When I re-read my last column, I can’t help but laugh. If I’d only known what was ahead. We were gearing up for a crazy busy season, but never in my wildest dreams would I have envisioned this. The way COVID has affected business differs for each company, city and state, but fortunately for our…
Deep breath, everyone — there are still a few more weeks before another frenetic pool season begins. I think our schedules are on opposite trajectories because we frontload as much of our work as possible, so that when your busy season hits, we aren’t bugging you for story quotes and information. I’ve worked in the…
I can hardly believe that 2020 is upon us. 2019 was an eventful year, to say the least: As many of you know, I welcomed another daughter on October 10. I appreciate all the well-wishes that were sent my way and your graciousness as I care for an infant while running a business. We’ve got…
I am so excited to share PoolPro’s inaugural 30 Under 40, where we honor the underrepresented next generation of swimming pool industry leaders with much-deserved recognition. Some of these will be familiar faces, and others will be as new to you as they were to us. I hope you see yourself in their stories — either…
We’ve really been on a theme kick in 2019, and for this issue it’s safety. The interesting thing about our industry is that when you talk about safety you’ve got two areas to cover — workplace safety and customer safety. When I started working in the industry back in 2008, I remember learning quickly to…
Further, we are FINALLY talking about portable vacuums. I’m not sure there’s a topic or product I see discussed more on industry forums. We did our best to round up what’s available, and cover the pros and cons of each. Another story I’ve wanted to do for awhile is about cultivating and maintaining relationships with…
I recently read a quote that I can’t stop thinking about, from the book Widgets by Rodd Wagner: “Your people are not your greatest asset. They’re not yours, and they’re not assets.” That’s probably something many of us have said, in all sincerity, to point toward how much employees mean to our organization. But, wow,…
Happy new year from all of us at PoolPro. We appreciate your support in 2018, and hope 2019 is great for you personally and professionally. We’ve never before done a themed issue of PoolPro, but we’re starting 2019 with an issue all about retail. If you don’t have a swimming pool retail store, don’t put…
It’s here — the 2018 Pool | Spa | Patio Expo. This will be my 10th show, but it will be my first as the magazine’s owner. We’ve been getting great feedback from our last issue and my stint as a guest on the Pool Chasers podcast, and I hope you’ll stop by our booth…
Last year I received an email about a PoolPro story on online reviews: “After reading The Review Conundrum article I was very inspired because this is exactly what we went after when starting our company three years ago. Taking Yelp and Google serious took our business to a whole new level … If you ever…
You may have heard that last month I bought PoolPro, along with sister publications SpaRetailer, Spasearchand Poolsearch. I love this industry and the people in it, and I’m so happy this is where I will continue my career. This process has given me a new respect for small-business owners. As I make further strides in…