Gregory Bridges:
CLASS OF 1999
McNair High SchoolClass of 1999
Atlanta, GA
Gresham Park Elementary SchoolClass of 1994
Atlanta, GA
Gregory's Story
After leaving HS a few months before graduation, I floated in and out of a series factory type jobs where I worked for about 6 months or so... Soon to follow was a brief stench into street activities & just having fun with the fact that I had no cares in the world. Once I'd move on from that I landed job with a Facility Management company, honestly not knowing what I wanted to do with my life, shortly after that my dad died of cancer at age 41. This was my turning point, I realized that play & work didn't mix, and it was time for me to buckle down and become a man. It didn't take long to make the transition from worker to supervisor and then I decided to take make one more drastic change in my life. I wanted to start a Janitorial Service, and after going over a few details with friends I had made in the business, I dropped the talk & made it happen. One month later I was the owner/operator of Bridges Janitorial and from 2001 to 2004 & all while working my daytime job. We made great progress in gaining credibility and excellent service to the industry in a short period of time, but I was only 23yrs of age and seen to many as a young ambitious kid with plenty of determination to succeed but lack in experience compared to my older counterparts. Even to my contractor to whom I subbed all my work from; felt as though I was to young to play the part of a young money making COO (not to be confused with CEO), and after jealousy and greed of money entered into the picture or should I say how the contractor could save money by dropping my company & giving my contracts to someone else at a lower rate, my company was canned. So this closed one chapter of my life in Atlanta but I wasn't finished with the biz all together. I had made friends with powerful **RICH** people among the way and in doing so was offered a Project Mangers position in Birmingham Alabama where I would be managing 2 hospitals and a few small clinics but the overall goal was for me to get back into sub-contracting and by working for this company directly I put myself in a position in which I would learn more about the business/paperwork side of being a contractor vs. being a sub. Well to make a long story short my contact was fired after running the Birmingham office af...Expand for more
ter a yr & once he was dismissed they figured why keep me "He probably has something up his sleeve anyway" and they let me go. So once again I was out on my ass after putting my life in someone's hands, but once again along the way I had made some good connections and these where back home in Atlanta. I had 2 options at the time and the yr was mid 2004 either head up an expansion project for a franchise company who needed a strong manager to organize & facilitate contracts they wanted to keep for them selves and the other one was working as a floor tech supervisor at the airport. You would think that I would have picked the first choice but after been burned twice by that connection I decided to go in another direction. After about a month on the job they realized that they had someone special so the offered me more money and consolidated my position & that of the carpet tech sup job into 1 making me a manager once more. I stayed with this company for about a yr but the physical & mental demand was to much for me to handle plus it was starting to effect my personal life, taking away from my new formed family. I decided to quit after a yr on the job then took another position as a manager at a smaller company doing the same thing, but this didn't last long the company went under and once again I'd gamble on a loosing hand. So I started to think about what I wanted to do with my life in the first place, and the answer was join the military or the Army to be specific, but by this time I was 25 years old and out of physical condition so I figured that I would need to join a branch that was not so demanding when it came down to exercising so the end result was the Navy so here I am 3yrs later a Navy Petty Officer which is about 3 ranks from the bottom of the bunch and 2 away from saying and doing what I want to do but it's not like I don't do that anyway. Alright then you've read my story I hoped you've enjoyed my ride but I can tell you one thing it's not over yet and I still have connects that I haven't used yet and the job offers are pouring in.... So I have about 10 months left and I have a choice to make stay or leave.... (I forgot to mention I finished school along the way and even managed to work in a little college time)....
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