Photo courtesy of Sunrise Irrigation
Joe Swett had just left a nine-year stint in the Coast Guard and was on track to become an accountant when he started doing the math on his career.
Unsure what to do after he left active duty, he started studying at the University of Tampa but he realized that he wasn’t ready to spend his life sitting behind a desk.
Then, while on his first spring break four years ago, he decided to fix a leaking valve at his house in Tampa. When he was done, he hopped online to see how much money he had saved himself, and he realized there was a pretty big market for the service. Plus, he really enjoyed the work and got a sense of satisfaction from fixing the problem on his own.
“I immediately jumped on Google Analytics to see how many people were searching for irrigation companies and it kind of piqued my interest. I realized there was a lot of volume going on there online,” he says.
His curiosity led him to look up how many licensed contractors were active in his county and he quickly found that it was a very under-served market. Then his wheels started turning trying to figure out how he could get into the business.
In order to get his license, he would have to get some real-world experience, so he asked his friend, the local mailman, what he knew. The mailman suggested he talk to an irrigation contractor who lived three doors down the street.
Swett went to meet him a few hours later. It turned out that his neighbor had been in the business for more than 20 years and was semi-retired, working two or three days a week and running his operation from an unmarked van.