1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,720
Hey guys, welcome back to the Homework Assignment Podcast.

2
00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:10,640
I'm your host, Artie Petino.

3
00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:14,760
And today we have a Q&A episode ready for you guys.

4
00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:19,840
If you guys haven't followed us before, we have this podcast obviously and what we do

5
00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:26,680
is we interview a lot of entrepreneurs, business owners that have made it, that have been successful

6
00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:29,240
in many different industries.

7
00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:33,320
And we kind of get down to the nitty-gritty of the balance between home life and work

8
00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:39,640
life and kind of the different tactics that they're doing as well as brainstorming together.

9
00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:42,840
And yeah, that's pretty much what we're all about.

10
00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:45,120
So we appreciate you guys listening in, following us.

11
00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:47,080
And like I said, today we have a Q&A.

12
00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:49,760
We haven't done one of these in quite a while.

13
00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:54,440
We've had back-to-back guests as well as a huge hiatus.

14
00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,480
We had a lot of stuff going on in our company that we had to kind of get situated, taken

15
00:00:58,480 --> 00:00:59,480
care of.

16
00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:02,600
But now we're back and we plan to remain a week to week.

17
00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:05,080
So again, thanks for joining in.

18
00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:09,480
So let's see what questions we have.

19
00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:11,720
We got some good ones for you today.

20
00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:13,720
All right, I'll start out here.

21
00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:14,720
They're probably not that good.

22
00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:15,720
They're pretty good.

23
00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:16,720
They're just kidding.

24
00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:17,720
They're probably pretty good.

25
00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:18,720
Let's see.

26
00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:24,440
Question number one for you is you have previously stated that failures are opportunities to

27
00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:26,940
learn valuable lessons.

28
00:01:26,940 --> 00:01:31,720
What is the most recent failure you have experienced and what did you learn from it?

29
00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:36,040
Well, first of all, if I stated that, I must be pretty good.

30
00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:37,840
I'm just kidding.

31
00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:43,040
Second of all, well, let's see.

32
00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:46,080
My whole life is full of failures.

33
00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,280
I felt at picking great friends.

34
00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:53,080
I'm just kidding.

35
00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:54,080
Let's see.

36
00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:58,400
If I could pinpoint a certain failure, it would be something I think I've talked about

37
00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:06,600
before was in, I think it was the winter of 2020 or 2019.

38
00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:09,080
It's kind of blurring all together at this point.

39
00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:14,360
But what I specifically remember is I had been trying to build my company for some time

40
00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:18,680
at this point and I had quite a bit of things going on.

41
00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:23,480
I was smaller than, it was just me, had a couple dudes and we were doing some remodels

42
00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:27,400
and stuff and I kind of got ahead of myself.

43
00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:31,280
I didn't know enough about business and I thought just because I knew enough about construction,

44
00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,560
I've been doing it with my hands for a while that I could start this company.

45
00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:42,840
So I tried to get more foundational as far as having an actual structure in my business

46
00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:46,800
and by doing that, I made some poor decisions.

47
00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:53,200
I took on some jobs that I didn't necessarily, I shouldn't maybe have taken as well as hiring

48
00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:58,040
some people that I shouldn't have been hiring because I didn't know the first thing to look

49
00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:02,280
for and kind of employees or people that I needed at the time.

50
00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:08,560
And basically, September, again, I think it was of 2020.

51
00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,120
I had a good amount of money.

52
00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:12,680
I had some jobs going on.

53
00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:16,200
I was doing stuff my way, things were working out pretty decently.

54
00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:18,520
In the minute, I tried to expand.

55
00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:23,880
It took only about four months for me to go from doing good, I won't say great, but doing

56
00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:28,200
decent to literally bankrupting myself.

57
00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:34,520
And I remember that towards the end of that year, we had a family trip planned up to Colorado

58
00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:40,760
and just to go spend like a week there over Christmas, kind of celebrate Christmas up there

59
00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:42,400
with my wife's family.

60
00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:48,440
And by the time the week before came to actually head out, I realized I literally had no money.

61
00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:52,920
It was the first time since I've been married, or even basically since I started dating my

62
00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:55,960
wife that I didn't have money to pay for my own bills.

63
00:03:55,960 --> 00:03:57,640
And it was super difficult.

64
00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:02,000
I remember having to kind of drop my pride and go into my father-in-law who, you know,

65
00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,640
I got married in March of 2019.

66
00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:10,880
So just six months later, I literally didn't even have money to pay for gas to drive up

67
00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:12,720
to Colorado.

68
00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:15,560
Gas wasn't that bad back then as it is now.

69
00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,760
But still, I didn't have money for that, I didn't have money to pay my rent, so I had

70
00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:19,760
to ask for help.

71
00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:26,600
And I've always had two points throughout, I guess there's a few points during the year

72
00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:34,480
where I really, like I always hustle, but when it comes to time for vacation and Christmas,

73
00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:39,840
Halloween and Thanksgiving, those are my four, sometimes five things depending on the vacations

74
00:04:39,840 --> 00:04:43,960
that go on that I just, no matter what happens, I need to make sure that my bank account is

75
00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:48,640
where I want it to be over these periods of time so I can actually enjoy my vacation.

76
00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:54,080
Because if I'm struggling financially or if I'm having issues financially, me mentally,

77
00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:55,520
I just don't operate well.

78
00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,000
So even if I'm on vacation, I'm truly not enjoying it.

79
00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,800
And so same thing with Christmas time, if like, I don't have a good cushion in my account,

80
00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:02,960
I'm struggling.

81
00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:07,400
And so towards that end of the year, I mean, I hit all three of those holidays, which has

82
00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:11,480
always kind of been a goal that I was able to execute on just having that cushion and

83
00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:13,000
I didn't have any money.

84
00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,960
And so it was tough.

85
00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:20,840
And I, you know, family knew of my situation.

86
00:05:20,840 --> 00:05:27,680
I got a lot of feedback on, you know, like, hey, you need to go do this or you need to

87
00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:28,680
go work for this company.

88
00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:32,640
You need to learn a little bit more about business before you start your own company.

89
00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:35,880
And I was just kind of beating myself up like, hey, I tried, I failed.

90
00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:40,960
And that was a pin point for me where I was, you know, I had two options.

91
00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:47,680
Either I succumbed to that failure and I go get a great job and make some good money.

92
00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:52,840
But that would also entail giving up my dreams of being, you know, kind of building an empire

93
00:05:52,840 --> 00:05:58,160
and or I could, you know, accept that failure, figure out what I did wrong and learn from

94
00:05:58,160 --> 00:05:59,160
it.

95
00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:04,560
And so inevitably from, you know, being here now, I obviously pushed through it.

96
00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:09,440
And I think, you know, you grow up, I grew up hearing at least that, hey, you have to

97
00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:12,960
fail to succeed and failure is all part of success.

98
00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:15,000
I learned that in football and stuff.

99
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:23,400
And I don't think I truly, I mean, truly, truly learned that until I lost everything.

100
00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:26,200
I think that growing up as a kid, football and stuff was great.

101
00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:29,680
Like, you know, hey, I wanted to start all that kind of stuff, but that wasn't like my

102
00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:31,880
life for some people that is.

103
00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:34,720
And I think those people go pro, but for me it wasn't.

104
00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:40,200
So I never had anything to where like my entire life was on the line until this moment.

105
00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:46,160
And because I failed everything that I tried doing that I wanted to do more than anything

106
00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:48,520
in my life, my dream, it's I failed at it.

107
00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:51,000
Like that was just such a pivotal moment.

108
00:06:51,000 --> 00:07:01,360
And it taught me that I love failure because every time I fail as much as it hurts, the

109
00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:06,080
amount of stuff I learn from it and the amount of growth I get from it, because of that experience,

110
00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:10,960
I now recognize that and I'm now able to actually sit down, get through the pain, get through

111
00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:16,520
the emotional drain of, you know, whatever crap just happened, but actually be able to

112
00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:18,640
be like, okay, got through it.

113
00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:19,640
Now I'm good.

114
00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:20,640
Now I'm going to learn from it.

115
00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:21,640
And here's what I'm going to do differently here.

116
00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:23,040
I'm implementing this system.

117
00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:25,320
I'm putting this operation in place.

118
00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:28,280
I'm going to do this next time.

119
00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:30,880
And yeah, that now I love failure.

120
00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:35,320
Every time that we have a challenge or I mess up on something, it does suck.

121
00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:38,880
And now it costs some, you know, sometimes my mistakes cost me tens of thousands of

122
00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:39,880
dollars.

123
00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:45,240
I've had a mistake cost me over, you know, $500,000 before.

124
00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:53,080
But what I will say is no matter what bad has happened or what those failures were, because

125
00:07:53,080 --> 00:08:00,440
of the lessons I learned from it, I've either made more money following that or my life has

126
00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:03,040
gotten better because of that lesson I've learned.

127
00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:04,960
So for me, I invite failure.

128
00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:08,840
Obviously, we try to be the best we can and everything we do, I try to be the best person

129
00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:13,200
I possibly can, but failure is, is always going to be there.

130
00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:17,760
And I have learned to accept that I have now learned to look for that failure.

131
00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:21,080
That also changed my mindset on jobs like looking for failure.

132
00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:23,520
How does that affect me going to our projects?

133
00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:29,320
Well, before I remember I had a project that, you know, it was one of my first huge projects

134
00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:32,800
I did and I had partnered kind of with my uncle at the time, we'd been in construction for

135
00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:33,800
over a decade.

136
00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:37,520
And I remember getting this job done and I'm like, Hey, man, it's ready for you to come

137
00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:39,720
take a look and do a quality check.

138
00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:41,560
And he came in and I was so excited.

139
00:08:41,560 --> 00:08:44,600
I remember even telling my wife, like, yeah, my uncle's coming tomorrow.

140
00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:48,880
Jensen, who's been on our podcast before, I was like, he's about to come in and I see

141
00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:50,760
all this amazing stuff that I did.

142
00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:53,680
And I'm sure he's going to, you know, be proud, all that kind of stuff.

143
00:08:53,680 --> 00:08:56,520
And he's going to be excited for the future of the company.

144
00:08:56,520 --> 00:09:01,440
And he came in and was like, this, this, this wrong, that wrong, like, Hey, this, this is

145
00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:02,440
not good quality.

146
00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:05,280
And I was just like, wow.

147
00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:11,120
And so in learning this lesson, now I'm like that when I go to jobs, it's not necessarily

148
00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:16,000
to tear people down to our project managers down or to say, Hey, we suck at what we do,

149
00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,840
but it's really to look for those areas that we're filling in, because that's opportunity

150
00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:23,440
to make it better for the next client first fix it there, but also make it better for

151
00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:25,320
the, for the next time.

152
00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:33,560
And that's why I believe our company has truly gone from, you know, getting jobs from social

153
00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:38,520
media and just kind of hustling and doing sales to now people are calling us, Hey, you

154
00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:42,520
know, you did work at my best friend's house and I want you to come do my full home remodel.

155
00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:43,840
Hey, I see what you're doing.

156
00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:47,840
I've talked to so and so and so it's, you know, kicked in that referral basis.

157
00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:49,960
And that is because we've bettered ourselves.

158
00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:54,040
I've seen a lot of companies that have made mistakes, which is all part of the game, but

159
00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:59,320
they either kicked themselves in the, you know, in the foot for, you know, that failure,

160
00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:03,040
they can't get over it, or they just don't see, they accept it, but they do nothing to

161
00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:04,040
fix it.

162
00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:08,200
And, and ultimately they end up failing completely.

163
00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:11,160
And then they never get back up again, because they feel like they can't.

164
00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:16,960
So anyways, I, yeah, I think that whole mindset of failure and understanding how essential

165
00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:24,240
failure is in success, no matter what industry you're in, like understanding that is truly

166
00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:28,600
a game changer and it will change your entire life like it has mine.

167
00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:30,600
So long answer to a question.

168
00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:32,600
Yeah, it was pretty decent.

169
00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:36,760
We guys started to record who's asking all these so we can like, well, some of them call

170
00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:39,320
them on it and we'll respect that.

171
00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:41,840
Oh, is that because it was you?

172
00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:43,840
That one, that wasn't me.

173
00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:46,480
All right, you ready for number two?

174
00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:47,480
Yep.

175
00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:50,200
Okay, taking, taking a sip of water.

176
00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:51,200
Get ready.

177
00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:54,400
Kind of getting over this little bug that's been going around my throat still.

178
00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:55,400
Yeah, me too.

179
00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:57,320
I got kicked in the butt last week.

180
00:10:57,320 --> 00:10:58,320
All right.

181
00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:05,000
Well, number two is congratulations on the new baby going from two to now three daughters.

182
00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:08,520
Well, they know that you had two and now you have three.

183
00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:12,640
So going from two to now three daughters at home, have you noticed any changes in your

184
00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:18,160
work and home life balance and for those expecting children, how can they prepare for the changes

185
00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:19,160
to come?

186
00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:21,440
Oh, it's actually a pretty cool question.

187
00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:34,000
So I have one philosophy that kind of goes into this and that is again, it does depend

188
00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:40,240
on what you do, but I believe whether you own a company, whether you work inside of a company,

189
00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:45,880
it doesn't matter if you have a money problem, all you got to do is make more money and that

190
00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:49,760
may sound ignorant and that may sound stupid, but it all comes down to the person in the

191
00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:51,760
initiative.

192
00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:56,160
You know, if you don't have a job and you don't have money, you can start selling pest

193
00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:57,160
control.

194
00:11:57,160 --> 00:11:58,160
You can start selling solar.

195
00:11:58,160 --> 00:12:01,320
You could start doing anything to make money, making money.

196
00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:02,320
America is pretty easy.

197
00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:12,520
So for me, I have always, I think me, my wife and I, we have gone a lot of criticism on

198
00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:19,480
how early she got pregnant, how soon we got married, how many kids we wanted to have.

199
00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:21,320
And most of this isn't necessarily family.

200
00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:22,320
A lot of it's outside.

201
00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:25,920
There are some family that are, you know, I remember when my wife got pregnant, some

202
00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:27,160
of our family was like, really?

203
00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:28,160
Like that soon?

204
00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:30,280
Like you're only X years old.

205
00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:31,280
Like, you know, why?

206
00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:36,400
You should wait a day, you should have traveled a little and, but one thing I will say, apart

207
00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:41,640
from other benefits of having children, happiness, starting our family, and besides the fact that's

208
00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:47,200
just what me and my wife wanted, one of the things I liked is with every kid comes a bigger

209
00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:49,080
financial responsibility.

210
00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:55,760
So again, it may sound dumb, but in my head, this is how I truly think new kid on the way.

211
00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:56,760
Cool.

212
00:12:56,760 --> 00:13:00,000
One, I'm going to make more money because I have to.

213
00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:05,680
There's also a faith part to this that I believe we're supposed to, you know, pro create and

214
00:13:05,680 --> 00:13:07,160
expand the family of God.

215
00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:10,440
So I believe there's blessings, both financial and spiritual that come with that.

216
00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:14,000
So those two things mixed together is like, Hey, well, one, I believe I'm getting blessed

217
00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:18,960
for it, but two, you have another kid.

218
00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:21,880
And if you look up statistically, how much a kid costs every year, all that kind of stuff,

219
00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:23,240
like you don't have a choice, what are you going to do?

220
00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:25,520
Not feed your kid and not put diapers on them.

221
00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:26,520
Like you don't have a choice.

222
00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:31,680
And so for me, it's exciting because for it with every kid that comes, there's that anxiety,

223
00:13:31,680 --> 00:13:35,240
the, the no, okay, crap, I got to start hustling even more.

224
00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:37,720
And so it keeps me pushing.

225
00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:43,920
And so I think, yeah, for me, kids, kids are kind of a financial motivator.

226
00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:49,480
Obviously, I love my daughters to death, but also there is a little bit of a benefit for

227
00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:50,480
me.

228
00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:53,080
And so I really think it comes down to perspective.

229
00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:57,200
A lot of people are scared to have kids early because, you know, like, Oh, well, I haven't

230
00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:01,880
graduated college or, you know, I'm not financially stable and I can't support a kid.

231
00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:07,280
Well, what better way to make yourself do something than do something where to make yourself

232
00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:10,880
or put yourself in a position to where you don't have a choice?

233
00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:13,680
Because when you don't have a choice, you get stuff done.

234
00:14:13,680 --> 00:14:15,280
And so kids do that.

235
00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,960
So for any of you guys out there like, Hey, you know, you're married or you're about to

236
00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,800
get married or you guys are thinking about having a baby, but you're trying to, you know,

237
00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:26,280
your wife may work and you're trying to build a company like, Okay, put yourself in a position

238
00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:28,160
where you don't have a choice.

239
00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:34,640
And inevitably as humans, that survival instinct in us kicks in and you make it happen because

240
00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:36,560
you don't have a choice.

241
00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:39,920
And so for me, that's truly what kids have done to me.

242
00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:43,160
I mean, it's nervous and there's, you know, there's so much more that goes into kids,

243
00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:44,160
excitement, stuff like that.

244
00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:50,880
But I think for me, you know, kids, kids definitely are a motivator because obviously you want

245
00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:52,760
to give your children everything you want.

246
00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:58,440
But I will say, I think having kids early on before my company was even ever really truly

247
00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:04,160
established is part of the reason or plays a part into the success that we've built here

248
00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:09,200
into the fight, some of the financial freedom that we've gained and all of that.

249
00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:12,800
So I don't know, as I answer the question, I'm trying to remember the initial question.

250
00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:13,800
Two questions.

251
00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:19,800
It was, I mean, you, you answered the second half of it, which was expect for those expecting

252
00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:22,240
children, how can they prepare for changes to come?

253
00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:27,080
And that's basically, well, well, I guess that, yeah, that's the two parts.

254
00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:32,080
So like preparing for the change to come is here's the deal.

255
00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:38,400
There's what change is going to, I mean, kids are one of those things like you can actually

256
00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:39,600
prepare, right?

257
00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:47,360
And so I think that's kind of one of the outliers in life is because you can kind of, there

258
00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:50,480
are a few things you can prepare for because you know they're coming.

259
00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:54,840
But when I compare that to, you know, entrepreneurship, because that's what this podcast is about,

260
00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:58,560
is like, you can't prepare for what success you're going to have next year because you

261
00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:00,080
have no idea what's coming.

262
00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:01,640
You can't prepare for certain things.

263
00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:05,600
And so it really comes down to being able to adapt.

264
00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:10,080
And, you know, when it comes to children, people always ask, hey, how did, how was it

265
00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:11,080
going from one to two?

266
00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:13,760
Or how is it going from two to three?

267
00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:18,360
From one to two was, you know, one having a kid in general was a huge, I mean, it was

268
00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:20,440
a huge difference, right?

269
00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:23,920
In me and my wife's life, we had to think about, you know, where we were going, if it

270
00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:26,560
was too loud, especially when the baby was younger.

271
00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:30,640
And now, you know, as the baby gets older, it's like, hey, if we want to go do this,

272
00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:35,840
how long do we need to get a babysitter for all that fun stuff?

273
00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:42,800
And I would say that you really, truly can't be prepared for something even if, you know,

274
00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:43,800
it's coming.

275
00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:46,920
If a baby is coming, the way you prepare one is you got to prepare financially, two, you

276
00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:51,520
got to prepare as far as like getting baby stuff in the house.

277
00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:53,160
Other than that, you don't know what's to come.

278
00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:54,560
You don't know how your baby's going to be.

279
00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:56,040
It's going to be crying all the time.

280
00:16:56,040 --> 00:17:00,240
If it's not going to be, I think, you know, when it comes to preparation, a lot of people

281
00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,360
get this idea in their head and they think they have this solid plan.

282
00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:07,440
And no matter how solid your plan is, it's never going to go the way you think it is.

283
00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:08,680
I don't care if that's in business.

284
00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:11,320
I don't care if it's like, hey, we're going to have a baby at this time.

285
00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:14,360
You know, we're going to have this, we're going to buy this, this, and this.

286
00:17:14,360 --> 00:17:16,560
And this is how our baby's going to grow up.

287
00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:17,560
Like you have no clue.

288
00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:20,640
My first child, I love her to death.

289
00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:24,320
She was born with some medical issues.

290
00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:27,080
We spent a year going to different specialists.

291
00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:31,160
If you name a specialist, guarantee we've gone to it and she's fine.

292
00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:32,160
She's doing great.

293
00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:38,280
But, you know, that wasn't my ideal, you know, first, you know, the idea I had in my head

294
00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:43,200
of having my first kid and nothing could have prepared me for that.

295
00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:47,720
So, you know, and apart from that, you know, I had our baby during COVID, it was emergency

296
00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:51,200
C C section, so we weren't able to have any parents or anything like that.

297
00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:56,320
So, you know, it was, I won't say it was a nightmare, but I mean, it was honestly kind

298
00:17:56,320 --> 00:17:57,600
of a little bit of a nightmare.

299
00:17:57,600 --> 00:17:59,000
I did not enjoy it.

300
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:03,160
And my point in this is that you really can't really be prepared for something.

301
00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:07,160
So the one skill I would say that you need to have instead of the skill being prepared

302
00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:13,440
is the skill of adapting the skill of being ready to pivot and make moves and changes

303
00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:16,640
to in any scenario that you're required to pivot in.

304
00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:20,000
And so, you know, if you're preparing for a kid, that's great.

305
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:23,480
Prepare to have a kid, you know, prepare financially, get your house ready, all that

306
00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:24,640
kind of stuff.

307
00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:29,760
But when that baby is born, you know, you may have to pivot or you may have to pivot because

308
00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:32,120
your job is going to take you somewhere else.

309
00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:37,120
So really understanding and being available or making yourself available to actually adapt

310
00:18:37,120 --> 00:18:41,920
to understanding that when change comes, you're not going to sit there and freeze, but you're

311
00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:46,640
actually going to be able to execute, make a decision and understand, you know, that

312
00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:51,200
or at least trust yourself enough to know that you can make a decision on the spot and

313
00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:52,960
adapt when you have to.

314
00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:57,480
If you're able to adapt, you can succeed in any industry in any phase of life, whether

315
00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:03,280
you go from banking to construction, construction to fishing, it really doesn't matter.

316
00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:07,280
It's all about adapting because all these different industries, being a parent, being

317
00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:09,640
a business owner, doesn't really matter.

318
00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:12,840
They all require similar skills, right?

319
00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:15,000
And they require different levels of that skill.

320
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:19,600
And some of them require different mixtures of the same skills you would need in different

321
00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:20,600
areas.

322
00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:26,600
And so it really is coming down to adaption and being able to adapt to the scene, to

323
00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:29,120
the scenario and not so much being prepared.

324
00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:32,200
Now, with that being said, you know, always try to be prepared.

325
00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:36,520
We always try to prepare ourselves for, you know, next year, you know, obviously we have

326
00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:38,040
a plan of doing more business.

327
00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:40,120
We have a plan, my wife to have more kids.

328
00:19:40,120 --> 00:19:42,280
And so we're trying to prepare for that, right?

329
00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:46,400
But what it really ultimately comes down to is not, there has not been one situation in

330
00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:48,280
business.

331
00:19:48,280 --> 00:19:53,000
There's been a, there's been a few, not very many, but there's most of the time things

332
00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:54,400
don't go my way in business.

333
00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:57,080
Most of the time things don't go away in me and my wife's life.

334
00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:01,960
And so adapting, being able to pivot is truly in my opinion, how to succeed at anything

335
00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:06,920
is being able to do that.

336
00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:09,720
Ready for question number three.

337
00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:10,720
Question number three.

338
00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:11,960
All right, let's see here.

339
00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:14,960
Can you guys see my mismatching sucks right now?

340
00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:15,960
On camera?

341
00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:16,960
No.

342
00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:17,960
We'll show.

343
00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:18,960
Awkward.

344
00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:19,960
Please cut that.

345
00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:22,960
Well, we're thinking about starting a company called Mismatching Sucks.

346
00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:25,960
We haven't even patented the idea yet.

347
00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:26,960
Don't say that.

348
00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:27,960
You can just say we patented.

349
00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:28,960
We did.

350
00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,960
Well, as you're filming, just patent that idea real quick and then anyways, we're thinking

351
00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:37,960
about starting a mismatched sock company and I know you guys would buy it so don't lie

352
00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:38,960
to me because I would wear it.

353
00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:40,960
As a matter of fact, I'm wearing mismatched socks right now.

354
00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:42,960
All right, you ready for number three?

355
00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:46,960
This one's a switch back to business mode here.

356
00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:55,960
It is, how do you know when it is time to pull the trigger and hire more people?

357
00:20:55,960 --> 00:21:03,960
That's a great question.

358
00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:10,960
I saw it just because I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out.

359
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:11,960
I feel like it's pretty obvious.

360
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:16,960
But when you don't know business, it's not obvious.

361
00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:24,960
But most companies do this wrong in my opinion.

362
00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:25,960
That's a different opinion.

363
00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:26,960
But here's my opinion.

364
00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:28,960
A lot of people say, hey, you know what?

365
00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:29,960
I have a plan next year.

366
00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:31,960
We're going to do $10 million in business.

367
00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:33,960
Right now you're doing $5 million.

368
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:34,960
Next year we're going to do 10.

369
00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:37,960
We need more people to do that because we've got to double our business.

370
00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:38,960
Okay.

371
00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:40,460
Logically, that makes sense.

372
00:21:40,460 --> 00:21:47,160
What happens is people go out, they hire people with the anticipation that the work's

373
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:48,680
going to be there.

374
00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:51,960
What happens is nothing goes as planned.

375
00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:52,960
We just talked about.

376
00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:53,960
Right?

377
00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:57,960
Not saying you don't do $10 million that year, but it doesn't happen on your timeframe.

378
00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:01,800
What happens is people go out, they hire all these people, they increase their overhead,

379
00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:04,960
they increase their payroll, and the jobs aren't there yet.

380
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:09,800
They may come, but by the time they come, they're already paying all this overhead without

381
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:14,040
the actual money coming in and they start putting themselves in a rut.

382
00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:15,160
They start hurting themselves.

383
00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:18,720
They go out of business.

384
00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:25,280
Because they're hiring on the expectation of work being there.

385
00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:29,800
When in reality, the way that it should happen is you hire once the work is there.

386
00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:34,600
A lot of people have a hard time with this because they'll say, hey, I don't want to

387
00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:37,400
wait until I get the work because then I'm not going to have the right people to fill

388
00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:40,680
that work and then I'm going to be in a rut because I don't have anybody to start those

389
00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:42,200
jobs or do that work.

390
00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:46,920
Well, yeah, but isn't that a better situation to be in than hiring people and giving away

391
00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:50,040
your money before you even have the work to pay them?

392
00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:51,280
I would take that all day long.

393
00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:55,080
I would rather have 50 jobs and I'm trying to fulfill.

394
00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:58,240
Clients getting upset because I can't put them, can't get their jobs in on time.

395
00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:03,240
I'd rather have that and all that money so that I can hire those people in order to execute

396
00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:04,640
those projects.

397
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:06,480
People do it backwards.

398
00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:10,120
I understand why they do it backwards because I used to have that mindset because it makes

399
00:23:10,120 --> 00:23:11,120
sense.

400
00:23:11,120 --> 00:23:14,440
Well, if I have to double my jobs next year, I need to double my people and double this.

401
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:20,840
That only makes sense to me a little bit in sales because sales, you go out and people

402
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:24,120
should be finding their work and should be hustling and bringing in their work.

403
00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:28,440
That makes sense in sales, but as far as project management, whatever industry you're

404
00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:33,960
in, whether it's more chefs or more construction workers or more accountants, you need to make

405
00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:37,640
sure that you have the work before you hire them because if not, you're just giving away

406
00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:40,960
your money without the work and sure, they may seem busy.

407
00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,240
Maybe you can keep them busy.

408
00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:48,840
That's great, but if you can't, that's a problem.

409
00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:52,900
To know when you need to hire is simply based on the work.

410
00:23:52,900 --> 00:23:55,820
If you have too much work and not enough people, hire.

411
00:23:55,820 --> 00:23:59,480
If you have not enough work and too many people, fire.

412
00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:00,480
Super simple.

413
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:09,000
That's how you keep a business running.

414
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,400
Again, adapting.

415
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:12,400
It's hard.

416
00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:13,560
It's hard to hire people.

417
00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:15,240
It's hard to hire people.

418
00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:21,080
It's a scary situation because when it comes to hiring, one, not only are you hiring somebody

419
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:24,480
and yes, you have to pay more money, so then you have the pressure of having to bring in

420
00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:28,960
and make sure that there's actual work there, but two, then there's a responsibility.

421
00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:30,040
Producer, you're fired.

422
00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:31,520
Then there's a responsibility of...

423
00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:35,520
That was a quick fire.

424
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:38,200
I'm here to set an example.

425
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:40,960
Fire quick, hire slow.

426
00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:46,960
That's actually a literal thing you guys should do, but I suck at that, by the way.

427
00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:50,240
I say you should do that, but don't learn from me because I have a hard time doing that

428
00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:58,320
and we'll probably get into that at some point in a podcast.

429
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,600
There's that second part of responsibility where now you have this person, you have their

430
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:07,560
life, their well-being, everything that they need to provide for themselves and their family.

431
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,800
Now that's on you because if you don't do your job, if you don't bring in the work,

432
00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:15,040
if you don't make sure your company is running like a well-oiled machine and it goes under,

433
00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:17,800
that person's out of work.

434
00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:18,800
That's how I look at it.

435
00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:20,480
I don't know if other business owners look at it that way.

436
00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:25,760
I would assume they do and that's why being an entrepreneur is not an ideal career for

437
00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:30,120
many people because the pressure, people buckle under pressure.

438
00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:34,320
Entrepreneurs need to have a high tolerance of pressure and it is extremely hard.

439
00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:38,920
I would lie if I'd say there's days where I'm not scared out of my mind, I'm not worried,

440
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:45,480
I'm not feeling somewhat depressed sometimes, I'm not crying, I go through all those emotions

441
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:50,080
consistently and I'm not trying to scare anybody away from entrepreneurship.

442
00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:51,760
Being an entrepreneur is freaking awesome.

443
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:57,200
There's so many great benefits but right now I'm talking about hiring and firing people

444
00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:01,480
or knowing when to hire and I think if you just follow that simple rule, to know when

445
00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:06,760
to hire is when you have too much work and not enough people, that's when you hire.

446
00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:10,880
If you don't have enough work and you have too many people, there's a certain, I'm not

447
00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:15,680
going to get into it now, but there's a certain part or a time when you know, it's like, okay,

448
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:18,680
hey, I need a fire.

449
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:21,320
That's all business 101, we can get into that another day.

450
00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:24,640
Well, actually, we don't need to get into it another day.

451
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:29,920
The next question that I have for you here is, okay, here we go.

452
00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:35,080
Number four is, I have several very close relationships amongst my employees.

453
00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:43,920
If necessary, how would you go about letting someone go that is a close friend to you?

454
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:46,320
That was someone from our company guaranteed.

455
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:49,680
Someone wants to know how they would ever get fired.

456
00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:54,600
Here's the deal.

457
00:26:54,600 --> 00:27:01,320
I think there's a difference in letting someone go and firing and that difference for me is

458
00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:10,680
that if you do something that you are not supposed to do deliberately and that hurts

459
00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:15,040
somebody on our team or hurts the company and you do that on purpose, not like making

460
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:23,160
a mistake but doing it on purpose, that requires a fire, meaning like, hey, you broke trust,

461
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,200
you did something that you weren't supposed to do that you knew you weren't supposed to

462
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:31,960
do and you still did it, what does Mufasa say, you deliberately disobeyed me?

463
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:32,960
I love that line.

464
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:33,960
It's my favorite line.

465
00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:36,640
Mufasa is coming out soon, guys.

466
00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:37,640
Get tickets.

467
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:42,640
I'm not promoting Disney right now, but get tickets.

468
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:45,640
But anyways, that is a fire.

469
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:49,840
Like, hey, there's disrespect gone.

470
00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:50,840
Then there's letting go.

471
00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:56,880
Letting go covers most of the areas for having to separate someone from a company or at least

472
00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:57,880
my company, my opinion.

473
00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:02,800
That is like, hey, life situations, you're failing at work due to XYZ.

474
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:05,560
A lot of times it's never deliberately right.

475
00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:06,720
Sometimes there's stuff going on.

476
00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:11,120
Sometimes people are underperforming and there could be a million reasons that are affecting

477
00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:13,280
them personally that's doing that.

478
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:14,280
Or hey, you know what?

479
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:18,280
Our business is slowing down and I just can't afford to keep you right now.

480
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:24,560
To understand, I think for me, to help my people understand the difference there really

481
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:29,640
dictates how that conversation is going to go because obviously if someone steals from

482
00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:35,400
my company, I've had someone steal money from my company, that isn't, hey man, listen, we

483
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:36,800
really enjoy having you.

484
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:38,880
We just can't, we just got to let you go right now.

485
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:39,880
We just can't have you here.

486
00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:43,840
That's, hey dude, get the F out of my face or I'm going to freaking knock you out.

487
00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:47,000
You stole from me, right?

488
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:50,560
But on the part of letting go, it's like there might be a few reasons.

489
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:54,680
I think just playing two different scenarios in my head, like if there wasn't enough work,

490
00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:55,680
right?

491
00:28:55,680 --> 00:29:01,160
There's that conversation, like, hey man, we've had a lot of good things happen, but here's

492
00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:05,680
where we are right now and I just can't afford you in your position at this moment.

493
00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:08,440
And so let's talk about it.

494
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:13,320
I have to let you go right now, but let's talk about what we can do to help make that

495
00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:14,720
easier transition.

496
00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:16,400
And hey man, well here's our plan.

497
00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:18,840
I want to bring you back because you were valuable.

498
00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:23,320
Those are the conversations I would hope to have if I have to let people go for that reason.

499
00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:27,640
And I would hope that somebody that we've treated good, somebody that we've helped excel

500
00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:31,080
in life and that we've contributed to and somebody that we have a great relationship

501
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:35,080
with, that they're going to understand that the only reason we're having this conversation

502
00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:38,360
is because we, I don't personally have a choice, right?

503
00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:44,120
Now there is that survival mentality in all of us, like people are probably going to want

504
00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:45,120
to have that conversation.

505
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:46,520
Like, well, let's talk about this.

506
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:47,520
What can I do to help?

507
00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:48,520
What can I do to help?

508
00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:54,200
If there's a situation to be able to fix that, you know, situation, like if that person's

509
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:57,280
in sales and we're lacking jobs, well, it's like, yeah, man, I'm going to have to cut

510
00:29:57,280 --> 00:29:59,520
your salary and you go on commission only.

511
00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:01,360
If you're down for the company, let's get it done.

512
00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:03,880
Let's get it work, I believe, right?

513
00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:07,400
Or maybe it still is coming down to, hey, I just have to let you go.

514
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:11,120
We actually had that happen just recently and I think that conversation went the best

515
00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:17,320
way it could and we all left on good terms, but somebody's life just wasn't in par with

516
00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:19,320
where we were needing to go.

517
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:26,120
And you have to understand, I think being a leader is so much more than just owning,

518
00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:28,800
like just because you own a business, that doesn't make you a leader.

519
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:33,960
Being a leader requires caring.

520
00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:35,280
It requires love.

521
00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:36,600
It requires charity.

522
00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:42,080
It requires putting the interests of your team before the interests of yourself.

523
00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:46,480
It requires all this and not, I'm not talking about when everybody's looking.

524
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:49,000
I'm talking behind the doors, right?

525
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,400
I'm talking about when nobody's looking.

526
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:56,600
That to me is what a good leader is and when you do that stuff, your team notices.

527
00:30:56,600 --> 00:31:00,280
So if you do have that situation where you do got to let go of family friend because

528
00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:06,400
of a situation that it's just unfortunate, that will help lessen that blow, right?

529
00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:13,400
Now if you have a friend or someone in the company that is underperforming, that is another

530
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,120
conversation or not a conversation.

531
00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:20,600
Well, yeah, a conversation you need to have with yourself that I've had with myself many

532
00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:23,160
times like, hey, this person isn't producing.

533
00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:29,080
This person is not making our company money or they're losing our company money.

534
00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:32,560
And the first thing that an owner will think of is like, okay, I need to eliminate that

535
00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:33,560
problem.

536
00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:34,920
Well, how do you eliminate that problem?

537
00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:38,000
The easiest thing to do is let that problem go.

538
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:42,360
Sometimes it's not easy, but just as far as like the solution, that's the easiest solution

539
00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:44,960
is eliminate the problem.

540
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:48,480
But if you step back and have the conversation that you should have with yourself is have

541
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:54,680
I done everything on my end to make sure that that person has everything they need to succeed?

542
00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:58,440
Because if you've done that and they're failing, then that's no longer on you, right?

543
00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:02,680
And you can have those conversations one month, two months, three months and if it's still

544
00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:07,240
failing, well, then at that point, even if that person gets mad, at the end of the day,

545
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:08,240
they failed.

546
00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:10,520
And there's nothing you can do about it.

547
00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:13,880
If they're not performing, they're not performing your business, you have to operate.

548
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:19,120
You need to make money because it's like a chain, right?

549
00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:23,640
One bad link can ruin that entire integrity of the chain.

550
00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:29,320
So if you're having one person fail that can't be fixed, are you willing to let them drag

551
00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:35,600
down everybody else that is doing good just because you love that person too much?

552
00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:43,560
I think for the most part, you know, it's not easy to have that conversation or figure

553
00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:44,800
out when you let people go.

554
00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:51,200
But the way I go about it is first when somebody is not producing or somebody is failing, I

555
00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:55,040
first look at me, I first look at our leadership team, right?

556
00:32:55,040 --> 00:32:56,360
Have we done everything in our power?

557
00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:59,600
Have we provided all the resources for this person to execute their job?

558
00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:00,880
Have we provided the right training?

559
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,520
Have we provided the right materials?

560
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:07,680
If any of those and any of those questions are no, guess what?

561
00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:09,080
That person's not getting let go.

562
00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:10,440
We need to fix our end.

563
00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:15,360
Now if the answer is yes, at that point, it's have a conversation with that person, figure

564
00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:17,160
out what's truly going on.

565
00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:19,280
We do this.

566
00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:20,280
We did this for a little while.

567
00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:24,280
We just started back up doing it is our personal, professional, financial goals.

568
00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:28,600
If you have these regular meetings with your employees to really understand not just the

569
00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:31,600
work goals, but their personal lives, right?

570
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:33,640
What are they wanting out of their personal life?

571
00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:34,760
Are you helping them get there?

572
00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:39,480
Does your vision help them achieve their vision of their own life?

573
00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:43,640
If you're involved in the lives of the people you work with, you're going to be able to

574
00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:47,600
foresee these things before they actually happen, right?

575
00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:51,280
And whether that is, hey, you know, this person's life is just not supporting what they need

576
00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:54,400
to do for us right now, so this isn't the best place for them.

577
00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:56,920
You'll be able to foresee that or you're going to be able to foresee that like, hey, this

578
00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:57,920
is a problem.

579
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:01,840
Now we're going to be able to fix it before it really becomes an actual problem.

580
00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:04,800
So that truly helps.

581
00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:09,440
But at the end of the day, I true, I mean, it's not easy firing people.

582
00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:12,440
It's not easy letting go of people, and especially if they're your family or friends, like we're

583
00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:17,160
a huge family friend company and there's, you know, I would be lying if I said there

584
00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:22,480
wasn't moments where I'm like, hey, I probably should be letting go of this person.

585
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:26,600
And there's one thing that that has helped me back every time and that is looking at

586
00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:28,520
myself have I done everything?

587
00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:33,840
If the answer is no, that person isn't getting let go because I can't blame somebody for

588
00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:38,920
failure to perform if I'm failing to perform in order to help them perform.

589
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:40,080
That makes sense, right?

590
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:43,960
So if you look at that, here's what I think.

591
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:50,280
I think everybody has potential and a true leader creates leaders.

592
00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:51,600
They don't find them.

593
00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:53,480
I think everybody's capable being leader.

594
00:34:53,480 --> 00:35:00,720
I think there's been plenty of instances and this isn't a pat on my back, but this is more

595
00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:04,520
of just an understanding of what of the example.

596
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:08,560
But Kyle, right, one of our producers, I mean, he did electrical for us for a while.

597
00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:11,000
He quit his bartending job, he came on to elder.

598
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:12,200
He was doing electrical work.

599
00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:14,240
And in the beginning, he was it was exciting.

600
00:35:14,240 --> 00:35:16,480
It was new, fun, messing with wires.

601
00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:17,880
I understand that.

602
00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:19,480
But then summer hits its hot.

603
00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:20,480
It's in the attic.

604
00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:22,840
It's, you know, all the chaos that comes with it.

605
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:24,440
And he doesn't have a passion for electric.

606
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:27,080
So why would he really enjoy it when it gets hard, right?

607
00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:33,080
And so, you know, he ended up leaving to go do some other stuff, go back to kind of bartending

608
00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:35,920
and stuff because we didn't have any positions open.

609
00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:40,080
But then when the time came where we decided to, you know, kind of do something different,

610
00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:42,360
it was like, Hey, well, you know, what are Kyle's skills?

611
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:45,400
Kyle's skills are he went to school for music production.

612
00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:46,400
He loves produce.

613
00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:47,400
He's social.

614
00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:48,560
Everybody loves Kyle.

615
00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:49,960
He's a great face.

616
00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:51,680
People love being around him.

617
00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:54,280
He would be a great media producer.

618
00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:57,600
He would be a great film producer, right?

619
00:35:57,600 --> 00:35:59,040
Getting all of our media or content.

620
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:03,720
He'd be great at vendor relationships, at events, at sponsorships, like, and guess where he

621
00:36:03,720 --> 00:36:04,720
is right now?

622
00:36:04,720 --> 00:36:06,040
He's there and he's thriving.

623
00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:07,520
We're doing something great.

624
00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:11,480
Just on the podcast, but with our with our social media plop, like he's been killing

625
00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:12,480
it.

626
00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:17,560
And that was a lesson for me that like, Hey, when you are putting people in the wrong place

627
00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:24,600
because you don't know them or you're ignoring what what they care and want most out of life,

628
00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:27,880
like if they fail, whose fault is that?

629
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:29,200
That's your fault as a leader.

630
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:30,480
That's your fault as the owner.

631
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:33,680
I don't I 100% believe that.

632
00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:41,440
And so with that being said, that may be kind of biased because I don't ever want to let

633
00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:42,440
go of anybody.

634
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:45,720
I wish I was a multimillionaire and even my family and friends that were struggling to

635
00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:46,720
produce.

636
00:36:46,720 --> 00:36:49,320
I would be so rich that they could just stick around.

637
00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:56,640
But also at the end of the day, the one thing that matters the most is your business.

638
00:36:56,640 --> 00:37:01,960
So when it comes to firing people, if there's a person that needs to be let go, looking

639
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:07,920
at yourself first will teach you a lesson of how you need to be a better leader.

640
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:14,320
And when you lead better, then there's better production out of your employees or two.

641
00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:20,040
If they're not producing, you need to cut the ties because why would you let that weak

642
00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:25,200
link ruin the entire the entire chain and let and let them bring everybody down with

643
00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:26,200
them?

644
00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:27,200
Right?

645
00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:28,200
So I don't know.

646
00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:33,520
I don't think there's any good way to go about firing people or letting go of people.

647
00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:37,840
It's like I said, I've luckily throughout my career, most people have just knew they

648
00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:39,880
were failing or didn't like to be here.

649
00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:42,600
And they kind of weeded themselves out and dipped out and left.

650
00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:47,040
Just recently, we actually had to have us sit down and actually let go of the of the

651
00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:51,040
first person that we've had to officially do that with.

652
00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:52,880
And it wasn't fun.

653
00:37:52,880 --> 00:38:00,240
Like I said, I think at the end of the day, if you if you're truly invested in the people

654
00:38:00,240 --> 00:38:05,440
in their lives and you truly take it onto yourself, that is a huge risk.

655
00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:09,680
You understand the responsibility you're putting on yourself as an owner.

656
00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:15,440
When you hire people and when you understand that and you take that seriously, you're going

657
00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:20,520
to be in a hopefully positions that where you don't have to have those hard conversations

658
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:22,480
with that being said, life happens.

659
00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:27,840
And also it comes down to hiring people, making sure you have the right criteria of the people

660
00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:33,480
you're looking for to join your company.

661
00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:34,480
That's hard too.

662
00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:38,160
That's a whole another segment of like, how do I know who to hire?

663
00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:40,480
We've had in construction, construction is insane.

664
00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:41,760
Like everybody says they're qualified.

665
00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:42,840
Oh, I can do drivable.

666
00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:43,840
I can do this.

667
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:47,720
And I look at all these jobs and sometimes they're pictures on Google or they're pictures

668
00:38:47,720 --> 00:38:50,080
of work they never did or they just assisted with.

669
00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:54,680
And then all of a sudden we're trusting them on a huge high-end client and they get down

670
00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:58,320
the job and our clients calling us like, what in the frick is this?

671
00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:03,160
Like people, people do anything for money.

672
00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:06,200
Anything they'll say anything, they'll do anything they're like salesmen, right?

673
00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:07,200
They're selling themselves.

674
00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:08,840
And a lot of times they oversell themselves.

675
00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:13,000
So, you know, in construction, at least for us, it's hard even with people with amazing

676
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:17,600
and resumes, it's like, well, I need to experience it firsthand what you do.

677
00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:22,440
Otherwise, nothing matters because we've been told a million times that people can do great

678
00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:23,440
work.

679
00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:26,520
Oh, I've done this and custom cabinets and blah, blah, blah.

680
00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:30,160
And then it comes down to the fact of duty looks like my three year old did that with

681
00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:32,120
some Mickey Mouse hammers and screwdrivers.

682
00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:34,240
Like it's not happening, right?

683
00:39:34,240 --> 00:39:37,600
So yeah, I don't know.

684
00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:42,360
I think, you know, and I may have gone a little bit off topic here, at least kind of on a tangent,

685
00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:48,680
but when it comes to family and friends, if the love's there, you know, it really just

686
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:50,040
comes down to their conversation.

687
00:39:50,040 --> 00:39:53,200
I've had conversations with some of the people really close to me in our business where it's

688
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:55,160
like, hey, we got to separate our friendship right now.

689
00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:57,400
We really need to talk like, hey, this is a problem.

690
00:39:57,400 --> 00:39:58,520
Your attitude's a problem.

691
00:39:58,520 --> 00:39:59,520
This is a problem.

692
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:04,000
And you're going to be surprised, I think, in having those conversations that they're

693
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:08,080
not going to go the way you think where maybe they're your friend or your family members

694
00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:09,320
going to be a little prideful.

695
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:18,800
I think it'll be a surprise how invested people that love you are truly in your business.

696
00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:22,640
And if that loves them, I mean, you also got to trust that you brought them in for a reason.

697
00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:26,880
And if they're feeling a certain areas, if you haven't done everything you can to talk

698
00:40:26,880 --> 00:40:30,720
that out, figure out what the problem is and fix that problem or fix, you know, by looking

699
00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:36,240
at yourself, then you shouldn't really be firing anybody at the moment, in my opinion.

700
00:40:36,240 --> 00:40:41,560
But I think it really comes down to a gut instinct of, I mean, you guys know best about

701
00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:42,560
your businesses.

702
00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:48,440
I don't think we've been in business long enough to really have a huge understanding

703
00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:51,920
of firing people and all that kind of stuff.

704
00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:55,960
But that from what I know, I mean, that's just kind of the experience we've been in.

705
00:40:55,960 --> 00:41:00,280
But yeah, I think that would be kind of the answer to my question.

706
00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:02,200
Well, that's all the questions.

707
00:41:02,200 --> 00:41:04,360
Is there anything else you want to say?

708
00:41:04,360 --> 00:41:05,360
That's it.

709
00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:06,360
How long have you been recording?

710
00:41:06,360 --> 00:41:07,360
23 minutes?

711
00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:08,360
No.

712
00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:09,360
Yeah.

713
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:11,360
I mean, I do have one more question for you.

714
00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:14,360
I don't know.

715
00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:18,480
What is your biggest goal as a contractor?

716
00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:20,800
As a contractor or business owner?

717
00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:21,800
Contractor?

718
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:23,280
Contractor specifically.

719
00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:33,240
Well, it was to build Drake a house, but I think now it's Kendrick.

720
00:41:33,240 --> 00:41:42,920
I, you know, it's interesting.

721
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:47,720
I get told all the time, like, dude, what you're doing is so great.

722
00:41:47,720 --> 00:41:50,320
Everything you I've been watching you, business is great.

723
00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:51,920
Your team's amazing.

724
00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:55,200
And you know, obviously as a business owner, you get all the credit.

725
00:41:55,200 --> 00:42:00,440
I think 20% of the credit should really go to me as a business owner.

726
00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:06,720
The other 80% goes to my team because everybody sees the leader, but they don't see everybody

727
00:42:06,720 --> 00:42:07,720
underneath them.

728
00:42:07,720 --> 00:42:08,880
That's actually made stuff happen.

729
00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:12,640
But as far as contracting goes, you know, we get told all the time how great we are,

730
00:42:12,640 --> 00:42:17,120
all the stuff we're doing is so phenomenal and stuff.

731
00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:22,720
And yet it's gotten to a point where I think the only challenge our teams truly had is

732
00:42:22,720 --> 00:42:25,960
management and not so much construction.

733
00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:29,920
And right now we're doing a job that's where, you know, there's this huge multi-million dollar.

734
00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:34,200
I think it's like 9,000, 8,000 square foot home and we're blowing out a wall.

735
00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:39,720
And this wall happens to be like a main low bearing wall for two different roof structures.

736
00:42:39,720 --> 00:42:41,440
And there's a ton of weight on it.

737
00:42:41,440 --> 00:42:45,360
And we got to put the steel beam in and do all these crazy footers and the stem wall

738
00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:46,360
and stuff.

739
00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:52,440
And it's the first time I actually understood why high end custom home, big custom home

740
00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:55,520
builders tell me they don't like to do remodels because it's so difficult.

741
00:42:55,520 --> 00:42:59,360
I've never actually kind of felt that way until literally this morning where I'm looking

742
00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:01,600
at this, I'm like, dude, this is difficult.

743
00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:04,840
I understand why they don't do it, but it was also a challenge and it was nice to actually

744
00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:09,120
have a challenge for once and not just doing a bathroom remodel or a full home remodel

745
00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:13,080
where we're just ripping out all the cosmetics and all new flooring and all this.

746
00:43:13,080 --> 00:43:19,040
Like this was building something that is hard and fun and structural.

747
00:43:19,040 --> 00:43:27,400
And so I think my biggest goal for contracting right now is to do stuff that people have

748
00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:34,080
said can't be done or stuff that just people are like, how was that even built?

749
00:43:34,080 --> 00:43:36,640
How was that even done?

750
00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:38,080
I got a little bit of a taste like that.

751
00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:41,320
We have a client actually, he was just on what two episodes, Blake Clark.

752
00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:47,240
He, you know, he had a header for his boat that needed to get pushed up in his garage

753
00:43:47,240 --> 00:43:48,760
for his boat to fit in.

754
00:43:48,760 --> 00:43:52,280
And he had gone a couple of bits and every contractor was talking about ripping the roof

755
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:55,000
off and doing this and blah, blah, blah.

756
00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:56,000
And I'm sitting here looking.

757
00:43:56,000 --> 00:43:57,720
Nah, like you don't need to do that.

758
00:43:57,720 --> 00:43:59,240
And we ended up doing it.

759
00:43:59,240 --> 00:44:00,240
It looks awesome.

760
00:44:00,240 --> 00:44:01,680
Looks like it was built this way.

761
00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:03,120
The rods are going through the drywall.

762
00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:07,920
Like we didn't have to spend 15 grand tearing apart his roof with new trusses.

763
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:13,000
Like saving him a ton of money and he ended up only spending like four grand and that

764
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:16,720
created a huge relationship between him and I and our company.

765
00:44:16,720 --> 00:44:27,800
The point being is like people, people find, you know, on online, they find all these videos

766
00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:32,080
and all these things about, oh, look at this cool shower and this cool towel work.

767
00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:36,880
I want to build stuff that is just like, you don't even know, like, have you guys ever

768
00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:38,280
driven down to a city?

769
00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:41,120
Like we were just in Minneapolis and I'm looking at some of these structures.

770
00:44:41,120 --> 00:44:44,840
Like, how is that standing on four pillars?

771
00:44:44,840 --> 00:44:53,800
A 20 foot story building or a 20 story building with four pillar on all four ends, huge with

772
00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:54,800
nothing underneath.

773
00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:59,120
I'm like, like, I know how it works, but like, that's crazy to me.

774
00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:00,120
That's crazy.

775
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:01,120
Right.

776
00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:03,000
And I want to build stuff like that.

777
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:07,600
You know, you look at like the Eiffel Tower and like, I want to do crazy stuff like that.

778
00:45:07,600 --> 00:45:09,840
And that is way down the road.

779
00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:13,160
Construction isn't necessarily my passion and I hope customers aren't freaking out when

780
00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:14,160
they hear this.

781
00:45:14,160 --> 00:45:15,160
Why am I hiring?

782
00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:16,160
No, construction.

783
00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:17,160
Like I love construction.

784
00:45:17,160 --> 00:45:18,160
Don't give me wrong.

785
00:45:18,160 --> 00:45:25,000
My passion is doing things, whether it's in business or construction that is just out

786
00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:34,000
of this world, whether that's creating businesses that operate, you know, differently, different

787
00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:35,840
systems that have never been implemented.

788
00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:39,560
Like just doing stuff that's just like, how do they do that?

789
00:45:39,560 --> 00:45:40,560
That's what I want to hear.

790
00:45:40,560 --> 00:45:41,560
How is that done?

791
00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:44,040
And it's not so much a prideful thing.

792
00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:48,600
Maybe it is a pride in our work or what we do, but I would say that was like one of my

793
00:45:48,600 --> 00:45:50,840
main goals has been to build.

794
00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:55,160
So I'm a member of church Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints, and I want to build a temple.

795
00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:58,440
And for those of you that have been, or I mean, if you've even seen the outside of a

796
00:45:58,440 --> 00:46:13,760
temple, the quality of these buildings, temples, the outside of the temple, the outside of

797
00:46:13,760 --> 00:46:18,160
the temple, the quality of these buildings is remarkable.

798
00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:21,200
Now I've been inside and I'm a contractor.

799
00:46:21,200 --> 00:46:26,480
When I go places, whether it's Peter Piper Pizza, the hospital, doesn't matter.

800
00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:27,560
And I'm looking at it.

801
00:46:27,560 --> 00:46:32,440
You know, I'm using the urinal and I'm looking at the tile crooked and I see all this crappy

802
00:46:32,440 --> 00:46:39,040
work that all these companies are doing because it's just another job and cool.

803
00:46:39,040 --> 00:46:40,040
It is what it is.

804
00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:42,200
Don't not dogging or anything like that.

805
00:46:42,200 --> 00:46:46,560
But when I go into the temple, I look outside of one of those temples or it's probably the

806
00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:51,000
same thing when you go to Rome and you look at all these crazy artistic buildings, the

807
00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:54,640
quality is out of this world.

808
00:46:54,640 --> 00:47:00,600
How did they like there's not, I mean, I remember inside of the temple, I've been in many rooms

809
00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:07,840
and in the last five years of going to that temple inside and outside, I have found probably

810
00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:09,480
two blemishes.

811
00:47:09,480 --> 00:47:10,720
I don't know how it's done.

812
00:47:10,720 --> 00:47:16,040
It's crazy like our jobs are great, but there's always something wrong and you can go back

813
00:47:16,040 --> 00:47:17,960
and fix it, but nothing's ever perfect.

814
00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:22,080
And I want to know how that happens.

815
00:47:22,080 --> 00:47:24,440
I want to be able to build that.

816
00:47:24,440 --> 00:47:28,480
So that's definitely been one of my bigger goals as a contractor is to be able to build

817
00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:35,080
a huge multi-million dollar structure that is everything in is the highest and finest

818
00:47:35,080 --> 00:47:39,800
quality like the quality of monumental quality of a that you would see back in Egypt.

819
00:47:39,800 --> 00:47:41,120
Like, you know, it's crazy.

820
00:47:41,120 --> 00:47:45,200
I think we've talked about this like, and this is, you know, construction, you know,

821
00:47:45,200 --> 00:47:52,600
talk, but back in the day, they built some phenomenal, phenomenal things.

822
00:47:52,600 --> 00:47:58,520
Like what happened to, yeah, what happened to the Rome times and like all that different

823
00:47:58,520 --> 00:48:02,920
like right now we're building homes that are freaking farmhouse, which I'm not dogging

824
00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:03,920
it.

825
00:48:03,920 --> 00:48:04,920
I do a lot of remodels.

826
00:48:04,920 --> 00:48:06,240
My wife, I think likes a farmhouse a little bit.

827
00:48:06,240 --> 00:48:14,880
But what happened to the, the engravings and the markings and all this extravagant, different,

828
00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:20,320
you know, features and details, those don't exist anymore.

829
00:48:20,320 --> 00:48:26,160
And it's sad because that like, that's why people go to Rome and Italy and, you know,

830
00:48:26,160 --> 00:48:30,920
Europe and all these different places to see all these crazy built buildings like our,

831
00:48:30,920 --> 00:48:34,240
our tile guys, and this may be a selling point for anybody wanting to do a remodel right

832
00:48:34,240 --> 00:48:42,240
now, but our tile guys are from Romania and they have worked in the churches and these

833
00:48:42,240 --> 00:48:46,480
buildings where you see that detail in Romania and you best believe when they do our towel

834
00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:48,960
work, people are in awe.

835
00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:49,960
I love that.

836
00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:50,960
Right.

837
00:48:50,960 --> 00:48:56,000
They were trained, whatever great, but like that is what I want to bring back.

838
00:48:56,000 --> 00:49:01,600
I want to get rid of this square header, wood header, this that like I want to build stuff

839
00:49:01,600 --> 00:49:04,840
that looks like it's floating and nobody knows how it freaking is above the ground right

840
00:49:04,840 --> 00:49:08,440
now and it's not going to fall with a tornado or earthquake.

841
00:49:08,440 --> 00:49:09,440
That's what I want to build.

842
00:49:09,440 --> 00:49:16,920
A lot big road to get there, but that's definitely, I think the contractor goal.

843
00:49:16,920 --> 00:49:19,080
And again, I mean, it may sound like it's my passion.

844
00:49:19,080 --> 00:49:20,840
It's not necessarily my passion.

845
00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:21,840
Business is my passion.

846
00:49:21,840 --> 00:49:25,760
People are my passion, but that is pretty dang cool.

847
00:49:25,760 --> 00:49:30,600
You know, I saw him in the other day, you know, my driving with my husband, he's like,

848
00:49:30,600 --> 00:49:31,600
I built that.

849
00:49:31,600 --> 00:49:32,600
I did that road.

850
00:49:32,600 --> 00:49:36,640
I built that and I feel like I'm like that with my wife, but that would be so cool when

851
00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:41,280
you're not pointing at just a simple little sign or like a patio you bill or even just

852
00:49:41,280 --> 00:49:48,480
a house, but you're pointing at something like how, how, you know, I think, I think

853
00:49:48,480 --> 00:49:50,040
we're all daydreaming in here now.

854
00:49:50,040 --> 00:49:51,040
Just talking about this.

855
00:49:51,040 --> 00:49:57,200
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's, uh, I don't know.

856
00:49:57,200 --> 00:49:58,200
There's just some crazy stuff.

857
00:49:58,200 --> 00:50:00,880
And the only part of it with that is the only people that are going to build that kind of

858
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:02,200
stuff are people with money.

859
00:50:02,200 --> 00:50:06,640
So right now we're focusing on relationships, trying to get to meet some of the people who

860
00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:08,120
have the money to be able to do that.

861
00:50:08,120 --> 00:50:12,360
But I mean, even now you look at like houses, like I'm not trying to dog anybody's house

862
00:50:12,360 --> 00:50:19,120
K, but like Rick Ross's house, Shaquille O'Neal's house, like their mansions, they look cool,

863
00:50:19,120 --> 00:50:20,960
but that's not a wow factor to me.

864
00:50:20,960 --> 00:50:27,000
You're wowing at how big it is, but I want to, yeah, I want structures that people haven't

865
00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:28,360
seen in a very long time.

866
00:50:28,360 --> 00:50:31,880
Shoot, if I could build a pyramid, I would, I would love to build a pyramid again.

867
00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:32,880
It'd be insane.

868
00:50:32,880 --> 00:50:34,880
It'd be hyped up right now.

869
00:50:34,880 --> 00:50:35,880
I know it.

870
00:50:35,880 --> 00:50:36,880
It would be insane, but yeah.

871
00:50:36,880 --> 00:50:37,880
All right.

872
00:50:37,880 --> 00:50:48,120
Well, I guess I have one more question to end it, to end the podcast is will you be voting

873
00:50:48,120 --> 00:50:50,880
for a convicted felon in 2024?

874
00:50:50,880 --> 00:50:53,880
Oh my God.

875
00:50:53,880 --> 00:51:00,880
I think America.

876
00:51:00,880 --> 00:51:01,880
Great.

877
00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:03,880
You have a fault.

878
00:51:03,880 --> 00:51:05,880
We're getting canceled 2024.

879
00:51:05,880 --> 00:51:11,000
Yeah, I know the whole political crap and everything going on is crazy.

880
00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:15,840
You know, I thought, I thought this is a great lesson just for an entrepreneurship, but you

881
00:51:15,840 --> 00:51:20,800
know, so many people were talking about Blake talked about this, right?

882
00:51:20,800 --> 00:51:23,920
Like the economy, like how the election was going to be and everybody wait.

883
00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:28,000
Oh, I don't know if I want to do this yet because of the economy and blah, blah, blah.

884
00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:33,160
And out of what 6000 realtors, only 600 have sold a house in this year and he sold like

885
00:51:33,160 --> 00:51:34,160
a hundred and something.

886
00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:36,000
Like, I don't even remember the statistics.

887
00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:40,800
You guys can go back to two episodes ago when he was in here, but same thing for us.

888
00:51:40,800 --> 00:51:46,320
Like right now work is getting pretty crazy as far as vendors.

889
00:51:46,320 --> 00:51:50,840
We have vendors coming in our office, dropping off stuff like, Hey, you know, we're, you

890
00:51:50,840 --> 00:51:51,960
know, this is what we do.

891
00:51:51,960 --> 00:51:55,800
We have vendors hitting us on social, every social media platform they're calling us or

892
00:51:55,800 --> 00:51:57,040
emailing us.

893
00:51:57,040 --> 00:51:59,560
Two years ago, we didn't have that in construction.

894
00:51:59,560 --> 00:52:04,440
Two years ago, people were, you know, we couldn't get vendors to bid on our ding projects, let

895
00:52:04,440 --> 00:52:09,960
alone even getting in contact with them because there was just such a huge influx of work.

896
00:52:09,960 --> 00:52:11,480
Now it's the opposite.

897
00:52:11,480 --> 00:52:14,920
Now I'm sure there's people who have not given us a time of day that are wishing we

898
00:52:14,920 --> 00:52:22,160
would return their calls, but the point being is if you build a reputation for yourself,

899
00:52:22,160 --> 00:52:28,640
if you build a reputation and you have the mindset of abundance, no matter what happens

900
00:52:28,640 --> 00:52:33,320
with the economy, whether there's an election, whether Joe Biden falls over on his face and

901
00:52:33,320 --> 00:52:37,200
the economy collapses, like whatever the case is, you're going to be successful.

902
00:52:37,200 --> 00:52:38,800
Like there is a way to succeed.

903
00:52:38,800 --> 00:52:43,080
There is a way to maintain your business in any era and anytime.

904
00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:44,600
I don't care if it's a great depression.

905
00:52:44,600 --> 00:52:49,200
What I can tell you right now is millionaires were made during the Great Depression.

906
00:52:49,200 --> 00:52:52,600
There were businesses that didn't go under during the Great Depression.

907
00:52:52,600 --> 00:52:55,440
And if you're getting mad because your grandpa was in the Great Depression, I'm sorry, but

908
00:52:55,440 --> 00:52:57,120
that is what I truly believe.

909
00:52:57,120 --> 00:53:05,240
There is truly so many different ways to make money, establish your company, and there are

910
00:53:05,240 --> 00:53:08,080
people, always people with money.

911
00:53:08,080 --> 00:53:11,400
So like right now, if the economy starts, you know, we've been talking about research

912
00:53:11,400 --> 00:53:14,560
forever, but economy, yeah, it's kind of slowed down, right?

913
00:53:14,560 --> 00:53:19,320
So, you know, two years ago, we weren't getting the amount of volume of work we were getting,

914
00:53:19,320 --> 00:53:24,480
but what we did is we ended up making our clientele, the people that have money.

915
00:53:24,480 --> 00:53:25,480
And guess what?

916
00:53:25,480 --> 00:53:31,200
We still are signing contracts for a half a million dollar remodel that, you know, other

917
00:53:31,200 --> 00:53:34,240
people can't even get a bathroom remodel right now for it.

918
00:53:34,240 --> 00:53:35,240
I'm not bragging.

919
00:53:35,240 --> 00:53:42,480
My point is that if you focus on building reputation and focus on putting yourself in

920
00:53:42,480 --> 00:53:48,040
front of people with money, you're always going to have money because you're going to

921
00:53:48,040 --> 00:53:50,720
surround yourself with people who spend money, right?

922
00:53:50,720 --> 00:53:53,560
Because the rich will always be rich, for the most part.

923
00:53:53,560 --> 00:53:55,560
I mean, sometimes people go under, right?

924
00:53:55,560 --> 00:53:58,960
But the people with money are always going to have money and they're always going to

925
00:53:58,960 --> 00:53:59,960
have to spend money.

926
00:53:59,960 --> 00:54:01,480
But that's just how it is, right?

927
00:54:01,480 --> 00:54:04,440
So I think that's a great learning lesson.

928
00:54:04,440 --> 00:54:14,440
I don't know if I'm sounding like a complete douche right now, but that's, yeah, what was

929
00:54:14,440 --> 00:54:15,440
question number four?

930
00:54:15,440 --> 00:54:20,560
What was question number four?

931
00:54:20,560 --> 00:54:25,400
I also think, you know, and again, at this point, I'm just kind of going through this.

932
00:54:25,400 --> 00:54:28,960
You know, we've been, this is what episode 23 of a podcast.

933
00:54:28,960 --> 00:54:34,760
And so I've gone from being very, how was your day to being a little bit more loose,

934
00:54:34,760 --> 00:54:37,000
but kind of jumping around places here.

935
00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:41,680
You know, if you guys as leaders, and this is just a thought that's coming to my head,

936
00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:50,280
if you guys as leaders are prideful, are entitled because you're the leader, you are going to

937
00:54:50,280 --> 00:54:52,360
make a lot more enemies than you are friends.

938
00:54:52,360 --> 00:54:56,200
And you're not going to have, people are not going to want to follow that.

939
00:54:56,200 --> 00:54:57,200
Derek Price.

940
00:54:57,200 --> 00:55:00,960
I think I've dropped this episode yet as of today, but by the time you hear this episode,

941
00:55:00,960 --> 00:55:03,120
it will have been dropped.

942
00:55:03,120 --> 00:55:08,400
He talked about his experience as a CEO of an addiction hospital and how he turned that

943
00:55:08,400 --> 00:55:12,800
company around from literally that were in the middle of filing bankruptcy or they had

944
00:55:12,800 --> 00:55:17,040
filed bankruptcy and he ended up saving the company all because he picked up cigarette

945
00:55:17,040 --> 00:55:18,800
buds.

946
00:55:18,800 --> 00:55:22,320
Like it's so hard.

947
00:55:22,320 --> 00:55:24,840
You know, people always ask, like, does money change you?

948
00:55:24,840 --> 00:55:29,240
Like, and I don't even have a lot of money, but honestly, I have been asked that.

949
00:55:29,240 --> 00:55:35,960
If you guys truly let money turn you into where you have that entitlement, like, oh,

950
00:55:35,960 --> 00:55:38,640
well, I'm the guy who pays for everything.

951
00:55:38,640 --> 00:55:44,280
I mean, as an owner and as people in leadership, like different positions, I do think like,

952
00:55:44,280 --> 00:55:48,160
hey, you're not like necessarily everybody else or are certain benefits and stuff that

953
00:55:48,160 --> 00:55:51,400
you get in and being that position that you've earned to be in.

954
00:55:51,400 --> 00:55:57,480
But at the end of the day, if you have that mentality of, well, because I said so or well,

955
00:55:57,480 --> 00:56:04,400
because I paid for overall because just too bad this is my company, you're going to, you're

956
00:56:04,400 --> 00:56:06,160
going to lose great people.

957
00:56:06,160 --> 00:56:10,000
I've had that mentality before, unfortunately.

958
00:56:10,000 --> 00:56:13,920
And now I've learned when to have that mentality and when not to at the end of the day.

959
00:56:13,920 --> 00:56:15,440
If you're an owner, you're still an owner.

960
00:56:15,440 --> 00:56:19,360
So sometimes you have to put your phone, your foot down and be like, hey, dude, either way,

961
00:56:19,360 --> 00:56:21,440
it's my decision.

962
00:56:21,440 --> 00:56:25,120
But a lot of the other times is you have to listen, you have to be open minded.

963
00:56:25,120 --> 00:56:33,000
You have to invite people to share that criticism, invite people to share their ideas and really

964
00:56:33,000 --> 00:56:34,600
try to listen and not turn them down.

965
00:56:34,600 --> 00:56:39,000
I still struggle with that, but I understand that that needs to happen.

966
00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:46,320
And in understanding that, since I have come to that understanding, I think our company's

967
00:56:46,320 --> 00:56:47,320
changed a lot.

968
00:56:47,320 --> 00:56:50,480
I think we've worked a lot better with people.

969
00:56:50,480 --> 00:56:53,520
We just had a leadership meeting just the other week where we were talking about certain

970
00:56:53,520 --> 00:56:55,560
things that weren't working.

971
00:56:55,560 --> 00:57:00,600
And again, leadership team, I love you guys, but I'm just sharing this in my head.

972
00:57:00,600 --> 00:57:05,320
We were talking about all these things that these guys, our guys weren't doing and how

973
00:57:05,320 --> 00:57:10,320
many times, we've told them 80 million times to do this and they just can't grasp it.

974
00:57:10,320 --> 00:57:17,080
And then I'm like, well, we came to the conclusion as a team that, well, are we doing this?

975
00:57:17,080 --> 00:57:20,360
Are we setting this example?

976
00:57:20,360 --> 00:57:22,200
And in reality, that answer was no.

977
00:57:22,200 --> 00:57:27,480
I think it was a hard pill to swallow for all of us that were in that meeting.

978
00:57:27,480 --> 00:57:29,000
But it's true.

979
00:57:29,000 --> 00:57:30,120
It really is true.

980
00:57:30,120 --> 00:57:33,680
Now, like I said, there is a balance there.

981
00:57:33,680 --> 00:57:38,480
My brother, we have a fridge in the front of our office that is for customers only.

982
00:57:38,480 --> 00:57:41,640
And every now and then, maybe more often than I should, I grab a Red Bull out of there because

983
00:57:41,640 --> 00:57:44,360
there's Red Bulls and I don't have any of my personal fridge.

984
00:57:44,360 --> 00:57:48,920
And so my brother being my brother, grabbed some and some of our guys grabbed some and

985
00:57:48,920 --> 00:57:53,240
our office manager, bless her harsh, Diane, who's an absolutely OG.

986
00:57:53,240 --> 00:57:55,920
She's like Donna from Suits.

987
00:57:55,920 --> 00:58:00,200
She gets mad about it and she gets mad when I do it too, but I have a mentality like,

988
00:58:00,200 --> 00:58:01,200
well, I'm paying for them.

989
00:58:01,200 --> 00:58:02,920
I can take it if I want to.

990
00:58:02,920 --> 00:58:08,120
But at the end of the day, it really comes down to that example.

991
00:58:08,120 --> 00:58:12,360
If I didn't take those Red Bulls out, would my team?

992
00:58:12,360 --> 00:58:14,560
They wouldn't even dare, right?

993
00:58:14,560 --> 00:58:19,560
And question number four, whoever asked that question, especially working family and friends,

994
00:58:19,560 --> 00:58:23,320
I think it's okay to have a certain entitlement.

995
00:58:23,320 --> 00:58:30,360
For me, if I worked for my best friend or worked for my dad, I would think, hey, I would

996
00:58:30,360 --> 00:58:34,160
still, one, there's the incentive to bust my butt even harder.

997
00:58:34,160 --> 00:58:37,360
There's the incentive to do even more because I don't want to let them down.

998
00:58:37,360 --> 00:58:40,680
But there's also that like, hey, well, I'm going to just go in and grab something out

999
00:58:40,680 --> 00:58:45,400
of his fridge because we've been friends or he's been my dad.

1000
00:58:45,400 --> 00:58:46,680
I can do that.

1001
00:58:46,680 --> 00:58:47,800
Normal employees can't do that.

1002
00:58:47,800 --> 00:58:52,320
There are benefits to some things and I think that's totally okay to have, but there is

1003
00:58:52,320 --> 00:58:56,080
a line and if you cross that line, all of a sudden people are getting taken advantage

1004
00:58:56,080 --> 00:58:58,960
of, people aren't doing their stuff, people are above other people.

1005
00:58:58,960 --> 00:59:00,520
You can't have that.

1006
00:59:00,520 --> 00:59:06,320
You have to be able to keep everybody on an equal level, playing field, including yourself.

1007
00:59:06,320 --> 00:59:10,840
Now, with that being said, not your employees are not going to be driving, you know, Ferraris,

1008
00:59:10,840 --> 00:59:12,840
if you're driving a Ferrari, that's not how it works.

1009
00:59:12,840 --> 00:59:19,000
You still have to also at the same time, keep that competitiveness of live.

1010
00:59:19,000 --> 00:59:20,000
It's just a fine line.

1011
00:59:20,000 --> 00:59:25,160
I think it's interesting and it's been interesting to learn what that line is and truly come to

1012
00:59:25,160 --> 00:59:28,280
understand how everybody works.

1013
00:59:28,280 --> 00:59:32,960
Some people, you know, will light up in the morning with Chipotle burrito, a Los Favres

1014
00:59:32,960 --> 00:59:33,960
burrito.

1015
00:59:33,960 --> 00:59:37,440
And then there you need to go, that is a promo.

1016
00:59:37,440 --> 00:59:40,520
And some other people are like, hey, I don't care about this burrito.

1017
00:59:40,520 --> 00:59:44,680
I need a thousand dollar check, a thousand dollar bonus, Mike.

1018
00:59:44,680 --> 00:59:57,560
And so it's like, you got to learn, you know, what, there's an entitlement right there.

1019
00:59:57,560 --> 01:00:01,400
But no, like seriously, it's, you got to learn who you're working with.

1020
01:00:01,400 --> 01:00:02,920
You got to understand them.

1021
01:00:02,920 --> 01:00:04,240
We're still going through that.

1022
01:00:04,240 --> 01:00:07,320
And I think as you get bigger, you're consistently going through that.

1023
01:00:07,320 --> 01:00:12,800
I think, you know, some of the biggest, most successful companies in Arizona are still learning

1024
01:00:12,800 --> 01:00:18,200
how to deal with that, how to deal with, you know, they went from 50 employees to 200 employees.

1025
01:00:18,200 --> 01:00:20,680
Like you, you can't be as personal at that point.

1026
01:00:20,680 --> 01:00:23,800
You have to still be able to know the people you work with.

1027
01:00:23,800 --> 01:00:26,360
And you know, I don't know.

1028
01:00:26,360 --> 01:00:30,960
I think it's interesting, but I think 100% you have to eliminate that mentality that

1029
01:00:30,960 --> 01:00:34,800
like, hey, too bad, so sad you work for me because you're never going to get anything

1030
01:00:34,800 --> 01:00:35,800
done.

1031
01:00:35,800 --> 01:00:36,800
People are not going to follow you.

1032
01:00:36,800 --> 01:00:42,720
Like I said, I've had that in my life and especially like, you know, I think it's interesting.

1033
01:00:42,720 --> 01:00:45,840
I'm going to talk about me, Mike and Kyle here just because we're all in the room.

1034
01:00:45,840 --> 01:00:51,600
But you know, we've been best friends for what, like a year?

1035
01:00:51,600 --> 01:00:53,000
For like ever.

1036
01:00:53,000 --> 01:00:56,840
And you know, we've gone through, dude, we've gone through, yeah, we've gone through so

1037
01:00:56,840 --> 01:00:57,840
much like, right.

1038
01:00:57,840 --> 01:01:01,200
And in high school, we were in sports, we're all friends together.

1039
01:01:01,200 --> 01:01:02,760
Kyle, Mikey hung out more.

1040
01:01:02,760 --> 01:01:04,360
I didn't really hang out too much with Mikey.

1041
01:01:04,360 --> 01:01:09,960
He was kind of that good looking douchebag that everybody wanted to date in high school.

1042
01:01:09,960 --> 01:01:11,400
Kyle was that guy that everybody loved.

1043
01:01:11,400 --> 01:01:12,400
Everybody still loves him.

1044
01:01:12,400 --> 01:01:15,200
And then I was kind of that nerdy jock, hang out with all the nerds.

1045
01:01:15,200 --> 01:01:20,440
But then, you know, I played sports and I was always tied up in a relationship.

1046
01:01:20,440 --> 01:01:22,960
So I didn't really hang out with friends too much, unfortunately.

1047
01:01:22,960 --> 01:01:28,240
But we've been through a lot and then we went through and we lived together, you know, we're

1048
01:01:28,240 --> 01:01:32,040
kind of homeless together for a little while and then we lived together for a while.

1049
01:01:32,040 --> 01:01:38,040
Then we got a condo and we, and this one talking about, you know, so we've been through a lot.

1050
01:01:38,040 --> 01:01:39,360
And so it's been interesting.

1051
01:01:39,360 --> 01:01:45,200
I'm sure they can, you know, attest to this, but like going from that to where, you know,

1052
01:01:45,200 --> 01:01:49,280
we were talking about like, hey, out of us, it doesn't matter who makes it, whoever makes

1053
01:01:49,280 --> 01:01:53,560
it, you know, we're going to take care of everybody else.

1054
01:01:53,560 --> 01:01:54,560
Right.

1055
01:01:54,560 --> 01:02:00,320
And so I do think that was an immature thought to a point because it was more, we were relying

1056
01:02:00,320 --> 01:02:03,840
on Mikey to make beats and get famous.

1057
01:02:03,840 --> 01:02:07,680
And we'll post his link to SoundCloud down below or iTunes music if you guys want to

1058
01:02:07,680 --> 01:02:08,680
check that out.

1059
01:02:08,680 --> 01:02:12,560
But, you know, that didn't happen and there's nothing wrong with that.

1060
01:02:12,560 --> 01:02:18,520
Obviously, he makes killer beats, but that wasn't what life held for him or us at all.

1061
01:02:18,520 --> 01:02:22,760
And so then it came down to, you know, we separated.

1062
01:02:22,760 --> 01:02:25,560
I went on a mission, came back, I started this company.

1063
01:02:25,560 --> 01:02:26,560
They were doing stuff.

1064
01:02:26,560 --> 01:02:28,920
Mikey was a loan officer for a company.

1065
01:02:28,920 --> 01:02:34,760
Kyle was the freaking best and most beast bartender you ever going to meet.

1066
01:02:34,760 --> 01:02:36,040
And so we all kind of separated.

1067
01:02:36,040 --> 01:02:39,400
And then it just kind of, you know, like, hey, the initial thought was like, well, we

1068
01:02:39,400 --> 01:02:40,560
all want to work together.

1069
01:02:40,560 --> 01:02:45,000
So we all started working together, but it's been an interesting transition to, I think

1070
01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:49,280
for them and me to really understand like, hey, we're all friends, but we still have

1071
01:02:49,280 --> 01:02:50,280
a job to do.

1072
01:02:50,280 --> 01:02:51,440
We still have a business to run.

1073
01:02:51,440 --> 01:02:53,320
We still have to make money.

1074
01:02:53,320 --> 01:02:57,880
And at the end of the day, like, unfortunately, and fortunately, I'll say that and maybe

1075
01:02:57,880 --> 01:03:02,560
explain it later, but fortunately, and unfortunately, like, I have to make the final decisions.

1076
01:03:02,560 --> 01:03:08,800
And it's been a growing opportunity for all of us to learn when to let down our pride

1077
01:03:08,800 --> 01:03:14,120
and when to not let down our pride in order to thrive and work together.

1078
01:03:14,120 --> 01:03:18,960
I think we're all three for the most part, kind of the alpha minds where we all just

1079
01:03:18,960 --> 01:03:22,920
were naturally just always kind of been in charge and stuff like that and kind of been,

1080
01:03:22,920 --> 01:03:25,720
you know, the spotlight and a crowd.

1081
01:03:25,720 --> 01:03:30,040
And so putting us all three together, obviously, that we're bound to hit heads, but it's taken

1082
01:03:30,040 --> 01:03:34,200
time and that's why a lot of people will tell you, don't work with family, don't work with

1083
01:03:34,200 --> 01:03:35,200
friends.

1084
01:03:35,200 --> 01:03:38,440
I swear if I had a dime for every time I heard that I've been a part of coaching programs

1085
01:03:38,440 --> 01:03:41,720
where the first thing the person told me was like, you got to find your family and friends.

1086
01:03:41,720 --> 01:03:43,320
Like, no, that's not going to work.

1087
01:03:43,320 --> 01:03:46,000
And for me, it was a challenge because nobody believed it could happen.

1088
01:03:46,000 --> 01:03:49,600
And I was like, okay, we're going to make it happen.

1089
01:03:49,600 --> 01:03:52,520
But that's why because people can't let down their pride.

1090
01:03:52,520 --> 01:03:57,920
People can't understand that, you know what?

1091
01:03:57,920 --> 01:04:00,760
Obviously we're friends, but there's a time where we're friends and there's a time when

1092
01:04:00,760 --> 01:04:02,360
we're hustling to making money.

1093
01:04:02,360 --> 01:04:04,160
And I think we've been able to do that pretty well.

1094
01:04:04,160 --> 01:04:11,440
I think we still struggle at times, mostly with when Mikey's being a complete douchebag.

1095
01:04:11,440 --> 01:04:17,160
But for the most part, it's been working out and understanding, yeah, like I said, understanding

1096
01:04:17,160 --> 01:04:22,920
when to be able to do that is really going to dictate the success between any friends.

1097
01:04:22,920 --> 01:04:25,480
And so sometimes you have to have that conversation.

1098
01:04:25,480 --> 01:04:28,560
Mikey's had the conversation with me where like, dude, you don't listen, you shoot down

1099
01:04:28,560 --> 01:04:31,240
all my ideas and I've had the conversation.

1100
01:04:31,240 --> 01:04:35,040
I'm like, well, dude, you just annoy me too much.

1101
01:04:35,040 --> 01:04:37,400
But we've been able to work through it.

1102
01:04:37,400 --> 01:04:38,400
Second part wasn't so true.

1103
01:04:38,400 --> 01:04:44,440
But the first part, yes, he has told me that and understanding like, hey, again, I could

1104
01:04:44,440 --> 01:04:46,160
have sat there and been like, well, I'm the owner too bad.

1105
01:04:46,160 --> 01:04:47,160
I pay you a check.

1106
01:04:47,160 --> 01:04:51,240
But that's not how I think and that's not how anybody should think because the reaction

1107
01:04:51,240 --> 01:04:54,520
you're going to get to that is we'll peace out, dude, like especially when there's two

1108
01:04:54,520 --> 01:04:59,400
people that are kind of leaders in nature in that meeting, like that's not going to work.

1109
01:04:59,400 --> 01:05:01,440
And so instead it's like, okay, I hear you.

1110
01:05:01,440 --> 01:05:03,080
It's kind of like a relationship in marriage, right?

1111
01:05:03,080 --> 01:05:04,240
Okay, I hear you.

1112
01:05:04,240 --> 01:05:05,840
Now here's what I think.

1113
01:05:05,840 --> 01:05:10,800
Use this and being able to actually work together to be able to make the dream work.

1114
01:05:10,800 --> 01:05:11,840
Good team makes the dream work.

1115
01:05:11,840 --> 01:05:15,520
So I think that's been a huge growing, growing part for us.

1116
01:05:15,520 --> 01:05:19,160
And I think there's a lot more to come.

1117
01:05:19,160 --> 01:05:22,800
But for the most part, yeah, pride definitely ruins things.

1118
01:05:22,800 --> 01:05:30,000
And if you can learn how to accept criticism and how to give criticism without offending

1119
01:05:30,000 --> 01:05:34,600
people, you're going to be able to grow together and make a family company work.

1120
01:05:34,600 --> 01:05:40,000
There's a statistic, what 98% of small business, so small business is any business that operates

1121
01:05:40,000 --> 01:05:44,920
under I believe $200 million a year in revenue might be 100 million, something like that.

1122
01:05:44,920 --> 01:05:47,680
But I mean, that's, first of all, to me, that's not a small company.

1123
01:05:47,680 --> 01:05:50,080
I mean, if you're doing 50 million a year, you're not a small company.

1124
01:05:50,080 --> 01:05:53,560
You got 30, 40 employees, like that's not a small company to me.

1125
01:05:53,560 --> 01:06:01,000
But what I will say is 98% of small businesses are family owned and operated.

1126
01:06:01,000 --> 01:06:02,000
That's crazy.

1127
01:06:02,000 --> 01:06:03,240
You got all these people out here.

1128
01:06:03,240 --> 01:06:04,480
Don't work with family.

1129
01:06:04,480 --> 01:06:08,400
You know, it never works out, but yet 98% of all small businesses are family.

1130
01:06:08,400 --> 01:06:11,920
People are not, no, they're a little bit ignorant.

1131
01:06:11,920 --> 01:06:16,120
They don't know what they must not know that statistic.

1132
01:06:16,120 --> 01:06:19,680
But whether it's salesman or whether it's like, even if it's like, okay, well, you

1133
01:06:19,680 --> 01:06:22,400
know, family owned and operated, that could be a husband and wife, but everybody else

1134
01:06:22,400 --> 01:06:23,400
is strangers.

1135
01:06:23,400 --> 01:06:25,800
That could be two brothers and everybody else is strangers.

1136
01:06:25,800 --> 01:06:31,480
That could be, you know, a brother and a sister, the secretary, those are like people.

1137
01:06:31,480 --> 01:06:35,120
I mean, 98% of small businesses are family owned and operated.

1138
01:06:35,120 --> 01:06:36,120
So hey, there you go.

1139
01:06:36,120 --> 01:06:38,520
At the end of the day, people can make that work.

1140
01:06:38,520 --> 01:06:43,760
But what happens is you just hear those stories of people butting heads and, you know, my

1141
01:06:43,760 --> 01:06:47,800
father does nothing and I do all the work 24 seven.

1142
01:06:47,800 --> 01:06:50,080
Like, dude, that doesn't just happen in business.

1143
01:06:50,080 --> 01:06:54,960
My first partnership, I won't name him here because he might listen to my podcast.

1144
01:06:54,960 --> 01:07:00,280
But I remember and again, this, I just remember feeling like, hey, he's like, hey, I'm going

1145
01:07:00,280 --> 01:07:04,240
to, I need to set up quick books and get all the setup and it took three weeks for him

1146
01:07:04,240 --> 01:07:05,240
to set up quick books.

1147
01:07:05,240 --> 01:07:09,200
And I was the guy outside of the field sweating, running the crews and doing everything.

1148
01:07:09,200 --> 01:07:11,000
And yet we were making the same amount of money.

1149
01:07:11,000 --> 01:07:17,800
And not to say that he didn't deserve that, but there just wasn't an equal pool and we

1150
01:07:17,800 --> 01:07:18,800
were a startup.

1151
01:07:18,800 --> 01:07:20,040
So it didn't make sense to me.

1152
01:07:20,040 --> 01:07:24,960
So, you know, if you guys can really understand when to drop your pride, really understand

1153
01:07:24,960 --> 01:07:26,640
that it takes team effort.

1154
01:07:26,640 --> 01:07:31,560
I truly believe that is what separated us in the construction game is, you know, in

1155
01:07:31,560 --> 01:07:35,880
construction, client hires contractor, who's responsible contractor?

1156
01:07:35,880 --> 01:07:38,080
That's not how we run the game here.

1157
01:07:38,080 --> 01:07:41,480
Client hires elder, who's responsible client and elder?

1158
01:07:41,480 --> 01:07:43,920
It's a teamwork because the client doesn't do their part.

1159
01:07:43,920 --> 01:07:44,920
We fell.

1160
01:07:44,920 --> 01:07:45,920
We don't do our part.

1161
01:07:45,920 --> 01:07:46,920
We fell, right?

1162
01:07:46,920 --> 01:07:50,920
But the client, whether it's picking stuff out, it's making decisions or it's paying

1163
01:07:50,920 --> 01:07:56,600
us on time or it's making sure that they understand in our listening when we're communicating

1164
01:07:56,600 --> 01:08:01,840
timelines and they're actually checking in on builder trend, which is a software that

1165
01:08:01,840 --> 01:08:02,840
we use for everything.

1166
01:08:02,840 --> 01:08:05,320
I have clients are like, well, you know, what's going on?

1167
01:08:05,320 --> 01:08:06,320
I have no clue.

1168
01:08:06,320 --> 01:08:08,440
I'm like, well, it's we've been in your job five weeks.

1169
01:08:08,440 --> 01:08:09,440
Have you checked our software?

1170
01:08:09,440 --> 01:08:13,360
Like have you logged on your portal to actually look at the data logs and what's going on?

1171
01:08:13,360 --> 01:08:16,680
You have a literally 24 seven access to the schedule.

1172
01:08:16,680 --> 01:08:18,600
Oh, no, I haven't.

1173
01:08:18,600 --> 01:08:19,600
Okay.

1174
01:08:19,600 --> 01:08:20,600
Well, guess what?

1175
01:08:20,600 --> 01:08:23,760
Now you're stressing on my PM, which is stressing on our team.

1176
01:08:23,760 --> 01:08:27,720
We feel like we have an unhappy customer because you're ticked off and you haven't done what

1177
01:08:27,720 --> 01:08:29,160
we agreed to do together.

1178
01:08:29,160 --> 01:08:36,520
So we are now changing the mindset in the game that like, Hey, when contractors, when

1179
01:08:36,520 --> 01:08:40,600
a client hires a contractor, it's not just contractor is going to provide me with everything

1180
01:08:40,600 --> 01:08:41,600
I'm asking for.

1181
01:08:41,600 --> 01:08:42,600
It is a teamwork.

1182
01:08:42,600 --> 01:08:47,800
And if the client doesn't do their part, then that refrains us from doing our part.

1183
01:08:47,800 --> 01:08:51,960
So there's obviously there's a lot more responsibility on the contractor side, but there is a good

1184
01:08:51,960 --> 01:08:54,360
amount of responsibility on the on the client side.

1185
01:08:54,360 --> 01:08:58,400
And so the clients that understand that that hear us and understand that those jobs go

1186
01:08:58,400 --> 01:08:59,400
great.

1187
01:08:59,400 --> 01:09:02,800
We still have clients that we tell this to we go through documentation and they don't

1188
01:09:02,800 --> 01:09:05,280
understand that they take 80 years to reply to us.

1189
01:09:05,280 --> 01:09:07,440
And well, my job's been running for five months.

1190
01:09:07,440 --> 01:09:10,640
I'm like, yeah, well, let's look at all these texts for the last four weeks.

1191
01:09:10,640 --> 01:09:13,520
We've been asking you to make the decision that's been holding up progress on your job.

1192
01:09:13,520 --> 01:09:14,520
Oh, yeah.

1193
01:09:14,520 --> 01:09:15,520
Sorry, dude.

1194
01:09:15,520 --> 01:09:16,520
I've just been so busy.

1195
01:09:16,520 --> 01:09:18,520
Well, sucks.

1196
01:09:18,520 --> 01:09:21,760
Like, what can we do?

1197
01:09:21,760 --> 01:09:22,760
Right?

1198
01:09:22,760 --> 01:09:23,880
We're not going to make the decision for you.

1199
01:09:23,880 --> 01:09:30,320
So really understanding that teamwork and that everybody shares, everybody has responsibility,

1200
01:09:30,320 --> 01:09:35,000
whether you're an employee, whether you're the owner, whether you're a shareholder or

1201
01:09:35,000 --> 01:09:39,920
a client, everybody has a responsibility and understanding how those responsibilities all

1202
01:09:39,920 --> 01:09:44,520
work together to make a dream come to life, a vision come to life.

1203
01:09:44,520 --> 01:09:45,520
That is success.

1204
01:09:45,520 --> 01:09:46,680
Truly, truly success.

1205
01:09:46,680 --> 01:09:50,920
So well, I'm going to have to listen back to this podcast because I feel like I went

1206
01:09:50,920 --> 01:09:57,040
a million different ways, but at the end of the day, guys, entrepreneurship is difficult.

1207
01:09:57,040 --> 01:10:02,160
I don't think anybody prepares you for the journey, but what I will say, it's so rewarding.

1208
01:10:02,160 --> 01:10:03,160
It's rewarding.

1209
01:10:03,160 --> 01:10:09,560
And when you can bring in amazing people like we have here at Elder, the people that really

1210
01:10:09,560 --> 01:10:13,760
take their role as if they are an owner, as a company, and everybody's on equal level

1211
01:10:13,760 --> 01:10:16,640
playing field, and everybody cares as much as the next person.

1212
01:10:16,640 --> 01:10:18,440
I mean, that changes the game.

1213
01:10:18,440 --> 01:10:19,560
It really does.

1214
01:10:19,560 --> 01:10:23,240
So thank you guys for tuning in to the Homework Ascendment podcast.

1215
01:10:23,240 --> 01:10:27,040
We have another guest speaker coming to you next week.

1216
01:10:27,040 --> 01:10:30,800
If you haven't listened to some of the past speakers, we've had some amazing speakers on

1217
01:10:30,800 --> 01:10:32,320
this show.

1218
01:10:32,320 --> 01:10:34,480
I'm very grateful for the people who have joined this show.

1219
01:10:34,480 --> 01:10:40,360
I think it normally takes a very long time to get some of the relationship that we have

1220
01:10:40,360 --> 01:10:45,040
into these podcast recordings, and we've been fortunate enough to have those people be in

1221
01:10:45,040 --> 01:10:46,040
full support of us.

1222
01:10:46,040 --> 01:10:47,880
So go listen to them, guys.

1223
01:10:47,880 --> 01:10:53,360
There's a ton of great stuff, again, whether it's about business or entrepreneurship.

1224
01:10:53,360 --> 01:10:55,920
To me, they're both the same thing.

1225
01:10:55,920 --> 01:11:00,280
You're an entrepreneur of your own life as well as a business, or you're an entrepreneur

1226
01:11:00,280 --> 01:11:04,040
of a business, and you're an entrepreneur of your own life, and they just go hand in hand,

1227
01:11:04,040 --> 01:11:06,440
and you can't succeed truly.

1228
01:11:06,440 --> 01:11:08,760
True success is not one-sided.

1229
01:11:08,760 --> 01:11:11,920
It requires success in both areas.

1230
01:11:11,920 --> 01:11:12,920
So check it out.

1231
01:11:12,920 --> 01:11:14,360
We have links below.

1232
01:11:14,360 --> 01:11:17,640
Follow our Elder Contracting page on Instagram and Facebook.

1233
01:11:17,640 --> 01:11:19,000
Keep up to date on what we're doing.

1234
01:11:19,000 --> 01:11:23,480
We've always got amazing stuff, events going on, promos, all that fun stuff.

1235
01:11:23,480 --> 01:11:26,720
And for the most part, please like, follow, share.

1236
01:11:26,720 --> 01:11:31,960
If you guys know someone that's joining this journey or is in this journey, please share

1237
01:11:31,960 --> 01:11:32,960
the show with them.

1238
01:11:32,960 --> 01:11:37,640
We're trying to just share our experience and everything with everybody out there and

1239
01:11:37,640 --> 01:11:43,160
give back a little bit to help people understand the journey and the life of entrepreneurship.

1240
01:11:43,160 --> 01:11:44,160
So thanks for joining.

1241
01:11:44,160 --> 01:11:47,160
We're going to talk about that long stuff for real.

1242
01:11:47,160 --> 01:11:48,160
Thanks.

1243
01:11:48,160 --> 01:12:17,160
Bye.