SUCCESS STORY: Second Mortgage Saved My Business
by Kyle Gargaro
January 21, 2010
Connie Blackwell transformed a $100,000 debt into a business that doubled its revenue, and is more than profitable enough to keep her favorite wheels rolling across the United States.
Connie Blackwell was 40 years old, divorced, living back in the neighborhood she grew up in, and working nights at K-Mart while her dad watched her three sons. Not exactly a glamorous existence. Flash forward a few years, and Blackwell is the owner of the highly successful heating and air conditioning company, Rose Brothers. So successful, in fact, that she has the ability to take time off in the busy summer season for a cross-country RV road trip with her husband.
What a difference a few years and some advice from AirTime 500 can make on a life.
Blackwell was really born into the business. Her dad and uncle started Rose Brothers in 1971 as a partnership. Blackwell worked in the business during high school, but moved away when she turned 18.
“When I moved back, my dad got tired of watching the kids at night when I was working. He said I could be the emergency dispatcher. He kind of created a job, and he wanted me to learn everything I could about the business,” Blackwell said.
She started doing billing and eventually became warehouse manager. When her dad passed away, she got 50 percent of the business. Her uncle retired that same year, and Blackwell’s cousin got the other 50 percent.
“We were really struggling. I don’t know all the procedures of how they ran it before. They seemed to make it work for 30 years. Nobody got rich, but they always made payroll every week. They had not shown a profit in a long time,” Blackwell said. “The best analogy is they were upside down. They had way too much office staff and not enough field personnel. They ran it that way for years.”
COMPANY LIFESAVER
Bright emerald green trucks are just one of the changes at Rose Brothers.
“Well, AirTime was my boat that I had been praying for,” Blackwell said.
She went to a Profit Day and felt like she needed to join then. But it costs 10 percent down, and she simply did not have it.
“That is how broke I was. I just went home and tried to incorporate some of that stuff on my own. So I waited another year. I mortgaged my house knowing I was going to go to that Profit Day again and join. I joined that September, and it was kind of overwhelming. But I had a really good advisor, and he walked me through it two weeks at a time. I had to eat the elephant one bite at a time,” Blackwell said.
Rose Brothers was known for years as the company that would put a bandage on an amputation. Her dad and uncle would fix stuff over and over, and it would drive Blackwell crazy.
“But now I am glad they did that because we have this big, old field to harvest. And it is not that we are going out trying to rip our customers off. We just inform them a lot more. And when they are well-informed, it is a no-brainer. We switched immediately to StraightForward Pricing,” Blackwell said.
The turning around of the company did not happen overnight. Even though AirTime 500 has many great tools for contractors to use, they need to embrace change and, more importantly, get their staff to embrace change. This was especially true of Rose Brothers, which had many long-time employees — including the third employee that company had hired back in 1973.
But AirTime 500 has a tool for that, also.
PREPARING FOR CHANGE
Connie Blackwell
With everyone onboard, the changes started rolling. The company went from being nearly $100,000 in debt to totally debt-free. They changed the way they paid their crews. They hired three new people. They changed their logo and painted the trucks emerald green so they would stand out more. They changed company policy in regard to personnel.
The result? The Yorktown, Va.-company almost doubled its revenues last year as it did $1.2 million in business. This is the best year the company has had under Blackwell.
“It is amazing,” Blackwell said. “We are only one year into it, and we have barely tapped all the changes we want to make. I know that AirTime will be right there with us the whole way. They offer anything and every- thing. It is a foolproof recipe for running your business. I had no business training whatsoever and no college education, and AirTime is helping me shape this business so I can hand it down to the next generation. It’s exciting to think I can send my sons to Business 101 by learning this business, where I was just grasping in the dark when I started. I had no clue before I got hooked up with AirTime.”
One son, Justin Burroughs, is operations manager, and the other, Ryan Burroughs, heads up the installation department. The youngest son, Jordan Burroughs, is not on the payroll, but designed the company Website and helps with a lot of the technical problems.
“I would not hesitate to tell anyone to join AirTime. It is a recipe for success. If you are a teachable person, and a person who is at a point where you realize you need help … it is a godsend. The people at AirTime have been great. They get me anything I need. It is a network of people that are in the same shoes that you are in, and you can call them anytime,” Blackwell said. “Whatever problem you are having, somebody will have some idea that will help you turn your situation around.”
So instead of working the blue light special, Blackwell is planning a cross-country trip with her husband this summer.
“One of the things AirTime teaches you is to put management in place and let go of the reins. I was doing everything but running the service calls,” Blackwell said. “One of the first things they teach you is to get your team in place and delegate. That is one thing I have done, and it has freed my husband and I up to do a lot more traveling.”
Kyle Gargaro
