President’s Message: The School of Hard Knocks

I started my company, MKD Electric, 23 years ago. We're an electrical contracting business located in Elgin, IL. I’ve been in the electrical business since I was 19 starting with my first job at Cal’s Electric in Wood Dale. I had a few different jobs in my early 20s and I was always working on additional side projects. I wanted to earn for my family and I always wanted to start a business of my own.

MKD didn’t start as a family business, but family was always my number one motivation.

At 27 years old, a friend of mine was going through an expansion at his company. He offered to be my first customer to kick off my own company. I knew I would have to build up my business one customer at time, but the bigger problem was that I was first and foremost an electrician. I had no experience managing a business and never went to business school, so I learned by making a lot of mistakes.

When my son Keith recently decided to start up a general contracting business, I shared with him what I would have said to my younger self - read as much as you can, learn the business side of things and find yourself a support network. The CFBC has been that support network for me.

I'm looking forward to a prosperous 2019. Stay warm, Chicago!

Mark Wesa
MKD Electric
CFBC President 2019-2020