The Small Business Safari
Have you ever sat there and wondered "What am I doing here stuck in the concrete zoo of the corporate world?" Are you itching to get out? Chris Lalomia and his co-host Alan Wyatt traverse the jungle of entrepreneurship. Together they share their stories and help you explore the wild world of SCALING your business. With many years of owning their own small businesses, they love to give insight to the aspiring entrepreneur. So, are you ready to make the jump?
The Small Business Safari
Life Happens For Me Not To Me | Dr. Joseph Drolshagen
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Why do so many small business owners hit a revenue ceiling—even when the opportunities keep growing?
Summary:
In this episode of The Small Business Safari, we sit down with Dr. Joseph Drolshagen to unpack the hidden forces that limit business growth. Many entrepreneurs believe the next level requires more hustle, more hours, or more pressure—but often the real constraint is the belief system running quietly in the background.
Dr. Joseph explains why revenue ceilings show up at every stage of growth and how mindset, identity, and daily habits shape the results business owners experience. We challenge the “hustle badge of honor” mentality and explore a smarter path built on perception, profit, and sustainable habits.
From understanding the difference between your vanity line and sanity line, to recognizing how subconscious programming influences decisions and procrastination, this conversation gives entrepreneurs a practical framework for breaking through their next growth barrier.
If you’ve ever felt stuck at a certain level in your business, this episode will help you rethink what’s really holding you back—and how to move forward with clarity.
🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@TheSmallBusinessSafari
💡 GOLD NUGGETS
• Why adopting the mindset “life happens for me, not to me” changes how entrepreneurs handle setbacks
• The revenue ceiling effect and why every new growth stage creates a new internal limit
• Understanding the difference between your vanity line (revenue) and sanity line (profit and margin)
• Why fear of success can actually be more common than fear of failure
• How subconscious programming drives action, hesitation, and procrastination
• The roots of imposter syndrome in early life experiences from school, work, and home
• Using dynamic vision and emotional alignment to shift identity and decision making
• Building accelerating habit systems based on what you will actually do consistently
• Learning from mistakes through due diligence and iteration instead of quitting
🔗 Guest Links
• Website: https://coachwithjoey.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ifgtcoach
(Schedule a 15-minute introduction meeting and receive a free copy of Dr. Joey’s book.)
🌍 Follow The Small Business Safari
• Instagram | @smallbusinesssafaripodcast
• LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrislalomia
• Website | https://chrislalomia.com
• Website | www.thetrustedtoolbox.com
Thanks to our sponsor Smart Hire Solutions LLC!
ife Happens For Me Mindset
SPEAKER_09But we hear that all over the place of how hard it's gotta be and how almost like um almost like a badge of honor. Like it's a you know, I killed myself to build this business. I don't want to be that guy. I want to be that guy that goes, man, I had fun growing my business. Uh like I enjoyed the processes, it was all kinds of excitement in it.
SPEAKER_02I love building my business, Alan. Yeah, you do. I love kicking doors in. I love inspiring employees.
SPEAKER_05Doc, let me ask you this. So you you grew up in the in in the the mindset that you had. And so when you were young and adversity came or a curveball came, it'd be like, oh, I deserve that, or oh, you know, life sucks, or whatever it was that you're thinking. Today, with all that you know, when life throws you a curveball, where does your mind go?
SPEAKER_08It it much more instantly than it used to be.
SPEAKER_09Goes to that point of I'm learning something here that's gonna help me accelerate beyond this point. Oh my first book I ever the first book I ever published was Life's Lessons, and it was all accountability of my life when I started looking at things, going, man, why is all this stuff happening? And I was tired and and beat up from being a victim of circumstances, situations of other people and all that. And I started looking at what can I gain from this? Like if life happens for me and not to me, why is this happening? And that started, I started learning so much from those upside.
SPEAKER_02That's huge. Life happens for me, not to me.
SPEAKER_05Well, and whatever life deals you, what can you take out of it? What can you learn from it, as opposed to, oh god, here it goes again? What a freaking awesome thing to say.
SPEAKER_04Because what else are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_09Yeah, I love that. Well, you be the victim, right? And you tell everybody you know, and you you jump on the pity pot and and whatever else you do for it.
SPEAKER_05Chris with a K is sitting right on the pity pot. His legs has gotten numb.
SPEAKER_02His Chris with K, his legs are numb on the pity pot. He is definitely pity pot and visual stream here. And he is not getting up. I mean, I don't know who that dude is, but he ain't no good. You know what I'm saying? No good. Welcome
mall Business Safari Kickoff
SPEAKER_02to 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. I'll share those gold nuggets of information and invite guests to help accelerate your extent to that mountaintop of success. It's a jungle out there, and I want to help you traverse through the levels of owning your own business that can get you bogged down and distract you from hitting your own personal and professional goals. So strap in adventure team and let's take a ride through this safari to get you to the mountain. And look, I'm running a speed racer and I gotta get going. I gotta drive fast. That's what I do. I'm in Atlanta, and let me tell you, if I'm not in the left lane, ripping up somebody's butt, hitting the hammer, hitting the hammer the whole time, I ain't driving. You're one of those. I am, but I only do the You strike fear in all of our hearts. I always do. Um unless I'm in one of my mark trucks with the trusted toolbox.
SPEAKER_05Oh, do you actually pay attention to that? Because it blows my mind when I see somebody with a logoed vehicle driving like a complete ass.
SPEAKER_02No, I switch all the way around. And I would say, I'll tell you why we do it. You want to know why? I'm gonna make you drive the trusted toolbox, and we're gonna go ride around together. You'll never get cut off more in your life than in that freaking truck because nobody wants to be behind you as a contractor, right? I've got a home repair business, everybody knows that. Handyman, I've got you know 26.
SPEAKER_05Please be patient student driver, bumper sticker or four on your or four, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh so one of the big things here in Atlanta is uh I think people think that if you put student driver be patient in the back of your car, we're gonna automatically just decide that to be nice to you. And it's the exact opposite. But when you are in a logo truck driving anywhere, you get cut off more than ever, and you never get let in. You will always get caught.
SPEAKER_05And you can't give them the finger because you're representing your company.
SPEAKER_02I can't give the finger. So that's why I drive in a marked truck, I get it all out. I got that I got that horn rolling, I get that finger flying, I got the Colt 45 sitting right on my hip, ready to take it off my whip and ready to knock it down, baby. No, I'm kidding. But that's actually why I don't do much of that.
SPEAKER_05Are you really kidding? I I'm not so sure.
SPEAKER_02We're gonna leave that to the imagination because here in Atlanta we like to drive fast because I mean there's six million people driving on roads that were built for three million people.
SPEAKER_05No, they weren't built for three million, they're built for a million and a half.
SPEAKER_02They were too. Yeah, and there is no such thing as a grid system in Atlanta because they never thought they would be this big because it's just it's just horrible. And I could talk about traffic all day long, and then people in LA are like, uh, and people in DC are like, yeah. But then our buddy in Tasmania is like, I don't even know what you're talking about because we have like six cars in the whole island. That's that sounds like heaven.
SPEAKER_09Atlanta's one of the worst places of drive-thru for me for traffic, and I've been through New York, I've been through Chicago, Detroit, like all of them.
SPEAKER_02And yeah, no, it's tough. It is tough. I mean, there's just lots of stuff uh to deal with. So, but that's not why we're here today, is it? Oh, really? Well, that's what I prepped for. No, let's talk about me again.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_02No, I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_05It is about Chris. It is really.
une Out Noise And Build
SPEAKER_02Uh, guys, another great episode, another great week. You're in your truck, you're driving around, wherever you guys are, make it happen.
SPEAKER_05And girls quit business.
SPEAKER_02All right, again, I'm from the north. So who knew that the South here in America would be the most progressive by saying y'all? Because that's more inclusive than me saying you guys. Oh, are you trying to put down women? I'm like, no, I've always said you guys. Uh, so that's what I do, even for women. Hey guy. I don't see it like that. You know, I'm not buying it. I know. But I try. I know. No, it's I I I give something. You know, I try. Okay. So y'all in the truck. Go ahead. So back to Alan's statement. Y'all in the truck, gender neutral, define who you are, his, hers, they, whatever that is. Guys, we got to make it happen because I don't give a crap about all that. I give a crap if you're making your business happen. I give a crap if you're getting better at what you're doing. You know, one of the things that I think is underappreciated that we don't talk about a lot is that we're the engine drivers to this economy. We're the engine drivers to the U.S., we're the engine drivers to the world. And people don't give us enough credit for how hard it is that we do our thing. And we all like to get wrapped up in watching political news or watching global news or watching what m uh Wall Street's doing or economic policies, but you don't realize that, man, we're the ones making it happen and making it drive. Don't let that distraction get in the way. Do not let that become something that you start to focus on because what you focus on, you become. We want you to be focusing on the right stuff, and that is making your business grow, making yourself grow. Let's get better at what we're doing, and we can make a difference in the area we're at. Amen. Thank you. Let's go.
SPEAKER_05I was gonna say faith and family first, but you know, the other than that, business, right?
SPEAKER_02You know, the the the party line is God guilty. Uh God, uh faith, family, and then you, right? Faith, family, then work. I think so. Who are they kidding, man? Try running your own frickin' business. Let me tell you about that.
SPEAKER_09First of all, uh faith gets we can talk about how to make a difference there with the light.
SPEAKER_05I'm gonna I'm gonna slide a little further away from Chris when the lightning hits.
SPEAKER_02I've danced a lot. Yeah, I'm gonna be dancing this one, but I'm telling you guys some stuff to talk about. Confession this week, my friend. Me too. Okay, Father Flood, I'll see you Saturday morning. I'll get it all out. It'll be good. But listen, I'm telling you, man, when you want to get your faith tested, start your own business. You want to get your family tested, start your own business. This is not for the faint of heart people, and then we're gonna go make it happen. So thank you for joining the show. That's the small business safari. Tell your friends if you like it, and if you don't, shut your mouth up.
SPEAKER_05Well, and I'm glad we have the guests we have today. Let's so that you did it. If they listen to him, then they don't have to follow your or my path.
SPEAKER_02All right, let's do it. Let's get into
eet Dr. Joe Drolshagan
SPEAKER_02it. Who are we talking to today, Alan?
SPEAKER_05You you tell me you've got the last name down.
SPEAKER_02You know what? My last name is Lalomia, and uh, I can say that I've got Dr. Joseph. Nope. I gotta see the name first. If I see it, I can see something like that. Droll Shagan. It's easy.
SPEAKER_01Oh, perfect. Hey.
SPEAKER_02Ah, let me put I'm gonna put that up. I'll be your voicemail. I'll be, I can, I can help you voice your voicemail. Dr. Joe, thanks for joining us, buddy. Let's get into it. Let let everybody know kind of what you do and what you're ready to help everybody with.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, my my whole thing is is you know, after a 28-year corporate career from ground floor sales up to up to uh executive positions, vice president of sales, things like that and stuff, and then stepping out and help. My specialty is helping small business owners to break through that revenue ceiling. That's really what I do.
SPEAKER_05I don't think anybody needs that though. So business is slow for you.
SPEAKER_09No good signs of somebody that needs that is people who are struggling to grow, people who are lost the the the connection of faith, family, and then business and are living business, business, business, business, business all the time and stuff and live in anxiety and worry and all of that stuff. That's somebody who could really utilize the services that I offer.
SPEAKER_05Sounds like we have a customer right to my left. I'm uh Alan, please.
SPEAKER_02I identify with that. So you talked about that revenue ceiling.
anity Revenue Versus Sanity Line
SPEAKER_02I love that one because I have talked to a lot of business owners and everybody's uh we all love talking about our sanity line. I mean, our I'm sorry, our vanity line, which is hey man, where's your revenue at? Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh man, dude, five million. I'm rocking it, baby. Oh, I'm hot. Hey, what's your sanity line at? I mean, how much you actually take it? No, let's not talk about that. Let's go back to let's go let's go back to the strip club and talk about vanity.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, so well, yeah, and that's the other part of it too, is is the margin. How much of that money are you keeping of your revenue?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, so that's that's that revenue line. Let where do you see people? Because I think you know, it's all relatively scaled, right? You know, I know people who've got uh $75 million business uh revenue. I got I know people who do $750,000 a year in revenue, right? So it's all that that that relative ceiling. Where do you see people have the hardest time in that revenue like breaking through the barrier?
SPEAKER_09Sometimes it's I mean it really determines based on the individual and stuff. And everything I do is customized and unique for each individual I'm working with. I don't have a one size fit all or any of that BS, you know, type of program, the programs and stuff that I offer. But really, like, you know, you take somebody that's like I've worked with companies who were making a couple grand a month and that was all they were doing, you know, and seeing them growing into a year and a little over a year later, they're doing $60,000 a week in revenue. But along that route, they hit that thing of, oh, I don't know if I can do this, you know, or I don't know if I want a multi-million dollar business because I'm working my butt off now. What's it going to be like when I get to that level, you know? And so it's it's the perceptions that determine that. And so what it is is it's shifting those perceptions at different levels. When I have somebody that's doing, like I had a client I just working with right now, he was at $300,000 a year revenue, and over just over 12 months, he's doing over he did two over $2 million last year in revenue. And part of that whole thing is there's almost like a trigger that happens when we go to that seven figures for a lot of people. And it's just that fear of first off getting there and it actually working, secondly, is maintaining that every year. I'm already working with him now on on, you know, I'm looking at him advancing over that this year, and he's has fears of maintaining that or even coming close. He's willing to settle for less than that two million just to keep him doing okay. So the so it's really and it's all like you said this earlier, it's all based on the perceptions that we come into it with, right?
SPEAKER_02Amen. That's that's why I'd love that. Uh, because you know, when I talk to people in the remodeling world, I know remodelers who will do a $500,000 to a million dollar reno. Um, I work in the handyman world and so I do thousand dollars to fifty thousand dollar jobs. But when I talk to people, it's all perception. I mean, if we all sat here for a minute and said, Man, 500 bucks is on the floor, that's a lot of money. I'm gonna reach around and grab it. But when you talk to a remodeler and they're like, dude, you're doing jobs for 500 bucks, I'm like, Yeah. And they're like, I'm doing jobs for 500,000. I'm like, I know. But I have people who will pick, call up the phone and go, Chris, I'm spending a lot of money with you. And it's all the perception. And back to your business, that's why I asked that question. I think, you know, when you're when you're one level, it's hard to put yourself at that next level and realize that a life could be a little bit better. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, absolutely. I'm processing as he's talking because it's interesting. I mean, everybody that's uh in business listening to this, they're like, Yeah, of course I want to grow. Yeah, I'd like to be a millionaire, I'd like to be 10 million. And it's interesting that what you're talking about is fear because when I think about scaling, it's like, okay, where do I get the resources? How do I have the cash to add to my marketing and add to my staff and grow that way? But what I'm hearing from you is maybe the reason why you're not growing isn't that. It's how you think.
SPEAKER_09And so many business owners that struggle will discuss all the reasons they're struggling is the state of the economy, competition, all these outside influences they have no control over. And that's never true. And and the proof of that is we all know businesses who made their greatest leaps during a down economy. And we all know multiple businesses who struggle even during boom time. So it's never the outside influences, it's it's our perceptions, it's our thoughts of what we see the possibility being.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think uh you hit on uh a big point again. It's perception. It's just so hard to break out of it, though.
SPEAKER_05So let's just let's give a real world example. Let's just say there's a guy named Let's call him Chris with a K.
SPEAKER_02Chris with a K. Thank you. Thank you, Siri. That's what Siri calls it. That changes everything. Yeah, this is hypothetical. Good.
SPEAKER_05And he's hypothetically just said, you know, everything he's hearing from all the suppliers and all of his, you know, it's gonna be a flat year in 26. And so Chris with a K is just going, okay, this year's gonna probably suck. How how I mean, how do you break through? I mean, how do you make it, how do you make a change and just buck that thought and that trend?
erception Shifts That Change Outcomes
SPEAKER_09You might hear a really good example of of something like this, or like real life something that happens somebody is is I was working with a realtor who was in Virginia, and we we we come out of the gate developing a vision with with the uh subconscious monetization technology that I developed. And so with that, the guy just rose up, man, and he started just killing it right from the start, you know. Once we got that vision and started moving into it and such, developing systems of accelerating habits. And then he moved to Tennessee. And when he moved to Tennessee, it wasn't like he it was just because of family, things like that and stuff, grandkids and stuff, that he he moved to Tennessee. And so we did the same thing with the vision, got it going and sparking and everything else. And the first couple weeks the guy was there, he would tell me how like he'd be at a gas station, he'd just say hi to whoever was neighboring him, and they'd get talking, what he does, and they'd say, Oh, I know somebody looking, or yeah, I'm looking to sell my house. And all these leads just started flowing. And then in the same week, he went to two different networking events for realtors and he heard about all the competition and the and the the um low inventory of housing and this and that and everything else. And that guy walked out of there, and within a little over a week, his business just out like they everything started drying up, even some of the things that were potentials faded back and everything. And so we walked through that. And what it was is he went to those two meetings and he heard all the reasons it can't work and he bought into that and his perceptions aligned with that rather than I got this and it just started losing ground, and that's what happens to us a lot of times. We how often do we hear, you know, if you want to if you want a successful business, you gotta trade off your life for it. You know, that's gotta be number one in your life, which skews that, you know, faith, family, and business and stuff right away. And we we buy into that. So we start following that. And then the people that are doing it easy, I have clients of mine who have grown, like what the numbers I've given you. The highest increase that I've seen one of my clients achieve is they were at $7.5 million in a 13-year high, and that's what their revenue, annual revenue was. Within 12 months, they toppled over $22 million in revenue, and they've been maintaining that for seven years now. Now, when I tell people that, they go, that's BS, that's impossible. And it always will be for those people because we're conditioned to believe that business has to grow incrementally and it's gotta be hard and it's gotta be tough. And we're starting to break some of those with 10x and the different things out there and such. Um, but but as that conditioning that, and that's what the perceptions are.
ubconscious Programming Drives Actions
SPEAKER_09Our conditioning in our subconscious, there's a motherboard, and this is where I specialize, my doctorates in and such. There's a motherboard that hosts all of our programming, our patterns, our paradigms, our belief systems, our experiences, experiences we didn't even have. And then that determines our perceptions, which then determines our results and what we experience. So if we want to change our results, we got to ship those perceptions. And the only way to do that on a on a permanent level is go up and rewiring that programming on at this within the subconscious.
SPEAKER_02So, all right, let's talk about you're you're talking subconscious stuff. How do we rewire subconscious?
SPEAKER_05Was that one of your classes when you're getting your doctorate? Is subconscious stuff.
SPEAKER_09I will tell you guys, um, I lived through what I do today. I grew up in a very struggling family in Detroit, Michigan, and watched the weight and the impact it had on my parents and stuff my entire youth. And I came out of there when I was 22 years old. I didn't go to college because I was told my whole life I was going to work with my hands all the time growing up and stuff. And not that there's anything wrong with that, because I come from a blue-collar family. But as I started getting into it, when I was 22 years old, I had a guy who had a construct uh a multi-million dollar construction company in Detroit, Michigan, and he asked me to take over the company and I would pay him over six or seven years as a percentage share of whatever revenue came in. Within three days, I said, I can't do that. And I couldn't figure out why. It took me a couple weeks to realize the reason I couldn't do that is because my programming was such that I didn't feel I worked hard enough for it, so I didn't deserve it. And I passed on that opportunity. And that carried into when I was in the when I started out in sales and different areas and stuff like that. So I come from that mentality there. The way to shift the programming is you first have to be able to identify it, which so many of us can't even do for ourselves. When I got to that point of understanding I had to shift it, I didn't know what to shift. I had to go out and find somebody to help me identify what were those, what were those hiccups and those holdups in my programming. And then as I figured them out, I would, and this is over a 30-year period, you guys. So as I figured those things out, then I would start uh experimenting with all kinds of different things to start getting a shift in there. And I was at a point 10 years, 11 years into you know, developing um sales territories in the US, then I was just gonna quit, man, because I was traveling three to five thousand miles a week and I was barely making a mark. And I had other guys in my office that were taking Fridays off to go golfing, coming in half a day on Mondays and stuff. And I couldn't figure out what the difference was, so I just assumed that I was broken. As I started identifying and shifting these things within a two-year period, I went from barely scraping by to landing $18 million, $22 million, and the highest was a $25 million year-over-year contract. And then that got me promoted up into uh, you know, leadership positions, and then I could help my guys in that middle of the pack in sales elevate to top producers. And that's when
ynamic Vision And Accelerating Habits
SPEAKER_09we go.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, uh so uh doc let's go back to Chris with a K. I I I have a conversation with him. Your your thinking is is uh self-destructive, and you know you need to think more. So we adjust his mindset to where I am gonna be successful this year from I'm gonna be flat or I'm gonna be backwards. What happens tomorrow? What does he do tomorrow that impacts the results?
SPEAKER_09Yeah, you know what we talk about. Yeah, that's okay. You know how we talk about the why? You hear that a lot about business, what's your why?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_09Okay. I've taken that to a much greater depth in that as we come out of the gate developing what the SMT method refers to as a dynamic vision. What does that life look like? What's it look like to put that life on and to live that life? And how do you spend your day and what your team look like and what's you know, production looking like? And we take that to the nth degree of clarity with that, but we also put feeling tone in what's it feel like to be that person? As we do that, we start opening, we're automatically shifting the end result because as we're developing that vision and putting ourselves in that place, now we start seeing ourselves differently, which is shifting our perceptions all by itself. In developing that vision, we're bumping into those limitations that will not allow us to go further. That that person with the $7.5 million business, all they wanted to do was get to $10 million. That was it. And they were going backwards when we met. So I stretched them, I helped them stretch that to $12.5. And once they opened up that doorway just to see beyond the 10, all of a sudden things just started. It was like a rainfall of opportunities of things for them, a revenue growth, you know, more listings, things like that, and stuff.
SPEAKER_05Well, what did they do different though? I mean, what's yeah? I mean, you got them to 12 and a half, but then the next day, what did they do different when they went through?
SPEAKER_09We just so part of the process, and and again, what I do is unique to every individual. So as we get to, once we get to vision, then we start developing systems of accelerating habits that's unique to that individual. So I don't have out of hundreds of clients I've served over the past decade, I don't have two of them that are doing the same thing. So we start developing things that fit for them into what they like doing. You know, I have people who who, you know, early on in business, they can't stand the phone. It's that 10,000-pound phone. So we find other avenues. They don't like doing videos in social media. And we've seen those people, you've seen on Facebook or, you know, one of the social medias where somebody's doing a live and you can tell they're so uncomfortable. And we don't listen to those things. And then there's other people that are just they're home. When they get that camera on them, they're home. And so those are the people we listen to. So what we do is we help the every every person that we work with define what those systems of accelerating habits are, and then we find more time to do those things because that's what's turning on the attraction, that's what's opening the doors of opportunity, that's what we're doing that we enjoy doing.
SPEAKER_02I am taking all in, Alan. And I'm not sure I can do it. I uh so uh so you start working with somebody, uh, perception obviously is a big deal. It's really hard for us to break those habits. Uh, and you know, I've I've read a lot of books about this and how to break them, and I get it. So, how do you help them break those habits so they can start unleashing that power, as you will?
SPEAKER_09Yeah, once we once we because so many people are trying to break habits, they don't even know the full content of the of the habit. Not that we have to go back in time and figure out where it came from, but we have to understand what is that that interruption happening. Once we understand that, then we have tools between the vision, the accelerated system of accelerating habits, and other tools that we use to shift that. And it's really, again, unique to an individual. So, so as we're as we're applying that and making that shift, it doesn't happen overnight, but it happens much more rapidly than old school way of doing things, you know, where you start writing affirmations and you start doing things like that and stuff in order to make change, is it's pointed to this person and it's pointed towards that vision. So ultimately, what we're doing is using that dynamic vision once it's established to align and get the adjust reprogramming the subconscious to align with that vision. And as we do that is how we start seeing rapid results. And the entire um um technology, the entire method is designed to bump up against those and then shift that programming throughout the entire you know, um method.
SPEAKER_05So you've had a career in business and you have your doctorate in psychology, is that correct? Yes. Did you go for your doctorate after being in business or getting your doctorate did it make you see business more clearly?
SPEAKER_09No, my doctorate's taken almost 30 years. I've never planned I never planned on having an education because I was raised told I was gonna work with my hands. So the fact of ever getting in the white collar and and you know up to executive levels and stuff and do what I do now is it really shouldn't be possible based on the programming I I was given.
SPEAKER_02All right. So uh let's go back to that. I I can't I can't put him on the couch because he's a doctor and I'm not and I've been through this. Both of our skulls without us knowing. I know. I know we're uh we're just done. So as as you were developing your teams and doing your thing and and making uh things happen, where did you start to see the as you the will the misalignment or the mistraining that a lot of people had? And let's talk early on and then make okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_09In the beginning, I mean that that that was a big case for me with the construction company. That was like a big like, man, there's something really broken about me, but I had no idea what it was. And then by hap chance, I end up getting into white collar and doing you know, um, um building sales territories and sales and stuff. And as I did that, I struggled so much to land anything, and I'm a pretty nice guy. Like, I'm you know, I know how to speak to people and things like that, so I couldn't figure out what it was, and it's just tell you, you you do seem like a nice guy, so I I'll affirm that clearly.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, thank you, Chris with a C. Not to confuse you with the moment the K. Not the other guy, not to be confused with the other guy, Chris with a K, because I don't know who that guy is. I I got you there, man.
SPEAKER_09Dumpster money is dumpster, but then I would try coaching programs and things like that, you know, and I'd go through and I'd give it a hundred percent and dive into it, and I would get done with them, and I'd be like, I gained knowledge, but I never saw a change in my results. So for me and where I came from, I always tune that to there must be something broken within me. Like I don't deserve to get what those other people get, you know, as far as higher revenues and easier life and things like that. That must not, I must not be meant for that. And and I just lived on that, and then I got to a point of frustration, of using things like alcohol and gambling to to cope with the life that I felt like I was stuck to and things like that.
SPEAKER_02Um, so uh Chris with a K just got done telling me that uh perhaps he was just out in Vegas with me, and uh, we did drink and gamble a lot. So I I'm not sure where you're coming from because I'm not Chris with a K, but but I'll cheer to that and can yeah.
SPEAKER_09Well, I I wouldn't be on the point of cheering, and there you go. And and so anyway, so and I did that to cope with life, and so it was a real, I guess, bottom time in my life when they and other things happened to add to it and stuff. And I was gonna quit and just go back into a factory. You know, when I came out of high school, I got into a factory cleaning oil out of machinery, very dirty job, you know.
SPEAKER_02But that's why I thought I was a lot of us who don't know. Uh, of course, we're uh Michigan kindred spirits, we love Michigan. Uh, he grew up out uh inside of Detroit. I grew up outside of Detroit, and my first job was in a machine shop. Uh so you know, we both saw kind of the same world that we thought we would be born into and have to stay in. And that is, you know, absolutely go work in the machine shop, you know, go work at the big three at the time, uh, and that's where you went, which by the way wasn't a bad life, guys. You know, it wasn't a bad life. A lot of people raise their families on it. Uh, and so I'm not I will not diminish that at all.
SPEAKER_09But I have a lot of respect for pro collar.
SPEAKER_02So that's why I asked, you know, that perspective, right? Because our perspective when we were younger and having to go do that, we didn't know there was anything else other than this that's staring at us in front of us. You know, we only had three channels on the TV. Well, we had four in Detroit. I always brag about that because we had we had the Canadian channel and I got to watch hockey night in Canada.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah, with Don Sherry.
SPEAKER_02Don Sherry, that's right, baby. So I so you went there, you saw it, and you started working. How did you uh, you know, I and that's why I would say early on as you're you know, you broke out of that mold and you started on another one and started working on the sales. And let's talk about those early years because I think that's where a lot of the formative stuff happens.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, yeah. That um, like you know, I I was I was very fortunate, and um I leaned a lot into my faith. I was very fortunate in having somebody put in front of me. Um, and I was introduced to him, we became friends, and he was a high-level person within the pharmaceutical industry, like an executive level person within the pharmaceutical. And he saw something in me nobody else ever saw. And that's how I got my first job in White Collar because of him, because we would get together and I'd want to throw frisbee or football or things like that, go rollerblade. And he'd go, Why don't we talk for a minute? And he had these cue cards and it would just interview questions. And he'd go, What kind of job would you want? And I kept saying, I just, you know what, I would love to get a job in White Collar and break through that and that side. And and I'd love to have a company, like a laptop computer and a company car. And that's what I was going after. And the first job I had outside after we practiced that for had to take eight months or so, gave me a laptop computer and a company car.
SPEAKER_02So uh, number one, I think that's a great lesson for all of us. What whether you're on one side or the other, it's perspective. And here's the one side the perspective is I'm always looking for people to mentor me. On the other side, I'm looking for other people to help and be a mentee. And that's where you know your perspective changes. And when you get to go to do both, and Alan is the best example of this because um he gets often asked uh a lot of questions, and people always come to him and say, I have a lot of questions, man. Can you help me? And he does, and he he gives a lot of his time, and I do the same, but he does it way better than I. But I think being able to flip that that perspective helps us as we grow and uh through our life and do whatever we're doing. So, as you did that, you had somebody who believed in you, and so you off you went. Next thing you know, you're in the laptop, you're in the company car, you're tonning it, you're you're you you're making it, you're killing. So, how did you start to translate the that to start flipping over?
SPEAKER_09Because even when I got there, I wasn't killing it. I didn't feel I deserved to be there. Still, and I struggled traveling. That's why I said I was traveling 3,000 to 5,000 miles every single week devoted to killing.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yes, yeah, yes, very much. It's so toxic.
SPEAKER_09I have always, always anxious, always nervous, always fearful I was gonna get found out that I shouldn't be there.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, all right, cool.
SPEAKER_02Alan, no please on the couch.
SPEAKER_09No, no, you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I've been through plenty of it. So that interesting. So you did not at every any point that time go, hey, you know what? I'm killing it. And now I sort of got to tell people to go back. I I want to come and a give back, I should say. Interesting.
SPEAKER_09No, I I don't have that kind of um like I've had friends of mine who are business, you know, successful business people and things like that and stuff that say, you know, you should be proud of yourself for what you've done. And I I I feel blessed.
SPEAKER_05I don't feel that where does that imposter syndrome come from? I mean, it it's been paralyzing, you know. And I I I had it uh in the corporate world, and it took me a long time to get over that. I know a ton of other people who have. I mean, where does that come from? How do you kill it? How do you make sure that doesn't infest your kids?
SPEAKER_09And what that's a great question, and so powerful. You know, where it comes from is we have a competition. Yeah, we're gonna be able to do that. Did we just win a bat, you and I?
SPEAKER_02All right, you're my favorite. All right, Dr. Joe, keep going. Yes, he's got a great question. Uh, okay. Oh, that's funny. But I do want to give the answer because it is interesting. I'm very interesting.
SPEAKER_09Yeah. So, so what it is is is is our programming. When you grow up in a household like I did with five kids, and my dad worked, operated cranes, and worked so many hours. He he would say, you know, he'd be sick as a dog, and you go, Dad, you're not gonna stay home. And he goes, No, I'll I'll stay home when I feel great. I'm not staying home when I feel like crap, you know, and and that was the mentality. And my mom worked all night long doing court reporting transcription, and then would have us five kids get us to school and everything, and then sleep a little bit and then get up and go ahead. So that's how they lived, you know. And I saw the surgeries my dad had on his back and hips and things like that from all the banging and everything, and and my mom with fatigue and stress, and like it was, it was it was very heavily weighted growing up in that environment. But in that environment, I was told multiple times by my mom and and elementary teachers that some people are meant to work with their head, some are meant to work with their hands, and I was gonna work with my hands. So I never really applied myself because I thought, well, this isn't my lot, anyways. You know, why why do all the studies and everything else? So I came from that. So that's where we get our programming from. And then we go to school. I'll give you guys a great example of this, okay? Let's say that Chris, you and I are in the same algebra class and they give us a problem to solve. And I go through every line item to get to the final answer and do all the work and everything else, and I get the right answer, I get full credit. If you come along and you're doing it and you got a couple shortcuts and you apply them to it and come up with the right answer, you get marked down because you didn't show all the work. That's programming, that's conditioning that's happening during that phase. So we get it growing up, we get it through our schooling, we get it through employment, we get it through relationships. I mean, look at how many people there are out there, men and women, who don't even want anything to do with the relationship because of a past hurt that happened that they never did anything about. And it just, there's like just that wall there that they live with every single day, missing out on really, really, you know, good things of life because of what happened in the past. All of it gets embedded into that network. And here's the important part of that subconscious, that motherboard, I tell I call it, is that's what triggers the brain waves to the actions we take or we don't take. So feeling less than, feeling anxious and nervous, that we don't even have to have something going on around us to make us feel that way, but because we're so conditioned to feel that way, you know, right out of the shoot. So the the so what happens is we start living through that. Now you take somebody who's saw very rough times with finances and things like that as a kid, and now you you know you put him in that place and tell him the act the exact actions to take to get out of it, and he won't take those actions. The brain waves to take those actions do not get triggered, so they live in procrastination, or they come up with that's BS, or they come up with all these other that's why so many people live on minuscule scraps of what they truly desire because of that programming, which leads to perceptions.
SPEAKER_02Well, sorry, it's hard. I mean, I think uh obviously Alan's definitely processing. Oh god, yeah. I know I think you know, uh, you you talked about something that's interesting is that you don't get credit for short circuiting the system when you're in c when you're in school.
SPEAKER_05I just figured you looked at the docs sheet and you copied.
SPEAKER_02Um no, I did not, but I will say, I did I will say again with the master's mechanical engineering, you cannot say throw that out there. Check this out. You can't say and a miracle occurs and find the number and put six. I no, I did never put that. That's actually a joke that's out there for you. I will say though, um, I got to this point, pray to the partial credit gods. I wrote that on there, and and he wrote back, nice try, zero. That was nice, nice. Yeah, yeah, I got nice try.
SPEAKER_01So I tried it. I mean, hey, I was giving it a shot. You don't say that. I only give me like three or something. I know that's what I thought. But uh, yeah.
SPEAKER_09No, but I used to love multiple choices when I was in school because you had one of four chance, 25% chance of hitting the right one.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's how I passed government, uh, because we all had to pass government in Michigan uh to graduate from high school. That was a requirement. You had to pass the government class, but our government class would be ABC. Um the United States Constitution was drafted in uh 1901. No, yeah, 1901, 1522, and then whenever it was 1760. Like it was clearly obvious which one it was. Yeah, you'd you'd if you just actually have one eye open, you knew it was in the 1700s. It was so funny. Yeah.
SPEAKER_09So that's why that's how the whole process of our of our mind works. You know, our conscious mind is knowing what what we want comes from the conscious mind, and then the subconscious holds all the programming patterns and all that stuff, but it also triggers the brain waves to the actions we take to get there, or doesn't trigger the brainwave to those actions, which we see as procrastination less than reducing down what we truly desire to minuscule scraps or and things like that, you know. The gentleman that was afraid um of redoing it again, he was willing to he was willing to settle for just over a million dollar revenue in 2026, just because his fear grew so big of hitting or going over the top of that. So that's my job as as his tour guide, so to speak, to help build that back up to see that three million dollar number or four million dollar number or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I again we we we started with it, and that's that's the angle I was I actually was going for was perspective. And it's just hard when you're staring at option A, and there are option B and C out there, it's just hard to get over that with your
ear Of Success And Failure Lessons
SPEAKER_02head. You mentioned fear of getting over that number. That never been my problem.
SPEAKER_05No, I always feel like most people it's their fear of failure, not their fear of success. This is very interesting to me.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, I used to say that too, but I'm amazed at there's a higher percentage of people who are afraid of success that I've come across than there are fear on the other side.
SPEAKER_02Huh. I you know, there's one thing, Alan. I do, I do feel like sometimes you go, Well, you know what? If I get to that level, I'm not the scrappy guy that got me to this level. And so, you know, back to the Rocky series, right? I don't ever want to be too comfortable where I'm not. I do like to feel like I'm an underdog punching up as opposed to Yeah, you're comfortable there. I am, yeah, yeah, because I like scrapping. I mean, I'm a fighter, that's how I got to where I was, and that's how I am. But you do want to be Big Daddy. I do. I mean, so I have no problem with no um it so it Dr. Joe, just a question though. Um, am I gonna be really fearful if I have a G7 um as opposed to a smaller jet? Would it be well?
SPEAKER_09Let me ask you this when you talked about what size business you take on versus other people, that would not place you in the big dog situation. Right, I know.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I correct.
SPEAKER_09So so you want to be big dog, but what's why why aren't you then?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, uh oh, I'm gonna start to ball up and cry.
SPEAKER_09Um great conversation right here. I don't mean to call you out, Chris.
SPEAKER_02I'm just well that's Chris with a K. Chris with the K.
SPEAKER_05Let me ask you Chris with a K has negative thinking and it's gonna be flat, and his people, you know, they need to get their ass kicked.
SPEAKER_02Um, so Chris with a K just chimed in, he texted me. Uh so here's okay.
SPEAKER_05What did what yeah, what did he say?
SPEAKER_02So Chris with a K said he tried it and it failed miserably. He tried it for 10 years, didn't get that big number that he thought he would in the remodeling world, and had to go back and say, I'm really good at transactional volume. Let's go make transactional volume blow up on the scene and take it nationwide. So that was his idea, uh, as it goes into 26. But um, Dr. Joe, that's a great question, uh, great question. You know, I felt like I kept digging at it, and it just never worked. And uh back to this, I I feel like I failed on it. You know that.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, and and that's the thing, there's never there's never really a failure unless we stop pursuing. That's when failure happens. So I have a gentleman I worked with, and he had come to me and he had this great business idea, wholesaling real estate. You know, I didn't even understand the whole thing with it and stuff, but he had he would not take an action into it. And he would been like looking into it and planning for it and everything else for like two years before we met. And so we crossed paths and we get to talking. And so as we started developing the vision and started moving into that just block after block after block after block. And one of them was about seven or eight years prior to that, he started a car, he bought a car wash, not started, he bought a car wash and he bought it for a reasonable amount and everything else, and he got it. But in the purchase, he never ever thought to do his due diligence with checking traffic patterns and things like that. And when and so he buys his car wash, he starts going forward with it, he invested, he ended up closing it or you know, giving it away almost really like a year later. And so he didn't want to do anything else because of that failure. And so when we really broke it down and looked at it, was like, well, what did you miss? What's the lesson there? And the lesson was do you due diligence? And so now he's stepping up into a much larger mountain with what he wants to do. And thank God that car wash was minimal compared to what he wants to do, and he was able to learn that lesson there. So now the guy's a multimillionaire now, and he does. I I don't even know exactly what he does with real estate and stuff, but he he he he has built this business and he's done his due diligence with it. And I've helped other companies that were almost failing, that were just didn't look at the, you know, didn't do the due diligence on what they needed to look at to see whether this is going to be successful.
MT Method And Hockey Stick Growth
SPEAKER_02So you've mentioned that your your approach is um, you know, I like to go to unique, I like to work with you one-on-one. Tell us a little bit more about how that looks if you were to engage with um, I don't know, let's say like Chris with a cave.
SPEAKER_09Yeah. So I so the SMT method is an entire it's an entire technology, you know, is what SMT? Yeah, some conscious monetization technology. So there's a whole method to it that we go through. And and the way the process starts is I told you, we come out of the gate developing a vision. There's the first 12 weeks we work together, it's based on a one year, 12 months, but the first 12 weeks we work together is about developing that vision, bumping into and shifting the patterns that come up, even for us to be able to see that possibility of that. So we're growing that possibility. We start taking some steps into developing those systems of accelerating habits. So we start seeing different opportunities, we start seeing doors opening, we start seeing revenue grow. And then once we got those tools and we've adjusted. And we've shifted some of the programming within there, then we go into a six-month phase of rapid growth. It's like hockey stick growth that we go into. And what we're doing is taking those same tools and now implementing them directly into that business. We're we're solidifying the uh the systems of accelerating habits, we're taking actions, we're aligning the whole thing and we're you know, we're moving into actively seeing that growth happening. And I used to end there at nine months. And what I found, and even in that phase, that second phase, we're still identifying and shifting patterns. You know, we're still that those uh that programming within the subconscious, but and and a lot of times we're just doing it at a deeper level. So in the first phase, we get to touch on it and we get to make a shift to allow us to see that vision, see that potential bigger than what we did before. And now we're taking it into the into the low, you know, next layer of the onion or a couple layers down in the onion. And as we do so, we're developing those systems of accelerating habits and we're moving into taking those actions and we start seeing doors opening. We start that's the time you can tell when somebody's on that projectory because to overhear something that gives them the answer for something, right? We talk about coincidences, you know, but we can utilize coincidences as part of our design that they're gonna happen when we get on this when when we get on this pathway. So all of a sudden things start happening, things start what people say coming out of the blue or coincidence, things like that, you know. And and and as they start happening, now we start accelerating that that growth. Most of my clients during that second phase will work less hours a week with less effort than they ever did before. That client I told you about that went from 7.5 to 22 million dollars over 22. During that year of growth was the only the first year of their adult life, they took five weeks of vacation during that growth period.
SPEAKER_02Sign me up for that one.
SPEAKER_09Business growing a business has to be like, but we hear that all over the place of how hard it's gotta be and how almost like um almost like a badge of honor. Like it's you know, I killed myself to build this business. I don't want to be that guy. I want to be that guy that goes, man, I had fun growing my business. Uh like I enjoyed the processes, it was all kinds of excitement in it.
SPEAKER_02I love building my business, Alan. Yeah, you do. I love kicking doors in. I love inspiring places.
SPEAKER_05Doc, let me ask you this. So you you grew up in the in in the the mindset that you had. And so when you were young and adversity came or a curveball came, it'd be like, oh, I deserve that, or oh, you know, life sucks, or whatever it was that you're thinking. Today, with all that you know, when life throws you a curveball, where does your mind go?
SPEAKER_08It it much more instantly than it used to be.
SPEAKER_09Goes to that point of I'm learning something here that's going to help me accelerate beyond this point.
SPEAKER_03Oh do you hear that?
SPEAKER_09My first book I ever the first book I ever published was Life's Lessons, and it was all accountability of my life when I started looking at things, going, man, why is all this stuff happening? And I was tired and and beat up from being a victim of circumstances, situations of other people and all that. And I started looking at what can I gain from this? Like if life happens for me and not to me, why is this happening? And that started, I started learning so much from those other sides.
SPEAKER_02That's huge. Life happens for me, not to me.
SPEAKER_05Well, and whatever life deals you, what can you take out of it? What can you learn from it as opposed to, oh God, here it goes again? What a freaking awesome thing to say.
SPEAKER_09Somebody who's trapped in programming, and now all of a sudden they can take every situation they face in life and learn and grow from that. That's a whole different way of living.
SPEAKER_04Because what else are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_09Yeah, I love that. Well, you be the victim, right? And you tell everybody you know, and you you jump on the pity pot and and whatever else you do for it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, Chris with a K is sitting and right on the pity pot, his legs has gotten numb.
SPEAKER_02His Chris with K, his legs are numb on the pity pot.
SPEAKER_00He is definitely pity pot stream here, and he is not getting up.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I don't know who that dude is, but he ain't no good. You know what I'm saying? No good. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_05All right, I gotta ask you just a completely random question. Are those albums that I see behind you on the wall? What am I looking at?
SPEAKER_09No, um, I've I've I've been blessed for the past five years to be selected as one of the top business coaches in the United States. So it's it's between three different magazines and everybody. Oh, those are all you, yeah, and it's based on client results.
SPEAKER_05Wow.
SPEAKER_09So I got four on the wall, and then there's one right here from last year.
SPEAKER_05That's impressive. I thought they were all rock stars. Well, they guess uh they are rock stars.
SPEAKER_02They are. It's me, baby. I'm the rock star. Guys, I'm not catching right. I'm just making sure I got this. What life does for you, not to you. All right, got it.
SPEAKER_05That's the is that next year's word of the year?
SPEAKER_02No, that's gonna be no, no, that's gonna be the title of this podcast, though.
SPEAKER_09If you take every upset that happens and look at it that way, I I'd love to hear back from you guys and and see what comes of it just by shifting that perception a little bit and saying that's massive.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's seismic. That is a seismic shift, and it's not that hard to do. Instead of why did this happen to me?
SPEAKER_02What can I take from it? So, Chris with the K must be listening because he just texted me again and said, Uh, I think that's full of shit, Alan. It seems like it's really hard to do. Chris with the C over here talking to you was like, Yeah, you're right. I think I might do more enlightening and true. Um material.
SPEAKER_09It takes a little practice, kind of like golfing, you know, when you have to go out and practice your swing and build that muscle memory. It's the same thing with this, but it doesn't take near as long as what people think it should.
SPEAKER_02Okay, that that struck a nerve, Dr. Joe. So uh both of us are struggling with our golf game right now. And in 2026, I uh I have a mastermind. Visualizing kicking your ass in 2026 on the golf course. I am visualizing absolutely telling you I've got a 17 handicap and smoking your ass all over the place.
SPEAKER_09Because I am so based on bringing this up the way I did, is this conversation done?
SPEAKER_02Oh no, you're you're just starting to sucker up because it's too cool for us to go out there and go, you know what, we're chipping in the back area. Let's go. Chipping, chipping back in the pool. Doc, this has been good stuff, man. You know, we started out in the green room talking about our kindred uh lifelong uh affinity for being from Michigan. Alan had the good fortune to go to Michigan for college, uh to Calvin College over on the west side. Over here, way over there. Um, so it's great. So, Dr. Jones, I just don't know. Did you do anything else like write a book? I you know, I don't know. And guys, if you're on YouTube, watch this because this is called the unveiling. Yeah, that's right. Go ahead, do it right now because oh wow, we have a book, and wow, Alan. The one thing that we don't have in common is programming your subconscious mind, Dr. Joseph Draw Sagan. Is that a jellyfish? No, that is your mind, and you know what? We are both authors of uh mine's not near as cerebral. He's got way bigger words on his mind. He's got way bigger, and I'm telling you, it's a lot more in depth, but don't forget to the wild. So Alan, uh, he like everything, he moved to Michigan. He hoped he'd be from Michigan, and he'd hoped he'd written a book like we did, but no, it's just you, me done. I just need to change my the way I think.
SPEAKER_09Well, here's here's here's another one that I have for your audience.
SPEAKER_02All right, bring it up. Hit it. Oh, look at all those words. What's that? Break the attachment pattern, keeping your business small. Engineer your subconscious for high performance leadership and rapid seven greph figure growth, Dr. Joseph Drollshagan, rapid growth specialist. Everybody, those are two great books. He wants to let's do it. Golf clap. All right, golf clap. Oh, another that hurts a little bit because my handicap's still way over seven. We're gonna get back down to eight, baby. We're gonna get back down. All right, so doc, you've uh answered the question. We've enjoyed
ree Book Offer And Next Steps
SPEAKER_02this. How does everybody get a hold of you online?
SPEAKER_09The easiest way is social media, which I'm sure we'll have in the notes and such website. But um, one of the things I I want to offer your audience is anybody who's heard this and it makes sense or they got questions or anything else. I I always keep an avenue open to be able to help people and stuff without sales pitches and all that stuff. And anybody can go to coachwithjoey.com and schedule a 15-minute introduction meeting with me. Anyone who does that, I'll give them a free copy of this book.
SPEAKER_05That's a no that's a no-brainer. You do it, you just have to do it. If you're listening to this now, just freaking do it.
SPEAKER_02Or maybe you don't have the right perception, you don't have the right quality, you don't have that way.
SPEAKER_05You gotta go get it. Don't be Chris with a K with the numb uh legs on the toilet seat.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know what? He just he just texted me again. He goes, Can you come pick me up for the toilet? And I said, No, I can't right now, man. You're gonna have to sit there. So yeah, he's stuck. Uh so Chris.
SPEAKER_09I'd be willing to take a quick break for you to go get the poor guy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, screw you. You know what? I don't have the mindset you have. I had that mindset when you were 17. Remember that one? That was the same. I guess I still got it. I haven't gotten out of that one. So I'm still fighting one step at a time, one punch at a time, every day, baby. That's what we do.
abin Life Customer Service DIY Fail
SPEAKER_02All right, doc, we got to talk about a couple more things. So, what's the favorite feature of your home? Because we just talked about this. You moved out of Michigan and you said something to us, and Alan tried right off the rip. I won. Alan won. Uh, what is the farthest point in South Carolina from the beach? Hang on. All right, now back. So does anybody know? If you know, Chris at the trusted toolbox.com, you send me that. I'm going to give you 30 minutes of my time. Uh actually, you know what? I may give you a lot more than that. You email me this. Uh, what is the farthest place? The farthest place you can be in South Carolina from the beach. Because I go to South Carolina beaches all the time. So this is a good one. Where do you live now, Doc?
SPEAKER_05No, don't because it's No, don't do it. Stop. That's the answer. All right. So what's the wait?
SPEAKER_09Can I send the email?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna come up and fix your house.
SPEAKER_05I'm pretty sure I know where it is.
SPEAKER_02Do you really want 30 minutes with Chris? No, I'm gonna I'll go up there and fix his house, though. All right, doc. What's a favorite feature of your current home?
SPEAKER_09You know, I I love that I live in a cabin. I've always wanted to live in a cabin on some property with acreage, close to trout streams, waterfalls, motorcycle, great motorcycle roads, and I get to do that today.
SPEAKER_02Beautiful. Beautiful. Love that. Yeah. Now that's a video.
SPEAKER_09Here, let me show you.
SPEAKER_02Image that. Oh, he's gonna show you.
SPEAKER_09You can't really see the lights aren't on, but yeah, all wooden.
SPEAKER_02Oh, you know what? After the uh podcast, you're gonna have to walk around because uh we're gonna compare cabins. All right.
SPEAKER_05Uh, is your cabin bigger? Is that what you're hoping?
SPEAKER_02No, uh uh I just want to see where he's at because I know I I can promise you it's probably not. Uh so all right, doc. One of the things we haven't talked about a lot, but it does help is that we're really huge into customer service, kind of customer service freaks, kind of crazy about it. What's a customer service pet peeve of yours when you're the customer?
SPEAKER_09Somebody that tells me they can do something and can't.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. You know, guilty, I've I've actually said it because I've been in the sales call.
SPEAKER_05Overpromising.
SPEAKER_02I've been in the sales call. I'm not gonna lie, guys. You know, I I sat there, I I I literally had to write an email before we started this podcast saying I just can't help you because it's so jacked up and her budget is so little.
SPEAKER_05But you told her up front. I mean, I did.
SPEAKER_02I told her I was gonna go away and talk and think about it and work on it, and um I feel horrible that I didn't get back to her quick enough to say I just couldn't do it. And it's still racking me, but don't worry, Father Flood, I'll see you Saturday morning. Um and it's what cat's what the best thing about being a Catholic. Uh it's all gone on Saturday.
SPEAKER_05Stop it all on the father.
SPEAKER_02That's right, my friends. All right. That poor guy. So he needs to raise. Yeah. So they changed it years ago where we can actually go face to face and doing confessions. And let's just say that I embraced that when I was a kid, and I have absolutely flipped back to going to I actually mask my voice. I go, Yeah. Oh no, forgive me, I've sinned.
SPEAKER_09It has been so long since my last confession. I grew up Catholic. Yeah, I don't practice that way anymore, but I can sit through a whole mass and know exactly when to stand kneel.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, hey, it's that as my Jewish friends say, that's a calisthetic workout. I'm like, hey, brother, that's why I stay in shape. All right, all right, let's go. Last question. Give us a DIY nightmare story. I'm talking flames, flooding, dismemberment, gangrene, something. We we missed a book question.
SPEAKER_09Oh like from anywhere or from a client, or what are you asking?
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_09Did we ask a book?
SPEAKER_02We did. We're done. Okay. Freak and then book. I want DIY. The book was uh his book. His book. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05I thought it was a book you don't write. Isn't that what we normally do? Yeah, we do, but his books were, I mean, he kind of had big words and everything. It was okay. Yeah, I guess. Okay, I'm gonna make a example.
SPEAKER_09So in my in my twenties, I remodeled a kitchen at my own house. And it ended up turning out really good, but I moved the like all the electricity, I moved like all the appliances and stuff to the opposite wall and everything else. And it came out really good. And I had some help with it. So I thought, man, I want to start doing more of this. I enjoyed it. So I started working with other people and doing the very first job I did for somebody, I did everything like I was supposed to do and everything else. And uh I leave and I go home, and about two hours later, they call me and they go, Every copper joint is leaking water. Oh, and it's because I didn't use the flux on there.
SPEAKER_02It's me hitting my head against the table right now.
SPEAKER_09I go, Oh my god, I'll come back and fix it. And he goes, No, no, no, no. I'm gonna get a plumber in here to do it. Don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that is awesome. You know what? Thank you for sharing. That's a very vulnerable moment, and I will not make fun of you. But what the fuck were you thinking? No, I'm kidding. Yeah, I know, I know. Seriously, you know what? I love it when people tell these stories because I I've done plenty of them. I've said them over the years. We've been doing this for four and a half years, Alan. He's heard it all. I put a nail through my foot, I put a ton of nails through my fingers, um, I have fallen off ladders, I have I have fought squirrels, I have almost lit a house on fire, I've flooded a lot of houses. I mean, so I can do a lot of damage.
SPEAKER_05And uh, if you need anybody to work on your house, call Chris Robots.
SPEAKER_02So, as we were doing today in training at Neri, uh, and this is a beautiful thing, they're like, we know that Chris is the best at doing this. I'm like, no, Chris was never the best at doing this. Chris was a decent handyman. I can work on houses, I'm really good at it. But my guys are so much more talented, and I let them make it all happen.
erception Reset And Sign Off
SPEAKER_02That's why I have 30 employees, make it happen. Guys, I'm not saying that to brag, I'm saying that listen to this mindset change, perception. We started with it, end with it. Change your perception. Look at the top, look at the bottom, see what you can do to help people because I still believe helping people helps you. When you help people, you help yourself. When you start looking up, don't be afraid of the top, man. Keep going up that mountaintop. Let's make it happen. We gotta get out of here, we've got to roll, let's go. Cheers, everybody. Thank you very much. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Small Business Department. Remember, your positive attitude will help you achieve that higher altitude you're looking for in the wild world of small business ownership. And until next time, make it a great day.
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