The chickens were coming at him fast
The chickens — plucked and slaughtered — were coming down the conveyor belt so fast that Mike Blehar could barely keep up with the other workers at the chicken processing plant where he worked the summer of his sophomore year in college.
His job was to cut the chickens in half and throw the parts into a bin. The job was simple.
But the line moved so rapidly that he stabbed himself with the sharp knives he was working with. The company nurse wrapped a Band-Aid on the wrist wounds and sent him back to the line. The second time it happened he went to his boss.
“I told him, ‘You’ve got to get me off the cutting line before I kill myself,’” he recalled.
To say the least, it was an unforgettable work experience for Mr. Blehar, who is now managing partner and co-founder of Green Treebased Fort Pitt Capital Group, a financial advising firm that manages $2.2 billion in assets for high net worth clients.
His first day at the plant, he said, he and a friend counted 7,000 chickens that they hung on hooks on a conveyor belt between 5 a.m. and 4 p.m. He was so good at that job, he earned a promotion to the cutting line. He wasn’t very good at cutting and was soon transferred to another assignment where he was responsible for packing chicken fat, backs and necks into 80-pound wax boxes.
“You’re wearing a plastic apron, but you’re covered in chicken slime by the end of the day,” said Mr. Blehar, 57. “Think about going
to lunch and you’re trying to wash the chicken slime off.
“I didn’t eat chicken for a while while I worked there. I’d bring a tuna sandwich or a bologna sandwich or something like that.”
The plant was only about 4 miles from where he grew up in Mifflintown, Juniata County, in central Pennsylvania. The locals called it the “Pluck Plant.” When he applied for a job, he didn’t really know what he was getting into. It only took one summer to realize he had no future there. If anything, Mr. Blehar said, it inspired him to finish his education at Penn State University and aim high.
Back then, he had no idea he would end up in the financial services industry. He was willing to work for just about anyone who would hire him.
He did a short stint during college as a maitre d’ at a country club. The unusual thing about that job was that he was the same age as the wait and bar staff, but he was their supervisor.
After graduating from college in 1982, he took a commissioned-based job in the publishing business — selling pamphlets, brochures and posters that companies use in their manufacturing facilities to promote safety and quality awareness. That job eventually opened the door to a career as a money manager.
“The publishing sales job is where I really learned to sell,” he said. “I was on the phone with Fortune 500 companies like DuPont, Ford Motors and Coca-Cola. That job taught me how to interact with people in a corporate environment, and I also learned a lot about different industries in the U.S. because I was dealing with such a broad range of different industries.”
Publishing sales were going well until Mr. Blehar became disenchanted with the company changing its compensation plan. He felt it wasn’t fair and made it harder for top performers to meet goals.
He wanted to make a career shift but didn’t know which way to go.
That’s when, in 1988, one of the waiters he had worked with at the restaurant at Penn State offered to teach him the ropes at a stockbroker firm in Philadelphia.
Two years later, he moved to Pittsburgh to work for a financial services firm. By mid-1995, he and six other advisers left to start Fort Pitt Capital Group.
“I always kept an open mind and was willing to take the risk of jumping into something new because I always thought there would be a higher reward,” Mr. Blehar said.
“Every single time I made job changes, I always took a step back in pay. I always thought I could get into the new thing and do better. And I always did.”