Today we’d like to introduce you to Jarad Bailey.
Jarad, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
ELS was started in 2009 by David and Julie Bailey. In hindsight, this might not have been the best year to start a business if it weren’t for their belief and fortitude that this business would succeed. They had an idea of creating a company that would provide business to business Electrical, Lighting, and Sign services, install, upgrades, and repairs in the North Texas region. They also saw the commercialization and adoption of Light Emitting Diode, LED, lighting that was starting to sweep through all business types in the United States. I came aboard in mid-2010, after being in different industries for approximately 5 years, and was provided with three technicians, three aerial trucks, and a short term industry expert. My colleague, Richard Jackson, helped orient me to the service industry and assist in as much knowledge transfer as he could prior to his departure in late 2010.
Upon his departure, I had a business that was less than two years old in a down economy and six months of on the job “training.” I saw this mountain of a challenge, and realized I best get to work. As many business owners know and experience, you put in hours, days, weeks of work that run together and you hope in the end your efforts are well placed. Fortunately, for ELS, we started to grow and had the necessary capital to finance this growth. We went from three technicians in DFW in 2009 to approximately 60 technicians in 2017 spread throughout Texas’s major cities.
Our growth and success is due to our people, our majority owners, and our customers.
We strive to be the best service company our customers know and respect. Our customers trust in us to do what we say, and do it right day in, and day out. ELS is a family owned and family run company that looks for people, and customers that want to grow with us and be a part of a quality team that puts the trust back into service.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In the early years of our company every “no” or lost bid felt like the end was near.
ELS had challenges keeping our technicians stocked with work where they could get a full weeks’ pay. I considered this a huge burden as I know their livelihoods and potentially their families’ livelihoods depended on their weekly paychecks. I have always been confident that I could provide for myself and my family, but now I had other people that I felt I needed to provide for. Week in and week out I had to provide enough profitable work for my technicians, otherwise they would not get enough hours to provide for their family. It definitely made for some long weeks and sleepless nights. I believe all new companies have similar struggles. Time and luck become the two things you would always like more of, but can never seem to obtain. ELS had similar struggles to a lot of businesses including hiring of quality people, selling profitable work, and paying off our obligations. I had to worry most about the first two and the third was handled by my father.
Another large challenge I faced was how we went to market. We didn’t do some large market study or have a road map laid out for our services, we had to try many different approaches and see what worked best. Until we got a better idea of how our customers bought, what their real pains were, and their motives. We were like Baskin Robbins, 31 flavors in our approach.
As we have grown we have found new obstacles and challenges we must tackle.
Each day seems to bring something new that we have never encountered, but I guess that is life as a small business.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Environmental Lighting Service – what should we know?
Environmental Lighting Service provides Electrical, Lighting, and Sign upgrade, repair, and service throughout the major Texas cities including DFW, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston. We are family owned and family run. We are certified woman owned, a Texas HUB, and recognized TXDoT Small Business Enterprise.
We are a full electrical contractor that provides services to the business to business market, sorry residential but we don’t do houses.
Our specialization is in lighting and all facets of it for retail, commercial, industrial, and manufacturing, just to name a few. We have a breadth of resources including people, supply relationships, equipment, and skilled tradesmen that can provide not only scheduled services but necessary upgrades in this evolving world. LED has become the hot topic in our industry and rightfully so, it is comparable to what the integrated circuit did for computing. LED’s are reshaping our industry and approach to lighting so much that we felt there was a need to have trusted experts who can work with clients and provide necessary knowledge so they can make the right decisions on their lighting.
ELS is known for our knowledge and capabilities. Although we are relatively new in the trades business we bring a lot of experience through our people and connections.
I am most proud of the people who have chosen to work with us and the customers that continually call us for questions they have pertaining to our expertise. There is nothing like educating a customer and having them empowered to make the right decisions.
What sets us apart from our competitors is our people. Our people are our extended family. They have embraced our business, and shaped our culture too become the best Electrical, Lighting, and Sign service and install company in the Texas market.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
There are a lot of characteristics that have helped in our success, the one I would say stands out the most is problem solving. Having the ability to review a scenario or situation and look at it from different point of views and come up with a solution that benefits all parties involved. This could be internally with your company or between you and your customer.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1010 E. Ave J, Grand Prairie, TX 75050
- Website: www.ELSLight.com
- Phone: 800-940-5448
- Email: service@elslight.com
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