BusinessLife Spotlight: James Margolles

In this week’s installment of the BusinessLife Spotlight series, we’re taking a look at James Margolles, the owner and founder of Island Water. We’ll learn about the founding of his business and how coaching has helped him find a better work-life balance, organize his business, create a strong company culture, and make better managerial decisions.

About James

James grew up in south Florida, where he fell in love with the sun and the water. He worked in the water supply business for over 15 years, gaining insight about the industry, the consumer, and the supply chain. After working for several water companies, he realized that there were still gaps in the way water was sourced to businesses and offices.

He saw this as an opportunity and decided to run with it. In 2006, he and his wife started Island Water out of their garage in the hopes of providing a unique and novel commercial water solution.

Island Water’s Industry

Island Water provides drinking water systems for commercial businesses, offices, and warehouses. James brought with him his years of experience to reinvent the way that people “gather around the water cooler.”

The goal of his business is to eliminate the hassles and environmental impact of traditional bottled water systems. Their mission: provide safer, fresher, better tasting water.

They do this through patented technologies like O3 Activated Oxygen and bottle-less purification coolers. They eliminate the use of bottled water to help reduce the 38 billion non-biodegradable plastic water bottles that are tossed into landfills each and every year. Their Pure Water Technology coolers are energy star rated because they reduce your office’s carbon footprint… while delivering a purified, healthy supply of water.

James’ Leadership

From the inception of his company, James built a wholesome business that treats partners and clients fairly, delivers on promises, and pays employees a just wage. His goal is not to create an empire by stepping on his workers’ heads or undercutting his customers. He believes in value, partnerships, honesty, and transparency.

Because of this core belief, Island Water’s customer service is personalized, fast, and efficient. They pride themselves on 100% customer satisfaction thanks to their 2-hour response time and professional, courteous staff.

James is an inspirational leader who leads his team by example. He naturally motivates by being enthusiastic, encouraging goals, and aiming higher. He emboldens his employees to always expect more of themselves.

But despite being such an honest and inspirational leader, James still felt something was off balance in his personal and professional life. So he turned to a coach for guidance.

Coaching for balance

James looked at his own capacities and knew he wanted to build them with the help of a coach. James met Peter through his brother Joe, an entrepreneur and banker. After one conversation with Peter, James realized that Peter as a coach could help him design a plan for growth.

James wanted to create more prioritization and organization within his business and his life, so he brought Peter onboard.

James worked with Peter primarily as a way of sharing ideas. Peter says that James was looking for a “second head on his shoulders.”

Peter helped James reprioritize his life. James quickly came to discover that he didn’t want to be a slave to his company, he needed to mold his company to meet his own needs and desires. James learned that you have to run your business in a way that makes you happy and fits with your other life responsibilities.

He learned to enjoy the fruits of his labor and acknowledge his own efforts while still valuing the work and successes of his team. Working with Peter made him realize that he didn’t want to be the leader touching every aspect of his business. He wanted to inspire, delegate, and strategize—and then go home to his family for dinner.

Coaching helped James become more aware of when he needs to take a break. He was able to learn more about himself and his own work habits, so he could always deliver his best to his company.

He wanted and needed a stronger work-life balance. And he discovered, with Peter’s help, that he could have that balance with only a few small tweaks in the way he was running his company.

Coaching for organization

Running effective meetings was another result and benefit from Peter’s coaching. James had struggled with the organization of his business, which was hurting his bottom line. Peter helped him create and schedule meeting agendas, so he could keep meetings on track, save time, and have fruitful and relevant conversations.

This in turn helped James learn how to communicate more effectively. He was able to facilitate conversations better and tailor his communication style to whom he was speaking.

Overall, improved organizational and communication processes helped James create a more efficient and streamlined business. He was able to save time, boost innovation, and create a better workflow dynamic.

Coaching for culture

Peter helped James find a pathway to re-emphasize the Island Water culture. Culture is at the core of all business processes, and James worked with Peter to reevaluate what he wanted his business to look like.

James reignited his original culture in a new, more concrete way. Island Water’s goals are to:

• Function with integrity and honesty
• Take care of employees by paying on time and meeting their needs
• Express gratitude for the employees
• Boost customer service to put their clients at the forefront of business

James wanted to create a friendly, laid-back atmosphere where he could have a hands-off approach. He wanted to be able to enjoy his family while also enjoying his business.

With this came a culture of automation. James realized the need to automate as much as he could in his business. He put in place those processes and technologies that would enable a steady workflow for all employees. This included everything from apps for tracking packages to scheduling systems. He also implemented business-wide communication tools with shared calendars, Google docs, databases, and mobile schedules on iPads and iPhones.

The goal is real-time communication in a way that allows the company to best take care of its employees and clients. If there is a problem, the staff focuses on solutions rather than causes or concerns. This creates efficient, results-based communication that pushes the business forward.

Coaching for management

James has learned how to make managerial decisions that are good for the company. Along with integrity and transparency, he focuses on structuring solutions and decisions that will make him a better leader. Peter helped him own his business again. James learned to take back its culture and processes so he could run things the way he wanted to, on his own terms.

Peter also helped James realize he needed to cut out the negative. James was struggling with certain aspects of his business because they didn’t fit with what he imagined his business would be. He was too afraid that letting them go would damage his company’s value of integrity, for example, if it meant holding on to an employee that caused stress and problems because he wasn’t the right fit.  

Peter guided James to discover that doing what’s best for the business, employees, and client is in tandem with decisions of integrity.

Looking forward

Island Water is continuing to grow their client base in South Florida. James has hired outside sales reps and has re-established a strong culture within his company. He’s set the goals of checking his email once per day and fully automating his business. This has allowed him to create more efficient processes, so he can focus on the people of his business. This in turn has allowed him to be more present at home with his family.

As he continues, he is excited at the continued growth and results he will see with Peter’s coaching. After every conversation, he is willing to implement new coaching tactics and techniques in his personal and professional life towards continued growth.