Thomas Irving, owner of Pool and Spa Superstore, joins the podcast to share his background and how he entered the pool industry, helped grow a distribution/retail business, bought the retail business, and built a customer-focused company centered on education and stress-free pool ownership.
He discusses treating “sales” as educating customers, and emphasizes building relationships because Mobile runs on word-of-mouth. He also highlights the importance of a strong team, consistency, and shares personal interests like cooking and travel.
Watch
Transcript:
Thomas: My name's Thomas Irving and I'm the owner of Pool and Spa Superstore.
Marcus: Thomas, it is good to have you here today. Glad to have you on the podcast. You and I met, a couple weeks ago and I had some stuff that I needed to do to my pool and jumped into the mix.
And when we met, I was compelled by your story and just wanted to. Get you on the podcast. I'm glad that you're here.
Thomas: I really appreciate you having me.
Marcus: Yeah. To get started, we usually want to hear a little bit about the person that we're talking to. So why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself.
Where are you from? Where'd you go to high school? If you were, here local? Did you go to college?
Thomas: I did.
Marcus: Give us some of the background. Are you married? Some of your backstory?
Thomas: Yeah. So I was born in Mobile. I went to Little Flower and then I went to McGill Tooling.
And from there I went to Auburn graduated in oh three from Auburn. Moved back here, worked for Ante. Then I moved to Destin for a few [00:01:00] years in my mid twenties, which wasn't a. Bad place to live in your mid twenties? Yeah. Moved back fell into the pool business moved back to help family out and my uncle was the controller at Pioneer Pool Products.
Pioneer was a distribution center that had a small retail presence. They brought me in and a couple of years I was managing it. By year four or five, I'd grown it about 60%. Talked the owner into renaming it Pool and Spa Superstore. And, from then, just focused on bringing in the best products that I could, having jacuzzi spa DreamMaker Doughboy Pools trying to grow a brand that is locally centered focused on the customer experience on education and making pools, up.
Something that's not stressful, something that's relaxing, something that adds to the quality of the homeowner's life.
Marcus: Yeah.
Thomas: I
Marcus: well married, you're going off on tangents, so [00:02:00] I'm gonna get you back on track.
Thomas: Married. Married. I've been married for 10 years now.
And we have two children. I've got, Lily will be seven on the 27th. And then Thomas will be just turned three in January.
Marcus: Yeah. Very cool. And. What did you study at Auburn
Thomas: Marketing.
Marcus: And did you graduated?
Thomas: I did.
Marcus: Okay.
Thomas: I did.
Marcus: And I, because we've interviewed people that don't have high school degrees and we've interviewed people that have multiple PhDs and so I was just curious to, to see where people are.
'cause I find that oftentimes it doesn't really make a difference.
Thomas: I really, college to me, really was just learning how to be a responsible human, ate my bills and
Marcus: yeah,
Thomas: no. So I was 17 when I started living on my own. Yeah. I really so I graduated McGill in 97. Went up to armor and worked in the bar industry and worked in kitchens, which was something, a life skill that I really appreciate.
Yeah. Being able to cook something that I still do to this [00:03:00] day and something that I can do to block out everything else and just focus on what's in front of me. So I
Marcus: really enjoy that. I don't meet many guys that are that. Or that way. Although if you look at chefs, they are mostly male.
Thomas: Yeah.
Marcus: And but I love, like I'm the cook in our, I won't say chef, right?
I'm the cook in our home. And it just find it, there's something very, poetic, I guess is the best word that I can come up with on, on demand, but, poetic or magical about when, you're in the kitchen and things are just flowing and you're in the zone.
Yeah. Yeah.
Thomas: Yeah.
Marcus: And I think that I also have some experience in, the restaurant industry as well. Cool. From where you back when? Probably about the same, time that you were doing it and just found that, man, it's just an enjoyable thing.
Thomas: It is. And two, I think it's a way to show your appreciation a lot.
Like you're caring for somebody else,
Marcus: so you're a Jewish grandmother,
Thomas: right?
Marcus: Yeah. Insert ethnicity there. Italian grandmother, my mom's [00:04:00] Brazil Brazilian grandmother, she won't let me leave without trying to feed me, 15 ways from Sunday. But, now go back to your first job. And were there any lessons that you still remember from it? Because you, you spoke about, the restaurant industry, but even, like ba back, the first real job that you had. What'd you, what would you take away from it?
Thomas: Just responsibility, showing up on time, working while you're there.
My, my first few jobs were mainly manual labor. But it, I think it too taught me that, at my heart, I'm still a 16-year-old kid.
Marcus: Yeah.
Thomas: Like I, you have experience and you get older, but you're still that same person in there. So learning how to be around older people and and all different kinds of people.
Even when I tell people when I first got my job at. I got outta college. I'm like, all right, this is my big boy job. And this is, everything's gonna be different. It's, it was a lot resemblance of high school. Everybody's trying to fi figure out where they fit [00:05:00] in, what groups they fit into.
Yeah. It's but then also they were sending me out to run trade shows on the West coast. So doing sales, but also organization, being a team leader skills that I, still use to this day.
Marcus: Yeah, I, my very first real job, if you will, after college was inside sales. And I was let go by from that job after a year, not necessarily because of anything that I did.
It was a new company and I think they made. If I remember correctly, zero sales the year that I was there. And they had some, I mean they had some heavy hitters. Like one of the guys that I worked with had a check on his wall from Ford Company for $187,000.
Thomas: Wow.
Marcus: And that was one commission check. That was not the job, the work place that we were at.
That was the previous employer. But still, it just goes to show like these were. Technology salespeople and they had achieved quite a lot. And so after a year I was let go and I remember that the [00:06:00] sales manager, took me to lunch and, he was like, I really feel bad about this, but I also wanna give you some guidance because I think that would be helpful.
And he told me you would be much better in market. Than you would be in sales. And I don't know. I just, I took that with me and I think he was right in a lot of ways. 'cause marketing kind of straddles that sales line where sure we are. Pre-sales, right? I'm not, closing necessarily people, for clients, in advertising, you're warming them up and letting people know that they, that they exist so that they can go and purchase.
Thomas: I really, even in sales, I tell people all the time, I don't consider myself a salesman. I'm
Marcus: an educator.
Thomas: Exactly. Yeah. I'm gonna give you no better than I do. What's gonna be good for you? I want to give you all the information so you make the best choice. For you. And sometimes even that's a choice that, you shouldn't get this pool.
Maybe it's this hot tub or maybe looking at investing in your backyard in another way and then getting the pool later.
Marcus: Yeah.
Thomas: I really, I sales are [00:07:00] cyclical. I know it's gonna keep coming in. I have faith in our product. I have faith in my guys. We want to have a relationship with somebody where they're doing the best thing for themselves and they keep coming back, and then they have a good story to tell other people.
To bring other people in. Mobile is such a word of mouth who, you know that people trust their friends more than they're ever gonna trust somebody they don't know.
Marcus: Right.
Thomas: But that's to me, the biggest thing that I'll try to do is build trust.
Marcus: Yeah. For sure. Now, you gave us a little bit of, history about how you started the business and stuff.
Anything else that you'd like to add to that story or,
Thomas: I had no I'd swam in a pool before, I had no idea what I was getting into.
Marcus: Yeah.
Thomas: There's a lot more to it than that. But some of the people that I met in there while two of the guys that I still have a very strong relationship.
We're all three from very different walks of life. We all three have different views on the world. Different politics, different education. But that moral compass, that [00:08:00] how we view our role as men, as fathers, as husbands and just, I guess just citizens of this town, of the world.
Yeah. So it's I still to this day, if I'm uncomfortable or don't think need to bounce something off this, those are still two guys that I call and
Marcus: yeah. That's cool.
Thomas: And ask
Marcus: now, you said you know that your desir is to educate people and help them, understand, not just whether they should have a pool or not, but once they've got the pool, take some of the mis mystery away from how to care for this thing.
And I don't know, not many people have pools, but there's gonna be a number of people that do. And I just have to say as somebody that is a first time cool owner there. There is a lot confusing to it. Sure. But it's also not terribly difficult.
Thomas: No. I think if you're looking, look, anything, if you look at the mountain, you know that it seems insurmountable, but it's just one step at a time.
Yeah. And the, I think the most important part about body of water, whether that's what's coming outta your [00:09:00] faucet or your shower or what's in a hot tub or a pool, is the filtration, turning that over. I tell people all the time, think of a river. It's clear, it's always running.
Think of a pond or a lake. It's stagnant. Can't see the bottom of it. Yeah. The more that you can treat or removes what you need to treat, the less sanitization, less chemicals you have to put into it.
Marcus: Yeah.
Thomas: Flow having a big enough filter, a big enough pump. And then the biggest thing is running it enough.
Everything's gonna variable speed pumps now. If running your pump 24 hours a day during especially July and August is another 2030, even if it's a hundred dollars more a month, yeah. It, that bill still comes to you, you're gonna pay it the same way. If you have a problem, you gotta fix.
Now you've gotta come to me or you gotta go somewhere. You gotta buy the chemicals. It's gonna be 300 bucks or more.
Marcus: Yeah.
Thomas: And then you gotta spend that time. Yeah. And you have to be consistent in it. You can't do half of it. And then three days later, dude, other have you to stay on top of it and [00:10:00] stamp it out to be able to move on.
Marcus: Yeah.
Thomas: So
Marcus: otherwise it just pops back up.
Thomas: Exactly.
Marcus: We've been fortunate. I mean we, I know. In Northern States, a lot of people have to close their pools. We don't down here if you're listening to this from outside of the area, but we don't down here. And I've just left the, we've lived there for, gosh, has it been three years?
Wow. It's been three years. A little over three years. I know it flies. So we've lived there for over three years and, I usually just leave the pump running and it's not, I've not had any real issues. We've got, it's a salt water pool. I have to add, some salt every once in a while. Sure. And maybe a little bit of other stuff just to keep the levels, current, but it's never been anything other than.
Clear,
Thomas: right? Yeah. Running it, that's, yeah. The secret that's really shouldn't be a secret.
Marcus: Yeah.
Thomas: You just run the
Marcus: pole. It's not a, it's not a scary thing. Just keep it running and then having somebody like yourself in your back pocket that when something goes wrong, like I had a sand filter for those that are curious.
I had a filter that just burst on the seams, which seems [00:11:00] odd. After less than three years, it's
Thomas: should not have happened.
Marcus: No, it should not have happened. And, and wasn't I can't imagine that being installer. Error. Error. I think Jandy, which is the brand just had, really shitty products during COVID and I just got happened to get one of those.
So it's not a terribly difficult thing, but man, the enjoyment that I get outta that thing, even cleaning the damn thing is fun.
Thomas: Like the cooking, it's
Marcus: something that's, it really is
Thomas: Meditation, you can get up
Marcus: there. I just go out and it's quiet.
I'm in the backyard, the birds are singing, I'm just scooping out some leaves or doing something, throwing the robot in and letting it go, or, it's really not, I
Thomas: tell the guys that work for me all the time, I get jealous. I love stocking product. Because you get done with it and you can see immediate, like there it is and it's just, you're doing, you're not having to think about crazy things or being thrown off.
You're just doing a simple task. There's a lot of. Joy in that. Yeah. There's a lot of connection and again, you can just not have to think crazy.
Marcus: That's one of the reasons why advertising is such a difficult business is 'cause it's [00:12:00] never done,
Thomas: never just straightforward all the
Marcus: way. Yeah. It's not finished.
Even websites, when we finish 'em, they're not really, they're not done 'cause they just continue. So
Thomas: my mom told me about that. The first house I ever got was such in a rush to get this and get this done. She's like, why are you trying? I was like, because I want to be done.
Marcus: Yeah.
Thomas: And she said, Thomas, you're never done.
Marcus: You're never done. Yeah. You're never done. So now do you remember and I mean it's a little bit different 'cause you were in this business before you. Bought the business. But do you remember the first time that you made a sale or had something happen where you thought, Hey man, there might be something to this.
Thomas: Yeah, I mean with even in previous jobs, just having the confidence. Like I, I think there's, with anything you do when you are in the right moment, at the right time and you just, there's a special connection there. When I really a lot of the stuff that I was taught or shown. I do not do it [00:13:00] that same way.
I've put my own stamp on it. And I always try to think from the customer perspective. And one of the best joys of what we do is having people come back because we build a relationship with somebody and they come back to get the chemicals or get their water testing and. To know that they're using it with their family or they're having parties there or exercise.
It's helped their health, that's a, that's very rewarding. Yeah. But when I do remember we used to sell pool kits in-ground kits that. A lot of people have somebody that can dig a hole and they know somebody that can do some plumbing or electrical. A very basic kit is not something that's terribly complicated to put in.
But now with the internet and HGTV and Pinterest and, everybody wants something that's not too basic. So that's, yeah. We don't do a lot of that anymore.
Marcus: What was the show on HGG? It was like pool pool masters or [00:14:00] something along those
Thomas: lines. Something like that. Or million dollar pools.
Marcus: It's just I was watching this thing and I'm like, there, there's been more on the plants than I spent on my pool. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's pretty insane with,
Thomas: which is something that I do tell people too, is when you're looking at pictures of hot tubs or pools, they always show it. You're staring straight down on it.
That is never the view that you're gonna have. A lot of times it's better to do something a little bit smaller and invest in the surroundings. 'cause it's almost a lot of pools these days, I think are more of a focal of your backyard landscaping. With the water features, with the lights.
Marcus: It's not just a hole in the ground that you go get wet.
Thomas: Exactly. Yeah.
Marcus: Yeah. No, I get it. If you were talking to someone that wanted to get started in running their own business, what's the one bit of wisdom that you would impart in.
Thomas: Talk to your friends, talk to other business owners and you can't do it by yourself. You gotta get a good team.
Yeah. That's, I'm very extremely lucky in the team that I have. The first thing I did when I had the opportunity to [00:15:00] buy it was I went to them and they were super excited about it, and that made my decision no way. I would've had the courage to do it if I didn't have a good team place.
Marcus: Yeah.
Because finding good people that know about pools is not.
Thomas: S it's tough and really. I want if you're, I would rather you be motivated and have a strong moral compass and have an ego that you have pride in what you do. Yeah. I can teach the pool stuff. I can't teach you to want it. I can't teach you to do, to work hard when nobody's looking.
Marcus: Amazing point. Yeah.
Thomas: And but it, there's so much with accounting and taxes and that, I thought from running the place for 20 years that, oh, this will be a little extra paperwork and a little extra time.
Marcus: Nope.
Thomas: Seven, seven days a week from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed.
Marcus: Yeah. There's just something about being the owner
Thomas: and you gotta want it. If you don't really want to do it, don't do it.
Marcus: Yeah. '
Thomas: cause it's your life.
Marcus: Yeah,
Thomas: for [00:16:00] sure.
Marcus: And it's, there's no, it's almost like having kids or something. There's no preparation, no for that. I've walked a number of people, through some early stages of, owning businesses.
And it's amazing what people will get wrapped around the axle about. And I'm like, listen, this is something that you really just have to do once and then you'll never have to do it again. Whereas this other thing over here is something that's gonna make or break the cash flow of the business.
Yeah. And that is where you want to put more time and energy and focus and, learn those processes instead of, something that is never gonna come up again.
Thomas: And I totally agree with that. I also think that. You've gotta do it your way. It's gotta be yours. It's gotta be a reflection of yourself.
People buy from people. A lot of times when I'm selling pools or hot tubs, we spend 10% of the time talking about the features. We get to talking about, who your family is, what you're doing. Make that connection with somebody. And again, building trust. I'm gonna tell you the truth.
If I lose a sale, I can [00:17:00] live with that. I love questions. Ask 'em. Yeah. So I don't know what you don't know, and I want to be secure. And I also tell my guys to pick your customers. Somebody comes in off the bat and they're a handful with, we haven't even sold 'em a dollar yet. Yeah, okay. They're
Marcus: probably gonna be a handful for Forever.
Thomas: Forever. And you may never make 'em happy. Yeah. But if you dig somebody and like you get along right off the bat. Throw in something or, and or tell 'em that. Yeah, tell 'em, man, I want you as a customer. What do I need to do to get you as a customer? I feel like we mesh. I wanna do business with you. I wanna build a relationship with you.
Marcus: Yeah. I was, before we came in today I was watching one of my new addictions on YouTube is Dave's Auto.
Thomas: I haven't seen it,
Marcus: I wouldn't expect that you, but Dave's auto center is Dave, if you're out there, I know you're not gonna listen to this, but if you're out there Dave's is located in Utah, if I remember correctly.
And the reason why I even bring that up is because this is a show about diesel mechanics. I have never, nor will I [00:18:00] ever own a diesel truck,
Thomas: right?
Marcus: There's just something really fascinating about this. This morning he was talking to a guy who had bought a salvage title truck and had brought it in because he was having some issues with it and they were looking it over and basically told him the honest truth.
And that's how, they run their, that business and basically told the guy like, we could. We can try and do a few things, but we can't warranty it. Nor would we suggest that if you want to go and do something, then this other thing over here is really what you need to do. Or you just do this small thing and drive the wheels off of it.
Thomas: Right.
Marcus: And 'cause the truck had all kinds of problems with it and stuff and ultimately they did in alignment. And the guy was like, okay, I know what I'm dealing with now. I'm just gonna drive it per your instructions. And when something you know comes up, I know I have a mechanic that I can trust who's not gonna just try and sell me X, whatever that X part is at several thousand dollars.
And I think that's what we're all looking for, especially in today's day and age. We're. [00:19:00] Retail has become such a transaction. Yes. There's not a whole lot of relationship building in retail right now. And if you own a retail shop, you need to train your people to build these relationships.
Invest
in
Thomas: your people, make
Marcus: them know that your people, you
Thomas: care about them and keep them
Marcus: if they don't care. Then they're not gonna care about that client that walks through the door and it's gonna show. Yes. And that's why you go into places and they don't address you properly, or they don't even look at you, or they don't take you to where the product is, or they don't explain what it is, or they get your order wrong.
They're
Thomas: on their phone.
Marcus: Yeah.
Thomas: Yeah. And I, but I see that too. I feel like we are very digitally disconnected.
We're, there's a lack of just basic interaction, human skills and, it's I see it from both sides where, you've got, if you've got a retail guy who's. He's just a name or a, a number to his boss.
He's, he knows he can't barely pay his bills. He's not being trained or invested in, and if you have somebody else in already expecting to be [00:20:00] treated like that, so then they have their guard up and it just it escalates. It goes back and forth. I tell my guys, if somebody comes in, do not escalate.
If you can't get through to somebody. Come get me and I'll talk to 'em. Yeah. There's no need to get your whole day ruined off of somebody you don't even know. And you don't know what's going on in their life either. Yeah. Yeah. They may have just had some terrible news or they, or their experience with coming into pool places.
They've been lied to, they've been sold stuff they don't need, so they're already weary of you. You've gotta gain that trust first. And a lot of times if you listen and you and you don't react. People, it's no fun being ugly and just let it, let 'em get that off.
Yeah. And they typically will settle back down. Yeah. And then a lot of our really good lifelong pro customers came from a bad situation and then we fixed it and solved it. Now we have that trust. And now we have that personal connection. And I'm Thomas, I'm not the pool guy. [00:21:00] And so then it's, we got a relationship.
It's personal. It's it's really, to me, it's really hard to dislike people. That you don't, that you don't know. You just have a thought in your head. That's what you're disliking. It's not the person, you barely even know him.
Marcus: Yeah. It's, i'm gonna say this is not from you. Sure.
But our experience with pool builders in this area has been absolutely horrible.
Thomas: Yeah.
Marcus: I don't expect you to respond, but I just want to go on record as saying I don't know of a good pool builder in mob.
Thomas: There's,
Marcus: you may know of one
Thomas: I, I know of a few. There's a lot of people that are doing stuff that is above what their knowledge is.
Yeah. The biggest problem though, to me is organizational and people answering their phone and showing up when they said they're gonna show up and not in avoiding that tough conversation. Putting it off and then it makes a terrible situation. Yeah. Have that conversation straight up and lay out [00:22:00] expectations for somebody and then do what you say.
Yeah. But you're, I've, you were right. It is frustrating
Marcus: and I was actually gonna say that 'cause I was, the one thing that I think, school builders, home builders, anybody that's doing something custom like that, communication becomes key. And one of the things that we've learned, 'cause our business is not so different.
Than building a pool. We have processes that we have to go through, but we also use things to communicate with people and it also helps keep track of the project and make sure that nothing gets missed. And but I understand why people would come in and, be on guard because it's like, if you just spent whatever.
50, a hundred fifty, five hundred, seven hundred $50,000, whatever it was for your family.
Thomas: Yeah.
Marcus: And then all of a sudden, like we had a situation where this thing, split. If I had been the purchaser of the equipment, I would've probably been able to get it covered under warranty.
But because I could not get my pool builder to respond to me. He owns the warranty because of who he is.
Thomas: Right.
Marcus: So now I'm [00:23:00] stuck in the situation where I can't even go to the manufacturer. I have to go to the pool builder. And if he doesn't, if he's not in business or he is not a reputable guy, or he is just not, doing his job, then you know, I'm out, yes. And it's just, it's frustrating. So I certainly understand, but I also just want to, like caution people, if you're out there considering a pool, do your, do your homework. 'cause man I just, you could really get stuck in, this is not a small investment. The average pool's probably gonna be about a hundred thousand dollars now.
Thomas: Gunite for sure.
Marcus: Gunite, I'm sorry. You
Thomas: know liner.
Marcus: Wear a fiberglass or a liner, it's gonna be
Thomas: liner. You're gonna start out at 45 or 50, fiberglass still cheap, 65, 80, no, no way.
Marcus: Wow. And when you're investing that much money and then you don't get the kind of service that's needed to go along with this, like even just explaining.
Like you should get a 30 minute or an hour long last on how to take care of the pool
Thomas: at least.
Yes.
Marcus: And so oftentimes these guys are just wanting to pawn you off on a pool care company. And I'll tell you this, we hired the pool company that the guy that we had built our house, suggested, and I have him on camera.
He came out in a [00:24:00] month, he came out twice and both times he was there for about five minutes. He looked in the pool, dropped some chlorine pucks into the skimmer and walked around maybe scooped a leaf or two out. And walked out.
Thomas: Yeah. I hear it at least weekly. If not daily the same kind of stuff.
One advantage that we have is because we part of a distribution center and because we've been in it for so long. If you have your information, we can typically go to the distribution center and get that invoice and he, they can't give us the contractor's information or his pricing, but we have a relationship with Hayward or JD or Pentair or a lot of times we can get that warranty done and help people out.
Marcus: Yeah. Oh, I wish I had called you six months, ago, now are there any books, podcasts, people or organizations, you don't have to name all, but is there something you know, that have been helpful in moving you forward?
Thomas: There's so on. The internet, there's so much out [00:25:00] there. I will say one thing about there, there's pros and because I feel like with the internet, half of it, you can throw it away.
It's total nonsense. The half that you have, about half of that's trying to sell you something. Yeah. Now it might not be fraudulent, but it's showing their marketing their product. So now you got 25% left. What amount of that is marketing or teaching? Educating towards our area because a pool in mobile is gonna be way different than a pool in Seattle or Connecticut or Arizona.
So I really, finding the, your local guy. Is one thing, and having a relationship with them. But there's we're actually thinking about starting a YouTube channel where we have tips and tricks. Absolutely.
Marcus: Should, don't even think about it. Just do it.
Thomas: And we do have a pretty thick pool school that we put together.
The biggest thing is just simple vocabulary. [00:26:00] Because somebody could be saying it's a skimmer, but is it a skimmer? A skimmer basket, an automatic cleaner? The bag on the automatic cleaner, the net, the leaf rake. There's a lot of, or calling a pump a filter or calling a motor. The pump.
There's a, so we have a section that just goes over that, I would also where you can get stuff anywhere now, but if you're gonna buy chlorine or alside, even if you don't buy it from us, buy your chlorine and alga side from a pool store there. Don't get it from Costco. Yeah. Or Walmart. Or it
Marcus: does degrade over time and
Thomas: big time.
Sure. It's fresh or so shock. Shock. What we sell, most of what we sell is calcium hydrochloride. It's 73%. If you buy shock from Walmart or Costco or Sam's or wherever. It could be calcium hydrochloride, but it could be anywhere from 40. Usually it's 40 to 60%. Big difference. It could be. Tri Chlor, which is just like ground up tablets.
That's not shock at [00:27:00] all. It could be sodium Dior. It could be potassium, onpro sulfate. There's a lot of different stuff. It could be, and then algae's. Not all the same either. We have a lot of mustard algae in this area. Mustard algae will spread off of oxygen sanitizer is an oxidizer. So you throw shock in there.
Yeah, it's gone two days later. Boom. Now it comes back with a vengeance. Yeah. So having. Having the right stuff. We do free water testing. We'd have that pool school that we hand out. We're gonna start that YouTube channel and then we'll
Marcus: of praising that
Thomas: and then
Marcus: we're gonna start, we're
Thomas: gonna do it.
Marcus: Marcus said we have to,
Thomas: and then we also, we're gonna do something where every four months or so, we have an event at our place, and you can show up there and we'll go over just the basics of how to take care of your system. Yeah. It's like you said earlier, it's really not that complicated.
Yeah. Yeah. But there's, you gotta know what you have and then [00:28:00] find the right person to walk you through it.
Marcus: Yeah. What's the most important thing that you've learned about running a business?
Thomas: Having a good team consistency and you got, and you have to want to do it. It's your life to me to be successful, especially in starting that.
Marcus: Yeah.
Thomas: Don't you gotta want it,
Marcus: you gotta want it. Yeah. You gotta want it back.
Thomas: And you have to, if you're waking up every morning and going, shit, then maybe this isn't for you.
Marcus: You rethink your life decisions. Yeah. Because, it, people I think sometimes start and they're just like I don't wanna fail.
And it's failure isn't failure. We're, we should fail. We should fail every day. Often learn and learn every, it's a matter of analyzing a situation and going, yes, I can do this. I just don't want to. Or yes, I can do this and it's gonna be hard, but I need to like buckle down and get it done.
Or, nah man, this doesn't make any sense. This isn't something I wanna do. The money's not there. The market isn't there. I misjudged something.
Thomas: We recalculate
Marcus: and that's fine. Don't spend the rest of your life beating your head up against work,
Thomas: [00:29:00] like you were saying with, it's like having a child, it's consistency. Yeah. Showing up and being consistent and loving it.
Marcus: Yeah.
Thomas: That's the main things.
Marcus: How do you like to unwind?
Thomas: Lately I have not had that chance. I love to I'm terrible at golf. But I like,
Marcus: see, I would not have pictured you as a golf player, but Okay.
Thomas: I like to go out with my friends are not terrible.
I like to go out with them and I've got, I'm very lucky in the friendships that I have. Yeah. I have a lot of my guys that I've known for over 30 years. Oh, cool. And so doing, spending time with them, just, teasing each other, making fun of each other, saying awful things to each other.
Marcus: They know you.
They know who you are. They know the real you. So
Thomas: it's easy. I love to travel. Love to travel. Yeah.
Marcus: You're gonna write like this next session section, 'cause I've got 12 rapid fire questions for you. So just like quick answers, what's your favorite type of music?
Thomas: Man I was actually talking about this with somebody the other day.
'cause I grew up on like nineties rap, [00:30:00] outcasts. Yeah. Gangster rap type stuff. Right now what I'm listening to mainly Jason Isabel, Tyler Childers Sturgill Simpson.
Marcus: Okay. Going a little country.
Thomas: Yeah.
Marcus: Yeah. What's your favorite type of food?
Thomas: I love steak but I love Italian food and we're in the right place for seafood too.
Marcus: So I'm gonna ask that. That was my second question. This is two and a half, so I'm having 13 questions here. Alright. But what do you like to make the most,
Thomas: Something new. I love, love trying stuff. Yeah. I love anything with connect and shrimp.
Marcus: Yeah.
Thomas: I'll throw together and make something awesome.
Marcus: It's funny as for New Year's I had never, I didn't grow up in the south, obviously, and I had never made collards.
Thomas: Okay.
Marcus: And so I was like, I'm gonna make collard collards and, greens and black eyed peas. Yeah. And I made the collards, which I'm familiar with beans.
So that was like, I got that,
Thomas: right.
Marcus: Being Brazilian. But the the collards was something and I just found a recipe. I made some small modifications, man. They were the best collards I've ever had. And it wasn't because I made it. They literally did that, [00:31:00] that the best collards
Thomas: where,
Marcus: and I was like, oh my gosh, it's so cool.
Thomas: My wife will gimme a recipe. And I'll look at it and go, okay. And she's you gotta, I'm like, no, I'm not gonna do that.
Marcus: Yeah,
Thomas: I'm gonna, when I looked at that, I know how to do it. And I'm gonna add this
Marcus: stuff too. You have understanding, the basic components.
Thomas: Exactly.
Marcus: Riff on it.
So what's your favorite restaurant in lower Alabama?
Thomas: Oh, I used to love Osmond's. Unfortunately they've closed,
Marcus: I never went there. I never got a chance.
Thomas: Poor baby. Out in West Mobile.
Marcus: Yeah.
Thomas: I love going
Marcus: there. It is my favorite restaurant in lower Alabama. Favorite city outside of mobile?
Thomas: Oh man. My Amsterdam.
Love Amsterdam. Rome's another one. And in, in not a city, but an island. Rotan, Honduras. I grew up going there. Yeah. Every summer I've had a aunt that ran a a dive resort there.
Marcus: Really?
Thomas: So that's where I took my wife when we got engaged. It's a great place.
Marcus: That's cool. City you want to travel to, but have yet to [00:32:00] visit?
Thomas: I have not been to Canada, Toronto and yeah, I've been all over Europe. I've been to the west. I've been northeast, northwest through South America, have not been to Canada.
Marcus: Interesting. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good, that's an easy one, but also a very beautiful country to visit during the summer.
We're not used to that cold down here what comes to mind when I say guilty pleasure?
Thomas: Watching mindless tv,
Yeah. Or eating cho anything with chocolate and peanut butter,
Marcus: chocolate, peanut butter ice cream is, definitely on my list. Dogs, cats are none of the above.
Thomas: Dogs,
Marcus: summer or winter. Summer.
I ask a pool guy, which is better? Summer or winter, favorite movie or TV show?
Thomas: Ooh. Right now I'm watching Peaky Blinders. And I just re-watched Game of Thrones. Love The Sopranos too. Nice.
Marcus: Yeah. Favorite holiday other than Christmas?
Thomas: Thanksgiving food.
Marcus: I hear that man. Who does the Turkey in your house?
Thomas: Me. [00:33:00]
Marcus: There you go. Favorite color
Thomas: blue
Marcus: and favorite cereal?
Thomas: Oof. I like frosted Flakes with marshmallows in it. Yeah. Hard to find. Every once in a while
Marcus: says the buff, bearded dude, I look Marsh fellow man, whatcha gonna say I love it.
So now back, on, on track, what are you most thankful for?
Thomas: My kids not mean we, it took a lot to get my kids here. And there's, my daughter's my favorite person that's ever lived, but it's not even close. And my son I I just I feel like I have this telepathic connection with him. We I always wanted to have a son. And like I said, it took a lot to get my children here. Yeah. And but I'm also, because it took so much, there's never a time where I feel like I have to do something. I get to do something with them. [00:34:00]
Marcus: I can tell just, we haven. We literally, you were working at the house for a little bit and here you are.
But even in just that little mit, I mean like it very much translates that you love, thank you, your family and love your kids. But
Thomas: I think the best compliment I can give to any man is he's a good father.
Marcus: Yeah, absolutely. I can tell that from you. To close up where can people find out more about.
Your services and supplies and
Thomas: stuff. We are building out our website. We do have a landing page now my pool and spa.com or Facebook. We're very active on Facebook. And we have March 24th, we're having our grand open. We ribbon cutting ceremony.
Marcus: Very cool.
Thomas: Tons of sales there. But just anytime people want to come by.
2381 Dawes. I really come in the store, get to meet my guys. I do not have any cancer that works for me. All my guys are cool down to earth, easy to talk to, and they all want to help. Yes.
Marcus: I wanna thank you again for coming on the podcast. To wrap up any final thoughts or comments you'd like to share?
Thomas: I appreciate [00:35:00] it, I and meeting you for, the little time that we spent together. I could tell you care about. What you're doing you and you like to see other people have success and,
Marcus: You have no idea
Thomas: That isn't that a happier way to live? I'm not someone I don't
Marcus: understand people that
Thomas: don't, I do not get it.
Marcus: Yeah. I just don't, 'cause I just love people succeeding.
Thomas: Yeah.
Marcus: It makes me like joyful.
Thomas: Yeah.
Marcus: I don't even care how much success, like even Elon is Hey man, he just converged his company. That's awesome, man. I'm like, trillion dollars. You go, dude. Yeah. If I don't root for him, how am I gonna root for myself?
Thomas: And that's, I think the best adjective to use is joyful.
Marcus: Yeah.
Thomas: Like it's not just happy, it's that
Marcus: yeah. No
Thomas: visceral feeling.
Marcus: Thank you for saying that. 'cause that means a lot too. Thomas, I appreciate your willingness to sit with me and share your journey as a business owner and entrepreneur.
Man, it's been great talking.
Thomas: I appreciate it, Marcus. It was a pleasure coming here.
Marcus: Yeah.
