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Heartburn

Written by: James Chan

Article Overview: The rise and fall of Rocky Condino's contracting business.

Heartburn

Rocky Condino was 25 when he started his heating and air conditioning business in 1979, and he was determined to succeed.

He was doing just about every job in the business~{!*~}salesman, installer, repairman, bookkeeper. And he never stopped.

His day began at 7 am, and most nights it would be about 11 pm before he got back home. He barely had time to say hello to his wife. He was oblivious to their two babies.

And even once he was home, he kept on working. As he lay in bed, he was thinking about what he needed to do the next day, and what steps he should take to make his business grow. ~{!0~}I was five steps ahead of myself all the time,~{!1~} Rocky recalls.

The business did grow, partly because of Rocky~{!/~}s diligence and enterprise, and partly because he had started it just as a real estate boom was getting under way in his market area. People were building new buildings and investing in old ones. Some felt prosperous and treated themselves to central air conditioning for the first time.

Throughout the 1980s, sales increased at least 10 percent each year, and as much as 20 percent in a few of the best years. Because Rocky now had a dozen or more employees, he was now taking personnel problems to bed with him. He worried about how he could get his workers to perform up to his standards, and to stop arguing with one another.

In addition to working 16 hours a day during the week, he also put in 12 hours on Saturday and 4 on Sunday, his easy day. ~{!0~}I regret now,~{!1~} he says, ~{!0~}that I didn~{!/~}t see my kids grow up in their early years.~{!1~} When his wife speaks, for example, of when the babies started to walk, he draws a blank. He wasn~{!/~}t there.

Although he felt stress, he says, ~{!0~}The work always came.~{!1~} The business was growing in a way that fulfilled his expectations. He had nine trucks. His employees wore spotless uniforms and gloves, and were trained always to wipe their feet before they entered customers~{!/~} homes.

Anticipating more growth, he rented a 10,000 square foot showroom and spent $50,000 just on the expenses of moving in. He had a new logo designed, and he bought television advertising during hockey games. He was delighted when friends and neighbors commented on the ads. He had an aura of success.

At night, though, it was a different story. His sleep was troubled by acid reflux, which his doctor told him was caused, in large part, by anxiety. Several times he awoke in panic, fearing that he might choke to death. ~{!0~}Don~{!/~}t let the business kill you,~{!1~} his doctor told him.

~{!0~}Just because you have money, it doesn~{!/~}t mean you don~{!/~}t have stress,~{!1~} Rocky observes. ~{!0~}Growth has real costs.~{!1~}

Suddenly, the growth stopped. In the early 1990s, sales started to decline even faster than they had been rising, even as Rocky had higher overhead costs than ever before. Believing that he had an exceptional group of employees who would be difficult to replace, he decided to keep them on. But after a year of declining business, he had to let them go. ~{!0~}What took me ten years of good times to accumulate, it took me two years of recession to spend,~{!1~} Rocky says.

Reluctantly, he decided to move out of the fancy showroom into the small building on a dead-end alley where he had started his business.

He was still in business, but he was back to the beginning. Finally, he resolved to do things differently. He decided to have a life. He decided to make more time for his personal life, and to establish a strict separation, so that neither his work nor personal life is allowed to interfere with the other.

~{!0~}When I pull into my driveway at the end of the work day, the business is the farthest thing from my mind,~{!1~} Rocky says. He compares what he has done to installing a switch in his mind. When he gets home, he turns the business switch off. He allows no shop talk. Even when he socializes with one of his employees, he never discusses work.

Rocky still works hard, but he makes sure to have dinner at home at least four nights a week. ~{!0~}When you sit down and eat dinner with your family, everything comes up,~{!1~} he says. ~{!0~}You talk about their day. Family becomes closer.~{!1~}

Rocky had long been a heavy smoker, but at his family~{!/~}s urging, he cut that out. He joined a health club, and took up racketball. When he has a tough day, he will work out his frustrations on the court rather than stew in them all night.

Rocky often works on Saturday, but he nevertheless designates it as a calm day. He will, for example, go to the shop by himself and clean it up, then go home to mow the lawn and take care of his vegetable garden. On Saturday night he takes the family out to dinner.

Occasionally, he violates his policy of not overworking, but he says he pays attention when his wife asks what~{!/~}s bothering him. That question is her signal that she thinks he~{!/~}s pushing too hard.

Rocky made it through the recession, and during the good times of the late 1990s, word of mouth gave him all the business he needed. He has expanded a little, but he learned not to try so hard to prove himself a success.

Nobody will ever call Rocky laid back. Indeed, you could argue that he has pursued having a personal life as zealously as he once threw himself into his business. But he is not sick any more.

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Article Tags: 1980s, babies, bookkeeper, central air conditioning, condino, diligence, five steps, gloves, heating and air, heating and air conditioning, job, new buildings, personnel problems, real estate boom, stress, trucks, uniforms



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