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What really separates a good pool company from a great one?

This week, Natalie Hood sits down with Leslie Elliott, Founder and CEO of Poolie, one of the fastest-growing pool service companies in Texas. Leslie's journey into the industry didn't begin with decades of pool experience—it began with a green pool, poor customer service, and the realization that the industry had room to improve.

Together, Natalie and Leslie tackle some of the biggest myths surrounding pool service businesses, leadership, customer service, company culture, growth, technology, and artificial intelligence. Whether you're an owner, manager, technician, or someone thinking about starting a pool company, this conversation offers practical lessons that apply far beyond the swimming pool industry.

In this episode:

• How a green swimming pool launched one of Texas' fastest-growing pool service companies.
• Why customer service is often a bigger competitive advantage than technical expertise.
• The difference between running a pool route and building a scalable business.
• Why growth creates as many challenges as it solves.
• The importance of systems, standard operating procedures, and consistency.
• Why not every customer is worth keeping.
• Protecting employees while maintaining company values.
• Leadership lessons from growing from one route to more than 4,500 customers.
• The importance of training, mentorship, and creating career paths for technicians.
• Why people—not pools—are often the biggest challenge in business.
• How AI is changing customer service, operations, scheduling, and business management.
• Why the pool industry still has opportunities to modernize through technology and professional development.
• Building a company culture that employees actually want to be part of.
• Why success doesn't make leadership easier—it simply changes the challenges.

Key Takeaways

• Great pool companies are built on leadership and customer experience—not just chemistry knowledge.
• Growth without systems creates chaos.
• Company culture is demonstrated through daily actions, not mission statements.
• Investing in employee training pays dividends in customer satisfaction and retention.
• AI should be viewed as a productivity tool that frees people to focus on higher-value work.
• Consistency is often more valuable than constant innovation.
• The future of the pool industry depends on raising professional standards together.

Featured Guest

Leslie Elliott
Founder & CEO, Poolie

Leslie shares how her background in management consulting and business operations helped her build Poolie into a multi-market service company focused on exceptional customer service, scalable systems, and investing in people.

Hosted By

Natalie Hood
Director of Education & Events, The Grit Game

Sponsored By

• BlueRay XL
• United Chemical
• LaMotte Company
• RevdUp Apparel
• Aqua Comfort Water Group

Connect

Learn more about Poolie at Poolie.com and follow their continued growth on social media.

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