If you’ve ever started a business (or thought about it), you know the feeling:
You’ve done the setup. You’ve spent the money. You’ve told yourself it’s going to work.
And then you wait for the first real call.
In this episode of Huntsville Biz Talk, I sat down with Ron Hicks, owner of Pool Scouts in Huntsville, to talk about the early days of getting customers, what changes when you hire crews and start scaling, and how to survive the seasonal reality of the pool business.
How Pool Scouts got its first customers (and what the waiting feels like)
Ron shared that Pool Scouts is a franchise, so there’s built-in marketing support from the start.
Their early approach was a mix of:
- online advertising and social platforms
- local credibility-building
- joining multiple area chambers (Huntsville, Madison, Athens, and Decatur) to get visibility and relationships
Then came the part every owner remembers. Ron said it took about three weeks to get that first “real” call, but it felt like months—because you’re spending money in real time, and you don’t get it back if the phone doesn’t ring.
Once it started ringing, it didn’t stop.
Growth forces delegation (whether you like it or not)
Ron described a pattern most owners live through:
At first, you do everything. You touch every part of the business. That’s how you build the quality bar.
Then growth shows up and you hit the wall.
Ron put a number to it: if you try to do it all yourself, you’ll end up working 80–90 hours a week. You can do it for a while, but you’ll get tired fast—and the business will eventually become limited by the owner’s bandwidth.
So Ron started making deliberate handoffs, including:
- bringing in help for HR
- using platforms and tools to reduce admin drag
- getting more serious about financial reporting (paying attention to P&L and balance sheet)
- delegating training to senior people instead of always doing it himself
- and getting operational support because, as he said plainly, keeping a calendar isn’t his strength
Small business has a way of revealing your weaknesses quickly. The goal isn’t to magically become good at everything. The goal is to build a business that doesn’t depend on the owner being a superhero.
What Ron enjoys most: the work and the relationships
Ron talked about two things that still matter to him personally:
- tinkering with projects and the hands-on parts of the job
- staying connected to customers, learning about their lives, and building trust over time
Pool service is personal. Customers are trusting you on their property. They want to know you’ll handle mistakes the right way if something goes sideways. Ron’s focus on staying human is part of why this kind of business grows through referrals and reputation.
The hard part, as the company grows, is keeping those values intact without being everywhere at once.
What changes when you hire more crews?
Ron said one of the biggest “surprises” of growth is that relationships don’t scale automatically.
With two employees, you know everything. You can read someone’s face and tell if they’re okay.
With a team of 13 (and multiple crews or shifts), it’s harder. Not because you don’t care—because the day moves fast.
So you have to be intentional. Ron mentioned team exercises and structured time together so people learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses and stay connected. The bigger the business gets, the more culture becomes something you have to build on purpose.
Remembering an early employee: Patrice Hawthorne
Ron shared that one of their early employees, Patrice Hawthorne, passed away and meant a lot to the company.
Pool Scouts honored her in two ways:
- creating a scholarship in her honor
- naming their first AI agent “Patrice” so she’s remembered as someone “cheering in the background”
This says a lot about what kind of business Ron wants to run.
Using AI without losing the personal touch
Ron described something many growing service businesses are wrestling with right now: missed calls cost real money.
Pool Scouts uses two AI agents as overflow support:
- If calls come in faster than the team can answer, AI steps in
- The AI gathers basic intake info so the team can call back prepared and not restart the conversation from scratch
But Ron also named the risk: AI that gets stuck in a loop and annoys customers. (“What’s your name again?” fifteen times.)
Their goal has been to use AI as a bridge—not a wall:
- get the info
- keep it simple
- hand off to a real person
- protect the customer experience
Seasonality: the pool business has to plan for winter
Pool service is a seasonal business. After the first real cold snap, demand drops fast. When spring hits, it comes back fast.
Ron’s approach to surviving the down season included two simple but important ideas:
- set money aside during the busy months
- keep lines of credit available in case you need stability
He also talked about staffing flexibility—using a mix of full-time and part-time employees, with high school and college students often being a great fit for seasonal ramp-ups.
He even gave a practical hiring tip: February–March is a smart time to apply, because it gives time for training before the heat of peak season.
Winter pool care: close it, or keep it open?
Ron shared a perspective that will surprise some pool owners.
He said some people do a full close (15–20%, by his estimate), but you may spend about the same amount to close and reopen as you would to keep the pool running at a reduced level—because chemical needs drop when it’s cold and people are not actually swimming.
Pool Scouts offers winter support in a few ways:
- full pool closing
- winter service (even if the pool is closed: periodic checks, chemicals as needed)
- reduced cycle service for owners who keep it open through winter
Either way, the goal is the same: avoid opening the pool to a swamp in spring.
Pool Scouts of Huntsville is full service after the pool is built. Once the water’s in the pool, they can handle everything else—maintenance, vacation services, pool school, and a wide range of pool-related add-ons and support.
And Ron closed with their motto:
“Pool Scouts is the home of the five-star experience— where your pool is always ready, always refreshing… perfect pool with Scouts honor.”
Contact Us (Nectar Bridge)
If you’re a small business owner and you’re feeling the same pressure Ron described—too many moving parts, not enough bandwidth, and financial decisions that get harder as you grow—that’s exactly the gap Nectar Bridge is built to fill.
We provide back office support that helps you stay focused on the work that moves the business forward, including:
- QuickBooks Online bookkeeping and cleanup
- Monthly reconciliation and reporting you can trust
- Operations support and process cleanup
- Software setup and integration help (especially when QuickBooks needs to “play nice” with the rest of your tools)
Want help getting your books, systems, and back office under control?
Contact us to schedule a conversation.