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SATURDAY, SEPT. 29, 2018 • KOKOMO TRIBUNE
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The locally owned and
operated business is the
area’s leading provider of
plumbing services
Terry and Kim Camden built 2nd Shift
Sewer & Plumbing from the ground up,
using their dedication and expertise to
create a successful and well-respected
company. And now they want to help
others do the same.
From the very start, “Live the Ameri-
can Dream” has been the couple’s motto.
They wanted to build a business that al-
lowed people the ability to become their
own boss and live a balanced and fulfill-
ing life. That, coupled with a desire to
help people invest in their own futures,
is why they started the process of fran-
chising their business in 2015.
Those franchise opportunities are
now available in the state of Indiana,
with 26 additional states following soon.
To be awarded a franchise, you don’t
have to be a licensed plumber but you
must have one involved in the business.
“Our business model is perfect for
anyone who is a hard worker and wants
the excitement, satisfaction, and free-
dom of business ownership,” Kim said.
The 2nd Shift team provides full sup-
port throughout the franchising pro-
cess, from site selection to approved
suppliers to IT set-up and more. They
have developed all the tools and steps
franchise owners will need to get
started.
“All you need to do is apply good busi-
ness practices to a great brand and
you’re off and running,” Kim said.
Building a dream
Recognizing a need for affordable
plumbing services outside of regular
business hours, Terry founded 2nd Shift
Sewer & Plumbing in 2010 while main-
taining full-time employment. Just two
years later he would leave his job and
operate the business full time.
Kim serves as co-owner and is actively
involved in the management of all as-
pects of the business. She is also heavily
involved in the community. Together
Terry and Kim’s hard work and dedica-
tion to providing needed services to the
community have fueled their company’s
growth and their passion for what they
do.
The locally owned and operated busi-
ness has now become the leading pro-
vider of plumbing services in the area
while keeping its focus on customer ser-
vice and delivering high-quality work.
They continue to never charge extra fees
for emergency or after-hours work.
To learn more about 2nd Shift Sewer
& Plumbing or how to acquire a fran-
chise, call 765-863-8522 or visit call-
someonewhogivesashift.com
2nd Shift helping to
build American dreams
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
BY GEORGE MYERS
KOKOMO TRIBUNE
A
severe heart attack, says
Mayor Greg Goodnight.
And a needed change in
lifestyle.
That’s the metaphor he
uses to describe what hap-
pened to Kokomo in the late
2000s. An unemployment rate
that jumped to 20 percent, an
auto industry on the ropes. A
city that received recognition
as one of the fastest-dying in
all of America.
“I don’t think people realize
how close to the edge we
were,” said Goodnight during a
June interview in his third-
floor City Hall office overlook-
ing downtown Kokomo.
But now the city is receiving
a different kind of recognition,
as one of the fastest-growing
economies in America since
the Great Recession.
Kokomo has, in fact, made
the third most dramatic eco-
nomic improvement since
2009, according to a study re-
leased earlier this year by
Bloomberg.
The study, said an article on
BloombergQuint, an online
arm of the business news gi-
ant, calculated the net change
in the number of people em-
ployed and unemployed by
metropolitan area, dividing
that figure by labor force levels
“to determine which region
shows the greatest improve-
ment.”
Ranked No. 1 is the Elk-
hart-Goshen metropolitan area.
The region, home to motor
home company Winnebago In-
dustries Inc., has been greatly
impacted by the RV industry’s
strong bounce-back. Ranked
second is Greeley, Colorado.
“It’s an accurate description
of where our community is sit-
ting now,” said Goodnight
about the study. “I think it’s
just confirmation of what we’re
doing as a community – the
things a lot of us have been fo-
cusing on.
“Our industries are doing
very well and hiring people.
Our service jobs – whether it
be health care or education or
retail – the investments at the
mall, places like that. Then you
think of Indiana University
Kokomo and their enrollment
increases, all those things.”
Kokomo, experts agree, could
tie much of its economic strug-
gle in past years to the auto in-
dustry’s floundering. Most no-
table, perhaps, was when
Forbes listed the city as Ameri-
ca’s third-fastest dying city.
“The best way to understand
Kokomo’s decline is to look at
Chrysler,” read a 2008 Forbes
story. “The auto company is the
city’s key employer, and as it
has fallen, so have Kokomo’s
fortunes.”
But it’s been the industry’s
recovery, they say, that has
since boosted Kokomo’s finan-
cial standing.
“Our decline, really in 2008
and 2009, was deeper and our
recovery has been stronger, as
compared to the U.S.,” said
Greater Kokomo Economic De-
velopment Alliance President
and CEO Charlie Sparks.
“I think it’s our over-depen-
dence on not just one industry,
but one employer.”
By the time President Barack
Obama visited Kokomo in No-
vember 2010, the city had al-
ready seen an 8-point reversal
in the unemployment rate
since the depths of the reces-
sion. One month earlier, a na-
tional news outlet had dubbed
Kokomo “The Town The Stim-
ulus Saved.”
Chrysler Group LLC – now
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles –
had recalled 400 hourly work-
ers in Kokomo. The company,
which was nearly liquidated,
has since invested around $2
billion in its local plants.
Some of that funding came
to the company through the
auto bailout, allowing Chrysler
to retain swaths of jobs.
“But [the auto industry]
wasn’t everything,” said Good-
night.
The city of Kokomo also
used stimulus funds to im-
prove downtown infrastructure
and provide incentives for
small businesses. Other stimu-
lus funds were used to improve
Kokomo parks and rehab fore-
closed homes.
And it’s a collection of quali-
ty-of-live initiatives – a new
downtown YMCA, revamped
city streets, Kokomo Municipal
Stadium – combined with an
influx of housing developments
that have largely represented
Kokomo’s comeback.
It’s those same factors, said
Goodnight, that Kokomo will
rely on in coming years to at-
tract and retain both busi-
nesses and residents.
3RD FASTEST GROWTH IN COUNTRY
KOKOMO ECONOMY, AFTER HITTING DRASTIC LOW POINT, REBOUNDED IN 2018
HITTING THE STORES:
Shoppers hit the stores on Thanksgiving as retailers got a lift from a better
economy.
(AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
MAKING A COMEBACK:
Brian Harlow, head of manufacturing for
FCA, walks through the Kokomo Transmission Plant on Aug. 24,
2018. The auto company is the city’s key employer, and as it has
fallen, so have Kokomo’s fortunes.
(Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune)
COMMERCE
SPOTLIGHT
