Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Bill Reicherter. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Bill thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?

One thing I would change about the education system to prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career would be for the system to be more adaptive to serving the individual needs of each student’s interests. I believe students who leave high school should leave with the educational ability to live and thrive in the world, without the expectation of needing a higher education degree to be successful. Trades (work release programs for apprenticeships), business courses, personal finance, and other real-world classes that serve student interests should be readily available for credit to graduate. It seems that colleges have become a business, with many kids not being able to afford the debt associated with higher education, leaving them in a difficult situation. If students are prepared with a solid education that serves their interests, they should be able to be prepared to start working after high school in a job that interests them, should they choose.

Bill, 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 started out by creating my own business as a sign production business which started out as just myself and evolved into a much bigger business with employees. Later, after building my own business in sign production, I also saw a need to fill a gap by being a consultant for architects and developers to help turn their visions into reality. With my experience in the sign manufacturing business, I was positioned to consult on appearance, costs, and logistics for architectural features in various construction projects.

My thought process behind starting my own business was to create opportunities. Creating opportunities for entrepreneurs has many benefits. For example, a business creates products to sell, at the same time creating jobs, while also at the same time supporting vendor businesses, which in turn supports many businesses that supply the vendors and so on. Businesses create and support economies and that always stimulates my passion to lead. Another benefit of a business is that it creates new opportunities for budding entrepreneurs who one day will leave you and start their own business. To me, there is nothing greater than having an employee leave to start a business of their own. That’s true success to me.

My passion for people and families is what sets me apart from others because I am someone who really cares about building a team and supporting each other. I am most proud that the businesses that I have created support families and their dreams. When I first started out in business, I wasn’t completely sure of my capabilities, but I knew I was going to create something big, and much bigger than me. I set out to create something that made an impact, not only on the bottom line but on the staff and community. I believe, “A life with purpose is a life worth living”.

I had many challenges along the way. Most of my challenges included financial challenges and challenges with learning how to run a business proficiently. There were many times I couldn’t even pay the bills, but I always overcame these hardships with hard work and dedication. The world of business is not easy, it can wear you down but you have to get back up and persevere. Something that I learned was that in order to survive in business you must have passion and you must turn that passion into learning your craft and showing up every day as the best version of yourself. Never stop learning.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I first started in business I was dead broke and had no knowledge of the business I was in, and I had no plan B, so I had to make it work. The first five years were filled with eating pasta or similar for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I was working over twenty hours a day, seven days a week. I was doing a lot of free work to basically educate myself on the business. I even went as far as diving into my competitors’ dumpsters to retrieve the slightest bit of information such as vendor lists, customer lists and pricing so that I could help propel my business by understanding my competition and fair market value for jobs. My darkest times were when all my cars were up for repossession, my electricity and water were constantly being turned off, and my wife was telling me to get a job. However, there is something different about entrepreneurs; we see opportunities amid darkness when others see the grave. I knew I had a purpose and a passion that was bigger than myself and I followed my vision and eventually turned a one-employee business into a National powerhouse. Now, it’s like everyone wants to be you, but do they want to walk in your footsteps to make it? That is the question.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Most recently I had to pivot when COVID-19 hit the USA. We were lucky to be an essential business but business as usual was not usual anymore because there was a slowdown of work. Instead of letting employees go, we re-invented the factory to manufacture personal protective equipment (PPE) such as desk and table shields. One of our most noteworthy creations was the creation of intubation boxes and shields for physicians and hospital groups nationwide. These helped create a barrier of protection against infection during what was considered a high-risk procedure for the spread of COVID-19. We also created a COVID-19 disinfection service that would go weekly to factories and offices to help with the disinfection of surfaces. Additionally, we sold personal safety kits with various items that were hard to come by in stores at the time. Sometimes in business, you have to look at what’s in front of you and make the move to transform with the current situation instead of looking behind you at what you lost or what used to be. Business is fluid, and you have to be able to adapt to survive.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.BillReicherter.com
• Instagram: @bill_Reicherter
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReicherterForThePeople?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/bill-reicherter-181560123
• Twitter: @bill_reicherter
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@billreicherter3016?feature=shared
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReicherterForThePeople?mibextid=LQQJ4d