Live from EPIC 2024 in Anaheim, CA, we welcomed Jordan Bowman to the table for an insightful conversation full of revelatory moments around leadership in the HVAC industry.
Key Takeaways from our conversation:
Listen to the full episode, in which Jordan discusses the processes of taking over a family-owned business, the subtle balance of work and family, and her journey to recognizing and leveraging her communication superpower.
Find Jordan:
On The Web: https://www.acguyoftampa.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theacguyoftampabay
Join Our Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hvacrevealed
Presented By On Purpose Media: https://www.onpurposemedia.ca/
For HVAC Internet Marketing reach out to us at info@onpurposemedia.ca or 888-428-0662
Sponsored By:
Chiirp: https://chiirp.com/hssr
Elite Call: https://elitecall.net
On Purpose Media: https://onpurposemedia.ca
Live from EPIC 2024 in Anaheim, CA, we welcomed Jordan Bowman to the table for an insightful conversation full of revelatory moments around leadership in the HVAC industry.
Key Takeaways from our conversation:
Listen to the full episode, in which Jordan discusses the processes of taking over a family-owned business, the subtle balance of work and family, and her journey to recognizing and leveraging her communication superpower.
Find Jordan:
On The Web: https://www.acguyoftampa.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theacguyoftampabay
Join Our Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hvacrevealed
Presented By On Purpose Media: https://www.onpurposemedia.ca/
For HVAC Internet Marketing reach out to us at info@onpurposemedia.ca or 888-428-0662
Sponsored By:
Chiirp: https://chiirp.com/hssr
Elite Call: https://elitecall.net
On Purpose Media: https://onpurposemedia.ca
Welcome to HVAC Success Secrets Revealed, a show where we interview industry leaders and disruptors, revealing the success secrets to create and unleash the ultimate HVAC business. Now your hosts, Thaddeus and Evan.
Thaddeus Tondu:welcome back to another episode of HVAC Success Secrets Revealed with Thaddeus and Evan, where we have good conversations with good people, and any good conversation we're having it's worth having a drink. Cheers! Cheers! we are live, still at Epic 2024, down in Disneyland, in lovely Anaheim, California, and we have Jordan Bowman on with us here today, and Jordan is are you officially the gender manager or working your way into the gender manager role? Is it like,
Jordan Bowman:In between.
Thaddeus Tondu:In between.
Jordan Bowman:Yeah, it's this awkward in between phase but by the end of this month it should be official.
Thaddeus Tondu:Alright, perfect. We'll just say the official general manager of the AC guy of Tampa Bay. Been six years in the business. You guys have been in business since 2005. You were in the business, you left the business, you came back to the business. I'm excited to dive in and I remember asking you what your superpower was and you said communication and I think that's a big thing inside of a business to master that but let's walk backwards Let's start with your journey into the trades and into your role.
Jordan Bowman:Okay. Yeah for sure my dad started the company in 2009 as you have heard he started it because he's experienced a lot of rough situations with outside companies not treating their employees really well, but also not treating people well due to a really terrible situation of how he got let go of, he decided to start working on his contracting license and going into the business himself. So it's been around the family since I was like in middle school high school. So I did touches of like stuff at that age. I was just a little kid, obviously, but we would like put out flyers and all that. So then once I graduated, that's when I officially went into the business at 18. I was first at CSR, did that for a couple of years and then I went to school for two years and then came back because of COVID. COVID messed up a lot of people's lives. It did mess up my plans. I wouldn't say it messed up my life by any means, I am way happy, but at the time it felt like disorienting to come home, but it was good.
Thaddeus Tondu:Would you have, do you think that if you would have still been in school, because you did the two years and then you didn't go back do you think that you'd still be in the position you are now, or do you think you'd be working for somebody else now?
Jordan Bowman:Oh, if I was still at school, I'd be broke. That was one of the things. I would be broke. I was so poor in school. It was embarrassing. And what I was pursuing was like not something that was going to have a lot of money either. It was like, it was, you know, like a good path. It was missions work, but I changed my opinion on how to do missions work. I prefer doing it in a more like financially stable situation. So yeah, so I came home. Business contracting is super Feasible and stable, so long as you do it well and I feel very good with that. I'm a lot more financially stable than I probably would have been.
Evan Hoffman:Both ways you're able to contribute. You're able to give back and that's the point, right? Whether it's with money, time, energy, etc. You're still able to contribute and give back.
Thaddeus Tondu:Yep and that's it then I was gonna go down that road, too. I'm like now you can do different things with giving back, right? And now it doesn't necessarily mean Specifically, it could be other things and other facets and tenets that could be able to support your overarching mission.
Evan Hoffman:You just wouldn't be able to do it with his nice shoes.
Jordan Bowman:Yeah, exactly. It's so true. Birkenstocks. Birkenstocks are expensive off brand Birkenstocks is what I'd be wearing.
Thaddeus Tondu:Let's talk about your superpower. When I asked, hey, what is your superpower in management, and you said communications and they're like, no hesitation on that either, right?
Jordan Bowman:It's so funny. It's funny because I consider it a superpower, but I consider myself a student of communication at all times because everyone is so different. So while I might think I'm a good communicator one day, the next day I'm like, Oh God, like that was a terrible conversation. They did not understand me. I didn't understand them. Why? So I consider it my superpower a little bit because I always, I at least try to always analyze where the breakdown happened and take that into my next conversation so that the next time around I can meet those breakdowns. It'd be like, okay, clearly this is how you handle communication. I handle it this way let's meet in the middle. So we're not both at the end of the day, because communication, if I could fix that, I tell my team this all the time. If I can fix it, I would be a millionaire. Like I would have so much money because it's I'd be so successful because it's just the, one of the biggest issues in all business is just people all the time crossing pathways and they don't understand each other and things go wrong and it's just a lot.
Thaddeus Tondu:Analyzing the breakdowns. I think a lot of people miss that mark because they had this conversation and then they don't really go back and they don't replay that conversation and take things out to be able to work on later. What's your process like to be able to analyze, break that down and take those actual steps for later?
Jordan Bowman:Process. I don't know if I have a official process. I think I usually go home and sometimes I beat myself up about it for a little bit. I'm like, gosh, like why did that happen? Why did they hear me that way? I'm like, okay, like they're not bad. I'm not bad. We're all on the same team. We're all for the same thing their headspace? And I try to think about how, what I know about my team members. So I've got a couple of different team members I work with and they're all very different. I try to think about what their situation's like that day, what their, who they are, who they've showed up as regularly and then I try to figure out like, How to pivot next time. So one of my team members, he is a very direct person. He prefers direct communication and sometimes our issue is I'm not direct enough. I think I like dance around it sometimes a little bit and I'm like, Oh, next time I'm going to do this instead and sometimes I'll even bring it up. I'll like the next day I'll be like, Hey, yesterday we had a communication issue. This was it. Let's figure it out for the future just so we can do better moving on.
Thaddeus Tondu:I love that bring it up part and I'm going to reference The Gottman's that's actually something about marriage and relationships and couples, and it doesn't necessarily mean relations, but the Seven Principles for Making a Marriage Work is the book or something along those lines and it's a phenomenal book. But one of the things that you just mentioned is bringing it back up and having a conversation with it. But there's an important thing that you also sit in there and say, this is what happened. It's factual. It's not opinion based or not. You always, right now, you can have an honest conversation about the facts and the feelings with each other and I think that's a powerful piece. How have your employees been in terms of receiving that sort of a conversation?
Jordan Bowman:When I focus on the facts or what the end goal is for the greater good, they usually handle it really well. When I focus on maybe more of the emotions, sometimes it could be more defensive. So I have worked, doesn't always, we're all human. It's not perfect, but I've worked very hard on focusing on like the reason I'm bringing this up is because I want us as a team. To work better together. This is not me coming down on you. This is not, you're a bad person. It's just want us to work well. I try to explain to them what I'm doing as I'm doing it. So that they feel like they can let their guard down and they're not like, why is she bringing this up? What is she about to say? I don't want there to be surprises.
Thaddeus Tondu:Have you felt that part of that resistance might be the fact that in it, like family businesses, and the family dynamic and where you guys at in your revenue and where you're at obviously there's a certain level of employees that you have, but being, brought into a GM role, but being the owner's daughter, have you felt that there might be a little bit of a disconnect from some of your team with that or is there, is this, what you're talking about this feelings, talking about it, help that?
Jordan Bowman:I'm curious to see because I'm in this in between phase, currently my primary role before this was office manager. So I'm managing the office so I'm stepping into now managing the management team that's where I'm curious to see if that does happen because I'm a little nervous. It will, but if it does, we'll deal with it as it comes. I think a lot of it comes to do with my age. So I'm actually the youngest person in the office and I manage the entire team. So sometimes I think it's more, I think sometimes for me, it comes across as my age. So I have to like, I talked to my dad about it he's obviously my boss and I'm like, I feel like it's my age and it's this and he's always like encouraging me. He was like, just do it. It's like just keep going and even if they do judge you for your age, that's their problem and I'm like, yeah, you're right, but I don't like it so yeah.
Thaddeus Tondu:That's a big thing like I've been in roles where as 25 years old managing condo buildings and sitting around with a board of directors that are all 50, 60 years old and some younger ones, but what, but when they see that you're young, like they don't want to take you serious, but it's the work and when you show up, that's that ability for it in working with the dad in this family dynamic in knowing that you're together as a family at work, and then, I'm like, go your separate ways, but then when you get together with family events, how do you create a balance and a separation between family and work?
Jordan Bowman:That's a great question. It's hard. I actually, it's how my dad and I connect a lot. It's definitely something that, I try to watch, but I enjoy. We like to talk about business. We enjoy it. We connect about it so my mom probably dislikes it more than anybody because him and I'll be just talking about business strategies at like the dinner table and she's just can you not? But she's, yeah, she gets so annoyed she's one of the founders she's a CEO as well, but she's just not in the day to day so some of it like doesn't make sense to her and because she doesn't know all of it but yeah, so I did tell my dad. I was like when we hang out like I think we need to work on not talking about business. Let's talk about each other's lives like I try to ask my dad what do you want to do? Because he's moving towards retirement, like semi retirement so I'm like, what are you going to do in your free time? What do you want to do for fun? I'm excited for him he's worked his butt off for this.
Thaddeus Tondu:And again, that, that gives the fosters an, in a connection, right? I was chatting with a friend a little while ago and they don't have that connection with his dad and he, all he wants is he yearns for that. But now you have, something like that, and I think a lot of people need to recognize, but also be understanding of, cognizant of the others in the relationship too. Your mom being like, okay, we probably shouldn't talk about business, right? Yeah. It's a constant ying and a yang, right? It's shit, Evan and I, right? We're business partners, right? When we get together, We we start talking about some personal stuff, and then we get to business, and we're like, no, fuck let's get back to personal, right?
Evan Hoffman:Yep. To be intentional about it. One thing I'm curious on is, this view of, is the team judging me because of my age? Are they judging me because I'm the daughter of the owner stepping into this role? Has that allowed you to push through and to want to almost overachieve and do even better? to try and earn that place versus it being handed it to you.
Jordan Bowman:Yeah, I would say so. Yeah. The, I didn't touch too much on the being the daughter, but I will say that was probably more of an issue when I was like 18, 19. But then I went to school, came back and there was like more of a disconnect between me and the team that I had spent a lot of time with. So I was like, and also the way I got like my management position, it made sense at the time. Like I was the most qualified, regardless of me being the daughter but yeah, there is a level of I, it sometimes crosses my brain and I'm like, oh, like I get down, I get imposter syndrome and I'm like, I'm not like good for this, this is just because I'm the daughter. But then there's other days where I'm like, I'm like, the communication's, my superpower, like I really, I'm the person who finds the little like loops that no one wants to tie. I find the like breakdowns. I'm like, that needs to be talked to that needs to be talked to and that has nothing to do with me being a daughter that has everything to do with, that's just what I'm skilled at so I try to remind myself of that when I feel that way.'cause I'm like, that's what I'm really good at. Let me like focus and hone in on that because. I am his daughter and I love that. That's amazing and I'm so thankful, but also I am really excellent at that and that is really important in management. So that is like my thing, regardless of, my position to the boss.
Thaddeus Tondu:And it makes a lot of sense and I think about a Bardi Heating and Cooling when we had Adam Bardi on it in Atlanta AHR last year, he started, he applied for in their like their businesses, 40, 50 million per year now he runs it, but he started in the warehouse sweeping the floors. Anytime a job opening came up, he had to apply, and he had to go through the regular vetting process in order to be able to get the job. I don't think he ever did not get a job, but he worked his way up, and I think that's a big thing, because now when you start there, and you've worked on that, and that going away and then coming back is a powerful piece on it. I want to touch on the imposter syndrome, though. I think a lot of people have it, myself included and it's a constant battle. In here, right? Inside the mindset to be able to say, okay, how am I not an imposter? What sort of strategies and things and tactics do you self talk itself? Tell yourself to help alleviate your imposter syndrome.
Jordan Bowman:I saw this quote on Pinterest.
Evan Hoffman:Tell yourself.
Jordan Bowman:That's fair. It's the best.
Evan Hoffman:What are you trying to laugh at? You try to sound so smart.
Jordan Bowman:It's all good, I'm not judging you. It's okay, you can judge, I won't judge. We'll just take that bit out.
Evan Hoffman:Oh no, we'll leave that in.
Jordan Bowman:No, you said you'd leave it I tell myself, Pinterest, okay, so Pinterest, I love Pinterest. There's a lot of quotes on there, and there's this one that was like, you wouldn't have the opportunity if you weren't qualified and I really do believe that a lot of opportunities come before our, before us or come on our plate because they are something we're good at there's something that we could grab a hold of, but I think the imposter syndrome, I read another. article or quote about it that it partly is because it's just out of reach, just a hair and I think that bit is actually what makes me think that I should do it because it's oh, the fact that it scares me or the fact that it just feels slightly out of reach means it's probably going to push me to be more successful, to be better, to grow. If it was super easy and it was a hundred percent my niche all the time there is almost a level of I'm stagnant. What am I doing? So I was really upset at first when I was feeling this imposter syndrome. And it really came when I realized that I was going to be stepping into this GM role quicker than I thought and I was like really upset about it. I was like, Oh my God, like I felt so good. Like I have not felt imposter syndrome. I felt amazing in my position and now all of a sudden, and I'm like, I don't know if I could do this and then I like changed my mindset where it's no, this is great for me because this is pushing me and this is growing me and this is making me better and now I'm not stagnant and I'm, It's gonna grab a hold of it and just get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Thaddeus Tondu:Amazing. No, it's just that they are being comfortable with being uncomfortable, right? Big thing.
Evan Hoffman:No, it really is, right? You grow a muscle by putting it under stress. You grow yourself by putting yourself under stress. There's distress, and then there's eustress, which is a positive form of it, and it's incredibly important. I'm curious what the process is going to be like to announce this to the team, and to have those communications. Right? We'll make sure to release this episode after, but, that's something that can be handled Either really well or really poorly and to get that buy in from the team so that they buy into you as their leader especially from the management staff that has seen you as yeah your office manager But now you're actually gonna be the person I'm answering to what are some of because I think this is real talk now What are some of the things that you're nervous about in that transition and what are the most excited about?
Jordan Bowman:Nervous. I think when I was the most nervous, and now I'm still nervous about it, but not quite as nervous, is people going above me so people already do that, given like the way the company is. It's a small company, and a lot of times you have, you kind of feel like you have to go to other people to get answers. So sometimes people will go above me to Greg, when they could just go to me and I'm like, okay I'm a little nervous for that but I'm prepped that it, I'm gonna expect it's going to happen so that I'm not like frustrated and surprised and I'm gonna have a game plan. I haven't 100 percent given my game plan, but to myself, or to my dad, like what happens, this happens, but we are implementing EOS, which is a business operating system, and our implementer, she said that in the transitionary period there's gonna be those little hiccups. There's gonna be that funny so it's not necessarily personal. Yeah, it's just people don't know what to do necessarily. They're learning So I'm gonna do my best not to take it personal and then most excited honestly, pay it's going to be great so I'm not mad about that and then also I've already been trying to do some of this stuff. I really like to be in charge. I do. I love grabbing ahold of things and be like, let me take care of it. Let me delegate. Let me give you the information. Let me get I've got your back. You do it. Let me just make sure you're doing it. So I've already been doing that. But now I get to do it to an extent where I'm empowered to do it and this is my job so come to me, I've got you taken care of. Like you don't got to worry about it.
Evan Hoffman:And I love that cause then that's a great lesson to any, anyone who is actually working for someone else, whether that's in a manager position, technician, et cetera, to see what it is that you want out of another position that might be above you and start to do some of those skills, start to implement some of those things. But the reason I asked that question is because there's also a lot of contractors that listen to this podcast, a lot of owners and they're promoting people, whether it's family or not, and there's a variety of emotions that come up when you make that promotion and so it's important to understand what those could be, and then have real conversations with them, and also real conversations with the team, to see how this is actually going to impact everything.
Jordan Bowman:Yeah, and that's fair. Change is hard, and people can get really emotional around change, and it's not necessarily bad, it's just people don't necessarily always know how to Process that. But once you process it, you're usually fine. You just have to go through the fluctuation of it.
Evan Hoffman:And it comes back to framing, right? How is it that you're framing that change? Does change have to be hard?
Jordan Bowman:That's true. Yeah. Difficult, pain, yeah, all those are bad words. Difficult, painful.
Evan Hoffman:And if that's what you associate to it, then yeah, it's probably going to be that because that's what you're focusing on.
Jordan Bowman:That's true. I like that thought. I love change personally. It is a little hard though when you're not in control. I typically am in control of a lot of change. So I'm like uh, it's fine. But when it's not something you're in control of it, but yeah, it's a great way of reframing your brain. It doesn't have to be hard.
Evan Hoffman:One, it doesn't have to be hard. Two, even if it is hard, does hard have to be negative?
Jordan Bowman:That's true. It could be like we were talking earlier, it can strengthen you yeah. Grow the muscles of the emotional intelligence.
Thaddeus Tondu:And I was gonna I was thinking about that earlier, like EQ, right? Emotional intelligence and Travis Bradbury, Emotional Intelligence 2. 0, great book. Recommend that to anybody it's enlightening because it actually shows you different things on how you used to interact with that. But more, the higher the EQ, the generally the better manager you are.
Jordan Bowman:Yeah.
Thaddeus Tondu:And it and that's a big thing and so understanding that too, with the emotional intelligence and going into that role is a big part and looking back to EOS, you talked a little about the accountability and the accountability chart. Like we, we've we're in our EOS journey too. We've done our three sessions, we've done our vision a building too and so we're really rolling it out on our leadership level and to our team leads and next is our department and all the team knows that's when they see this what's EOS? No, they already know what it is. How have you found the accountability piece within EOS so far?
Jordan Bowman:Okay, so we're at Vision Day Building 1. We just finished that, so we're about to go to Vision Day Building 2. So far, I personally like it. I think some of my team struggles with it. Not because they don't like it, just because it's new and I think even myself even just to be vulnerable, even myself felt scared at first cause it's like, when you're not used to being held accountable, the idea of it can feel a little like, What if I don't measure up? But because our team's putting it together as a management, like we're figuring out what the measuring tools are. So like we get to decide what it is that we're looking for. We have to make sure we're measuring up and then we're gonna go to everybody else to make sure they're measuring up. So I personally think It's almost like actually a, for me, a weight off of me because for a really long time it's been me nitpicking all the little things and being like, oh my god, this is a problem. This is a problem. This is a problem. Now people know when they're falling short because we have it like written down like this is what you're supposed to be doing. This is your rock. This is your expectation. They're not doing it. They know before our meetings. They're like, I wasn't doing it and you're like yeah, you weren't.
Thaddeus Tondu:Right? it's an overall arching accountability, right? And to be able to do that, having each other be accountable to it and I really liked the part where we were able to, and with our director of operations inside of our, like our group, to be able to now have more honest, raw, real conversations at an owner and a leader's level, like the C suite level than I think we ever had in our business beforehand, because it just. It's an issue. It gets put on there. We discuss it. We solve it and it's just, that's I think the part that I think, and now we're starting to see this in our team leads coming up with issues and as they're starting to get used to it, it just takes a little bit of time to really get fully adapted into the entrepreneur's operating system.
Evan Hoffman:For those of you that don't know what EOS is, again, go read the book Traction. It's a great resource. You can look up EOS, the entrepreneur's operating system, online on YouTube. Tons of videos on that, or you can listen to our podcast that we did with Michelle and Ryan Tutak as well, where we went in depth on both of those and how they apply to a home service business.
Thaddeus Tondu:There you go. That was like a readout right there. In looking at Vision Day 1, because you do core values, right? Did you guys have core values beforehand?
Jordan Bowman:We did, yeah.
Thaddeus Tondu:And then after Vision Day 1, were your core values more or less the same as the original core values?
Jordan Bowman:So we're in the middle, I'm in the middle of writing them, like the spiel for him. They are similar, but they're not a hundred percent the same and I think it's going to be interesting at VB2 to figure out if we actually want to keep them or not cause since VB1, I've actually, I've witnessed some core value issues in our team so I'm like, I'm not, is that a core value? Yes and no.
Thaddeus Tondu:No, I was fascinated by it cause like ours were it more or less the same, just different wording to clean it up which was more powerful for us, and that's how can you take the core values home, and like we had on our previous show with Greg with Platinum Plumbing we talked a little bit about, this concept about, okay, the people, product, price, and your people are actually your most important part of the business and your organization, but how can you impact them going home? Your core values should align with how they can take that home.
Jordan Bowman:Yeah. People are so important. If there's one thing I'm walking away from this conference, it's people. It's got made it on my notes list like eight times. It's like people with exclamation points. All of the sessions, every single session they talk about people and people and what was the other one? I'm like going blank on it now, but it's people. Oh connection. There we go. That's the word I'm thinking of people in connection.
Thaddeus Tondu:How crazy was that, Matt? The 9 3, 4 7, the song that like, fuck.
Jordan Bowman:Oh my God, I didn't trust him. I left it up online.
Thaddeus Tondu:Oh, so did I did too. I asked, I'm like, Hey, because I don't have sir. I'm like, Hey, Google, how many days has it been since whatever. I'm like, the fuck?
Jordan Bowman:Yeah. I thought he was lying. I was like, there's no way
Thaddeus Tondu:There's no way. There's no way. But hey, do you know what? Manipulation, right? In its finest form. So in a good way, in a fun way and so it's just influencing. There we go. Jordan, I know we look, we probably keep going, but of course, obviously being respectful of the event, it's an open bar in there. That's truthfully where my heart lies the open bar all night long. But as we do wrap up first off, thank you for taking the time to come and chat with us and thanks Michelle for setting it up too, Michelle Myers. But thank you for coming and taking the time to Chiirp with our podcast. Sorry, it's a little kid he's walking and almost took out Evan's computer. I don't know, I just love toddlers learning how to walk. Oh yeah, it was a solid save. But as we wrap up, we have one final question here for you, Jordan. What is one question that you wish people would ask you more, but don't?
Jordan Bowman:What are your intentions behind what it is that you're asking from me? I wish people asked that more. Yeah, because sometimes I try to share my intention ahead of time but it doesn't always come across right and sometimes it gets misinterpreted or people assume, so I just wish people asked that before they move forward with however it was that they decided to make their decisions.
Thaddeus Tondu:That goes back to that facts that we talked about right and having that honest conversational facts and emotions behind it.
Evan Hoffman:Take the emotions out, leave with facts.
Thaddeus Tondu:Love it.
Jordan Bowman:Yes, facts. We love those.
Thaddeus Tondu:Perfect. Thank you so much and until next time, cheers.
Evan Hoffman:It was in my hand. There we go. Cheers.
Thaddeus Tondu:Well, That's a wrap on another episode of HVAC Success Secrets Revealed. Before you go, two quick things. First off, join our Facebook group, facebook.com/groups/hvacrevealed. The other thing. If you took one tiny bit of information out of this show, no matter how big, no matter how small, all we ask is for you to introduce this to one person in your contacts list. That's it. That's all one person. So they too can unleash the ultimate HVAC business. Until next time. Cheers.