Service as the Foundation: Moore United Construction

Summary

The Unshakeables – “Service as the Foundation: Moore United Construction”

Podcast: The Unshakeables (Chase for Business & iHeartMedia/Ruby Studio)
Air Date: January 27, 2026
Host: Ben Walter
Guests: Ron Moore & Kelly Moore (Co-Founders, Moore United Construction)
Cohost: Kathleen

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Episode Overview

This episode tells the remarkable story of sibling entrepreneurs Ron and Kelly Moore, who rebuilt their lives and careers after losing their family business to an unexpected will change. It explores themes of resilience, the power of family partnership, business integrity, and service to community—especially for military veterans. Their journey underscores both the challenges and rewards of small business ownership, and how dedication to service can become the bedrock of lasting success.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Backstory – Lessons from Family, Foundations of Service

• Working Under Their Father

  • Ron and Kelly grew up working in their father's business, Moore Flooring, a commercial flooring company in California.
    • "I started working for my father in 1989." – Kelly Moore [00:25]
    • "I started as the warehouse kid, and 22 years later, I worked my way up to the president of the company." – Ron Moore [04:02]
  • Their father insisted they start from the bottom, instilling humility and a deep understanding of each job.

• Family Dynamics

  • Bonded tightly with both their biological father and stepmother, who was “kind and loving” and part of family traditions.
  • Fond memories: spontaneous “meetings” for The Price is Right-style lunch bets.
    • "Whoever guesses the price is right showdown pays for lunch. The other one doesn't." – Kelly Moore [04:44]

2. Crisis Point – Betrayal Through the Family Trust

• Loss of Inheritance
  • Upon their father’s death from pancreatic cancer, Ron and Kelly discovered the trust had been changed under questionable circumstances, leaving everything to their stepmother.
    • "He passed away in 2014." – Kelly Moore [00:55]
    • "He changed it a couple months when he was terminal, when he was taking chemo, she had him sign the trust differently... She gets everything." – Ron Moore [01:11]
  • Profound “double loss”—their parents and their business legacy.
    • "It was hard losing a mother and father that day. And her grandkids lost their grandmother and grandfather... To this day, we haven’t received one thing." – Kelly Moore [05:40]
  • After a period of grief, they chose to move forward and build their own futures.

3. Rebirth – Divergent Paths to Redemption

• Initial Careers Post-Betrayal
  • Kelly: Excelled at a large construction firm, managing hundreds but missing family.
    • "I'm at the peak of my career, making a lot of money... But I missed my family." – Kelly Moore [07:30]
  • Ron: Partnered with friends in another construction company, grew it exponentially, but felt unfulfilled.
    • "Great guys, great company... but it’s not for me. My ultimate direction was to start my own company again and make our company legacy, how it’s supposed to be." – Ron Moore [08:35]

4. Moore United Construction – Reuniting as Siblings in Business

• Taking the Risk

  • Ron called Kelly to help start Moore United Construction; she took the leap despite financial security and career standing.
    • "He told me, ‘Well, I need you.’ ... I gave my two weeks." – Kelly Moore [09:03]
  • Ron funded the launch with a home equity line of credit, taking on personal risk.
    • "If I don't succeed, I'm going to lose the house, everything I've worked so many years for." – Ron Moore [10:25]

• First Steps and Focus on Sustainability

  • Operated from temporary spaces, managing early operations out of their living rooms before securing a warehouse.
    • "We did not have a physical location... Meetings in parking lots, meetings in my living room." – Kelly Moore [10:51]
  • Emphasis on expanding beyond flooring to multiple divisions: construction, lighting, and eventually solar.
    • "If you don't diversify, you're going to die on the vine." – Ron Moore [11:39]

• Smart Early Growth

  • Targeted clients who paid fast, ensuring strong cash flow.
    • "I focused on them so I can get that 10-day money in quick so we can start building." – Ron Moore [12:18]
  • Surpassed first-year goals by tripling projected revenue, with an eye on slow, steady growth.

5. Business Wisdom – Cash Flow, Roles, and Partnership

• Practical Money Management

  • Kelly, as CFO, stressed the importance of cash flow and selecting clients accordingly.
    • "We really keep the money in house and have it in the bank... old school and been around a long time—rainy day." – Kelly Moore [13:22]
  • Both hosts and guests underscored the challenge and necessity of negotiating payment terms, even at the cost of forgoing work.
    • "Imagine the courage it takes... to say no to something because you don't like the payment terms." – Ben Walter [18:34]

• Sibling Dynamic and Clear Roles

  • Ron and Kelly’s partnership thrives on distinct roles: Ron as visionary and client-relationship lead; Kelly as the execution-focused administrator and CFO.
    • "He's the idea guy and he's the values guy and he's the sales guy and she's the deliberate lady." – Ben Walter [17:30]

• Trust and Written Agreements

  • The hosts emphasize that clear roles and decision rights are vital, particularly in family businesses.

6. Adversity Inside the Business – Managing Betrayal Again

• Employee Betrayal
  • A trusted project manager started a rival company while still on the Moore United payroll, taking clients.
    • "He was quoting stuff for his new company... I felt that he betrayed us. That’s one thing that has changed in my personality is trust." – Kelly Moore [20:58/21:43]
  • Rather than retaliating, Ron chose to move on, reinforcing their positive and future-focused philosophy.
    • "I'm not going to have a heart attack or stress over— good luck, I wish you well, and we go on." – Ron Moore [22:08]

7. Legacy and Service – Giving Back to Veterans and the Community

• Veteran Support as Core Mission

  • Ron is a disabled Army veteran, and their company’s legacy is defined by veteran support—not company size or money.
    • "Our legacy is helping veterans... I'm not going to let that happen to veterans. Not on my watch." – Ron Moore [23:33]
  • Initiatives include:
    • Hiring and upskilling veterans with living wages.
      • "You want to be an electrician? Come on. I'm going to pay you $35 an hour. They're not worth $35 an hour, but it’s a living wage..." – Ron Moore [23:39]
    • Providing “go bags” for homeless veterans.
      • "Everybody deserves to eat off a plate with utensils. So that's in our go bag." – Kelly Moore [24:29]
    • Giving scholarships for veterans' living expenses.
    • Participating in Habitat for Humanity veteran housing projects.

• Broader Vision of Business

  • Hosts reflect on the impact: small businesses like Moore United are often the most generous in their communities, going above and beyond purely financial metrics.

8. Mentorship and Community Impact

• Mentoring Other Businesses
  • Moore United Construction participates in Chase’s “Coaching for Impact” program and offers guidance to other small business owners.
    • "They've been terrific partners for us, they were part of our Coaching for Impact program... and coach other businesses. The multiplier effect on that is enormous." – Ben Walter [28:03]

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On Growing from Adversity:
  • "You gonna sit and dwell on this nonsense and have stomach acid and heartache? ... Let’s drive on to make more work. Have your legacy be better than that." – Ron Moore [22:41]
• On Service:
  • "Our legacy is helping veterans... We sit down and talk to veterans that are homeless." – Ron Moore [23:33]
  • "I see you. What do you need? I'm here. I see you." – Kelly Moore [24:29]
• On Business Integrity:
  • "Be honorable. You’ve only got your name." – Ron Moore [29:01]
• On Passion as a Business Foundation:
  • "If you love baking and you want to start your own business, make it your life. Don’t go after, oh, this is a great way to make money, but I hate doing this... Be steady. The steady person will win the race and money will come. As long as you’re honest and you take care of your clients, it’ll come." – Kelly Moore [29:26]
• On Cash Flow:
  • "Businesses rarely die because they run out of sales. They die because they run out of cash. No one wants to talk about that, but it’s true." – Ben Walter [19:19]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:07 - 04:44: Early days at Moore Flooring and family legacy
• 05:01 - 07:20: Discovering the changed trust; family and business lost
• 07:30 - 08:55: Ron and Kelly’s separate career paths post-betrayal
• 08:55 - 10:51: Founding Moore United Construction; biggest risks
• 10:51 - 12:09: Early days—no office, diversified services, operational strategies
• 13:00 - 13:22: Cash flow management insights
• 19:48 - 21:43: On employee betrayal and trust
• 23:33 - 26:09: Giving back to veterans and defining a legacy
• 28:03 - 28:33: Mentorship and Coaching for Impact involvement
• 29:01 - 30:20: Final advice to entrepreneurs

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Final Reflections and Takeaways

Business isn’t just about the bottom line—it's about people, relationships, and living true to your values. Ron and Kelly Moore’s story embodies unwavering integrity, resilience after profound loss, disciplined financial stewardship, and a passionate commitment to community service, especially for veterans.

Their advice for future entrepreneurs:

• "Be honorable. You’ve only got your name." – Ron
• "Be true. Make it your life. The steady person will win the race and money will come." – Kelly

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For listeners:
Whether you’re building a new business, facing unexpected hardship, or trying to find your “why,” this episode’s narrative and practical lessons are a reminder that resilience, service, and character are the true pillars of an “Unshakeable” legacy.

Transcript

[Ben Walter]

A long time ago. Well, not so long. It was the 90s. In a faraway place, if you consider California far, lived a brother and sister, Ron and Kelly Moore. Now, there are no princes or princesses in this story, but once upon a time, they worked at their father's small business, a flooring company.

[Kelly Moore]

I started working for my father in 1989.

[Ron Moore]

Here I am, a 23 year old kid, and I thought, okay, I'm going to be vice president. My dad said, you're starting in the warehouse.

[Ben Walter]

Over the following decades, both worked their way up to rule their respective kingdoms within Moor Florin. And then tragedy struck.

[Ron Moore]

My father had pancreatic cancer and he had his trust where I had the company, the building and everything else.

[Kelly Moore]

He passed away in 2014.

[Ron Moore]

And then when my father passed, my stepmother came in and said, oh, he changed it a couple months when he.

[Kelly Moore]

Was terminal, when he was taking chemo, she had him sign the trust differently.

[Ron Moore]

And she gets everything.

[Kelly Moore]

They were married 20 years and she was kind and loving. It's hard because even though she was our stepmom, she was my mom. We were extremely close. It was hard losing a mother and father that day.

[Ben Walter]

And just like that, brother and sister were cast out on their own. Everything Ron and Kelly had been working for, everything that had been promised to them was gone. But this isn't where the story ends. In fact, it's only the beginning. Welcome to the Unshakeables from Chase for Business and Ruby Studio from iHeartMedia. I'm Ben Walter, CEO of Chase for Business. There's nothing small about the impact small businesses have on America. They don't just drive our economy. They define our communities, create opportunities, and inspire the next generation of dreamers and builders. On the Unshakeables, we're sharing the daring moments of business owners facing their crisis points and telling the stories of how they got through it. If you're joining us for the first time, welcome. If you're a longtime listener, welcome back. Well, here we are, everyone. Season three. Kathleen, it's great to have you back.

[Ron Moore]

We back.

[Ben Walter]

We're back.

[Ron Moore]

We're back in the building.

[Ben Walter]

I know we got some great stories for everyone this season. You and I are gonna have our hands full.

[Ron Moore]

We are.

[Kathleen]

And the lineup looks incredible. And it's funny because now, knowing what businesses you gravitate toward, ver the ones that I tend to gravitate toward, it feels like an even split a little bit.

[Kelly Moore]

So I'm excited.

[Ben Walter]

Yeah, we don't cook this up as much as you think, but we do have our majors and minors, so I think it'll work out pretty well. I think we're gonna have some great stories for you this season and I look forward to seeing how we pick them apart.

[Kathleen]

Yeah, me too. Excited to be in your co pilot chair this season.

[Ben Walter]

We're starting off in sunny California, some would say the land of fairytales. Let's get further into the story on today's episode. More united construction. From Ontario, California, We have Ron and Kelly Moore on the show today. Now, we've had a few married couples, but this is our first time having a brother and sister on the show. They founded their company together and it probably went so well because the first time they had worked together was not when they started this company. I love it when siblings can grow up and get along and find ways to do things together. But as I understand it, you both grew up in a small family business.

[Ron Moore]

Yes, we did. Our father owned a business and we both worked for him. I went to the military, and when I came out, I worked for him for about 21 years, and then I started.

[Kelly Moore]

He wanted me to answer phones in high school, and here I am 30 years later in construction.

[Ben Walter]

So you both worked for the company. And what was his business?

[Ron Moore]

It was called more flooring and it was commercial flooring. It wasn't easy. He was tough. You know, he made us work hard. There was no 9 to 5. I started as the warehouse kid, and 22 years later, I worked my way up to the president of the company.

[Kelly Moore]

And I think that was the best thing he could have done for us is having us started answering phones and warehouse and learn everybody's job and what we need to do going forward.

[Ben Walter]

It took a while for Ron and Kelly to fully appreciate their father's lessons. But from the very beginning, no matter how tough their father was around the office, he still found ways to be dad. He'd call Kelly into his office for a quote unquote meeting.

[Kelly Moore]

He goes over the PA and he goes, kelly, you need to come in here right now and grab your pen and paper. And I go in there and he goes, okay, whoever guesses the price is right showdown pays for lunch. The other one doesn't.

[Ben Walter]

Now, clearly you're not with more flooring anymore. So how did that all come to pass?

[Ron Moore]

Well, he got cancer. And all of a sudden he passed away from the cancer. And stepmom came in and said, your.

[Kelly Moore]

Dad changed his trust when he was doing chemo.

[Ron Moore]

When he was doing chemo and you get nothing. She gets everything. Yeah.

[Ben Walter]

Had he Actually done that?

[Ron Moore]

Oh, yeah.

[Kelly Moore]

But he didn't know what he was saying. It was at the end.

[Ben Walter]

What really struck me about this tale was that Kelly made it clear that their stepmother hadn't acted like that before. They'd had a great relationship, but unfortunately, it splintered in those final hours.

[Kelly Moore]

She was my mom, and this is where I get a little emotional, very involved with my kids. It was hard to see a person who was so loved by all of us and who loved us, pretty much cut us off. That was where we worked with our father. And from day one, you know, this building's yours, and it was paid for. And in California, it was a lot of money if we wanted to buy that building now. It was hard losing a mother and father that day. And her grandkids lost their grandmother and grandfather. I mean, we had dinners at least once a week. They went to every function, every event, and they were like their second parents. Our father put together a box of for each child and each grandchild. We put something that he cared about to give to each of us in this box. And I'm sure a lot of it were books that he read to us or the kids. Huge into reading. To this day, we haven't received one thing. I asked her if I could have the clothes to make a quilt for the grandchildren. A poppa quilt. You're getting nothing. They went to Goodwill somewhere. No pictures, no box. With that happening, my brother and I are not one to prolong anything. So we ended up saying, okay, it is what it is. Let's just go forward.

[Ben Walter]

They took different paths forward. Ron stuck around another month or so to make sure more flooring wasn't going to be totally destroyed. But then he and Kelly both left for greener pastures.

[Kelly Moore]

I went to work for a different type of construction. Freeways and tunnels, a large Fortune 500 construction company. And I have 350 employees below me. I'm at the peak of my career, making a lot of money. All these benefits and construction. It's kind of hard to have all these benefits. And it was really a nice home, kind of, because everybody was very kind. But I missed my family.

[Ben Walter]

Ron took a different path.

[Ron Moore]

I went straight to a couple of my friends that owned a construction company and said, do you need a partner? And they brought me in, and I was with them for seven years. When I left, my clients weren't more flooring's clients, they were mine. And they went with me to my next adventure in life. And I was a partner with them for seven years. And we built that company up from doing 3 million to about 20 million a year.

[Ben Walter]

I was doing very well, but it wasn't more flooring. It wasn't a Moore company at all.

[Ron Moore]

And I realized that these are great guys, they have a great company, but it's not for me. I need full control. Everybody has a drive and they have a direction and that wasn't mine. My ultimate direction was to start my own company again and run it and make it how I want it and make our company legacy, how it's supposed to be.

[Ben Walter]

Ron just needed one thing to get started.

[Ron Moore]

I called Kelly up and I said, I'm starting my own thing.

[Kelly Moore]

And I go, I'm proud of you, that's fantastic. And he told me, well, I need you. And I go, for what? He goes, to help me start it.

[Ron Moore]

We're best friends and we've always talked all the time.

[Kelly Moore]

I'm at the peak of my company, I'm in my 50s. Starting over is going to be crazy. And so he, he goes, well, you know, I just want to start my own company.

[Ben Walter]

Kelly went home that night and Ron's business was all she could think about.

[Kelly Moore]

Thinking about how hard it will be for him to find an employee that is protective like I am and to make sure everything is done correctly. Ron is fantastic with clients, but admin side of it, he needed my help. The next day I called him and I go, are you serious?

[Ron Moore]

I said, I'm for real. And she goes, well, I gave my two weeks.

[Kelly Moore]

I go, okay, are the clients coming with us? And he goes, I don't know. That was scary because I was single at the time, paying for all my bills and making sure that I can take care of myself financially. We took a huge pay cut, starting the company, really not making anything.

[Ben Walter]

Ron even took out a home equity line of credit or HELOC to get things going.

[Ron Moore]

I remember the first month I took 200,000 to buy equipment and materials and this and that. I'm like, if I don't succeed, I'm going to lose the house, everything I've worked so many years for.

[Ben Walter]

As Ron gathered materials, he also scheduled meetings all over town. He met with all of his clients and let them know what he and Kelly were doing. Meanwhile, Kelly was getting everything together on her end.

[Kelly Moore]

I'm getting all the contracts and paperwork and buying a computer and getting a business license, getting all our certificates. He's a disabled veteran owned company. For myself, learning all of that through the state, it took a while and getting the proper licenses and everything. We did not have a Physical location, meetings in parking lots, meetings in my living room, at my house and my brother's living room.

[Ben Walter]

Then one of their subcontractors offered up a warehouse he had, and Ron and Kelly moved in. They were officially back in business together under the name Moore United Construction. And they were interested in expanding beyond flooring.

[Ron Moore]

Moore Flooring was a flooring company. And yeah, it was a great company and it was strong, but if you don't diversify, you're going to die on the vine. And one day I was saying, you know, I'm just looking at floors. Why am I not looking at walls and ceilings and everything else? So diversity was very important. And that's why now we have our flooring division, our construction division, our lighting division. Now we're starting up a solar division.

[Ben Walter]

So what were the first few jobs you did? I mean, you're out of the gate. Construction's a capital heavy business. You borrow money to start, you take out a heloc. What were those first few jobs?

[Ron Moore]

What was great is the clients that I have worked with. One of my college, Mount San Antonio College, gave me small projects with quick turnaround, paid me within 10 days. The U.S. post Office, I've done work for them. Quick turnaround, they pay me within 10 days. I do work for Tarkett, which is a big manufacturing company. They pay me within 10 days. I focused on them so I can get that 10 day money in quick so we can start building. And the whole thing was, is I told Kelly, let's do a million dollars first year, slow climb and we'll build up from there. First year we did 3 million, I said, whoa, okay, good profit, good profit margins, kept the money in the bank slow.

[Ben Walter]

Kelly, I'm curious. You're the CFO of the company. As a banker, I tell people a lot about the importance of cash flow and getting paid on time. We see lots of clients, especially when they're starting out, more focused on winning the business than getting paid for the business. So can you talk about how you think about that as the CFO of the company? Like how do you think about cash flow and getting paid?

[Kelly Moore]

That's a great question. Sometimes we get a client that doesn't pay right away and we have to take that into our thought process if we're going to bid on more jobs with them. But it's really about what type of clients that helps our cash flow. And having that thought process of knowing which money we can count on and when we need it and we don't spend, we really keep the money in house and have it in the bank to where we're old school and been around a long time that rainy day.

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[Ben Walter]

Well, the two of them were just a delight.

[Kathleen]

A delight and a pleasure. I just was sitting there listening to your conversation. Like so much heart.

[Ben Walter]

So much heart.

[Kathleen]

Military business, sibling business, service business, all heart against this crazy backdrop of like a dark fairy tale and an evil stepmother. And they're just like maintaining their love and light. But what I also loved about it is it reminded me of what makes business great in this country. I think the media and I feel like you feel this way too. Like we're so fixated on the cool, shiny founders and business and this is just like a wholesome, heart centered, do the right thing, lead with integrity sort of. American business.

[Ben Walter]

Yes. And American capitalism can be a force for good.

[Kathleen]

Yeah.

[Ben Walter]

And they are the living embodiment of that. They're just terrific. When I reflect on the way that they started the business and what they came from, the way that he takes hits is something to study. I really believe that because, you know, we've had so many guests on this show who've had this happen to them and that and these really tough things and we talk about this unshakable spirit. And for a guy who's all heart, he was remarkably stoic. Yeah, about some pretty tough things. I mean the business that he'd worked for his whole life, he got swindled out of. And he picked himself up, moved on and just said, well, guess it's a new day.

[Kathleen]

Just kept it moving. Because you can be so consumed by that animosity and the spite. And we've heard a spite speech before. Seriously, like, it can be all consuming, but being able to just say onwards.

[Ben Walter]

They're just positive, looking to the future kind of people, which is great.

[Kathleen]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ben Walter]

We haven't had a brother or sister before. I thought that was remarkable. I mean, I'm close with my sister. I'm close with my brother. I don't know if we could do it.

[Kathleen]

You think you could do it?

[Ben Walter]

I don't think we could do it.

[Kelly Moore]

Okay.

[Ben Walter]

And I'm really close with them.

[Kathleen]

Yeah, I certainly couldn't. No way on earth. And I just love, you know, they're truly simpatico with each other.

[Ben Walter]

Husband and wife is more common than sister, brother. But I will say, whenever we see family businesses, the ones who do well are the ones who have figured out the dynamic and figured out in particular the power dynamic. Who's in charge of what, who takes the lead where, who has decision rights where. If that's unclear, it's a lot tougher.

[Kathleen]

Did she on that role piece, did she feel like an unlikely CFO to you?

[Ben Walter]

I don't know if she felt like an unlikely cfo. She seems like she is the person who sweats the execution. That's what I got from her is he's the idea guy and he's the values guy and he's the sales guy and she's the deliberate lady.

[Kathleen]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ben Walter]

That's what I got from that.

[Kathleen]

So a little bit on family, because I think I could imagine a world where. And you certainly see this in personal lives too. It's a handshake or it's some implicit understanding with someone, especially when you're family, you don't want a contract. You know, you don't want to broach that.

[Ben Walter]

Right. It's awkward.

[Kathleen]

Prenups are awkward. All these things are really awkward. How do you think about legal contracts with family? Not with family. What does that look like?

[Ben Walter]

They clearly don't because they've worked out a deal with each other and it seems very simpatico and fantastic. I wouldn't recommend it for most people. The other business lesson is about getting paid, and we've talked about it on the show before. But what laser focus 10 day payment terms.

[Kathleen]

I've never heard of those before.

[Ben Walter]

It sounds to me like those weren't necessarily the terms. He just knew people who Pay promptly.

[Kathleen]

Yeah.

[Ben Walter]

But imagine the courage it takes, particularly early in your tenure, to say no to something because you don't like the payment terms.

[Ron Moore]

Yeah.

[Ben Walter]

Or to charge more and risk losing the business because you don't like the payment terms. It's a hard thing to do.

[Kathleen]

So hard to do. And I think pushing back on all those things, like, hey, we've got too much liability and exposure here. I'm a small company. I can't take on this amount of liability that you're asking for, but it really does make all the difference.

[Ben Walter]

Yeah. What I heard him saying is something I don't hear from a lot of particularly newer small business owners, which is thinking about the trade off between margin and payment terms. I really don't hear that a lot. And I thought he had a really thoughtful way of thinking about it, which is, I'll take longer payment terms, but I'm going to get margin for it so that I know that I'm mitigating my risk.

[Kathleen]

Yeah. And he's also not afraid to collect.

[Ben Walter]

Look, businesses rarely die because they run out of sales. They die because they run out of cash. No one wants to talk about that, but it's true. So, you know, they've figured that out. Yeah. And I'm sure they're carrying more cash on the balance sheet than they need to, and I think they're very happy about that. Thank you very much. Okay, let's hear the next part of Ron and Kelly's story. The first few years of the business make everything sound like a happy ending was a given. But don't forget, this isn't a fairy tale. This is real life.

[Ron Moore]

It's difficult. Every year, it's just a different difficult. Our first two years, I didn't want to grow too quick. I was offered monster projects. I'm like, we can't afford it, we can't fund it, we can't make it work. And if we don't do it correctly, our end user will never use us again.

[Ben Walter]

More United Construction grew slowly, and most of their clients and subcontractors from their previous work came with them. Early on, there was a project manager Ron brought in to help manage the workload.

[Ron Moore]

A lot of construction companies have estimators, have project managers. Mine were estimator, project manager. You catch the fish, clean it, cook it, and that's what we did.

[Ben Walter]

This project manager had a general contractor's license, and he was a great addition to the company.

[Kelly Moore]

We're working on some fantastic universities and doing a lot of work.

[Ron Moore]

And he decided that he Wanted to start his own company. Well, that's fine. If he would have come to me and said, I want to start my own company, I would support him, wish him well. I'd even have my subs help him. But he started his company while he was under our payroll, under my time, taking clients that were my clients.

[Kelly Moore]

He is on our clock, receiving our pay, and he's quoting stuff for his new company. And the sad part about it, when he told us he's starting his new company, we offered to give him work and to have him work as now a subcontractor.

[Ron Moore]

And when I found that out, we both decided he was going to go on his merry way. He put in his letter of resignation as soon as he knew I knew. And he took some clients. We lost work from certain clients that we had, and he's out doing his thing. He doesn't really compete against us now, but it was more heartbreaking to me, if you're not happy, go find where you're gonna be happy.

[Kelly Moore]

There were a lot of f bombs that I said behind closed doors. How can he just do this to us? I was angry. I felt that he betrayed us. That's one thing that has changed in my personality is trust. It takes a lot for me to trust you. I can't hear words. I have to see actions.

[Ron Moore]

And, you know, I didn't sue him, and I didn't put him down and tell everybody not to use him or anything like that. I'm not going to have a heart attack or stress over good luck. I wish you well, and we go on to the next adventure with my team.

[Ben Walter]

So it's really interesting. You've now described two betrayals to me, Essentially one by your stepmother and one by your employee. And both times, I don't hear any vengeance. I don't hear any sour eggs. I just hear, well, moving on with life.

[Kelly Moore]

We know who we are, and we just move on.

[Ron Moore]

I mean, are you gonna sit and dwell on this nonsense and have stomach acid and heartache? I'm blessed with won children. I'm blessed with a wonderful wife. My sister's my partner, my best friend. Let's drive on to make more work. Have your legacy be better than that. Because believe me, it's taken me years to think this way. Back in the old days, I would have broken some knees. But over the years, you realize that it's not worth it, that there's karma. Karma's going to come around to those people.

[Ben Walter]

So Ron said something really interesting to me during this part of the conversation. About his legacy. And to him, legacy isn't more united construction. It's not the money. Even though he and Kelly are on track to do about $12 million in sales this year. And it's not leaving the company to their kids. The kids don't share their passion for construction. No. They have a different happy ending in mind altogether.

[Ron Moore]

Our legacy is helping veterans. When I did my time in the service, I left the army.

[Ben Walter]

Did you serve overseas?

[Ron Moore]

I did. It's funny because back in 91, December of 91, when I got out, I got a slap on the butt and say, good luck. What am I going to do? I'm not going to let that happen to veterans. Not on my watch. We work with homeless veterans when I see them. We hire veterans that come and work for a company, and I pay them a living wage. You want to be an electrician? Come on. I'm going to pay you $35 an hour. Come work for us. They're not worth $35 an hour, but it's a living wage where they're not worried about their bills. They're learning something, and then they have a skill. And then 99% of them, they go work for bigger companies. And it's our legacy. My wife's behind me, my brother in law, my sister, we sit down and talk to veterans that are homeless. And we have go bags in our cars that have toiletries, food, blankets, towels.

[Kelly Moore]

And the most important thing that we put in there was a plate and utensils. Everybody deserves to eat off of a plate with utensils. So that's in our go bag. We see a homeless person, you know, they're important. We value them. And my story of helping vets was I was driving up a street one way in a rush, and I turned and I was 2 inches away from hitting a homeless man that had a Vietnam vet hat on. And I go, oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you. And he goes, no one does. And I go, no, seriously, I'm really sorry. I didn't see you. And he goes, no one does. And so I started driving, and then I called into work, and I go, I'm not gonna be in today. I turned around, picked him up, got him in my car, I got him some food. We sat at a park for eight hours. I go, I see you. What do you need? I'm here. I see you. And I kept track of him for like six, six months, helping him out.

[Ron Moore]

And I'm on the board of directors for Pomona Valley Habitat for Humanity and our company just finished being a part of building two houses for veterans, and we didn't make a penny on it. It was paying it forward to help these veterans. And we give scholarships to colleges to veterans every year. And when I was going to college, the GI Bill paid for my college. I just starved and couldn't afford to do anything. Our scholarship pays for their food, their rent, their car, their insurance, their gas, whatever they need other than their tuition, because the military pays for that. So we gave out 10 this year to various veterans.

[Kelly Moore]

We're free because of our soldiers, you know, and our military people. And I'm thankful, and I want to show it every day.

[Ben Walter]

I do want to talk a little bit about the way that they give back, because you and I have talked a lot about small business and how generous small business owners are, but I think they might have broken a new record for how committed they are to these causes.

[Kathleen]

It was humbling to listen to that, at least for me, because the level of commitment to give back to the community in the smallest ways, it's part of their ethos and their DNA.

[Ben Walter]

I think that's right. They clearly have a passion. I mean, it sounds like half their family's in the armed forces, which is fantastic because they're helping defend America. But I hear all the time, and I see it in my work, Kathleen, that the resources that we have available to recruit and train our soldiers far exceeds the tools and resources we give them when they leave the service.

[Kelly Moore]

Yeah.

[Ben Walter]

And it can be a pretty jarring experience for a lot of people when they get out and have to reassimilate into civilian life. They have tons of skills. You know, when Ryan was on the show talking about the Warrior Scholar project, we learned a lot about that. There's a lot of good they can do, but they need help. Yeah.

[Kathleen]

I heard them talk about kind of three levels of work that they were doing. They had just general support with their teams and people that they were employing and that sort of thing. Then they were doing upskilling for, to your point, military veterans and giving them something tangible that they can use in the world, which keeps people relevant, and then mentorship, really giving back. They're focused on how do they help train other people who don't have as much experience as them. And I love the point about don't reinvent the wheel like this has been done before. And a great mentor can help you just leapfrog where you're not figuring everything out for the first time.

[Ben Walter]

Yeah, they've been terrific partners for us, they were part of our Coaching for Impact program, which is a program we have to coach small business owners on various aspects of running their business. And they've also been willing to give back then and coach other businesses. And the multiplier effect on that is enormous. So we're really grateful to them.

[Ron Moore]

Yeah.

[Kathleen]

I mean, that program is so great you guys have done. I had heard close to 10,000 businesses.

[Ben Walter]

We're over 10,000 over.

[Kathleen]

I mean, and what are we.

[Ben Walter]

And it's still going strong to have.

[Kathleen]

It's just to be able to have this free resource that you can turn to. Huge, Huge, huge, huge.

[Ben Walter]

Yeah. Kathleen, always good to see you. It's great to be together again for the holidays.

[Kelly Moore]

Yeah.

[Kathleen]

I'm so glad we got to do it. We got the whole team here, too, with us in person. So looking forward to a holiday drink after this.

[Ben Walter]

Yes. I don't know when this is airing, but it's the holidays right now and we get to say so. So to close this out, I want to ask each of you a question. We ask to all our guests. If you had one piece of advice that you could give to our listeners about starting and or running a small business, what would that piece of advice be?

[Ron Moore]

I would say, don't think you're going to control the world at the beginning. Start small but certain oriented your name. Be honorable. Everybody knows that company, that person that you can't trust or believe. You've only got your name. I pitch that with my children. I pitch it with everybody else. So be service oriented. Drive, push, don't quit. Don't ever quit.

[Ben Walter]

Kelly.

[Kelly Moore]

So my one idea of advice for them would be, be true. If you love baking and you want to start your own business, make it your life. Don't go after, oh, this is a great way to make money. But I hate doing this because you have one life. You got to enjoy it and love it and be true to it. And same with what Ron says. Be steady. I want to take over the world, and he reels me in all the time. Because the steady person will win the race and money will come. As long as you're honest and you take care of your clients, it'll come.

[Ben Walter]

I'd like to point out the CFO just said that. Take care of the clients and the money will come.

[Kelly Moore]

It will come. And what's interesting is being honest and caring and giving back.

[Ben Walter]

Well, thank you both for being here. This was awesome. What a great business you've built.

[Ron Moore]

Thank you, Ben. Really appreciate it.

[Ben Walter]

You should be really proud very proud.

[Kelly Moore]

Thank you so much.

[Ben Walter]

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Unshakables. If you liked this episode, please rate and review it next time we're talking to a man on a quest to bring manufacturing back to America.

[Ron Moore]

We would have way more people involved in careers that can't be replicated or can't be taken over necessarily by AI.

[Ben Walter]

I'm Ben Walter, and this is the Unshakeables from Chase for Business and Ruby Studio from iHeartMedia. We'll see you back here soon.