An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
We think trusting people to do the right thing and allowing them the runway to make decisions independently is key. The more we allow our employees to have a say or give them the liberty to do things themselves, the better work we get out of them.
As a part of our series about lessons from Thriving Power Couples, I had the pleasure of interviewing PJ and Lizzy Antonik.
PJ is a Cape Cod native and grew up visiting his dad in Connecticut where he learned the family trade of Carpentry. Being surrounded by mechanics and trades people, he quickly learned additional trades including general contracting, landscaping and finish carpentry. PJ attended Hofstra University for communications and pursued a career in the corporate world building a knowledge base of marketing, sales and communications. After years of corporate world experience, he started to take his skills as a manager and adapting them to his hands-on skills as a carpenter. The natural step was to start buying, fixing and selling real estate. His philosophy is to buy the cheapest houses in the most expensive neighborhoods, looking for the worst of the worst, the house everyone else turns their nose at. In his mind every house has potential, you just need to buy it right. Some just need a bit more love than others. PJ resides in Hingham, Ma and does home renovation projects across the South Shore of Massachusetts. He lives with his wife Lizzy, and their two kids.
What people don’t know is that for about 5 years Lizzy has moonlighted as the lead designer as she worked a full-time job in Athletics. As she helped her husband PJ pick all the finishes in the homes we realized it was a skill that takes real patience and creativity. Lizzy also came to the realization that this was something she loved and was incredibly good at! Since 2020 Lizzy now acts as the full-time Lead Designer at OAK DD. She is in charge of working with our team members to pick every finish in our spec homes while helping organize the flow of materials to meet our aggressive deadlines.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you two to your respective career paths?
PJ Antonik— I think my background with my family business and real estate sales in my 20’s made it pretty predictable that I would end up owning a business of building homes. It took years for my vast experience across many fields to collide and create my current role but once it did it made complete sense.
Lizzy Antonik— My story is a bit different and less predictable than PJ’s; I spent many years in athletics both coaching varsity rowing and running an athletic department at a private high school in Massachusetts. When PJ started Oak I realized I had a love for design and kind of fell into helping him with all the finishes of the homes he was building. Eventually, it was a natural move to resign from athletics and pursue a full-time career in design and partner in our business.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you two got married?
When our daughter Oakley was born (yes, Oak Development & Design is named after her!), we were definitely not expecting the labor that Lizzy went though. 42 hours, two epidural needles, and an unplanned C-Section later, we can definitely say that was a little too interesting for the both of us! Lizzy was a division 1 swimmer, and rower so she took it like a champ but I, on the other hand, was a wreck by the end! Needless to say, everyone made it through with clean bill of health, but it was definitely interesting! Whether it be personal or professional, that experience taught Lizzy and I that we could overcome anything so long as we were tackling it together.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting your careers? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
PJ- God, this one is really tough. It’s not totally funny, but a huge mistake I made when I started Oak was quitting my job too soon! A rookie mistake. Everything you read tells you not to quit early! I, of course, did not listen to anything I read and haphazardly quit (thanks to advice from my new wife at the time…). It put us in a TERRIBLE financial situation! But we got through it. So, lesson learned. DON’T QUIT EARLY.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
It sounds funny, but communicating. In the world of construction it’s hard to find a residential builder who communicates. For example, many times when I send a meeting invite to a buyer or client, they respond that they are amazed that I sent it! It’s the simple things that allow us to keep a clear line of communication and therefore allows us to execute much more efficiently.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We have two that come to mind. The first is a renovation of a historic church turned single family home in the 90’s. We are actually turning the unfinished attic into a really unique loft room with a wet bar and hang out area. The unique thing about it is the room will feature the original 5′ wide stain glass window from the 1700’s and all the original post and beam framing will be exposed. The second is more about helping people as we are donating all the excavation work for two homes for the South Shore Habitat for Humanity in Hingham, MA.
What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?
We think trusting people to do the right thing and allowing them the runway to make decisions independently is key. The more we allow our employees to have a say or give them the liberty to do things themselves, the better work we get out of them.
How do you define “Leadership”?
Treating people well and supporting your employees with anything they need.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
PJ — I truly believe that you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with. Especially people who have given us advice along the way. I have several business mentors, my Dad, my stepdad Ernie who works for us full time now and then people outside my family such as my great friend and advisor Glenn Tobin who is always there to lend an ear or bring me back down to earth.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
We would say our television show Heart of Oak is our way of bringing goodness and connecting with the world. Every time someone mentions the show to us, or tells us how they love to watch our show on the weekends with their kids, I am reminded that the show is not only entertainment, but also a way to bring families together and have some downtime. This is what I think about every time it gets tough to manage and I feel like moving on from producing our show.
If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
For us, the most important part of life is treating everyone equally and promoting being kind. We need a lot more of that in our busy lives for sure.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
One of our past employers and now mentor said “Never do it for money, but do it because it’s what you want to do and the money will follow…” He totally nailed it, the second I (PJ) stopped working for others for the money and followed what my passion, things fell into place. I’m still looking for the money, but it’s finally coming!
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why?
PJ — Again a tough one! As you can expect I love the entertainment industry and have huge respect for anyone that is successful in it. If I could have lunch with Steven Spielberg, Sydney Lament, Peter Burg or any other successful director in Hollywood I feel it would be a massive check off my life goals for sure.
Lizzy — As a former 3 sport NCAA athlete, I have admired so many Olympic athletes throughout my past. If I had the chance to meet with a gold medal Olympian such as Dana Torres, it would be a great day for sure.
How can our readers follow your work online?
Readers can connect with us via social media @heartofoakTV.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this
Lessons From a Thriving Power Couple, With PJ and Lizzy Antonik of Oak Development & Design was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.