What if HVAC dealerships were more like car dealerships?

I used to think that attitude had a lot to do with how one responds to the missiles of business and life. But the more time I spend in business, the more I’m convinced that the success or failure of a mission is determined by how we prepare for adversity.

“Been in the business 32 years. Push. Push. Push. It’s always been that way,” he said. “I don’t push,” I told him. “My people pull, and my business is thriving.”

Have you ever met someone who’s highly motivated, full of energy, and ready to take on the world, yet they never seem to get anything done? They’re passionate and have the greatest intentions, but for some reason they just can’t accomplish their goals. In the fighter pilot world, they are what we call “all thrust and no vector.”

“In one ear and out the other,” said a construction supervisor in a major real estate development company. “I would say to this one guy over and over again, ‘The details really matter.’ He was nodding his head, but I couldn’t tell if he was nodding to me or nodding with the music he was listening to. So finally I started making him take notes whenever I talked to him.”

Most HVAC contractors get into the heating and cooling business because they are highly interested in the process, mechanically gifted, or feel it is a great way to make a buck. But, as many find out after opening their doors, it takes a lot more than technical skills and desire to run a successful business.

Disability claims are always challenging for employers, but this is especially the case when pregnant workers suffer complications that leave them unable to perform their normal job duties.

Now that you are basking in what hopefully has been several profitable months, I’m here to give a reality check. We don’t want to give away in the last three or four months of the year all that we worked so hard to earn.

A new web service, ContractorText, has been launched to provide contractors with a mass text messaging service designed to streamline business communications.