American Entrepreneurship Today recently wrote an article about Mike. Check it out below. To read more content from AET checkout this link https://nj.americanentrepreneurship.com/
“For two full decades now, Mike Agugliaro, founder of Gold Medal Service and CEO Warrior based in East Brunswick, New Jersey, has been marking his territory in the service industry. He first started Gold Medal Service as an electrical contracting company, but soon realized he was missing out on opportunities to grow his business by not focusing on the many needs of his current customers.
Too often he returned to a client only to learn that electrical work that could have come to his company was steered elsewhere by other contractors who also served his customers. Those contractors, while doing their own work, also pitched electrical contract work for their friends, family and business associates.
Mike embarked on an ambitious strategic plan for his business: expanding into other construction related services such as plumbing, heating, cooling, and other services that residential homes could require. Most importantly, it required a difficult assessment of his company’s culture and he soon realized he needed to be more aggressive when taking on these new services.
“We wanted to be a service business where you can get everything you need from the same place,” said Agugliaro. “Our goal was to be the Wal-Mart of the service industry.”
In order to change the culture, Mike first began with changing himself. Books about entrepreneurship and leadership were not enough for him; he wanted more. He pursued self-improvement by seeking out some of the top names in small business consulting, including the Disney Institute and Zappos. In one case he wrote a five figure check to spend one day with a highly accomplished entrepreneur and consultant, but he feels it was all worth it.
“Any conversation between two entrepreneurs can turn into something interesting,” said Agugliaro. “My mentors inspired me to then go and mentor others.”
After ten years since starting his strategic plan and this ambitious pursuit of excellence, his original $1 million dollar company now exceeds $23 million in revenue while servicing almost the entire state of New Jersey with 130 employees.
Mike realized that to achieve the company he envisioned, it was all about building a team capable of handling the challenges he laid out. He is candid to say that some managers who were with his company when he made this change were not willing or able to take on the necessary personal change. Over ten years, a core group of managers grew with him, including some that he recruited that had the mindset he was imbuing into his business’ culture.
Now after developing and expanding his company, he found himself wanting to share the knowledge and experience that led to his success. One outlet of that pursuit is CEO Warrior, his business consulting company that focuses on the service companies that form the core residential service industry associated with construction. The best business practices he learned, he now trains other service companies to follow.
This has led to his latest passion that comes in an entirely new form: a magazine.
Entitled Home ServiceMAX, the publication is intended to pass on valuable information and advice to business owners in the service industry. Agugliaro concluded that many highly accomplished people who give business advice are simply too far removed from the average service business owner, which renders their advice useless.
“I want this magazine to relate to people and have real-world implementation,” said Agugliaro.
The magazine will teach readers how to improve sales, marketing, finances, human resources, and even customer service. The timing is right; he has his many years of experience from which he can draw—in addition to everything he learned from the highly successful individuals he sought out. He now wants to share the training that made him a more effective leader.
Agugliaro’s results are inspiring, but “Why a magazine?” Starting a magazine might seem like an unconventional move for a service industry leader.
The reason: Agugliaro not only wants to change the service industry, but also be the #1 resource to change it. And Home ServiceMAX is the perfect vehicle to become that #1 resource. Although only one issue has been released, Agugliaro already has a vision for the future of the publication. It is a free, digital quarterly magazine that focuses on bringing service companies helpful information in a streamlined format.
“I want Home ServiceMAX to be cutting-edge,” said Agugliaro. “Right now it only includes articles, but we want to eventually embed digital videos as well to give readers multiple options.”
The preparation for this publication has been in the works for a long time. Agugliaro always had a desire to learn from the best, and he sought the proper training and mentorship so he could accomplish his goals. Now that he’s undergone his own personal changes, he’s ready to help others develop as well.
The first issue is now available at www.homeservicemaxmag.com.”
