0 (2s):
Boom, shake the room, fire nation, J L D here with an audio masterclass on how we local business surged past competitors, amid a pandemic to drop these value bombs. I brought Charley Boyce on the mic. He is the president of Pascal air plumbing and electric, a home service provider in Springville, Arizona. They have seen tremendous growth since he acquired the business 10 years ago. And today fire nation, we talking about how to go from the doer to the manager, how COVID impacted Charley's business, but how he steered Pascal during the storm. We're going to talk about the CEO's job at building the team and what's next on the horizon for this successful business.

0 (44s):
And so much more. When we get back from thinking our sponsors deliver joy and send messages that popped during the holidays and long after with Klaviyo the ultimate marketing platform for e-commerce with targeted segmentation, email automation, SMS marketing, and more Klayvio helps you create your ideal customer experience. Get your free trial at klaviyo.com/fire. That's K L A V I Y O.com/fire. Did you know that 97% of text messages get opened in 90% are opened within three minutes. You need to be texting your customers and podium can help for a limited time sign up for 20% off your plan at podium.com/fire.

0 (1m 26s):
Charley say what's up to fire nation and share something interesting about yourself that most people don't know.

1 (1m 35s):
Yeah. How you guys doing, I'd say a little bit of research. I'm sure you could find it out. But I went to school here at the university of Arkansas and, and played baseball and we were able to win the sec, which I think was the first time that they had done it and went to the college world series, which is a great experience.

0 (1m 50s):
The Razorbacks. Yes, sir. I'm actually, I consider myself a little bit of an officiant natto when it comes to college mascots because I'm obsessed with college basketball. So I'm just always loving watching my team, the Providence friars play all the other basketball teams around. And I'm always been a mascot guy. Cause you know, we're, the friars is kind of like, ah, like the razor backs. Like that's a great mascot, like, come on now.

1 (2m 13s):
They're starting to get good at basketball again too, which is nice.

0 (2m 15s):
That is nice. And hopefully we have a good season this year and we'll see. So fire nation, as I mentioned in the intro, we'll talk, we're going to talk about how a local business has surged past the competitors amid a pandemic. So let's talk about how you originally got involved with Pascoe air plumbing and electric. Charley, break that down for us.

1 (2m 34s):
I'm from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Originally I was born and raised I'm third generation in the HPAC business. And then, like I said, I came to school over here and whenever I was done, I opened up a HPAC distribution center where I, you know, I got to know all of the contractors around here. They were all my customers and I did that for a number of years. And then eventually I came on at Paskel to work under our old owner in sales. And I got here in thousand and 10 sold under him for two years. And then I bought him out in 2012 and then I've been doing it ever since.

0 (3m 7s):
And over the years, as you've been able to go from a quote unquote Dewar to the actual manager and most business owners struggle with that kind of transition, that kind of moves. So first off kind of break down what you mean by do or like what you were as this quote unquote doer. And how did he make that transition into the manager role?

1 (3m 25s):
For me personally, going from an individual contributor to a manager was not, was not too big of a stretch just for the simple fact that I think I was raised in, in kind of a team environment. So I think just putting a good team together kind of comes somewhat naturally to me, but I think were the bigger challenge for myself was going from a manager to a manager of managers. And that, that definitely is a different skillset. So over the last couple of years, I've been learning to transition to a manager of managers where I'm just checking in with people and kind of setting more of the strategic direction and make sure we're executing against it. But we definitely have people here that have struggled a little bit going from the individual contributor role into that manager's role in it.

1 (4m 6s):
It's a, it's a little bit of a challenge for sure. What have been some of those biggest struggles, you know, now it's no longer about you and how well you performed and now it's, it's pretty much how well can you get the team to perform. And it goes less about that individual skill set that made you successful. And, and how can you teach? How can you coach, how can you help? Are you keeping people accountable? You know, default is just to get in there and do it yourself, you know? And, and I think we all feel that she's like, man, I could, I could do this faster, quicker, better. What have you? And maybe you could, but really that's, that's no longer how you're judged now. It's, it's how well can you get other people to reform? And you know, if you can get three, four or five people doing it, you know, they're going to be able to crank out a lot more than what you,

0 (4m 46s):
Yeah. I think it's a fascinating topic because I can say a lot of people that listen to this podcast are entrepreneurs. And a lot of us start off as solo preneurs. It's just us against the world or us doing all the roles. And then we maybe get some trash and have some success. We add on one player to player, three teammates, you know, we kind of grow our team and then, you know, there's certain people that just stop there and they're happy with that. And that's actually kind of been our story. We keep our team at about five people and we just stay lean and mean, but a lot of people grow to 10 to 20, to 40 to 50 to sometimes over a hundred. And now you're looking at a totally different company where, when you were just the solar prenuer, but now you're running a company that's maybe 50 people or a hundred and you're, you know, maybe 10 million, 20 million, $30 million in revenue or higher.

0 (5m 26s):
A lot of times the person that started that company is not the right person to be running the company three, five, seven years down the line when it's just a different company. Now we're springing in that kind of revenue with that many employees. So it's something to think about as you evolve and something that we see a lot of times in the corporate world where it's like, people seem to get promoted to their level of incompetence, meaning like they're a great salesman. So they get promoted to a manager, but they suck as a manager. And he was like, well, man, they'd be so much more valuable if they were just a sales man. Cause that's what they did great. But you know, you gotta be careful about what that kind of hiring structure looks like. So let's just call a spade, a spade. Charley Covid has impacted everybody in some way, shape or form, and it's impacted everybody differently as well.

0 (6m 8s):
We all have different experiences with it. So how did you specifically steer Pascal during the storm

1 (6m 14s):
Home services? We were deemed essential. So, you know, people were spending more time in their homes and people, you know, it's stuff still breaking and apparently they still want it fixed. So we stayed kind of busy throughout, you know, the, the transition, but when it was, when it's going on, I think mainly for us is just to get out front and to communicate, you know, whether that be with our employees or our customers, just letting our customers know here. Here's what we're doing with the personal, you know, the PPE and just kind of processes. And then our internal people kind of saying, just letting them know here's what we're doing, you know? So, so more than anything, I think it was just being a calming voice as we just kind of walked through it together.

1 (6m 55s):
I mean, that's, that's probably the main thing I guess

0 (6m 58s):
You've been able to do is actually search past some of your competitors during this time. Like what is it that you've done? That's allowed you to not just survive, but in some ways even thrive, even though some of your competition is just falling by the wayside, like what's happening there.

1 (7m 12s):
You know, a guy said to me, who, who deals with a lot of contractors across the country. And, and basically, I, I thought it was a really good statement, but he said, you know, if you, if you had your together before this, you're doing well, if you didn't, you're probably struggling. And I mean, forgive the language, but I thought it was a very well said statement, you know? So, so for us, I think we, we have a lot of different people and processes in place and our people kind of, you know, they shine through this, this transition, but you know, whether it be the different type of tech we had in place, you know, podium being one of them and a couple other tech platforms that we have, they enabled us to kind of move quickly and, and adapt of on the fly.

1 (7m 55s):
I think that definitely helped. And we've seen people, you know, it accelerates change, but, but really, I think people are quicker to adopt change in times like these. So, you know, I think our people really helped. And then, you know, the tools we had at our disposal without question helped us out.

0 (8m 11s):
So you heard that fire nation have your crap together from day one. Why? Why not? Like why wouldn't you, because it's going to help you weather the storms. And interestingly, Charley, I actually heard, you mentioned podium there real quick. They're actually a major sponsor of entrepreneurs on fire. So why don't you just take just like a minute and tell us about how podium has helped you and your business over these times?

1 (8m 30s):
I think we found them four or five years ago as a review generator. I heard about them from another contractor and, and really that's, that's mainly why we brought them on is to kind of help us get reviews from our, from our customers. So it started with that. And then, you know, we heard about the chat function that they had, that we put on our website. This was probably, you know, three, four years ago and we did it and yeah, the rest is kind of history. They've been a great partner for us. You know, they, they cranked out podium payments a year or two ago and we've, we've pushed a good amount of dollars through that program, just making it easier to collect from our customers. So man, there's really not too much stuff that they don't crank out that I'm not in love with.

1 (9m 11s):
So, you know, whether it be the, the chat function, helping us get reviews, the payments they're, they're, they're really, really good organization.

0 (9m 18s):
Yeah. They're great. Like when they came to us, I was like, yes, I love sponsoring companies that I actually love. And they're a perfect example of that fire nation. You'll be hearing from them for the sponsorship. So definitely check them out. And speaking of which we'll be right back fire nation. When we get back from thinking those sponsors, did you know that 97% of text messages get opened and 90% are opened within three minutes. You need to be texting your customers. If you're spending time on the phone, scheduling appointments are any tight battle with your competition, or you need to convert more sales from your website. You need podium. Podium is a business messaging tool that brings all your messages into one centralized inbox. Your whole team can access empowering you to save time while responding to your customers. Faster podium is helping all kinds of businesses serve their customers at the highest level, including doctors, mortgage brokers, insurance agents, lawyers, retailers, and more, whatever your business does, podium can help.

0 (10m 9s):
And podium customers have seen fantastic results. One plumbing company converted 60% of their web traffic into leads and the national retailer collected over 18,000 reviews across this locations. And for a limited time, you can sign up for 20% off your plan. They're so confident that if podium doesn't make your business better within 90 days, they will send you a $150 Amazon gift card by your nation. Visit podium.com/fire to get started. That's 20% off. If you visit podium.com/fire, ready to stand out in the inbox. This holiday season get more out of email marketing with Klaviyo. Every customer is different in Klaviyo is here to help you build more personal connections with each customer based on the things they really care about.

0 (10m 49s):
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0 (11m 35s):
So Charley we're back and I've seen these images of your building and it's for lack of a better word, incredible. I mean, you have this modern building with concrete there's metal there's glasses, a two story open area, surrounded by offices. You didn't have this like steel handrail. I mean, it's impressive for literally any company, like if it was Google or Apple, I'd be like, Oh wow, that's really, but you guys are a home service provider and that's kind of rare in the industry. So why did you guys put so much effort into building such a spectacular building?

1 (12m 3s):
I appreciate it, but if we're going to be here and spend as much time as we do with each other, I mean more, more time than we do with our family. So let's, let's make it a nice place, you know, and then I, the employees, if they're happy, you know, obviously that's going to come through with, with our customers and make sure that they're in good moods and that flows through to the customer. So if it's got our name on it, it's going to be, it's going to be nice. It's going to be a touch different. And yeah, if we're going to spend this much time here, we might as well enjoy it.

0 (12m 29s):
There's so much there. Fire nation. The two things I kind of want to pick out is number one, churn will kill a company. I mean, if you have a lot of turnover and you haven't to rehire and retrain and spend so much time finding new people to fill all these roles, I mean, that will kill a company. So why not make your company and that job, a place where people just want to stay because they're happy because they're being fulfilled because they love the place is beautiful. They're happy coming to work and how you do one thing for your nation. It's how you do everything. So like when Charley said, Hey, it's going to have our name on it. It's going to be like a representation of us. Like that's what they want through. And through a hundred percent from step one to step 100, this is how Pascoe roles. Now it's the CEO's job to build that team that you've been able to avoid churn for some of the reasons we talked about earlier and for other reasons as well.

0 (13m 17s):
So how have you specifically crafted your company's culture over these years,

1 (13m 22s):
Coming from a team environment, kind of looking back and figuring out what made those teams successful? We were never the most talented group. We just were, you know, abandoned brothers for lack of a better term that that really just kind of got together and got after it. And similar with what we're doing here at Pasco is just find like-minded individuals and figure out kind of what our culture is, what is our identity and, and find those types of people. But we, we really look for the intangibles, you know, the, the work ethic, the drive, just kind of that mindset and mentality. And then we'll, we'll train for skill. You know, obviously if, if it's HPAC plumbing or electric, we gotta have the necessary tradesman. You've gotta be able to actually do the job.

1 (14m 3s):
But outside of that, you know, a lot of our office staff, a lot of them came from outside of the industry. So really we just try to figure out, you know, who's going to fit in really well and kind of help push this place forward. And then we can always kind of teach, you know, the HPAC plumbing,

0 (14m 17s):
What's maybe something you did wrong or, or a mistake you made at some point while building a team that you're like, you know what, that's a learning lesson. I'm not going to do that again, share that with us.

1 (14m 29s):
I don't know if we have enough time for that. So yeah, I've made plenty of mistakes. And mainly, I would say probably to kind of stand out obviously to your point earlier, you know, getting the right people that are successful in a certain role, and then putting them in a role that they're not quite prepared for. Then they kind of get out there and they're swimming in the deep end, or maybe it's just above their capabilities, you know? And there's been instances where as a result, we've had to move on from that person. And, and obviously you feel like you let that person down because they were doing well in their individual contributor role. They just weren't equipped to handle another role

0 (15m 6s):
Quick to jump in. Can you ever shift them back or is that just tough to do

1 (15m 11s):
A couple of times? I have in a couple of times, I haven't, and I'm super proud of the times that we've been able to pull them back, you know, and then unfortunately there's been a couple of times where we haven't and there's just too much water under the bridge or,

0 (15m 22s):
And it kind of feels like a demotion. It can feel that

1 (15m 24s):
Way. Yeah. And that just happened, you know, within the last year or something, I had a great person here and, and really just kind of put them in a position that they didn't belong. And yeah, that one was on, on me. But at the end of the day, you just gotta keep moving. Got it.

0 (15m 37s):
Thanks for sharing those super critical. I would love to finish strong by asking you what's on the horizon for Paskal. I mean, we're obviously still in the midst of this pandemic things aren't changing in that area anytime soon. And then we have a lot of hope on the horizon, but you know, we're still living in working amongst this. So what are you foreseeing in the near term future? What are you seeing just peeking over that horizon

1 (16m 1s):
For us personally, like we said, it's, it's kind of business as usual in regards to stuff still breaking and people still want stuff fixed. So we got to kind of adapt on the fly with how we're handling customers, but we're going to continue to just grow organically as we have. And we've done a couple of small acquisitions earlier this year. We just entered into Southwest Missouri market. So we're gonna just keep on doing it and continue to grow organically and start looking at some acquisitions.

0 (16m 29s):
Charley, my audience, fire nation, they are solo preneurs entrepreneurs, business owners, small business owners, brick and mortar. I mean, we've really got the big mix in here. What's something that you really want them to walk away with with everything that we've talked about here today. What's one takeaway for our listeners,

1 (16m 48s):
Me personally, and what's kind of helped me personally. I think just by listening to your podcast are probably already doing it, but just to keep grow, keep learning, you know, I try to lead or read a ton of books and podcasts. And if I step back and people ask, you know how, you know, what's kind of been the biggest contributor to overall success, it would just probably be the ability to keep growing, keep learning, keep listening. So, you know, if they're listening to podcasts, I'd say they're probably on the right track.

0 (17m 16s):
And it comes in handy. Cause fire nation pre-interview. I was like, Charley, you are way, way, way too far away from that microphone brother. I want you eating that microphone. Who's able to grab some business books. He had laying around, stack them up, stack his microphone on top and now his audio sounds amazing. So multi-use for sure. And how can fire nation connect with you or find out more of what you have going on Charley, and then we'll set up.

1 (17m 39s):
Yeah. So we're on the usual platforms, you know, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, what have you, but also you always got my email in that C B O Y C E @gopaschal.com. So you can always catch me on email

0 (17m 51s):
Fire nation. You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with CB and J L D today. So let's keep up that heat the rest of the day and head over to eofire.com, just type Charley in the search bar. That's Charley with a Y and his shoulders page will pop right up with everything we talked about here today. Take him up on that. Shoot him an email. Let them know you appreciate his time. He took out of his day to share his value bombs with you and Charley. I just want to say thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with fire nation today, for that we salute you and we will catch you on the flip side was good, John.

1 (18m 26s):
Appreciate it, man. Hey, fire nation today's

0 (18m 28s):
Value bomb. Content was brought to you by Charley. And one thing that I've identified over the years, successful entrepreneurs, they are productive. They're disciplined and Oh my God, are they focused? That's why I created the mastery journal. It is a gorgeous, full leather journal that will ensure that you mastered those three things, productivity, discipline, and focus in just 100 days. It is my best work ever fire nation. So visit the mastery journal.com use promo code podcast for a $15 discount as a thank you for listening to this very podcast and I'll catch you there, or I'll catch you on the flip side, deliver joy and send messages that popped during the holidays in long after with Klaviyo the ultimate marketing platform for e-commerce with targeted segmentation, email automation, SMS marketing, and more Klayvio helps you create your ideal customer experience.

0 (19m 19s):
Get your free trial at klaviyo.com/fire. That's K L A V I Y O.com/fire. Did you know that 97% of text messages get opened and 90% are opened within three minutes. You need to be texting your customers and podium can help for a limited time sign up for 20% off your plan at podium.com/fire.