After 20 Years, It's Time to Rethink My Pool Service Business

My Story So Far

Twenty years ago, I started my pool service business with a truck, (Actually it was an old carpet cleaning van, lol), a pole, and a lot of determination. For the first 10 years, I worked completely by myself, learning everything hands-on. Then, for about 5 years, I hired employees to help grow the business. It had its ups and downs — finding good workers was always the biggest challenge. Then Covid struck and for the last 5 years, I’ve been back to doing it alone. Honestly, some days it felt more like a job than a business.

Now, facing a full hip replacement in three weeks, I’m forced to look at things differently. I just hired a new employee to help cover my route while I recover. If all goes well, I hope to keep him on — or continue building a real team — so the business can finally run without me doing everything myself.

This Past Week

This week was a busy one. I had two pools building up green algae on the walls already. Had to add granular shock and phosphate remover. I also had to replace the grids in a Hayward DE72, what a mess. I've decided that backwashing a DE filter is a waste of time. You have no idea on how much DE gets washed out and how much should be added. I will now treat them like a cartridge filter and take them apart twice a year and clean them.

I officially brought on a new employee, trained him on the basics, and will start him two weeks after my surgery. It’s strange after so long to trust someone else again with my clients, but it's also exciting. Prepping for surgery has made me realize: I can't keep running like I’m 30 years old. My body and my future need a smarter plan.

New Lessons and Thoughts

• Letting Go is Hard but Necessary: Teaching someone else is a lot harder than just doing it myself. But if I want freedom, it’s the only way.

• The Business Should Serve Me: I built a job for myself. Now, I want to build a business — something that can keep growing even when I'm not physically there every day.

• The Future is About Systems: I’ve started reading about scheduling software, route optimization, and even robotic pool tech. There’s a lot out there I never paid attention to because I was too busy doing the work.

Looking Ahead

My goal for the next 12 months is simple: ✅ Fully recover from surgery.

✅ Keep my new employee or find someone who fits long-term.

✅ Start setting up systems, not just routines.

✅ Learn more about automating parts of the business, whether it’s billing, communication, or even cleaning.

I’ll be writing here every week, sharing the real journey — the good, the bad, and everything I learn. Thanks for following along. I’m excited (and a little scared), but it’s time.