Florence Electric & Kaydon Integrated Technologies
ELI, DAVID & KAYLA FLORENCE
781.769.7110 | teamfloco.com
Florence Electric and Kaydon Integrated Technologies are Canton-based businesses, offering consulting, engineering, design, and installation in the building technologies services market, focusing on a host of industries including the technology, healthcare, retail, education, research and development, financial, and entertainment sectors. It also has offices in Merrimack, NH and Tampa, FL. Eli Florence is the company’s president and CEO.
Who or what inspired you to start your own business?
My uncle and father had numerous successful businesses which helped to inspire me. This is the second business I have been involved with. I was a partner and CEO in a previous business and ran it for twenty years. A few years after we sold that business, I decided to start this. I’ve always wanted to control my own destiny in terms of my career. This also gave me the opportunity to start a business with my son, David.
Have you ever encountered any challenges in your family business?
We started this business in 2004 and the economic conditions from the end of 2007 through 2014 were really challenging. The other big challenge for us is finding career oriented, talented people.
What’s the best advice that someone in your family offered you?
Fortunately, I had other successful business owners in my family to get advice from. The best advice is that you must work twice as hard and smarter than your competition.
What’s the role of family in your business?
My son has worked with me for more than twenty years and my daughter is 25, and she’s just starting to get into the business. The biggest thing I can say is it’s similar to a marriage. If you have respect for each other and their views, it will work. The second you lose that respect, it’s done. For my kids, I think they watched me build multiple businesses and they appreciate the effort you must put in to do that. They also understand the commitment and sacrifices their mother had to make to allow me the opportunity to chase my career goals. If they don’t appreciate the effort that went into building it, the chances of continued success are limited.
Since you work together, where and when do you like to relax as a family?
Family is extremely important to me. That is number one for everyone in the company, not just me personally. That is why we won “Best Place to Work” for the second time in three years. Even if you work hard and work long hours you still must prioritize family and balance the two.