Finalist
Manufacturing & Distribution
Dozens of summers ago, when Mike Donovan was 11 years old, he asked his father for a relatively significant amount of money in order to make a purchase. The details about what Donovan longed for are lost, but the words and wisdom that his father shared with him are not.
If you want that money, his father said, you’ll have to earn it.
Donovan thought about how he might be able to earn enough money to get what he wanted. What in the world could he do? After all, he was only 11. And then, in the first of many eureka moments of his life, Donovan realized he had a mower and he could start a lawn service company. Soon, he had a customer, too. And before he knew it, he had more than enough money to make that purchase. And by the end of the summer, he was on his way to something far larger than he could have initially dreamed. Seven years later, just prior to beginning his first college classes, he sold his equipment and his clients for about $80,000.
Donovan has that same attitude as the principal of Heat Transfer Solutions Inc., an exclusive distributor of McQuay HVAC equipment parts in southeast and central Texas. Whatever he wants, and whatever his employees want, must be earned. First, he produced quality HVAC products, then he specialized the business by providing solutions to customers with special needs. Later, he focused on building long-term relationships with customers. And today, he focuses most on his employees. Because he values them and he wants them to stay around, he gives them certain powers and control. As a result, he has lost only four employees in seven years.
In addition, he is a big believer in giving back to the community and requires all commissioned staff to engage in at least one outside volunteer activity.
How to reach: Heat Transfer Solutions Inc., 832-328-1010 or www.htseng.com
