TB7 – Team Business Welcomes Matt Sedlock from Western Lighting

In this episode of the Team Business podcast, co-hosts Mike Fusco and Ray Ramirez interview Matt Sedlock, the Owner of Western Lighting & Energy Control Solutions. Matt talks about his knowledge and expertise in the lighting industry and how the culture they’ve created has made an impact on their business.

Episode Highlights:

Mike introduces Matt Sedlock. (3:32)
Matt shares that he graduated from Central Michigan University in 1988, with a degree in Marketing and Sales Management. (8:54)
Matt mentions that his first job was in Cooper Lighting as an outside sales representative, focused on the electrical distribution channel. (9:22)
Matt mentions that working in the lighting industry was his dream job since childhood. (9:52)
Matt shares that he was challenged by not having any experience and minimal training, but he realized that it was an opportunity for him to educate himself and learn the industry. (11:01)
Matt mentions that he’s looking for individuals that have a strong work ethic, individuals that can work efficiently with others and they must be willing to be part of the team. (13:33)
Matt thinks that their employees enjoy working at Western because of their culture, and the transparency that they manage. (13:57)
Matt shares that they want their employees to learn the financial side of the business, to understand the inner workings, and not only about going out and acquiring the next sale. (13:46)
Matt shares that the biggest product on the market right now is a product by Lutron, called Ketra, and it’s currently the most advanced lighting product on the market. (20:52)
Matt mentions that they’re currently focusing on adding more structure to the company, and it takes every individual to speak up and share their ideas about how they can be better at what they’re doing. (27:08)

Key Quotes:

“The old saying, it’s not always what you know, but who you know, and who to go to, to find the answers. I found that to be very valuable early on, and it was a way of educating myself and learning the industry, the ins, and outs, product knowledge, by just talking to others that have more experience than I did at the time.” – Matt Sedlock
“I didn’t go to college to study lighting, but I saw an opportunity very early on for advancement, and just realized that good hard work ethic coming from the Midwest would pay off. It could be rewarding for me.” – Matt Sedlock
“The team is everything to me. You know, I couldn’t do it with the team that I built at Western Lighting. It truly is like an extended family for me. And finding others that fit into our culture is the most important thing when considering bringing on somebody else to the team.” – Matt Sedlock
“We learned a lot through this COVID situation, and we hope to be a better company coming out of it than when we went into it, we found efficiencies and some of those efficiencies will forever remain part of our company moving forward. We learned how to run the business differently, and better.” – Matt Sedlock

Resources Mentioned: