2009 30 under 40 winners

Michael Hood, 36

Owner, Liberty Glass & Mirror, Frisco, Texas

Hood’s father worked for a glass shop in the Detroit area and he recalls childhood memories of going on emergency board-up calls to run extension cords and help clean up. His upbringing, along with his later training in the Marine Corps., prepared him for owning his own full-service glass company. “Glass is what I knew, but a huge key to my success is having gone into the Marine Corps. It gave me a lot of drive. I remember days in the Marine Corps. I’d be thinking about, when I got out, how I would do things in the glass business. I knew I’d start my own business and it gave me a lot of drive and determination, along with the work ethic my father gave me.”

Hood says he’s learned a lot of valuable lessons along the way, including that the challenges he’s run into are minor compared to the fun he has owning and operating his business with his brother, Steve. “It’s hard to be trusting when you’ve been burnt a couple of times from contractors not paying, but there’s a lot of little things I’ve learned along that way that could apply to any industry in terms of maturity and understanding how things work. Mostly, I just keep coming back to it’s a lot of fun owning this business. We’ve had so much success.”

One-word description of the glass industry: Competitive
One-word description of self: Ambitious
Career history: 2004-present, co-owner, Liberty Glass & Mirror, Frisco, Texas; 2002-04, sole proprietor/owner, Liberty Glass & Mirror, Troy, Mich.; 2001-04, consultant, Prestige Glass, Shelby Township, Mich.; 2000-02, lead glazier/management, Suburban Glass, Birmingham, Mich.; 1997-2001, combat engineer, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Battle Creek, Mich.
Education: 1997, South Florida International Academy, Naples, Fla.
Diversions: Muscle cars, sports cars. “I have a ’68 Road Runner and a brand new Corvette.”
Family: Wife, Chrissy
Favorite book: “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” Dale Carnegie
If a movie were made about your life, who would you cast to play you? “People tell me I look like John Travolta, but I just don’t get it. I don’t have his money and I don’t dance.”
Connections: 6201 Technology Drive #102, Frisco, TX, 75034, 972/540-1555, libertyglass@aol.com, www.libertyglass.com

 
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