One of the things I enjoy most about the Lunchbreak column is that there is often so much more to a successful businessman than business acumen and talent. Before I spoke to Ahron Katz of Denver, who manages several nursing homes, I was assuming I would learn about how the nursing home industry is different in the Western United States. We did discuss that a bit, as well as Ahron’s other methodologies for running a successful nursing home business. However, what struck me most was Ahron’s family-first approach to business and life.
Ahron came from humble beginnings, motivating him to be successful. But success didn’t come easy at all. Have you ever worried how far you can drive your car because you couldn’t afford the gas? That was Ahron after his marriage.
He focused on making memories more important than money, and he took this approach to business as well. Making his facilities patient-care-focused bred a better brand of staff and ultimately better business.
This is one I will make sure to read several times. Especially if no one can reach me. You’ll see what I mean. Enjoy!
—Nesanel
I was born in Detroit to a family centered in the yeshivah world. My parents were both teachers. I am the oldest of four. My father used to teach at Beis Yehuda and other yeshivos. He now works in construction. I went to Beis Yehuda for elementary, I spent one year in Yeshiva Gedola in Detroit for ninth grade, and then I went to Denver for yeshivah high school and beis midrash. I learned in Silver Spring Yeshivah under Rav Ahron Lopiansky for close to a year, and then I went to work. I think that Detroit is not a typical out-of-town community when it comes to learning. We learned a lot, we learned well, and we had good teachers.
“I was a bit entrepreneurial as a teenager. I used to sell gedolim pictures and Snapples. When I was in Silver Spring, I worked as a mashgiach and wine pourer for the Capital K, a local hashgachah.
“When I was in high school, I started Pirchei of Denver. My father ran Pirchei of Midwest, so I knew Pirchei pretty well. The main donor gave me a car, and I was able to travel around Denver. We brought together the East Side and the West Side kids of Denver for Shabbosim. We had a Western Siyum Hamishnayos for a few years, and kids came in from other cities; it was very successful. We had kids come from Phoenix and Dallas for Shabbos. The Pirchei is still running today.
“When I left yeshivah, even though I was close to 20, it was hard on my parents. We went to discuss it with gedolim such as Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky, Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan, who is the Denver rosh yeshivah, and Rav Lopiansky; they all agreed that I should go out to work. Rav Kagan told me that klal Yisrael is made up of multiple shevatim and there are different jobs for different people. Rav Kagan added that if I had one of the ‘other jobs,’ I should make sure to do it well.
“I had a variety of different jobs at first. My first one after beis midrash was working as a dorm counselor in Toledo, Ohio. Then I worked for a hockey company in Detroit run by a frum Yid, Ephraim (Sean) Skinner, a professional hockey coach who also produced a line of products and tools to help hockey players improve their skills. I joined his team: I learned how to coach and became his assistant—we would meet with clubs, arrange camps, go to hockey tournaments around North America and do a lot of private instruction as well. I also helped sell his products. I learned a lot at that job.
“I got married at 22. I saw others taking dead-end jobs, but I never wanted to do that—I always wanted to be learning something. I took some college courses but decided it was a waste of money because I was learning more on the job—whatever job it was at the moment. I worked at a real estate company, I worked at a restaurant, I worked selling cellphone accessories to gas stations. I moonlit for a variety of startups while I had these jobs and also worked behind a takeout counter.
“Then I began a full-time job at a company that made a big impact on my life in an interesting way. Their main business was selling audiobooks about sales and leadership to companies for their employees to listen to. The books were on CD; we were also in the early stages of working on an app that would allow people to listen to the books on their phones.
“We would send out a catalog of titles for the employees to choose the audiobooks they wanted to listen to. We would send the CDs at the beginning of every month, and they would send them back at the end of every month. It was basically Audible but with CDs.
“I was driving around Michigan trying to get meetings both to sell the books and to get companies interested in the technology/app they were working on. The boss suggested that I listen to the books, too, as I was traveling around. I did, and I learned so much about leadership, management, sales and more. It was extremely impactful.
“In corporate America, a sale can take more than a year and the app was almost ready, so I hustled like crazy and got great meetings with executives from massive companies. I met with the chief learning officer of Pfizer. I met with the State of Michigan, Flagstar Bank, General Motors and a national pizza chain. Unfortunately, the company couldn’t deliver on the app.
“As I said, I was already married by then. We both come from simple families, and we really struggled. We had zero dollars in the bank. Actually, we were in the negative money realm, so we decided to figure out what was really important and focus on that. We thought, at the end of the day, you’re not going to be buried with your money. The only thing that’s really going to stick with you and your loved ones is the memories of your life and experiences. So you might as well focus on that.
“We focused on making really good memories, on going out together once a week, even if it was just a drive to a park with some soda. We weren’t blessed with children for the first five years of our marriage, which was also hard to handle.
“Things weren’t going well with the audiobook company. My wife and I would sit down and figure out if we could buy chicken for dinner that week. We would put $5 of gas in the car at a time. We didn’t even have a couch in our apartment when we got married. We had a dining room set that cost $300.
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