S3 EP19 Electricians Using AI Will Dominate 2026 with Eddie Cruz and Edward Rivera

AI is no longer the future of electricians, it’s happening now.

In this episode of The Million Dollar Electrician, Eddie Cruz and Edward Rivera, co-owners of Ion Electrical reveal how:

• A customer found them through ChatGPT
• They use AI to improve speed, accuracy, and customer experience
• They’re adapting to solar incentive cuts without slowing down
• They landed one of the largest residential battery installs in New Hampshire

This isn’t theory.

This is what scaling electricians are doing in 2026.

If you’re a 2–5 van shop trying to grow without chaos, this episode will change how you think about:

⚡ AI in electrical business

⚡ Recruiting and hiring 

⚡ Solar and battery positioning 

⚡ Marketing for the AI search era 

⚡ Building authority in your market

AI won’t replace electricians. Electricians using AI will!

⚡️Guests : Eddie Cruz and Edward Rivera

Co-owners of Ion Electrical.

Website: https://ionelectricalllc.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/ionelectrical

⚡️Want to learn how to multiply your service calls without burning out?

Join the SLE Pro App for tools, strategies, and next-level support!

https://www.electricserviceapp.com/

⚡️Podcast Powered by Duromax Generators. 

Making turnkey power solutions easy. 

📧 Email: jesse@duromaxpower.com 

🌐 Website: www.duromaxpower.com 

📞 Call: 909-490-5789

 ⚡️Jump into the Million Dollar Electrician Community and connect with real business-minded sparkies! https://www.facebook.com/groups/844859526389567

#ElectricianLife #ElectricalContractor #SolarBusiness #BatteryBackup #AIForBusiness #ContractorLife #ElectricianEntrepreneur #HomePower #ChatGPT #Notion

Transcript

Co-Petitors And A Sharing Mindset

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The thing that I've been pretty passionate about and and Eddie as well too is like the stuff that we're learning. You know, we have this philosophy that like there's no competitors, we're all co-petitors, right? We have relationships with a whole bunch of other electrical contractors, electricians that we work with. We team up on stuff, and I'll sit down with them and I'll tell them, hey, here's what's working for me, here's what's not working for me. Try this, try that, and I'm sharing. I feel like it's my obligation to share like the knowledge that I've had to help my other electricians and other buddies out here, because then we all rise, right?

SPEAKER_03 0:27

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Million Dollar Electrician Podcast, where we help home service pros like you supercharge your business and mark up those sales.

SPEAKER_04 0:39

I'm Joseph Lucani, and together my co-host Clay New Meyer. We're here to share the secrets that help electricians sell over a million dollars in a single service band.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

Now it's time for sales. It's time for scale. It's time to become a million-dollar electrician.

Why Live On The Cutting Edge

SPEAKER_03 1:00

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another great episode of the Million Dollar Electrician. We are sans one. No Joe today, but I've added two with the Eddie Brothers who are back for you guys to share some incredible stuff. I'm gonna be honest here. Uh, Eddie Brothers, you guys have been on here two times before this. If you're new to the show, you're missing out. In fact, you're not today, but you'd be missing out if you didn't go back and listen to the first two because these chats are epic. My honest and biased opinion, of course, is that these may be some of the most valuable and fun podcasts that we ever get to do. Uh, love having you guys on. Thanks so much for joining. We talked not long ago on a phone, and at the end of that call, it was like, man, that could have been the podcast because the chemistry is always so good with you guys. Uh, Ion Electrical, a couple things noteworthy of you guys. I know you're building multi-state, you've been growing over the few years we've been talking, but also I noticed you guys are always at like the cutting edge. You're at the forefront of backup power. You're you're always trying to mess with batteries and solars and bring advanced solutions to your customers. So I know this is going to be a big start here, but I'd love for you guys just to help me, whoever wants to take this one first. What is your and why is that commitment there to be on that cutting edge? Why do you guys want to be the coolest electricians out there? What is this?

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Um, I think a big part of it is it it's it just comes from just like authentically, that's like who we are, right? Like meaning we've been nerding out about this stuff for like as long as we can remember, as long as you know, um, as far back as we can go. And so we're very passionate about it. So it makes it already easy to kind of just stay up to date on things because even when we get out of here, we're on our computers, we're on our phones, we're looking at stuff that's going on, we're always staying up to speed on stuff. Um, and then we always get together and we're trying to determine like what is gonna move the needle, not just for our for our company, but for the customer too. You know what I mean? Like, where do we where do we find that balance of leveraging technology to to help us improve our experience for the customer? You know, how can we just keep piling on the value, right? Just stacking it on there, you know, and I think another big part of it, and you were just talking about this too, is that you know, the electricity is not getting any younger, the grid's not getting any younger, you know what I mean? Uh people are adding more electricity to their houses, they're electrifying everything, and you're gonna need something to offset that. And right now it may not be the best, but the immediate one is battery and solar. You know, the more homes we can get them to be their own little micro DC power stations, the more we could stabilize the grid, right? And the more it benefits everybody. Even a homeowner. If you got a CPAP machine, you know what I mean, and you got something like that, you're not worried if the grid, if something goes down. You know what I mean? You're good, you're still in the in the utility company, they got time to respond, you know. And so that's part of what that Vermont uh program out there is. They're trying to put 160,000 homes with batteries in them, and we'd love to get on that. And then we see the rest of the New England catching on, you know.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

Wow. Yeah, yeah. With that multi-fig effort, you guys are kind of looking at these opportunities and where they are and just letting that decide these are the best places to work, then is that that part of it?

SPEAKER_00 4:14

Yep. Yep. Having the most impact on the customer, you know, where can we put that, you know, to have the most impact?

Automating Homes And Personalized Solutions

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Yeah, I back up every everything that Eddie said, like it's it's it's a very easy thing for us to do because that's just our nature, our background. Of we've both of us, you know, over the you know, 15 years of of being best friends, like we've always like talked about or like, man, this is the newest, latest and greatest technology. We've always had like you know, our smart home stuff because we we're we've we're that customer as well, even in our own personal lives. We're like, man, I want this in my house. Okay. So it just makes it that much easier um to kind of convey that over to customers and homeowners and be like, man, like just like anything else, it's like it makes it makes it a harder. So if you're not willing to put it in your own home, like I'm not gonna you know recommend stuff that I wouldn't use or put in my own home, you know. So it just it just comes across a lot easier and uh you know makes it easier conversation just overall in general.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Yeah, and I think the other thing I'll add too, which has been pretty cool, is to not just automate like Alaska type stuff, but like we can automate your power, which I think is is really amazing, right? Because if your electricity bill is going up, maybe you can't do a battery backup. We can at least go in there and see again where can we make the most impact, where can we provide the most value. If that's offsetting your largest you know, loads in the house, you know what I mean? That's gonna have a positive net impact on your bill. You know what I mean? So we're all about meeting people where they're at and then try to really tailor a solution to us for you. We really don't like hitting you with a one size fits all because not everybody's situation is the same.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

Yeah, I agree. Uh I think we all agree on that then. We're against the one size fits all. I think it's a shame when you go in and you make recommendations because it increases your average ticket size. Like, uh, no offense, but hey, there is the salesy drive of like, well, how many surge protectors did you guys sell this week? Always hated that question. Like, let's identify the root cause and the root need for it. Even if we all agree that a surge protection should exist uniformly, it doesn't mean that the customer understands or desires that thing. How do we better understand what they know, what they need, and then bridge the gap between what we know as professionals and what's out here as far as technology and innovation that we can then simplify and put in terms they could understand and actually make a great decision, uh, a confident great decision on like, I want that. That would be so cool. Yep. And you said something, Eddie. I always we always have to have this moment of like, Eddie, which one's Eddie One, which one's Eddie Two? Eddie Cruz. You said something about like having the coolest stuff in your house and then just wanting that for your customers. Offside question, maybe. Uh forgive me if this one catches you off guard, but like, what's the coolest thing in your house and in your technology right now? What are you most proud of that's like you're putting into your own life that you want your customers to have?

The Man Cave Moment And Dreaming With Clients

SPEAKER_01 7:14

I guess for me, um, like this is my office. Um, like everything here is like I have it automated. Like when I wake up in the morning and I walk into this office, lighting is set to a certain color temperature, certain percentage at a certain time. Like everything is set for like certain times of the day, and it just automatically does that. So, like when I come into my office, I you know, at seven in the morning I walk in here. It's at a uh I believe I have it set to like a 3700 uh K color temperature at you know 30%. You know, I got music playing in the background, kind of some lo-fi stuff, and then basically, you know, it kind of sets the move from the morning, and then around even nine o'clock, the uh it kind of goes to like this color temperature, um, kind of a bright white, kind of you know, be awake and everything like that. Music changes a little bit, something more pump, a beat to keep the mood going. And then usually around five o'clock, everything shuts down because then I go to the gym. And then when I come back for the gym, usually around like 7, 7:30, it's kind of like a little bit RGB because that's when I start like, you know, playing some video games. I start like chilling out a little bit, maybe just researching some stuff, whether it's AI or reworking some stuff that you know me and Eddie are talking about. It's just a I just have it all set like that. So like they just I don't have to think about it. That's incredible, man.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

You've got me chilling over here. I'm like, where's the booking link for Ion? Can we get Eddie over here in the design uh set up for my office?

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Hell yeah. Yeah, I think Eddie was on a call. Remember while back, you're on a call with a guy doing a consulting call, and I think for like the first 45 minutes, you guys were just like talking about how awesome his man cave was gonna be. You know what I mean? You didn't even get the pricing, no technical. We're just freaking just nerding out, man, on how cool it's gonna be. I thought that was awesome.

SPEAKER_03 9:01

Cream of the crop, the man cave special.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

But it's always man. I think it's I think it's important with any call with a customer is uh you kind of like kind of kind of dream with them a little bit, you know. Obviously, kind of regulate how big the dream they're going with, depending on the budget, but I think it's important to kind of have that deep-rooted connection with the the customer when you're on these consultation calls and kind of uh really dive deep, peel the you know, peel the layers back on like, you know, how long you've been thinking about this, why is this a pain or pleasure thing, you know? Um really kind of diving into that and to uh really give them the best experience overall at the end of the day. I love that.

AI Behind The Scenes For Speed And Accuracy

SPEAKER_03 9:37

From a year ago to where we are now. If we were to do a shop tour or spend the day with you, what do you think is the biggest things that people would notice has changed at iON Electrical for you guys?

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Probably the the use of AI. Well, I was gonna say that, but also the way we use it, though. Like we we always try to find this balance of not like not putting AI at the front, you know what I mean? Doing all the decision making or a lot of important tasks. We try to use in a way where it's almost like invisible, you know what I mean? But for some reason you're like, wow, they got to me a lot quicker. Like, how did they remember that very particular detail? You know what I mean? Like, and so we're using it on the back end to accelerate like our processes, you know, how quickly we get back to how detailed we are. And we're trying to do it that way so that way we're not shocking the system. You know what I mean? So I think people would probably notice that, like, wow, they're even faster than before. They're even like even more, we didn't even know they could even be more detailed because we're all like, you know, freaking what is that term where we're all focused on the tiny little details way too much? Like you give us AI and it's just magnified even more. Yeah. So I just think the experience has just been improved in the sense of like speed, accuracy, um, and attention to like like if AI is helping you so much on the back end, it's freeing up more time. That means that's more time to engage with the customer. That's more time to to actually take your time, right? When you're when you're talking to them, you're not trying to rush and take notes and stuff. So I think if you use it right, it amplifies the experience for the customer a lot and just your your your uh your back end workflow. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 11:10

What are your thoughts, Eddie? Just yeah, Eddie freaking hit the nail on the head, basically, for the most part, because uh um me and Eddie talk about this a lot, and funny enough, um, which I which I think has been really cool so far, and I think this is probably another topping topic uh of talking point as far as maybe later or now, um is AI marketing. Like we went, we went on a site visit this morning that a customer did research just ChatGPT and ChatGPT recommended us. That's as far as it is to be the best local, you know, electrician for it that is familiar with solar and battery and whatnot. And I think it's a thing I think it's becoming more common that people are not just googling as far as researching what they want, they're using AI to kind of find the recommendation or whatever they're looking for. So I think that's a very, very cool thing that's like happening right now.

AI As A Referral Engine And AI-Ready Content

SPEAKER_03 12:00

Are you guys intentionally doing that, or has that just happened because of your marketing efforts?

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yeah, I think this thing just we've been using incorporating AI for so long now. I think it just kind of naturally became that way. Yeah, I I do think it's a thing. It's gonna be a you know a thing in the future as far as people are less and less just trying to just use Google, they're using AI to kind of find things for them or find contractors for them.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Yeah, like for example, um again, I'm I'm I was that conversation we had, Clay, the last time about you talking about Notion, you lit a fire underneath me, man, and and I just went and I just I was really using it, but not to the level that you guys are using it. Um, and so it's been amazing because I dumped everything from my head, old notes, everything into this. And we've been putting together like a whole like high-level marketing playbook where we're not even messing with freaking SEO anymore. We're AI optimization, where if you're asking your chat to go look for something, there's there's they're already showing numbers where these AI bots are going out and uh scanning websites and social media. So they're saying, you know, you want to have your content AI ready and make it easy, like FAQ, certain type of details. So as soon as it goes there, it can pull it, bring it back to the customer, you know what I mean, and then it gets to them faster. So I've been coming up with a marketing playbook for social media, our website, it's all gonna be kind of revamped to meet what they're calling like a new version of social media. You know what I mean? Like branding and authenticity are gonna be huge as well.

SPEAKER_03 13:30

Yeah, yeah, it's super cool. I don't know where the transformation happened for me, but at some point I became uh obsessed with the mission of like converting people to Notion.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

I don't even know, man. It's it's so awesome because instead of like, because you could link it to your Google Drive, you could link it to anything. So it's like instead of you kind of trying to file through your Google Drive to find something, just go to Notions, link to it. Hey, find me this, boom, brings it up. And I I like how flexible it is because you could create like it's not like a forced template. Now you gotta force your business's workflow into a certain template. You like no, you could create your own template with Notion and make it you know mold to your business's workflow and how you want that to you know to work, which I think is great.

Notion Systems And The Recruiter Bot

SPEAKER_03 14:13

I haven't taught this to our teams yet, but just a couple weeks ago I finished uh building out a new recruiter bot for us using Notion. Can I tell you a bit about this nerdy AI project that I did? Yes. I identified, I was just in Costa Rica uh two weeks ago for 10 days and got clear I didn't work. It was awesome. Bus test, team rocked it, everyone did great at SLE, so super pumped about that. Um, but on the way back, two flights, it was like a 13-hour day. And so it's like, okay, what better opportunity than to do the one, three, five, ten, and twenty year goals again and really get clear and centered on like I love this phrase, guys. I know there's gonna be a bunch. This will come back up. I'm sure Charlie Munger said, Hey, show me where I'll die and I'll never go there. And I love to use that business and just go, okay, we're gonna fall down and label three areas, three big bottlenecks that'll stop us from reaching XYZ goal. What are they? And in myself as the owner, because you know the bottleneck always happens at the top of the bottle, right? It's recruiting for me. It was like very clearly on the page going, like you have to do better at scaling your recruiting. Currently, SLE's recruiting models was not scalable, just wasn't. I don't have enough resumes, I don't have enough people in the process trained to go through those. I don't have my group revenue, uh group interview set up yet. And I want like a four-stage process. So when I got back, I'm like, well, if this is clearly the major thing I gotta focus on, then man, it'd be stupid to do anything else. So here's what we did. We used Notion built an application form. That application form, we leveraged Chat GPT, is my personal favorite because it's got the most history with me. It knows me very well at this point. Sure, you guys have a fan too. So I got to leverage it and embedded disk profiling questions, IQ and EQ questions. Nice, maintained somewhat short, but just long enough to be like good friction. Like if you don't fill this out, I'm not interested anyway, kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_05 16:24

Right.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

But then it's like, well, I don't want you typing all this stuff, so we make it multiple choice, but not like a yes, no, and maybe like yes, but and a big explainer. But we pre-write the sentences, so half of it's multiple choice, and then it's like text follow-up. Hey, tell us about a time where that applied to you. And so what happens is then we programmed bots in Notion. So application to Notion triggers new Notion page on the on the submission, which triggers a bot to analyze disk profile, score IQ, EQ, and then an overall score, as well as a suggested uh loom video question that we would ask them to submit after, based on some of the key key critical risks or strengths on their application. And if they score seven to ten, it gets a green light in our feed, and if they score below, it gets red. And then when I look at this in a Kanban board, I can see by position and by scores who to move across to what stage. And now it's easier to train the staff. They handle everything through this. All I do is the end interview if I'm satisfied with the applicant. And so the goal is okay, now it's just recruiting, it's just ads. And we know how to do that very well. I can get a stack of resumes and applications, but now I just cut the work down in that process by like eight hours.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Literally, like it's it's so amazing how you incorporate like this profile questions and stuff like that, because it's like you get to kind of get into their psyche a little bit, you know, because it's it's one thing you're hiring somebody to bring on the team to to complete a task. There's but there's another thing if their personality is going to come across the team. Because the last thing you want to do is bring someone on the team that everyone's gonna hate or cause friction around, you know, in the house. So it's it man clears so much out the out the picture, you know, for you and make it so much easier. It's like you said like you mentioned at the end, green, cool, next step.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

Yeah, pretty much, right? The question's made. We just copy paste email, and even that with Notion, I haven't set it up yet, but that's a button you can create, right? Trigger that automation. Email this question to this person, ask them to record a quick video, send it back. Now you get to decide the phases and the friction. For us and what we're trying to do, man, I've got three pillars here. World-class service, that takes a certain type of person, the kind of person that really cares. Meaning, like, if either of you Eddies reached out in the chat and I didn't get back to you as soon as possible, like you're fucking out, man. You know what I mean? Like, this is 2026. And with AI and the lack of customer service that's happening, if you're not the kind of person that cares to get back to you and reduce your effort, you're fucking out. You don't fit here. So, like, these are the things you want to measure. In fact, I'm reminded when you were chatting, Eddie, is recently I saw a headline about Elon's uh most recent he's hiring for SpaceX. And I didn't see the application, but I read that it was notoriously like short. And it's like, we don't even need a resume because that's bullshit, and anyone can make a resume up now. AI does it in 10 seconds, right? Oh, absolutely. But you can answer these three thought-provoking questions, and the first one's like, Why should we hire you?

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Yeah, yeah.

Hiring For Energy, Initiative, And Growth Mindset

SPEAKER_03 19:57

Answer that and stand out is maybe like the most intimidating thing. If you really put yourself in those shoes, like, okay, I'm a rocket scientist, there's another thousand or ten thousand that are going to apply. How do I do this the best?

SPEAKER_00 20:11

Yeah, yeah. How do I decomitize myself from the rest of them? Yeah. It's crazy. I saw a video too where he they asked him that they asked him a similar question too. And he said one of the three that he asked as well is he says, uh, you know, tell me about your life. Tell me about like some of the hardest things you dealt with and how you solved it, you know, and he just shuts up. You know, and I think he even said he goes like a whole minute went by of just like silence. And it's a way to just kind of test like how they react, you know what I mean? I thought that was very interesting. You know, I for me I find it I find it uh fascinating too, because again, you know, we've gone through the hiring different types, you know, and um for better or worse, you know, they they always seem to kind of fall off and think whatever happens. Um, but with these three people we had, it reminds me of a conversation I had with a guy um that was in my B and I uh a couple years ago. And he he told me stories about how all these people they're all making over a hundred grand a year, they're all great. We found them from the most unlikely places, you know, he's like you gotta look for those exceptional human beings. You know what I mean? And there's a way, if you're looking and you're paying attention enough, you find them. And then these two people we have on our team, they are they are exceptional, they are amazing. Um, and I just feel like we're gonna they're gonna help us on this trajectory that like we've been wanting for a while now. It's just find some of the right people on the team. Super, super happy.

SPEAKER_03 21:28

Can I ask you a question about that? I know we didn't really intend to go to recruiting and I took us here, but there was more on the marketing, still, we'll get back to this. But you guys, have you identified like some of the qualities of that amazing person that you look for when you're looking at resumes or at people or in interviews? Like, do you guys is this something you've talked about? Is there a quality, uh, a thing, an anchor? Is there something that gets you excited about a person that you can verbalize?

SPEAKER_01 21:59

I guess. For me, I guess one thing I've noticed, especially when um when it's when working with both of these new hires, working on the field, I like to interact with like I'll like to give them a task and I'll just step away and and and uh and uh just kind of look take, you know, get this done, mount this back, whatever, give them a task, and I just want to see how they go about it. Cause I want to see how clean their work is. I just want to see where they're where they're headed at, how they go day to day without forcing anything. And both of these guys inherently were just very clean, very professional, clean the space. I didn't say anything. They just knew and after they completed that task, they just found something else to do afterwards. They didn't come and just sit stand there, just went right away and just like okay, and just they just scanned the room and analyzed what's the next thing that needs to be done as far as what could be helpful on the project because I'm like, that's really important, you know, because it's everybody's in the trenches on the field. You know, I want to make sure anybody we have working together on site is you know, having a good time, everybody's working a belt and melt together. Um and I just thought that was very I I see that as a very good thing. I I like to do at least as far as when I'm looking for people that want to join the team and see how they go about their work. Um, and also just again, just the drive and just the the the initiative that they're just taking the initiative of like moving the needle. Um so I just I guess that's my take on it, I guess.

Ethics, Identity, And Skills On The Job

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Yeah, and and for me, it's uh I'm the one who has to kind of talk to them way before they even need anybody else, you know. And one of them, uh, he came through just from our normal website applying. Um, but it was cool because he had researched a whole bunch of other companies. He came from a big solar company to um uh Chris. And when he saw like our website and he saw like our social media, he immediately said he felt like, you know, like like we'd be a great company to work for. I remember we hopped on a call, we think we talked for like two hours, you know what I mean? And the immediate thing that I noticed right away was just like his energy and his enthusiasm, and just his like he was just so ready to learn. And that's how we are. Like we're we're like students of life, you know, like forever. And I got that vibe immediately. Like that, like this, this kid was just like ready to just hungry. And I was like, dude, I love that. I was like, I I definitely I imagine him on my team with everybody else. And he's like, that's what I want. I can I can envision every day this guy showing up and working with us. And so immediately I knew I'm like, let's get you to meet the rest of the guys, and he's just been incredible. And then uh with Thomas, um, it again it was one of those things where I'm out there, I'm talking to people, and I'm always putting it out there to the ether, right? I'm feeding the the algorithm of the nature, right? And I'm telling them I'm looking for these type of people, this type of person. And so uh I forget what happened, but um uh I I went to an event and I met um I met a lady there where uh we started talking and she got to know me and my company and stuff. And she's like, man, like my husband, if he's looking for a career change, I would love to set you guys up and meet up. And so we did. It was another thing. Again, he's like, Yeah, man, I looked into you guys, I was researching you guys. He's like, I I want to be a part of that. I want to learn all that stuff. And then just the energy was there. And again, he was so excited to like just jump in, and that's how we are. We're like, we've always been like that. And so I can't say I've had that with other people in the past before like that, where it was almost like forced, it was like you said, we're going through the resume. Bro, I didn't even care about the resume. I was like, no, I know these kids are gonna be freaking rock stars, man. I was like, and I need them on my team. You know what I mean? And so it's the energy, it's the attitude, it's the growth mindset um that really stood out to me. I didn't give a crap if you came from Dunkin' Donuts or you're digging ditches, man. If you got that boxes checked off, I'm gonna bring you on and see what you can do, you know, and uh yeah, they just they've been incredible.

Incentives Shift And Local Workarounds

SPEAKER_03 25:38

I always feel a duty to pass mentorship down. That's probably a big reason why we're here, but not just other electricians to apprentices too. And I think you said something really important because it can be hard, especially when you're green, to get your first employment to become an electrician, even though we all need them. I mean, this is like our Achilles heel. When you have someone that doesn't know anything skill set-wise yet, it's always difficult to lock in that first thing, that first transaction with an employer. And I think you just gave a massive key away for both the companies looking to attract these kinds of people and the kinds of people that are looking to attract a potential fit like this. So, like A, on one side of this, you're standing out. Well, how do you stand out? You you've got to focus on on stuff, right? You've got to focus on growing something. Well, okay, focus on growing what? Well, you mentioned your online presence so much that AI picks up on you. Well, that's amazing for job applicants, too, right? So this is twofold. This is a big thing. If I'm doing research in my marketplace, who do I land on that's like, that's that's Uncle Joel. Use joke, he's not here today, sick, but that's my uncle. That that's the place I need to be. This is the guy who's gonna love me, be challenging, and get me places. When people see you in the market, like, you know, for the viewers or listeners right now, do they think that way about you? And what the difference is, is like, well, on your website are they stock photos? Did a website designer write all the text on your website? You know, was it actually thought, thoughtfulness, and intention from an electrician, someone a master in our trade, from an owner that cares? I mean, that's just one of the first steps to show up in the way that you're talking about. Are they involved in the community? Are they doing stuff? But then on the apprentice side, I love what you said there too, pointing out like this guy goes the extra mile to do that research, share that research with you, compliment you on being the winner of that research, essentially, and let you know why they love to be with you. I mean, that's incredible. And that extra effort is the difference between random show and you getting picked. It's like a draft. What are you doing to stand out? So, man, you get my full support on that one. Great example. Absolutely love it. It's incredible. You mentioned something else, though, too, Eddie. And this was I heard work ethic, Eddie Cruz. You're talking about work ethic. We boiled down three things, not to monologue here, guys, but really interesting ethics, identity, and then skills. And I love asking electricians this. We do this in like a like almost a base for a tower, like a triangle, an apex triangle, we call it. For these are the best people come from this setup. Work ethic is the term that no one ever bridges into ethics. You guys ever notice that? Like, have you ever broke this term apart? If you look at the term work ethic, like what does it mean? It's like I have an agreement to do a task or a job for you. And in my work ethics, the agreement is to, I want to deliver everything you're looking for. You're my customer. You have expectations, I've got a job to deliver on them. But just like we serve customers, I'm looking to exceed those expectations so that I get the next task, the next job, so that I stand out. So to me, ethics is that first thing. And then identity. Well, if I claim that, then I can step into the identity of someone who is that, deserves that, and can be that. And to truly own that identity, you have to have a skill set, which correct me if I'm wrong, guys. Have you noticed that the guys with these trends, though, tend to work extra, take extra notes, do extra research, do extra things in the business and in on their their own time to have a better skill set and a better understanding of how you guys serve.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

I t I tell you what, it's so it's so crazy you bring it up because uh our our our newest hire, Thomas, he's that like you if he doesn't understand if it's if we're having a conversation, say you know, our master and Chris are talking about a topic, whatever, and Chris is very, you know, or Thomas is very, very green, he's not understanding, but he's not stopping the conversation. He's taking notes, he's researching up, he's looking up for a code book, he's right away taking notes of it, and then the very next day he did all the research overnight and he comes back the next day and brings up points. Hey guys, I uh based on the conversation we had yesterday, I found this and I learned about this. Is this correct? And it's like it's amazing. He's taking such initiative, even though he's so green, even though like he's very green right now. Man, he's like he's trying to get on the fast track to kind of be able to be on the same level as everybody else. Like he's he's not he's not using the excuse of him being green to not you know learn and not try to be you know you know get up to the same um knowledge as far as like the rest of the guys, which I'd love to. Absolutely.

Custom Over Cookie-Cutter In Solar And Storage

SPEAKER_00 30:39

Yeah, like I give him access to uh the NFTA leak website. It's got the database for uh NEC and all the rest of the codes. They got Cali on there now. Cali's awesome, the AI chatbot man, and he's he we're there building working on quotes, and the rest of the guys are like bringing up code disc, code dead, and and he's right away talking to Cali, looking up there and getting us the answers right away. And I just love that proactiveness of just like he's he's he's bringing his value to the table, and he's like, hey man, like I can, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna be a part of this, you know what I mean? And so it's to again, it's just great someone so fresh like that to have that kind of attitude and outlook and just go after it. It's hard, it's hard to find, but you know what I mean. When you look hard enough, you're gonna you'll get on. You know what I mean? You want to hold on to them, you know, 100%.

SPEAKER_03 31:22

Yeah, totally. Yeah, I think honestly, 80% of the time where someone's not quite realizing the value they're setting out for, either they're not taking the action or the action on the right thing, like that. That's a very subtle difference. Jim Rohn always said this, and I love it. You can't spend my major time on minor things, right? You got to focus on the right thing. But the other two out of ten just need to keep going, just don't quit, just keep doing that thing to get the edge, right? Just that little bit extra, that little bit extra. One more, one more, one more. Yep, and if you keep on that, those ones add up, and you get the big break you're looking for. That's been my experience. Earlier before the call, I'm gonna shift back here. We were talking a bit about um uh gosh, what's the language now? Geez Louise. That's the first time I've ever said geez Louise on this show, by the way. The um incentives have been rescinded with uh presidential stuff, whatever will avoid politics, but essentially they kind of chop chop some legs off of EV and solar, right? Is that impacting you guys and and kind of how are you navigating that?

SPEAKER_01 32:30

We we meet Eddie talked about this a lot, even like because we knew it was going away at the you know at the beginning of 2026. So it was definitely a big topic at hand about six months ago, as far as how we need to transition or how we kind of you know navigate that when the time comes. And the biggest thing is we knew it was gonna go down a little bit, but we knew it wasn't gonna go gonna go away because people are gonna want what they want no matter what. So they're people are still gonna want battery backup, people are still gonna want solar, regardless if there's a you know a federal tax credit or not. If anything, we just knew that the scale of it's gonna go down as far as what they actually want. Because again, since people want to take advantage of tax credit, give me the biggest, I want all the batteries, I want all the solar, solar fuel, everything. Instead of that, it just goes to, oh, I just kind of need my critical circuits backed up for uh at least eight hours or and or a combination of like can we try to get my electricity bill down to like uh 50% or net zero or whatever the case may be, whatever is most important to that particular homeowner, and we kind of catered the system to that. Um but it's the craziest thing is this again, even going into 2026, it still hasn't slowed down. We're still getting a it's getting constant leads of bat people wanting solar and battery backup, and it hasn't slowed down at all. Um and it's it's been nuts.

Honest Consulting And Whole-Home Planning

SPEAKER_00 33:44

Yeah, it's been uh it's what I've noticed. We we went to the uh there was an RE plus event here in Boston, all solar battery and everything. And noticed from it was that like even though that bill went away, what I'm noticing is that the industry is very like resilient, you know what I mean? And I'm seeing like local, like local towns and even companies, they're coming up with their own versions of stuff to still offset the cost. Like Green Tech Renewables, I was just talking to them, and and they got they got a system where they're trying to replicate that 30%, um, but they're teaming up with other financial institutions and they're trying to make a nice sweet deal for customers to still be able to pull the trigger, still make it happen, still get that 30%. So I love the creativity that's coming out of the industry and some of these other companies and and these in these towns where they're teaming up with battery manufacturers now and solar companies, and they're doing their own thing. So I'm like, all right, cool. Like I'm starting to see localized incentives popping up. Um, and and I'm like, I let's get on that. So that's why we're always trying to learn like what is happening, like you know, and again, AI helps because you can have it go and scrape the internet and bring you summaries and all the links and stuff for all this just to stay up to speed, you know what I mean? And so um I love where that's going. It's almost like, all right, you're gonna hit us with this. We're not gonna go down without a fight. We're gonna we're gonna adapt, right? We're gonna switch it up, we're gonna help. And plus, I think we don't have a choice, man. This is the I I'm calling it right now. I think this is temporary. Something's gonna have to come back because, like someone I said earlier, the grid's not gonna allow us to just lay down and and just accept it. Like we're gonna need an answer. And I think the government's gonna have to somehow jump back in and re-offer these incentives because they're gonna have to, you know what I mean? More and more EVs going in, electric stones. It's just one of those things that's gonna force their hand.

SPEAKER_03 35:26

Yeah, it sounds like like most things. I think um, and again, I said I'd stay out of politics, but a lot of people of influence or power, I think they have underestimated for the most part the power of the crowd in today's age. You don't always just because you make a decision, doesn't mean it's decided, if that makes sense. When a billion people say it it needs to be this way because that's what the demand is, it the demand tends to find a way and the supply will find a way too.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:59

That's super interesting. Do you guys find you're in competition with a lot of like the door-to-door solar guys that are trying to put packages together for basically no investment uh by some fancy deal? Or what what does that look like in your competitive landscape?

SPEAKER_01 36:15

No, not really. I don't see it like they could go ahead and go about their business. Like, I don't really think about them as much because I'm so because like I'm so confident in our process and what we're able to give to customers with so much flexibility because we're not just telling them or pushing one system. We offer so many different battery uh systems and so many different solutions that could definitely cater to what they want and need. Um so it can we we kind of go at it and it's a full custom setup. When a customer reaches out and they're looking for battery and solar or whatever combination of either, um we kind of cater, we kind of sit down, have take a deep dive with their electric uh electricity bill, find out what they're you know, that hey, we want, you know, X amount of days. Cool. Based off electricity bill, based off of you know these numbers and everything like that, you're gonna need X amount of you know, kilowatt per hour, whatever batteries. Now we've now we kind of find out which battery system best makes up that number and per cost. And then we're we're gonna replace it, you know. And I think that's uh a way more kind of white glove service because you know you're really getting a feel like I'm getting a custom service, a custom install that's catered to the customer and it works exactly how they want it. And they get to spend exactly what they want at the end of the day as well.

Pricing Transparency For AI And Humans

SPEAKER_00 37:26

Yeah, yeah, we try to handle it more of like a firm consulting, very hands-on. You know, there's a lot of research that's involved. It can be very confusing. So we try our best to translate very technical, complicated things into more uh uh definitions that the customer can follow along and understand. You know, and a lot of times we get these uh Sparkies that'll come in and just try to hit you with a one size fits all thing. Again, just we're not we don't operate like that. If anything, we come in after the fact, unfortunately, where they try to put in a smart panel, they could do the physical side, but when it came to the commissioning and software, they were like, sorry, and the customer's like, what do you mean? You know, like so then they gotta have us come in and we do the rest of it, you know. Um, but I think the other part of it too is you know, we we we we're really good at like bringing in all the things that complement each other. We're like at the end of the day, we're still you know electricians, we can do all the regular stuff. So, but also if we're in there doing solar battery, needing something else, then we can. You're not it's not like a solar company where now they gotta go hire or find an electrician to do it or permitting. We can kind of do all of it under one place, you know what I mean? So again, it's the value that we bring, you know. And I think the other part too is like I try to make a really big effort on on making relationships with the manufacturers themselves, too, because Eddie's real big on finding like these little things that like they could do better on. So we're always trying to tell span or powerwall or any of them, like, hey, here's some feedback from the field, and all of a sudden you make we don't get any credit for fan make changes and stuff, you know what I mean? And so that puts us in an authority figure position as well. You know, I mean on both sides to the customer and the manufacturer.

SPEAKER_03 39:00

Yeah, I love that. As you're saying that you say the regular electrical stuff, you mean like a fixing any circuits or updating devices or any panel changes or other complementary services directly uh related to what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 39:15

Yeah, you don't have to go find anybody else. We can take care of you.

SPEAKER_03 39:19

Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. And is that that's part of your process then to kind of look at everything as a whole, I would imagine.

SPEAKER_01 39:27

Of course, yeah. Because that's part of the like when we do the after you kind of have the kind of phone call consultation as far as you know what they're looking for and everything like that, and it moves into like the side visit stage. That's when Eddie goes over there and kind of okay, we know we just want battery and solar, but we can't just like throw it on there. We gotta see what your existing infrastructure looks like. Because hey, before we before we do that, there's a hundred co-violations at the panel. We need to take care of this. That's what happened this morning.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

We went out there for one thing, and then we're looking at it all, and it's like, hey, I'm I always tell customers I'm gonna always tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. It's just I'm just I'm just gonna tell you flat out like that. And so we're there, and it's like, yo, you got this whole pool house on a 20-amp circuit. You're telling me things are tripping. You want to add a hot tub, you want to do all this stuff. It's like, maybe let's run a subpanel out here. You know what I mean? Let's take some of this uh load off the that freaking 20 amp circuit. So he's like, oh yes, I like to think. And then I'm telling him other things that he could think about. And he goes, I like the way you're going, man. You're you're you're feature-proofing. I like, okay, yeah, let's go that way. So it turned from that to like, okay, now we're doing a subpanel, we're gonna add all this other stuff down. And it wasn't a way that where I was trying to like upsell, I'm just pointing out the logic and or the illogical things that I'm seeing or the code violations, just being authentic. And they and they're like, oh my God, thank you. Like, like, thank you so much, you know what I mean? So they're like appreciative that you're just being honest with them and you're not trying to be like pressure in anything, you know what I mean? Just give them delivering them the information, tell them how it works, and and giving them that that that uh confidence that like we can take care of you, man. You know what I mean? Like, no worries when you when you work with us, we'll handle everything. Like Eddie said, the White Glove Service.

SPEAKER_03 41:01

Yeah. Do you feel that your positioning in the market as kind of a more expert level, a niche level uh electrician gives additional authority to you to be able to say something like that and command respect? Like, do you think that works for every electrician and just say, I'm gonna tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear? Or is it actually also working because you have additional authority? Do you think?

Bots, SEO’s Decline, And Site Optimization

SPEAKER_01 41:26

I don't think it comes, I don't think like any every single electrician out there should just go ahead and start going with that. I think I think we're able to do that because we've been focusing focused on this for so long. And then like everywhere around New England, you search up you know, solar battery back or electrical contract I saw, solar and battery back, we come up the first. There's a reason for that. The fact that we come, you know, it took many years to get to that point, just the confidence and the ability to back up our shit in a sense. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:55

I was just gonna say I had a mentor uh tell me, market the problem you want to solve, and the sale is yours to mess up. And that's what I'm hearing through you there, Eddie. Uh go ahead, basically.

SPEAKER_00 42:04

No, I was just gonna say too, I think uh it just comes down to to like how you deliver it, right? You know what I mean? Like it's one thing to make that statement, right? I'm here to tell you what you want to hear, not we, you know, uh not what we need to hear, but also it's how you go about it. You know what I mean? So I think like like you find the opportunities to drop nuggets to let them know. And again, the way you deliver it is important, you know what I mean? And then again, I I'm glad you brought up the disc because me and Eddie were big on the disk assessment. So right away, you're gonna know what kind of personality you're talking to a few minutes into the conversation. So if you if you can kind of be in a way like a chameleon where you can adjust your tone, your choice of words, and how you go about delivering that information. So I think that's super important too. Where if you're just coming in here, big balls, freaking ego, then it's gonna land wrong, man. You know what I mean? It's not gonna be a good outcome for you. You know what I mean? Yeah, you gotta there's an art to delivering uncomfortable news or details, right? It's an art skill. It's a thing that like, if you got tool physical tools in your tool belt, think of this as other like tools, right? A mental tool belt, like your your skills you're putting on to become a better electrician, a better communicator. You know what I mean? So I think that I just wanted to make that point that that's important too, where you could have the authority, but if you're a terrible communicator, you're bringing the wrong energy. You know what I mean? You don't have it to back it up, like yeah, it's just gonna land wrong.

SPEAKER_03 43:28

In our last uh call we had on the podcast, uh we we had a little debate going about the pricing in your marketing. And I believe you guys were four and you have prices, base prices at least on on your services. Is that true to this day? On the website? Yeah, yeah.

Sharing Playbooks And Building Tools For The Trade

SPEAKER_00 43:46

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we still have um stuff on there, which again, it's one of those things where I'm gonna have to restructure all of it now because of AI and who's looking there. And I'm probably still gonna have something on there because. Because you're gonna have those people where they got their budget no matter what, you know what I mean? And if for better or worse, you may get them or not get them, but at least, you know what I mean, it gives them something to go off of. You know what I mean? Especially if they're asking, if they're not going to their summer asking AI, how much would it generally cost? I don't want them going to freaking, what are those one site eddy that we hate where it's always saying it's$800 to service upgrade? It's like, where are they getting this information from? Yeah, so so like it's like it's like, do we leave, do we leave Angie's list and those other ones to teach people? Because again, there's no customer school. So there's nowhere you can go to be a customer, right? So we have to teach people the right way to go about these things. And I'm not gonna leave it up to Angie's list to train them that it's$800 for a service upgrade. I'm gonna at least drop a blog, right, that explains all the inner details and then give them something at the end to like what you could possibly expect for rough. Those are gonna capture the people at 2, 3 in the morning that like to go freaking window shopping and research stuff, which is a lot of our customer base. Like a lot of our customers, it'll take a while for them to actually pull the trigger, and there's a lot of research that goes involved. So I'd rather be them showing up on my website, not even knowing yet that it's an electrical contractor because they're just they're learning about all this stuff, not to do it themselves, but just to take the mysticism out of like all this complicated shit that we do. And again, at the very end, you're gonna probably be asking yourself, well, how much would something like this cost? And it's like, if it's giving you something rough and it's very clear that it's rough and that you should still reach out to us, then boom, you hit the contact button and we're in. But again, I'm trying to leverage AI to educate as many people as possible and meet them everywhere where they are in the afternoon, all the way to two o'clock in the morning.

SPEAKER_03 45:41

You know what I mean? Yeah, I I brought it up because uh more and more I'm seeing with other marketer and marketing agencies, they're talking about how important it is to list pricing so that AI finds you. And that's a relatively, you know, kind of a newer concept, really. Um trying to nail that down. But I appreciate what you're saying. I'm I'm gonna be so interested to see the stats. Uh I'd love to know if you guys ever do a deep dive on on how many times that's coming up for you in AI searches. I wonder if you can see that for one, and two, what it would be showing that would be really interesting.

SPEAKER_00 46:15

Yeah, yeah. I think uh I've been looking at a lot of different um, like not just SEO, but like website like optimization like bots where they could take your website, do a whole scan on it, right, and show you the areas where you can pick up. But I'm reading some of them can actually track as soon as they're clicking on it and what they're clicking on and how long they're on the website, you know what I mean? But then they're also seeing a change in less humans actually going to these sites, and it's more bots now than anything. And they're just gonna zip right through it, extract what they need, and then get back to the customer. For the first time ever, the Google traffic in like 20 years or something crazy. And that was literally due to chat, and it's only gonna be exponential where more and more people are gonna be using Gemini or these other ones. So, again, you want your content to kind of line up with that, you know.

The 286 kWh Flagship Project

SPEAKER_03 47:03

Yeah, we're in like the age of the middleman. That's kind of the way I look at it. It's like Google was a middleman. Google didn't really provide a new end user solution, it provided the means to the end user to find their solution. Yeah, right. And in a lot of cases, that's what AI is doing, in my humble opinion, is what we see, right? It's just now, okay, GPT, Gemini, uh, Claude, they're all fighting for Google's traffic and they're taking some of that share back. So, yeah, it's it's wise to optimize for these things. It makes perfect sense. Even on the marketing side, like we actually have a marketing um uh company we joined with now. Uh, he's been on the podcast a couple of times. Forrest uh runs his own electrical companies, you know, driving over 400 leads a month. And so we partnered up with Forest and uh another guy reached out, Zach, who hasn't been on the podcast yet, he will be, guys. He literally used AI to vibe code his own software because he's just uh he's the Einstein of new technology. Love this guy. You guys would have a great chat with him too, and and building that software out for us right now. So we've actively got like 30 marketing clients that are in there. But the cool thing it does is what you're talking about, like it analyzes your website and provides recommendations, it analyzes your Google Business profile profile and tells you exactly what needs to be done. And the things it can do, it will do at the click of a button. And the other things it can't is like all the guesswork's removed. We don't have to hire someone for you know 80 hours a freaking month to charge SEO for you know 6,000 or 8,000 or whatever guys did. That that old dog is no longer hunting, right? Like that ship is sailed. So all of this is just like it's better insights, they're faster insights, and they're accurate based on the scraped data of like what worked for everyone else in your area. It's absolutely remarkable time. Uh, so I can't blame you guys for diving into that and finding those little nuanced areas and optimizing it.

SPEAKER_00 49:07

I think just the last thing I was gonna say is that um, you know, um the thing that I've been pretty passionate about, and and Eddie as well, too, is like the stuff that we're learning. You know, we have this philosophy that like, you know, like there's no competitors, we're all co-petitors, right? And so like we have relationships with a whole bunch of other electrical contractors, electricians that we work with, we team up on stuff, and I'll sit down with them and I'll tell them, hey, here's what's working for me, here's what's not working for me, try this, try that. And I'm sharing, I feel like it's my obligation to share like the knowledge that I've have to help my other electricians, my other buddies out here, because then we all rise, right? We all rise together, you know, and so I'm again, I'm I've been vibe coding a lot lately too, and I'm working on a couple different um, like I'm working on an AI estimating software that I want to use for us first. Um, but then I'm gonna give it to my other friends and have them to try to break it. You know what I mean? And then once they try to break it, then we we might take it to, you know, to actual product, you know. But right now we're in the age of like ideas, man. If you got an idea or you got a problem that you're very passionate about solving, now's the time, man. Now's the time to go after it, man. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 50:13

Yeah, I love that. Yeah, how did you say that? Competitor, co-petitor?

SPEAKER_00 50:18

Yeah, there's no, there's no, there's no uh competitors with co-petitors. Yeah, bro. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 50:25

Like we can we want the whole industry to go up. We want the whole industry of electricians to go up, man. Because we because it because it's the the standard as most homeowners think about, you know, electric you know, electricians, even to this day, they think of the 80s, right? It's like random dude showing up, you know, with a belly, pop belly, whatever. That's what they think of. So we want to eliminate that thought, you know. So we like Eddie Eddie mentioned, like we work with a bunch of like local uh other uh smaller you know, electrical contractors, and we kind of work alongside them. We team up on projects where they want to kind of stay with like the kind of smaller side. And like so, if somebody, if a customer reaches it out and they're kind of like, hey, I just need like two electrical uh swap uh you know swapped, we just off to him. You know, they'll have to call our buddy up. And if he we call our buddy up, if if he gets a if a homeowner reaches out to him and it's he they're looking for a large project that's like way too big for him, he brings it on us. He brings us he brings us on to team up with him to get uh to get it done.

SPEAKER_00 51:18

We've got to share the wealth plenty of work to go around. Plenty of work to go around. Yeah.

Learning Curves, SOPs, And Authority

SPEAKER_03 51:23

I was fortunate to work with a guy, uh Master Dan Zoleschi. It's like eighth degree taekwondo black belt, and he was a business coach, and he said it this way there is no competition, there's only creation. Tony Robbins voice style too. Clay, you gotta know there's no competition, there's only creation. Anyway, the point being is like I believe anytime two minds to come together, the one plus one doesn't equal two. It's more, it equals three. There's something else born, and I've seen this in the one-to-one coaching that we do in the calls, and guys have asked me that do you know where we're going when we start? And I know I've got what's relevant to me, you've got what's relevant to you. We've got a general direction we're working in for sure. We know what your goals are, we know where we got to go, but what's important for both of us is gonna surface, and you can't really predict the outcome. And that's one of my favorite things about working with people one-to-one. It's incredible, man. And so sometimes you finish a call like that, and I'm sure you guys see this out working with customers just the same, right? It's like sometimes you finish a job and you're like, whoa, that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 52:32

I didn't even know that. Dude, the project that comes to mind is one we just finished by the end uh end of uh 2025, which was it was a huge battery backup, it was 20 batteries. We installed 286 kilowatt hours of storage for inverters, uh residential to um gateway. Crazy residential, not even commercial, residential. Yeah, and uh just like and the whole thing about it is like man, Inspector was fighting us because it was such a large system as far as pulling permits, they wouldn't even allow us to dig um until we got the electrical permit, which is the whole which is a separate permit for dig stay for, which is that's a whole other thing. But like by the time we were done and we powered up the system, it's like we kind of take a step back, it's like bro, this this 40-foot wall uh of this guy's detached garage, it's just it's all battery. And it's just like insane. Then you look over to another wall, it's like that that's a 15-foot trough, and above it is four inverters and these two giant freaking grid bosses. It's like this is wild. It's wire everywhere.

SPEAKER_03 53:40

Were you on this job estimating it? Yeah, yeah. Was that that? He's just like, This is the demand I need, or was it starting smaller and built up to this?

Ideal Clients And The Doctor-Electrician Approach

SPEAKER_01 53:49

No, no, so this dude, this is an amazing dude. We're we're gonna do we're gonna do a bunch of more work with him as well. But he was like, he's kind of a little bit of like a prepper. He was like, he was he has 400 amp service in his home, and he goes, I want to be able to go off-grade whenever I want, and I want to be able to use my hot tub. That was the energy he was he goes, here's my electricity bill. I was like, I want enough power to power my whole. I think he was because it basically was like a compound. His home is basically like a compound, and it's like multiple families living on it. And essentially, uh, one of his biggest things is like when there is an outage, he doesn't want to have like a freaking community meeting of everybody turn this off. Not he wants everybody to still kind of do what they want in an outage. And designing that system took about a year because of trying to find a battery company that was like wasn't gonna create its home into a science project because yes, there's systems that were gonna accomplish what he wanted, but like, man, I don't want to make your house into look like a science project. That's crazy. I don't want to do that, or balloon it like where it's like so much money and also availability to get the material and to get the get the stuff. Um, but yeah, it took like a year of like back and forth being engineers.

SPEAKER_00 54:55

There you go for it. One thing I'll add too, Eddie, is that um like we uh it's almost like a like a uh a multi-layer like matching in a way, because again, we'll take on all the other regular stuff, but we really push this. But at the same time, there's more contractors coming in to doing battery and solar. But what happened was a bunch of them just said no, or they ended up turning out to just be like working for a bank or something. So when everybody else was either a charlatan or said no, we said maybe. And we're like, all right, yeah, let's let's uh because you know you don't want to say yes right away because you don't know 100% if you can help. But the best thing you can say is maybe. So then we started looking into it, and like Eddie said, we went through so many different manufacturers, but the customer was like very appreciative, like, oh my God, thank you for staying with us on this, you know what I mean? Um, and then it pays out big time because we're doing this one, then we're moving on to a big ass solar field in his yard, and then we're moving on to his 25,000 square foot warehouse that he's building, where we're doing all the electrical, all the solar, and all the battery, you know what I mean? And then again, because I can't help but just talk business, you know, this is when the guy is turning into a potential business partner, you know what I mean? So it's like when you just like really put the customer's like needs in front and you dial it in, right? And you at least say maybe, leave the door open, you know what I mean? Then that's when amazing opportunities can come about, and that's what's happening with this guy, man. It's so incredible.

SPEAKER_03 56:17

Did you collect any payment to do research on this person's behalf, or this was like we're just gonna serve and and that's the way the world works, provide and be provided for? No. Crazy. How many hours do you think you were in before or something?

SPEAKER_01 56:33

The thing is, since he was the very first one that requested something this big, it's not the norm, you know. People the the the normal is hey, I kind of just want my critical look back up for like eight hours. Okay, cool. One power wall, one e g4 battery, whatever the case may be. That's the norm, you know? Versus this guy is like, no, I want to. Yeah, but this guy was a was such a giant uh project that I find it more interesting, and I find it challenging. Me, I love a challenge, and I was like, oh, this guy's challenging my ability to design a system to do this. I want to be able to freaking make it happen. Because at the end of the day, I also saw it as like a future marketing thing. It's like we could play this giant project. So that means we market that customer, potential customers are gonna see it and be like, oh, if these guys could handle this and make this size of a system happen, they're gonna knock my system out the park and they're gonna give me exactly what I what I want. So I saw as uh it just came with those things. It's gonna pay for itself. Yep, 100%.

Network Flywheels And Government Work

SPEAKER_00 57:33

Yeah, and then the thing about it was what was cool is because we learned so much from this. So now if we get something like this again, it ain't gonna take a year. You know what I mean? Like it's gonna be very quick on putting something together because now we got the engineers, like that was hard to find that. The engineers, you know, right hard to find a system that can handle something like that. So we saw it as like the flagship opportunity to learn a lot. You know what I mean? The payout could be crazy, but then also all the stuff we learned. Now, something like this again is gonna go very a lot more faster, right? Because we're we're establishing SOPs, we got all these pieces in place now to streamline the process a lot faster. That was the big difference with smaller systems, very fast, easy. We get the code out here really quick. With this one, we needed to really learn and take notes so that way when the next ones come around, we're ready to just you know fire it off all cylinders, man.

SPEAKER_03 58:23

Super cool. Yeah, it's super cool. Uh what I hear is you guys are talking about it, and I didn't mean to pick or call it down at all. I was just very curious how much you invest for your people up front, because that's a cultural thing. Like it's very clear to me that you guys, like you said, Eddie is like you're challenged by this. And when everyone else is saying no, you want to say maybe because of what that would mean for you as people, your reputation, you as a company. I'm hearing a number of things in there, but it it all around just sounds consistent with your culture, which is we want to serve people in doing really cool jobs, and we're willing to take some risk uh when we can to do so. That that's the biggest residential setup that you've done.

SPEAKER_01 59:07

I think they say it's the largest one installed in the state of New Hampshire.

SPEAKER_00 59:12

Yeah. And it's crazy because we it seems like any Eddie always calls us out like, bro, we always attract like these crazy big complicated, like oh insane.

SPEAKER_01 59:22

I call it a blessing and a curse. Yeah, I call it I call it a blessing and a curse. Like we we attract the most difficult stuff and the most comp we we attract the projects that every other electrician local says no to, and we just like okay, we'll take care of it, we'll take care of the challenge. It's not a big deal because the end of the day, it can't be done. Yeah, yeah. It's this I guess the way we view it is like there's there's not a project that can't be done. It's there's there's no it cannot be done. It's yep, it's just how we're gonna overcome overcome it and get it done.

SPEAKER_03 59:53

I can relate. Uh you guys know a bit about my background, but it was a lot of control and automation for a dozen years when I started in the trade, and that company was similar, family-owned, multi-shop. We we grew to you know hundreds of staff, but we were the ones that was like, Oh, there's a pig farm, and the utility quoted them 250,000 to drag three phase out there. Uh, so we're gonna set up rotaphase equipment and then try to run three phase because it's cheaper, but from single phase, it was just wild. It was wild. Um, but anyway, somebody can relate, guys. It's super cool. Makes me want to come down and visit you in person. Being that you attract these big ones and you like those challenges, still with that there, what's your ideal customer? Like the phone rings or you see a booking uh uh request come through, and you're like, oh yeah, that's awesome. Can't wait to call this person and get them scheduled.

From Humble Starts To Smart Power

SPEAKER_01 1:00:52

I guess because it because uh if someone comes in through the, you know, say for example for the website, we got some questions on there, they kind of give us a brief overview of what they're looking for. Well, solar and battery, awesome, fantastic. I I get more excited about the conversation piece. Now that's not because I don't see that part of excitement versus when an email comes in. I start getting excited once I have the conversation with the customer because I'm the one that's uh calling them and having a conversation with them. And I and I just like you know, hop on the phone with them, like, man, I'm hoping we can help you. And then from there, I just kind of I I sometimes I just mute myself and sometimes they just go rant for like 30 minutes. And I'm just sitting there just taking it all in, man. Man, and then unmuting it, and I'm like, wow, it sounds like you've been thinking about this for so long. And they're like, Yeah, I've been thinking about it for like a year. It's like oh, okay, it's amazing. Well, how are you gonna, you know, what's this gonna do for you once this thing is installed? Oh, it's gonna be amazing. I'm about to do this, I'm gonna do that. That gets me excited about the project and see where their excitement is about this project. Um and even if it's like even if it's like a a they're calling or having some wanting work done from a um from a from a pain point, that's okay, man. I get to I get to like put ourselves in a position to be be, you know, like like Eddie's name, doctor. Fantastic. Tell me all your symptoms. Let me from there I could best recommend how we're gonna fix this for you. And it's that's that's I I find the joy of it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:10

What did the doctor say there? No, I said we're prescribing electrical solutions. If your lights are flickering, man, your house is coughing to me. Yeah, you know, again, it comes back down to the branding, right? Like you gotta focus on that. And if you're anybody starting a business, you got one now, find your area that you can really leverage, leverage like what's special about you and your company, right? Like lean into that. Like I talked to a guy where he works for Affleck, but he's a carpenter, you know what I mean? And I was like, bro, uh work your branding around like carpentry and craftsmanship into Affleck. And if you're not sure, use Chat GPT to help you brainstorm, you know what I mean? Bring what's authentic to you out, what what you do, you know what I mean? People are gonna appreciate that. They're gonna they're gonna level with that, they're gonna, they're gonna uh you know, align with that, you know? And so that's what we try to come from. We're just trying to help. And again, the doctor electrician thing, we it's it's funny, but that's how we genuinely handle talking to people. You got problems, you got goals. Like you would be you how how uncomfortable it would be if you went to the doctor, right? And you didn't even get a chance to tell him anything that's going on, what you're trying to do, your problems, and he's already trying to you know prescribe you some pills or something. It's like, wow, you didn't even try to like find out anything about from me. And so it's like you wouldn't want your doctor to do that, so you wouldn't want your electrician to do that either. You know what I mean? You want someone who's gonna hear you out, listen, you know, and then and then paler the solutions.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:26

Where do most of your leads come from right now? Is there one channel that dominates the rest for you?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:32

No network mostly.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:34

Yeah, I'm out there like so. We did a lot of like uh transitioning in our business. Um, and one of the things I've been focusing on now is just I'm just out there, just building the relationships, planting the seeds. And sometimes we don't see it like right away. Sometimes it's a couple days, sometimes it's weeks or months, but when it comes, man, it comes in like a flood, you know? And so because I'm out there all the time, I'm setting up this flywheel, and then all of a sudden, every day, every freaking couple few hours, something's coming in, and it's just coming in. And then what's nice though is like like when we're hopping on this call with people, it's like, oh yeah, so-and-so already told me about you guys. I went on the website, and you know what I mean? So the quality of the leads are a lot uh lot better, I would say. You know, because now, you know, the branding's working, the the word of mouth is working, you know what I mean? And and then I just love doing business that way. It's like, oh yeah, you talk to to to uh to cat, you know, like okay, cool. It's you know what I mean. And now the conversation is just way different. It's not always like that, but I put a lot of effort into building up our network where we got funnels from many, many different directions, commercial, residential, you know what I mean? Uh, even government, I've been working on. And so mostly from that. And then the next one I've been work I'm gonna work on next is the social media. You know what I mean? That'll be the next one to really beef up trying to attract you know people's interest and the you know, those leads back to us.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:50

I think I read you guys have a couple of pretty big clients too. Are you working for some big corps as well?

Vision: Ion Labs, Off-Grid Neighborhoods

SPEAKER_01 1:04:56

Green on power is one of them. You work for the we stayed in New Hampshire before? FAA, um FAA. What's the uh Coast Guard, potential Coast Guard? US Coast Guard. We're gonna be doing work for them for when the US Coast Guard we're potentially gonna be doing work for them. A lot of government stuff is.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:17

The only real one we have right now is our CEO, uh Ben. Um he came from the FAA. You know what I mean? And so that's been nice because all of a sudden they need all this work and they're like, hey, call Ben, and then he brings us with him. And so now we're doing like this changing of the guard now. We're like, I'm in and I'm shaking hands, I'm getting the phone numbers, making the relationships, you know what I mean? And all of a sudden, uh, I don't know if uh Eddie if if our guys told you uh this, but the last FAA job that we finished, they talked to our point of contact and he goes, Man, I got so many projects lined up for you guys. It's not even funny. You know what I mean? And so, you know, if you don't you don't open the door for me, I'm not I'm gonna go take that opportunity, man. I got numbers for everybody in that room. You know what I mean? I'm like scheduling, we're gonna get coffee. We're gonna get lunch, man. You know, like I'm gonna, and again, I come from a point where like I don't I'm not asking for anything. I'm trying to find out how can I help you and not even just electrical. And then at that point, they're like, oh my God, like this, like why is like we and Eddie, we get asked this question all the time, like, man, like, like, why are you doing all this stuff for us? You know what I mean? And it's like all of a sudden, it's like now they they they feel like they can trust you wholeheartedly. Like they know now, like, okay, like I can really trust my home or my business or my facility with these guys. I feel like we're we're friends, you know what I mean? Like I could go to the gym with with this dude, you know what I mean? And so uh that's been really huge. The government one's been awesome.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:35

Yeah, that's super cool. When you guys first started, did you see it becoming what it is today?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:41

I guess in the beginning, just like anything else, you could you can only think so far ahead at the time because in the beginning, you know, out especially when me and Eddie were still working our regular jobs, I was traveling a lot. I was doing I was in the industrial machinery industry, so I was traveling a lot. So whenever I was like, you know, had to go work in Massachusetts or whatever, anywhere in New England, I would go up and stay in New Hampshire for the weekend. And then me and Eddie and uh Ramon, we would just go to like you know, just these really, really shitty, like crappy apartments at eight o'clock at night to freaking replace a couple receptacles. And it's like, when you're at that point, I'm like, this I got this drunk uncle behind me offering me offering me a beer. I'm like, oh man, I can't wait to get out of here. Like you know, so humble beginnings, right? Yeah, humble beginnings, you know. So like we knew we were gonna like be something, we just we just didn't know it how we were gonna do it just yet. But like part of the last couple of years, especially when we um I would say probably four or five years ago, we really started wanting to be pivoting to like smart home stuff and like just because again, that's what we like. We liked we like that technology. So it's like you know, it's easy to sell something if you're passionate about it too, or easy to kind of market something if you're passionate about it too. So we're passionate about like the battery, the solar, the smart stuff, you know, automation, all that stuff. So it's like, okay, let's just kind of pigeonhole to that and really focus on that. Still not taking away from the traditional electrical stuff as service upgrades, everything or anything like that. But kind of uh really focusing on the marketing the last like four to five years on that. I think it's uh it's really got to this point right now where like we're finally, again, like I mentioned before, anybody that is in New England that looks up contracted for solar and battery, we come up the first. So I think it's finally you know working for us.

Five-Year Future And National Scale

SPEAKER_00 1:08:20

Yeah, I think uh like like Eddie said in the beginning, we've taken on anything and everything. And I think really when it comes down to it, we we we found our identity the last probably five or six years, and we really honed in and focused in on it and tried to try to cr you know to mold it in this in this amazing structure, right, that can have longevity, you know, and and we saw where we could bring the again the most value then that that that was in those areas. It's like, okay, what are the things we like doing the most? And then where are we making the most money? You know what I mean? Like, how can we turn these things into like turnkey just in and out type stuff? And what what excites us like every day? These big ass freaking complicated projects that come, it keeps things interesting, you know what I mean? And so I didn't think it was gonna grow. And if I had no freaking idea, we'd be going down this route, automating power and you know what I mean, and look and then AI, like what like bro, I didn't even know about AI like when we first started. That wasn't even a thing, you know what I mean? It's just crazy. Um, but yeah, we're really coming into our own. Like, we're about to be 10 years this year in September. Um, and I just am so confident, I've never been more confident than ever on our purpose and what we're supposed to be doing. You know what I mean? And we got other businesses too. Like, like we're we're at this point now where we're trying to take off all the hats so that way we can move on to Ion Labs, man. I'm gonna drop that on the podcast. We got another company called Ion Labs that's gonna be doing crazier, bigger stuff. You know what I mean? And so we're just getting started.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:42

Help us with one idea here. What are you gonna do at Ion Labs?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:45

No, I was just gonna say, one of the big ones, man, is I'm going after the housing crisis. We're going after the highest housing crisis. We're talking to Vermont, we want to build neighborhoods. We want to treat it, we want to have you know all the houses to have the ability to be completely off-grid. We want to bring back what I'm calling the American Dream 2.0, where you can actually afford a house again at a reasonable price. And I'm not gonna spill all the secret sauce, but we're working on how to make your house make money for you, you know what I mean, proactively. And so there's a lot of really cool shit that's gonna take a lot of RD, a lot of time traveling and you know, to Vermont and you know, uh talking to modular home manufacturers. And so we're really leaning in onto that. There's a lot of software stuff that we want to get involved in now because you know, as electricians, all day long we, you know, we're finding problems left and right. So we're like, all right, let's make a tally of that and let's move it over to this other company, let's solve some problems for like other people in our industry. And so I've been calling it like our sandbox for business because we've got all these ideas, let's have a laboratory where we can just kind of go after things that are in our industry, or again, or we can keep bringing value, solve problems. And I don't know, I think it's our ADHD or something, but you know, we got a bunch of really big partners.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:57

Whatever it is, I bet you notions involved.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:02

You said like one, three, you know, all the way up to 20 years. Literally, you can ask Eddie, don't I have one? It's called the Ion Blueprint 20 year manifesto. Because it literally, and chunking out every year up to the 20-year mark on what we want to do, down to detail business plans, you know, KPIs. It's all in there. It's create hundreds of K. I love it. I love Notion because I can just go in there and be like, hey, I was talking about a thing the other day, it's gonna go find it for me, you know what I mean? And then we can just keep on building, you know what I mean? It's amazing for that.

Where To Follow And Final Advice

SPEAKER_03 1:11:31

Yeah, it's like Lego for your brain. Yeah, that's manifest behind the screen, any screen, any screen. I should be sponsored by Notion at this point. Yeah, okay, we're gonna run out of time, but since you mentioned a blueprint, I gotta ask, really selfish of me, big coaching question. But like, if we were to high five and do our eighth episode in five years, what's true for ion, ion labs, ion electrical? What's true for the Eddie brothers? Big question. In eight years? Uh that would be eighth, our eighth episode if we did one every year. Okay, eighth episode. Five years from now, we're gonna jump up in the air on high five because you guys are so stoked about what's happened and where you're at. Give me some truth in that moment.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:16

Man, for sure, being a kind of a household name working with um utility companies as far as installing incentives and really expanding across more across the United States across the the uh United States, um, and then installing, you know, creating more areas as far as you know, uh the ones installing these battery backup systems for these for these programs.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:40

Um I think we're gonna be known for uh idling the United States. When I mean that, I mean we're putting batteries and solar like everywhere. You know, I mean we're we're gonna be known for being at least part of the solution, right? That like we helped, you know, to offset not just the grid, but everybody's electric bills. Like, like I said, we're a household name, we're known for that. We're working with larger utility companies, and we're not stopping New England. We want to keep going across the country, you know what I mean? Like as long as this keeps taking us, you know what I mean. So we're really working on scaling. So I think at that point we're scaled to like multiple states at that point, and we're going into Midwest and the rest of the way. And maybe Canada. Well, I'm still so excited to go to Canada dog. Like, I want to go see you so bad up there.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:26

We're gonna do uh gonna do some live stuff. I'll make sure to send you guys an invite. Absolutely, dude. That'd be awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:32

Oh, 100%. Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:33

I was seeing a vision as you were talking, and I think it might be the first Ion Labs release, a full battery-powered hot tub.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:47

Order it online with orange.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:50

Oh, I love that. We hate doing hot tubs, man. Like, cheese.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:58

Hell yeah. Sorry, I guess it was there. Uh you guys always have a ton of fun on these calls with you. I want to thank you so much for joining. If guys wanted to reach out or follow you and learn more about Ion Labs, Ion Electrical, and your guys' story and journey, what's the best place to do that?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:15

Or Facebook, um, which is just Ion Electrical LLC. Uh, I believe the same is for Instagram, Eddie.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:21

Yeah, Instagram.com forward slash ion electrical. Three L's man, don't let it freaking get past you, you know. Um, our website, you know, ionelectrical lc.com. You'll be able to find that. I'm really trying to step up uh kind of the blogging on there, and you know what I mean? Um, I'm just really excited to start rolling out the marketing playbook. Um, so yeah, if you if anybody can go follow us on there, that'd be great. Amazing.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:44

Well, final moments, any last messages for our viewers or listeners, guys?

SPEAKER_00 1:14:48

Stay curious, tinker with freaking AI, man. I'm telling you, even if you're like, I hate it, I don't wanna, I don't understand it, man. Give it a few hours a week. Just play around with it and you'll start to see the magic and where it can help you. You know, I mean, I'm telling you, man. If you it's not gonna be uh AI that takes over, you know, uh other people, right? It's gonna be people using AI that's gonna be taking over, you know. So just be curious and tinker, man. That's that's what I guess today.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:12

And I guess for me, um, a little bit off complete opposite as far as AI, but for all the you know, other contractor owners out there, don't forget to uh, you know, you're working hard, try and make a business grow, but don't forget to take care of yourself, stay healthy, make sure to get your work in there for mentally, you know, get to the gym, drink water, you know. At the end of the day, even if your business becomes successful, it's it's not worth it if uh you don't live long enough, you know, you know, stay on this, you know, world long enough where you go through a sickness or anything like that. So make sure to you know still take care of yourself at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:44

Love that. We heard it here first, guys. That's uh culture coming through right there at Iron Electrical. Thanks so much to the Eddie brothers, uh Eddie Cruz and Dr. Electrician Edward. Love the handle, brother. Uh thank you so much, you guys. We'll see you again next week. We've got more great interviews coming. Always a pleasure on the million dollar electrician. Cheers to your success. Thank you, brother.