Open Your Mind to Open Book Management with Theo Etzel

<p><strong>Connect with Theo Etzel</strong></p><p>Email: Theo@TheoEtzel.com</p><p>Website: TheoEtzel.com</p><p><strong>Lisa Ryan</strong>: Hey, it's Lisa Ryan. Welcome to the Manufacturers' Network podcast. I'm excited to introduce our guests today, Theo Etzel. Theo was CEO of conditioned air for 23 years. The company grew from $2.7 million in revenue to $55 million in sales at that time. </p><p>He stepped down as CEO in June of 2018 and is currently Chairman of Conditioned Air, now a 60 plus million dollar regional organization in the residential and light commercial HVAC markets. Conditioned Air employs over 375 full-time co-workers and has branches in Fort Myers and Sarasota.</p><p>Theo is the author of the book, Invest your Heartbeats Wisely, released in April of 2016. The book focuses on practical full philosophical, and principled leadership concepts for business and life. Theo, welcome to the show.</p><p><strong>Theo Etzel</strong>: Thank you, Lisa. I really appreciate being here. It's always a joy.</p><p><strong>Lisa Ryan</strong>: Great! Please tell us a little bit about your background and what led you to do what you're doing.</p><p><strong>Theo Etzel</strong>: Well, my background is that I'm a native Floridian. I grew up in Miami and attended Stetson University with a focus on finance and economics. That got me started on the business side of things by developing hotels for hotels' national chain and traveling around the country.</p><p>Even into some entrepreneurial things after that. Developing an area franchise model for Ben and Jerry's in the Atlanta area. We were living there and did that for several years. We ended up selling those stores and having the opportunity to come to Naples, Florida, back down on the west coast.</p><p>I took over a small air conditioning company, Conditioned Air, and applied sort of the entrepreneurial people skills needed at that time. It helped me grow the business. I would say that I didn't have any experience in the HVAC world specifically, but I certainly had busines