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"Eat what you kill" is the credo Rick Madeson uses when it comes to running a small business, which he created after leaving the state's sinking tech industry to start his own company and be more in control of his life.
"I could see a lot of the consolidation and the fall of the tech industry," said Madeson, who served as a storage-product design manager for Texas Instruments in Longmont for four years. "It was obvious what was going on, and I had to participate on the downside and do some of the downsizing work - that less-tasteful part of being in management. So I kind of looked at it and said, 'what do I really want?"' Madeson opened Auto Excel Lodo (www.autoexcellodo.com/) in June, a car repair shop specializing in imported cars but which works on all autos. The Lower Downtown shop sits on a crowded block at 27th and Walnut streets, surrounded mostly by warehouses.
Madeson said his business has grown by at least 25 percent since opening seven months ago. And he doesnt miss his former life in the high-tech world - but he hasnt forsaken it completely as he utilizes state-of-the-art equipment to diagnose and repair cars. Before opening his shop, Madeson said that he always wanted to own a business and always had a passion for working on cars, and sought a way to put them together.
He said that in leaving corporate America to start a small business, there's a closer relationship between rewards and efforts. That's because,...