This edition of PoolPro is a bit of a departure for us, as we’ve always featured a pool professional’s smiling face on our cover from the our At the Shop photo shoot. As you can see from this issue, we’ve tried something new. It’s been more than a year since I approached Terry Arko, content…
A day with NPP to see just what consolidation will mean for the industry One of the weird things I didn’t realize would happen after I bought the magazine is that occasionally I’d get calls from private equity firms searching for insights into the pool industry. Typically, they’d reach out, we’d chat on the phone…
We’ve launched a huge renewal campaign for PoolPro — and I would greatly appreciate your participation. You can always pick up a free bimonthly copy of PoolPro at SCP Distributors and Superior Pool Products’ locations, but now you can also have a free subscription mailed directly to you — just fill out this form. Additionally,…
I love Christmas, but for me the best time of the year is announcing 30 Under 40 recipients.
First of all, can I just mention how happy our cover this issue makes me? What a bunch of joyous people — and how cool that we’ve got three generations represented from Klenswite Pools. At PoolPro, we do our best to be a positive voice for the industry, but I thought it was important to…
Our industry needs to be open to all colors, creeds and nationalities.
When I first bought the magazine, I had grand ideas for new products and changes I wanted to make right away. About five months into ownership, though, I realized they were unrealistic in the timeframe I had envisioned. I’ve since realized that changes in business, at least in ours, look more like this: Create goal,…
In 2018 we wrote an article about running a stress test on your business (January/February 2018 “How Low Can You Go”). That article posited that if sales stopped or slowed tremendously, there were certain actions you’d need to take to survive. The last couple of years have shown us that threats to small business are…
The guys from Pool Nation are tired of answering one question about their business: “ ‘How profitable is it? How are you gonna make money off it?’ ” says founder Edgar De Jesus. As hard as it may be to believe, De Jesus and his partners John Chakalis, co-owner of J&J Flawless Pools in the…
Anyone in the pool industry knows the importance of design in making an appealing product. If you can’t put your finger on why PoolPro feels a little different this issue, it’s all thanks to our art director, Brittany Alloway. We’re keeping the same overall structure, but Brittany cut the clutter and made the magazine more…
I’ve been to a lot of trade shows — and after a while, they all start to run together. Exhibiting is a ton of work, even for a small booth like ours. In the past, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with trade shows: I love to be there and see everyone, and I have some…
Remember when we were supposed to have a commercial issue last year, but instead there was a pandemic and everything we planned went out the window? Yeah….me too. So instead of 2020 being our inaugural commercial edition, we are launching it in 2021. For a few years, I’ve been tossing around the idea of becoming…