Episode 222: "What I've Learned" with Eric Knight of Orenda and the Rule Your Pool Podcast
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Episode Summary
Today, we sit down with Eric Knight, a sales and marketing leader for Orenda, a company which offers a line of eco-friendly water treatments. Orenda also provides free industry-leading tools to pool professionals such as The Orenda Calculator™, and educational resources like Orenda Academy™ and the Rule Your Pool Podcast.
Listen in as Eric discusses what he has learned from hosting the “Rule Your Pool’ podcast and the importance of approaching water treatment from water’s point of view. In other words, the practitioner will always get more insight by asking, “What does water want?” rather than mindlessly dumping your run-of-the mill chemicals just because that is the unfortunate norm in the industry.
Eric dives into Orenda’s philosophy: “We purify water by empowering people who treat it.” He unpacks the three tenets of the company’s approach to pool treatment: proactive pool care, no chemical conflicts, and no long-term byproducts left behind. According to Eric, successful pool care means leaving no trace when the job is done. He makes the case that staying LSI-balanced year-round is the most important consideration for any pool technician.
He also talks about what separates “good” pool companies from “great” ones. It’s not about skill nor intelligence. Rather, truly great companies have a culture which respects and obeys physics instead of trying to fight it—by accepting that they can’t defeat water. This is a company which embraces the reality of problem pools being the norm, and encourages its technicians to speak up about them, all so as to be able to standardize their approach to pool chemistry.
Finally, Eric gives his best practices to achieving LSI balance. The process worth standardizing is one which prioritizes CYA, followed by calcium, then alkalinity, and finally making the decision to remove everything else out of the equation.
Eric says: “The companies that have adopted this culture aren’t ever going back. It’s tough to start it. It’s very easy to maintain it. Once you’re in this groove, water becomes predictable for the first time ever.”
Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Learn
04:50 - About the Rule Your Pool Podcast
11:36 - Using Orenda’s learning resources as a newcomer to the industry
17:01 - How Orenda looks at water differently compared to other chemical companies
23:04 - Why to view LSI first, range chemistry second
28:28 - What separates “good” pool companies from “great” ones
33:03 - Getting everyone in your company on the same page regarding pool chemistry
38:04 - Achieving LSI balance
53:46 - Summarizing the standardization process
58:03 - Incentivizing your team to adopt this culture
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Key Quotes from Episode
We look at water from the perspective of, “What does water want?” Because I promise you, water never read those textbooks.
Water is water. Water doesn’t care about you. It doesn’t care how good you are and how long you’ve been doing this. Water cares only about one thing, and that’s equilibrium.
Water is best when it’s as pure as possible with as little in it as possible. We want the most raw “naked” water as you can have. At Orenda, we want to remove things from your water. We don’t want to put more things into your water.
There are only two types of pool professionals out there: those who have some problem pools, and those who refuse to admit that they have some problem pools.