“I Chose to Have Children”:
Katie Malloy on Raising Two Girls Alone and Selling Without Taking Advantage
The Pursuit with Dr. Pat® announces the upcoming release of Episode 23 featuring Kathryn “Katie” Malloy, VP of Marketing and Residential Sales at Elite Mechanical LLC. In the summer of 2003, Malloy’s marriage ended, her home was foreclosed, and her car was repossessed. She was left with two daughters, ages 3 and 5, and no family nearby. Dr. Pat Pachciarz® asks when she first realized how strong she had to be. “I don’t know that there was ever a moment,” she says. “It was just something that you do. You take care of your family.”
Strength, for Malloy, looked like a schedule. Up at 5:30. Out the door by 6:30 for two drop-offs, one at daycare and one at kindergarten. In her chair at work by 7:30, because “if I’m 5 minutes early, I’m 5 minutes late.” She backed each morning out from the twenty minutes her younger daughter needed and laid the outfits out the night before. When that daughter, then three or four, changed her mind at dawn, the rule was simple: “You want to wear that tomorrow, put it on. You’re sleeping in it tonight.” No daycare, she notes, cares about wrinkles. When the girls went to bed, she went to bed. The house went silent.
“I chose to have children. They didn’t choose to have me.”— Katie Malloy | VP Marketing & Residential Sales, Elite Mechanical LLC
She does not ask for sympathy, and she does not extend it to herself. “They weren’t an accident. They were a choice,” she says of her daughters. “I’m not just a mom when it’s convenient.” In the first weeks after the foreclosure, the three of them moved into her great-grandmother’s house and slept in one full-size bed. “I needed them by me. I needed to know that they were okay.” Those girls are 26 and 28 now, one married and one engaged. Asked what she would change, Malloy does not name the schedule. “What I would actually want to change is go in there and play the Barbies with them, rather than doing laundry and cleaning, because that time frame is so short and you don’t get it back.”
Her career was built on the same arithmetic of small, repeated days. As an inside coordinator at a global technology company, she handled five states: Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas. The engineers she dispatched became friends, and they taught her. “Each day, they would give me something new. And then the next day, they would quiz me on it to see if I retained it.” Five minutes a day, for about three years. When a technical sales position opened, the same engineers told her she was ready. “I went out on a limb. What have I got to lose?” She has been in sales since 2006.
Today Malloy sells heating, cooling, and indoor air quality, and she sells the way she once wished someone had sold to her. “I don’t want to be mansplained to, I don’t want to be oversold to, I want my problems resolved, I want to understand what I’m getting.” In a home she asks about hot and cold spots, humidity, allergies, and how long the family plans to stay, five years or thirty. “I’m not there to sell you anything. I’m there to fix an issue, to resolve a problem that you’re having.” Her technicians are there to educate: a furnace is good for about 18 to 20 years, a system should be checked twice a year, and an owner deserves to know what is aging before it fails.
When a customer calls a $1,000 repair too expensive, her answer has become something of a signature. “Pay us what you feel is fair. And then don’t call us again. Find someone else that you feel will provide you a fair price for the same service.” Two or three commercial clients have heard it. “In the end, they pay the entire invoice amount. And they continue to call for additional work.” Dr. Pat told her on air he was stealing the line.
Elite Mechanical is a family company. Her fiancé, Tim, owns it. The two have been together 18 years and share a blended family of five kids and one grandson. Tim’s son, one of Malloy’s sons-in-law, and a future son-in-law all work in the business, and she is candid that leaving work at work is still a work in progress. The company volunteers at church and VFW dinners, supports the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry, and each year donates a system and its installation to a veteran in need.
Asked what she would tell a woman standing where she stood in June 2003, Malloy does not hesitate. “The reward is worth the work.” Then: “Enjoy the wins. Don’t dwell on the hard days, just get through them. It’s okay to cry.” And last: “Call a friend. Because that’s what women do. We build each other up.”
This conversation is for women raising a family on their own, homeowners trying to read a quote, and business owners building something beside the people they love.
Learn more about Katie Malloy and Elite Mechanical LLC at elitecomfortexperts.com, where the contact form goes directly to Malloy. Find her on Facebook. Episode 23 of The Pursuit with Dr. Pat® is coming soon. Subscribe at youtube.com/@drpat_pinnacle so you don’t miss it.
About Katie Malloy & Elite Mechanical LLC
“I didn’t know I was going to get such a great course on not only life and wisdom, but sales as well.”— Dr. Pat Pachciarz® | Host, The Pursuit with Dr. Pat®
Episode Details
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Episode | 23 |
| Guest | Kathryn “Katie” Malloy, VP Marketing & Residential Sales, Elite Mechanical LLC |
| Topics | Raising Two Girls Alone · Routine as Strength · Selling by Educating · Paying What Feels Fair · Family in the Business · The Reward Is Worth the Work |
| Watch / Subscribe | youtube.com/@drpat_pinnacle |
| Guest Website | elitecomfortexperts.com |
| Guest Social | |
| Host Website | drpat.co |
| The Pinnacle Group® | pinnacle-fp.com |
About The Pursuit with Dr. Pat®
The Pursuit with Dr. Pat® is a premier podcast and video series hosted by Dr. Pat Pachciarz®, Founder of The Pinnacle Group®, Pinnacle Private Wealth®, Pinnacle Tax Strategies®, and Pinnacle Academy™. Each episode features transformational conversations with leaders, visionaries, and change-makers who are redefining what it means to pursue purpose, wealth, and impact. The show is available on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Keep going...
About Elite Mechanical LLC
Elite Mechanical LLC serves residential and commercial customers with heating, cooling, and indoor air quality, including air conditioners, furnaces, humidification, and filtration. It is a family-run company owned by Katie Malloy’s fiancé, with family members working across the business. Its team educates customers on what their system needs so they can make an informed decision, and it gives back through church and VFW dinners, the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry, and one donated system and installation each year for a veteran in need. Learn more at elitecomfortexperts.com.
About Katie Malloy
Kathryn “Katie” Malloy is VP of Marketing and Residential Sales at Elite Mechanical LLC, where she leads in growth, community involvement, and volunteerism while focusing on customer service for residential and commercial customers. She began as an inside coordinator at a global technology company, learned the equipment from the engineers she worked beside, and moved into technical sales. She has been in a sales role since 2006. She is known as the kind of leader who supports and connects women and uplifts them in times of need. She is a mother of two daughters and part of a blended family of five kids and one grandson, and she says she is most proud of her family.
About the Give Back Foundation®
The Give Back Foundation® is the philanthropic arm of The Pinnacle Group®, committed to community empowerment, education, and healing initiatives that create lasting generational impact.