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From Pools to Possibilities: Dallin Huso's Entrepreneurial Journey

• Ed Drozda

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What does it take to be a successful young entrepreneur? In this episode, I chat with Dallin Huso of Flamingo Pools and Elevate Home Services Coaching, about making bold decisions and achieving business freedom. Don't miss out on his incredible tips and story! #Inspiration #BusinessTips

Ed Drozda:

Welcome to the Water Trough where we can't make you drink, but we will make you think. My name is Ed Draws to the Small Business Doctor, and I'm really excited you chose to join me here as we discuss topics that are important for small business folks just like you. If you're looking for ideas, inspiration, and possibility, you've come to the right place. Join us as we take steps to help you create the healthy business that you've all. Always wanted. Welcome back to The Water Trough folks. This is Ed Drozda, The Small Business Doctor, today I am joined by Dallin Huso of Flamingo Pools and Elevate Home Service Coaching.

Dallin Huso:

How's it going?

Ed Drozda:

Going very well sir, thank you very much. Dallin started this company about seven years ago from scratch. Uh, as most of us do in small business he started with an idea and then went on from there. And he grew it with systems and people that allowed him after seven years to step back from day-to-day operations while the business continues to run and to grow. I think that his story is really fascinating and what's more now as he has gotten to this point, he's started coaching others in small business and consulting with other business owners, which where he has found his true passion. So Dalin, let's talk about your story. This is really exciting for me. Yeah, so I guess we can start at the beginning. I was going to school and bouncing around a couple jobs, just trying to figure out what I was gonna do with my life. I was going to community college and the classroom setting was just not for me, I was not enjoying that. I had grown up all my life just thinking that I had to go to school, get a degree, work a job for 40, 50, 60 years and then retire. So, uh was feeling just kinda lost'cause it just wasn't feeling like the right thing to do and I couldn't find a job either that made sense for me. Yeah, I was just not happy with the situation I was in, and then I read the book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and that kind of opened up my eyes to oh, hey, this isn't the only possibility. There's more that I can do with my life than just the standard go to college, get a 9 to five, build up a little retirement, and live off that for the rest of your life. So that got me really excited about the possibilities of what I could do, and that's when I decided that I wanted to start a business. I'm born and raised in Arizona, and if anyone's familiar with the weather out here, it is very hot, so it's almost necessary to have a pool in your backyard. So I knew that there was plenty of demand when it came to swimming pools. I thought, hey that seems like a good industry to get into. So I decided to work for a pool company. I did have some prior experience there as well, growing up, but I decided to go work for a company just to get a little bit more knowledge and experience under my belt. And after about six months of feeling confident in that, like you said, I didn't have any money, so I started from scratch. I was able to buy a pole, a net, and a brush, and I just started knocking doors, try to pick up clients. So that's things first got started. Let's step back a second there. Thank you very much for that. I think this is really critical. You're right. You and how many other people have said the same thing? I have to go to college when I get out of high school, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. I also happen to be a university professor. Now, I'm not promoting higher education as the only way to live. Yeah. So don't get me wrong here. But I understand what you're saying. That's what is drilled into our heads from a young age. You're gonna be better than mom and dad. You're gonna get that education that perhaps they didn't have, and so on and so forth. And so here you sit going, okay, fine, I'm gonna do what you say. And then someday you wake up and go, well, well hold on. What about me? So I love the fact that you woke up and said, what about me,'cause that really is the core of the entrepreneurial spirit. Being able to look around and take stock of who you are and what you've got versus what you've been told and what you think you're supposed to do. Yeah, and like you said, it's not for everyone, for sure, but I do laugh when people are like so anti college because like, if you wanna be a doctor, obviously you need to go to college and there can be good social experiences. But if your plan is to be an entrepreneur, there's a lot of valuable things you can learn from working for someone else and getting that knowledge that way, and then going out and starting on your own. At least in my experience, was the best thing that I could've done. I love the fact that you started out with what, a brush, a pole and a what, and a net? Yeah. So you got a brush, a pole, and a net. Okay.

Dallin Huso:

Yep. So you buy this pole and then you have a brush and a net attachment that you can get on to brush the pool and then net all the leaves out of it. So that was the bare minimum I needed to get started.

Ed Drozda:

Then knocking on doors.

Dallin Huso:

Yep, I started knocking doors, which is not always the number one in terms of most effective sales method, but I love it. There's never an excuse not to have anything to do,'cause you can always go out and hit some doors. And, as a business owner, I found that people do have some respect for you when you're out there just trying to hustle, and build a business and a name for yourself. That's how things got started. It was funny, I also sent out an email to a couple of contacts and a couple of family contacts, just letting'em know that I had gotten started. Between people that I knew, people that my parents knew, probably 200 people that I sent the email out to, and in my head I thought I would get all of'em or 90% of'em to sign up. I was young and naive. I ended up getting, obviously my parents, my grandma, and my soon-to-be in-laws, so that was my starting route. I literally had three pools, but that's all I needed. That was my start. I was able to get some more practice on them and then anytime I wasn't, started knocking doors, and then started looking into like, okay, there's gotta be a better, smarter, faster way to grow this thing. That's when I started digging and diving into the marketing and sales aspect of growing a business and how to do that successfully without having a ton of money to pour into paid ads or into purchasing and acquiring routes. And so that's what kind of led me down a rabbit hole to really understanding how marketing works for a small business.

Ed Drozda:

What about this rabbit hole? Are you saying that you got consumed in the process or did you find a dead end?

Dallin Huso:

I think I just got consumed in the process and I found that I enjoyed the idea of marketing and growing a business from that aspect. It's kind of like the opposite of what I find when I talk to a lot of small business owners; like marketing is the first thing that they procrastinate or push off when stuff comes up, when they're busy, when there's emergencies, whatever it is. That's the first thing that goes, but for me it just made sense, this has to be my number one priority no matter what.'Cause if I cut off marketing, that's the lifeblood of my business, and then I'll cut off any sort of growth and momentum that we have right now, so I've always been very intentional about making marketing a super important part of my every day as a business owner. Or if not me, at least our team, that it's part of our every day and so that we can continue to brand ourselves and grow that way.

Ed Drozda:

I totally understand you. I think we both can agree marketing precedes sales or precedes effective sales. Right. I would say that marketing is more valuable than sales. It might sound like a twisted thing, but getting yourself out there, being identified as a brand, as somebody that has some service or product to offer is vastly more important than selling. We can often sell by virtue of our presence, which apparently you did. You started out with three pools and gee man, hello.

Dallin Huso:

I agree. Think about the food industry where the actual product isn't that great, but they're so good at marketing and they've got such a big brand that that's all that matters. Not that that's the model you should follow, but it just shows the power of marketing that if you are really good at marketing, you can have a lot of success.

Ed Drozda:

That's a really good distinction there. Yes, you could have a poor product or service, but the bells and the whistles, the flash, the sizzle, whatever you want to call it, can convince you to buy it. But then once you do buy it, of course you'll say, eh, it's not what I had in mind. Right. Dollin has dished me a bill of goods here, but he is not giving me anything for it. I don't need that. Behind that fantastic marketing we've gotta have something of value. So you started out with three pools, within the family, why not take advantage of what you've got? That's the first and smartest thing you can do, right? How did you make the leap from there to your next level? I presume you went in increments, not overnight. So, how'd you make the first leap?

Dallin Huso:

A couple things. The first leap for me I would say was being able to hire a part-time person to help me out in the field,'cause that's something that I've seen where people get to a point where they're too busy. They're like, oh, I'll hire when I'm too busy to do it, and then too busy to actually go through that interview process and pick the right person. They get desperate and they're so slammed out in the field that they can't find someone to do it. So I tried to get ahead of that before I get too busy. I wanna start looking around and bring on a part-time person. That was my mindset going into that first leap, and also it kind of helped as well that I did not enjoy being out there cleaning pools in the summer. It was summer when I got started so that was also a motivator for me. I know for some people that's not always the case, like they love hanging out in the field, at least at first. But for me I was like I wanna get out of this as soon as possible and get to that next phase of business. That was a motivator, so I had the motivation, the mindset, and then it was like how do I put this into action? I was looking into all these different marketing strategies, and then also just trying to use my common sense. Who knows my customers? How can I find my customers? Who's already talking to them? Who's already working with them? That was my initial thought process, which helped me stumble upon this idea that I now refer to as power partners. Connecting with other people who are already working with your target market and your target audience. And I think every business has quite a few different power partners, but for me one of the first people that I thought of was landscapers. So backing up a little bit, I had dialed in on a target audience. The company is Flamingo Pools, so we tried to develop a fun, flashy, family friendly brand. With that we were trying to target families that were well off, had some disposable income, and were busy, but also valued that time they had with their family. So they're out running around, going to sports, going to school, going to events after school, and they value their time together, so they would rather put the money into someone else who can take care of that pool for them, so that they can spend their time actually enjoying their family, enjoying their pool, and building memories with it, rather than saving a couple bucks trying to do it themselves. That was my target audience that I had defined, and with that who else has that same demographic? And it just made a lot of sense that if they feel this way about their pool, they most likely feel the same way about other aspects their home. Landscape was one of the easiest ideas; if they have a pool guy they probably have a yard guy as well and vice versa. So I just started reaching out to landscapers and you know, I was this 21-year-old kid, so I was a little nervous at first, but just picked up the phone and started calling people, and telling'em my story, and what I was looking to do, and I wanted to connect. Had a lot of people blow me off, but had a few people that I was able to go out to lunch with and slowly built some relationships there and was able to offer my services to them so they were comfortable with who I was and what I did, and that became a snowball effect, and was one of the first huge parts of me getting a lot of referrals and a lot of organic growth that allowed me to then go and hire a technician to help me out in the field.

Ed Drozda:

You keep firing on all cylinders with all these little nuggets that are incredibly valuable. I just met you the other day very briefly, an introductory call, but I wanna tell you something. I'm really impressed, because I have been around a lot of business owners of all ages. I've been around a lot of students in the university, and I gotta tell you, you really comport yourself in such a way that really impresses me. You're hitting on all these elements that are so valuable that I gotta be honest with you, some people who have been in business for a long time still don't get. I can see why your passion would take you down the path of coaching and consulting. If I were a younger man, I'd reach out to you. I'm further down the road, it's different now, but a couple things I want to point out of the things that you said. I really love how you were able to recognize that before you got too busy to find the right kind of help, you went out and did it. You made a distinction there, you said before I get overwhelmed I wanna make sure I'm able to find the right people. Did I get that right? Okay. So I know it's just a little thing, but expand upon that. To me, it's a fundamental requirement.

Dallin Huso:

I think when you get too busy and get overwhelmed, you don't always make the best decisions, you just make the most convenient one. You can get a little desperate and hire someone just because you're busy. It doesn't necessarily mean that it's the right person for the business. So my mindset was before I get into that wrong or negative mindset, whatever you wanna call it, I wanna be able to have an open mind and really see this for what it is and what it could be, and even though I might take a little bit of a hit up front'cause I'm hiring before I totally need to, I know it's going to work out for me better in the long run. It's always having that big picture mindset, which for all of my hires and all of my growth has been the driving factor there. That helped me to not be desperate when I had to hire someone and be able to take my time through that hiring process and pick what I felt was gonna be the best person for the job.

Ed Drozda:

Vision is something that we all need in business, but is something that a lot of us lose, because of the day to day. The level of intensity becomes such that we lose sight. We may say that we're planning ahead, but we lose sight of it because vision is something we have to keep tabs on. Setting a goal out in the distance is great, but you've gotta monitor your progress in getting there, and I think what you're saying is that the more preparation you put in, in advance to secure your path is really critical. I really appreciate that. Another thing that you said that I thought was quite interesting is no matter what age you are, no matter what your persuasion might be, to go out there and just take a chance. Knocking on the doors, talking to people, reaching out, you said I'm this 21-year-old kid at that time, and I'm gonna go out there and talk to these landscapers who are in established businesses and like, who the heck am I anyway, but I'm gonna go to'em, because I have this vision that that's what's gonna make me more effective and more prominent out in the field. What about that? What is it that it takes to get up in the morning and say, I'm gonna go out there and I'm gonna do these things. Were you comfortable, uncomfortable? Where was your head at?

Dallin Huso:

I'll share this story from time to time. People are like, oh, I could never do that. That's too scary or too much for me, and I think people get the misunderstanding that I had no fear in going to do these things. But I was definitely uncomfortable. And, there's still times where I'm uncomfortable talking to certain business owners, depending on where they're at in business, but I think there's a big distinction between motivation and discipline. I was motivated, but I think motivation can go up and down and can be a rollercoaster, but discipline is all about, hey I'm doing this no matter what. Like no matter how I feel when I get up in the morning, no matter how tired I am, or no matter how scary this seems, this is my goal, and these are the things that I've written out in order to achieve those goals and whether I wanna do those things or not, I understand that that's what needs to be done to hit that goal. And so I think it just came down to being disciplined and having a very clear vision in mind for what I wanted for myself and my business, and just doing whatever it takes to get that.

Ed Drozda:

You definitely have to be committed. You definitely have to have the devotion to the task. The more clear the goal is and the more clarity in your vision, the more apt you are to get there. But as you say, just because you have a vision doesn't mean you're gonna get there. You have to put the feet to the fire and say, okay, I gotta get up tomorrow morning and do it again. And, oh I don't like this, it's not all that great. And that's a good distinction to make too. I do think a lot of people look at successful people and success is how you define it, the individual, but they look at someone that they perceive as being successful and they say, well I couldn't do all those things because, and they don't recognize that that person who they think is successful has been through the same thing. They looked at somebody else and said, I couldn't do that. But they did. In their own way. Right?

Dallin Huso:

Yeah, it's just about taking that first step. I do a lot of working out and training too, and sometimes it's such a pain to go to the gym and do stuff. The hardest step they say is like just taking that step out the front door, and once you do that you're already there, you're already 90% of the way there. I think it's the same thing. It's like setting your alarm or just making that phone call to set the appointment. Then, once you've done that, it's a lot easier to actually show up and do that.

Ed Drozda:

Excellent. So you have moved from the three pools you have gone out there, you've identified power partners, you said?

Dallin Huso:

Yeah, yeah, that's what we call'em.

Ed Drozda:

Power partners. Okay. You identified power partners to work with, and so what happened after that? What was your next step?

Dallin Huso:

We had a lot of snowball growth with that. We had a couple landscapers that fed us customer after customer. We were able, kinda going back to what we said earlier, marketing is important, but you wanna make sure that you can fulfill a great service too. And because we're able to do that and these customers were giving raving reviews to the landscape about that, it's making this landscaper look like a hero for connecting them with a great pool guy,'cause they've been searching so long for someone. They wanted to continue to have that experience and it makes their customers trust them more, so we had a lot of growth from that, which helped me hire that first technician out in the field. And my whole goal was like I'll keep helping out a little bit in the field, but I wanna focus more on marketing and sales, which led me to my next phase of, hey I'm out in the field doing sales all the time, but because of that I'm missing calls here and there. A customer will call or a potential lead will call, and I'll get back to them after this 30 to 45 minute sales appointment that I'm having, and now customer service is being threatened a little bit or I'm losing out on new leads. So that kind of made me realize my next thing is I need an assistant. I need someone to help out, no one was answering the phones. Also doing low value tasks like looking at invoices, posting content on social media, that sort of stuff. That helped me hit my next realization of I need some office help so that I can be more focused on the high value tasks of marketing and sales, and eventually the hiring and, and management and leadership to grow the business. Those were the aspects that led me to think that I needed a receptionist to make sure that our customer experience was where it needed to be, and also free my time up for those higher value tasks. Again it was a decision that was always based on my future vision of hey, this is my salary or my profit that I'm now giving up to hire someone, even though I don't technically need it yet, like I could still manage and make it work. But number one, I wanted to provide the best experience possible for our customers. I wanted someone to be able to answer the phone at all times and not only be able to answer, but be able to answer sitting down at a computer, being able to check the schedule or check their invoice rather than someone out in the field, all this background noise saying I'll get back to you later. I was very big on making sure that our brand not only showed a premium product, but that we actually put our money where our mouth is. So it was for that, and then also just for like I'm going to lose some money up front, but I know in the long run this is going to help us grow and it'll make me more money down the road as we continue to get success, and get reviews, referrals, testimonials from our process.

Ed Drozda:

It sounds like from day one you have always been looking ahead and willing to take some not so timid steps to ensure that you could keep going.

Dallin Huso:

Yeah. Yeah, and I think that going back to I read this book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and my goal wasn't oh, I just wanna be a pool guy my whole life, I was like no, I want to grow this business. Whether that means growing it to run on autopilot or growing it to sell, I always wanted to grow and scale a business. I was going to take those steps whenever they were possible to continue to hit that next level, because I had a very clear vision in mind for myself from day one.

Ed Drozda:

So at some point along the way, you found yourself in a position where you can step away from the day to day and you realize you have this passion to share your experience with others in small business. Is that correct?

Dallin Huso:

Yeah, yeah, you want me to touch on that?

Ed Drozda:

I'd like that, yes.

Dallin Huso:

That's the next phase of business. I hired a service manager to handle the technicians, escalated customer issues, handle all the higher scheduling and repairs on a day-to-day basis. And that was really my first experience of stepping back. I still had some involvement with the day-to-day, but I didn't have to be fully involved into that. Shortly after that my wife and I moved to Hawaii for a little bit. This was back during COVID, so we were stuck at home; we're like, well if we're gonna be stuck somewhere, let's be stuck on the beach. We did that just to have that cool experience before we had kids or anything, and by doing that, that's I think the first time I really started having a lot of people reach out to me, whether it was past friends, people that I knew, or people that had seen me grow through social media. People just started reaching out like, hey, what did you do to grow? How have you been able to do this in such a quick period of time? I was more than happy to share some of those things that I've done, some of the things that I learned. That's when I started to realize, what seemed like very simple steps didn't cross their minds, for a lot of people. I also realized how much I enjoyed talking about that process with people. I slowly started building a community doing that, and the more that we continue to grow over the next couple years, the more I was able to step back from the day to day. I spent more time networking, talking to other business owners, and it got to the point where I was like I'm spending more time doing this for free than I am actually running my business. So, let's do something about that. I'd had a coach of my own for a period of time, and I attribute a lot of my success to the accountability that he was able to provide for me. Some of the stuff you can find easily, some you can't, but the accountability itself as a business owner is huge. Having someone that you're talking to on a regular basis, and help with that discipline because everyone else as an employee, you have that from your manager or your boss, but as an entrepreneur, you don't always have that. So it was nice to have that. I saw the value in having that, and so I was like, hey, this is something I love doing, something that I'm already doing, and something that I believe in and have a passion for. That's what really turned my mind to the idea of why don't I take this and really start pushing it and get some clients in the door, and so that organically happened, I'd say a year and a half, two years ago, and it's grown from there.

Ed Drozda:

What do you see or imagine for the future here? What's that process like for you?

Dallin Huso:

Yeah, I think for the future, I love being able to work when I want, where I want, and with who I want. I can pick whether I wanna take on a client or not. I can be home in Arizona or I can be on a trip in California, and just pull out my laptop and talk to a client. Then I can also work a regular nine to five, or I can take a day off or a week off if I need to and move things around or get some stuff done at night after the kids go to bed. So it gives me a lot of flexibility and control and time is the most important thing to me, and having the time to spend with family, with friends, hobbies, the other aspects of life that are so important as well. And so it's really just given me the opportunity to do that. So yeah, my goal is to continue to grow this and the more I grow it, the more of that flexibility and freedom that I'll have. But It's also been such a rewarding experience, and not that the pool company hasn't been rewarding. It has been to an extent, but to be like so involved in someone's growth and for them to experience some of that freedom that I've been able to see for myself has been more rewarding than I would've imagined it being. I have a goal to work with as many blue collar, small business owners as possible, and help them to any point I can, any extent I can just experience some of the freedom that it's provided me. I have such a passion for home services, and the blue collar space and what it can be for people. Unfortunately, for so many people it becomes a prison almost and takes over their life. I just love showing them this is actually possible. You can actually do this. Not saying it's easy, but it is simple if you follow these steps. Giving'em that blueprint that's helped me to grow.

Ed Drozda:

That's excellent. Given all these things, back in the beginning did you envision you'd be where you are today? I know you talked about being, uh, out of the day to day from early on, but did you envision yourself having so much to share with people like you do now? Did you see that coming?

Dallin Huso:

To be honest, no, I didn't. Like I said, it was always the plan to grow. I think I already had the flexibility and the freedom of my time. That was always the plan, but I didn't necessarily know what that was gonna look like exactly. It was more hey, I'm gonna grow this business and hopefully it provides that to a certain extent and I think it was to a big extent, but what I was missing was some of that passion that I didn't always get from that, which I am getting now. That's I think what made me pivot because I still was achieving some of that freedom beforehand, but was missing some of the passion that I have now.

Ed Drozda:

So this process has opened up your eyes to potential you didn't realize you had.

Dallin Huso:

Yeah, a hundred percent.

Ed Drozda:

Isn't that a fascinating thing when you think about it? You know? I know where I'm going, I know what I'm doing, or planning to do, and whoa you wake up in the morning and go, gee, I'm going down this path. How cool is that? I know it's fun, also it can be scary at times. It's cool to look back and be like if you asked me seven years ago where I was today, it definitely would be in a different spot than I actually am, but totally happy with where I am right now. You wouldn't see this. This would not be Dallin Huso. That's fantastic. Well Dallin, our time is coming to an end so I'd like to ask you if there's any particular thing or things that you'd like to leave us with before we go? That's a great question. I know we've covered a lot and I know you talked about success and you mentioned how it's different for everybody, and I think that's so true. I think people can kind of feel down on themselves or down on their business, especially if they have a goal and they hit it, but then all of a sudden they look at this other guy and they have no idea what their experiences are. Especially with social media now, it's hard to feel good about yourself sometimes when you're seeing what other people are doing, without any context, right? So for me, I've found a definition of success that I feel works really well. For me, success is having a goal and then deciding and figuring out what I need to do to hit that goal, and then taking action and doing all those steps. I know that I have full control over taking those steps. I don't always have full control over the outcome because there are external sources that can affect things both negatively and positively. But I know if I set this goal and I did everything in my power to achieve that, for me that's success, and I think anyone can take that and apply that to their lives, wherever they are in business. I agree with you a hundred percent. Dallin, again it was fantastic chatting with you. I'm really excited about all the things you have ahead of you and also for the people you'll be working with, because as I had said previously, you have a great way of delivering on these things, and I believe that that's an absolute great recipe for success in an engagement in the coaching arena. Cheers to you and all the best wishes for those things.

Dallin Huso:

Thank you. Thank you so much, Eddie, it was a pleasure being on and appreciate getting to share my story with you and your listeners.

Ed Drozda:

I and they appreciate it as well. Folks this is Ed Drozda, The Small Business Doctor, and here at The Water Trough I want to wish you a healthy business. I would also like to say, in view of the conversation I had today with Dallin, consider the opportunity that's available to you. I think this is a showcase for the potential that we may think we have, but we're not certain about. I hope this story will be as inspiring to you as it was to me. Dallin Huso of Flamingo Pools, and Elevate Home Service Coaching, once again I want to thank you for being here with me today.

Dallin Huso:

Thanks, Ed.

Ed Drozda:

Cheers, folks.