What is up guys, this is the homework assignment podcast.
Welcome back.
We are working on getting more consistent for you guys.
For those of you guys who haven't been a part of our show before, this is the homework assignment
and our main assignment is to basically break down and talk about the differences between
home life and work life, how they coincide with each other and kind of just go through
our everyday struggles, stories, what we're doing, what we learn not to do and just basically
how to find a balance between both the home and the work.
That balance changes as you grow.
It can be balanced sometimes and then other times it can be insanely unbalanced.
It really just depends on your career, where you're at in your life, whether you have kids
or married or you're not, you may be single, but it doesn't stay consistent.
I'll put it that way, especially as an entrepreneur when you're growing and you're trying to scale,
that balance becomes very undefined very quickly and I kind of think of it as a scale.
Really you're just trying to find that balance in every single moment of life that you're
in and being able to understand that sometimes your scale may be like this and accepting
that and being okay with that and not trying to force it back this way, which could cost
you some success, some progress and vice versa.
That's what we're all about.
Some of the reasons that we go maybe a week without a podcast is because I am personally
trying to find that balance a little bit and sometimes that scale is all the way up here
and we do have a commitment to this podcast.
We're always going to be posting on it, but as we are growing and moving forward, there
will be times where we're very consistent, sometimes where we may skip a week or so due
to XYZ reasons, but there are always good reasons.
I'll put, I'll definitely say that, they're always great.
We have a upcoming guest named John.
John, we're really excited to have him.
He did a little insight, he built a solar business, ended up selling, getting out of
it and he's looking for his next venture.
We're definitely excited to talk to him and be able to get that out to you guys.
As for today, I've been thinking about mindset a little bit.
This last couple months has been insane.
We have added so many people to our company, we've gotten certain people out of our company
and so there's been a big pivot in kind of readjusting, training, getting to know new
people, people who are outside of our family and friends and maybe just acquaintances and
some people we've never met before and kind of breaking ourselves out of that comfortability
nutshell to be able to bring more value to our company, more value to our team and be
able to grow.
It's been an exciting period for all of us.
I think everybody in our company has been having a lot of fun with that.
We've been seeing some great results but with that it's been a little chaotic, it's been
a little stressful trying to get people on our new systems and then also throwing certain
people into the fire because that's what that role required.
I think we're learning a lot.
I know we're learning a lot.
One of the things that I'm noticing is definitely a mindset, a different type of mindset in
our team, definitely a way of, I'm not wearing mismatching socks by the way guys.
Sorry.
But what we're noticing is we're definitely noticing this team coming together a lot more
and I think some of the reasons for that is we had a couple people on our team.
You hear about this a lot like, hey, one person could be a cancer, right?
One person could be like a weak chain and that will disrupt the entire entity.
We had a couple of people that weren't necessarily cancerous but they were not in the right place
and so because of that their production and the way they handled things wasn't doing the
company any good and it affected everybody and it took me a little while to realize that.
I tend to see the potential in people and try to believe in them as much as I can and
give them more and more opportunities but at some point you got to cut that off and
so we were able to finally, I was able to finally do that, brought some people in who
were right for the certain positions and now I just feel like we have the snowball effect
where it just kind of started rolling and now it's getting bigger and better.
Things are more comfortable, things are more smooth and it's exciting because people are
feeling like, hey, this is going to be a new company now because we have everybody working
together, everybody's in the right position and things are moving forward and people
can feel that and that helps that mindset, everybody's mindset to win, everybody wants
to win and it's different.
I think when you have certain people who maybe aren't trying as hard or they're looking
for the easiest way to do things and not wanting to do things, sometimes you got to go the
hard route and they're always trying to make an excuse or find a way to go around the bush
rather than through it and I think that led to a lot of our team feeling like, hey, well,
I'm putting in 150% and then these people over here are putting in 80%, 85% and then
that 85%, 80% sometimes is interfering with my stuff over here so that mindset and the
placement that our team was becoming in was, hey, well, everybody was starting to get down
to that level because I think they felt that no matter what they did, they weren't able
to, what they were doing wasn't benefiting everybody because of these few people or maybe
the system and so removing that now everybody's on the same playing field, everybody's pushing
forward and then that excitement is kind of back and it's fun to see.
I think everybody's really enjoying it but definitely a learning lesson.
I think hiring and firing people is very difficult.
It's always been difficult for me because the company that I've wanted to create was
a company where people come in and leave better than when they came and that is a lot tougher
than I thought it was going to be and the reason it's tougher or the reason I thought
that is because I just assumed that people had the same mindset as me, the mindset to
win no matter what the price and to find ways to win, problem solve ways to win and what
I came to find out is there are so many different mixes of people and I was just holding everybody
to this expectation that like, hey, I don't care what role you're in, I don't care what
you're feeling, I expect you to figure this out and I expect you to win even if they're
in the wrong position.
And so a lot of the people that we have had in here that have left, I don't blame them
at all for not succeeding.
I hold that responsibility personally because I didn't set them up for success and I think
coming to those terms has really helped me understand a little bit better on how to be
a leader in my own company and not just the guy who's a boss, not just the guy who's like,
hey, do this, do that and I don't care what you think, get it done.
But to be someone who is really involved with the people that we work with and very understanding
that like, hey, if you're not succeeding here, what can we do to help you do that and to
really focus on the people and help build them.
I think that's definitely a huge lesson that I've learned and I have seen a lot of results
from is really focusing on the people and the money kind of comes with it.
It's a byproduct of building people and the only way you can build a business is by building
people in my opinion.
I recently, so I have a lot, I've talked about risk a lot and I think kind of what this is
sparking right now and maybe a tangent is I've had a lot of, I've made a lot of big
moves, very, very big moves that make people uncomfortable recently.
And I've gotten some good feedback and I've also gotten the feedback like, wow, like,
dude, are you sure you know what you're doing?
What are you going to do here?
What are you going to do there?
Like, what if this happens?
And, you know, I think for me, the comfortability I get to make these big decisions and these
big moves forwards is because of that mindset that it doesn't matter what's going to happen.
I mean, I always try to plan a little bit for the future, but it's always so uncertain,
right?
Anything can happen.
I've talked about that before, like, no matter how solid your plan is, there's always going
to be something that throws a wrench in it.
And so the best skill you can learn isn't how to plan.
The best skill you can learn is to plan and also adapt, be able to adapt.
That is that skill set.
Adaptation to moments instantaneously to your surroundings, whatever the cause may be.
And so for me, I've always been the person, like when it comes to hiring people or, you
know, business or doing job, getting jobs, signing contracts and jobs, I have no idea
how to do.
I've always been like, hey, let's secure and then figure it out.
And that makes people feel really uncomfortable, I think, because people don't like to do
be uncertain.
People don't like the unknown.
And so going with that, like the people we have in our company now, I feel like everybody
here finally has that like, hey, okay, I will figure it out.
I may not know, but I'm going to figure it out and that initiative is there.
And so it's been feeling really good.
And as far as like the stuff that I've been getting as far as like, you know, some of
the decisions I make, you know, to me, it's, and I'm going somewhere with this guy, so
bear with me.
It just has always made sense to do it that way.
I've talked before like, hey, like for me, when it comes to, you know, spending money
like, hey, well, can I afford this, you know, truck?
And you know, I don't know, maybe I can, maybe I can't.
I probably should know my finances, right?
But and I do now, but the way I used to do it is like, well, no matter what the payment
is, I'm going to figure it out.
I'll just have to make more money, right?
Like, hey, you know, whatever the case is by this nice house, okay, well, I'll just
have to make more money.
I'll just go make more money.
That mindset of being able just to know like, hey, I'll make the decision and then I'll
figure it out later.
I've been told that's very dangerous.
I've been told that's not a great way to live life because it gets you in a lot of trouble.
But for me, it's, it's worked.
Don't get me wrong.
It's, it's had its moments where like crap, I should have thought this through, but a
majority of the time it works for me.
And I don't think I used to think it was impulsiveness, but I'm coming to understand that it's not
so much impulse, more of a falling my gut feeling.
And I'll paint, I'll paint this picture for you guys.
So and this is some personal information.
So I definitely want to share it with you guys, but it's, it's interesting how it played
out. So a while ago, if you've listened to some of other podcasts, we've hired a, we
had a consulting company.
So leading up to this consulting company.
And I guess let me, let me set the setting of where I'm going at through all the stuff
I'm talking about.
Cause we've talked about a couple of different things, but overall I'm going to, I'm trying
to focus on what I've learned about following your gut and fun and trusting in yourself.
So going back to the story is basically leading up to this consulting company.
I had joined a ton of coaching programs.
I've spent a lot of money with some big name coaches.
I've gone to a ton of events.
I've flown out of the state for events, for, you know, different, you know, get-togethers,
whatever the case is, private ones, large ones, where there's thousands of people.
And I got little great, you know, great pieces to apply to my company, but I never was able
to get really what I was looking for.
And so I was finally looking into this one company going to spend, you know, hundreds
of thousands of dollars to work with them.
And I just didn't feel like the money was, you know, I didn't like to spend that much
money.
I was like, maybe, you know, I need to make more money first.
That was kind of one of those things.
Like at that large amount, I'm like, okay, probably need to think this one through before
I started throwing around 300 grand.
Well, you know, I was looking at a couple of different companies.
Didn't, you know, didn't feel like I needed to do it.
And mostly I think because of money, the large money figure was what really kind of was throwing
me off.
Well, randomly, I get a call and I get a call from this guy saying, hey, I'm so-and-so.
I want to come down to your office and meet you.
I'm in business development.
Your company sparked interest in us.
And so we want to come down and talk to you guys a little bit.
And I get a ton of phone call guys, marketers, you name it.
And I answered this call and I could tell it was some guy trying to sell me something,
right?
And I always say no.
But I was like, okay, yeah, come on down the schedule meeting.
And I was thinking about it.
I'm like, why did I schedule a meeting with this guy?
Well, anyways, the guy comes the next day.
He's late, ticked me off.
So I left.
I waited 15 minutes from left.
I guess there was an issue.
He tried calling and didn't go through whatever the case is.
I got a call from the manager of this development company.
They're like, hey, we want to reschedule.
We're sorry for what happened.
Let us show up tomorrow.
I said, okay, come on down.
So they come on down.
They give me this big old spiel for a couple hours about XYZ and what we're missing, how
we're operating.
They dug through some stuff.
They took some financial numbers, blah, blah, blah.
And then they're like, hey, we're going to come back and do an audit.
We want to show you some stuff.
Okay.
So I got a couple of financials and all of our operations came back and said, these are
the issues.
Here's what we do.
Here's why you should trust us.
And here's the price point.
It was like $380,000.
And I'm sitting there and I didn't think twice.
I just signed the paper.
It just felt right.
And I had a ton of people that I told.
So I didn't tell this to a lot of people because one, I don't like to talk about something
like spending that much money, for example, because one, I'm trying to make sure I don't
grow an ego as I grow my business.
I want to be humble because I'm very grateful for everything we have and I'm grateful for
my team.
And it's not a one man show.
Everything we have is because of all the people that are here.
And so that helps me not feel like I'm boasting.
And then there's some of my business mentors or really good friends that are entrepreneurs.
Those are the kind of people I can throw that out to like, hey, just so you know, like,
you might think I'm crazy, but I just, I signed a contract for $380,000 for a consulting
firm.
And I got a ton of feedback from people that I actually told like, oh dude, there's so
many people out there that it's a scam.
And I'm doing anything good for you.
You can learn all this on your own.
Why would you spend that amount of money?
You should have done this, this and this first and worked your way up into that maybe later
down the road.
How are you going to pay for that?
Because obviously that's all profit money.
That's not like, you know, revenue.
And you know, for me, it just felt, it just felt like I was supposed to be there.
It was supposed to be working with them.
And I didn't know how I was going to pay for it because it was supposed to be all up front.
I worked with them getting them, you know, weekly payments as a revenue was coming through
trying not to like liquidate a ton of assets to do it right out the back.
And anyways, they worked in here for three months.
And so I learned a lot and we have a ton of, you know, we did a five year plan.
I got a ton of information that I'm still trying to go back and make sure we're actually
following and doing and we're still implementing newer systems and kind of following the stuff
that we learned.
But the biggest thing is that they helped me get this credit line.
Now, for those of you that don't know me, our business has been established, legitimately
in construction for about five years.
We've grown a lot, but the big problem is when you're trying to grow a company, you're
the, I'm the only owner.
So I'm a guarantee here because our business credit wasn't, you know, was fairly new.
It was really hard.
It's hard to get loans.
It's hard to get credit cards and they rely a lot on your credit.
Well, my credit was shot because my father stole my daddy growing up and it's been hard
to rework that and then some other things happened that I felt like we're out of my control.
That just damaged my credit.
And so it's always been extremely hard.
So getting credit lines was even harder.
It was hard to get a credit line for even, you know, a quarter million dollars.
I could get like our money loans all day long, but to get an actual loan to the bank, not
possible.
So this company came in and they help us secure a really big credit line.
And so I was like, Hey, if anything that paid for what I paid right there, because that
is what I needed to get established now, I got a bank who's I'm establishing myself with.
And then about five months later, we doubled that line of credit.
We applied for it.
My VP officer at this bank got it, got it approved.
And that was just like, Holy cow, like now I got this huge lump sum of money.
And as a credit line, I can build my company.
I can do some other stuff.
And then now we're applying for double that amount again.
I'm currently, and he's very optimistic things are looking good.
It's supposed to get a decision next week.
And so for me, I'm looking at all this and I'm like, I wasn't sure about a lot of stuff,
but what I was sure about was that it felt right.
And this company led me, even if this new credit line doesn't come to pass, these other two
things that I got plus all the information, like that right there, like that feeling,
if I hadn't done it, there are so many things that would have happened this year that would
have hurt my company because we were trying to grow so fast and you get to a point where
you do need capital to grow.
And so kind of going through these events, I'm looking at it like, hey, the site wasn't
clear, but it felt right.
And it seemed insane, but it led to this and then it led to that.
And now it's leading to this.
And then now also my bank is really involved in our business plan and they're setting
plans for next year for real estate, office, real estate and all this kind of stuff.
And I'm sitting here like, holy cow, if I wouldn't have, if I would have let the number
scare me, if I would have listened to everybody about how crazy it sounded.
And let me tell you something.
It wasn't just listening to people's opinions.
I knew it was crazy.
I knew it sounded crazy and I didn't want to hear how crazy it was because I knew it
would interfere with the decision I was going to make.
So it's like I had to drown them out, but everything led and I see this, this domino
effect happening because of this single decision.
And I don't know what would have happened if I didn't do it, but I know I would have
been in a terrible position a few times this year if I wouldn't have done certain things
as I'm trying to grow the company.
So for me, one of the biggest things and how I currently make my business decisions, how
I run my company is I just follow my intuition.
I follow my gut.
I don't meditate to get in tune with that.
I know there's a ton of stuff you can do to try and become in tune with yourself or whatever
the case is.
But for me, I just feel like things are good and feel like things are bad and I just kind
of go with that gut feeling.
And I know we've all been told growing up, hey, follow your guide, it'll never lead you
astray.
I don't contest to that.
I think that is 100% true.
And so when I'm in these sticky situations about what to do, I'm just like, okay, I just
kind of feel good, I just feel bad.
And sometimes it's hard to decipher between, okay, is the fear of this making me feel bad
about it or is it feeling good and I'm just still scared to do it?
Sometimes that's a little difficult to do.
But for the most part, if it feels good, go for it because that is 100% is the reason
as to why I have made so many really big decisions like spending that much money and seeing this
huge domino effect happen and seeing our systems go in place.
It all worked out.
Now there are certain things I'm like some of the information I got, I'm like it wasn't
really worth that money, the information, but the establishment, the bank relationship,
all these other factors that are playing a key in right now is like, holy cow, I didn't
see that nine months ago.
Now I'm seeing it and I'm like, I just keep going back.
What if I didn't make that business decision?
What if I didn't?
Or here's another example of following my gut, which also led to consulting.
It's just this, it literally I can trace this back to certain moments that got me here over
the last couple of years.
So I'll go back one more further than that.
I never did business coaching.
I've looked into it quite a bit and I never, never believed like I'm like dude, to pay
someone 50 grand a year just to have a phone call week to tell me XYZ or answer some questions
is ridiculous.
I rather invest that money or do something with it or whatever the case is.
And so I had been looking at seeing, I've turned down, turned away from so many different
programs, so many different opportunities.
And then one day I'm scrolling on Facebook and I see this free event for this business
coaching program.
And again, I mean, it was normal for me to turn these way.
I just saw the thing I was like, you know what, I think that'd be good to go to.
It feels like it'd be good to go to.
So I went to it, took some team members with me, signed up that day, put money down, thought
about it.
I was like, I don't know if I want to spend that much money, but I'm going to do it, put
that down.
And I literally got that led me to one, it opened my mind to more business coaching,
which then led me to other programs, spending more money, looking at different consulting
stuff, which then led me to that moment to actually sign a contract, feeling good about
it with that consulting company that led to all the everything else we just talked about.
But it also led me to me a get a referral for something really small that I don't do,
which then opened up the door to a whole different area of contracting that I needed, I needed
to get into that I've been striving to get into and has brought me millions of dollars
in revenue.
And so to go even back that far and see like I was looking at coaching programs, I didn't
believe in them, I had entertained the idea of dozens, dozens of programs, and it never
made sense, didn't care for it, gave up and then saw a post and instantly within about
15 seconds in the post, I was like, that feels right.
I'm going to go to that.
If I didn't go to that, I have no clue where I would be right now.
Don't I have no clue at all.
And so it's really interesting to understand how one decision can truly change the face
of a life.
And when you think about it that way, the pressure and the stress become insane because
one wrong decision could ruin everything.
One right decision could change your life.
And you don't see the big picture, you see that moment, right?
You focus on the moment.
Oh my gosh, you know what?
Can I can I put 10 grand in this stock?
That's my entire savings account right now.
But the stock, you know, feels good.
Put it in.
You risk losing it.
But what happens if you win, right?
I mean, like those are those kind of battles you go through in your head.
And for me, it's just like I've had this last week to do a lot of different things going
on.
I was like, where did how did this even get here?
How did I even get to this moment doing this certain thing right now?
And then I traced it all the way back to like, holy cow, it came down to that one decision
and this decision.
Two decisions, three decisions in about two and a half years that were one small, one big,
and it changed the change of the trajectory of this company.
It's just been, it's been awesome.
I think, you know, for me to a big part of falling to a gut is, you know, my faith.
I, you know, no matter what you believe in, whether you believe in a higher power, you
know, energy, whatever the case is, everybody has a belief in something.
Usually something greater than themselves, I would say.
And for me, I'm a Christian, so my faith plays a huge part into it.
I think as I have been growing my business, I've relied a lot on prayer or lied a lot
on my family father and helping me understand how to make certain decisions, helping me
to have the, what I call, what we call the gift of discernment.
So, you know, to be able to discern the good and bad between decisions and people.
And I think that has played a huge role into those, hey, this just feels where I'm going
for it within, you know, a nanosecond or wherever the case is because, because I have sought
that.
So I think that plays a huge part into it.
And I think it plays a huge part into a lot of people's lives, being able to rely on,
you know, God in my case to be able to help guide.
So I definitely owe a lot to that.
And I feel grateful for that.
I feel grateful to be able to.
And let me, let me make this clear.
Things are not perfect.
You know, I feel like I tell these stories and I feel like it paints a picture like,
oh my gosh, things are amazing.
And there's no issues.
There's a ton of money and everybody's living a great life.
And we have a ton of people here that need to get paid more money.
We have, you know, so abnormal marketing problems, you know, waves of people coming
in trying to make that be more consistent, trying to figure out how to account better
and not lose money and profit.
We saw a ton of problems guys.
And, but this mindset of really being able to, you know, focus on the winds and have
a winter mindset and be able to follow your gut.
Those things have really paved the way for me personally.
I know it's paving the way for everybody on our team and it's just been, it's been
awesome to kind of, like I said, look back.
I think it's, it's really, really hard to, you know, make those decisions.
And there's always that voice in your head that's like, Hey, well, what if you're wrong?
Right.
And I know I've talked about like, well, Hey, what if you're right?
You know, it's like, are you willing to take that risk?
And I can definitely preach in a way that like, Hey, if you follow your gut, you're
you're going to be led most of the time in the right direction.
And sometimes it won't be in the right direction.
And in those moments, you need to look back and be like, okay, was this a good feeling
or was this really an impulse of just, I just want that.
So I don't care.
And being able to decide for those moments so you can recognize those and be able to
know that going forward and be able to recognize those moments before you actually make the
decision.
But yeah, for me, it's it's it's definitely important.
And you know, as we're going forward, as we're moving forward with our company and hiring
new people and getting into new types of businesses and all that kind of stuff, you know, I'm going
to keep doing that.
I encourage my team to do that.
And I think for the most part, like I said, you're always going to be in the right.
So I don't know, I just kind of wanted to share that that story for me, just kind of
thinking about our last couple of days has just been wild to be able to pinpoint that.
And I don't know what is more intriguing if it's the rewards that are come from those or
just understanding now.
Well, hey, how did I make that decision?
I don't know.
I felt a lot of emotions about it, but that's definitely what I've been contemplating the
last couple of weeks and talking to some people about.
And I think the other thing I want to touch base on that I might have touched base on before
is like, as you're, you know, having these wins, and this is a separate topic, but as
you're having these wins, being able to celebrate them, I think I've talked about this before,
but this is another thing that I'm like, right now we're about I'm about to have a huge accomplishment,
hopefully here in the next couple of weeks.
And I'm like, do I celebrate this, do I not celebrate this?
I don't know.
But the question is, why won't I celebrate these accomplishments?
Well, I don't want to celebrate them because I feel like they're, you know, big accomplishments.
I don't know who I can celebrate them with because a lot of times when you're making
huge accomplishments, the people around you get jealous and envious and you know, kind
of kills the energy.
I know I don't want to do this because I don't want to celebrate because maybe I'm
feel like I, you know, I'm, I know I feel like I'm nowhere near where I want to be.
Cool.
This is cool that this happened, but I'm still not where I want to be.
There's a bunch of different reasons why I wouldn't why I should is because holy cow.
It's remarkable.
How many things have you guys done your life that is truly amazing, remarkable, but you
brush off as not a big deal?
Like not celebrating those accomplishments, I think does more damage than good.
And I say that and I struggle with that.
I've been trying to do better.
I know I've told my wife, like, Hey, when this happens, we're going to go do this.
And, you know, whether it's a vacation or something like a celebration, but, you know,
being able to celebrate those and understand that you are doing a good job, that helps that
mindset.
One, you're focusing on the wins.
You have that momentum.
And number two is like, you gain some confidence.
Like, dude, I did good.
I did good.
Right.
Like I think of it in sales.
It's easy.
It's like you sign a contract, go celebrate that contract.
Right.
Like you made a sale.
I'm sure you're happy because you made some money, but not everybody's in sales.
Like what do you guys do to celebrate your accomplishments?
And what are you dealing as accomplishments?
Because I know for a fact there are certain things I've done in my life that I'm like,
dude, this is not, this is truly not a big deal.
Not that I don't want to celebrate it for XYZ.
Like this is just not a big deal.
Like everybody does this.
When in reality, everybody around me is like, dude, that's freaking awesome.
You did that.
Like what?
It is.
I know so and so did that too.
Right.
Like it's still an accomplishment.
Celebrate your accomplishments.
I'm going to try and celebrate the accomplishment that I'm headed towards right now.
And as a team, we've been really focusing on celebrating accomplishments and wins.
We have the system set up.
It creates events and prizes and all this kind of stuff.
And I think that is good because in a world of chaos, in a world that where so many people
around you are losing, where you may be struggling or maybe you're losing currently at the moment
to be able to recognize those wins, I mean, just propels you forward.
And it keeps you, keeps giving you that hope, that hope that you need that like, hey, one
day I'm going to be here.
One day this is all going to be a needle and a haystack.
Never going to have to think about this again.
I just need to get through it.
So I guess to wrap up my insane mind that just likes around 15 different tangences, following
your gut, having the mindset that no matter what you're going to win and no matter what
you need to do, you're going to figure it out.
And to do that, you follow your gut.
And I think that is the whole theme in a nutshell.
I hope you guys can do something with some of this information I'm providing you because
I know it has done me absolute miracles and absolute wonders.
And it's going to soon pay off for everybody in this company.
Everybody is part of our team currently.
So thanks for joining us guys.
We appreciate it.
And we look forward to our next podcast with John.
So stay tuned for that and keep winning.