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

Hi Katerina, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I worked for an electrician for 10 years. I had run the business. My husband came to work with me after about 3/4 years. He caught on very quick and got his license himself. We still worked for the other company. Things didn’t go as planned. All the employees were unhappy with that owner. My husband and I decided to start are own business. The customers, employees, contractors and vendors all had a great relationship with us. So we talked. No one was happy, Things started getting bad, we weren’t being treated right after all we had done. So I sat down with my husband and said it is now or never. Let’s go.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are electrical contractors. We do new constructions as well as service work. KC Electrical Services, LLC. is a small business. We have 4 full time employees including Jon and myself. We have 1 part time employee. There are two licensed electrician on our staff. We pride our self on taking our time and making sure every customer is happy and satisfied with our work. When you call our company I answer. You get to speak directly with the owner. If we can walk you through a simple GFI tripped or need to send someone out there to take a look. We will do what is needed to make sure our customers are taken care of. We pride ourselves on the relationships we have with the local supply houses.

We started our business in the midst of the pandemic. Prices increased drastically at the beginning. We had estimates out based on prices before the spike. We honored our prices for those customers. It wasn’t easy. We stayed on course. We continued to do work through all the hard times. We had customer that stayed with us through it all. They supported us and encouraged us to keep going. We had the local supply houses sending customers who needed an electrician.

Through this entire adventure. We have learned stay true to who you are. Never take advantage of another. Always do what is right regardless of what others will think of you. Be honest. Have open communication with customers and employees. It’s not easy to start from scratch. It can be very stressful making sure payroll is met and bills are paid. In the end it is very rewarding to know you started from nothing and have been successful. there will be hard times, there will be challenges through out the entire adventure.
Keep your faith and your head held high.

We are a small company, we will do what ever we can to make sure our customers are taken care of happy with our work. We run on customer referrals. If there is anything I would like others to take from our story is. Never give up, you are never too old to start something new.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Salem is a small town we don’t have much of anything here. The surrounding towns have some interesting things. We can go see the waterfalls, play miniature golf and do some zip line tours. Salem does have a small Mexican Restaurant that my family loves. Habaneros is right off Highway 11 and is our favorite place to eat nearby.

We can drive a hour to Greenville maybe catch a hockey game or baseball game depending on the season. If ya wanna drive a couple hours south, we can head to Atlanta and catch a braves game. A couple hours north through the mountains and we are in Tennessee. Dollywood is a great fun filled day.

The lakes are stunning. We are close to Jocassee and Keowee Key both are beautiful lakes.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We would not been able to take this leap into business owner ship with out the help of our accountant Art Tompkins. He worked with me for many years. He helped get our business started. He connected us with Chip (I am only going to use his first name). Chip didn’t know much at all about us. Art told him our story, what we have been going through. Chip met us and took a leap of faith and took a chance on a couple he knew very little about. He gave us funding to get off the ground and get going. Art has continued to help us. Art gives me guidance and continues to support our business. Brad Kisker is one of contractors. Brad was at the other company with us and took the leap and came over with us. He had been working one on one with Jon (my husband) for years. Larry King was another contractor that has supported us from the beginning. If we didn’t have the support of our contractors and amazing customers we would not have been able to do what we do. Scott Campbell and John Kinder were employees at the other company. They didn’t the respect that deserved either. They knew Jon and I were the ones running things and with out second thought when they found out we put in our notice, they were not far behind us.

Other: our email address is KCservices2020@yahoo.com our phone number is 864-539-2250

Image Credits
Scott Campbell took pictures of his completed work

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