Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Frank Disher. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Frank, we’ve been so fortunate to work with so many incredible folks and one common thread we have seen is that those who have built amazing lives for themselves are also often the folks who are most generous. Where do you think your generosity comes from?
My mother was a woman of very limited resources, but she would give her last dollar or meal to anyone that may ask for it. The joy I witnessed her have from helping others and the impact it had on others made a huge impression on me. It touched my heart as a child and as a young adult. As a Christian and growing in faith and understanding, tithing became a discipline and act of obedience for my wife and I, and we do not consider that as giving. After experiencing and understanding that my needs were always met regardless of how difficult my situation appeared, and we are blessed so that we may bless others, giving is something that is very easy to do. The blessings we receive by blessing others with the excess we have after Tithe is one of the things we cherish most in our lives.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My wife Jacque and I own and operate a swimming pool service and repair business and are opening our third pool supply retail location this winter. In 2021 Jacque and I were asked to host a podcast show focused on pool owners and the swimming pool industry. We just completed our second year in the podcast and are bringing on sponsors for the this season.
We love the swimming pool business. After 27 years in the industry I am still a student in the field always searching for new technology and science breakthroughs for pool and spa owners. I find the most joy in teaching others what I have learned and being a problem solver for the most difficult situations. The service side of the industry is quite recession resistant.
in 2017 we joined Poolwerx, a franchise organization in the swimming pool service and retail business. This has been a huge blessing for us. Poolwerx helps us greatly with the ‘business’ side of the business. We are still a mom and pop shop, but now have the support and benefits of a large corporate organization. I have found that this has been the exactly what I needed to be successful as an entrepreneur. We are opening our third retail location this winter and our business has tripled in size in the last 6 years.
The podcast has become one of the things I enjoy most in my life. My wife and I are very social and love meeting and talking with people. Jacque jokes that every where I go I am running for mayor because I have never met a stranger. Her degrees are in theatre and she was an accomplished stage actress when she was younger. The podcast gives us the opportunity to travel more and meet some very interesting and successful people.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities and skills I believe have had the most impact on our business are ethics, desire for knowledge, and trust in others.
I believe ethics, both moral and work, are extremely important and have had the most impact in our success. Always do the right thing and practice the golden rule. Never give someone the opportunity to honestly say you did them wrong and did not make it right. Mistakes and problems can happen with anyone. The difference between people is who is willing to own it and make it right. Sometimes it is not your fault, but you need to make every reasonable effort make that client happy. At the same time you need to be willing to turn down projects and/or cut ties with unreasonable and unpleasant clients. The 80/20 rule almost always applies. 80% of your problems will come from 20% of your clients. Continually work eliminating that 20% when you have the opportunity. A bad client can have a terrible impact on your business.
Always be a student and teacher in your field. Never stop searching for the better way, and always be willing to share the knowledge you’ve gained.
Always be willing to do the hard work yourself when able. Employees respect it and customers recognize it.
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
I believe it is best to try and be more well rounded and work on improving areas you are not strong in. It is great to have an area of expertise that you excel at, but you can be easily brought to failure through your weaknesses.
I have seen many people that I would consider to be excellent and knowledgeable pool guys fail because they were terrible at business. It is heartbreaking to see talented and skilled people lose everything due to they believed their obvious talents automatically translates into success.
I heard a story years ago about an olympic decathlete, (I believe it was Jim Thorpe but I may be wrong) who was extremely good at 5 events but weak at the other 5. One summer his college coach told him to only work on the events that he was weak at. After working on the weak events all summer he returned to school and the coach had him do all ten events to measure his performance. Not only did his weak events become much better, but his stronger events had also improved.
Working on your weaknesses not only improves them, but it can and will make your strengths even stronger. Weak areas in your business and life can and will create insurmountable problems that your strengths may not be able to overcome.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.deependpools.com https://www.poolwerx.com/locations/texas/poolwerx-north-richland-hills/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/poolwerxnorthrichlandhills/https://www.facebook.com/lantana/https://www.facebook.com/deependfrank/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@deependfrank
