"Together Talks" # 164 with Eric Goodman, CEO of Chem-Pak and MVS, Inc.

Chem-Pak: Janitorial, Facility & Office Supplies Triple S Brands

Mountain View Services: Serving the healthcare industry since 1988 as caring, dependable, & honest.

For the 164th feature of our "Together Talks" campaign, we collaborated with Eric Goodman, he is the CEO of both Chem-Pak and Mountain View Services, Inc.

Chem-Pak was founded in 1987 by Terry Goodman. Terry has over 50 years experience in the Janitorial industry. He started his career in Jan-San in the 1970’s with Eureka Vacuums. Then he was hired by Easterday Janitorial Supply Company in the 1980’s. He managed the Inland Empire territory before leaving to start his own company, Chem-Pak (Chemical Packaging) Janitorial. Terry has been an industry leader and visionary. Today the company is lead by Terry’s son, Eric Goodman. Making it a second-generation family business.

MVS, Inc. is the leading supplier of groceries, medical supplies, janitorial supplies, nutritional supplements, incontinence supplies, durable medical equipment, over-the-counter medications, personal supplies, safety and facility supplies, linens, and office supplies for all types of facilities since 1988. Their services include free menus, order forms, in-services, budgeting, and delivery. They are an accredited Medicare and Medi-Cal provider. With 36+ years of experience, they save you time and money by reducing labor costs, employee liability, vehicle costs, and theft. Their mission is to provide facilities with the products and services of the highest quality. They want to help as many people in our community as they can.

"Together Talks" feature # 164: Chem-Pak and Mountain View Services, Inc. presented by KLS - Your Trusted Shipping Solutions?In The USA

Story of how it was created?

CP: It was founded by my father. He was working for another company in the Jan San Supply industry, which is the industry that we're in. They had left our market here in Southern California and decided to primarily focus on the Los Angeles market. Where we're located, they didn't have any distributorship. He had the opportunity to open his own company. He started it from the ground up with just him and then built it, today 38 years years later, we're about 22 employees, two retail stores, and distribution center, all based in the San Bernardino, California area.

MVS: I did not start this company. it founded 37 years ago. We provide services to about 500 homes for development disabled adults, children, and seniors in their own private homes were nationwide based out of Southern California. I came to work for the company about eight years after it was founded. I started with the company in outside sales, then director of sales, then vice president, then president, and then I purchased the company in 2020. I've been sole owner of the company the last five years.

What separates you from your competition?

CP: We do paper goods and chemicals, products for businesses, we supply and support any kind of business. We serve school districts, federal and state office buildings, lots of contract cleaning companies buy from us. The difference in our industry is there is a couple of other companies who are going around the country buying up independent, owned and operating businesses and combining them all into one. I just read yesterday on one of them. I think they've acquired hundreds of businesses across the U.S. There's huge consolidation going on in our industry. They've offered to me three or four times trying to buy our business because of where we're located and the market share that we have. But we don't have any intentions of selling. I'd like to see it go into the fourth generation in my lifetime, fifth possibly.

I acquired the business from my father in August 2023. Then my son-in-law and daughter, came in and joined the business. My kids actually bought into the company last year, and my son-in-law is now running the company as the president, the day-to-day. It's actually being ran by the third generation now, which to me is incredible. But a lot of the companies, the kids weren't involved or didn't want to be in our industry or business. So instead they are selling because of that or because it was right place, right time and they got more than they ever expected.

MVS: We are responsible for about 500 group homes for developing disabled adults and children here in Southern California through MediCal, which is Medicaid nationally. Then we supply seniors at home in their own residences across the country with mostly incontinence advice and nutritional supplements, things like that. In California, we're the only company that I know that exists that does food and medical supplies on the same truck. We sell full line groceries, everything you can buy in the grocery store, milk, bread, cheese, and then we sell online medical personal and cleaning supplies all on the same truck.

We've been in business 37 years. I've been in the industry for 30 and I've never found another company in California or anywhere else in the country that does what we do. There's a lot of companies that sell medical supplies and there's lot of companies that sell food, but I've never found somebody that's combined the two together. In our market out here, it makes us really unique because I believe we're the only one operating in our space.

What have been the biggest challenges?

CP: For my Dad, it was a lifestyle business. It was a legacy after, so I bought the business in 2023 and that was his 50th year in our industry. He was 70 when he sold the business and it started as his first job and career and then opened his company. For him, it had got to be where the business wasn't growing anymore and that was by choice. It was just something that he was doing to survive his lifestyle. He didn't want to see the business grow anymore because if it did, that meant more work. which then would cut into its lifestyle, which you find a lot of legacy businesses become that.

When we took it over, there had to be a lot of changes done to just bring it up to current time, platforms and systems and operations. The biggest hurdle has been just that transition from, Gen 1 to Gen 2, and now with Gen 3 being involved. My son-in-law is really involved in technology, he is doing a lot of technical stuff with the business that we had never done before. Implementing operating systems, everything that he's doing in our warehouse operation to automate it to get us up to speed. Those have been the big struggles and pain points for us, but with our industry changing like it is, with a consolidation of so many of them, I think if we don't adapt and change now, we can't keep up and compete with those big national accounts. We have the service, there's no question, but you need the infrastructure to support that too, and that's what we're building out now.

MVS: We're funded by Medicaid. That's our biggest challenge right out of the gate. Anybody that receives insurance payments or deals with, Medicaid or Medi-Cal understands what that involves. For us, it's funding. Our state dictates what we receive in terms of funds. We're paid on a rate that's decided by the state and we have to provide services based on those fees.

It is really slow. Insurance company claims, denials and reimbursements is really bad. Owning and operating a business that cares for about 3,500 patients that are physically or mentally disabled and having to rely on state funding for that is really difficult. I can honestly say I do this business out of a labor of love.

What have you learned since becoming an entrepreneur?

For me, being an employee of the business and then ultimately buying the company and being the CEO, I have team members that have been with me since the start. I have one that's been with us all 38 years. Out of our management team of 13, I'd say most of them have been with us 20-25 years. On the other side of the business, some have been with us over 30. That transition of going from employee to upper management to president to CEO to owner, I think for me personally what I've gained out of that is understanding all facets of the company. I know what it's like to be the employee and what it's like to be the manager or running the department.

I think we lead differently than say a traditional CEO who's only been in a CEO roles. They don't know how it feels when management does things and they're not included or they don't understand when it doesn't feel like a team. But I understand that because I came from just being an employee, starting with the company and then moving my way up. I think the biggest lesson learned for me and the thing that I would share with anybody that's an entrepreneur, you know how hard it is. Entrepreneurship is not easy. I have great respect for anybody that's an entrepreneur because we all have been through so much pain and suffering to get our businesses to where they are today. If anybody tells you they're an entrepreneur and it's easy, they're lying. It's not, it's really, really, really hard. It shows the strength of a person to become an entrepreneur. But for me personally, the best thing I've ever learned is when a company grows to a certain size, you can't effectively lead a company from the inside.

If you are a visionary leader like I am, you have to step out of the company and drive it forward externally and have a team internally who can run the day-to-day operations. Because I'm the wrong guy to be sitting in the office, approving bills, checks, stamping contracts. That's not a good place for me. My role is out in the community building relationships and being visionary about how the business is going to grow and expand. A few years ago when I removed myself out of the day-to-day operations and put people in place to run it, that's when the company began to grow. It started to take off and grow and expand to where we are now. All the awards and accolades we received the last few years, was by me removing myself out of the day to day and putting myself externally.

But that's a really hard thing to do. If anybody's ever tried to transition in their business from yourself to someone else. I have Mark running the day to day Chem-PaK and I have Alexandra as my number two running the day to day at MVS. I don't get involved in the day to day operations anymore. It's a really hard transition, but once you make it, it's the greatest thing in the world. I think too many entrepreneurs or leaders of the organizations stay in the game too long. I probably did stay in too long running the day to day. But we don't remove ourselves because we think we have to continue running it. I was concerned, when I gave it up, what'll happen, I'll lose this or I'll lose that or I won't have control or what if they don't make the right decision that I would make. And sometimes they haven't, but there's a learning lessons for them just like they were learning lessons for me.

They will ask why I didn't step in, it's because if I stepped in, there is no learning experience When you give it up and let someone else assume control, you have to let them run it and learn on their own. You won't always agree with all the decisions they make. But the things that I've been able to do for the business externally by not doing those things, are more rewarding than if I stayed in the business and try to manage every little piece of it..

How have you grown due to becoming an entrepreneur?

The last five years have probably been the biggest growth for business and professional leadership skills. The openness to be willing to learn because I acknowledge I don't know everything and that there's other leaders who have done things that I'm going to do. I seek out to get their advice or their support. With a leader of an organization, the CEO or C-suite learns that they don't know it all and that they don't have all the answers, which is hard because sometimes your team comes to you and as the CEO, they expect that you have all the answers. But when you say you don't know, they might question your direction. But if you humble yourself to say, I don't know, but we're going to figure this out and we're going to learn, that can instill confidence. Committing to finding the right individuals to teach or educate on a situation we are unaware about can produce big and meaningful changes.

For me, it was when I discovered what a visionary leader was. A friend of mine in Orange County shared with me that he was a visionary leader. I googled it and it resonated with me. I started reading more on visionary leaders felt like this is describing me. I'm definitely a visionary leader but I thought I was the CEO who's running the day-to-day and I'm not that's not a good role for me. This allowed me to step back and assess my position. I'm definitely a visionary CEO who's the one that needs to be out in the community pushing the business forward through connections and relationships. So that is what I did, in the last just two years we were family business of the year for our county which is 3.5 million people in Southern California. In Orange County we were nationally recognized as a national philanthropy business of the year for our philanthropic work. I was recognized as a philanthropist of the year for our county. Association of Corps for growth and Civic 50 were honored as the top 50 civically minded companies in our county the last three years going on four actually.

All of those things wouldn't have come if I had been setting its office behind my desk just doing the day to day. It needed me out in the community sharing what we do, sharing what the businesses do, making connections and relationships with other businesses for them to spotlight us in the community and lift us up. If I had stayed at the office and just been doing what I had done the 25 years previous, I don't think I know for a fact the company wouldn't be where it is today.

What is the next thing you need to develop or improve on?

With both companies, it's going to be letting that next leader take charge and run the business. By having the team all meet together and discuss where they want to take the operations and then having my support to do that and being visionary and putting the big ideas out there. I realized this used to happen to me when our previous CEO that had the company, know, we always laugh and joke because he would come in on the whiteboard and put up 100 post it notes of ideas. We'd all say there is no way we can accomplish all that, but if we knock out one here and one there we can make an impact. And that was the goal of the CEO to drive impact through innovation and vision. The team will often hit goals and milestones for new ideas and remark how they didn't envision it being possible. But by simply providing the vision and giving them the power to execute it is what matters most.

What aspect of entrepreneurship do you appreciate the most?

We're always looking for that next big thing, either within our businesses or other businesses. I've expanded now out to companies actually launching a third next month. It's always that next thing, the next goal. However never forgetting where we came from or what we did and never forgetting the businesses is critical. I think the big revolution for me this year has been, and the biggest transition for me personally has been, Mountain View Services, the original company, at some point in life became my idol, and it was running my life. The business was running me, I wasn't running the business. I did that for probably way longer than I should have. It took a lot from me that I probably shouldn't have let it take but I think we all get there as business leaders where we invest so much time, energy and love into our companies that at some point they they begin running us. I just didn't realize that it had became my idol that I was worshiping it in the way that I was.

This year my big focus is I'm really happy with what I built and what we have but I'm launching my own brand. To make sure that Eric Goodman, my vision, my leadership can be with MVS or Chem-Pak or even with a new company. Or it can be something else in the community it doesn't have to be tied to one business. Once we tie ourselves to one business and we let it run and control us I think it takes over. Every every leader at some point should realize that's happening and they should step back. They should have their own identity and their own brand outside of their company because it's really our minds and our thoughts and our bodies that are driving our businesses. Sometimes, as entrepreneurs or CEOs, we get labeled that people know us as our business. That's who I was in the community. They didn't know me as Eric Goodman. And now I want to make sure that I'm known, and that I'm Eric Goodman, the visionary leader, and that these are just resources that I have to fuel the projects that I'm working on.

Share a decision that you made that was detrimental?

Every entrepreneur and every person that has a company, their goal is to grow the company. I have never met an entrepreneur or a CEO that I talked to that they said, I don't want my company to be X, right? Everybody wants their company to be X. The problem is sometimes we get wrapped up in X and growing the business, and we miss some stuff along the way that has to happen to make that happen. For me, we were trying to grow the company and the idea was bigger was better. That way the company would make more money.

I'm in a CEO group in the county and we meet once a month, there's 12 CEOs. We spend one full day together just helping each other. I was giving my my strategic planning for the year, I had everything laid out that we were supposed to do as business leaders and I was questioned why I was growing the business. I said "I don't know, because isn't that what you're supposed to do?" I didn't have a good answer. He cautioned me to not grow the business just to grow the business, there has to be a reason or purpose behind why you're growing this business. If you can't then you're doing it for the wrong reason.

I had to really step back and think. Now if somebody asks me, I'm growing the businesses because we're helping more people in the community and we're doing more good work through all the nonprofit work that we do. That's why I want the businesses to grow and succeed is because they're fueling all of the community work we do in the public. Now I realize the businesses are resources that are here to fund all of the help we do in the community. I'm not growing the business just to make profit or dollars or just to hit some certain goal of dollar amount. Because when you do that, I think then the business becomes again where it's running you instead of you running it. Now I'm using it as a resource to fuel things. I think stepping back, kind of slowing the businesses down, not expanding it as fast as we were has really helped us grow. I know that sounds weird, but it really has helped us grow more by pulling back than it did when we were just trying to expand it be bigger.

What is your why?

I'll give you my personal why and my backstory. I was born with an extremely rare condition called Scheuermann's Kyphosis. I was in leg braces when I was a little kid and body braces. When I was 15 and a half years old, I had a life-saving surgery where they fused my spine from top to bottom. My curvature, the Scheuermann's Kyphosis, like Scoliosis. Scoliosis is a 45 degree, Scheuermann is a 90 degree. The curvature of my spine had got to be so severe that it was crushing my internal organs and my left lung was collapsing. I was rushed into the hospital, they fused my spine. I have two metal rods in my back, Harrington rods that I still have today. I have rib inserts and I have a fused spine. I was in a full body cast from the neck down for nine months. I went in the hospital in January and I got out in August and basically couldn't move anything but my head.

That traumatic experience really gave me a lot of time to think at a very young age that I missed a lot of life, 15.5 years. I was going into high school when really you're becoming your own individual. I missed all that because I was home. When I got out of the hospital and recovered, I had a physical therapy to learn how to walk again. I still had to wear a removable cast for like a year while my spine healed. It gave me a new sense of purpose in life, I've never taken granted for what I have.

I feel like I got a second chance and that second chance has been, how do I take what I've been given and I don't know why he's given me what he's given to me. But some how I've been able to acquire the companies and build these operations. I'm using those to give back every single day and help as many people as I can. I'm on nonprofit boards. Our company has a nonprofit plan. We support nonprofits, donate a percentage back of our annual revenue to them. We use our warehouse to do logistics for nonprofits. We use our trucks to deliver for nonprofits. I have nonprofits who have offices in my building that I give them free rent all year where they house their operations. Anything I can do in the community to give back and help others, I'm willing. I built one of my businesses by caring for development, disabled adults and children. I was born disabled and I'm still disabled by society standards today.

Then the other company is providing cleaning and medical supplies to the community. A lot of cause and purpose of what we do is we help people, but I want to make sure not only do we help people with our services, but I want to use the company as resources to help the community. I really believe my mission and life is to use those to help as many people as I can along here.

Do you have a moment that brings you the most joy?

CP: When my dad was going to sell the business, he actually listed it for sale. He had it for sale for a few years during COVID. COVID was really good for this industry because he was doing disinfectants and gloves and pleaters and toilet paper. if you remember during COVID, there was no toilet paper on the shelf. Well, that was our business. That's what the company does is janitorial supply. He listed the company for sale. He was going to sell it. I was not planning on acquiring it because I already had MVS. I didn't really have the time or the energy to buy the company. But I felt a certain sense of pride in my dad, he founded something and started that company from nothing. I really didn't want to see it get sold to someone. When I came to him and said, I wanted to buy the company, I think he was ultimately shocked. He was concerned that I didn't need another company. MVS is larger corporation, so I think he questioned why I even considered it.

After I acquired it, and within six months, my son-in-law came to me and he wanted to be involved. I asked how and he offered to run the business day to day. It was tremendous timing because I needed the help. Shortly after my daughter got involved, then my wife, and even my father again. Like I said we are now three generations! Three, four, or five family members are involved on a daily basis. I think my biggest joy and pride is that I'm able to continue his legacy, and I'm taking the family business in the multiple generations. I think that's something really amazing.

MVS: I bought MVS in November 2020. Buying it during COVID was tough, being in medical supplies, supplying gowns and gloves. It was probably the hardest hit industry during COVID next to our paper goods. The partners who were left that owned the company were 20 years my senior. They didn't have any desire to run a business during COVID. They came to me advised they wanted out, it was more work than they were willing to do. It's just something that they weren't passionate about anymore.

I was able to buy that company during COVID, they carried notes, funded it, successfully make it through COVID, and then come out on the other side to where we're at today, five years later. Now I own and operate the business that I used to just work for as an employee, it was quite an accomplishment. I actually would joke and laugh and tell people it was during my 25-year career that I was going to buy this business one day. I had said that for my first few years in and a lot of the team had said yeah, right or there is no way you can buy this. When I actually bought it many said, Holy S***, you actually bought it!

This wasn't just something I got a whim of an idea on, this had been in the works for years and years. I had a goal of owning and operating the company because of my personal mission with my my physical disabilities and what we do caring for developmentally disabled children. I'm very passionate about it. I have a lot of why. I think having that goal of always wanting to own the company and then actually doing it just goes to prove that if you have the mindset to do something you can do it.

How can you make a difference?

I would tell other business owners or leaders, one of the things that I try to share every single day is there was billions donated nonprofits last year nationally and 70 percent of that was through individual donors, meaning only 30 percent of that was from corporations. So many businesses that are family owned or small to mid-site businesses don't do enough work in their community to support nonprofits. They don't think they can because they can't compete with a Fortune 500 company or donate millions of dollars to an organization. Many feel that are not a philanthropist, so they just don't do it because they don't think they can make a difference.

The one thing I would share is you have resources. You have things that your businesses possesses, you have employees, your operations, take those resources and leverage them to help others in your community. Whether it is individuals or non-profits, use the resources you already have and help other people. You'll be amazed at what one person and one business can do to support a community and make a huge impact just by using their resources. You do not have to cut a check.

When I was awarded philanthropist of the year for our county last year, I was not the largest donor in our county. I was far from it. I live in Orange County, California. It's one of the wealthiest counties in the United States and it's well known by everyone around the world. Because of leveraging my resources and using all of our businesses to help so many people in the community, that is how I made a difference. Once I realized as a small business owner and family business that we could give back by using our resources, it changed my world.

I would just want any person that sees this to know that you can make a huge impact in your community. You just need to take what you already have and use it to get back to others. You don't have to write that big huge check.

Piece of Advice

Probably a few times a week or even daily I'm asked how I stay so positive being an entrepreneur, running businesses the size that I do, doing all the work I do in the community, on seven boards of directors for nonprofits. Last year, we supported over a hundred nonprofits through our nonprofit program, using our resources to give out to them. All the work we do in the community, people are always commenting they don't know how I do everything I do and stay so positive all the time. How do you do it??

I always tell them it's 100% mindset. My mind is that I know my mission is to help people, and I'm always positive knowing that if I stay positive and I look at the bright side of everything that I can make each day as positive as I want it to be. But if I let my mind go negative and I get upset or frustrated or I let something with the business control my mind, it's gonna take me down a path that's gonna not be as productive and not be as happy.

I think the reason I'm able to be successful in everything that I do is because I have my mind made up and every day I'm gonna be happy, be successful, have my mind in the right place and support people and that's what keeps me going. I don't go down the path of something bad happened today and then the whole business is going to suffer because of it.

In Closing

KLS wants to thank Eric Goodman, CEO, of Chem-Pak?and Mountain View Services, Inc, for today's "Together Talks" feature. Follow along for their journey with their social handles below!

Chem-Pak LinkedIn / Chem=Pak IG / Chem-Pak Facebook / MVS LinkedIn / Eric's Website