Don’t stand around and watch other people succeed, and then wonder if you can duplicate their efforts. Instead, bust your butt, put in the hard work and make it happen!
Founder and President of All In Aviation, Paul Sallach attended the University of North Dakota, the leading aviation university in the world, where he met his wife Lindsay, who is also a pilot, flight instructor and co-owner of All In Aviation. Upon graduating with a degree in Commercial Aviation, Sallach began his career at Cirrus Aircraft in 2004. In 2009, he relocated to Las Vegas to work for Lone Mountain Aircraft, specializing in pre-owned Cirrus sales, and launched All In Aviation in June of 2016.
As president of All In Aviation, the only Platinum Cirrus Training Center in Southern Nevada, Sallach manages business operations, functions as chief flight instructor and oversees the quality of instruction given to clients. Sallach has been a pilot for 20 years, has more than 10 years of experience in aircraft sales, and over 6,000 hours of incident free flying. He is certified as an Airline Transport Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor – Instrument.
Where did the idea for your company come from?
While selling Cirrus Aircraft at Lone Mountain Aviation, pilots were repeatedly inquiring about the ability to rent or flight train in the aircraft we had advertised for sale. We saw there was an obvious demand for a premium flight training and rental provider in Las Vegas, so we created a boutique Cirrus flight school, All In Aviation.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
I manage business operations, function as chief flight instructor and oversee the quality of instruction given to clients. Owning my own business, I enjoy the freedom to try new things without seeking approval, sharing the joy of flight with clients, and being able to contribute to the local economy and workforce. Without a boss, the creativity to explore new opportunities is unhindered. As a pilot, I enjoy a lifestyle where you can go wherever you want, whenever you want, and fly in awesome airplanes.
How do you bring ideas to life?
We are currently in the process of building a 25-hangar facility at the Henderson Executive Airport (HND), a suburban area of Las Vegas. We have current operations in North Las Vegas and a small office at HND, but we are growing beyond the capacity of our current locations, in regard to the number of students we serve, clients who rent our aircraft and the size of our fleet.
So, when we sat down to brainstorm what our expansion would look like, we decided to go big – the complex will be the first purpose-built, multi-use aviation facility of its kind at HND, and will include 9,000 square feet of office space, five training rooms, a full-size classroom, a library, a 16-person conference room, an avionics workshop, a pilot shop, a parts department and a 22,000 square-foot maintenance hangar for our maintenance partner, Lone Mountain Aviation, and their services. The project is set to break ground this fall.
So, to bring this idea to life, we went “all in.”
What’s one trend that excites you?
For decades, home study learning materials for flight training have been mostly offered in the format of textbooks and supplemental VHS/DVDs. With the advent of the iPad, there is a rapid change for those training materials to be interactive via Learning Management systems. This new system now allows us to see first-hand the areas where we need to spend more time in review with our students.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
It is our habit to continually ask clients for feedback and provide testimonials. It never ceases to amaze us that customers are very eager to share their opinions, but you have to make a conscious effort to ask! We love hearing what they have to say and using their feedback to improve our business.
Another measure we take is always aiming to be a step above the competition. We offer more than other flight schools, and therefore want our services to reflect that. We are the only aviation company in Southern Nevada to exclusively offer Cirrus Aircraft, the most sophisticated, technologically advanced and safest aircraft manufacturer on the market. Other flight schools mostly provide old airplanes that are often older than the student learning to fly them. We also provide concierge-style service, where our planes are hangered, air-conditioned, cleaned after each use, and include provided Bose headsets and water for each guest.
Additionally, we offer destination flight lesson experience packages, where students can take an introductory flight lesson around Southern Nevada and enjoy sights like the Las Vegas Strip, Hoover Dam, Red Rock and the Grand Canyon. Typical flight schools offer flight experiences for five minutes of flying around the traffic pattern. You take off, go in a circle and land. We give an experience where the customer really gets to see how earning a pilot license and having the ability to fly a private aircraft would change their life.
What advice would you give your younger self?
The advice I would give my younger self is, regardless of what career you are pursuing, take basic courses in bookkeeping, marketing and business communications. It’s important to remember you are always selling yourself, even if you don’t think your job is in sales. Secondly, don’t stand around and watch other people succeed, and then wonder if you can duplicate their efforts. Instead, bust your butt, put in the hard work and make it happen!
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
The Vegas Golden Knights are absolutely going win the Stanley Cup!
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Find an exercise that you enjoy and do it consistently! With all the travel required for work, the easiest exercise for me is to lace up a pair of athletic shoes and go for a run. It allows me to really get to know the area I’m visiting. Exercising regularly can help relieve the stress that comes along with being an entrepreneur and business owner.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business? Please explain how.
Having strategic partners has been key. Early in business there were expenses that needed to be made which represented significant opportunity, but also sizable risk. By having others bear the expense and risk while sharing the reward has allowed for us to grow with less stress. That said, don’t give up equity in your business!
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
Our clients have very high expectations with timely communication. I will admit to taking on too much early on at the expense of not following up with customers the way we should. Adding a team member whose primary focus is taking care of client services in a timely manner and managing our guest experience has proven to be very rewarding.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Let’s face it, airline travel sucks!! If someone could figure out how to make an Uber-type app for air travel it would change the world.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
We got caught up in the Vegas Golden Knights playoff frenzy. However, it was the best $100’s of dollars we have spent. Running into clients at the games and solidifying our place as a local business with a local and collective passion has proven already to have a significant ROI.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
In our business we need a system to track aircraft maintenance, pilot certifications, recurrent training requirement, and of course scheduling. It is of course specific to our industry, but we have really come to appreciate Flight Schedule Pro.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
When I’m not immersing myself in aviation, I really love reading Dave Ramsey’s published works on personal and business finance. Specifically, I recommend Dave Ramsey’s, “The Total Money Makeover” because he provides excellent advice to help anyone reach their financial goals. Every other year I try to attend his EntreLeadership Summit, and I look forward to doing so next year.
What is your favorite quote?
“Live like no one else, so that later on you can live like no one else.”- Dave Ramsey
This quote is a guiding principle on how we should live our lives. Work hard, ignore what everyone else is doing. Stay focused on your goals, and you will be very successful.
Key learnings:
• Always sell yourself, even if you aren’t in sales. As an entrepreneur, people’s impression of you is also their impression of your business. Make it a good one!
• Don’t stand around watching others succeed and hope the same will happen to you. It is up to you to bust your butt and make it happen for yourself.
• Ignore what everyone else is doing. It is important to stay focused on your goals without comparing yourself to what other people are doing. Continue to work hard and live like no one else!
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Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.