A note from Hugh
Most owners in our world have a number in their head. A year they want out, a price they want for the business, a picture of what life looks like after. Very few have a plan that gets them there.
I sat down with Andrew Pacifico, CEO of Everflow Supplies, and the part of our conversation that stuck with me had nothing to do with buying or selling companies. It had to do with how you run yours on a regular Tuesday.
Andrew came to this industry from Wall Street, which gives him a useful outside view. What he sees over and over is good businesses losing value for reasons the owner could have fixed years earlier.
Hugh Hornsby
Blue Collar Smart
01 / The real problem
The business that can't exist without you
A lot of small trade and supply companies are built around one person. The owner knows the customers, sets the prices, manages the inventory, and signs off on anything that matters. It works right up until the day it has to work without them. Andrew Pacifico says he has seen too many founders wait too long, sometimes until a health scare forces the issue. By then the buyer looks at the business and sees a job, not a company, and the value drops.
02 / What experience taught
Start at 65 if you want to be out at 70
Andrew's advice is simple and uncomfortable. It does not matter whether you want to sell. Run the business as if you are going to. That means having a number two, delegating real information, and giving the next wave of people room to take on responsibility. He says if you plan to walk away at 70, start preparing at 65 and start entertaining conversations at 67 or 68, so you can offer a buyer two years of your involvement. Founders who stay through a transition and hand off relationships keep their value. Founders who wait until the end lose it.
- 01
Build the bench before you need itAndrew says a one-man show where everything runs through the owner is not a sustainable business. Name your number two and start handing over real decisions, not just tasks.
- 02
Process over resultsIt is what Andrew preaches to his sales team and to his kids. You can make a perfect swing and hit a tree. Judge yourself on whether you did the work, then go back at it tomorrow.
- 03
The industry is bigger than the tradeAndrew points out that we recruit hard for plumbers and electricians, and barely mention IT, finance, marketing, and warehousing. Tell the young people in your life that those jobs exist here too.
The conversation
Andrew Pacifico
CEO of Everflow Supplies
Andrew Pacifico grew up in the Northeast, studied economics at Rice, and started his career in investment banking in Houston before going to Columbia for graduate school. He moved into wholesale distribution in Texas in 2012 and spent more than 15 years with MORSCO, Reece, and Fortiline Waterworks, where he served as president of the waterworks business. In 2025 he became CEO of Everflow Supplies. He joins Hugh to talk about scaling a founder-led company, building the executive bench, and why he preaches process over results to his sales team.
Listen to the full conversation 03 / Your Yellow Pad challenge
The bus test, on one page
Take out a yellow pad. Down the left side, write the five decisions that only you can make right now. Pricing. Key customer relationships. Purchasing. Hiring. Whatever yours actually are. Next to each one, write the name of the person who would handle it if you were out for 90 days. Leave the line blank if there isn't a name.
Pick the one blank that scares you most. This week, sit down with the person closest to that job and start teaching them. Not a handoff, just the first conversation about how you think through it.
Thanks to our sponsors
If you stepped away for 90 days, what would still be standing when you got back?
← Back to all issues