The Office Manager
Tracy Sheriff
Atlanta Hot Tub Center
Roswell, Georgia
Tracy Sheriff is one of four members of her family who work for Atlanta Hot Tub Center. It started with her son, Cory Sheriff, who worked for owner Brian Johnston as a delivery tech. When Johnston was looking for an office manager, Cory Sheriff encouraged his mom to apply. After 11 years in the HVAC industry, she hit the hot tub ground running.
Sheriff has always thought of herself as a quick study, and is fascinated by how hot tubs are made and how they work. “I love to challenge myself,” she says, adding that she’s also proud of how, with her influence, the company has gone paperless. “We were doing everything handwritten,” she says. “Every invoice was handwritten. But we were growing so big, we needed a [software] program.”
Seven years later, Sheriff remains in this fast-paced role, from which she has relished watching the bustling business grow. “It has been tremendously busy,” she says, “and we exploded when the pandemic happened.”
In addition to Cory, her son Ian has also worked at Atlanta Hot Tub Center in the past, both sons have gone on to start their own businesses in welding and mechanics. Her brother-in-law, Dusty Baker, however, serves as Atlanta Hot Tub Center’s sales manager to this day.
For Sheriff, her days are diverse. She manages the office, but also does sales and dispatching. She jokes that she is a “Jack of all trades and master of none.”
After work, she goes home to her 45-acre farm to cut the grass and make sure the animals have what they need. “We have free-range chickens and dogs,” she says, “and we are looking at getting cows again and more chickens.”
She also became a certified service tech this year in the hopes of being able to better answer customer questions and was one of two women in a virtual class of about 12 students — although in a recent sales class she took, she reports it was an even split of men and women.
“When 2020 happened … more women were looking for something to change,” Sheriff says. “The industry has grown and it’s for everyone. I have a gal in the office who does estimates who’s dying to get out in the field and become a service tech.”
Sheriff has every intention of continuing her industry education as well as helping other women carve their own paths in the industry. Eventually, she’d like to travel to the manufacturer’s plant in California “and watch how they make the hot tub from start to finish.”