Welcome And What We Do

Dave 0:01

Welcome to the Business Unscripted Podcast. We're here to share real life insights, practical strategies, and the honest lessons that we have learned from our own estates because frankly we have been in your shoes. So whether you need help with operations, accountability, financial knowledge, details, or maybe just getting your mindset right, we are here and it is the right spot for no fluff conversations and tools of work. So grab your favorite cup of Joe. Let's jump into the show. All right, everybody. Welcome to another Friday. And let's jump into the show. Is that that I don't know who that voiceover guy is, but grab your favorite cup of Joe, let's jump into the show. We're here for another Friday episode of the Business Unscripted Podcast. We're episode 63 now. And so we appreciate it. If you're a business owner, expiring business owner, you know, just looking to, you know, kind of get a good support system around you, you're in the right spot. You know, we talk about things that we've gone through in our business, things that we've helped our clients with, and so that you can learn from our well, failures, obstacles, all those fun things that we talk about here, so that you don't have to. So you're in the right spot. Um today. Dwarne is, as you if you were watching last week, you would know that Dwarne had just signed a big you know contract. So he's going through some attorney meetings, different things like that to you know kind of wrap that up. So Dwarne is not here today. So we wish you all the best, my friend. Good luck getting all that wrapped up and kicked off and ready to go. But today we are joined last minute by one of my clients. Uh, his his name's Chris Hag. He's with High Standard Hauling. And Chris and I have uh been working together for a little over, you know, probably just under two years now. So he is graciously jumped on last minute this morning. Luckily, him and I we we are up bright and early in the morning, every morning, and and we have not been known to uh share some text at like you know six o'clock in the morning to uh you know when everybody else is sleeping. So I'm gonna pull Chris on. And so let's welcome Chris Hag to the show and the episode. So, Chris, brother, how are you, man? I'm good, man. How are you? We are well, it's it's 8 30 in the morning, and I'm on my second cup of coffee, so I'm feeling really, really good.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that that's a

Meet Chris And His Business

SPEAKER_00 2:05

that's a smooth sailing period right then and there.

Dave 2:08

Absolutely, absolutely. So, well, I appreciate it. And then you were telling me I I guess I should uh really appreciate your wife, right? Because it's her birthday today. That's right. You know, she lets you you kind of join us today and and spend a little time with us instead of uh her this morning. But so so thank you, Miss Hag, appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Miss Hag is is still sleeping at the moment, so yeah, she's oh well there you go. That's why well-deserved sleep.

Dave 2:32

So well, I guess that then okay. So we're letting her sleep in. So that way you didn't you know kind of annoy her or do anything like that in the morning.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

Oh, yeah, yep.

Dave 2:41

That's easy to do. Well, there you go. There you go. Well, Chris, tell us you know, a little bit about I like to, you know, whenever I bring anybody on, as I mentioned, just kind of give us a little bit of of background, right? Like how long you've been in business, what what business is you know that you do, your focus, and what I guess the biggest thing that I'd like to hear from a lot of people is is what kind of launched you into the path of being your own business owner versus you know continuing down the path of of being an employee.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Sure. Yeah, absolutely. I um so I own high standard hauling and junk removal LLC. We were an LL we were in LLC in the at the end of 21, and we actually had our first job in January of 22. I remember this because one, it was our first job, and two, I had just gotten over it was my first round of COVID. And I mean, so this was like a like a couple of weeks after COVID, and like I was still kind of, you know, whatever. This is when COVID was like super hot, but a lady had called and I'm like, oh, this is awesome! You know what I mean? My first job, it was like still snowing. I'm just like sweet, you know. Yeah, um, so that that's that's when everything started going. Prior to that, I was in the uh moving industry. I was with Atlas Fan lines for 16 years. I drove tractor trailer for them. I did everything pretty much within that organization that you could do. I was a manager, I was a dispatcher, I was a warehouse manager, truck driver, laborer, all those different things. That was probably my first real job when I when I turned 18 and I'd been there for a long period of time. And more or less of that place, I had kind of outgrown, you know, I guess the you know, the trajectory of moving up. I had moved all the way to the top currently for where I was at, and it just, you know, it wasn't a good fit. In general, I'm pretty aggressive with growth in all areas. I like to constantly be moving up, and I'd kind of hit the end of the line there. So I thought that, you know, being that you got to figure that was probably my longest work experience and pretty much all I had known, you know, for that for that period of time of 16 years. Um, I was not thinking whatsoever about entrepreneurship or doing my own thing at that point. I, you know, I had skill sets, I could drive a truck, pink, pick things up, hard work or all those different things. I'm like, hopefully I can find you know a company that is, you know, in tune with how I want to grow. So I pursued a couple other ventures after that, all within the you know, the truck driving field, none of which lined up. Small little story. I the second the second place I went to was I was a trash man for a little bit. And I yeah, yeah, I worked at Rumpkey. I worked at Rumpkey in in Broadview, and they took me on really quick because I had a CDL, I had a class A CDL, good driving record, all that kind of stuff. And they asked me, I I had three different superiors. They asked me when I came in, they're like, hey, do you want to? It's all the same thing, you know. They're like, Do you want to grow with the company? Do you want to? I'm like, absolutely. I'm like, yeah, that's what I'm looking to do. Let me know what I gotta do. I'm like, is you know, I want to move up.

Hitting The Ceiling As An Employee

SPEAKER_00 6:05

And they're like, good, we like to hear that, you know, blah, blah, blah. So I was there for a little bit over a year. And my bosses, I ran a route that was was pretty difficult and became pretty good at it. And my bosses that came up to me and asked me, they're like, hey, there's a foreman position that opened up. You know, you should apply for this. We think you'd be a good fit, you know, so on and so forth. I'm like, all right, cool. You know what I mean? Yeah, I'll go ahead and do that. I'm like, I really I want to move up in the organization. So I applied for it. I don't get it. I wasn't, you know, too bummed out about it. You know, the guy at that point, at least, the guy that got it had been there longer than me, probably deserved, you know, deserved it more. I was like, that's cool. Well, through the grapevine from another manager, I come to find out one of the bigger reasons I didn't get this position was because the route that I ran, I ran it pretty quickly. And they essentially they couldn't find anybody to replace me to do it at that in that time frame.

Dave 7:03

So it was almost like basically you're too good at your your your first job, but they couldn't take you out of that to then move you up.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Yeah, yeah. And that really, really frustrated. I mean, this is quota. This is this is all truth, you know what I mean? And then they they told me this kind of with a straight face, like it was like it made sense. And I'm like, Well, okay, so what how am I supposed to you? You guys talked to me about growth when I first came here. I'm doing the thing. If we continue down, like I'm not gonna go anywhere, then you know what I mean.

Dave 7:35

And so it was like, Yeah, you're just gonna keep being good at your job, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:38

So it was like no sense.

Dave 7:40

It was like it's basically like they're trying to tell you, hey, if you do worse, we'll promote you.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

If you're mediocre, if you're mediocre at what you do, then you'll advance. And I'm and that just doesn't register with me, and you know what I mean, in general. So, like, I was like, dude, I'm like, this is not this is not happening. So then I had a couple of friends that that were salesmen for uh for Pepsi, and uh they're like, you should come over here. I live in Medina. This this job was in Wadsworth, so it's it's it's not far away from me. And once again, CDL that hired me on instantly because I have a CDL. This was a union outfit, like an actual union outfit. It was Teamsters. I had no experience with that prior. No offense to anybody that does that. That just wasn't my it it did not mesh well with with me and with how I am. And then moral of the story was I started thinking about the business more so. Probably the first thing that really kicked it off thinking about the business was was actually COVID because I wasn't sure how Pepsi was going to do what they were gonna do with like the mandates and things like that at that point. I knew how I had opinions and ways that I felt about certain things and where I was gonna stand my ground, right? You know, and I was like, well, if it comes down to a I'm not buckling on some things, but if I choose to do that, I'm gonna need some kind of backup, you know what I mean? And that that's kind of what in addition to everything I've been through prior, COVID, all those different things, that's when the brain started, you know, thinking about the business. And if I put some, you know, all the energy that I'm putting into these other places into my own thing, maybe it maybe it can be something, you know. So that that that's pretty much what happened. I went on FMLA for about 12 weeks when my daughter was born. I you could ask my wife. I mean, this so this that would be our third child for all of our kids. I was just working constantly, you know what I mean? Like I would like literally my wife would be, you know, she'd give birth, and you know, a couple of days later I'm back in work. You know what I mean? So I was like, you know what? I'm like, I'm gonna take you know, this 12 weeks, I'm gonna work the business on the side, kind of see what happens, you know. And that's what I started doing. So I was working the business on the side, it kind of started taking off, and I had the decision after 12 weeks do I go back to Pepsi or pursue this? I was like, we're just gonna go all in with, you know, kind of that mindset of this is you got to make this work, you know. So here we are.

Dave 10:16

Well, and I I think you and I had really kind of chatted about it sometimes too. Is that and I've said it to other people, is to be successful at business, you kind of have to be willing to like risk it all. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like you you have to have no fear of ruin, yeah. You know, because what's the what's our fallback? Our fallback is you go back to Pepsi, right? You have a CDL license, like anybody's gonna hire you. You literally

COVID And The Decision To Go All In

Dave 10:40

have a safety net almost, right? Right. That's your worst case scenario, is that you go back and you work for for somebody else. So so it's is it really that bad? Like people are like, oh my god, if you fail, like you're just gonna is it gonna destroy the rest of your life because you started a business? I mean, I'm on my third, third attempt at a business. Sure. You know what I mean? And and now it's working. So sometimes it's never, it's almost never gonna work out the first time. You're in a you're in a spot where like things are you know good. Like in obviously there's day-to-day business struggles like every business owner would have, but you know, to to be where you're at and your first attempt, like that's freaking crazy. But here's where it goes back to you if you listen to to your story, right? You had the work ethic from the get-go. You were always there, like you were always willing to grow, you were always willing to want to level up and and continue to you know kind of uh do more and do what you needed to do, and you weren't willing to sacrifice, right? Which is a big thing that makes a good business owner. So while you were working for you know the man or the woman, whatever you know you want to call it, a little bit of both. You were yeah, a little bit of both you you were still uh exuding all of those you know qualities that are needed from a good business owner. And so that's why I really feel like you're you're not completely struggling your first time around because you have all of those things that you're willing to do to make it work. And I think anybody who is either in a long-term contract with you or you know, even a one-off contract, like you can just see it in your reviews, right? Five-star reviews all over. You know, you're you're always getting the the compliments, and you're seeing long-term contracts signed with you in the company because of that quality and everything that you're doing to make sure that things are taken care of in the right way. Yeah, so and sometimes you know, we've had the conversation where sometimes maybe it's it's over the, you know, in terms of like you've you've you've gone given and given too much, right? But I don't think it's done you any wrong in the long term.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

No, yeah, I've I've learned I've learned a lot, you know, be and like I said, just like you know, you you have the experience with with a few businesses and things like that. I I I and I think we've talked about this before. When when I got into doing this, I I my biggest thing was yeah, I was taking previous experiences from jobs that I didn't want to duplicate with like my employees and and other people. And what I learned though, and you brought this to my attention too, is there's kind of like a like a happy medium, even with transparency. You know what I mean? Like, like for me, and I guess it depends on who you're dealing with too. But for me, I was just like, I want to be completely transparent with my guys, there's no secrets, like like I'm looking at you like you know, you're not an employee, we're we're team, we're a team, you know what I mean. However, depending on who you're dealing with, you know, and and where their mind is, they you also have to make sure their mind is in the same mindset as you with like growth and building the thing, because there's gonna be plenty of people that may or may not may work for your organization that don't have they want to work, they want to make money, but they're not exactly in tune with like the big picture in growth and so on. And that and that's fine, you know what I mean? They're gonna do their thing, play their role. You know, they may be there, they may not. But if those people, if you're too transparent with them and you're too open with them, sometimes that can blow up in your face, and that's that's happened to me a couple of times, you know. So and that was a lesson I learned just because I knew how I would react to somebody if they if they were that way to me, if they were

Leadership Lessons And Transparency Limits

SPEAKER_00 14:20

like Chris, like I want to build this and we're gonna do this and this. I'd be like, hey man, thanks for keeping me privy to all these things. I want to help out, but not everybody is like that, so it's you know, it it's it's right, sometimes you got to do that happy medium, you know.

Dave 14:37

You know, everybody wants you to be transparent until transparency offends them or right, is not in line with what they would want, etc. And then they use the transparency against you, and so it it is a difficult balance, especially when you have employees and you're managing you know staff, which as you mentioned, like we've had a couple conversations on this where you know you can be open, but don't have to release everything, you know.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Yep, because which I did, and I and we talked about that too, and it and it blew up in my face in a way that I never thought could happen. I was like, There, like I if if if you would have given me that scenario in the beginning of that, I've been like, there's no way that'll happen. No way, like because if if I'm saying this to them, they're gonna take it like dude, Chris is being super open with us, whatever, you know what I mean? And it did, you know what I mean.

Dave 15:29

So and I think the the lesson that anybody watching can just learn from is there is a fine balance, but also you know, make sure you have a good support system around you and you open it up and you say, Hey, by the way, like I'm thinking about doing X, Y, and Z. Like, what do you guys think? Right, whether it's your it's your spouse, it's you know, an advisor, you know, kind of relationship. Like we have, you know, friends who are also in business, like people that understand that can give you their perspective that aren't just gonna say, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because when we just do it ourselves, right, we end up going through our perspective of that situation, like you just mentioned. Like I had the perspective that I would be really open to this, so they're gonna be open to this. When in reality, you know, if you were to take you know that that step of and adding that into your you know process, which I know you have, of saying, hey, I want to do this, you know, what do you guys think? Like you just have that sometimes it's a trusted test group, a text group, right? Or it's a an email group or something like that that you can just say, hey guys, here's here's what I'm facing. And that's why, you know, the biggest things that we're doing, and we've talked about this, you know, for a little while, and and you know, gonna make it happen, is you know, doing like that small mastermind like group that just meets, right? And it's like, hey guys, we're all in business, man. You know, what's going on? What are we struggling with? Right? What do you guys need help with? What are you guys facing? And then putting it out, you know, hey great, just just go and do, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Yep.

Dave 16:54

But having that check and balance is is much needed, especially when you're doing it your first time, you know. And you've correct me if I'm wrong, but you never prior to this were a manager where you actually manage staff yet, no?

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Or no, I did, I did manage, I managed staff at Waleski well at Atlas where where I was a mover. So I had now here's the difference though, and I think we've talked about this. I had minimal experience with with managing staff and all the all that kind of stuff, but the way I did things over there was and this is kind of the way I was taught. I don't think this is is is is iron fist, okay. And like because like now that worked, it worked because people are afraid of you, you know what I mean? Which is not where you want, like, if you're building your own business, you do not want the people that you are doing it with you to be afraid of you, and that's the only reason they're operating, you know what I mean? Like, that's I I know that doesn't work, but I was a young kid.

Dave 17:58

You were basically you were literally using your position to give you the authority over them exactly in leadership. You know, obviously, as you are figured out, right? That's not how you want to lead. Um it's never gonna be long-term effective and people are gonna hate you, you know, like they're gonna hate you, they're gonna talk behind your back. I I if you think back, right? It probably you probably had a lot of turnover. Oh gosh, like right, like you could just think of your your your staff. You probably had the you had no loyalty, you had no commitment, anything like that.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

So yeah, that that that was a mistake. That was a mistake that I made from, and so it's like I did take some of the lessons in in the working field, mistakes that I made, what I don't want to do in my own business and what I want it to be. But like I said, however, there are some things that I think I I I didn't ride like a happy medium, I went to the complete extreme on the other end, and that's like okay.

Dave 19:01

Well, if this is how it didn't work, then it's gonna be the complete opposite of what would work when you're running.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

But you know, and then you realize like it it it really is somewhere in the middle, and you know, it's not that you're hiding things, but sometimes you just need to not say as much as you as not say as much as you think you do, just you know, you need to address the situation, but there doesn't have to be maybe as many words or details and things like that. So I'm a detailed person. I like I I try to be that way because that's once again, that's how I like people to be with me, but sometimes it doesn't it doesn't work, you know.

Dave 19:41

And I think the the the part of that too is you you do have to you know put yourself in their shoes a little bit as well and say, like, okay, what would they feel like? Or you know, if that was me in terms of like and I had the mindset of where I wasn't an entrepreneur, you know, maybe earlier on in your employee,

Using AI As A Thought Partner

Dave 20:00

you know, career or journey, what would I have thought? You know what I mean? Yeah and and those types of things when you can kind of take a step back and look at it, will help you sort of you know, kind of polish where you're heading. And you know, we talk about on the podcast a lot, you know, about AI. Like this is another good example of a way, you know, if you don't have that support system or that text chain or an advisor, like you know, just going to an AI, you know, and and training and saying giving them the context of, you know, I want you to think like an employee, right, in in this industry, and here's what I as the owner want to get across, but I want to say it in a way that you know they're not gonna you know feel like I'm leaving them or you know, I'm leading them astray or anything like that. And then you and then just have that conversation back and forth, and that's your thought partner. Now you're yeah, that can become your thought partner if you don't have one or you don't have that circle created yet. So there's there's definitely a lot of ways as a business owner for you to practically you know kind of use AI to help you out. And I think that's one thing that's really kind of missing, you know, from YouTube university around AI. You know, everybody's telling you how to build it, you know, what to do, but there's no like practicality, which is why we, you know, are starting the the Triumph Studio for that, you know, and so that I'll take a minute here to kind of just get sponsored by us, right? Triumph's business is this podcast. So the studio is for community. If you want practical insights of what you should be doing as a business owner, to use AI in your business to, you know, whether it's pricing, whether it's invoice creation, agreement creation, anything like that, the studio is there to help you with weekly calls for QA in the community. You know, there's uh the community function for everybody to you know kind of engage together. So if you're interested in that, there'll be a link down below to get into the studio and and kind of help us and and start growing your business in that. But Chris, you know, kind of jumping back, uh so uh COVID started your business.

The Work Hour Myth Of Entrepreneurship

Dave 22:00

Obviously, it's probably not all been unicorn kisses and rainbows, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:06

So this is the I've done I've done some pretty I've done some pretty hard things. I I like challenges. I've always I've always been that way from a you know a young kid. I've been you know I've I've been on a bodybuilding stage. I've I I'm good with discipline, you know what I mean. This this is by far the hardest thing.

Dave 22:23

I need I need to do some of that bodybuilding.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

I like I like I understand I understand what it is to be disciplined and you know what you need to do to get certain things done or whatever, but yeah, I mean without a doubt, this is the hardest thing I've ever done. And what I've experienced in we'll just we'll just round it to say almost five years, like kind of really doing the thing. I mean, I could write a novel, it's it's wild. I mean, like at any time, I don't think it could get crazier, it's just like it does, you know what I mean. It's like you know, so it's it it's hard, you know.

Dave 22:59

And so I don't, but let me so it's it's the hardest thing you said, it's the hardest thing you've ever done in your life.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

Yep.

Dave 23:07

But would you change a thing over the last five years?

SPEAKER_00 23:10

No, because here's the thing like I think, and I think you could probably attest to this too. Like you know, you know deep down kind of what you're meant to do when it comes to this like entrepreneur game and stuff like that. I I think the people I now don't get me wrong, I think there are a lot of people that do jump into it and they don't understand the sacrifice and they don't understand what it what it really really takes to build something, do something, create whatever it might be. I think they kind of get into it. I I've heard many people come up to me, even with my business, and they're like, Oh, I want to it and it'd be like a field that they're in, like hair or whatever, like, oh, I want to start my own business, you know, I want to make my own hours, and I kind of chuckle when I hear that because I'm like, look, I'm like, that's good, and it can eventually get to that. Don't get me wrong. I mean, like you build something and you know, you you you get processes, procedures, people doing things, whatever. But I'm like, when you first start, I'm like, it, I'm telling you, I'm like, the truth is you are gonna trade in your if you're working 50 hours a week, you know, at your normal job, you're gonna trade that in to work a hundred hours for yourself. And that's just that's just the truth. You know what I mean? When when you when you first start, it it's it it's a lot of work, you know.

Dave 24:28

I think it's the biggest the biggest myth out there right now. Again, because what happens, right, is humans, we see successful people, yeah, we see that they're taking vacations, we see that you know they're you know coming into work for two hours a day, and then they're going and they're running 17 different businesses, right? And they're like, oh my god, like I just got to start a business and I can do that. Yeah, but we didn't see all the 12, 14 hour days, the missing family events, right? The telling the people no for the years and years that it got them to get to that one point that you actually saw them.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

You didn't you didn't see the decade prior in the highlight reels, man. You know what I mean? That the that they put in that they put into it. Now you're seeing all that stuff, and it's like, you know, oh, this person came out of nowhere. No, he's been he's been doing that the last you know five, ten, fifteen years when it was grind, grind, grind. Now you're kind of seeing you know the the results that you reap from it or you know, and that's by man.

Dave 25:27

I wish I that's my one biggest regret if I had to say it, right? Because right now I'm in that in that grind stage where me as well. I'm doing I'm do we're we're both doing the 12 to 14 hour days, you know, we're working six days a week, you know, sometimes seven. And because I know that in the end it's gonna end up where I want it to be, right? But I wish I would have known that the first two times. Like the first two times I was in that old mindset, I was in a horrible way. Like, I mean, I've done a lot of growth myself personally, right? For everything I went through my life, but like I wish the first two times I would have realized, hey, like you gotta get on the grind. I was just expecting, hey, I'm in business, this is just gonna come to me, you know what I mean? Yeah, and then I would get mad if it didn't, but I you know, I always had the fallback. Yeah, you know, I've had the fallback of well, I'll just go into business if this doesn't work. So I I never really, I guess, pushed myself to make it as hard as I needed to because I was just, oh, I have a safety net. Right, right. This last time, like the I would say the first probably 12 months of this time, like I I was still you know, too nonchalant about it. Like I wasn't putting in the hours, you know, I was still doing stupid shit, like, oh, I can let me let me play some games during the middle of the day because I don't have any meetings, you know, instead of things that really mattered, you know what I mean? And I still, you know, we're still growing, we're still learning every single day. But now, this last time, like I I literally, you know, it sucked. I I'm you know, I'm not making excuses for it, like, but it ended up right in a failed marriage. It ended up in in you know, losing house and and and all of that. But I was willing to do that because I saw what I wanted and I was willing to like risk everything and and put it all in, and that's where I'm at right now. And now we see where we're at now. Exactly. Three, four years, it's just exponentially grown and it continues to grow, which is awesome, right? Because of the effort, you know what I mean? And and that's the you know, I agree with you. Like, when everybody says, I want to get into business, I want to make my own hours, okay, good, you can do that. That's a good end goal, but it's not gonna be the goal right from the get-go.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Like, you're you have to really like, and I and I tell people I this is what I've came from this. Like, you really like like bit like going to business for yourself, you know, setting your own hours, all those kind of things, all the benefits that will eventually come with it, that's great. But you're you really have to want to build something, is is is what it is. Like, I tell people this all the time. Like, if you're looking to like just get in because you want to make your own hours, make some quick money, or you think we'll be quick money, you know, all the stuff you see in the highlight reels, like you think you're gonna get it a year later, you know, it you have to really, really want to build something. Like that has to be your goal because, like, there's gonna come a point where the motivation and like the steam that you had, like, say the first like year where it's just like boom, boom, boom. What you know what I mean? That's not gonna be there anymore because you're just getting your butt handed to you, and you're gonna have to run off of something other than motivation because it won't be there, you know what I mean. You are not gonna want to be doing 85% of what you're doing. So that that goal of like wanting to build a thing is for me personally, that's what keeps me going because like I know that's like that's what I want to do, I want to build a thing, you know what I mean?

Dave 28:54

You want and and this, and I've said it, and it does come down to it's almost I guess you can call it legacy, right? But it's something that you can build now that when you're gone, it has a lasting effect. And

Legacy And Kids Watching You Build

Dave 29:10

I've said it, and I and I continue to say it like the biggest thing is our the goal is to create you know ripple effects to everybody, and so it's you know, me and you, right? We have our conversation, so that's that stone. Me and you is the stone getting thrown in the water. Or if you're listening to this, you know, you growing or you making a change in yourself is you throwing a stone into your pond of you know influence in in your world. And so what happens when that stone hits the water? It doesn't just stay there and then that's it, right? You think of all the the ripples that happen from there. And so when you make a change as a business owner or you make an improvement, well, you're you're improving yourself, number one, but then you're you're rippling out and you're you're making an impact to your family, right? To your wife, to your kids. You're you're making an impact to your employees when you have your employees, to your clients, to your customers' lives. You're making an impact to then the community around you, you know what I mean? In terms of where you're investing your time and you're able to give back or do different things for you know the communities around you. And then from there, like it just keep keeps going out because then everybody you impact has other impacts, and it's never ending, right? And then from there, when you're gone, now your kids see all that, your kids learn all that, and then they can either take over the business, but or they you have a drive to do their own thing because not everybody wants to just follow in you know their parents' footsteps either. But you have to like when you when you look at it that way, it's like, oh shit, you know what I mean? Like, man, I get it.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

It's so true, like it that that effect that you have, and like just like the other reasons out, like probably the the bigger and maybe more important, but like outside of the you know, work for myself, you know, make you know a ton of money stuff for me personally, it is very personal with like like my kids and what they see. I didn't I didn't grow up seeing success at all, you know what I mean? I grew I grew up I grew up very different. So the if nothing else, I want my kids to see success to some level, and then like you know, me chasing after a thing and working hard towards a thing for like because they're gonna follow that, you know what I mean? You know, even my son, my oldest son, he's you know, he's just like me and he's nine. And he like I could just like I I feel like I'm like just seeing that, I feel like I'm doing something right, just because of the way he like pursues everything else that he does, and like you know, he's a little athlete, he's very passionate, and like do like I'm like, okay, he's seeing some of this and maybe I'm hoping taking some of the the good points, you know what I mean, and and running with it.

Dave 31:43

So there but I think the the hardest with that, you know, you have kids, I have kids. And and now I think the hardest thing as they're older, because I have older kids, you have a little bit younger kids, and obviously I have the newest kid at four months, but um, but oh yeah, you know, at their age now, this you're you're at the perfect side where it's like they're never gonna necessarily remember if you missed one or two events because you needed to make something work and work hard, which is which is good. But I think in the moment, and I struggled with this too, like in the moment, you're like, man, if I miss this event, I'm the worst parent ever.

SPEAKER_00 32:25

Yep.

Dave 32:26

Even though, like, you know, like I you're actually doing something that's more impactful, you're showing them more lessons. And I think when you put it in that perspective of, you know, hey, I'm I'm driving for something for our family, and that's what they're gonna see, you know, in the end, because they're gonna see the benefits of everything at the end of you know our growth and realize, oh, that's why that one time back in the day, like dad dad missed my game, but it didn't matter because he he's that to all the other ones, you know what I mean? Yeah, and so not putting that pressure on yourself. If you're listening to this, that's where it comes from. It comes from you, right? But if you're if you're using it as an excuse to miss everything, now maybe we have to have a talk about it, right? Like, okay, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 33:08

Yep.

Dave 33:09

But was that ever a struggle for you in terms of it's still it still is.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

I mean, like now, like I I my wife and I will kind of go back and forth about this. My wife has volunteered me without me knowing for various coaching positions. Oh, yeah. And I'm like, and I I'll tell you what, I mean, it's been very, very difficult, but like I've made probably 90 to 95 percent of those events while still doing this. And I I tell her sometimes too, I'm like, you know, I know it's because I've clearly I invest double the hours into this than I when I was at my previous, you know, hourly jobs. But I'm like, if you actually look at this, I'm like, there's some things that I'm doing right now that like I don't think I would have been able to do, even though I'm investing a whole lot more time at you know, previous jobs, like things with the kids and you know, so on and so forth. But I mean, as far as pressure, yeah, I I still feel that. I mean, there's times where I'm like, I'm like, gosh, you know what I mean, or just like little things. But when I see when I see my son in kind of the way like he is, and just like how he like just just just his nature and like his his drive and all those things, I'm like, okay, I think I'm doing something right because like I said, I didn't grow up around that as far as like success and like a whole lot of like drive and like ambition and you know things like that. So I'm like, this combination I think is working, and this is this is ultimately what you want to do. You want your kids to be 30 times better than you ever were, you know. So if that's the end result, you know, how how that I wouldn't call that a fail, I would call that a win, especially if it's starting young, you know, like like my nine-year-old, where I'm like, okay, we're we're on the right trajectory here, you know what I mean? Like, you know, we just gotta so because he'll tell me stuff. He's like, Dad, he's like, you gotta work for it, you gotta work hard. You got I'm like, cool, you like you're you're hearing these things, you know what I mean? Like he knows, and so yeah, I don't know. I like I'll say and I'll say another thing too, without getting too deep into my story. I had an individual in my life when I was growing up that was always there, always there, but that didn't that didn't benefit me the way that you would you would have like the presence of that individual being there all the time that that did not benefit me or really help me. I'll just I'll just put it that way. So like the the the the the fact of just physically being there, like you said, like games and like missed events and things like that. Like I like I understand from like a surface level the way people look at that, but I think it it's definitely a lot more than that. It it's it's what you're teaching them work ethic, goal, goals, ambition, drive, all the you know what I mean, all those different things. You know, you can have somebody that's there all the time and it looks good on paper, but it it it didn't the end result was was nothing, you know.

Dave 36:13

Yeah, and I think some of that too, like did you ever have a conversation with them like in terms of like sit down and talk in terms of business and and stuff with that type of influence in your area? And I think the biggest, and I I speak from experience here, you know, I was I was around somebody that was really successful, but I never I never took it upon myself to like sit down and just chat business, right? Like, give me the lessons that you learned because and I what I've learned is that in having more of these conversations now recently is that at that level and that age, when they get to a certain age, that's what they want to have conversations about. Yeah, they want to pass on the things that they've learned for the same reasons that we talked earlier about legacy, like they don't want to just take all this stuff to the grave and think, you know, okay, well, yeah, I'm just you know, I'm I was successful, I don't want anybody else to you know do what I did. No, they every man typically when you leave, you want to know that you're gonna be remembered in some shape, way, or form. And so people, you know, what what was that one song that you know kind of really said it good? Is you know, you die twice, really. You die the first time when you die, and then you die the the last time somebody says your name. Yep, you know, after you're after you're passing. And so that's true, you know. And so for yourself, how do you continue to live on and create something that's gonna continue to impact future generations that you don't even know yet? Or you'll never meet. Yep. So really deep conversation, I guess, in the morning.

SPEAKER_00 37:44

Yeah, no, no, no, no crowd, but it's all good, man. We're we're rocking through the coffee here, so I'm wrapped up.

Dave 37:50

I love it. So in the five years that you've been in business, I guess what was what was kind of the biggest shock to you in terms of something that you didn't expect that you're like, oh, oh, oh, okay, you know, and then you had to work through it. What was like that biggest yeah, unknown.

SPEAKER_00 38:10

I I feel like I feel like I've had so many of them, you know what I mean? Well, I I will I will say this. I I would say in the beginning, for like I I guess the probably the first thing was definitely money needed to operate properly and professional, I guess. You know, like I had a general, so in in my case, we're we're talking insurance, you know, workman's comp, like all these different things that I think a lot of people, and I and I think in all kinds of fields do not understand. You know, like everybody kind of starts at that point where like, you know, you're doing the thing, it might not be totally legitimate, but you're you're you're getting you're building to that point, and then you kind of want to play ball with like you know, some of the bigger companies, and you find out that they require X, Y,

Sticker Shock From Insurance And Overhead

SPEAKER_00 39:00

and Z and everything to be very, you know, if you even want to talk in line and yeah, right, right. So like that that was probably the like the sticker shock, I think, in the beginning, where I was just like, geez, oh man. I'm like that, like you know, like in my case, like insurance is a big one, CMV insurance for like our trucks and trailers, you know, commercial motor vehicle insurance, which and that that's a little monopoly in itself when you first start. Like, so yeah, like you kind of go into that with like you know, I remember when I first started in my case, I thought that I could take, and I'd done a bunch of research, and this is something that I missed, but I thought that I could take like my truck and my trailer and put it on my personal insurance policy that I have for like our other vehicles and stuff like that. And like I was like, ah, yeah, you know what I mean? It'll jump up, you know, maybe maybe a thousand bucks a year or something like that. And then, like, and then I got the quote, you know, for you know what I was looking at, and we're talking like like over a thousand a month, you know what I mean? And I'm like, I'm like, wait a minute, what? Yeah, I'm like this, you know, and so that was that was a little, you know, something I didn't expect. I I I would say, yeah, definitely in the beginning, once we started making a little bit of like headway and wanting to operate and do work for like some of these bigger companies, I think some of the the stuff that they required and where I needed to be how much that actually costs to do, like in in in our case, you and I going back and forth, but like what I actually need to be charging because like due to you know being a legitimate business, you know what I mean? That that that was a big one for sure, and it still is. I mean, it still is.

Dave 40:42

It's like and I would say like part of that, right, is is the mindset too that we and we've chatted about it because you you get caught up in the the price war, right? Where you're like, oh what well, you know, all these other companies are gonna charge X, and it's like, okay, yeah, but are they doing it legitimately?

SPEAKER_00 40:59

Right.

Dave 40:59

You know, so we just went there and we did we went through this exercise, right? Where we said, here's all your costs that are associated with this job or this project. You know, so if they had all these same costs, how do you think they could charge $50 less than the costs? Yeah, and then it's it's it's I guess you know, was that that aha moment where it's like, oh, okay, yeah, they're probably not doing this legitimately in order to do that. Yeah, and so then you know, that's part of that messaging that goes out, it's like, okay, like are you looking for cheap or are you looking for you know, legitimate where you know we're guaranteed, like we're bonded, right? We're licensed, all that fun stuff that you can put out there. And this is why it's important to do that, because if somebody, you know, in junk removal or demo or whatever, let's say they they demo the the side of your house because they're they didn't understand what you meant, and then yeah, they have no insurance. So now you as the homeowner are out of money. Like, I guess you can go try to sue them if you really wanted to, but if they didn't have enough money to pay the insurance, they probably don't have enough money to pay your your claim, and so they'll just go bankrupt. And so you're not gonna get anything, anyways. Yep. Whereas when you pay that little extra because a company like yourself has the insurances, has the coverages that are needed, you're also kind of covering your own investment that you're making to have that project done.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

Yeah, you're also most generally you're kind of dealing with a different individual, too. I'll put it that way, because like one of the big things that we have, at least for our business, is just like our like our customer, like the feedback we get from them and how we deal with them and how the communication, like all these different things that you wouldn't, you know what I mean, that you don't think about until it becomes a real pain point for you, you know. So that that's another another thing that comes with it too, you know what I mean? And people really, really like that, you know what I mean? But yeah, I've I've had, you know, I've I've I got a million and one stories about this, but you know, you're you know, you're charging something, and then you know, somebody comes in and lowballs you, and you know, they're like, I'll do it for a hundred bucks or something, you know what I mean, something wild like that. And it's like, you know, I get it, but if so these things happen, you're gonna have a real real problem here, you know what I mean?

Dave 43:08

So and and again, that then goes to your customers' risk, right? Yeah, you know, and if they're like if a hundred dollars to them is that worth it where they're willing to risk anything, then they weren't your client, anyways, right? They weren't the client that you wanted to have.

SPEAKER_00 43:23

I never I said it in the beginning too. I never wanted to be known as the cheap guy. In fact, I wanted to be known as the more expensive guy. I never ever wanted to be known as as the cheap guy by any means, you know what I mean? Because even as somewhat more expensive, uh, the cus most of the customers and customers that we have are recurring. Like they they keep because of the whole package that we offer, not just like the money, but just the service in general, you know. And that, yeah, that typically is gonna come with with a cost there, you know, depending on who you're dealing with.

Dave 43:56

So so so yeah, you you kind of said it you don't want to be known. As the budget friendly option, you want to be known as the high quality, high service. Yeah. You know, basically no questions asked. We get it done for you. Exactly. And that demands, right? You know, investment on the client side. And they're they once they see it from your end, they see your reviews, then they understand why. However, that wasn't always the case, right? You always, I think, you know, kind of going back to the pricing discussion real quick, because I think it's really important for a lot of people, you know, when we first started working together, you still felt like you were high priced than everybody else, right? Yeah. And so you thought that you couldn't go anymore with your pricing where you were at. But we did the exercise, and we've talked, we even talked about it last week on the episode about you know understanding what your gross profit margin is. So, what was your biggest sort of like revelation going through that exercise and then your fear in actually like presenting the price, you know, the change and why? Like, talk through that process because I'm sure a lot of people are going to be going through the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 45:00

I think, I think the bit well, I mean, I it was it was all the above there because like I I'm thinking about like in that particular situation with with the company that

Pricing With Confidence And Value

SPEAKER_00 45:10

we were working out pricing for and stuff like that. I was thinking about the prior people that had dealt with him and you know what they were actually like what he they were charging him. And even at that, I mean, even with like the minimal knowledge I had until I started talking with you and we really like deep dived and everything. I was like, How are they? This doesn't even make sense. I'm like, how, you know, and then you know, like I when I went to go present that too, I think I told you, I mean, like I went up there and it was just it, it it really just sucked. Like, it was like I don't know if they were doing it to like intimidate me or what it what it was, but it was like the owner, his associate, and then I think somebody that did like their books, or you know, that it was a lady that did some kind of finance, and I'm like the only one, and like when you're and I'm like, like I don't know, it's like the godfather or something like that. Like you're trying to strong our, you know, and it was it it's so it sucks. I mean, like there was nothing comfortable about it, but like I think with you and I doing those numbers over and over and over again, like there was just no question where we were at that like you know, this is kind of what it's gotta be. And if not, like it's just it, it's just not gonna make sense. So I was I was confident in that sense that like you know, I didn't know if he would necessarily know he would necessarily like like the figures, but I was confident in the fact that like if it can't be this, we're just not gonna be able to do it because it just wouldn't make any sense, you know what I mean?

Dave 46:35

And and it and no and and you mentioned it, the confidence, yeah, to know where you're at. Yeah, because if you're guessing on your numbers or you're guessing on your margin or what you would make, you probably would have gone into that conversation a little bit differently. Yep. You probably would have been like, well, maybe I can give up twenty dollars, you know, or thirty dollars here and there on every unit or something like that, right? And and come to find out like that 20 or 30 dollars is would have been like 50 to 60 percent of your net profit.

SPEAKER_00 47:04

That was half of my profit, yeah.

Dave 47:06

You know, and so when you don't under, and and that's not even sorry, net profit, that's your gross profit because you obviously that you have uh right for these. So by having that confidence, you're able to go into that meeting with it's like, hey, like this is it, and I'm willing to walk away if it's not, yeah, because you know that it makes no sense for you to do business, right?

SPEAKER_00 47:29

I mean, we really I think that was the thing with it with that deep dive into it, like just knowing without a without a doubt that like okay, you may not like this, but if we can't do this, it makes zero sense for me to go do it for you.

Dave 47:42

So you know, I was like I'm not here to just break even so that you can get your your you know.

SPEAKER_00 47:48

Yeah, I'm not I would I was confident in that fact that like if we were gonna like you know, and it it was difficult. I think you probably remember, like, we went back and forth for a while, and that was my first, like, you know, that was your first real biggest contract in your business, yeah.

Dave 48:05

Like, yeah, it literally doubled your business overnight, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 48:08

Yeah, and like debate where like it wasn't like initially, like, hey, we'll do this at this price, and they're like, Cool, all right, let's do it. Like, I mean, we were going back and forth for a while, you know, and you know, some might call it petty, whatever. In my case, it wasn't. I mean, you know, but like, and so it it was it was difficult for sure, you know, because I was like, you know, and I think the other thing too with that is it's all like especially if you're if you're dealing with people in person, it will show in your demeanor if you're not confident in what you're doing, and if you are, you know what I mean? So, like you also want to go into it. I'm not saying cocky, but confident, that's gonna show as well, too. If like you're polished and you're confident and you're going in and you're talking to people with like facts on your on your end, and it just kind of is what it is. If you don't know and you're kind of like guessing with the numbers, you're like, ah, yeah, you know, 20

Negotiating A Major Contract Without Folding

SPEAKER_00 49:00

bucks, you know, whatever, then you know, depending on who you're dealing with, they have it in right there to kind of you know take advantage of that situation. So yeah, I would say in that case, that was that was huge, you know.

Dave 49:11

And I think the thing that we talked about too is it wasn't just like, hey, we're asking for this price because right, we want this price. Yeah, you came in right with the ammo of hey, we're we're coming in with this because of everything that goes into this. You know, we you did a trial run with them last year with the lower price, but it wasn't all in. Like, and now that we're all in and we're talking like bigger scope, you know, bigger sort of you know, range of your pickup, drop off, all that fun stuff. Like it requires more dedication on your part to continue to provide that service. And that's where we kind of talked about like, hey, if you want this same level of service, like this is what it's gonna be, and here's why. And you're able to explain that and break it down and just say, like, hey, it's insurance costs, it's it's obviously all the mileage, every everything kind of rolled into one, you know, on an average, and we're not gonna charge you, we're not gonna piecemeal you. We're basically saying, here, we're taking some of this risk too by by doing an average rate of everything that we kind of saw, versus, hey, every single rental, we're gonna charge you X per mile and X per drop off and all this kind of stuff, depending on weight. Right. We want to make it known for you, and we're taking some of that risk as well. And so by being able to have that conversation and spell it out, the value that you're giving, that makes that price increase or that price negotiation or conversation easier on your customer clients end as well. Because again, as you mentioned, the biggest thing that you could have is confidence when it comes to your pricing. You know, you don't know and you're just kind of throwing it out, people are gonna pick up on that.

SPEAKER_00 50:36

I should mention, too, with that, which which is which is kind of interesting. I wasn't the first person to deal with this individual for that service. He had a handful of people prior to that, all of which were significantly cheaper than I ended up being. So I I think in a way that that somewhat kind of helped because what he thought it was going to be, it like, you know, like in my case, it was dumpsters, and he's like, you know, I'm I'm just thinking the dumpster is a dumpster, but it really isn't when it comes to you know timing and when we need it and punctuality and you know equipment being decent, all those different things play into it because they they deal with some pretty high-end customers. So, you know, he what which was like I said, that he had dealt with people that were significantly cheaper than us, but I think deep down knew the value of what we were bringing and what we were offering, and you know, why, because it was it was explained.

Dave 51:31

And that's why that's why price becomes a non-issue when you exceed everything with value, right? Right. When when the value and the service and you know the relationship and the feeling that that client gets from you from working with you, yeah, far exceeds any sort of investment you're you're asking them to make in you.

SPEAKER_00 51:50

Exactly.

Dave 51:50

Pricing is a non-issue at that point. Yeah, just like, hey, you know, they're feeling like they're getting seven times more than what they're investing with you. So to them, it's like, yeah, it's a no-brainer. And you're helping, and you're and you're they're getting a solution done, all of that. So great. And I know we we we I typically we typically like to go about an hour, hour, and ten minutes. So we know just want to you know, sort of sort of lastly, what's you know, what's an obstacle, I guess, right now that has been something that you're facing that probably other people are facing that you want to, you know, maybe kind of work through or maybe sort of look and have a quick conversation about it here, because it's one of those things we have on this episode is helping people work through things that they're going through. So what's another we talked pricing, something's there, we talked a little bit of like the transparency and having you know conversations with with your employees and things like that. But what's something else maybe that's going on in the business that you're facing right now?

SPEAKER_00 52:44

I it probably probably the the biggest thing is with us like growing and ex and expanding. And like my case, it's it's bringing on more employees and people that are qualified to do you know the things that we're doing. That that has been that's been difficult, you know, uh just just trying to bring right you know, and it and it's and it and this is how it works too. It's like, you know, you you always want to try to hire, you know, prior to these things pop, you know, coming, coming up, you know, like these bigger projects. It just didn't it didn't work that way for me. Yeah, I had somewhat of a team, and then I had somebody that got hurt and somebody that left and one that's slightly disgruntled, and you know what I mean, all these different things, and then we started growing even more. So it's just like I like there's never there's never like some perfect you know scenario there, you know, you're you're you're you are reacting a lot of times, you know, based on what what happens.

Dave 53:41

So and I think so with that, and then I'll let you go on with your story too, but this is why it is really important to as you're developing a company, and and you're I would say you're still in you're five years in, you're you're successful, but you're still at kind of that that growth state, right? That first level is kind of hitting that level. And and it's why it's so important now to really kind of develop like, okay, what what are my thresholds? Yeah, you know, of of needing to have somebody else. And even so, if there's no capacity for them like right away, there's the training capacity, right? So them being there frees up somebody else's

Hiring Challenges And Capacity Thresholds

Dave 54:20

time to then train them, right? And which then frees up that you know, whatever they're doing and somebody around them to do some more. So there is a benefit to hiring on a little bit earlier than just saying, all right, everybody's 120% capacity. Now I'm gonna bring somebody on. Right. Because now it's difficult because then you take 20% away from everybody, they're still at 100%. They're not gonna still feel like they have time to train. You as an owner are not gonna feel like you have time to train because you're doing 150%. So really you have to think about what are my what are each employee's capacity levels? And once they get to around 75%, that's when you really need to start thinking about, you know, kind of that hiring threshold of okay, now I need to either bring somebody on, you know, outsource something, you know, whatever it is. It doesn't always necessarily have to be bringing on an employee, it could be I need to outsource some of the stuff that you as an owner are doing, right? Because it frees up my time, right? You know, and sometimes it is hard to let go of some of that stuff, yeah. And just and just and trust, right? You know, you and I have talked about it, right? You still like, even though you know we're handling everything for you on the financial side, you still like to write everything down on paper. I do it's just habit, man.

SPEAKER_00 55:28

I just have it's an anxiety thing, and it like it makes me feel like, dude, I'm not kidding, man. I got the notepad with me every more. It's just little things, it's just I don't know. I'll get over it eventually.

Dave 55:38

Which is which is something where like you and I have chatted about, like, okay, and I thought about this the other day. Like, I want to take that notepad, I just want to put it on your phone, right? So it's like yeah, right, right. Where now you can just open it up and you look and it's there.

SPEAKER_02 55:49

Yeah, yeah.

Dave 55:50

So that's part of the stuff that we're we're kind of developing and and growing for for not only you, but everybody clientele-wise, and is how do we get what you're doing there in the palm of your hand, right? Everybody's on their phone. You can be out anywhere and look and just see it. And so it's how do we how do we make that available for you, which is awesome. But yes, but that was an off-shoot from the hiring piece. So, but for the office, don't wait until 100, 110. You know, really start thinking about and putting that process in place where it is a process where every month or every quarter you're looking at your capacity of all your staff, and then you're deciding, okay, we got to start hiring this this quarter because we're growing, we're still seeing, like for you, it'd be how many numbers of rentals do we have, how many numbers of demo jobs, you know, when we get to being like two weeks booked out, right? Now we have to hire somebody else because people want demo done in a timely fashion, not in six months. So it's like, right, how do we take our two weeks and now bring it back to a one week? Wow, because we know we're always gonna have now we can have two crews, we're doing double the work in a week instead of spreading it out over two weeks.

SPEAKER_00 56:53

Right.

Dave 56:54

So just wanted to hit on that real quick is is just don't wait until you're 120 because you're still never gonna have time to get it right and train people. Have that process developed now, especially when you're in that this sort of infancy stage and growth stage number one. So yeah, go ahead go ahead in terms of you know staffing.

SPEAKER_00 57:11

Go ahead and yeah, I that that that's probably that's probably been the been the biggest one, definitely, is you know, bringing I and I really did, I did not think it would be as hard as it's been. You know, it's just one of those things, you know. I I did it's it's been I've done multiple interviews, I've done, you know, trying, you know, trying to get people to come on. I'm looking at other other resources for you know like like labor and things like that. I've I've really had to like go some places I didn't I didn't think I was gonna have to go. And I kind of have to now. So you know what I mean? Had you know something been implemented maybe a little bit earlier, that would have been you know a better, better case scenario.

Dave 57:50

But you know when you when you think about that too, because I know we we've we've talked about it, talk about how sometimes it is difficult to as a very hands-on owner, right? Yeah, to kind of trust people that you don't know as an employees. Because as you grow, right, the majority of the people that you're gonna be hiring are people that you are not gonna know at all, right? Because it is hard to again, we've talked about this hardworking with either friends or family, it things like that. But talk through that mindset right now that you're kind of working on to kind of help on the employee side.

SPEAKER_00 58:28

It it is, and it's still very nerve-wracking for me because like I I really, really like, yeah, you got to figure like you're you're the you know, you in in my case too, the face of your company, and you know, you're talking to the customers and they're dealing with you, and usually your interactions and stuff. So, you know, you got you you want to make sure that that that that same thing is being brought when they go to do the work or whatever the case may be. It is, and then in my in in my case, too, we're operating vehicles, machinery, things like that. So there's the the liability end of it as well, and everything is just so expensive, insurance. So I I completely honest, I'm still working through that. I'm I'm doing better, you know, trying to work through that, but it's a struggle. It really is because like I like in my case, I've been driving trucks for a very long time, you know, since I was you know 18 years old and I'm 41. And I just know all the different things that can go wrong, and you know, just things like that. So, like knowing all that, the you know, the anxiety that comes with it, having somebody that maybe isn't as experienced as you, and like, you know, what's uh yeah, it it's tough, you know what I mean? And I know everybody will tell you, you know, you just gotta let go, you gotta let go and do, you know, let it, you know, you have these certain things in place for a reason and your insurances and you know, all that all that kind of stuff, but it yeah, I'm not I it's still very hard, you know what I mean? And I've also had experiences, you know, too, that have happened to me, you know, just I I guess things that are just going to happen because it's just it's that's just what it is.

Dave 1:00:04

Like, you know, stuff's gonna happen kind of if life if you don't it's not all gonna be easy, road, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:10

So I had, you know, uh just quick little story. I had the first when I actually was getting my guys driving, my first ever employee. This was two years ago. I had just gotten everybody on insurance, insured to drive the trucks, and he was he was driving, and I was actually I was out of town with my wife, and I you you could ask her, I was so nervous. I was like, I remember by my phone. I I I told you the story. I'm like, and and so the prior to this little incident, I had talked to my lead guy, and he's like, Oh, everything's going great. We're doing this, this, and this. And I'm like, Oh, that's awesome. So I'm talking to my wife for like eating breakfast. I'm like, I'm really proud of the guys, they're killing it. They're like, this is like they were driving, and I was kind of letting them go on their own, too, you know. And I was like, Oh, okay. I I kid you not. Not more than 15, 20 minutes later, I get a phone call from my lead who wasn't driving, it was my other guy, and he's like, so and so just backed into somebody's car. And I'm like, You're kidding me. Like, I thought they were messing with me because like I had literally just talked to them, they told me how good everything was going, but I'm like, dude, stop. I'm like, sends me a picture, police are there, and my driver had literally backed up ignorantly on some girl's hood, and I'm like, my stomach just dropped. I'm like, you've got to like like I'm telling you that week they just got putting on this insurance, and I'm like, you know,

Trusting Employees With Risky Equipment

SPEAKER_00 1:01:40

so you're going to have these like terrible experiences. Like, I guess that's just par for the course. You know, nobody died, thankfully, and you know, it was handled professionally. Did that affect my insurance rate? Oh, yeah, to the point that I had to pull him off and he couldn't drive because I it just it was it was just too much, you know what I mean? And that's just what you got to do. But then I kind of look at that too while he was a good worker. Did I really want him driving all the time? Probably not, you know what I mean? Just just due to maybe the lack of skill or whatever. So yeah.

Dave 1:02:20

And and it does come, and and you mentioned it, right? It's not it's not gonna be a light switch that you're just gonna flip on and off and you're just gonna feel like okay, I'm good. It is gonna come from months and eventually years of letting others you okay, and having that repetition of things going well, you know, yeah, and and getting over the feeling of when something bad happens that oh my god, woe is me, this is always gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:49

Yeah, yeah.

Dave 1:02:50

Reminding yourself of hey, I just had 11 months of nothing happening, I'm not gonna let this ruin that. You know what I mean? And then getting over that and moving forward and realizing, okay, like we we handle it. This is why like we mean you have talked about that. This is why you have insurance because it pays for that and you don't have to worry about it, and it protects you from losing everything that you built because you didn't want to have it, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:12

I I to anybody that may be listening and like don't get me wrong, I'm not perfect. I I anxieties and fear and all the stuff that comes with this, this is like a daily struggle and grind for me. You know what I mean? Like, I I I you know that that's just what it is. So I'm like, I'm not like you know, Mr. Strong and no, you know, I not at all. But what I did hear, and I guess it makes a lot of sense for me, is like when when you start something like this, you you're you're opening yourself up to so many different different things, like your own business, you know what I mean? All the things that come with it, you know what I mean? So there's like a million different things. So, like even as a game of numbers, inevitably things are going to happen to you, and probably a lot of them, because you've opened yourself up to like so many different avenues. Like you're not staying in the safe little bubble of like nine to five, come home, eat dinner, take a shower, go to bed, repeat, you know what I mean, for the next you know, you know what I mean? Like you're you're gonna be limited to things that can happen to you within that kind of bubble of things that not that there's anything wrong with that, if that if that's what you want to do, but you're limited to like the things that can possibly happen to you in in that those scenarios, and in those like you know, enclosed scenarios. When you start a business, when you do all these different things, and you just open yourself up to all the stuff that you have no experience at whatsoever, most of the time, inevitably just by sheer numbers, there's more things that can happen to you, and you know, they will, you know what I mean, and that that that's how you learn, you know.

Dave 1:04:50

And it and if when you think about it too, it's also like life in general, like things are going to it's how you react. Like I tell everybody this all the time, and people are and people say I'm stupid or that they they're just like that's not true, but the reality is true. It is you are the only one that controls how you react to any situation currently. If you're saying I'm reacting this way because of everything for the last 15 years of my life, like that's BS. Yeah, right, because you now in this moment can choose to make the choice of I'm gonna react differently, even though I did and had all this experience over 15 years of my life, or I'm gonna choose to react the same way and then let it uh negatively affect my future two or three weeks, whatever it ends up being. You literally in any moment that you live, like I I saw this clip the other day, and it was I guess it was true because life is actually lived in today only. Yeah, like yeah, your history book, like it's just that, it's just a history book of your life. You can't change it. It really kind of doesn't have an effect on today. I guess unless you like are in jail and you murdered somebody, I guess that does kind of limit what you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:10

Yeah.

Dave 1:06:10

But you can make mistakes, recognize those mistakes, apologize for those mistakes, and then that's where you let go. Like if somebody that you made a mistake to decides that they want to hate you for the rest of your life, so be it. But yeah, I'm I I can't control that. You can't control that, you know, watching this. Right. But what you can control is to be the best person and version of yourself today only.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:32

Yeah.

Dave 1:06:32

You know, and so without a doubt in those moments. Yeah. So

Resilience And Controlling Your Reactions

Dave 1:06:35

like you control it, you know, to come back to what we were chatting about in terms of the mindset and you know, negative things happening in your business, like you can say, Oh my God, nothing positive ever happens in my business because you feel that way, because of right, you're in the emotion of that for that day, or you can stop and say, Oh, okay, like this is something that negative, it sucks. I we're gonna figure it out, right? But I'm gonna move forward knowing that we're gonna make it better.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:01

I and like I said before, I really think you have to look at it too with like like like a like a clear, like a good understanding of what like what when you get into this, that you are opening yourself up to so many different things. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like you, you know, all the processes, procedures, all the different things that need to be built, like you're doing those, you're building them, you're not walking into a place where it's already there and it's implemented, and you can just kind of follow suit. Like every everything is being built by you, your team, whatever it might be. So, in the process of doing that, like I said, just from a sheer numbers point of view, there's just more opportunity for things to happen. And there's a high probability it will because you are, you know, you're building it, you know what I mean, and you're figuring it out, you know. And like, don't get me wrong, I'm saying this like like I know what it is, but it doesn't change the way I feel when something happens, where I'm like, oh my gosh. I I'd like to say I've gotten better with it, where like something, you know, in my level right now, I I would consider almost like tragic. I'm kind of like, okay, you know, but like I look back on some things and I'm like, wow, I got through that, and that sucked, you know what I mean?

Dave 1:08:12

And I'm like, so okay, like I can you mentioned it, like you're improving right now. You're looking at a situation, and yeah, you might find yourself getting into that mindset, but you're able to like bounce back quicker, yeah, and that's how it starts. Like you instead of being you know, four days in a mindset, it may become two days, and then from two days it becomes a day, and then from a day it becomes a couple hours, and that's where resilience too.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:36

That you're like, you know what I mean? You're like, okay, well, I can't I got through this, and I like and that really sucks. So I mean, like, I can really get I can get through this, you know, and that like that's that's business, and that's kind of the end of business that I think you know, people all like they don't want to hear, you know what I mean? Where it's just like, you know, it it it is, man. Like you you really have to build that resilience to things happening and just you know, continuing, like moving forward, one foot forward, you know.

Dave 1:09:06

And and I think, and I'll wrap up this kind of point with the fact that just because you're like, oh, okay, we're just gonna make it through it, you don't just like let it go and like brush it under the rug. Like the idea there is that then it's like, okay, afterwards, it's let's look at pattern recognition, yeah. You know, using the driver, okay. This per this this person has had four incidents in the last six months. Like, we need to change something, right? And then having that process, those reviews, those conversations in place afterwards. So being positive, right, and realizing that you're gonna make it through it doesn't mean that it it's an excuse to not deal with the situation. No, otherwise, yeah, you're just gonna keep facing it. So that so you literally have to have that back that back end set up as well, which we've we've talked about and put in place, you know, in in your organization currency, where you have to do that.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:59

Yeah, it's helped me quite a bit too, you know.

Dave 1:10:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so there's probably and well, we'll stop there, we'll wrap it up there. There's so much more we could go into. I'm sure I'd love to have you back on, you know. So go spend some time with the with the wifey for a birthday and appreciate you being here. It's funny, is we you know, and I mentioned this in pre-show, business unscripted. We talked about a couple things we were gonna touch on, and we never even touched on anything, any of them. Yeah, yeah, uh, so we'll get on those later. Yeah, but Chris, any we'd like to wrap it up and say, what's the one thing that you hope that somebody watching either live or replay that they take away from the episode and walk away with and start implementing in their in their business or their life? So, with that, what's that one thing for you?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:43

I for for me, and I guess probably something that has really resonated with me, and it's helped also from like other people that I've watched and what like everybody I I you know I I could put it this way I feel like every successful person that I've ever talked to in business, and you know, the people I've chose to surround myself with now, they got some stories from the trenches, man. And that that's that's really why like I like talking to those kind of people because it makes I'm like, okay, you know what I mean? Like, like sometimes you feel like so much has happened, you're like, am I supposed to be doing this? And it's and I and I like I said, I really just believe that that is par for the course. So if anybody out there, you know, if you're having the struggles, if you're you know in the trenches, you it seems like that that is like par for the course with with this kind of stuff, you know what I mean? And you need you keep going. You just gotta keep you just gotta tell yourself I'm gonna keep going no matter what, you know what I mean? It's kind of the zero options mindset. I'm gonna keep going, but it is refreshing, and I guess maybe I touched on some things on on me because I like to hear it from other people where I'm at, where they kind of tell some of the stories from the trenches and the things they've dealt with, and you don't feel like you're like the only one that is dealing with that. Because sometimes when you feel like that, you're like, Am I

Trenches Stories And Keep Going

SPEAKER_00 1:12:00

what am I doing wrong here? Because like I'm I'm the only one like and you soon find out when you get around those. Like, literally, I don't think I've ever talked to anybody, anybody, and these are some very successful people that you know where they didn't have just those kind of stories, you know what I mean? Some a lot, like I mean, 30 times worse, like you know, bankruptcy multiple times, like all kinds, you know what I mean? Like all kinds of stuff, you know what I mean? You're like, okay, you know what I mean?

Dave 1:12:29

Like, I think I'm going for some stuff, and you know, maybe not it goes back to what we kind of chatted about before, right? You don't want to, you you're looking at their highlight reel of where they're at now in their business in terms of their success.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:39

You didn't see where you are to all that, you know day in, day out.

Dave 1:12:44

You know, you're in it, you're in your grind day in and day out. They're posting their their picture from Manila on their vacation because they're you know reached 10 million dollars. Like you're not in the same shoes, you know. Like, yeah, and and that's the other thing. Like you can you can wish well on other people, like your friends, your networker, or everybody that's in business, just because they're successful doesn't mean you're not gonna be right. Like, and and and so I really that that rubs me the wrong way sometimes too when when I see that where it's you know other people either say, Oh, I told you so, or you know, you should just go back and get a job, like in your network. And it's just like, what do you do? Like, what why why do that? I don't tell you, hey, you suck at your job, go go find another employer to work for. No, I'm not there posting that stuff. You know, you're you're a business, so they just don't read, they don't understand it, don't respect it. And but just because you wish somebody else well, great. Just because they did well doesn't mean you're not like there it's not a it's not a zero-sum game when you know when it comes to you know business and everything. So but yeah, I think that's a good takeaway that you mentioned. For me, I think it would just be you know being willing, and and I think uh even seeing your growth over two years, right, would be it's been it's been huge, and you're still continuing to grow, which is awesome. I think for me, you know, just being willing to to learn and grow every day is the biggest thing that you could do, right? You you're making that ripple in your pond, you know, every single time that you grow and you change and you reach a new level, like that's another rock that you're throwing in that's creating ripples in in your life and those around you. And so I really think always being willing to do that and continuing to you know level up is is really what's going to drive your kind of you ahead. So one final question before we kind of jump off. And I guess working together for like two years, what what's been what's been that maybe one or maybe two things that like has really been impactful to you by having this sort of relationship like we have, you know, working together so that others who may be on the fence in terms of, you know, do I do I work with somebody or do I reach out to somebody, it might help them kind of make that decision.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:51

Gosh, you know, so I there there's many, I mean there's I there's there's many different reasons, but I I mean probably probably probably the big probably the biggest one and and I feel too is like it is the amount of like growth and I guess like forward motion I feel like I've I've been making in a in a relatively short period of time. And I and like I know personally with like my knowledge on certain things or or lack thereof, you know what I mean? That would have been that would have been difficult. Whereas like, you know, like like like working with you and like really having somebody that's putting a lot of this stuff in context and helping me, numbers, just all those different things, I I feel has fast tracked some of that. You know what I mean? Even and and I'm saying this, like even other people that I talk to, you know, friendly competition, things like that, you know, kind of where you know what I mean, like where where they're at and so on. And and not saying that like I'm I'm I'm above I don't want it to come off like that, but like there's certain things that like I've been learning and implementing that even you know, some people that have been in the game for a little bit haven't even done yet, you know what I mean? And and it, you know, just just small talk with people, right? It certainly doesn't

How Coaching Fast Tracks Growth

SPEAKER_00 1:16:10

make me better in any means. But I feel but like I I feel like the stuff that I've learned has really helped fast track a lot of this stuff. Like I I probably wouldn't have figured it out or got there as quick, I guess. And I I I think having somebody also to to just you know talk business with and so on, because my group, immediate group of people is is kind of limited in that in that field. So, you know, most of the people that are that are immediate to me are not doing what I'm doing, you know what I mean? So that that can be a little and they're just they're gonna have no idea, like you know what I mean. Like what yeah, like I said, a lot of people I I think I've joked about this before, they're like, Why would you do that to yourself? Like, you know what I mean? Like, why would you do that? You know what I mean?

Dave 1:17:00

And like we'll get a paycheck, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:02

Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Like, like that's dumb. Why would you, you know, so like it it's hard to when you don't have, you know, immediately those are the people around you, you know what I mean? So right. I would say those are and and the probably the two the two biggest, and just like an overall better understanding of how to do this stuff properly, I feel has fast tracked my growth, you know, within you know, technically, you know, just just right at five years, you know what I mean?

Dave 1:17:33

So awesome. Well, I hope that helps somebody out there as well. So, with that, we'll reach the end. I know we we kind of went a little bit longer today, but there's so many other things I'm sure we can talk about. So, Chris, love to have you on again, brother. For those who are watching that made it this far, we love you. We appreciate you. Again, we're on a mission. We want to impact a thousand business owners by the end of 2028. So help us do that. Do all that fun algorithmy stuff, you know. Like, subscribe. If you know somebody in your network, feel free to share the episode and maybe one or two things, you know, down below, as well as in your post of you know what caught your attention from today's episode, because that will help the algorithm pick it up and share it as well. So until then, we do this live every single Friday around 8 30 a.m. every Friday. So we'll see you guys next week. Hope you have a good one. And again, Chris, thanks again. And enjoy enjoy your wife and her birthday weekends. Thanks for having me up. Yeah, you're welcome. See you everybody.