I was sitting in front of my computer one day surfing around Facebook and came across a posting from an old friend from high school, Sanjay Gupta, about mold. I read the story, got some education, and continued on.
A few days later another posting, another good read, and the process of postings and reading continued. I decided to look at the company he was associated with. I was intrigued and had been looking for something to do outside of what I currently do; An Editor and Visual FX Compositor in Los Angeles, for quite some time. I saw on the site something about franchise opportunities and decided to talk to Sanjay.
The process was investigative at first, but then it started to gain more momentum for me and even more so as I wanted to do something with my family in Calgary. We, as a family, have done some projects together. My brother-in-law was about to end a job and he is spot on with numbers as an accountant and has the integrity that stands firm no matter what the circumstance. I started talking with him, spoke with Sanjay and then tried to figure out how to make it work. The main thing was to keep it family, honest and able to help in moments of emergency for the customer.
Well, fast forward Calgary and Southern Alberta has a flood about three months after my initial discussion started and was serious prior to the emergency about this. Now, Got Mold was on the ground in Calgary and area doing what they do best: assess, help, reassure and act. I was coming up from LA for a visit in two weeks and did a conference call with Sanjay and James Watson, The President of Got Mold. What a unique experience that was, and if all held true to the discussion, this was something that had to happen.
Upon arrival in Calgary and seeing all the flood damage, Sanjay, Watson and my brother-in-law, James Scharfl met up on a Saturday morning. We had an exciting and inspirational meeting. The foundation of the company, the same focus on quality and fair business with the need to help, bottom line.
What started as a fact finding mission for Scharfl and a hope for me to get him as interested as I was on board, quickly became a wow moment for him. We left the meeting with how can we being the focus. The next thing was we needed James Zolkavich, an old friend of ours, a trusted, construction smart guy with the same amount of concern for integrity. He had been a part of previous build ups of companies and now this was the one we wanted to see him be a partner in rather than just the guy that gets a thank-you card, if that, at the end of a successful mission. All three players, plus a wonderful Got Mold team started down a path to figure out how to make this dream work for all of us. Sure it was a business deal, but more like a first date through courting, and then marriage. We all had to be on the same page and we were from day one.
Some components for why Got Mold:
- Sanjay's ability to help construct a package that was possible and able to work with our mentality.
- Watson's back story; how and why, to where the company is now and future growth was on cue.
- Scharfl's business background, attention to the numbers and integrity.
- Zolkavich's resume, construction know-how, crewing capability and "stand up" qualities.
- McKay's intrigue for a new opportunity, marketing background and a want for a family style business.
The irony about all these people We all grew up in the same city and came together to make this happen, including the spouses, except my Wife, she is from Nebraska, sort of like Saskatchewan.
Our position about this type of business is that we are in clean up and disaster services. We need to be there for people in some of their darkest times and give them the comfort, calm and ability to know they are going to be okay. They will be taken care of, we are coming to help. We have to get up and look at ourselves in the mirror each day and know that we did our best yesterday and will do so today and down the road.
