Shelly Vitanza:
Welcome to the LU Moment. I’m Shelly Vitanza, the Director of Public Affairs at Lamar University. Each week, we showcase the great events, activities, programs, projects, and people at Lamar University. Well, New Year! How good is it to be done with 2020? Congratulations, if you are hearing my voice, you have made it through. I would have to say one of the most challenging, perhaps one of the worst years in history, but you are a survivor and we’re going to celebrate that. Lamar University campus is opening back up January 4th for faculty and staff tomorrow as a matter of fact. Faculty and staff will move back into place.
But students will not arrive back until January 19th, the day after MLK day. Monday, January 18th. During the holidays, we’ve been visiting with LU alumni in a series, “What Have You Done with Your LU Degree?” For this first LU Moment of the New Year after having survived 2020, I thought to host a true survivor, a real scrapper. This is a man who is a go getter, actually that is an understatement. He’s self-made, very successful in the business world, coming from nothing to growing a million-dollar business.
Every time I hear his story, I’m inspired to work harder and keep pushing through tough times because Fred Vernon did and he’s a success and he’s a Lamar graduate. Fred, welcome, CEO and founder of KLV Ventures, what year did you graduate from Lamar?
Fred Vernon:
I graduated once in 2012 with my undergrad and then again, I graduated in 2013 with my graduates degree with a master’s in accounting and also an M.B.A. And, Shelly, I do want to say thank you for the kind words. It definitely has been a journey and I would say self-made, I’ve got to add my team in there and all the people that have contributed to my success over the years and it’s been a good journey.
Shelly Vitanza:
Well, it’s such an inspiring journey and I want to try to get in as much of your story as we can in this short period of time. Now Fred, you grew up in Port Arthur, right? You’re a local boy?
Fred Vernon:
Yep, I grew up in Port Arthur and I actually graduated from Memorial High School in 2006. My ninth-grade year was the first year they had consolidated Thomas Jefferson high school and Lincoln high school. They actually consolidated both of those schools my freshman year.
Shelly Vitanza:
Okay, so you’re renowned for that already. One of the first grads from Memorial, that’s awesome. And so, then you went to Lamar and you got your degree and you worked along the way and were inspired to start a side business. Can you tell us about that?
Fred Vernon:
Absolutely. One good thing among many others, that I was able to obtain out of my high school education was: I was actually welding for two years while in high school for a technical program that the school has. Fortunately, that was able to launch my career towards entrepreneurship. When I started welding I had no idea it would be as contributory to my life as it has been. After high school, I didn’t know what I was going to do, I actually didn’t end up going straight to college and I just went on my tools and started working locally at Triple X Industrial and the Exxon Mobil plant. I started out as a helper and worked my way up to a structural welder and I actually did that my attending night school. At that point, I was working 72-84 hours a week and attending night school at Safety Star Industrial and then later on, ABC Welding School, but it was tough. I ended up saving about $10,000 and then going out to Tyler Junior College and I actually quit my welding job and I had $10,000 and that was what I was going to make it on. The only reason I ended up actually going to college is because I have a type A personality. I’m highly competitive and my brother, he got a scholarship to Texas State and I didn’t want him to be the first person in the family to graduate from college. I stopped welding temporarily, took my savings, helped my family get stable financially and I took off to Tyler.
Shelly Vitanza:
So, how did you end up back at Lamar?
Cade Johnson:
I ran out of money when I was up at Tyler. I was paying tuition in cash every semester and just living from place to place and I had no game plan when I got out there. I ran out of money, so I had to move back home, I got a friend of mine to bring me back down to take that 3-hour and thirty-minute drive from Tyler back to Port Arthur. I had a fear of what I was going to do. I think I had about $700 or $800 in my pocket. I had a car note, I had a cell phone at that time, and insurance, I had to pay my bills because nobody else was going to do it for me, so I had to come up with a plan. So, instead of sitting around crying about it, I started knocking on doors for a welding job and I found out, one time that no one was hiring for plate welders or structural welders. That’s an elementary type of welding and so I had to figure out how to progress my education so I can get a job. Everybody was hiring for pipe welders and combination welders, so instead of sitting around crying about it, I prayed about it and I knocked on some doors and finally this guy over at Safety Star Industrial had given me a shot. I gave him about $200 or $300 out of the little bit that I had, and he said, “you can weld for two weeks here and if you can pass your pipe welding test and combination welding test, we’ll give you a certification and good luck on finding a job, but it’s impossible. There’s no way you can do it in two weeks.” He just wanted to give me a fair warning before I gave him my money. But I welded sun-up to sundown for about one and a half weeks. I still have the burns on my arms to prove it.
Shelly Vitanza:
Determination. That’s really what got you to where you are. I want to fast-forward, Fred because we are going to run out of time. I want to fast forward to. What brought you to the business you are in today. How did you enter that business?
Fred Vernon:
Sure. Well, fast-forwarding after I finished up my welding school and saved up some more money and paid down some the debt I accumulated, I actually graduated from Lamar Port Arthur and enrolled in Lamar University. I met some friends, Paul? and Louise Lopez and that’s the L and the K in KLV. We wanted to start a business, but we didn’t know what type of business we wanted to start, and Lamar University has a good habit of surrounding its students with the right people at the right times. We had an event called meet the Firms and I met a Lamar graduate named Todd Hopkin, also Bart Simmons and they had an impact on my life and showed me a different side of life: if I worked hard, what I could achieve. I actually ended up getting some game-changing advice while I was on an internship with Bart Simmons and the advice was: “Do not depend on corporate America as my soul source of income.” I ended up pulling some funds together and I had literally gone to random people, church members and saved up everything I could, and we gathered about $56,000 to buy our first finished ground routes the year after I finished my internship in 2012. The business has since then grown to where we employ well over between 180-200 people, men and women, full-time. We have anywhere from 80-90 units on the road at one time. It’s a mammoth, it’s grown, but it’s been a great ride and I’ve had great team and the university has really supported me every step along the way.
Shelly Vitanza:
Well, it’s an amazing story. Let’s talk about your work with the university. I know you’re really involved with the Center for Innovation and Commercialization and Entrepreneurship. How has that center really supported and been involved with you, Fred?
Fred Vernon:
Absolutely! The director over there at the innovation center, Paul Latiolais, has not only become an advisor, but he’s become a really good friend of mine. Him and I have downloads every quarter about what’s going on with the business and the challenges I’m facing and he’s basically there to help guide me and give me additional resources or additional people that I could talk to or meet with that could help find solutions or bring in more resources to bridge the gap whenever I’m drawing a blank page. It’s been really good. About two or three years ago, I created an endowment at the University in my mother’s name for a student that is working a full-time job and trying to balance school and they’re in the accounting program and so this year, it actually becomes official. It just reached it’s vesting point so I’m pretty excited about that as well.
Shelly Vitanza:
Wow that is awesome! I know this year was a big year because you also partnered with Amazon. Can you talk about that a little bit and how that came about?
Fred Vernon:
Yes, absolutely! That actually changed the game for me. In 2019, I applied for the program and I had gotten in and I wasn’t even going to apply because so many people had gotten turned down for the program, but I applied, and I got in. Amazon has really put together a great program and I’m actually delivering packages to the tune of about 15-20,000 packages a day in the Houston and Katy area for Amazon and we’ve made about a year now into the program and it’s really been a game changer for everything that I’ve been doing as a business owner. During COVID, our business and our organization did face some challenging times. We were able to diversify between real estate and finished ground and Amazon and it’s really been a great experience learning how to deal with those challenges, but it’s been good, and I feel like we’ve been successful.
Shelly Vitanza:
Fred, you’ve been an inspiration to so many people. When you look back now, do you see these milestones and the things that you’ve learned. Could you pass some of those on, those major lessons you learned along the way? That was a monumental discovery or I’m so glad this person said this to me or were there things like that along the way that you could pass along to others?
Fred Vernon:
Absolutely. I will want everyone who’s listening, if you have a dream or an ambition to start your own business, I will say, be open-minded. Don’t feel like, I have to like what I do, or I have to like this thing to get into it or I have to do what I’ve invested in or focused on in the last five or six years. The truth of the matter is, keep an open mind to what opportunities are out there as to what you can invest your money in or time in and create great returns for yourself and for your family and live that entrepreneur dream and experience. I think secondly, after being open-minded, I would say be determined. Do not give up! Things are going to be hard; they are going to be challenging but there’s going to be a lot of great experiences along the way and just stay determined no matter what happens. Lastly, I would say be humble. No matter how big or how small your business is or where it’s starting from. You have to remember that there’s always someone that you can learn from and there’s always no matter where that person is in life, or what hands they’ve been dealt, you have to be willing to listen and you have to be humble. Try not to say, “I know, or I already know that.” You can learn from anybody and keep an open mind, absorb and be willing to change after you get that new information, so that’s kind of what I would suggest to anyone dreaming about starting a business, if you’re determined, you’re open-minded, and humble the world is at your fingertips.
Shelly Vitanza:
I love it. Great advice. Real quickly, like 20 seconds, we’re glad you’ve come back to the area. Are you glad to be home?
Fred Vernon:
I am glad to be home. I’ve been all over. I’ve done a lot of travelling. I can truly say, home is where my heart is. I’ve got one baby girl and one on the way, and so we’re planting our feet firm in Southeast Texas.
Shelly Vitanza:
That’s awesome. We’re so glad to have you. Thank you for everything you do for Lamar University. President, the alumni board and you just do great things. So, it’s a privilege to have you. Thank you for joining us. And thank you for joining us on the first LU Moment of the new year. Happy 2021! I’m Shelly Vitanza, the Director of Public Affairs at Lamar University, the pride of Southeast Texas.