Intro
Broadcasting live from the Business Radio X studios in Dayton, Ohio. It's time for Dayton Business Radio. Now here's your host.
The Mag
Welcome to Dayton Business Radio, Stone Payton here with you this morning and you are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast Vice President with Solid Blend Technologies Inc, Mr. Ken Elrich. Good morning, sir.
Ken Elrich
Well, good morning Stone. Thank you for having us on.
The Mag
Well, we are delighted to have you on the program. I've been looking forward to this conversation for some time now. Would you please help us get this kind of an overview as a primer if you would on mission purpose? What are you guys out there trying to do for folks?
Ken Elrich
Well, our purpose is the way we look at it as to why we do what we do. Which for the healthcare and assisted living facilities, we're safeguarding water use in our facilities. Our mission, you know, is what we do every day, which really kind of surrounds our purpose. We respond rapidly, removing, remove worry, and we reduce costs. So we call it the three R's R squared.
The Mag
Well, I continue to be amazed at the all of the wheels that are turning in the parts that are moving behind a variety of operations, we interview a lot of folks, entrepreneurs, senior-level execs in large organizations, associations, and there's always so much more to the operation than at least I initially recognized. So I guess it never occurred to me that that has got to be a mission-critical. Absolutely. No mistakes, allowed having good water running through a facility like that, doesn't it?
Ken Elrich
Yeah, if you think about it, most people think of water they think of using water to clean themselves. And so we do we look at water and find the problems and then we clean the water. So it can be used.
The Mag
And so you are cleaning it there on-site with your systems, processes, Gizmos.
Ken Elrich
Yes, it could be using the use of chemistry, it could be the use of filtration. But the key to it is monitoring it and understanding what the client's needs are with the water and bring it into compliance or keeping it in compliance. So they have clean water.
The Mag
Alright, so that's an interesting thing to talk about and unpack a little bit as well. And I'm going to draw from my experience in interviewing people who helped companies with cybersecurity, right, they're helping folks not get attacked. And in that environment, the weak link often is not the technology, it's the is the people like the whole opera can fall apart if the people don't exercise a few key disciplines. I just wondering, are there some parallels in your world? Do you need to? Do you need to educate staff and owners and maybe even residents to some degree as well as part of your process?
Ken Elrich
Yeah, very much. So it's a great question. So the assumption is when we're bringing water into a building, that wherever that water is coming from, it's already pre-treated and clean. Well, if you think of a water distribution system throughout a city, it could be hundreds and hundreds of miles. water main breaks failures in the system, you may be getting the water that's not up to par, up to standard. So educating the people in the buildings, proactively monitoring your water to keep it safe for patients, visitors, your team members is critical.
The Mag
So I got to ask, how does one get in this business? What's Ken Elrich's back story?
Ken Elrich
Good question. I was actually in a, my career started in the facilities position at a local Dayton hospital network. And as I grew and learned an organization, I realized how important water was, I saw an opportunity of providing service versus offering a chemical or a piece of equipment to take care of it. But actually, we haven't boots on the ground to satisfy the needs for these water systems. So in 9919 99, decided to start a service company to maintain these water systems. It's really launched off really well.
The Mag
Alright, so you started to start you started to have this company, but that was new and different for you right now. You're not only a practitioner, a person who cares about water and has an idea to help people. Now you got to run a business that had to be a shift for you.
Ken Elrich
Oh, that was yes, that was a huge shift. So I think many entrepreneurs when they start a business, you know, they've got this high-level thing you know, where they're going to be what they need to do. But as business starts, you don't have the resources to bring off all the people you're you need. So you're doing a lot of that work. You're the salesperson, you're the HR person, you're the, you're sending out the invoices, receiving payments, you're doing the sales, it's overwhelming. And so the more busy you get doing the day-to-day stuff, you kind of lose sight of the vision of what you saw when he first started the company. And so if it wouldn't have been for Aileron, we got engaged with them and well actually signed up to go through the course for presidents in 2009. Before I got the nerve of 2011 actually went through the course for presidents and it just opened my eyes. I had to get out of the weeds.
The Mag
So what first prompted you to reach out for some input some counsel from an organization? Like Aileron, what was the catalyst that you said, Man, I got to talk to these folks.
Ken Elrich
Well, as the business started to grow, I could walk into the office and you could just tell morale was terrible. I always kind of thought that man, I just hired a bunch of bad people. And I was kind of Woodson's, you know, revenues were good business was growing, we were doing a great job providing great service for the client. But the people's morale was just terrible. And it got to where I didn't want to be at work anymore. It's a made a visit to Aileron, not knowing who they were what they provided, was during a tour, and went through this, this video that claim until the founder of off Aileron, and I felt like he was speaking directly to me. And I thought I need to come to this place. And it like I said, it took me two years to go there, I signed up for the course, got a notification, it's time to go to the course. And I just felt like man, I can't go to this place. I'm not a business owner, you know, how am I gonna hurt other business owners. So it took two years to go there. And when I came out of the class, my by so light into the tunnel, and all the fixes that I needed, wouldn't my people, it was me. I was wonderful with great problems within the organization.
The Mag
Well, what a marvelous discovery and what a terrific breath of fresh air that must have been for you. So do you feel like you came out of that with some disciplines that you could I guess I'm looking for? Did you feel like you came out of that with some self-efficacy? So you weren't necessarily totally dependent on Aileron every step of the way going forward, but you came out of there with some things you could apply on your own from there forward.
Ken Elrich
Oh, very much so. So they have kind of what they call the dock model, which is direction, operation, and control, and it kind of lays a template out for you. And then they have a business advisor sit down, he helps you with strategic planning, which is something we've never done. And you know, over the years progressed through, you know, we've taken some different courses out there, but they've connected us with other people and other resources to really help us grow. To help business owners and leadership teams grow and be very efficient in what they do.
The Mag
Well, that's fantastic. Okay, so now you're on the other side of that you've got this foundation put into place. So this day and age, what are you finding the most challenging now? Where are you putting your attention toward things you want to tweak and polish now?
Ken Elrich
Well, what we're really focusing on now is focus. So as a business, you know, as we started the business, you're taking on whatever business you can just to meet payroll, pay bills to stay afloat. But what happens is, you really can't put much of a message out to clients if everyone is your customer, right? So what we're really doing now is really focusing on what clients we can better serve as a better fit, better fit for us.
The Mag
Well, how does the whole sales and marketing thing work for an organization like you like like yours, I would think that that would be a bit of a challenge just to have the kind of conversation you and I are having, you know, like if you were having this type of conversation with a conglomerate, or an entrepreneur who ran a facility, I could see you guys making a really quick connection and going from there, but just the day in day out sales and marketing of your business, it's, I bet it's different than most of what I've come across.
Ken Elrich
It is very different. It's very specific, and it's very technical. So creating the communications or marketing messages are typically like infection prevention, maybe public health officials, facilities, people in a hospital or assisted living facility. So it's very targeted and very specific to their language. And we can't talk on our day-to-day how we speak internally. So we have to understand what their language is. So a lot of its medical type terms.
The Mag
But the as the foundation for so much of it sounds like it's rooted in, in education and genuinely getting out there and trying to serve in some way just you have to be serving in some way, right out of the box, even before anybody even begins to think about writing check, it sounds like.
Ken Elrich
Very much. So you almost have to be the thought leader in this field, this arena. So we do a lot of training for public health, we do training, open workshops, where people come in and learn about water. So being a thought leader in this field is really critical. So and keeping up to date on all the requirements and regulations around it.
The Mag
Oh, I hadn't even thought about that part. Aye, aye, yeah that's got to talk about a moving target. Whoa, yeah. You really do have to be diligent. So the with the COVID-19. And for those of you listening, if you're listening, because sometimes people listen to our programs years later, we are actually having this conversation in the summer of 2020. We're right, we're neck-deep in this whole COVID-19 thing. So anyway, the question want to ask you is, how are things going for you? What kind of impact has the whole COVID-19 thing happened for you guys?
Ken Elrich
Well, business-wise, it hasn't affected us that much. We do have clients. That's they don't inhabit their buildings anymore. Our service team, they work remotely anyways. Now they're having to wear more specific personal protection equipment, a mask versus the gloves and the goggles. Our internal team, you know, we've really transitioned very well to work from home. So it's very minimal in our office as well. As far as staffing goes. But the one thing most people don't think about is everyone's left the buildings to work from home. Now you've got these buildings full of water that's just become stagnant. It's ripe for waterborne pathogens like Legionella, E. coli, Cyclospora to grow. Copper leeches out of the piping, lead leeches out of the older piping. And so when people go back to work, you know, if they don't have some kind of maintenance program on their water system, it's gonna be some nasty water.
The Mag
So going back to education, I'm operating under the impression you probably have some, I don't know, your 10 Point guide or whatever. Look, gang, when you get back to work, here's some things you need to think through and get done. As you're opening your doors. Yeah,
Ken Elrich
Yeah. And we've been we're very fortunate we work with the Ohio Department of Health and Ohio EPA, quite regularly due to the type of work we do, they came out with great guidance on reopening a building. And hopefully, a lot of these people are taking those guidances and going to proactively prior to everyone coming back. But we work with a lot of our clients to be the boots on the ground to help clean these building buildings up before people come back.
The Mag
Well, I think that's more or less. And as you can imagine, I've run across some folks who feel like they're equipped to help people emotionally get back into ways to conduct yourself when you get back and some things to look out for. But I haven't thought about the water. But that's again, that's a very real tactical thing that could take the legs out from any business effort if you don't manage that kind of those kinds of safety issues.
Ken Elrich
Yeah, so just it's when you're thinking about the COVID-19, you're not really thinking about Legionnaires disease, stagnant water. So the more we can put that out there for people to understand, the better results they'll have when people come back.
The Mag
Now, if someone who is listening to this would like to have a more substantive conversation with you or someone on your team, what's the best way for them to connect with you and reach out I don't know if it's email or LinkedIn, but whatever you feel like is appropriate. I want to give them a path to have a conversation with you or somebody on your team.
Ken Elrich
Sure, they can reach out through either LinkedIn or website email. Any one of those platforms is a great way to get a hold of us.
The Mag
Well, Ken, it has been an absolute delight having you on the show. Thanks so much for sharing your story and please keep up the good workman.
Ken Elrich
Sounds great speaking with you again, sir.
The Mag
All right, this is Stone Payton for our guest today Ken Elrich and everyone here at the Business Radio X family, saying we'll see you next time on Dayton Business Radio.
Image source: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenelrich/
