Hello, and welcome to my website. I am not completely sure of what I’m planning to do with this site, but I hope to eventually build out content as time goes on, and as time allows. So, here is my first blog post, possibly ever.
Buckeye Power Sales, my day job
First, a bit about me. I’m currently the IT Director for Buckeye Power Sales. We sell, service, and rent equipment. We are mostly a solutions provider, which means we try to figure out the best solution for any customer’s needs, not just try to sell them a product. I think of it as solving a problem you might have (I like to solve problems, which sometimes annoys my wife, who just wants me to listen to her problems and just say “Yeah that sucks,” which will never make sense to me).
We deal with individuals and large companies. Our 3 main divisions are Outdoor Power Equipment (think mowers, weed trimmers, chainsaws, etc.), Power and Construction Equipment (generator rentals and small to medium sized construction equipment, such as light towers, excavators, skid loaders, etc.), and Power Systems (larger generator systems). We have 8 locations across Ohio and Indiana, and we also service some of the surrounding areas.
The company was about 85 employees strong when I started back in 2007, and has grown to about 200 as of this writing. Hard to believe…
Oh, what do I do there? I run the IT Department. With the help of an awesome team, and a few outside consultants, I keep the tech side of the house running smoothly, and I try to keep it in line with the general company goals. This isn’t always easy, and I often lose focus, but I always make my way back to the main goals eventually, and usually with haste. I have to credit the EOS method they put in a place a few years back which really helps to keep all of us on track. Recently it has been going very well because I’m working on the business systems side of things, which is really where I feel I can have the most impact. Currently we are doing a CRM implementation so I am learning a lot about our Industrial Sales process, and I’m brimming with ideas about how to integrate the CRM with our ERP system. Really cool stuff and exciting for me, and my crazy brain.
Real Estate
I also own a few rental properties and manage them with help from my wife. We currently have 5 rental properties as of this writing. I never thought I would own this much real estate, and we came in to this business reluctantly and only as a matter of circumstance. I purchased my first house in Columbus in 2005, right before the last real estate bubble burst. When I got together with my wife and decided to move to Bowling Green, OH in 2012, I was under water on my mortgage (for those who may not know what that means, it means I would have lost about 12,000 if I were to sell the house, meaning I would sell it, and I’d have to pay at least that much to close out the deal and make the bank happy – buying high and selling low is typically not a good strategy, with any investment). My real estate agent was the first one to suggest renting it. So I found a couple with 2 young kids to rent it to, and asked too little for it. I got about 50 responses within the first 24 hours. The renters stayed for close to 2 years and at the end, it didn’t go well, but it was a valuable experience because we learned a lot about what not do to. We also rented my wife’s house (located in BG) to friends, and that was an even bigger mistake. Again, we learned a lot!
So, I guess I forgot to mention, the main reason why we are renting the 2 houses we owned. We had a baby on the way. My (not yet) wife already had 2 kids, and we were adopting a 3rd (her niece). So her 3 bedroom 1400 square foot house wasn’t going to be big enough for us. We ended up finding a really cool 4 bedroom house right outside of town that we all fell in love with instantly. So we moved in, got the other 2 houses rented, and that was that for a number of years.
I should also mention, I basically transitioned from being a single bachelor for most of my life, to living with my girlfriend, being a father of 4, and moving away from the town I had lived in for 12 years, all within the span of about a year. I wouldn’t do it any differently, if I had it to do over again, but I certainly don’t recommend this to anyone. It was just a bit, um, stressful, as you can imagine.
Other stuff?
So I’ll wrap up this very first post by saying… Life is pretty good in 2020. I know the world is on fire, and generally things are crazy, but I find myself being thankful for everything I have right now, my wonderful, amazing wife and family (that baby we had is now 8 years old and the most amazing kid I could have asked for). My job. The rentals.
Honestly the pandemic hasn’t been that bad for introverts like myself. Everyone has to stay 6 feet away from me? I wish that was passed in to law years ago. Now I have the best excuse ever to keep away from people! Also, how easy is it to cancel plans now?