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November 2002
Sam Magliaro came to Kelleher Associates in July 2002. He had recently left RCN, a telecommunications company, where he had been a Senior Vice President for over two-and-a-half years. Sam had been in the telecommunications business since the early 1980s, and had stints at both Comcast and Suburban Cable before his tenure at RCN. We spoke with Sam not long after he opened his new business venture, BoarderLine Skate Park, in January 2003.
KAI:
Sam, what were some of your experiences in the telecommunications industry?
Sam: I was with RCN in New Jersey for two-and-a-half years, as Senior Vice President. Prior to that, I had been at Suburban Cable as Senior Vice President of Operations. It was a $500 million business, and I was responsible for over 15 locations. I was with them for four years. I was at Comcast for a number of years as well. I've been in the telecom business for almost 20 years.
KAI: Why did you start working with Kelleher Associates?
Sam:
I was referred to Kelleher Associates by one of their previous clients. I had recently been separated from RCN, and they had an outplacement plan already in place with another company. But I talked to my associate, who had experienced great results working with Ed Kelleher. I met with Ed, and later with Mitch Wienick, and was very impressed with them and the company. I went back to RCN and negotiated with them to allow me to use Kelleher Associates for my outplacement. I left RCN in early June 2002, and started with Kelleher Associates July 1.
KAI: Had you ever worked in an outplacement situation before?
Sam: It was a new experience for me - I had gone it alone before. In previous instances, I was lower on the totem pole, and moving on wasn't all that difficult for me. This time, I was higher up the ladder but I was questioning whether I wanted to go on the same course as before, or get together with someone or something else.
KAI: For someone who had never worked with a firm like Kelleher Associates, what was the process like?
Sam:
Well, we went through the stuff that I expected, like a personal assessment of my strengths and weaknesses, where I'm at and what's appealing to me. But then we got into talking about the three routes that I could go - to get back on another merry-go-round, look at doing something on my own, or go the consulting route. They really helped me formulate potential paths to take, guided me, and made me feel comfortable as I gravitated to a certain path. The path I never even got close to getting on was another senior VP position at another company. I had been through the corporate route since the early 1980s, and realized it was a false security. There's a false security about a paycheck every two weeks, because of the way American business is today. It's fickle, and shortsighted. Going the consulting route, or owning my own business, were both equal in my mind.
KAI:
And what route did you decide to take?
Sam: By late August, I had moved towards opening my own business. I had some things in the fire with consulting, but opening my own business was more attractive. I had entertained the idea of opening a skateboard park when I left Suburban Cable, but I never did anything about it. I decided to start building some business models, and the skateboard park model was the one where I felt I could make some money. I did a lot of investigating, and found out that my assumptions about the business were actually on the low end. I built it from scratch. I did not want to own any land, found a cheap warehouse space that wasn't in a big retail area, and worked out the type of construction needs it would take. We had to build the park, the offices, restrooms and other facilities.
KAI: Where are you today?
Sam: I opened the facility (BoarderLine Skate Park in West Chester, PA) on January 3, 2003, and it is so far exceeding all our expectations. I had built three models, one on the low end, one on the middle end, and one on the high end. So far, our weekday business is working towards the high end, while our weekend business is already two to three times better than our anticipated high end.
KAI: How did Kelleher Associates help you get to this point in your career?
Sam: I think Ed Kelleher and Mitch Wienick played a number of roles. One was in an advisory way, as a set of ears. They would listen, and tell me if it made sense, ask me if I had thought about this, recalled someone they knew who had done something like this - they gave me advice and guidance. But they also helped be on the emotional and the ego side. They helped me realize that this path is just as good a path to choose as any other. Their role wasn't as technical as I would have anticipated, but more as a sounding board. Also, they helped me with the networking skills. Networking skills that would have been used to move to a new position came in handy because we are a local business and I needed to network with local vendors, contractors, and others. It was the same skill set, but in a different capacity.
KAI: Are you enjoying this new experience?
Sam:
As it came together, my wife and three children got much more involved. My kids thought this would be a cool thing, but my wife was realistic. My wife and I agreed that if we started a business that provided us significantly less income than what we were accustomed to, then it would not be something worth pursuing. The opportunity for equal or more earnings was one of the criteria for evaluating whether or not to start a business. Today, my wife is much more involved in this than in anything I've ever done professionally. Previously, my life was partitioned - work and home - now it's all the same. It's truly a family business, and they are involved in a lot. My kids are in the right age bracket for this, and overall, I'd have to say it's done a lot to bring our family together.
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