Certain friendships you just know are going to work out… so you’re willing to stretch.
2004 was an interesting year for new college graduates. The job market, although relatively strong, was incredibly competitive with many recent graduates from 2001-2003 still looking to land their first, post September 11th (2001). Having recently left my full-time to take part-time work with Pro-Activity in pursuit of goals to build it, and break into new markets, I was in no position to “bring on an employee”...but certain friendships you just know are going to work out… so you’re willing to stretch.
I remember getting word that my best friend and wrestling teammate from college Nick Pfaff, a newly graduated electrical engineer from Cornell University, was back home in Ohio doing side work for a local landscape company, and thinking to myself that a guy like that could surely make an impact on a group like ours. I called Nick and said something to the effect of,
“Hey…I’m working for my siblings and we’re trying to build something special…. we can’t really pay you much of anything but my parents are willing to put a roof over your head and food on the table…if you’re up for it, I’d really like to build it together”
By 2005 things, economically, had continued to improve and my best childhood friend Justin Bagley was finishing up his doctorate in Physical Therapy at Arcadia University. Justin was the kind of guy anyone would want on their team… a hard worker… a leader… a natural in so many ways, and suffice it to say that he had more than enough job prospects and opportunities. Things at Pro-Activity had been escalating quickly in the last 365 days, and we too had a growing list of opportunities, including full-time work that took our team into very diverse, atypical settings for healthcare professionals. Everyday was in fact an adventure as our practice was starting to build into prevention and health promotion, along with both sub-acute and outpatient settings. We knew Justin would be the right fit…and selfishly, the thought of working with two of my siblings and my two best friends in a start-up of sorts was exciting. I was eager to say the least, but the thing about Justin (and I’d argue all people)... to take a big leap or make a big change (working at a practice like Pro-Activity is still a big leap for many health professionals today, in 2005 it was gigantic).... It didn’t matter how bad I wanted it for him, he had to want it for himself….
Early this year I had the opportunity to go on the Pro-Activity podcast with Nick and Justin. We each got a chance to share bits of our stories from the last 20, 19, and 18 years respectively. There have been countless shared experiences… enough set-backs to keep us hungry, and enough shared victories to keep us going. When asked to summarize what it takes, Nick simply and elegantly responded with, “Say yes. Put in the work. Don’t give up!”. It struck me on so many levels. This is exactly what they did. This is exactly what anyone who achieves anything worth achieving does. Although I’m not sure they realized it at the time when they chose to do just this almost two decades ago, this is exactly the type of culture they’ve helped create and we’re proud to represent. We couldn’t have done it without them and the so many who have followed.
-Eric E.
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