Ana Rivera’s HVAC Business Boosted Her Ties to Family and Community
Name: Ana Rivera
Business: The HVAC Guys
Founded: 2016
A couple of years ago, on an otherwise ordinary day, Ana Rivera was working as a property manager in La Habra, CA, when her husband came home from work unhappy. Luis worked for a large heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) company, and he was frustrated by the pressure to replace, rather than fix, HVAC systems in order to meet certain quotas. “It just didn’t sit right with him,” recalls Ana. Within a week, the couple, who are parents to five kids, had made the momentous decision to open their own business. The goal: to build a company around their “family first” values and their commitment to their Orange County community.
Ana, you and Luis made a life-changing decision out of the blue and in record time. Is that typical for you guys?
Not at all! Before I make a decision, I like to sit down, make a plan and figure out how to execute it. When Luis left his job and we opened The HVAC Guys a week later, it was scary – but it just felt right.
We always make sure we’re using our strengths to grow our business. Luis is a people person, so he’s in front of the customer selling. I’m an organizer, a planner. I do the marketing, scheduling and bookkeeping. My favorite part is seeing the profit and loss numbers in QuickBooks!
Luis and I hadn’t worked together like this before, so right away, we started having a weekly check-in meeting. We want to know if we’re meeting our goals. If we’re not, what are we doing to change things?
Has owning a business helped you strengthen your commitment to your family and your community?
It really has. Before we started our company, Luis had to work every weekend, with no time off during the summers. Our son plays football, and Luis missed every game. It was hard. Now that we have the freedom to schedule our own hours, Luis coaches our son during the summer. It’s been amazing.
For my part, I’m very involved in volunteering in the community, but everything I do ties back in some way to helping the business. I need to get some sort of return – we’ve got five kids to feed! For example, I’m the fundraising coordinator for the Pop Warner football league. I reach out to local businesses to ask for donations, which helps keep our company top of mind when someone in the community needs HVAC services.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known when you were starting out?
Well, now I know starting a business in a week probably isn’t the best plan! We didn’t have time to save up before we started working for ourselves, so that’s been a big challenge. When money is low, it’s stressful. But we didn’t take out any loans, because I figured we’d spend all our time working to pay them back. We’ve been fortunate to be able to grow our business and still eat!
Did you ever feel like giving up?
More times than I like to admit. That’s when it’s great to have a business partner. I’ll say to Luis, maybe I should just quit and get a 9-6 job. He’ll say no, we’ve come this far. I’m not sure he’s ever wanted to quit, but we do keep each other going when things are tough.
Tell us one surprising thing that’s happened during your entrepreneurial journey.
Here’s a fun story. As a member of the La Habra Chamber of Commerce, I attend a weekly breakfast meeting where local business owners talk about what they’re doing and share information and resources with the community.
Recently, I gave a presentation about creating a vision board. It’s something Luis and I do at the beginning of every year. We pick a word – this year, our word is “team” – and make a vision board to help us reach our goals.
I gave my talk to a packed house at the Chamber. It’s exciting helping other people reach their goals for health, wealth, family and business.
Before you go
QB Community members, when was the last time you made a big business decision fast? How did it turn out? Please tell us about it in the comments below.