We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dave Russo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Dave, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?
The most recent time I found myself in the situation of wondering if I should have a regular job was in July of 2023 when I was diagnosed with glioblastoma. Glioblastoma is a type of brain cancer that starts as a growth of cells / tumor in the brain. Shortly after receiving my diagnosis, I recall asking my team of doctors, (neurosurgeon, radiation oncologist, and neuro-oncologist) what would need to happen to be considered cancer free. The response I received was, with this type of cancer, I will never be considered “cured” or cancer-free, and that I would live with this diagnosis for the rest of my life. Though far from most people’s normal, living with glioblastoma is my new normal. My family’s new normal. I have faced several months of treatment since this began and will continue to fight to keep this aggressive cancer at bay.
When it comes to my business, I face many unknowns including whether I will have the energy to own and operate my business as I have for the past 33 years. Despite the health challenges, it did not take long for me to come to the same conclusion I always have when faced with other adversities in my life. I will not give up my business. The business I have grown and the way it operates is the type of success I have always envisioned. It has taken over 20 years of incredibly hard work, risk, effort, and sacrifice by me and my family for my business to be what it is today. The service I provide to my clients, my work, designs, and creativity is a huge part of my identity. My family and I are unbelievably strong, dedicated, driven, and devout individuals. Giving up on my business is not who we are and is not what a Russo would do. To my core, I know I could never walk away from this business I’ve built at this time.
The rewards of owning and operating my own kitchen and bath design/remodel business is unbelievably rewarding in many ways! If I worked for someone else or had a more normal job, I don’t believe I could provide the same level of value to my clients nor would I have as much pride and personal success as I do today.
Dave, 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 got into the remodeling business through my father, Frank Russo. I was the middle son in a family of six children and was brought into the business by my dad at the age of fourteen. In my kitchen and bath business, I provide design, budgeting, and construction services to a client’s’ home remodel. With their input and selections, I provide all cabinetry, countertops, flooring, lighting, tile and other related products. I provide functional and creative design of spaces specifically to meet the client’s needs and preferences. I work to open floor plans by removing load bearing walls, doorways, and exterior window and door locations to make spaces more functional, aesthetically pleasing/updated. I create designs to open concepts to meet todays’ changing lifestyles for my clients and their families. The goal is to provide functional spaces where clients feel happy, relaxed, comfortable and secure in their home. A home they are now even more proud to host family and friends and a home that will provide for them for years to come.
I am set apart from other companies who provide similar services because I have an unmatched passion by anyone else in the industry. I have a team of subcontractors that are skilled in their specialties and have been practicing for well over twenty years. I provide a level of quality and attention to detail that is also unmatched by others in the industry. I worked for over two decades before I began to see the success my business has today. My business did not start out like many others do to do as many jobs as fast as possible to make as much money as possible. The quality and attention I provide to my clients and the home remodel they have when I am finished in their home is something others in this industry who are working as a one-man company cannot do. I am extremely hands-on from start to finish of every project and in every phase beginning with space design all the way through project completion. The client and their needs and vision are front of mind for me in all phases of the project.
As I alluded to above, I am most proud of the value of work I provide to my clients. I take pride in the happiness that clients feel in their home when I finish their design remodel project.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When I first think of resiliency, I think of the time my wife and I started thinking about having a family and raising children. I had to balance the desire to build and grow my one-man business while also raising four young children and developing strong relationships with each of them. I volunteered to coach their youth soccer and basketball teams as a way of creating time away from running my business to spend valuable time with them. There is no more important job than raising a young family, I owe much of my childrens’ success to my wife Becky. Doing this and running my own residential remodeling business took a lot of creativity. Do not settle for mediocrity, you only have one chance to get some things right.
In 2010, my oldest twin daughters were in a motor vehicle accident six hours away in Alabama. This day would change the rest of our lives and allowed me to develop an extreme amount of resilience. Our daughter spent five weeks in a neurological critical care unit in the Huntsville Hospital before being transferred to the Sheperd Center, a brain injury and spinal cord injury rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta, Georgia for 8 weeks before eventually returning to Northern Kentucky, our home!
When this happened, I knew I had to find a way to continue running my business. I traveled back and forth to spend time with my wife and daughter in AL and then GA, and back home to continue working on ongoing remodeling projects when the accident happened and continuing to be there for my other three children. There were many hard conversations and big decisions my wife and I needed to make. I leaned on God, my wife, and my mentors during this extremely difficult time. As I still to this day tell my family: we can get through anything. No matter what, we will always find a way to get through the toughest of times.
This mindset has continued throughout my life. More recently, I was diagnosed with glioblastoma. After extensive and ongoing treatment, I have returned to work in a slightly different capacity. In some ways, I am providing the same service, but I have also opened a consulting side to my business where I am able to advise homeowners and counsel individuals on home renovation projects. Despite the difficulties life has brought, I have not shut down my business, which has allowed me to continue to provide work to subcontractors and value to my clients.
Our fight, my diagnosis against Glioblastoma presented another hurdle in March of 2024. Through my bi-monthly MRI scans and my amazing team of doctors and care providers at UC Health in Cincinnati, Ohio discovered regrowth of my original brain tumor. Soon after this discovery in March 2024 I had another craniotomy surgery and by the grace of God, and the strongest, most incredible family anyone could be blessed to have, I am home recovering and back running DMR Remodeling, Inc. and DMR Kitchens, Inc. with the help of my wonderful subcontractors, vendors, top of this list is Custom Wood Products Handcrafted in Kansas and a new team member, BriWi Construction that have allowed me to continue doing what I love.
Great teams are built. I believe building strong, lasting relationships with people and businesses that share core values is critical to my success. Personal relationships are more important, and none have played a bigger or more important role in my life than my relationship with God, my dear loving wife Becky and my four irresistibly strong and loving children and other family members and close friends which include many current and previous clients.
This defines my resilience.
I am also currently pursuing a new take on my business – consulting for new home purchases and current home consulting services with the same level of passion I have during my entire career.
Information regarding both of these new services can be found on my website: https://dmrkitchens.com/home-consulting-services.html
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
In 1991, my business found its niche in kitchen and bath design and remodeling. Prior to 1991, I would take on many different types of remodeling. However, by shifting my focus to kitchen and bath, I was able to better serve my clients and provide them with exceptional expertise and quality in these specific areas. Shortly after my business pivot to kitchens and baths, I joined the SEN Design group. SEN is a national business group of independent kitchen and bath dealers across the country.The SEN Design Group was instrumental during this pivot in 1991 and this continues to today.
Providing exclusive kitchen and bath design and remodeling services allowed me to hone my skills, to better focus towards building a stronger reputation, and delivering outstanding results. It also allowed me to establish myself as an expert in a competitive industry, attracting clients who specifically sought out my services for their kitchen and bath projects.
Because of this pivot, I was able to focus on what I do best, streamline processes, improve efficiency, and deliver results to clients.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://dmrkitchens.com/
- Instagram: @dmrkitchensinc
Image Credits
Headshot credit: Steven Whitsitt Photography