Have you ever had a flash of insight that shaped the future?  Harold Wilkes did, and it had lasting consequences.  It affected countless people.

Harold Wilkes found out how an “epiphany” arrives during a 30-minute lunch break.

Before founding Mechanical Extremes, Harold Wilkes worked for another HVAC company.  He found there was a pattern to the kinds of jobs he was assigned.  Time and time again he found himself working on tough projects where solutions seemed elusive.  Harold began to realize that his employer sent him on those jobs because he could put the pieces of the puzzle together and solve them.  He found solutions when others couldn’t.  Always in the back of his mind was his future—”should I start my own company?”  After all, he had a starring role in his current job, even if his employer didn’t acknowledge it much.

Now, an epiphany can be a religious experience, but it also describes “a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.” So, does that apply to an HVAC job?

One day on a 30-minute lunch break, Harold was contemplating the complexity of the job he was on and his role in it.  As his finished his turkey sandwich, he wandered into that reoccurring daydream of launching his own company.  But what to call it?  A sudden burst of insight took him into another world. His job assignments were difficult, even extreme.  That’s the moment when Mechanical Extremes was born…over the last crust of a sandwich.   The idea was so clear to him that he actually pulled out a notepad and sketched out a logo.  It would become his new company’s badge.  Today, a dozen years later, that original sketch hangs on the wall in the Mechanical Extremes office.  It’s a reminder, says Harold, of that day’s epiphany, a day of clarity and insight. It’s also a reminder of what Harold and his team are all about—solving tough problems and making something work that someone else said couldn’t be done.

What happened next?  How Harold Wilkes impulsively ventured into the scary world of owning his own business.