We were lucky to catch up with Joseph Cooper recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Joseph thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry?

In weather consulting and forecasting, many companies rely too much on computer data to provide forecasts for their clients. While it is a very important piece, it is not perfect and human forecaster still serves a huge part in interpreting the data in order to make a more accurate forecast. One of the things our company prides itself on is understanding the weather pattern, the problems with forecast models, and then using that to create a better, more accurate forecast that our clients can trust.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

From a young age I wanted to be a meteorologist, my grandpa always liked to tell me the story of when I was 5 years old pointing at the on-air meteorologist on tv and saying that’s what I want to do. I initially thought I wanted to become a broadcast meteorologist, but after interning at a news station I decided it wasn’t the path for me. I ended up getting a job at another meteorological company which I initially loved. However, over time things changed and I felt after a few years I needed to part ways. A few months later after some time off, I decided to start my own weather consulting business and have been operating it successfully since.

TDS Weather offers weather consulting, forecasts, meteorological data current, future, and forensic to clients across the Midwest. A lot of our clients are snow removal contractors who rely on accurate and timely forecasts to make high cost decisions, we are a company who prides itself on helping our clients make the best, most cost efficient decisions they can.

What I am most proud of is how we run the company and how we interact with clients. I am a big believer in treating others how you want to be treated and running your company with integrity and from day one I feel we have done that. We make an effort to know our clients, their needs, what we can do better to serve them, and we do our best to do that. We have always said from the start we don’t want our customers and clients to just be a number, we want to know them.

How’d you meet your business partner?

My business partner and the Co-owner of TDS Weather is my fiance Beth Carpenter. We actually met at a severe weather expo in Indianapolis at the Indiana State Museum. I was there because I was a storm chaser for the local TV station FOX 59 and a friend of mine, IMAX filmmaker Sean Casey, who were both there for a weekend as Seans Movie was being shown at the IMAX theater. Beth was there to meet some of the meteorologists and storm chasers as she was going to pursue a degree in meteorology.

She and I met, then connected on FB. While we didn’t initially talk, we struck up conversation on Facebook about a recent weather event some months later. Little did we know we had so much in common. We became friends for a number of years as I lived in another state attending college. However, once I moved back we decided to date, eventually getting engaged then starting a business together.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think there are a number of things that have helped build our reputation within our market. The first being that we do a good job with accurate forecasts, because people would not be willing to pay money for a bad forecast they can get for free somewhere else. When you provide accurate forecasts for clients they tend to tell other people and share that experience with others which is a very good thing for a business.

Both Beth and I are active on social media platforms. We often share weather information via Twitter, LinkedIN or Facebook that you may not see or get elsewhere. This is especially true in regards to long-range weather information. People see those posts and you would be surprised how many people follow that to see if it is wrong or right. We have had many businesses reach out to us wanting to become clients because they see our posts online and verify.

However, reputation comes down to more than a good product. We treat our clients with respect and as individuals. When clients call, we answer. I’ve had several clients tell me it’s nice to call someone about a weather forecast and not only do that pick up the phone, but the forecasters are more than happy to talk to you because that is not the case with every weather consulting service they use, and honestly, that is one of the best compliments I can ever get.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tdsweather.com/
• Instagram: tdswx
• Facebook: Thermodynamic Solutions LLC
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-cooper-712aa23a/
• Twitter: TDSwx & met_cooper
• Youtube: @ThermodynamicSolutions

Image Credits
Joseph Cooper & Beth Carpenter