We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Paul Richard Arguelles a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Paul Richard, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the most important things we can do as business owners is ensure that our customers feel appreciated. What’s something you’ve done or seen a business owner do to help a customer feel valued?

One day we got a call from a customer who needed help with a kitchen remodel. We gathered their information and walked the project it turned out it was a non profit women’s shelter for abused women. That hit close to home because my mother was a victim at a young age and she endured some traumatic experiences from a man she loved at the time. When I walked the project they didn’t have very much money and were on a tight budget. This weighed heavy on my heart and I had to do something about it. We stepped in and did the entire project at no cost to them. As we were doing the project word spread like wildfire and the families came and all said thank you and I remember one lady in particular ask me? Why did you do this for us? You must be rich and paying it forward. I explained to her, “ I’m blessed but not at all rich and I told her my family came from a similar background, I wanted to help out because our past helps mold our futures and that I am the man I am today because of the help I remember that was given to my mother at our time of need. So with this memory I share not to boast but to pay homage to everyone out their lending their time and resources to help out when they can. Also that the cycle can be broken I am a proud husband with my beautiful wife and father of two boys and one girl.

Paul Richard, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

When I got into the electrical trade it was difficult in the beginning because no one wanted to teach a new guy and they would just send me for materials to gather well that wasn’t what I wanted I wanted to become an electrician. I was determined to become an electrician. So I bought books studied at night. I’d gather my materials early that day for the guys to create time to do work and learn quicker.. I’d learn to bend conduit on my lunch breaks from my “Uglies” book that I studied at night. I was a fast learner but needed to do it faster and better to be the best electrician that I could possibly be. A foreman then noticed I was going above and beyond and then gave me different tasks and not just picking out materials. I then started installing conduit n walls I was also happy I did my work with a smile on my face all day and come home and talk about work to my wife and she’d smile and see I was happy. As time passed I was given larger projects and took it as a challenge and always passed and if I didn’t do something right I’d stay late and make it right on my dime. Years passed and I was a Service technician that troubleshooted other electricians mistakes and corrected them with documentation and pictures. As more time passed I was asked to become an electrical instructor to teach the young men coming into the trade I also did that for a few years and time went by I took all my tests with the state of Texas to obtain my journey man’s and masters license. This was a great accomplishment for me and my family. Later I then decide to open my own company to approach electrical issues with a better way of handling customers, documentation, educating customers and employees, and an overall better experience. I also explain to all my customers that they should ask for credentials, copies of insurance and make sure they licensed to work as a contractor too many customers don’t have the knowledge of who they can and cannot use to work for them and get themselves in trouble when these guys run off with their monies, dont complete the work, or cause damage to property or persons which insurance companies refuse to cover. So I love to talk to my customers and educate them on their next steps when finding a contractor.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

In our first year of business we used debit cards for all transactions and payroll. We had someone create a fake card and they wiped out our account luckily we had a reserve of money and paid everyone but if we didn’t have it we would of been in trouble so we learned and adapted to our mistake.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In the beginning no one wanted to do business with a new business so it was a little discouraging but I kept knocking on doors, calling on new clients and eventually people would accept our stride and give us a chance and to be honest we still have our customer base from day one. We always aim to meet our customers expectations.

Contact Info:

• Website: PaulRichardElectric.com
• Instagram: PaulRichardElectric
• Facebook: Paul Richard Electric
• Linkedin: Paul Richard Electric
• Twitter: Paul Richard Electric
• Youtube: Paul Richard Electric
• Yelp: Paul Richard Electric

Image Credits
My beautiful and unstoppable wife Mayra Arguelles