Stories about small businesses today can sometimes focus more on hardship than health. Jim Hodge’s is one of the refreshing “good” stories. As some companies struggle, Hodge has managed to build and grow American Pumping, his Camden, Ind.-based company. Even more impressive is that often, growth has been not only in spite of, but because of the economy.
Part of Hodge’s success in recent years can be attributed to his ability to capitalize on economic conditions: Specifically, he has picked up skilled and talented employees laid off from manufacturing jobs, and has also employed liquid waste transportation and storage practices that maximize the efficiency of his employees — not to mention his big and impressive pump trucks. Tack on some level-headed pragmatism and a farmer’s work ethic, and you’ve got all the makings of a success story.
In recessionary times, work often dries up for small businesses. Hodge’s specialty — emergency services — keeps him somewhat insulated from the tough economy.
“We’re kind of recession-proof because I don’t do installations,” he explains, adding that he has kept his business to strictly pumping by design. “It’s emergency work, when people are in trouble. If I was doing installations, my business would be way down.”
Hodge’s business is split equally between residential septic pumping and commercial grease trap cleaning. Commercial businesses — primarily restaurants — are not only lucrative accounts, but they are more consistent and predictable, which streamlines routing and scheduling, Hodge says. There tends to be more variables in residential business, and customers can be fickle — a trait that’s exacerbated by recessionary times.
The customer mix appears to be working for Hodge. While three of Hodge’s competitors have gone out of business within the last couple of years, his business has grown an average of 12 percent every year since 1992.
HIRING GOOD WORKERS
A business is only as good as its employees, and Hodge takes that to heart with every hiring decision. Finding good people has become easier these days, he says, as manufacturers lay off skilled and highly qualified employees.
“The nice thing about the downturn in the economy is there are some really great people getting laid off from factories. I picked up someone wonderful.” This particular employee had worked for Hodge years back, then, “went off and worked at a factory for 25 years and was in management. He walked in one day and they met him with guards and walked him out.”
In fact, Hodge’s five-person staff, which includes his wife, Cindy, is rounded out by former factory workers. “The two main people I have working for me are people who’ve been let go or the factories have closed down.”
The way Hodge values his employees shows in his treatment and respect for them.
“When I hire, I figure I’m hiring them for life. I don’t want someone who I can hire cheaply. Our trucks and equipment are too important to just hire a truck driver,” Hodge explains.
Having quality employees heads off some of the problems other pumpers experience with unreliable and careless behavior. Hiring at a higher level keeps the business self-sufficient, says Hodge. “If I died today, the business would do just fine. They’d take over, and do just fine.”
Hodge’s upbringing on a family farm — and another 20 years on his own — instilled many of the values that have made him successful in business. Having always worked hard, he never batted an eyelash at putting in a 90-hour workweek. His employees today share his tireless work ethic. “We’re lazy now,” jokes Hodge. “My guys never work less than 52 to 60 hours a week.”
BIGGER IS BETTER
Another advantage Hodge has is his fleet of trucks. They’re big, they’re eye-catching and they can haul a lot of septage. That, plus two trucks have a unique “crowned jewel” in the form of a mini excavator carried on their noses. One adorns his 2008 Kenworth T800 quad-axle, which also sports a 6,000-gallon aluminum tank and jetter. Another is built onto a 1992 Ford 2TL 9000 with a N14 Cummins 400-hp engine with a 6,000-gallon steel tank and jetter. Both trucks were built by Advance Pump & Equipment. The mini excavator carriers were made by a local machine shop.
The excavators come in handy for digging up tanks and lids. Hodge dreamed up the carrier design after hand-digging too many holes. The result is not only useful, but the trucks turn heads. Both trucks also are equipped with septic tank agitators from Crust Busters.
“Our trucks look really nice, and they’re really big,” he says. “There are a lot of people who call and say if you have equipment that nice, you must know what you’re doing.”
The trucks and equipment are meticulously kept, just as his employees look crisp and clean in T-shirts all summer. Hodge believes a professional, clean image is important. Customers take notice, he says.
Hodge’s other trucks and equipment include a 1980 Ford 8000 with Cat power, 3,000-gallon hydraulic hoist dump and jetter; 1996 Chevy 3500 1-ton crew cab; a Terralift machine; International Harvester 1466 tractor and 21-foot disc for incorporating waste during land application.
The more waste you can carry, the easier it is to streamline routes, maximize miles spent on the road and make the most of precious time. “It kills a couple of hours when you have to go somewhere and dump then get back to where you need to go,” he explains.
MULTI-TASKER
Several factors converged simultaneously to lead Hodge away from farming and into pumping. Having been a farmer all his life, Hodge knew the value of hard work, long hours and always having additional income sources.
“You have to have something on the side with farming,” he explains. Hodge’s father set that example early on, doing baling and custom plowing above and beyond tending to his own crops. “You were always used to juggling different things,” says Hodge, who describes himself as a “master multi-tasker.”
After graduating from high school in 1976, Hodge farmed for almost 20 years. Much like his father, Hodge also took whatever side jobs came his way. One happened to be working with a local pumper when he needed extra help with grease trap cleaning and servicing processing plants.
Around the same time, Hodge was finding farming to be more and more difficult.
“It was harder to find ground, there was more and more competition, and the prices were horribly low — there was very little profit margin,” Hodge explains.
As the farming business dried up, Hodge decided to apply the values and skills he had to a pursuit all his own.
In 1993, Hodge bought his first pump truck, a single-axle 1975 Ford with a 3,000-gallon tank. He started hauling hog manure for $375 a week — business the pumping company he had worked for didn’t want.
“I put an ad in the Yellow Pages and started doing business. Luckily, people started calling. The first month I operated, I was $13 shy of my truck and Yellow Pages payment. After that first month, I’ve always been in the black.”
He continued to “multi-task,” holding down the pumping and farming jobs until getting out of farming completely in 1995. Today, he rents his land to another farmer.
“This is the first time in my life where I’ve done just one thing,” he says. And that one thing appears to be the right one: The business has grown every year since, and Hodge says he makes more money now than he ever did farming.
“I actually get paid, and I don’t have to beg a banker for money to operate,” he says.
DO WHAT IT TAKES
Hodge’s business has seen ups and downs as he learned the ropes. His client base has shifted from mostly residential to now split with commercial, and he’s tried plenty of different approaches. He’s settled on a business operation that works — even though he has never done any formal marketing or advertising beyond the Yellow Pages. Mostly, he has always just done whatever it takes to get the business.
“I went wherever I could and took whatever I could. I really put the customers first,” he says.
Hodge has also been willing to experiment to find ways to serve customers. For instance, at one time he paid someone to answer phones. But he soon realized the receptionist couldn’t handle the calls and questions as efficiently as he could on his own. So although it’s a hassle, Hodge is usually the one to pick up when a customer calls.
“It’s a pain — sometimes I get nothing done but talk on the phone — but, it’s gotten us an awful lot of business.”
He also follows the advice of a sign he saw in a restaurant manager’s office: If you do a good job, a customer might tell one person. If you do a bad job, they’ll tell 12 people.
“It’s not that you don’t make mistakes, it’s what you do to correct the situation when you do.” Addressing situations quickly and directly defuses most misunderstandings, he advises.
Recently, Hodge made a purchase that helps head off a common source of customer complaints: He purchased a SeeLeveL Annihilator digital gauge for one of his trucks that has made it easy to show customers why they’re being charged more than what they were quoted when their tanks are overfilled.
“That paid for itself in a month’s time,” he says.
LOOKING AHEAD
As he looks to the future, Hodge is still adaptable and willing to try new things. One of his current interests is environmental issues — for instance, finding a way to use fryer grease to make fuel. He is taking steps to test the waters in that area. “I want to take something that’s a problem and turn it into an asset,” he says.
He’s also adding staff. Hodge is now in the enviable position where he has hired a salesperson to target the restaurants.
Hodge says he knows the niche his business fills, and has chosen to stick to doing what they do best.
“We don’t do everything, but we’re really good at what we do,” he explains. It shows in his attitude and those of his employees. “We have a blast doing what we do because people are so happy to see us. They’re happy there are pumpers out there that do this so that they don’t have to.”
And that seems to be Hodge’s best kept secret — whatever he does, it’s to make customers happy.
