60 in 60 Project: Insights into Success #60in60project #43of60 with Josh Donato @ O-Town Steel Erectors
#60in60project #43of60
With Josh Donato
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Recap - The objective of this project was to meet with 60 business leaders and professionals in 60 days to gain insights and perspectives into what success means for each of them. I then took that information to see what, if any, are the connections I could make to help further my own understanding of what success really is.
It ceases to amaze me how many people share similar insights. For the context of this project; finding insights and perspectives on success from 60 different people, I think it helps creates value. The value of knowing that regardless of what profession you’re in, to know that there’s other people out there who have some of the same thoughts and outlook on how to sustain success.
I’d met Josh Donato at a local Ottawa based coffee shop; Bridgehead, whose main base of operations lies in the heart of Little Italy, not far from where I live. He’d reached out here on LinkedIn as I’d recently made a post about my new found wealth of “free time” in regard to the recent OPSEU strike here in Ontario. I was more than happy to connect and hear his perspective on what success has meant for him.
Who is Josh Donato?
(I'd say see photo above, but it's hard to make him out)
Josh Donato is the President of O-Town Steel Erectors here in Ottawa.
“A steel services company that specializes in the erection of fabricated metals, ornamentals, stairs and railings for owners, developers and general contractors.”
Born and raised here in Ottawa, Josh tells me that he’s spent the better part of his life here in the city. His father, Frank Donato, started a structural steel fabrication company back in 1983 called Fortran Steel and explains with that he was basically born into the industry.
“For pretty much my whole life I’d worked there for my dad, since I was about 12 years old. He always said “you get a week off after school finishes and another week before it starts, but for the rest of the summer you’re working”. My Father came from Italy, my mother came from Portugal, so there was always that focus on a strong work ethic.”
Josh then learned about the business in the same way anyone would; by starting from the basics and working his way up from there. After high school, he went on to college for Construction Engineering Technician, but for one reason or another didn’t complete the program. He did, however get the opportunity to start his own company in another industry altogether instead.
“My father and some business partners ended up buying a car wash and I was able to close off 3 of the bays to open a car detailing business, which went good for a few years. Then my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer around the same time that one of his business partners had a stroke, so they asked if I wanted to come back and work for the company.”
Josh tells me that the job came with the perks of having a company vehicle, cell phone and a decent pay. That, combined with the realization that he wasn’t going to be able to properly manage his detailing business with as much focus, he decided to make the transition back into the steel fabrication industry.
“I started to notice that within the industry here in Ottawa, it was always the same players or companies doing the installation of the steel on work sites. We always did the fabrication and would use the same companies as everyone else. Eventually the opportunity came to for me to leave my father’s business and open up my own company; O-Town Steel Erectors. We started two guys and one pickup truck and as of this past summer we’re now at a staff of thirty two with a fleet of five vehicles and three trailers.”
Josh admits that in the past five years, with contracts such as the City of Ottawa and the Pedestrian Bridge that crosses the highway and connects the train station to the baseball stadium, he’s been able to do work on some pretty interesting projects and his company has grown more than he could have ever imagined.
The road wasn’t an easy one and Josh tells me that they had to overcome their fair share of barriers, especially given the competition here in the city and the obvious relation between himself and his father’s business.
“It probably took me a good eight months to knock down that barrier and for people to start giving me a shot. Now we have client list that calls us, whereas before I was making all the calls.”
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
“I still see myself doing this. If growth continues to go the way it’s going, I’d like to see myself as at least the biggest steel erector here in Eastern Ontario and make that possible. We have goals and I’d like to hit them. I don’t want to sound vague, but it’s just hard to answer. I like what I’m doing right now and I don’t have any issues getting up in the morning and starting each day. Currently, life is good. I would like to achieve a 40 under 40 award in next 5 years though.”
As Josh had been reading my articles, he said he didn’t want to prepare a specific answer and just speak from the heart so to speak. Something I think most people have done as it’s not the type of question you often think about - few of these are.
“I don’t know if I see myself doing it, but I would like to get more involved with politics as down the road. Whether that’s local or provincial, I’m not sure, but I see a lot of waste and opportunity for change and I think that would be interesting to be involved in. I think that’s probably more of a long term goal though.”
What would you say is your biggest accomplishment in life so far?
“Personally, it’s about family and raising a family. I believe we live in a good household with good values - we’re happy to be home and we’re happy to be around each other. I feel lucky and I feel like that’s a good achievement because we work towards whatever we need to to make that possible.”
“Business wise - I guess it would be the fact that we’re still here five years later, past the 3-5 year threshold where if you don’t make it, you’re not going to make it. As an entrepreneur, you strive to hit so many little goals that to say one thing is my biggest achievement is hard. Every little goal, every little thing we’ve done is a success. Without hitting one achievement, I won’t hit the next one.”
“Even just driving around the city and showing my son the work we’ve done, it’s pretty cool. You see all these big projects from all over the city that we’ve been a part of.”
What are your driving factors? What motivates you?
“The motivation itself is obviously for me my wife and kids, that’s always a huge motivator. In the beginning I had to make a decision to either stay on with my father’s company, or start a business for myself from scratch. Not only that, but I was starting it through the union sector of the industry which is a whole different ball game so at that point, you don’t want to fail; you don’t want to do anything but give it your all to provide for your family and your kids. That’s probably one of my driving factors; to show my kids that hard work pays off and I feel like that something that perhaps isn’t as evident in society today. Without sounding like an old man, which I’m not by any stretch at 33, but 80% of the youth that I hire don’t seem to have the same work ethic and maybe it goes back to working from a young age - I hated it at the time, but thankful for it now because I have a good work ethic. I never wanted to be the person who goes the gas station and worries that if I fill up my tank will I still be able to pay my bills or buy food or whatever. I never wanted it to come to that point. I don’t want to have to worry about that kind of stuff."
What does success mean for you?
“On the one hand, success is the joy of the little achievements that you get as a business owner - everything was new in a sense, but we’re five years down the road and I’m dealing with stuff that I know now but I’m always learning and I’m sure that down the road, there will be even more to deal with but it’s all the little successes along the way that make it possible; I took this project today or a won a bid on a project, there’s a success. I completed it, there’s a success. When we built the bridge across the highway, we had a 15 minute window of time to install it while the highway was closed down - when we got that done, there’s another success. All the steps that lead to having a sustainable business is a success.”
Insight -
When I spoke to Thanh Cao, she had said that another driving force for her was not wanting to worry about money. An example she used was to not have to worry every time she filled up her gas tank, which was the exact same example that Josh provided - interesting given that both work in completely different industries and have led completely different lives, yet share some of the same values and character traits.
Josh also mentioned to me that another motivation for him was that he didn’t want to put a cap on his salary; in that as an entrepreneur, he didn’t want to be told “this is how much you’re making this year and that’s it”. I thought that was interesting as well given how much I’d been talking about the difficulty of trying to navigate your career through any linear trajectory and how it’s better to just see what’s out there and what opportunities lay ahead. Obviously, money is a driving factor as you get older - the idea is to have enough so you don’t have to worry so for an entrepreneur I can see the value in not wanting to put a limit on what amount that is. I guess the idea would be to not put a cap on anything in your career - for someone like myself, the goal is to find full time employment in the digital marketing landscape, which would no doubt come with a specific starting salary with opportunities to grow. That doesn’t mean that I can’t find other sources of income on the side as a freelance writer or perhaps consultant down the road. With that comes more experience, more connections and more opportunity to hopefully find a sustainable balance. The money may be the object, but it’s not the purpose.
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Hartley is a content marketer who has set out to meet 60 people in 60 days in order to find insights into the idea of success. If you would like to be profiled on this project, you can reach Hartley here in LinkedIn or via email: [email protected]. #60in60project