I was reminded today of the single quality that marks most successful small business owners: Passion.

Not the first word that came to your mind? Maybe you thought mechanical aptitude, or accounting knowhow, or marketing prowess would be the ingredient most needed to run a winning septic service company. Yes, all of those skills are important to making a living as a pumper. But all the training and God-given talent in those areas don’t amount to a hill of beans if you don’t have a passion for pumping.

This morning I went home to meet a contractor to get an estimate on replacing a garage door opener. I figured this was pretty much an open and shut case (sorry about the pun). The opener stopped working and I needed a new one, I thought. It seemed pretty straightforward and I said as much to the contractor.

But, whoa, hold on there just a minute, said the friendly garage door man. The news was good, he announced, and I didn’t need a new opener at all. Or a door, or springs and a set of tracks, for that matter.

Mike the technician enthusiastically explained each step in the process of how my 1/4-hp Sears opener (a 1994 model made by Chamberlain, he noted) raised and lowered the door. Seeing that I showed an interest, he told the history of door opener technology, and how today your opener and transmitter work together to change a series of rolling codes to improve home security. He talked about the evolution of wooden and steel garage doors and shared some handy maintenance tips to help me get the most out of my garage door opening system.

There was a lot more to garage doors and openers than I’d thought. What I figured was just a mundane exercise in home repair was actually a lot more complicated if you want to do the job right. With Mike’s expertise, the opener will be fixed and I’ll have a better idea how to keep the door and opener running properly in the future.

I asked Mike about his obvious passion for garage door systems. As it turns out, he learned the trade from his father, who was a garage door technician going way back to the early days of openers. There is nothing more satisfying, he said, than solving a problem like the broken mechanism in my opener or helping homeowners pick just the right door for their garage.

Mike reminded me of so many pumping contractors I’ve met over the years. Many of you have spent a lifetime understanding the nuances of septic system operation, and take a great deal of pride in diagnosing a customer’s problem and fixing it. You are the experts, and if your passion for the industry matches your expertise, customers call you time and again when they need service.