Charlene Ierna is the owner of Ierna’s Heating, Cooling and Plumbing in the Greater Tampa Bay, FL area and a certified alligator trapper. She shares how she balances her role as a leader and visionary in her home services business, and why valuing relationships is key when facing challenges.

Building a Home Services Business

Charlene shares that she was inspired to enter the home services industry when she saw the huge market for the trades, specifically air conditioning services, in her hometown. Seventeen years ago, they had to call into Tampa for A/C service, and she saw this gap as an opportunity for a business.

From two employees to 90, Ierna’s Heating, Cooling and Plumbing has grown steadily with hard work. Today, Charlene embraces the multi-faceted role of visionary, innovator, leader, and brand ambassador. She emphasizes that she thrives in this position because she enjoys being involved and engaged in her local community, but getting to this place where she could do what she loves took intentional business and team building.

“I love what I do, and I think that I am better suited for that, like I said I like to be a visionary for the company and I think that as any wise leader would do… my time is better spent managing employees that can do things that maybe I’m not necessarily great at or do things that I maybe don’t necessarily enjoy doing, so I’ve put people in place that have built that team, so I that I can do the things that I’m really good at or things that I’m good at doing.”

Adapting and Overcoming Challenges

In the home services industry, Charlene has found that most of the challenges her business faces are rooted in relationships: employees, colleagues, competitors, and customers. These challenges are constantly changing and evolving as people are unique and relationships are dynamic. Social media and people’s desire for instant gratification have also added a layer to this challenge, by making the industry more fast-paced.

While Charlene acknowledges that women do not make up the majority of people in the trades, she has never found her gender to be a barrier to success. She is also excited to see more females joining the field and taking advantage of the many opportunities that exist within the industry.

Thriving in the Pandemic

“I think you know, it’s like everything in life really that’s unexpected. You can’t control the challenges that are happening in your life, but you can try really hard to control the way you respond to those challenges. And I think that’s been super important to over-communicate with your team, collaborate with your team on all levels. I think it’s been important to signal safety out there… and one way we’ve done that is to not do a single layoff since. We’ve not pulled back in any way, shape, or form.”

Charlene highlights that protecting your human resources, especially during a crisis, needs to be your priority. She made sure her business’s actions reflected how they valued their relationships by:

1. Over communicating with her team.
2. Making it clear that their jobs are not in jeopardy.
3. Being totally transparent.
4. Supporting them as her work family.
5. Staying calm.
6. Providing her team with the necessary safety measures.

Charlene’s Advice

Have tenacity. Have a plan but make sure it’s flexible. Be ready to pivot, and know that changes and challenges are part of what make your job so important.