When you operate a home-service business, your challenges are many. An HVAC company or a garage door firm and their leadership wear many hats – and it’s not just about the product itself. Industries like these surely need to keep an eye on their main products, but there is much to manage. Things like vehicle fleets, parts, and supply chains, regulatory issues, call center operations, and dependable employees are all on the minds of business owners daily. Tommy Mello is no different.

Mello, owner, and CEO of Phoenix-based A1 Garage Door Service wears many hats on a given day: the buyer of major equipment, vehicle maintenance, employee satisfaction, and of course, consumer engagement and happy customers. As you dig deeper into the leadership challenges of operating a business, it becomes clear that it’s more than just installing a new AC unit or repairing a garage door.

 Mello founded A1 Garage in 2007 in Phoenix and has since expanded his operation to include 19 markets around the U.S. While this robust growth is good for the business and its employees, it creates logistical challenges and continues to exponentiate as a business grows.

Running a successful business means asking the big questions and making the effort to answer them. Things like “do I have enough fleet vehicles to empower my employees to do their job; do they all have the right training and tools; do we have enough product to serve our growing industry footprint?” All these factors keep business owners on their toes to ensure that their operations not only provide but thrive and continue to gain new customers while engaging with existing consumers.

Mello sees this as a challenge and also as an opportunity to grow his team’s leadership. By delegating assignments and duties to current and new employees, Mello is able to maintain a solid footing on myriad issues faced daily by a thriving company. What’s more, he puts a great deal of effort into listening to his employees about their goals and concerns, then addressing them to the best of his capabilities, helping them to thrive and grow both personally and professionally.

Mello even enlisted assistance in this regard, hiring a “dream manager” to help his employees visualize their goals and break through to find success and achieve their dreams at work and at home. He’s the first to understand the correlation between happy employees and corporate growth. If employees are unhappy, the damage done to operations can prove to be unmanageable. In fact, American companies lose billions of dollars as a result of disengaged employees. And this is to say nothing of the cost of replacing those who leave due to a lack of satisfaction and fulfillment.

Rather, Mello provides his team with the resources and tools they need to grow as professionals and individuals. In doing so, he has come to realize that employees with high job satisfaction work harder to provide that same satisfaction to clients. Though it’s often overlooked, it’s a really simple equation: happy employees = happy customers = success and growth.