March 18, 2025 • 20 mins
From living in a tent to running a thriving electrical business with seven trucks on the road, Johnathon Brown's life story exemplifies the power of resilience, mentorship, and unwavering faith. This emotionally charged conversation reveals how a 13-year-old boy from a broken home found his calling when a kind church member offered him work and guidance in the electrical trade – what Johnathon calls "a hand up versus a handout."
Growing up homeless after his parents' divorce due to his father's alcoholism and abuse, Johnathon worked 80-90 hour weeks during summers as a teenager, earning money to help keep his family afloat while learning valuable skills. His journey took him through residential construction, power company work, commercial projects, and factory maintenance before he launched Johnathon Brown Electric in 2008. With his wife supporting the household for the first three years as he reinvested every penny back into the business, Jonathan built a company founded on principles of integrity, excellence, and genuine care for customers.
What stands out about Johnathon's approach is his deeply personal customer service philosophy: "Treat every customer the way you would expect someone to treat your mother." This simple but powerful principle guides his team as they handle everything from changing lightbulbs for elderly clients to complete house rewiring projects. Even more moving is Johnathon's commitment to breaking what he calls "generational curses" – creating stability for his wife and children while mentoring young people with "determination, grit, and drive" to build successful careers in the electrical trade. His story reminds us that with the right support and mindset, our most challenging beginnings can become the foundation for extraordinary success.
Discover how you can transform your home's lighting or solve electrical problems by calling Johnathon Brown Electric at 704-936-8990 or visiting johnathonbrownelectric.com.
Johnathon Brown Electric
Johnathon Brown
722 Corporate Boulevard, Suite 102 Rock Hill, SC 29732
(704) 936-8990
Jbelectric@jbe-llc.com
Johnathonbrownelectric.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Regina Lee.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Good morning everyone , and welcome to another episode
of the Good Neighbor Podcast.
My favorite thing to do is talkwith local business owners and
get to know a little bit aboutthem and what they do, and today
we have with us Johnathan Brown.
He is the owner of JohnathanBrown Electric, based out of
Fort Mill.
Welcome, jonathan.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Doing well.
It's a pleasure to be here withyou.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yes, and I was saying , I noticed a real southern
accent.
Where are you from?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Well, like I said, I'm a tried and true southern
boy from the good old state ofSouth Carolina.
Now, mind you, I was born inKentucky, but that's only as the
result that that's where myparents were passing through at
the time.
I decided to join this world,but I was raised my whole life
in South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Oh boy, so I have this visual.
They're in the car and she goesOK, baby's coming.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Something, something about like that.
They were up there, I think,doing a trip for something, and
my dad, I think, at the time wasdoing some work in that area,
and then just happened to bewhere I decided I was going to
join this world, and so theymade it to the hospital, stayed
there for a little bit and thenback to South Carolina with me,
and I've been in this area mywhole life.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
That is amazing.
Well, you got to see the growthand everything going on here.
Well, I saw on your website youhave been in the electrical
business 22 years and you're apretty young man, so tell us
your journey.
How did you get into this?
Why, and now owning andoperating your own business?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
That's kind of a long story but as I try and tell
folks, I'll break it as simpleand as short as I can.
With it.
It's a little bit of a hardshipstory.
So, to start from a young age,I started in this business when
I was 13.
Before that, to go in a littlebit of it, my mother and my
father, when I was very young,ended up getting a divorce and
(02:16):
separating.
My father was an avid drinkerand an alcoholic and quite
abusive.
My mother took care of us threechildren and she was on her own
with us.
We were homeless in a park forsix months, living in a tent out
of the back of a station wagonfor three months, and we bounced
around from place to place toplace, trying to find a place to
(02:37):
settle and stay, though shenever gave up on us and we never
gave up on her.
and we held with it.
We settled down in a small townand we went to church there and
, as I like to say, there was anice old man at that church who
gave me a hand up in life versusa handout and at 13 years old
he come and said hey, son,because he kind of heard about
(02:59):
the story and what was going on,and he said why don't you come
work with me on the summer andon the weekends when you're not
doing anything?
he says, I'll teach you a littlebit and I'll pay you.
And of course, at that time Iwas like okay, so I went to work
and started learning theelectrical trade at that time at
13 years old, working with him,and, uh, probably during the
summer, I was working 80 90hours a week with him.
(03:22):
Uh, he was giving me a littlebit of money I'd get about $300,
and I'd take that home and thathelped pay the bills, keep the
roof over our head and feed thefamily.
And that's where I got my teethcut in the industry and how I
started in this.
And, as I like to say, it wasjust a glorious path from God,
who laid it before me and saidson, here it is, this is what
(03:53):
you're going to do and this iswhere you need to go.
That hand up in life started medown a career path that I had no
idea would develop to where itis today and what I have From
there.
I worked with him, went throughnew construction residential,
went from there doing that toworking for the power company
for a while, worked in the powerplants doing lineman work, went
over to commercial industrialwork, did maintenance in a
(04:19):
factory, learned a lot ofdifferent areas and industries
and finally settled and learnedinto the service industry, which
is what my business primarilyworks on is the service
electrical.
So I got my business primarilyworks on as the service
electrical.
So I got my teeth cut into alot of places and had a lot of
growth and information and a lotof unbelievably good teachers
along the way.
So about 2008, I got married tomy beautiful wife, who is well
(04:43):
beyond what I should have got,but I was a real good salesman
so I managed to get that onedone.
But I managed to get marriedand move in with her in Fort
Mill, south Carolina.
I was working for a companyabout that time, as you know the
housing market kind of tanked,some of the work kind of dried
(05:03):
up and where I was working justgot a little rough.
I had started doing maintenancein a factory at that time and
at the point I was working therethey had told me that when I
got done building this hugepiece of machinery that they
needed me doing that.
They may most likely lay me off, and while I'd made a choice at
that time, I wanted to dosomething more with my life and
(05:25):
I wanted to do something greatand and create something that
was going to be, uh, morebeneficial than than just what
I'm doing.
So I told my wife it's like Ireally think I want to start my
own company and I want to godown this journey.
And the awesome, amazing womanshe is says well, if that's what
you think and you really wantto, then I'm right here with you
(05:45):
.
So she took by my side on it.
I went and took all the tests,got the business stuff set up,
got everything situated and wasworking pretty much running the
business on the weekends for thefirst little bit.
At the end of that job theysaid, yep, here's your slip.
(06:07):
So they laid me off and I rolledfrom there straight on into my
own work and for the first threeyears of running that business
I never got to take a dime home.
I've invested everything backinto it and, by the good grace
of God, my beautiful wife anamazing woman that she is stuck
(06:27):
me and and she, um, shebasically covered the house for
the first three years and thennow, here we are, 14 years later
.
She doesn't have to work, shedoes, she works for me, but she
doesn't have to, in a sense.
And, um, we, we've made it towhere we're okay and doing
pretty good.
I've grown from just mepersonally in the truck riding
around doing to now I havealmost seven trucks on the road
(06:50):
working and quite a few peoplewith me.
Growing and training andleading young men into a new age
in life is what I like to say.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Wow, what a story.
I mean that's one of the bestI've ever heard, and I think
what I love is how aware you areof, you know, the mentorship
and the guidance from that man.
I have to ask you are you stillin touch with the man that
helped you?
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Yeah, well, yes, and no, five to seven men at that
(07:44):
church who really took me undertheir wing, which is why I'm a
firm believer in having a goodrelationship, a good church and
good people, because thoserelationships mean more to
people than you'll ever know andsome of the things you do and
you help people with, you don'tunderstand how it affects them
(08:04):
later in life.
One of the ladies who workedfor me Michelle she's my prime
lady who answers the phones.
Her and her husband were myyouth leaders and they did so
much for me and took care of mein ways I can't even begin to
express.
And then, later in life, I'mnow able to return the favor and
she works for me full time andI take really good care of her
(08:26):
because, as I tell her everybody, she's my, she's my shining
star.
Um, oh yeah, yeah, withoutMichelle, I probably wouldn't be
where I am today.
Uh, I've told her before.
I said, if she ever goes toleave me, you will leave me with
me around your ankle, screamingand yelling the whole way out
the door.
No, please don't.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I love this story, just the people that believed in
you and you paying it forward.
So you know it sounds like youalso mentor the people that work
for you, because I noticed onyour website you know you have
certified folks, so I assumethere's different levels of
(09:07):
people on your team.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yes, ma'am.
So part of what we do.
We have different layers oftechnicians helpers, technicians
, lead electricians so part ofwhat we do is we'll gather guys
that are young, as I like to say, if I can find a young man
who's got some determination,some grit and some drive in him
(09:29):
because you can't teach thosethings, those things you either
have or you don't have If yougive me a young man like that,
I'll teach him the rest and helpdevelop him to where he can
have a chance in life to dosomething.
Because in the trades industrya lot of people don't realize.
But this is an amazing industry.
You can get into and you canactually become something from
(09:51):
nothing.
This is the quintessentialAmerican dream and the side of
it.
Because I don't have a collegeeducation, I had some time.
I went to college and tried fora semester or two, but there's
a long story behind all thosethat didn't work out.
But the industry of which Iwork in you don't need a college
(10:12):
degree.
Now it doesn't mean you aren'teducated, because by all means
this field requires a tremendousamount of education.
But, as I like it, it was MarkTwain that said I'd never let my
schooling get in the way of myeducation.
So education is a daily journeythat you learn as you go
(10:32):
through, and I teach these youngmen some of those philosophies
that every day you get up is anew journey and it's a new time
to learn more and gather thatinfo.
So we go through differenttraining processes with them and
there is some schooling stuffthat I send them to and help
them along with, to get themtheir certifications, get them
to a point where they arequalified to be doing this work
(10:55):
in a degree on their own notnecessarily licensed on their
own, not necessarily licensed.
That's a different uh class ina sense there, but they're
certified to work with me andunder me, under our uh, our
license and and do what they'redoing.
Uh, and the biggest thing thatI always tell them is like you
have to remember one thingYou're never going to know it
all, but there's always a personin which you can rely on the
(11:19):
call, and that's me If you gotquestions, because while I am
not the smartest man in theworld, I've seen a lot, been
through a lot If you were on ajob and you get lost, you make
one phone call, gentlemen, and Iwill be there and we'll make
something happen and we'll getthis right.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
That's amazing.
So describe your personalphilosophy when it comes to
running the business, from acustomer service aspect to
building your team.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
So the philosophy in sense in that, as far as
customer service, is that wewant to provide the top notch
best service we can forcustomers.
I try and treat every personthe same way.
I would expect someone to treatmy mother, the woman who cared
for me, never gave up on me andnever quit the same respect and
(12:07):
regard that I would hold for herand expect others to treat her
if they were going to her houseis the way I expect me and every
one of the people who work forme to treat every customer we
have.
It's just because I believe inbeing upfront and being as
transparent and as honest as youcan while you're working.
It makes life a lot better forthem, for us, so that's one of
(12:30):
the things.
I think that's the philosophy Itry to embed into my guys when
they're working is alwaysremember honesty and integrity
is first in everything you do.
Make sure you're communicatingwell and make sure you're
treating those people the sameway you would expect someone to
treat your mother.
Um, that's just my basicphilosophy and in the general
(12:52):
sides of it, and usually, if youbring it up in that manner,
most of these young guys willgather that and they understand,
um.
After that it's.
It's doing what's best that wecan for the customer at the time
, trying to find the mosteconomical and correct solution
for them.
There's a lot of ways to dothis work and some of that is
(13:14):
going to be involved in takingdifferent options and different
variations of the work andfiguring out what works for the
customer and their budget andtheir plan and making it come
together in one full swoop of aplan and making it where it's
safe and right.
As I try and tell most of mypeople I said, my number one
goal is your safety.
If we can't be safe.
(13:35):
We're not going to do it.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, you're in a very dangerous business so you
have to be careful.
So tell us about what servicesyou guys do offer.
I see it's residential andcommercial, but are there small
jobs?
You'll take big jobs.
Tell us the scope.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
We get that a lot.
They say, well, what do you do?
And I say, well, we'll doeverything from as simplistic as
changing a light bulb and Iknow that sounds funny, but I
have a lot of elderly customersthat are in their 80s and 90s
and getting on a ladder tochange a light bulb is not
within their realm.
They're not going to do it,it's too risky, and we'll come
in and assist and help with thatto as large and as complex as a
(14:13):
total house rewire.
So I've been down the roadwhere we go in and we start off
with a small thing and come outto completely rewire in the
house, because that's what theyended up wanting to do.
One of the prime sources that wedo is we go into a lot of older
houses and we'll update thelighting.
Because you go into a lot ofthese older houses, they had
(14:34):
very little light in the room.
You go into houses newer.
Now you have a lot morerecessed lights, other lighting,
it's just brighter, it's it'sit feels bigger and it feels
cleaner.
Um, a lot of the older houses,you had just one little, one
little spot on the ceiling inthe center of the room and well,
that was great at the time, andnow things change and you want
(14:56):
more light.
We can specialize in coming inand doing that with as minimal
damage as possible and gettingyou this whole new lighting
dynamic in the home and justmaking it a beautiful,
comfortable, exciting, new newarea for you.
We do that in the kitchens withother cabinet lighting.
We do that in the living rooms,dining rooms, dens with just
(15:16):
recessed lighting.
If you want to put a TV on thewall and hide the wires, we help
with that.
We do all those little kind ofthings there.
Floodlights with just recessedlighting.
If you wanna put a TV on thewall and hide the wires, we help
with that.
We do all those little kind ofthings there.
Flood lights outside so you canget safely from your car to the
house.
We help you with securitylighting that does all that.
So we do a lot of those things.
In the commercial industry we docommercial service.
So if you're running a business, let's say a hair salon I've
(15:39):
done this for many of them andyou go in there and they're
constantly tripping breakers,we'll come in, figure out what
the issue is, give you the bestoptions to resolve it and keep
you up and running as a business, because unfortunately in
business, any downtime that'smajor cost, and if you're
constantly blowing power becauseyou don't have the right setup,
(16:00):
that's revenue loss for you.
We're here to help you solvethat, so you don't have to sit
there and constantly beconcerned with that.
So these are some of theoptions and the things that we
try and do for people.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Well, I love that.
You're an amazing man and I cantell I bet your employees and
team just are very proud to workwith you.
What are you most proud of?
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Most proud of.
There's a lot of things thatI'm proud of.
I'd say the biggest one isprobably my wife and my three
beautiful children, the factthat I get to stand here today
as a man who is taking care ofhis family, providing for him.
(16:48):
I got three beautiful childrenwho, who will never know the the
pains and the horrors that Iwent through as a child and I
didn't carry those forward and Ididn't have to.
That would probably be one ofthe biggest things I'd say I'm
proud of is is, I'd say,breaking those generational
(17:13):
curses that typically pass downwith people who come from a
background like I do, being ableto stand here and tell you,
through the good grace of Godand through the sources in which
there are of him, you don'thave to carry that forward.
There are options and there arechanges out there for you.
(17:33):
That would be my first thing.
My next one, I'd say, isprobably my brother, my younger
brother, who lived through allthat with me.
I got him up here, moved him inwith me when I lived in
Charlotte and now he stands as astrong young man with a wife
and a child, who runs his ownbusiness, an accounting firm.
(17:53):
I was rough on him, teachinghim and raising him from a young
age to where we are now, andhe's developed into a mighty
strong and good young manhimself.
And it makes me unbelievablyproud to look back and say that
we made it out.
You know, we got on the otherside of that one.
(18:14):
We didn't stay in that curse ofthe generations of what we
dealt with.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well, you have yeah amazing story.
I love your faith and devotionto family and your team.
So how can our listeners findJonathan Brown Electric?
Give us some info.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
You can reach us at our phone number, which is
704-936-8990.
You can also log on toJohnathanBrownElectric.
com and just to get that onecorrect, it is J-O-H-N-A-T-H-O-N
(18:59):
.
Brown Electric and you can findus on the website.
Send in a request there.
We're always happy to help andserve and you'll get to talk to
our lovely Michelle who is, likeI said, a bright, shining star
out there for us.
She is your first line ofcontact and I promise you she is
the just most amazing womanyou'll ever get a chance to talk
(19:20):
to well, she must be superproud of you.
Well, I tell you, I'm awfulproud of her and.
I'm glad to have her with meand as part of my team.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Well, it has been an amazing pleasure to get to know
you, Johnathan.
I hope to meet you in personone day and I really thank you
for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
It was a pleasure too .
I thank you for thisopportunity, um, and this, this
gift of being on your show.
It's an amazing show and and Iappreciate all that you do for
the community and doing thiskind of stuff.
So thank you.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Thank you for listening to the good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go toGNPSouthCharlotte.
com.
That's GNPSouthCharlotte.
com, or call 980-351-5719.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Regina Lee.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Good morning everyone , and welcome to another episode
of the Good Neighbor Podcast.
My favorite thing to do is talkwith local business owners and
get to know a little bit aboutthem and what they do, and today
we have with us Johnathan Brown.
He is the owner of JohnathanBrown Electric, based out of
Fort Mill.
Welcome, jonathan.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Doing well.
It's a pleasure to be here withyou.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yes, and I was saying , I noticed a real southern
accent.
Where are you from?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Well, like I said, I'm a tried and true southern
boy from the good old state ofSouth Carolina.
Now, mind you, I was born inKentucky, but that's only as the
result that that's where myparents were passing through at
the time.
I decided to join this world,but I was raised my whole life
in South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Oh boy, so I have this visual.
They're in the car and she goesOK, baby's coming.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Something, something about like that.
They were up there, I think,doing a trip for something, and
my dad, I think, at the time wasdoing some work in that area,
and then just happened to bewhere I decided I was going to
join this world, and so theymade it to the hospital, stayed
there for a little bit and thenback to South Carolina with me,
and I've been in this area mywhole life.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
That is amazing.
Well, you got to see the growthand everything going on here.
Well, I saw on your website youhave been in the electrical
business 22 years and you're apretty young man, so tell us
your journey.
How did you get into this?
Why, and now owning andoperating your own business?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
That's kind of a long story but as I try and tell
folks, I'll break it as simpleand as short as I can.
With it.
It's a little bit of a hardshipstory.
So, to start from a young age,I started in this business when
I was 13.
Before that, to go in a littlebit of it, my mother and my
father, when I was very young,ended up getting a divorce and
(02:16):
separating.
My father was an avid drinkerand an alcoholic and quite
abusive.
My mother took care of us threechildren and she was on her own
with us.
We were homeless in a park forsix months, living in a tent out
of the back of a station wagonfor three months, and we bounced
around from place to place toplace, trying to find a place to
(02:37):
settle and stay, though shenever gave up on us and we never
gave up on her.
and we held with it.
We settled down in a small townand we went to church there and
, as I like to say, there was anice old man at that church who
gave me a hand up in life versusa handout and at 13 years old
he come and said hey, son,because he kind of heard about
(02:59):
the story and what was going on,and he said why don't you come
work with me on the summer andon the weekends when you're not
doing anything?
he says, I'll teach you a littlebit and I'll pay you.
And of course, at that time Iwas like okay, so I went to work
and started learning theelectrical trade at that time at
13 years old, working with him,and, uh, probably during the
summer, I was working 80 90hours a week with him.
(03:22):
Uh, he was giving me a littlebit of money I'd get about $300,
and I'd take that home and thathelped pay the bills, keep the
roof over our head and feed thefamily.
And that's where I got my teethcut in the industry and how I
started in this.
And, as I like to say, it wasjust a glorious path from God,
who laid it before me and saidson, here it is, this is what
(03:53):
you're going to do and this iswhere you need to go.
That hand up in life started medown a career path that I had no
idea would develop to where itis today and what I have From
there.
I worked with him, went throughnew construction residential,
went from there doing that toworking for the power company
for a while, worked in the powerplants doing lineman work, went
over to commercial industrialwork, did maintenance in a
(04:19):
factory, learned a lot ofdifferent areas and industries
and finally settled and learnedinto the service industry, which
is what my business primarilyworks on is the service
electrical.
So I got my business primarilyworks on as the service
electrical.
So I got my teeth cut into alot of places and had a lot of
growth and information and a lotof unbelievably good teachers
along the way.
So about 2008, I got married tomy beautiful wife, who is well
(04:43):
beyond what I should have got,but I was a real good salesman
so I managed to get that onedone.
But I managed to get marriedand move in with her in Fort
Mill, south Carolina.
I was working for a companyabout that time, as you know the
housing market kind of tanked,some of the work kind of dried
(05:03):
up and where I was working justgot a little rough.
I had started doing maintenancein a factory at that time and
at the point I was working therethey had told me that when I
got done building this hugepiece of machinery that they
needed me doing that.
They may most likely lay me off, and while I'd made a choice at
that time, I wanted to dosomething more with my life and
(05:25):
I wanted to do something greatand and create something that
was going to be, uh, morebeneficial than than just what
I'm doing.
So I told my wife it's like Ireally think I want to start my
own company and I want to godown this journey.
And the awesome, amazing womanshe is says well, if that's what
you think and you really wantto, then I'm right here with you
(05:45):
.
So she took by my side on it.
I went and took all the tests,got the business stuff set up,
got everything situated and wasworking pretty much running the
business on the weekends for thefirst little bit.
At the end of that job theysaid, yep, here's your slip.
(06:07):
So they laid me off and I rolledfrom there straight on into my
own work and for the first threeyears of running that business
I never got to take a dime home.
I've invested everything backinto it and, by the good grace
of God, my beautiful wife anamazing woman that she is stuck
(06:27):
me and and she, um, shebasically covered the house for
the first three years and thennow, here we are, 14 years later
.
She doesn't have to work, shedoes, she works for me, but she
doesn't have to, in a sense.
And, um, we, we've made it towhere we're okay and doing
pretty good.
I've grown from just mepersonally in the truck riding
around doing to now I havealmost seven trucks on the road
(06:50):
working and quite a few peoplewith me.
Growing and training andleading young men into a new age
in life is what I like to say.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Wow, what a story.
I mean that's one of the bestI've ever heard, and I think
what I love is how aware you areof, you know, the mentorship
and the guidance from that man.
I have to ask you are you stillin touch with the man that
helped you?
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Yeah, well, yes, and no, five to seven men at that
(07:44):
church who really took me undertheir wing, which is why I'm a
firm believer in having a goodrelationship, a good church and
good people, because thoserelationships mean more to
people than you'll ever know andsome of the things you do and
you help people with, you don'tunderstand how it affects them
(08:04):
later in life.
One of the ladies who workedfor me Michelle she's my prime
lady who answers the phones.
Her and her husband were myyouth leaders and they did so
much for me and took care of mein ways I can't even begin to
express.
And then, later in life, I'mnow able to return the favor and
she works for me full time andI take really good care of her
(08:26):
because, as I tell her everybody, she's my, she's my shining
star.
Um, oh yeah, yeah, withoutMichelle, I probably wouldn't be
where I am today.
Uh, I've told her before.
I said, if she ever goes toleave me, you will leave me with
me around your ankle, screamingand yelling the whole way out
the door.
No, please don't.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I love this story, just the people that believed in
you and you paying it forward.
So you know it sounds like youalso mentor the people that work
for you, because I noticed onyour website you know you have
certified folks, so I assumethere's different levels of
(09:07):
people on your team.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yes, ma'am.
So part of what we do.
We have different layers oftechnicians helpers, technicians
, lead electricians so part ofwhat we do is we'll gather guys
that are young, as I like to say, if I can find a young man
who's got some determination,some grit and some drive in him
(09:29):
because you can't teach thosethings, those things you either
have or you don't have If yougive me a young man like that,
I'll teach him the rest and helpdevelop him to where he can
have a chance in life to dosomething.
Because in the trades industrya lot of people don't realize.
But this is an amazing industry.
You can get into and you canactually become something from
(09:51):
nothing.
This is the quintessentialAmerican dream and the side of
it.
Because I don't have a collegeeducation, I had some time.
I went to college and tried fora semester or two, but there's
a long story behind all thosethat didn't work out.
But the industry of which Iwork in you don't need a college
(10:12):
degree.
Now it doesn't mean you aren'teducated, because by all means
this field requires a tremendousamount of education.
But, as I like it, it was MarkTwain that said I'd never let my
schooling get in the way of myeducation.
So education is a daily journeythat you learn as you go
(10:32):
through, and I teach these youngmen some of those philosophies
that every day you get up is anew journey and it's a new time
to learn more and gather thatinfo.
So we go through differenttraining processes with them and
there is some schooling stuffthat I send them to and help
them along with, to get themtheir certifications, get them
to a point where they arequalified to be doing this work
(10:55):
in a degree on their own notnecessarily licensed on their
own, not necessarily licensed.
That's a different uh class ina sense there, but they're
certified to work with me andunder me, under our uh, our
license and and do what they'redoing.
Uh, and the biggest thing thatI always tell them is like you
have to remember one thingYou're never going to know it
all, but there's always a personin which you can rely on the
(11:19):
call, and that's me If you gotquestions, because while I am
not the smartest man in theworld, I've seen a lot, been
through a lot If you were on ajob and you get lost, you make
one phone call, gentlemen, and Iwill be there and we'll make
something happen and we'll getthis right.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
That's amazing.
So describe your personalphilosophy when it comes to
running the business, from acustomer service aspect to
building your team.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
So the philosophy in sense in that, as far as
customer service, is that wewant to provide the top notch
best service we can forcustomers.
I try and treat every personthe same way.
I would expect someone to treatmy mother, the woman who cared
for me, never gave up on me andnever quit the same respect and
(12:07):
regard that I would hold for herand expect others to treat her
if they were going to her houseis the way I expect me and every
one of the people who work forme to treat every customer we
have.
It's just because I believe inbeing upfront and being as
transparent and as honest as youcan while you're working.
It makes life a lot better forthem, for us, so that's one of
(12:30):
the things.
I think that's the philosophy Itry to embed into my guys when
they're working is alwaysremember honesty and integrity
is first in everything you do.
Make sure you're communicatingwell and make sure you're
treating those people the sameway you would expect someone to
treat your mother.
Um, that's just my basicphilosophy and in the general
(12:52):
sides of it, and usually, if youbring it up in that manner,
most of these young guys willgather that and they understand,
um.
After that it's.
It's doing what's best that wecan for the customer at the time
, trying to find the mosteconomical and correct solution
for them.
There's a lot of ways to dothis work and some of that is
(13:14):
going to be involved in takingdifferent options and different
variations of the work andfiguring out what works for the
customer and their budget andtheir plan and making it come
together in one full swoop of aplan and making it where it's
safe and right.
As I try and tell most of mypeople I said, my number one
goal is your safety.
If we can't be safe.
(13:35):
We're not going to do it.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, you're in a very dangerous business so you
have to be careful.
So tell us about what servicesyou guys do offer.
I see it's residential andcommercial, but are there small
jobs?
You'll take big jobs.
Tell us the scope.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
We get that a lot.
They say, well, what do you do?
And I say, well, we'll doeverything from as simplistic as
changing a light bulb and Iknow that sounds funny, but I
have a lot of elderly customersthat are in their 80s and 90s
and getting on a ladder tochange a light bulb is not
within their realm.
They're not going to do it,it's too risky, and we'll come
in and assist and help with thatto as large and as complex as a
(14:13):
total house rewire.
So I've been down the roadwhere we go in and we start off
with a small thing and come outto completely rewire in the
house, because that's what theyended up wanting to do.
One of the prime sources that wedo is we go into a lot of older
houses and we'll update thelighting.
Because you go into a lot ofthese older houses, they had
(14:34):
very little light in the room.
You go into houses newer.
Now you have a lot morerecessed lights, other lighting,
it's just brighter, it's it'sit feels bigger and it feels
cleaner.
Um, a lot of the older houses,you had just one little, one
little spot on the ceiling inthe center of the room and well,
that was great at the time, andnow things change and you want
(14:56):
more light.
We can specialize in coming inand doing that with as minimal
damage as possible and gettingyou this whole new lighting
dynamic in the home and justmaking it a beautiful,
comfortable, exciting, new newarea for you.
We do that in the kitchens withother cabinet lighting.
We do that in the living rooms,dining rooms, dens with just
(15:16):
recessed lighting.
If you want to put a TV on thewall and hide the wires, we help
with that.
We do all those little kind ofthings there.
Floodlights with just recessedlighting.
If you wanna put a TV on thewall and hide the wires, we help
with that.
We do all those little kind ofthings there.
Flood lights outside so you canget safely from your car to the
house.
We help you with securitylighting that does all that.
So we do a lot of those things.
In the commercial industry we docommercial service.
So if you're running a business, let's say a hair salon I've
(15:39):
done this for many of them andyou go in there and they're
constantly tripping breakers,we'll come in, figure out what
the issue is, give you the bestoptions to resolve it and keep
you up and running as a business, because unfortunately in
business, any downtime that'smajor cost, and if you're
constantly blowing power becauseyou don't have the right setup,
(16:00):
that's revenue loss for you.
We're here to help you solvethat, so you don't have to sit
there and constantly beconcerned with that.
So these are some of theoptions and the things that we
try and do for people.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Well, I love that.
You're an amazing man and I cantell I bet your employees and
team just are very proud to workwith you.
What are you most proud of?
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Most proud of.
There's a lot of things thatI'm proud of.
I'd say the biggest one isprobably my wife and my three
beautiful children, the factthat I get to stand here today
as a man who is taking care ofhis family, providing for him.
(16:48):
I got three beautiful childrenwho, who will never know the the
pains and the horrors that Iwent through as a child and I
didn't carry those forward and Ididn't have to.
That would probably be one ofthe biggest things I'd say I'm
proud of is is, I'd say,breaking those generational
(17:13):
curses that typically pass downwith people who come from a
background like I do, being ableto stand here and tell you,
through the good grace of Godand through the sources in which
there are of him, you don'thave to carry that forward.
There are options and there arechanges out there for you.
(17:33):
That would be my first thing.
My next one, I'd say, isprobably my brother, my younger
brother, who lived through allthat with me.
I got him up here, moved him inwith me when I lived in
Charlotte and now he stands as astrong young man with a wife
and a child, who runs his ownbusiness, an accounting firm.
(17:53):
I was rough on him, teachinghim and raising him from a young
age to where we are now, andhe's developed into a mighty
strong and good young manhimself.
And it makes me unbelievablyproud to look back and say that
we made it out.
You know, we got on the otherside of that one.
(18:14):
We didn't stay in that curse ofthe generations of what we
dealt with.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well, you have yeah amazing story.
I love your faith and devotionto family and your team.
So how can our listeners findJonathan Brown Electric?
Give us some info.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
You can reach us at our phone number, which is
704-936-8990.
You can also log on toJohnathanBrownElectric.
com and just to get that onecorrect, it is J-O-H-N-A-T-H-O-N
(18:59):
.
Brown Electric and you can findus on the website.
Send in a request there.
We're always happy to help andserve and you'll get to talk to
our lovely Michelle who is, likeI said, a bright, shining star
out there for us.
She is your first line ofcontact and I promise you she is
the just most amazing womanyou'll ever get a chance to talk
(19:20):
to well, she must be superproud of you.
Well, I tell you, I'm awfulproud of her and.
I'm glad to have her with meand as part of my team.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Well, it has been an amazing pleasure to get to know
you, Johnathan.
I hope to meet you in personone day and I really thank you
for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
It was a pleasure too .
I thank you for thisopportunity, um, and this, this
gift of being on your show.
It's an amazing show and and Iappreciate all that you do for
the community and doing thiskind of stuff.
So thank you.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Thank you for listening to the good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go toGNPSouthCharlotte.
com.
That's GNPSouthCharlotte.
com, or call 980-351-5719.
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