Life & Work with Alfred Stewart

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alfred Stewart. 

Hi Alfred, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I grew up in Inkster, MI. From humble beginnings. I was interested in a lot different things as a child, everything from music, and taking household items apart and putting it back together to see how they worked. Literally, from TVs to radios, alarm clocks, toasters, and one cold Michigan winter, our furnace. It went out and I would go in the basement to turn it off and then on, and it would work. But periodically, it would go back out. It was frustrating because I didn’t know how to fix the actual issue. My auntie called the landlord, and the next week, an HVAC company came, and the whole time I was watching the technician, and as I was watching, he was telling me how to fix it, and what to do. He explained the trade a bit, and how long he’d been working in heating and cooling, and that’s what made me interested in HVAC. 

Fast forward to 2016, I enrolled in Dorsey, for HVAC. My brother Chevy and I were supposed to start at the same time (He was going to be an electrician), but that was ultimately the day he was killed. I went to class the next day, and they told me with his passing, that I could hold off til next t semester, I said no, and continued to go through the course. I ended up graduating with the highest GPA in my class. 

Fast forward to 2018, I began working with a local HVAC contractor, and he would only just let me go on installs as a helper. After about a month, he saw how fast I was catching on, I would know exactly what he would need for an install, I’d make sure it was there, ready to go. He then started taking me on service calls too. He wasn’t paying enough at that point, and I had a daughter to take care of, so I moved on to another HVAC company. 

Now, growing up, I never heard of anybody who had started a business, knew how to run a business, or anything even remotely business related honestly. The owner of the company I was working for at the time was kinda grooming me for the business aspect of running an HVAC company. I didn’t know the whole ins and outs, but I was determined to figure it out. I eventually left that company, for a higher paying opportunity and larger role in the company, but only for a short period after my second daughter was born, and they fired me. 

From that point, I started what is now, Temprasure LLC, a fully owned and operated Black Business. 

In the process, it was a lot of self-marketing and building up the company and clientele. 

I didn’t want to just provide anyone with half fixes to their issues, I wanted to give them a comforting experience, and quality service. Working for other companies, they just want to provide a semi-temporary solution so that you keep going back. Not really fixing your issues. 

With Temprasure, I had the need to provide my customers with quality, safety, and security knowing we’re going to come in and not just ‘band-aide’ the problem. So that’s what we do. 24 hours a day. No matter the weather, or holiday, we are providing the best heating and cooling services. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It has been a bit of a struggle. For sure. The road hasn’t been smooth at all. Even now, there a peaks and valleys with everything. We can have a high-earning month, where the phone is just ringing nonstop. We also have our times where the phones probably won’t ring for weeks at a time. 

With that, comes new ways of trying to get the phone to ring, trying new marketing strategies, and posting and sharing across social media. It’s hard sometimes, but we push through. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Honestly, some of the marketing tools I’ve used for Temprasure has come from the fact that I do music as well. Being able to fix a furnace and A/C is pretty much like composing a song. There’s a structure but in that structure a few different ways you can go about putting it together in a way that’s mutually satisfying for all parties involved. I think that’s one of the main aspects I am proud of, seeing my customers happy and satisfied telling me that we did an amazing job & we’re the BEST HVAC company, is the same as supporters of my music telling me that I am the BEST rapper. It’s all synonymous. It makes me extremely proud. 

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Yes! Google is your best friend! 

There are peaks and valleys, some days you’ll be eating steak, and some days, Cup O’Noodles. Just stick with it. Keep pushing and don’t stop. 

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/temprasure
• Other: Linktr.ee/Bullyhendrix