They say you can’t truly understand a person until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes. After 33 years as a full-time employee here at Bane-Welker, and a lifetime spent watching my father and grandfather before me, I’ve had the privilege of wearing almost every pair of shoes this company has to offer.
If there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s that this business never stops teaching you, provided you’re willing to keep a growth mindset.
The Lessons of the Climb
When I started as a Service Tech, things felt straightforward. You fixed the machine, you helped the customer, and you went home. Looking back, I didn't realize how good I had it. I used to think physical labor always trumped mental work. While there is a unique satisfaction in a hard day's work, I’ve learned that mental exhaustion is a different, more taxing beast entirely.
As I moved into leadership, my perspective shifted at every rung:
- Service Manager: I learned that managing people is a far more complex engine than any combine.
- Salesperson: From the outside, it looks like they come and go as they please. From the inside, I realized that negotiating a fair deal takes just as much energy as splitting a Magnum.
- Director of Wholegoods: I thought I was just managing inventory; I quickly realized I was managing the heartbeat of deals across every single location.
Today, as President and COO, my role is often political and high-level, and if I’m honest, I miss the daily, direct interaction with our customers. There is more distance now, and the weight of responsibility has changed. Early on, I felt I couldn't take a vacation because a customer might call. Today, it’s because hundreds of employees and their families depend on the decisions our leadership team makes.
The Foundation: Service is the Engine
My grandfather and my father, Ken and Phil Bane, were the ultimate models of continuous improvement. They wore every hat, from the parts counter to the CFO desk. Watching my father grow our locations taught me a fundamental truth: You must surround yourself with good people you can trust.
Phil made it look easy, but the web of relationships between vendors, the board, employees, and customers is incredibly complex. Through them, I learned that while times change, the fundamentals do not:
Service is the backbone. We are a business built on service. While wholegoods are important, they aren't the long-term secret to success. Service is the engine that keeps us running.
The customer writes the paycheck. Never, ever take your eye off the person across the counter.
Culture is everything. High trust, from the administrative office to the technicians to the parts counter to the customer, is the only way a company survives.
Looking Ahead
In my 33 years, I’ve learned to control what I can and ignore the outside noise as much as humanly possible. I’ve learned that when a problem looks impossible, whether it’s a repair, a market shift, or a difficult deal, you never stop working to resolve it. But perhaps the most important lesson I’ve learned is to ask for help. I can’t do this alone. Bane-Welker is successful because we have good people who have good people surrounding them.
To our employees: Thank you for your grit. To our customers: Thank you for keeping us humble and employed. I’m still a student of this business, and I look forward to what the next season will teach us all.