Joshua Jordan's Journey
He was composed, unnervingly quiet, and highly attentive to my every move the first time I was introduced by his COO. I sat across a mahogany table in their meeting space, nervous and seeking refuge from a terrible experience at my last place of employment. I was a single mother of three teenage boys that I had been taking care of physically, emotionally, and financially for over decade. I was tired on a multitude of levels but if I am being honest, I was mostly spiritually exhausted from being on the constant grind of survival mode. I was praying for a break and a safe haven to rest.
I remember watching him scanning over my resume as I rambled on with first impression jitters. I was catching glimpses of military memorabilia, artwork, and company values hung on the wall. I felt my confidence fading in his silence, as he contemplated my experience and whether I was a good fit for his prestigious company. I had already accepted defeat in a sense, as a protective layering to eliminate my risk of crying on the spot, if he said the words that accumulated to, “No.” I was vulnerable. My heart jumped back to beat with relief when he said, “Yes. I am impressed with your resume. I want to offer you the job.” It was the beginning of a renewed hope for me, a proud moment to share with my kids, and the stability and safety I had been seeking for us, for so long.
So, who was Joshua Jordan, to the core? I had met him and had a strong sense of the kind of person he was (a good one), but I knew there were many layers to still peel back. Telling his story would be challenging because he wasn’t the type of person who sought the limelight; he wasn’t boastful, he wasn’t arrogant, he wasn’t interested in others praising him, he wasn’t eager to tell his story – it was personal. All of this confirmed to me that it wouldn’t be easy to pull from him, but it would be powerful once I did. And so, I began my journey with American Rooter & Drain, taking baby steps to retrieve it as a Marketing Director.
God | Family | Values
Inspiring Culture
Pulling into the company parking lot just before 8am (sometimes 8:01 resulting in “You’re late.”) feels like you just pulled up to the United States of America. The flag graciously waves you in, the vehicles chant “American” in unison, and the building is branded in red, white, and blue just the same. There is a palpable sense of security and protection that drifts about. Technicians are already busy on the assembly line, prepping parts and necessary equipment for scheduled jobs as they jaunt up and down the garage ramp to stock their work vehicles. Half of them have already partaken in a competitive basketball game as a wake-up routine that started at 5:30am, boosting their internal drive for the day. A well-knit team is huddling around the customer service desk, ready to be dispatched. Their laughter consumes the hallway and occasionally you hear Joshua yell down it, “Answer the phones!” It makes me smirk with quiet laughter, knowing that he is definitely serious but voiced it in a semi-playful manner, as a warning. Business is business and we all have our jobs to do to serve customers, first and foremost. The best thing is, you still get to be yourself while you do it.
Joshua appreciates everyone as individuals. He honors them in their unique paths, their differentiating personalities, their own struggles, their strengths, and feeds into their dreams outside of his own. He places them in positions to battle their weaknesses, not to be mean but rather to coach them through it and relabel it as a new strength. He embodies what being a leader is supposed to be. He is humble, relentless in any pursuit of opportunity, willing to fail, and obsessed with chasing goals. He served his country as a United States Marine Corporal from 2005-2009, bearing arms with a brotherhood overseas to fight and protect his family, and yours. “Fighting in Iraq engrained in me that no matter where you are, you fight for the person next to you. It really is about the people next to you. It’s the same in business. I want to make the phone ring so everyone here can provide for their families and take care of our customers' needs.” You would think that his leadership style had been born as a soldier, but you would be wrong, it just became more fine-tuned.
His childhood shaped him and pushed him to lead from very early on. He is the youngest of ten and their dad died when he was only three years old. An unexpected tragedy that his mom had to fight through without a higher level of education to help pave a way. What she had was a love and determination to prosper with grit, spirit, resourcefulness, and an unwavering trust in God. She raised them in a small three-bedroom home where they were tasked to help fix appliances as a means to survive. Any adventure outside of their home provided a landscape for finding something to work on, “If my mom and I were going somewhere, even to the store, and she saw a washer on the side of a home or by the road back when trash collectors weren’t around to remove them, right? Well, my mom doesn’t speak very good English, but she would say ‘Mijo, go see if they want to get rid of that.’ So, there I was, four years old, knocking on doors to ask if they wanted to get rid of their washer or dryer and if it was okay for us to take it. Most people said ‘Yeah, you can have it.’ My mom and I would take it home, and one of my brothers would fix it so we could sell it.”
Family Business
Selling appliances out of their home provided a way to make ends meet and instilled a broad skillset for all of them to nurture as they grew. They all knew how to fix things, how to converse with adults, how to be salesman, and how to pull their own weight while pitching in as a unified family. Joshua reflects on these times with an appreciation amidst an uncomfortable acknowledgment, “I actually hated it. I was a really shy kid, so I never liked doing it. But I understood it had to be done.” Over 450 broken appliances made their way into their home over the years and left with completed repairs for homeowners who needed the product. It was a win – win. His brothers had shown him the ropes and by the age of five he was fixing dryers by himself, by ten he was working on stoves and washers, by 16 he was ready to tackle more difficult repairs on refrigerators that required changing compressors, using refrigerant, and handling torches.
This transformation continued throughout his youth as he sought to make advancements in the trades as a career. Starting off running service calls for his older brother’s company at Action Appliance in Colorado with a gentleman who couldn’t speak English but could drive when Joshua didn’t have his license yet, “He could drive, and I could talk. We made a good team. We ran calls together and then I worked mostly in dispatch. When you have 20 or 30 Technicians and over 100 calls coming in, you’re like an air traffic controller. You have a lot of information coming at you, you have to keep routes short, keep the right guys going to the right jobs. I feel like it all plays into being a leader. I have been getting my master's in business since I was like 12. Purchasing American Rooter & Drain was like 30 years in the making – not an overnight success. It was a lot of hard work; a lot of failures on my part but I became equipped to handle it from learning from those mistakes.”
Joshua and his siblings have a deeply rooted relationship with their mom that is filled with gratitude, “We have always shown our appreciation for our mom by trying to be successful and raising children that respect her as their grandma. She really lights up when she sees them and the amount of love they have for her... Almost every one of her kids own a business but I think she is particularly proud of this one, when it comes to the way we run it.” When he is asked about missing out on a relationship with his father, he pauses and resumes with a strong self-awareness, “I wouldn’t trade any of the challenges. They made me who I am today. You know, you change one thing – you take a left instead of a right – and suddenly everything is different in life. Yeah, I really believe in the butterfly effect. Every struggle, pain, and sorrow add to who I am. I really enjoy my life; I love being a father to my kids and a husband to my wife.”
Pursuing A Purpose
Values that lead Joshua in his day-to-day evolve around serving God, providing for his family, and honoring his country as a Veteran who continues to help other Veterans. He admits his relationship with God was inspired by his mom when he was little, “My mom always has a Bible handy. My mom actually lives by it. Even in a small house full of kids, if she knew somebody else needed help, she opened the doors to our home to them. Whether it was to have a place to stay or be served food to eat. It could be the last meal we had, and she would still share it. That’s just my mom. She is a shining light at that. I’ve never met anybody better than her at it.” On his own path as an adult, he has further developed his relationship with God, “When you’re standing on a mountain looking out at a beautiful meadow with trees surrounding it, you can’t stand there and think ‘I am all powerful.’ You wonder how someone could create something so beautiful and realize there is a higher being than us, our creator. Then values become a little bit easier. Let’s treat people better, let’s be a better version of ourselves...and then you end up becoming closer to God anyways.”
I read over my interview notes and listen to his voice as the video plays back. I feel tears welling up more than once. I understand him more now. I see why I felt the way I did back in the very beginning when I first met him. I see why God led me here and why this place, American Rooter & Drain, was my answered prayer that provided me with a safe haven in a time of need. I will be forever grateful for the opportunities Joshua has given me, for the lessons he has taught me, for the way he has led me into a new terrain of confidence, and for the way he has actively cared for my little family and others. I have witnessed his generosity help countless people during this past year; employees, customers, veterans, single moms...I am only one of the single mothers he has helped along his way, but his impact on my life with my kids alone – that is better than saying “priceless”, it is truly a “fulfilled purpose.”
Written by: Faith Malloy
Published 10/15/2024
source
https://www.idahosplumber.com/a-humble-start-a-persevering-spirit-a-soldier-who-came-home
