010 - How Passion Turns Into Opportunity with Antonio Aparicio
To build a successful business, you need to be willing to do whatever is necessary, even if it isn’t always pretty. In this episode, we’re talking with Antonio Aparicio, owner of Aquascape, to learn about how his passion turned into an opportunity.
Listen to learn more about his incredible story and how accepting challenges as learning opportunities helped him create a thriving outdoor living business.
Show Notes
Who is Antonio? (0:58)
Way back when...
How Antonio ended up at Kentucky Fried Chicken. (5:00)
Lessons he learned at KFC that helped him be a better business owner. (08:18)
How a hobby turned into a passion, which turned into an opportunity. (12:45)
The door opens to leave KFC. (17:19)
How the koi pond business began. (20:00)
What’s the hardest thing about sales? (27:00)
Plot twist: Seasonal work is hard. Antonio had to go back to KFC. (32:00)
How did he keep track of customer info, materials, figure out pricing, etc. in the early days? (34:20)
Who was his first hire? (41:00)
1996 — His daughter was born and his wife wanted to stay home with her. His income became the only thing they have to live on. (46:10)
1999 — A bombshell hits. (49:50)
How creating a great team got him through trying times. (56:40)
How did pools enter the business? (59:10)
Things are different now...
Surrounding yourself with people who are smarter than you is always a good thing. (1:04:21)
How brand evangelists can transform your business. (1:05:56)
How did he figure out how to price a much larger product? (1:10:35)
Key business questions — company vision, target market. (1:16:46)
What’s the key to continuously improving and being more efficient? (1:24:36)
Mount Rushmore — Top takeaways about success from this conversation. (1:28:14)
Quote of the day — “Surrounding yourself with people who are smarter than you is always a good thing,” and “learn from your mistakes, because a mistake is an opportunity to get better.” (1:32:29)
Something you can actually go do to understand your customers (1:33:35)
Intern Insights with Ethan — Listen to Ethan distill a 90-minute conversation down to 60 seconds. (1:36:11)
Quotable Moments
“I still don’t think of myself as a great salesman. I’m just going to help people get where they want.” — Antonio
“Give people a reason other than price to buy from you.” — M
“Every journey is going to have bumps... You have to expect those tough times and have the resolve to get through them.” — Antonio
“Discomfort can breed growth.” — K
“They chose your character and your passion, and they knew even before you that that would translate into a magnificent pool.” — M
“You can’t have every day be profitable. Our goal is to be profitable at the end of the year.” — Antonio
“It’s not sales for the sake of sales. It’s sales that bring you margins and then, ultimately, at the end of the year bring you a profit.” — M
Mount Rushmore
Bookkeeping
Courage
Focus on others (Martin’s George Washington)
Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you
Faith and connection to church (Khalil’s George Washington)
Constantly strive to learn more
Know your customers
Grit
Resources — Places to connect with Antonio and Aquascape
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More from Khalil
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