• Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
  • NEWS
  • PRODUCTS
  • CONTRACTORS
  • ENGINEERS
  • RADIANT & HYDRONICS
  • INSIGHTS
  • MEDIA
  • RESOURCES
  • EMAGAZINE
  • SIGN UP!
cart
facebook instagram twitter linkedin youtube
  • CONTRACTORS
  • BATH & KITCHEN PRO
  • BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
  • HIGH EFFICIENCY HOMES
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • WATER TREATMENT
  • PMC COLUMNS
  • PMC COLUMNS
  • Dave Yates: Contractor’s Corner
  • John Siegenthaler: Hydronics Workshop
  • Kenny Chapman: The Blue Collar Coach
  • Matt Michel: Service Plumbing Pros
  • Scott Secor: Heating Perceptions
  • ENGINEERS
  • CONTINUING EDUCATION
  • DECARBONIZATION | ELECTRIFICATION
  • FIRE PROTECTION
  • GEOTHERMAL | SOLAR THERMAL
  • PIPING | PLUMBING | PVF
  • PME COLUMNS
  • PME COLUMNS
  • Christoph Lohr: Strategic Plumbing Insights
  • David Dexter: Plumbing Talking Points
  • James Dipping: Engineer Viewpoints
  • John Seigenthaler: Renewable Heating Design
  • Lowell Manalo: Plumbing Essentials
  • Misty Guard: Guard on Compliance
  • RADIANT & HYDRONICS
  • RADIANT COMFORT REPORT
  • THE GLITCH & THE FIX
  • INSIGHTS
  • CODES
  • GREEN PLUMBING & MECHANICAL
  • PROJECT PROFILES
  • COLUMNS
  • SPONSOR INSIGHTS
  • COLUMNS
  • Codes Corner
  • Natalie Forster: Editorial Opinion
  • Guest Editorial
  • MEDIA
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WEBINARS
  • RESOURCES
  • INDUSTRY CALENDAR
  • DIRECTORIES
  • EBOOKS
  • PM BOOKSTORE
  • CE CENTER
  • MARKET RESEARCH
  • CLASSIFIEDS
  • EMAGAZINE
  • EMAGAZINE
  • ARCHIVE ISSUES
  • CONTACT
  • ADVERTISE
  • PME EMAGAZINE ARCHIVES
search
cart
facebook instagram twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
  • NEWS
  • PRODUCTS
  • CONTRACTORS
    • BATH & KITCHEN PRO
    • BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
    • HIGH EFFICIENCY HOMES
    • TECHNOLOGY
    • WATER TREATMENT
    • PMC COLUMNS
      • Dave Yates: Contractor’s Corner
      • John Siegenthaler: Hydronics Workshop
      • Kenny Chapman: The Blue Collar Coach
      • Matt Michel: Service Plumbing Pros
      • Scott Secor: Heating Perceptions
  • ENGINEERS
    • CONTINUING EDUCATION
    • DECARBONIZATION | ELECTRIFICATION
    • FIRE PROTECTION
    • GEOTHERMAL | SOLAR THERMAL
    • PIPING | PLUMBING | PVF
    • PME COLUMNS
      • Christoph Lohr: Strategic Plumbing Insights
      • David Dexter: Plumbing Talking Points
      • James Dipping: Engineer Viewpoints
      • John Seigenthaler: Renewable Heating Design
      • Lowell Manalo: Plumbing Essentials
      • Misty Guard: Guard on Compliance
  • RADIANT & HYDRONICS
    • RADIANT COMFORT REPORT
    • THE GLITCH & THE FIX
  • INSIGHTS
    • CODES
    • GREEN PLUMBING & MECHANICAL
    • PROJECT PROFILES
    • COLUMNS
      • Codes Corner
      • Natalie Forster: Editorial Opinion
      • Guest Editorial
    • SPONSOR INSIGHTS
  • MEDIA
    • PODCASTS
    • VIDEOS
    • WEBINARS
  • RESOURCES
    • INDUSTRY CALENDAR
    • DIRECTORIES
    • EBOOKS
    • PM BOOKSTORE
    • CE CENTER
    • MARKET RESEARCH
    • CLASSIFIEDS
  • EMAGAZINE
    • EMAGAZINE
    • ARCHIVE ISSUES
    • CONTACT
    • ADVERTISE
    • PME EMAGAZINE ARCHIVES
  • SIGN UP!
Columns

Qualities You Should Have

By Jack Tester
September 1, 2010
Passion and optimism will take you a long way in running a successful business.



It is a warm June day in rural Wisconsin. I, along with fellow Nexstar Business Coach Jim Hamilton; Dan Weltman, owner of Weltman Home Services in New Jersey; Tom Kelly of Drucks Plumbing in Wisconsin; and Kip Salas with Advanced Plumbing in Idaho, have made our annual pilgrimage to visit the deer hunting camp of Frank Blau, industry legend and founder of Nexstar.

This was the fifth year of our annual trip to see Frank, which, make no mistake, is typically not a weekend filled with sipping fine wine and discussing poetry. It normally consists of three things: listening to Frank, drinking beer and eating cheese curds. Not a weekend getaway for the faint of heart or the lactose intolerant.

As I was saying, it was a warm day and we decided to spice things up a bit from the normal routine of sitting in the garage listening to Frank and getting moon-eyed on cheese. We decided to drive to a local bar/restaurant and grab some lunch.

For a nice June day, the place was surprisingly busy with locals up at the bar watching the Brewers game and one suspicious table eyeballing a lone TV tuned into a World Cup soccer game. I say suspicious because there is no way a soccer ball has been kicked in these parts of Wisconsin - ever - so they must have been outsiders from Chicago or some other foreign country.

The locals bellied up to the bar were the normal Saturday afternoon bar crowd in Anytown, Wisconsin. Once-bright rose tattoos now faded and drooping on the ladies, neck beards on the gentlemen… You know - typical Green Bay Packers fans.

Anyway, with the two ballgames on and some very interesting people watching, it was quite easy to get into the spirit of things and forget about our businesses, our careers and the life we chose. We all did except one person - Frank Blau.

The Raising The Prices Guy

As soon as we enter the joint, the owner of the bar, who was throwing back a cold one with his buddies, unsteadily lifted from his bar stool and says in a loud, friendly voice, “There is that ‘guy’ who keeps telling me to raise my prices.” It seems that Frank has been to this place in the past and has attempted to share his business acumen with this proprietor.

We all grab a side table and order up some pizza and beer. Everyone but Frank, that is. He quickly peels away and wanders up to the bar and sits next to a young guy - a complete stranger - and starts a conversation. He is about 10 feet from us and we can’t hear every word but just enough to know exactly what is going down.

Frank was giving this guy his CliffsNotes version of the “Business of Contracting” seminar. This is the same seminar that Frank has preached hundreds of times. He has popped the “hypothetical question” from his seminar on thousands of people. The question is Frank’s way of introducing the need for financial and business literacy. He asks a simple question. He gets a wrong answer 90 times out of a 100 and then that opens the door to his life’s mission of imparting sound business principles to willing ears.

The question is, “If a job has $1,000 of costs, including overhead, and you would like to make a 25 percent net profit, what is the proper selling price?” If you have ever met Frank, he likely asked you the question. If you haven’t met Frank but think it is possible to bump into him at an industry event, I recommend you remember the right answer ($1,333.33 by the way, not $1,250).

 I could hear the question asked by Frank and the incorrect answer he received from the unsuspecting beer drinker. I could see Frank scribbling the math equation on a bar napkin to show the proper selling price. All of this occurred while the rest of the bar patrons were watching baseball with the strange background buzz of vuvuzela horns blaring from the soccer game. It was a surreal setting.

Still Spreading The Word

After about 30 minutes, the young guy walks to the bathroom, and on the way out I introduce myself and get to talking to him. He drives a truck for a living - maybe he was a diesel mechanic. I can’t remember. I was overdosing on cheese. In any event, he was not in business for himself, has never developed a selling price and has never ran a business - in all likelihood he never will. Why did Frank find it necessary to spend time with this gent?

My friends and I collectively chuckled. “That is Frank,” that eccentric industry icon still, at age 81, sitting in a bar sharing his message with all the zeal of a revival tent preacher.

That is Frank, who in addition to spending the better part of a Saturday trying to educate bar patrons, was:

• The creator of flat-rate pricing in our industry.

• The founder and operator of a wildly successful business for more than 40 years, Blau Plumbing.

• The same guy who from age 60 until his full retirement at 71 didn’t work in his business one day, yet drew a deep six-figure salary as the company chairman.

• The same guy who after 10-plus years of retirement has a net worth closer to eight figures than seven.

• The same guy who saw the need for a different kind of organization and founded Nexstar.

• The same guy named the most influential contractor in the last 25 years by Plumbing & Mechanical.

Optimism And Passion

What I saw displayed that day in the bar were two things that I believe every successful business owner must have and which Frank has in abundance to this day - optimism and passion. What kind of passion does it take to find it worthwhile to hunt down a perfect stranger in a bar, who doesn’t even own a business, and spend 30 minutes trying to educate him? What kind of optimism does it take to believe that his time spent will make a difference? Optimism and passion filled the room that day.

While running a business, it is easy to become disillusioned and negative. You run into enough roadblocks, drive down enough dead ends, make enough bad hires and have enough jobs blow up on you to make it possible to become cynical. It is possible to lose your faith that tomorrow will be better than today. It is easy to just quit, at least mentally. When that happens, it is over. You quit fighting and your business begins a downward spiral.

It is not a coincidence that Frank’s business interests and his success on the seminar circuit did not decline because he believed that tomorrow would be better than today. He never quit believing that his business and our industry would be a better place because of his hard work and good intentions. He enjoyed decades of business success (nearly a half century, actually) due in large part to optimism and passion - mixed in, of course, with brilliant business savvy.

As I watched Frank preaching fire and brimstone to the bar patrons, I saw a quality that is rare in our industry but common in successful companies. The owners are always optimistic and still passionate about growing a successful, highly profitable company. They believe that tomorrow will be better due to their actions and they look forward to going to work.

The message of business education is not hard to miss with Frank. He will get right in your face, squint and tell you exactly where your head is at that very moment. The business acumen he imparts is no doubt important, but it is not the full story. Don’t forget the less tangible qualities - passion and optimism. Not getting derailed by a few business setbacks. Dusting yourself off and charging into the office the next day with a better plan and a fist full of determination. That is what I saw on display under the neon beer sign in rural Wisconsin.

Here I am, a Blau disciple for 24 years, and I still learn something every time I spend time with him.

Links

  • Follow PM on Twitter!

Share This Story

Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!

Jack Tester is the president of Nexstar Network, a business development and training organization serving more than 400 independent plumbing, HVAC and electrical contractors in the United States, Canada and Australia. Jack can be reached at 651/789-8512 or jackt@nexstarnetwork.com.

Recommended Content

JOIN TODAY
to unlock your recommendations.

Already have an account? Sign In

  • Worker using the Milwaukee Tool SWITCH PACK drain cleaner

    Pipeline profits: Drain cleaning, pipe inspection create opportunities

    Drain cleaning and inspection services offer lucrative...
    Plumbing News
    By: Nicole Krawcke
  • Uponor employee, Arturo Moreno

    The reinvestment in American manufacturing and training

    Plumbing & Mechanical Chief Editor Nicole Krawcke and...
    Plumbing News
    By: Nicole Krawcke and Natalie Forster
  • March 2024 Women in Plumbing hero image of woman engineer overlayed by circle of hexagon shapes with numbers from 1 to 10

    Celebrating 10 Influential Women in the Plumbing Industry

    Celebrating Women's History Month and Women in...
    Plumbing News
    By: Nicole Krawcke
close

1 COMPLIMENTARY ARTICLE(S) LEFT

Loader

Already a Registered User? Sign in now.

Subscribe For Free!
  • eNewsletters
  • Online Registration
  • Subscription Customer Service
  • eMagazine
  • Manage My Preferences

IPEX celebrates grand opening of new Florida distribution center

IPEX celebrates grand opening of new Florida distribution center

AI can boost efficiency and profitability for plumbing, HVAC contractors

AI can boost efficiency and profitability for plumbing, HVAC contractors

Bell & Gossett Illustrates Path to Net-zero at AHR Expo

Bell & Gossett Illustrates Path to Net-zero at AHR Expo

NIBCO Press Solutions

NIBCO Press Solutions

More Videos

Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content is a special paid section where industry companies provide high quality, objective, non-commercial content around topics of interest to the Plumbing & Mechanical audience. All Sponsored Content is supplied by the advertising company and any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily reflect the views of Plumbing & Mechanical or its parent company, BNP Media. Interested in participating in our Sponsored Content section? Contact your local rep!

close
  • J.J. Keller CMV vehicles on road
    Sponsored byJ. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.

    The dash cam game-changer for small business safety

Popular Stories

The interior of a government building.

President Trump signs executive order promoting skilled trades and apprenticeships

Figure 1 is a sketch of the flow problems of the current plumbing system.

Hydronic heating glitch solved: Why adding a circulator won't fix primary loop flow issue

Underfloor heating installation with drain sewer hole in bathroom close up on water floor heating.

Using hydronics to leverage time-of-use electrical rates

PM BEMIS June 25 Free Webinar: Optimizing Plumbing Solutions for Single-Family, Multi-Family & Public Spaces

Events

November 13, 2024

Future Proofing MEP: Navigating the 2026 High Efficiency Water Heating Standards

Join our deep dive into DOE’s new standards so you can future-proof your MEP practice.

EARN: 0.1 ASPE CEU; 1 AIA LU/HSW; 0.1 IACET CEU*; 1 PDH

View All Submit An Event

Poll

Will business be up or down in 2025?

Do you anticipate business in 2025 to be up or down in comparison to 2024?
View Results Poll Archive

Products

The Water Came To A Stop

The Water Came To A Stop

See More Products

Download the FREE Water Conservation, Quality & Safety eBook: Plumbing Trends Increasing Safe Water Availability

Related Articles

  • How Do You Define Success At Your Shop?

    See More
  • Plan To Have A Great 2010

    See More
  • Finish What You Start

    See More

Related Products

See More Products
  • M:\General Shared\__AEC Store Katie Z\AEC Store\Images\Plumbing\new sites\classic_hydronics.gif

    Classic Hydronics - How To Get The Most From Those Older Hot-Water Heating Systems

  • lessons-learned.gif

    Lessons Learned: Connecting New Boilers to Old Pipes

  • 51CHeeKvw4L._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

    Hydronic Radiant Heating: A Practical Guide for the Nonengineer Installer

See More Products
×

Keep your content unclogged with our newsletters!

Stay in the know on the latest plumbing & piping industry trends.

JOIN TODAY!
  • RESOURCES
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
    • Directories
    • Store
    • Want More
    • Supply House Times
  • SIGN UP TODAY
    • Create Account
    • eMagazine
    • eNewsletter
    • Customer Service
    • Manage Preferences
  • SERVICES
    • Marketing Services
    • Reprints
    • Market Research
    • List Rental
    • Survey/Respondent Access
  • STAY CONNECTED
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • X (Twitter)
  • PRIVACY
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • TERMS & CONDITIONS
    • DO NOT SELL MY PERSONAL INFORMATION
    • PRIVACY REQUEST
    • ACCESSIBILITY

Copyright ©2025. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing

search
cart
facebook instagram twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
  • NEWS
  • PRODUCTS
  • CONTRACTORS
    • BATH & KITCHEN PRO
    • BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
    • HIGH EFFICIENCY HOMES
    • TECHNOLOGY
    • WATER TREATMENT
    • PMC COLUMNS
      • Dave Yates: Contractor’s Corner
      • John Siegenthaler: Hydronics Workshop
      • Kenny Chapman: The Blue Collar Coach
      • Matt Michel: Service Plumbing Pros
      • Scott Secor: Heating Perceptions
  • ENGINEERS
    • CONTINUING EDUCATION
    • DECARBONIZATION | ELECTRIFICATION
    • FIRE PROTECTION
    • GEOTHERMAL | SOLAR THERMAL
    • PIPING | PLUMBING | PVF
    • PME COLUMNS
      • Christoph Lohr: Strategic Plumbing Insights
      • David Dexter: Plumbing Talking Points
      • James Dipping: Engineer Viewpoints
      • John Seigenthaler: Renewable Heating Design
      • Lowell Manalo: Plumbing Essentials
      • Misty Guard: Guard on Compliance
  • RADIANT & HYDRONICS
    • RADIANT COMFORT REPORT
    • THE GLITCH & THE FIX
  • INSIGHTS
    • CODES
    • GREEN PLUMBING & MECHANICAL
    • PROJECT PROFILES
    • COLUMNS
      • Codes Corner
      • Natalie Forster: Editorial Opinion
      • Guest Editorial
    • SPONSOR INSIGHTS
  • MEDIA
    • PODCASTS
    • VIDEOS
    • WEBINARS
  • RESOURCES
    • INDUSTRY CALENDAR
    • DIRECTORIES
    • EBOOKS
    • PM BOOKSTORE
    • CE CENTER
    • MARKET RESEARCH
    • CLASSIFIEDS
  • EMAGAZINE
    • EMAGAZINE
    • ARCHIVE ISSUES
    • CONTACT
    • ADVERTISE
    • PME EMAGAZINE ARCHIVES
  • SIGN UP!