Change can be scary for anyone, but both contractors featured in this issue overcame those fears in order to grow their companies.
Dana Hood, owner of Georgia-based Underground Systems, found herself making a service offering change to her company after the market in the Atlanta area changed. The company’s primary service was burying road-to-house service lines for cable television companies, using vibratory plows and doing opencut.
After 2005, the market changed with widespread consolidation in the state’s cable television industry, and only two competitors were left, creating tough competition for her company.
She knew she had to make changes — and fast. In 2012, Hood and the company’s president of field operations saw a work crew doing horizontal directional drilling. That was the turning point. Later that year, they bought their first directional drill. Hood has purchased a new directional drill every year since then and sales have doubled every year, turning the company into a multimillion-dollar-a-year venture.
The other contractors featured in this issue, John and Christopher “Chris” J. Angelo, owners of J. Angelo Industries in New York, went through a completely different change. John was working in the trucking industry and Chris was contemplating an architectural career.
“My brother was driving trucks and one day we looked at each other and said, ‘Let’s do what we know,’” Chris says. Their father had operated a pipe inspection and cleaning company in New York, and the two had been around the industry since they were kids.
Their change from working different jobs to owning their own company happened in 2015. Now they have two cousins working for them and offer hydroexcavation, pipe cleaning, CCTV mainline inspection, and many other services in a 75-mile radius of Wappingers Falls.
TIME FOR YOU TO CHANGE?
These two contractors knew it was time for a change and it was good for each of them, but how do you know when it’s time for a change for you or your company?
First of all, revisit your business plan. If you don’t have one, write one for your business as it currently exists — even a one-page, brief summary will work. Compare how your business plan will be the same or different with the change.
Then consider if this change will build on what you already have in place. This refers not only to your resources, but also to your own skills and those of your staff. Hood knew her crew already had the ability to install cable lines, so all they had to do was learn a different method of doing so.
You need to figure out if the change is going to be cost-effective. John and Chris were leaving solid jobs when they decided to start up J. Angelo Industries. It’s not an easy decision to make, so you have to take a long look at all the options in front of you.
Finally, talk to other business owners. That is where the best advice will come from. They’ll be able to tell you what they went through when things changed at their companies and offer tips on how to deal with those changes.
HEARING FROM YOU
Speaking of changes, I’m always open to hearing from readers and learning what you like and don’t like about Dig Different. Are there more features you would like to see in these pages or something you would like to see less of?
Email me at editor@digdifferent.com or call 800-257-7222. I look forward to hearing from you.
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