Meet Huy Nguyen of AMS ColdPro & The Cargo Crew in AMS (Greater Houston – TCC)

Today we’d like to introduce you to Huy Nguyen.

Huy, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My mom is a well known famous Vietnamese singer by the name of Thanh Tuyen.  My parents escaped their country during the Vietnam war to escape communism. They came to America in 1975 as refugees and started their new life in Alief with not a dollar to their name.  My mom continued her singing career, and my dad ran a convenient store. I was born in 1982 in Houston. Parents moved to Katy when I was about five to start a better life with a better school district for myself and siblings. I went to school in Katy and graduated in 2000 at Katy High School. I was a very shy kid in school. My first job was a busboy at Outback Steakhouse. After high school, I went straight to college at the University of Houston. From 2000-2010, those ten years of my life, I was trying to find myself, like most kids that age. I learned customer service from the restaurant and retail business. I learned to work with my hands and learn skills at car and tire shops like Discount Tire. I learned how to sell when I worked at Best Buy in the computer department. And I learned about the financials of businesses when I did accounting for Property Management companies for six years. I was bouncing around between careers trying to find where I fit in, all at the same time trying to pass classes in college.

By junior year in college, I was still an undeclared major. I remember going to the counselor’s office because I had to choose a major. I didn’t like any of the majors. The only two that stood out was Business and Optometry. Optometry, not because I wanted to be a doctor, but because optometrist basically sells glasses and contacts. To me, it was being a businessman. I knew I wasn’t going to complete another 5-7 years of school to be an optometrist, so I chose business. It didn’t matter anyway, because a month later, I dropped out of college. I decided it was more important to just work and make money. Besides, I didn’t like going to school anymore, and I wasn’t putting all my attention to it. I soon found that just working at my accounting job wasn’t making me enough money. Or at least not enough as I would like.

There was a time where I started to sell drugs to make extra cash. The money was so easy, I got myself into wanting to sell drugs more than I did work. I know it’s bad, but it’s my life story… I was in my mid-20s making stupid decisions. I thought I was invincible. Eventually, in 2010-11, I got caught up and caught some serious charges. I sat in jail for months without bond. I had a lot of time to reflect and think about my life while I was locked up. I told myself if I ever get free, I need to live the right and honest type of life. 2012, I was finally granted probation that we fought so hard for. Two years of litigation, we went through. As soon as I was free while still on probation, my first step was to find a job again. I already lost my car, my home, my previous job. At this point, it was 2012, I was 30 years old living at my parent’s house, borrowing their car, and had no job. Not even McDonald’s would hire me because of my background. One day, my dad calls me while I’m out and tells me that he’s getting the Air Conditioning system at his house replaced, and the company that is doing it, the boss is a Vietnamese guy my age. He also told me that my mom asked him if he would help me out by giving me a job, and the boss man said yes, and that he would hire me as an installer. I WAS STOKED. I finally had a job! Keep in mind, I was dating my wife for nine months before I landed this job. My wife was paying for meals every time we went out. (That’s a whole other story).

On my first day of the job, I asked the boss how much I was going to get paid. His reply was “I just want to see if you survive the first week.” I took that as motivation to not give up because he thought I wouldn’t make it and I wanted to show him I could. By the way… he started me at $8/hour. And I saw why he made that comment. Being an AC installer is a tough, rough, hot, dirty job. These attics in summertime in Houston get up to 150 degrees. I remember so many times where I wanted to give up and quit my underpaying shitty job… but… I didn’t. I knew that this crappy job, was a blessing given to me, and if I worked hard and moved up, I could be the owner one day as my boss. That was my vision, my goal, and therefore, that’s what I did. For the next four years, I worked as hard as I could and learned and got certified as soon as I could to get out of the installer position and be a service technician. I saved my money, so I could sign up for classes for HVAC certifications.

By 3rd year, I was a fully certified technician, working harder than ever before and continuing to save money that I made. When I completed my 4th year of HVAC, I applied to take the State Exam to get my State License. I passed the test on the first try and received my HVAC Master License. I took the leap of faith. I left the company I worked for, and spent everything I had saved down to the last penny on starting AMS ColdPro in 2016. I pursued my dream of being a business owner and running my own company. Today, AMS ColdPro has grossed a revenue of over a million dollars in its 2nd year and has become a solidified HVAC company in Houston. I still have more goals. I just don’t want to be a business owner. I want to be a true entrepreneur and own multiple businesses and investments. In January of this year 2019, I started my second company The Cargo Crew. The Cargo Crew is a professional trucking and transport company providing logistics throughout America. The Cargo Crew will be one of my main, if not my main focus this year. I’m always thinking ahead and preparing for the future. I’m already thinking about what’s next for my 3rd company.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I believe that in order to truly succeed in life as an entrepreneur, you must fail and fail often.  People who do not struggle or know what’s it’s like to have nothing, can be very difficult for them to succeed their dreams.  Entrepreneurs that started from nothing are the strongest and most successful businessmen I know. If you think about it, the darkest time in my moment was also the best time of my life. If it wasn’t for the time in jail and hitting rock bottom, I would have never learned. Jail humbled me a lot. It taught me what were the important things in life and to appreciate the little things. You learn that it’s a blessing to be free, breathing air, drinking clean water, being able to eat, taking a shower in your own shower and using your own bathroom. It teaches you that in order to succeed in America, you have to do things the right way and the legal way. The honest way. Then, you have nothing to worry about. To succeed and learn in life, you have to have struggled. Otherwise, you will never learn or know what it takes to overcome bad situations. Today, I appreciate all my losses just as much as I do my wins. I like it both… so how could I lose?

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about AMS ColdPro & The Cargo Crew – what should we know?
I own my own HVAC Company. I am a Licensed Air Conditioning Contractor. We provide repairs, installations, replacements, anything and everything related to HVAC for Residential and Commercial clients.

The best thing about what I do is I get to help others, and do so by my skill, trade, knowledge, and customer service. There’s no better feeling when you have a family in distress in the middle of Summer in Houston when it’s 100 degrees, babies in the home, people sweating and burning up… when you fix their AC and it comes on, and the way they look at you and thank you for fixing it, it’s very humbling and gratifying to know that I did something to help.

I’m a family owned business, so we are different from the big guys. I don’t have 100 employees floating around. With me, you get the same professional service every time from the same people. I have over 200 real reviews online from my clients and they are all 5-star. We take pride in that and want to make sure we upkeep that.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I have to thank God.  Without God, nothing would be possible. Thank you to my wife Jaquelin for staying by my side the entire time from the beginning even when I had nothing. Thank you to my parents who always believed in me and never gave up on me. In life, you learn, really no one cares about you or loves you the way your parents, family, and spouse does. In my life, I learned that many people will call themselves friends, but it doesn’t really mean anything. As soon as you get caught up or hit rock bottom, they are nowhere to be found.  Loyalty and love is key. If it wasn’t for God, my parents, my wife, my very close friends, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today. If it wasn’t for me getting in trouble and going to jail, I would have never learned. If I didn’t go to jail, I’d probably still be doing accounting… who knows.  Thank you to my old bosses and co-workers that have taught me the skill and business.  Special thanks to all the people who doubted and didn’t believe in me… Y’all gave me the free motivation I needed to succeed.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.AMSColdPro.com – www.TheCargoCrew.com
• Instagram: @its.huy

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