AN INTERVIEW WITH….  Rodney Evans

You’ve been at Kimal Lumber for 31 years! Wow, 31 years….

Where did you grow up? Go to school?   Born in 1973 in southern Ohio in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains was a unique and fun start.  The area is known for having a very low job opportunities rate and small to no income opportunities, so we moved a lot.  Before the third grade I had lived in Portsmouth Ohio, Cynthina Kentucky, Cross lanes West Virginia, Fort wayne Indiana, Huston Texas, Elkhart Indiana as my amazing parents chased jobs and tried to better themselves and three kids. Then we moved to Englewood, Florida in 1980 and I attended school at Calvary Baptist Christian school for a couple years, junior high or the sixth grade I started attending L.A. Ainger middle school in Rotonda for all three years.  For senior high classes I went to Lemon Bay High School where I graduated in 1991 with a $350.00 scholarship to Charlotte County vocational school, but I never used it.  

This is just for fun, but this is called “The First Four”:

1. What is the first music album you purchased or received? WHITE SNAKE 1987 album.
2. What is the first concert you attended? Not big into concerts, only attended one ever in my life and it was just a few years ago when my wife and I saw Sam Hunt.
3. What is the first car you owned? 1978 Honda Civic, silver.
4. What is the first job you had? Fiber Glass innovations of Venice, where I worked with a dear friend, and we built boats and boat parts.

What jobs at Kimal did you hold before becoming an Outside Salesman?  KWAD where I worked inside the office processing orders, coordinated material needs with vendors, built doors when needed, and we even unloaded the window and door trucks from the manufacturers. Somedays I miss that job for sure.

What’s your favorite part of your Outsides Salesman role?  Commissions checks of course, but all kidding aside I enjoy the challenge of working with individuals and creating solutions, opportunities, and a mutual benefit that creates a long standing partnership.

What’s the most “memorable” experience you’ve had while at work here? (Amazing story?) I am proud to have had the opportunity to sit on FBMA panel discussion in Orlando.  It was the first time I got the since our industry is looking to grow through me and not just pass me. Sharing my ideas, schedules, and protocols in front of a room filled with both KIMAL friends, but also my industry peers and competitors.  Respect for myself and how I saw those around me grew a bit through this experience.

Would you like to comment on why you’ve stayed with Kimal for 31 years, and counting?  Reasons in my youth as to why I stayed at KIMAL are abundant and I will hit on a few of the biggest for me.  My Grandad worked two consecutive jobs and retired at the same time from both, as a huge role model for me this led to me setting a goal of staying at one job for 20 years. Little did I know where it would or could lead.   I also have a short attention span so KIMAL’s growth from within policy opened new job opportunities and I wanted more money so I would learn new responsibilities to get a better job.  Worked myself all the way down to sales, I often say jokingly.  The ability of any salesperson is not a God given talent it is a skill one must work very hard to perfect, and I know several that do.   After 30 years, I am still the young man on the inside that is deeply rooted with a goal setting competitive nature, eager to learn, self-motivated, up at 4:30 am person I was back then just now I walk to a meeting and not run.

What about family members….and how do you spend your leisure time.  My wife Mary and I love to overindulge in the time spent with our kids and grandkids and stay high on the expectation we set for spending time together.  I like to take the top off the jeep and take a long ride up or down the coast looking for new places to eat and have an adult beverage.  I enjoy working in the yard around my house, it is the best way to get a workout. The biggest addiction is likely hunting and fishing, collectively as a family meet several times a year to have some fun and work to keep the freezer full.