have two incredible people here one of them i know the other one i just met in it's a couple america couple and they do some incredible things together and we're going to talk about that a little bit so i'm going to start off by reading their bio  we have can and melissa can a melissa's experiences and skills complement each other very well by combining cans finance management and adjustable experience with the listener advertising marketing and networking s they create a well rounded leadership team melissa possesses a diverse background in sales and marketing combined with a passion for building strong relationships with our clients and the list that is also a military vet to be very comfortable with canvassing co calling working vendor events and presenting educational seminars to generate sales so that's really incredible so now i'm about a little bit about can can is a strong talented leader with over thirty years of diverse business experience and electrical sales electrical contracting procurement accounting and from a single technology he has twelve years of leadership experience at a director level with a large within large global a list and can to pick to one or two of our store values and what they chose was vision purpose of life changes this and so that allowed that to be the theme for our conversation so i'm just going to start out by asking you why did you pick those particular values that was an easy one for me because going through leaving corporate world with ken and starting a new business that this point in our life was really scary and a major life transition so as soon as i saw your values life transition just before we started the show out of a lot of people just look at you and say oh my gosh you work with your mom or very lonely how do you do that so why don't you share a little bit of that as with your with our audience sure it's been a lot of fun and it is true when people say you work with your spouse and we literally work like this far apart from each other they're always like oh i don't know if i could do that but i'm really blessed because i get to work with my best friend and it's a lot of fun and i get to see a different side of him that i used to go to his corporate functions and i would hear is employees and coworkers talk about him and i never got to really experience that relationship with him and where now i get to and so we have our differences sometimes and sometimes we have to take a step  back and say ok let's you know give a little bit of space and come back together and regroup but i think what works well with ken and eyes were were pretty much usually always on the same page so i do think that it takes a special type of relationship and you have to be able to really be able to communicate and listen to each other but i love working with them yes and say you know we had a very strong relationship from a personal standpoint and the business always took me away a lot of hours  you know both or our jobs always took us all the way from each other creating a business together we would be working together was scary i mean we had a very strong relationship could we do it together and we had a lot of advice from people you know don't work with your spouse and they they could never do it but i think we both felt very connected in that we could do it because when we were apart we wanted to be together and i think what we're finding is over we are very similar and we do have disagreements some things but it's been a really good experience  to work together to see our differences and you're talking about our complimentary from business standpoint where melissa excels and where i excel but i think on the personal nature we both have areas where we have strengths on the personal side the five that you're sure and some weaknesses you know early or so that you can go ahead in iron those things out and then come back together and work together and it's good that you did not listen to the naysayers because you know those are the do s who i definitely try to stay away from because they have a tendency to still drink they still drains and we all have to do things for ourselves we have to transition into the life where we want to develop the lifestyle of the business that we want for us and no one else and to be able to overcome that i think there was there was really good there's especially to know that you can do that it's funny my step mom i adore and she's she works with my dad day in and day out and i really respect her opinion i called her by said mom this is what we're thinking about doing and she's like you guys will be fine and it's interesting i think it definitely helps if you're thinking about working with your spouse that you have really clearly defined roles and that helps because if you say you're in charge of marketing and you're in charge of the technical and the financial situations that it makes it easier when those disagreements do come up where you can say all right i'll listen to your input but ultimately this is my area and this is your area so i think that helps so the two things that really popped out to me is number one you mentioned he's your best friend as i know you are to the fact when you look at your skill sets and your experience of how complimentary they are so what that says to me the complimentary part comes as you mentioned on the personal side but then also in the business side so can you talk a little bit more about how your husband being your best friend plays into your business ok that's an interesting question how this my husband my best friend play into our business ken is i think ken is brilliant first of all he's very good with numbers very he's like the excel guru he can take information and just populate thirteen fourteen sheets so i really respect him as an individual and i think that's important in a business that you respect the people that you work with and it helps make it fun we have a code of our use that our business is based on called live rich and it stands for respect integrity customer focus and have fun in the park process and because i get to work with my husband and my friend in a business we get to really incorporate that have fun aspect into our daily lives and hopefully we share that with our customers as well but it's i don't know if it would be different if it wasn't with my spouse because i really respect him and we get along so well it makes it easier to to live those values and incorporate them into our business so did you guys work together on developing those values it's actually from our corporate but i get it but it isn't one of the things that drew us to mr electric and it's something that we strongly believe then and it's not just a code of values that's hung on a poster on the wall it's actually something we're corporate in our team meetings they're posted we discuss them and a lot of times of our having challenges will say let's go back to the code about us and let's figure out how to resolve this using our quota values we have we had to choose how we can start this business together and there were a number of different business models we could just go out there on our own start of from scratch they were consulting and we incorporate that part of our business model as well so that's good ok so it's not like you start the business them and your wife came and worked with you guys chill new vid together we've researched it and the end of hundreds of phone calls visits to existing franchise out to texas twice turn orientation day we really did a lot of planning and thought process before we kind of jumped into this because it is a big commitment i on the last minute so what's a maybe get a little bit more insight into your backstory like what was going on in your life like you talked about like transmission as being one of your values so tell us a little bit about your back story like what was going on that made you even come to the point where ok we need to do something very different and that thing is let's go into business together well ok let me just hope and we have a very comfortable life together thousand twenty years have done very well in the industry in developing my career and growing and so we've lived a comfortable life and you know at this point a couple things one is working in the health care industry and we felt very good about what i did i always felt that although i was a small very small cog in the wheel of this large corporation some places one hundred thirty thousand employees and i was vocal about working in the health care industry because i felt we were giving back to people and helping the you know helping the world be a better place now when we talk about transition you know we were looking for something that would give us from my standpoint personally you know to do something that would also give back in some sense to build something that would be not just for myself but would help my family help my community and help potential employees that join us we want to really build something for that but the transition came from the fact that boards from a suitable company's health care industry is merge acquisitions and we actually had a divestiture of my business in the vested my business into another company and at that point i had an opportunity to depart they gave me a great opportunity and said if you'd like to leave we like to let you leave and give you a little guidance on the thirty years i've always said i want to have my own business it's always been a dream for me to have my business to do something that creates something of my own so this came at a time in my life where i was given an opportunity to go down that path and i had someone to help  me build it right to do together and so it's not only a dream i had to build something on my own now it's really what it became was what are we going to build together and i think that's the exciting part of it so how does your from your perspective melissa your dreams and aspirations to what can you just describe right i did not grow up thinking oh i really want to own the offical contracting company but i can tell you this you talk about transitions in life i was widowed and i saw what happens when you kind of put your dreams on hold and then things happen and you no longer have the opportunity to achieve them and ever since my first date with ken over ten years ago he talked about owning his own business so in the back of my mind it was always like this was something he really wanted to do and there's never a good time to take a risk absolutely right when you have children and college tuitions there's always we should wait a little bit longer so when the opportunity came up and you see the passion that he has for doing this and i truly believe in his abilities it just made sense i never want to see him in a position where he didn't get a chance to try his dreams and end it very quickly became my dream too just by being with him and going through all of the due diligence and going on traveling all the sudden it didn't it was no longer this is ken's idea it became something we did together and it became  interesting enough to talk about naysayers a number of people said and go into business don't go together because you could get along but they also said don't do it together because one of you should be out working getting an income and you know i've told the people have said that the mayor said i couldn't do that unless she brings the skills in the in the experience and the personality that i don't have to make a business successful so we could not be successful i feel i could not be successful without her  business i think what you just said with people making those types of comments if you have a dream to have your own business you should just go for it and i don't mean go for it by willy nilly and don't do your d diligence and all of that but if then dream is inside of you that's what you want to do there's a lot of come a point in your life where you're just going to look at your life and so you know what i really do want to have my own business and i think  you know looking at it from a standpoint of you've got to have an income well i'm generating income the whole entire point for me to have my own business is because i want to be self generated when it comes to my income and sort of get yourself out of that place of being dependent upon a corporation or you know building somebody else's dream and all that sort of thing just doesn't know the kind of work that i do i hear that type of stuff all the time and you have to have a certain confidence in yourself you have to have a certain way that you see yourself in order to be able to really step out there and sort of shut all that stuff right down right  a perfect opportunity came up for you it was like ok well you know you can go now if you want and take this package i'm waiting for that package myself you put it out in the universe but to try to make that transition to just go ahead and do what you really want to do because you still have to time a lot of you didn't get afraid he was afraid to do it a lot of corporation but you know coming into the business now is very scary and we've we've had discussions being part of the mr electric we're friends we have a hard hundreds of people we can speak to about it that are currently in our position and we spoke to a number of them of cash flow blackguardly brave because i'm like i don't know if i was to leave something knowing that i have you know a child in college freshman in college why did it but if you have a plan and yes spend a lot of time if you take the time to do a business plan and do your research and do your homework and lay out your sales projections and your expenses and i think it takes away some of that risk because now you're making educated choices and that's and that's the thing too because a lot of people do not take the seriousness of a business plan right is in this plan is your role map as to how you want your business to go where you want to go who you want to be tailwind what's going to be you or your clientele what what focus are you looking at all that goes into a business plan and it gets you to do the research you know the swab analysis and you know the financial research that goes along   we looked at possibly by an existing logical contracting that starting from scratch with just one truck and ourselves and we realized trying to replace a corporate income and a lifestyle that we've grown accustomed to that we needed help and so we started researching franchises and when we came across mr electric and our coda values and their faith based and talking to the existing franchises and the overwhelming theme amongst all of them was just the support that they view not even from the franchise but from the other franchise owners and they're really a family atmosphere you know we went out and visited a franchise and we're thinking you know i hope they share with us some information we were prepared to walk in and they were basically like let me see your numbers you know here your little high here a little low here this is what we did we were we were just blown away by how open and willing to help and information they shared with us so when we said ok we definitely knew electrical contracting once we got with mr electric and we started looking in value eating it we were like ok we can make this model work and we believe in the values and the goals and we would feel proud representing it in our community and they believe in giving back and that was really important to us too because we want to give back to the community we would love if one of our employees said you know what we want to open a mr electric and we could help teach them and help support them and seeing their dream of owning a business that would be like the ultimate ok some of them are out and some of them are still here and some of them are kind of in transition ok so we did make a rule and one of the things that we were told over and over is don't hire anyone that you can't fire so we made  that would just keep it a little bit easier homelife so kev your kids in the loop as you were going through with making the plans and just very openly letting the whole world get ready to make this series yes and it's funny that the younger ones that are home every day you know they'll come in and i'll say how's your day what happened and they're really interested and saying what we're doing and how we're doing and who we've hired and so it's nice to be able to give that to them as well that they're looking at how hard we're working and what we're doing to to build a business and only that but you're passing along some very valuable lessons too to your kids as well and teaching them to kind of b what might be just kind of the status quo in all of that just as kind of look beyond that and you know there's a world of opportunities out there and you just have to be willing to get out there and find find what's going to work for you so that's an incredible lesson for for them you know what that is so true and especially when when children see their parents stepping out and doing something different you know that will give them the ok it's ok to go ahead and do something different you know i'm not listen to the naysayers because my son used to do that to me all the time you watch me i know he was watching me so closely but you know going for the degrees and doing this sent me other you know that gave him the confidence to go ahead and step out and do the things that he wanted to do about the beer and some of the invite me about leaving corporate america because i love corporate america by can twenty twenty thirteen and for me it wasn't so much like thinking about it it was like after about maybe a three or four weeks and i was  maybe it'll take me back you know i will do this this is a little bit of a thing there and it was just a little bit scary but at the same time i think also part of that fear is it's the same thing that yes and that's what i kind of like i realize like you're say thing that has gone like this where you're going to go from this point on is a hundred percent dependent upon you and so i had to come and that's what i'm talking like maybe three or four weeks later out there i you know because if i was i'd just have a chill for a minute like oh i don't have to get up and then it was like ok yeah you've got to start getting your wheels in motion don't you think that that also drives you because now you know like there's no playing around you have to make this work and there's no going back exhausted and i think that also pushes you know to make sure that you know maybe i don't feel like doing that networking event tonight but i have two college tuitions and you know kids that want to eat every day i want to my dad but all the careful if you have a playing and see some people don't have a plan they'll just retire and not do anything and jenna's you know trying to figure things out but when you have a play and then you have to notice and it's aggressive because it has to be from our standpoint and so you know it's a little scary but it's aggressive and we have a plan where every day we're looking at the planner saying ok here's what we have to be you know what numbers we have about getting every day that's for sure but we have a plan to get there are taking actions every day pretty much to get us towards a place where say you have a goal you have you have a goal and a lot of people don't have those goals to say ok let me see what i need to do in just people  just trying to accomplish the one goal and then look back to say well that wasn't so bad that wasn't so scary ok so let's try and reach for the next goal but like me that was saying you know people just fine did to me dating is scary and you know they'll fulfill their dreams of her purpose it's interesting that you bring up goals because at the pressurized training they do a lot on call development and goal setting and actually every year we sit down and we do a call and they have you break it down into steps yes and they talk about the circle of life and all of the different areas of your life that need to be felt for you to truly be how many challenges we thought so spiritual and social and work and education and they really encourage you to sit down with your employees and go through that goal setting because and to write them down and yeah them and they encourage you to like take your finger and read along the very specific goal so that you can work towards them and it's funny i carry my marketing plan with me almost every day so i can look at it and make notes and and do the things that i need to do to help us get where we need to go because it's ok to make those changes and i have to be one of those you have to be flexible and i think oh key thing that you also say is maybe you didn't say exactly but the implication was there is there you're always going back and reevaluating so you're always ok we've got assume this day how did we do we've gotten through this week how did we do this month this year so you're constantly going back and sort of this checks and balances and in a how could we were improved so it's also about having a continuous improvement mindset like you never stop trying to get it better or to improve it on a regular  don't you just you just keep doing that you know i don't know for me personally i don't think there's an end to being able to oh because a lot of times when you start making the mistake of resting on your laurels you start missing things and there are can be important things that as you're going through that reevaluation that you say oh wow what if we were to do this and this way and then you try it and it works out better than what you had originally so that that's a challenge that reevaluation and continuous improvement mindset is something that you need i think improve we're always looking to improve we actually just had the opportunity through networking we had an opportunity to apply for a program of rutgers called the e p i entrepreneur pioneer an issue that we were very excited about and you know it's something that we're going to do together hopefully if we can except if we get  said it's all about personal improvement business improvement setting goals and coaching and mentoring and you know i have a lot of experience in the corporate world but i have a lot of learning to do and you know listen has a lot of experience in marketing but i think together both realize we can always learn more and yeah i'm looking at this as if i get accepted as maybe an opportunity it refers to learn more and get coaching from people that more experienced us i'm a strong believer you have to invest back into yourself in education and improvement if you're going to continue to grow and you're only as good as your weakest person on the team so we are just about out of time already served so what are those last that gets that you want to throw out to our audience for me if you if there's something you really want to do in life you will find a way to make it work you just need to be dedicated work hard and make a plan write it down and think it through and hopefully you'll have the opportunity to work with somebody that you truly cherish and enjoy being with  sure that they reach out and second out your web side and they need something electrical done and they didn't go color or whatever so i just want to thank you again for coming on our show and to our audience as this want to say thank you and we'll see you next i'm at the place to