Entrepreneurs
by Anne—Age 56—Atlanta, GA
Milton, a bandy-legged rural Georgian, and Tony, a city-bred Ohioan from an Italian background, could not have been more different, but they were great friends—at first. I joined them in business after we got out of Georgia Tech’s graduate school in the ’70s and had a hard time finding jobs to suit our degrees.
We began to manufacture lightweight concrete air-conditioner pads from a formula we developed ourselves, so that HVAC installers could truck the pad to the site instead of having it poured, saving time and money.
Orders poured in and we struggled to keep up. I borrowed from parents, Milton sold his van to buy a used Nissan, and Tony’s wife worked. We got a loan for new equipment. I learned bookkeeping. We kept experimenting and improved our formula, and people began to come to us with projects and suggestions. Always strapped for cash, we took on a young lawyer who did our legal work in exchange for a share in the company. As the tide of profit began to turn black, a tide of differences developed.
I’m not sure when or how the crack developed in the friendship between Tony and Milton. A conflict developed about which way to take the business next, and I felt caught in the middle.
To solve the problem, we all met one evening in the lawyer’s office around a large, glass-topped conference table. Someone brought out a bottle of bourbon. We talked and we drank, and talked some more, and drank some more. Words got heated. Faces got red. I think—but I cannot be sure—it was Tony, wanting to make a point, who raised his hand and slammed it down on the table with all his might.
The table’s glass top cracked right down the middle.
Suddenly, everyone sobered and the meeting broke up. The next day, I sent the lawyers a check for $70 for their table top. The business cracked in two, as well, with Milton taking the concrete and Tony taking the contracts for the other products. I sold my stake and moved on to be a mom for awhile. The original company is still in business today and is quite successful. The lawyer owns it.
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