Contractor Spotlight: Around The House – NWA

Customers are key to business success. No one understands this better than CraftJack Pro Jason Peck, owner of Around The House – NWA.

Coming from a background in software development and corporate business, he pays keen attention to detail when it comes to his customers, making sure they know that when he’s around, they’ll receive exceptional customer service. Jason uses CraftJack to help him find more customers in his area and help them get the job done. See what he has to say about his experience.

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CraftJack Tell me about your business and what you provide your customers?

Jason Peck, Around The House – NWA: I started my business 2 years ago with a few borrowed tools, an old pickup, and a 15′ trailer. I named it Around the House NWA because I wanted to focus on the customer, not one specific trade or business. I wanted to make sure my clients understood that I will do everything I can for them around the house.

Now, I’m usually the first person they call when something goes wrong with their home. Obviously, I can’t do everything, but I can help refer them to a reputable contractor when I can’t. I do everything from drywall repair to replacing toilets to building flower beds and decks to french drains. Sometimes my clients need help with small chores like carrying in boxes or groceries, and they know I do all that when I’m there too. If you’ve got a job, I can get it done.

CraftJack: What are your business goals for the year, how do you hope to grow?

Around The House – NWA: Growth is a challenge because it has to be done slowly and carefully, and all at the same time you’re working overtime on your existing business. Fortunately, the area I service has a vibrant economy and business is good. Growth for me in the short term ironically depends on some shrinking at the same time.

I’ve determined that business is better when I focus on single jobs such as landscaping, carpentry, painting, and junk hauling rather than periodic lawn maintenance jobs such as mowing, weeding, spraying, etc. Those jobs just don’t pay as well, they’re seasonal, the equipment breaks and wears out rapidly, and the obligations during bad weather can be difficult to keep up. By streamlining, I also eliminate a lot of equipment and inventory on which I’m taxed and have to store.

…There are no limits on my satisfaction with my life.

CraftJack: Our theme this year is “No Limits.” What does that mean to you in terms of your business goals?

Around The House – NWA: What it means to me is that there are no limits on my satisfaction with my life. Since I’m self-employed, I set my schedule, my pace, and my own goals. Each day I get closer and closer to making my life into exactly what I want it to be, and it will be exciting to see where that takes me and my business.

CraftJack: How have you used CraftJack to grow your business?

Around The House – NWA: There’s no way I could be in business without good-quality leads. CraftJack has brought me well-qualified leads for a price I can afford. CraftJack takes the place of a sales team, marketing team, and administrative team that makes it easy for me to convert very warm leads, actually prospects, to sales. I do that with a closing rate between 60 and 70% most of the time.

CraftJack takes the place of a sales team, marketing team, and administrative team that makes it easy for me to convert very warm leads, actually prospects, to sales.

CraftJack: What has helped make you successful?

Around The House – NWA: Determination, patience, willpower, belief, and the steadfast refusal to accept anything other than success.

CraftJack: What advice do you have for others?

Around The House – NWA: Most of the time, when my clients are awed by my trade skills, I

explain to them that up until a couple of years ago, I was no good at working with my hands at all. I was a software developer for almost 30 years and then I got laid off. I wanted a new career and came to believe that the only way I’d get what I want was to be self-employed. At nearly 50 years old, I learned to work with my hands, learned carpentry, types of nails, screws, paint, caulk, concrete, how to get trade licenses and permits, and more importantly of all HOW to work

with tools on a job site. Having all your tools and hardware organized and stored safely, easily accessible, and securely is extremely important. Keeping track of all those things as you work is also extremely important. Always be 100% self-confident, do whatever it takes to make the deal right, and figure out what you’ve made on it when it’s all done. But never, ever forget that like all businesses, it is a people business. Focus on your client and the rest will take care of itself. If I learned it all, anyone can if he or she is sufficiently determined.

All businesses have setbacks, sometimes very large ones, but there are amazing stories of resilience, and mine is one!

CraftJack: What about your work do you find challenging? How do you overcome it?

Around The House – NWA: All of it. At times I’m digging a trench or running a jackhammer in

100-degree heat. Other times I’m on a roof covered in ice. Sometimes I’m 30′ up on a ladder, and sometimes I’m just changing garbage disposal but have a difficult customer. Then there are cash crunches because someone’s check bounced, it’s been raining a week, or who

knows what. There’s no silver bullet advice for these situations, you learn by experience, and sometimes you just take what you can get. The important thing to remember is to keep your cool and remember you will recover. All businesses have setbacks, sometimes very large ones, but there are amazing stories of resilience, and mine is one!