Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. It is my pleasure. And I’m so excited about the guest that I have on today who I met through BNI. I know there’s a theme here, right? Uh, my friend who we’ve known each other now for 11 years. Thank you, Ross, for making sure that I knew that before we came on. My friend Ross Davis, owner of Kingwood I.T. Ross, welcome to the show.

Ross Davis: Thank you. Trisha, it’s a pleasure to be here. And yeah, I can’t wait to, um, to kind of share some of what I’ve learned through this business journey with others that are listening on your on your channel here.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I’m very excited as well. So for those who don’t know you, Ross, can you give us a quick who is Ross Davis?

Ross Davis: Yeah. So in a nutshell, I learned a long time ago if I told somebody I’m just in the IT world, I get this, like blank look. Um, so I quickly learned to be more specific about what I do. Um, so now when somebody asks, what do you do for a living? I tell them I’m an IT relationship therapist. Um, and most people will either laugh and some of those others will be like, I need your card. Like they get it. Um, because at the end of the day, I think I provide more therapy for my clients than just about anything else.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. And you’re such a calming voice to people and that’s what I love about you. You can take this really complicated space of it and bring it down to a place where it’s not stressful for people, and I love that. Uh, and excited to dive into what we’re going to talk about today. So what in the world made you decide to start an IT company in the first place. Ross.

Ross Davis: Yeah, well, you kind of did a little spoiler alert there so that that calmness that I have, it came out of a frustration. So, um, way, way, way back many years ago when I graduated college, um, one of the things my parents offered was to get me a computer. So we actually had one built. I knew nothing about building a computer at that point. So I reached out to a local company that builds computers, and we had that thing built, and I went to go pick it up, drove it back home, probably lasted all of about an hour before that first infamous blue screen. Didn’t know what to do. And this is before internet, so the only thing I could do is call them up and they say, bring it back. This happened about 3 or 4 times by about the fourth time, over a span of two weeks of this blue screening and nothing getting fixed, I was so frustrated, I was determined, I’m going to learn how to fix my own computer so I never have to deal with this frustration again. Now, little did I know that that was actually planting a seed with me, that this is actually something that I was meant to do.

Ross Davis: So as I was getting this computer stuff fixed and figuring out how to do it myself, along came a job opportunity. It wasn’t in the degree I had. I had a finance degree. So when this opportunity came along as a junior level PC tech and I had just learned how to put a modem in my computer. Yeah, that’s how old I am. We’re talking about modems here. Um, I quickly started learning that I had a gift for fixing these computers and troubleshooting, and I was excited by it. And so that then that started back in like 1997. So in 1999, I got a job doing computer tech work. And in 2007, I eventually decided, you know what? I’ve had enough of the corporate life. I want to want to kind of do this on my own. And I miss dealing with customers. That’s kind of what started all this. So, um, I definitely have a passion for helping people. And it is kind of that that means to an end.

Trisha Stetzel: Uh, I love that. Hey, we open our our first businesses in the same year. Little did you know. Yeah. Awesome. Um. So. Gosh, Ross, what do you love most about what you do?

Ross Davis: Yeah. So part of the reason that I left the corporate world and to get into starting my own business, it wasn’t because I wanted to run my own business. I like I used to make fun of people who did that. Like, you’re a sucker. Like, I hear about these stories about when you own your own business, it never turns off. You sleep and you eat and you drink this stuff. And I’m thinking to myself, why would you want to do that? And you hear about, well, we never go on vacation and all these things. I’m like, that sounds terrible. I would never want to do that until you find out that sometimes your passion and your purpose is so strong, the only way to make sure it gets done the way you need it to get done is to start your own business. And so that’s exactly what happened. It just came from a place of I miss my customers, I miss talking to people. And I knew there was an IT need out there for people who actually would listen to their customers instead of just bring me your computer. Get out of the way. Let me fix it. And now it’s done. There was a lot of that in the IT industry. Unfortunately, there still is. Um, that’s why I call myself an IT therapist. Because one. That’s what I relate to. That’s what I needed when I had these problems back in the late 90s. And that’s what I want to give to. I want the people who want that, that, that kind of experience. They just want to be heard. Right? They want to know that they were listened to and that they’re valued. And that one and two, hey, we’re going to actually fix this problem. So that comes with a level of trust that only comes from when you care for somebody and they know that you care, then you have that trust. And really that’s kind of been the the secret to my success is just earning that trust by showing people how much I care.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that. So leading with empathy. And you know, when it comes to technology, that doesn’t happen very often right outside of Ross. It just doesn’t. Um, so it’s it makes me happy that you’re able to serve people in such a nice way where they don’t feel stupid. I know I said a bad word, but it’s true, right? None of us want to feel like we don’t know what we’re doing when we really don’t know what we’re doing. And you have such a nice, soft way of delivering, you know, a message that says you’re not alone. Let me help you with that.

Ross Davis: And, you know, and a lot of our customers, when I first meet them, the first words out of their mouth is, I’m so stupid. And I have to kind of, like, correct them right on the spot and remind them, no, you’re not stupid. Look, if I if I knew how to fix my car and do my own oil change, then I would. But I have to take it somewhere. But does that make me stupid? Because I don’t know how to do an oil change on my car? No, nobody taught me. I don’t want to learn it and it’s just not something I care about. I just need it done. It’s kind of the same way.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. So I want to sideline here because I know that you’ve had a business owner struggle. You moved. And that was very interesting. So you talk a little bit and you’re in Kingwood by the way. So we need to let folks know where you’re at and who you serve. But you’ve recently had some fun moving your office. Tell us a little bit about that.

Ross Davis: Yeah. So we have recently moved. So we’re now a little bit closer towards 59 in Kingwood. Um, but it was it was hard for me, honestly, to make that decision because where I was in the, in the what we call the town center area of Kingwood. Um, that had a lot of meaning to me. Um, especially when it came to Hurricane Harvey. Um, we were definitely affected by that. Our shop and town center was under 5 or 6ft of water for a few days. So by the time I got to that shop and saw that basically everything was gone. Uh, it was a gut punch, and I wasn’t really sure if I was going to even survive through that. And I can remember very specifically being at home watching all these people getting rescued and evacuated out of their homes. And I’m doing this from the comfort of my own living room because thank goodness my house was not affected. And I had at the time, I had no idea if my shop was affected, but I knew at least I had a place to sleep and I was safe. And you know, from that I just had this, um, almost like a survivor’s guilt. And so I knew I needed to do something to help these people in my community. And so I remember going out to the middle school that was around the corner from my house, and there’s just all these elderlies are getting evacuated off the busses into a middle school cafeteria. They don’t know what’s going on. They’re having a hard time getting Ahold of their family members. It was pure chaos.

Ross Davis: The the police were doing their best to to to deal with the situation. But at the end, nobody really knew what to do. We were not prepared for that. Um, but the other thing we were not prepared for, especially in the Kingwood community, was all the help that came from that. So unfortunately we didn’t have a way to organize it. But there was so many people wanting to help. We just didn’t know what to do. And so I quickly started kind of like scrolling around on Facebook looking to see who needed help and trying to just connect the dots. Um, you know, being in the networking world where I’m constantly referring customers out to each other, that’s kind of like my skill set is, is making connections with people. And from that, I eventually was able to get into my shop and of course found out, yeah, everything was gone. Everything’s torn up and trying to just pick up the phone to call somebody and say, hey, I need help. That was next to impossible because everybody in all of Houston was being affected by this. It wasn’t just one community, so resources were thinned out. It was brutal. Um, luckily, I had a customer who took my phone call and said, yeah, we can come out. We can take all your drywall out and we can start putting in fans. And so within a day, my shop was already gutted and cleaned out before anybody else in my area, in my center could do anything. And so here I am again with that kind of that survivor’s guilt. So I’m like, I need to do something.

Ross Davis: Um, so I’m watching all these business owners, they don’t know what to do. So they’re just literally doing this on their own. So they’re coming out there. It’s warm, it’s hot. There’s there’s nobody helping them. They can’t even get water or food because everybody from miles around is shut down. There’s no McDonald’s you can go to. There’s no grocery stores you can go to. And the ones you can go to were just lines deep of waiting to get supplies. And so I remember thinking, I’ve got to do something about this. So I went on Facebook and I just started asking people for help and oh my goodness, um, that’s where I get a little emotional. But yeah, the help came in places I had no idea, like I had high school friends I hadn’t talked to in 20 years. They saw these posts. We had, um, one lady from San Antonio delivered us 15 pizzas to the town center area. Um, I had another guy backed up his pickup truck and it was like cases high, full of bottled water. And then we had people bringing in bread and peanut butter and jelly, basically things that we could do for food while we’re basically busting our humps to try to rebuild that town center area. They needed food. They needed water. They needed just basic stuff. And so I would every morning I would just go to my shop, pull out a rack, whatever food was donated, kind of put it out there. So all the other people in town center knew, hey, this is where you can come grab some food, grab some water and get back to work.

Ross Davis: And literally I started passing around. I started carrying around a cooler, and I would just start handing out bottles of water every morning. I had a place to pick up free ice by then, so I had this routine down. And then one morning, um, there was a news camera. People from KHOU showed up and they saw what I was doing, and they asked if they could film me. And next thing you know, I’m on the news. I’m getting all kinds of, like, publicity I wasn’t trying to get. But it’s just it just goes to show you that, like, you know, me and I, we have that call to that givers gain mentality. And so it’s true when you just give and you want to help people it comes back times ten. So it was really nice to see that community come together. And so when I had to leave town center areas like it was, it was hard because like I said, I went through a lot through that. But, um, we needed to get to more customers here. And so now we’re in the front of Kingwood, a little bit closer access to people in The Woodlands and Spring, New Caney, um, certainly down south, because we cover all of greater Houston. So it was a change that had to happen. But yeah, there’s there’s always going to be a spot in my heart for the the town center area of Kingwood, what we all went through as a family to kind of get through that cross.

Trisha Stetzel: If no one has told you this, you are just an amazing human being. You just are. Um, I what a beautiful story. And, uh, I know you, and I know that you would be out doing those kinds of things. And I hope that the listeners know that that’s just truly who you are. Uh, as a person, as a human and as a business owner, and you have that much care for everyone that you come into contact with. So thank you for all that you do.

Ross Davis: Thank you. Now, in all fairness, I had an empty store with nothing to do, so I needed to fill my time doing something. So, you know, the one thing I could do is hand out bottles of water and food. So. So yeah. So we we all got through it. But that was, that’s kind of like that’s my response to crisis is, well how can I help somebody else if I, if I don’t know how to help myself I’ll just help someone else.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I, I get it, I absolutely get it. So Ross, if people want to reach out to you, um, how can they find you? And where is your store?

Ross Davis: Yeah. So our, um, our website is just Kingwood. It.com. Um, I’ve got my cell phone right here behind me. So it’s (832) 928-3948. Um, we have an office number that this will roll over to the main office, because if I can’t grab the phone, at least I know it’s going to roll over to my office folks. We’ll be there. So we have an office number of 281360 3300. And for those that are familiar to the Kingwood area, we’re right next to Megaton Brewery of all things. So, um, after you’re done stressing out over it, you can go have a couple drinks and really de-stress knowing that, hey, Kingwood, it’s got your back and we’re going to fix whatever it problem you have.

Trisha Stetzel: It’s perfect. Uh, okay. So besides you being an amazing human being and really caring and having empathy for your clients, what’s really different about Kingwood IT versus other IT companies.

Ross Davis: So I would say the biggest thing is just we want to listen to you. We’re yeah, we want to fix your problem. But we’re the type of people we take the time to actually listen and let you vent. Because a lot of the times when people come in, they are so stressed, they need to get this off their chest. And there’s nothing more frustrating than trying to get something fixed and you don’t feel heard. Like, I’ve been in doctor’s offices multiple times and it’s so frustrating because they’re just quick to give you a prescription and get you out of there. Yet you had to wait 30 minutes just to have them grace you with your presence. And then just to give you a three second diagnosis, send you on your way. And you’re like, you didn’t even ask me that many questions. And, um, it’s frustrating. So we we want to make sure people, um, know that when they come, they’re, they’re heard. So that’s a very important to us.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. I’d like to touch a little more on networking. We’ve talked about BNI. You indicated that you’re a big connector. So when we talk about business building, how you’ve built your business and the connection to BNI.

Ross Davis: Yeah. So one of the things you know, we talked about this was, you know, if I could give a new business owner a piece of advice, it was a couple things. Number one, not every person out there is going to be a good customer for you. Like, I had this naive thought when I started this business, I wanted every person who had a computer in Kingwood to come to me. I noticed that on my worst enemy. It took me a while to realize not everybody. I want to be my customer, you know? And and once you started finding people that you really didn’t want to be your customer, it really forced you to think about the ones who you truly did want to serve and what what are some of those characteristics, um, and focus on that. So but with that you need help with that. Right. So I remember, you know, I had a finance degree, I remember taking a marketing class. And the only thing I remember from that marketing class that had to do with, um, effective marketing was, yeah, it was on the test. What’s the most effective form of marketing? Word of mouth referrals. There’s a sentence in this massive textbook that says word of mouth referrals are by far the most effective form of marketing. And that’s it. It’s just a sentence. How do you get it? How do you maintain it? How do you how do you keep that wheel going? There’s nothing on that. Nothing. And so when I stumbled into this little thing called BNI Business Networking International. Um, it changed my business life. It changed my personal life.

Ross Davis: It changed just everything about how I run a business, how I treat my employees. And again, we talked about this, that that BNI has that givers gain mentality, where you’re in a room full of other people who just want to help you and see you succeed. We don’t get jealous of that success. In fact, we thrive off of that. So like the people in my BNI chapter, when I send them a referral and they tell me, hey, I got closed business from that, yeah, I get excited. But when they tell me that the referral that I sent them now is like one of their best clients. Oh my, there is not a greater feeling in the world and I just I love that. And so I wish I could go back in time and start my BNI membership a lot earlier than I did. I tried to do a lot of this on my own, and it’s so hard to do on your own. So not only do you have a room full of people that want to give you referrals, you’ve got people in there that can actually help you with your business if you want. I found out really quickly that two years I spent doing accounting, um, did me no good trying to be my own bookkeeper. In fact, the first time I went to a bookkeeper, because I finally decided maybe, maybe somebody else should be doing it for me. The first question they asked was, whoever your previous bookkeeper was, you should fire them. And I’m like, well, that’s kind of why I’m here. I was that previous.

Trisha Stetzel: I am, I am firing him.

Ross Davis: And they literally had no idea. And so they were like, they had to apologize. Like, no, don’t apologize. That’s why I’m here. So, you know, you get you get people inside that basically have the same problems as you in a BNI chapter because they’re all entrepreneurs. We all have a lot of us started for the same reason. We thought, hey, we’re really good at fixing computers. So if we start a business, we’ll be really good at running a business that fixes computers. And those two things have nothing to do with each other. And most entrepreneurs, they find that one out the hard way, if ever. So? So going back, if I could have started my BNI life and found a BNI chapter doing doing more networking because not only did BNI help me personally growing my business, it actually helped me in other forms of networking, like going to a chamber the first time I went to a chamber. Oh my goodness, I had no idea what I was doing. I remember in my finance class something about or in marketing, something about chambers of commerce. You should do that as a business owner. That’s all I knew about a chamber of commerce. And I thought, honestly, I thought it was a place where you just go in and get local information about different amusement parks. Or maybe there’s a, you know, national parks or weird stuff, and it’s just a place to get pamphlets. I had no idea. It was a place where businesses come together to help each other out. But the problem with chambers of commerce is it’s it’s they’re not structured in a way to teach you how to really, um, be involved with the chamber.

Ross Davis: And so the first time I went, I, I felt like the first time I went to a school dance, as soon as I walked in that door to my first chamber event, I felt like everybody’s looking at me. I don’t even think I’m wearing the right things. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know where to go. Everybody looks like they’ve got their groups, I got nobody. I’m just going to stand in this corner and wait for somebody to come and ask me for my business card. Well, that never happened, so I thought, chambers don’t work. I’m not doing this again. This was a horrible experience. But then you go to BNI and you learn about how to be a good networker and what that really looks like, and it’s really just helping other people. And so now when I go to a chamber event, I look for that person who’s in the corner, who looks like they don’t even want to be here, they don’t want to talk to anybody. And I go and I just start asking them questions. I want to know everything I can about their business, why they got into it. And you quickly see their smile just light up on their face because they get to talk about them. And and it’s not so bad. And, and all of a sudden they’re like, oh, I like this chamber. And then I teach other people to do that. So when you go to a chamber where everybody just takes care of everybody else And everybody makes you feel welcome. Uh, that’s just the place I want to be at.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Uh, just a little plug for me, and I. I know you play a pretty big role in the area that you’re in, so, um, maybe a chapter name or what you’re doing for the chapters. Yeah, yeah.

Ross Davis: So. So my BNI chapter is called the BNI Winner’s Circle. We meet on Thursday mornings, um, 9 to 1030. Um, and we meet at the United City Church, and, uh, we’ve currently got about 16 members. We’ve definitely got room for about 30 to 40 members. So, um, if anybody would like to just come visit our chapter and meet some cool business owners and learn more about it. Love to. Love to hear from you. I’m also, um, a BNI launched chapter uh, coach in BNI. So right now we’re working on launching a chapter in Willis, Texas. Um, we’ll be starting one here soon in New Caney. Um, and really anywhere in the Houston area If there’s not a chapter and you need one somewhere, come talk to me. We can talk about how we can get one launched for you.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow, that sounds fun and fantastic. I used to be one of those startup coaches too. It was lots of fun for the Pearland chapter. Um, what was the hardest lesson you learned about being a business owner?

Ross Davis: So how many hours do we have? I would say.

Ross Davis: First and foremost, this little kitschy phrase. It means everything. And I wish somebody had told me this sooner. I had to learn this one the hard way, and that one is be really slow to hire and very quick to fire, like there is nothing worse than just hiring the first person that comes along because you don’t like doing this process so great. Somebody wants to work for you. Just hire them, ask them very minimal questions, and then as you see that this is the wrong fit. Don’t stick with it because you just don’t want to admit you’re wrong, or you’re just too lazy to go out and find another person. Nothing will suck the soul out of your life and make you question if you should even own a business quicker than having the wrong hire. Um, and just having the courage to say, you know what? This isn’t going to work out. Um, and part of my problem, too, was I was so worried, oh, about this other person and, oh, my gosh, if I fire them, what’s it going to mean for them and do for them? But at the end of the day, I have so many more customers that need us to survive, and I can’t do that if I don’t have good employees. So at the end of the day, the company always comes first.

Trisha Stetzel: Always. And it has to, right? It always has to come first. And it’s your baby. It’s your business. All right. As we get to the back end of our conversation, Ross, do you have a success story or a client story you’d like to share?

Ross Davis: Yep. Um, but man, so I already shared about the Harvey thing, and this one’s probably even this one probably hits even a little harder. Um, but it was one of those things that defined my why in my business. Um, so I had been in this business now for probably 3 or 4 years, and I was a one man operation working out of my garage at the time. And but I had this one, um, couple in Kingwood. They had been regulars of mine for a while. Um, so we got to know each other, got to know our kids a little bit, like. Like we knew each other on a first name basis. We saw each other in the grocery stores. We’d say hi. Um, but she was a regular of mine. The the wife was because she was kind of a stay at home mom. Um, the husband went out. He just had a had a 9 to 5 job and and traveled a lot. So, um, he was trying. That’s why she always called on me for some. It help. Well, I get a call from this lady one morning and she says, and you could tell her voice was all shook up. She’s like, Ross, I need your help.

Ross Davis: And she’s trying to just, like, not break down. And she goes, I need to know if you can help me get into my computer. I don’t have the password. My husband yesterday went for his normal jog and he never came back home. And she’s like he was everything to her. Like she didn’t know how to pay bills. She didn’t know how to because her husband did everything. And in an instant he’s gone. And I’m like one of the first people she’s calling because she needs to get on this computer. So that one, she can start dealing with all the management she needs to plan this guy’s funeral. She needs pictures. Um, and like, she was like. And I’m worried. I don’t even know how much this is going to cost. And and I kind of, like, in a very respectful way, chuckled. I said, this is the last thing you have to worry about is cost. I’m like, where are you at now? She’s like, I’m at home. It’s like, give me ten minutes. I’m going to kind of close up shop here. I’m going to come over there and we’re going to get into that computer and we’re going to get you the files you need.

Ross Davis: Don’t worry about anything else right now. And then. And I still remember this day when I knocked on that door and she greeted me. It was like just this biggest hug. Like she just was so happy to see me and so relieved. And you could tell the emotion was still so strong there. So, um, good news is we were able to get in and reset her password. She got all her files, and she was able to do what she needed to do. And, um, that was I can’t even tell you that was probably. That was well over ten years ago. She’s still a regular customer of mine. Go figure. Uh, refers me whenever she can. And so she’s thriving now. And, um, but, yeah, I would say that was kind of like a good reminder of why I do what I do. Um, it’s not because I’m trying to make a bunch of money and get rich. It’s. I know there’s a need out there, and I just. People need to know that it’s okay if you don’t know how to do these things. There’s somebody out there who does and who actually cares.

Trisha Stetzel: Well, thank you for sharing that. Sometimes it’s hard to pull those stories out of our back pocket, right? Because there is so much emotion attached to it. And, um, how amazing is it that you were her first phone call? That’s how much she trusted you, right? Um. Wow. Thank you for sharing that. That was amazing. So, Ross, tell us again how to connect with you and speak to those people. Who are your clients? Who are they? Who would you like to reach out to you?

Ross Davis: Yeah, so. So while we do both residential and commercial businesses, um, when it comes to the residential area, we kind of stick in that Kingwood humble Atascocita area. But when it comes to businesses, we have customers as far south as Tiki Island. Um, and we do have customers as far north as well as Texas. Um, we’re located in northeast Houston. So obviously clients, business clients that are up in this area, um, we’re going to get to you a little bit quicker, but, you know, spring woodlands, Conroe, um, certainly humble Kingwood and Atascocita. We love working with those businesses. Construction companies are great clients for ours. Um, heck, one of my favorite customers is a husband and wife dentist office. So, um, we’re able to provide HIPAA compliant. Um, it needs for those that are HIPAA compliant and just need to know what they need to be doing. So. But definitely those those businesses that are probably, I would say anywhere from 10 to 35 employees, those are great clients for us.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. Fantastic. And how do they find you? Tell us one more time.

Ross Davis: Yeah, so our website is WW dot Kingwood. It.com. Um, you can always call or text me at (832) 928-3948. Um my email address. It’s pretty simple. It’s just Ross Davis at Kingwood. It.com. And then our work number is (281) 360-3300.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay listeners you heard all that detail. I’m going to put it in the show notes as well. So all you have to do is point and click and have a conversation with Ross. Ross, thank you so much for being on with me today and being so vulnerable and telling such, uh, very endearing stories, I appreciate that.

Ross Davis: Oh well. Thank you. Trisha, thanks for the opportunity. And I didn’t think people wanted to hear 30 minutes of what kind of hard drive they need for their computer. So, uh.

Ross Davis: I don’t even want to hear about that.

Trisha Stetzel: No, you know what? Humans love stories. We just do. So thank you for sharing. It really gives insight into who you are and why you do what you do, right. It’s really about those relationships.

Ross Davis: I definitely appreciate that. Spotlight. Trisha.

Ross Davis: Thank you.

Trisha Stetzel: Thanks again for being on the show. That’s all the time we have for today’s show. Join us next time for another exciting episode of Houston Business Radio. Until then, stay tuned, stay inspired, and keep thriving in the Houston business community.