Looking Forward: A Q&A with Sheldon Nichols
"At the end of the day, our focus is bringing world-class products and services to our clients that will benefit them and make their daily operations more efficient and, ultimately, more enjoyable."
As the snows starts to melt and the thermometer slowly rises, there's that distinct feeling of renewal in the air. The possibilities of a new season — new growth waiting to sprout. Beginning the transition to spring isn't the only driver of this feeling. For the past couple of years, we've had to adapt to an unfamiliar environment and overcome new challenges.
The start of 2022 brought with it a sense of hopefulness. Maybe a return to normal is around the corner, but what's for certain is there's opportunity. Opportunity to learn and grow from our experiences.
Sheldon Nichols, founder and CEO of Nichols Electric, sees that opportunity and is looking forward to seizing it. We had a chance to chat with Sheldon about overcoming obstacles, continuing to grow and the exciting things on the horizon for Nichols Electric. Here's what he had to say.
It’s no secret that the pandemic has hit businesses hard, especially small local businesses. How have you continued to grow Nichols Electric during this time and who has helped you achieve this success?
Our team maintained constant communication about the situation and how we planned to manage the daily inconsistencies. When things were challenging, we had team discussions about how we'd navigate through it. We focused on taking every day one day at a time, instead of getting overwhelmed by looking at the situation as a whole. We’ve kept overhead low and remained flexible throughout the last two years allowing us to pivot, if needed.
And we’ve been diligent in building new relationships! We feel this is extremely important with clients, vendors and other high-level companies to leverage each others' experience and networks to help sustain everyone. This relationship building has been absolutely key to Nichols Electric’s growth.
Across industries, there's been a lot of talk around supply chain issues and volatile material costs. What challenges has Nichols Electric encountered and how have you navigated them?
Supply chain issues have caused a number of challenges both for us as company and for our clients.
From an owner's perspective, one of the biggest risks has been hedging and pre-buying non-returnable project specific inventory for potential projects — hoping the approvals move forward. But that's where those strong relationships with vendors and clients come in.
Now, clients also need to be pre-planning months — if not years — in advance, depending on the scale of their projects and their timelines. It's our job to communicate this, as well as explaining the need for upfront material costs in order to lock in pricing. For those on a builders’ mortgage or draw system this can be challenging.
You’re in the process of hiring, can you tell us what motivated you to expand your team? What benefits can your clients expect to see from your growing team?
Compared to the last couple years, there's a positive outlook for 2022. We’ve scheduled several projects and had multiple discussions with clients about projects on the horizon. The prospects for this season look promising, allowing us to continue to round out our team.
We’ve also built an extremely close-knit team over the last few years. We look out for and learn from one another. Everyone helps each other to advance their personal goals even outside of work — everything from advice to “spit balling” project ideas. As our team has grown and gained experience, I personally feel that we now have the ability to provide that type of growth and support to additional individuals.
One of the biggest benefits to our clients will be added service. With more team members in the field, we'll have the ability to help more people, even more immediately, if issues arise or new projects need to be completed. And it's always exciting to bring in new individuals with new ideas and concepts. It provides a fresh way of looking at things and strengthens the overall team as a whole.
Can you tell us a bit about your upcoming projects in 2022? What’s exciting about them?
We have some great agricultural projects in the works. With ever advancing technology, we’re now automating more systems and providing remote monitoring for end users — as well as for us from a service aspect. We set up remote monitoring on our larger scale sites, allowing us to diagnose system issues that may arise.
We’ve also started working across international borders with some US based companies. It’s always interesting and exciting to work with engineers and teams from other countries to see how they execute projects and what new technologies they bring to the table.
At the end of the day, our focus is bringing world-class products and services to our clients that will benefit them and make their daily operations more efficient and, ultimately, more enjoyable. When a number of these clients also happen to be our friends, neighbours and fellow local business owners, it’s exciting to see how the projects make their lives and livelihoods better.
What's your secret for success?
In our 15 years as a company, our experience has grown significantly. We’ve learned that by taking a genuine personal interest in our clients and their needs, we can continue to survive and thrive as a company — even through hard times.
