What we do: A swimming pool building / Maintenance company in South Africa The owners’ photos
The story of North side pool services:
In life no one really knows what they want to be or what they want to do as a career and we all just kind of settle for where the money is, weather you happy or unhappy people say “hey it’s a job I guess “
My story is quite a bit different and by this, I mean that most of my life I was an office kind of guy. I loved being in the corporate world and sales was my biggest advantage but after moving up the chain and becoming sales manager, operations manager etc. I got bored and started venturing out into the fitness industry which I made a really good name for myself but one day I made a really bad call and ended up working for someone who I had admired for years and put on a pedestal as I wanted to be like him, live the high life and become rich and famous. The career lasted 4 years and then I was left for dead, I lost my fancy cars, house and friends and finally found myself on the streets due to bankruptcy. There was no one going to save me and fortunately I had a fiancé which came to me after looking through an old photo album she found and there was a photo of me when I was 15 years old with a pool pole in my hand and shirt off cleaning a pool, now we had often joked about the story of the pool boy but she said to me I think you should start doing pools you would be good at it. At the time I was willing to do just about anything. Now I knew I did not have much hands on experience as I was always a suit and tie guy so getting my hands dirty was not my thing but I tell you something I knew I had extremely strong selling skills and people just loved me from the time they saw me so I knew I could sell ice to an eskimo the only snag was I had no car or money to buy equipment so it was not going to be as easy as I thought. I am a strong believer in God, not a church preacher, but I do believe that you will never be given something which you cannot handle because if you want something bad enough trust me you will do anything to achieve it. We managed to save some money from my fiancé`s glitter business which she was doing at the time and I purchased a pool pole and net with it, I then walked over 60km door to door in the hot sun, I cursed and asked why me? ! but within as little as 5 months I had gained over 40 clients which I serviced every week. In the process of this I met a woman who had organized me a car and from there I just expanded. It has been going on for close to 8 or 9 years now and I have never had a quiet day. I have 7 staff members working for me and 2 company bakkies, a house which we converted into offices and a garage full of stock. This may seem like a lie or a made up story but it really is not, and as an entrepreneur I would like to get a message out to all those other people who are starting their own businesses and struggling and the message is this “ after covid and our economy crashing, petrol prices skyrocketing and food prices escalating each day trust me the road ahead seems grim I know, my business went from 30 calls a day to nothing and the last 4 weeks have been hell, I have wanted to close down and quit, I’ve let staff go and thought about going back to work for a boss but in this time no matter how hard it is keep saying that you busy, make changes to your websites, seos and use the time to think about what really makes your business unique? Ask yourself what you can do that your competition is not doing and lastly think smart answers are right in front of you only you can make them visible. By this I mean something so simple was in front of me all along and this was a new estate which has about 700 properties on it and every single property has a pool or jacuzzi, it’s an estate for wealthy people and we got called last year December to go repair a pool there and instead of me thinking
logically I was more amazed by what people had and wishing I had that but I lost concept of what I can do to help those people and what service I could offer. Today for the 1st time in 4 weeks something said to me “ check google and see if they have an app or group which they refer people on and to my surprise they actually did and the funny thing is not one pool company was mentioned on this yet one of their most demanded and asked for services is for a pool company, so I contacted there offices and just like that I landed the biggest contract I have ever landed in my life! The Lord must be watching over me or something but as I keep saying never give up, keep strong and push on.
Some of the many pools we have built, relined, or had the honor of doing over the years.
Where do I see our business in the next 2 years or so?
To be honest with you I do not care whether we feature as the best pool company in South Africa or just an average company, we do not compete for the name of reputation but rather we compete with ourselves to become the best at what we do.
A little guidance for you wanting to start a business
Always stay humble, do not make enemies, and treat your staff with respect, pay them well as they are the core of the business. Be caring towards your clients and treat them like your life depends on them because at the end of the day a client will stick with your company even if your competitors’ prices are lower and all they want in return is someone who they can trust and rely on. Remember they pay your salary so keep it real with them.
Please be sure to visit our web site on www.northsidepoolservices.co.za Cameron Hayne
I believe that nutrition science is a wonderful helper both for the preventive improvement of health and adjunctive therapy in treatment. My goal is to help people improve their health and well-being without torturing themselves with unnecessary dietary restrictions. I am a supporter of a healthy lifestyle – I play sports, cycle, and swim in the lake all year round. With my work, I have been featured in Vice, Country Living, Harrods magazine, Daily Telegraph, Grazia, Women's Health, and other media outlets.
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