From a high school student who took some sound career advice from an older brother to the owner and operator of one of the most well respected and successful HVAC businesses in the region, Ron Smith of Air Pro Heating and Air says knowing "the business of doing business" has been a key to reaching his goals.
"Coming out of high school I had decisions to make about what I wanted to do with my life" said Smith. "My brother owned a grocery store at the time and he told me I should look into going into refrigeration because he knew how much he was paying the people he used to keep his equipment up and running. I decided to go to technical school and I've never looked back."
Part of a family that moved to Fort Smith from the Little Rock area when he was just a youth, Smith attended Ramsey Junior High and Southside in his formative years. After attending tech school. Smith worked for a Poteau-based company for five years (and others) before eventually stepping out on his own and creating what has grown into one of the top heating and air conditioning businesses in the region.
"People think this is all about getting a truck and some equipment and just going out there and start making calls, " said Smith. "When I was working for someone else, I just decided I need a challenge and mine was starting my own business. Before I even considered it, I prepped by reading a lot of books, including a small book called 'Starting a Business In Arkansas' and I went into it with my eyes wide open, knowing that the failure rate and the odds were stacked against me."
"It's so much more than just installing and repairing units," said Smith. "Getting that education in business is crucial to running a company because there are so many aspects to just the day-to-day operation that a lot of people never even think about.The business end is very important."
Smith started Air Pro in 1993 and says, at the time, he never envisioned what the company would become. From a fledgling repair service that evolved into residential and commercial installations, he was seen the business grow into what he calls a full "service entity" in the field.
"We have three divisions here...repairs and installation and we also do most of our own fabrication," said Smith. "We do commercial and residential new builds as well as repairs, and a big part of of business has turned towards the custom homes market."
Smith said that one of the recent projects the company worked on that got him excited was when Air Pro was called in to consult on and completely redo the heating and air during the remodeling stage at Temple Live, the downtown facility that served as a Masonic Ledge and longtime move theater in downtown Fort Smith before becoming the area's newest entertainment venue.
"I'm a history buff, so it was really an honor to be able to work with those folks in that historic building," said Smith. "We also did the installation for Applied Processing when they moved into the area as well as several others over the years."
Smith says a key is having highly trained professional service techs that are on call 24-7 as well as offering super customer service as a responsible member of the business community.
"We're coming up on 26 years in business in January," said Smith. "It's been a lot of hard work, but we have been fortunate that we have been able to build our business and grow with the region over those years."
