How We Started A Solar-Installer Company Serving All Of Florida
Hi! My name is Neil Gallagher and I am the Vice President and Co-founder of Brighterway Solar. We are a full-service solar installer covering the entire state of Florida.
We are based out of Tampa, Florida, and have three offices throughout the state. We work with independent sales representatives as well as customers directly for their solar and roofing needs.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
After serving as a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, I began attending college at the University of South Florida. I originally started by studying Civil Engineering but continuing to serve in the reserve greatly affected my ability to devote the time needed to my coursework.
I switched to financial planning my Junior year and truly enjoyed the coursework. I graduated with honors during Covid and had a very hard time finding work in the industry due to the shutdown. I found myself working in the roofing industry where I had almost zero experience.
I set out to learn as much as I could, as fast as I could. I was able to leverage my financial background to save the company over 8% in material waste within 4 months of starting. I was eventually recruited by a solar company to head their roofing division. When the company announced they were shutting doors, my former director and now business partner Mike, and I came up with an idea.
We knew with our knowledge and experience, we could run our own company much more efficiently and pass on the savings to the consumer. We set up our company Brighterway Solar and set out to partner with the right people.
We brought in a former associate and long-time friend named Kevin to join us. Within four months we were fully licensed and installing our first deal. We put all we had into this idea and had it not paid off we would be in a very bad spot today. Luckily we were able to pull it off in the nick of time.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
We are a service-based business, so we didn't have so much as a first version of a product, but a first installation. We had been able to use our industry connections to bring in a few sales reps we had known from previous projects.
We undercut our competition by 5-10% and asked these reps to take a chance on our business. We blew them away with our speed and efficiency. We haven't had a single rep go with someone else after giving Brighterway a chance. This was risky but paid off for us. I think its success would greatly depend on your business and industry.
We bootstrapped our business, so the limited profit of this first job went to pay some of our startup costs. We rented a small office in the middle of nowhere for next to nothing. In addition to this, we had website costs, registration fees, CRM, and permitting fees. We also had to front the cost of labor and materials until we received payment from the lenders.
You don't have to have spent your life in the industry to be successful. I had zero construction experience less than a decade ago.
Describe the process of launching the business.
In Tampa Bay, there are dozens of solar companies all competing for the same clients. Building an online presence was quite difficult in the beginning. We originally relied on stock images to build our website. We slowly replaced these with our install photos as jobs came in.
It took us four months to see any volume of jobs coming in. At first, we were taking any job we could get ahold of, no matter how small or complicated. Our sales reps are mostly independent contractors and responsible for sourcing their deals.
As an installer, we will approve the deals and ensure they can be fulfilled and leave the customer satisfied. As we began to build connections in the industry and word began to spread, we were able to bring in more and more sales reps to our network. This led to more and more jobs being put in through our company.
Today our work is constantly increasing. This has led to us expanding our offices and coverage locations. We now employ several install crews to handle the volume. We have also become industry experts and are frequently interviewed by publications such as Yahoo Finance, Panasonic, CNET, and Better Homes and Garden.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
I spent the better part of a month cold-calling solar sales companies. In a way, it felt like the roles had been reversed. I used to despise getting solar sales calls and now I found myself calling them! I would find out who they were using as their installers and try to beat their pricing. Every time I get a call from a solar telemarketer I do my best to try and win their business.
I also reached out to dozens of reporters who covered solar energy. I offered my services and expertise. I was able to become a trusted source and this helped build our online presence.
We also employ no-pressure sales when dealing with potential customers. We are very transparent when it comes to our pricing and break everything down to them. There are no tricks and no hidden surprises. It is our goal to leave the customer feeling positive about the interaction and this has led to countless referrals.
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How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
Within a few months of launching, were able to turn the business profitable. This is unusual in our industry and we attribute this to our lack of overhead. Say we get no deals in for a month, our overhead is so low that we will risk no financial hardship and can pass the savings onto the consumer.
This allows us to focus on the deals as they come in and give them the attention they need. We are not forced to scour more and more deals to stay afloat.
As we continue to grow, we hope to further expand our reach in the state and are eventually looking into expanding to neighboring states. We have also begun focusing efforts on commercial deals and have had the opportunity to work on several this month alone.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
I’ve learned several key takeaways during this journey. There are always people who will doubt you and there will always be those who know more than you. There are several things you can do in these situations:
You are only as good as the team you surround yourself with. You can't do it all, and by surrounding yourself with knowledgeable and dedicated partners, team members, and employees you can accomplish anything. You don't have to go it alone.
Take action. For me, the regret of not giving something my all is worse than failure. I can't go my days wondering “What if”. I rather know I tried something and failed versus always wondering what would have happened.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
For our work, we use a variety of software. To track our jobs we have found great success in using CRM such as Basecamp. For email blasts, we use a service such as MailChimp and have found it very useful. For our day-to-day operation, we use Salesforce. We took a gamble using it in the beginning but it has allowed us to build a custom platform for our business needs.
For the construction aspect of our work, we use software such as Aurora Solar and Roofr to generate roofing and solar reports. If I had known how much Excel would be used in running a business, I would have paid more attention to my coursework in school! Brighterway has forced me to learn more shortcuts in Excel!
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
We all go through struggles and we all face our own set of challenges. Reading Angel Blue by Forrest Lang helped me put my life in perspective. Reading about his struggles and his road to redemption has allowed me to have hope and remain optimistic about the future. He is one of my biggest inspirations.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
You will always wonder what if you don't give your idea a shot. You can rebuild from failure, I’m a living example of that. What you can't rebuild from is a lack of action.
You don't have to have spent your life in the industry to be successful. I had zero construction experience less than a decade ago. If you can learn a new skill or trade I encourage you to do so. Learn all you can and see who the major players are in the space. You don't have to reinvent the wheel.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
We are always looking for quality partners. If you have a desire to grow and build with us we would love to hear from you. We are looking for install crews, sales representatives, and operation associates.
Where can we go to learn more?
Thank you so much!
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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