By the time he came back to Kroehlers, he was a man in his mid-40s, with a thick beard and the occasional beard of gray.
The only thing that seemed to define him was his belief that his grandfather would have been proud.
When Kroehls grandfather was a young man, the owner of a local brick factory built on the site of the old brick factory was fired.
He was never given the opportunity to redeem himself and his company.
“That’s how I learned to stand up for what I believe in,” Kroehl told me.
“And that’s how you can learn to be successful as a person and as a businessman.
I’m proud of that.”
The next two years in the life of a Kroehling Brick Factory owner were a roller coaster ride.
Kroehlings father died when Kroehlders son was a toddler.
Krohlders wife, who was also a Krohling Brick factory owner, left the family and moved back home to Pennsylvania.
“I thought, ‘I can’t get my dad back,'” Kroehll told me recently.
Kroenhels first attempt at self-improvement came in 2009, when he launched the Kroehlis brick factory.
It took years for Kroehlies passion for brick construction to gain traction.
He eventually opened the brick factory at Kroehly, Pa., in 2011.
He now employs nearly 100 people, and is the third-largest brick manufacturer in the world.
In fact, Kroehles brick factory is the largest in the country, with 2,800 employees and over $50 billion in sales.
The brick factory boasts a staff of 300.
“You can be the biggest brickmaker in the nation and still be in a small town,” Krohlen told me, “and it takes some work to grow up, and to learn how to put your foot down.”
Kroehlers career in brick construction has come to a halt in recent years.
In 2012, the company laid off about 20 employees.
Since then, Krohls brick factory has been bought by a local firm.
The company is now a part of the same conglomerate that owns the largest brickmaking company in the United States, General Mills, with an estimated $8 billion in annual sales.
It is currently one of the largest bricksmakers in the Midwest, with over 1,800 brickmakers across seven states.
Krohnels wife, Kristin, is currently the president of the company.
The family has also been involved in other bricksmaking ventures.
Krohlis son, Ryan, is an executive vice president at General Mills.
The Kroehlys’ bricks are made by two separate brickyards in St. Paul, Minn., and Cleveland, Ohio.
The St. Louis-based company operates a brickyard in Cleveland, and also works with a brickmaking plant in Ohio.
In the Brickyard of America, which is the company’s headquarters, Krohnls brick works are built in Ohio and St. Thomas, Minna.
In both cases, the brickyards have a single brickyard and a second brickyard that are separate entities.
Krohtels son, who is also the CEO of the Cleveland Brickyard, has a similar business model to his father.
In addition to making bricks for General Mills and other companies, he is also involved in the company that makes the Krohles own brand of bricks.
The company has been in business for nearly a century, and its bricks have been used by many different companies and individuals, according to the company website.
Its bricks are used in restaurants, schools, shopping centers, hospitals, airports, airports and other major cities.
“We’ve had some pretty big successes,” Krohnel told me when I met with him.
“But it’s also been a long road, with lots of bumps along the way.
And the business has grown over time.
But it’s always a road, and it’s not going to stop.”
The Krohllis family has had success in the brick industry before, though they weren’t involved in it as long as Kroehs father, a member of the U.S. armed forces during World War II.
As a member, he built a small brick factory in New York.
As an adult, he became the owner and manager of a brick and mortar factory in Philadelphia.
“He was the grandfather of the entire brick industry in America,” Kroenhels grandson, Ryan Krohn, told me in a recent interview.
“If you look at how brick industry is doing, if you look back at the history of brickmaking, the American brickmaking industry, it’s the grandfather.
That’s where I got my inspiration to start this business.”
As a father of two boys and a daughter, Kroenheims business savvy was key in helping him manage his business.
“The way you manage your business is you don’t let