THE UPS AND DOWNS OF RUNNING A SMALL BUSINESS

In Comley’s debut business book, the 95-year-old author tells the story of his decades-long career as the head of Embree Elevator, now in the hands of its second generation.

The book presents elements of the author’s professional history, offering lessons for future entrepreneurs and young members of the workforce and providing insight into how he was able to successfully combine work and family over many years. Comley explains how he came to make elevator maintenance his life’s work, offering plenty of fascinating details that will surprise readers unfamiliar with the wide variety of elevators in existence. He also engagingly discusses the values at the core of his professional and personal life. The book explores key business themes, such as risk management, sustainable growth, proper hiring efforts, and effective managerial policies. Comley is forthright and charmingly self-deprecating at times, making the text an enjoyable read. (“Yes, even at my age, I know who Wiz Khalifa is.”) The specific circumstances of his career provide fine fodder for reflection, as in his acknowledgment that, as the owner of a service company who came up through the trade, he learned to interact effectively with both his largely blue-collar employees and the college-educated executives of corporate clients. The book acts as a welcome antidote to many contemporary win-at-all-costs tales of running businesses; Comley explains why employee safety is one of his company’s main values, how he chose to turn down expansion opportunities that might have put the family-run business at risk, and clarifies the importance of work-life boundaries. He accomplishes all this and offers advice to a new generation without talking down to readers, bringing a welcome tone to a story of personal and professional success.

A heartfelt and engaging retrospective on a long and successful career.