Able and Ready Appliance Repair started in 2018, as a one-man operation. Larry Moore opened Able and Ready in January of 2018 on his own. Six months later he recruited his wife Errin, she had to quit her teaching job, to join him in the office.
At the two-year mark, they brought on a second technician, Larry’s brother Scott. Might as well keep it in the family! In October 2020, we will bring on a third technician and one additional office staff person to round out our team. Things are booming for us and we could not be more excited.
In January of 2019 we attended our first ASTI and found the experience to be a game-changer. It was there that we networked with other technicians (in a non-competitive and beneficial manner) and attended classes that showed us how to carry our business in the coming year. We were able to establish a relationship that would bloom into hiring our third company technician. ASTI made us realize that we were undervaluing ourselves and radically changed how our company functions, which facilitated the amazing growth that we have seen for the last year.
With spring of 2020 came COVID, and many things changed. In early March we closed the business for several weeks as a preemptive attempt to slow the spread of the virus. We do a lot of work in care homes for the elderly and special needs adults and felt that we needed to take this precaution for the sake of our community. After a stretch it became clear that this was not going to be a short-lived pandemic, so we again retooled and implemented thorough policies and practices to safely operate within the pandemic. In July we were hit again. We had to close operations again for COVID due to a possible exposure. While we were certain we did not have it, we had to quarantine. The test results came back negative and we were able to reopen two weeks later. In August, while our technician was in a home finishing work on a washer, he overheard the tenant tell the landlord that they were sick and were going for COVID testing the next day. At that point we had to keep Scott isolated from the rest of the crew and bench him for the waiting period.
Though there have been many difficulties and obstacles in this new COVID world, we have found the silver linings, as well. We find that customers are incredibly easy to schedule with these days and, like many others, we are busier than ever. While we hated to close the business, we have found the short breaks to be refreshing. When can you simply close your business for two weeks and not have people upset? There is good in everything if you just look for it, and that’s what we’ve tried to do. Now we are busier than ever and growing the business. Who would have thought that would happen during a pandemic?
