How a Local Business Surged Past Competitors Amid a Pandemic with Charley Boyce: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. are brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Side Hustle Pro. Today, we're pulling a timeless EO Fire episode from the archives, so the giveaway may not be active. And we'll be breaking down how a local business surged past competitors amid a pandemic. To drop these value bombs, I are brought to Charlie Boyce at the EO Fire Studios. Charlie is the president of Pascal Air Plumbing and Electric, a home service provider in Springvale, Arizona.

0:35They have seen tremendous growth since he acquired the business a decade ago. And today, Fire Nation, it's not about how you perform. It's how you get your team to perform. It's about how if your employees are happy, it will transfer through to the customers and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Charlie and our sponsors. The Gold Digger Podcast, hosted by Jenna Kuchar, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Gold Digger podcast helps you discover your dream career with productivity tips, social strategies, business hacks, inspirational stories, and so much more.

1:08One of my favorite recent episodes is titled, How I've Built an Unmatched Team Culture, an insanely important topic for all business owners to dive into. Listen to Gold Digger wherever you get your podcasts. Charlie, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something interesting about yourself that most people don't know. Yeah, how are 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 played baseball. And we were able to, you know, 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.

1:44The Razorbacks. Yes, sir. I'm actually, I consider myself a little bit of an aficionado 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've always been a mascot guy because, you know, we're the Friars. It's kind of like, ah, like the Razorbacks. Like, that's a great mascot. Like, come on now. It is. They're starting to get good at basketball again, too, which is nice. 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're going to talk about how a local business has surged past the competitors amid a pandemic.

2:21So let's talk about how you originally got involved with Pascal Air Plumbing and Electric Charlie. Break that down for us. I'm from Tulsa, Oklahoma originally. I was born and raised. I'm third generation in the HVAC business. And then, like I said, I came to school over here. And whenever I was done, I opened up a HVAC distribution center where 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 Paschal to work under our old owner in sales. And I got here in 2010, sold under him for two years. And then I bought him out in 2012.

2:59And then I've been doing it ever since. So one thing that you've done over the years is you've been able to go from a quote unquote doer to the actual manager. And most business owners struggle with that kind of transition, that kind of move. So first off, kind of break down what you mean by doer, like what you were as this quote unquote doer. And how did you make that transition into the manager role? For me personally, going from an individual contributor to a manager was not too big of a stretch just for the simple fact that I think I was raised in kind of a team environment. So I think just putting a good team together kind of comes somewhat naturally to me.

3:34But I think where the bigger challenge for myself was going from a manager to a manager of managers. And that definitely is a different skill set. 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. And it's a little bit of a challenge for sure. What have been some of those biggest struggles?

4:03You know, now it's no longer about you and how well you performed. And now 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 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 I think we all feel that. It's like, man, I could do this faster, quicker, better, what have you. And maybe you could, but really that's no longer how you're judged. Now it's how well can you get those other people to perform?

4:35And, you know, if you can get three, four, five people doing it, you know, they're going to be able to crank out a lot more than what you could. Yeah, I think it's a fascinating topic because I can say a lot of people that listen to this podcast, they're entrepreneurs and a lot of us start off as solopreneurs. It's just us against the world or us doing all the roles. And then we maybe get some traction, have some success. We add on one player, two 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.

5:00And 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 solopreneur, 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. Like a lot of times a 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.

5:28Now we're just bringing 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 it's like, well, man, they'd be so much more valuable if they were just a salesman because that's what they did great. But you've got to be careful about what that kind of hiring structure looks like. So let's just call a spade a spade, Charlie.

5:56COVID has impacted everybody in some way, shape, or form. And it's impacted everybody differently as well. We all have different experiences with it. So how did you specifically steer Pascal during this storm? Home services, we were deemed essential. So 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 transition. But when it was when it's going on, I think mainly for us is just to get out front and communicate, you know, whether that be with our employees or our customers, just letting our customers know here.

6:32Here's what we're doing with the personal, you know, the PPE and just kind of processes. And then our internal people kind of same, just letting them know, here's what we're doing. So more than anything, I think it was just being a calming voice as we just kind of walk through it together. I mean, that's probably the main thing, I guess. But one thing that you've been able to do is actually surge past some of your competitors during this time. 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?

7:05Like what's happening there? You know, a guy said to me who deals with a lot of contractors across the country and basically I thought it was a really good statement, but he said, you know, 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 for us, I think we have a lot of different people and processes in place and our people kind of, you know, they shine through 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 adapt on the fly.

7:48I think that definitely helped. And we've seen people, you know, it accelerates change, 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. So you heard that Fire Nation have your craft together from day one. Why, why not? Like, why wouldn't you? Because it's going to help you weather these storms. And interestingly, Charlie, I actually heard you mention 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 like tell us about how Podium has helped you and your business over these times.

8:23I think we found them four or five years ago as a review generator. I heard about them from another contractor. And really, that's mainly why we brought them on is to kind of help us get reviews 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. But, you know, they cranked out podium payments a year or two ago. and we've pushed a good amount of dollars through that program, just making it easier to collect from our customers.

9:00So man, there's really not too much stuff that they don't crank out that I'm not in love with. So whether it be the chat function, helping us get reviews, the payments, they're a really, really good organization. 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 thanking those sponsors. If you're anything like me, then you're looking forward to a lot of outdoor time this summer.

9:32I'm talking about hitting the pool, going on epic hikes, and maybe even getting in a few pickleball matches. But in order to do all that, you and your team need to work smarter, not harder. That's why we're so excited about HubSpot's integrated AI tech. It's helping teams automate the more tedious parts of running a business. With AI-powered tools built into HubSpot CRM, you can do research, pull reports, and write copy in a flash. In fact, recent research shows that marketers are already slicing time spent on manual administrative tasks in half thanks to AI from five hours to 2.5 hours a day, which amounts to almost four weeks of saved time per year.

10:09And with four weeks of your time back, you could be enjoying a lot more pool time, hiking, and pickleball. So what are you waiting for? Learn more and get started today at HubSpot.com. So Charlie, 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 glass. It's a two-story open area surrounded by offices. You even 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 impressive.

10:40But 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? 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 time than we do with our families, let's make it a nice place. You know, and then the employees, if they're happy, you know, obviously that's going to come through 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 nice. It's going to be a touch different.

11:12And yeah, if we're going to spend this much time here, we might as well enjoy ourselves. 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 have 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. It's beautiful. They're happy coming to work. And how you do one thing, Fire Nation, it's how you do everything.

11:45So like when Charlie 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 100 % from step one to step 100. This is how Pasco rolls. 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. So how have you specifically crafted your company's culture over these years? Coming from a team environment, kind of looking back and figuring out what made those teams successful. We were never, you know, the most talented group.

12:15We just were, you know, a band of brothers, for lack of a better term, that really just kind of got together and got after it. And similar with what we're doing here at Paschal is just to find like-minded individuals and figure out kind of what our culture is, what is our identity, and find those types of people. But we really look for the intangibles, you know, the work ethic, the drive, just kind of that mindset and mentality. And then we'll train for skill. You know, obviously, if it's HVAC, plumbing or electric, we got to have the necessary tradesmen. You got to be able to actually do the job.

12:50But 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 HVAC, plumbing or electrical side. What's maybe something you did wrong 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. I don't know if we have enough time for that. So, yeah, I've made plenty of mistakes.

13:20And mainly, I would say probably two 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. opportunities, you know, and there's been instances where as a result, we've had to move on from that person. 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.

13:53Real quick to jump in, can you ever shift them back or is that just tough to do? A couple of times I have and 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. And it kind of feels like a demotion. It can feel that way. Yeah. And that just happened, you know, within the last year or something. I had a great person here and really just kind of put them in a position that they didn't belong. And yeah, that one was on me.

14:21But at the end of the day, you just got to keep moving. Got it. Thanks for sharing those. Super critical. I would love to finish strong by asking you, what's on the horizon for Pascal? I mean, we're obviously still in the midst of this pandemic. Things aren't changing in that area anytime soon. I mean, we have a lot of hope on the horizon, but you know, we're still living and working amongst this. So what are you foreseeing in the near term future? What are you seeing just peeking over that horizon? You know, for us personally, like we said, it's kind of business as usual in regards to stuff still breaking and people still wanting stuff fixed.

14:57So 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 going to just keep on doing it and continue to grow organically and start looking at some acquisitions. Charlie, my audience, Fire Nation, they are solopreneurs, 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?

15:31What's one takeaway for our listeners? I mean, if it's just me personally and what's kind of helped me personally, I think just by listening to your podcast, they're probably already doing it. But just to keep grow, keep learning. I try to read a ton of books and podcasts. And if I step back and people ask 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 if they're listening to the podcast, yes, I'd say they're probably on the right track. And it comes in handy because Fire Nation pre-interview, I was like, Charlie, you are way, way, way too far away from that microphone, brother.

16:09I want you eating that microphone. He was 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, Charlie? And then we'll say goodbye. Yeah, so we're on the usual platforms, you know, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, what have you. But also, you always got my email and that's C-B-O-Y-C-E at go pascal.com. So you can always catch me on my email. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

16:42You've been hanging out with CB and JLD today. So let's keep up that heat the rest of the day and head over to eofire.com. Just type Charlie in the search bar. That's Charlie with a Y. And his show notes page will pop right up with everything we talked about here today. Take him up on that. Shoot him an email. Let him know you appreciate his time he took out of his day to share his value bombs with you. And Charlie, 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. Sounds good, John.

17:12Appreciate it, man. Hey, Fire Nation. Today's value bomb content was brought to you by Charlie. 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 faux leather journal that will ensure that you master those three things, productivity, discipline, and focus in just 100 days. It is my best work ever, Fire Nation. So visit themasteryjournal.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.

17:51The Gold Digger Podcast, hosted by Jenna Kuchar, is brought to you by the HubSpot podcast network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Gold Digger podcast helps you discover your dream career with productivity tips, social strategies, business hacks, inspirational stories, and so much more. One of my favorite recent episodes is titled How I've Built an Unmatched Team Culture, an insanely important topic for all business owners to dive into. Listen to Gold Digger wherever you get your podcasts.