The Benefits of Fractional Relationships for Propane Marketers
Leadership Doesn’t Come With a Title
When Brian asked what leadership looks like for small operators, Aaron’s answer started with something most people don’t expect: yourself.
“Leadership really begins between your own ears,” he said. “If you’re able to get your mindset straight on where your compass is pointed and how you’re going to get there, and then course correct when you get a little lost, you’re already ahead of most.”
His point is that leadership isn’t a function of headcount. A company of four people still has a team that needs direction. The operators who understand that early tend to build something stronger than the ones waiting until they’re big enough to take it seriously.
He was also direct about the gap between title and actual influence. The person with the VP title and the person everyone actually listens to are not always the same. Identifying the real leaders in an organization and developing them intentionally is how the industry builds the bench it needs for the next decade.
When Hustle Stops Being Enough
One of the sharpest moments in the conversation came when Brian asked Aaron to identify the point at which hard work alone stops being the answer.
Aaron didn’t hesitate. It’s before the wall, he said. Before the owner is burning through seven days a week and running on empty, they need to have already started thinking about how to scale. And scaling means one thing most owners struggle with: giving work away.
“As the leader, you need to focus on only what you can do. That’s it,” he said. “If it’s something you can hand off, hand it off. Let somebody else tap the keys or turn the wrench or pull the hose.”
Brian added that most companies can hold tight control up to around two million gallons. Beyond that, the complexity changes. Supply planning, staffing investment, and operational infrastructure require a different kind of leadership, and the owner who can’t step back becomes the ceiling on their own growth.
The One Trait Strong Operators Share
When asked what he consistently sees in well-run propane operations, Aaron came back to one thing: clear long-range vision.
“Without that vision, you can fall victim to the newest shiny thing that crosses your path,” he said. A company that knows where it wants to be in two years or ten years has a compass. One that doesn’t is just reacting.
He also pointed operators toward a resource many aren’t using. The NPGA collects market data by county through the census, and it can tell an operator exactly how many gallons are being sold in their current territory and the territories around them. If you’re selling two million gallons and there are only three million total in your area, the math tells you where to look next. That data is available, and most people aren’t pulling it.
Developing the Next Generation
Aaron mentors people both inside and outside his own organization. When Justin asked where most operations fall short in developing future leaders, his answer started with hiring.
“Pretty much anybody can be taught propane,” Aaron said. “What you can’t teach is motivation, curiosity, or drive.” His interviews reflect that. He doesn’t ask candidates to walk him through their resume. He asks what gets them out of bed in the morning. He asks them to set the resume aside and just tell him who they are. He’s looking for fit and potential, not credentials.
The mentoring itself is built around questions. When someone comes to him with a problem, he asks six questions before he even considers giving an answer. What have you done so far? How did you come to that conclusion? What’s your plan? It frustrates people sometimes. But the answers they arrive at on their own are the ones that actually stick.
His closing message on this was hard to argue with: if you don’t have someone in your organization who you’re actively preparing to take your job, you’re not fully doing your job as a leader.
What Independents Get Right
Aaron has been through acquisition and integration work, which gives him a clear view of what smaller operators do well that larger companies sometimes lose. The answer came quickly: customer relationships.
“Propane is an oddly intimate industry,” he said. “We’re in their backyard. Our guys are petting the dog. We’re in their houses checking appliances. We’re providing one of their basic human needs.”
The smaller operators who know every customer by name, who stand at the counter for 20 minutes catching up about the school board and the Friday fish fry, those companies hold something that’s genuinely hard to replicate at scale. Lakes Gas has made staying local a core strategic pillar for exactly that reason.
He also shared something small but telling about employee retention. In winter, he goes out at the end of the day and brushes the snow off his team’s cars. Sometimes he takes their keys and starts the engine while he’s at it. It costs him 15 minutes. To the CSR who spent the day fielding frustrated customer calls, it means something.
What the National Conversation is Actually About
At the NPGA and PERC level, Aaron said the discussion is increasingly focused on expanding propane beyond residential space heating. Combined heat and power, primary power generation, micro grids, propane-powered irrigation, port tractors, and AI data center power generation are all part of the conversation. The opportunities are real and growing, but most independent operators aren’t plugged in closely enough to see them developing.
He was equally direct about advocacy. When legislation threatens the industry at the state or local level, the most effective response isn’t waiting on NPGA lobbyists in Washington to carry the whole load. It’s operators picking up the phone, walking into a district office, or writing a counter editorial in the local paper. The person who shows up to that conversation knows this industry better than any staffer they’ll ever meet. Showing up is most of the battle.
Where to Go From Here
Aaron’s closing thought wasn’t about technology or gallons. It was about succession.
Start working today on your own replacement. Identify two or three people you want to have your job someday and start building them deliberately. Not because you’re leaving, but because you can’t move forward until there’s someone ready to hold what you’ve built.
That’s not just good leadership advice for a propane company. It’s what determines whether this industry has the people it needs to take advantage of everything that’s coming next.
Aaron Huizenga is the East Division Manager at Lakes Gas and a regular columnist for LP Gas Magazine. If the questions he raised about leadership, operational structure, or building the next layer of your team resonate with where your company is right now, that’s exactly the kind of conversation Brian and Justin at 1075 Consulting are built for. Schedule a free discovery call here.
