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We had the pleasure of sitting down with Mitch Katz who is the General Manager at Land of Elite and the current President of NESPA. We first met Mitch in Atlantic City at the Pool and Spa Show in 2019 and knew that we had to have him on the show. We were excited that we were finally able to make it happen. Mitch shares his story with us about how he grew up in the family business and he learned from a young age the amount of grit it takes to run a business. After graduating from college Mitch knew he wanted to be involved in the business and has put that college education to use by integrating many new systems and processes. He even shares a few with us during the episode. He also helped start a pool service division for the company which has become successful as well.

Land of Elite is a full service “design and build” company. They take on the whole project, mostly in-house, which includes the swimming pool along with other things such as gardens, sidewalks, fences, patios, pizza ovens, and playscape or tennis courts. Pretty much any piece you can think of, they can do for their customers. This is pretty unique, as a lot of other companies would sub those out. They have built and continue to service many high-end elaborate pools over the years. We were very impressed by their portfolio. It was an honor for us to have Mitch on the podcast and we hope you enjoy his story as much as we did.

Connect With Land of Elite

• Land of Elite Website

• Land of Elite Facebook

• Land of Elite Instagram

• Land of Elite Twitter

• Land of Elite Houzz

Resources Mentioned

• Grit by Angela Duckworth

• The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

• Bullet Journal

• Eat the Frog by Brian Tracy

• Radical Candor by Kim Scott

Episode Sponsors

• Pentair

• Riptide

Show Notes (Time Stamped)

• [03:31] Introduction to Land of Elite General Manager Mitch Ktaz

• [06:11] Competitive gymnast and diver

• [17:14] Confidence and grit 

• [29:05] Working for a pool company in Hawaii 

• [30:16] Going back home to do more in the family business with Land of Elite 

• [31:21] Role as the general manager at Land of Elite 

• [33:26] Keeping most work in-house 

• [34:19] Building more complex pools 

• [39:47] The benefits of servicing the pools being built 

• [47:47] Developing processes 

• [01:05:02] Keeping an organized schedule 

• [01:18:40] Experience of being the president of NESPA