Why the Least Sexy Businesses Are Winning Right Now with Drew & TJ

Most people are chasing the sexy business idea. The flashy brand. The viral moment. The overnight success.

But what if the real money is being made somewhere else entirely?

In this episode of The Keri Croft Show, I sit down with my friends Drew and TJ. Two entrepreneurs building serious wealth in industries most people overlook. From porta potties and waste management to roofing, they’ve mastered what it actually takes to win in “unsexy” businesses… and spoiler: it’s not luck.

We get into what it really looked like to build and sell a waste company, why consistency beats chasing big wins, and how focusing on data, process, and people can outperform hype every single time.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re behind because you’re not building something flashy… this episode might completely reframe how you think about success.

Transcript

Sponsor Spotlight And Quick Promos

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Avena Women's Care is a collective of 40-plus providers that have been serving central Ohio communities with comprehensive women's health care for decades. They meet women where they are in every phase of life. From fertility services to menopause care, annual checkups to 3D mammography, Avena provides robust services for all. So for the highest level of individualized women's health care, there's one name to remember: Avena Women's Care. Go to www.avenawomen's care.com to request an appointment. Be sure to tell them Carrie sent you. If you're ready for a true reset, inside and out, Donaldson is here to help you become the very best version of you. They combine cosmetic surgery and functional medicine to support how you look, how you feel, and how you move through the world with care that's personalized, thoughtful, and never one size fits all. This isn't about changing who you are. This is about feeling refreshed, balanced, and confident again. So if you've been craving a real pick-me-up, Donaldson is ready when you

Meet Drew And TJ

SPEAKER_02 1:05

are. Hey there, you beautiful badass. Badass. Welcome to the Carrie Croft Show. Yours is easy. TJ Johnson. TJ Johnson. Drew Canazel.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

That's good.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

Welcome to the Carrie Croft Show. How's it going?

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Great. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

How good? Scale of one to 10.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

10 every day.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

Ten every day? All day. What about you, Drew? I'm about an eight. You're about an eight. I like that. I like that honesty. I'm about a seven and a half today, I'm not gonna lie. Okay. Until you guys came in. Good. Now I'm a twelve. Good. Now I'm a twelve. So okay, Drew, let's kind of tee it up. People like for me to like quickly say who the fuck are these people? They don't like to guess. They don't like to wait. I've gotten lots of feedback on this before. Like, we love you, Care, but like tell us who these people are. So you and I were neighbors.

SPEAKER_03 1:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

For what, five years?

SPEAKER_03 1:54

Yeah. Uh seven years.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

Seven years? Yeah. And then you moved all the way over to the other side of Arlington. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:01

A mile away.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

A mile away, which seems like a really long way. Um, and so anyway, I met you, liked you a lot. You're a quiet guy, but I just feel like you're just a trustworthy good old boy.

SPEAKER_03 2:12

Well, I don't know what he thinks about that.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

And so we'll get to this, this relationship in a moment. But so what I found out about you, and it was very interesting to me, is that you owned a porta potty company, right? And I mean, for the obvious reasons it was interesting. I mean, it's like waste management. Um, but I also know, like, in today's world with like Cody Sanchez and this whole Main Street millionaire and like these like low-key businesses that have kind of like gotten brushed under

The Porta Potty To Exit Story

SPEAKER_02 2:40

the rug, like laundry mats and things like that. That's kind of what I was thinking about. And then as it turns out, you kind of struck gold with your with your company, you sold it.

SPEAKER_04 2:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

And made made the bag, and now here we are, right? And now you're here with your friend TJ and you guys are doing a roofing business together, right? So I love a good partnership, but like I love a good partnership when it comes from like you've known each other forever.

SPEAKER_03 3:03

Yes, second grade.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Since you were in second grade. Yep, yeah. And then I'm just gonna guess were you kind of the straight and narrow sparrow, level head, and you were kind of like the Tasmanian emotional like guy running around the playground?

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Yeah, that's still the same way.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

I think we've had our moments and we've still fight regularly. Do you? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

I can't imagine you fighting with someone.

SPEAKER_03 3:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

But I could see maybe how you you might put all the goods. He went, he was like.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

No, I we just we're we're like brothers, right? So the conversations and disagreements aren't like your typical business partners or friends.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

Filters, there's no filter.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Yeah, it's like, hey, right, like, you know, and it a lot of it is like extreme level where we act very adolescent, and it's like, just don't ever talk to me again, you know. Yeah, yeah. We have that relationship still. Yeah, and here you are still. Yeah, I love that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

So, Drew, I want to unpack a little bit of what you've got going on. So you're an attorney too, right? So you've got you've got a lot of good tools in your arsenal. Let's talk a little bit though about wastaway. Yeah. It's a waste away and how it started. And then I found it really interesting how you were saying that you guys sort of found that that piece of land, like you were the hub, and that was kind of the game changer for the sale. Yeah. So just kind of walk through so that somebody at home who's like, wait, what the hell? How did he do this?

SPEAKER_03 4:28

Yeah.

Starting A Waste Hauling Company

SPEAKER_03 4:29

Um, so I was in banking for 13 years. Um, that's when I went to law school um at night during that time. And then a friend of mine, actually a friend of both of ours, um, approached me to invest in and help them start a waste company. Uh so we did residential, commercial, and um industrial waste hauling. And um, we started with uh two trucks and 41 customers. Um now Seth, uh, my business partner, he had all the operational knowledge. He was in the industry, and I kind of helped with the financial and legal side of it. So we had two different, very, you know, very different skill sets um that really helped uh from a business relationship. And same thing with with T Go. Um, you know, if two people have the same skill sets, you're probably gonna butt heads a lot. But if you have two different skill sets, then you kind of stay in your lane and make things work.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

Yeah, cool. And so then, like, when did you realize, like, okay, we're gonna sell this thing and we're gonna make like how did that all so we like to say it was a 10-year overnight success.

SPEAKER_03 5:33

Um, so we ran it for about 10 years from 2012 to 2022, but um, I don't think it was ever in the cards to sell it until we started talking um about the multiples um and the opportunities. Um, and it was just kind of one of those one of those things where we just got lucky and um but you didn't just get lucky.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

I feel like you were resourceful.

SPEAKER_03 5:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Like I felt like you having the wherewithal to be able to figure out how to buy the hub where they put the shit, and then that became super valuable. I think that had a huge part, right?

SPEAKER_03 6:09

Yeah, yeah.

The Transfer Station Scaling Move

SPEAKER_03 6:10

Um yeah, we uh decided to start a transfer station, which um basically is like a 10,000 square foot building that you take the trash, um, truck takes the trash in, dumps it, then you package it up into a semi-trailer and take it to the landfill. Um that certainly helped from a logistical standpoint, um, helping to scale the business. Um we had other waste haulers taking their waste into the into the transfer station. Um and ultimately that was um what the company that ended up buying us really liked um as well as um you know the hauling side uh was the logistical, you know, home base to to package everything up and take it to their landfill.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

You've actually moved the the poop, like you actually did that yourself. So did your wife, right?

SPEAKER_03 6:59

Yeah, yeah. Yes, Sarah did it as well.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

I mean, Sarah, I gotta tell you, he told me that and I was like, I like this girl. Shout out Sarah. You do what you gotta do for the family.

unknown 7:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

So was it like a like an emergency or something, or was it like, hey, we just she willingly just wanted to go do it.

SPEAKER_03 7:15

Like and so she went out with uh one of our guys for it was actually over like a fourth of July weekend. She went out um and did it. Uh just for shits and giggles. Yeah. Shits and giggles. Literally. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

Okay. I love that. How how many times did you actually do that? Did you do that a lot?

SPEAKER_03 7:32

Uh no, no. Um I again, I was more on the finance and legal side. But you roll your sticks. Behind the computer. Okay. Um, but yeah, uh, if need be, I'd, you know, I'd um I'd help out wherever I could. But um yeah, it wasn't very often.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

Yeah. So you said something in your intake form that I found to be very true. Um you were you were basically saying like doing things kind of average, but just consistently over a long period of time. So as opposed to like, I feel like with today's Instagram glossy world, it's like, oh, everyone's flying their private jets, and there's all this like, you know, this grand gesture to everything. But you're like, no, just like be average or a little above average for an extraordinary period of time. And like yeah,

Consistency Over Flashy Business Myths

SPEAKER_02 8:21

talk to me about that.

SPEAKER_03 8:21

Where like where did you um I I think it's a Charlie Munger quote. I'm a big follower of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, but we talked about it with with Tego and our sales guys. Like, you know, you might have a guy who's Michael Jordan, um, but not everybody can be Michael Jordan. Um, you know, you need the Steve Kerr of the world or or even you know, less than that. But if you do something, you know, just above average or a little bit above average for a long, long period of time, you're you're gonna expect some pretty extraordinary results. And and I think, you know, anybody wanting to start their own business, um, you know, again, you don't have to hit home runs. You just have to hit a bunch of singles day in and day out over a 10-year period of time, and you're probably gonna be able to do very, very well.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

So you sell

Launching A Roofing Partnership

SPEAKER_02 9:09

this thing, and then does TJ approach you like, hey, let's do this roofing thing?

SPEAKER_03 9:14

No, no, it was actually uh two years after. Um, yeah, TJ had an opportunity. Um uh we can't really get into the details, I guess, but uh yeah, I can let TJ talk more about that. But yeah, um uh he had the opportunity and we kind of talked about it. And I said, hey man, like I'm I will help you, but if you want me involved, I will be. If if not, then you know I can uh you know help as needed. And uh we decided that you know it was a it was a good business uh partnership and um we started January of this year. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

What did you do though? Like you're a numbers guy and you're pretty, I would feel like pretty methodical. Yeah. Like he's your friend, which is great, that also could provide some trepidation too, where it's like, okay, I gotta be real careful. So I assume you did a bunch of like just looking at the numbers, the math was mathing. But what aside from this wonderfully charismatic, handsome young man, what was the real draw for you to make this your next bet?

SPEAKER_03 10:14

Actually, it's funny because he had a um a business plan that he kept trying to send me, and I was like, don't send me your shitty business plan. I don't want to look at it, I don't care.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

Um was it a five-year business plan, TJ? How many years was it? Um it was more for him, but it's it's for my like I'm a data guy.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Yeah. So like I have to see, yeah. I don't hear words, I hear numbers, right? In business. So like it was more for my own like sanity. Like, okay, I see how this thing works, I see how we get it there. And then like strategically, if we hire XYZ, then like, and we we implement this, we implement that, then like it's there, right? Yeah. So that was the biggest thing, is just uh yeah, and it was, I think it's a 12-year business plan. So uh in total, uh to the goal is to make this a uh you know, inevitably a billion dollar company by the time our son graduates high school.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Look out, Drew. So he's putting this he's putting the B-word out there.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

No, I mean it and it's it's uh I I think B-word is is a number, and maybe it's not a billion, but like and I know that's like the new trend in like social media is like billion is the the number for people.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

Actually, I have news for you.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Is it trillion now? It's now trillion. Yeah, which is yeah, but um we get to a trillion. I I think just a trillion. I I'm uh I like hitting a number, right? Like and seeing a number and then like visualizing and then playing strategically, like how can we do that, right? Is it probable? Is it possible? And then like facilitating that through how we then attack it. But you know, if you go into it blindly, you gotta have goals, right? You know that. Like it's like something to drive you every day.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Yeah, for sure. You know what my main goal is? What's that to blow up and act like I don't know nobody.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

And that's that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

My main goal.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

Okay, so what's one boring or unsexy business habit that's created extraordinary results for you?

Financials And Daily KPI Discipline

SPEAKER_03 12:05

It's I think that one of the most important things that businesses forget about are doing the financials and doing the books because that is the common language between your business and the rest of the world. So investors or the bank and a lot of business owners don't think about that um as they're doing their day-to-day. And I think that is the boring thing that you need to do in order to, I guess, be successful in getting that loan or selling your company at a at a higher price.

SPEAKER_02 12:41

Yeah, and if a lower interest rate. If things aren't going the way you want them to, it's like easier to kind of go, yeah, I'm gonna look at that, you know, next week or whatever. And I think a lot of people who are especially creatives, yes, you know, probably kind of are like, yeah, the numbers, the numbers, but they are. I mean, you live and die by them. Yes, for sure. What about you?

SPEAKER_00 13:01

I'm I'm a numbers-driven person as well. So like I, you know, first thing I do every morning is I tr dive directly into our spreadsheets from the day before, see exactly if we were hitting our median numbers. Um, you know, because it's day over day over day, habitual routine processes. If you do the thing, then the low of averages comes back to you. So, you know, everything we do is just process driven, process, and it's fun for me, but I think maybe the the majority of your business owner might be like, oh, you know, looking at spreadsheets and the and the stats, you know, shall I say, is just not a fun thing. And it's it's the first thing I do every morning. Um and it and it it doesn't necessarily mean it's like sales or you know, the sexy part of it. It's like, you know, we get super granular with our data, and it's like, what's the performance of like our quality control inspector every day? Right? Like we can we'll get to a point where we will be able to grade you every day based on that that that performance the day before, right? And it's all all set up through measurables. So, and that's how you can replicate something, right? Replicate, you have to be able to replicate something through a process to then scale it, and that's the end goal. So the trial and error of that, and just you know, digging data, data, data, data, and it sucks. It's not fun sometimes. Like, I don't want to look at you know our performance from a quality control inspection level, but it is what it is.

Hiring, Pay, And Noncompetes

SPEAKER_02 14:21

I can imagine that these types of traditional uh service businesses uh getting good people but keeping good people has to be so hard right now. Yeah, yeah. Is that the biggest? I'm sure to say the biggest pain point is I probably oversimplifying because I'm sure there's multiple really, you know, uh long polls in the tent, yeah, yeah, if you will. Um, but how do you handle that? So, like I putting myself in your shoes, I feel like it would be hard enough to find the good person who's consistent and reliable. But then how do you like take a step further to differentiate those people in the market to get the recurring business, to get your name to be like that number one roofing company in the city, in the country, and in all of the land? Yeah, yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Yeah. Uh you you have to pay them if you find that diamond in the rough, right? Because it is. It's uh I think the you know, in the service industry, what do you expect as a customer, right? Guy show up to your house drunk, you know, like drunk from the night before, bad mood, shows up, doesn't show up on time. So, like if you can find somebody that presents themselves in a professional manner that that is, you know, passes the eye test for the consumer, like you got to take care of them. So we do, we we we will overcompensate our labors. There's no gray area with that whatsoever. And I think that does attract and we treat them good, we pay them on time, and you know, that's half the demons are right there in the industry, just getting the other the company to actually pay them on time as well.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

Thought thoughts on um uh non-competes, because I don't even think those are really do those even hold water anymore?

SPEAKER_03 16:02

You know, I mean we've we use them um and have used them in the past, but it's more or less like, hey, we have this written agreement, because it's only good as uh the you know, the agreement's only as good as the person behind it, so you're trusting that they're gonna honor it. Um, but if they don't, are you really gonna spend the time or the effort going after them?

SPEAKER_02 16:23

Charles Penzone did. I mean, are you? You know, I mean it's like, right? I just feel like they're kind of, I mean, to me, it's like nature of the beast. It's like you, if you have someone who's really good and smart and they see like, wow, this can all be done, is that really I have a philosophical issue, kind of, because you know, being an entrepreneur entrepreneur myself and building a fitness brand, that was always a question, right? Yeah, it was always like, and I was always, and I, and maybe I am on the way lenient side of things. I'm like, look forward, be the person people are trying to emulate.

SPEAKER_04 17:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:03

And like you can't go wrong, right? I mean, you don't want to be dumb about it. But I do think people get so stuck in this like scarcity thing where it's like, no, I can do this, I can build this business, and you work for me. But if there's like 3% of them out there that are smart and they're like, you know, yeah, I'm gonna go do this.

SPEAKER_03 17:20

So did you use non-competes?

SPEAKER_02 17:22

We did.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

Anybody else who left to go, we'd let people teach classes, other places. We didn't want to be a place like that. I was like, if somebody wants to go teach it, yeah, whatever, we always we did things with other studios. We were very inclusive. Yeah. So I feel like unless you have someone who's literally flagrant like that, I don't know. Good, I'm more power to you.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Like, I just also if the person doesn't want to be there, right? Like they they're gonna be a cult a cancer to your culture over time. So it's like, all right, if you want to go work for another company, yeah, this is not the spot you want to be. Like, yep, the reflection shouldn't be like, hey, I want to hold hold you here because like they're just gonna kill your vibe in the company, you know. So it's like just let them go.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

Well, and it's like I just feel like everybody's entitled to their like if like we all are entitled to our success. Like if you're gonna work hard and like who's to say that you're any less entitled to like building your empire than I am, yeah. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 18:24

I think having you know employees sign it is a good thing. Oh, yeah. Yeah, probably you know, is never. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're unique situations.

Corporate Exit And Work Life Spillover

SPEAKER_02 18:39

So you were in corporate for 13 years before you, and you said you were pretty unhappy.

SPEAKER_03 18:44

Um, yeah. I I think that um uh I had my good moments and bad moments, um, but I think overall I enjoy the entrepreneurial world, like had a blast, you know, working on TGO with with uh TJ. Um and you just don't get to do that in the corporate world. You kind of stay in your lane and you do your job every day and then you go home. But you know, on the entrepreneurial world, your job never ends, like which is I like that. I some people like the break in action, but I think TJ's the same way. I I don't think he sleeps most nights, but but um but he loves it. So it's I think you have to you I think you have to love never being able to turn it off.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

And what was the moment for you in corporate though? The like what was that inflection point where you were like, okay, I'm yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:31

Um it was kind of well, I guess it was in 2020, so it was like right near COVID. So I don't know, there was a lot of motions going on around in that in that time period. But I had ki I had kids at the time. Uh so it was definitely a scary leap uh to to to move. But we also had a business that was making money, and so it was less of a leap than you know, TJ, for example, with you know, starting at zero and and growing it. So risking it. Yeah, yeah, risking it all for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

But also I I'll I'll just because we we do have this like you know, bond that's like, you know, I can we can feel each other's energies like just because we've been around. I'll tell you what didn't work in the corporate world for him is he is not a water cooler guy. He's not a you know, go into the office and BS about the you know Monday night football game. Like he is driven and he's to the point and he's he's super analytical and smart. And he's like, I the biggest comp I he's the most prompt person I've ever met in my life. His efficiency level is like, and I'm not trying to pat him on the back. This is probably the first time he's ever heard me say. This is being recorded, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

We will not be cutting this part out.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

But no, it's like he's uh he he's like he's the most efficient person. Like it's crazy how there's just he doesn't miss anything. Like an email is replied to in 10 seconds, you know, like it is just on point all day, every day. And I think he saw, like, hey, I'm more talented than said XYZ person and at where I'm at. And he saw the political jargon that can happen sometimes in the corporate world, right? Where it's like just because some guy's like uh, you know, walks up to the CEO every day and rubs his shoulders, and you know, is that like, hey, let's bullshit non-stop with each other about sports and you know, extracurricular activities where Drew's like, I'm just I'm here to make the business better, I'm here to grow it. And his he probably saw like an end of the road for his like success at where he was at, and he's like, that sucks. I need to have give myself a better opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

He's A B, all business.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

Yep, no, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

Does that ever bleed into your personal life? Does Sarah have to like go, hey Drew, it's time to like, or are you good at being able to like because I feel like personally, and I know a lot of entrepreneurs, you know, back to what you just said about, you know, you don't have to turn it off. And when it's yours, you don't turn it off. It's on all the time. And so I've had situations where Brady, who is a teacher and is very routine based and very much like you're there when you're there and you're not when you're. He's like, hi. Like, who are you having a conversation with right now at the at the kitchen sink? Like, can you like not can we like have a moment? So I had to teach myself truly in here, which is part of that mental athleticism thing I was telling you about. Like to prioritize buckets in my brain to be like, Carrie, your bucket for the day in business is it over it overfloweth.

SPEAKER_03 22:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

There's other buckets that need some attention.

SPEAKER_03 22:24

Yeah, yeah. I think that's a good um talent to have because I don't have that. I'm constantly, especially if I'm like working on a problem or something in my head, I cannot turn it off. And I mean, Sarah could be talking to me and it'd just be one ear out the other, and I'm just focused on that problem. And it's it's not a good thing. I I don't want to be that way. It's just how I'm wired. And I think TJ is probably the same way. We just can't turn it off.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

But I think like sh I don't know Sarah, but she always from afar struck me as a very good mom. Um, I couldn't really picture her getting like yelling at the kid. Like, yeah, I would like to see her like walking with the kids behind her on the street, always just very level. Yeah. And I thought to myself, she's probably a really great spouse for someone like Drew, who is con like she's very supportive, is the CEO of the house, understands the greater good and what you're trying to accomplish and your good partnership. That was my, just so you know, like from someone who doesn't know shit, that was the energy you guys were giving off to me. But you don't get that all the time with people.

SPEAKER_03 23:29

No, no, and it's been very helpful. She's been very understanding of my personality quirks.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

And it doesn't hurt that she's hot too. Walking down Brandon Road like, oh hey. Yeah, I got you, Sarah. I got you, girl.

Sponsor Break For Self Care

SPEAKER_02 23:43

Um, okay, so stress and inflammation take a toll on your body and your wellness. Relax, restore, and rejuvenate at Panacea Luxury Spa Boutique. Book any service of $100 or more and enjoy two hours in our luxury amenities. Unwind in our Himalayan salt saunas, recharge in our wet retreat space with a eucalyptus steam room, hot hydrotherapy pool, and cold plunge. Then drift into deep relaxation with our hanging loungers. What's your panacea? We'll help you find it. I have a new obsession and I need to put you on it. Mia Santiago is a celebrity stylist right here in UA, and she's the only person I trust with my hair. Her precision cuts grow out perfectly, and she's created something unreal. Headspace by Mia, her chic scalp spa. It's not just a hair appointment, honey. It's a full-on reset. Your scalp gets healthy, your hair looks expensive, and your nervous system finally exhales. If winter has you feeling dry, tired, or overstimulated, this is your moment. Go book with Mia Santiago and her amazing team. You'll leave glowing, you'll feel lighter, and yes, you'll thank me after.

AI Limits In Hands On Roofing

SPEAKER_02 25:08

How do you guys see? Like, we all talk about AI, right? AI this, AI that. And I kind of feel like, I don't know. Of course it's this huge revolutionary thing. I get it. I love it. But I also think that like there's a part of like the marketing of things where it's like, wait, someone else understands and knows something I don't. There's more to this. How do I learn? So, like right now today, is there anything extraordinary with the roofing industry that you feel like AI is going to completely change other than just like back end systems and like kind of what I'm seeing with is there a secret somewhere?

SPEAKER_00 25:43

It's just gonna be just like your typical, you know, your your front, your backside CRMs, your process, you know, it's gonna the efficiencies of your company are gonna get better because of it. But as far as, you know, one thing we both uh talk about, you know, when when we went down this path of, you know, going into to this to this field after, you know, my my lifelong or my career path has been through roofing, but like it's like, hey, when it was like the time to make a decision move, it's like, hey, the the reality of it is AI, robots, it's an inelastic product that people have to do, right? Computers can't take over the space. Yeah, like it's just the reality of it. Like humans have to get on the roof, have to do it, and roofs are inelastic, right? Every structure in the world has to have a new roof.

SPEAKER_03 26:26

Yeah, we're probably a long way away from robots getting on the roof.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

And I mean, and it could happen, you never know, right?

SPEAKER_03 26:32

Like it's but even then, like someone has to sell the roof too. Right. And I don't know if robots are doing that because it's very personal process, you know.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

And that can be a virtual, virtual process, but like there's there's too much hands-on, like, you know, yeah, callous on the hands to the industry. And I'm I'm not trying to be like, you know, I I know there's a lot of spaces where people just don't want to are denying AI, and it's like, no, no, no, AI has already taken over that space, and they don't even understand it. It's like in roofing, I just don't see the path for it to be something that's here effective immediately by the time you know the our you know my son does graduate high school, whatever. Like, I just don't see it here right now.

SPEAKER_03 27:08

Yeah, and and people's homes are very personal to them. Yeah, I think they want to talk to like a human to talk about their roof or you know, protecting their home. So I don't know. I I don't I don't I wouldn't want to talk to a robot and all about my roof.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

No, no, I want to talk to TJ. I want you coming to my door with that quaffa hair, those blue eyes, like, hey lady, you want a whole new roof? Sure, TJ. Who

Naming The Brand And Scaling Plans

SPEAKER_02 27:34

who um did the logo?

SPEAKER_00 27:36

I did.

SPEAKER_02 27:36

Cool. And then did you what's T what's what's it stand for?

SPEAKER_00 27:40

So this is T go. So uh the this T go means to cover and protect in think Greek. Greek, yeah, Greek is cover and protect, and then there's uh a Latin term that's like roof labor that we found as well. Um, so you know, it was kind of like generic names. Generic wasn't really coming up with the right name, and then like just dug into some foreign, you know, not foreign, but you know, like ancient literature, then found found this, found T go, and it was like, all right, let's do it. You know, like it was a great name.

SPEAKER_03 28:13

But what was it before Tigo? Yeah. Proof. Proof, yeah. Proof, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:16

Yeah, proof was it like I kind of like proof too, because it's if you take the P away, it's roof.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Yeah, so that's what I was thinking too. But it's you can't so it's that name is actually taken like in most states. So like the the long-term game plan is you know, scale the thing and like then you then you so like T Go was isn't applicable anywhere else, and it's like, all right, if we have the rights, and like we just can easily transition the brand from market to market.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

So you gotta reach that billion.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

I mean, you know, hopefully that's that's the game plan.

SPEAKER_02 28:45

Listen, dream big, buddy. I love it. I think it's freaking audacious. No, it's like I love that shit.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

The it it it's if we can get good people, good salespeople, the marketing thing's there, we'll be there.

SPEAKER_02 28:57

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

You can have me on this podcast in 13 years. You're marketing it right now. I'll be at a billionaire.

SPEAKER_02 29:02

I love this because believe me, I'm gonna keep it. This shit's going up on YouTube.

SPEAKER_00 29:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

You're gonna be at a billion dollars in 13 years. We're gonna play it back.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

100% will be there.

SPEAKER_02 29:11

Oh, listen to this guy. 100%, not even 97.4%.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

No, we're different. We are we we we got the we got the business thing figure.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

What do you think, Drew?

SPEAKER_00 29:20

I I have to do it. What percent?

SPEAKER_02 29:21

What yeah, Drew's like, I'm listening I'm I'm into it. I'm totally into it.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

No, we're we're post we're process driven. We're we base our company on numerics, like measurables, like everything is, and if you stick to those things and you have consistency across the board, like I tell everybody in our company every day, the law of averages are real, right? And data doesn't lie. If everybody does their job, like you can't the reason we I think we probably both love numbers, is like they they can't lie to anybody, right? It's just the reality of it. There's no gray, there's no gray in it. It's like it's facts. And a business, I you know, one thing I'll say is like in a business, right? You can they parallel sports a ton, which I love sports. I'm you know, basketball is like my thing. And in basketball, at the end of a game, you can look at the stats. You the score is 113 to 97, right? At the end of the game, you can look at the stats and you know why the team won the game. Business is the same exact way, right? And the the reason companies don't have success or do fail in business is because they want to play in pickup games, they don't want to believe the data, right? Where we're just like, all right, we know exactly if we know exactly what's going on, then we are and we consistently do it and we do it the right way with a process, you're gonna hit your numbers.

Trades, Consolidation, And Passive Income

SPEAKER_02 30:32

What other industries do you kind of have your sniffer out on, if any? Like what interests you?

SPEAKER_03 30:38

Uh I mean, we talk about this a lot. I think um businesses that um are in a fragmented industry um where a lot of consolidation, um, like roofing, for example. You know, you have a lot of consolidation, a lot of small guys, a lot of big guys. Um, it was the same thing in the waste industry. Um there's an opportunity for someone to go in and be better than the smaller guys who don't really know how to run a business, and be better than the big guys who don't really care about a lot of things. So you can feed off their crumbs as they forget, you know, about customers and businesses uh along the way. So yeah, I guess you know, waste and roofing and plumbers and electricians and um a lot of trades, I think, you know, are are things that people forget are are great opportunities for for businesses.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

It's real trendy right now.

SPEAKER_03 31:34

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:34

So I feel like you like it doesn't necessarily mean a lot of people are gonna be good at it.

SPEAKER_04 31:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

Um, but I feel like a lot of people are kind of flocking to that. But I think most of those people are on that like top level get rich quick. This is gonna be easy. The same person that looks at you, oh, Drew sold his, you know, waste company, you know, it was easy. It took him a couple years. Everyone wants to say, like, someone got lucky or they had this advantage. So I mean, even if uh there's a ton of people going toward that, I feel like there's still a very slit, like small percentage of people who are gonna like take the time to be methodical, precise, and really think about it in that way.

SPEAKER_03 32:11

Yeah. And win. Right. I agree. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:13

Like how many people are going towards like laundry mats right now? You probably like it's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 32:17

Oh, I don't I don't know. Oh no, it's huge.

SPEAKER_02 32:19

Because Cody Sanchez talked about the laundry mat. I guess. And then one of the big boom, like trending like laundry service is pretty cool. And then um, a friend of mine actually is has launched one here that's doing really well. The fluff, if anybody would like so the laundry, it's you know, this whole this whole thing about quote unquote passive income. Yeah.

unknown 32:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:40

Is there really such a thing? I mean, no. I understand what they're saying with a laundry mat, like people come in and whatever, but you're still you're still managing a laundry man. There's still shit that goes like um, but laundry service is really um it's on the boom for sure. Yeah, yeah. But the fluff does it better than anybody. Okay. For sure. That's my dude.

SPEAKER_03 32:58

Yeah, passive income is a lie.

SPEAKER_02 33:00

I mean, I mean, it's it's again, it's like this is the great part for any entrepreneur listening that I want you to always remember when you're feeling down or when you're feeling like, oh my God, this hill is too big to climb. Most people are looking for a ridiculously like a non-existent shortcut because they don't want to do the work or they don't even have any clue how to do it.

SPEAKER_03 33:24

The easy button.

SPEAKER_02 33:25

You know, the easy button, right? So if you have a couple marbles up here and you have some work ethic, yeah, and you can, and another thing is if you can attach yourself to the right resources quickly, don't do it alone. Don't do it in a silo. Yeah. I I don't think people get enough coaching. They don't get enough like going out and finding, I hate the word mentor. Yeah. Find someone who's done something that you want to do and ask them to help. Like just people want to help, you know? They want to help you. And it's not even that they're not curious. I think, I think there's like, think about it. When you're getting ready to start a business, there's limiting beliefs, there's fear, there's all this doubt you have in yourself, and there's pride. Right. So, like, especially if you're a man, like I'm just gonna say that. Like, you don't want to be like, hey, I I really could use some help here. You want to be like, I can do this and get your chest hair out and puff it out, right?

SPEAKER_04 34:22

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:23

And there's nothing wrong with that. I get that. Like, I have that too in myself. But I think I've learned over the years that we're all in this together. No one, no one knows what they're doing half the time. Yeah, oh yeah. They don't. I mean, it's it's it's clear, it's truly the truer words were never spoken.

SPEAKER_03 34:41

You have to be dumb enough to try it, you know. Correct.

SPEAKER_02 34:43

And repeat it and refine it and like figure it out, you know. And so I just think if people kind of connect it and were more open about, you know, wanting to like get the help.

SPEAKER_03 34:55

And I think a lot of entrepreneurs would be surprised at the willingness that people will help them just because people love entrepreneurs. That's what um, you know, makes the world go round and um you know, they're often celebrated. Um

Coaching, Community, And The B Lab

SPEAKER_03 35:10

so I think um the more you can delegate and try to um you know focus on the things you're good at versus what you're not good at.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

Successful love people love telling you about their success, right? And like how they got there. Like very most people are very proud of what they did and what they accomplished. So like Yeah, of course. You know, it's like you ask the the basic question, just go up and you know, ask the question of how or why, and people will tell you.

SPEAKER_02 35:36

Yeah. Speaking of helping entrepreneurs, Drew. So you and I talked about this, talked about the B Lab. Yeah. And I feel like I'm going to, I'm going to end up wooing you into this vortex. I think that's what's going to end up happening. Because truly, my goal is not, like I said, my goal isn't for this to be a typical, you know, come over here and I'm going to show you everything I know about business. And I think a lot of things today that it is that. It's like, I'm going to coach you and show you like my thing. I really want to create an ecosystem. So if somebody wants to build a product or they already have started a product, I have a product expert who I know. Her name's Jackie Hudson, and she's incredible. And so why wouldn't I plug her into the matrix and be like, oh, wait, this is part of the curriculum so that this product person can geek out over here.

SPEAKER_04 36:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:31

Right. And then for you to have all of like you are, like he said, you are completely organized. You're a lawyer. You can make sure that people start their businesses the correct way, avoid pitfalls. I mean, who wants to the trademarks? I just got off a call about trademarks. It's like, oh, you know, but that part I feel like you could just be so helpful and help people organize. You know, I feel like we need more people are on an island as an entrepreneur. And I think the mental, the mental health of that, I think people give up too soon because they don't have another branch to swing to that they feel like, wait, I'm in this. We're all at, wait, we're in this together. And you can actually like, and it's not about cheerleading or like rah-rah. It's like, no, wait, you can help me get on the rails faster and support me, like not only from a business perspective, but up in here.

SPEAKER_03 37:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:24

You know, I think it's really powerful. I think it has a ton of potential.

SPEAKER_03 37:27

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:28

And I'm just excited to like build those lanes and lock in with people like you that could be like the expert in that specific lane. Yeah. Yeah. That that is exactly what I want to do.

SPEAKER_04 37:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:39

You know, and it's been interesting because we haven't really launched the B Lab hard yet. It's been like this soft launch. I've been testing just to see if people want it. You want to, you want to pay me to help you? And the answer's been yes. Cause there's I this is how I think. There are budding TJs right now, budding Drews that like have either haven't really hashed it yet, or they have, and they don't know how to get it out, or they've they've gotten it out and they're like, oh shit, what do I do now?

SPEAKER_03 38:06

I mean, to to help harness that is like and it changes people's lives too, you know.

Iteration Mindset And Allowable Outcomes

SPEAKER_03 38:13

And it it's funny, I think you asked me in our when we had coffee, what was my biggest mistake? And I thought about it because I couldn't really answer the question at the time. And my biggest mistakes are failing to do something. It's not doing something. Because you always learn from mistake. There's no really mistakes if you're doing something. But not doing something is probably the biggest mistake I think that anybody can make. Um because then you have regret. Oh, I could have done this, I could have done that. But um, if you don't try it, I think um uh it's a huge mistake.

SPEAKER_02 38:44

But that's such a huge point, and it's part of why we call it the lab. Yeah, because but another another thing I want to get people away from in their mind is this like right and wrong succeed, fail. When you're when you are creating a business, it's no different than someone who's making like an a piece of art, right? But you can see the painting, you can see the you are iterating, you are creating, you are experimenting. So you're not gonna have this like straight line where it's like, yep, great choice, great choice, perfect, killed that. It's gonna look all the things, but it's not a failure, yeah, right? It's an iteration. Yeah, it's an experiment. That's what it is. And so to lean into that, but to have a group of people with you where it becomes like play too. It's like, wait, no, this is fun. Yeah, wait, how'd you fuck up today? Great, yeah, this is my fuck up today, right? Instead of this, like, I just think business has this, it's like it ain't that serious, y'all.

SPEAKER_03 39:49

No, it's not. It's not.

SPEAKER_02 39:50

And when you take that veneer off, yeah, and you're like, we're all just here trying to do our best for ourselves and our people that we love, you know, it it's not that serious. And so let's let's act accordingly and talk about our mistakes and like celebrate them.

SPEAKER_04 40:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:06

Because everything's data. And to your point, if you do nothing, there's no data. Yeah. You know, and so I would much rather have someone come talk to me or come on the show who completely failed, who whose business completely went under.

SPEAKER_04 40:21

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:22

I love that person. Yes, yeah. Because let's look at instead of like shaming yourself and being like, I suck, yeah. Right. You can do that for a minute because you're going to, like, we're human. Yeah. Take all, bring me the data. I want to see what went well. I want to see what went terribly. I want to understand the whole thing. Cause I promise you, we can probably cobble together something that that makes more sense to you now with the data that we have, right?

SPEAKER_00 40:46

But but people don't want to believe the data. That's why people fail, right? They like keep they they believe in like the human element of it, and they're like, oh, you know what? I just won't even we're gonna ignore that. Even though we know it's not working and not working over and over and over again, they keep they keep doing believing the the fake data, you know, or they don't believe in data at all. They don't even look into the data. Yeah, yeah. So I I don't know. It's uh what what was the um I you noted something in there? Oh, messing up, and like that's where we we intentionally tried to mess up this year.

SPEAKER_03 41:19

I swear to God, like we didn't throw noodles at the wall.

SPEAKER_00 41:22

We did, like, and it was like, and and he would, you know, him and I got in a couple arguments about it. I'm like, let's screw up. Like, let's we are not gonna, we won't be able to have a moving book that moves market to market if we don't screw up, right? Like, we want this to be an allowable outcome business model where it's like if it doesn't work, we have some type of strategy behind it for future for the future brand, right? Yep, and everybody just like wants everything to go perfect, and then if it doesn't go right, then they have an impulse reaction and they don't really fix it, right? They they fix it in the in the immediate. So it's like we sat back and we looked at it, studied it, observed it, yeah, and then fixed it, right? And then, like, okay, that worked, right? Because it's just like, you know, in sales, you have an allowable outcome, yes or no, right? Well, what should what to get to get a sale, you have to have, you know, what allows you to get the highest probability to do a sale, and that's through a process, right? Business is everything in business is just like a sale, which is like, and and a lot of times you're gonna mess up. How do how do you fix that mess up and then figure out a process to fix it?

SPEAKER_04 42:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:23

So it that's that's where it's funny you say that because like we have intentionally tried to be like, let's just don't even do anything about it. Like, let's just we know that it's unorganized and it's chaotic. Let's just see what happens, right?

SPEAKER_02 42:36

That's one approach, yes.

SPEAKER_00 42:38

No, as long as as long as we create a great customer experience for the consumer at the end of the day, right? Like this is background stuff. This isn't like inter like while we're installing a roof, right? No, right, right, right. But like we're but like it's gonna improve the customer experience. Let's put slate on this fucker. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 42:53

Let's just see. Wait, what do you want? We're gonna put slate right right on this roof.

SPEAKER_00 42:57

No, you know, and we've yeah, we we did put a, you know, we we we did start a project where the wrong shingle color was on there, right? And it's just like, all right, well, let's whether that's going to happen again, right? So let's figure out why it happened. Let's create a game plan for success to so make ensure that yeah, that when it happens again, what's our reaction to it? Yeah, yeah, right. Agreed. So, and and I we I love the the whole allowable outcome business model. Like it's like everything we do is like, all right, today it's we can chart today as a winner or loss, right? All right, well, why did it win and why did it lose? And that's we we've treated, you know, since January 1st, you know, whatever how many days I think we have, you know, 50 days left in the year, like the first 270, you know, 60 days of this business, like every day I've charted as a if we won or if we lost, and why we didn't win or why we why you know why we lost or why we won. It's like and if you it's like that has really, really kept kept us sane, and you know getting to view the little things that are that Aren't going well or are going well for us.

SPEAKER_02 44:02

Yeah, paying attention to the details. Exactly. That's where the devil lives.

SPEAKER_00 44:05

Yeah. That's the truth. And that's where I that's that's my biggest demise, right? Because I'm a, you know, think about two 2028 guy, not this guy. Not live in the present, right? And that's been my biggest heartburn so far with this company is like just every day I have to live like in the present, in the present, in the present. I just had a meeting with, you know, our 10 people that are of high value to our company, you know, not outside of the sales room, but like people that are advisors and or you know involved with our company on the day to day. And it's like the one thing I said is I apologize to the group yesterday. I was like, the last month I got caught off and I haven't been living in the present. And I like our company has been affected by that. You know, I started going into 2026 game planning a month ago. And it's like, what the hell am I doing? Right.

SPEAKER_02 44:51

Like I think you have to live with both of those worlds, though, as a leader. I mean, so right now we're doing 2026. You can't, yeah. That's I think that's part of the juggling act of like, okay, nothing nothing's more important than then than now in terms of service you're providing throughout the rest of the year. But if you're not over here in 2026 lining up objectives, goals, and strategies, well, then next thing you know, your head's against the wall in 2026, and everyone's like, wait, boss, what are we doing? For sure. So I think it's the kind of the finessing and the the rhythm of all of it.

SPEAKER_00 45:21

I just got hyper-focused in 2026, right? And thought that our systems and our processes and our people were doing really well in the way it was going. And they they are doing great, right? But I forgot that like everybody still looks at to me for the final answer.

SPEAKER_02 45:36

Well, that's good as a leader to be able to kind of like show your humanness and show when you're yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00 45:41

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of weaknesses in my cars, right? But like in all of ours, yeah, yeah. It's for sure, you know. The the one thing is, you know, as a startup, you have to, you can never forget the present, regardless of how well the thing is running.

SPEAKER_02 45:54

Hey, today's all you got, TJ. Yeah, for sure. That's right. All right, guys, we're coming up, we're actually past 45 minutes.

Final Advice And Closing CTA

SPEAKER_02 46:00

So you have any lasting words for the the good of the order? Anything else for anybody out there, entrepreneurs or not, or just I always want to give somebody a last chance before we turn the mic off because they're always like, wait, what do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 46:17

Uh I you know, I know I'm not gonna go like take a risk, do the cheesy thing. I if you're a business owner, just literally create habitual behaviors in the company and organization and processes, right? And do game plan each to week. You should have daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, quarterly goals, annual goals, and five-year goals. And you should be and you should be reflecting on those every day, right? And if you aren't, if you aren't checking are we winning or are we losing, and you just you keep, you know, you keep bang banging your head up against the wall and it's not working for you, then you're probably gonna fail, right? And you know, the one thing that both of us have, and I is we're both intellectually curious, right? Like we're never ever just like, hey, I know enough or I know we we're always trying to find more to the story, right? And I think that's why it's like it's been fun. This whole journey's been fun since you know I've my whole professional career has been fun because it's like I'm never not looking for some, you know, seek advice from somebody. Yeah, you know, the the the truth, the the truth serum is real, right? And it but yeah, I mean just be intellectually curious, study data, look at the data, and chart your wins and losses daily, and I don't see how you lose. That's great.

SPEAKER_03 47:40

Um, I guess I will be a little cheesy on this. I love it. Give me the cheese, give me the cheese. So you sleep like seven or eight hours a day. You and if you have a full-time job, you're working, let's just call it nine hours a day. So that's 17. So you have like six or seven hours a day where you're just wasting time, or I don't know, watching Netflix or I don't know, working out or something. So if you are looking to start a business, you can still do it while you're working full time because you have a shit ton of time each week uh to devote to it. And it's a lot of time. Six, five, six, seven hours.

SPEAKER_02 48:14

I could not agree more. You guys, this has been a load of fun. Hopefully, it's been as much fun for you as it has been for me. You're a great host. And I appreciate it. And I can't, I'm gonna call you tomorrow. I'm gonna see how your customer service is doing. Don't think I'm not gonna like do weird shit now. I'm gonna call in. I'm gonna see how you're fucking like if you're walking the walk. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 48:31

If our customer service team is not on point, no, I'm gonna call you. Oh, well.

SPEAKER_02 48:36

All right, I'm gonna call you the man. Thank you guys, seriously. And if you're still out there following your girl, follow me on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast. And until next time, call T Go. Yes, you know, and keep moving, neighbor. That's right, Tego. We're gonna work on the jingle.