Women & Money: The Shit We Don't Talk About!
Women & Money: The Shit We Don't Talk About!
Building a Business in a Male-Dominated Industry with Jillian Eberhard
More women are buying homes, building businesses, and managing household decisions, so why are we still being overlooked when it comes to HVAC, home maintenance, and major service decisions?
In this episode, we’re sitting down with Jillian Eberhard, co-owner of Aire Serv Heating and Air Conditioning of Glenbrook, who made a bold leap from 15+ years in corporate consulting to owning a business in one of the most male-dominated industries, HVAC.
She shares the real story behind taking the risk, blowing through their SBA loan faster than expected, being underestimated on job sites, and why she’s now building a home service business that treats women like smart, capable decision-makers (because we are!).
04:52 Jillian Eberhard and Aire Serv
11:12 Navigating Male-Dominated Spaces as a Woman
14:36 Scaling the Business and Personal Growth
20:19 Financial Lessons in Business Ownership
22:29 The Realities of Starting a Business from Scratch
30:06 Essential HVAC Maintenance Tips
This episode is your reminder that you don’t need to know it all to start, you just have to start. And if you're a business owner… join us on November 20th for Money Talks “Scaling Smarter: End-of-Year Moves for Business Owners”.
Click here to register for FREE and bring your questions!
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Maggie: [00:00:00] Let's talk hvac.
Barb: Oh, I know. Sexy.
Maggie: we're really gonna be diving into Yeah. Women in male dominated industries, but I have an HVAC story to share with everyone. A nice learning curve, as you may say.
So my landlord did not know that the filter runs for the AC and for the heat. And so they thought it was just for the heat, so we didn't change the filter as often.
Barb: Or at all.
Maggie: You know, that wasn't my job. So
I don't know, I'm just a renter.
Barb: Now, you're just a renter.
Maggie: you know, when you need to be, you can just be a renter Yeah, in our Missouri heat, the AC went out and so I had to call the person, have 'em come out. I didn't love it. Bring 'em to the creepy basement and I just thought it was the weeds outside getting in to the spinner thing.
Barb: Wait, why did you have to go to the basement?
Maggie: Cause that's where the filter is. ' cause there's the piece outside that spins and that fan was working. Clearly I'm an expert. And then there's a big [00:01:00] thing downstairs
Barb: Oh, the big thing.
Maggie: our, in our gross room that we call the meth room and.
Barb: I wouldn't say that too out loud.
Maggie: So when he showed me the filter, I was like, you know how some things are like a light gray, you know? And I was like, yeah, it could definitely use replacing, well the motor broke because we never changed the filter enough or ever. well actually we did change it. You know how I know 'cause there was another dirty one sitting down there that no one threw out.
Barb: Could you save them?
Maggie: So I didn't know the way to dispose of them.
Barb: You can't just put 'em in the garbage.
Maggie: Well you do, but I thought you could like recycle 'em of some sort. You can't. I'm just trying to save the earth and apparently they're supposed to be white, so the motor broke because we did not replace a filter enough, which was $1,500.
Maybe something steep. Yeah. So filters might be expensive, but much cheaper. But you know, a girl just didn't know.
Barb: Neither did a guy.
Maggie: yeah, neither did the men, they didn't know that either. And so now that it's on the calendar, but since we just had this conversation with Jillian, [00:02:00] well, when I had this creepy man come over, he wasn't creepy.
He was actually really sweet. he told me every six months.
Barb: Oh, to change the filter.
Maggie: Mm-hmm.
Barb: Does he know you have a dog?
Maggie: Oh yeah, he saw, he saw the sparkler. he saw the hair and the filter. apparently from Jillian, she said, every month to at least every quarter. So before we jumped on, I texted the landlord and said, yo, I'm talking to an AC expert.
And she said, quarterly minimum, which is still cheaper than replacing the motor again. So all have to say, you don't know what you don't know. And sometimes it's really great to have really smart women in your corner who can tell you these things and adjudicate you on all things hvac.
Barb: Right. I mean, especially if you're a homeowner, You have to learn how to take care of your home. Home maintenance is so important because homes are expensive to maintain.
Maggie: which the mortgage person and the realtor never gave us a list of, Hey, being a homeowner, here are things you should know.
Barb: Right? And maybe it's up to parents to train their [00:03:00] children on how to take care of the home.
Maggie: When was the last time you replaced a filter?
Barb: I always replaced the filter in my yellow house. I went downstairs, I had filters down there. I just did it because it was like, I knew it. I did it. Just like you know how to do certain things.
You don't realize people have to learn that. I guess you just know it sometimes 'cause you've done it for so long.
Maggie: I knew there was a filter that had to be replaced, but I didn't know the timeline. I thought it was like an annual thing. You know, dad always wrote the date on it and then sometimes I would know he'd went down there and changed it. I never tracked that. That was monthly or quarterly or I just knew yes, there was a filter, but we also didn't know that the same filter is used for the AC and the heat.
I don't know where that thought came from, but uh, we thought it had to be changed less.
Barb: And the filters, there's not just one type. There's many different types. They have numbers on 'em, and when you go to the store, you have to make sure you have the right number that fits your
Maggie: Yeah, but we only have one filter. There's only one kind of filter downstairs. Yeah.
Barb: right, right. No, just, I'm just saying you have to look at what number filter you have.
' it could be off a [00:04:00] inch or something, you know, they're all designed a little differently.
Maggie: And so I did ask the guy and he said, you just put them in the trash and yeah, to replace it. So bottom line, let's get more women into male dominated industries so they can give us the facts. And let's dive into this episode with Jillian. I know you've met her networking and we really wanted to highlight women business owners, but especially in these male dominated industries.
And we know finance is a huge one, but
HVAC is another one.
Barb: Yeah. Because more women are owning homes on their own than men these days. So women are your clients, women are your clients. I don't care if you're in HVAC or in financial services. Focus on the women.
Maggie: And finally when they ask questions, they might actually look at me, and not be like, when your husband comes home, ask him.
Barb: Yeah, that's happened to me. He's my brother.
Maggie: He is my brother. All righty. Well with that,
Barb: Let's get started.
[00:05:00] Gloria Steinem once said, we will never solve the feminization of power until we solve the masculinity of wealth. Barbara Provost and Maggie Nielsen are the team at purse strings that will help you navigate the ins and outs of financial independence so that you can be financially fearless. This is women in money, the shit we don't talk about.
Maggie: Oh, welcome to another great episode of Women and Money, the shit we don't talk About. I'm so excited to have Jillian on here today. So before we dive into all the questions, Jillian, can you introduce yourself, share a little bit about who you are and what you do.
Jillian: Yeah, thanks for having me. So I'm Jillian Eberhard. I'm the owner of Aire Serv of Glenbrook. We are basically your one-stop shop for everything heating and cooling and indoor air quality mainly residential. You'll see a lot of Aire Serv. All across the US there's about 132 of them. I am personally located on the North shore of Chicago[00:06:00] and we're part of a neighborly network of brands.
So pretty much anything you ever need for your home, whether it's hvac, plumbing junk removal, anything of the sorts neighborly has got you covered.
Maggie: Awesome. We wanted to have this conversation today to first dive into like you taking the jump from consulting to owning AirServe, but also this is such a male dominated industry. So as a woman, you know, what kind of made you take this leap? So let's start with kind of consulting to owning AirServe.
What pushed you to take that leap?
Jillian: Yeah, it's definitely a hard left turn. Right.
Maggie: You just love clean air or.
Jillian: You know, just the smell. It's so crisp. So my husband and I really just came to a point where we have been supporting other people's businesses and building other people's dreams for 15, almost 20 years, and really just got to the point where we wanted to do something for ourselves.
We weren't quite sure what that was gonna look like. We had originally set [00:07:00] out to acquire a bunch of like boomer owned businesses. Make some minor improvements, throw some automation in there and, you know, hopefully just collect a check. Totally unrealistic by the way. We stumbled upon this franchise opportunity with Neighborly and with Serve specifically.
And it just so happened that the territory that we live in, was open, ready for, for sale. So we went through the process with them. It was actually kind of cool, very very family driven. They specifically look for folks who do not have an HVAC background. So people coming from more of the business side and.
When you put me and my husband together, we're basically like the perfect business owner. I'm like the vibes, like I'm the culture, I'm the customer experience. You know, I'll think of the fun merch to put our logo on, you know, that kind of thing. And my husband is all numbers. He's a absolute wizard in Excel.
He can like, do formulas without even using the mouse. It's [00:08:00] crazy. I, I don't know how he does it. So us together, it just seemed like a really, really good fit to take something on like this. And especially with the franchise opportunity, it comes with a lot of infrastructure built in, a lot of resources, a lot of support.
So yeah, we made the jump but it was a little crazy at first because we actually both kept our full-time jobs. My husband actually still is working full-time. But for about a year I was trying to run AirServe and also a talent acquisition leader for a small consulting company out of Seattle.
So I think I blacked out in the first year. I don't know why we thought that was a good idea. But just this summer I finally quit that job and I'm 100% Aire Serv, and honestly, I couldn't be happier.
Barb: Wow.
Jillian: a wild ride, but it's one of those things where like, I didn't even know I liked hvac.
I wish somebody would've told me this in high school. I totally would've been a technician. Okay. I [00:09:00] like that it's problem solving. It's something to fix. Like you can have an actual outcome to something versus what I was doing. And any recruiters that are out there they know that things ebb and flow all the time.
It's not as clear cut as. Go hire for this job. I really like HVAC in the sense of there are many moving parts. There's always a source for some sort of problem. There's a solution I can come up with, implement it and be done. So it's been really, really cool to be learning about the actual systems themselves from a technical perspective.
But also about all the cool things happening in the industry and how like AI is affecting it. Which, you know, you wouldn't think, 'cause you still need a person to actually do these fixes. But I can tell you I utilize AI every single day. Just utilizing different tools and updates, especially within an indoor air quality.
It's just been really riveting, honestly. I. don't mean to sound crazy [00:10:00] about it, but it's, it's really, really interesting once you dig into it.
Maggie: I don't think this is something I wrote off, and maybe I should, you know, get back into.
Barb: Well, the trades. Yeah. I mean the trades are so important, right. And I mean, everybody has HVAC of some sort in their house, I'm sure. Right? So everybody needs you.
Jillian: Yeah, and that was the idea behind it. Like we wanted to have something that was a bit future proof and AI proof like you said, Barb, everybody needs this. Unfortunately, it's one of those things, you don't really think about it until something's wrong.
Barb: Right, exactly
Jillian: Yeah, so I'm trying, like, I love preventative maintenance.
I, it's like going to the dentist. I would rather catch a small cavity and have it filled versus show up five years later and have to have a root canal. I would much rather present somebody with a, Hey, let me switch out this motor so you can get a couple more seasons out of this system versus let me put a red tag on this furnace.
You [00:11:00] cannot by any means, turn this back on. It's condemned and you owe me $15,000 for a new system like that is, I don't get joy out of that.
Maggie: Neither do the clients.
Jillian: No, they don't.
Maggie: And so I know, these trade businesses, they're, they're very male dominated. And so I know you do have a franchise, so that is kind of a, a bit different kind of offshoot, but what's been kind of the hardest part navigating that space?
Jillian: You know, I think as with most women in any industry, I think there's an element of, you know, do I belong here? It's that imposter syndrome that kind of takes over. Especially within the trades, just 'cause, I mean, like I said before, I didn't even know that this was an option for me when I was younger.
If I would've known, I think things would've probably taken a little bit of a turn. But there are certainly things about the industry and even just the customer base in general where, you know, maybe I show up to an estimate and they're like, what does this girl know about this [00:12:00] machine? But really overwhelmingly,
I've had such a positive experience and I use it to my advantage because I think one of the things, no matter what job I've ever had, whether I was in school or in my personal life, really my superpower is being pleasant to work with. I don't know how to be any other way than disarming, friendly, honest and I think that comes through, especially with the, the customers and homeowners that I'm meeting.
So just the fact that I can have a very honest conversation about HVAC systems or that's rooted in transparency and just kindness, that has really made a huge, huge difference. 'Cause that's working against a stereotype that people have that, you know, someone's just gonna come in, be grunting working on a machine and then, you know, give hand them a paper of, you know, hey, you owe me [00:13:00] thousands of dollars. I really take a more personal spin to it and really try to make these relationships with people so that we can be in more of that preventative mindset versus putting out fires all over the place.
And I think people have really resonated with that.
Maggie: yeah. That makes a ton of sense. And. Do you ever get like creeped out going into people's houses? It's just a personal question. Okay. Yeah, I would, I would think so.
Jillian: Yeah, I mean, you think about anybody coming into your home. I mean, I know I'm embarrassed by, you know, my basement that's basically my kids' playroom. I don't touch it. I just close the door and pretend it's not there. I would rather people not see that, but, you know, in an emergency, it's not like you are doing your, like panic cleaning before somebody's coming in.
So, what's really cool is that here in our territory, there are so many old homes tons of character, just beautiful landscapes, especially when you get towards the lake. So, I mean, in that aspect, it's really easy to connect with people when you're [00:14:00] complimenting their home genuinely. yeah, it's wild.
I mean, I've seen some, like, they have to clear a path for me to walk through, but you know, we've all been there. I try not to make judgements.
Barb: You have to go to the creepy basement, right?
Jillian: Yeah, so I've been lucky. It's mostly basements. I've had to do one crawl space before, which I really would prefer not to do. Attics, I prefer to just stay on the ladder. I'm not gonna go walk in, you know, on the beams or anything. I'll leave that to the professionals. But yeah, that's, that's scary.
Barb: Yikes.
Maggie: And so we know that like scaling a business is never simple. So can you share like a bold move or a a pivot that you've made to help AirServe kind of grow and, and what you've learned from it?
Jillian: Yeah, I mean this whole thing's a pivot. You know, I guess I'll, I'll give you kind of a personal answer, but tie it into, you know, what that means for the business. So. I'd say I've spent the better part of my adult life, my career, in a [00:15:00] space where I didn't really think that I was super ambitious or you know, really capable of being a leader, being an owner of something.
It's only really been in the last. Maybe 10 years or so. So my thirties, basically that I've found myself lucky enough to be surrounded by a lot of lady leaders who instilled a lot more confidence in myself kind of spinning that so that I can actually take this risk of owning this business, being the face of this business.
And I say that's the, the risk or kind of bold move that I took is because I've always been comfortable in a backseat. I've always been very, very comfortable in a support role. But in this particular situation, I know that our success rides on me making relationships with people. So I think. The huge challenge.
You know, there's really no silver bullet when it comes to marketing or people knowing about you. It really does [00:16:00] take that personal touch, and that's the vibe I wanna bring to it anyway, so I think the bold move for me was just finding the right groups of people to introduce myself to and introduce my services and my passions to.
And I'm so, so grateful that I met you, Barb. That women's luncheon that we attended. I mean, that was a real step out of the comfort zone for me. And you made it so comfortable. It was just really, really great to connect with other business leaders who are also women. We all have the same challenges and I think from here on out, it really has inspired me to really kind of lean into this niche of, yeah, we're, we're an HVAC business for everybody, but I want to really recognize not only women business owners, but let's view women as homeowners, the heads of the household, people who are in charge of the traditionally male [00:17:00] oriented things like, lawn care or, you know, making sure you're scheduling your maintenance visits and plumbing, things like that.
Really leaning into that group of people, I think is the bold pivot that I'm just starting on. I love it. I think it's really a good space and who better to do it than me, rather than, a technician with his butt crack hanging out.
Barb: Yeah, I agree with you. And you know, there are more women owning homes on their own than ever before. So you're smart to lean into that group because that group is looking for you as well, right? Because us as women, we don't want the guy with his butt crack hanging out, coming into our house all the time, right?
We want someone that we feel is gonna be. Trustworthy, who's gonna have a conversation with us? Look us in the eye and tell us exactly what's going on with our equipment, maybe some preventative steps we can take, like we were talking about prior to us even getting on this podcast. And you know, this whole idea of [00:18:00] education, right? Teach me what I need to know about my furnace, my air conditioner, whatever it is, so that I know how it works, what I should be looking for, how to best maintain it, because really, who teaches you that, right? Nobody.
Maggie: I mean, there's so much of like, you know, being a single woman, it's like, well, when can I have someone come over where somebody else is here where I feel safe, where I don't feel like I'm being gypped though I don't want it to break. You know? I even have heard like, some single women who go back to their financial advisor and they're like, this is what the roof guy said to me.
Like, do you think this is a fair price? Because you never know if they're just adding on another zero or adding on another grand just to. You're naive, you wouldn't know, you know? And so it's funny, like, who else we have to collaborate with? So I can see this being just such a great pivot as, yes, you can help everyone, but you know, who can be that niche market.
And those are usually, you know, like a lot of women or moms, you know, might be home all day with the kids. And so it's like, great, I can stop by and it still feels safe and secure.
Jillian: Oh, exactly. And honestly, that's how I hire. I mean, obviously being a [00:19:00] recruiter for the last couple decades, it certainly works to my favor, but I think what I've learned through all of that from like a more corporate sense into recruiting in the trades, there are stereotypes for a reason.
But I've really made it my mission to hire people who I feel comfortable with in my home one-on-one. You know, the two technicians I have, they grew up around all women. One of 'em has a five-year-old daughter. You know, I think one of the biggest things that I can do is, is have that at the forefront of, of hiring anybody, whether it's a technician in the home or installers.
Even like our marketing vendors and stuff like that. I wanna make sure we all have a shared vision and really leading with transparency because people don't know about this stuff and the trays do have, you know, somewhat of a reputation of being slimy or that kind of gotcha mentality and like, I don't know anything other than being upfront.
[00:20:00] It kind of at the expense of my margins, but you know, that'll work itself out. You know, I just wanna make sure that I'm creating a space with all the different pillars of our business that is welcoming is transparent, trustworthy, like you're gonna feel good with us in your home.
Barb: Yeah, I love it. And so as you are working across this industry what common mistakes do you think women should avoid in this type of situation?
Jillian: I mean, I, I make mistakes every single day. I, I think it's really important to really balance that ego. From a financial perspective, it was a real eye-opener for me. I think I had come to terms with like, you know, you gotta spend money to make money. But I wasn't investing in the right things.
Barb: Oh, that's good to know.
Jillian: It's one of those kind of expectations that we had where, oh, look, we'll just hire an expert to do this. They're part of a [00:21:00] preferred vendor network that Neighborly provides us. That must mean they're good. It doesn't.
Barb: Yeah. Yeah.
Jillian: I mean, I'm sure they're great. And we've been living with them for a year.
But you know, now that I've been really in the trenches of the business for the last like six to nine months, I have a better idea of who I want to invest with and how I want to do that. You know, I think even just the start, I would have asked for probably double the amount of our SBA loan. We blew through that very, very quickly.
Barb: Really? That's interesting.
Maggie: And so like how would you feel taking out that SBA loan? Because I know that's, I mean, from our point of view, it can be like anxiety provoking, you know, like you're asking for all this money. But it's interesting then when you come back, and we hear this from a lot of people that they wish they asked for more.
And so I'd love to kind of hear kind of your feelings around that.
Jillian: I definitely had that sticker shock of like, I'm asking for $250,000. Like, that is a lot of money. Paying that back [00:22:00] is daunting. I felt like it was our only option. You know, my husband and I kind of went through a couple of different things. You know, how much personal cash are we willing to put up for this?
And I'm really thankful now that we really made it like personal and business, very separate.
Maggie: Good job.
Jillian: On the off chance that the dust, this doesn't work, nobody's gonna be coming from my house. But I don't want to feel like I have that to fall back on. So, yeah, I mean, it's a lot of pressure. I mean, I'll be honest in saying we blew through the SBA loan. I had to liquidate my IRA thankfully my husband's retirement is like what we're banking on, mine was just icing on the cake. So, kind of sucks that we had to do that, but I mean, it was needed. We needed it to, to pay our guys and to invest in partnerships with other groups that would bring us business in the long term.
So yeah, it's really scary, but very, very different [00:23:00] feeling from like the personal aspect. Like, if I had to personally ask somebody for hundreds of thousands of dollars just to like, fund my life, I don't even think I could get the words out.
Maggie: But if you found someone like, let me know and I would love to talk to them as well.
Jillian: I mean, if there's an angel investor out there who loves HVAC as much as I do, you know, hit me up.
But in a business sense, I think it's a lot easier to take on just because it is a motivator. I have this debt to pay. So it's gotta work. But yeah, it's scary.
Maggie: And so would you say that's kind of like your biggest kind of financial lesson is like really knowing your numbers or you know, what other kind of financial lessons do you think, you know, the other business owners listening should really hear?
Jillian: I think not only from a financial aspect, but really all the operations of running a business. My husband and I walked into this thinking, okay, you do what you're good at. I'll do what I'm good at. And it's almost like parenting. Where like you both have to [00:24:00] be able to do everything. You know, maybe I'm not in QuickBooks every single day, but I can be when I need to be.
That's something that we learned maybe a little bit too late. But yeah, there's really no divide and conquer. Like you have to be really up on every single aspect of your business, which I don't think I was prepared for, but i'm perfectly capable of taking that on now.
Maggie: Yeah, it's a lot of hats. It's a lot of hats.
Jillian: Like I thought I could just be siloed and like hanging out with the guys and ordering parts and, you know, doing all that background stuff.
But no, I'm in it every day. I talk to customers every day. I answer the phone sometimes. I'm an owner, but I'm also a dispatcher and a customer service person and a like service manager. Pretty much everything.
Barb: So when you bought this business, did you buy like it from another owner like you bought their whole book of business, or did you start from scratch.
Jillian: it was from scratch. Yeah. This [00:25:00] territory was completely greenfield.
Barb: Oh, that's good.
Jillian: yeah, it's good. I think part of like the, maybe plans for the future would be to acquire some smaller businesses in the area and their book of business. Just to help boost things. Assuming I can get funding for that,
Barb: Yeah, you'd have to pay that back too. That's another loan.
Jillian: yeah.
So, you know, that's, that's kind of hanging out there. Starting from scratch is daunting. I thought it was gonna be a lot easier than it was, but you know, it's kinda just going back to the relationship aspect of it. You know, thankfully I do have relationships with people around these neighborhoods.
You know, those first probably six months or so we were doing, you know, Hey, I'll give you a free furnace tuneup or a free ac tuneup if we can just like get my guy some reps out there. Like my truck sat in my driveway for two months, like waiting for us to open. So like, people knew we were doing this.
So I mean, we had to do a lot of free services just to, to get up and [00:26:00] running. But I think, I think it was good because we could really grow it in our own way and. You know, now that we've found our little niche and, and where we fit in this business I think it's gonna be a good thing. Hopefully we'll have a good winter and really just set us up for more growth.
Barb: And how long have you been in business, Jillian?
Jillian: Only about a year and a half. Yeah. We opened July, 2024.
Maggie: Wow.
Barb: awesome.
Maggie: And so what kind of advice would you give it to a woman who is ready to make kind of that bold career pivot?
Jillian: I'd say don't overthink it.
I mean, I am very risk averse, highly anxious. I can usually think of about a thousand catastrophic things that could happen any, any second of the day.
Maggie: Talk yourself out of it.
Jillian: Exactly. I would say don't shut the door before you've even opened it a crack. I, I think probably a lot of women would, would feel that same way.
I mean more power to the ones who like, have a vision and a drive and don't even question things. I wish I could be more like that. But yeah, I would say just don't stop before you start.
Barb: [00:27:00] Yeah, I would like to just say that what you've expressed around, you know, like your truck sat there for a couple months and you know, you had to give away some things for free. And you know, I think that's so very, very, very common, right? For any startup like you started from scratch, you need to just.
Give to get and you know, get some reps in and try some, some things out. You gotta crawl before you get up on your feet and you're not gonna make money right away. You know, some people think, oh, I'm going to rake in the dough here. Well, yeah. So even as we've talked about as small business owners in our different times when we've come together, it's, you know, what, three years or so many people say, I haven't made a paycheck in three years, some five years. You know? But then once you do have a really solid foundation and get things rolling, things get rolling.
Jillian: Yeah, and that's I think what I didn't really realize. I think in the back of my mind I knew, oh yeah, give us a couple years, get [00:28:00] our feet under us. My husband was a lot more positive about it. He's like, we're gonna pay back all of our investments by six months. I'm like, oh, okay.
So yeah, that did not happen. But yeah, I think having a more realistic view of, yeah, it really is gonna take three to five years. You need to put that work out there. Put yourself out there. And things will return to you. It's very like karmic, I guess. But I really wouldn't have it any other way. I would rather put the service out there and treat people the way that I would wanna be treated.
Not to sound corny, but I would rather do it that way than, you know, try and get some quick wins like by cutting corners or by lying to people. I don't feel good about that.
Barb: Right. 'cause that comes back to you too.
Jillian: Yeah. I'm one of those people now where if somebody asks me to do a survey, I do it all the time because I really hope that that comes back in the form of Google business reviews.
Barb: Yeah, I know. I hear you.
Maggie: It is so funny. It was like when people ask you to do [00:29:00] things like podcast reviews is a big one where I make sure I leave a review on everybody's podcast I've been on and I listen to because I know how important those are to get, you know, or filling out those surveys.
And I know it feels like everyone's asking you to do them, but when you're the person who wants to receive 'em and have 'em done, you're like, well, I have to do others if I want 'em done for myself. Right. So it's a give and get all the time.
Jillian: you know, I think even just the intention behind it, I mean, we live that every day. Like no matter how stressed somebody is or you know, they're sweating because their AC went out and you know, they're in a bad mood. As long as we're leading with kindness, I think that's the biggest differentiator for us, honestly.
And you know, even when I'm dealing with people at supply houses, you know, just because I ask them how they are or I have a friendly tone in my voice, you can tell that they're not used to that. And you know, I get better treatment because of it.
Barb: Yeah,
Maggie: flip.
Jillian: right.
Barb: a little kindness can go a long way.
Jillian: It really does, and people take that for granted. I mean, that's [00:30:00] just the way I've always been. I I'm not gonna change that for, you know, couple more dollars on the ticket.
Barb: Right.
Maggie: So before we wrap up, since you're the expert, give us like a couple things we should know about our hvac. Like should we be doing things as somebody who had their motor come out? Yeah. Like, you know, give us a couple tips that maybe we just don't know as homeowners or renters, things like that to not pay you thousands, just pay you hundreds.
Jillian: Yeah, so I mean renters and owners alike. I would say the number one thing is change your filter. That's like the number one thing.
Barb: How often though?
Jillian: I mean, I would prefer monthly. At the very least quarterly, but it kind of depends on your own situation. Like I have two golden retrievers. Like I can't have enough filters in the house.
Because you know that hair gets in there, it's the dust, it blows through the ducts, the registers are all crappy. So I would say the number one thing is change your filters. Number two or a very [00:31:00] close second would be do your annual maintenance. So we offer this thing, it's called an Advantage Plan membership, and it gives you two seasonal maintenance visits per year, usually in the fall and the spring.
So fall we're getting people ready for furnace season. Really making sure that it's nice and clean. All the components are operating within the manufacturer's specifications so that you're not going to, you know, be February and like, oh, shoot my heat's out. Same with spring. Really getting people ready for that air conditioning season.
Nobody wants to be hot especially with the humidity levels being what they have been the last few years. Having a good air conditioning system is crucial 'cause you can, you can have a cool temperature, but it can also be very humid. You wanna make sure everything's firing on all cylinders to make sure that that doesn't happen to you.
So I would say just for home comfort and for peace of mind. Filter and do your [00:32:00] annual maintenance are, are the top two things I can recommend.
Maggie: All right. Noted. I will. I will schedule my maintenance.
Jillian: Yeah, and if anybody's in the market for a, just a new system in general, there are some pretty good federal tax credits that are expiring December 31st. So if you want a high efficient system, better jump on that before December.
Barb: Oh, good to know.
Maggie: That's good to know. last but not least, our favorite question that we ask all of our guests is, what is your own definition of financial freedom?
Jillian: I think financial freedom to me is, it's all the things that we love. We wanna make sure that we can, you know, hopefully retire early, enjoy my family, make sure my kids are set up for, you know, college or trade school or whatever they wanna do. I think working towards that comfort is like the ultimate goal. And really not having a lot of worry about where that's gonna come from.
But I think what's equally important is doing it in the right way. I wanna feel good about what I've built. I don't [00:33:00] necessarily wanna be. The next four seasons or ABC, I wanna be able to take care of my family and be feeling good about how I did that. And I want the same for my employees as well.
But I'm not out here to, you know, do some get rich quick thing. So like, it's, it's kind of two parts where, you know, I want that comfort, but I also wanna feel good about how I got there.
Maggie: So, yeah, thank you, Jillian, for coming on today and sharing your expertise. Congrats on being a business owner for making this pivot. I know it can be daunting, but you're doing it, you're doing the thing. And so if people are in the Illinois suburb area, what's the best way they can reach out to you?
Jillian: Yeah, so if you're on the North shore of Chicago, pretty much anywhere from Evanston up through like Lake Forest area that's where, where we play there are other Aire Servs around the Chicago suburbs. But you can always go to Aireserv.com and find out the closest airer for you. And it's A-I-R-E-S-E-R -V.com.
[00:34:00] If you are on the North Shore, I'd be happy to give you a furnace tuneup before we get into the crazy temperatures. So, if anybody can reach out to me at 2 2 4 3 0 1 0 2 3 2 and mention Purse Strings, I'd be happy to give you a discounted tuneup.
Maggie: Awesome. Let's get to it.
Barb: Yeah, we'll put that in the show notes.
Jillian: Yeah. so blow me up. Let's get those. Let's just those furnaces up to date.
Maggie: Let's do it.
Barb: Let's do it. All right. Awesome. Jillian, you're the best. We're so excited to have you on here as a woman owner in a male dominated industry, and glad you're shaking it up, and glad that you're tuning up my furnace as well.
Jillian: Thank you so much for having me. This was super fun.
Maggie: of course. And so until next time, everyone be financially fearless.
Outro: You've been listening to Women Money, the shit we don't talk about. Now it's time to take what you've learned and make bold moves towards financial [00:35:00] independence. Stay in the know by joining our newsletter for exclusive tools, resources, and updates that keep you financially fearless. Head to PurseStrings. co and sign up today. Need a financial professional who gets it? Turn to PurseStrings Curated Directory, your go to resource for financial experts who know how to put you first. Love this episode? Leave us a review and help us empower even more women to own their financial power. Until next time, be financially fearless.
