Jonathan Neves, a native to Lowell, worked for over ten years in the HVAC industry as a service technician. In 2008, he launched his own company, Green Energy Mechanical, based in Randolph, MA. Today, Green Energy Mechanical is a family-owned HVAC company specializing in energy-efficient heating and air conditioning systems. Learn how Neves took his company to the next level of small business growth.
Challenges
In 2016, Neves connected with Interise at a local session of his BNI networking group. Interise’s Boston program manager spoke about the StreetWise ‘MBA’™, and cited Taza Chocolate in Somerville as an alum company that had benefitted from the program. “I really wanted to better understand our bottom line,” said Neves. “I also wanted to hire the right people to manage the growth of my company. “My business was sustainable, but I wanted to grow.” Neves had heard about Interise’s small business program two years earlier, but he didn’t feel that his business was ready at the time. “Now, with revenue above $1 million, I was ready to take my business to the next level.”
Solution
In 2016, Neves participated in Interise’s StreetWise ‘MBA’™ program in Boston. The seven-month course provided Neves with more than just business knowledge and management know-how. “What I learned wasn’t just from the instructor or course content. There’s a lot of internal networking with classmates, some that I still connect with today. We talk about one another’s businesses. It’s a meeting of the minds. One of my classmates talked with me about the need for a CRM system. He couldn’t believe that I had everything on Google calendars.”
In addition to CEO mentoring groups, Neves learned from the program’s financial module: “I thought that I had a good handle on my company’s financial story. The program helped me see that I need to understand more than profit and loss. I need to understand the balance sheet and my cash flow. Now I see more of the story than my profit and loss can tell.”
Through the program, Neves connected with subject matter experts. “I recently hired our new CPA, who I met in the program. He had volunteered his time to attend the program, and I was very impressed with him. We just got started working together in the last month.” “I’ve always been goal oriented,” says Neves. “But the class helped me to formulate my goals into a three-year growth plan. You learn that the plan is dynamic – that things come up and change in life, so you have to make adjustments.” Neves continues to use the growth plan with his team: “We look at the action steps, who is leading on each action, and when we’re going to do them by. Now our goals are useful and action driven – not just a glorified vision.”
Service Impact
Since completing Interise’s StreetWise ‘MBA’™ program, Green Energy Mechanical has doubled its staff size by adding four fulltime staff members. “There are growing pains in managing this larger team,” Neves admits. “There are policies and systems that you need to have that are very different from what I needed when I was a smaller company.” In the second year of his team’s three-year growth plan, Neves saw a 50% increase in annual revenue, and he projects that his company will continue to grow in 2019, with a goal of $2.2 million.
The support from Interise keeps coming. “When you buy stuff,” explains Neves, “you do a course, for example. It’s a good course. You give them the money. You do the course. That’s the end of it. No one ever stays in touch. Well, I’m still in touch with my peers. We meet regularly. They’re my accountabili-buddies. And Interise is always reaching out to let me know about a photo shoot, or a seminar on acquiring businesses or exit
strategy.”
The growth goal that Neves is most proud of: His wife recently quit her job and joined the company fulltime. Now she’s talking about taking the program: “There will be a whole new group of entrepreneurs to get to know.”