WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.400 I worked for a company in Waukegan till…it’s about 17 years. 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:07.800 So in ’83 onwards. The company where I used to work 00:00:07.800 --> 00:00:10.900 in Waukegan, we used to make a coating only 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:14.500 for the bakeware kind of a thing, you know. But the market was kind of 00:00:14.500 --> 00:00:18.200 limited at the time. But the pots and pans was better business. 00:00:18.200 --> 00:00:21.300 So…I told them to go after that business, you know, 00:00:21.300 --> 00:00:24.000 that big corporation? And they said, “No, no, no. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:28.000 We cannot compete against DuPont,” you know. So I said…“I’m going to resign,” 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:31.000 and I said “I’m going to work on my own to go after DuPont.” 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:36.400 And uh—So I gave myself eighteen months to…come up with the product. I said, “If 00:00:36.400 --> 00:00:39.200 I'm not successful, then I will work for the rest of 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:43.500 my life.” Mhm. I work for almost 18 hours, 7 days a 00:00:43.500 --> 00:00:45.200 week, I never took a day off. 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:49.000 Never saw the kids growing. You know, they were 10 and 12. 00:00:49.500 --> 00:00:51.300 I used to leave home at 6 in the morning 00:00:51.300 --> 00:00:53.800 and they were sleeping. I used to come at 10 at night 00:00:53.800 --> 00:00:56.300 and there was sleeping. So never saw them. 00:00:56.300 --> 00:00:59.100 After they're 10 and 12 I never saw them 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:02.400 till they became a college graduate, you know. **chuckles** 00:01:02.400 --> 00:01:07.700 But they say that—you know—only five percent or less of the new businesses 00:01:07.700 --> 00:01:12.200 survive. So maybe I was one of the lucky ones and uh, we became successful. 00:01:12.300 --> 00:01:15.500 And in ’98, the largest paint company of the world, 00:01:15.500 --> 00:01:17.800 from Netherlands, they came and said they wanted to 00:01:17.800 --> 00:01:21.000 buy us. I started the business to compete against 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:25.000 DuPont’s non-stick coating, teflon coatings. And I was successful 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:29.100 enough to replace them in significant places in the USA.