Spencer Howell
00:00:0400:00:04
Hey.
Wayne Herring
00:00:0400:00:05
Spencer Howell.
Spencer Howell
00:00:0500:00:05
Welcome. Hey.
Wayne Herring
00:00:0500:00:11
Hey, Spencer Howell. Welcome to the business, Builder way podcast. Really good to have you here.
Spencer Howell
00:00:1100:00:19
Awesome. Thank you, Wayne. Pleasure to be here. This is my first podcast, as we talked about earlier, and I'm excited. Super.
Wayne Herring
00:00:1900:00:56
So this round or this season, we're working to produce some episodes that will allow new members in Business Builders to get to know you and the others and also to help people that are thinking about joining Business Builders. To know who you are and what kind of personnel we interacting with, because our members are so important to the group and to the program. And it is how people grow. So I'm going to ask you this question, which could be really deep, and that would be good, or maybe you take it kind of wide ranging. But who are you and why are you here?
Spencer Howell
00:00:5700:04:31
Yeah. So spencer howell currently the president at howell rescue systems, and we're a family business, and we're moving on to the third generation. So I work with my sister and my dad, which is a big reason that I'm here. Being in a family business. Navigating not only business relationships, but family relationships as well, which Wayne has helped me a tremendous amount with. So super blessed for that. And main reason that I'm here is that before I started my business venture, I majored in business at college. I was also a baseball player. And directly after college, I went into a program called AmeriCorps. And easiest way to sum it up is it's local Peace Corps in the US. So working with different nonprofits ended up doing modeling and firefighting through that. So did that for two years. And the reason I ended up leaving that and coming back is because my dad was going through a lot of stress in the business and wanted me to dip my toes in it and see if it could be a possibility for me. And so I came back. Didn't really dip my toes in it. Jumped 2ft first. And my dad's a tremendous guy. I'm super lucky. The business he's built up. He took it from his father, my grandfather, and took it from really just a small business that was trying to help out his own fire department. How rescue systems. We're a distributor for fire equipment, and 99% of our customers are fire departments. And he took really it was barely even a business and turned it into a close to $20 million business. And through doing that, he was number one salesman. Always a great salesman. Still Is. If you get in a room with him, he'll tell you stories, tell you how great everything is, and we'll convince you that he's the right guy to go with. And he usually is. He's built great relationships in the business. So kind of moving forward. It got to a point to where it kind of outgrew his leadership style, and I knew that. So I love learning from my dad, and he's a tremendous guy. But the business got to a point where it was at a size where it needed kind of that next level leadership. And I got connected with a guy called Tom Rubins, and he's more of a culture coach. And I met with him for about three months, and we got to a point where it was kind of a mutual of, all right, we did about as much as we can with each other. And he recommended me to you, Wayne. Wayne Herring. And from there, me and Wayne have been working together, gone by in a blink of an eye, but we've been together for about a year and four months now. So that's kind of the gist of why I'm here. Great.
Wayne Herring
00:04:3100:05:49
And we'll dig out a few pieces there. But one thing that I'd like to ask you about is I believe that business owners, who we call business builders or entrepreneurs, same. I believe, whether it's our group or somebody else's, it is helpful to have a group of peers that you meet with. And so in our program, specifically, we have our weekly virtual mastermind groups, smaller groups, seven, eight business owners. And then we also have our live events where we get together and spend, depending on the event, two or three days together, and we're spending it together. And you're also stepping back from the day to day and getting time to go be intentional. And then the other thing we have is a rhythm and a process with our 120 day plan, filling out that sheet and reflecting on all aspects of life and business, your personal stuff. How happy are you with fitness and health and your home and your family and relationships and all those things?
Spencer Howell
00:05:4900:05:50
Right?
Wayne Herring
00:05:5100:06:18
So it's the other people, it's the rhythm, it's the 120 day process. And some coaching from me, too. So whether it's our group or somebody else's, what has your experience of being in a group like this been? And what would you say to other business owners as far as getting out of their own personal world and going and joining something like this? How has it helped you?
Spencer Howell
00:06:1800:09:57
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm lucky enough that when I was in AmeriCorps, I was just taken to a world of uncomfortability. So for me, it was pretty easy to jump into this group. And I'm a younger business builder, and I've also always been a routine guy. Like, when I was in AmeriCorps, waking up at 530, working out, then doing the workday, then we all get together. There's a routine there. And coming over to the business a little bit more about coming in with my dad was that he had somewhat of a structure, but he also loved being unstructured, which for me was a lot and hard to deal with. And coming into business builders, it helped, like, 120 day plans. I'm always doing those. And it's really nice to always come back to because I'm a little bit scatterbrained sometimes. And I just went back to my 120 day plan, I think it was yesterday, and I went, okay, what was I trying to work on? I think it was about 60 days ago now, what was I trying to work on then? Let's stick back to that because it's easy to deviate and I make it to our Thursday groups pretty much every Thursday. And one of the things that's nice for me as a younger business builder is that I have such a wealth of knowledge from all the guys that are in the group that I get to learn from. And it's also really nice too, because I get to give different perspectives on a lot of things because I'm 27 years old and coming into this, I'm definitely one of those people that likes to ask a lot of questions. And that's another big reason that I ended up finding business builders as well. And that seems to be a great place to be when you want to ask questions and you want to learn more and you're not happy with just asking why and getting one answer, you want to continue to dig deeper. And I know in our Thursday groups, we continuously will come back to the same topics and we'll get different answers all the time, which is great, because you're always getting different perspectives and the in person meetups. So I've been to three now, and each time I've intentionally came in to those live meetups with something that's going on in our business. And every time I've been able to leave there with taking back a plan. So I've gone in with an idea of what I want to do. And every time when I leave and come with my problems and what's going on in the business and where I'm trying to go, whatever my idea was of what I thought I need to do, going in never ended up being the idea that I left with. Which was great, because when you're with people that are also business owners, presidents, CEOs, kind of in that place, they've been through a lot of hardships and they've been through a lot of times. And what I find out is most of the time somebody's either been through what you're going through or they're going through what you're going through. So to be able to ask those questions with those people, what else do you want from that standpoint?
Wayne Herring
00:09:5800:10:28
Yeah, and you do add a whole lot to the group because of your age, and you are our youngest member. And so, yes, you contribute, everybody contributes, but you contribute something unique and special. One of our oldest members is in their sixty s, and similarly, they contribute a really unique perspective and then most of them are more kind of around forty s. Fifty s, like my age.
Spencer Howell
00:10:2800:10:29
Can I jump in on that real quick?
Wayne Herring
00:10:2900:10:32
Yeah, of course so one of the.
Spencer Howell
00:10:3200:12:19
Things that's been a change of mind from when I first came in to where I'm at now is that when I first came in, it's obvious that I'm the youngest member, right? So it's like, okay, kind of need to prove myself or this or that and try to be I can hang with these 40, 50 business owners, CEOs. And then there's kind of a shift in the mind where it's like, I'm just going to embrace my role of being the younger, business minded guy. And it's been amazing because I can also now take that to my team as well. And you and I talk about this all the time. I know one of the audibles that you had me listen to is it ego is the enemy. And that process has been huge too. Through doing our TTI, my natural indicator is that I'm high D, which can be really tough for a young leader because it's kind of that balance of I need to be a leader, but I also need to not be so prideful in myself that I can't be wrong. And through being in the group, that's been a huge change for me through being in the group and being with all of the business builders is that it's okay to be wrong. Because these people that are all more experienced, they're okay with being wrong, they're okay with being where they're at, they're okay with learning. So it's like, okay, let me just embrace where I'm at and then bring that aspect of to it. So that's been a great part of being part of business builders, is embracing that role. Yeah.
Wayne Herring
00:12:1900:13:19
So I never know where these things are going to go for sure. But one of the things you've done now, and that I'm hearing is you're helping to give an outline of how somebody does our program or one like it well. And one of the things I heard you say was that because there's a place for consulting for business owners, and we used to take advantage of that in the business I was in with my dad, consulting, where somebody would say, this is exactly how you do Facebook advertising in your industry. 12345 what we do in Mastermind or with coaching is a bit more like it's a partnership where you need know, calm and do your part as well as the things that I might pour into you. And you said you come to these events with something on your mind and intention, so you're thinking about it ahead of time when you come. And the other piece you said was you went through some of the journey.
Spencer Howell
00:13:1900:13:20
I know.
Wayne Herring
00:13:2000:13:43
I've been through this as I've joined mastermind groups of feeling like I need to show up in a certain way and then realizing one of the gifts of being in a group like this is no, actually, it's okay to just be here and be in the space with other people and back in your business. You have to be in charge all the time. But this is a place where you come to. Soak it in from all angles, almost.
Spencer Howell
00:13:4300:14:28
Is what I heard, yeah, through the experience of everybody in the group embracing that point in life that I'm at because I'm not going to be there again. So you don't have to have all the answers where you're at right now. Embrace that. Number one, you never will. But also, you'll not be in the spot that you're at today ever again. So just embrace that because it's a journey. And I've had so many times where somebody said something and I've been like, I think I'm right, and then somebody else has gone and you're like instead of being like, oh, I'm wrong, and then getting upset about it, you start to learn that, no, just take it in, think about it. You don't have to be right.
Wayne Herring
00:14:3000:15:41
So one of the things in people getting to know you that is important, because we are trying to build profitable businesses that serve their communities and give meaningful jobs to people and things like that. It's important to know. You said how rescue and you talked about the generations and that the company has grown into this like $20 million range. And what does it mean? What is your business? You've got a brick and mortar in Dayton, Ohio, and home of the Wright brothers. And there's a Skyline Chili there, maybe Cincinnati, but you've got this brick and mortar office and distribution center in Dayton. You have one in Pennsylvania, western Pennsylvania also, and it's sales of rescue tools that help get people out of cars, cutters, spreaders. You're working with both paid fire departments, volunteer fire departments, and who is on your team, who are the people making all this happen and get all these tools out there and get people trained, et cetera, right?
Spencer Howell
00:15:4100:17:33
Yeah. So I got to talk about my leadership team first because they've been the biggest reason that this business has been able to grow, because in the past really three years, our business has grown a large amount. And one of the things coming into the business is my leadership style is completely different than my dad's leadership style. And that's because it has to be different. Because I wasn't here at the beginning of the story of the business. I wasn't here for all of that experience. My dad could manage the business by himself. And that was also a reason that I came to the business builders and I was asking all these questions is because I had to change my leadership style from my dad's. And it also got to a point where my dad's leadership style could no longer work. So we created a leadership team, which we actually changed the name from management to leadership. It was when Wayne was here. Wayne was here for our quarterly manager meeting is what we used to call it. Now it's our quarterly leadership meeting. So we changed that name from Management to leadership. And the people who are on that team are Anthony Fleming, who's our VP of Sales, and he's done a tremendous job. He's the reason that we're in New York City with our tools. He's helped us set up dealers from Maine down to South Carolina. And we have John Curcio on the team as well, who works in the same building as Anthony. He's one of the guys who opened up our mind to we didn't just have to sell rescue tools in our business to be successful, so we started adding new products to How Rescue in about 2018. So it's been five years now, and that's been one of the big jumps in our revenue, is starting to sell some of those other tools people to.
Wayne Herring
00:17:3300:17:34
The same fire department.
Spencer Howell
00:17:3400:20:18
Yeah, exactly. So we started that relationship. And next I'll talk about Andrew Papelas. His nickname is dude. And for people just hearing that, a lot of people have a hard time comprehending that we call him Dude and we really do. We call him dude. Right. He's our head of service, and he's been unbelievable with just customer service. He's a very analytical guy. And that's been one of the big reasons of our success at Howell Rescue, is our service. Because if there's ever a problem with a customer's tool or setting up service for annual maintenance, he's on it. And that's what's been easy to be able to sell other products, is that we used to just sell Genesis Rescue tools and we would go in service and if they ever had a problem, we're there right away. And that was also easy for our service team because we had one product. So as we've expanded to other products, it's added a little bit more of a challenge, which isn't a bad thing. It's a little bit more complex now, but that's what's allowed us to get into a lot of these departments with our other products that aren't rescue tools is because of the service we've provided, the relationships we've made. Next I'll talk about is RJ Snyder. He's our director of operations, and he's been a huge guy who's helped us implement a CRM system into our team. Making that transition from kind of the old school, jot it down on paper to maybe let's all get it in a web based CRM so we can look at live numbers. And then my sister as well, and then I don't want to gloss over Shelby. She's actually been a huge part of this. She's in charge of crash course village. She's actually due she's pregnant and she's due October 27, so we're kind of preparing for that. She's pretty much my right hand person, and she works with Wayne quite a bit. She's in another masterminds group. And all those guys, everybody there has a team underneath them. And really that team underneath them is the ones who are dealing with the fire departments and creating those relationships with them, going to training facilities, being there to support them. And our three things that we specialize in, our hedgehog principle per se, is sales, service, training, and that's how we're able to do everything that we do. Yeah.
Wayne Herring
00:20:1800:20:42
So what I hear in that and the way that you answered the question is that you're really focused on empowering those leaders and having them start to kind of carry the flag of the company fire helmet, whatever, right? And that's common where a business has. A very dynamic, outgoing, sometimes hard driving founder leader like your dad, who is able to get everything through their own energy and drive and spread the word and get out there and sell and then well, not every company makes this transition. Sometimes there is no transition. But what you're working to do with your dad's help, with the help of other people, is develop this strong group of leaders who are empowered and help carry the company forward and multiplying the impact you can make because it's no longer just one person being the one to drive it all.
Spencer Howell
00:21:2900:21:59
Yeah, absolutely. One of the things now I'm getting even more into it as I'm in business builders, but one of the big things that business builders helped me with is that if a company relies on one person, that is not a strong business. So how do we get away from that? I think we're just now at a year of creating this leadership team, so it's been really cool to see the development of that. And we're just getting started with.
Wayne Herring
00:22:0300:22:57
Things. We have a few more minutes. But you mentioned AmeriCorps and I think AmeriCorps and the time you spent there. You left the family business, you left Dayton, you went out into the wider world and was part of these teams and were working in some environments like wildland firefighting or living in, I don't know, dorm housing with people from all over, very different personalities, et cetera, and having to learn how to work together. You've told me some of these things when we've been together one on one. What do you think you learned from that experience? Because I think that's partially the value you bring to our group, too, is some of that experience, and I think you're bringing that to your business. What are some of the things you learned there? If you were to say, like three things that I learned in AmeriCorps that are helpful in the business world, what comes to mind?
Spencer Howell
00:22:5800:26:10
Probably number one is working with people that maybe you don't have the same morals with or maybe don't even get along with in figuring out how to still make it work for the team and to be successful, because you don't pick the people that you're on a team with. You're just kind of stuck with them. People from all different backgrounds and it's totally normal for people to have different morals, to have different things that motivate them and all this stuff. And so that's probably the number one thing, is being able and I've been in sports and stuff my entire life, but even through sports, you don't get that because I was never on a sports team where I was with women or with people from all different types of backgrounds. I mean, there's always people in Ohio in my area, so that was probably one of the biggest things. And then number two is that in AmeriCorps, wherever you go, you're at the bottom of the barrel in every business that you work with. So getting that experience of what is it like of being at the bottom of the totem pole? And what was I and the people on my team looking for from the people that we were working for, looking from the community, you could take the good examples and the bad examples, so there were plenty of both. Who were the people that motivated us, that made us feel good, that made us happy to be there, and then who were the people that made it not so good? Or what were the things that they did that made it so you didn't enjoy coming to work? And that kind of leads me to my third thing, is that through that, it's made me realize the opportunity that I had when my dad asked me to come back to the business is holy moly. We now have 28 employees, and I know what it was like to not enjoy being at work. And especially when I was in AmeriCorps, we got a stipend. So I think even in the most that we were making, it was like $1,000 a month, maybe $1,300 a month. So it's not like I'm doing a job that I don't like because of the money. You're doing a job that you don't like, and you're not getting paid. So I realized the opportunity that I had in the lives that I could impact, because 29 employees, how can we make it so that people enjoy their job? One of the things that we need to do so when people come to work, they're happy to come to work, or we're also in a tremendous business where we're directly impacting people's lives, the health and safety of their communities. So kind of those three things were the biggest learning lessons.
Wayne Herring
00:26:1300:26:40
What would you want to say you're in this family business that your dad really grew? What would you want other family business, moms, dads, what might you say to them if they have a child, son, or daughter who is in the business, considering coming into the business? What would you want to say to them?
Spencer Howell
00:26:4100:28:32
Yeah. And this seems to be a golden rule in every family business coach, family succession planner, anybody who's been in family businesses, this always seems to be the golden rule. And my sister agrees because we've talked about this and she didn't have this opportunity. You have to go somewhere where nobody knows your name for at least a year before you come into the family business. Because if you don't do that, then you're not going to realize really a lot of things I just said, the opportunity that you have in front of you. And also one of the big things too is for whoever is the business owner, whoever's that parent who owns it, that kid's going to be able to bring back fresh ideas to help inject to your business and it goes on both ends. Luckily, my dad was open to a lot of things that I was doing, but when you send your child to do that, be open to the ideas they bring back and let them fail. I failed plenty of times and those learning lessons are just as powerful as the successful ones. So that's what I would say is if you're in a family business, especially if it's similar to me, I mean, I grew up in Oakwood. I now live in Kettering, which is a bordering city to Oakwood, so I know I'm still going to the same places that I went to as a kid. But that two years while I was away where nobody knew who I was. I could be Spencer, I could figure out who I was myself. And that time of nobody knowing my name and just being another person was huge. That's really good.
Wayne Herring
00:28:3200:28:56
I was going to ask you what you would say to then the children, but you really answered that for both people. So I appreciate that last question. What are some of the challenges that you're facing? So there's good stuff and you got this leadership team, but what's some of the stuff that's hard that you're trying to figure out?
Spencer Howell
00:28:5700:32:05
Yeah, number one is obviously that I'm now the president of Rescue System and we talked about it a little bit. The number one thing, and I'm working on it still, I'm getting better at it, is being comfortable with understanding that I'm the young guy, that I'm daddy's son and that people aren't always going to appreciate that and that's okay. It gives you the opportunity to embrace that, to become better and you're always going to be in that shadow. So it's changing your mindset on that of not looking at that as a negative. I've had plenty. I'm sure all the people in our business as well when I'm coming in, oh, daddy's boy is coming back, what's he going to do? And struggling with that. And then number two is that it's a family business and I'm very close with my family. My dad calls me at least three times a day, even when he's not at work. My sister does the same thing. And this was a hard part, is not looking at the bad things of what your sister and what your dad or your parent or your siblings do. And it's so easy. I'm struggling with it. I still am working on it. I'm so much better from where I was at. But my sister's the vice president, and my dad's the owner, and I don't talk to them as owner and vice president all the time. I talk to them as sister and owner, sister and dad when it's not always appropriate. And so balancing that out, being able on a Saturday when I'm hanging out with them to not talk about work, like, can we just get away from this and figuring that out? And one of the things that I'll just say in some of the advice, if anybody is my age or in the family business, listening to it, is that I came to the point of how lucky am I? My relationship with my sister, my relationship with my dad, with my mom, with my sister's husband has never been better. And it's been changing that of this opportunity that I have, of I get to be with my sister, I get to be with my dad, I get to be with my family more now than ever. And I'm one of those people where family is super important to me and the most important thing, I would say probably in my life. And what a golden opportunity that I get to grow that relationship not just as a sister, but through business. And a business relationship is different in growing through that. It just adds another layer to our bond that we have, which has been awesome.
Wayne Herring
00:32:0600:33:17
That's great. So thanks for spending this time with us. And I think for all of us that are out on the road, motoring, so to speak, the work that you do in the world with bringing the best rescue technology, none of us want to have to be the person who benefits from it, but it could happen. And we're glad that firefighters are getting good tools. You said sales, so we want them to have the best tools if they need it for us or a loved one. And service. Yeah, better be batteries, better be charged, and it better be able to work. And the training part. And you mentioned a little bit that Shelby is heading up Crash Course Village, and you've created this school, basically, where people can come learn the tools. We appreciate what you're doing for the world, and I appreciate having you in the business builders group and your unique perspective that you bring to it all. How can people get connected with you, and how can they learn more about Genesis? How crash course village.
Spencer Howell
00:33:1700:33:34
Yeah, we're on Facebook. How rescue systems? I'm on LinkedIn. Not on there all the time, but go to those two places, and that would be it. Great.
Wayne Herring
00:33:3400:33:37
So thanks again for joining us, Spencer.
Spencer Howell
00:33:3700:33:38
Yeah. Thank you, Wayne.
