On today’s Business Beat, Jeff Sloan and Paul W. Smith preview a Business Biography episode on Victors Roofing, and owner Victor Smolyanov, an example of the possibilities of the American Dream.
Tune in below to hear more:
For the full Business Biography on Victors Roofing, click here.
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To listen to the complete Business Biography interview, click here.
Paul: 7:10, 10 minutes after 7, our WJR Business Beat with WJR’s Jeff Sloan. And this morning, Jeff, you have an old friend. Good morning, Jeff.
Jeff: Yeah. Good morning, Paul. Good to be with you on the Business Beat this morning, we’re teeing up a really special business success story that we’ll feature on our Business Biography show, which broadcasts every Saturday, Paul as you know, right here on WJR at 1 p.m. Now on tomorrow’s Business Biography we’ve got a great one. It’s the story of our good friend, Victor Smolyanov, and Victors Roofing and their amazing success. It’s a great story, Paul. I know you and Victor are close and I had a chance to do this interview. I asked him about his memories first of growing up in Ukraine.
Victor: Back in the day, I thought I had it made. I think, as a kid, you don’t know what you don’t know, if that makes sense. You got food, you got shelter and life is good. So growing up in Ukraine, you know, you don’t know any better, right? You hear about different countries like America, but you don’t know what it’s like because you’re living in what you think is a good world.
Jeff: Indeed. I’m sure it was, for a young boy, a good world. It was what he knew. It’s what he was used to. And of course, uh, you know, kids are kids and that’s great, but then they decided to come to America. And I asked him about this decision.
Victor: We had uncles and aunts who already moved, so we knew about, you know, like, Hey, people are moving to the United States. Potentially, it’s a better world. I remember looking at a photo of my cousin in a shopping cart and I was like, what is that? And he’s standing next to a produce section with four different color apples. They’re nicely arranged in a square formation and I’m like, whoa, that’s, you know, that’s America right there.
Jeff: Indeed. Paul, that’s America right there. And look, and then I had a chance, you know, in closing, you’ll hear the full interview tomorrow, but in closing I asked Victor, your dad brought your family to America. In retrospect, Victor, was this the right decision coming to America?
Victor: Absolutely. This is the land of opportunity. This is the land that whatever you want to do for the most part, you can, as long as you’re willing to put in the hard work and continue working at it hard, you can do whatever you want. The opportunities are endless. Something I say quite a bit is I was born a Ukrainian, but I’m going to die an American. I’m very, very proud to be here and would not change a thing.
Jeff: How about that, Paul?
Paul: Oh my gosh, Jeff, this, I wish you could, uh, send this off to Washington, D.C., uh, to some people that live there and supposedly represent this great country who don’t think it’s a great country. And he is the embodiment of living the American dream.
Jeff: There it is Paul, you said it. It’s the embodiment of living the American dream. You know what? We needed that story. Didn’t we, Paul?
Paul: Yeah. Yeah, we did. I’m glad you did it. I have Victor on from time to time, but you had a wonderful period of time with him and tomorrow, even more time. What time tomorrow?
Jeff: 1 p.m. every Saturday, Business Biography right here on WJR and tomorrow we’re putting the show on steroids and hear Victor’s great success, Paul.
Paul: And by the way, you’re doing a great job with the Pre-W. Smith show from 5 til 6. If people haven’t tuned in, I hope that they will. It’s a whole different way to do that 5 to 6 hour. You are information rich and you give us all the stuff we need to know first thing in the morning, and it’s all about us and local. And, uh, so I first want to tell you you’re doing a great job and secondly I want people to give it a chance. More and more people are up early like that and maybe didn’t know that from 5 to 6 now there’s a whole new broadcast and it’s hosted by Jeff Sloan and he brings in a whole bunch of people. Interviews from, all the rest of the shows throughout the day. So good job on that one. The Pre-W. Smith Show. Jeff, have a great weekend. We’ll be releasing at 1 p.m. tomorrow as you do your Business Biography and have Victor from Victors Roofing. Thank you, my friend.
Jeff: Thank you, Paul. Have a great weekend.
Paul: You, too. 7:14 at 760 WJR.
