SUCCESS STORY: Rags To Riches With a Little Help From Friends
by Kyle Gargaro
January 21, 2010
Steve Holland works on his business, not in his business, when he is not traveling to his vacation home, and enjoying the fruits of his labor.
This guy’s walking down a street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t get out. A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, “Can you help me out?” The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole, and moves on. Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, “Father, I’m down in this hole; can you help me out?” The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. “Hey, Joe, it’s me. Can you help me out?” And the friend jumps in the hole. Joe says, “Are you stupid? Now we’re both down here.” The friend says, “Yeah, but I’ve been down here before, and I know the way out.”
For many contractors, Clockwork Home Services is the friend who jumps in the hole with them. For contractor Steve Holland of One Hour Heating and Air Conditioning in Jackson, Wis., that friend in the hole has allowed him to take extended vacations while buying a second home in northern Wisconsin — but more on that later.
His journey is a real rags-to-riches story. In his first year out of high school, Holland worked for a farm equipment manufacturing business. However, soon his life would change.
“My girlfriend’s father was in the heating and air conditioning business. I was waiting to serve an apprenticeship as an electrician, and that time (1989-1990) was not a real good time to be an electrician,” Holland said. “It was a pretty long waiting list, so he offered me a job as a heating and air conditioning installation helper.”
That girlfriend eventually became his wife. They were married a couple of years, then began talking about having children.
“We talked about if we had children how we were going to afford them. So I quit my job, and she quit hers, and we started a heating and air conditioning company in 1997,” Holland said.
Let the fun begin. Despite not having a penny to his name, the start-up went surprisingly well. Holland had customers and was keeping busy. The problem being he was too busy. He was working seven days a week from morning to night because he was a one-man show. Not exactly how he envisioned owning a business and having a family.
“I knew how to fix things, and I had a good rapport with customers,” Holland said. “But I was not real good at running a business. That is when things started to catch up with me. We were hiring people and that is when things got hairy because I had no business experience. That is when I got involved with AirTime 500 and learned how to run a business.”
In other words, someone jumped in the hole with him. In 2003, Jim Abrams invited Holland and a few others to join him as a One Hour Heating and Air Conditioning franchisee. Holland was one of the charter groups as One Hour was kicked off in Omaha, Neb.
“There are two ways you can do it. You can do everything yourself and try to figure everything out on your own as an independent,” Holland said. “Or, you can join forces with an organization that includes hundreds of other contractors. An organization where everybody has the same message and logo.”
FROM WRENCH TURNER TO BUSINESSMAN
Steve Holland and his son enjoy spending time together at his vacation home.
Holland now has six territories in Wisconsin. The company started in Milwaukee and then got another territory right outside of Milwaukee. A while later, Holland had an opportunity to expand into the Green Bay area.
Sales volume has doubled since he joined in 2003. It went from $2 million to $4 million.
“In 2003, we completely exited new construction and commercial. What we found is when we just focused on residential service and replacement, our revenues got healthier, and we could do it with less people — pretty interesting concept.”
But Holland is not just taking from One Hour, he is also giving. One way he is helping the organization grow is by hosting Discovery Days. He has invited more than 100 HVAC and plumbing contractors to come to his business and see if they would like to join the One Hour family. Some might see this as turning over a piece of the pie to his competition. Holland sees it as adding another member of the team to the cause.
“I would love more One Hours and Ben Franklins in Wisconsin. It would help with cross-marketing, sharing marketing costs, sharing training, etc.,” Holland said.
And what would Holland say to those who are considering?
“Give up the fight before the fight is over. Give up the fight while you have a chance. If you are an independent guy out there — a small or medium shop — I don’t know if they will be able to weather the storm. I don’t think new construction is coming back anytime soon. I don’t think they will be able to compete with an organization like ours as we continue to grow,” Holland said.
TIME TO PLAY
“I was out playing. If you want to make money and have more freedom, then join One Hour. I have more freedom and more money than I ever had,” Holland said. “The biggest freedom is that I can work on my business and not in my business. I have a team. I will be leaving for a week, and I know it is fine because the company will function as a team without me.”
“I remember working seven days a week. It was a hot July in 1997 when my first daughter was born, and I couldn’t even pick up my wife and first child at the hospital when they were ready to come home because I was out running service calls. Also, I remember having my wife deliver Thanksgiving dinner to the jobsite two years in a row,” Holland said.
But with the help of One Hour, Holland is now traveling with the entire family for some relaxation and fun. And in Wisconsin, that means traveling up north. In addition to hunting, the outdoorsmen is spending his time like any true Wisconsinite would want to: snowmobiling, fishing, and golfing.
And with the second home in northern Wisconsin and free time to burn with a competent management team helping his business run smoothly, Holland is living the dream. Not bad for a guy who was merely trying to get out of a hole only a few years ago.
Kyle Gargaro
