Meet the Spark Owner: Cory Vanderpool

Hello! My name is Cory Vanderpool and I have a passion for solar energy. Together, we can harness the power of the sun to cultivate a greener, cleaner world. That’s an incredible thing.

Many years ago, I was actually set to become an air-traffic controller. But during the economic downturn of 2008, like many people across the United States, I found myself at a crossroads. One month prior to graduation, the only employer of aircraft controllers announced a two-year hiring freeze on all federal employees including aircraft controllers. I was out of luck and needed to start from scratch.

Prior to my pursuit of air-traffic controlling, I had tried my hand with several business ventures; some were successful, some not so much. I purchased a failing corporate lunch delivery service thinking I could turn it around… I didn’t. I even purchased a catering company from my in-laws that I had previously worked for. And while the business was a great one to be in, my heart just wasn’t in it.

I then decided to get my real estate license and was offered almost 50 homes to manage as a property manager. Again, a great opportunity– but I structured the business in a way that essentially guaranteed its failure. All of these pursuits offered many lessons learned and each new path taken eventually led me to find my true passion for solar energy.

My Solar Journey

It wasn’t until I got a job selling tires to trash companies, trucking fleets and construction companies that I had an epiphany. While I was driving around listening to the radio, I heard this man named Dave Ramsey who ended up being my mentor from afar. My wife and I jumped in with both feet as we listened to Dave's messages about getting out of debt. Now that we were debt-free, I was inspired to once again try my hand as an entrepreneur. As luck would have it, around this time, I had three close friends reach out to me to ask if I would be interested in getting into the solar industry. 

I knew nothing about solar. 

I had a construction background and a sales background; solar seemed like a great idea but there were very few people that actually had any working knowledge about the product. Still, I felt inspired by this new energy resource and my wife and I decided to leave Texas for Southern California.

We quit our jobs, left our insurance plan, moved across the country and took the small nest egg  we had built up to start a company selling solar door-to-door. At the time, it seemed like the most exciting thing in the world. Now, eight years later, I look back and realize this was one of the scariest things I’d ever done. 

I soon remembered why I left the door-to-door sales industry; knocking on doors, selling something – even though it's going to add tremendous value to the families you're selling it to – is not easy and presents a lot of challenges. After about six weeks and a lot more failure than success, I sat in the driveway of my house one evening, contemplating all of my decisions. Maybe I should just quit. Maybe we should move back to Texas. Maybe this was an awful idea.

My wife, however, encouraged me to push on. In five years, our small company grew to provide solar across five states. We had hundreds of salesmen in that workforce. We bought a beautiful building in Southern California and went from not only selling solar but installing and servicing thousands of solar customers as well. 

Now, since joining the solar industry, I’ve worked in California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, New Jersey and Hawaii. Eight years later, my family has relocated to Arizona, and I've gained a wide knowledge experience in licensing and certification that has given me a unique perspective on the residential solar industry. 

Thank you for coming along on this journey with me! 

You can reach out anytime and learn more about Spark here.