I’ve always been interested in green technology, going all the way back to 2001 when I worked for Toyota and sold the first generation Prius. I bought my first hybrid car in 2011, today my wife drives a Toyota Prius and I drive a Chevy Volt, our first plug in hybrid vehicle.

I’ve been an avid student of all things green for over a decade, from photovoltaics to wind turbines to electric vehicles. Even as I grew other business ventures green tech has always occupied some real estate in my brain.

Earlier this year I met Steve Rutherford and asked him to teach me the residential and commercial solar business. I was itching to get back into green tech, provided that I had the flexibility to work on my own schedule.

Steve is a graduate of the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, a retired Navy SEAL and the owner of Tampa Bay Solar, here is a local news article about him from the Tribune:

http://www.tbo.com/list/military-news/new-venture-helps-tampa-veteran-see-the-light-20141110/

I liked how TBS was veteran owned, and how Steve’s solar installers came out of the military and were able to learn a useful skill as a civilian. I could really get behind that, and as I learned more about Steve and his company I was impressed with the high level of excellence he brought to everything he did.

I don’t want to sell anything that is mediocre, dishonest or subpar. I want to be proud of what I sell, who I represent, and the company that I’m selling for. I also wanted to work with people of integrity, excellence and intelligence.

I’m still learning from Steve, he’s showed me how he works with clients, answers their questions, and gets them started with solar. There is a technical learning curve to green tech that anyone in this business needs to master, as we’ve sold new installations I’ve been visiting with our install crew, getting up on the roof and seeing how everything works firsthand.

We are adding solar to several new homes each week, with many businesses coming online as well. Each roof with solar means less fossil fuels burned to generate electricity.

TBS uses LG panels, which have a rock solid 30 year warranty.

The panels we install today have a performance guarantee that runs out to the year 2042! I’ll be really old and our panels will still be generating electrons every time the sun shines…

That’s pretty cool.  

I don’t have to sell a single solar panel to pay my bills, I have multiple streams of income that I’ve developed since 2003. Anything I earn from TBS goes towards paying off DEBT, my goal is to own my 4 bedroom home free and clear before I turn 45 years old.

I don’t have to pressure anyone to go solar because I don’t need to. I can present the facts, answer their questions, and if the client sees the logic of our solar proposal they can move forward, or not.

We live in a free country, if you want to pay the electric company $100,000 over the next 30 years that’s your choice. OR you can install solar and pay about 10% of that cost and OWN your power generation, forever. YOUR call.

Ben Alexander

April . 2017