{"id":2615,"date":"2020-10-28T15:56:35","date_gmt":"2020-10-28T15:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=2615"},"modified":"2025-02-11T10:29:15","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T15:29:15","slug":"when-great-is-not-good-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2020\/10\/28\/when-great-is-not-good-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"When Great is Not Good Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column2615_94b76b-cc > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column2615_94b76b-cc > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column2615_94b76b-cc > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column2615_94b76b-cc > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column2615_94b76b-cc > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column2615_94b76b-cc > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column2615_94b76b-cc > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column2615_94b76b-cc{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column2615_94b76b-cc > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column2615_94b76b-cc > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column2615_94b76b-cc dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"until-last-year-michael-mendick-was-selftaught-the-bulk-of-his-education-coming-from-realworld-experience-and-books-on-tape-automobile-university-he-calls-them\">Until last year, Michael Mendick was self-taught, the bulk of his education coming from real-world experience and books on tape (\u201cAutomobile University,\u201d he calls them).<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>He devours the books while driving 70,000 miles a year covering a three-state area for his HVAC company. As a result, he peppers his conversation with quotations from self-improvement gurus like Dale Carnegie, Tony Robbins, and Zig Ziglar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Coming from most people, the quotes would be mere bromides. But Mendick delivers them with a conviction that can\u2019t be denied. And they have served him well, continuing to inform his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But in 2019, he detoured from the road of self-education, and it brought him to Wilmington University. It resulted from a vow he made 18 years ago when his first child was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI promised myself then that I would get a college degree by the time my daughter graduated from high school,\u201d Mendick says. True to his word, he received an associate in Liberal Studies from WilmU in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He has found the academic world much to his liking. Attacking it with his characteristic dedication, he plans to earn as many as four WilmU degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mendick\u2019s journey to higher learning took several turns after he graduated in 1999 from William Penn High School, in New Castle, Delaware. At William Penn, he was an accomplished athlete, excelling in football and wrestling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His parents divorced when Mendick, the oldest of four brothers, was young. Thus, he says, \u201cMy coaches were like father figures to me. They taught me work ethic, overcoming adversity, no excuses, how you conduct yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After graduation, he spent a year in the Parallel Program sponsored by the University of Delaware and Delaware Technical and Community College before dropping out to support his new wife and daughter. His first job was in the rent-to-own business, but he quickly moved on to the heating and air-conditioning industry, first with a firm in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and then to a Wilmington company. There, he soon became the top residential HVAC salesman in the country, doing $3 million in sales one year and $4 million the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2018, after working at the firm for a decade, Mendick joined his friend and former co-worker, Dan Ulrich, becoming co-owner of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenwaycomfort.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Greenway Comfort Solutions<\/a>, in Claymont, Delaware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mendick brought to Greenway his sales philosophy \u2014 again gleaned partially from self-help audio books \u2014 that focuses on the customer\u2019s confidence in, not necessarily affection for, the sales person and his product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a myth that you have to have a lot of rapport with the customer,\u201d Mendick says. \u201cIn fact, you might buy from me over someone you liked better. What you really want when you\u2019re paying $8,000 to $12,000 on a heating and air-conditioning system is confidence that your money is well-spent, the project is done right and there will be no problems on the back end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd,\u201d he adds, \u201cI genuinely care that you get more than what you paid for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His other \u201csecret to success\u201d: \u201cI was number one not because there was something intrinsic within me; it was because I outwork everybody. When they clock off, I go home and study my craft.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His associate degree in hand, he\u2019s now working toward a bachelor\u2019s in Business Administration in the fall of 2021. But apparently that won\u2019t slake his new-found thirst for classroom learning. \u201cMy ultimate goal,\u201d he says, \u201cis to get the MBA and hopefully the DBA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He has found that the University makes such aspirations attainable. \u201cThe beautiful thing about Wilmington University is you can pick up a degree on your way to a degree,\u201d he says. \u201cAt a traditional college, you can go for a bachelor of Business Administration and if you don\u2019t achieve it, you\u2019re left with nothing. But at Wilmington, on your path to that degree you can grab an intermediate degree.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Grabbing with both hands, Mendick has added a minor in Finance, and he also has earned a Certificate in Entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He has maintained a 4.0 while choosing online courses that, for the most part, are relevant to his business, like Climate Dynamics. On the other hand, he says, \u201cArt Appreciation was one of my hardest courses, but it stretched my mind. I like that. I don\u2019t want to be stuck in a box.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mendick makes sure to fit family into his jam-packed schedule. Daughters Morgan, 18, and Regan, 16, play volleyball and softball, and he tries never to miss a game, doing classroom assignments on his computer between volleyball matches, or in his motel room while he follows the girls\u2019 travel teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He and his second wife, Dina, have a three-year-old son. A great believer in the value of sports, Mendick plans to enroll Michael III in a youth wrestling program next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, despite the cratering economy, he says Greenway Comfort Solutions is thriving. \u201cWe are actually looking to hire more people,\u201d Mendick says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of WilmU\u2019s role in his quest for self-improvement, he says: \u201cNo way I could do college at a traditional school. Those people who feel they\u2019re too old, too busy, their circumstances don\u2019t allow them to go to school? I\u2019m the perfect example of why that\u2019s not true.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Until last year, Michael Mendick was self-taught, the bulk of his education coming from real-world experience and books on tape (\u201cAutomobile University,\u201d he calls them)&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[634],"class_list":["post-2615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","tag-magazine-fall-2020"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"}],"post_tag":[{"value":634,"label":"Magazine Fall 2020"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Luminary-Mendick-702x480.jpg",702,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Rebecca Slinger","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/rebecca\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":634,"name":"Magazine Fall 2020","slug":"magazine-fall-2020","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1191,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":17,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2615"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15798,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615\/revisions\/15798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}