From Idaho to Texas, from warranty work and trying remodels, from two people to 12 — Zac Nicklas’ journey in the pool industry has covered a lot of ground. When Nicklas’ best friend and now business partner, Justin Morehead, moved to Houston from Idaho and got a job working in the pool industry, Nicklas road with him for two weeks. The two decided that eventually they wanted to start their own pool company.
Nicklas joined Morehead in Texas, and both worked for other companies as they learned the trade. When they started The Pool Boys in 2011, they subcontracted with several home-warranty companies and took whatever jobs they could find — which covered about a 70-mile radius. A turning point came in 2015 when they hired someone to help with digital marketing and organic leads. “It was very slow to start — maybe one call a week that wasn’t warranty,” Nicklas says. “As the year went on, we started to get more local, organic calls, and started narrowing our service area with the warranty companies.”
In 2017, Nicklas attended The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program. He says it opened his eyes “to treating The Pool Boys as a business, not just a pool company.” Focusing on the business financials has become a passion for Nicklas that he wants to impart to others in the industry, which he does as part of the Pool Nation Podcast.
“I want to play my part in trying to elevate the industry and to help bring better business practices to the industry,” Nicklas says. “My goal is to continue to educate myself about business and use that to help other small business owners become more successful. I love trying to identify opportunities for more revenue, find ways to improve efficiency and strategize for the future.”
