Chapter One

Who am I and why am I writing this Book

I am a mechanical engineer and former owner of an engineering firm in Philadelphia. Despite my lack of a business education, I was able to build my engineering firm to the point where I was able to retire at the age of 48. I have long been a believer in the need for formal education as a basis for personal development. However, actual success in business, or any endeavor, is more dependent on one’s ability to study, understand and then implement life experiences. I have always been a quick study of people and their interactions among each other. Knowing how people will react to a set of circumstances is invaluable in predicting the outcome of a situation.


That being said, I am a professional engineer having graduated from Villanova University with a degree in mechanical engineering. Engineering was not my first choice-nor was it my first undergraduate degree. However it is the field I chose to pursue and has led to my success as a young entrepreneur in the field of engineering. Like many, If not most, young people, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life as I entered college. I began my college education as a science major not really knowing what I was going to do with that degree. It was only after working at my father’s contracting firm during summer breaks that I began to develop a love of mechanical engineering. In my senior year as a science major, I decided that I wanted to be an engineer. I took engineering courses as my elective classes in senior year and, although I did receive a degree in general science, I continued in Villanova for another year and a half to get my engineering degree, taking courses day and night throughout the year. Abandoning all aspirations to be in the science community, I embarked on my engineering career beginning my employment at a well respected and well established mechanical/electrical engineering firm in the city of Philadelphia. At the age of 23,degree in hand, married with 2 children, I began my career as an aspiring engineer at the firm of Golz and Wick in the Architect’s building at 17th and Sansom Streets in Philadelphia in January, 1975.

It was no accident that I wound up at Golz and Wick. That was one of the many respected engineering firms that my father’s contracting firm did work for during the years when I was finalizing my formal education. My education in the world of engineering, as well as in the world of business, began immediately – even with my interview with Mr. Golz and Mr. Wick. Both of these gentlemen, and they both were gentlemen, interviewed me by talking about my college education, the type of work their firm did and asking me to read from some blueprints to gauge my knowledge of construction documents. At the end of the interview I remember Mr. Golz commenting that he could see that I knew what I was talking about, but I seemed to have a lack of assertiveness in my answers to his queries. Nevertheless I was hired from that one interview. Golz and Wick was a firm with approximately 12 employees when I was hired. The firm specialized in the design of HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) systems, lighting and power for commercial buildings in and around the Philadelphia area. I immediately went to work as a junior engineer working under a senior designer named James Riviello.

There is a never ending argument about the benefits of working for a small company vs. working for a large company. I know there are advantages to both. However, I believe that the correct choice of employment is a personal decision that has to be made based on one’s own experience. I am a small company person. I like the sense of family that is espoused in a small company. I also like the access to the principals of the company on a daily basis. There is no better way of learning business practices than to see how the principals of a company operate in a variety of challenging business situations. Learning the engineering principles required for my profession was started in my work experience at my father’s contracting firm, developed during my college education, and refined by working side by side with the engineers and designers at Golz and Wick. Generally the engineering solutions that we worked out to solve a problem were gleaned from text books, manufacturer’s catalogues or a history of similar situations. However, the workings of the business side of the engineering firm were learned by witnessing the operations of the company principals and learning what works and what doesn’t work by observing. Being part of a small firm, I was in constant communication with my superiors and routinely attended meetings with Mr. Wick or Mr. Golz and was able to observe the tactics they used to deal with the clients.

There is no question that there is as much to be learned from observing improper client relations as there is to be learned from observing proper client interaction. One of the criticisms of the firm of Golz and Wick was that the firm maintained an “old school” feel. It was obvious to me from the very beginning that this criticism was justified. Golz and Wick was the current name of the engineering firm that was started at the turn of the 20th century. There was, and is, a rich history associated with the firm. However, in certain business operations, the firm was stuck in the 1940’s when all workers wore suits and ties to work, never looked up from their work during business hours and deferred to a fault to their bosses. This was the atmosphere when I started working at Golz and Wick.