brinks was in the company it was part
of the large Brinks piston corporation.

But our task was to build
custom machines to handle coins

to pack coin in paper Have you ever
seen the coin this wrapped in plastic.

Well that's an eighty a one
hundred coin wrapping machine

in those machines are still
built here in Marietta Georgia.

So I was able to work for
Bill as a machinist making things for

the eighty one hundred while
I was going to Southern poly.

Great great great time in my in my life
I learned so much so much from Bill and

working at that institution but
after graduation I left Brinks and

I went to work at Atlantic and
at that time we started designing and

building machines to handle radioactive
materials for dosimeter calibration.

So I was the first guy hired
to design the machines but

also had a machining skill set.

So I could go machine it.

So when I went to work in Atlantic in
the one nine hundred eighty nine I

started designing machines for the first
time that were being sold commercially and

that was another even I could dream
up this machine design it build it

draw it out in CAD get it made the machine
shop and fab shop put it together and

sell it and that was like wow.

So while I was Atlantic.

We went for nothing to about
two million dollars in sales.

Starting Atlantica told Bob her and
the owner of the Thomas A Bob I'll give

you two years but
I do want to start my own business.

One day all star Higginbotham So
she's doing general automation.

But I gave Atlanta two and
a half years and

it was another another
great positive experience.

Positive experiences.

Positive experiences college.

Leadership Development.

Any want to hear a fraternity or sorority.

Fantastic.

Yes it is a social connection
it is a social group.

But there are some leadership
skills that you can earn or

learn why you're going to university.

So that's me right there that's me.

Nineteen eighty five I was
elected president of Sigmund and

there again another aha moment that
this group of young men thought that

I was a strong enough person to be their
leader and we had a very successful year.

So you know showing confidence in someone
there's no better way to pick them up and

do some a given give them self confidence.

Developing sales skills.

How many of you have ever sold
donuts on the side of the road.

You'll either make it or
break it you know I still remember getting

you say getting hot getting cold these
damn things have got to be so you know.

You know Krispy Kreme donuts the only
ones with the hole in the middle.

You know there was all kinds of
things you did but we had a great

donut selling spot at an intersection and
we could always sell out our donors but

that was my Subaru station wagon we put
about four hundred seventy boxes and so

it was my job to get up at four
o'clock in the morning and

come down here to Atlanta to pick up
the delegates and get rid of the cell I'm

working at Brinks Brinks engineering
with another fantastic experience.

This is bilge and here Bill is teaching
a management class Terry what's

the title of his classes
beach in the spring.

Authentic Leadership Development.

Bill is now retired from Brinks but
that is myself in the background and

this is when we built machine number one
hundred and it was a big milestone for

our so we took that photo this gentleman
over here is Senator Bill Heath

now from from Carroll County and he worked
at Bronx as an electrical engineer but

he is now a serving in
the in the Ga Ga house.

Just for those technical.

As any mechanical people in here.

Good will let me just give you a one
hundred one coin wrapping this is

the A.T.L. one hundred coins come up here
in a drum in this drum has an interior

drum that spins the coins are basically
Canada out into these tubes and

then there's an indexing station here that
rotates dropping a set of coins in a set

a ball and it goes through a big extruder
where the plastic sucks around it and

then it cuts around the ball in a
separates the ball from the plastic it is

the world's fastest coin arriving machine
but about one hundred twenty wraps them in

a very weird looking machine but
it works it works very well.

When I was at ranks one of
the things that built and

it is there again showed confidence in
me he interested in me the ability or

are the challenge to learn CAD programming
now believe it or not believe it or not.

Back in the day which was nineteen
eighty three nine hundred eighty four.

We bought one of the very first P.C.
based CAD systems and

it had computer aided software for doing
programming for C.N.C. milling machines.

So this eighty I.B.M. eighty with twenty

megabyte hard drive my God how could you
ever use that twenty megabytes of memory.

Was about fourteen thousand dollars
you know it was it was expensive but

Bill sent me off to school to learn
how to use the cad to use the cam and

to program the C.N.C. machine and
we did very well bringing breaks into some

manufacturing pretty early on in
the game automotive manufacturing.

So going to seven working it breaks.

We kept hearing from
the branches out there man.

We need a machine to open coins that was
wrapped in paper that we got to recal.

So I asked Bill that if I could
do is a senior design project to

design a machine to do that.

So this was the first machine I designed
we called it the rapper snapper.

And it was pretty simple
device you put coins.

Here that were wrapped in paper it
with DAMN a shoe the coins got cut and

then it fell into the separator tray and
this was a vibratory tray coins went into

the hopper and the operators picked
the paper up off of the top.

So this was my first attempt at a machine
and we built it and it worked and

it worked well.

So I decided that I was
going to leave Bronx.

After graduating before going to
work in Atlantic and sail these

to industry I was going to set the world
on fire selling wrapper snappers.

But what I did not realize is that
Brinks was the only one that was

using these machines there was nobody
else that needed this machine so

I did not truly understand
the industry in the market.

I made an assumption
without doing my research.

But without that wishing there I would
have not started Higginbotham associates.

So.

Stand back here far better it is today.

I do things to win glorious triumphs.

Even though checkered by failure than
the tank right with those spirits who

neither enjoy much nor suffer much because
they live in the gray what Twilight

that knows not victory nor defeat.

Well when I told my lovely girlfriend that
I was going to start my own business.

She was a Georgia Tech architecture major.

One night three o'clock in the morning
in the lab she decided to do the rebel

letters and do this little thing for
me and I still have it today in my office.

But basically you've got to try.

You just gotta try.

Don't be afraid of failure.

Yes you're going to have your failures but
you've got to pick up a go at it again but

get out there and give it a try.

So he can often associate it with started.

Yes I started the company my basement nine
hundred eighty eight I bought a Bridgeport

milling machine that is my son Brian when
I had the machine in my basement and

I started making parts for people I would
drive around industrial parks and look in

the back doors and I would look at people
who were building stuff and I would go up.

There's a hey it's getting
parts I could make for

you and you know some of the shoot me out
of some of them said Yeah come on in one

of those customers that said yeah you
can help us make stuff was Implats US A.

They still do a lot of work in Marietta
where they do plastic injection molding.

And we started making a little two
dollar robot grippers for imply us back.

In my basement not in eighty eight and

we still make those little dinky
little represent them today but

I wasn't scared to go knock on doors and
try to find customers.

That's a key thing.

Moving out of my basement.

We moved into a very small warehouse
right off the Marietta Square

seven hundred square feet.

It was a pretty big step.

The gentleman that ran to me this space.

He set a watch to boys and
you come on in here and

said if you machine shop when
you start making some money

you can start paying the rent on them by
hand you know what's going to do is going

to turn around a star hit was exorbitant
money but it was an opportunity.

So it was a gamble and
I had a comfort level with Mr ad copy.

So we renovated this space was
about seven hundred square feet

move the machines up there.

Got machines up and go and got a few more
customers where I was making money so

I went to Mr Alcott and
I said Whew I said How much do I owe you.

Now.

He said well I have about
two hundred dollars a month.

What a deal that included power
water that was everything.

So I had a break.

I had a break by somebody who
felt comfortable in me and

said OK they're all coming over here we
think what you're doing is right and you

can start paying me a little money once
you get on your feet and get up and going.

So he really he was really
a wonderful wonderful star.

Company history ninety ninety
one Him often associates primary

focus was on manufacturing this
is when I started doing this for

Tom and I still remember going home to
Becky at the time we had a young child is

it honey I'm going to leave Atlanta and
was talking about an Associates and

of the tears and
how the baby going to get food or

going to the house payment she said OK so
we haven't made.

We haven't missed a house payment yet
and the baby didn't go hungry so

we're we're doing pretty well.

As they go off associates our primary
focus was all kinds of general automation.

But we started making custom machines
to do X. ray an X. ray inspection.

So we're not doing that in our.

We decided that we would
incorporate Mary X. ray.

Pretty big step for us we had two
companies going in parallel but our focus

had really kind of shifted to people
that needed to inspect things using X.

ray not medical X.
ray but automotive parts aerospace

parts some medical parts like Medtronic
heart files they have to be X. rayed.

We did really good growing area X. ray but
in two thousand and eight we had another

opportunity to enter into another market
which was Marietta nondestructive testing.

So what we did from the very beginning
is we tried to evolve within the street

needs.

I didn't say well OK I started this
company selling wrapper snappers and

by granting IMO So
wrappers Naprosyn nothing at all.

No We started looking for other markets
to serve and thank goodness for

us that market was the market and
industry of non-stress of testing.

So growing the business.

Just to show the numbers to you

now the ninety one total sales were
thirty four thousand dollars two part

time employees ninety ninety three we went
to two hundred eighty thousand dollars.

We won our first significant Department
of Energy contract and how did we do that

I had a great relationship with Bob
at the time Trust Company Bank and

when E.G. Rocky Flats came out in of
us it Darryl we think you can do it.

You've got all the tools in place but

we don't think that you
have enough financing.

He said.

This is the agency Rocky Flats
guy says You go out and

get yourself a lot of credit for
fifty thousand dollars and

we will give you this order
fifty thousand dollars.

Wow.

So I called up Bob and I said Mr Wade I've
got this job but they we had a fifty

thousand dollars credit and we just
didn't have that kind of collateral.

He said let me do this he said let me
write you a letter that says that they're

hitting bottom Higginbotham Associates
has a lot of credit specific for

this job at the GNC rocking flats and
not put a number on it.

And that letter got a sad award.

Without that letter we would have
not got that first big contract but

in turn he set up a.

Thousand dollars on
a credit that we could use.

So no you're bikers.

Ninety ninety nine when we did married X.

ray or total sales reached one point nine
million we were growing very strong.

Two thousand and eight we started Marietta
nondestructive testing entering into

ultrasonic markets and a current markets
our total sales were seven point four

million and
then two thousand and nine hit.

We lost thirty percent of our sales
down to five point two million.

Two thousand and

nine was the toughest economic year
we have ever had to navigate through.

We had to cut our staff we had to reduce
the work hours and we did that for

about six weeks on reduced work hours
before the work started coming back and

thank goodness in the center
of last year of zero nine

Work started coming back very very strong.

Until Currently we've got ten point four
million dollars of work in progress and

we have the strongest backlog
that we've ever and enjoyed.

So what do we do what do
we do about our business.

We design a bill custom machines for

all types of nondestructive applications
we go sit down with customers and

they say Darryl you know I'd
love to have this machine we use

to start with a white board start
sketching and we come up with a concept.

We have a one hundred percent delivery
rep or record for every machine

that we have been contracted bills which
have been a business and that's a tough.

That's a tough thing.

Sometimes they're all not
as profitable as others but

you've got to make your
delivery to your customers.

That's one of the things that
I think that I think your

generation these to start
looking at are our understanding

is we have a volved into
a service oriented country.

You know years ago we built tangible
things as Americans and people needed.

Bill goods we need to find a way
to get back to supplying goods.

Instead of just services and I think
that's one of our advantages is there's

not too many people out there
building these machines.

We have a sincere.

Our interest and our customer needs.

You know we're there to help them and
to be an extension of their team and

God gave you two years and one mouth.

So the first thing you've got to do is
you've got to go out and get a listen.

You've got to listen and

truly understand what these people are
trying to do and why they need your help.

If you don't understand you're not going
to be able to buy a piece of equipment

to do a job for.

We are responsive proactive and quick
to move very quickly in the industry.

And I think this truly gives us
a competitive advantage big companies want

to be able to move as fast as we do
as a small company but they can't.

Sometimes we do compete against some of
the bigger guys out there like the bowings

in the G.E.'s but we can get a quote turn
a quote and usually build a machine for

the customer quicker than the big guys
can get it through their legal team for

approval.

Here's a small snapshot we have fifty one
employees if you see the chart we have

the one on the left.

We have more trades people that work for
us than we do agree the graduates

welders fabricators assembly technicians
wiring technicians they are really

the heart of our business and
put the machines together make them more.

Then we have college graduates
mechanical engineers electrical

engineers computer science.

We have students that work with us while
they're going to school as well in turn

with us and then we have some office
staff a little flash card of some of

our install bases all over the U.S. We do
have some equipment overseas as well but

we do work for Boeing and
Lockheed involved aircraft and

spirit Aerospace in the part of
Energy Department of Finance.

There's a lot of things
that we do out there and

it's really a different mix
of different industries.

All right here is our
manufacturing space and

it's kind of hard to see in this photo but
we have three buildings the five thirty

building the five fifty building in the
four seventy building and this interior

shot is the for safety building where
it's our heavy manufacturing space.

We are the only ones that are industry
that can conceive a project do a concept

for the customer do concurrent design
development with them to make sure.

We see the problem correctly and

then build a machine to
solve their need install it.

Service and support it.

We are a cradle to grave company.

Our three areas of focus is Marietta
nondestructive testing our X.

ray ultrasonic and a current.

Some of the bigger X.
ray machines that we brought before.

The biggest robot we've built for Warner
Robins Air Force Base you back an F.

fifteen in a hangar this hangar is
shielded with lead lining and then we have

a fifty foot by fifty foot robot that
has an X. ray source and detector

that scans all of the flight control
surfaces of that aircraft and looks for

cracks and water trapped in honeycomb
that's the biggest robot we built today.

Some of the other systems we built for
Spirit aerospace this is

a been it later that scans new airplane
wings as they're being manufactured.

And then we also do X. ray systems for
oil cartel Explorer for rails.

Ultrasonic systems we have
a number of machines we

built from a small ultrasonic
machine that does very fine

inspection of chipsets for
cell phones to a larger tank systems

that you put graphite composite panels in
for like the Boeing seven eight seven.

And this is a large machine we have under
construction right now that will do

a whole section of a fuselage.

That Largo man they're going to give you
a sense of scale it's forty feet long and

eighteen feet wide.

At a current system
machines we've used a lot

of different types of robotics
if we can buy a standard

robot to put on a customer's application
we will if not will build a custom this is

a cougar robot testing a engine air
particular separator for the Air Force.

This machine right here is an eddy current
machine any time you change the tire on

an aircraft you have to inspect the wheel
to make sure it doesn't have any cracks.

So basically you put the wheel on a big
rotary table that spins in the programs in

the side and it does the test and
that's another area current program.

There you can't see very well doing
a piston test closing summary.

All right.
This is a brief download.

The brain dump I should say.

Write your goals down put
your goals on a piece of

paper put it on your bathroom mirror put
it in the rearview mirror of your car but

if there's something
that you want to do and

say I want to start my own business and
here's how I'm going to do it.

Write your goals down right and then where
you can see him every day in a minor self.

Work hard and get smart good
quote by Gary Player The harder

you work the luckier you will
get there is no substitute for

hard work dedicated commitment and
it's not going to be easy and

you're going to have your failures and
you're going to get your hands dirty and

you're going to have to borrow money
you're going to do all those hard

things you know it took me years
to get where we are now and

it took a lot of hard work and
also to taking some significant risks.

Mike a lifelong friends
with small town bankers.

Everyone in here where you
start your own business or

not I know there are some big
companies out there big banks but

I personally enjoy small
local banking relationships.

Associate yourself with the right people.

Hang around with the right people and
they will pick you up and

help you grow and Yin can in turn
help pick them up sometimes and

help them grow give back to your community
and help others meet their goals.

I feel like just by talking with you
a little bit maybe I can give a little bit

back to you and maybe give you an aha
moment or hey if that redneck from

Gainesville did it I could do
it to know your strengths and

your weaknesses play to your strengths and
correct our work around your weaknesses.

For me it was an english.

I absolutely hate it.

Anything to do with technical writing but

you know the sick thing about it now
is that's all I do is I write technical

presentations to give to
customers to go get bids.

So I'm doing the one thing that I never
ever thought I'd be doing recruit and

hire the right people to balance your
company don't only bring in people that

think the same way that you do you
get a bounce across the board.

Sometimes you need somebody to come in
since they are there with the kind of

contradictory at a view of something
that you think you're seeing right.

So good cross-section of different people
who's going to give you that balance in

your company.

Learn from your successes and failures.

Absolutely.

You'll do something wrong learn from it.

I did something wrong.

Understanding the market forever
snappers Yeah I'll learn from it and

I move forward.

I did not have a rearview mirror.

I am so forward focused the rear is gone.

What has happened has happened make
a note ever so you don't do it again but

move forward.

Support and serve your customers by and
to Supposing their

knees customers are everything without
customers you cannot have a business.

You cannot have a business and even if you
don't go into business yourself if you go

to work for Delta Airlines helping to do
marketing to big football baseball teams.

You know your customers in-house
your customer is your boss

at Delta Airlines you've got to have that
relationship and anticipate their needs.

So know your customers and
know how you have you can help them out.

And stay hungry
the competition never sleeps.

You know don't don't sit back and
say I have made it.

I don't have to get out sell any more.

You've got to keep go and
you get to keep moving forward.

And most importantly
balance your life family is

truly more important than work and I tell
everybody that when i start of the come

after the because I want to leave at four
thirty to go watch my son play T. ball.

And that was true and

I still leave work today are most
days about five or five thirty.

My son now goes to
Birmingham Southern He's a senior and

he's playing baseball for
Birmingham Southern So

he's still playing baseball and I bug out
of work early when I go over there and.

See him play their games so
balance your life.

Don't go down that corporate words
are just going to work your fanny off for

somebody else.

If you're working for yourself.

It's a little different story but
balance your life.

And never give up never give up.

I love this.

You know who's going to give up first.

Never give up.

And with that that is
the conclusion of my talk.

Thanks.

QUESTION They will turn
it over to the students.

How do you transition from a white SUV
machine things and invent things and

build machines to actually running a small
business what skills that you feel that

you need to pick up and how do you acquire
those skills and the people who help you.

Originally Allan it went back to to

my previous employers and
I really go back to hospital working for

Fred Powell to Mark Bell some of
the some of the things that that

that they taught me early
this stuck with me early and

it's just something that I always knew and
understood that I will have

my own company our work in a small
business because in my early days.

That's who I work for even Brinks was
a separate subdivision of the piston

Corp It was still a small
group of thirteen people.

So it just felt right.

So starting out it was difficult.

I spoke to a lot of friends I
joined the Rotary Club in Marietta.

I got other business associates
to share ideas with and

I started reading and one of the one of
the best books I think was influential for

me years ago was a book that
Jack Welch wrote called get better or

get beaten and it was thirty one.

One thing thirty one different
secrets to success and

that book still says Muhammad
desk at the office and

it has been marked in and it's still
there it is it is my quick reference.

And you mentioned several times about
how your previous employers impacted

where you are today and how you got there.

What have you done to impact
those who are working for

you currently in order to interact with
a fan fantastic question Pentasa question

since we have been in business.

We have helped span off for mindful
ways in the businesses of their own.

And sometimes I guess on all all three
of them they're still in business.

Now we stand work to them.

But we still try to teach and

mentor all of our employees to understand
that they are a part of this corporation

how all are employees share in the
profitability of the company at the end of

the year we have an open book policy
where everybody can see how we are doing

on all the jobs are very profitable or not
profitable and where they are labor hours.

So it's an open book system but at the
same time if someone wants to stand up and

open our business we try
to help get them go in and

have successfully done one one gentleman
who opened up his own business.

Afterwards or ended up going to work for
another company but

the three other businesses
are still in business today.

Or what's your growth plan for the future.

Are you planning on
remaining a primarily U.S.

based company or are you planning
on expanding into foreign markets.

I've been one to not assume that the grass
is greener on the other side of the fans.

Our core focus is man here in the U.S.
We do have a few machines overseas but

it's really U.S. based companies that
want to put in put them over there.

China right now is.

The growing faster than then
is comfortably comfortable for

them but we have an opportunity
to do a few machines in China and

have done a few but
it's not my core focus.

We are fortunate to have so

much work right now and I don't want to
over over grow our company you know with

fifty employees it's a very comfortable
about second leave and go home.

We have a key management group in place
that helps to run the company every

every day but we don't really go out and
intentionally see

the international business segment
as as as a growth potential.

We have so much growth potential just
serving the industry here in the States

right now that we're focusing on.

Just when and Doris and they are like B.C.

we asked him if you could do something for
them.

So if you're like spinach during
the first few months I guess.

As I was going out trying
to find customers.

Basically it was from the heart you know
we're small business in Marietta and

we have these machining capabilities.

You know we're looking for

customers who need to have things
made you know it could be milling or

it could be turning or it could be welding
or fabricating you know we were hungry.

You know give us give us your work and
there was one point Tom where

where you know I would go out the door and
there be a couple guys in the back I said

if anybody calls him will do anything for
money but we don't do that anymore.

But we have had a number
of things come to us here

recently that that we don't take on we're
pretty fortunate to be able to pick and

choose the kind of work
we want to have and

now if it comes to us we say no
that's not really our core focus.

You know we really want to do things but
you go out looking for anything.

In the beginning.

We don't back it with a rapper snap or
days I move forward and

I did get a patent on the wrapper
snapper it was very expensive but

we changed our philosophy to basically
react quicker than anybody else can.

And and get our product to
the market needs to before

anybody else has a chance
to come behind it so.

Very seldom do we build multiple
of the same kind of machines but

usually it's one option.

They for coming.

You mention earlier and
if you had reasonable companies

we think your biggest challenge in
consolidating through the next year will

be in the you think that will affect
your departure time so you're signed.

And that's a very good question.

Consolidating the companies and
while we consolidate the companies for for

the bulk of the years we were in business.

We had multiple sets of books and

employees would work on different projects
and we would kind of intermix them.

We went through a Department of Defense
audit last year we did a big project for

homeland security and when we spread
out all of our books on the tables and

show them what we were doing
the government auditors like

man this is just so confusing.

So that was our focus to consolidate
the companies is yes we're serving

different markets.

Some of our automation customers are just
going to have to get an invoice from him

in the T. but we had to simplify
it from an accounting standpoint.

So we decided to do it this year two
thousand and eleven two thousand but

I don't I don't mean for

this to be a contentious question but
it seems like you have

you mentioned your friend who's now in
the Senate as a small business owner.

Could you please share your was
a political views I don't necessarily mean

Republican versus Democrat but just
generally speaking your views on the role

that government or
politics especially in a local or

state level ought to have
that's another good question.

The role of government should be
to give all of us as Americans and

visitors to the United States the
infrastructure that we need to exist and

we have to have government
there's no doubt about that.

Sometimes you can debate whether or
not that they should or

should not influence the economy by

some of the actions that they that
they take on the federal side but

that is out of my circle of influence what
I would like to see the government do and

this is something that has to be more than
just the government it has to be embraced

by communities is a way as
Americans need to instill.

In everyone that Johnny.

Our Jane is not own the college track and
that's what's going

on now is everybody are the government
believes that all schools and hospitals.

Everybody should be on a college track but

Johnny and
Jane are always college material.

And there is just a core group of
kids that are just fallen away.

They have nothing to do they have
the Cullen airy arts that they call.

But there's not going to be
enough jobs at McDonald's And

when these to hire these people.

They need vocations they need to
learn how to turn riches on your cars

they need to learn how to make things
out of metal they need to learn how to

build houses they need
to learn how to wire.

So the vocational trades that we have

embraced from World War two until
the late seventies are gone.

It used to be that you tell somebody you
were a machinist that was a wonderful

vocation and they knew what it was but
I wish that somehow

we can from the government and the private
standpoint help reintroduce true

vocational education back into the high
school level and give these core

group of kids something to do other than
either go to college or work at Wendy's.

So you founded the company in to grow
the company it was kind of the work

of you live.

So my question is if
someone made you are true.

Would you sell the company.

We have had two offers to buy the company
since I've been in business and.

And they were both very
large corporations.

And I said no.

Why did I say no.

Yes I could cash out and put enough money
to bank and not worry about anything for

the rest of my eye but I'm not
doing this just for financial gain.

I get a lot of gratification
of helping people which is

the employees helping students
helping customers solve problems for

for me it is not not just the dollars and

I five look at other small businesses like
ours who have sold out to the big boys.

There's a two or
three year track before they go away.

They evaporate the core people
who run the company are going

to be the key management group for example
in this is something I didn't hit zero.

The way we're structured is
a start of the business but

five years ago I invited three
gentleman to be junior associates.

Then a few years later they have become
senior managers are senior associates.

Last year I was introduced or
in addition they are asked to join for

new junior level associates so
it's like a pyramid.

I'm here three senior associate for
junior soche So if I get hit by a bus.

Somebody is going to run that company.

So my exit strategy right now would be
to sell the company to the senior so

she it's at some point in time and
what they do with it is up to them.

But I'm not in it for the quick dollar.

I've said no twice and.

I would say no.

Again.

Well I was I think the question why would
a microphone was was was turned on but

but I had mentioned that that we are
thinking more service oriented startups

now in our industry and there's not too
many manufacturing startups going on.

So as a young entrepreneur.

What would I suggest you focus or look at.

So the first thing I ask
is What's your hobbies.

What do you enjoy doing.

Computer industry I think it's often so
you think in ones and zeros

you know like computer hardware so that
is a pretty saturated market right now.

So there's a lot of people that
are doing the same thing but

what can you come up with that's
uniquely different than anybody else.

What's going to set your company.

Apart from the other guy down
the street is doing the same thing.

So you've got to dig down deep and
develop that sometimes

it may not be a true difference but maybe
it's the way you sell it commits your

customers that yes you have a better
solution than the other guy down the road.

But manufacturing is their guesses it's
kind of fallen off the radar a little bit.

It's going to be even
harder to pick back up.

So is there something on
the hardware side that you can

can think of conceive of that
that may evolve or develop.

But you just gotta try.

You know don't just listen to me and

I'm saying a service already
cut is not the way to go.

Show me wrong.

Get out there and try it you know make
it happen and if it doesn't happen.

Have a Plan B.
What are you going to do if it doesn't.

OK in my last.

My cake.

You know you're unusual as an entrepreneur
you know in a lot of ways.

One of which is that you
actually make stuff.

Versus to create value.

The other is as we hear about
entrepreneurial endeavor.

Here we always hear almost
at the beginning of storing.

A company about the exit plan.

And so you're unusual in that
you haven't talked about.

You know an exit plan that there.

They haven't been investors who need
to have a return on their investment.

Do you see yourself ever going public.

Do you see yourself ever.

You know being bought out you know or

do you see yourself running this is
a privately held company for the long run.

That is another good question and
we didn't talk much about that but.

When I decided to start the business and

you saw the milling machine with
my little sunsetting beside me.

I decided that well in order to do this.

I have to have a machine to make parts.

So I went out of our twenty five hundred
dollars on a credit card and traded in

the old computer for that milling machine
so that was my initial investment and

I had it that credit card paid off within
two months after having that machine.

I've been fortunate because
everything that we have done

we've grown internally we
haven't taken the big steps.

Unless I knew it was justified and
that I could pay for it so

we haven't gone out and sought capital
from from independent investors.

There are good companies
out there that do that but

I'll say right now most of the people
at there that want to come to you and

say I want to invest in
your I to a company.

Let me give you one
hundred thousand dollars.

By the way.

Just sign over that I have sixty
percent control of your company.

Don't get sucked in by that because there
are some crooks out there and there's

a lot of crooks out there that make money
on your sweat and blood for those people.

If you need to borrow a little money
either do it internally yourself go to

your father in law and say I need ten
thousand dollars that whatever you need to

do but
venture capital in MA MA is a bad word.

Now as far as exit strategy some point
Tom that I will not be here forever so

that's when i start of
the Associate Program.

And I'm hoping that at some point in
time we will sell out to the associates.

So here's the tough question.

Now I have a junior level so she's.

And by the way I asked make the same
annual salary as my three other

senior associates.

We all make the same annual salary.

Now if we have a profitable year I will

make a larger profit
distribution than they do but

basically we're all three compensated
the same on a regular annual basis.

So how will my junior level
guys below me come up with

the funds needed to buy the company when
I'm ready to hang up and go fly fishing.

All right.

If we're successful and the company
is truly still doing strong and

doing well then that funding mechanism is
going to be internal into the company.

So we come up and say OK guys.

I'm ready to go fly fishing.

We're going to say the company make annual
payments to me X. amount of dollars.

But I would go a little
bit one step further.

I didn't just invest and
grow the company I

decided earlier on that I was going
to buy a commercial properties.

So all three of those
buildings you see up there.

I own.

So if the business goes away for some
reason I can lease out those buildings and

I can have it come for
the rest of my life.

So at the same time growing the business.

I added value Babar in the commercial
properties in a very good location that

will retain their value for
many years knock on wood.

If the economy doesn't go
completely upside there but

I really don't have all
the answers of the question yet.

I did not start with the end in mind.

You know I thank you very much.

Thank you.

Well thank you.