The axis of advance toward building my own company was set on Monday, February 20,1995. That was the day that I crossed my Rubicon.

Four days prior, I sat on the bed in my apartment. Coincidentally, it was the same apartment I’d previously shared with my college roommates. Though I’d graduated in 1990, I returned to Raleigh where I knew I could get a structural engineering job. Just as importantly, that apartment was dirt cheap, and I was poor. Enlisted Marines weren’t paid much.

On my lap was the Yellow Pages telephone directory, opened to the “Structural Engineers” section. I called each company in turn, alphabetically, saying the same thing, “I’m an Engineer in Training looking for an entry-level structural engineering job. Do you have anything?”

A thru J had proven unfruitful.  When I got to the K’s the receptionist at KCI Technologies, Inc. told me to hold. She put Richard Cullum on the phone who interviewed me right then.

I told him that I recently mustered off active duty and was now a reservist. He thought that was great because he needed an engineer who would climb a tower and reasoned that since I was a Marine, I would have the courage to climb a tower. Of course, that was not necessarily the case. Climbing was something I’d never done, but I did not argue because I wanted to work. I did not simply want a paycheck; I wanted to work toward my childhood dream of owning my own engineering firm. I wanted to work that dream as bad as anything I ever wanted in life, before and since.

Richard told me to come into the office the next day to meet his boss, Tim.

What did I want to do with my life? That was one of the first questions Tim asked me. Without missing a beat, I replied, “I want to own my own engineering firm.”

Well, of course I did. Isn’t that what every young man wanted?

The interview proceeded rapidly. We did not even bother to sit down. As I found out later, they had decided to hire me based on Richard’s phone interview. Really all I needed do was show up in climbing shape. I was a lean 155 pounds, so I fit the bill. More than anything else they wanted someone with an engineering degree, the courage to climb towers, the willingness to endure the discomfort of outside work, and to sleep in flea-trap hotels.

Nevertheless, their lead structural engineer insisted on querying my technical knowledge—a discussion that rapidly degraded into an argument. Somehow a discussion over the recently released movie “True Lies”devolved into an argument of how “Jews in Hollywood” picked the villains for the movies. He was an anti-Semite while I was a person with admiration for Israel. It was fortuitous confrontation because, you see, my structural engineering ability was merely adequate. However, my knowledge of Arnold (from bodybuilding), Harrier Jump Jets (from the Marines) and Israel (from its glorious military history) was extensive. He should have stuck to questions about structural engineering.

Like I said, I already had the job—if I showed up ready to climb. But as it turned out, I later discovered that my willingness to engage in a conflict with their stubborn structural engineer had impressed them.

The following Monday at 7:30 a.m. I was sitting in the hallway when Richard arrived to unlock KCI’s office.

Whether I would climb or not I did not know. It did not matter because I knew the one thing that would override all else—I was going to outwork everybody, and I could not wait to get at it.

Hence, Richard turned the corner to that hallway to find me sitting on the floor, in the dark, staring at that locked door. I was to be the tip of the spear of an industry revolution because I decided to be.

The axis advance for TEP was set when I crossed that threshold into KCI’s office.