Nathan Zirkel: A to Z Man Construction
“I used to be a fireman and I got started, I built my house, or I remodeled our house that we live in currently. And that kind of just started everything and then I was doing it on my days off. And eventually, I got hurt here about three years ago and had to step away from the fire department.
And so, this went into full-time. It was always full-time, but it went into even more full-time.”
– Nathan Zirkel
Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast! Nathan Zirkel, owner of A to Z-Man Construction LLC, is here today with your host Steve Larosiliere. Nathan was a fireman before starting his own company. Remodeling their very own humble abode during his days off was his first project. When his full-time job as a firefighter hit a rough patch, he eventually became a round-the-clock Woodpreneur.
In this episode, Nathan talks about the challenge of growing his business for those people whose not into the “technical” side of it. How his wife is a significant help to his company (as the saying goes, “behind every great man is a great woman,” and we couldn’t agree more!), and the power of word of mouth, the most effective form of traditional marketing.
Change is the only thing constant in this world, and Nathan’s clients served as living proof, from “we want to remodel our bathroom, show us once done” to being very focused and hands-on “this is what we want and how we want it done.”
Now is the time to listen and hear the whole story!
“I’m starting to realize that they’re becoming more, “this is what we want, this is how we want it.” It seems like they’re becoming more focused. It used to be, we would go into a project and they would go, “We just want to remodel our small bathroom. We just want to start there. What do you suggest? How would you do it?”
And now it’s becoming more focused. A lot of design. We get a lot of designers with our projects as well.”
– Nathan Zirkel
atozmanconstruction
Becoming a trusted friend to your clients
Can you become good friends with your clients? Is it true that familiarity breeds contempt? We are accustomed to maintaining professional distance between ourselves and our bosses or clients. On the other hand, Nathan views building relationships with his customers as the highlight of running his business. Not just friends but lifelong ones. Being locked in on a project for months, conceptualizing, planning, and closely coordinating with the clients surely created a bond between the two parties. Oh, how wonderful it is to work in a professional and friendly setting! Now it makes sense that Nathan receives most of his clients by word of mouth; after all, wouldn’t you suggest a friend to a friend?
“I never would’ve thought that I would make lifelong friends out of it. But I’ve made several lifelong friends. We’ll do a big project for them.
And just because we’re there for maybe three to six months, depending on the size of the project, you end up becoming friends with a lot of people and having dinner with them, family and kids, and it becomes one of those things. And so that’s probably the biggest, I never would’ve thought that would’ve happened.”
– Nathan Zirkel
Want to get in touch with Nathan Zirkel?
Contact him through:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atozmanconstruction/?hl=en
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-zirkel-529b7156/
Website: https://atozmanconstruction.com/