As Robert Frost said in his poem, “The Road Not Taken,” taking the road less traveled can sometimes make all the difference. Doug Cross, president of Zulu Investment Corp. dba AAA Auger, has found success and roadblocks in every job he’s had. But the road he took was never intended to lead to an endless supply of money; it always led to something else: improving the world around him.

“Somewhere along the line, maybe about age 25, your brain starts to mature and you start to realize: There’s a better way to live your life than the way you were living it,” Cross said.

The journey of this Central Catholic alumnus began in 1966 at Northside State Bank. He was a loan officer and was so successful that one of his clients hired him away to work for Shepherd and Burris Homes. Cross learned a lot about business in his first decade out of college by watching other people stumble.

After two, brief years working for someone else’s home building company, Cross set out on his own and started Liberty Homes in 1975.

Business boomed at Liberty homes through the rest of the 1970s and into the 1980s. Liberty built homes at a price lower than market value so the average Joe could afford a quality home.

“We grew, and we grew and we outgrew ourselves, actually,” Cross said. “At the end of ’87, real estate values took an incredible tumble. You couldn’t give a home away.”

That year spelled the end of Liberty Homes. Cross lost it all.

“It was just another bump in the road, and I gathered what we had left and started over,” Cross said.

In 1995, however, Cross was given a chance he couldn’t turn down. His longtime friend, Earl Poe, was struggling with collection of a debt from the sale of a plumbing company called AAuger Plumbing and asked for Cross’ help to revitalize it. At the time, Poe’s business had been turned upside, but Cross knew the company had room to grow.

AAA Auger (the name was changed upon Cross’ arrival) was eventually copyrighted, and its system of business was patented - both of which are owned by Zulu Investment. The system of business is what makes the company successful, and it involves the company’s employees and its customers.

For its employees, AAA Auger puts the plumbers on the fast track to success. In most companies, it takes two years for a plumber, at minimum wage, to get the 4,000 hours of work time to advance from apprentice to tradesman – a promotion that adds credibility and money to the plumber’s resume.

“What we do is we start them off at a reasonable hourly wage, substantially above minimum wage, but they are required to work 50 hours a week, and they can work 60 hours a week if they wish getting into overtime,” Cross said.

This way, the plumber can support a family while he or she is an apprentice, and the plumber becomes a tradesman in a year and three months instead of two years.

On the other side of the table is the customer. AAA Auger sets itself apart from other plumbing companies with its policy of “no charge for coming out.”  (“Why should we charge you for the opportunity to sell you something?” Cross said.) 

The company also has a dispatcher who cares about your problem on duty 24/7, so you will never talk to a machine or an answering service. The company gives a firm, fair price before it begins any work and a service policy when the work is completed.

“We tell you up front exactly what we are going to do and exactly what it’s going to cost,” Cross said. “If it takes us two-and-a-half days for something we thought we could do in an hour-and-a-half, you still pay exactly what we quoted.”

Those steps are only three of the many details that separate AAA Auger from other plumbing companies. After serving as AAA Auger’s president from 1995 to 2004, Cross established Zulu Investment. The company collects royalties on all of AAA Auger’s cities – San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth and Tulsa.

Because of this system, Cross has cut his work week (at one point, during the ‘90s, Cross said he was working around 100 hours a week), and all of his income is passive. This freedom allows him to participate in many volunteer positions.

In addition to his role as president of Zulu, Cross maintains a number of positions in the community, such as being a board member for Central Catholic and Mount Sacred Heart School. He is also a Eucharistic minister and lector at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church.

“We’re not going to take anything with us when we leave the face of this Earth,” Cross said. “So we’re going to keep giving.”

If volunteering his own time wasn’t enough, Cross and his wife, Nancy, give away about $100,000 a year to various charities and organizations and live meagerly themselves.

Poe, the man responsible for bringing Cross to AAA Auger, spoke highly of Cross’ character.

“He’s [a] very honest and very straightforward person,” Poe said.

Cross’ personal traits have also crossed (no pun intended) into the business world successfully.

“He’s very well organized, and he’s a bit of a workaholic,” Poe said. “At the same time, he managed to figure out how to do a number of other things (such as volunteering).”

After 44 years in business and 63 years in San Antonio, all of Cross’ companies seem to have one thing in common: quality service at a fair price and a good work environment for his employees. This way of doing business never led Cross to a billionaire-type wealth. But his honest, hardworking approach continues to touch the lives that surround him.

And that’s made all the difference.

For testimonials, rates and more information on AAA Auger, visit www.aaa-auger.com.