PIERRE MIDDLETON-BAEZ: NEW FOUND GROWTH CORPORATION
important to do your homework. You never know when a cold email can turn into a lead for your next job.”
Another key to success is not being desperate enough to take jobs at a loss.“ You may have no money to your name, but you do not want to look desperate or you will have people trying to take advantage of you. Yes, you need to get out there and prove yourself, but not at a loss.”
In acknowledgement of how Pierre has been influenced by his grandmother’ s values and vision, New Found Growth’ s sharp-looking website mentions a community-focused legacy driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, which to him means that“ I don’ t want to be one of the only people coming out of Hunters Point with my own business – there is a lot of talent in our community, so I want to follow in my grandmother’ s footsteps and help other get a leg up.”
As Pierre sees it, there’ s plenty of room for others to go into a trade or become general contractors.“ College is one option but so are the trades – why always work for others, why not take the risk of starting your own business? If there’ s a project in Hunters Point, why not have the trades come from our local community? Everything in our immediate environment we should have the ability to work on. We could provide all the talent and labor in-house – there should be enough work in the San Francisco Bay Area for all of us.”
He adds,“ I’ m encouraging all my friends who are in the trades to take the test to go out on their own and start their own companies now, while they are in their 20’ s and 30’ s, rather than waiting until later in life. I may not the brightest crayon in the box, but I was willing to work hard, take a risk and go out on my own.” With his daughter now sixteen years old, Pierre wants others to be able to take pride in telling their kids,“ I helped build that,” or“ Your aunt or uncle did this.”
He points out that most industry shops are already located in Hunters Point, so locals should be able to work within, build and maintain the city that they grew up in and that this can certainly those who decide to go college to be an architect, engineer, CPA, learn business finance or any area of interest.“ There are all sorts of needs to be filled, so we should all be able to carve out our own niche. My goal is to hire and train locals so that they too can benefit from these opportunities.”
Another important value for Pierre is building relationships based on trust and mutual respect. His advice is to be the best that you can be in whatever you do and just observe others’ actions because over time, they will show you who they really are.“ My goal is to create a great team that works together to provide our clients with the best quality work and performance. I will promote reliable, trustworthy employees to ensure that we all move up together.”
A certified Local Business Enterprise( LBE), Minority Business Enterprise( MBE),
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