Wilde Engineering - Two Weeks Down!

September 25, 2020

I want to start off this blog with a quick story related to perseverance. Back in February my girlfriend, Allyssa, and I had just moved into our first house. I was excited to get some projects in so I made a flower box to block the transformer, which was of course put by the utility company in the middle of my yard. After 2 days of work the box was complete. Excitement and pride evaporated from me, thinking Allyssa would be so happy with it. I asked for her help to carry it to the yard, but when she came out to see she said "that's not going in the front yard, it's ugly". I really didn't take this to heart because it did look ugly without a finish coat of paint, so I made a compromise. I told her if I can get this thing to the yard without her, or anybody else's help, it was going to stay there. She agreed. So I spent that night constructing a cart out of scrap wood and computer chair wheels to get this dang box down our 100ft driveway. The cart itself took about 20 minutes to make, but the physical act of rolling it down the driveway took about an hour. The wheels kept coming off and the wood was breaking under the weight. Finally, I got it to it's finally resting place, sweating in the early spring heat. After a fresh coat of paint and flowers planted, the box looked great. I got compliments from the neighbors and even Allyssa loved it!

The moral of the story is that I initially thought I needed help to get the box down the driveway. But with a little perseverance, creativity, and will, I got the flower box into the yard and looking great. Starting and growing this business into a success is going to take the exact same thing. I might think I can't accomplish something on my own, but with just a little perseverance I will make it work. Some obstacles might seem to big to take on, but with creativity a mountain can be turned into a mole hill. I hope one day I can get as many compliments on Wilde Engineering as I got with my flower box!

Two weeks down and Wilde Engineering has not burnt to the ground yet! The last two weeks for me, as a new owner, have been both exciting and nerve rattling. Wilde Engineering has seen a couple projects come through and a handful of proposals sent out. One project scope includes a renovation that is roughly 25,000 sq.ft. I am excited to show the architectural firm the types of services I provide and promise to deliver the Wilde Engineering core principles as the company continues to grow.

One item that falls into the “lessons learned” bucket is the amount of marketing and social media outreach needed for a business to operate. As an engineer, I am used to the technical side: designing, crunching numbers, etc. But without any real marketing background or teaching, I naively thought the work would just start to flow in and the phone would not stop ringing. Looking back only a couple months ago, even two weeks ago, it seemed idiotic of me to think that way! Now I understand why these big companies hire marketing consulting firms to help them out. But this stumble (if you even want to call it that) is okay. This is truly a learning experience; I am promising to not get frustrated with myself when I make mistakes as long as I learn from them. In only being open for 2 weeks, if this is the biggest issue I have, then I am happy with that.

Another aspect I have adopted in the last couple of weeks includes my presence within the professional and social media platforms. To be honest, I used to look at my LinkedIn profile maybe two or three times a month. While with my old job, it did not strike me as a useful resource. But now, I look at my LinkedIn two or three times an hour. It has been a great way to connect with people and to introduce myself to others within the industry. I have also set up a Facebook page for Wilde Engineering. Not being a big fan of personal social media, I do not have an account for myself, but realize that it is necessary to have a company profile. This will allow me to reach a wider range of my target clients to potentially generate more leads. By the way-has anybody seen the Social Dilemma on Netflix? I am not a conspiracy theorist by any means, but it rings true on many points and is a reason why I try to stay away from personal social media accounts.

One of the main reasons I started this company is because I thrive on the business development and client interaction side of building relationships and identifying the pain points of my clients. I am truly a people person and really enjoy meeting those from different backgrounds and experiences. I have always had a knack for the technical aspects of engineering, but I equally enjoy promoting myself and proving to others the work that I am capable of. I have attended a couple networking events in the last two weeks and have generated some good leads (a term I never really used before two weeks ago). If no work comes of these meetings, it is not a big deal because I learned a lot from others and had the opportunity to build some new relationships. Many of the people I met at these events were very supportive of my endeavor and seem to truly want me to succeed.

2020 has truly been an interesting year; I bought a house, experienced my first pandemic, quit a very good job, and started my own company. There are only a couple of months left in this year, and I am sure many people are looking forward to 2021, but I really want to make the most of these next 3+ months. Wilde Engineering is off to a good start making me excited to keep up the hard work to turn this company into a staple firm in the future!

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.”

-Vince Lombardi

Matt Lewis, PE

Founder, President, and Travel Baseball Team Coach