It's always something TM
Martin T. Rucker Development by Mary Klett, ASA Communications Team DeLano Sheffield, Executive Director of Kansas City ASA, recommended I chat with Martin T. Rucker II, and find out his Always Something Awesome story. It ends with a doozy. As with any professional sports player, your life is consumed with getting better and being the best you can be. And Martin did just that, playing professional football for five years, before an ACL tear got him thinking about life after football. He knew he wanted to own his own business, but what would be best suited for him? So he got to thinking...What do people always need? Healthcare (“Do I really want to go to medical school?”), Funeral homes (“Just can’t do it.”), BBQ (“But I can’t compete with Gates.”), and...construction (“It slows down, but still never ends.”) His mentor suggested Martin meet with Jim Kissick, who owned one of the larger civil contracting companies in the region. Jim advised Martin to come work for him. “Lose a little of my money before you go out on your own and lose all of yours.” At Kissick Construction Company his first job was installing water lines outdoors in the winter months before the new streetcar lines. After six years, he was a project engineer, in the interim soaking up how to run a business, how the industry works, how projects work. He noticed that there were never enough trucks to haul debris away. In 2019 he saw his opportunity and bought three trucks. From April
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