began to trust him. Thus, began a relationship that lasted over 26 years until the day he died. At first, I was just another client. Neither of us had any inkling that our relationship would become so close or last so long. Sam also became a mentor to our children, and when he semi-retired, we remained his only client. Sam was a true friend to all of us. We could all write a separate book relating some of his quips and foibles, his bad jokes, and smart ideas. Most importantly, Sam was an honest man, a man of principles. If ever I was tempted to cut a corner, he kept me on the straight and narrow. I miss him. We all miss him. As a testament to his good practices, many of the processes he started remain in place today. Here is a sampling of Sam’s Wisdom: • The answer is, “A little bit here and a little bit there.” • Sam had a small photo he kept in his wallet, and when queried about his family he would pull out that photo and show us his, “Pride and Joy,” furniture polish and common dish washing soap. • When someone asked Sam how he was doing he would say, “I’m doing ‘grate’, like the bottom of a stove.” • Upon seeing a quarter on the ground, Sam would say, “If I bend down to pick up that quarter it will cost me a dollar.” LITTLE-BY-LITTLE Dorothy and I learned how to sell answer- ing services and gradually how to manage the company and little-by-little we began to grow one small client at a time. She would tell prospects about our kids and how she would treat them as one of her children. I don’t think anyone could have refused her, but it was a tough business, and sometimes we would lose a client. They can be very demanding. The key was to put more clients on than we took off; it was a battle of attrition. Our livelihood rested on the quality of the people we could find; it was not easy. We oper ated on a tight budget. There could easily be a
Sam Kapit, with his Pride and Joy 1980s
family issue when someone wouldn’t be able to show up for work or, conversely, we could be overstaffed and would have to send people home. Our profitability demanded constantly watching the schedule. During the midnight shift, a single person managed all nine switch- boards. Just to see the calls ringing you would have to keep walking. The telephone company-owned and main- tained all of our switchboards. They even owned the Yellow Pages book, which was our primary source of advertising. It was a large yellow book designed to entice callers to find the required services they wanted. For young people, it was the equivalent of Google in the form of a book. Everyone used it. The expression, “Let your fingers do the walking,” summed it up. In our heyday, the costs were close to 50K a month for Yellow Pages advertising. After transitioning to Google, the cost was a bit lower, but the transi- tion wasn’t easy. As the company got rolling my son, Stephen, graduated from the University of Florida in 1982, with a degree in Fine Arts and a minor in Architecture. He was planning for his Master in Architecture when I told him not to go. I want- ed to grow this business, and I wanted at least one of my kids to help me. He agreed.
388
Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease