Meet Taze Hedrick

We had the good fortune of connecting with Taze Hedrick and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Taze, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I wanted to have more freedom to spend on the more important things in life & still be able to support my family. I felt taken advantage of to some degree in my previous employment, being passed over for pay increases & position without getting the training I felt I wanted/needed. During this time, I was training the new guys that were coming in with no experience making $5-$10/hr more than I was after 11-16yrs experience. Starting my own business would allow me to sure my experience & attention to detail to set my own value & see if my customers agreed, all while being able to set or change my own schedule to care for the things I placed a higher priority on (my faith, family & volunteer work).

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I went to Greenville Technical College for Computer & Industrial Electronics & Web Design. At the time my Mom had already become a commercially licensed electrician, working at GSP airport for a total of 27 years & I had no intentions of following in her foot steps. I could have continued classes for another 6 months and gotten a EEE (Electrical & Electronic Engineering Degree), but at the time, I was short sighted & just wanted to finish my school work & start “life”. I started working in construction (paint, tile & custom carpentry) & even got a retail job, I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do in life. I was able to get a connection with a low voltage commercial security contractor that allowed me to learn several skills & refine my desire to do quality work, doing my best to make the work I did seem manufactured & well structured. I started working in the installation department, but was moved in to the service side of the company, learning to work alone & find resources to figure things out. After 11 years, the company went a different direction & almost all of the employees left to join 1 of 2 other companies.
I went to a different company where I was the sole technician for all of Western NC & Upstate SC, with no local support (management was in Miami Fl & the closest tech was in Myrtle Beach). After 4 years of stagnant appreciation & support, while building my confidence in working alone & problem solving & building skills in customer relations, it was time for a change.
It was not easy to make this decision since the only people in my family who went into business for themselves were not successful & I now had a wife & 2 small children of my own to care for.
I didn’t have a license or a strong customer base.
I started taking on side jobs for about 6 months, saving every penny of the money & working on my company whenever I wasn’t working for my employer. The company started wanting more & more from me without any compensation & working 2 full time jobs & still trying to care for my family’s needs was getting hard to balance, all while the pandemic had just hit (I started working on the company September 2019 & quit in May 2020). My wife continued to encourage me that it was time to quit & focus on my own business, so after much prayer, I put in my notice without having a full schedule to keep me busy. I immediately started working under my Mom’s license but studying to get my own license. Any day that did not have work scheduled, I was in my room studying for the Commercial Electrical Exam, soon I was just not scheduling work on days so that I could study. Then I started scheduling for the exam, but due to the pandemic & restrictions, exams kept getting canceled or rescheduled. I finally scheduled the exam & passed on my first attempt. Since going out on my own I have seen work comes & goes, as does money. We try to live simply so we can avoid most of the stress & weather the economic seasons.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I enjoy outdoor recreation. A visit up to Jumping off rock, take the kayaks out & find some waterfalls to slide & jump off of. Eat at Silos in Easley & grab a few pints at the Pint Station. Love going up to WNC to grab some hikes & MTB & just wander through finding the best little pubs or shops in the downtown areas or off the beaten path.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My mom, Teri Hedrick who became a Commercially Licensed Electrican, when it was “a man’s world”, before it was cool or accepted for women to be in a predominantly male field of work. As a single parent of two young children at the time, she had to find a way to support her family without giving us the stigma of using government assistance for something we could take care of ourselves.

My wife, Andrea Hedrick, who encouraged me & gave me confidence that we “do what we wanna do” when it was hard for me to give up a “sure thing” job to go off on my own, which I didn’t consider a “sure thing”.

Friends who reminded me of Mark 10:27, all things are possible if done for the right reason.
Friends who helped me learn the business side of entrepreneurship.

Website: https://CopperBranchLLC.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecopperbranch?igsh=NWRvanE3MDZ2aXVm

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taze-hedrick-4a588b49/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecopperbranch

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@copperbranchllc?si=2pPnRCFcDUIxf7lb 

Image Credits
Copper Branch LLC Domi Alcock with kelizabethphotography