WEBVTT

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We started in 1983.

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It was me and my dad,
my mom in a pickup truck.

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I was green as grass, and he was able
to mold me just the way he wanted.

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I was so green, I didn't
even know I got a break.

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All I knew is I better be working
when he got back to that job.

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He said, Son, you only
have to work a half a day.

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I don't care which 12 hours you work.

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Over the years, I always had a desire
to help people, and I guess I saw how

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people helped our family and got us
to where we are,

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and I always wanted to give back.

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Being part of a Pye Barker
family has been an amazing thing.

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It's a family.

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Just like in any family,
like we were a family, owned and operated

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business, we're a very close family.

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When you have a problem,
where's the first place you go?

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You go to family.

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Whether it's an HR problem or whatever
that problem can be, you have so many more

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resources that can come along
beside you and help you.

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Every one of us are strong in some area,
but we're not always strong in every area.

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In a big family, it's good to have people
that have those skills and abilities

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that can help you when you need it.

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Pye Barker has really come alongside.

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Super encouraging, super helpful,
always willing to teach.

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And that's the big thing with coming
into a big corporation like this.

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Sometimes you can have that fear of, Oh,
no, this big corporation is going to be

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hovering over us, watching every move.

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But it hasn't felt like that
because of the way that I feel like each

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person that is part of this business,
everyone seems to care about

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each other as a person.

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Again, it is a business at the same time,
but you can tell there is

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a personal part of it as well.

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When I was looking and contemplating
on selling the business,

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it was very important because as I said
earlier, my name is Strickland,

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and we named the company
Strickland Fire Protection.

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So you can't run from that no
matter what happens.

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At the end of the day,
we're all in business to make money,

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but that's not the end result.

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We want to take care of the people
that are working for us.

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We want to take care of family.

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And it's amazing with the decision that I
was able to bring them along with me.

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And to this day,
many of them has had an opportunity to go

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much further than what we
were willing to do on our own.

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I've been really happy to be
able to share that with them.

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And after three years, many of them
has recognized that, you know, you were right.

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You made a decision that's good for all,
and not too many times in your

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life that can actually happen.

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I'm fortunate to have some great kids,
a great wife, and great parents.

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It makes me very proud to see my kids
in the business and for them carrying on.

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But the most important thing is
it has to be what you want to do.

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It has to be a passion.

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And that's what I hope that my legacy will
be, is it would be nice for people

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to recognize that you were real,
you were true, you treated people the way

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you wanted to be treated,
hopefully with what we have done and what

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we have built, people will recognize
that it's important to make money,

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but it's not always just about the money.

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It's about what you continue
to carry on from here.