Profile: Fred Colburn
Fred Colburn is owner and manager of Colburn Building Maintenance, which is located downtown. His business? motto is ?providing a clean, healthy, safe environment.? |
HOW LONG HAS HE OWNED HIS OWN BUSINESS?
Colburn started the company in 1986.
HOW MANY BUSINESSES DOES HE PROVIDE SERVICES FOR?
C.W. Powell is Colburn?s major client. ?Mr. Powell Sr. has properties all around Jacksonville and I provide the maintenance for them.? Colburn also has an account with the Jacksonville & the Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau and several law firms.
WHAT?S HIS FAVORITE BUILDING?
His preference is the Morocco Shrine Building that houses Powell?s businesses. ?There?s a lot of history, and Laurel and Hardy performed there.?
WHAT OTHER JOBS DID HE HAVE BEFORE STARTING HIS OWN BUSINESS?
Colburn began working at 14, helping his father clean floors. Then he worked at Publix for about seven months. ?Publix taught me how to strip floors.? At age 17, he built walk-in freezes for Reeves Insulation. ?They thought I was 18 when I began working there, and when I got hit in the head with a brick, I couldn?t get workers compensation. Mr. Reeves had to pay out of his own pocket.? Colburn became associated with Powell when he worked to restore the tile in the Morocco Shrine Building. ?He was so impressed with how clean I got his tiles.?He is also involved with the Hospital Liaison Committee with the Jehovah?s Witnesses and he is one of seven elders in his local congregation.
WHAT MADE HIM WANT TO START HIS OWN BUSINESS?
Colburn says his love of meeting new people inspired him to open his own business. ?I like to meet people and I like to be mobile. Being confined to one place would kill me.?
HOW LONG HAS HE LIVED IN JACKSONVILLE?
All of his life. He was born in Baptist Hospital, went to Sandalwood High School and has worked his entire adult life in the area.
EDUCATION?
He took advanced business courses in high school and a few refresher classes at Florida Community College at Jacksonville. ?I took just enough to get going.?
FAMILY
Colburn has been married to his wife, Virginia, for 19 years. She works at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida. They have no children. ?I just try to be a good uncle.?
IF HE COULD GO BACK AND CHOOSE ANY CAREER, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
?If I had wealthy parents to put me through college, other than working as a missionary in a foreign land, I?d like to have been a doctor.? He said he would have been a surgeon. ?I?m not sure which body part.?HOBBIES
Colburn started playing the banjo five months ago.WHAT ADVICE WOULD HE GIVE ANYONE WHO WANTED TO START THEIR OWN BUSINESS?
?You find out real fast in business that it is all about establishing relationships, especially in small businesses. Small businesses take care of each other.? Colburn specifically noted his colleague, Esa Hassan of E-Chem Solutions, Inc. ?He?s been very good to me.? Colburn would also give this advice: ?Loyalty is more important than saving a few dollars.?
? by Tammy Taylor
His wife works and they have no children, yet no mention of either one regular pioneering. Hmmmm?