Howard Rudin will tell you he has a bad knife habit and an emergency meat freezer in his basement. He will also tell you that if he has to sell you on BNI, he doesn’t want you. Both of these things are true, and both of them tell you everything you need to know about how he operates.
Howard spent 13 years cooking professionally in New York City — French kitchens, classical American restaurants, 80-hour weeks, holidays with 300 strangers instead of his family. He loved the craft. He did not love what it cost him in time at home. When his father offered him a way out, he took it. And the skill set that made him a good chef — mise en place, client service, showing up reliably and knowing your product cold — translated almost exactly into industrial supply.
Today he runs Ace Belting Company out of northern New Jersey, keeping production lines running for commercial bakeries, cosmetic manufacturers, pharmaceutical facilities, and more. One of his current projects involves sourcing material for bison tracking tags in Banff National Park. Another client processes 15,000 pounds of dough per hour. Nothing is standard. Everything is measured by hand, on-site, on a Sunday, and stored in a database so that when a belt fails at 6am on a Friday, Howard already knows what size it is and where to get one.
What’s interesting about Howard’s business is that almost none of his clients knew they needed him until they did. Conveyor belting is invisible infrastructure. And that makes it a real branding challenge — because his brand has to do the work of making something invisible feel essential and reliable before the crisis hits.
His answer to that is relationships. He’s been in BNI for eight years and recently renewed for another two. He’s involved in the Hudson County Chamber of Commerce, the Material Handling Society of New Jersey, a manufacturers’ alliance, and the National Belting Association. He connects people daily. He describes it simply: everyone knows Howard’s got a guy.
The giver-first mindset isn’t a strategy for Howard. It’s just how he moves through the world. He believes the universe takes care of people who think of others first. And whether or not you share that worldview, his organic search rankings and 4,000 Instagram followers for a small industrial distributor in northern New Jersey suggest the approach is working.
If you’re a business owner who relies on referrals and relationships, this episode is worth your time. Howard talks about what actually happens after a 7am networking meeting that makes the rest of the day productive, why you shouldn’t worry about whether a seat is already filled before you invite someone, and what he’d say to anyone who thinks they need to wait until they’re ready to start showing up in rooms.
If you’re a service-based founder wondering whether the way you’ve built your business is working for you — or just working — this one’s worth the listen. And if you want to know where your brand stands right now, start with the free Brand Audit Scorecard at lyoncreatives.com/brand-audit-scorecard.
Connect with Howard:
- acebelting.com
- Email: beltman@acebelting.com
- Instagram & Facebook: @madeonabelt
- LinkedIn: Howard Rudin
CONNECT WITH LYON CREATIVES: Not sure if your brand is doing its job? Take the free Brand Audit Scorecard at lyoncreatives.com/brand-audit-scorecard — 10 questions, 2 minutes, and you’ll know exactly where to focus.
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