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Million Dollar Electrician - Sale to Scale For Home Service Pros
S3 EP03 Turning NEC Fear into Focus and Trade Success with Ruben Young
10 years in the trade. Still not certified. Not because of skills but because of fear.
In this episode, we sit down with Ruben Young, Host of The Young Electrician Podcast, to unpack why thousands of electricians delay getting certified and how that fear is costing them everything from income to confidence.
Raised on the streets of LA, Ruben didn’t get certified until year 10. Not because he lacked skill, but because of one thing most electricians don’t talk about: Confidence.
This isn’t just a tips and tricks episode. It’s a real-deal story of fighting through limiting beliefs, addiction, jail time, and coming out on the other side to help others escape the same mental traps. Ruben’s now helping electricians walk out of fear and into their certification with confidence by walking with them.
💡 What You’ll Learn:
- Why so many 10+ year electricians still aren’t certified (and what that’s really costing them)
- How to study without overwhelm (and how 15 minutes can change your future)
- The one habit that fixes your life more than any study guide
- Why discipline in one area of life always leaks into the rest
Whether you're 2 years in or 20, if you’ve ever said “I’ll get to it later,” this episode is for you!
⚡️Featured Guest:
Ruben Young, Host of The Young Electrician Podcast
For Electricians trying to pass the Journeyman exam, C10 exam or just grow in their field. I hope to provide a place to help electricians of all levels grow into their full potential, both in mindset and knowledge.
http://www.youtube.com/@theyoungelectrician
https://www.instagram.com/the_youngelectrician
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⚡️Jump into the Million Dollar Electrician Community and connect with real business-minded sparkies!
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You know, we live in a culture that I can give a rip. Nobody cares about anybody else. We like to pretend, we like to make our little posts or whatever. Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care. And I think um people are what make the difference. Somebody's gonna say something to you, somebody's gonna write something, somebody's gonna mention something, and that is going to change the course of somebody's life. When I was younger, I never thought I'd own a car. I never thought I had I was gonna sell drugs. You know, if I drove a car, it's because I stole it. That's what I thought I could do in life. Decide what you want to do in your future. What kind of life do you want? Don't limit yourself. Get rid of those cats. It doesn't matter. If you fail, that's a different thing. At least you tried, at least you learned something, at least you moved ahead.
SPEAKER_04:Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Million Dollar Electrician Podcast, where we help home service pros like you supercharge your business and spark up those sales.
SPEAKER_01:I'm Joseph Witani, and together with my co-host Clay New Meyer, we're here to share the secrets that have helped electricians sell over a million dollars in a single service band.
SPEAKER_03:Now it's time for sales. It's time for sale. It's time to become a million-dollar electrician.
SPEAKER_04:Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back. Season three of the Million Dollar Electrician Podcast, and today's a super special episode. Our podcast producer Tony did something incredible. One day at a team meeting, she brought up this list of the top podcasters for electricians on the planet. And our guest today, Ruben Young, was one of them with the Young Electrician Podcast. Welcome, Ruben.
SPEAKER_00:What's up, guys? Thank you guys for having me.
SPEAKER_04:Such a pleasure, man. Welcome back for you. Yeah, Ruben's done something pretty remarkable and a little bit different than what we do here. Ruben's really focused on some of the pains that he felt in becoming an electrician and becoming a contractor. And we wanted to deep dive on that and everything in between today. I imagine there's going to be some rough around the edges, blue-collar chat. We're probably going to dive deep into some topics that many of us are familiar with. Some of us won't be. If it makes you uncomfortable, I apologize in advance. But I promise a ton of great takeaways from these chats. Ruben, tell me about why you decided to go on this movement, brother.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, so the reason why I started the podcast, the YouTube channel, and just everything I'm doing with trying to help electricians get certified and move up in their career is that here in California, you get certified after you do four years in the trade. So you do 8,000 hours, get your general certification, move on with your life. I didn't get certified until my 10th year. And the only reason is because of my lack of confidence. You know, I would give excuses, you know, it's kind of expensive to take courses, I don't have the time, right? You know, I you don't really need it because I'm already like in a forming position. But the reality was I was just intimidated. And uh over the years I noticed that you work on the field and you learn to install stuff and you learn a bit of code, but um, it's not really encouraged to study the NEC. So by the time I got to the point where I was supposed to take the exam, I was so intimidated by the NEC that I just shied away from it. And I noticed that a lot of the guys that I worked with, uh journey, uh not journeymen, but uh foreman, lead men, great electricians, I'm talking about 10, 20 years in the trade, weren't certified. And a lot of them weren't getting paid what they needed to get paid. And we were perpetuating this uh this uh this idea of not needing to be certified, but in reality we're just intimidated because you know we can install stuff, but we can't, we don't know how to navigate the code book. And that's a ton of electricians, I think, all around, especially here in California. And um I didn't know anything, I'll I'll make it, I'll try to shorten this up, but I didn't even know how to fill out the paperwork to become a like to take the exam. So that's where it started. I had to scour the internet, figure it out, go to multiple social security offices trying to get my work history. And then I realized, like, man, like nothing is on the internet telling somebody how to get certified, how to fill out their paperwork, how to get their hours, what can you apply into? Do you need schooling? Do you not need schooling? Uh, what kind of schooling do you need? How much schooling do you need? How many work hours do you need? So I was like, screw it. I'm just gonna put together a couple YouTube videos doing that. And it kind of started there, showing people how to get how to uh apply for the exam. And then it moved into trying to just build up people's confidence so that they can take the exam.
SPEAKER_04:So that's a good answer. Is this something that it that is a problem outside of California too?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so I'm in New York and I can tell you that a lot of times you'll find people in your very similar situation where they justify to themselves why they don't need it. And as a result, they end up being stuck in where they're at until they realize they can't do anything else and they have to get through the glass ceiling. And then people will start pushing for it. You'll either have really two directions. Some people are like, I want to become a master so I can start my business. And as a direct result, it's well, then I need to do these steps. But unless you're saying I'm going to direct my own company, there's a lot of people who are like, Well, I don't need the certification. I'm not going to run my own company anyway. I don't need the license. I'm going to work for someone. And then they go with the logic of, well, I'll go right to work rather than go to college and then to work.
SPEAKER_00:Do you do you have to go to college or what is what is the what is the process to become an electrician? And is there a journeyman certification in New York, or is it just a master's and a what does that look like?
SPEAKER_02:So um I went directly for my master's, and in order to do so, in order to get your license in New York, you need a couple different requirements. At the time, it was either you needed to prove 11 years of WA2 experience, which already is a lot, because for someone who's off the books or someone who's that's a lot to prove, right? And otherwise, the other way you can do it is you can get two years of trade school and then two years of college, and that also applies, and then the that subtracts from that 11. So that you only need you know a different amount. So that's the route I took. I ended up going to trade school, then went to college to get my associates, and then from there, you know, I already been working since I was 14, so I had some W-2 experience. That way I was able to get my license to like think 23 or 24. Yeah, right around there.
SPEAKER_00:Wow, working since you're 14, that's a whole nother topic. That was good.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and in BC, of course, I'm north of the border, and every province, they're not states here, they're provinces, but they're all a bit different too. Although I think our trade authority has done pretty decent at at least letting you know what the steps are. Um, for us, it was four years of uh theoretical education. You had to do 10 weeks every year, so 40 weeks in total to become a journeyman, uh, red seal status, they call it here. And then to become to become the master electrician, at least in BC, when I took it, you needed 1,500 journeyman hours on top of that.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_04:And then each level of apprenticeship, I think you had to have 1,500, 2,000 hours as well. So by time you're done, you had to have the 10,000 hours basically to become a contractor. But something you said, Ruben, I thought was interesting in our in our chat uh before the interview here is that did you did you tell me the contractor's test was actually easier than than your journeyman's test for you guys?
SPEAKER_00:The contractor's test in California is a joke. I'm just gonna, it's just a joke. It's not words. Wow. Um it's in my opinion, I think if you have a journeyman license, you shouldn't even have to take the trade side because it's written kind of like um it's written like a homeowner was gonna do it, like somebody who worked on their home. Because there's a section in the application where if you like buy and sell your own houses or you've worked on your own home for like, you know, the equivalence of four years or something like that, 8,000 hours, you could become a contractor, which is kind of cool, whatever. I you know, it's a good way in. But taking the exam, like some people do fail it because it's uh it's not it's not based out of the NEC really. It's I don't know, it's just worded in such a weird way, like like a you were explaining to a homeowner, and um it doesn't add any value to if you could pass the electrical side of that, it adds no value to how you can install or perform your work. The only side that is beneficial, I think, is the business and law side, because there's two exams here. And um yeah, so so it's it's one I I passed it like in I think both tests in like 40 minutes each. And I still had like three hours left or something, and I was like, I'm leaving. If I failed, I don't I can't sit here. This is boring. But yeah, I think I think it's a joke, but I'm not gonna get on that soapbox.
SPEAKER_02:When anytime you finish a test fast, I don't know if you experience it, but I know like if I'm given three hours and I finish it in 40 minutes, my first thought is, oh, I messed something up, everyone's still working. Did you like go through that mindset when it was happening?
SPEAKER_00:I went through the exam three times, both of them. All the questions, and I'm like, dude, like if I got this wrong, then I I just I don't know what I'm talking about. I just need to go back and study again. And I was the the journeyman exam, though, it's four hours out here. And uh I finished that one from after doing like schooling and stuff in about three hours. So I had an hour left, and I used every single minute of that hour to try to make sure I passed it. But the contractor's exam, it was just such a it was such an easy exam. And some of the questions, it's like, I don't know if I got that right, because you asked me in such a weird way that, you know, there's no no amount of time's gonna of reading this question is gonna make me realize if I got it right or not. It's just such a weird phrasing.
SPEAKER_04:I'm with you there. Yeah. Yeah. Our teacher, uh, we had a great fourth year teacher that prepared us for our journeyman's exam. I think it was four hours too, I believe, that we had to write it. Um, but he broke it down into three three different types of questions. I don't know if you guys experienced this too. He said there's noems, there's find thems, and there's solve them. And as a strategy, he just taught us rip through the entire test and answer all the know-ems because you know you got those and put a check beside it because you're gonna do a count on that later. Then go to the findems because if you can find it, then you're pretty confident that that thing is right. Then he said, then do the solve them. So actually, when I did my exam, I might not have a lot of fans for this, but there was an apartment calc that I literally just went, uh, BCA, BCA. I answered about five questions on it because I already knew I passed the test from the knowums and the solve them, or at least noems and the find them. Yeah. Have you guys heard of a strategy like that, or did you follow something similar?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I hear that. It's like they say you should go through the exam like three times, doing kind of that same process. I didn't do that because the way my mind works, but I um but yeah, I I think that's a good that is a good method.
SPEAKER_04:Awesome. So you've got a following from all over the place, not just California. That there's guys tuning in to are you on YouTube too, Ruben?
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah, yeah. Yeah, I got some.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, Instagram, Look, TikTok, YouTube. I'm on the TikTok.
SPEAKER_00:Uh, that's a good question. I've no I should know that since I have a podcast. I have no clue. It's uh definitely in the United States, definitely in America, somewhere around there, right? North, South. Um, I'm not sure. Definitely, definitely in the United States. Um, a lot of the guys that reach out to me are either in Texas or in California, and I think it's because maybe the exams are really similar. That's what I'm kind of picking up on. Uh so people that reach out to me, mostly California and Texas.
SPEAKER_04:Awesome, man. That's really good. Well, I'm glad that you get to help so many people. And so your focus is uh really getting people through that same anxiety that you faced and trying to get them through this test and get their uh legitimate licensing. Is that fair?
SPEAKER_00:Yep. Yep. Mostly uh mostly working on people's confidence in it, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I was just gonna say, what do you think is the biggest challenge that you encounter when you're helping people with this?
SPEAKER_00:Uh there just people's limiting beliefs, they're excuses. We, you know, I'm so glad that I went through what I went through in my in my life in many different areas because I I I understand what their thought process is, so I could kind of walk with them out of it. Um, but it it is working through those those limiting beliefs. I don't have time, I don't have the money, I don't, you know, I don't, I'm not smart enough. And it's like none of these things are true. None of the none of these things are true. Like you you you are smarter. You can be smart enough, you can learn how to study. Uh, you can make the time, you can budget and save the money. You know, you can do these things, but working through those limiting beliefs, I think, is a the biggest issue.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, I was simply saying I agree with you 100% because it's often that the thing that holds someone back isn't their physical skills or their ability of doing the thing. It's the fact that they don't believe they can do the thing and therefore they don't even start. So I feel like the coolest thing you're doing right now is you're almost you're the ignition. You're the spark that allows the first piston to turn. And I think that's really, really cool.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, thank you.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, mechanic analogy. Bringing in mechanics today, all right. I know nothing about it. When someone tells yeah, when someone tells you Ruben they don't have time, then how do you answer to that? You just say you do, or you just call their bluff? What do you do to help them?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, call them that excuse. Um I like to let people answer their own questions, man. I because uh I heard it. Well, I was I took a life coaching course and uh because I wanted to know how to like work with people. And uh one of the things the guy said that I think was really powerful is that um questions are more powerful than answers. If I ask you a question and you and I could lead you to an answer, that's gonna be way more impactful in your life because you came to that conclusion than if I just told you what to do. So what I do is I I talk to them about their schedule. I got a guy like that right now. He's uh he's working 10 hour days, he got three kids. Uh he's working sometimes nights, sometimes days. I was like, I would have quit, but I'm not, you know, I would have left. But um uh, you know, so I asked him, I said, what would some possible solutions be for you in your situation, right? Because obviously it's just a big, huge wall for him, and and he can't get past it, right? And I think we get trapped in our minds like that sometimes. So having somebody on the outside ask you, like, well, what are some of the possible solutions? And he was like, Well, I was thinking that that's what we think about a lot of things that we're not gonna do or we don't do, but he says, I was thinking about uh asking my boss uh just for a 40-hour work week and a set schedule so I could study at night. And I said, Okay, cool. When are you gonna do that? And he's like, uh I guess I can do it on Friday. I said, okay, cool, I'm gonna mark that down. We're gonna do that on Friday. Um, but I I try to walk them through because I don't know your life, I don't know where you're at. I have solutions that will work for me, but I don't have solutions that will work for you. So what I try to do is I try to make it really personal to where you it is something that will work for you, if that if that makes sense. So if somebody says, I don't have time, I'll be like, oh well, hey, let's look at your schedule. Like, let's look at your last week. What times do you think you could have made? Or what what changes can you have made to get 15 minutes in for two days a week? I start them off really slow too. I don't say, hey, you gotta study an hour a day, five days a week. It's like, hey man, can you do 15 minutes? Because uh one thing I came to realize is like if you go to the gym for uh let's say you don't work out, you got a little scrawny arms and stuff, uh, you go to the gyms for uh, you know, 30 minutes, right? You're just lifting weights for 30 minutes, two days a week. It doesn't seem like much, you're not a bodybuilder, you're not winning any competitions, but after a few weeks, you're gonna see your improvement. If you sit down for 15 minutes a day for two days, three days a week, and you start going to the NEC and just answering prep questions, some pre-questions offline, um, you're going to see improvement and you're going to build your confidence in that. And that's really what I try to work with with these guys.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it's massive. That compounding returns, right? Just a little bit every day. You know, the other thing that's interesting that you said, and I've found is especially with the gym thing, such a great example. Even if you won't commit to 45, 30 minutes, usually if you get through the first five, you're like, uh, well, I'm here. So I'll do the full work anyway. And I think the same would happen with the code. Sure. Maybe it's just 15 minutes booked. But if you're really getting into it and you're in a role, do you stop there? Or now that you're in it, do you keep going?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah, you keep going. That's the thing. I'm tricking them into it. Like I did that like 30 minutes, I'm gonna sit down after work and study. And when you're not when you're not finding the answers, you're discouraged, right? So in the beginning, you're not gonna want to sit there for another 30 minutes or whatever. But after you start finding answers, you get a little confident. It's like, hey, like I'm I'm pretty smart. Uh that that 15 minutes turns to 30, turns into 45, turns into hour, turns into two hours. And yeah, just like you're saying, my wife has this thing where she puts on uh gym clothes because then it'll like, even if she's not gonna go to the gym, it will put her in the mindset of going to the gym. And the next thing you know, we're going to the gym. So it works. You just got you got to do something to get that set you up to put you in motion. And sometimes it's just showing up, opening up the code book.
SPEAKER_02:You know, I think the really cool part about that is almost as if you're convincing yourself to establish a habit without realizing you're doing it. Because if you do something long enough, it almost feels uncomfortable to do. So, like, as an example, um, Friday will mark 19 weeks of working out five days a week in the morning. And I love that because not because of anything really crazy, but it's just I feel uncomfortable not doing it now. When originally first started, I was like, this is ridiculous. I'm up at five, I was like, it's I'm tired. But now I'm like, if I didn't get it in in the morning, I'm like, my whole day feels off. So I can only imagine if someone's practicing their code and they're like, this feels super uncomfortable, I don't want to do it. Three, four, five, six, seven weeks in, they're like, it's time to study. Where are we going? This is what time it is now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And it builds a structure for the rest of your life. Because if you don't have the discipline to sit down and study and take an exam that you're supposed to for your job, what other areas of your life are you cutting corners in and you know not showing up for it? And it's like, you know, it's kind of that Jordan Peterson thing of making your bed. It's like you do one thing. Just start doing one thing. And then it's if you look at somebody that starts working on their health, then next thing you know they're working on their finances. And next thing you know they're working on the way that they dress. And it's like start start starting to take discipline in one area, it's gonna it's gonna affect your whole life. And if you're undisciplined in in you know the main areas of your life, it's gonna in fact affect the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_02:I have a question for you, if you don't mind. What are your thoughts when it comes to actually tracking your your progress, like physically like writing down the amount of time you put into something? Because my personal belief is that what gets measured gets managed. So if you were to say, like, I want to do 15 minutes a day, do you have like almost like a checklist where you click off on it, where like I did it, I did it, I did it, or you start logging the time you do it so you can see the progress? Is that anything that you you support?
SPEAKER_00:Uh I have it, but I will now. That sounds really good. Thank you. And put that in my course. Um so what I do is I meet with the guys every week and we talk, the guys that I track with. And um I have them decide. I have this little PDF printout that I give all the guys that that work with me. And what that does is they they decide what they're studying, when they're studying, where they're studying, and uh, and how long they're studying. Um, so that they know on Wednesdays at you know 3 p.m. once I'm home, I'm sitting down for 30 minutes to study. And so they actually, they're they're pre-deciding when they're going to do it. So they could remove all the distractions out of the way. They have they have time to plan around it. And so by the end of the week, you know, they'll be like, yeah, I was able to do it, or I wasn't able to hit it. And um, that's pretty much what I'm there. I should make some sort of a checklist where they could, that'll be kind of you see it, that'll be good. But that's what I what I've been doing so far.
SPEAKER_04:Awesome. I love that. You have uh uh sort of a signature method, a game plan, a game changing plan for studying. Are you willing to share a bit about that, Ruben, on this podcast?
SPEAKER_00:Uh they gotta pay for that, and I'm just playing. Yeah, I'll share that. Um so that's uh behind the paywall. Uh I'm gonna I'm gonna blank out every fifth word. Uh that no, I'm just playing. Um so yeah, it's basically what I was saying. So it it's it's a mixture of what I had to do to get certified, and what um what uh is written in the Atomic Habits uh book. So it is this pre-planning. I remember when I read the Atomic Habit, I was like, man, I wish I had this like four years ago. I wish I had this book when I was gonna get certified. Um But it is it basically is you deciding one main thing is you're picking your test date. I'll just tell you what's on it, dude. You're picking your test date. You you guys are like, oh, I'm gonna sign up for uh the I'm gonna sign up for a prep course. I'm like, cool, when's your date? And he's like, I don't have a date. I'm like, oh, you know, when are you gonna pick a date? He's like, well, I haven't sent in the paperwork yet. It's like, well, okay, you're bit a card above uh before the horse in this one, buddy. Like, you know, sign up for the course. Do the first thing first because taking a I mean sign up for the exam, because taking a course isn't gonna help you. Taking a course, you're gonna forget everything. Sign up for the exam. So at the top, it's uh when's your test date? Right after that, it is um uh what are you gonna study? Don't just send a test date. What are you gonna study? Is it do you have a prep book you want to go through? Do you have a course you want to take? What is what do you decide what you're gonna do? Don't don't just have these big ideas and hope some somebody's gonna come and do them for you, or they're just gonna appear out of nowhere. Decide what you're gonna do. And then it's working through the kind of the details. Okay, so I'm gonna study for the next three months, you know, up until my test date. All right, what day are you gonna study? Pick a couple of days, two, three days out of the week. What time of the day are you gonna study? Right? Um, is it gonna be in the morning before work? Is it gonna be after work? Where are you gonna study at? I'm gonna study at home. Okay, you get home and then you know, uh, you forgot you didn't get groceries or the kids are going crazy. Um, whatever might be happening in your house. I can't study at home. So I want people to really think through where are you gonna study? Are you gonna I'm gonna study at lunch? Okay, all the guys want to come and show you memes in your car and you can't talk, or your boss is calling you, right? Like, okay, so okay, so it's not your car. Where are you gonna study? Is it a coffee shop? Is it a library? Is it your living room? Be specific. Where are you gonna study? And then grab your study material and make sure it's there. I would come home, I'm not even joking, I would come home ready to study on the days of the study for my journaling exam. And I would not, it'd be like five seconds of looking around and not seeing my prep book. Eh, I'll study tomorrow. I'll study later. And just give up like that. So it's like set yourself up to succeed. Put your study, put all your stuff there. Pre-prepare, prepare to pass this exam. Um, and then I have a section on obstacles. It's like, okay, what are some of the obstacles that are gonna be in your way? Because I really want them to take a couple of weeks, maybe two, three weeks of trying this out and really refining, because you you're not gonna know. I'm gonna study at my dining room table and you can't. I'm gonna study at work. You can't. So I want people to work through this and figure out where I can study and really start taking ownership of their lives. Oh, I can't study because it's crazy at my house. Okay, well, figure it out. Where are you gonna study? You know? Um, and then uh I got one for like a couple weeks in where they fill out, and it's kind of like, okay, well, how did that go? You know? Um, were you able to study? What were some of the what are some of the things you didn't plan for that got in your way? And it's really just a worksheet to make you think.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, no, I love this. Super proactive. In fact, it reminds me of something a journeyman once told me, which was uh the six Ps. Proper preparation prevents piss poor performance. Yep. And that was drilled into our heads when we were learning the trade out there in the field, right? So it sounds like you're taking those similar skill sets to achieve great work and putting that great work skill set into your studying, into yourself, yeah, which is so important. And I just don't think people spend enough time on this. So are you seeing any parallels to our own training and how people succeed or the best successes they're born here? It reminds me very much the same things. We're deciding it's price change day. We're deciding it's time to present options every time. We're deciding I'm gonna collect a 50% deposit going forward because I'm tired of fighting for cash and capital. These people that make these decisions have the outcomes, or at least here's what I always say, and I love this, and I'll say it till the cows come home. At least you'll have a result. Yep. It might not be everything you hoped for, but at least you'll know, like you said. Maybe you learn that hey, at the dining room table isn't gonna work because that's where the birds hang out in the cage and the damn things won't shut up when I'm setting it.
SPEAKER_05:Yep.
SPEAKER_04:My daughter has birds, that's why that's relevant. Sorry, guys, to bring birds into this, but super, super important strategies. I appreciate you sharing that, man.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:You mentioned a bit of a club. Um, it's I don't think it's a course, but you have sort of a group of people that meet and you work at as a group, Ruben. Is that right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so it's a it's a study group. I uh I I'm not somebody who teaches journeyman prep because I think that information is out there. Maybe one day, I don't know, when I when I uh rise to the ranks, but I don't think people need a need another journeyman prep course. I I think people need um more of camaraderie with other people and somebody working side by side with them. Because if you're like if you're ready to go, like if you're you're you're a gung ho and you know you're gonna get certified, um, go go take an go go take a prep course. You're good. Don't no you don't need you don't need me. Go take a prep course, it's not that hard. But for all the guys that are slipping through the cracks, that kind of they need that motivation, they need that push, they need that somebody, they're not gonna do it, but if somebody does it with them to start walking with them, uh kind of like the training wheels, that's what it's for. So it's a journeyman prep group where we meet together one hour a week and we go through prep questions. I teach a breakdown of the NEC. I teach different ways to find answers, and and you know, we work through formulas together and stuff. But really, it is to come together and work through answers, and then I can explain to them, you know, why they found the answer, why they didn't find the answer, to give them give them that confidence in themselves that that it's not impossible to navigate this code book.
SPEAKER_04:That's awesome. So, like the accountability piece, real strength there. Ruben, I think we talked a bit about this before the interview. I want I want you to help clear this up for me. I I was like this at one point, Joe. You're probably like this. Ruben, I know you were like this too. If you look at the NEC or code book, if you're Canadian CEC and you just see alphabet soup, what do you say to that person that just doesn't freaking get? You know, you understand what it's supposed to be, but you just don't see it.
SPEAKER_00:Um well, first man, I I blame our industries for uh kind of the habits in our industries for that. If you work five, 10, 15 years in the trade and you can't navigate the code book, that's not your fault necessarily. Because I mean, you get to a job site and somebody just tells you, you know, um, you know, this is how you install conduit, this is a strapping, this is how you know far down you dig to put your conduit in this location. Uh but second, I I start them off at the beginning, man. What is DNE C? It's it's uh it is it is a uh introduction or table of contents, introduction, uh nine chapters or definition. Nine chapter, it's basically nine chapters, and then the annex, and then the and then the um uh table of context and then the annex, I'm messing that up. But it's basically nine chapters. I start them off there table of contents, um annex at the bottom, and you got nine chapters, and I focus on that. So, what we look for when I'm working with someone like that, look, it's not that big when you look at it that it's just nine chapters. If you realize that it's just nine chapters, and each chapter is specific to something, and then we can work from there. So whenever we're answering questions with the table of contents or the uh subject indexing, I'm having them not just and I don't want I don't want to just see that you can you can show your work on subject indexing. What chapter is that in? I want to know what chapter that's in. Why? Because that's gonna familiarize you with the chapters. And you're gonna you're gonna know, like, oh, that's in uh wiring methods and material. I know that. What that what's that gonna do? That's gonna solidify in your mind the structure of the NEC of these nine chapters. I try to make it as simple as possible for them because if when I took the exam, I didn't even know the table of contents was there. I'm gonna be honest, this is how I'm the guy that like you have to put me in the ring and I need to get punched a few times before I realize I'm gonna listen to you why I should dodge. Yep. I'm I'm serious, dude. Like, I I think it's for my upbringing, dude. I dropped out of high school and you know, did all kinds of other stuff and I got my GED in prison. And I, you know, 22 years old getting into the trade, I felt like I was uh I was behind in life in every single area of my life. Felt like everybody else was ahead of me. So I would skip steps to, you know, as fast as I could to catch up. And the same thing with getting certified. Like I, okay, subject indexing, crack that book open, go to the back, look for the answer. And it wasn't until I was talking to Sergio Cortez from Surge Electrical Training that he was like, oh dude, like table of contents. And I was like, wait, what? And I was like, I didn't even know these pages existed. So like I did it a hard way, you know, getting certified. But if we see just the basic structure from the table of contents, these nine chapters, annex, tables, definitions, and we just break it down from there, it's no longer alphabet.
SPEAKER_02:So I got a question for you, if you don't mind. So what are your thoughts on physically tabbing it out? And what I mean by that is um something I found was really, really helpful for me was you can actually buy NEC tabs where you can look for specific things and you can literally insert it into the page and be like, this one is about generators, this one is about grounding and bonding, this one is about like it gives you different levels, but almost like the subsections of them. So your NEC code book looks like it's completely tabbed out. But the reason I thought that was so helpful was because at least I knew what I was looking for and I started getting familiar with where it was. What are your thoughts on using those?
SPEAKER_00:That's exactly what I did, and that's what I like to tell people to do. But I think it's person by person because for one person, the way their mind works is like for me, and I think you, you're like, man, I know exactly kind of how deep in the code book the fiction is because I'm so used to the tab. But for somebody else, the way their mind works is that uh that tab just becomes a handicap for them. And you know, all of our minds work different. For for somebody's mind, that can't that that's just gonna make them struggle on the test because they're not thinking in the same uh perspective that we are. They're thinking like, man, I don't have my tabs. It's in you know I don't know where it in these things are for them. It's better to not have the tabs. So I I guess it's like person by person.
SPEAKER_02:Fair enough. I was just curious because I think it definitely helped me. And I didn't help me too. Something that helps your clients as well.
SPEAKER_04:Here they didn't let us have tabs, they give us a fresh code book for the exam.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, they give us that too for study purposes. They they give us fresh study. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:You mentioned uh doing the GED in prison and kind of figuring things out the hard way first. Yeah. Let's talk about that for a minute because I know a lot of our listeners shared that as well as other guests. I mean, um, dark, dark pasts and and bright futures, man. That's uh that's a common trend here in our trade and in the service industry. So what what do you think uh had you on the wrong path and what changed for you, Ruben? I'm always so curious that kind of threw you in this direction or want to now help people uh avoid that kind of shit.
SPEAKER_00:I think I could, I could, you know, 20 uh hindsight's 2020. I think I could look back at my life and kind of figure a couple of things out. And you know, my my I think for starters, my dad passed away when I was six, right? He was in prison before that. He was out for like a year, then he passed away. And I think during the time where I probably needed some deep therapy, some deep therapy, it was just uh life kind of just continued as it was. And, you know, I was just kind of left with these these heavy problems, um, these adult problems that I was trying to figure out while trying to go into go to school and socialize and do stuff like that. So uh I kind of just gave up on stuff. And by the time I was 11, 12, I just started smoking weed, doing coke, and just thug life in it in LA. Um and I I literally had the mentality that I wasn't gonna most likely live to be 18. I mean, I'm getting shot at, I'm getting jumped, where some crazy stuff is happening. And uh I uh I moved to Orange County when I was 16. Right right at the crux of my madness. And um I felt kind of some relief. I lived with my aunt, got my first job, dropped out of dropped out of school again because I was like, shoot this, I gotta work, and uh got my first job. And I think that started to change my perspective. But um I ended up you know getting on some heavier drugs while I was out there because you know, I mean, even while doing good, you know, like if you don't have the proper structure, you could do good for a little while, but you're it's not gonna last because you don't know why you're doing good. You don't have the proper foundation to do good. So I didn't have those foundational things. I just had the outward appearance of doing well for a little while. Uh end up going to prison and um from there ended up becoming a Christian. Not necessarily in prison. I don't want to get into the whole story because it is a long story, but being struggled on drugs, really just wanting to clean my life up, about 17 years old, just bunch of drugs. And uh wanted to clean my life up. Uh somebody gave me a Bible, some people evangelized to me, and I would try to read it, but I couldn't understand it. And I remember just thinking, like, all right, God, like if you're real, let me go to jail, but don't let me go for longer than like six months to a year, right? I'm not crazy six months to a year. Um, because like I want to get sober and I want to see if I could read this book and I want to see if you're real. And then um I ended up going to jail and was facing nine years and like four strikes, so it wasn't really what I asked for. But um, I ended up getting a plea bargain the first time I was in and ended up doing nine months, which was right in the middle of that six months to a year. So, you know, thanks me to God. After that, I know, crazy. So yeah, I think he was answering. But a lot of crazy stuff happened and then uh ended up messing up again and going back to prison. I didn't learn my lesson, and that's really what kind of changed my life. Like I met a lot of guys in there that really wanted to pour into my life. I really hunkered down on my education, my self-development, reading the Bible. And it's a weird thing, man. I don't know, I don't know if you guys want to leave this in here or not, but you know, I when I violated my parole from after I got out the first time, I had a joint suspension, which means if you go back to jail, if you mess up, you go back to jail for a set amount of time. And that time was supposed to be 10 years. That was it was supposed to be 10 years. Wow. Yeah. I uh yeah. So I was sitting in the jail cell a day before um I was supposed to uh get sentenced, right? And I'm laying on my bunk and I'm praying, and then yeah, you guys, I don't know if you guys want to keep this in or not, but it's just this is just what happened. It kind of set me on the course. Yeah, is you know, I was praying and I just felt like God saying, like, look, man, I can let you out if you're on a drug program tomorrow because I violated for drugs. He says, but you're not gonna know me. Because if you trust me and you want to know me, then you're gonna go to prison tomorrow. And uh, but I promise I'll know you, you'll know me. You know, that's basically what I it wasn't some crazy voice in the sky. That's just what I felt inside. And I was like, okay, I want that. I'm tired of being a drug addict, I'm tired of being a loser, I'm tired of just my life. Like, you know, I can't do it on my own. So I says, all right, God, like, let's let's do it. And the next day, the judge that was supposed to be there, um, something happened and it was delayed. And then they brought another judge in that was a substitute, super cool dude. And he looked at my file, they were trying to give me like seven years, ten years, eight years. They were just going up and down with all these numbers. And then he was like, you know what, man? He's like, You don't seem like a bad guy. He's, you know, young kid. He's like, I'm gonna give you uh three years, the minimum. And uh he was like, just, you know, try to do good and stay out of trouble. And I think to myself, like, what if that first judge, like I asked God to let me out, you know, the next day. And then that first judge would have came and he would have let me out on a drug program. Because the judge told me, he's like, I could let you on a drug program. He says, but I don't do drug programs. This is the substitute judge. And he's like, I don't do drug programs, so you're gonna go to prison for three years. And uh I was I think to myself, sometimes, what if I would have been like, nah, God, I'm cool, I don't want to go to prison. I don't I don't care. And that first judge would have showed up and I would have got out. But that moment is what led me on the course of like really taking my own life seriously. Like if I have an opportunity to know God, if I have an opportunity to do what's good, then I want to I want to seize that. And it was a little bit of a journey in there, trying to figure no longer live that thug life and be a Christian, right? And I had some some weird uh stories in there that led me to really hunkering down on the new course of my life. And when I got out of prison, the first you have to go to a uh what's called a PAC meeting or a PAT meeting, I can't remember what it's called, but they give you resources for like getting your ID, getting a job, or just regular things to get back on your feet. And there was a guy there that um wasn't invited, he just he invited himself when he heard about it, and he was a recruiter for a trade school, and he wanted to give an opportunity to guys getting out of prison to become electricians. They had a lot of programs, but he was focused on electricians for people getting out of prison. And me and a couple of guys that were um super cool dudes, his name was Ryan, he worked for Intercoast College, and um me and like maybe three other guys that got out of prison at the same time all went to school together, we're in the same class, all started electrical at the same time. And um, and that's kind of where it started. And I think too, I want to say this for some of the guys that have a record or have a past that are electricians. One of the things that held me back too is that I thought that electrical was my I didn't I didn't think I had an option. X-Falon, strikes, uh not a great education. Um, I didn't think I could do anything else besides construction. So it didn't allow me to see how great of an opportunity I had as electrician. I thought this is where you put all the guys that are screw-ups and can't, you know, focus in class. Um, and I think that's what they teach in a lot of schools, like, hey man, you better get your education, or else you're gonna be, you know, cleaning, uh, you know, unclogging toilets or something, you know, doing some trade. And honestly, dude, electrical is a great trade. The trades are a great place to be. And it's you're not just an installer, you're not just uh somebody that couldn't make it in college. Like we do something great for everyone. And we're able to make a lot of money, we're able to excel. You don't have to be an installer. You could be a foreman, you could be a project manager. Like there's no limit to what you could do. I remember sitting in a foreman's meeting one day. Um, it was a not a meeting, it was a foreman course that I was taking for a big company, and thinking, like, man, like four years ago, I was in prison. I was in prison four years ago. Like, how the heck am I at this table with all these guys who probably aren't screw-ups? Everybody looks well put together. I just got off parole a year ago. Like, how the heck did I get here? So if you are, you know, you do have a past, just know like this isn't your only option, but this is a great option if you're if you're in the trades.
SPEAKER_04:No, thank you for sharing, man. Um, it's a touching story. Uh I don't talk about it very often, but uh I turned 19 in a in a youth correctional facility. I get it. Um, I didn't go back for me. Being super squirrely and pretty ADHD guy, something about, you know, even the nightly lockdown, having to go to bed at the same time, having nothing but a little radio built into the wall and a book on the shelf to read. Um, just 75 cents a day was the best you could make, despite all the chores you did. All of that to me for the time I was in was just like, my God. And when I got out, I was it was like an elastic band that had been pulled back for the entire time I was in there, just getting ready, getting ready, getting ready to launch. And I don't think I got everything right. Uh in fact, I know I didn't, but the the one thing I got right, uh uh, you know, thanks as well. Here is like I didn't go back, but that's actually I don't talk about this often, especially not in the recordings. I talk about it with Joe sometimes, but I have a recurring nightmare, maybe you get this one too. And it's that everything I've worked for happens about once a month, and I get a four-year um charge of some sort. It varies what the dream is, but it's just like sorry, cuffs are on, throwing away the key for four years. Absolutely cripples me every time I have that dream. I wake up, it's an off day or a couple days because we work so hard for this.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:But I also think that that's you know, part of the karma. And hey, I did things to deserve being put away. Um, something that's interesting about this is I'm always kind of thinking about analyzing, you know, what's the difference? What's that event? What's that one thing that could just push someone over that edge like it pushed me, or like it finally pushed you, or like it pushed Joe to succeed in your things? That's a deep question. But while we're on the topic, do you do you ever think about that? What do you think that thing is? What's that catalyst to finally being enough and just like, okay, I'm I'm for the good forevermore?
SPEAKER_00:Um my answer would be uh either God or other people. So I think God orchestrates everything. That's just it. But he gives us all opportunity. So it's um it's other people. I mean, you read a book and it changed your life, somebody wrote that. You hear a podcast and it changed your life, somebody speaking. Um, somebody stops in the street because you're some strung out teenager and they want to talk to you and give you some advice. That's that's a person. It's us. It's it's you talking to somebody that messages you, you know, you making time for somebody. Some young kid that's you know, maybe talks a little too much in his messages, and you're, you know, a little obnoxious, but you know, he's trying and he wants to know like how how do I get into the electrical trade? He still got two years of high school left. It's like taking time to talk to these people because uh you know, we live in a culture that uh couldn't give a rip. Nobody cares about anybody else. Uh, we like to pretend, we like to, you know, you know, make our little posts or whatever. Uh, but uh nobody cares, you know, because the person that cares, you you said it in our conversation the other day. Um you know, nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care. And I think um you people are what make the difference. Somebody's gonna say something to you, somebody's gonna write something, somebody's gonna mention something, and that is going to change the course of somebody's life because up until a certain point, maybe everything has been pointing them to one direction. When I was younger, I never thought I'd own a car. I never thought I had, I was gonna sell drugs, and I was, you know, if I drove a car, it's because I stole it. That was my mentality. It wasn't because I was cool. That's what I thought I could do in life. I never thought I was the kind of person that could have a job. I was never thought I was the type of person that could own a car. That was what I was taught by example from my surroundings. So somebody taking the time to talk to me or multiple people is what changed my life. And that's what I think changes people's lives.
SPEAKER_04:If that's true, then uh this matters what we're doing right here. Is there another message, something you haven't said yet, that you'd want the electricians that follow us, uh hear us if they're relating to your story or having some trouble? Uh, what would you want to tell them, Ruben?
SPEAKER_00:Um, man, decide, decide what you want to do, man. You you can uh your podcast is awesome, guys. You guys tell people how to you know start and run their service businesses, and uh that's great. Um decide what you want to do in your future, I would say to people. Like, where do you want to be in five years? It's a weird question. I always hated it. Where do you want to be in five years? But it makes sense to me now. Like, what kind of life do you want? Do you want to be a project manager manager? Don't limit yourself. Don't say, oh, I can't be a project manager. Get rid of those cats. It doesn't matter. If you fail, that's a different thing. At least you tried, at least you learned something, at least you moved ahead. What do you want to be? Do you want to be a certified journeyman? Then take the steps to be that. Start preparing. Even if it's 15 minutes a week, you sit down like uh somebody that wants to make their service industry, uh service company better. Listening to this podcast, take 15, 20 minutes a week, one day, decide what day it is. Sit down and then start researching whatever that topic was that you heard in this podcast. One day a week. Is it figuring out your sales structure? Is it uh figuring out your, you know, who your target audience is, or that really good episode you guys did with the guy on the email marketing? I have a newsletter now, so I don't know if I sent it to you guys, but it's called Plug Into the NEC. It's really hard to find, but it's on my website because I don't have a domain for that one yet. But uh, I started a newsletter because of that. I took some time and I sat down and I said, I'm gonna start this. I I like to write, I'm not the greatest at it, but I was like, I'm gonna, I this means something to me to reconnect code book with work job site experience. So at the end of your, you know, your training, you can get certified and you're not intimidated by the NEC. But take some time, 20 minutes a day, once a week, and start moving yourself forward in the direction that you want to go. And I guarantee, just like working out a couple times a week, you're gonna see improvement. And I guarantee I will challenge somebody to prove me wrong.
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely love that, man. Yeah, it brings to light um how important this is. And I think that even employers with employees that are working for you out in the field could benefit from being part of a study group, uh doing some technical training, uh, brushing up on that code, knowing their stuff. And uh I could see the value in even that for from the business side and the service side of this. So uh I want to thank you, Ruben, uh, big time for coming here. And uh would love to drop in. We'd also love for people to know how to reach out to you if they wanted to find you anywhere. Um, can you share a bit of information about the best way to find you, best way to chat with you if they're interested in any of uh your groups or services or podcasts?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I should have this stuff uh like noted somewhere. Um so the podcast is the Young Electrician Podcast. You can find it anywhere. Also, Young Electrician YouTube. Uh, I think my Instagram is the underscore young electrician. And I think my TikTok is uh the Young Electrician Pod. Just Google Young Electrician, the Young Electrician, and I'll my pretty face will pop up somewhere. Uh also if you if you if none of those things work because I don't know any of my handles or the names of any of the things I do, then uh just uh you can email me at the youngelectrician pod uh at gmail.gov.
SPEAKER_04:And we'll link you up below. Uh thank you guys so much. Joe, any further questions for Mr. Young here today?
SPEAKER_02:Not any questions, but I'd also just like to make like I'd like to thank you because a lot of times people don't recognize the impact they have on others until they're looking back at it and seeing the things that are done. And I want to say that it means a lot to me knowing that you're trying to help electricians because that's what I want to do too. I want to work with electricians because I feel like everyone just skips over us. If you're not in HVAC, you're not in plumbing, we don't matter. So from one person who loves electricians to another person who loves electricians, just thank you for what you do, man. Really appreciate you.
SPEAKER_00:Appreciate that. Appreciate that, man. Thank you guys too. I appreciate what you guys do. And I do want you guys on the podcast. Both of you guys.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:We gotta set that up with your project. You guys should set that up though, because you guys are way better at scheduling. And you guys should fill out that intake form. Your guys' intake form, very soul searching. I learned a lot about myself.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, it's deep. It's deep. We try to uh try to bridge the story too. I think that's really important, right? Um, something we talked about, or you mentioned even is that person and their message, but it's also their story and how you relate to that person, I think, is a big part of it. Because without the relation, without the story, it's not really human, is it? Um, so thanks for for being transparent and sharing the deep stuff with us, man. Uh, I think that is where a lot of change comes from, is first uh again just understanding, hey, who am I listening to right now? And how could they help from their experience? And and that's how we're helping electricians every day. So uh thank you guys again. We'll finish the recording here now and uh and uh talk to you again here soon, Ruben.
SPEAKER_02:Looking forward to it, my friend.
