It's Never Only Business

By Michael White

Michael White grew his company from a small engineering firm into a large firm using a philosophy that emphasizes attention to people and their needs. Michael tells of his experiences as an entrepreneur and successful businessman through anecdotes about his business.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stratton Press
• Release date: Oct 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9781648952098

Michael White

Ex-drummer, Ex-software author and Ex-flares wearer Michael White was born and lives in the northwest of England. In a previous life he was the author of many text adventure games that were popular in the early 1980's. Realising that the creation of these games was in itself a form of writing he has since made the move into self-publishing, resulting in many short stories and novellas. Covering an eclectic range of subjects the stories fall increasingly into that "difficult to categorise" genre, causing on-going headaches for the marketing department of his one man publishing company, Eighth Day Publishing.Having accidentally sacked his marketing director (himself) three times in the last two years, he has now retired to a nice comfortable room where, if he behaves himself, they leave him to write in peace.In his spare time (!) Michael likes to listen to all kinds of music and is a big fan of Steven Moffat, whether he likes it or not.Michael is currently working on several new projects and can be contacted at the links [e-mail], or via my own website on http://mikewhiteauthor.wordpress.com, or via twitter on @mikewhiteauthor.

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IT’S NEVER ONLY BUSINESS

Copyright © 2020 Michael White

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Stratton Press Publishing

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in the work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN (Paperback): 978-1-64895-208-1

ISBN (Ebook): 978-1-64895-209-8

Printed in the United States of America

Dedicated to Kelly—my love, my life

Contents

Chapter One: Who Am I and Why Am I Writing This Book?

Chapter Two: Timing Isn’t Everything, but It’s Important

Chapter Three: The Best-Kept Secret in the Engineering Community

Chapter Four: The Fire

Chapter Five: The Merger

Chapter Six: On My Own

Chapter Seven: Nepotism

Chapter Eight: Have Fun!

Chapter Nine: Stuff

Chapter Ten: In Summary

Chapter One

Who Am I and Why Am I Writing This Book?

I am a mechanical engineer and former owner of an engineering firm in Philadelphia. Despite my lack of a business education, I was able to build my engineering firm to the point where I was able to retire at the age of forty-eight. I have long been a believer in the need for formal education as a basis for personal development. However, actual success in business, or any endeavor, is more dependent on one’s ability to study, understand, and then implement life experiences. I have always been a quick study of people and their interactions among each other. Knowing how people will react to a set of circumstances is invaluable in predicting the outcome of a situation.

That being said, I am a professional engineer having graduated from Villanova University with a degree in mechanical engineering. Engineering was not my first choice—nor was it my first undergraduate degree. However, it is the field I chose to pursue and has led to my success as a young entrepreneur in the field of engineering. Like many, if not most, young people, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life as I entered college. I began my college education as a science major, not really knowing what I was going to do with that degree. It was only after working at my father’s contracting firm during summer breaks that I began to develop a love of mechanical engineering. In my senior year as a science major, I decided that I wanted to be an engineer. I took engineering courses as my elective classes in senior year, and although I did receive a degree in general science, I continued at Villanova for another year and a half to get my engineering degree, taking courses day and night throughout the year. Abandoning all aspirations to be in the science community, I embarked on my engineering career beginning my employment at a well-respected and well-established mechanical/electrical engineering firm in the city of Philadelphia. At the age of twenty-three, degree in hand, married with two children, I began my career as an aspiring engineer at the firm of Golz and Wick in the Architect’s building at Seventeenth and Sansom Streets in Philadelphia in January 1975.

It was no accident that I wound up at Golz and Wick. That was one of the many respected engineering firms that my father’s contracting firm did work for during the years when I was finalizing my formal education. My education in the world of engineering, as well as in the world of business, began immediately—even with my interview with Mr. Golz and Mr. Wick. Both of these gentlemen, and they both were gentlemen, interviewed me by talking about my college education, the type of work their firm did, and asking me to read from some blueprints to gauge my knowledge of construction documents. At the end of the interview, I remember Mr. Golz commenting that he could see that I knew what I was talking about, but I seemed to have a lack of assertiveness in my answers to his queries. Nevertheless, I was hired from that one interview. Golz and Wick was a firm with approximately twelve employees when I was hired. The firm specialized in the design of HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) systems, lighting and power for commercial buildings in and around the Philadelphia area. I immediately went to work as a junior engineer working under a senior designer named James Riviello. As of this writing, James has been retired from the firm for several years. He was one of those true company people who did whatever was necessary to advance the good of the company. James worked hard, and he thoroughly enjoyed sharing his knowledge with the younger engineers. I was extremely fortunate to have been placed under his tutelage. James and I became great friends as well as coworkers. His love for the business, his work ethic, and his enthusiasm for teaching me the ways of the engineering world served as a template for my future way of conducting business in the firm. With James as my mentor, I began life in the real world.

There is a never-ending argument about the benefits of working for a small company versus working for a large company. I know there are advantages to both. However, I believe that the correct choice of employment is a personal decision that has to be made based on one’s own experience. I am a small-company person. I like the sense of family that is espoused in a small company. I also like the access to the principals of the company on a daily basis. There is no better way of learning business practices than to see how the principals of a company operate in a variety of challenging business situations. Learning the engineering principles required for my profession was started in my work experience at my father’s contracting firm, developed during my college education, and refined by working side by side with the engineers and designers at Golz and Wick. Generally, the engineering solutions that we worked out to solve a problem were gleaned from textbooks, manufacturers’ catalogues, or a history of similar situations. However, the workings of the business side of the engineering firm were learned by witnessing the operations of the company principals and learning what works and what doesn’t work by observing. Being part of a small firm, I was in constant communication with my superiors and routinely attended meetings with Mr. Wick or Mr. Golz and was able to observe the tactics they used to deal with the clients. The two men were as different as two men could be as far as their demeanor and their way of interacting with people. Mr. Golz was more laid back and self-effacing. Mr. Wick was the strong-willed, opinionated partner. Both were very intelligent engineers.

I feel that there is as much to be learned from observing improper client relations as there is to be learned from observing proper client interaction. One of the criticisms of the firm of Golz and Wick was that the firm maintained an old-school feel. It was obvious to me from the very beginning that this criticism was justified. Golz and Wick was the current name of the engineering firm that was started at the turn of the twentieth century. There was, and is, a rich history associated with