We recently connected with Patrick McNerney and have shared our conversation below.
Patrick, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.
I believe creativity plays a huge role in our companies’ success. Our engineering firm is known for innovation and a large portion of that comes from a company culture that nurtures and encourages creativity. We encourage our employees to bring any and all ideas to the table: new technologies, new processes, and innovative approaches to solving old problems. Prior to engineering, I came from a background of film and music, so the creative gene lives within me and cannot be turned off. I still love creating music and films (I’m in the middle of my first short film now called “The Sanguine” https://www.facebook.com/thesanguinefilm made for the Americonic.com streaming platform), but I’ve found that creative energy can be tapped and used for nearly any outlet. Even something as seemingly bland as spreadsheets! Allowing creativity leads to innovation and that is a winning formula in our industry.
Patrick, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am the Chief Operating Officer and part owner of 3D Design & Engineering who provide civil, structural, geotechnical, and mechanical engineering services specialized to meet the unique needs of the telecommunications and oil / gas industry.
I am passionate about my craft and strive to be at the forefront of innovation and design with an emphasis on pushing the envelope and continually raising industry quality standards.
Prior to being in engineering for the past 15 years, I had a background in IT, film, and music. Touring in bands and learning how to manage creative ventures as a business is what taught me I had a talent and interest in entrepreneurism. It was also a very life changing experience I am lucky to of had. Creative ventures often lack funding, support, and are very difficult to get off the ground. It’s not for the faint of heart, it really toughened me up and gave me an attitude that so far has been able to weather all storms (COVID for example). Looking back now, I can see entrepreneurialism as a common theme through my entire life.
Fifteen years ago, I owned and operated a sole proprietorship offering drafting and project management services to third parties in the telecommunications industry while working full time at a civil engineering firm and going to school. It was during this time that I met my future business partner and president of 3D Design & Engineering: Nabil Mimouni. After years of working together we decided to partner in 2015 bringing together all our experience, clientele, and vision to create the company as it exists today. Since this time 3D Design & Engineering has been at the forefront of design and operations and is credited for deploying new and exciting technologies ranging from virtual reality, 3d scanning & point clouds, drone surveying, 3D PDF deliverables, 3D Models used for heavy machinery automation, and much more.
3D Design & Engineering is continuing to grow, recently having added a complete in-house surveying division to work along side the engineering department. We are always looking for ways to innovate and bring a higher quality deliverable and experience to our customers.
Some things never change, and with what little free time I find, I still enjoy making films, writing music and assisting my wife with her growing fashion design company Green Street Designs (www.greenstreetdesigns.co). There is nothing more exciting to me than seeing a business start from nothing and begin trending upward!
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
Our engineering firm started small over a decade ago as any new company does. We were small, but dedicated to giving great customer service, high quality products with a quick turnaround. This is easy to manage when your volume of work is small. Probably the biggest challenge to overcome for any business is scalability. How do you maintain your quality, service, and pricing structures as you scale up. Sometimes you can’t, and you have to have the foresight to acknowledge that. I still remember the call my business partner and I got so many years ago that changed everything for us. It was a project that required hundreds of sites to be engineered in a few months. Typically, our firm would do hundreds of jobs over a year. Now, we had to do hundreds of jobs in just a little over a month while also still meeting the needs of our other customers who already had work in the pipeline. We jumped on it and committed to deliver. A higher volume of work presented new problems: we need more storage, a cloud storage, a better way of tracking work in the cloud which can give real-time updates to staff in the field and in the office, we need apps, etc. That year was one of the most difficult in terms of working 15 hours a day 7 days a week, keeping customers happy, while onboarding and hiring new staff and beefing up our companies infrastructure. But it was also some of the most rewarding years too. That challenge led to the growth and stability we have today. You have to be willing to get your hands dirty and do whatever it takes to achieve the end goal. Our entire team rose to the challenge, and I’m so thankful for the employees and my business partner who are as crazy and willing to work as I am!
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Much like the fake internet articles claiming “one weird trick to weight loss”, you will be given “tips” by many sources along your work journey. Some advice will be misleading on purpose, from competitors. Other times, the person giving the advice means well, but just doesn’t know what they are talking about! There are many things I’ve been told over the years ranging from quality doesn’t matter, only price or turnaround to nothing matters except getting to know the right people. There may be moments you get discouraged along your journey, but you have to always put your values first. In our case, we built the company with quality and innovation in mind. We have continually brought on new customers and grown despite much of the “advice” I have been given over the years saying putting those first would be a hinderance to us. Regardless of the situation, if you put your values first you will find consistency (and the ability to sleep easier at night!). This is why it is so critical to have a clear corporate culture at your business.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.3ddne.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/3ddne/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/3d-design-&-engineering/