Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is iHeartRadio's Maryland Business Spotlight. Each week we hear
from one local business owner letting us know where they
are in their business journey and how they got there.
I'm here today with Gay Bustos, co founder and search
marketing specialist of Hector Home Services Marketing. Welcome and thank
you for being here. So for people who don't know,
not familiar, tell us about Hector Home Services Marketing. So.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hector Home Services Marketing is a Maryland based agency that
helps local, family owned home service businesses grow and take
control of their marketing. We specialize in helping contractors like remodelers,
window and door companies, pest control businesses, and other trades
get consistent, high quality leads without having to depend on
Angie's home shows or referrals. Our focus is on small
(00:44):
to mid sized cities and towns where the right strategy
can make a huge impact. We built marketing systems that
generate leads through Google Maps, organic website traffic, paid ads,
and CRM, but also create a real long term asset
that the business owns themselves.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Awesome and what separates you guys from like other agencies
around town.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, it's a good question. The specialization with home services
is a really big one. Sure, we used to work
with you know, anybody who would hire us, but quickly
learned that doing marketing for a dentist is very different
from doing marketing for a SaaS company, which is very
different from doing marketing for an electrician. So we were
starting to find success working with home service businesses and
(01:28):
we're tired of trying to do everything for everybody. So
since we've specialized about a year ago, we've seen our
business grow, which is a direct result of growing the
businesses of our clients by being able to just do
things that we are experts, really confident in a formula
that we know works and finding the right person who
it works for.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
That is so smart, you knowing narrowing the field to
just you know, one type of not one type of business,
but an arena business is rather than just like every
single different business. And you certainly know what you guys
are doing for home services. Smart move. I love that.
When did it start? When did Hector Home services marketing start?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well, so the agency that was worked with everybody started
in twenty nineteen, but like I said, it's only been
about twelve months since we've said we're only working with
home service businesses. And when we created that brand, Hector
and you know, really start to saying no to anybody
that's not a contractor.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Right right, And how's this past twelve months been so far?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
It's been great. I mean, it's it's it's it's really
been such a win win because you know, it makes
our job easier. We feel more confident about confident about
what we're doing. It allows us to invest more resources
in the results and you know, into getting great results
for our clients and to kind of cut out the
fluff on what's most like there's there's the need to have,
(02:58):
and there's the nights to have and a lot I
think a lot of agencies. It takes a long time,
us included, to learn to really learn what's need to
have versus what's nice to have. So now we can
just really focus on the most high value things that
are specific to this industry, which is different from other
industries absolutely.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
All right, So let's and let's you mentioned it before,
but you know, I want our listeners to know if
they know or they have businesses like this, so they
know run down the different types of in this industry
that you guys focus on sure.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Sure, Well, I would say the first and most important
thing is we really try to work with family owned businesses.
Oh great, So I'll go through the trades if you
want in a moment. But we find all right it
you know, it gets us up each day and makes
us feel good going to bed each night. Helping you know,
small to medium sized family owned businesses obviously huge part
(03:53):
of our community, is a huge part of our economy.
But within that we also uh or excuse me. What
I mean to say is that we work with we
work best with companies that are in small to mid
sized towns cities. So in Maryland, I think Frederick, Annapolis, Rockville, right,
because in the big cities you've got a lot of
(04:14):
these big box advertisers that really raise the cost of entry.
We can still work with, you know, companies in major markets,
it's just the resources are require more and it takes longer.
But we find that when we work with family owned
businesses in small to mid sized towns, we're able to
really change their fortune within a month and then scale
(04:35):
it from there. Would you let me to answer the
trades we work with.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah, yeah, I'm interested. I'm interested in the list of
the different businesses within that industry that you guys spocus
short sure.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Sure. So right now we're working with a kitchen remodel
or a bathroom remodel, or a pest control company, two
window and door companies, an electrician, a builder, custom home builder.
That's mainly our roster of clients right now, but we
would also work with you know, hvac plumbers, right, roofers,
(05:07):
any kind of home improvement, home service business on residential
focused on residential, very different than marketing commercial gate.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Tell me about you in your background, you know, quick
resume here, Where where did you come from and start?
And how did you get into this business?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah? I appreciate that question. So, yeah, I started Hector
Home Services marketing because I've been where a lot of
contractors are. Before starting Hector, I ran four businesses of
my own or co ran Wow and watch them all
fail for one reason, one consistent reason, which is that
we didn't have a reliable way to generate sales. And
I learned the hard way that you can have great service,
(05:43):
but you can't if you can't control your marketing, you
can't survive, right, So that experience really lit a fire
under me to master marketing because I couldn't find somebody
reliable that would do it for me. And so that's
how I got into marketing. And then, like I said before,
when we got into marketing, we were working with anybody
and everybody who could pay us. We spread ourselves way
(06:03):
too thin. It wasn't helping anybody, ourselves included. And that's
when we decided to specialize in working with home service businesses,
specifically family run businesses, which spoke more to our passions
and our interests.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
So back up a second. You had trouble with marketing,
so you decided my focus has got to be marketing
right now. So I can tag how did you do
that if you don't mind me asking.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Well, I started a marketing agency.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Like there, but we had to teach okay, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
One was a band, so you know, it's a business
for sure. I learned possible tickets the hard way. But uh,
but the other three were more focused on digital services,
and it was just we hired a bunch of people.
And you know, it's it's not that not that all
marketers are bad, but just in every field there's a
lot of good ones and a lot of bad ones.
(06:55):
And we were having trouble finding the good ones, and
I got so sick of it, and you know, I
was getting ready to throw in the towel as an entrepreneur,
and I said, you know what I need to solve
this right, you know, with with what I can control most,
which is my own time and you know, brain power.
So I started started. I had a network of entrepreneurs
(07:15):
that we're willing to hire me. I started just you know,
bootstrapping it, and now have learned how to become more
efficient and scale our business through the means that I
was telling you about, by specializing and focusing on what
we do best.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Fantastic. I'm so glad these past twelve months are going
well for you. That's so awesome. But if you look down,
I mean, you guys are like in the infancy of
this part of it. Where do you see the future
of Hector Home Services marketing.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
It's a really good question. It's a really good question
and something that we've been grappling with because obviously there's
a you know, any entrepreneur can relate to the shiny
object syndrome that pulls you towards exciting new, shiny objects,
and we keep having to bring ourselves back to we've
got something that works, right, we get leads. We've got
a great system to get leads through local SEO and
(08:04):
Google Maps. We don't need at the moment, new services,
new tools, right new gadgets to make our business grow
where we're at, and what we're really focusing our efforts
on next is finding the right who right is SEO
is Search engine optimization?
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Right?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Getting leads through showing up at the top of Google
is very different for each even each business, right, even
each electrician. An electrician that just started last year and
as in a competitive market is going to have a
much harder go at it than an electrician who's been
in business for ten years. And you know they're they're
in a medium size, small to medium sized competitive city.
(08:44):
So what we're really trying to do is to get
the word out to say, hey, we're not we're not
interested in working with a bunch of big box retailers
or necessarily a bunch of just one one man you know,
handyman jobs, which nothing against that we all start somewhere,
but we really a sweet spot in the middle, family owned,
local service business working in a small to mid size
(09:07):
city's So we're really trying to specialize in who we're
working with because we've got something that works for a
small percentage of the population and we want to find
more of those.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Well, that's fantastic, okay, And where can listeners find out
more information about your company, Hector Home Services Marketing. I
think there's a lot of people out there who are
very interested in hook it up with you, guys.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I appreciate that question. Yeah, So the best place is
Our website is Hectorhome Services Marketing dot com. And if
you're listening out there and you're curious about improving your marketing,
we offer a free custom video audit for contractors, so
we'll assess how your website your Google business profile are performing,
show you where you're strong, where there's room for improvement,
(09:52):
and help you understand which marketing strategies would likely give
you the best chun an investment. It's not a sales call,
it's a real ten to fifteen video and you can watch
on your own time film just for you. We usually
limit these free audits to just a handful each month
to make sure we can deliver something custom and useful.
So if you're interested, head Hectorhome Services Marketing dot com.
(10:13):
And grab one while they're still available.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
There you go. That's Gabe Busto's co founder and search
marketing specialist of Hector Home Services Marketing. Hey Gabe, thanks
for the time. Thanks for the introduction into your company.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Thank you as well, Bob. I appreciate what you do.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You've been listening to iHeartRadio's Maryland Business Spotlight
This is iHeartRadio's Maryland Business Spotlight. Each week we hear
from one local business owner letting us know where they
are in their business journey and how they got there.
I'm here today with Gay Bustos, co founder and search
marketing specialist of Hector Home Services Marketing. Welcome and thank
you for being here. So for people who don't know,
not familiar, tell us about Hector Home Services Marketing. So.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hector Home Services Marketing is a Maryland based agency that
helps local, family owned home service businesses grow and take
control of their marketing. We specialize in helping contractors like remodelers,
window and door companies, pest control businesses, and other trades
get consistent, high quality leads without having to depend on
Angie's home shows or referrals. Our focus is on small
(00:44):
to mid sized cities and towns where the right strategy
can make a huge impact. We built marketing systems that
generate leads through Google Maps, organic website traffic, paid ads,
and CRM, but also create a real long term asset
that the business owns themselves.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Awesome and what separates you guys from like other agencies
around town.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, it's a good question. The specialization with home services
is a really big one. Sure, we used to work
with you know, anybody who would hire us, but quickly
learned that doing marketing for a dentist is very different
from doing marketing for a SaaS company, which is very
different from doing marketing for an electrician. So we were
starting to find success working with home service businesses and
(01:28):
we're tired of trying to do everything for everybody. So
since we've specialized about a year ago, we've seen our
business grow, which is a direct result of growing the
businesses of our clients by being able to just do
things that we are experts, really confident in a formula
that we know works and finding the right person who
it works for.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
That is so smart, you knowing narrowing the field to
just you know, one type of not one type of business,
but an arena business is rather than just like every
single different business. And you certainly know what you guys
are doing for home services. Smart move. I love that.
When did it start? When did Hector Home services marketing start?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well, so the agency that was worked with everybody started
in twenty nineteen, but like I said, it's only been
about twelve months since we've said we're only working with
home service businesses. And when we created that brand, Hector
and you know, really start to saying no to anybody
that's not a contractor.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Right right, And how's this past twelve months been so far?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
It's been great. I mean, it's it's it's it's really
been such a win win because you know, it makes
our job easier. We feel more confident about confident about
what we're doing. It allows us to invest more resources
in the results and you know, into getting great results
for our clients and to kind of cut out the
fluff on what's most like there's there's the need to have,
(02:58):
and there's the nights to have and a lot I
think a lot of agencies. It takes a long time,
us included, to learn to really learn what's need to
have versus what's nice to have. So now we can
just really focus on the most high value things that
are specific to this industry, which is different from other
industries absolutely.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
All right, So let's and let's you mentioned it before,
but you know, I want our listeners to know if
they know or they have businesses like this, so they
know run down the different types of in this industry
that you guys focus on sure.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Sure, Well, I would say the first and most important
thing is we really try to work with family owned businesses.
Oh great, So I'll go through the trades if you
want in a moment. But we find all right it
you know, it gets us up each day and makes
us feel good going to bed each night. Helping you know,
small to medium sized family owned businesses obviously huge part
(03:53):
of our community, is a huge part of our economy.
But within that we also uh or excuse me. What
I mean to say is that we work with we
work best with companies that are in small to mid
sized towns cities. So in Maryland, I think Frederick, Annapolis, Rockville, right,
because in the big cities you've got a lot of
(04:14):
these big box advertisers that really raise the cost of entry.
We can still work with, you know, companies in major markets,
it's just the resources are require more and it takes longer.
But we find that when we work with family owned
businesses in small to mid sized towns, we're able to
really change their fortune within a month and then scale
(04:35):
it from there. Would you let me to answer the
trades we work with.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah, yeah, I'm interested. I'm interested in the list of
the different businesses within that industry that you guys spocus
short sure.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Sure. So right now we're working with a kitchen remodel
or a bathroom remodel, or a pest control company, two
window and door companies, an electrician, a builder, custom home builder.
That's mainly our roster of clients right now, but we
would also work with you know, hvac plumbers, right, roofers,
(05:07):
any kind of home improvement, home service business on residential
focused on residential, very different than marketing commercial gate.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Tell me about you in your background, you know, quick
resume here, Where where did you come from and start?
And how did you get into this business?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah? I appreciate that question. So, yeah, I started Hector
Home Services marketing because I've been where a lot of
contractors are. Before starting Hector, I ran four businesses of
my own or co ran Wow and watch them all
fail for one reason, one consistent reason, which is that
we didn't have a reliable way to generate sales. And
I learned the hard way that you can have great service,
(05:43):
but you can't if you can't control your marketing, you
can't survive, right, So that experience really lit a fire
under me to master marketing because I couldn't find somebody
reliable that would do it for me. And so that's
how I got into marketing. And then, like I said before,
when we got into marketing, we were working with anybody
and everybody who could pay us. We spread ourselves way
(06:03):
too thin. It wasn't helping anybody, ourselves included. And that's
when we decided to specialize in working with home service businesses,
specifically family run businesses, which spoke more to our passions
and our interests.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
So back up a second. You had trouble with marketing,
so you decided my focus has got to be marketing
right now. So I can tag how did you do
that if you don't mind me asking.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Well, I started a marketing agency.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Like there, but we had to teach okay, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
One was a band, so you know, it's a business
for sure. I learned possible tickets the hard way. But uh,
but the other three were more focused on digital services,
and it was just we hired a bunch of people.
And you know, it's it's not that not that all
marketers are bad, but just in every field there's a
lot of good ones and a lot of bad ones.
(06:55):
And we were having trouble finding the good ones, and
I got so sick of it, and you know, I
was getting ready to throw in the towel as an entrepreneur,
and I said, you know what I need to solve
this right, you know, with with what I can control most,
which is my own time and you know, brain power.
So I started started. I had a network of entrepreneurs
(07:15):
that we're willing to hire me. I started just you know,
bootstrapping it, and now have learned how to become more
efficient and scale our business through the means that I
was telling you about, by specializing and focusing on what
we do best.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Fantastic. I'm so glad these past twelve months are going
well for you. That's so awesome. But if you look down,
I mean, you guys are like in the infancy of
this part of it. Where do you see the future
of Hector Home Services marketing.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
It's a really good question. It's a really good question
and something that we've been grappling with because obviously there's
a you know, any entrepreneur can relate to the shiny
object syndrome that pulls you towards exciting new, shiny objects,
and we keep having to bring ourselves back to we've
got something that works, right, we get leads. We've got
a great system to get leads through local SEO and
(08:04):
Google Maps. We don't need at the moment, new services,
new tools, right new gadgets to make our business grow
where we're at, and what we're really focusing our efforts
on next is finding the right who right is SEO
is Search engine optimization?
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Right?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Getting leads through showing up at the top of Google
is very different for each even each business, right, even
each electrician. An electrician that just started last year and
as in a competitive market is going to have a
much harder go at it than an electrician who's been
in business for ten years. And you know they're they're
in a medium size, small to medium sized competitive city.
(08:44):
So what we're really trying to do is to get
the word out to say, hey, we're not we're not
interested in working with a bunch of big box retailers
or necessarily a bunch of just one one man you know,
handyman jobs, which nothing against that we all start somewhere,
but we really a sweet spot in the middle, family owned,
local service business working in a small to mid size
(09:07):
city's So we're really trying to specialize in who we're
working with because we've got something that works for a
small percentage of the population and we want to find
more of those.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Well, that's fantastic, okay, And where can listeners find out
more information about your company, Hector Home Services Marketing. I
think there's a lot of people out there who are
very interested in hook it up with you, guys.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I appreciate that question. Yeah, So the best place is
Our website is Hectorhome Services Marketing dot com. And if
you're listening out there and you're curious about improving your marketing,
we offer a free custom video audit for contractors, so
we'll assess how your website your Google business profile are performing,
show you where you're strong, where there's room for improvement,
(09:52):
and help you understand which marketing strategies would likely give
you the best chun an investment. It's not a sales call,
it's a real ten to fifteen video and you can watch
on your own time film just for you. We usually
limit these free audits to just a handful each month
to make sure we can deliver something custom and useful.
So if you're interested, head Hectorhome Services Marketing dot com.
(10:13):
And grab one while they're still available.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
There you go. That's Gabe Busto's co founder and search
marketing specialist of Hector Home Services Marketing. Hey Gabe, thanks
for the time. Thanks for the introduction into your company.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Thank you as well, Bob. I appreciate what you do.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You've been listening to iHeartRadio's Maryland Business Spotlight
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