Interview with Mark Prudowsky of Lightning Bug Electric
conducted by Safi Mahaba (Sharon Martin)
How long have you owned your own business? In one form or another since 1985
Why? After I graduated high school I became a welder, but in the recession of the 80’s it was hard to find work. I wanted to find something recession proof and was guided to become an electrician
What not to do? To succeed as a contractor, you really have to love the business aspect (chasing down money & book keeping) and I’ve always hated that part of the business. When I ran a larger crew in Chicago, there was more a camaraderie. I don’t have the cutthroat instincts or ruthlessness that seems to be needed for doing business. I’m also tired from doing this from so long. In contracting in this economy, you have to go out of your way to please the customer. The customer is not always right and I speak my mind which sometimes gets me in trouble.
Entrepreneurship in the service field is about relating to people, listening really well and providing what people want. If you lack those things, it can be a very difficult business to succeed in.
What is a highlight or something you value from being in business for yourself? Generally—the camaraderie that exists on a worksite with the crew…true in Asheville & Chicago. If things were rolling really well, great flow and communication, it was very enjoyable. Training apprentices has been very pleasurable…in Chicago, I was teaching women going into the trade who went from living in very rough neighborhoods to earning a good living and being able to turn their lives around.
You have a strong social justice component to your work and I wonder where that comes from… I think I’ve been socially engaged for most of my life and I don’t really know where that comes from…
How did you end up in Asheville? Josh Littlejohn’s father would do a solstice gathering every summer. My son was reaching adulthood and I attended one of Littlejohn’s ceremonies in WNC…I could no longer afford to live in the ratrace of Chicago and moved here. The ironic thing was, when I moved here I didn’t want to have anything to do with running a business again. I was willing to work for others, but I was not willing to work for $12/hour which was what all employers wanted, so I started my own gig.
If you don’t have an MBA, you should have a good understanding of bookkeeping skills. When I think about what my employees can do, I want to make sure they are able to navigate the challenges of building and running a business.
Speak to the physical demands of the job: If my employee is going into an attic without a mask or without kneepads on, I get pissed off. When the old-timers who trained me tried to tell me this, I wouldn’t listen and thought it would never affect me. I get really passionate about helping my younger employees protect their bodies. Lately, my body has really started to talk to me and I don’t want my younger employees to end up in my shape simply because they don’t use the necessary precautions.
You seem to have a great love for poetry and are quite a skilled poet yourself. Talk about how this came about. In all the years I lived in Chicago, I was never a good student for various reasons. Despite being encouraged by many people to pursue intellectual degrees, I didn’t do it. When I got to Asheville, I decided to pursue a degree in creative writing. I ended up with a bachelor’s of arts and then went on to Warren Wilson and got a MFA in poetry. I LOVE it!
Dream business? I would create a trade school.
Who would you target? I would aim it towards the youth who aren’t necessarily academically inclined, but possess intelligence and will. I had started as a welder, but wanted something more. There should be a humanities component to every trade.
Is there any kind of partnership available with any of the non-profits to create the kind of trade school you envision? In order to do what I imagine, whoever I work with would have to be able to provide the technology needed to move forward with a solid education. It’s hard to get people to take seriously the fact that industrial jobs are disappearing and we need to train people in those areas.
I think that working with Green Opportunities in the “green” field is relevant because in the next few years I think regulations will be in place that oversees how energy efficient new homes have to be. We are heading headlong into an environmentally responsible world. The more we train kids in this now, the more successful our youth are going to be! We have to make practical applications for the advanced subjects like physics in our school systems.
Kernel of wisdom? Get a really sound grounding in bookkeeping and time management. These things are indispensable. You must learn how to prioritize and delegate in order to make sure that each piece of the puzzle is in the right place at the right time. You must have good project management skills. I really believe very strongly that if you don’t learn the skills associated with solid bookkeeping, you will not be successful .
