Today we’d like to introduce you to Edward Williams.
Hi Edward, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
In 2011, my wife (girlfriend at the time) and I moved to TX with a dollar and a dream. I know it sounds cliché and unoriginal, but we literally had a dollar to our name (not including overdrafts from bank accounts we depleted getting here) and no true idea of what we were doing or where we were going. The car we were going to drive to TX had engine troubles in which we had to sell it for a couple hundred dollars and paid extra to drive an Uhaul to our destination. Luckily, we discovered an apartment that had a leasing special going on – $1000 off the first month’s rent – which gave us a month and a half to figure things out and get settled. Within our first month of moving to TX, we discovered my wife/girlfriend was pregnant. To add insult to injury, we could not find employment until near the end of the first month Walmart had offered me a part-time role in the Garden Center at $7.95 an hour. It happened to be one of TX hottest summers at 112 plus degree temperatures. The very first day of me being employed there I went out for lunch and the engine died on the car we bought when we first arrived in TX. Luckily, I did not get fired, but I had to get creative on how we would get around. I found someone on Craigslist to trade us all the furniture we had for their car. It was a 1991 Oldsmobile Regency with a missing fender, missing grille, no AC, and no rear window but it ran like a new Cadillac!
Fast forward to 2021, I started a business in 2020 at the brink of COVID that grossed over $1 million by the end of the year (2021). My business is Level Up Staffing. I had started taking leadership classes in 2013 and discovered I had a passion for helping others. As time progressed, I had re-enrolled in school and obtained a BS in Business Management and a MA in Organizational Leadership. While drafting one of the final papers of my degree program I received a text message. It was a photo of one of the gentlemen I was mentoring at the time standing in front his company van. He shared with me after one of our classes his desire to become a forklift mechanic, but he had no experience. I offered to navigate him through the process and showed him how to translate his current skills as a forklift operator into forklift maintenance. I then showed him how to translate his skills working on his personal vehicle into forklift repair. I encouraged him to apply and helped him construct a new resume. Once he received an invite to interview, I coached him through the process. He was offered a job with the company and went from making $16 an hour to $60,000 a year. I had helped dozens of others with their resumes and job placement in the past but this one, in particular, bought me so much joy. Below his photo was a caption that read “You’ll never know how much you helped me and my family. We are forever grateful.”
It was at that moment I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to make an impact on people’s lives and change their trajectory. I wanted to open people’s eyes to the opportunities available to them and give them access to jobs they would not have thought they would be qualified for. Along with the staffing agency, I started the nonprofit, The Williams Family Good Karma Foundation to offer free career skill-building, mentorship, and leadership to the community.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
There are a few principles I implement into my day-to-day:
1. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to what happens to you.
2. Whether you think you can, or think you cannot… You are RIGHT.
I mention this to say the road has always been bumpy with a few large speed bumps, even hit a few potholes along the way but they were a requirement for the journey. Each pothole made me grow stronger tires and each speed bump forced me to lift my ride higher. I know I am speaking metaphorically, but I doubt I could have such a clean ride without the struggles. I grow excitement when I approach obstacles because I know each one has a purpose in the growth process.
From trading my furniture for a car to working for $7.95 an hour part-time, not being able to afford to pay rent and everything that happened in between were all just titles to the chapters in my life story. They were the 10%. The result of it all, that’s the 90%.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
About Me: In my nine years in leadership, I’ve managed small and large Logistics and Supply Chain operations with high volumes and large throughputs. I’ve obtained OSHA certifications, Lean Six Sigma certifications, First Responder accreditation, and lastly, earned my Bachelor’s in Business Management and my Master’s in Organizational Leadership. I have a strong passion for helping others and plenty of insight on how placing people in the right role greatly impacts company-wide performance. This being the case, I yearn to be an outlet for helping people pursue their passions and assist them in finding the career of their dreams.
About Us: At Level Up Staffing, our mission is to pour into and develop people. By helping people grow, we make a great impact on businesses and help companies grow as well. Our teammates have access to completely free resume writing services, leadership courses, computer literacy courses, career-building seminars, and self-development workshops. We offer this because we believe if people are happy with what they do for a living, they will perform their best wherever they are. This belief system has built the foundation that allows us to provide exceptional service to businesses and provide high-quality candidates. We emphasize the quality aspect of placements because we understand how one person can shift the entire operation. Level Up Staffing will partner with you to ensure you get the RIGHT amount of people at the RIGHT time to the RIGHT place with the RIGHT qualifications. On top of the tremendous cost savings, our clients experience reduced stress, improved company morale, and a more productive, more efficient work environment.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
When seeking a mentor, begin with self. Take an honest, unfiltered, unbiased look at yourself. Understand where you are, accept who you are, and identify who/where you would like to be. Once you have a vision, seek out mentors already emulating those qualities that you have identified you would like to have.
Taking full responsibility for my current state and being honest with myself on where can improve has been most helpful.
Contact Info:
- Email: manager@levelupstaffingllc.com
- Website: levelupstaffingllc.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/levelupstaffingteam
- Twitter: twitter.com/levelupstaff
