Growing up in a rural community like Mantua, Andy Auble learned what hard work truly meant, developing a work ethic that has shaped him into becoming a successful multi-business owner.
“When I was starting the businesses I am doing now, I was using a lot of the skills and work ethic I learned when I was growing up,” Auble told The Weekly Villager on July 23. “It was very physically demanding, and I attribute a lot of the drive and hard work to the way I grew up and the people I grew up with.”
Auble currently owns three business; GlueTread, a tire repair kit business, High Proof Razor Company, and Jelt, a company that makes belts out of recyclable materials. Each company manufactures the products in the United States.
The 2012 Crestwood graduate attributes his success to all of the traveling he did after graduating high school. While attending Miami University in Oxford, he had an opportunity to travel to Guatemala through the entrepreneurship program, helping distribute glasses to people who had visual impairments.
After he graduated college, Auble traveled to Alaska and spent time there for a few months before he decided to go on a trip around Europe. During his travels, Auble said he learned a lot about problem-solving, one of the most important traits to be a successful business owner.
“I think when you are traveling on a budget, problem-solving is important. Then the better you can problem-solve and the cheaper you can travel, the longer you can be out there and the more experience you can have,” he added. “I think that is just a solid translation.”
Auble also had first-hand knowledge about what it took to build a successful business by watching his father, who founded Ohio Health Benefits, a health insurance agency. He said his father, an engineer by trade, experienced losses when several of his jobs were eliminated when the engineering firms he worked for moved manufacturing overseas. Seeing his father experience that served as inspiration for making sure that his businesses did all manufacturing work in the United States.
Auble acknowledged that not every one of his business ideas was a success but even when a business failed, he learned from that failure and applied those lessons to his next business project. He has been a self-starter since he was a child, running lemonade stands, mowing lawns, bailing hay and even owning a firewood business.
Auble finally found success when he founded GlueTread with his father in 2018 and set up a manufacturing faciluty in Hiram. According to him, he not only brought jobs to the community, but also Created jobs that people wanted.
“It is not just actively bringing jobs but it is bringing jobs that allow a lot of our workforce, like mothers with children, to have flexibility in their hours to attend to their children’s needs. I think a lot of places aren’t willing to be flexible like that,” he said.
Auble’s other two businesses, Jelt and the High Proof Razor Company, set up manufacturing in Montana so he splits his time between Ohio and Montana.
“We still order film, do customer service and are still creating jobs within that company in the Hiram community, and we are not going to change that,” he noted. “We are just really proud of what we manufacture.”
In addition to Auble’s companies successfully keeping manufacturing jobs in the United States, he has also given back to Crestwood High School by starting the Crestwood Global Experience Grant, which recognized its first recipient this year in rising senior Josh Delaney, who was awarded the opportunity to travel across Europe for a month. The grant is fully funded by Auble’s companies.
Auble said that he wanted to give students the opportunity to gain the perspective he experienced during his travels which helped shape his business identity.
With Auble’s businesses thriving, he hopes to have the chance to create more grants in the future so more students can have the opportunity to travel abroad.
During all of this, Auble has also maintained close ties with the Mantua community.
“While these companies are under my ownership, the jobs will be there and that is something that is really important to me,” he said. “You just really relate to the place where you grew up and the people you grew up with and had similar experiences. I am really grateful for the Hiram/Mantua/Shalersville area and the people there. I want to continue being a part of the community when I go home.”
