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b'Joe Hadeed on how he kept his employees working during the slow months his first year as owner ~\\n\\n". . .the first January that came up, he kept telling me . . . we don\'t have any business at that time. We usually lay everybody off and I said I\'m not gonna do that. So . . .I put on a suit and tie and went to Cameron Mills Road, one of the exclusive areas in Alexandria . . .and I started knocking on doors. I went door to door for the next three months. . . We stayed busy ever since. Everybody who opened the door gave me rugs and took me in their house and gave me coffee and showed me around."\\n\\nJoe Hadeed - Entrepreneur - Hadeed Carpet and Rug\\n\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tThis Andy Ockershausen and this is, Our Town, the third season. We\'re so delighted. We tried to get this man in the first and second season - and didn\'t - to be a guest on our podcast, but he\'s a friend, an entrepreneur, a smart guy, who I admire for his involvement in the community, and his business sense. You\'ve seen and heard him on countless radio and TV commercials. He gives the carpet cleaning in Washington. Janice and I can attest to that. Welcome Joe Hadeed, to Our Town. \\nJoe Hadeed:\\tThank you Andy. \\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tDo you realize that Alexandria\'s Our Town, Vienna\'s Our Town, Warrenton\'s Our Town, Annapolis. This is how big we are, and this is Our Town. That\'s probably mirrors your client base, doesn\'t it? \\nJoe Hadeed:\\tYes indeed.\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tYou do work all over?\\nJoe Hadeed:\\tOh yeah. This is Our Town. \\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tIt is really. \\nJoe Hadeed:\\tOur community. \\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tThe name Hadeed, has been in my mind for years, and years, and years. I was so interested to talk to you about your family, and to know about them, and how this business started, and that you were born in New Jersey, and came down here with your family, with your dad. \\nJoe Hadeed:\\tOh, excuse me. My father was born in New Jersey. I was born in Arlington Hospital. \\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tOh that\'s right. That\'s right. They had moved down here by then, huh?\\nJoe Hadeed:\\tYes Sir. \\nThe Family Business - Hadeed Carpet and Rug - An American Success Story\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tSo, you grew up in Our Town, and your dad opened a business.\\nJoe Hadeed:\\tYes Sir. \\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tIn Alexandria. \\nJoe Hadeed:\\tYes Sir. Would you like me to elaborate? \\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tAbsolutely. \\nJoe Hadeed:\\tOkay. \\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tGet your plug in. \\nJoe Hadeed:\\tYeah. My father . . .\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tBut he wasn\'t a road man, right?\\nJoe Hadeed:\\tNo. He ...\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tHe was a Korean war veteran. \\nJoe Hadeed:\\tYes Sir. He finished up his term in the army, in Germany, and came back in 54. Started working for Henkel Rug Cleaning company. His brother was working for another rug cleaning company. They both decided to start their own business, out of their house. \\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tBut there was nothing in their background. They weren\'t in the rug business before. Correct?\\nJoe Hadeed:\\tNo. \\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tI mean, they didn\'t bring it from another world ... \\nJoe Hadeed:\\tNo, they just learned it. They just learned it. \\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tBy working it?\\nJoe Hadeed:\\tYes sir. \\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tThey bought a place on Mt. Vernon Ave?\\nJoe Hadeed:\\tThey bought a little house and moved in with their mother and they lived in the back and had a store front in the front and washed the rugs on the driveway and in the winter, in the basement and stored peoples summer rugs and switched them every six months and slowly added on and built little buildings next to it and ...\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tSo, America\'s success story. Started small and a little place. But they did all the work themselves initially, correct?\\nJoe Hadeed:\\tYes.\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tI liked it when you talked about that, Joe. About how people in my generation, when we grew up, we had summer rugs and winter rugs. \\nJoe Hadeed:\\tYes sir. \\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tThat\'s the way it was.'