Homer Lee Gibbins is a Building Manager for Meadows & Ohly, LLC. He is also a Master General Mechanic at the Atlanta Medical Center, the Owner of DJ G’s Entertainment, and the Owner of RoomsbyHomer.com. Homer is a certified quality control manager and safety officer with experience in JCAHO accreditation standards and OSHA training.
Outside of his construction industry expertise, Homer is a two-time world boxing champion. Homer was a professional boxer for 19 years, boasting a record of 46 wins, 16 losses, and 33 KOs. He won the World Boxing Foundation Jr. Welterweight title in 1992 and the International Boxing Union Welterweight title in 2006.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Homer Lee Gibbins talks about his life in the boxing and construction realms
- Homer and Greg Owens discuss the values that guide them through life
- The path that led Homer towards a successful boxing career
- Homer shares the lessons he learned from his father
- How did Homer transition into building management?
- The challenges Atlanta is facing during the pandemic
- What Homer’s life is like with seven kids — and what he does to stay active
- The impact art has on Homer and his advice for the future
In this episode…
How did Homer Lee Gibbins go from winning as a professional boxer to succeeding as a building manager? What lessons did he learn along the way?
While pursuing a boxing career, Homer also worked in the construction industry. Why? Homer wanted plenty of opportunities to meet people across different disciplines. For Homer, one of his most important values is to learn something from everyone you meet and pass knowledge along to others. When you surround yourself with people who want to grow, you’ll be on the right track to improve yourself. So, how can you do the same?
In this episode of Watching Paint Dry, Greg Owens sits down with Homer Lee Gibbins, Building Manager for Meadows & Ohly, LLC, to talk about his journey from boxing to facilities and building management. Homer shares the lessons he learned from his father, his journey through the worlds of boxing and construction, and the values that continue to lead him through life. Stay tuned!
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Greg Owens on LinkedIn
- McCarthy Painting
- McCarthy Painting Contact No.: 415-383-2640
- McCarthy Painting Email Address: info@mccarthypainting.com
- Homer Lee Gibbins on LinkedIn
- Homer Lee Gibbins on YouTube
- Homer Lee Gibbins on Facebook
- Meadows & Ohly, LLC
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by McCarthy Painting, where we serve commercial and residential clients all around the San Francisco Bay area.
We’ve been in business since 1969 and served companies such as Google, Autodesk, Abercrombie & Fitch, FICO, First Bank, SPIN, and many more.
If you have commercial facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area and need dependable painters, visit us on the web at www.mccarthypainting.com or email info@mccarthypainting.com, and you can check out our line of services and schedule a free estimate by clicking here.
Episode Transcript
Intro 0:03
Welcome to the Watching Paint Dry podcast where we feature today’s top facility managers, property managers and property owners talking about the challenges and opportunities of managing hundreds of 1000s of square feet of real estate and how to beautify and improve their properties. Now, let’s get started with the show.
Greg Owens 0:31
Hello, everyone. This is Greg Owens with the Watching Paint Dry podcast, where we have been interviewing facilities managers, business owners, construction companies, and all the other support services to the facilities management industry. And we’re like now it’s like middle of September right now. And it’s such an interesting time of yours first day of fall. It feels like fall here in the San Francisco Bay area where my company and that’s the company that sponsors this podcast McCarthy Painting resides. And it feels great. It’s a wonderful time of year to be painting homes and businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you want to learn more about McCarthy Painting, go to McCarthypainting.com or you can email us at info@McCarthypainting.com. And we do all kinds of projects, commercial projects, including lots of retail stores like Abercrombie and Fitch and h&m. We’ve done some work for spin autonomous vehicles zooks we’ve just did some work for them. And many, many others. Check us out on the internet. I’m really excited to have our guest today. Homer Gibbins. He’s the building manager at Meadows & Ohly in Atlanta, how are you today and welcome to the podcast Homer.
Homer Lee Gibbins 2:05
Well, I’m doing well. Thank you for having me on the podcast. And I appreciate what you’re doing.
Greg Owens 2:11
Yeah, and you’re in the Atlanta area is that that’s right.
Homer Lee Gibbins 2:15
Yes sir. I’m I’m about 15 minutes south of Atlanta where my buildings are. And then I’ve got a few buildings that are 45 minutes away from Atlanta southbound so Oh,
Greg Owens 2:26
that’s that’s fantastic. I I am I go to Atlanta three or four times a year for different business things and always love Atlanta have a lot of friends there. My my business mentor was there too. He’s a painting contractor in the Atlanta area and he just passed away but it he’s he’s so dear to my heart and it’s always been great going there and touring the buildings are so many different types of buildings in the Atlanta area many it’s such a growing fast moving city. How long have you been there?
Homer Lee Gibbins 3:05
I was born here in 1970. So at Grady Memorial Hospital, which is one of our known hospitals and was raised charity sandbag I trained in a number of places came out of the California followed in California is that
Greg Owens 3:24
right? Yeah
this is great because I love that you were you had a career or still Do you still fight your bone? It’s boxing to correct
Homer Lee Gibbins 3:35
yes sir. Boxed for 30 years as a as an amateur and professional and I just retired in 2007 and just did maintenance full time.
Greg Owens 3:47
Nice. I know you and I are both the same age but you look a lot a lot younger that’s great.
Homer Lee Gibbins 3:55
Well thank you I’m I’m gonna have to disagree with the look, but I appreciate
Greg Owens 4:01
so it didn’t tell me like I mean that’s a be becoming a professional boxer is in incredible amounts of discipline that you had to bring to your life I can only imagine what was what was the the day to day of being a professional boxer. before it could be getting into the maintenance and building maintenance. Well, no.
Homer Lee Gibbins 4:23
I did not have the luxury of only boxing, I worked construction, or I worked I worked and box at the same time. So my day usually consisted of waking up at five o’clock and meeting the way trainer at the gym and doing my videos and weight training so I’d get gain muscle. And then I would take a shower head to work, work to eight hours, eight to 10 hours. Then I go to the gym in the afternoon and either do weights or work on my boxing skills. So every day was six, six days a week pretty much as stayed on the go do you take Sunday off and just relax and then try to recoup somewhat
Greg Owens 5:08
that’s great yeah i would i would I can only imagine because you’re that’s a lot of hours both in the gym and and working every day
Homer Lee Gibbins 5:17
yeah we are we are young man you can do that as you get older you start thinking hmm I might have to slow down at some point
Greg Owens 5:26
yeah it’s it’s hard to do two days of exercise a day I try to on some days but it’s you know, with working every day that gets tough
Homer Lee Gibbins 5:38
and then you own your own business so you if you’re always on call, just like me you’re always on call you’ve got to be ready to go a minute. So it’s okay it’s kind of hard to get a sense schedule.
Greg Owens 5:53
Yeah, the set schedule has been been super challenging for me. And so you work what types of construction were you doing during that time?
Homer Lee Gibbins 6:04
I used to build houses did fire damage work where they had fire or water damage I’d go in there and rebuild what they had last done that my my dad whenever I was coming up as a kid, he made me go work for electrician. For a couple years I’ve learned how to do electrical. He made me go work at their gas, I’ve learned a little bit there. I work some of the plumbers plumbing were the sheet rock guys, the sheet rock we’re really paying the guy who did the painting for us and acoustical drywall. So I say I’ve learned to do a lot of things my dad thought that if I could learn to use my hands that can never be on the table
Greg Owens 6:54
that’s that’s super smart. And it’s rare right? Because I mean I had a little bit of the same sort of upbringing I learned a little bit about electrical a little bit about plumbing so I can do all those different trades right like I can I can run into those in problem solve and fix many of those things and if I don’t know it, I know how to like figure it out in a lot of ways right because once you have that sort of base knowledge it’s so helpful
Homer Lee Gibbins 7:21
well me in today’s society to you need to be versatile and make yourself where you know you’re indispensable you know they need you and then going above and beyond you know, I think that’s one of the things that I’m I’m realizing and other people are realising around me is that you have very few people that are going to go above and beyond here is this is the standard and this is what we’re doing. I’m not gonna be trying to please the out there to see if I’m not getting paid for it. Where I try to go well they do a little bit and say even though I’m not getting paid to do this, I’m going to take care of you because that’s what I want to do. It’s not my job as well word
Greg Owens 8:05
that’s that’s great framework going above and beyond it’s one it’s one of our values of love in a way of just leaving things better than we found it right like when when we go into somebody’s house and we’re doing some painting and there’s there’s paint from a previous painter on the floor will tell the customer and we’ll tell them like hey, we’re just gonna clean it up for you too. Right and going leaving it better than we found it even if it’s our own work like even if we go back to a facility and we’re repainting something and we see something that’s like off or something like that we need to like fix that and do it even better than the last time we did it right so it all looks better. Yeah, really appreciate that.
Homer Lee Gibbins 8:54
They do and then like I was telling my son because I’ve got I’ve got seven children oh yeah so I have no time and my my 13 year old son is about to be 14 on the 23rd he I told him I say whenever he whenever I asked to borrow smite his truck or as Tamara to has to do the do the ever deny me? He goes No, I said no. Because most of the time I bring him back here as good as they had it or if not better, if I borrow your vehicle I’m gonna fill it up. Right Are you too I’m gonna clean it up. Clean up your your mess and my mess of so that when I give it back to you is better. I said if you always do that, if you always give it back better than you were received it. No one’s gonna deny you from using Matter of fact they want you to use
Greg Owens 9:47
Yeah, that is so true. And where did you get those values? Is that something that was that from your, your your family? Where did that where do you think that was instilled
Homer Lee Gibbins 9:58
pretty much pretty much as an I think they come from my dad and my mom and dad the way they raised me. And then the extended family like to know my uncles and stuff like that. Family from where I was up in New York and I become involved in just their lives and the lives of those around me. The people were great. And just like, say, you can learn something from me, well,
Greg Owens 10:30
that’s a good that’s a good philosophy is that you can learn something from anybody. Right? It’s such a great I had to, I was just in Manhattan for a week visiting family. I’m from New York, originally, and now living out in San Francisco. And it was it was awesome. I ended up on a subway at three o’clock in the morning, you know, long story, but it’s super fun. I was out with friends and, and, and I was talking to these guys about a book that they were reading on the subway at three o’clock in the morning, and I was just like, This is crazy. You get an opportunity to cruise across Manhattan and meet some people that you’re like, wow, I just learned something new, right?
Homer Lee Gibbins 11:15
So many times people hear the things about New York that does the bad things, you know, and and in Atlanta as well. There’s certain things you gotta you gotta be cognizant of. You’ve got to watch your back. Well, majority of the time, people are good people. We know that there are so subtle differences, like, you know, people in the south tend to talk a little slower. New York’s more of a fast pace. Atlanta has a faster pace than me know where I live at now.
Greg Owens 11:49
Yeah, but good people all over the world. That’s so true. Good people all over the world. You know, I count on that so much, because it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s more true for me than not right. And I know that there’s definitely bad people out there. And definitely, I’ve run across some people that are, you know, dangerous, right? But so few and far between. And that’s, that’s a wonderful feeling.
And glad going on, sorry.
Well, I got you, you finish your thought there?
Homer Lee Gibbins 12:21
Well, yes, I people look at me, I’m an artist, one of the things I do is our work. But if you were to think that you’re going to get over on me, it might not work out for your best interest. Because I actually can fight.
Greg Owens 12:38
Right? Right. And it’s something about learning how to fight that’s very important. And I think for everybody, men and women, but it’s in some ways, a lot of ways especially for men to be able to know your own limits, right and know how and you and and know that it’s there’s nothing good that comes out of it. I mean, unless you’re a professional fighter, but I have done martial arts for a very long time. And, and, and that feeling of having confidence in all situations. But also knowing that like, de escalating and not fighting is so much more beneficial, because nothing will good will come from this fight.
Homer Lee Gibbins 13:19
exactly who I tell some of the kids that come to my gym, as we close your fist. I say in your opening, there’s nothing in there. As Maria here, you’ve got a brain that God gave you. As they use that as a sleeve. And the Bible says that all calls try to be at peace with everyone. Yeah, so that’s what you should try to do. So don’t get me wrong. There are times when you have to stand your ground you have to fight. So when they should be very few and far between.
Greg Owens 13:51
Yeah, it’s so so true. That is so true. So tell me what was your path or transition your as your professional, your professional boxer and I your training a lot, and I believe you have a coach, right? And how often do would you see your coach and and what types of coaches Did you have along that path?
Homer Lee Gibbins 14:15
Whoa, I had my main boxing coach was my father. And then my father also brought other people in to our fold, like say I was managed by Evander Holyfield. For the first three, four years of my career. Wow. And I knew I needed a vendor since I was a kid. So when whenever I got ready to fight as a professional, they offered me a contract. And evander said, don’t take that. I’m gonna manage your career. So I said, Okay. So vendor gave me opportunities to file his own records, opportunities if I own other under cards as well. And but then at the same time, I had to make can aim for myself you know you can’t get you can’t find on the vendors name forever and I am but he did give me the opportunities to find awesome great 115 100 cards but my father was my main trainer but then all the other guys that I work with Georgie been a very talented middleweight back in his day. Who had you badger as a champion, parallel Whitaker motor Taylor. I mean just a bunch of guys that he just trained to be World Champion, World Champions. And he worked with me some and almost like a father figure to me as well. So you know, and then you guys would come into that I was only 135 pound fighter when I first started. So I had to gain some weight because everybody wanted to find me at a higher weight class. Nobody wanted to find me on 135 because I hear are so then I started to find guys at 140 and 147. So I you know, for me to be able to continue to go up and wait, I had to I was away trainer, Chaz Jordan, which was which Evander Holyfield had me him at the gym, five o’clock in the morning, and we lift the weights, because I had to gain some strength.
Greg Owens 16:19
Right and so so you had the that’s, that’s so great. You see and the coaches that were helping you to to gain strength, gain weight, and then you had coaches, your father, being the coach that would help you be a better boxer in a lot of ways are making sure you stayed on, on tracking that and then you brought in would it be specialists then to help?
Homer Lee Gibbins 16:40
Well, you know, everybody is just as like in, in our, in our business, doing doing construction or doing pain everybody bring to the table, you can learn from them something that they do that you that you did not do that all of a sudden, you know, hey, I can incorporate that into what I’m doing. Sometimes they do. That’s not for me. But but he also you should know you should learn from everyone that comes into your life learn something, maybe as the learning that you don’t want to go that route.
Greg Owens 17:17
That’s a good learning too. I I had some painters around me in my early days that they they were your typical alcoholic, you know, drinking too much kind of painters and, and I saw that as like there’s that was not sustainable. And it was a good learning experience for me, because I was like, don’t be very, very careful of that path. That’s not that’s very dangerous.
Homer Lee Gibbins 17:41
You got to choose, you’re just like choosing your friends wisely. You gotta choose those that you’re around wisely. You all those that are the same for ya right here, everybody’s got the same mindset of doing better or being better than you you want to be successful. If you get one or two people that are trying to be better in four or five people that are pulling you back, you know, you’re going to struggle finding.
Greg Owens 18:10
Yeah, I remember reading this quote, and I think it’s Dale Carnegie that said it, you’re the average of the five people you surround you’re surrounded by. Right? So choose wisely is basically what he was saying, right? Because you’re going to if you have friends that are not doing well in life, and are drinking and doing drugs and that kind of thing, and going down that slippery slope, then you’re going to be pulled down just by proxy.
Homer Lee Gibbins 18:39
Oh, yeah. But that, you know, the a well in business, you know, if you want to you want to plateau? Or do you want to always keep striving to be better. I always wanted me to do better. I’m never the smartest guy in the room. Yeah, I want to be, I want to be the one who’s listening and take their saying because I want to be better, you know, better tomorrow than I am today.
Greg Owens 19:07
That is so true. Both from people that I hire in my office. And for people my a lot of times the painters that I try to hire, I’m trying we’re trying to find people that have better skills than I did, right? Like when I was painting it’s like and some of the craft we have today are just absolutely phenomenal. Some of the things they do. And I was you working under or having your dad as a coach that must have had some of its own challenges in itself because I know there was a point in time with my father and I dropped out of high school and so he and I really sort of butted heads at that time, but I was 16 years old and you know, I didn’t know anything. I don’t know any better. I thought I did but that wasn’t true. And and so it you know, it took me a little time to start figuring out man, my dad’s got some serious wisdom and I need to pay attention and at least explore and try and do that some of the things that he was suggesting, right because a lot of there was automatic sort of resistance and and I’m wondering if that ever came up with you in your relationship because it sounds like you guys had a good relationship but you’re also super close and in around each other all the time.
Homer Lee Gibbins 20:22
Well, yeah, even now, we have family property. We have 75 acres of land, south of Atlanta about 45 minutes south of Atlanta that I live on my brother and sister live on. And my my father and mother live on. Wow, so so we’re all together. You have learned over the years that there are certain things that a man has. I have good people that have told me stuff and I still had to find out for myself. Then I see when I look at my children I know that they’re going to make mistakes, but I want them to know that okay, you My love for you is never gonna change. Even though you make a mistake, we’re gonna get over that. We’re in a volume and my dad told me that as a kid, you know? You’re gonna make mistakes. It’s okay. There’s nothing that we can’t come back from we can’t fight back. Do we? Do we hit by heads when it goes with construction all the time? No, because he still has the mindset of somebody who was working back in the 70s Well, there’s new products there’s new ways of doing things and new tools I mean you don’t have to be stuck by his pricing he still prices things like he’s back on the Amiga and now you get Come. Come on up into the 2000s at least,
Greg Owens 21:56
right right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. How do we you know, you and I are the same age how do we you and I will probably fall into that same mentality right? As our fathers did, how do we we stay sharp and and stay Cognizant and like Be careful
Homer Lee Gibbins 22:15
well I you know, be willing to learn I think there’s one of the big things is is trying to be willing to learn as they my wife had to do all this stuff do get me on zoom. Because as I don’t know how to do all this stuff. I usually just click on a button and goats because my my my work, we have a computer guy that takes care of all stuff. All I got to do is just hit a click thing and I’m right on there. Well at home because I’m travelling between this building mother buildings down on the south side, my wife I had to come by the house and my wife clicked on everything get that for me, because I’m like, I’m clueless now I’m trying to learn what it’s like it as soon as I learn it, they’ll change it to something new. Oh my goodness. So yeah, I mean just take we’re gonna do the same thing as our parents they were gonna sit and scratch our head one you know, I don’t know what’s going on. You hear everything everything is changing so fast.
Greg Owens 23:19
Right? Right. Yeah. And especially you know, it’s such a different world the the ability for like a new fighter today to have you know, millions of fans overnight in a way through social media, right? Like where you had to like really grind and get people to sort of recognise you and find you and that kind of thing. Now some kid with you know, with iPhone can start start his career and get start getting fans by Yeah, you know, really, really seemingly quickly in some ways right
Homer Lee Gibbins 23:53
there. There’s some beauty in that but at the same time, it’s like yeah, if you watch some of the the boxing matches, where you’re like Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather Yeah, I mean, it’s intriguing to people and people want to put the average Joe’s gonna put money on it. I’m not gonna I’m not gonna watch it because I’m like, you got an amateur fighter fighting the guy who is trained and honed. And should without a doubt, do what he wants to exactly what he did. Yeah, so I won’t pay for it. But uh, yeah, the everybody wants to cheer for the average show, but it’s kind of like the modern day times David Goliath. Goliath is going to kick David’s butt nine out of 10 times.
Greg Owens 24:48
Yeah, so true. So true. He, what was your and then So what was your transition to your pro? You’re a pro boxer. You’re in the console. struction at that time something that’s that size a lot more flexibility so that you can go off to California and different places and fight and then transitioning over to two facilities building manager and that kind of a career.