Cam Caudle, a local Army veteran and philanthropist, sat down with us for an interview at Grillsmith at the Shops at Wiregrass. He shared with us a little about his life and his unique perspective on giving back to the community through his business, Shred360.
Just for fun, what was the last thing you listened to on the radio on your way here?
I was listening to a play list that my kids and I created for a road trip we took recently. In preparing to go, each of us added all of our favorite music into one play list so we could listen in the car. We played it on shuffle and the list included everything from country, to classic rock, to my daughter’s favorite, which is alternative. I was surprised to find that I liked quite a bit of her music, including Fall Out Boy.
Tell us a little about your career path and how you got into this business.
The two founding partners of Shred360 are great guys that I served with in the Army 25 years ago. One is a Marine and one is an Army Ranger. Five years ago this month, they called me and said they wanted to expand into Florida, and I was living here, so it developed into a franchise opportunity. If you had told me years ago that I’d be in this business now, I’d have said no way – I don’t know anything about the shredding business, but now I sure do! I got out of the Army in 1996 and since then I’ve been in some form of sales and marketing and owned several businesses along the way, which led me to this venture. Before this, I was a drug rep with Johnson & Johnson and I knew right away that I didn’t want to do that. Then I joined GE Medical and sold imaging equipment. Eventually, I moved to Florida and started a smoking cessation company which provided a shot to help people stop smoking. It really worked. I had clients that had smoked for over 40 years and they were able to finally quit. I had two partners and my medical background and contacts really helped us grow to the point that eventually we opened medical clinics in Tampa, Boca Raton and Jacksonville.
You mentioned that you served in the Armed Forces. Tell us how you became involved in military service and how this impacted the trajectory of your life.
Both of my parents came from families with eight children and almost all of the men had served in military, so growing up I knew I’d be in the military in some form or another. When I was a teen, my Dad lost his job in advertising after a 20 year career, so I needed to figure out a way to pay for college. I’d received some scholarship money through working at Chick-fil-A, and in my freshman year, I had done well with my grades and was invited to apply for an ROTC scholarship. Over 50 people applied and I was the only one who it was awarded to.
It was amazing and paid for the remaining three years of college. Two weeks after I graduated, I began active duty as a Second Lieutenant in the Army. After some training and Army Ranger school, I was stationed in Vicenza in northern Italy and lived the good life there for three years. I had a perfect five year military career. I had a great unit and got to do many exciting things, including all the things you see on commercials, jumping out of planes and helicopters. Primarily my job was as an Operations Officer. I worked within an infantry battalion of about 1,000 people where I managed operations, trainings, assets, ammunition, plus parachutes and jumps, since we were an airborne unit.
After three years, I returned to Anniston, Alabama and served my final year as a Company Executive Officer for a support unit of 250 people. During my time in the Army, I had no issue whatsoever in taking orders, but pretty quickly after I got out, I realized that I didn’t want to do that going forward and that I really wanted to start my own business. I’d seen my father go through a job loss late in life and I’ve been through a few job losses myself. Being employed with big drug companies is always tenuous at best, so I decided I wanted to be the captain of my own ship and start my own business.
You have quite a reputation for giving back to your local community. Tell us a little about the organizations you support.
I’m a member of the New Tampa Rotary Club so we do all we can to help out in the community and through my business,
I support a lot of different types of organizations locally and I always choose those that speak to me in some way. These are just a few of my favorites. I’ve been supporting the Special Operations Warrior Foundation for the last few years. They are similar to the Wounded Warrior Project, however they don’t get nearly the support or funding because they are a smaller organization that serves a smaller branch of the military. They provide support for children of Special Forces soldiers who have been killed in action. They pay for education from start to finish for these soldier’s children. I love these people and their organization. Another one that I’m a huge fan of is the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay. They are an incredible organization that handles crisis calls from people in trouble, including veterans, domestic violence and sexual abuse victims and people considering suicide. In our area, all of the suicide calls that come in from veterans are transferred directly to the Crisis Center. The center hires other veterans to handle those calls. Many residents wouldn’t realize this but, on average they receive over 70 calls from local veterans per week. When I first toured the facility with now retired Director, Sandy McLaughlin, I told her that I went through some very tough times in my life and that ten years ago, I could’ve been one of her hotline callers. I committed right then and there to support this group in whatever way I can. Another great organization is the Community Food Pantry. I love these people. They’re not a big organization, so they don’t get big funding support but they work directly in our community to help those in need. I choose to focus my time and resources on an organization who is located and working in the local community vs. a conglomerate organization. We’re right there side by side with them at their events. We take food and money donations from the community when they attend and 100% goes directly to the organization.
When I started this business, I really wanted to fuse giving back to the community into my business model. My guys and I all carry cards that say, ‘When you think you’ve done enough, do more.’ So in addition to our events, when we service a residential customer, my guys might take out their trash, change a lightbulb, or fix a door. I tell my guys we want to make somebody cry from happiness every month. My first year and a half in this business, it’s just me, driving around in that truck – answering calls, trying to set appointments. One of my very first customers was located in Clearwater and was extremely late for her appointment. When she finally arrived, she was very stressed out and apologetic and said she had gotten a flat tire. As I’m working on her shredding job, she mentions that the reason they’re moving is because they’ve lost their house. I heard that little voice inside that said, ‘you’ve gotta do this for free,’ so I told her, this one’s on the house. She immediately started sobbing and gave me the biggest, longest hug. I decided right then that I needed to keep doing this…and often. Now I give my team the latitude to give a free service when they want to. Often they’ll choose a veteran, an elderly person in an assisted living and many others in a tough situation. I always want to do something to help out and something that people would never expect. I don’t do the free events or freebies to grow my business or for PR reasons – these things make me feel good and this is how I want to run my business. I also want my children to live this way too, so sometimes when we’re out having a meal, we’ll anonymously pay for a random couple’s dinner. It makes their day and it makes us feel good too.
What are you most passionate about?
My kids are my passion. It’s been just me and the kids for the last 13 years. I have a 16 year-old daughter, Ava, who is very and will be starting her junior year at Academy at the Lakes this fall. My son Nate, who turns 15 in September will be attending Wiregrass Rach this year as a freshman. They make excellent grades and that’s important, but I’m much more concerned with them being good people, and they are. I’m very proud of who they are as people. They’re just really good, respectful, solid kids that do the right thing. I guess I’d also say I’m passionate about growing a business that’s doing the right thing too. Google us, we have almost 300 5-Star reviews. Those ratings mean a lot to me.
If you could back in time and change anything, what would it be?
Actually, I wouldn’t change anything. I’ve become stronger from every hardship I’ve gone through. The first 35 years of my life was perfect and very easy. Then at 35, I went through the loss of a job, a separation, a divorce, splitting the custody of my children, a Stage 3 colon cancer diagnosis, and two resulting major surgeries. When I spoke to Sandy McLaughlin at the Crisis Center and told her that I could’ve been one of their callers, this was the time in my life that I was referring to. Even still, I wouldn’t change my cancer experience. It was a very protracted, difficult time to get through and I have physical scars from it, but it made me stronger. When I was diagnosed, I remember just thinking,
’Ok. Well what do we do? Let’s just take care of this thing.’
When you’re not working or serving the community, what do you enjoy doing in your leisure time?
I have shared custody of my kids, so when I have them, we do lots of fun stuff together. We all enjoy going to the movies and my son and I love going to Bucs, Lightning and Rays games. The three of us love watching crime shows together like Investigation Discovery but we also really like getting outdoors and zip lining, axe throwing, and heading to the mountains. We take several trips a year to see my parents at their house on the coast in North Carolina. They’re getting older so we really need to make those trips now. I’ve got a little group of friends here in Wesley Chapel, and we go to the Brass Tap a lot. They have great trivia and karaoke nights and that’s a lot of fun. Another one of my favorite things to do is go to see comedians live at local venues.
If you could put up a billboard anywhere in town and it could say anything you wanted, where would it be and what would it say?
I’d put it on I-275 and I would want it to be my life’s motto, “When you think you’ve done enough, do more.”
Cam Caudle was presented with the New Business of the Year Award by the Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce in 2016 and also won the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s 2018 Heroes at Work Award, given to veterans who, through their professional and personal efforts, are making a positive impact throughout the community.
