Jim Mathers, CEO of Energy Professionals, helps U.S. businesses save millions through energy efficiency and solar solutions. His nuclear engineering background informs the work. He credits removing internal barriers and scheduling family time as keys to both business and personal success.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's, let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
Hi, my name is Jim Mathers and I'm the CEO of Energy Professionals. We save businesses millions of dollars a year in the USA in energy efficiency, solar, HVAC. I have a bunch of energy consultants that work for me and it's good that I was a nuclear engineer, but now really we do more solar than nuclear power.
Jim, it's so great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in your industry?
Well, we really help companies cut money off their bottom line and add to their profits. And we have our customers been with us for years and years and years. They love the fact that we care about them, that we actually dig deep into their energy problems and we solve their energy problems. And it's— it makes us happy. We love our job. We love what we do. It's fun.
Oh, I, I can hear the passion in your voice. It's great. Question number 3: I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
How to quickly remove the barriers to the passion of your company. So whatever your main goal is, how do you get the noise out of your life so that everybody can see where they're going? It's what I see as the biggest problem for all small businesses.
And, you know, if I— am I gonna— I assume that if you can't get rid of those barriers, it probably creates additional stress and, uh, and other problems for the business.
That, and also if you can get the rest of the team to say, hey, there's the goal, forget the barriers for a second, sometimes they just magically dissolve if you can get everybody lined up correctly.
That's very insightful, thank you. Question number 4: other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice would you give to other business leaders?
I would say to take time out for yourself to make sure that you, you know, because sometimes I'm here 7 to 7 at my company and you got to take out for your family, you got to schedule that in, you got to schedule the important things of your life in because in business, when you're in your business, you're living it all day long and you got to go home and drop that for a minute and it really helped me.
Yeah, and so when you scheduled that time for yourself, what changed in your life? I'm curious.
Well, my wife was happier.
Happy, right? That's a great answer. I love it. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
Well, Gary Patrick is the president of Hotel WiFi, and they do WiFi systems for hotels and entertainment systems. And he's a friend of mine. He's a hardworking guy, very, very productive. Very interesting guy.
Great, thank you for that referral. I'll reach out to him. And our final question, question number 6: Please tell me about your first job.
Well, that was kind of funny because I went to the Naval Academy and my first job was actually driving a nuclear submarine and chasing Russians all over the globe. And, uh, you know, it was exciting, intense. I actually lived the Hunt for October for real life, um, and Hunter Killer, a recent movie, I was there Everywhere they were in Hunter Killer, I was there in real life in 1985. So that was my first job as a 24-year-old nuclear engineer.
Wow. That's a great story. Just, I just have that image of Sean Connery and that cool beard and hair from Red October.
It was intense. We read the book while we were chasing Russians.
Oh, that's awesome. Great story. Oh my gosh, Jim, thank you so much for being on the show. How could people find you?
It's easy to find me. The Jim Mathers is my LinkedIn. It's Energy Professionals. I'm on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and I'm in communication with people around the world, so I'm pretty easy to get a hold of.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. For more insights and ideas, please go to LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, or iTunes and search for the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
