Sandi’s AQUA Magazine Features:
- Starting with Why: Finding Fulfillment in the Pool and Spa Business
- The Rules have Changed: Organic Marketing in the Digital Age
- How Storytelling Sells Pools
- Our Certain Way
Thursday, July, 02, 2015: Why Boutique Means Business
In business school, we often learn that the way to make more money is to grow. We take courses on how to scale, how to get bigger, how to manage that growth … all the while making the assumption that bigger means more profit at the end of the day.
But going bigger isn’t the only way to make more money, especially in a business like ours. From my experience in this industry, I see two basic ways that companies can make more money: They can scale up, or they can add value with the…
Thursday, March, 12, 2015: The Learning Curve – In the Pool Business and In Life
As pool industry professionals, we are always learning, always expanding our skills. Whether your company installs a huge volume of manufactured pools or creates a handful of custom poolscapes, you learn something new with each job.
Tuesday, March, 10, 2015: Why We Love Reclaimed Materials
Our company is quickly earning a reputation for taking old things — stuff that many would consider junk – and repurposing them in a new way.
Wednesday, February, 11, 2015: The Art and Science of Quality
“Quality on the physical level is science. On the emotional level it’s art.”
Quality — we all want it, chase after it and often pay more for it. Yet how much do we really understand quality and how to achieve it?
For people who work in the fields of quality assurance, quality is measurable,…
Thursday, January, 15, 2015: How “No” Can Help You Build Your Dreams
The customer is always right. Except when they are wrong.
Traditional business models tell us that to succeed in our chosen field, we need to cater to the customers and do what they like. To a point, this is true. You won’t have much success as a bartender if you refuse to mix drinks for your…
Tuesday, November, 25, 2014: Why Vinyl Designers Could Be the Next Big Thing
We get a lot of questions from pool owners and other pool companies about how…
Thursday, August, 14, 2014: Work as Art: Why Passion Matters in Your Business
“Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for the love of it.” – Henry David Thoreau
We’ve all heard the old saying that if you love what you do, you’ll never work…
Tuesday, August, 05, 2014: How Hybrid Pools Can Help Grow Your Business
I’m a true hybrid — a wild blend of pool guy, philosopher, social media…
Thursday, July, 24, 2014: Ask the Pool Guy: Branding Your Business
Marketing guru Seth Godin says we live in the “connection…
Monday May, 05, 2014: Ask the Pool Guy: Real Advice to Help You Define Your Niche
We at AQUA are excited to introduce Al Curtis as our newest contributor. Does the name sound familiar? Curtis is the man behind “Ask the Pool Guy,” a site with blogs posts and videos about the art of building pools. In his first piece for AQUA, Curtis explains how he found his niche and grew it into a successful enterprise.