Issue 280, May 19, 2025
The date was May 1, 1993. I had been living in Jacksonville, FL for almost a year after relocating with my wife’s job in August of 1992. The plan was simple.
We left NJ to start our lives living in the vacation capital of the world. Good-bye snow and high taxes, hello sandy beaches and warm weather. I mean, what could go wrong. We just got married, we saved up money, and my wife had a job. The company I worked for at the time represented the Port of Jacksonville. How could my bosses not see what a great opportunity it would be to open a location here. I sold container and chassis parts, and nobody at the time outside of the state of NJ was doing this.
When they declined my offer to open a location here, a competitor approached me about opening a location for them. Initially, I was working with a company that invested in my business idea and supported its early growth. However, after six months, their strategic priorities shifted, and they decided to withdraw their investment. While that was a challenging moment, it also became a turning point. I was about to give up and move back home when my wife said to me,
“If you think it’s such a good idea, why don’t you just do it yourself” For the next 10 years I learned, things go wrong, and plans change. You have to adjust, but you keep moving and going forward.
This past week was one of those weeks at SBMC. Our golf tournament was rained out, our scholarship luncheon was changed due to school schedules. We would have no guest speaker. This all could have been a tremendous tragedy, but not for the SBMC. We are a club made up of business people, who each and every day adapt, adjust, and overcome obstacles, and keep our goal in place.
Our meeting was a huge success. Thanks to Past President Tim Buchannan’s fast work in getting Lake Ray to address our club with a great timely message, and our Golf tournament has already been rescheduled for July 21st.
I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting or networking event, where my goal is to provide you with value.
Ken Petsch
2025 President