September 3, 2025 • 28 mins
What does it take to step into a family business, honor its legacy, and still make it your own?
Marc Bernstein welcomes Karla Trotman, President & CEO of Electro Soft Incorporated, to share her remarkable story. From the company’s humble beginnings on her family’s kitchen table to becoming a trusted manufacturer for the defense, aviation, and transit industries, Karla has guided Electro Soft through challenges and growth with vision and grit.
Key Takeaways:
- How doubt can actually be a powerful leadership tool
- The difficult—but necessary—family conversations that shaped her path
- Taking the reins just before the pandemic, and how she pivoted to keep her team strong
- Why strategic planning, community, and adaptability are her keys to success
Along the way, Karla also shares insights from her book Dark, Dirty, Dangerous: Building the Vibrant Future of Manufacturing, and what winning EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award meant to her.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone navigating leadership transitions, managing change, or simply looking for inspiration from a leader who embraces resilience and authenticity.
About Karla Trotman:
Karla Trotman is the President & CEO of Electro Soft, Inc., one of the largest independent electronics contract manufacturers in the Philadelphia Tri-State area, serving aviation, defense, and transit industries. She's the author of "Dark Dirty Dangerous" and Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2024 Greater Philadelphia Award winner.
Connect:
Website electrosoftinc.com
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/karlatrotman/
Instagram instagram.com/karlatrotman
YouTube youtube.com/user/electrosoftinc
This episode is brought to you by Electro Soft Inc., Trusted in Custom Electronics Manufacturing for Over 35 Years. Go to electrosoftinc.com to learn more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Announcer (00:00):
The following programming is sponsored by Marc
J Bernstein.
The views expressed do notnecessarily reflect the views of
this station, its management orBeasley Media Group.
Entrepreneur, founder, authorand financial advisor, Marc
Bernstein helps high-performingbusiness owners turn their
visions into reality.
Through his innovative work andthe Forward Focus Forums, Marc
(00:21):
connectsentrepreneursfocusforumscom.
Good morning America.
How are you?
Hey, I'm going to ask Eric, ourengineer, that little Rocky
commercial that was on the radio.
Marc Bernstein (00:48):
Was that TJ's voice?
Who was it?
It's okay.
Announcer (00:52):
That was someone that used to work at the station, oh
, okay, okay.
Marc Bernstein (00:55):
Well, good morning Eric, Thanks for being
here, and good morning Karla.
How are you?
Good morning, I'm going tointroduce Karla to you in a
second, but we're going to getright into our topic of the day.
Sometimes we, you know, we talkabout the weather, talk about
what's going on here inPhiladelphia, but we're going to
get right into it.
We.
So we talked.
I saw a post that you did abouta book that you just read and I
(01:19):
won't give it all away.
We might talk more about thebook later, but tell us about
the book, and it really has todo with having doubts and how
doubts are handled by leaders.
So tell us about the book andwhere you got that and your
thoughts about it.
Karla Trotman (01:33):
So I just finished reading one of the
newest books about Martin LutherKing by Jonathan Eig.
I guess E-I-G is his last nameand I think you know.
Do we need another book aboutMartin Luther King?
Well, there's new informationthat's come out about him
recordings and people are moreprone to talk about him now that
(01:58):
he's been gone, now thatCoretta's gone, and the thing
that struck me was the pieces ofdoubt, and the thing that
struck me was the pieces ofdoubt, the pieces of information
that led to us understandinghow often he doubted himself his
bouts of depression, and it'sthe first time I felt very
connected to this leader thatwe've looked at for so many
(02:20):
years.
Marc Bernstein (02:23):
And I just thought it was absolutely
Because you realized he's human,I guess.
Karla Trotman (02:24):
Well, it's fascinating, right.
You feel connected to someone'shumanness, their humanity.
Marc Bernstein (02:29):
Yeah, I can imagine I've actually thought
about that, because what he wasup against, you know, and he
knew his life was in danger Likeevery day.
He was out there pretty much.
Karla Trotman (02:40):
Yeah.
Marc Bernstein (02:40):
And he had lots of opposition and lots of
opposing forces within hispeople and outside and
government and all kinds ofthings.
Karla Trotman (02:53):
People doubted him a lot.
His allies doubted him.
People changed the way thatthey felt about him overnight.
People were trying to kill himand he knew that he didn't walk
around with a lot of armedbodyguards, but he knew that he
would not be on this earth for along time.
Marc Bernstein (03:11):
So the theme, I think, because this is a show
about entrepreneurs and leaders,I don't think anybody doesn't
have doubts, right?
What did you get out of itpersonally?
How did you connect with thaton a personal level?
Karla Trotman (03:24):
I think who doesn't doubt themselves?
But I think as leaderssometimes we have a false sense
of a false armor that we wear.
Sometimes.
We have to always feel that wehave the right answer, but I
think that true leadership comesfrom being able to say I don't
know when you don't know, andseeking outside help and counsel
, which I'm not sure King reallydid.
(03:46):
I didn't get that from the book.
Marc Bernstein (03:49):
Oh, really Interesting.
That's interesting.
I would have thought he wouldhave you know, you would think
that.
Karla Trotman (03:54):
Well, I think, as a man of faith, he found
comfort in prayer and scripture,absolutely.
I guess that is his form oftherapy.
That's therapy in general for alot of people.
Marc Bernstein (04:05):
Well, and that is looking for help on the
outside too, it sure is.
Karla Trotman (04:08):
But as far as you know, modern day that we look
at as leaders outside of prayer,that now it's more acceptable
to get therapy or to havecommunity.
Marc Bernstein (04:19):
Right, I even think like his closest people
inside a circle, like AndrewYoung was one of them, I think,
and some of the people that were, I think they doubted him at
times too, because they knew I'msure there was a strong sense
of what they were up against.
Karla Trotman (04:35):
Yeah, well, I think most people we are a
culmination of the things we see, hear, do and experience.
So everyone is experiencingthings in real time, their own
real time, and to find alignmentis really difficult for leaders
, but that's also what helps us,that's our super power being
able to draw in other people'sexperiences to formulate our
(04:55):
best decisions.
Marc Bernstein (04:57):
I love that, so I was going to ask you how you
handle it, but you justexplained it.
Number one is don't be afraidto say I don't know.
And secondly, to draw in otherexperiences and wisdom, but you
just explained it.
Number one is don't be afraidto say I don't know yeah.
And secondly, to draw on otherexperiences and wisdom and into
your world to help.
Yes, excellent.
So this is Karla Trotman.
She is president and CEO ofElectro Soft Incorporated, and
(05:19):
she's also the author of Dark,dirty, dangerous.
The Building the Vibrant Futureof Manufacturing.
Did I say that right?
Karla Trotman (05:29):
Building the Vibrant Future of Manufacturing,
the Building of there was aword missing.
Marc Bernstein (05:33):
I got it.
That's what I didn't get.
So I mentioned that ElectroSoft is one of the largest
independent electronics contractmanufacturers in the
Philadelphia tri-state area,serving aviation, defense and
transit industries, and, inaddition to being an author,
she's the Entrepreneur of theYear in 2024 Greater
(05:53):
Philadelphia Award winner.
That's from EY, right.
Karla Trotman (05:56):
Yes.
Marc Bernstein (05:57):
Yeah, excellent.
So congratulations on that,thank you, and I feel like I
know Karla because she's a greatcommunicator and poster and
we've talked several times overthe years, but it's the first
time we're really getting toknow each other.
But I feel like I have a lot ofyour background because you
share so much and I congratulateyou on the content that you put
out there.
Karla Trotman (06:16):
Yeah, thank you.
Marc Bernstein (06:19):
So let's talk about business and Electro Soft.
So Electro Soft was founded byyour dad.
About business and Electro Soft.
So, Electro Soft was founded byyour dad and I actually met you
through him, because I calledon him as because this
manufacturing group I wasworking with and and I well
anyway tell it.
Why don't you tell the storyhow he started the business and
(06:40):
and how it evolved to become youas the leader of the business?
Karla Trotman (06:44):
Sure.
So my father's background is inelectronics industry,
electrical engineer, master's incomputer science.
His last job was overseeinginstrumentation of DNA analyzing
equipment.
So he would design theequipment, oversee manufacturing
and write the software.
And the company was acquiredand decided they no longer
(07:06):
wanted to be in instrumentationand you could either take a
six-month package and dowhatever or you can work and try
to find a job, under thepremise that you can.
It's easier to find a job ifyou have a job.
And he decided to leave, takethe money.
And while he was figuringthings out, someone asked him
hey, you know how to make cables, can you make these cables?
(07:27):
And he did and they thoughtthey were great.
Someone asked him for more andhe brought someone in that was
also laid off and they startedElectro Soft on the kitchen
table of our Ambler home.
Marc Bernstein (07:39):
You were making the cables there originally,
right?
Yes, your mom helped.
Karla Trotman (07:44):
No, my mom definitely did not help?
Marc Bernstein (07:45):
Oh, she did not help.
Karla Trotman (07:47):
Okay, my mom was the bank in a sense because she
was working full time as asystems analyst.
Marc Bernstein (07:53):
She was funding the whole deal.
Karla Trotman (07:55):
Yes, so I say, they both started the dream.
Marc Bernstein (07:59):
She was definitely.
I knew she had involvement.
That was her yeah.
Karla Trotman (08:02):
I mean, she held the family down financially
while dad was trying to buildthe company.
Marc Bernstein (08:07):
That's great and it kind of took off right.
It became a preferred vendor, Iwould say, for a lot of people
right.
Karla Trotman (08:16):
Yes.
So we did exactly what myfather did.
We would meet with companies,design equipment, oversee the
manufacturing and write softwarefor it.
That's the name Electro Softwith electromechanical assembly
and software.
What wound up happening wasthat there was more of a need
for stateside manufacturing witha high mix of products, lower
volumes, so we wouldn't be indirect competition with Asia,
(08:38):
and we worked primarily withdefense and industrial clients.
Marc Bernstein (08:45):
And normally the show is called Founders Forum,
so we bring on the founders ofthe business.
But I found your story veryintriguing because in a way you
came in, you didn't work in thebusiness, you came from outside
of the business and youultimately worked with your
father for many years and then Itook over and I'd say, kind of
recreated the company.
Is that a fair assessment?
Karla Trotman (09:07):
Yeah, I think sometimes we think that the next
gen comes in and they're justgiven like this golden highway,
and everything is just so easy.
But oftentimes we thinkfundamentally different about
business because our amazingfamily, our parents, had given
us these great education, thesegreat networks, and now you're
(09:28):
able to see the business in adifferent light.
Marc Bernstein (09:31):
And taught you, in a sense, to think differently
, maybe, than what they did.
Karla Trotman (09:35):
Absolutely my background's in supply chain
logistics.
I have an MBA, I worked in thatfield and I was successful in
that field.
I had an online business at thebeginning of e-commerce, so I
understood how marketing wasshifting towards inbound
marketing and search engineoptimization.
I wanted to help the familybusiness not suffer through that
(09:57):
transition, because a lot ofcompanies did, and that's really
what caused me well.
That and having a family causedme to think differently about
legacy, about the future andwhat I really wanted out of life
.
Marc Bernstein (10:12):
Right, and you have.
We've talked about your husband, who's an attorney, works in
this building we found out thismorning and you have two sons,
correct?
Karla Trotman (10:22):
I do.
Marc Bernstein (10:23):
And they're at an interesting time in life,
correct?
Karla Trotman (10:25):
Yes, One is an upcoming freshman at Hampton
University and the other is arising senior at the prep.
Marc Bernstein (10:35):
Nice.
So explain to people what theprep is.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Karla Trotman (10:40):
St Joseph's Preparatory School in North
Philadelphia.
Marc Bernstein (10:44):
Not everyone listening may know that, but
it's a pretty.
I know it to be friends andcolleagues who went there and
it's kind of like a kind of likea club to be in if you go to
the prep.
Karla Trotman (10:55):
It is, and I was surprised as a kid in middle
school that he knew that goingin.
Marc Bernstein (10:59):
Oh did he?
Yeah, he's like.
Karla Trotman (11:01):
That's the community that I feel that I
need to be a part of.
Marc Bernstein (11:03):
Good for him that he had that foresight,
because those connections, I cantell you, are big and I had a
guy on my team for many yearswho went to the prep and I would
call on clients and after awhile I knew to start bringing
him out.
It made a big difference andthey immediately welcomed them
into the world, you know.
So you had all that going on,so you came into the business
(11:25):
and what happened then?
Karla Trotman (11:28):
Well, it was supposed to be a shift.
So I said to my dad I'd love totake over the family business
and he's like, are you sure?
It's just you've never reallybeen interested, because what
child wants to take over theirfamily business?
Like no one.
Marc Bernstein (11:40):
Right, I shared with you.
I had no interest, but then Ihad a brother that did
eventually.
Karla Trotman (11:46):
Yeah, I think it's.
Some parents push it Mine didnot and they were looking at
selling and I said don't sell it, I would love to take over.
And so my dad and I worked sideby side for what was supposed
to be three years ultimatelybecame 11 years.
Marc Bernstein (12:02):
A little hard to let go A little.
Yeah, it's like enough.
I know that one from my ownfamily too.
Yeah, yeah.
Karla Trotman (12:09):
We actually had a come to Jesus moment where I
said look, I am of a certain agewhere for women, it's harder to
get a job because you expect acertain salary, you have
experience, and that's usuallywhen they don't really want to
hire you.
And if you're going to stilllinger, I'm going to do
something else while you hangout here, and maybe I might come
(12:32):
back here, and maybe I mightcome back.
I was offered an opportunity totake over other people's family
businesses as well as an equitypartner, which was not exactly
what I wanted to do, but I didwant to move on with my life,
your preference was to take overthis business, if you could.
Yeah, and I'm the type of personI don't give an ultimatum
unless I'm willing to live withboth sides.
And he said you know you'reright, let's do this transition.
(12:56):
And so I started doing familybusiness meetings with my
parents and my two brothers sothat they could see what it
would look like if we transitionthe business, and all three of
us were equal partners.
Marc Bernstein (13:09):
That was the original plan.
Karla Trotman (13:11):
Oh yes, and how'd that go?
That was probably around yeareight of three more years three
more years, oh, okay.
So during that time period.
So I think this is why I lovefamily meetings.
It gives the family theopportunity to see who's going
to take over.
What is it like when they worktogether?
So the questions were what areyour assets?
(13:34):
How much do you owe?
What is your like when theywork together?
So the questions were what areyour assets?
How much do you owe?
What is your credit score?
How would a banker assess youas a credit risk or what have
you?
And ultimately, a lot of thingscame out of that.
One of the things was that Ididn't think I could work with
my brothers, and so I decidedthat I told my dad I can't work
(13:59):
with them and I wanted them tosee that.
Marc Bernstein (14:01):
You didn't know that going into the family
meetings, I did not.
Karla Trotman (14:03):
I mean, I kind of had an inkling because you know
how banks they look at, yourassets they look at, and I
brought a lot to the tablebecause of my career.
Marc Bernstein (14:11):
Well, and I also assume you knew your work ethic
, you knew your skills that youbrought to the table and you
know your brothers to a certainextent.
So I'm sure there werequestions about whether you
could be in that kind ofco-leadership position for a
company, right?
Karla Trotman (14:30):
Right, and that was an issue for me.
And I love my brothers, Ireally do.
But you know you can't bepartners with everyone that you
love.
Marc Bernstein (14:38):
Right.
That could be disastrous inmany cases.
Yes, and.
Karla Trotman (14:42):
I know it's all about equity, so your family
wanted you to take over thebusiness together to be equal.
But everyone wouldn't becontributing equally.
Marc Bernstein (14:51):
Karla, this is a great jumping off point.
We're going to take a quickcommercial and we'll be right
back.
Announcer (15:16):
What sets Electro Soft apart?
Every single product benefitsfrom at least 30 years of
hands-on electronicsmanufacturing experience before
it leaves their facility.
They are fully up to date onall industry and quality
standards, giving you theconfidence that comes with
working with a well-respectedpartner Ready to outsource your
electronics manufacturing toproven experts.
(15:38):
Visit Electro Soft to discoverhow Electro Soft four decades of
family-owned excellence canpower your next project.
Marc Bernstein (15:51):
We're back on Founders Forum with our guest
today, Karla Trotman.
So great to have you here,Karla, thank you.
So we got just to the point ofthe family meetings and then
obviously it was decided thatyou would take over the business
, and I'm sure that went verysmoothly and there were no
problems, right.
Karla Trotman (16:11):
Yes, great.
Marc Bernstein (16:14):
So tell us about that.
What kind of challenges did youface in taking over the
leadership of the company?
Karla Trotman (16:20):
Well, it was really extracting my father away
from the day-to-day because itwas confusing for the staff.
Right, we brought them in andwe said for the last three years
Karla been running the companybehind the curtain.
If you haven't noticed anythinggreat, she's going to continue
running the company and I'mstepping away.
And he would still come in,which I welcomed.
(16:42):
But we needed to have someseparation of what his
day-to-day duties were going tobe.
And I thought we had thatconversation, but he blatantly
ignored it.
So when I told him that he wascreating confusion, he said well
, I'm here to consult.
And I said, yeah, nose in, feetout.
Marc Bernstein (17:02):
I like that.
Well, you know it's hard togive up your baby.
To a certain extent, right, itwas his baby.
You know he created it.
Karla Trotman (17:11):
Yes, I kept him informed in a dashboard of KPIs.
Let him still look at financialstatements if he wanted to.
We've had a lot ofconversations, but I think that
when you have a family andyou're in business together,
it's not a normal familydiscussion.
Christmas dinner is aboutbusiness.
You know, birthday partiesthere's always something around
(17:33):
business and it's just reallythis additional sibling, in a
sense, in your family, right soin the very beginning.
So the interesting part is Itook over in January 2020.
Two months later, covid hit andeverything shut down, yep, and
it was awful and my dad justdidn't really flinch because at
(17:55):
that point we had been inbusiness for 30 years and when
you're in business for 30 years,you've seen a lot.
And I said I don't think you'veever seen a global pandemic
before, like I felt that it wassomething very, very different.
And there were things that hedidn't have to go through, like
the CARES Act and PPP and allthese things that I had to
(18:15):
navigate a lot of those thingson my own and I think starting
out like that was insane, but itdid fortify me for a lot of
things that came after that upto now currently dealing with
tariffs and political uprising,global political issues.
Marc Bernstein (18:38):
I do want to tell you, just as an aside,
because of that, I used to workwith a lot of manufacturers and
I was doing some online stuff,ways to create business, because
in my business, you know,couldn't do it the way we
normally did it go out and meetpeople and go to lunch and all
that.
So not long after the pandemicstarted, I spoke to your dad
because somehow he'd beenreferred to me and he did say he
(18:58):
said you're talking to thewrong person.
He said I no longer run thebusiness and he introduced me to
you and I knew you, likeeveryone else, was going through
a lot.
It was helpful to the peoplethat were in that group because
we talked about ways to pivotand ways to recreate the
companies, et cetera, thingslike that.
But you were doing that on yourown.
So what did you do?
Because I know you had to makesome extreme pivots in order to
(19:21):
get through that period.
Karla Trotman (19:23):
The first thing I did was made sure I had
community, because I tookadvantage of other people's
information.
So we would meet on a weeklybasis to find out well, what's
this BPP?
What's the CARES Act?
What are you getting from it?
Who's the bank?
Marc Bernstein (19:36):
These were other business owners.
Karla Trotman (19:37):
Other business owners correct in the area and
everyone had connections that wewere lending to each other.
So every single person receivedtheir PPP, had it forgiven, got
a second round, had thatforgiven because we shared the
information Internally withElectro Soft.
I decided to be verycommunicative with my staff
over-communicating, answeringevery question they had saying I
(19:59):
don't know when I didn't know.
Marc Bernstein (20:06):
And we decided to do face sheeting.
Karla Trotman (20:07):
You were considered essential, right, so
they were still coming in, right.
Yes, we were off a whole oneday, yes, essential because of
the work we do for the defensedepartment.
So when we somebody had sentsomething to me like, hey, let's
help these nurses and everyonemake five face shields, and it
was like taking some officesupply products and something
from Home Depot and you put ittogether and then we sent them
(20:28):
in and people were like elatedby it.
So I reached out to otherpeople.
People meaning the employees orthe nurses the nurses sorry, the
nurses that we sent it to,because they basically said we
have nothing.
Marc Bernstein (20:41):
Right, couldn't get anything at first.
Karla Trotman (20:43):
And so I said to my staff I'm like you know, when
we didn't have a lot going onat that time, so we still had
work, but it was slow.
I didn't want to let go ofanyone, I want.
I still burned through a lot ofcash keeping people on and I
said, well, I'll buy some moreof this stuff and everyone will
make face shields and send themto local hospitals.
(21:04):
And we did.
And then I had a friend of minewho worked for a family office.
She was chief of staff and shesaid I told them what you were
doing.
They love it and they want tohelp.
And so they wrote a very nicecheck to us and we called all
the suppliers who basically gaveus cost for the product.
(21:26):
And we made thousands uponthousands of face shields during
that time which kept my peoplebusy, kept them employed and
helped people across threestates.
Marc Bernstein (21:39):
So it was great.
So eventually you came out ofthe pandemic and business was
good, I assume.
Karla Trotman (21:46):
It was good.
I mean, it wasn't great becauseit takes about a year and a
half, two years to get back, andthen of course we have interest
rate issues and supply chainissues and tariff issues and it
just seemed like we didn't havea really great runway from
(22:06):
having taken over to getting tothat.
But I've started to realizethat business is just really
about solving a lot of problems.
Marc Bernstein (22:13):
Right, right, and I know you're having
challenges today.
There's new challenges todaywhich we can get to, but what
skills did you develop as aleader to meet the challenges?
Karla Trotman (22:25):
Well, I had to stop just wallowing like this is
terrible, this is awful, youcan get through that.
But then what are we doing?
What is the active plan?
And it's constantly just movingthe ball downfield Sometimes
it's just inches and feelingthat sense of accomplishment and
so leaning forward and failingfast.
I know that that seems socliche, but it really.
Marc Bernstein (22:46):
You really do fail a lot in business you got
to work like-.
It's a constant theme on theshow, by the way.
Karla Trotman (22:52):
Yeah, I mean you got to work multiple problems at
the same time, and so when I'mworking through things now, I
don't know if any of them aregoing to work out, and so I'm
working maybe three things at atime and something that seems
like I'm getting a littleheadway on.
I lean more heavily into thatthing and still trying to push
everything down and reallytrying to go and accomplish the
(23:13):
goals that we have for ourstrategic plan, whether it's
attracting more business, goingafter more defense contracts or
looking into new verticals forus to work in.
Marc Bernstein (23:24):
From the communication we've had and from
the things that I've seen youpost, you're a planner.
I mean you're very strategic inyour planning, I believe.
Karla Trotman (23:31):
Yes.
Marc Bernstein (23:32):
And are you good on the execution of the plan or
do you require a team to helpyou with the execution?
Karla Trotman (23:37):
I use something called the one-page strategic
plan.
It's through the GazellesNetwork I guess it was the old
Rockefeller's Habit book andwhat it does is it forces me to
look on a quarterly basis, aweekly basis, on what I said I
planned on doing.
It doesn't mean you don't haveto change it, but I also have an
(23:58):
advisory board that holds meaccountable and actually meeting
with them on Friday.
Marc Bernstein (24:03):
Excellent.
So, and these are otherbusiness owners, I assume, or
professionals, retired Some.
Karla Trotman (24:10):
One is my CFO who does my numbers, and it's great
, that's great.
Marc Bernstein (24:16):
So you take a team approach, You're the leader
, you're creating the plan andyou're you're having some
assistance in terms of guidingyou in terms of how to implement
the plans.
Yeah, let's talk about thefuture, because I I well.
Let's talk real quick aboutcurrent issues.
I know tariffs has to be one,yeah, and anything else
currently that you're dealingwith.
Karla Trotman (24:36):
Just really trying to smooth out the
bullwhip effect of tariffs.
Sometimes our clients pushorders at us trying to get ahead
.
Sometimes they're holding back,which is really hard because
you have a workforce that youhave to maintain.
Marc Bernstein (24:48):
So just trying to work through those issues.
Smooth out the workflow.
Karla Trotman (24:50):
Which is a cash.
It's a cash issue cash flowRight.
Marc Bernstein (24:55):
So let's look ahead.
So, if we're here, this is nowJuly of 2025.
So let's say it's July of 2028and you and I are speaking and
we're looking at the last threeyears.
What, Karla, would have had tohappen during that three-year
period for you to feel that thatwas a successful business?
And I know your family'simportant, so you can include
personal life in that as well,and I know your family is
(25:17):
important, so you can includepersonal life in that as well.
Karla Trotman (25:18):
So hopefully both of my kids are in college.
Still, right, we want to dosome more acquisitions of other
companies, so we're looking atthat, but I think I want to.
We definitely want to grow inthe area, potentially
geographically grow and getcloser to where some of the
projects we're looking at.
(25:39):
And I actually want to maintainmy sanity.
I think sometimes business canmake you a little crazy.
So taking more time for myselfand centering myself so that I'm
not all in just business.
Marc Bernstein (25:54):
What do you do to maintain your sanity?
Do you have any techniques forthat today?
What do you?
Karla Trotman (25:58):
do to maintain your sanity.
Do you have any techniques forthat today, sparkling rosé there
you go?
No, I have great friends,travel, just the normal stuff.
There's nothing like meditative.
I've been trying to meditate.
I actually brought in a yogainstructor because I hate yoga.
Not that it's not great, I justcan't do it.
I can't commit to it.
Marc Bernstein (26:18):
I'm a big advocate of meditation.
I've been doing it for 50 yearsconsistently, so offline.
If you want, I'll tell you howI do it.
Maybe there might be somethingthere for you.
Karla Trotman (26:28):
I would love that .
Marc Bernstein (26:29):
Would you?
Let's talk about that.
I know you're a reader.
We talked about the book thatyou're currently reading, Martin
Luther King book.
Anything else you want to sayabout that book?
Karla Trotman (26:41):
Well, I actually just finished it.
So I'm a little disappointedbecause it's almost 600 pages.
You feel like you'll never getdone.
Marc Bernstein (26:50):
Isn't that something that sometimes you're
sorry?
It's like a movie that you'resorry it's over.
You just kept going right.
Karla Trotman (26:55):
Yeah, I have a stack of books from friends that
have written books, but I'mtrying to really go through some
of the Ryan Holiday'smeditations on stoicism.
I forget exactly the title, butworking on that and just try to
focus a little bit more, maybethat's going to be my meditation
in the morning.
Marc Bernstein (27:15):
Yeah, that's a form of meditation, for sure.
Anything else fun you'relooking forward to?
Yeah.
Karla Trotman (27:22):
I'm going to France next month on a riverboat
cruise.
My husband and I celebrated20-year anniversary in December.
Marc Bernstein (27:28):
Congratulations, huge accomplishment we're alive
.
Karla Trotman (27:31):
We didn't kill each other.
It's great, yeah, so it's goingto be interesting.
So it's on the Rhone River,something we've never done.
Marc Bernstein (27:39):
I've heard that's great.
Karla Trotman (27:40):
Yeah.
Marc Bernstein (27:41):
Just to decide, my wife doesn't like she has
motion sickness, doesn't likeboats.
We've been on three majorcruises like really high-level
ones in Europe and things likethat.
She said no more cruises, butshe said she'd do a river cruise
.
So we're doing Alaska actually.
Karla Trotman (27:56):
Oh wonderful, we want to see the glaciers before
it's done.
Marc Bernstein (27:58):
I heard that's incredible, but if it works,
we're going to start with theEuropean ones next.
So that's all the time we have.
Karla, it's been wonderful tohave you here, thank you for
having me.
I hope you enjoyed your timehere and I hope you all enjoyed
listening to our time togetherhere and we.
The following programming is sponsored by Marc
J Bernstein.
The views expressed do notnecessarily reflect the views of
this station, its management orBeasley Media Group.
Entrepreneur, founder, authorand financial advisor, Marc
Bernstein helps high-performingbusiness owners turn their
visions into reality.
Through his innovative work andthe Forward Focus Forums, Marc
(00:21):
connectsentrepreneursfocusforumscom.
Good morning America.
How are you?
Hey, I'm going to ask Eric, ourengineer, that little Rocky
commercial that was on the radio.
Marc Bernstein (00:48):
Was that TJ's voice?
Who was it?
It's okay.
Announcer (00:52):
That was someone that used to work at the station, oh
, okay, okay.
Marc Bernstein (00:55):
Well, good morning Eric, Thanks for being
here, and good morning Karla.
How are you?
Good morning, I'm going tointroduce Karla to you in a
second, but we're going to getright into our topic of the day.
Sometimes we, you know, we talkabout the weather, talk about
what's going on here inPhiladelphia, but we're going to
get right into it.
We.
So we talked.
I saw a post that you did abouta book that you just read and I
(01:19):
won't give it all away.
We might talk more about thebook later, but tell us about
the book, and it really has todo with having doubts and how
doubts are handled by leaders.
So tell us about the book andwhere you got that and your
thoughts about it.
Karla Trotman (01:33):
So I just finished reading one of the
newest books about Martin LutherKing by Jonathan Eig.
I guess E-I-G is his last nameand I think you know.
Do we need another book aboutMartin Luther King?
Well, there's new informationthat's come out about him
recordings and people are moreprone to talk about him now that
(01:58):
he's been gone, now thatCoretta's gone, and the thing
that struck me was the pieces ofdoubt, and the thing that
struck me was the pieces ofdoubt, the pieces of information
that led to us understandinghow often he doubted himself his
bouts of depression, and it'sthe first time I felt very
connected to this leader thatwe've looked at for so many
(02:20):
years.
Marc Bernstein (02:23):
And I just thought it was absolutely
Because you realized he's human,I guess.
Karla Trotman (02:24):
Well, it's fascinating, right.
You feel connected to someone'shumanness, their humanity.
Marc Bernstein (02:29):
Yeah, I can imagine I've actually thought
about that, because what he wasup against, you know, and he
knew his life was in danger Likeevery day.
He was out there pretty much.
Karla Trotman (02:40):
Yeah.
Marc Bernstein (02:40):
And he had lots of opposition and lots of
opposing forces within hispeople and outside and
government and all kinds ofthings.
Karla Trotman (02:53):
People doubted him a lot.
His allies doubted him.
People changed the way thatthey felt about him overnight.
People were trying to kill himand he knew that he didn't walk
around with a lot of armedbodyguards, but he knew that he
would not be on this earth for along time.
Marc Bernstein (03:11):
So the theme, I think, because this is a show
about entrepreneurs and leaders,I don't think anybody doesn't
have doubts, right?
What did you get out of itpersonally?
How did you connect with thaton a personal level?
Karla Trotman (03:24):
I think who doesn't doubt themselves?
But I think as leaderssometimes we have a false sense
of a false armor that we wear.
Sometimes.
We have to always feel that wehave the right answer, but I
think that true leadership comesfrom being able to say I don't
know when you don't know, andseeking outside help and counsel
, which I'm not sure King reallydid.
(03:46):
I didn't get that from the book.
Marc Bernstein (03:49):
Oh, really Interesting.
That's interesting.
I would have thought he wouldhave you know, you would think
that.
Karla Trotman (03:54):
Well, I think, as a man of faith, he found
comfort in prayer and scripture,absolutely.
I guess that is his form oftherapy.
That's therapy in general for alot of people.
Marc Bernstein (04:05):
Well, and that is looking for help on the
outside too, it sure is.
Karla Trotman (04:08):
But as far as you know, modern day that we look
at as leaders outside of prayer,that now it's more acceptable
to get therapy or to havecommunity.
Marc Bernstein (04:19):
Right, I even think like his closest people
inside a circle, like AndrewYoung was one of them, I think,
and some of the people that were, I think they doubted him at
times too, because they knew I'msure there was a strong sense
of what they were up against.
Karla Trotman (04:35):
Yeah, well, I think most people we are a
culmination of the things we see, hear, do and experience.
So everyone is experiencingthings in real time, their own
real time, and to find alignmentis really difficult for leaders
, but that's also what helps us,that's our super power being
able to draw in other people'sexperiences to formulate our
(04:55):
best decisions.
Marc Bernstein (04:57):
I love that, so I was going to ask you how you
handle it, but you justexplained it.
Number one is don't be afraidto say I don't know.
And secondly, to draw in otherexperiences and wisdom, but you
just explained it.
Number one is don't be afraidto say I don't know yeah.
And secondly, to draw on otherexperiences and wisdom and into
your world to help.
Yes, excellent.
So this is Karla Trotman.
She is president and CEO ofElectro Soft Incorporated, and
(05:19):
she's also the author of Dark,dirty, dangerous.
The Building the Vibrant Futureof Manufacturing.
Did I say that right?
Karla Trotman (05:29):
Building the Vibrant Future of Manufacturing,
the Building of there was aword missing.
Marc Bernstein (05:33):
I got it.
That's what I didn't get.
So I mentioned that ElectroSoft is one of the largest
independent electronics contractmanufacturers in the
Philadelphia tri-state area,serving aviation, defense and
transit industries, and, inaddition to being an author,
she's the Entrepreneur of theYear in 2024 Greater
(05:53):
Philadelphia Award winner.
That's from EY, right.
Karla Trotman (05:56):
Yes.
Marc Bernstein (05:57):
Yeah, excellent.
So congratulations on that,thank you, and I feel like I
know Karla because she's a greatcommunicator and poster and
we've talked several times overthe years, but it's the first
time we're really getting toknow each other.
But I feel like I have a lot ofyour background because you
share so much and I congratulateyou on the content that you put
out there.
Karla Trotman (06:16):
Yeah, thank you.
Marc Bernstein (06:19):
So let's talk about business and Electro Soft.
So Electro Soft was founded byyour dad.
About business and Electro Soft.
So, Electro Soft was founded byyour dad and I actually met you
through him, because I calledon him as because this
manufacturing group I wasworking with and and I well
anyway tell it.
Why don't you tell the storyhow he started the business and
(06:40):
and how it evolved to become youas the leader of the business?
Karla Trotman (06:44):
Sure.
So my father's background is inelectronics industry,
electrical engineer, master's incomputer science.
His last job was overseeinginstrumentation of DNA analyzing
equipment.
So he would design theequipment, oversee manufacturing
and write the software.
And the company was acquiredand decided they no longer
(07:06):
wanted to be in instrumentationand you could either take a
six-month package and dowhatever or you can work and try
to find a job, under thepremise that you can.
It's easier to find a job ifyou have a job.
And he decided to leave, takethe money.
And while he was figuringthings out, someone asked him
hey, you know how to make cables, can you make these cables?
(07:27):
And he did and they thoughtthey were great.
Someone asked him for more andhe brought someone in that was
also laid off and they startedElectro Soft on the kitchen
table of our Ambler home.
Marc Bernstein (07:39):
You were making the cables there originally,
right?
Yes, your mom helped.
Karla Trotman (07:44):
No, my mom definitely did not help?
Marc Bernstein (07:45):
Oh, she did not help.
Karla Trotman (07:47):
Okay, my mom was the bank in a sense because she
was working full time as asystems analyst.
Marc Bernstein (07:53):
She was funding the whole deal.
Karla Trotman (07:55):
Yes, so I say, they both started the dream.
Marc Bernstein (07:59):
She was definitely.
I knew she had involvement.
That was her yeah.
Karla Trotman (08:02):
I mean, she held the family down financially
while dad was trying to buildthe company.
Marc Bernstein (08:07):
That's great and it kind of took off right.
It became a preferred vendor, Iwould say, for a lot of people
right.
Karla Trotman (08:16):
Yes.
So we did exactly what myfather did.
We would meet with companies,design equipment, oversee the
manufacturing and write softwarefor it.
That's the name Electro Softwith electromechanical assembly
and software.
What wound up happening wasthat there was more of a need
for stateside manufacturing witha high mix of products, lower
volumes, so we wouldn't be indirect competition with Asia,
(08:38):
and we worked primarily withdefense and industrial clients.
Marc Bernstein (08:45):
And normally the show is called Founders Forum,
so we bring on the founders ofthe business.
But I found your story veryintriguing because in a way you
came in, you didn't work in thebusiness, you came from outside
of the business and youultimately worked with your
father for many years and then Itook over and I'd say, kind of
recreated the company.
Is that a fair assessment?
Karla Trotman (09:07):
Yeah, I think sometimes we think that the next
gen comes in and they're justgiven like this golden highway,
and everything is just so easy.
But oftentimes we thinkfundamentally different about
business because our amazingfamily, our parents, had given
us these great education, thesegreat networks, and now you're
(09:28):
able to see the business in adifferent light.
Marc Bernstein (09:31):
And taught you, in a sense, to think differently
, maybe, than what they did.
Karla Trotman (09:35):
Absolutely my background's in supply chain
logistics.
I have an MBA, I worked in thatfield and I was successful in
that field.
I had an online business at thebeginning of e-commerce, so I
understood how marketing wasshifting towards inbound
marketing and search engineoptimization.
I wanted to help the familybusiness not suffer through that
(09:57):
transition, because a lot ofcompanies did, and that's really
what caused me well.
That and having a family causedme to think differently about
legacy, about the future andwhat I really wanted out of life
.
Marc Bernstein (10:12):
Right, and you have.
We've talked about your husband, who's an attorney, works in
this building we found out thismorning and you have two sons,
correct?
Karla Trotman (10:22):
I do.
Marc Bernstein (10:23):
And they're at an interesting time in life,
correct?
Karla Trotman (10:25):
Yes, One is an upcoming freshman at Hampton
University and the other is arising senior at the prep.
Marc Bernstein (10:35):
Nice.
So explain to people what theprep is.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Karla Trotman (10:40):
St Joseph's Preparatory School in North
Philadelphia.
Marc Bernstein (10:44):
Not everyone listening may know that, but
it's a pretty.
I know it to be friends andcolleagues who went there and
it's kind of like a kind of likea club to be in if you go to
the prep.
Karla Trotman (10:55):
It is, and I was surprised as a kid in middle
school that he knew that goingin.
Marc Bernstein (10:59):
Oh did he?
Yeah, he's like.
Karla Trotman (11:01):
That's the community that I feel that I
need to be a part of.
Marc Bernstein (11:03):
Good for him that he had that foresight,
because those connections, I cantell you, are big and I had a
guy on my team for many yearswho went to the prep and I would
call on clients and after awhile I knew to start bringing
him out.
It made a big difference andthey immediately welcomed them
into the world, you know.
So you had all that going on,so you came into the business
(11:25):
and what happened then?
Karla Trotman (11:28):
Well, it was supposed to be a shift.
So I said to my dad I'd love totake over the family business
and he's like, are you sure?
It's just you've never reallybeen interested, because what
child wants to take over theirfamily business?
Like no one.
Marc Bernstein (11:40):
Right, I shared with you.
I had no interest, but then Ihad a brother that did
eventually.
Karla Trotman (11:46):
Yeah, I think it's.
Some parents push it Mine didnot and they were looking at
selling and I said don't sell it, I would love to take over.
And so my dad and I worked sideby side for what was supposed
to be three years ultimatelybecame 11 years.
Marc Bernstein (12:02):
A little hard to let go A little.
Yeah, it's like enough.
I know that one from my ownfamily too.
Yeah, yeah.
Karla Trotman (12:09):
We actually had a come to Jesus moment where I
said look, I am of a certain agewhere for women, it's harder to
get a job because you expect acertain salary, you have
experience, and that's usuallywhen they don't really want to
hire you.
And if you're going to stilllinger, I'm going to do
something else while you hangout here, and maybe I might come
(12:32):
back here, and maybe I mightcome back.
I was offered an opportunity totake over other people's family
businesses as well as an equitypartner, which was not exactly
what I wanted to do, but I didwant to move on with my life,
your preference was to take overthis business, if you could.
Yeah, and I'm the type of personI don't give an ultimatum
unless I'm willing to live withboth sides.
And he said you know you'reright, let's do this transition.
(12:56):
And so I started doing familybusiness meetings with my
parents and my two brothers sothat they could see what it
would look like if we transitionthe business, and all three of
us were equal partners.
Marc Bernstein (13:09):
That was the original plan.
Karla Trotman (13:11):
Oh yes, and how'd that go?
That was probably around yeareight of three more years three
more years, oh, okay.
So during that time period.
So I think this is why I lovefamily meetings.
It gives the family theopportunity to see who's going
to take over.
What is it like when they worktogether?
So the questions were what areyour assets?
(13:34):
How much do you owe?
What is your like when theywork together?
So the questions were what areyour assets?
How much do you owe?
What is your credit score?
How would a banker assess youas a credit risk or what have
you?
And ultimately, a lot of thingscame out of that.
One of the things was that Ididn't think I could work with
my brothers, and so I decidedthat I told my dad I can't work
(13:59):
with them and I wanted them tosee that.
Marc Bernstein (14:01):
You didn't know that going into the family
meetings, I did not.
Karla Trotman (14:03):
I mean, I kind of had an inkling because you know
how banks they look at, yourassets they look at, and I
brought a lot to the tablebecause of my career.
Marc Bernstein (14:11):
Well, and I also assume you knew your work ethic
, you knew your skills that youbrought to the table and you
know your brothers to a certainextent.
So I'm sure there werequestions about whether you
could be in that kind ofco-leadership position for a
company, right?
Karla Trotman (14:30):
Right, and that was an issue for me.
And I love my brothers, Ireally do.
But you know you can't bepartners with everyone that you
love.
Marc Bernstein (14:38):
Right.
That could be disastrous inmany cases.
Yes, and.
Karla Trotman (14:42):
I know it's all about equity, so your family
wanted you to take over thebusiness together to be equal.
But everyone wouldn't becontributing equally.
Marc Bernstein (14:51):
Karla, this is a great jumping off point.
We're going to take a quickcommercial and we'll be right
back.
Announcer (15:16):
What sets Electro Soft apart?
Every single product benefitsfrom at least 30 years of
hands-on electronicsmanufacturing experience before
it leaves their facility.
They are fully up to date onall industry and quality
standards, giving you theconfidence that comes with
working with a well-respectedpartner Ready to outsource your
electronics manufacturing toproven experts.
(15:38):
Visit Electro Soft to discoverhow Electro Soft four decades of
family-owned excellence canpower your next project.
Marc Bernstein (15:51):
We're back on Founders Forum with our guest
today, Karla Trotman.
So great to have you here,Karla, thank you.
So we got just to the point ofthe family meetings and then
obviously it was decided thatyou would take over the business
, and I'm sure that went verysmoothly and there were no
problems, right.
Karla Trotman (16:11):
Yes, great.
Marc Bernstein (16:14):
So tell us about that.
What kind of challenges did youface in taking over the
leadership of the company?
Karla Trotman (16:20):
Well, it was really extracting my father away
from the day-to-day because itwas confusing for the staff.
Right, we brought them in andwe said for the last three years
Karla been running the companybehind the curtain.
If you haven't noticed anythinggreat, she's going to continue
running the company and I'mstepping away.
And he would still come in,which I welcomed.
(16:42):
But we needed to have someseparation of what his
day-to-day duties were going tobe.
And I thought we had thatconversation, but he blatantly
ignored it.
So when I told him that he wascreating confusion, he said well
, I'm here to consult.
And I said, yeah, nose in, feetout.
Marc Bernstein (17:02):
I like that.
Well, you know it's hard togive up your baby.
To a certain extent, right, itwas his baby.
You know he created it.
Karla Trotman (17:11):
Yes, I kept him informed in a dashboard of KPIs.
Let him still look at financialstatements if he wanted to.
We've had a lot ofconversations, but I think that
when you have a family andyou're in business together,
it's not a normal familydiscussion.
Christmas dinner is aboutbusiness.
You know, birthday partiesthere's always something around
(17:33):
business and it's just reallythis additional sibling, in a
sense, in your family, right soin the very beginning.
So the interesting part is Itook over in January 2020.
Two months later, covid hit andeverything shut down, yep, and
it was awful and my dad justdidn't really flinch because at
(17:55):
that point we had been inbusiness for 30 years and when
you're in business for 30 years,you've seen a lot.
And I said I don't think you'veever seen a global pandemic
before, like I felt that it wassomething very, very different.
And there were things that hedidn't have to go through, like
the CARES Act and PPP and allthese things that I had to
(18:15):
navigate a lot of those thingson my own and I think starting
out like that was insane, but itdid fortify me for a lot of
things that came after that upto now currently dealing with
tariffs and political uprising,global political issues.
Marc Bernstein (18:38):
I do want to tell you, just as an aside,
because of that, I used to workwith a lot of manufacturers and
I was doing some online stuff,ways to create business, because
in my business, you know,couldn't do it the way we
normally did it go out and meetpeople and go to lunch and all
that.
So not long after the pandemicstarted, I spoke to your dad
because somehow he'd beenreferred to me and he did say he
(18:58):
said you're talking to thewrong person.
He said I no longer run thebusiness and he introduced me to
you and I knew you, likeeveryone else, was going through
a lot.
It was helpful to the peoplethat were in that group because
we talked about ways to pivotand ways to recreate the
companies, et cetera, thingslike that.
But you were doing that on yourown.
So what did you do?
Because I know you had to makesome extreme pivots in order to
(19:21):
get through that period.
Karla Trotman (19:23):
The first thing I did was made sure I had
community, because I tookadvantage of other people's
information.
So we would meet on a weeklybasis to find out well, what's
this BPP?
What's the CARES Act?
What are you getting from it?
Who's the bank?
Marc Bernstein (19:36):
These were other business owners.
Karla Trotman (19:37):
Other business owners correct in the area and
everyone had connections that wewere lending to each other.
So every single person receivedtheir PPP, had it forgiven, got
a second round, had thatforgiven because we shared the
information Internally withElectro Soft.
I decided to be verycommunicative with my staff
over-communicating, answeringevery question they had saying I
(19:59):
don't know when I didn't know.
Marc Bernstein (20:06):
And we decided to do face sheeting.
Karla Trotman (20:07):
You were considered essential, right, so
they were still coming in, right.
Yes, we were off a whole oneday, yes, essential because of
the work we do for the defensedepartment.
So when we somebody had sentsomething to me like, hey, let's
help these nurses and everyonemake five face shields, and it
was like taking some officesupply products and something
from Home Depot and you put ittogether and then we sent them
(20:28):
in and people were like elatedby it.
So I reached out to otherpeople.
People meaning the employees orthe nurses the nurses sorry, the
nurses that we sent it to,because they basically said we
have nothing.
Marc Bernstein (20:41):
Right, couldn't get anything at first.
Karla Trotman (20:43):
And so I said to my staff I'm like you know, when
we didn't have a lot going onat that time, so we still had
work, but it was slow.
I didn't want to let go ofanyone, I want.
I still burned through a lot ofcash keeping people on and I
said, well, I'll buy some moreof this stuff and everyone will
make face shields and send themto local hospitals.
(21:04):
And we did.
And then I had a friend of minewho worked for a family office.
She was chief of staff and shesaid I told them what you were
doing.
They love it and they want tohelp.
And so they wrote a very nicecheck to us and we called all
the suppliers who basically gaveus cost for the product.
(21:26):
And we made thousands uponthousands of face shields during
that time which kept my peoplebusy, kept them employed and
helped people across threestates.
Marc Bernstein (21:39):
So it was great.
So eventually you came out ofthe pandemic and business was
good, I assume.
Karla Trotman (21:46):
It was good.
I mean, it wasn't great becauseit takes about a year and a
half, two years to get back, andthen of course we have interest
rate issues and supply chainissues and tariff issues and it
just seemed like we didn't havea really great runway from
(22:06):
having taken over to getting tothat.
But I've started to realizethat business is just really
about solving a lot of problems.
Marc Bernstein (22:13):
Right, right, and I know you're having
challenges today.
There's new challenges todaywhich we can get to, but what
skills did you develop as aleader to meet the challenges?
Karla Trotman (22:25):
Well, I had to stop just wallowing like this is
terrible, this is awful, youcan get through that.
But then what are we doing?
What is the active plan?
And it's constantly just movingthe ball downfield Sometimes
it's just inches and feelingthat sense of accomplishment and
so leaning forward and failingfast.
I know that that seems socliche, but it really.
Marc Bernstein (22:46):
You really do fail a lot in business you got
to work like-.
It's a constant theme on theshow, by the way.
Karla Trotman (22:52):
Yeah, I mean you got to work multiple problems at
the same time, and so when I'mworking through things now, I
don't know if any of them aregoing to work out, and so I'm
working maybe three things at atime and something that seems
like I'm getting a littleheadway on.
I lean more heavily into thatthing and still trying to push
everything down and reallytrying to go and accomplish the
(23:13):
goals that we have for ourstrategic plan, whether it's
attracting more business, goingafter more defense contracts or
looking into new verticals forus to work in.
Marc Bernstein (23:24):
From the communication we've had and from
the things that I've seen youpost, you're a planner.
I mean you're very strategic inyour planning, I believe.
Karla Trotman (23:31):
Yes.
Marc Bernstein (23:32):
And are you good on the execution of the plan or
do you require a team to helpyou with the execution?
Karla Trotman (23:37):
I use something called the one-page strategic
plan.
It's through the GazellesNetwork I guess it was the old
Rockefeller's Habit book andwhat it does is it forces me to
look on a quarterly basis, aweekly basis, on what I said I
planned on doing.
It doesn't mean you don't haveto change it, but I also have an
(23:58):
advisory board that holds meaccountable and actually meeting
with them on Friday.
Marc Bernstein (24:03):
Excellent.
So, and these are otherbusiness owners, I assume, or
professionals, retired Some.
Karla Trotman (24:10):
One is my CFO who does my numbers, and it's great
, that's great.
Marc Bernstein (24:16):
So you take a team approach, You're the leader
, you're creating the plan andyou're you're having some
assistance in terms of guidingyou in terms of how to implement
the plans.
Yeah, let's talk about thefuture, because I I well.
Let's talk real quick aboutcurrent issues.
I know tariffs has to be one,yeah, and anything else
currently that you're dealingwith.
Karla Trotman (24:36):
Just really trying to smooth out the
bullwhip effect of tariffs.
Sometimes our clients pushorders at us trying to get ahead
.
Sometimes they're holding back,which is really hard because
you have a workforce that youhave to maintain.
Marc Bernstein (24:48):
So just trying to work through those issues.
Smooth out the workflow.
Karla Trotman (24:50):
Which is a cash.
It's a cash issue cash flowRight.
Marc Bernstein (24:55):
So let's look ahead.
So, if we're here, this is nowJuly of 2025.
So let's say it's July of 2028and you and I are speaking and
we're looking at the last threeyears.
What, Karla, would have had tohappen during that three-year
period for you to feel that thatwas a successful business?
And I know your family'simportant, so you can include
personal life in that as well,and I know your family is
(25:17):
important, so you can includepersonal life in that as well.
Karla Trotman (25:18):
So hopefully both of my kids are in college.
Still, right, we want to dosome more acquisitions of other
companies, so we're looking atthat, but I think I want to.
We definitely want to grow inthe area, potentially
geographically grow and getcloser to where some of the
projects we're looking at.
(25:39):
And I actually want to maintainmy sanity.
I think sometimes business canmake you a little crazy.
So taking more time for myselfand centering myself so that I'm
not all in just business.
Marc Bernstein (25:54):
What do you do to maintain your sanity?
Do you have any techniques forthat today?
What do you?
Karla Trotman (25:58):
do to maintain your sanity.
Do you have any techniques forthat today, sparkling rosé there
you go?
No, I have great friends,travel, just the normal stuff.
There's nothing like meditative.
I've been trying to meditate.
I actually brought in a yogainstructor because I hate yoga.
Not that it's not great, I justcan't do it.
I can't commit to it.
Marc Bernstein (26:18):
I'm a big advocate of meditation.
I've been doing it for 50 yearsconsistently, so offline.
If you want, I'll tell you howI do it.
Maybe there might be somethingthere for you.
Karla Trotman (26:28):
I would love that .
Marc Bernstein (26:29):
Would you?
Let's talk about that.
I know you're a reader.
We talked about the book thatyou're currently reading, Martin
Luther King book.
Anything else you want to sayabout that book?
Karla Trotman (26:41):
Well, I actually just finished it.
So I'm a little disappointedbecause it's almost 600 pages.
You feel like you'll never getdone.
Marc Bernstein (26:50):
Isn't that something that sometimes you're
sorry?
It's like a movie that you'resorry it's over.
You just kept going right.
Karla Trotman (26:55):
Yeah, I have a stack of books from friends that
have written books, but I'mtrying to really go through some
of the Ryan Holiday'smeditations on stoicism.
I forget exactly the title, butworking on that and just try to
focus a little bit more, maybethat's going to be my meditation
in the morning.
Marc Bernstein (27:15):
Yeah, that's a form of meditation, for sure.
Anything else fun you'relooking forward to?
Yeah.
Karla Trotman (27:22):
I'm going to France next month on a riverboat
cruise.
My husband and I celebrated20-year anniversary in December.
Marc Bernstein (27:28):
Congratulations, huge accomplishment we're alive
.
Karla Trotman (27:31):
We didn't kill each other.
It's great, yeah, so it's goingto be interesting.
So it's on the Rhone River,something we've never done.
Marc Bernstein (27:39):
I've heard that's great.
Karla Trotman (27:40):
Yeah.
Marc Bernstein (27:41):
Just to decide, my wife doesn't like she has
motion sickness, doesn't likeboats.
We've been on three majorcruises like really high-level
ones in Europe and things likethat.
She said no more cruises, butshe said she'd do a river cruise
.
So we're doing Alaska actually.
Karla Trotman (27:56):
Oh wonderful, we want to see the glaciers before
it's done.
Marc Bernstein (27:58):
I heard that's incredible, but if it works,
we're going to start with theEuropean ones next.
So that's all the time we have.
Karla, it's been wonderful tohave you here, thank you for
having me.
I hope you enjoyed your timehere and I hope you all enjoyed
listening to our time togetherhere and we.
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