1. What are the most challenging and rewarding aspects of your job?
As an engineering consultant, my primary responsibility is to select and design mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, and technology systems for complex commercial buildings. The most challenging aspect is finding innovative design solutions that simultaneously meet the building owner’s energy goals, budget constraints, space constraints, and maintenance expectations all while agreeing aesthetically with the overall architectural vision. Finding that solution, implementing it successfully, and seeing a satisfied owner at the end of the project is one of the most rewarding aspects.
I have also formed some very close friendships with many of my co-workers during my time at KJWW. Continuing to grow our business and brand affords more opportunities for all of us to expand our careers and take on new, exciting challenges. It’s very satisfying to witness that process unfold and see my friends succeed.
2. Who do you look up to or admire in business?
I really look up to my father, Dan Schnabel. He started his career in the automotive electronics business after college and, with a few bumps and bruises along the way, recently earned his way up to a position as president of an electronic automation and motor control company in South Beloit, Ill. He’s shown sacrifice (while we stayed behind, he moved to Los Angeles for several years to work for his current employer before it relocated to the Midwest), hard work, dedication, and loyalty. Observing him along the way, I learned that building meaningful and genuine personal relationships with people is the best kind of business there is — and a little bit of good old-fashioned hustle doesn’t hurt either!
3. Thinking back on your career, what advice would you give your 21-year-old self?
I was enrolled at the University of Iowa at that time, earning my engineering degree. I would start by telling myself to really enjoy the undefeated Big Ten season and co-championship that the football team had recently accomplished. As it turns out, you may not see another one of those for a while. I would also remind myself that loyalty and dedication to your craft and company are very important. Equally important are the opportunities to unplug, get away when you can, and enjoy life. It flies by.
Travel with your family, go fishing, try new things. Take it all in. And when you run into your longtime college crush in a bar in Rockford, Ill., in a few years, take advantage of it. Marry her. It will be the best decision you ever made and far more important than any career aspirations you may have. Go to Europe with her, build your dream home together. And I’d try to explain the future overwhelming feeling of eventually welcoming his first baby boy into the world, but I am certain he just won’t understand until that day arrives.
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4. What would you say are the best things about living and working in Dane County?
From a professional perspective, there are so many opportunities to get involved with projects of all different shapes and sizes. I’ve designed new greenfield hospitals, multi-use high-rise buildings downtown, Google offices, nursing homes, schools, boathouses, and even a gum extruder.
On a personal level, there is access to so much. I moved here in 2007 from Davenport, Iowa, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision. You can take in a concert on the Capitol Square or a comedy show, cruise the bike path around the lake, try a new restaurant (Laotian food is my current culinary obsession), and go musky fishing all in the same day. That’s a pretty full day. There’s just so much to do and try.
5. Do you have any secret talents or abilities that people would be surprised to discover?
I’ve always had fun dreaming up new inventions and ideas — so much so that my wife actually made me an “idea book” to keep track of them all. If only I’d taken the time and/or initiative to follow through on a few of those ideas, who knows where we’d be?
Admittedly, some of them are pretty far-fetched or impractical (I’m still holding out hope for my Inside-Out Cheetos idea, though). But I’ve seen other people actually have some similar ideas over the years and turn those ideas into legitimate businesses. Not too long ago, for instance, I saw a guy on a Shark Tank episode turn his idea of “Mandles” (candles that smell like things men like — fresh-cut grass, motor oil, sawdust, pizza, etc.) into a thriving candle business. I had that exact same notion, even down to the product name, in the early 2000s. So I just can’t help but wonder if I was a little loose-lipped with my idea one night in a local tavern and an idea-pirate swooped in and made a quick million … at least that’s how I’d like to think the story goes.
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