About this episode
He was 15, his dad had passed away, and his mom had started a bakery. Nathanael Toms was washing
dishes in the back, and he was already fascinated with electrical work.
This one's with Nathanael Toms, owner of Mr. Electric of Southwest Missouri. We start in the
mountains of eastern Kentucky, follow him to Virginia and then to Springfield, through the 2008
housing crash, and to the phone call that led him to buy his first Mr. Electric franchise in 2009.
He says the company is now at about 10 vans, with a goal of putting technicians in small towns
across Missouri.
We also get into what he calls behavioral science, which is how he matches the right technician
with the right customer, a vacuum in every van, the franchise coach he tried to fire, and the
teacher who looked out for him as a boy. Later he talks about the hard years, and a project he's
been working on for four years: what he calls the world's tallest flagpole.
Recorded at Mr. Electric of Southwest Missouri. Thanks to Nathanael for having us.
Chapters
- 0:00Fifteen, a widowed mom, and a first electrical job
- 1:01Growing up in the Kentucky mountains
- 3:48Moving to Virginia and chicken-house electrical
- 5:25Coming to Springfield
- 7:24Opening his own electrical company at 25
- 7:47The 2008 crash
- 10:29The phone call that changed things
- 12:48Buying the first Mr. Electric franchise
- 14:49From one van to ten
- 16:59Behavioral science and the right technician for the customer
- 23:17When life outside work walks in the door
- 24:29Benefits, pay and keeping good people
- 27:17Quality, reviews and the one-star ones
- 29:25A vacuum in every van
- 31:06Showing customers what's inside the panel
- 33:46The code of values
- 34:49Mentors, and the coach he tried to fire
- 38:15Franchisee of the Year
- 40:00The teacher who cared about a redhead kid
- 44:23Gratitude for the hard times
- 46:28A Revolutionary War ancestor
- 48:48A trip to see the President
- 49:55World's Tallest Flagpole
- 52:01The brick plan
- 52:55The volunteer board behind it
- 55:30Advice from his board: you're a builder
- 1:00:45Leaving the Mennonites
- 1:03:38The hardest years
- 1:06:18Endurance builds tenacity
- 1:07:06His faith
- 1:09:06Don't decide with someone you can't look in the eye
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