BBC #6: 9/25/12

Presentation and Presenter: Smart Home Services, Fritz Eisenbrandt

For our sixth meeting of the BBC, we welcomed Fritz Eisenbrandt, the President of Founder of Smart Home Services (baltimoresmarthomes.com).  For his presentation, we held an open conversation, discussing his background, how it lead him to found Smart Homes Services, his experiences with the company, and his future goals.  The conversation was the first of its kind for the BBC, as we explored the successes and challenges of a three year old company, with lots of questions and answers along the way.

Fritz went to Washington College, and began his career with Ryland Homes on the Eastern shore upon his graduation.  At Ryland, Fritz gained invaluable experience in the industry, learning from a home construction company with a national footprint.  After Ryland, Fritz worked as a project manager for Delbert Adams Construction Group, an award winning builder located in Baltimore.  While at Delbert Adams, Fritz saw the opportunity for a construction company focused on energy efficiency to emerge in the market.  Home efficiency through new types of lighting, advanced insulation, windows, and other products & techniques did not have a foothold in the marketplace.  Fritz saw this as a great opportunity to form his own company that would specialize in this type of home construction and remodeling, as home owners began to look at ways to reduce their electric consumption, not only to save money, but to help the environment as well.

There are two things Fritz did immediately upon forming Smart Homes that he credits with helping drive his success with the company.  They may seem obvious, but it can be easy for first time entrepreneurs to focus on the wrong things.  One of the first things Fritz did upon founding Smart Homes was to bring on a talented industry veteran, Scott Kuster, to manage many of the construction elements of Smart Homes.  Bringing on a construction expert like Scott allowed Fritz to spread out the two most important roles in the company, constructing high end projects (Scott), and driving more revenue through sales and marketing (Fritz).  Although Fritz is still involved in much of the design and implementation of projects, having Scott on board from the beginning has allowed Fritz to focus more on sales and marketing, the life blood of any company.  The other thing Fritz was able to do from the onset of Smart Homes was to line up customers early.  This may seem basic, but it can be easy to focus on building processes and other things when first starting a business rather than doing one of the most important steps, acquiring customers.  Fritz lined up work from the start, and he has built on that initial momentum over the last three years.

One of the best pieces of advice Fritz offered was to work hardest when times are good.  It can be easy to grow complacent when everything is going well, but by working hardest at these times, you have the opportunity to take a company to levels of success much higher than previously possible.  Again, this may seem obvious, but is actually one of the most practical and real pieces of advice heard so far at the Baltimore Business Club.

Lastly, Fritz and the group discussed opportunities for growth with Smart Homes over the next few years.  Already a leader in the residential energy efficiency market in Maryland with hundreds of customers, Fritz is building his ‘Smart’ brand toward being the go-to company in energy efficiency retro-fits as well as custom home building.  He also sees the opportunity to grow the company beyond Maryland over the next few years, and is working feverishly toward that goal.

Presentation and Presenter: We Are One 365, Matt Wood

Our second presentation centered around another discussion, led by Matt Wood, Founder and CEO of the non-profit, We Are One 365 (weareone365.org).  Matt formed We Are One (WAO) in 2011 while a grad student at the University of Maryland.  The mission of the organization is simple: to raise awareness of the struggles US military families go through and to raise money for military families in need.  The WAO team accomplishes these goals in two main ways.  To raise awareness, members of We Are One workout at least once a week wearing a WAO shirt or wristband as a reminder while they work out.  Several individuals blog about their workouts once per week, and the blog is closing in on 365 days in a row of work outs.  As an example, a group in Baltimore works out every Sunday and blogs on the website.  Individuals do so on other days, although the plan is to switch over and have 7 cities with teams of people work out on an “assigned” day of the week.

WAO raises money to support needy families through the proceeds of t-shirt sales and by hosting events in various cities.  The events typically include some kind of athletic event (5k, basketball tournament etc) followed by a ticketed social event.  In it’s first year, WAO donated thousands of dollars to families in New York, Boston, Baltimore, and Washington DC.  WAO also has partnered with several groups, including the Ursinus lacrosse team.

The discussion not only touched on the successes of WAO, but also overcoming many of the challenges in running an organization of volunteers.  How does the board make tough decisions?  How do you keep volunteers motivated for extended periods of time?  How difficult is it to become a certified 501c3 (IRS non-profit status)?  Where does the organization go in year 2 and beyond?  How do you rotate leadership?  What difficulties arise when donating money?  How does the organization sustain itself financially?

It was a very engaging conversation and our first non-profit presentation.  It was  especially interesting to see and hear the depth in similarity between running a business and a non-profit. Considering many members of the BBC are very active in We Are One, we should hear more from WAO in the future on this blog.