Today we’d like to introduce you to William Souder.
Hi William, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
This all started on a farm in rural Southwest Arkansas. My father, a decorated Air Force retiree, decided to reconnect with his roots near his hometown. With a wife, three daughters, and a very young son, he bought his childhood playground from his godfather, Pappa Bradford.
As a young boy, I followed my father everywhere. He taught me to operate heavy equipment, about grading and slopes, and to apply the Pythagorean theorem to calculate volumes. It started far back in my mind, and as I grew up, I decided that I wanted to be a dentist. However, I quickly learned that biology wasn’t my forte, so I turned to Engineering.
Upon graduation, I moved to a town just south of Atlanta, Georgia, where I met my beautiful wife. Over time, we had four sons. I spent time in the IT industry, which evolved into electrical engineering and designing electrical systems for data centers, which grew into industrial diligence and working for private equity firms and companies that were on the rise. And in late 2021, I decided to call it quits. I wanted what my father had: retirement to a small farm to raise my sons and ultimately my grandchildren. In a small town in Georgia, on a farm nestled between Interstate 75 and 85, we purchased our land. Very quickly, my father’s insights came into focus, and I was able to apply them to clear and develop our newly acquired property. Little did I know, retirement would elude me!
I began to buy tractors, tools, and attachments, and very quickly, I learned that this was truly what I wanted to do. A few years earlier, I told one of my employees that if I could spend the rest of my days in a machine, that’s what I would do.
And now, I find myself operating this business with my wife and two of my sons. I never could have imagined that anyone in my family would be interested in pursuing a career with me. It is the greatest joy of my life to learning, teach, lead, and work alongside my family every single day. Today, we have achieved great success with major projects for corporate and government entities, like a comprehensive multiphase project for the National Archives & Records Administration (NARA) – Morrow, GA facility, and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library – Grand Rapids, MI, as well as many commercial and residential projects we feature on our website. Our customers drive us and are our focus.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has not been smooth; there was a lot of learning on the fly, but I had my engineering education. I was able to leverage much of what I learned in my professional career and use it in this business, not to mention working with my young sons, who had never worked with me before, and oh, how we would find customers.
Initially, we weren’t looking to start a business. I was trying to clear my land, and business seems to have found us organically, which was very strange.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Southeastern Land Management?
Southeastern Land Management is a premier landscape contractor. We’re not landscapers in the archaic definition of the word; we’re more landscape contractors, specializing in hard skate, erosion control, commercial land development, and upscale entertainment improvements that you might find in the backyard of an upscale home. Our customers range from celebrities and government entities to everyday people seeking pristine landscapes and exceptional service delivery.
We built this company around one principle: putting our customers first and truly understanding their desires, helping them realize them by transforming their landscapes.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love the people in Atlanta! Everyone has a story, and everyone seems to be focused and driven to deliver on their goals and dreams. I can’t say that there’s anything that I don’t like about Atlanta. There’s always something to learn in every area we explore. We are all over the place, from Southwest to north Atlanta to the east. There’s just so much development, even in what someone would say are the worst areas of Atlanta, they’re still beautiful, the development and gentrification all over. I suppose the only thing I might say I dont exactly love about Atlanta is the traffic. Yeah….
Contact Info:
- Website: www.southeasternlandmanagement.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EdKBLUaXi/?mibextid=wwXIfr
