TODAY WE NEED IEC MORE THAN EVER

John Evorik, Don Hulsey and I just returned from the IEC National Convention in St. Louis. There were a number of solid presentations and helpful meetings with other contractors that will impact our businesses in the years to come. As you might expect, with the economy slower that normal, attendance was a bit down but the Midwest Region had good representation and was well represented. I always enjoy the event and hope you all get the opportunity to attend future conventions.

Speaking of representation, the Midwest IEC was well represented at the National Apprentice Competition by Eric Duttlinger of Hulsey Electric. Eric, who was chosen top apprentice in our Chapter last spring, placed 9th out of 28 apprentices competitors from around the country. This is a major accomplishment and congratulations go out to Eric and Don Hulsey for their four-year commitment which has resulted in such a good showing. While we’re not the largest chapter in the country and given that a number of chapters seldom enter apprentices in the national contest, doing so, places Eric among the best and his placement in the competition of IEC’s best is something of which we can be proud. Great job!

The other element of this year’s convention was the many conversations with fellow merit shop owners around the country experiencing today’s downturn. As we’ve mentioned before, times are tough throughout the entire country. It matters little what part of the country you come from or whether a contractor does business in a rural area or large metropolitan area. The economy impacts everyone. It was great to see residential housing numbers looking upbeat in the last quarter. Continued growth here will bring us increased business.

I invite all of you to attend our annual Christmas party on December 11th. Special invitations are being sent to all members. It’s a great way to thank your employees for their efforts this year. We have some new entertainment planned that will allow those attending to win prizes and enjoy socializing with games and contests following dinner. The party will again be held at Andorra’s Restaurant in Schereville. Look for your invitation in the mail.

Gary Dykstra
President

DON'T KNOW THAT ANSWER

Last weekend I watched my routine number of Sunday morning interview shows to see if any new spin might be filtering in from Washington. Sure enough, there was Tim Geithner, boy genius of the financial world admitting that the federal deficit is getting too high but that the priorities now are economic growth and job recovery. Mr. Geithner, that’s always been the priority. His commentary reminded me one more time how little the financial world gets about real business.

Host David Gregory, who by the way doesn’t do too bad of a job bringing the spinners back to his questions, asked the one question that I’ve not heard a politician answer yet. “When will be see jobs come back?” Geithner’s response? “We don’t know that answer for sure.”

Really? Of course not. Bankers, Lawyers, Wall Street types and certainly Politicians don’t know the answer to that question because they don’t know what you know. They don’t make a payroll and pay for it based on customer sales. Private businesses that produce products, provide services and otherwise sell to customers are the people that understand jobs. The others do not.

When work is slow, you all shortened hours. Some of you had to let people go. Others shared workers to keep everyone working. You deal with real jobs and real work day after day. To a business owner, jobs are intuitive because you know the connection between work, revenue, expenses and jobs. Jobs you produce. Jobs you provide your employees. Jobs your create for those not working.

JOBS! Down to the minute. Down to the hour. Down to the truck. Down to the crew.
This is the part that politicians don’t get. They never participate in this decision. They look at statistics. You look at the faces of your employees when things get slow.

How do jobs look? You’re the business owners that know.

Bankers have to ask YOU to find out this answer. Accountants have to ask YOU to find out this answer. Lawyers have to ask YOU to find out these answers. Politicians generally don’t ask.

Next time you see a genius on the news show telling you how the economy is doing, ask your self the question, “What does this guy do for a living?” If he’s a lawyer, banker, politician or a talk show host, consider the source. You can tell them more about the real economy than they can tell you.

You just don’t get on network TV news shows.


Kevin McNulty
Execuive Director

EXPERTS

Experts identify three personalities of every independent business owner. These insights can help every electrical contractor how to be effective every hour of every day. Being aware of these three personalities help you stay in tuned with what motivates your decisions every day.

The entrepreneur, the manager, and the technician are the three types of personalities within each business owner and can each type can be willful, short-sighted or power-mad and may need a firm hand to shape them into a team!

The entrepreneur
The entrepreneur is the person who has the vision and sees the opportunity. He focuses on the future rather than the present, and disregards the past totally. His main problem immediately becomes how to get other people to do what he sees as possible. He is creative and energizing, and eventually leaves everyone behind.

The manager
The manager is the person who likes things orderly and predictable. He prefers the past to the future (or even the present). This is the person who establishes rules and policies and procedures, and he and the entrepreneur are automatically in conflict. He sets up an organization and wants it to stay the same, while the entrepreneur is always saying "What if?”.

The technician
The third person is the technician, the person who actually has the skills to do the work. He stays only in the present, doing what needs to be done, one step at a time. He is not interested in lofty visions or being "micromanaged." He sees managers as control freaks and entrepreneurs as irresponsible dreamers. Technicians are pragmatic, resistant to change, and just want to be left alone to get the work done. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Kevin McNulty
Executive Director

THE INSIDE STORY

Think of the independent contractors in our region that are not members of the IEC. Simply stated, there are things that we know because we are IEC members that they do not. Even the most experienced contractor needs to know more than what he experiences in his own business.

Think of the time they spend looking for information. What are the opportunities that we hear about that they never do because they have fewer opportunities to talk to other contractors? A quick glance at our National Convention agenda demonstrates how much is occurring in our industry today may never hear about. Finally, I wonder how much time and rework might occur the next time they work in Indiana because they missed one of our most informative meetings of the year?

The Indiana Code has been revised and has been in affect for all permits since August 26th. By attending our special meeting on Thursday October 15th at 6:00 pm, you’ll have the new information you’ll need on Indiana code. You won’t send time and money reworking while your non-member competitor will. If we believe strongly in the value of merit shop ownership, we want these non-members with us. More membership means more resources and increased value for all members of Midwest IEC.

IEC members get the inside story. That’s a clear value to membership with IEC.

I think it goes without saying, that contractors in our area value and respect the work of John Evorik both as a contractor and inspector. John will review all new changes (both good and bad) in the Indiana code at the special October meeting. As normal, we will serve pizza and John expects to take two hours to review the changes. Your board is continuing to focus on value added topics at our meeting that will help all contractor members. We thank John for taking the time to review the latest code information for all members.

A number of us will be traveling to the National Convention in a few weeks. There’s still time to sign-up by going to the IEC web site. Remember, St. Louis is not that far. If you can’t go the entire time, perhaps one day is possible. There’s a lot to gain. I hope to see many of you there.

Finally, our condolences go out to Chapter Exec Kevin McNulty and his family who unexpectedly lost their four month old grand daughter last month.

Gary Dykstra
President