Relationship Matters (part 2)
I met Real Ramaciere when I first moved to St. Petersburg, FL in 1980. Schell, the company I worked for, moved from Cincinnati to St. Petersburg in 1980.
We purchased a building in St. Petersburg. I was the first one from Schell to arrive in Florida, to get the building ready to move in and also set up the factory once the machinery started to arrive.
I was selling off shelving etc., that the company we bought the building from, left behind.
Real Ramaciere was a plant manager at a local watch strap factory. He came to purchase some shelving etc., that is when I first met Real. Real and I connected during this brief meeting. Real was older than me and took a liking to me.
Going forward, when I started AGORA, Real was at the factory every day.
I always remember two things Real told me.
1. “Never look back on negative things”
2. “Always follow up on what you started until it is completed”
This advice was instrumental in my focusing on the business from the very first day. Every evening after Real left his factory, he would come to my factory and help us fix machine problems and make process improvements. Real would first ask me if I checked the machine he fixed the day before.
Invariably I would say “Real, I was so busy up front that I did not get a chance to check”. So he would get up from the chair, strut to the plant, check on the machine and any other help we needed in the plant. He would come back and say “Subash, where is my beer?”
Both of us would have a beer together and we talked about my day, new business and any other problems we had.
He owned our problems and took care of them.
What a blessing!