I started Genesis Electrical Service LLC in 2005. Initially, the company began as a means to supplement my full-time earnings as an electrician working in the Local Electrical Union. My side hustle quickly became a full-time opportunity to display my skills as an electrician and my proficiency as an electrical contractor. 

Obviously, if I was good at being an electrician, I could be good at running an electrical business. Was there really a chance to be a business owner? Could I run a business? I did not have a business pedigree. I did not complete college. I could barely claim I attended college, despite having been awarded an Architectural scholarship to Howard University. No one in my family owned a business. Where do I begin? What happens when the work runs out? Fear, doubt, and uncertainty started to settle in.

In the beginning I focused on residential remodels and additions working with local general contractors and several local prominent real estate investors. It felt good to be a “business”. I had chosen a name for the business. I had company shirts. Electrically I knew what needed to be done, but business was totally different. I had no idea what I was doing. Mistakes were abundant. I hadn’t filed this; I didn’t know to apply for that. I was starting to feel overwhelmed.

Thankfully, I was not alone on my business journey.  Others were on the same journey, they advised, encouraged, comforted, and shared with me their own struggles and successes.  I learned from their mistakes and provided them with plenty of laughs sharing my own.

The first commercial intersection of my skills, the marketplace and opportunity came with a large general contracting firm on a nationally branded shoe store. This opportunity placed me in familiar territory. It was a commercial project, just like the ones I worked on in all my days as an apprentice and journeyman electrician for the Local Union. This singular opportunity provided invaluable lessons about business, customer service, customer expectations, billing, accounts, and cost control.  It also provided me with the motivation to continue to build and grow Genesis Electrical Service LLC.