Episode #11: Brandon Wooldrige (Part 1)

Have you ever felt the highs of a triumphant win and the soul-crushing lows of defeat, whether it's on the sports field or in the cutthroat world of business? My best friend Brandon Woolridge, a maestro of the music industry and the brains behind Goat Audio, joins me to shed light on how these worlds collide, revealing the emotional parallels between scoring a touchdown and landing a lucrative deal. We converse about the addictive nature of competition, how fantasy football has turned into our shared vice, and why a short memory can be an entrepreneur's secret weapon.

Then, we unpack the symbiotic relationship between sales and the entrepreneurial spirit, articulating why mastering the former is akin to a rite of passage for any business tycoon. I reminisce about the sales job that paved my way into entrepreneurship, and Brandon regales us with his journey from spinning tracks at basement parties to orchestrating his own enterprise. It's not just about resilience; it's about the personal transformation required to weather the storms of entrepreneurship.

Wrapping things up, we get candid about the often unseen trials of entrepreneurship, touching on the sheer willpower needed to overcome business constraints and the frustration that bubbles when motivation seems to wane. From discussing the art of systematizing your business to avoid micromanagement nightmares to sharing the significance of financial prudence, this episode is a treasure trove for anyone who's ever aspired to turn their hustle into a legacy. Join us as we dissect these challenges, celebrate the tenacity of the human spirit, and perhaps, light a fire under those in need of a spark to chase their own entrepreneurial dreams.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:38

So, hey guys, welcome to the podcast for the second intro, because I messed up the first one. I got my boy, brandon Woolridge, on the podcast, super excited to have him on here. Brandon is one of my best friends in the entire world and I have no one to get him on here for a long time because, as you guys know, harmony hustle is about people that are hustling, and no one is hustling harder than him. Quick trigger warning, though one the reason by me and Brandon having such good friends for such a long time is we tend to have different views on things, and the best thing, I think, about our friendship is that we're able to talk about things that we disagree with and still be friends. So if you get offended by different ideas or things that you don't agree with, then this is probably not the podcast for you to listen to. So what that means that Brandon say hello, everybody, tell them what you do, tell them your hustle and let's kick this show off.

Speaker 2: 1:27

What is up world? I don't think you'd be my true colors if I didn't start off with a oh, oh, oh, yeah, thanks for having me, justin, really excited to. You know, have this conversation with you and see kind of where it goes, and I've always been proud of you, know what you've been able to do when you're in your lane and you know we do have somewhat similar lanes in a sense when it comes to music and hustle and stuff like that. But you know, yeah, happy to be here. Let's, let's get the crack in and you know, let's have this thing, let's see this party started.

Speaker 1: 2:03

Yeah, I mean. So first off, man, let's, let's talk about the biggest emotional trauma you've had in the last year your ravens just getting fucking Destroyed by the Kansas City Chiefs How's, how are you feeling about that? That? That was, that was one of the, I know, of all the Seasons that we've been talking about as the. That was the one that hit the hardest.

Speaker 2: 2:24

Yeah, I wouldn't say it was destroyed. It was by what? Seven points, but my heart was definitely broken. Unfortunately, as a raven fan, I've come to understand that this happens. Yeah, they're always they've always been the kind of team that when they walk into a game where they should absolutely destroy the other team on paper, they end up having an upset, and if there's a team where they probably won't win, that's when they crush it Right, and I've seen it happen years and years and years in a row. Whatever, you know, talk to my therapist about it this week and through the emotions and it's a silly thing to be hung up on and there's bigger, pressing things to worry about. So that's what we're gonna move on to and you know, just keep this train moving. I definitely had a little bit of an emotional hangover for about a day.

Speaker 1: 3:20

Yeah, I think that's good, though, man, I mean there's, I mean, I think reason why I like football more now than I ever had before is one you know, running a business and being an entrepreneur it's so stressful, right. Yet somehow Finding like a sport where because I was entrepreneurs, right you have a competitive drive that for some reason, doing it just kind of feeds that itch. Right, it's kind of like a like, a high like, when you get a gig or you get the sale, you hit your numbers or you see the growth like there's like a dopamine hit that happens.

Speaker 2: 3:50

And.

Speaker 1: 3:51

I always like, liked football. But I I have gotten way more into it in the last year, for sure, than I ever have, and I think it's because you get so stressed out. But like you still want that like release that dopamine hits, you watch football and like, oh, I can get into this. I get that same kind of like competitive vibe. Yeah, I have no control over it, so I can just kind of enjoy it and that almost makes me, you know, love it more. And then you toppled out with fantasy football, which, by the way, horrible thing for me to play, horrible like first year doing fantasy football this year because I find a time to actually do it.

Speaker 1: 4:25

Holy cow, like that was you talk about? Putting my competitive streak in overdrive on something you can't control took over my life for, like the last year, is unreal.

Speaker 2: 4:37

Yeah, definitely tastes a lot discipline.

Speaker 2: 4:40

It was actually my first year taking playing fantasy football again in probably am maybe eight to ten years, and I was like the last guy in the league pulled on this particular league and I hadn't that wouldn't it at all but um but to To your point, I think being an entrepreneur, being in sales, it is a massive roller coaster ride and and, like sports, it gives you the ability to kind of deal those weather, those storms, and Be able to kind of reset the day at a quicker pace, which is really important, especially with sales, especially with business. You know there is a lot of things you can't control, but Sometimes there's things totally out of your control and it's really about just showing up every day, do what you need to do, to get done and having a really short memory, but also learning along the way, and I think that's, you know, something that's really been important and helped me actually watch sports a little bit better, with a little less high blood pressure.

Speaker 1: 5:48

Yeah, yeah. It's funny how I can't remember who said it, but it's some famous quote and they say the the worst thing that's ever happened to you is the worst thing that's ever happened to you, right? So if you're like the richest kid in the world, right, you're born into wealth and riches and the worst that ever happens to you is your family, like takes your car keys away from you. It's funny, that's the worst that's happened to you. You're gonna have the same emotional Distraught, pain to that compared to, let's say, there's some kid in the ghetto who sees the family get murdered and it's like that's what's happened to him Right now.

Speaker 1: 6:18

Obviously, if you look at the grand scheme, those things are not Comparable at all, but the worst that happened is the worst that happened to you and I think with business and sales, it Makes you so much tougher because you go through so much more like emotional turmoil. Because you're especially for your commission job which, if you're listening, I always recommend it because you make the most money there you get those moments where it's like you really sometimes you really need to get those sales and when you don't like it build the gear inside of you of like emotional toughness to keep going and then we start your business.

Speaker 1: 6:51

There's another level on top of that. So I feel like we call it personal growth. You get exposed to things so much more in business and sales Then you could anywhere else and you know, for me and and people just go straight into our entrepreneurship, like I got to applaud them because I don't think I would have been able to whether the emotional, like just pain that you go through if I hadn't done the military, because Going through all that nonsense for ten years Really built up like some mental resiliency that I think has helped me, you know, after I left the military. So I don't think those ten years were wasted. But for those people like they give, like the young kids that go into entrepreneurship and they start killing it or they're not killing it, like kudos to those people, to be honest, because these kids are like 23, 24, if they started, like 16, 17, you really realize, like how much more they've matured in that time. It's pretty, it's pretty impressive to me.

Speaker 2: 7:44

Yeah, and kind of echoing what you were saying, I think sales is a great tester to Entrepreneurship because it is a lot of knocking on doors, literally and figuratively, and getting a lot of nose and trying to figure out how to get that yes and just continue it, and continue it and it builds up that grit and that resilience to Become a better entrepreneur.

Speaker 1: 8:07

Yeah, and I think honestly because we know we, you and me like honestly I gotta say thank you to you. I wouldn't even be on my journey if it wasn't for you. So for people that don't really know my story, when I got out of the Navy I was trying to go to a three-letter agency, because that's kind of what my background was, and Co-bit was right during the midst of cobit, so no one was hiring and me and Brandon we I was actually teaching him music production at that time At a DC studio, which now he's surpassed me music. It's kind of funny how that works young grasshopper becomes the master honestly.

Speaker 1: 8:37

Yeah, he hit me up. He was like yeah, dude, you should come sell water treatment like your fit, like to work out, you know, like this thing's pretty cool, I'm making some good money should come do it. And it completely changed my life. And it's the one thing that, if you're listening to this podcast and you are broke in debt, don't know what to do, get it into sales will literally change your life, because it does.

Speaker 1: 8:59

It gets you the opportunity to make unlimited amounts of money, like your commissions are uncapped, so if you're hard-working, you can make money, but it allows you to work in an organization and learn Entrepreneurship with zero risk. The only risk you have is not a steady income, sure, but if you know how to work hard, you're always gonna have money. That's the thing about sales if you can work hard, you'll always have money. The only people that don't make money in sales are lazy people, to be honest, or people that don't try to improve their skills. Because I truly believe if you have an organization with a training plan or just if you have YouTube that's how I learned right if you have YouTube, you can become amazing at sales and change your life.

Speaker 2: 9:35

Yeah, I agree with that and I would even to kind of take off a little bit of the edge for people that are trying or Considering going into sales. I mean, some days you just have to show up. I mean, obviously, your clothes rate will improve drastically if you continue to hone your craft. But I can look back on you know more occasions and fingers and toes I have, or I just literally walk through a door and the product that I had that person needed or wanted and All I had to do is get out of bed in the morning, I close on, show up at this person's house or this pitch, and it happened. Obviously, you'll make more if you, you know, hone that in, like I said, but it's just literally just doing it and that's what you got to do. You got a Nike. Just do it and you know the success will happen.

Speaker 1: 10:39

Exactly so, brandon, let's talk about kind of what you're doing, because a lot of time, by talking about podcasts, obviously, I'm in the business, business world, you're you're engaging in my other passion, music. Like talk about what you're doing on the music side Kind of how like your trajectory is gone, because I'm super impressed with how, when I first met you, you know Kind of a student rock coming in, you already had some DJ skills but you came into to the studio, you know really didn't know much about music production and now seeing where you're at now owning your own business, like what's what's kind of your trajectory for this year, how have you gotten to where you're at now? Like, tell the people kind of your side, because it's a lot more unique than some other things that I've talked to people about.

Speaker 2: 11:16

Yeah, certainly, I've been DJing self-taught for Almost 13 years now. I Started off doing you know basement parties and then I quickly got into doing weddings. I met somebody at some bar event that I was DJing and she put me on to this company and From an early age I found out how much money you can make doing weddings and corporate events and that was great. But then I quickly realized and I've always had a passion for creating and when I would start going to these, these raves and these underground you know parties, I really wanted to learn how to be the one making the music and I've always had a music background. I played trumpet in high school, play a little bit of guitar, piano, things like that, but I just continued to keep educating myself. Like Justin was saying, I was at a program at school for a schooling program at the studio he was at and then I went to eventually my dream school in California icon collective.

Speaker 1: 12:25

Plug icon. Plug your icon plug. I can not if it not official sponsor yet. But if you want to icon, if you're listening someone else listening, sponsor the video.

Speaker 2: 12:33

Yeah, hit up, hit up icon if you want to go and talk to my man, vito and Tom sarcasm sent you. But yeah, just continue to. You know, amplify my education and just keep looking at a path that just keep going forward. And and kudos to sales, because sales help have fun. A lot of this education, excuse me, and I've been really trying. Basically I'm in two lanes right now both music got DJ got the music artists as itself, and right now I'm focusing on Matt continuing to put out music, continuing to master my craft for the artist side things. But I'm also really trying to fine-tune the DJ business as a whole.

Speaker 2: 13:19

So I have a company called the goat audio. We operate in Los Angeles, california, as well as the DMV and for people that aren't from the DMV, that's Maryland, virginia and district of Columbia, washington DC, and we specialize in, like I said, weddings, corporate events. There's the ones that pay the most out in LA. You know it really, you could really get anything and it pays a lot. I've done, you know, kids birthday parties for multiple thousands of dollars. It's pretty crazy and sane to me, but hey, whatever, you know they want a party at two years old.

Speaker 1: 13:53

Oh, we got, let's go.

Speaker 2: 13:55

Yeah, telly Tubby's on deck, right, right, right, we had Mickey Mouse come through. Shout out, mickey. Yeah, pull up. Though you know I don't know why I like goofy.

Speaker 2: 14:06

But yeah, dude, it's just been really trying to figure out how to build a machine With the DJ side of things, because, you know, right now, while this is being recorded, I am 32 years old and I'm I know I can't DJ forever. My face isn't gonna look this pretty and young forever either, and I don't plan on putting a mask on at any point in time. So there is, you know, a ticking time bomb going off as to when I have to pull off stage, I believe. So I'm trying to build systems in place where I have other DJs out Spinning tunes and I'm home collecting a check and I'm.

Speaker 2: 14:43

My goal right now is to Build a build that, in the Washington DC DMV area, as well as Los Angeles and possibly another city, I'm trying to build a basically a McDonald's Esk Brand when it comes to being able to plug in employees that don't necessarily have super high skill yet but can operate at a high level, because high, high skilled employees cost a lot of money, and right now I'm bootstrapping this thing, so I can't remember the book that I read, but it was a thing I'll give you. I'll give the book for Justin to put in the comments. But there's a book that kind of highlighted that and it really spoke to me as to how to build this business and it comes down to a lot of SOPs and really making clear-define Tasks, actions and responses for your team. So they really don't have anything to think about. They can just be machines and just plug it in and have the right answers to go.

Speaker 1: 15:44

That makes a lot of sense. I mean, really it's all about leverage, right? That's that's one of the things I've learned about business is as the operator owner. It's all about how much leverage can you employ on the business. So how much? If you put a little bit of action in and get a big return, then you have a high leverage business and Obviously all our business start low leverage because we're the only ones that are doing it or bootstrapping it.

Speaker 1: 16:03

And I think what you're doing is super smart because I mean, that's one thing that we talk about all the time. It's like how do you get low skilled employees to do high skilled work, or at least you know work that's acceptable? And Unfortunately in the world you would hope there's a lot of high skilled people, but it's just not. And the higher skilled you go, the more you realize that. And I think, like you said, having SOPs in place is super Important so that way people can, just because a lot of people just don't want to be high, high, high operators, right, they just want to go to a place where they know they can make money and they have a Like it, like they have it right in front of them, like hair. The hair's how you do everything. You know what I mean and I think that's that's really good.

Speaker 2: 16:42

Before you hit your next question yeah, let's drop one thing in, because this is also really pivot, really important to the way I look at life.

Speaker 1: 16:49

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 16:49

So to your point that there's not a lot of high skilled employees out there, there's a theory that I hold very, very close to my chest by the philosopher Play-Doh, and there's many different ways of looking at this. In that book I was talking about, there's another way of looking at it and I'll explain that too, and it's not totally true in every sense, but a lot of it makes sense to me. And he says there's three kinds of people in this world. There's workers, enforcers and kinks. And the workers they are the ones that have the most freedom. They can do what they want. They're the ones probably getting drunk on a weekday. They have a family, they're Partying it up, but they're, you know, they clock in, the clock out, and what they do is what they do. Then that's the most the people, most the population. Then you have your enforcers. They live a little bit more of a lavish life but again, they're not really making influence upon the world. They're kind of cracking the whip as to what the kings tell them to do, but they do have a little bit of power.

Speaker 2: 17:48

And then you have the kings, and the kings in the time that this was Thought of the war more so the philosophers as well as the kings. But, excuse me, they have all the power. They are making the decisions for the greater good. The caveat excuse me, the espresso is coming up. Yeah the caveat to that is that they had to make a lot of sacrifice and Sometimes they don't get to have family, they don't get to have love. They're doing what's best for the greater good. So Every day, when I walk around people I have conversations with, I try to identify the kings, because they're the ones that are the most influential. And if I can align myself with the kings or create Relationships and businesses with the kings, then I'm gonna have a greater influence in my field and in the world.

Speaker 2: 18:40

And to put it in a business perspective, there's technicians, there's managers and there's entrepreneurs. So the entrepreneurs the ones making all the decisions. You know they're the ones you Drafting up the SOPs. You got your managers cracking the whip, telling people to do, and you got your technicians that are running the machine, and they, that's all. They know how to do. You need to have all three for things to work Well and to be a cohesive operation. But you also have to be able to wear all three hats so you might be a king in this room. When you walk around the corner and you know you're dealing with somebody else or Going through and you know talking to your wife, you might be the enforcer, you might be the worker. So you gotta understand at all times how to look at life Like a king, even if you are a worker or an enforcer. And that's something that has really really helped me kind of get a clear picture of how to operate my life as a person and my businesses.

Speaker 1: 19:40

Yeah, and I think you hit the nail on the head is when you talked about like the higher up you go, is your sacrifice right? And the thing about success these days is Everyone can really define it in their own way, like it's just a word and you know, for some people, I think, and if you are in a state and you are just like the, the worker, be Sometimes like if, that's if you're happy being there, like like brain was saying those people you clock in, clock out, they probably a better work, life balance or go into games, go into parties, watching every football game ever, probably have a lot of time with the loved ones. For some people that's successful Right, having that level of just hey, I know I can clock in, I get paid and I'm good, that's great. The thing is, if you're gonna be at the highest level and you really want those like glitzy, glamoury things, it does take a lot of sacrifice. You know you're not gonna be home all the time, you're just gonna take a lot of time. You're not gonna get a lot of yeah, let's go. You know, go for it stuff.

Speaker 1: 20:34

You know the sad thing is no one actually cares about what you're doing until you actually make it. Right, no one actually cheers for you until you're already at the point where you don't need them anymore. Right, like you want the accolades and you want, you know, people to cheer for you on the way up, but it just doesn't happen because they don't see the vision, they don't see you actually being successful, and so a lot of times you just have to rely on your own self, belief in your own self-worth to try to get there. And I can be really hard and I think when it comes to friendships in that manner. That's why a lot of friendships if you're an entrepreneur and you're trying to go to the, the top, the tippity top, and be really, really successful, you're gonna lose a lot of friends along the way, because the reality is, when you decide to start changing and you decide to go to another level, the circle you're in you have to outgrow that circle because those people are only gonna hold you back Right, and you don't realize it until you actually make that transition. And that might sound cold and harsh, but if you actually want to get to that level, you can't bring dead weight with you. You just can't, and Because it's gonna take up space in your head, it's going to slow you down. They're gonna, you know, when you, when you're trying to do something, they're gonna be like oh, why can't you hang out with me? Whatever right.

Speaker 1: 21:40

And I think it's one of the rare reasons why me and you, brandon, have been such good friends is we kind of started at the same place, you know. But we also continuously have grown over the years like neither one of us have like, from the day we met, stayed in the same spot. We've continually tried to grow and grow, and grow, and grow and grow. So we both shed a lot of our friend groups. But every time we talk, it's like hey, what are you striving for now? What are you pushing for now? And we're always constantly pushing each other further, which is super rare to find, because a lot of times People don't have that same mindset. They're like oh, I'm here, dude, you should chill. Like now I'm going all the way up here. You know, I mean. And so we've been able to cultivate that, and that's why I mean most of my friends from high school. I don't talk to them anymore. Even some of my closest friends from the Navy I don't talk to as much anymore. You know, I mean just because, like, we're operating at such a fast speed and for a lot of people they can't do that.

Speaker 1: 22:30

A lot of people are like, well, I want to keep all my friends and I have people who work for me, who I'm like, hey, you need to leave your environment or you need to go here if you want to be successful. And they just can't do it. And but people don't realize is if you want to get to a certain level, there's like that chicken or the egg like, okay, well, I'll, I'll leave this. Like, let's say, you're in a toxic environment. This is a perfect example. Let's say you're in a toxic environment with people that are doing party all the time. They're not great people, they're whole. You're not like a positive influence and you're like, okay, well, as soon as I make more money or I get to a certain level, I'll move out. What people don't realize is that whole thing is what's stopping you from get that to there in the first place? If you just take the leap and bet on yourself and decide to improve yourself and get around better people, you'll get their way faster.

Speaker 1: 23:16

And yeah, I think that's the trap a lot of people are in.

Speaker 1: 23:20

I think they don't. They're afraid to be alone, they're afraid to to leave people, loved ones, are afraid to leave friend groups, and they get stuck in the same place because it is. You know, I've never really cared that much, right, like I've always made some little selfish in that way, like I've just like listen, I want to do me, I want to make a better life for myself, and if people don't want to be a part of that, then fine, they can, they can, they can go away. But I've been lucky to have, you know, friends like you who are constantly pushing. So I'm like, yeah, this person is a value to my life and I think People need to have that look like if someone's not actually benefiting your life, you don't need them in your life. Now, obviously, if they're, like you know, going through something, that's different. Right, if you want to be there for them, that's different. But if someone's like actually negatively affecting your life, you got to have that hard look and say, hey, man, I don't know if this is working out anymore.

Speaker 2: 24:04

Yeah, the other, add energy to you or take it away.

Speaker 1: 24:06

Yeah, you can't, you can't be around. Energy vampires, man. No, no energy vampires.

Speaker 2: 24:11

Oh and um. That book also I'm not earlier. I came to me now it's called the emith the emith great, great entrepreneur business book. Lots of little golden nuggets in there. So read up podcast listeners.

Speaker 1: 24:23

Yeah, love it. So what do you think for you in your business is like the biggest constraint? Or I Know there's people who probably like, oh what do you do, jane? Or do this would be easy, but for you, trying to build this thing, what do you think's been like the hardest thing that you've encountered? That you didn't think you would have to Encounter. Or it's been kind of like stop the group of the business growth from happening as quickly as you'd like. That you didn't even expect to happen.

Speaker 2: 24:47

I think the biggest hurdle that I'm dealing with right now is so. My career started in the Washington DC Baltimore area and my network grew pretty rapidly in a five-year period and I was getting booked, you know, probably three, four, sometimes five times a week easily. When I made the decision to go to Los Angeles to go to music school, I was there for about two years and all those bookings stopped, obviously. So now that I'm back in this area again, I think the biggest challenge is getting back into that network that I was, like, tapped into so greatly before. It's been a challenge because I know that I can execute at a high level and I've done it. I've had the proof in the pudding. It's just a matter of getting it back up and running again, and I don't really have excuses for it.

Speaker 2: 25:51

Money is always something that helps. You know, throw in a marketing and things like that advertising. That's something that I'm exploring right now too. I think that's honestly the biggest hurdle right now. The biggest hurdle before was just trying to get those opportunities, and I did a lot of grassroots stuff and that included throwing events, for that made little to no money. But after that point people started getting used to your name, they started seeing you and the bookings come in. So it's really nothing can be done overnight, and I think that's the thing is just being patient and just trying to show up every day, kind of like watering your plant, man. It's not going to grow in the first water, but you got to keep on watering it, keep on watering. Eventually that seed's going to pop open and you're going to have a little growth.

Speaker 1: 26:37

Yep, I think that's a good thing, I know. For me, when I started the water business, I think that was the biggest thing, that the biggest punch in the face for me was just like the time delay on how long it was going to take. And then I also remember when I first started the company, I started doing like math in my head. I was like, okay, if I make, if I can get the business to like 20, 30 K a month, then I'll be making. What was it like? 3, 400 K, 500 K here. Oh, great, I'll make all this money. And I was just so naive to like cash flow at that point of like, okay, this is how much is actually going to cost to continue to run and grow the business to where I want it to go, cause by the end of this year I have a mandate with my team. By the end of this year I want to be the number one water treatment company in the state of Virginia, which we can.

Speaker 1: 27:16

I think we had a record month last month. Uh, you know, we did over. We did like 80 grand in one month, nice. And the last month they did like 52 grand. So great growth, right. And it's funny, cause. I remember, like when I was like, oh, if I can get to like 80, 100 grand, oh my God, we're a million to our business and I'm going to make all this money. That was my, that was my thought, right? Um, and still, up to this point, I have not been able to pay myself off the business Because growth is expensive. And so, uh, even though we're making money, I'm like, all right, I want to get to number one, and so I have these benchmarked into hits.

Speaker 1: 27:50

So you know, that means buying more equipment. That means, you know, up in marketing costs. So, like, all that money you think you're going to make. Cause, I think our business right now operates between like 35 to 40% net margins, which is pretty healthy. Um, but then you have to calculate it.

Speaker 1: 28:04

It's like, okay, I can't just pay myself off that 30%. So if I do 80 grand a month, I'll see 40% of that would be like 35 K ish, Right. So that's like, okay, well, I can't just pay myself off that. Right, I got to pay off the debt from putting money into the business because I got to get the startup costs Right, so I got to pay that down. And then, uh, once that's paid down, I still got to buy equipment, I got to keep my marketing going. So it's just, it's kind of crazy how, like you think what you go into the business thinking is going to happen and when it does happen, it's not what, exactly what you expect. Um, I definitely thought when I got to this point I'd be like taking money out of the business and not quite, not quite there yet. So it's like okay. So now me and my, my COO, we've made a budget. It's like okay, we got to be able to pay, you got to be able to pay the executives at some point.

Speaker 1: 28:51

So now we have a budget to, to to level out the marketing, because at the first year you know you're just throwing shit at the wall.

Speaker 2: 28:57

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 28:58

And you kind of need to do that, but there's definitely a lot of leakage, a lot of misappropriated funds to things that just didn't bring in return. Um, which I think for most business owners, when they say you don't make money your first couple of years, that's really why, uh, because you're just putting money into things to see what works and then your two is really all about, you know, doubling down on what, what works so you can actually just make more money, which obviously January has shown us has been a, a very effective strategy, um, but it's uh, it's a, it's a mind game for sure, and if you're going to do a business, you have to plan for it to take longer than you anticipate. A thousand percent.

Speaker 1: 29:36

Definitely If you don't, you're going to be in for a rude awakening. And I'll be honest, if I wasn't a hundred percent veteran disabled, this would be Extremely hard to pull off because I'd have to pay myself to make rent and all that stuff right. Luckily I have the VA that helps me cover that stuff, so it allows me to be a lot more offensive on the on the business side. So you know, you, you really need to have money saved up and you need to have a plan in place If you're gonna start a business, because I can tell you, not making money for a whole year is rough. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 30:09

There's one of my DJ business but buddies of mine. He Said this to me a couple weeks ago and he's like the first couple years of so with DJ business you're not really building a business, you're building a job. And you know that kind of is true, because If I go out and DJ For me or if I go out and DJ for the company, then a lot of that money is coming back to me. But if it's another one of our employees to go out and do it, it's a much smaller chunk that comes back to the goat. So it's like you're really not making money, you're just making a job. So that's. You know. You got to look at it from that perspective too, because like you might be paying yourself on the sales You're making, but like you're not paying yourself as the owner. Yet you know you're just getting that, that that front money, instead of the back money.

Speaker 2: 30:58

So yeah it takes time.

Speaker 1: 30:59

It's good you said that, because that's the thing like when you start a business, everyone thinks they're the owner, right, like, oh, I'm a CEO, I own a business, but you don't right like this. This last month was, honestly, the first month I was technically quote-unquote an owner, and the reason why is because I didn't have to make any sales this month up until this point. I had to help fuel the business, but we got more employees. Now we're actually closing deals and that's like what comes back to leverage. Right like, as a owner and this is how I found it effectively to grow is your job is to become an expert Like you should already be an expert in the field. You're doing this right.

Speaker 1: 31:32

So for me, water treatment I was. I was crushing it in sales, so I knew water treatment on the sale side in and out, and then I had a startup that I helped build in Virginia Beach. I've learned some marketing skills along the way, but now it's your job is to replace yourself at every level. So if you're like, if you're best at sales, then you just need to focus on that and build on things You're not good at. So for me, it was operations. So what I do brought an operations manager brought in a CRM. I got someone I can manage all the operational stuff and build that up right. Then I slowly had to start phasing out myself. So I started hiring sales people, training them up which took almost a year to get some good sales people in right and then the install side. So you're always just trying to replace yourself and then the more the business grows, the more you need to replace that level right now. So now I'm in like a marketing Advertising hat, I guess, right, and like almost like a sales manager position. So technically I'm not really an owner because I'm still kind of managing the sales people.

Speaker 1: 32:30

So the next phase is I need someone that will now manage the sales people, who can train them and help them grow, so that way can grow without me, right, and then I'm gonna keep recruiting. So then I'm gonna need to find someone I can help me recruit without me having to do it. Then I mean to find someone that can manage all of that and that's how you actually level up and then you know You're a real owner. You know you're a true owner of the business when you can just sit back and take like a week without two weeks off Right. If you can take two weeks off without talking to anybody On the lower level management or without being in this in your like group chat or your business chat or talking to anyone, and the business continues to churn out revenue. You're now an owner of a business.

Speaker 1: 33:09

Until that point, you do have a job right and I think for for for CEO, at least for me. That's been the hardest thing for me to do because you know, when you start off as like a salesperson or even you know Working in those environments, you're trained to want to do the work right. You enjoy doing the work and it's funny because when you become an owner, your job is to almost like get people to do the work for you, which almost sounds. It feels kind of shitty to say that because it sounds lazy, but it's not like you're. That's how you build a business. I can grow vision, more money.

Speaker 1: 33:39

Yeah, it's exactly. You're the visionary, you're the one that you got to push the vision and do the strategic operations of the business. Yeah, and it's hard, it's done?

Speaker 2: 33:50

Yeah, it is, and I remember a conversation you and I had actually, I think maybe six months ago give or take, maybe a little more but I was Talking to you about how I was having some struggles with how to set up business in California and in the DMV at the same time and You're like you just need to hire somebody and you know you just you just need to do it and Figure it out, because you can't be in both places at once.

Speaker 2: 34:15

And it's so true and there's a Massive you see this all the time with managers and Kings, or sorry, enforcers and Kings, or or managers and entrepreneurs you see it all the time where they don't feel comfortable with their team below them and they have to micromanage and it takes away from the tasks that they need to do and they start losing sight of the whole great big picture and they start falling into like what this one person's doing and Comes down to trust, and it also comes down to the systems you built in place and trusting that they're gonna work. And obviously people are gonna make errors and there's gonna be Mistakes along the way and you learn, you keep going, but in most cases the business isn't gonna burn down to the ground from one employee Screwing up. So it's like you just have to you know. Alright, just figure it out and move forward.

Speaker 1: 35:06

Yep, and as an entrepreneur, when you first start a business, I think that's some of the biggest pain is your employees fucking you up, right, like? I have had so many employees because they're new, like I can't really blame them, but they'll do something where, like, especially like for water treatment specifically They'll give somebody a tank, tell them it'll do X, y and Z, but it's not the tank that does X, y and Z. So then as the owner, you have to. You have to compensate the person, right? They got promised that this thing would do something, so you can't just say, oh sorry, you got to buy another five thousand dollar tank, right? So what do you do?

Speaker 1: 35:37

You got to comp the tank, comp the labor, which takes money away from your bottom line. And these are just, and again, it's. It sucks, but that's your fault as a business owner, for either one not having trained up enough, or two not having SOPs in place and I think that's what's helped me grow the most is, I Do get very frustrated, so I have learned to not when these things happen, I don't talk to that individual for at least like four to five hours so I can calm down.

Speaker 2: 36:01

Good, take the emotion out of it.

Speaker 1: 36:03

Yeah, I got to keep the emotion out of it, but that's one of the things I've learned is, when these things do happen, as long as you Look at it as a learning opportunity, you can then build a system in place what doesn't happen again, and that's what's helped my business grow the most and actually brand you kind of help me with this. You're like, hey, dude, you need to stop assuming that these people are are smarts or these people all have a good work ethic, like you need to give them a McDonald's style, get they come in plug-and-play, so make it like so simple that the dumbest person can do it. And that's what we've been building right, we've been literally building it. So Someone who knows nothing, who has the lowest IQ in the world, should be able to come in and operate and be able to do the do the things that we need them to do in the business.

Speaker 2: 36:43

Yeah, we have. We like the SOPs we have in place. We have, like initial client meetings. We have, you know, after Documents are signed SOP. We also have an SOP for showing up to a gig, that specifically a wedding or specifically something else, and it's literally a checklist. It's like, alright, when you show up, did you meet the the planner? Did you meet the coordinator? Did you meet the manager? Did you text us that you were set up? Did you text us that you're on the way? So these things are in place and all they I do is just check a box. They don't got think, you know, just look at okay, two yeah, three yeah, and it helps so much.

Speaker 1: 37:23

It also lets you hold people accountable too, because, like, if you don't have those things in place, like, it becomes kind of amorphous, like why don't you do this? And you don't have anything like to say, oh, this paper says you need to do this. So if you have an SOP, like if they don't do something, you say, dude, you have the paper in front of you, you know what you're supposed to do, so you can actually hold people accountable and fix and and and you know, fix the actions If you need, if you need to. You know, mm-hmm, yeah, man, what do you think? So? What do you think's like stopping people from going into entrepreneurship or reaching like higher levels? Now, because you know, we see it all the time.

Speaker 1: 37:55

I feel like people are so stuck and they're all little rut or ways and it's all woes me out there and especially the way it's been going. You know, in 2024, everyone seems so frickin soft these days. What do you think is going on, man, like, why are, why are people just not winning? And especially, I know we have we have conflicted views on this, but in my view, the biggest cut, the best country to have the best opportunities. Why are people not taking advantage of that. Why are people just crying themselves a river and, you know, losing in life?

Speaker 2: 38:26

Well, two things. I'll answer the first question second, but I do agree with you that America is the best country when it comes to entrepreneurial opportunities. I just do think that there are a lot of views and things that could be improved for the greater good of everybody. There's a lot of depression, anxiety and divide, especially in America, compared to other countries. Statistically, I think there's a lot of opportunity for growth there. Yes, it is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs.

Speaker 2: 39:07

I think what's holding people back? I keep going back to this, but such a core value of mine is the workers and forces and kings. I don't believe everybody is a king. You can't have a kingdom with 100% kings. You need enforcers, you need workers. That was something that I honestly, I've got quite a few friends of mine that I want them to be kings. I would almost get frustrated to the point and want to cut them off because they're not kings. And then it just dawned on me one day that, okay, this guy is not a king at all, but he's very loyal. If I tell him what to do and I show him what to do, he'll do it. He won't see the bigger picture, but he'll fucking do this.

Speaker 1: 40:02

Right.

Speaker 2: 40:03

Sorry, I don't know if he can cuss on here or not.

Speaker 1: 40:04

Yeah, I've been doing it. You're good yeah.

Speaker 2: 40:08

So once I understood that, the whole perspective of people changed. Of course I want to surround myself with kings as much as possible. In your business, in my business, everyone can't be kings. So having the ability to say, all right, it's okay that you don't look at things the way I do, that's fine, but I need to understand how you look at things and that helps me build my kingdom.

Speaker 2: 40:39

But to answer your point or your question more bluntly, if people wanted to be kings, and what's holding them back from becoming kings? I think it's the unknown and I think it's the ledge and not knowing if their wings are going to hold them up when they jump off that ledge. And, like we talked about earlier, I think sales really helps. That you took a sales job, you've never done sales in your life. I took a sales job at some point in my life, never done sales before, and you just don't know if it's going to work. And I think having conversations with other people that kind of like might see yourself similar to and you see they're having success helps. So surrounding yourself with people that are successful and what they're doing will obviously help.

Speaker 1: 41:35

But it really just comes down to trying, dude, and that's the thing that seems like everyone these days just don't want to try no more. I went to the. It blew my mind. I remember I made a post about this. But I went to the gym one day and I looked around and there was a bunch of fat people, which good, good for you for being there, but like they weren't even trying, they were just like doing the motions they're not even working out, they're just talking and they're on their phone.

Speaker 1: 41:57

And I was just walking around and I remember even I guess maybe because I was in the military, but I remember walking around I was like where is all like the people that actually care and are like taking care of themselves or actually like focused on the tasks they're doing? Like these people were here to try to get fit but they were literally distracted by their phones and la la land, and it was just like a weird parable of like, where the mindset is Like no one's like dialed into what they're actually doing. And I'm like you know, good for you for actually taking the steps to to better yourself, but you're not actually bettering yourself because you're not focused on on your, on your goals right now. You know you're, you're focused on this little thing in your phone that is just sucking their time and energy away. And I just see it all the time now, like where people are just in a rut and they're complaining and they're weak and they're soft and no one wants to do better, it just and it's. It's annoying to be around and I get like the workers and forces, but like, if you're a worker, why not be a good worker? You know? Like, why not? Like try to better yourself and if you know you are going to be in the slums, like don't complain about it. Like that's my biggest thing is there's so much information on that little device that people use that you can go and learn a skill to do whatever it is you want to do in life. If you're like complaining because your dad didn't love you enough and you can't make any money there, you can go on YouTube and type in how to make money when my dad didn't love me enough and you'll you'll find a way to make some money right. You'll find a skill that'll teach you something like I just don't get it, man, and I don't know.

Speaker 1: 43:21

I feel like so many people today, more so than any other time, are just looking to play the victim card and looking for people to give them some sort of like ad-aboy's when they haven't done anything for it. And it's super frustrating and I know you know my views on that are. It can be pretty, pretty staunch, but I just believe anyone can be successful because you know, I was in this. I didn't come from any better environment than anybody else could have, right, and I had this, you know, not the greatest opportunities, but like I literally was like, okay, what do I need to do to get out of my situation? Oh, I'll go join the military completely got me out of my situation and that's something that people can do. Right, and I think people are so scared to do what's required that they just stay in the same place for the rest of their lives.