How Shine Solar Got Its Start

Wow!  I’m so excited to be writing this historic first blog post for Shine Solar.  There is a lot of emotion wrapped up in the starting of a new business.  As an entrepreneur, you hear a lot of things from well-meaning family and friends that if you’re not careful can deter you from actually following your dreams.  I know they’re just trying to protect you, or help you avoid the stresses of a new start-up or worried that you might fail, blah, blah, blah...I could go on and on.  It’s not that they don’t want you to be happy or are intentionally trying to derail you, it’s just that unless they share the same passion and drive as you they will never have the courage to take the leap and start actually serving the people in their community.

Now, lest you be afraid, this post is not about entrepreneurship (at least not all of it).  But entrepreneurism is at the core of every great business.  It’s responsible for exceptional customer service, creativity and the work ethic that is necessary to make an entrepreneur put in the 12-15 hour days that are so often required.

All that work translates into an amazing customer experience (or at least it should), which will in turn lead to referrals and even more opportunity to spread the message to new customers.  This process perpetuates itself over and over again and that is how a great business is grown.  I’ve spent the last two-years learning the solar industry inside and out.  I moved my family out of state to Arizona to work with one of the fastest growing rooftop solar companies in the nation and managed their entire PHX division.  I’ve seen the guts of the industry and immersed myself fully into learning all-things solar and helping thousands of customers make the move to clean, affordable, solar energy.  For me, there is no better place! I’ve found my home!

It’s rare when an opportunity surfaces that is both innovative and affordable at the same time.  But that is exactly what is happening with solar energy today.  Solar panels have been around for a long, long time, but the costs were so prohibitive to everyday homeowners that the industry never really got traction outside of large solar farms and utility-scale projects (in other words, multi-million dollar projects reserved for corporations).  Everything has changed now.  In the past few years the rooftop solar industry has been exploding, especially in markets like California, Arizona, Hawaii, New Jersey and Texas.  More and more states are following and for many homeowners the cost of going solar will be less than purchasing power from your local utility company. Historic energy costs in Arkansas, Missouri and Florida have been less than most of the country, which has kept our power bills low (I know some of you will disagree), but those costs are increasing every year with no end in sight and the investment in a rooftop solar system continues to go down every single year.  Now we’ve hit the tipping point where going solar for most homeowners in our market trumps continuing to buy that power from their local utility company.  Exciting, right!

Here’s where Shine Solar comes in.  We’ve made it our mission to personally contact as many people as possible to help them find out if going solar is right for them.  It won’t make sense for everyone, but you would be surprised how many families we’ve helped already that didn’t believe the investment made sense.

Here are just a few of the benefits of going solar:

No upfront costs to get a system designed, engineered and installed on your roof.Immediate boost in your home's value.30% federal tax credit + other local incentives and utility rebates in certain markets.1st year savings over what you’re paying your utility company every year.

All we ask is a chance to review your utility bill and help you make a decision about whether or not going solar is a smart move for you.  If it doesn’t make sense, we’ll be the first ones to let you know.  No pushy salesmen or manipulative sales tactics (we hate that stuff).  Just a simple, clear evaluation of whether or not solar makes sense for you.  We’ll provide you with a free solar proposal and break down all the numbers.  We look forward to meeting and serving you!

On our next post we’ll be sharing the exact details on how we helped one of our SW Missouri customers take advantage of a little-known utility rebate from Empire Electric which immediately put thousands of dollars into his pocket!

Sincerely,

Nick Gorden

PS: We’ll be blogging frequently and sharing valuable information about local energy incentives, examples of actual customers we’ve helped and important changes in the rooftop solar industry and what they mean for you!  Follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/shinesolarpower.