AIP 2408 - George & Michelle Solomon, part 1

WEBVTT
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I'm George. I'm Michelle. And we believe anything
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is possible. This is a table where we tell stories
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of possibility. And recently, I had the opportunity
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to meet a dynamic duo. I had a chance to see
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these wonder twins activate. George and Michelle
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Solomon, thank you for joining me on Anything
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is Possible. Thank you for having us. I love
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your story. I mean, I love it. I was so inspired.
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Let me tell you what. Happy anniversary, by the
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way. Your company is celebrating your 40th anniversary
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this year. And happy anniversary. But I was at
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the 40th anniversary celebration, and I was so
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blown away by one thing. I was watching the two
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of you working together. And it was amazing.
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The way you were each handling a different thing.
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I was watching the way you were watching each
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other. Does this make sense to you? Like, Michelle,
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you were watching him and he was watching you.
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And you were just filling in gaps and spaces
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as needed. There were certain things that you
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both didn't even need to talk about. You could
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just glance at him and it was like watching musicians
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improvise. Right. And I I sat there and it was
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it was beautiful to me how much you guys love
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each other. I'm in the Uber headed back to the
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house. I'm like, are you getting a little emotional?
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Can we start with your love story? Sure. It's
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unbelievable. So you guys. Know each other since
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high school? Actually, elementary school. Tell
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me about it. Okay. George's father had a business,
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a beer distributorship, across the street from
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my dad's grocery store. And I used to see him
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in the neighborhood as a youngster. And then
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eventually when I would go to my dad's store
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to work or even to go down and pick up an order
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from my mother, I would walk past his shop and
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I would see him in the shop. We went to opposing
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Catholic elementary schools. But then in junior
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high and in high school, we got to be in the
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same class and see one another in those different
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schools. So you would see him? Yes. But when
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did you see him? When did you – It wasn't – And
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who saw who? Did you see him and go, hubba, hubba?
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Or did he see you and go – I want to hear this
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answer. Okay, this will be good. I think it was
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his mother who saw me. Oh, okay. Plot twist.
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And suggested to him that he ask me out for a
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date. He was actually better friends with my
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sister than he was with me and was friendlier
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with her. And I was just kind of on the periphery
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at that stage. How old were you at this time?
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We were probably, what, 20? First date time?
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I think so, 20. Sophomores in college. Yeah,
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we were sophomores in college. We go now to George
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for an update on this story. George, what do
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you say? I cleared the potential requested date
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through her sister first to see if she would
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go. And the answer was yes. And so we went out
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with my sister and her. recently married husband
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to see Lasarium in the Buell Planetarium in Pittsburgh,
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and then that was it. We were together after
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that. Within two years, as we were graduating
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college, I asked her to marry me, and she agreed,
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and down the road we went. Now, you remember
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the first date. Oh, yes. It was awkward. It was
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like any other first date, yeah. And especially
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that we were with other people, it was a little
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awkward to, you know, converse with him and also
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keep up the conversation with the other couple
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we were with. And then what really made it awkward
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is that when we went to get something to eat
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afterwards, one of his cousins met up with us.
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And keep in mind, now this is the first date,
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and he asks George. When are you getting married?
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I thought it was the first day. We're talking
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marriage. But when did you have that sense of
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knowing? I think maybe six months after we were
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dating. Was there anything in particular you
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saw in him? No, not really. It just seemed right.
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Yeah, right does seem right. What about for you?
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I was probably. more enamored with her early
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on. She's a lot more reserved than I am. So I
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make my mind up pretty quickly. So I was, I worked
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really hard right from the beginning. You're
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like, we got to close. Always be closing. Exactly.
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So what was it you saw in her? Oh, she was obviously
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a very beautiful woman and, you know, had grew
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up in the same. So you knew her values. You knew
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her family. Similar experience. Knew her family.
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Got along well with her family. Knew her dad
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for many years before I really knew her. And
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it was just seemed like somebody that was available
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to and had the kind of work ethic that both of
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our families had. So you're like, let's go. Yeah.
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We don't need 100 options. I have found my person.
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Right. Let's build a life together. She was only
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my second girlfriend. Wow. If you played baseball
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and on every second hit you were hitting a home
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run, you'd be one of the greatest of all time.
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Well done. Well done. Thank you. My good man.
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Well done. Well, I think we have the same values
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as well. Tell me what those values are. Well,
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faith. How we handle money, which is another
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important thing too. having a marriage, how we
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raise our children. How do you guys handle money?
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I take care of it. I tell people all the time
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I haven't seen a paycheck for 30 years. I love
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what you just said. You said, I take care of
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it. But you're good at it. I guess so. She's
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an accountant. Yeah. So how you handle money,
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faith, and then what was the other value? How
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we raise our daughter. What was important in
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terms of those values? Well, somebody always
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has to be the lead person. And I think George
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was very good about letting me take the lead
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at home. more or less just went along with the
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way I decided to bring Sonia up. And he was,
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of course, in agreement with it. And there was
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never any of his saying something opposite if
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I said something to Sonia. If he didn't agree,
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he told me privately. That's strong because,
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which we'll talk about in this interview, but
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your daughter and son -in -law are teeing up
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to take this. company into the next generation
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that's right and you have to be well I know you
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were really proud because I watched her at the
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celebration and she was casting the vision for
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the future and there she is smart and confident
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and has a vision and I thought man this is I
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think I'm in a Hallmark movie thank you it's
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just great so you guys get together and decide
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to do life together So you said you got married
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within two years and you were in school for engineering.
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Right. And you were in school for? Teaching.
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Teaching. All right. Take me from there. So after
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getting my chemical engineering degree at the
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University of Pittsburgh, out there looking for
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jobs, had two job offers, one in Cleveland at
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a nuclear facility that. Ultimately never got
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completed, a nuclear power plant, and a potential
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job here in Oak Ridge on the centrifuge uranium
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enrichment project. And chose Oak Ridge, I guess
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wisely, because the other place never made it,
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and brought me south, getting me away from the
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snow. Pennsylvania is where you were. Yep, western
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Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh area. And so you guys
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are married, you're finishing school, and you
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get – Position in Oak Ridge, and that means to
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move from Pennsylvania to Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
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Culture shock. What was that like for you? Similar,
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similar. We were both finishing our degrees,
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and then George moved to Oak Ridge in June, and
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we got married in August. And then the day after
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we were married, I... accompanied George back
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to Oak Ridge. And that was the beginning of our
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lives here. That was our honeymoon. Right. And
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you're starting with what? Little? A lot? $1
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.37 in our pockets. Yeah. She said $1 .37. There
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was a decimal point. This is precise. Yes. She
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sounds like an accountant. You had $1 .37? Oh,
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it was more than that. It was maybe $500. Right.
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But still. Sure. It was not a lot. So that's
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to start a life. All right, let's go. What happened?
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Well, he went to work, and I went to work, and
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he worked at the plants, and I worked for a television
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company in East Knoxville, Sylvania. Worked there
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for a little while, then came back to Oak Ridge
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and got a job in Oak Ridge, and then eventually
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went out to the plants myself. Now, did you do
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any teaching? Substitute taught for a while,
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about a year. That was all it took for me to
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make my mind up that I didn't want to do that.
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And so you guys, do you have any idea that you're
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going to be entrepreneurial? Not really. My dad
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always said, go get your education. It'll put
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you on top of the world. My dad had a eighth
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grade education, small business. loved his customers.
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He would call them mom and dad. So that's how
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I learned to take care of customers. But after
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working for the government for five, almost six
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years, and the project we were on got cut off
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at the knees, it was a little frustrating. I
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did a lot of learning. I learned from a world
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-renowned vacuum scientist, Dr. Don Santler,
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and met my business partner. And, you know, we
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were very successful at what we did for the program
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we were working on. But it became frustrating
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for both of us because it was so – there was
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a lot of bureaucracy and things didn't move very
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quickly. And I'm not one to – sit around. I like
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to be busy. So that's when the idea popped into
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my head about maybe we can start a business.
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I realized that Mark, my business partner, was
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a brilliant guy. And with my ability or what
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I thought was an ability to get along with people
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and make things happen, tied up with Mark, we
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could make a go of building these little... calibrated
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leak gas bottles that we started the business
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on. And, you know, that's exactly what we did.
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And, you know, thankfully, Michelle went to work
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when I quit. Yeah. So this is a really interesting
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story because you're like, hey, we got to get
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out of here. Let's start a business. Well, in
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order to have a business, I want to have some
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money. I mean, they might want to have done business
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before. All you have is passion and an idea and
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the technology. This was the part of the story
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that was incredible to me. You go to Oak Ridge
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and say, hey, this technology, what about licensing
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this? Well, these calibrated leak, this one design
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that Y -12 had, we – licensed the patent for
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all of $25. And fortunately, we had worked with
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a welder that worked at the Y -12 plant. And
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he knew how to weld these bottles up and these
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tiny capillaries that are involved. And among
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the three of us, we went out there in the basement
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of our home and started building these leaks
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and design systems to actually calibrate them
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and then slowly started to grow from there. Hang
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on for a second. We go back to Michelle now for
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an update on this story. What is going on in
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your mind when he and his partner, and please
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give your partner's name. Mark Buckman. Mark
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is a great guy, 12 pounds of tools. What are
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you thinking at this time? I was worried. I was
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worried. What are you thinking at this time?
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I was worried. We didn't have a lot of money.
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Thankfully, I did have the job at the government
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facility, so I was able to carry insurance for
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us. But, you know, I didn't know about the technology.
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I wasn't a technical person. George is very reassuring
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and very confident when he presents ideas. So
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I went along with it. I felt like he could. But
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going along with it is one thing. What you were
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going to have to do in order to go along with
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it was be the financial base of launching a startup.
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So talk about that. This is incredible to me,
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right? Well, we put in all that we had saved,
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of course. Mark contributed. What he had saved.
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Refinanced our house. We refinanced our house.
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We went to every living relative that we had
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and asked them to loan us some money. So you
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get this pile. What are we looking at? How much
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money? It was probably $20 ,000 from the relatives.
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And then George's mother alone had given us $10
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,000, which was her life savings. So life savings.
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Mortgage the house, your own savings. Mark brings
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all of his. Relatives, yes. And you get this
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little pile of money. Are you an accountant at
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this point? I was a finance officer, yes. Right.
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So had you gone back to school for accounting?
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An accounting degree, yes. Right, so you had
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an accounting degree. So you decide the role
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that you could best play would be? Continuing
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to work, carry the health insurance. And do what
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I could to. She kept the books for us. Early
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on. That was before we had one of our first employees.
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Yes. So. There wasn't a lot to keep. There wasn't
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a lot to keep. Right. That was a simple spreadsheet.
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But as I'm thinking about this, you're living
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off her paycheck. And is that a correct description?
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You're living off her paycheck. And she's doing
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the books. And you don't know if sink, swim.
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And you've got your relatives' money in the middle
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of the table. And everybody's, if this doesn't
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go, a lot of people are going to. Right. So what
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are you thinking at that time? Well, I'm not
00:16:40.019 --> 00:16:43.820
a worrier. My mode is not to worry about something.
00:16:43.899 --> 00:16:47.100
It's to take action. So we just got into it.
00:16:47.220 --> 00:16:50.299
We just plowed through and, you know. got the
00:16:50.299 --> 00:16:52.980
equipment built that we needed to do the measurements
00:16:52.980 --> 00:16:57.100
and calibrate these leaks and then get on the
00:16:57.100 --> 00:17:00.019
phone and sell them. And that was a very difficult
00:17:00.019 --> 00:17:02.860
thing to do. I want to make this movie so bad.
00:17:02.940 --> 00:17:06.059
I want to make this movie. You're not a worrier.
00:17:06.299 --> 00:17:10.539
No. Are you a worrier? Well, typically, yes.
00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:14.799
But because George is not a worrier, and I can
00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:16.940
attest to that, I have never seen him worry about
00:17:16.940 --> 00:17:19.990
anything. He can make it sound like, Anything
00:17:19.990 --> 00:17:25.930
is possible. And he usually does make anything
00:17:25.930 --> 00:17:30.170
possible. And do you not worry because of your
00:17:30.170 --> 00:17:33.210
faith? I mean, is there a spiritual dimension
00:17:33.210 --> 00:17:36.490
to this? Because you said you both have as a
00:17:36.490 --> 00:17:40.490
value God in the center. Well, I mean, certainly,
00:17:40.690 --> 00:17:45.500
you know, God put us on this earth to. to fend
00:17:45.500 --> 00:17:49.099
for ourselves and make do. He's given us the
00:17:49.099 --> 00:17:53.000
ability to do what's necessary. And along with
00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:55.740
that, my mom was very much a worrier. And I would
00:17:55.740 --> 00:17:57.539
always tell her, Mom, what are you going to get
00:17:57.539 --> 00:18:00.119
from the worrying? It's just going to upset you.
00:18:00.380 --> 00:18:04.440
Again, I get up and take action, see what we
00:18:04.440 --> 00:18:07.839
can do to fix it or move forward. And that seems
00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:11.680
to work. Michelle does like to call me a Pollyanna.
00:18:14.190 --> 00:18:22.309
But you know what I think? Fear is the fuel of
00:18:22.309 --> 00:18:28.769
survival. Optimism is the fuel of progress. Yep.
00:18:28.890 --> 00:18:34.309
That's what I've learned. And you can run from
00:18:34.309 --> 00:18:37.819
the dragons, the lions. And you're just surviving.
00:18:38.039 --> 00:18:40.839
But when people shift gears and they start to
00:18:40.839 --> 00:18:44.299
create something new or new pathways, new possibilities,
00:18:44.599 --> 00:18:48.539
it's normally because they see opportunity, not
00:18:48.539 --> 00:18:55.480
just the hounds coming. And I think I love that
00:18:55.480 --> 00:19:01.980
optimism. And I love the cross currents of faith.
00:19:03.259 --> 00:19:07.519
You have a faith. This is going to work out.
00:19:07.740 --> 00:19:11.140
I know the science. I know that there's a need.
00:19:11.420 --> 00:19:15.180
When I just look at it pragmatically, this is
00:19:15.180 --> 00:19:19.279
great science. It has great application in industry.
00:19:20.940 --> 00:19:24.759
If we work hard, it's not going to be given to
00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:28.019
us, but if we work hard, this might do something.
00:19:28.680 --> 00:19:32.980
So you're sizzling like an isotope with faith,
00:19:33.079 --> 00:19:38.299
and you see the sizzle. Which triggers your faith,
00:19:38.380 --> 00:19:43.660
right? And my sizzle, too. Ah. Yeah. It's catchy.
00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:48.900
Yeah. And I think that's what I see 40 years
00:19:48.900 --> 00:19:51.740
later is I still see faith and sizzle, right?
00:19:52.660 --> 00:19:57.180
So you guys go for it. Early on, I had classmates
00:19:57.180 --> 00:19:59.299
from high school class when we would go to class
00:19:59.299 --> 00:20:03.940
reunions. Oh, aren't you afraid that if it doesn't
00:20:03.940 --> 00:20:06.299
work out? I said. I can just get a job. I mean,
00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:09.299
it's not like I had an engineering degree. It
00:20:09.299 --> 00:20:11.039
was going to be hard to get a job if it didn't
00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:13.240
work out. It was worth a try. So, you know, it
00:20:13.240 --> 00:20:15.980
just took the risk. You're 28 years old. Yep.
00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:19.839
Who believed in you most? Oh, I would have to
00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:24.099
say, I'd say it's threefold for me. My business
00:20:24.099 --> 00:20:27.740
partner, Mark. Yeah, he's great. Michelle and
00:20:27.740 --> 00:20:30.740
my mom. Yeah, Mark seems like he's the kind of
00:20:30.740 --> 00:20:33.809
person like you. Once he makes up his mind. And
00:20:33.809 --> 00:20:37.490
he locks in. It's just, that's what it is. Yeah.
00:20:38.490 --> 00:20:41.190
Who's there most, believed most to you? Same.
00:20:41.230 --> 00:20:44.609
Same? Mm -hmm. His mother and George and Mark.
00:20:44.650 --> 00:20:47.430
Any children at this time? No. No children. We
00:20:47.430 --> 00:20:50.329
didn't have Sonia until we were 32, 33 years
00:20:50.329 --> 00:20:52.750
old. Right. Where were you driving at the time?
00:20:55.529 --> 00:20:59.470
A pickup truck called Rusty. I saw Rusty. That
00:20:59.470 --> 00:21:02.630
was like the Fred Flintstone car. The floorboards
00:21:02.630 --> 00:21:04.490
were rusted out from being up north with the
00:21:04.490 --> 00:21:10.329
salt. A 1976 Ford Granada. And this was 1986,
00:21:10.490 --> 00:21:15.029
so a 10 -year -old car. Granada. I noticed when
00:21:15.029 --> 00:21:17.470
I said, what were you driving, you both chuckled.
00:21:18.369 --> 00:21:21.710
So you're starting. This is a great American
00:21:21.710 --> 00:21:25.150
story. I love this story. Why don't we get a
00:21:25.150 --> 00:21:29.230
break? And on part two, we're going to get into
00:21:29.230 --> 00:21:33.970
building this great company. And not only did
00:21:33.970 --> 00:21:36.329
you build a company, have you built a company,
00:21:36.470 --> 00:21:40.069
but you built a community, a caring community.
00:21:40.390 --> 00:21:42.890
I can't wait to tell the rest of this story.
00:21:43.130 --> 00:21:46.369
George and Michelle Solomon, anything is possible.