What happens when a calling to ministry unexpectedly leads to a successful small business? Our guest, Joel Mooneyham, shares his unique journey from feeling called to preach to becoming the sales rep and the social media manager of Southeast Underdeck. Discover how Joel's passion for helping others and creativity helped launch his career! Did you know our amazing voices can go beyond just the microphone? Yes, we have video! Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
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Joel’s Links:
• Business Website | southeasternunderdeck.com
• Personal Website | https://www.joelfromatlanta.com/
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GOLD NUGGETS:
(04:35) - Career Pivot and Purpose
(13:39) - Selling Underdeck Systems and Sales Belief
(19:07) - Sales and Career Belief Systems
(29:57) - Joel’s Creative Endeavors
(34:59) - Balancing Sales and Enjoyment
(44:42) - Art, Music, and Regrets
(53:34) - Customer Service and Business Ventures
(58:343) - Promoting a Podcast
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Previous guests on The Small Business Safari include Amy Lyle, Ben Alexander, Joseph Sission, Jonathan Ellis, Brad Dell, Chris Hanks, C.T. Emerson, Chad Brown, Tracy Moore, Wayne Sherger, David Raymond, Paul Redman, Gabby Meteor, Ryan Dement, Barbara Heil Sonneck, Bryan John, Tom Defore, Rusty Clifton, Duane Johns, Beth Miller, Jason Sleeman, Andy Suggs, Chris Michel, Jon Ostenson, Tommy Breedlove, Rocky Lalvani, Amanda Griffey, Spencer Powell, Joe Perrone, David Lupberger, Duane C. Barney, Dave Moerman, Jim Ryerson, Al Mishkoff, Scott Specker, Mike Claudio and more!
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If you loved this episode try these!
• Mastering Small Business Marketing: Strategies, AI, and Insights with Sarah Block
• Building Multiple Businesses in a Blue-Collar Industry | Seth Lewis
• Scaling a Moving and Junk Removal Business: A Candid Conversation with Roger Panitch
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Have any questions or comments? Connect with me here!
What happens when a calling to ministry unexpectedly leads to a successful small business? Our guest, Joel Mooneyham, shares his unique journey from feeling called to preach to becoming the sales rep and the social media manager of Southeast Underdeck. Discover how Joel's passion for helping others and creativity helped launch his career! Did you know our amazing voices can go beyond just the microphone? Yes, we have video! Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
-----
Joel’s Links:
• Business Website | southeasternunderdeck.com
• Personal Website | https://www.joelfromatlanta.com/
-----
GOLD NUGGETS:
(04:35) - Career Pivot and Purpose
(13:39) - Selling Underdeck Systems and Sales Belief
(19:07) - Sales and Career Belief Systems
(29:57) - Joel’s Creative Endeavors
(34:59) - Balancing Sales and Enjoyment
(44:42) - Art, Music, and Regrets
(53:34) - Customer Service and Business Ventures
(58:343) - Promoting a Podcast
-----
Previous guests on The Small Business Safari include Amy Lyle, Ben Alexander, Joseph Sission, Jonathan Ellis, Brad Dell, Chris Hanks, C.T. Emerson, Chad Brown, Tracy Moore, Wayne Sherger, David Raymond, Paul Redman, Gabby Meteor, Ryan Dement, Barbara Heil Sonneck, Bryan John, Tom Defore, Rusty Clifton, Duane Johns, Beth Miller, Jason Sleeman, Andy Suggs, Chris Michel, Jon Ostenson, Tommy Breedlove, Rocky Lalvani, Amanda Griffey, Spencer Powell, Joe Perrone, David Lupberger, Duane C. Barney, Dave Moerman, Jim Ryerson, Al Mishkoff, Scott Specker, Mike Claudio and more!
-----
If you loved this episode try these!
• Mastering Small Business Marketing: Strategies, AI, and Insights with Sarah Block
• Building Multiple Businesses in a Blue-Collar Industry | Seth Lewis
• Scaling a Moving and Junk Removal Business: A Candid Conversation with Roger Panitch
-----
Have any questions or comments? Connect with me here!
That's the one thing. I want to bring that nugget up. So Joel decided you know, personal thing, nothing. He didn't burn the bridge. And in construction and in our world the burning of the bridge is almost an hourly thing, not even daily. That's how often they do it.
Alan Wyatt:It's like an art form, isn't?
Chris Lalomia:it. Oh, they are so good at it And they don't just, they don't just burn it, they blow that sucker up.
Joel Mooneyham:They take out the river.
Chris Lalomia:They're trying to take out the entire state And if they can get the country, they probably will try that too.
Chris Lalomia:And so great job for not doing that because, brother, this world is a great place. It's a lot closer than you think I know we keep talking about. The world is huge, the community you get in and where you work. If you're not taking care of yourself and your relationships, it will come back to bite you in the ass. Welcome to the small business safari, where I help guide you to avoid those traps, pitfalls and dangers that lurk when navigating the wild world of small business ownership.
Chris Lalomia:I'll share those gold nuggets of information and invite guests to help accelerate your ascent to that mountain top of success. It's a jungle out there. I want to help you traverse through the levels of owning your own business that can get you bogged down and distract you from any of your own personal and professional goals. So strap in adventure team and let's take a ride through the safari and get you to the mountain top. Alan, we're back and we are going to be talking back in my home sphere that I love and that's home services, but not all home services. Today We've got a really different angle and a great guest today I've known for quite a while Now. He's not the owner of the company, but you wouldn't know it if you didn't talk to him And I would say he is also what do they say? a renaissance man. Yeah, he is a renaissance man, right.
Alan Wyatt:He is truly and he's just a cool guy And he's in studio. I know he rolls in. He's got the tattoos. I bet you it's a motorcycle.
Joel Mooneyham:It's not.
Alan Wyatt:Come on.
Joel Mooneyham:Toyota Tacoma.
Chris Lalomia:Okay, and I'd say the tats are a little bit new because I knew him before. I knew him pre-tats.
Alan Wyatt:Got good hair.
Chris Lalomia:He's got great hair Racing backwards, you can see he's got that, he's got that cool sultry voice?
Alan Wyatt:Is that right? Yeah, i never would have known that, joe, you didn't know you're in Chris's basement with two guys with a man crush already. Yeah, I know He did know it.
Chris Lalomia:It's exactly all humble. I love this stuff. We have Joe Mooneyham from Southeast Underdeck here. Southeast Underdeck is an Atlanta based company that does underdeck systems in underdecks, of course, but allow you to have.
Alan Wyatt:Is that how?
Chris Lalomia:that works. Yeah, it's how it works. I got to meet him because I'm the owner of the company and then I actually were actually recording this in my basement and you guys can both see the product right behind me Because we have our own product. We have that product here and I've loved it. It's increased. The living space for me Allows me to go out there when it's raining, sit there, get to watch TV and feel like I'm in the rain without really camping, so it's not even clamping. Is that the closest he gets to be outdoors? Chris, 100% as close as I get to the freaking outdoors, we'll go to the mountains and we'll sit in the house and we've got on the hike and we're like oh oh, oh, my God, there's tarantulas.
Joel Mooneyham:You can look out the window. Yeah, that's enough for me. It's beautiful.
Chris Lalomia:Yeah, So Joel. thank you for coming on in.
Joel Mooneyham:That's a pleasure.
Chris Lalomia:Yeah, this is awesome. So, Joel, i want to talk a little bit about your history, because I did have a chance to meet your dad. So, growing up, what did you aspire to do?
Joel Mooneyham:Initially I wanted to be a pastor, just like my dad And a lot of preachers. Kids have negative experiences growing up And I just.
Alan Wyatt:It's just blinking at me, i'm a preacher.
Joel Mooneyham:Oh, okay.
Chris Lalomia:Yeah, that's why I brought this up. Yeah, because I knew where we were going. He just did no part of it.
Joel Mooneyham:Yeah, so I just I had a good time growing up that way And it was. we're never the type of family where it was. I never felt forced down our throat the whole being in church and all that. It was just kind of what we did, like everybody else does, what they do, and so I never knew anything different And I always felt, from a very young age I guess you would call it a call to go into ministry, and from as early on. I mean, i guess I preached for the first time ever when I was about 10. I did a little sermon at church. They did a children's Sunday and I got to speak and Did you throw a heater flamethrower at 10?
Joel Mooneyham:I did a David and Goliath thing. I made a few jokes and I think it was like a five minute thing And that's what you'd expect from a 10 year old doing David and Goliath, i guess. But through middle school and high school I was active in United Methodist Church stuff, going to the annual conference and that kind of thing, and served a few churches. In college went to seminary, got a Master's Divinity And over the years my understanding of what I felt called to do went through a lot of different changes And, at least for the moment, i've landed in a place where actually doing the work that I do I feel like it gives me opportunities to bear out witness in a different way to people who may not ever darken the door of a church, while still doing other things creatively that still feel like I'm living out what I feel like I was born to do, for lack of a better word.
Chris Lalomia:So you know our audience here, people who may want to start a business, maybe are in a business, trying to figure out a scale of business. And so why did they have Joel on? I had Joel on because his history and his arc and his career is a lot similar to a lot of us, either listening or on there. And that is. I grew up and I had a calling. You know, i was going to do this, i was going to do this and do this, and then boom. Now I look at myself and I'm not doing that. But I'm doing it in a different way and allowing myself to do other things And just like many of us in our career, if you look at success, it's never linear up the mountain. It's always up and down and then down and then rolling down and then somebody stamps you down and then you fall off the cliff a little bit, and you fall off the cliff and the goat stamps on you and then start shitting on you and it was oh, maybe that's a little bit too much.
Alan Wyatt:Then the medevac, and then you're back up on top of the mountain.
Chris Lalomia:And so you go back it up. So that's why I love having Joel come in here, because he started out that way and then said hey, you know what, something happened and in my career or in my life, i decided to make a pivot. So talk about the first time you decided not to stay in the ministry, and where did you go and what did you do?
Joel Mooneyham:Well, without getting too much into the weeds about it, the Methodist Church just isn't what I grew up in. It's changed a lot, and so I was kind of wrestling with that and I spoke to some mentors about what I was dealing with and they ended up, instead of encouraging me, they kind of reinforced the things I was reluctant about, and at the time I had gone to seminary and done on campus there and had moved back home for a lot of different reasons and was finishing school online And at the time, working in a restaurant. I had some friends of mine own in Buford, rico's World Kitchen. A little plug for them.
Alan Wyatt:It's a delicious place. It's great Yeah.
Joel Mooneyham:And Heath was one of the regulars And I had served him and Lindsey for several times over the years and I had been set up for an interview from another guest who stood me up.
Joel Mooneyham:But I was going to use Heath as a reference because I'd done a little work for him, and then he said well, i'll be happy to give you a reference, but I was going to offer you a job, so I fell into it, but it ended up kind of suiting some of my strengths and allowed me to do some things that hadn't done before. You know, as far as sales from a more direct standpoint, and then I realized through some conversations with some people that there are people who I can connect with and have an influence on in a positive way that have either been burned by the church or just they're just not going to go And I didn't want to run away from that. So and I can, i've worked at a church in between then. You know, i still have found ways to do ministry, but I guess to not to go too theological but, like Paul, being a tent maker and having a profession is still doing ministry, side to side, kind of speaks to, there's a couple of really interesting things he's already said.
Alan Wyatt:So number one he went to his mentors, which I think it's great that you had mentors, and people go to their mentors and are hoping that they give them advice that they weren't thinking about sometimes. Sometimes they go in and they're hoping that they tell them yeah, you're perfect, But in your case, I think you were expecting them to talk you out of what you were thinking And in this case, they reinforced it.
Joel Mooneyham:None of them meant to. I mean, they were the things I brought up that were concerns about they. they defended them in ways that I just thought that you're not making a good case for it And I just I don't, i don't, i can't get there where you're at.
Alan Wyatt:So then the second thing is is you know you're making a few bucks working at Rico's and here's somebody who's a business owner You've got no formal sales training. I'm assuming now You know my father was a minister. he was selling every day, you know souls into heaven, but you have no formal sales training. And so here's, here's a business owner who sees your character and how you are with people and is going to offer you a job, just flat out to be in a 100% I'm assuming sales position. right.
Joel Mooneyham:Yeah, at the time.
Alan Wyatt:Yeah, so pretty good job on his part.
Chris Lalomia:Oh, 100% recruiting, Yeah, i think. And Joel's bringing up there and acting humble again, like he always does Heath, i think, the world of Heath too, and what he's done with his company and he does always promotes his guys right As a business owner. We talked about him coming on the podcast and I said this off air He'd be a horrible guest because he's just so flippant boring.
Chris Lalomia:No kidding, he's a riot. But he said I don't do that stuff, man, i'm not doing that. You know, man, have Joel come do it. But he saw Joel and Joel being humble. How many times?
Chris Lalomia:and one of our questions we ask all the time is in customer service, what's your biggest pet peeve? and a lot of times people bring up restaurants and you can always tell when you get a waiter or waitress or somebody in that role, that just is going to be way bigger than that. Not to put down waiters and waitresses, not to say that bartenders can't be great coin, i'm just saying you can tell somebody's going to be really good with people in a home. You can really tell somebody's just going to be good with people with no formal sales training. I think, yes, kudos to Heath and kudos to you, because I mean, because you put it together And this is the stuff you reinforce with your kids, you reinforce with everybody. I don't care if they're asking you to go get coffee, you're going to be the best coffee getter ever. And if you do that, guess what They might. Let you do something else.
Joel Mooneyham:Yeah, and anything you're doing to the service of somebody else is a good and noble thing to do, and it doesn't matter how. I mean whether you're sweeping somebody's floors or remodeling someone's home or cooking somebody a meal, if you approach it with I'm doing something for somebody else, and that, to me, makes a bigger difference than just I'm doing this to make a paycheck, well, it's fine. But some days you I mean, especially if you're working in sales some days are leaner than others, and so what can motivate you more than the money? And if you got to find something outside of that, because money comes and goes. But you know, here's an opportunity. Whether waiting tables or putting an underdecks or whatever it is preaching on a Sunday, here's an opportunity to give somebody something that they may not be able to get on their own.
Chris Lalomia:It's such a hard thing because I've heard this and a lot of people say this you know a servant's leader, you know I have a servant's heart And it's a hard concept for me actually to put my own heart around, and I just because he loved being served.
Alan Wyatt:I do, and he's really good at it And, frankly, I do feel like everybody should be serving me. Hello, welcome to the King of the World. A little fool myself of course I am.
Chris Lalomia:But it's a concept that when you hear it, if it rings with you, if that hits you where it needs to hit you, you got to follow it. because everybody says, well, especially in corporate America, well, that guy's an asshole, but yeah, but he's the CEO. Well, that guy's an asshole, He's the CIO. Wow, you have to be an asshole to be a CEO or CEO. I always thought that right.
Alan Wyatt:And it was when I was going through corporate America. I mean, one of my things was is I wanted to prove you didn't have to be an asshole to be successful.
Chris Lalomia:And that's the thing You're picking up from what, Joel, and that's why we haven't even touched all the other stuff he done, He's done, But going back to the circuitous route. So you get picked up by Heath and he says come on, I want to teach you how to sell underdecks. Did you even know what an underdeck system was? Not, until no short answers.
Joel Mooneyham:No, i'd served them for a long time And, pardon me, he, i still remember when he asked the first time he asked me to go to a home shop Because at first I was just doing home shows with them on the weekends to pick up the extra coin And it was a really busy Saturday or Friday night and where they were waiting and they just put their name on the list and Lyme was out the door and I, oh hey, how you doing? And he said, hey, are you free on whatever Saturday? So certainly can be what's up. And so on the way up I kind of got a crash course and what we were selling at the time We didn't even have a stand up display to show what it was. So it was very I was selling something from a very abstract standpoint and just really getting people's names and information and just learned it over the course of a few months. And then when he, when I, finally went to work for him full time, i spent a month in the field going on installs and going on service calls and that kind of thing. So I really learned it in and out pretty quickly and then started doing the sale side of it.
Joel Mooneyham:So prior to that I would have been able to kind of piece together what it was based on, what it was called, but the extent to which you can do something like underdecking had never occurred to me, and to Heath's credit, he is very good at the R&D side of things, and I mean not for nothing, but we really do offer a lot more than a competition, but a lot more than anybody expects. So you know whether it's the amount of customization just from the system and colors and textures, but then waterproof lighting and fan mounts. You know that's awesome on its own. But then we've done R&D into making Bluetooth receivers so that people can have speakers that connected the phone, and we've got a mobile app so you can download an app to your phone and control your lights and your fans from there The things that people don't even. It doesn't even occur to people that you can do that outside under your deck. Yeah, what if you call us? you can call us, you can. So seeing him and just his drive to okay, he's a good guy, he's a good guy.
Joel Mooneyham:Seeing him and just his drive to okay, here's a really fundamental idea. How do you keep a deck dry? Fine, now that we've done that, we can either rest on our laurels and just kind of be okay at it or, you know, offer a lot more that people wouldn't expect. And when it gets to that it almost sells itself because, like you said, i mean you've got, you've got a pool, you've got a really awesome setup down here. That intermediate space for a lot of people is just awful. You dress it up. Now you've got the way I've called you. You're bringing the indoors and the outdoors together. So you've got this intermediate space. That's kind of the Venn diagram of your outside living and your inside living.
Chris Lalomia:So it is. I've often said when guys come into our office and start talking about their faith right off the bat, probably not a big good fit for my company. because because you're worried, right, Because you know, worried about the wolf sheep clothing, And when I first moved down here and people had the fish on the back and I'm a Catholic guy, I just don't talk about it a lot, And so in the beginning I would do in it, but they were like seriously, some of the first guys that screw me were the guys with the fish in the back of their trucks, And so when I say screw me, right.
Alan Wyatt:So it is frustrating, isn't? it Well yeah, because I was a regional vice president. Enterprise rent a car and the joke around the company was is if somebody's voicemail says have a blessed day, repo the car.
Chris Lalomia:Yeah, i don't say. if you say have a blessed day in your voicemail, i probably won't marry you.
Joel Mooneyham:My dad got a when we were. He was a pastor at Snowville United Methodist years and years ago And he got a. He got a letter that was sent to him and the pastor at the church beside us and apparently to every church in that vicinity who? a letter from the server at Applebee's said would you just let the people at your churches know that Sunday afternoons are the worst day for all of us?
Alan Wyatt:Wow.
Joel Mooneyham:Church people come in and they're, they can be rough. I mean, and I say that as a church person, as a, you know, i grew up in it, i've, i've done it for a living And yeah, unfortunately, Bad rap man.
Chris Lalomia:Bad rap. Yeah, i agree. So the reason I bring that up is because one of the things you also have to talk about, as if you have a sales organization and you all do, whether you know it or not, in your company, if it's just you, if you're a solopreneur, taking one word, hey, thank, you, ama Chris.
Chris Lalomia:Thank you, i'm all about it, baby. Anyway. so you come back to it. Your sales guys sell at their lowest level of belief. You just got done listening to Joel talk about the underdeck system and what they do in the R&D And you can see already this guy's belief in his system. If he came to sell you on your underdeck system and you wanted to put this in and it's a specialty niche product you know you have to have a second story deck You got, by the way. I love this because one of their other sales guys, glenn he called me. He said I literally went on a call with a lady that she wanted an underdeck system and she had a ranch. That happened to me this week. Really, there's no structure to put the underdeck in. What did she think it was?
Joel Mooneyham:going to do. They just wanted lighting in their porch And they saw that we have lighting for underdeck and then saw.
Joel Mooneyham:I get out there and I can already see from the when I drove up to the house. There's not a hill And I thought, well, maybe they have a, maybe there's something I can't see, maybe there's an upstairs that goes out, because it was a two story house but nothing. And they had a covered porch with a roof and then a ceiling And they said we just want lighting in here. I said you need to call an electrician because Yaller and Peachtree City and we're in Buford.
Chris Lalomia:And you need a deck to put an underdeck system in.
Joel Mooneyham:We're not southeastern lighting.
Alan Wyatt:Sounds like the appointment makers need to do a little more quality work. Well, I don't know about that.
Chris Lalomia:Hey Heath, do not sick holly on me If she's the one making those calls. I do not want to hear from her.
Alan Wyatt:Just one man's appointment. I'm just, you know, flying on the wall.
Chris Lalomia:That was not me.
Joel Mooneyham:That was.
Chris Lalomia:Alan White, Alan White Jr. Dot com Holly's rough bro Nice. Yeah, i'm deflecting that one in a heartbeat. But going back to the belief system, my tire slash by Holly now She's tough.
Chris Lalomia:Man I you know, heath came out, they added some other stuff And the guys were finished. I said, hey, man, i got to run, just I'm good for it. And somebody my office forgot to pay, like the next day. And the voicemail from Holly was brutal. She didn't know who I was yet. Not that that's important. Well, yes, of course it is, alan, because you know who I am. I always think it's important, but she, she laid the line. She's like we expect payment, payment at time of services rendered, and you have not paid. You need to call me back as soon as possible to make this payment and make this correct. Goodness, yeah, i was like Oh boy, yeah.
Chris Lalomia:But now go back to the belief system. That's huge because you want to get your sales guys to believe in the product and the service that they're delivering, because that helps you. It helps you in your sales process And I think in your business, you're always working on building the skills of your sales guys who do it, and I know that that's not your be all end all, joel, and I know that's not the biggest thing for you. However, it does Well, it does things. So and I say but I was about to say put food on the plate, which I hate that phrase. I really hate that phrase.
Joel Mooneyham:But it does.
Chris Lalomia:Yeah, so you left for a while, yeah, and I tried the administering full time. So talk a little bit about that experience. You decided to make the move. You know you felt like, hey, i got a good guy, i got a good company, but I got to go do something else. Nothing against this guy, i got to do this. Talk about that for a minute.
Joel Mooneyham:Yeah, so I've been a part of a of a church, and for a very long time, and had a war, a few different hats as a volunteer there, did artwork for the church, was on the preaching rotation and they were looking for somebody to coordinate and build up the small group area of the church small church.
Joel Mooneyham:And so I went to Heath and Heath Heath knows me and so he knows this is something that's important to me. And so I said This is kind of this is what's going on, you know, and obviously no hard feelings, but you know, this is where I'm at. And so he said you know, i understand what you got to do, and during that I don't even know how it came up, but I think it might have even been from him Hey, we're trying to build up the social media piece. Do you want to do some of that While you're doing the church thing? because the catch with the church was that I was going to have to fundraise my own salary, which is a really frightening prospect, and I was able to. Again, thanks to a lot of the connections I've made doing this work, i was able to kind of to do that And so went on to, went on staff to do small group ministry started in January of 2020.
Chris Lalomia:I think we all remember that time. Yeah, that was January was great January was fine, You know. January he's off ministering to people and making people better. I was going to Vegas.
Joel Mooneyham:I've never been to Vegas, but then in March we shut down, and we were shut down for a year And there just took a big hit in this right And okay.
Chris Lalomia:So I admittedly a Catholic guy, i'll come clean man. I really love watching church on TV now And I'm not going as much as I used to because I love the 30 minutes.
Joel Mooneyham:I told him when the message starts and so, yeah, so it's on.
Chris Lalomia:You know, because the Catholic channel right, i can turn it on Sunday morning. It's 30 minutes long because they got to be done hard. Stop above it And my dad's like I'm sure, i'm sure God's glad you can see that.
Alan Wyatt:I'm sure God's glad you can squeeze him in. You know what?
Chris Lalomia:And so also God and I get to share a cup of coffee. So anyway, all right back to you.
Joel Mooneyham:Oh yeah, so we, we, i'm there to do small groups and we can't meet, And so trying to figure out, how do you build a small groups ministry from scratch In a time that nobody in our lifetime had to?
Chris Lalomia:Right, no, no, no, contact at all.
Joel Mooneyham:Yeah, that was really tough, and I mean so that just is what it is, in the meantime, also doing maintain a relationship with Heath, and during that time I met the woman who I would marry, and Stacy.
Chris Lalomia:Okay, yeah, shut it. Stacy, you're gonna listen to this? I certainly hope so. Okay, she knows I'm here, okay, good.
Joel Mooneyham:You have a twinkle in your eye, chris, why?
Chris Lalomia:Because she really loves his wife.
Joel Mooneyham:I do Yeah.
Chris Lalomia:See.
Joel Mooneyham:I really do.
Chris Lalomia:We're still leaving with that. I haven't married a long time, so she will not be listening to this.
Joel Mooneyham:Through a little. I don't want to get into too much of what ended up happening. that kind of precipitated me leaving the church. but it came to a point where it was like it's obvious, this is not going to be something that's going to be, it's going to be a good fit for the long term, especially if I'm planning on marrying this woman and moving to Woodstock And so leave that where it is. While that's going on, i reached out to Heath and I said and I mean this was you kind of feel silly because you go off to do something and you have your young old about?
Alan Wyatt:Yeah, your tail between your legs when you make that call, I mean it kind of felt that way.
Joel Mooneyham:And Heath, to his credit, i mean, he's, he really is a just, he's awesome. And so I said here's the situation Is there any any room still on the sales side, even if I, you know, if I have to do it, you know, do it part time or whatever.
Chris Lalomia:And he said, yeah, come on, all right so if Heath ever listens to this number one, i'll tell him you're not that awesome, buddy, slow it down, slow your roll. That was Joel just kissing your ass. Right, this is Chris. Give me the real shit now. So just slow your roll. No, he's great, but credit to you, and that's the one thing. I want to bring that nugget up. So Joel decided, you know, personal thing, nothing. He didn't burn the bridge, and in construction in our world, the burning of the bridge is almost an hourly thing, not even daily. That's how often they like an art form isn't it?
Chris Lalomia:Oh, they are so good, and they don't just, they don't just burn it, they blow that sucker up.
Joel Mooneyham:They take out the river.
Chris Lalomia:They're trying to take out the entire state, and if they can get the country, they probably will try that too. Yeah.
Chris Lalomia:And so people will great job for not doing that because, brother, this world is. It's a lot closer than you think. I know we keep talking about the world is huge. Yeah, the community you get in and where you work. If you're not taking care of yourself and your relationships, it will come back to bite you in the ass hardcore. You don't have to be an asshole. You got to get back in it because you never know when you might have that. And you felt like you had to chill between the legs And I will tell you this, knowing on the other side, heath was thrilled. He was like All right, come on, because I know you, i know you because I know you. I know what you're going to do And I know I want you in my business. So, as an owner, he wasn't thinking that at all and didn't take advantage of it.
Joel Mooneyham:No, he really didn't. I mean it was, it was like nothing, i didn't, didn't really miss a beat. And you're talking about burning bridges. One of the things my dad always instilled in me, my mom too is always leave a job or leave any situation better than you found it And don't burn bridges with anybody ever like. Leave on good terms with any time you can, and I've managed to do that a good bit, and certainly in this situation it really did make a difference. So just, i mean I guess I'm speaking of advice is simply, i mean, every every person you meet is an opportunity, not, i mean for friendship and the things that we all need to be human. But you never know what help somebody might be to you or that you might be to somebody else, and you know as much as you can, as much as it depends on you, keep, keep on good terms with people.
Chris Lalomia:It's hard, easy to say, hard to do sometimes, especially if you got a fiery personality like one of us in the room. I mean, jesus, i'm going to go be Alan.
Alan Wyatt:Sorry, i'm going to therapy for that.
Joel Mooneyham:Same real hotheaded.
Chris Lalomia:Yeah, he's crazy. He's crazy, He's out of control. He wants to burn everybody. And Chris is over here ready. I mean, I got Molotov cocktails. I'm like you come in here. It reminds me of the scene from the town Ben Affleck comes into a Jeremy Renner and says I can't tell you what it is, I can't tell you what we're going to do, but we're going to hurt some people. Jeremy Renner looks and says Who's car are we taking? Who's car are we taking? That's a great movie. Yeah, And that line is that's the people you want in your company. Who's car are we taking? And so and so that's obviously that's the anti God thing. But anyway, back to back to Cholso. So you go back to Southeast Underdeck, you meet the love of your life, you get married, you're doing this. But now you're starting to do all this other stuff, And I want to make sure we touch on this because you are truly a Renaissance man. And so Southeast Underdeck is the nine to five or, but there are some other stuff going on. So what else are you doing?
Joel Mooneyham:Well, during the pandemic I started a podcast and it that's. That's kind of hit or miss because it's a one man show and now, with a wife and two kids, it's simply not as much of a priority. But I still have things that I plan out and then execute. With that, welcome to a two man show.
Chris Lalomia:Yeah, yeah, that clinkier in the background is the hell. We're getting so excited that we're a three man show, yeah.
Alan Wyatt:All right, baby, that's. that's two weeks in a row. I've almost broken some beer.
Chris Lalomia:Yeah, you know what?
Joel Mooneyham:It's so much more fun with that with a partner though I mean So you don't get slivers of glass in your fingers.
Alan Wyatt:Oh, I blasted half of the case in Chris's basement last week. Yeah, we were recorded.
Chris Lalomia:last week You got a mom right before we get going. He goes how's your day going? I said you want to hear all my days going And I was like I laid it all out. I mean, everything that could go wrong was going wrong. Everything I said. we're here now, though. man, let's get podcasting. That's what we're gonna do. We got to amp it up. We got to tell people the good things. We got to get after it. He goes you want a beer? I'm like yeah, and I hear him in the background and all I hear Oh. I'm like Hey, do you have a mop?
Joel Mooneyham:I'm like oh, no Wait.
Chris Lalomia:Oh my God, I can't get any worse. And we ended up drinking some of the broken beer. Don't again. Advice, not gold nugget Do not drink broken beer Broken anything. Right, i know, when you're cheap, i mean you're like, yeah, well, what's a little ulcer? I mean what's a little liver bleeding, what's a little.
Joel Mooneyham:What do you think this is in?
Chris Lalomia:me.
Alan Wyatt:Come on, it's all good. Intestinal discomfort is worth a good quote. All right, so you're doing the podcast?
Chris Lalomia:Are you still doing the podcast?
Joel Mooneyham:I haven't since Christmas time. So kind of what I landed on with that is when I get enough ideas together to kind of have a few scripts and then bang them out and then put them out and then kind of it goes to seed for a little while And do a little writing through there as well, And then the Stacy is a creative person as well, So we both like to decompress by doing artwork. I got my BFA in photography and drawing And so we also find time together, like at the end of the day we'll show paint and I'll do you know whatever paint, or I've been doing linoleum cuts recently. So what?
Alan Wyatt:is that? Is it like? what's that? Yeah, what's that, What's that?
Joel Mooneyham:effect. It's a type of printmaking, so you can do it with wood block, you can do it with linoleum. There's different pros and cons for each one, but basically you're carving in relief And so you have to think of it.
Alan Wyatt:And negatives Yeah.
Joel Mooneyham:And negative, And then you can, with whatever image you've got, you can make the same image over and over. And there's really high tech way screen printing and things like that And I do it just very low.
Alan Wyatt:It's block printing with linoleum Yeah.
Joel Mooneyham:And so that's kind of been one of for art what I've been doing most recently, and I've always loved watercolor and kind of doing that. But then also I've been into photography since I was 18 and have done that as a hobby ever since And during when I was I'm still on the road a lot. But prior to marriage and kids, when I wasn't in a hurry to get home, i would take my time on my appointments and be all over the place and stop and take pictures of landscapes and things like that. So now I want to get home to see my wife and kids And so to that point I've kind of parlayed that into doing I'm calling it bare bones photography.
Joel Mooneyham:So basically I go, take all the pictures you want and then on the spot you get the pictures where there's no editing, and so the idea is you have an event that you wouldn't ordinarily think you can afford a photographer for. I can come and you don't want to be stuck behind the camera. You don't trust drunk uncle Randy to take the pictures. I'm the in-house photographer for whatever. So I've kind of slowly building that up but I've done a few things for that, doing one for I'm sure I can remember the name of the nonprofit, but it's a nonprofit for children. I'm doing an event for them in November. This is long way off, but I'm on their book to do it, so that's successful.
Alan Wyatt:So I'm kind of curious what you think about this, chris, because I love the fact that here's a. Obviously he's deadly successful in sales. And I remember I worked in one of my corporate jobs and I was traveling all over and I was working with this hardcore team of sales guys and they would get really annoyed at me Cause, like you know, he had a flight up to Philadelphia and I'm like, oh cool, we're standing by Valley Forge, i'm going to go check out Valley Forge. So I always go to all the historic places and you're stopping and taking photography And I'm wondering, chris, you're like, no, no, keep your eye on the ball, big board do you?
Chris Lalomia:I like this guy. He told me this years ago that he did that because I knew he'd been in photography. I was waiting for this. Are you ready? Yeah, he told me that I'm like have you fucking lost your mind? Get back and write that estimate up. You got another job to get to. You know what I might be able to stick another one in there? I mean, when I'm out there selling, i'm driving baby. I mean I will run over your mother to get to the next appointment. And he's like no, let's stop and take a picture of the Roswell the.
Alan Wyatt:Roswell water wheel. I'm like do you want a well rounded quality of life?
Chris Lalomia:And I would tell you, man, I wish I could stop and smell the flowers like he does.
Alan Wyatt:You just want to rip the flowers out of the ground? I do. I would just step on your nose and be a I'm talking, i would.
Chris Lalomia:I would absolutely do a lawn job on the road with my car on a 360, trying to get back to the next appointment.
Joel Mooneyham:Well, the way I got around it is I get a little camera like this where it's just a little tiny and it's got all the all the manual controls you need And, like I can, i can spot what I want to take a picture of, safely pull the car over, snap and go. And I mean there were days I was doing like five to six appointments in a day and then I'd have 20 or 30 pictures also by the end of it. And that was not for any money. I think a couple of them got picked up for a like a some. I mean I never even got to see it, but somebody reached out to me and said we want to use some of your pictures at this photography exhibit. Fine, that's fine. I guess.
Chris Lalomia:But I think, yeah, he's doing it without, without the expectation of making money. He's doing it to stop and again I see Smelt the Roses, which is the old person's way of saying make sure you're in the moment, make sure you're doing that. And so he's doing that. And I think when you talk about sales to when you have your sales guys and you're doing five or six appointments a day, and we talked about the clunker of, hey, i just literally, lady, you don't know Atlanta, but you just maybe drive an hour and a half for me to say No we already established that's.
Chris Lalomia:Holly's fault, Yeah, I.
Alan Wyatt:Alan.
Chris Lalomia:Wyatt, that's Alan Wyatt not Chris.
Joel Mooneyham:She's going to come after you. Oh my God, i know she's going to come through. She's going to get blindsided, she is a crooker, i'm just taking out into the fruit.
Chris Lalomia:You're already walking through. You're walking through, come around the aisle. She's going to come through and throw, punch you and knock you down Like, oh, holly, nice to meet you, and you're, you're six, six. I swear to God, she will get up to your deck And she's. She's not a tall lady, but I tell you she's she's just gives a shit on me All right back to this.
Alan Wyatt:So he, he, he does a great job, but he works to live. He works to live.
Chris Lalomia:Yeah, but I think that's a. That's a back to the sales process. Every time you go into a new appointment, you got to remember this. Right, You got to. I always tell my guys number one clear your head trash, right, yeah, you got. You got to put it all behind you. Right, you're going to be having the worst day in the world, i don't care. Today This is the opportunity and boom, you just got to throw it out.
Chris Lalomia:You got to put the power pose up and with your hands above your head. I want you putting in the big V and you're bigger than life. I want you going there and making it happen, cause you're there to meet that customer And I think in a way, this is Joel's kind of clear your head and clear the head trash.
Alan Wyatt:Yeah, let me, let me venture again. So are you actually an introvert?
Joel Mooneyham:I. You know and this is going to sound like such a contrarian answer I don't know that I'm either one or the other. I think it depends on the day, because there are some days where I'm I want to, i want to get home and I don't want to talk to anybody who doesn't live in the house And I don't want to talk to anybody else, and then they're like going to the Nari events and things like that. I can thrive and I can enjoy that And I've never had a problem being the center of attention. So I kind of you're a gregarious introvert Sure.
Joel Mooneyham:Yeah Or a yeah, so so to snap in the photos as opposed to.
Alan Wyatt:you know you're hiring high D's high eyes who you know, thrive on the thrill of the kill. But this is an example of. you know, don't overlook the introvert, who may have this creative side, who wants to stop and snap pictures because he can be an assassin when it comes to the sales. A thousand percent, yeah, especially in today's selling world. But that's how he recharges.
Chris Lalomia:Yeah, because we talked about the clunker. But but today where you're making the most sales is these people are doing the research. They're looking for a guy who's aesthetic who could see things, he can put that stuff in. They've already kind of educated himself, but they're reeducating himself with him And what.
Alan Wyatt:What I like about his demeanor and he hasn't tried to sell me anything is I don't think he's going to try to sell me something. I don't think he has a bone in his body that's going to. You know how can I get you to buy this underdeck today? Kind of a personality.
Joel Mooneyham:And yeah, you know what I mean. I don't, I don't like hard selling anybody, anything.
Alan Wyatt:Which most employers, like Chris, would say okay, next, nice to meet you.
Chris Lalomia:No, hang on now. I I I'm not that hard sale. However, we're going to have somebody on eventually and we're going to talk about what they don't think. That's high pressure sales is the one called close And but we don't do that either. I think we're in in between And I do I agree with with with Alan is that you know, when you come in, you disarm people and you don't feel like they're selling, you feel like you're educating, i feel like you're serving them, and then they'll buy based on your education of them And if they went up the no-lake and trust.
Alan Wyatt:And I guarantee you I know what your answer is going to be. Have you had somebody say, well, what do you think I ought to do?
Joel Mooneyham:That happened today.
Alan Wyatt:You know, when you are just crushing it in sales and your job is to sell and they know your job is to sell and it's an appointment to sell And most people still have their fists up in defense, right And then. But when you have established complete trust with somebody you just met and they're going to ask you what do you think I should do?
Joel Mooneyham:Yeah, and I, i don't, i don't like being. I can tell when someone's trying to sell me and just trying to run the ticket up And I don't. I don't like it because I've told you what I want and I've told you what I, what I need, and I've told you what my budget is. These are the three constraints. You're allowed to work with them to get me what I need. And if you can't meet those, then I will find somebody who can. And so I kind of present, i ask those questions Like what, what are you looking for? What do you really need? if what you're looking for is more than what you can afford and what your budget is, so where is the? where can all those things coincide?
Joel Mooneyham:And if you're looking for a job, you can't find a job If, if it's, if it's not in your best interest based on what you've told me, i'm not gonna try to talk you into it. But at the same time, if, if you're telling me, well, this is what I want and I can actually, this is what I think I need, i can afford a little more than that, well then maybe you do want something a little more. We can get you there and And. But I'd rather, give you all the information I can give you and then, hopefully, establish it. I'm not trying to Get you to do anything you don't want to do and I'm not trying to run the ticket up. Tell me what you want, tell me what you need, tell me how much you can afford, and We'll get you.
Chris Lalomia:That's something really awesome. That's over Grievous, introvert cells, I mean that's and I think that works. you know, 20 years ago Probably harder, right? Yeah, the internet's not around as much yet. Yeah, that's information out there. You gotta be a little harder on people.
Alan Wyatt:Well, and the challenge sometimes is is they may know what they want, they don't know what they need right, and they don't know how much it is, so they may not give you a realistic budget, right. So when you're saying, you know I've got these parameters, when I'm dealing with a salesperson, you may not know what that, what that budget really should be. I mean, you know, for example, i've got Chris is gonna build a cool little Speakeasy Barbecue deck for me. I have no idea how much it's gonna cost and I'm terrified to find out, but you know I trust. Well, yeah, there's that, especially if I get, you know, the underdeck and the Bluetooth, everything. But I'm thinking that's really cool.
Chris Lalomia:Yeah, but we have to put it under your deck.
Alan Wyatt:Well, I may want to go under my deck now You might.
Chris Lalomia:Yeah, all right, we're starting to come to the end. I know we could go on forever. This was again renaissance man who can sell, but showing The arc that a lot of people go through as you start your own business has been amazing and that's the parallels. That's why I wanted to have Joel on here, because I think, joel, i think amazing career So far, amazing life so far. Yeah, it's exciting Why you didn't start your own business, boy, you've been right around it and you've seen it and we talk about this a lot. You know the adrenaline rush I get from starting my own businesses is amazing. But also the career path and the trajectory was so Securitist and it's all over the place to get to where you want to be. Yeah, and, and you did it too, and and you've done it, and you've really done it with style and class. And Although I will say the one thing the photography, the art I went to the art link and says under construction.
Joel Mooneyham:I'm trying to re-event that as this kind of it, because I would still do, i will, i still do artwork. I've. I began doing more the linoleum. I've been doing the lino cut in the past couple months and so I wanted to kind of Clear everything else out and then kind of Reintroduce those to the website.
Chris Lalomia:So I'm still trying to dig it, we didn't even get into the music and writing. No, i know, we didn't get into music or writing. All right, what do you play?
Joel Mooneyham:I'll play guitar. I mean I've got a little time.
Alan Wyatt:All right, it's up to y'all. You know a place on shell show? Uh, you know, buddy, is I try to learn.
Chris Lalomia:I try to learn the guitar and my. My string is broken upstairs. I still haven't ordered the years string. I broke one of the strings. I got a restring it nice.
Joel Mooneyham:That's anyway. That's like changing the oil for your car, like you know, you need to do it and I just I don't want to take the 30 minutes out of my data.
Chris Lalomia:How often do you play guitar? Is it daily, is it weekly?
Joel Mooneyham:I haven't. I don't really. I haven't played it as much recently, just because there are so many other, obviously so many other things that I'm kind of doing. But I I'm gonna pick it up just to entertain the kids a little bit, and I've got a couple friends who play out a good bit, and so every now and then they'll ask me to come and sit in with them, and that's enough for me, because I don't, i've never really aspired to that, it's just something that I enjoyed doing.
Chris Lalomia:I'll tell you one thing I wish I would have done with my kids. I didn't Was really promote music more than I did, and I had plenty of space to do it. And I didn't do it and I And now they're looking at me because I can. I can play a little bit Guitar not so much, but you know, i put the saxophone, i can play the piano a little bit, but not good Not anymore.
Alan Wyatt:It's a big regret of mine. My dad gave me one choice grown up, do I want to take piano lessons or not? and I made the wrong choice. Yeah, that's a bad choice. It's a terrible choice.
Chris Lalomia:Yeah. I still learn, i still could, i still I still going to.
Alan Wyatt:We had a lady that was working our neighborhood with all little kids And then me, and then, but her her husband was, uh, was a minister and he got called to a church in Colorado And so I got stuck in book two. But I was so happy.
Joel Mooneyham:You know, here I was a corporate executive and I was taking my piano lessons with all the seven-year-olds in the neighborhood There's a story that einstein albert einstein I guess you can talk about einstein he would Play violin every day and was never any good at it. But simply because it Exercise that kind of dexterity exercises a different segment of your brain and it was just something he did to.
Alan Wyatt:The music was pretty mathematical too, very mathematical. I was gonna say, yeah, i don't know music.
Chris Lalomia:Our mathematicians are musical Virtuous was.
Alan Wyatt:yes, i'll tell you, i've never played guitar, but my son is, is self-taught, very good, and I'm into woodworking and so I built him to cigar, or I built him a. I've built two total, but I built him a cigar box guitar.
Joel Mooneyham:Those are awesome.
Alan Wyatt:Yeah, they can get really cool, and the first one I did was acoustic and it kind of has a bluegrass sound to it. Do you know the history of these things? I do Yeah.
Chris Lalomia:I can't believe you did that.
Alan Wyatt:I didn't know you made the second one. I put a little pickup in it. So, in and you know, the first time he just picked it up and he was just doing this throaty, you know, and you have this glass slide on it and every, i just blew my mind.
Joel Mooneyham:I've got the stuff to haven't done it yet. I got it during the pandemic and then I, um, but I, i one thing I did is I I carved the back of a guitar, that I just the body of the guitar, carved a couple and I built one of them out, um, like, put all the electronics and everything, but I bought the The stuff to make a lap steel.
Chris Lalomia:Mm-hmm.
Joel Mooneyham:Because that's just a really simplified. It's just a slab of wood with you put the strings on and I um, I still have the stuff for it. I just there's only 24 hours in a day and I gotta sleep sometimes.
Chris Lalomia:Yeah, man, and you gotta put food on the table. Yeah, because, as we did here to be a great salesman, you gotta take pictures. No, i think to great to be a great salesman. I don't want to have skinny kids, because great salesmen have fat kids. And I want to have fat kids.
Joel Mooneyham:We got a four month old and he's He. uh, between his two month appointment and his Four month appointment just last week He jumped from 43rd percentile and weight To 67th percentile and weight nice job. So I say it's all about daddy selling daddy selling it.
Chris Lalomia:I love it. All right, jule. Um, how can everybody hear about you? I know, let's plug southeast underdeck. We'll put all this stuff in the show notes.
Joel Mooneyham:Yeah. so, southeasternunderdeckcom, if you, If you want to get a really incredible underdeck that will transform the space under your deck into something that It is inviting and that you'll want to as opposed to the swampy mess I have underneath mine.
Chris Lalomia:Exactly right, okay, i've seen it It's a swampy mess.
Joel Mooneyham:Yeah, so southeast and underdeckcom. I run the social media there as well, so that's just instagram and facebook. Southeastern underdeck, all one word. And then for stuff that I do, it's uh. I have a bunch of different websites, but if you want to one spot, it's uh. Joel from atlantacom. I love it and there's a lot of different links You can follow there and I'll get that art one up.
Chris Lalomia:Awesome, yes, you will by the time this sucker comes out. All right, joel, we're not gonna let you leave without asking our famous four questions. So, um, and I'm gonna have to say, i'm gonna have to say, i'm gonna have to throw one book out. We want you, we want you to recommend one book that you would recommend to leaders. You can't recommend that one.
Joel Mooneyham:Oh yeah, I know well, okay, so that's a big book a lot to answer for someday.
Alan Wyatt:Oh, would I get there?
Chris Lalomia:Yeah, oh dude, i'm catholic, though I get that at the end. You can't buy your way out of this. I'm sorry.
Alan Wyatt:Yeah.
Chris Lalomia:I get to do that I get a lab solution You know I'm saying hey.
Alan Wyatt:I didn't knock over, hey, i didn't.
Chris Lalomia:hey, you know, i'm saying hey, hey wasn't me, huh, was it me. Was on Uncle David.
Joel Mooneyham:See, it's not always.
Alan Wyatt:Tony.
Chris Lalomia:It was, it was, it was, it was a me. All right, okay, so So what can? stop out, you need to talk.
Joel Mooneyham:I know a lot.
Alan Wyatt:I.
Chris Lalomia:I didn't even give the order, i just said I don't know about that guy. Oh Yeah, anyway, we keep going. So back here. So one book you would recommend.
Joel Mooneyham:Okay, so I Confess that I haven't read a lot of sales books. Uh, my dad always listened to a lot of zigzagler, so I. But we're talking about books. Uh, i read a lot of history and nonfiction and theology. Uh, the one I'm in the middle of right now is called the guns of august and it's a history book of world war one and the events that lead up to it, and It's history, but it's.
Joel Mooneyham:One of the interesting takeaways is that and it it, it kind of It applies in a lot of different Circles of your life don't tip over the water drill. Um, you have a. All these people, all these leaders of different countries, all thinking they know what other people are going to do and then also thinking that the way they've always done it is the way that's going to be successful for their ends. And Because they were also stuck in their ways and unwilling to bend or Give any ground or anything, they went to war. And it's, it's an interesting. It wasn't even written by a historian I forget the woman who wrote it but, um, just as a, as a broader lesson, and, um, being willing to Really read the writing on the wall and being willing to read the room read the room and being willing to Shift and pivot instead of just staying on a course that may not be helpful or might even be destructive.
Chris Lalomia:We talked about that before. you know, self-help books are great. However, uh, reading books like that, i actually find I get more out of you know, autobiographies.
Alan Wyatt:I mean the great leaders.
Chris Lalomia:So you read a history book.
Alan Wyatt:You learn a lot about leadership.
Chris Lalomia:That's right, so that's a great one. All right, what's your favorite feature of your house?
Joel Mooneyham:Okay, so I thought about this and Favorite feature, favorite feature of our home is that we got the home that was right for us. So we didn't get more than we needed. We knew what we wanted and we knew what was gonna be appropriate for the size family we had and we didn't overspend, we didn't over extend ourselves, we didn't get anything we couldn't manage. And so I don't know if that's a A little bit of an answer, so I'll give you that, yeah, a little bit.
Chris Lalomia:I'm just gonna allow her. So it's a great.
Alan Wyatt:It's just because you don't understand the concept of living within your means. Well, it's bullshit.
Chris Lalomia:Yeah, so he's a great salesman, so it's a 10,000 square foot house and he's got 72 acres, he's got a horse farm, he's got a pool, he's got his own helipad?
Alan Wyatt:No, none of that sounds good.
Chris Lalomia:The music building and the art building Right, you got the music building, the art building, you got the kid building. I got the kid crate section.
Joel Mooneyham:Oh, that's my house. Yeah, bounce houses.
Chris Lalomia:I only have 6500 square feet. That's still too small. There's only two of us.
Joel Mooneyham:We are getting ready to do it. My wife and I and my father-in-law are getting ready to start. as if I don't have enough going on, we're getting ready to start a bounce house business. So I don't have all that worked out yet. Okay, all right, there we go.
Chris Lalomia:Something fun to do All right You know, what I'm getting tired to start to list. I gotta get up there and get on my guitar.
Alan Wyatt:My fingers are hurting, you need to.
Chris Lalomia:Here we keep going. So we've talked about customer service and we are. customer service reeks, thank you. What is a customer service pet peeve of yours?
Joel Mooneyham:From a.
Chris Lalomia:From a salesperson's perspective, from a customer's, perspective yeah, you're the customer.
Joel Mooneyham:I think I covered that.
Joel Mooneyham:I don't like hard sell techniques because they don't work on me anyway, because I can see them coming a mile away And I want, as a customer, i try to be upfront with whoever I'm dealing with.
Joel Mooneyham:If I'm in a position to buy and someone's selling to me, i've told you again the three things This is what I need, this is what I'd like to have, this is what I can afford. And thinking just most recently about my truck in August, and I ended up going with the person who really did respect those three things, and I shopped around and everybody but this one person was trying to get me to well, don't you want this extra thing or don't you want this other thing? I'm like, no, i don't want $10,000 extra dollars on the price tag, i want something. I want this, i want four-wheel drive and I don't care the size of the engine, so just something. And I want to keep it under budget and found a guy that was willing to do that. So I don't want to be sold to in a way that's not respecting what I've told you. I want, need and can afford.
Chris Lalomia:That's good insight and support, especially in today's world. You can be the high pressure sales guy, but there's always that regret and there's a three-day rescission thing anyway, so you might as well sell them on what they want, what they need, all fitting in there with their budget, and so I think that's solid, all right. We want a DIY nightmare story. Diy Again. We love dismemberment, death, fire, splash by acid, something like that.
Joel Mooneyham:I'm trying to think if I had like an awful nightmare. Legs eyes get poked out whatever you want. Oh, cause I'm even. I'm remembering that I missed the question, cause I was thinking of an awful story that happened with a contractor at our house, but a DIY I don't know.
Chris Lalomia:I think we learned the best when the mistake happens, when we did it. When somebody else does it, i don't think we learned the mistake as well. No, and I'm And so that's why I say DIY. Now you're in the business and I know it with me, but I've got plenty of. I almost burned that kitchen down, two guys rolling around in the yard in front, i mean. I've got all kinds of those kind of contractor nightmare stories, but it's. I think you always learned best.
Joel Mooneyham:Well, the only thing I can think of is, when we bought the house, there was a, there is a Koi pond in the back, and so-.
Alan Wyatt:That's between the music building and the art building.
Joel Mooneyham:Oh, really It was selling me Seriously.
Alan Wyatt:I mean now it's growing Koi. The pastor is on the other side of the Koi pond, Yeah, I see I knew it was 10,000.
Joel Mooneyham:Take the ATV out to it.
Chris Lalomia:See, i knew it, He's a great sensor.
Joel Mooneyham:The Those work at.
Chris Lalomia:South.
Alan Wyatt:East.
Chris Lalomia:Runner Deck. It's trying to keep that thing. Do what Go to work at South East Runner Deck and you too can have a Koi pond and get that score That's their way.
Joel Mooneyham:There's enough. There's enough of this Trying to keep that thing clear and going because the people before us, they were retired, so they didn't have anything to do but maintain-.
Alan Wyatt:Hutter around with the Koi pond.
Joel Mooneyham:Yeah, yeah, really. And that's Keep the hawks away. That's been a that's. That's just a never ending battle. I, if I had to pick a DIY store, all right.
Chris Lalomia:Yeah, it'd be great.
Alan Wyatt:Did you kill some fish? No they're still kicking.
Chris Lalomia:Really No hawks took the fish out.
Joel Mooneyham:No, i built a wire grate to go over it to make sure that nothing could end, to keep leaves from coming out of it. Because we got so many sweet gum trees and maple trees, bees Sick of these I know.
Alan Wyatt:So you built kind of an over deck pond thing Right, he needs.
Chris Lalomia:He needs an under deck for his pond. I think we're under something, alan. We are now going to come up with your Koi pound under deck. We're competing against Southeast under deck, joel. Thank you so much for coming in here.
Joel Mooneyham:It's been great.
Chris Lalomia:Awesome Man, this has been a blast. If you didn't pick something up today, you lost it. You got to listen to this thing and figure it out, because there's a lot going on. You have a lot got to do. You've talked about servant leadership, servant, just having servitude and having that right mindset can get you where you need to be. You don't always have to be in a hole to make it happen, but you can. That's biggie to admit. Well, for him, oh, not for me, okay, no, we're still here, baby. I'm here all day. Don't forget to go out there If you'd listen to this thing.
Chris Lalomia:Man, go out there and do me a favor. Man, follow us, rate us, review us. Let's hear how we're doing. You want to hit me up? You can always hit us up. I'm at chrislalamiacom for all the deets on everything I do. You can go out and find out what we're doing. You can also send me a message on something else you want to hear about, because Justin sent us a note and that was awesome. Love that. That was a great hit from him. I just enjoyed that. We're going to figure out how to work that thing in there, but I got some great guests coming in later. They're going to help us out, and so let's just keep doing it, man. Keep going up that mountain and we will get up to that top of success. We're out of here. Cheers, everybody, take care.