Things change, business continues
Today is the last ‘work’ day for my colleague who after 7 years has found a new gig. In those 2 weeks since her notice, the pace of my participation in the day to day operations of the business has increased expotentially. While, operationally, the team I have in place can handle most eventualities, I’ve never stopped paying attention, so it’s not like I don’t know how to run my company. In fact, like I’ve mentioned a few times over the years, to succeed in business - at least in my business - you really have to lower your expectations of your help. It’s no slight against them to acknowledge that few people you hire will be as committed as the Owner, so as an owner, you just have to find a way to accept that so you don’t drive everyone out the door.
The reason I mention it, is similar to why I said in the last post, ‘my skills aren’t what they used to be…. (Wait for it) - they are a whole lot stronger than the last time I had to flex like this. I know my business inside and out, I built it from it literally from nothing to a marketplace leader. I’ve hired most of the team. I’m the one with the more durable relationships with our vendors and subcontractors. Takes a lot of work, and takes a shift in my mindset, but it’s not as if I’ve lost touch with the nitty gritty of the pulse of the business - that’s one thing I’ve learned over the last two weeks.
This departure by a senior member of the team has allowed me, has forced me, to look at the company and decide how to move forward, and interestingly there are lots of ways to re-invent and improve - just have to shift out of cruise control and rev the rpm's, - which is getting a little harder as I age, and have a comfortable nest egg, I must admit.
Another thing I’ve learned is that the Catskill’s marketplace for real estate is still pretty strong. It died out a little last fall, but starting about 2 weeks ago, you could tell that there were still a lot of buyers out there. We have put 2 homes into contract - 2 completely finished spec homes - in the last week, and we weren’t even that motivated to sell them with the market still trying to figure itself out. But that’s an incredible unexpected boost to the 2023 outlook, and gives us the leeway to lean into the mystery of what the marketplace will bear in 2023.
2 houses just going into contract for March or April closings.
When employees depart
Business is heart-break. It happens when you invest in an employee and it doesn’t work out even though it should and it costs time and money and opportunity. It also happens on the other end when you meet and mentor and see them successfully leave the nest for the next thing.
I’m experiencing that now, with my long-time right hand woman Amanda departing after 8 years and a hundred plus homes. She’s my project manager, sounding board, assistant, supporter, crutch and cheerleader. She saw me hit it big, and fall right back to earth.
We are a small company and it came out of the blue so not only do I have the need to process the personal loss, I have to get busy and in 2 weeks forge a new path in a way I had never really considered. I sort of thought, as my friend Bryan said at the bank, that she was part of the succession plan. So much for best laid plans.
So I now think, wake early, first in the office last to leave old skool work hours - turning on the skills energy and brains that have powered me thus far, and as I hit the gas this time and navigate the curves, I reflect and notice my skills aren’t what they used to be - my skills are on a whole new level of expertise, and while setbacks and disappointments are sure to lurk in all the shadows of all our bright rays of success, the experience I now have as part of my professional fabric is like teflon - or that of the newest jeans out there - durable, flexible and ready for a whole host of life eventualities.
My experience with Amanda, who I fished right out of college reminds me of the singer/songwriter Albert Hammond (as many of you know whose son we built a compound for), he sings in what I believe to be his most famous song - It never rains in southern California - he writes , and makes me remember how Amanda ‘found me’ in 2014 -
- Out of work, I'm out of my head
- Out of self respect, I'm out of bread
- I'm underloved, I'm underfed
- I wanna go home
- Will you tell the folks back home I nearly made it?
- Please don't tell 'em how you found me
- Don't tell 'em how you found me
- Gimme a break, give me a break
I feel she was my first big break, after 12 years in business. I feel blessed and cursed for the exact same reason - having such a wonderful person cross my path.
Busy day last Monday wrapping up a big project in The Fields, our anchor project at the Crest.
Of course it snowed big time when we had everyone and their mom scheduled for their punch list day. No where to hide on that big mountainside.
Now Hiring -
Design/build firm Catskill Farms seeks individual to for start to finish, client-facing project concierge. This interior design meets project manager positions touches all facets of the build process.
This mix of project management and design allows a talented individual to be fully immersed in the full life cycle of home design and construction.
You will deal with clients, vendors, subcontractors, municipalities, and a host of out-sourced design and operation resources.
Leave no itch unscratched while putting your stamp on homes across the Hudson Valley.
This is the first time this dynamic position has been available in 10 years.
Offices in Wurtsboro NY.
Feel free to text Chuck, the founder and owner, at 917-838-5342.
Las Vegas - 2023 Builders Source Show
13 years after my last trip to Vegas, I’m sittin’ up front on a plane, currently about directly over Chicago, heading back to Sin City. The building industry expo starts tonight, and my building supply company who I have spent untold millions with over 2 decades, offered me on of 10 spots for their Hudson Valley/Westchester allocation. The last time I was here, with James Karpowicz, my project manager at the time, was in 2009, and was for the same conference/expo. Though, at that time the country and perhaps the world, was in a real estate collapse, and Las Vegas was close to the epicenter. Airports empty, taxi drivers cheap, lap dances cheaper (not that I would know). This round I go as an industry veteran and I look forward to seeing what it means to me and Catskill Farms this time around. A few of Builder’s Source (my supply company) executives will be here and it will be good to catch up since few company’s have such a unique journey as mine and some of the guys at Builder’s Source have seen it from the inside out, which not too many people can say - which gives us a lot to talk about.
You often hear about corporate good will trips bestowed on valued clients, but I haven’t seen much of that even though I’ve literally put tens of millions of dollars in people’s pockets. Must be one of those things like finding a good lawyer quick that just doesn’t happen in real life. Or maybe it used to happen like in Mad Men days and just doesn’t anymore. Not mentioning any names ERIC G———n. Just kidding.
I often talk about how my business journey has been one without peer support just because Sullivan County NY didn’t really have anyone doing something like I was doing, and that was true when we expanded into Ulster, and then Dutchess as well, though it came closer the more east I explored opportunities. No real builder’s association, chambers of commerces (at the time), and I probably could have no doubt could have benefited from a few more sounding boards as I wandered the path of a small businessperson.
Vegas no doubt will be fun, but only to a degree - my efforts of debauchery these days start and end with maybe a few extra drinks and some pre-midnight revelry. Leave it to the Builders- legendary early risers - to have the grand buffet breakfast from the hours of 6-8am.
Coach K of Duke fame is one of the speakers, and Jim Gaffigan is one of the entertainers. Should be a good show, for one of the most vital and fundamental and foundational industries in the country. When the building industry sneezes, the whole country catches a cold. Especially interesting time to be here because of the place the economy is - just getting off a 2 year pandemic fueled sugar high, now a return to a new normal, and in some parts of the country a real retrenchment of the industry due to interest rates. One thing for sure is there will be dozens of companies that represent each layer of the economy right now - some prosperous, some in pain, some in retreat, some in advance.
