Why I Run a Home Services Company Alongside a Tech Portfolio
A local smart-home install business and an AI software portfolio look like they have nothing in common. Here's why I run both — and what the hands-on company teaches the rest.
Why I Run a Home Services Company Alongside a Tech Portfolio
On paper it doesn't fit. I build AI software, run exam-prep and content platforms, and architect automation systems — and I also run a company that sends a veteran-owned crew to install smart home and security systems in Oklahoma homes. People assume one of those is the "real" business and the other is a hobby. Neither is. The home services company earns its place, and part of why is that it keeps the rest of the portfolio honest.
The customer-facing version of Safire Home's work — what smart home installation actually costs in the OKC metro — is a good example of the difference. This is about why I keep a physical, local, hands-on business in a portfolio that's otherwise software.
Physical businesses teach you things software hides
Software lets you abstract away the customer. You can ship features and read dashboards and never look anyone in the eye. A home services business doesn't allow that. Someone is in a customer's house. The install either works through the next Oklahoma storm or it doesn't. The customer's trust is concrete and immediate, and you learn fast what actually matters to people versus what you assumed mattered.
That feedback is brutal and valuable. The same instinct that makes Safire Home insist on systems that work when the internet's down — because that's what an Oklahoma homeowner actually needs — is the instinct I want running through the software companies too. Build for the real condition the person is in, not the demo.
Different pace, different rhythm, same operator
The home services business runs on a completely different rhythm than the software — referral-driven, local, relationship-paced, seasonal. Running both means I can't get lulled into thinking every business works like the one I look at most. They compete for the same hours, and that tension forces clarity about what each one actually needs from me.
That's a deliberate part of how I've structured 2057 Holdings — a portfolio that's intentionally varied so no single operating model becomes the only one I know how to run.
I'm Jesse Myers — Marine veteran, 32 years in enterprise IT, and I run 2057 Holdings, a portfolio that includes Safire Home Solutions.