Meet Austin Baker

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Austin Baker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Austin, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?

I know that I can do anything I put my mind to. When I was in college I opened and ran my own office for a sales organization. That summer, I finished 5th in the nation in sales. That earned me some company incentives and a lot of recognition. I felt as though I was on the top of the world. Doing that at the age of 19 gave me an early win in the business world and momentum that I felt I could carry on throughout life.

In life without hope, you have nothing. You get down in the dumps and don’t try for anything anymore. Being optimistic is the best way to live in my opinion. Pessimists may be more accurate in their predictions of outcomes, but optimists have better outcomes because we believe that the best situations are possible.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Right now I am in the process of growing a couple of businesses. One is A-Z Construction Services, LLC. Right now we focus on outdoor construction like fences, patio extensions, outdoor kitchens, etc. This is a company I started with my brother two years ago and it has grown a lot. At first, we were doing mostly pressure washing under the brand name “A-Z Pressure Washing” and over time we’ve just added services, so we thought it would be best to just use the LLC name because we are going deeper down the construction path every day.

The other business is GP Solutions, I co-founded this company with three others where our focus is concrete. We can do anything concrete from driveways to patios, foundations, pickleball and basketball courts, pool decking, and specialty installations like turf. We’re the most solid concrete company in The Woodlands. We’ve been doing a lot of concrete work in The Woodlands and Conroe lately, specifically driveways and parking lots. We’re interested in continuing to grow the commercial side of the business right now.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Sales has been the most impactful skill to learn in my business journey. It’s helped me shut down a fear I had of rejection. Through sales, you learn how to clearly communicate your ideas and that is extremely helpful when working with clients, other business owners, employees, and even friends and family.

If someone is early on in their business journey, I’d say focus on sales. Before starting your own business, take a sales job, learn how to build your own pipeline of leads, and generate your own revenue. If you can do it for another company, you can do it for your own business.

You’re going to have to take ownership of your results and be self-driven. That will lead to you acquiring many other skills along the way, like perseverance. Not everything is going to go your way, especially in business, so the sooner you learn to stick through the bad times, the better you’ll be in the end.

So to answer the question, the top three skills are:
1. Sales
2. Communication
3. Perseverance

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

The most important thing my parents did for me was encourage me to play sports. You learn so many life lessons when playing sports and develop a ton of positive character traits that can help you in life. Resiliency, teamwork, leadership, and communication all help you in business and are traits/skills that can be developed through playing team sports, especially if you play at a higher level.

I loved playing college football because there were a lot of obstacles to overcome while I was there. I like to think that that experience has helped me learn to connect with many people from different places and backgrounds. We weren’t a great team record-wise, so I had to learn how to continue to work hard even when the results weren’t going in my favor. That’s huge because in business almost nothing goes to plan and you have to remain as enthusiastic as you were when you started to keep going.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://a-zconstruction.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/azconstructiontx/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/info.azconstructiontx
• Other: Email: [email protected] Solutions:
  gableparrasolutions.com
  instagram.com/gpconcretesolutions
  facebook.com/gpconcrete solutions

Image Credits

Headshot – Tiffy B. Photography