How an Artist’s Mindset Transformed a Small Elevator Business | Anya Codack
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Intro:
In this conversation, I sat down with Anya Codack to discuss her unique journey from aspiring artist through software development and consulting to taking over her family’s elevator supplier business, Delco Elevator Products. Anya shares the challenges and lessons she learned in entrepreneurship, the importance of customer experience and the value of building a strong company culture. Anya also discusses the supportive community she found within the elevator industry that has been especially supportive to her and many other women.
Transcript:
Anya Codack (00:00)
You need to be flexible and pivot. And those are lessons I learned over time. Also, having my background in a creative industry, I think, allows me to see things maybe in a little bit of a different way and have maybe more creative or three-dimensional solutions in my business strategy. strategy.
Yeah, I think I learned a lot of those things. The other thing I learned along the way that I’ve been able to apply is really bringing the team along in our strategic decision making. I love having everybody give input to what’s working, what isn’t working, where are we going, what’s our future and how are we going to get there and what’s your piece of that going to look like?
And just making everybody a part of that. I think all the previous years I’ve had and all the struggles I’ve had with businesses and other sectors have really taught me a lot.
Matt Allred (01:03)
Hello and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast brought to you by the Allred Group. I’m your host, Matt Allred. When talent is mission critical, call the Allred Group with industry expertise, top talent and exceptional customer service. You need the Allred group on your side. Your priority is our priority. Call now (404) 890-0445. In this conversation, I sat down with Anya Codack
to discuss her unique journey from aspiring artist through software development and consulting to taking over her family’s elevator supplier business, Delco Elevator Products. Anya shares the challenges and lessons she learned in entrepreneurship, the importance of customer experience and the value of building a strong company culture. Anya also discusses the supportive community she found within the elevator industry that has been especially supportive to her and many other women.
Matt Allred (01:57)
Anya, welcome to the show.
Anya Codack (01:59)
Thanks so much, Matt. I appreciate it. Thanks so much for inviting me.
Matt Allred (02:03)
Yeah, I appreciate you being here. I’m really looking forward to continuing our conversations. I’ve always enjoyed talking with you and you’ve got a very interesting story. Obviously, your family kind of, as you’ve told me, started in the elevator industry. How did you end up getting pulled in? What was a little bit of the family history there?
Anya Codack (02:24)
Yeah, it is kind of a funny story. I actually come from a very entrepreneurial family, but more in the construction sector. And when my
My dad passed away when I was quite young and my mother’s new partner was an elevator mechanic. And so we ended up, he ended up convincing her to purchase a small elevator company located in Vancouver called Delco Elevator Parts. And after she purchased that company, he had all kinds of crazy ideas for how to expand the company.
So they went and they traveled all over the world to source products and to bring into North America. They were went all over Europe and all over China and looked at all kinds of things and experimented and brought all kinds of products in and started manufacturing and building entire elevators and bringing controllers in from Europe and they really went like all out expanding this company.
Matt Allred (03:23)
wow.
Anya Codack (03:29)
I
was at the time I was in my teens and I spent a summer helping with a catalog that was, I don’t know, 5,000 or 10,000 SKUs
Matt Allred (03:44)
What did you think about this whole elevator adventure? What were the impressions going through your mind?
Anya Codack (03:49)
Well, you know what, for me at the time, it was all that my family was focused on. So every conversation around every meal was about the elevator business.
Matt Allred (03:59)
Talking I think we’re guilty,
right? I mean, elevator people talk shop.
Anya Codack (04:06)
I do it now too, yeah.
But at the time I resented it. Yeah, exactly. Exactly, yeah. And I always wanted to be an artist and so I…
Matt Allred (04:11)
I’m sure. Right. Yeah. You have a life, right. And you’re going to school and it’s like, can’t we talk about something else?
Anya Codack (04:23)
I got the heck out of there and as soon as I finished high school I was like I’m moving across the country I’m going to art school I’m not doing any of this elevator stuff and I left them to it.
I followed my own career and went into marketing and design and founded a company in that field. I did provide some support over the years. I helped with websites and some marketing materials and things like that. Exactly. Exactly. I don’t want to know about any of the drama.
Matt Allred (04:49)
Nice, right? From a distance, right? Don’t get me into it, right? I will stay across the country.
There’s no drama, not in this industry.
Anya Codack (05:04)
But at the same time, I met them at lot of CECA and NAEC conferences and I would see my family and I would walk the booths and so you never really get away from it when it’s a family business.
Matt Allred (05:20)
Yeah, I was gonna say, especially if they’re heavily involved, it’s like, ⁓ hey, if you wanna see us, if you wanna have a family reunion, we’re at the conference.
Anya Codack (05:26)
Exactly.
Come meet me in Montreal.
Matt Allred (05:31)
So yeah, never
really fully escaping. So how long did you pursue the artist? I know you did some software. Tell me a little bit more about that journey.
Anya Codack (05:38)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, so I spent about 20 years learning how to run a business, basically, and making a lot of very costly mistakes. Yeah. I did the entrepreneur journey the hard way.
Matt Allred (05:44)
Mm-hmm.
Don’t we all?
Anya Codack (05:57)
I learned a lot and yes, it was in marketing and it was in software. I learned a lot about sales, about customer relationships. I learned a lot about leading teams, developing operational practices and processes, optimizing things. I learned a lot about running businesses basically. And then when I had an opportunity to sell that business, I took
opportunity. And that was right around the same time that my mother was getting a little tired of running her company. And so that was about the time when I ended up stepping in and offering to purchase the business from her.
Matt Allred (06:46)
So
Was there any cognitive dissonance? Like I swore I would never and here I am. I mean, what was that like?
Anya Codack (06:53)
Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. No, I am.
I, like I said, I spent a lot of years learning a lot of things. And after I sold my other business, I had a better idea of what kind of company I wanted to run in the future. And I actually actively started looking for a business to purchase. And so I was looking at all sorts of businesses and I was looking at things that actually had inventory and products. So Delco ended up being
Matt Allred (07:00)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Anya Codack (07:24)
being
perfectly positioned for me to take over. And at the time,
There were a lot of, I could see a lot of things that where I could add value to the company and help the company to focus and to grow. And, so we were able to over the last, it’s been almost seven years now since I took over the company and we’ve made so many changes, we’ve done a lot of work on branding and positioning. But everything, everything we do,
is about our All our decisions are made around making sure our customer experience is the greatest experience. We want to be the easiest supplier to work with.
Matt Allred (08:10)
Yeah.
Anya Codack (08:10)
And that means, you know, making sure logistics is easy and communication is good. People answer the phone, that it’s easy to work with us, that the products arrive where they arrive, when they’re supposed to arrive, and that’s the right thing that arrives.
Matt Allred (08:25)
It’s one thing to say, hey, we’re gonna do this, but obviously you gotta have cooperative employees, you gotta have good training, you’ve got a lot of work to kind of get everybody on the same page. What are some things you do to kind of drive the right culture and select the right employees and train them properly? And that’s just, it’s a lot.
Anya Codack (08:44)
Yeah, that’s a really good question.
This is kind of an industry that really, I think, really rewards great people that are curious and reliable. And that’s what we look for, right? We look for people that right from, and we have a really stringent hiring process. It’s all based on the top grading methodology. And we look at making sure that the people that we hire really fit our values. So we want people that really care about customers. We want people that really care about
Matt Allred (08:53)
Right.
Cool.
Mm-hmm.
Anya Codack (09:15)
process, about improving process, about simplifying process.
We want people that are really passionate and that work really well as a team and that help support and motivate each other. We want people with drive and accountability. So those are our company values. And when we look for people, that’s what we look for. And I’ve been so fortunate, right? We have amazing salespeople. We have great people that work in our logistics department and operational people. We have warehouse people. We have customer service people, marketing
people and all of those careers and all of those career choices are all great opportunities in the elevator industry because they all provide for growth and development. As a leader, having the opportunity to be a leader, I’m very grateful that I can influence how we can shape people’s careers.
Matt Allred (10:02)
for sure.
Anya Codack (10:13)
And to me, it’s always about growth and about helping people grow.
For all of us, growth is so important and learning new things is important. being put into opportunities where we’re allowed to fail is important. Being able to make mistakes and put things back together again and moving on is so important to our personal growth.
Matt Allred (10:38)
It’s important
Important and it’s scary, right? Because as an employee, I mean, I remember when I was in corporate America, right? And I was like, ⁓ my gosh, right? I can’t screw this up. And yet what I hear you saying is, we need to provide opportunities so people can make mistakes, so they can learn from them, so they can reinforce the right way or just develop better judgment based on maybe poor choices in the first time.
Anya Codack (10:41)
Thank
Yeah, and I mean, everybody makes mistakes and they’re always painful, right? For all of us. But it does provide an opportunity for us to say, okay, what went wrong? How do we do this better? And what did you learn? And having, as long as there’s a learning outcome, it’s okay.
Matt Allred (11:08)
Yeah, yeah.
Good point. ⁓
I love that.
Anya Codack (11:27)
That’s my philosophy, right? As long as
Matt Allred (11:28)
Yeah.
Anya Codack (11:29)
there’s a learning outcome, you got something out of this and we all learn something. How do we make sure it doesn’t happen again? And that provides opportunities for growth.
Matt Allred (11:40)
Oh absolutely. Yeah, you’re right that sometimes that’s the most valuable growth and sometimes it can be very humbling, right? Because maybe it involves an apology that so-and-so needs to give to a customer or supplier. Hey, I screwed this up. I mean, that’s so hard to say, right? It’s so hard to take ownership for that. Yeah, awesome. Awesome. Obviously we talked about your
Anya Codack (11:57)
Yeah, for sure.
Matt Allred (12:04)
your story and kind of going away and coming back. Is there anything you would have done different in hindsight? Knowing what you know now.
Anya Codack (12:12)
With my career path? You know what, I gained so much experience along the way. I don’t think I’d trade any of it.
In my previous company, it was a very difficult sector and I had to reinvent our business model so many times. I think probably the most important thing I learned is running a company, you always need to be ready to pivot and you always need to be able to adjust.
That is one of the philosophies I’ve definitely taken forward.
It’s just hard lessons, right? And the hard lessons that you learn along the way. There was a situation where we were very reliant on a supplier. And we had built a lot of our relationships and our customer products and reliance on us on this particular supplier. And then if something goes south and either that supplier closes shop or they may have a change, then you’re
then we were in a situation where we were kind of going, holy crap, now what do we do? And so I think running a company, you need to be able to find your plan B and make it your plan A.
Matt Allred (13:35)
Yeah.
Anya Codack (13:36)
And You need to be flexible and pivot. And those are lessons I learned over time. Also, having my background in a creative industry, I think, allows me to see things maybe in a little bit of a different way and have maybe more creative or three-dimensional solutions in my business strategy. strategy.
Yeah, I think I learned a lot of those things. The other thing I find I learned along the way that I’ve been able to apply is really bringing the team along in our strategic decision making. I love having everybody give input to what’s working, what isn’t working, where are we going, what’s our future and how are we going to get there and what’s your piece of that going to look like?
Matt Allred (14:21)
Nice, uh-huh.
Right.
Anya Codack (14:36)
And just making everybody a part of that. So just that team leadership, I think all the previous years I’ve had and all the struggles I’ve had with businesses and other sectors have really taught me a lot.
Matt Allred (14:53)
Sure, sure. And like you said, a lot of them may be very difficult lessons, right? Maybe you didn’t want to be flexible and it’s like, no, I’m to be broken in half if I don’t get flexible quick, right?
Anya Codack (14:58)
us.
Exactly. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Matt Allred (15:06)
Well, tell me a little bit about Delco. You mentioned manufacturing, right? And as I understand it, you don’t manufacture now. So there’s been some evolution over time, some changes. Tell me about Delco today.
Anya Codack (15:19)
Sure, yeah. So Delco today, we have three main product lines. We have modernization machines and packages. We have complete elevator packages and we have components that we stock in warehouse in both the US and in Canada as well. Like I said, really our goal is to be the easiest supplier partner to work with. We want to be the most reliable
and easiest supply chain for contractors and OEMs across North America. Yeah, so what we’re doing to do that is we’re just keep on focusing on the basics. Improve customer experience, make it easy to work with us, improve our systems, make sure that we have the right products, reliable products. And I always say that we want to have the right products
in the right place at the right time.
Matt Allred (16:19)
Sure, sure. Good old
marketing slogan there, right? I am curious though, I mean, to be the easiest to work with. I assume you can’t possibly have one of everything, right? And maybe there’s certain partnerships. And so if somebody calls and they’re like, hey, I need XYZ, this may not be the right example, but you know, I’ll have a Coke. Oh, is a Pepsi okay? Or something like that. I mean, I’m sure you get that all the time, that, we have this that’s comparable.
but we don’t have that particular brand or something like that.
Anya Codack (16:49)
Yeah, have pretty much everything that somebody needs, but of course we don’t carry every brand. And that’s okay. There’s a lot of room in this industry for everybody else to sell their products, and a lot of it is preference. And if you want a Pepsi and we have a Coke, well…
Matt Allred (16:56)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Anya Codack (17:13)
you know, that’s okay. Go get your Pepsi. And you know what, if, your current supplier doesn’t have a Pepsi, maybe we can find a way to get you that Pepsi.
Matt Allred (17:24)
Right, right.
Anya Codack (17:25)
So we’re just looking at ways, how do we make sure that our customers get what they need in the best way. And if we can help get it for them, great. And if they need it faster, then we can get it for that particular item, then we encourage them to get it from a competitor.
Matt Allred (17:43)
Sure, sure. What are some things that Delco does that you feel like gives you maybe a leg up on making it easier? What are some of the, I don’t know, the tools, some of the processes that you’ve implemented that really allow you to do that?
Anya Codack (18:00)
I think we come into it with a mindset that we really care about the customer relationship and that we really want to help our customers find the solutions, the right solutions that they need. So we’re really careful about being there and being responsive. So answering the phone. We have live people that can probably
Matt Allred (18:08)
Mm-hmm.
Anya Codack (18:29)
take you from A to Z in the phone call. If you’re calling, we’re going to answer. Emails get responded to promptly. Website inquiries are responded to daily. We’re really on top of our logistics. So we’re always looking for best price, best service, communicating about logistics. If there’s a logistics problem, we’re on top of that and communicating it sometimes twice a day or more.
our contractors know when their parts are going to be there, right? So I know we’ve got mechanics are so expensive. The whole industry, right? There’s so much price pressure and competitive pressure for the contractors. And so we’re really looking at how can we help you by being the most reliable supply chain partner? And how can we help you
deal with all of the challenges that you have to deal with with your customers and your price pressures and your deadlines and the consultants and all of the other challenges that they need to work with.
Matt Allred (19:37)
Right.
Yeah, I can envision, you know, just getting the tools there, the parts there, the pieces there so that when they show up, they’re not waiting, they’re not delayed. Because like you say, hourly cost is extremely expensive. And so if everything’s there, then boom, we can go to work, we can knock it out, we can get paid and everybody wins.
Anya Codack (19:56)
Exactly, that’s the goal.
Matt Allred (19:58)
Yeah, yeah,
Having kind of avoided the industry, having come back into it, what do you love most about the elevator industry?
Anya Codack (20:08)
You know what, think this is an industry that has such a great community. The people are just fantastic. Whether I’m at an NAEC event or at a CICA event or some of the NAEC has put together the Women in Motion committees and teams and that’s been a really successful initiative.
Matt Allred (20:12)
Agreed.
Anya Codack (20:32)
I’ve really seen a change in how well women are supporting each other now in this industry.
I think I love the people. I love how it’s such a secretive, such a secret little industry. It happens to me all the time when I talk to friends and they say, what industry are you working for? And it’s like, I’m in the elevator industry and they’re like, what? So, what is that? People do that?
Matt Allred (20:47)
For sure.
What is that?
Anya Codack (21:03)
Yeah, I think it’s a great industry and personally what I’ve really appreciated is that I think it’s an industry that allows growth and success if you bring curiosity and reliability and want to help people. I think it rewards that. so I think it’s a fantastic industry.
Whether you’re a young person looking for a career in this industry has so many options, or whether you already had a career, like I did, and chose to either come back to it or found this industry or accidentally fell into it. I think with the right attitude, there are unlimited opportunities in this industry.
Matt Allred (21:57)
Yeah, that’s great point. You mentioned earlier, just being curious and being willing to engage and dig in. And it really does seem to reward those who do exactly that, right? If you’re willing to learn and willing to apply yourself, there’s all kinds of opportunities. And sometimes it’s starting a new business or inventing new products or inventing a new way of doing something or obviously within traditional lines as well. There’s just a lot of opportunity for sure. That’s awesome.
Anya Codack (22:23)
Yeah, no, I agree with
you.
Matt Allred (22:25)
You mentioned Women in Motion and women supporting each other. Tell me a little bit more about how you feel like you’ve personally benefited from that program.
Anya Codack (22:35)
I guess it’s two sides to all that. A little bit of my personality is that I’m a lifelong volunteer. And so whenever I’m involved in associations or other groups such as NAEC I’m always looking at ways to give back. so I think…
Matt Allred (22:39)
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Nice.
Anya Codack (22:56)
I like to look at Women in Motion from two sides. I like to look at it from the side of what can I give back and how can I help support other women and how are other women potentially struggling. Some people need more support than others.
Matt Allred (23:06)
Mm-hmm.
Anya Codack (23:21)
I’ve been in primarily male-dominated industries most of my life and found my way.
Other stories I’ve heard haven’t been so easy for some other ladies. And so I’m always looking at how can I help somebody to find their way, be successful, give them the tools they need. And then on the other side, of course, I hear the stories and I learn a lot, right? I hear about other people’s stories and where they came from and their journey and some of the challenges they’ve had and some of the decisions they’ve had to make.
and it can be very inspiring.
Matt Allred (23:59)
Very cool. Yeah, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. What advice would you give to someone who’s maybe they’re brand new to the industry or they’re thinking about getting involved? What would you say?
Anya Codack (24:11)
You know what, I think this industry rewards people that are dependable, they’re curious, they’re good to work with, and if you bring that, you’ll do well.
Matt Allred (24:22)
Absolutely. And probably, yeah, open up all kinds of opportunities that maybe they didn’t, they weren’t even aware of, right? There’s opportunities will come.
Anya Codack (24:31)
Absolutely, yeah. Like I was saying before, right, there are so many career directions in this industry. Delco is a small business, but even here we have everything from marketing to operations to sales, administration, finance. So there are so many different career paths.
Matt Allred (24:52)
Very cool. So Anya, last question for you. As you look ahead, what do you think the future holds for the industry, for Delco?
Anya Codack (25:06)
You know what, I think this industry, it’s never easy. And I think there’s a lot of stuff going on all the time.
From what I’m seeing is there’s a lot of price pressures and competitive pressures on our contractors. There’s lead time risk. There’s challenges presented sometimes by consultant specifications, government restrictions, all of the, there’s so many different challenges. A lot of the challenges that our contractors face
are labor related as well, growth related. There’s so much change in the industry with mergers and acquisitions. It’s hard to keep track of who owns who. So I think that in through all that, the important thing is to continue to focus on the basics and to continue to focus on customer experience, improving the processes,
Matt Allred (26:00)
Yeah.
Anya Codack (26:07)
supporting each other, helping the teams to develop and thrive and grow, being accountable and that is where we’re focusing and continuing to focus as everything else kind of spins out of our control.
Matt Allred (26:25)
That’s a great point. I appreciate you saying that because at the end of the day, you got to take care of business. You got to focus on the basics, make sure people get taken care of, that parts and supplies arrive when they need to, and that’s what’s in your control. And there’s a lot of other things that aren’t. And so, like I say, focus on what you can and everything will work out.
Anya Codack (26:47)
That’s it. That’s it. We’ll do our best, right? We’ll just keep doing our best and keep looking for more ways to be a better partner to our customers.
Matt Allred (26:50)
Exactly.
Exactly. Well, Anya, it’s been a pleasure and a privilege. I appreciate you being with me today.
Anya Codack (27:04)
Thanks so much, Matt. I really appreciate it.
Matt Allred (27:08)
Well, thank you and good luck to you as you continue to build your business and support the industry. Thank you.
Anya Codack (27:13)
Thanks so much and thanks for doing this.
Matt Allred (27:15)
Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers podcast sponsored by the Allred Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting. Please visit our YouTube channel at Elevator Careers or check us out online at elevatorcareers.net. Please like and subscribe and until next time, stay safe.