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You Can't Afford Me
Making the leap from employment to entrepreneurship can be a scary time. The biggest fear people have is the unknown. Here on the “You Can’t Afford Me Podast” we speak with hustlers and innovators on how to make the most of your journey. If you have questions we have answers.
You Can't Afford Me
The Power of Authenticity in Sales
Ever wonder how a 12-year-old with a push mower transformed into a successful business owner? Justin Rubel's entrepreneurial story begins with a spring break disappointment and $1,500 earned in a single afternoon - money that would be worth $3-4K today. His determination to break his family's financial cycle started early and never wavered.
Now running Homeview Builders, a thriving exterior remodeling company, Justin shares the principles that guided his journey from lawn care to home improvement success. With refreshing candor, he explains why he turns down lucrative projects outside his specialty and how his sales approach differs from the high-pressure tactics common in his industry.
"Be their friend, be yourself," Justin advises when discussing effective sales techniques. Through authentic connections, expert knowledge demonstrations (what he calls "walk-arounds"), and genuine interest in customers' needs, he's built a business where referrals drive growth. Unlike the cutthroat sales environment where he honed his skills for 13 years, Justin's company prioritizes both customer and employee satisfaction.
The conversation explores how reading shapes entrepreneurial success (with specific book recommendations), why staying in your lane is crucial for business growth, and how faith provides the foundation for Justin's business philosophy. For aspiring entrepreneurs feeling limited by resources or experience, this episode offers practical wisdom and inspiration from someone who started with nothing but a push mower and determination.
Ready to transform your approach to business and sales? Connect with Homeview Builders on Facebook or visit homeviewbuilders.com to see Justin's principles in action.
www.themrpreneur.com
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Speaker 2:We're going to talk real business.
Speaker 1:I'm going to say real business. Right, we're going to get into this. So today I got my buddy Justin on the podcast. Justin, how you doing buddy.
Speaker 2:Doing good boss.
Speaker 1:How are you? Awesome, man, Awesome. So 60 seconds Tell everybody who you are and what you do.
Speaker 2:Justin Rewell, born and raised Chester, virginia. Just the perfect like. Leave it to beaver Christian family.
Speaker 1:Very blessed for that you know, yep.
Speaker 2:Great parents, youngest of three, played sports.
Speaker 3:I'm the youngest of three too. What's that? Oh, are you? Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 2:There you go, we're the best ones. They say. That's it, of course, our moms all told us that. But yeah, played sports at LC Bird and went on to some higher learning that has nothing to do with what I do now, yep, which is pretty common, I think.
Speaker 1:That's how most people end up. Yeah, people with are baristas at Starbucks right now. Yeah, they are.
Speaker 2:And I've seen it. So um did that, started, uh, a lawn care company when I was 12 years old, and I just did that cause I didn't come from a family that had money and so it was. It was, um, I felt like incumbent upon me to sort of break that cycle, yep and um. So through the years I've always just been an entrepreneur Mine's always going, always trying to think of how to improve systems and processes and set myself apart from the competition, because I was determined to break that cycle starting at 12 years old Yep and it's been broken.
Speaker 1:All right, we're going to have fun on this episode because you and I think alike. So let's start at the ripe old age of 12, because I'm actually pissed that I didn't become an entrepreneur much sooner, like I think the skill set had always been there, but I didn't necessarily recognize it. So talk to us about what was your mentality at 12 years old. Why did? Because most people don't think like that it's like my first job. I was a bad boy at Kroger, so as soon as I was 15 and you could have a worker's permit, I immediately went out and got that to start working. But at 12 years old, you're thinking how can I put some money in my pocket?
Speaker 2:No. At 12 years old I was thinking how can I put some money in my parents' pocket? Because my grandparents had a place at Bethpage Campground in Urbana.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:They were one of the very first people in there, like 1967.
Speaker 2:yep so we loved going down there and we were blessed to be able to go, because we couldn't afford it, yep, but they let us go. And there was one spring break where I remember my mom said we weren't going on spring break this year and we went every year. And I said I called her, called her mama, yes, and so called my dad, daddy, yep, and I said. And I said mama, I said why? And she said we can't afford it.
Speaker 2:And I went in my room and I started to get sad and I sat on the edge of my bed at 12. And I thought there's got to be a way to make this happen. I'm able-bodied, I'm a strong guy. I mean, at 12 years old I was lifting weights and trying to be as ready for all sports as I could. So I was capable and I just thought, like what's the best thing you do? And there's two things that I thought I was really good at talking to people and cutting grass. So I got the push mower, the extension cord for the electric weed eater, a rake and plastic you know, garbage bags yep, pushed it around my entire neighborhood and knocked on every door and I made 1500 bucks that afternoon wait, hold on pause and that's when I was hooked time, out time.
Speaker 1:So first off, I I've said this over and over and I feel like I'm starting to be that old guy like I'm.
Speaker 2:I'm an uncategory now yeah, I am too man all the way where are these kids?
Speaker 1:why is nobody knocking on my door saying, hey, mister, do you need your bushes trimmed? Do you want me to cut your grass? Like I pay somebody to come cut my grass, but it's like I've seen kids in my neighborhood that are 15, 16 years old. Why is nobody knocking on my door asking if they can cut my grass? Like what have you seen from your perspective? Like has this generation lost that ability or desire to go out and put something together that early?
Speaker 2:Not lost that ability or desire to go out and put something together. That early.
Speaker 2:Not entirely, but more so than previous generations. No, and I'll give you a for instance of how to for someone in that generation to really capitalize on the situation that they're in. This is what I told my nephew. He was in high school no, I'm sorry, it was his first year at ODU and I was just texting with him back and forth and I said Ryan, I said and I'm extremely proud of this guy, he's just great kid, great, very smart, uh, handsome kid. So no problems with Ryan, you've grown up in a generation of entitled kids who?
Speaker 2:feel like they shouldn't have to work for what they want. It should just be given to them. Yes. And not to be political, but it's almost like a socialistic kind of mindset in a sense that. I'm entitled. I just should have a universal basic income.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, no, no, absolutely not. That'd be the death of capitalism.
Speaker 2:So I told him. I said look, you're around a bunch of weak, ineffective adolescent men who, in all actuality, are probably never going to become full blown men. As I see a man, yep and uh. So I said but here's what you are. You already are one, because I know who raised you my sister yep, you know.
Speaker 2:So I know that you were raised, just like I was raised, and I said so. If you will just keep your head down, work as hard as you can, keep your nose clean, pay attention, show up, be present and do extra that you're not asked to do, yes, all of these people that you're going to school with right now will be working for you. Yep absolutely.
Speaker 1:Let's stop on that number real quick 1,500. How many years ago was this?
Speaker 2:That's 25, 30, 35 years ago that would have been 1992.
Speaker 1:All right, so 1992. Yeah, $1,500 in a day.
Speaker 2:Not a full day, an afternoon.
Speaker 1:I mean with inflation, that would be valued at like 3, 4k today somewhere around there. So there's somebody listening to this podcast right now that's making those excuses like oh, I don't have the $250 to start my LLC, or I don't have the money to do X, y and Z, or I can't get this done. And as a 12-year-old, you pulled yourself up from your bootstraps and said I'm going to go out and make something happen for my family. So people need to start getting rid of these excuses, because there's no excuse. Yeah, it's way easier to make money. Now I'm sensitive to the fact that some people are in certain situations you may not have access to other things, like they're somebody listening to this right now. They may be at the public library because they don't have wi-fi at their house right, you know what that's a blessing in disguise for that person, because the one place that can make you richer than anywhere is a public library.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, thousand percent. All you have to do is just dive into what they got. Thousand percent books, man, and they're free yep, let's talk about that.
Speaker 1:Because I'm I'm on a a big, a big book, like indulgence. Right now, I'm always on one, it's the best. And like now, I'm putting out enough content that people are now starting to come to me and be like, hey, man, I got something for you and they and they blessed me with a book. Like to me, there's no better gift you can give me than the gift of knowledge. Like, if you're putting a book in my hand number one, you're seeing an area of my life that I need to grow in. So you're not just handing me a random book, you've seen something in me or know what areas I need to grow in, and you're saying, hey, I think this is going to help you apply to a particular niche in my life at the time that I need it.
Speaker 2:In that, absolutely, absolutely, yeah, but I truly feel like God brings us those types of learning experiences be it a book or meeting a person or going through a situation exactly when we need it and exactly what it is that he needs us to learn from. So he brings it through that vessel and for you, and obviously for me, our most effective vessel is hand me a book, and it's like I'm sure you're familiar with Dr Eric Thomas.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah yeah, yeah, e, yeah, yeah. The hip hop I love et I got the very first copy of his book ever I got it and he signed it.
Speaker 2:He autographed it. Nice, yeah, I love et. I've been on et since what he did uh, thank god it's monday. Yep, when he started way back episode one. I've been with him ever since yep et said.
Speaker 2:he said you can take away all my money. You can take away all my houses, you can take away everything I money. You can take away all my houses, you can take away everything I have and go out and build it again. And he said and I guarantee you, take all my money out to bank and I'll have $50,000 in the bank by the end of the month. He said you know why? He said because better is a book than a well-built house.
Speaker 1:Yep, once you have that knowledge and I think that's a big fear of a lot of people, like taking the leap in entrepreneurship is that they think if this doesn't work out, then I'm starting back at ground zero.
Speaker 1:No you're starting you're starting with a knowledge base. You're not starting back where you were before. So, like the mistakes and all those things you made before, like every business I've started, the next one has gotten a little bit easier to manage or a little bit better, because it's like okay, that problem I had with staff before. I'm going to make sure I don't do that this time. Here's how I'm going to correct that issue and make sure I don't have those problems.
Speaker 2:Like relationships. Yeah, you know, you get in a fight with your girl guilty, as today.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, Of all days.
Speaker 2:But you know, you get in a fight and you say stupid, crap, you know. And then you regret it later, but at the same time, once you come through it, you're better off.
Speaker 1:Oh thousand percent, yeah, um, and on that knowledge piece like, and this can be podcasts. I'm a big fan of audiobooks like if I got to drive up to dc. I'm listening to an audiobook the whole way.
Speaker 2:You know what tony robbins calls that you mobile university drive time university.
Speaker 1:There we go close enough yeah, yeah, because, like I mean, you can only listen to the same music so many times.
Speaker 2:If I listen to any more Big X, the Plug, I'm going to fall out. Yeah, like I love them, but I can't anymore, man.
Speaker 1:But the thing that clicked for me two things. One, I never grew up a big reader, like for school reports and stuff like that. It was like I only did it because I had to. The first book I read out of interest was robert kiyosaki's rich dad, poor dad and it was like there you go the light.
Speaker 1:I tell everybody all the time it was like I had been seen in black and white my whole life. And then I read that book and it was like I was seeing in color for the first time. That was the first book where like nobody forced me to read it and I could not put it down. The second thing is every successful person and you can determine that however you want, whether that's by money or accolades or power or whatever the person you are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, every person that I've deemed as being successful in my eyes. They all have one thing in common they all read on a regular basis. I heard today listen to a podcast, warren Buffett, who actually just stepped down from his company, I think two days ago. He actually takes a retreat once a year where he'll go to some remote location just him, by himself, and he'll just take a stack of books and all he does is read that entire week. That's smart, doesn't do any business. Not taking phone calls, not watching TV, anything. He is just in a remote place just reading for a straight week and the perspective and the knowledge that he comes out with after that.
Speaker 1:So, like for these people that you know, you just can't put down the PS5 controller, you can't stop watching Netflix. Like to take the 15 minutes a day to pick up a book. I can't express how much reading has dramatically changed my career, my life, cause there's a book on everything. Whether it's you're having relationship problems, there are books on that. Right, you're having problems growing your business? There are books on that. You're having a problem with your health and fitness, there are books on that. Like, the knowledge is there, it's just if you're not willing to go out and seek the knowledge, then you don't deserve the accolades that come with that success.
Speaker 2:Well, I think too just to piggyback onto your point, it's not just books, but it's it's it's really podcasts like yours that people get to hear different perspectives from different types of business owners and what they've been through, how they overcame. You know, somebody takes something away from podcasts like this and I, I listen to podcasts. Obviously, you know Joe Rogan is the one that cut my teeth on Yep, but I listen to a lot of podcasts. Now, I listen to a lot of Jordan Peterson. I do like Robert Kiyosaki. I'm kind of off Robert.
Speaker 1:Are you?
Speaker 2:He's said some crazy stuff. He has gone a little bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm like Dog, you've lost touch with.
Speaker 2:Earth. Since he wrote the book, he's kind of Drifted out in left field, yeah, and then I later heard that he never had a rich dad.
Speaker 1:This was a whole story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I see he could have just said that and it'd have been cool and just told it as a parable yeah, but he didn't really he, so now I got some problems. Yeah, I just think it's great, though, because there are so many avenues to learn, not just for entrepreneurs, but for anyone of any area of life, like you're saying. Yep, and it could be there. Literally is probably a book on everything, like you said.
Speaker 1:Yeah, remember the whole series that used to have books for dummies and it was literally every subject matter you could think of there was a book for dummies on that, whether it was finances, accounting, and they were never even good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I tried, it's just they never worked for me. Let's get back to your business.
Speaker 1:So at 12 years old, you basically started a lawn care service. Talk to us about the service that you're providing today.
Speaker 2:Today the company's name is Homeview Builders. We're an LLC and we offer full-service exterior remodeling. And we offer full-service exterior remodeling. So anything from roofing to siding, to replacement windows, decks, entry doors, sliding doors, french doors we do not do garage doors, gutters, gutter guards, rails, vinyl rails, wood rails, composite decks, wood decks, porches Basically what I tell my customers know fences, all that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, basically what I tell my customers is, if it's on the outside of your house and it needs to be done, we probably do it, but there's going to be a few little things that that we don't do yep and I'm very particular about and very hyper vigilant about the kinds of jobs that I will take on.
Speaker 2:If they don't fall into the categories, one of our categories, I'm not going to take it and I'm tempted because the money's good, but it would be one of those things. For instance, this morning had a guy come to me and he's like I've read your reviews really want you to do our bathroom remodel. We don't do bathroom remodeling, we don't do interiors. He's like $30,000, and you're still like, eh, $30,000 is not going to get it done buddy, not for a bathroom.
Speaker 1:No, no, no.
Speaker 2:But you know so, for me it's truly the old cliche of just staying in your lane Because I tried to veer a little, tried a few new things We've all done that. Yeah, and it's okay to try, because one day you're going to hit on something, yeah, but in this case I didn't, and I felt like a fish out of water, because my crews are saying, yeah, you put this here and you do that and you lock this in, and I'm like I've never done this before. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't know anything about it. So I trust you guys, but if I don't know it better than you do, I'm not going to sell it. Yeah, an installer come to me and throw me a line of pardon. Can I say bs, yeah, or throw me a line of bs and expect me to believe it. My guys know that now. Yep, some of them have tested it and I'm like no, no, no, no, you need a three-quarter inch lag there and you got to use a washer, and if you don't have joy stingers in that corner, you got to put them there, because that's where I mighter it.
Speaker 1:And then their eyes are just like oh, okay yeah, because a lot of times they think you're sitting in the big seat and like you're just pushing papers and stuff like that, like no, there is not a job in this office that I haven't done. So I have to remind my employees sometimes, like hey, you're not talking to just a businessman. Like I've done the job that you're doing 10 times over. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I know how long it takes to do X, y and Z, so you can't feed me. I mean, you wrote the book yeah, so you can't feed me a bunch of bs on. Hey man, it's taking. It's gonna take three hours and no it doesn't, it doesn't yeah and if you're telling me it does and I got the wrong person sitting at this desk exactly. So how did you go from cutting lawns to getting the skill set to provide the services that you do now, interesting story.
Speaker 2:So um got my degree, didn't use it. Psychology um that's.
Speaker 1:I was psychology major too, were you psyched.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what did you want to do? What time?
Speaker 1:oh man, I had no idea. But ultimately I saw myself being a therapist, sitting in a nice suit and clients coming and laying on my couch and just telling me their problems, and I got into the field and found out that is not how it goes yeah, yeah, I, I wanted to do do industrial and organizational psychology.
Speaker 2:So basically, hr is what I found out.
Speaker 1:You got way more specific than I did.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I was going to go. I wanted to go to the grad program at ODU they have one of the best in the nation for that but when I realized that I'd be an HR manager, listening, just babysitting adults all day, yeah I'm like look, honestly, I'm the kind of guy that you can miss me with the stuff. That's not.
Speaker 2:I don't care about your drama. If it doesn't matter, it's not going to affect your life in a physical way that can really be measured. Don't tell me that your Aunt Sally called you a bad name.
Speaker 1:I don't want all that. You're sitting there. This is the world's smallest violin playing a song just for you, yeah exactly right.
Speaker 2:Oh, just so sad. But at the same time I just decided that's not what I want to do. So um came back to richmond and just sort of sat there for a while, hung out with my cousin a lot. My cousin is a very, very, very successful entrepreneur. Nice, uh, you definitely love to have him on here. Yeah, let's talk. I will say this he's my mentor. He always has been. He's two years older than me. He started his lawn care company when he was 14. I started mine when I was 12. I started them at the same time. I'm just two years younger. Well, now he is, let's see, I'm 44. He's 46. Well, now he is, let's see, I'm 44. He's 46. I would say by the end of the year he'll be worth $50 million just in real estate. And that's where he did it. But he started cutting grass too and took his money and turned it into flipping cars. Flipping cars. Then he could buy a little house and then buy a bigger and bigger. Now he's got all kinds of homes, luxury homes in Smith Mountain Lake.
Speaker 1:See, it's the dirty jobs that nobody wants to do, but those things build up Like you can build off of that.
Speaker 2:That's the point. You know, the cutting the grass, the $45 that you make cutting somebody's yard, that's not what you make.
Speaker 1:That's not the end game.
Speaker 2:What can I do with that $45? To turn it into $150? Yep, and can I do that by tomorrow? Mm-hmm, tomorrow, that's always been. You know what's up here? Yep, so uh, but anyway, so was hanging out with my cousin and he was trading in a car at CarMax. You know, I don't know if they still do it, but they do.
Speaker 2:I haven't been there in a minute, but they, they're doing the whole inspection and we're sitting in the waiting room and he's reading the paper and he goes oh, I'm not gonna say the name of the company, okay. But he goes oh, so-and-so is hiring. And I was like man, I'm not doing that, I'm not doing home improvement sales, I don't know anything about home improvement sales and I'd never sold anything. And so he goes. I'm telling you he goes. Actually, I did a ride-along with these guys. They make really good money and it seems like a really cool job and a solid company. I was like, all right, I'll check it out. And I was there for 13 years and it was See, but that skill set there.
Speaker 1:I tell people you will never go hungry if you learn how to sell.
Speaker 2:Let me tell you something that company is not a home improvement company. It's a sales and marketing company that just happens to be in the business of home improvements. Yep. And that's actually smart. Yeah, because that's first.
Speaker 2:Nothing happens until somebody sells something, absolutely. I ended up learning like super black belt levels sales at that place over 13 years, nice. And it was a shark tank. It was cut throat. It was brutal. Nobody cared about anybody. It was whatever they could do to get over you know, to beat you. Yep, who's going to be the man this month? See, I like that. I did too. I was like throw me in the fire and watch me burn, let's get it yeah, and, and everybody quit the turnover rate was like 26 to 1 for every 26.
Speaker 2:One made it past three months. Jeez, that's how brutal it was. You would get cussed out like for nothing and I, just like I remember, I finally got to a point where I laughed at it because I was so hardened by it. And the rookies were like you just cut me out. I'm like what'd you do? You know I'm not going to sympathize with you, that you got cussed out. Yep, I'm not going to say it's right, I wouldn't do that.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:But at the same time, what'd you do? And so, anyway, it really sharpened my sword to the point where I was teaching. Why did you leave? I will tell you exactly why I left and it was my fault, but it was God's blessing in disguise, but I ended up looking like a real idiot. They had a new guy that came in, young kid, 20 years old, took him under my wing. I just liked him and I don't do that because I was like you know, I was the veteran guy. I'm not taking anybody under my wing, but I did and taught him some things. And the guy goes out and sells his first job for like $50,000. Calls me up. Oh my God, I did what you said and this and that and I'm like man, that's the way to go, whatever. So I just kept hyping him up, taking him with me, he'll watch me and train and all that. He's rocking man. And then one day he gets his paycheck and his check was supposed to be like $3,000. Yeah, and it was like $800. Ooh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, oh, this happened regularly and he goes well, wait a second, I thought I was going to $3,000 because I sold that big job. And I said, give me your payroll sheet. And I looked at his payroll sheet and I see where the company backcharged him for material, saying that he didn't measure for enough materials. So I was like, oh, my gosh, uh-huh. So I was like, all right, hold on a second, hop in the car with me, let's go look at this job, I'm gonna measure it for you, I'll measure it. Yeah, I measured that. Not only did he measure four enough, he was 200 square feet over. The company backcharged him. I don't know why. I just because they did this all the time, yeah, and they stole all that money from him told him that he mismeasured and you're not allowed to challenge it. Yeah, and even I came in and I went to the owner and I was like here's my measure sheet. And you know, I know how to measure it, cause I trained you how to measure. And he's like well, hold on. And I said, well, here's the cost out. Now you look. And he looked at his measure sheet. Versus the cost of his measure sheet had 200 square feet more on his measure sheet.
Speaker 2:So I told Jonathan, I said, look, I shouldn't say his name, but anyway he's moved way away. But I told him. I said, look man. I said, um, they've been doing it to me for years and there's nothing you can do about it. The only thing you can do is put your head down, focus on the good stuff and keep selling and your next check will be fine and you'll be all right. But this is part of it. It's dishonest, they're crooks. I don't like it, but this is the way it is. Well, he turns around, prints out those messages, those text messages oh my god gives them to the owner.
Speaker 2:Owner calls me down. I drive three hours to go see him in rush hour traffic and he fires me. And he handed me the printout and he goes what do you have to say about that? And I just looked at him. I said I got nothing. And he goes. You don't deny it. And I said absolutely not. Every word I said was true and you know it. And he goes really. And I said, yeah, and while we're at it, you're a tyrant. And he goes well all right, he goes.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm gonna need you to go get all your samples out of the trunk and bring them in. And I said absolutely not. I said those are your samples now and I need you to go out to my car and get your samples.
Speaker 2:And I said you got three minutes and if you don't get them out and I did oh I love that dude and by the time I got home I had a job, starting the very next day with his number one competitor made a phone call oh, I love that, oh, I love that so much I get pissed.
Speaker 1:See, it's the thing about getting pissed, but it's getting pissed and getting even I get pissed and I channel it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't. I mean, you can tell I'm not an aggressive kind of person, but I just get pissed and I channel it. And when I channel, I channel it into business. And I do my best work when I'm mad.
Speaker 1:See, and that's one thing I'm definitely not going to say the name of the company, but that's definitely one thing I've taken away from previous employers that I knew when I started my own companies the way I got treated as an employee. I was determined to make sure I never treated anybody on my team like that. So I was like you can learn lessons from everything. It's not just the successful pieces that you see someone doing, it's also the pieces that you see them doing the wrong thing and saying, okay, I'm not gonna do that yeah because that comes.
Speaker 1:I mean shaving two g's off a kid's paycheck at 20 years old 20 year old kid yeah, that's a major difference, dude, like right, it's not like you can't take the hit like I've I could have taken it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was there for 13 years already. Yeah, but that kid was what? Two months in? Yeah 20 years old. He didn't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of and that's why the turnover ratio is probably so high.
Speaker 1:Like people saying, like I'm putting in all this work, I'm bringing in all this business and this is what you're paying me I'm out and everybody was quitting around me.
Speaker 2:The only reason I never quit was because I wanted to prove a point that I'm not a quitter yeah, that I'm better than all these guys. Yep, these guys came in, they saw the fire and they ran from it.
Speaker 1:I saw the fire and I said, bring it so let me ask you this what would be give me your top three um tips for being an effective salesperson?
Speaker 2:Well, the number one tip be their friend, be yourself. That's facts. Be your friend, take your time with them, establish a relationship, learn about them, but be genuinely interested. Yes, one thing you can always count on, sam, is if I ask you a question about you. I'm genuinely interested Yep and I'm going to ask follow-up questions because I am.
Speaker 2:So that's the first thing I would say be genuinely interested in people. Take the time to get to know them, ask questions 80, 20 rule. You know, listen to 80% of the time, talk 20% of the time and the 20% of the time you're asking questions.
Speaker 1:Yep, and that goes like people don't recognize and I'm. I actually just felt like I'm really learning this lesson in the last year, year and a half. Is that the clients that I spend the most time talking to, that we develop a relationship where I'm like hey, like the other day we threw a pizza party for one of our clients staff. It was just like, hey, man, like I know they have a young staff and it's like yeah, I'm 21, 22 years old and somebody brings me free pizza.
Speaker 2:I'm taking it. I'm pretty hyped for the next little bit. I might stuff a few in my briefcase and take them out, yeah. And then we found out one of our other clients.
Speaker 1:He's a big whiskey guy, right. So I'll give the real story. I was at a B&I event and like they had like like a quick question section. They were like, hey, we're giving away this stuff, blah, blah, blah. And I answered the question. They gave me a bottle of whiskey. I'm not a real big whiskey guy, but I knew our client was. So when he came in our office next time I was like hey, man, you're a whiskey guy, right. And he's like, yeah, I was like hold on, I got something for you.
Speaker 1:And it's like I don't always claim that I may be the best in town at what I do. There are probably other agencies that are doing what we do on a higher level, but the reason a lot of people will stay here is because of the rapport and the relationship that's been developed. If I like you and you're giving me the services I need, why would I go somewhere else? People leave because they're not getting what they want or the relationship's not there. So that's a major key you just dropped there. Are you trying to reach decision makers, entrepreneurs and sales professionals? Then you Can't. Afford Me is your next marketing move, with six episodes a month and a growing audience of CEOs and industry leaders. Your brand won't just be heard, it'll be remembered. Advertisers can place audio ads on our podcasts and even secure visual placements in our full-length YouTube videos. This is where smart brands earn attention. Lock in your ad spot today, before your competitor does. Email sam at enzomediafirmcom to receive more information.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it definitely is. And it's like I mean you bring up a good point. If I'm catching fish in one pond, why would I go to another pond? Why would I leave to go to another pond? Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm happy right here. So if I'm happy, I'm comfortable and I'm making a decent living to cover my bills and have a little bit extra leftover, yep. But the main key is I'm not stressed out driving out there on 95 like everybody's about to be in about an hour when I go home. Then I'm staying here at Enso Media. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yep, boy, that's the way I view my guys. Yep, you're gonna be happy, you know, and they are. I mean, they get lunch on the job sites sometimes. They don't want to quit and they don't stop eating, they just take it home with you, which is fine with me.
Speaker 1:You know, let's get it done but uh.
Speaker 2:But at the same time, I always tell my guys take breaks, yeah, you know, chill out, send them gatorades and a pizza, send whatever they want. I send it, yep, and I just make sure they're completely taken care of. I probably put as much emphasis on taking care of my guys as I do taking care of my customers. Yeah, because now they're happy. I know my customers are going to be happy, yep, and people don't realize.
Speaker 1:As a business owner, I'm not held captive by our staff, but I can't serve all the clients that we work with here by myself. Like I need a team, and no one that's ever reached a high level. I don't care who you're researching, they all got there with the team.
Speaker 1:No one's doing the solo, so even the people that are the absolute face of a brand or a company. They have people behind them that are setting these things up, so like if you're not investing in your team and building them up. But I think the tricky thing nowadays is trying to figure out what people's love language is in terms of like. There's some I keep a fairly young staff. There's some that are just going to be juiced up for the next two weeks if I go buy them lunch right, oh dude, I never had a job like they gave me free, yeah my old boss used to do that for me when I was in my early 20s.
Speaker 1:He's like man, what you want for lunch? Today? I was like I want Chinese man. He's like all right, fill out your order, dude, I'm never leaving here. I get free Chinese food.
Speaker 2:You're right, though I mean, that's not my love language, but I do remember when I first started working at the other company the first company and it was like hey, let's hop, let's go over to what was it called Famous Dave's. It's on us. Yep Every day, oh geez. But that was the first day. I thought it was just like oh, I'm the new guy you know, whatever.
Speaker 2:No, it's every day We'd go somewhere. Hop in a Lexus, go wherever, put it on the company car, get whatever you want. And I'm just like, wow, okay, you know I'm going to stay here for a while, Yep.
Speaker 1:It's those little perks it is. That's not the language for everybody, because I have gone to some of my staff before. Sometimes we're like, hey, man, we got this job out of town. Here's a card. You guys get yourself a nice lunch or a nice dinner, depending on the time, while you're out there. No-transcript, uh well, that's not really what like piques my interest. This is what piques my interest.
Speaker 2:That's very key yeah, is is having employees who feel that they can trust you enough as not only their boss but as their friend, to be able to express those things clearly and openly, without fear of retribution and judgment, absolutely, and I feel like that's a culture and that's a winning culture.
Speaker 2:Yep, and it's a winning culture where, hey, we're all friends, we're all a family here, but I will say this I'm still the head of the family. Yeah, so we can hunky dory and have fun and play and I love you guys and you are my friends, but when brass tacks comes down to be due, yep, I'm the man. Yep, now I'm not like the man. You bet. You know, yeah, I'm in charge. Oh, absolutely, and I and I make that, I do from time to time make that very clear with my guys oh yeah, you have to sometimes yeah just hey, man, I hear what you're saying.
Speaker 2:Ultimately it's my decision. Yep, appreciate your input. I I'm gonna go ahead and do it this way yep, no, absolutely.
Speaker 1:What's sales? Step number two in order of importance no, no, you can put them in any order.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um for me and I would say a very effective what they call walk around, and I was kind of known for that in my previous home improvement life because I spent a lot of time doing it. Yep. And a lot of guys will only spend, if they even do one, maybe five minutes on one. And so are you familiar with what a walk around is.
Speaker 1:You mean like in terms of like doing like a consult type thing the house.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's not um that. The whole thing is consultative. That's the approach that I take uh, very laid back. No, I'm not the guy that you could probably tell, but I'm not the guy that comes into your house and I'm like hi, mr jacobs, I'm here to talk to you about the most energy efficient windows that exist.
Speaker 2:Come look at my. You know I don't do all that. So for me the walk around is probably the most effective thing I have, other than my warmup with my customer. And warming up with my customer, Like I said, entails getting to really know them and I spend 30 minutes to an hour on that. Before we even talk business, Then I do my walk around. So the walk around for me is secondly most important to the warm up. Yep.
Speaker 2:Walk around for me is obviously pointing out some things. Let's say I'm there for siding. Yep. And I see a bottom course of siding that's rotted. Your idea, your, your objective on the walk around is to establish yourself as the expert in the customer's eyes. Yep, so you want to. Actually, that's the one time you don't want to simplify things. It's the one time you want to talk, doctor talk. Yep. And that's you know what I call it? Because we I go to the doctor and he says you're a medulla oblongata.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, I'm like a what?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're like, you're like, whatever. Yeah, same thing with the mechanic. Mechanics like your johnson rides that walk wacky, that's fine.
Speaker 2:Thousand bucks, yeah, change my blinker fluid yeah whatever so but so that's what I do with that. And so I'll say, for instance, say it's a bottom course of siding rod, and I'll say well, you know, guys, typically you don't want to see that there, it's better to see it somewhere in the middle of the wall, because that's actually anchored to your band board and your band board actually sits perpendicular to 90 degree angle on top of your sill plate. Your sill plate sits on top of the block foundation and then the siding is nailed to that and the floor joists come into the back. So they nail siding into the ends of the floor joists as well and I said so.
Speaker 2:if any one of those were to rot because the siding attached to it is the rot is spreading into those, then your house is going to settle. Your floors are going to crack. Now I'm not saying that's going to happen to you, but let me tell you a story about Ms Robinson from last year, over on Nine Mile Road. She had the same issue. She had to move out of her house for a month and they had to jack everything up off.
Speaker 2:foundation Insurance didn't cover it because it was negligence is what they call it ends up costing 10 times more than right, but I'm telling a third party story, yep, rather than telling them that this is going to happen to you if you don't do this. Absolutely, because that comes off as a threat, yep, but if I give somebody an example and it doesn't affect them right now or it doesn't put them on the defensive, yep, they're going to be receptive to hearing that story and I'm going to tell it so. So what I'm doing is I'm selling them back their pain. Yep, does that make sense? Oh, absolutely. Sell them back their pain, stir it up and make it real. Yep.
Speaker 2:And I walk around the home, and the first walk around is just pointing out, telling stories of where I've seen this before and what happened there and this and that. Then the set I do one more walk around. Second walk around is painting the picture of the finished job in their mind.
Speaker 2:Yes, and that's when I'll say listen, you know up here, what we're going to do first is we're going to wrap these triangular fascia boards in PVC coated aluminum and we're going to put a double diamond bend in it. So there's going to be one bevel. It's going to come down and it's going to wrap backwards and be very clean. And then from there we're going to strip your old siding off on that dormer and we're going to go ahead and put the hardy plank up in its place. Then we're going to tie that in with your corner boards, caulk everything and seal it. Then when you step back and look, it's going to look like wood that has just been painted, but it's going to look like that for 20 years. And so I'm painting that picture as we're walking around the second time on every little thing I do, dry I do Yep?
Speaker 2:Dryer vents, hose, mounts, everything. I don't leave anything out. So by the time we step back, that's when I'll look at them and say now, can you see it? And they all and the wife usually always says oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, and then I'll ask them what color? Do you see?
Speaker 1:And that's how I know where to and give them the price. That was a quick master class on how to deliver a consult. I don't know if it was a master class. Well, if I got so say, for instance, I got a 60-minute time frame with a potential client and it is by that 820 rule I'm spending 40 minutes.
Speaker 1:First off, I just want them crying about their problems. Absolutely, why are you even sitting at this table with me right now? I don't know if I'm the right fit for you. We need to talk through these things. I'm not just going to automatically sell you on something because I don't know what it is that you need yet, or if I'm the right company to provide that. So let's talk through these pain points. Oh, you're already working with another company. Well, why are you looking to leave them? What's the problem that's going on with that? And then I spend the next bit of time educating them. Okay, here's that, and that's where we get most of our business, because I'll sit down and take the time. I actually learned this, probably more so, from one of my best friends, who's also my financial advisor, where he may sit down for an hour and a half with someone explaining to them what a 401k is, or like why you need this insurance and what the benefits of this are, before he even thinks about selling them on anything.
Speaker 1:Like if I don't educate you first, because, at the end of the day, even if you don't go with me, I want you to be able to make an informed decision when you step up from this table and you're talking to another kind of oh well, that ain't what Sam said.
Speaker 1:Sam said this blah blah blah Like you sound to be a the one because they see somebody who's just trying to sell them on something. So, taking that time to number one, get to know them, get to know their problem. I only need five to ten minutes to sell them on whatever it is we got.
Speaker 2:Isn't that interesting though.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's the exact same thing with me, yeah, and I think I find the more I dig into other industries and their processes.
Speaker 2:I'm always studying all companies' processes that I can get my hands on, because I fully believe that systems and processes, when they're refined, set in place and used every day, they simplify a business and almost put it on autopilot. Yeah, and that's how you scale a business. And that's how you scale a business Exactly. I was getting ready to say so. You know, I'm very big on that and I just think that if people don't focus, I just think that if people don't focus, I think a lot of people have this idea of business where they're just going to do this scattershot thing. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Throw it up against the wall and see what sticks.
Speaker 2:See what sticks. Yeah, there's no intentionality. These people don't wake up in the morning and say today is going to be not only a great day, but here's why it's going to be a great day. And the reason it's going to be a great day is because I'm going to do X, y, z, yep, and I planned it out last night before I went to bed and I reviewed it and I typed it out on my phone Today's going to be an awesome day. Let's go get it. And that's what I do every and process.
Speaker 1:Systems and process. So I do it the reverse because, like I get rolling so early and I'm sure in your field you get it rolling pretty early.
Speaker 1:I don't know how, man, I just started waking up. I just started setting my alarm for 445 to get up, to get to the gym. I don't know how, man, I talked to some of you contract guys. Man, these guys are by 4, 4, 30. I'm like, yeah, they are, god bless, and I have a hard time going to bed like at a decent time, like the other night I ended up it was like 11, 30, 12 o'clock until I passed out.
Speaker 1:So I can't get up at three o'clock in the morning if I'm not passing out till 11 o'clock at night. Um, all right, what's what's? Tip number three on the sales side tip number three on the sales side.
Speaker 2:I mean I've got nine of them that I go by. I'll go over all of them, I'll just pick one out of there. Um, be authentic. Yes, be authentic. Be you. Be the way you're being right now. Don't try to be the person you are at home. Be the person that you are with your buddies. Yep, don't try to be this polished professional. That and I'm not saying you're not professional, no, no, no, I mean you and I have worked together You're very much a professional.
Speaker 2:What I'm saying is there are a lot of people who like to play the part of professional yes, yes. And it's so transparent.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So just be yourself, really Just be yourself and talk. So use car mentality salesperson like I did it for so long because I thought that was the only way to do it yeah, no and once I realized it wasn't, it drove me crazy and eventually that's why I started my company. I was like I'm gonna do, because everybody I'd worked for before wanted me to sell their way yeah, in their corporate structure, written by a guy who's never actually gone out in the field and do it to do it.
Speaker 2:He just sits up at the home office in Ohio or something and tells us this is the way to do it. And I'm like dude, you know me, salesman of the year, trophies, I have salesman of the month, salesman of the quarter, sales records and all that and you're trying to retrain me on how to sell exactly the same thing and you've never even done it. Yep, and you've never even done it just doesn't make sense to me. I was never about all of the canned corporate pitches and trying to be. They put the name tag on you try to make you just too formal.
Speaker 1:They want to make you a number. That's how our educational system is set up everybody's a number.
Speaker 2:There's no individuality individuality is what spurs in my mind. It spurs industry, it spurs different areas of capitalism. In fact, I'm reading a really good book right now that I think you would like.
Speaker 1:What's the name?
Speaker 2:of it. It's called Blue Ocean Strategy.
Speaker 1:I did the audio book on that a while ago.
Speaker 2:Yep, it's a great book. So you know where I'm going. Great book, yep.
Speaker 1:So you know, explain, explain it, because a lot of people probably haven't read that book so the brief synopsis of blue ocean strategy basically is you have two oceans in business.
Speaker 2:You've got a red ocean which you've got, say, for instance, for me you've got a red ocean where there's a million other contractors out there doing everything the other guy does yep, doing it the same way and competing for the same pot of gold but, it's got to be split a million different ways. Yep, a blue ocean is a market that doesn't exist yet, but it's a market that, if you open it up, it is infinite potential yeah, and you're the only one swimming in that ocean, only one.
Speaker 2:You got the whole ocean to yourself. Yep, and so that's, that's the the general gist of that book that's why I always tell people there are riches in the niches.
Speaker 1:Like if you can get very specific on like. I met a realtor one time. She only sells real estate to entrepreneurs. And most realtors that you meet they're like oh I don't care if somebody's upgrading, downgrading empty nester, first time home buyer, whatever, I'm willing to work with anybody. But she said no, I've been an entrepreneur. I know how hard it is, especially within the first five years of your business, getting all this stuff verified with the mortgage company, blah, blah. She's like I've worked out a system. I know how to get an entrepreneur into their home. So that's all she focuses on.
Speaker 2:And so for somebody like me, if I knew that I would be all over it. Yeah, like, make my life easy and get me a mortgage, because you know how to do it.
Speaker 1:And she is killing. Killing it, but like too many people just go way too wide, like what you're talking about earlier, where we all, when I started enzo man, we had like 16 different services I was offering. We got six now shotgun, yeah. And it was like once you sit down and realize like why am I spending 75 of my time on something that only generates five percent of the revenue that we're making?
Speaker 1:right let's cut it all right, let's focus on what else can I cut? Law of diminishing returns, yeah, and it's just because one person came to you and asked one time, hey, can you do this? And then you think you got a whole nother revenue stream.
Speaker 1:No you don't. You just had somebody that was asking you for a favor. There are two things I want to tie on the end of what you said. One, I think a lot of salesmen that are unsuccessful. They're just too thirsty Big time. Here is philosophy. If I sit down and I give you a consult, if I see true expression in terms of like oh yeah, this is what we need, and you verbalize that to me and you're like yes, we need this. I'm going back to my team, we're discussing this blah blah. I'll follow up with you until you tell me to f off, like because you've already you've already expressed to me that you're interested and I understand.
Speaker 1:A lot of times you just get busy. This goes like I got salesmen in my inbox right now of services that I genuinely need. I just don't have the bandwidth to focus on it right now. I'm going to get to it eventually, but the fact that they keep following up with me will eventually do that deal. It does work, doesn't?
Speaker 2:it? Yeah, it do, it works on both sides.
Speaker 1:And it makes your life so much easier, like when you're not thirsty like that, then people oh well, maybe sam doesn't need my business that bad versus the other guy. That's like every other day. Hey, you ready to sign a contract? Hey, give me a do.
Speaker 1:No, like it's just like in the dating world I was just getting ready to say yeah if you're up on a girl like oh my god, you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life, like let me buy you the world, blah, blah, blah, versus the guy that's like yeah, you cool. Like yeah, I guess we can go out sometime next week, like the girl's way more likely to go after that guy, but see, you know what really gets him, though.
Speaker 2:What was that? I shouldn't be getting. This ain't a date it's not give him. Give him the gems, I'll give a little something just for the fellas, though what really get him is you come out of the gate like that guy you know like you just described. I don't give a crap. There's plenty of girls, whatever that attracts them, they come in and then you break it down and you show them. Hey, I'm actually a real, genuine person, I just did that to get your attention.
Speaker 2:But I know I'm, you know, you know you're a good person, you know you're gonna yep, I'd land the deal. I don't mean it that way yep, no, no, no for sure.
Speaker 1:I know exactly what you mean. I know exactly what you mean girl yeah and I.
Speaker 2:So it's something that I had noticed over the years is you? Can I say the D word yeah, okay, you got to kind of be a dick, yeah, a little bit, and just to get their attention. Once you get their attention, then you can show them who you really are. Oh, yeah, but it's a shame that we live in such a society where you can't be who you are and be a gentleman, yep. And tell a woman hey, yeah, and they don't want anything to do with you.
Speaker 1:And then yeah, and then they got a whole list of places. We can't take them.
Speaker 2:You can't take them to cheesecake factory I love cheesecake, I do too, man, y'all tripping on that y'all tripping on that.
Speaker 1:I don't know where that came from cheesecake buffet.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you well actually I don't, because I've lost like 25 pounds.
Speaker 1:I don't want it. If it was socially acceptable and I could stay in decent shape, I would eat cheesecake every single day of my life. Dude, I'd be eating like pizza and cheesecake every day. I mean strawberry cheesecake, cherry cheesecake plain cheesecake.
Speaker 2:Have you had the blueberry cheesecake?
Speaker 1:Blueberry cheesecake.
Speaker 1:I'd take all kinds of cheesecake. One last thing on that sales tip that I want to tie that off with I think I've mentioned this on a couple episodes off with I think I've mentioned this on a couple episodes Myron Golden, one of my favorite speakers right now. I heard him say in the podcast sales isn't hard. You're just selling to the wrong people. If you're trying to sell to someone who hasn't expressed to you that they're interested in services, well then, yeah, it's real hard to sell someone. But think about the people that you've closed that have come to you and be like hey, man, I need a new patio on my house. How easy is it to sell that person over the person that you go to them and be like, hey, I think you could use an additional patio on your home? Let's sit down and talk about this.
Speaker 2:Oh, obviously I mean I know it's a rhetorical question, but obviously the former and for me. I'm always hyper aware of the fact that it's not as easy as you think it is. No, you know somebody calls me Because, like you said, a lot of people will get that phone call. Hey, I need a price on the deck. They haven't even gone out there. Maybe it was just a voicemail, but a lot of these guys that I compete against just automatically get it in their head. Well, I'll call them tomorrow. I got that job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, you do not. You call within five minutes.
Speaker 2:Yes, and then you probably will get the job. Yep Case in point I had a guy in Hopewell the other day Calls me up. I just happened to be doing paperwork and I kind of needed a break. Yep.
Speaker 2:And he said hey, man, I'm over here in Hopewell. Was it a deck? Yeah, he's like you need a deck over here sometime next week. And I was like uh, and I looked up his address real quick and I said how, about 45 minutes? And he goes really today? And I said, yes, he goes. If you can meet me there in 45 minutes. I'll leave work right now. Left work, sold it, boom, we're building it saturday there you go, you know, so you can't take that for granted yeah you can't just be like because somebody reached out to me for something that they do, they would like to have yep
Speaker 2:you can't ever assume that you're the only person, because you're not. But that is where I see a great opportunity that a lot of people miss, and here's that I'm surrounded by my competition. They've seen my competition. They've seen what those guys are. They've seen how they dress, how they talk, how they interact. They've seen their body language. They've seen the whole thing. Wait till I come in. When I come in, it's going to blow them away Because I'm going to hit them. I'm dressed like this, except I don't wear my Tennessee Vols shoes. It's a special occasion, huge volunteers.
Speaker 2:We suck at football this year. We're not going to be good this year. But to me, it gives me a chance to come in casually dressed but professional at the same time. Yep, I'm prepared. I have my day planner with me, with my notebook. I can write measure sheet. I've got a camera on my phone. I'm taking pictures the whole time we're talking. Yep, I'm not taking pictures for me, I'm taking pictures for them. Yep.
Speaker 2:So they see me taking pictures and they think, wow, this guy really cares and I guy really cares and I do.
Speaker 2:but I'm just trying to show them something yeah, the attention to detail right, measuring man, how you think I need to measure anymore yep, like one siding or a roof. Yeah, I don't do it for me, I do it for them, yep. But I want to give them the full experience and make them feel like that was a different experience that I just had yep when I leave. That was a different experience. I don't really feel like I would trust anybody else to do our work than him now yep.
Speaker 1:And then that takes out the pricing piece too, because a lot of people are looking at that and like, okay, do I want? And? And sometimes people are at certain points of their life where you just want the job done cheap, like you maybe even recognize the fact I'm gonna have to go back and redo this in a couple years. I don't care. Right now this is my situation, boom. But for those people that are like I want this done and I want this done right, cost is a relative thing to that. I'm willing to pay a little bit more if I get the right person. When they get that type of experience and they see that, um, people are willing to spend more money. And I've often found the people that I'm sure you'll agree with this the people that pay me the most money are the easiest clients.
Speaker 2:100, the one my, one, my cheapest clients like you.
Speaker 1:let's take the video services, for instance. They want to change the music after we send it to them. They want to take it and completely redirect the whole project, which is like a whole nother edit.
Speaker 2:I haven't done that, no no, no, no, no, Not at all, I was like wait is he talking about?
Speaker 1:close, but they want all these little things. And then the clients that I'm charging insane numbers to that. I never thought I'd be charging people these price points. I send them something that's the greatest thing since slice bread, happy as it can never get any complaints back I know, isn't it weird?
Speaker 2:yeah?
Speaker 1:and as once I realized like that's where we need to focus, I still focus. Like our model, I've kind of switched it up this year where 75 percent of our business is what I consider middle to top tier clients.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And that's anywhere from a million, five million and above. Those are 75% of the businesses.
Speaker 2:Are those corporate revenue numbers or corporate revenue? Yeah, okay, I don't know if you're talking about personal income.
Speaker 1:Oh, no, no, no, no, no. The general gross revenue for the year Sure, Then our small business clients are grossing less than a million a year. That revenue for the year, um, then our small business clients are grossing less than a million a year. Um, that's 25% of our mark, of our client base. Now, I still want to be able to provide those services and we've worked it in a way where I can give people, you know, price points that aren't going to break the bank form but they're still going to get the same high quality service that I'm offering to the other clients which is good, though, because those folks there's nothing that says that those folks are not going to become the tier client.
Speaker 1:I was the very small guy at one point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, and so was I. Yeah, we all start there, man. You know, I started, I didn't know anybody. Well, customer wise. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm like I remember day one I just registered with the SEC and I'm just sitting there like, okay, now what? And you know, I'm begging for the phone to ring. Now I have days where I'm begging for the phone to stop. So if you just keep your head down and do like you've done, make all the right moves and make them strategically and really think about something before you do it, if you do that, it happens a lot quicker Yep before you do it. Yes. If you do that, it happens a lot quicker yep, and. And you're gonna end up being, you know, on the other end of that where, like geez, just can I get a break?
Speaker 1:yes, yes, you know, and that's a good problem to have yeah, like the other day I didn't get to heat up my lunch till 3 45 bro, I didn't eat yesterday at all yeah, all day I drank a lot of water.
Speaker 1:My wife will get on me for that. But I'm like bro, I dream for these days Because there were days where I couldn't find a client to save my life, I know, and I had to go out and beat the streets and hunt nonstop for it. Now I'm not saying I'm just raking it in and I don't have to go out and prospect Because you have a customer base, right yeah?
Speaker 1:People are coming to us. People are calling, emailing, they're getting referrals and saying, hey, I heard, you're the team I need to work with well, I was referred to you. Yeah, remember about brian tolbert oh yeah, and I grew up with brian yep in the same neighborhood like childhood buddies all the way up yep.
Speaker 2:And I called him because we talk every now and again, because he needs referrals for stuff for his real estate and and I just needed one one day for the first video shoot. Yep, in fact it was that complete uh exterior renovation that we did Chesterfield siding windows, porches, gutters, shutters, all of it yep and yeah, I called him up and I said you know anybody that does something like that and he goes. You need to call Sam.
Speaker 1:He's like, call my boy Sam and he sent me your contact yep, that's how I got in touch with you, so it's a referral and I didn't wait 72 hours to get back to you. No, I was right. I think you answered actually.
Speaker 2:Yep, or did I text? No, I texted you, yep, and you got right back to me, though, and I remember you did, and if I ever forget that you did, I'll still know that you did because I did business with you. Yep, because if you'd waited, that's one thing I do when it's business to business and I need a. I'm in business hours right now, so I'm going to give it like an hour Just touch base. Hey, I'm busy. I'll get back with you when I'm done. Yep, anything. Yep. If I don't hear anything, I'm moving on. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:I think that's a mentality a lot of people have is like when the times are good, they're good, and when they're bad, they're bad. The signs I know my slow time of the year Me too Come November and December. Marketing is not top of mind. No, that's why I have regularly paying clients like recurring accounts, where I know it's going to get me through those winter months. But then I know my best months are the first quarter of every year. Everybody's making New Year's resolutions.
Speaker 2:They're best months, or the first quarter of every year because everybody's making new year's resolutions. They're like all right, I'm taking my business to the next level. I need to focus on my marketing piece. You may have a blue ocean sitting right in front of you, though. Hit me off-season marketing, because the competition shuts it down and rolls it up into the garage and waits till the weather warms up that is very true.
Speaker 1:If you got a guy like me out there during that time.
Speaker 2:Well, it's a ghost town. Everybody's's not working Yep, I'm working. Who needs siding? Yep. Who needs a roof? Yep, you know that could be a blue ocean right there.
Speaker 1:We go after. I try to focus on live events during the holiday season.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because there's so many.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm like you know whether it's nonprofit galas going on or you know they're having big team company parties and things like that.
Speaker 1:And I'm like you can use this as a recruitment tool to show people when they come work here. Hey, this is the type of environment we have. We don't just work everybody to the bone, we cut loose. We're doing an electric slide on the dance floor, the drinks are flowing, we're giving out awards, all that kind of stuff. As we wrap up, I want you to leave us with one tip. You would give a fairly new entrepreneur Somebody that's been in business less than two years, or they're just about to get started what's one major piece of advice you'd give them Read.
Speaker 2:That's it. Personal development books.
Speaker 1:Yes, read. Yeah, don't be reading Harry Potter. No, no.
Speaker 2:Winnie the Pooh is not going to get you there, yeah, no, no, winnie the. Pooh is not going to get you there. Yeah, no, no.
Speaker 1:Give me one of your, as a newer entrepreneur, what's typically a book that you would recommend to a newer entrepreneur how to Work.
Speaker 2:Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie Classic. That is the number one book. If I only had to choose one book to read for the rest of my life besides the Bible, it would be that.
Speaker 1:Yep On that note too. A lot of people fail to realize all the success principles are in the Bible.
Speaker 3:They're in the Bible, and let me say this too because I'd be remiss if I didn't.
Speaker 2:I am a man of very deep faith. I don't go around talking about it a lot because I think a lot of people do that.
Speaker 2:It tends to put people off, but I'm a man of very deep faith. I very much believe in my Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. Amen. And I would not be here and be where I am without him. Yep, the number of times in my life that I look back thinking I should have been dead just reinforces the fact to me that he has a greater plan. Yep, he has me here for a reason and he needs me for something Absolutely a greater plan. He has me here for a reason and he needs me for something, and right now I know I'm where he wants me to be. But I do use my opportunity to kind of minister to people when they're hurting, when I meet them, because when I tell you I get to know these people, they cry a lot sometimes.
Speaker 1:You become a therapist, the pastor. You learn everything. I get on a deep level with these people and they'll let me because I want to know you.
Speaker 2:I really love people. I want to know you. You're God's child. Why wouldn't I want to know you? You're my brother. I need to know you. God says I'm supposed to love you, so if I love you, I'm going to know you. To me, I think, above all else, really, I'm going to back up and say the read part is second to this, it's second to God, because I'm just telling you, man, I'm not going to start preaching, but I could start crying, telling you how amazing God has been. His son, jesus Christ, truly paid the price for our sins, and you know the fact that it says that anybody that believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
Speaker 2:Yep, it's like you died on that cross. For me, For me, for me. Really. It just blows my mind. That makes me cry. So I'm never going to do anything. Now I'm going to make mistakes. Oh yeah, you know, I was telling you about the little relationship thing I had going on today Yep.
Speaker 2:I kind of just. You know, we all have this bonehead. No, a thousand percent. I've been having like a bonehead 24 hours. I got a lot of you know making up to do. But the way I look at it is Jesus did that for me and loved me enough to take all of that pain and all of that suffering so that I could be with him in heaven one day. Yep.
Speaker 2:That's why he did it, because he wanted you in heaven with him. If he gave me that much and he gives us so much grace that all of our sins are forgiven, why can't I forgive her? Yep, now, she didn't do anything wrong, I did, but I expect the same grace grace because one day she's going to, she's going to need it too, yep, and so I know I'm I'm kind of preaching, but I just want to say that home view builders is a Christ centered first company.
Speaker 2:We're not going to come out and preach to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You don't have to worry about us handing you. Let me bless these shingles.
Speaker 1:It's not that like you wouldn't even know unless you bring it up.
Speaker 2:I don't bring it up much, I just drop little seeds. I don't talk like this Unless they do. And buddy, we've had some church and some kitchens before. Yeah, it's all about. But again that also goes back to the relationships forging that, with the customer really becoming their friend. And even in some cases I've been called family Nice, but I think as all, being children of God, we are already family. Why don't we just act like it?
Speaker 1:Yep man, I love that Couldn't end it on a better note. If people want to reach out to you, they want to talk to you, they want to learn about your services, where can they go to find?
Speaker 2:you Humvee Builders on Facebook. We have a Homeview Builders page. See all of our work, all of our information, going back to the day we started, august 3rd 2017. We have homeviewbuilderscom is our website. Then, of course, my personal Facebook page, justin Rubel. On Facebook, anybody's more than welcome and you know other than that word of mouth.
Speaker 1:Good stuff. I love it. Well, man, it's been an awesome conversation. Appreciate you coming on today, buddy, yes sir. And we will see you guys on the next episode. Are you an aspiring entrepreneur? Our one-on-one coaching tailor strategies to your unique business goals. Dive into interactive workshops fostering skills essential for success. Looking for an inspirational speaker for your next event? Book Mr Prenuer to elevate your gathering. Visit wwwthemistaprenuercom to learn more and embark on your path to entrepreneurial success. Mr Prenuer, empowering your entrepreneurial spirit.