Seth Said It
Welcome to Seth Said It, the unapologetic podcast where real stories meet raw truths. Join Seth Mills as he dives into personal experiences, business growth, and the highs and lows of life’s journey. From lessons learned the hard way to the wins worth celebrating, Seth lays it all out with unfiltered honesty and a touch of humor.
This podcast is for those who value authenticity, aren’t afraid of a little controversy, and believe that growth often comes with a bit of discomfort. Whether it’s a deep dive into entrepreneurial struggles, personal growth breakthroughs, or just telling it like it is, Seth Said It is your go-to for real talk that inspires, challenges, and occasionally ruffles some feathers.
Tune in, stay curious, and remember: if it needed to be said, Seth said it.
Seth Said It
The Entrepreneur's Guide to Relationship Management with Nik Dawson
Have you ever questioned how to keep your friendships afloat or kindle romance when the entrepreneurial seas get rough? Seth Mills, alongside our co-host Nik Dawson, swap stories from the trenches, shedding light on the art of maintaining personal connections while helming the entrepreneurial ship. It's a candid look at how we've each grappled with setting boundaries, and the role mutual respect for time plays in relationships. We delve into the awkward moments of revealing your entrepreneurial life to a new date and the undeniable value of a partner who gets the grind.
As we navigate through the episode, the conversation moves to the evolution of our social circles and the strategic cultivation of business relationships. We reflect on the delicate balance of personal relationships with work commitments, and how a supportive network is essential when ambitions steer you toward uncharted business territories. You'll hear how entrepreneurship can reshape family ties and alter friendships, with takeaways on communicating expectations and managing the equilibrium of life's demands. Tune in for an episode that not only uncovers the intricacies of networking in competitive waters but also serves as a compass for steering through the personal challenges that come with business ownership.
Welcome back to the Astrocraft grow, influence, invest podcast. I am your host, seth Mills, joining me today as your co-host, nick Dawson, and in today's episode we're gonna talk about relationship building and networking, so let's just jump right on into it, man.
Speaker 2:What's up with your pants?
Speaker 1:Oh, they've been. They've been bleached from work.
Speaker 2:I was wondering, they look hip. Yeah you bought those at like a cool kid store or what?
Speaker 1:Unfortunately. No, just you know working. The other cool kid place is you know working in our generation. So, anyways, whatever you can actually touch on this and so can I, because you're in a relationship I do not have that luxury, which some would say is a blessing. So I, how do you do it, man? Because, honestly, between I mean you run one business, I run a bit, I run one business, but it's got three different sectors, so my time is just as than as yours.
Speaker 2:So it's it's weird, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So for the first year of running the company, I didn't Wasn't even looking for a relationship, wouldn't worried about none of that. Wouldn't on any dating sites was nothing I was just. Whenever I started, I just I knew what I wanted and so I just went for it. Yeah, and by the time I got established in that this was around the same time that me and you were really starting to connect to, and I think that's also what helped is the fact that we were able to both be like push each other in business.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, we still do, still yeah still do.
Speaker 2:So I think, more than anything, I guess I got kind of got to the point where I was like you know I'm ready. I think I'm ready for relationship After all my other previous fun shit that happened with that yeah, that also played a major role on us, I mean was that that also played a major role in not pursuing something I would say yeah 100%.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you get engaged and get dumped two weeks before you're supposed to get married. Yeah, it'll do it to you 100%. So I think, like whenever I met Caitlin, my current girlfriend, whenever we met, I really didn't even want to get into the topic of I don't know company Because one I was like I don't want to seem like you know it's also 2023 where people will take advantage of that.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly, it's a lot of, and that's. I remember having that conversation because it was like what do you do for work? Oh, I do, what do you do? And I was like, well, I'm in the pool industry and I was like I own my own company, but it's super cringy to say and she's our, why is it cringy? And I was like saying basically what you just said, and she's like it shouldn't be that cringy. I was like, yeah, but it just it seems that way because of I'm an influencer, I'm a entrepreneur.
Speaker 2:And that's you know.
Speaker 1:We're, which we know, in 2023,. Typically, about 90% of entrepreneurs are unemployed individuals.
Speaker 2:Or they're selling these. Yeah only fans, yeah, so don't get me started on that.
Speaker 2:No, we'll wait on that, but what I think ended up happening was is, thankfully she lives in an area where I visit a few times a week so I'm able to get my job done, get everything work related done, and still go over there and take her, take her to dinner, go hang out, enjoy our time together and still have a relationship. It took a while for her to understand that I can't respond and 152035 minutes, 10 minutes, whatever. It took a while for her to be like like what the hell, dude you not like me?
Speaker 1:I remember that you because she was.
Speaker 2:She was like she was worried about it. It took a while for me to be able to actually explain what I do and explain what my phone looks like on a given day, and she was like it got to the point where she's like I've come to the realization that I can't. I won't get a text as quick as I would like. Sometimes I can, sometimes I'll be, she'll catch me right at the right time and I can respond like that, but majority of the time, like today, I could not get off the phone for the life of me. Everybody's getting ready for the rest of the end of the year. Everybody's getting ready for that. Could not get off the phone. It's been two and a half hours and part also because of me.
Speaker 2:Well yeah, I mean we're talking about what we're doing for the podcast, we're talking about everything else, but in between you, builders, text, emails, everything else is coming in, coming in at the same time. Two, two and a half hours passed by and I'm like, oh shit, I didn't forget about her. I think about her throughout the whole day, but it's a matter of having to go and respond, and she knows that. She knows that it gets hectic, she knows it gets busy and it's just a matter of life. So she knows that anytime that we get to Talk or get to spend time to with each other.
Speaker 2:Yeah she knows that she respects the time to, which is beautiful absolutely, which is other relationships I've been in. They don't respect that. They don't respect your time, they don't respect the fact that why aren't you responding to me right away?
Speaker 1:or the opposite. Why are you responding so quick?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that hadn't happened for me in a long time, but yeah.
Speaker 1:It's happened to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, oh yeah. We won't say the name, but it starts with an M. It shouldn't be that hard. Now You're just fucking with me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah that flying here dude.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so I mean I understand that 100%. So see, and I guess for me, I'm still at a point because I keep expanding my company, and to different avenues, I'm still at a point where I cannot. I have a girl that I've been talking to for almost three months now, or Just over two months whatever.
Speaker 1:We still haven't been able to meet in person and go on a date because I've been too busy between the podcast, the three different Branches, my company I'll I'll call it three companies, because I really do own three companies, they're just all under one branch, I'll see. And the fourth company I'm about to open I my time is stretched so thin. And then me flying out in April for a week, and then probably flying out in February and in June, and I'll probably in September as well, for a convention over in Cabo San Lucas, which will be nice, it'll be a vacation, but it's also gonna be worse shit. It's also gonna be work. And then I think that next year, in August, I've also got to fly out to Tennessee for another convention. But See, with me, my time is stretched so thin that I don't think that's why I haven't. I Don't try to lead people on. I will try and talk to somebody, I'll try to make it something happen, because, yeah, everybody wants a relationship, right, I'm not gonna force a relationship to happen, though. So you have to have a happy balance between life, work balance as even a business owner. But if you're trying to open and expand things Nine times out of ten, you're not gonna have that healthy balance, or, if you do, the balance of life becomes okay.
Speaker 1:I want to go and enjoy one of my hobbies golfing. My hobby this isn't a hobby, but it's something I enjoy doing is going to the casino, hanging out, seeing people. It's probably not a good thing, but about half the dealers that go to nugget, like Charles, know my name. I walked in this past weekend and or with my family this past week and I walk up into the high-limit room and one of the dealers that always I play blackjack with. He's like hey, how have you been? I'm like, yeah, I've been good. He's like it's been like two months. I was like, yeah, I know, just haven't been able to make it. And I'm like alright, man, I'll talk to you soon and I'll see you later. He looks at me. He says okay, seth, have a good one. I'm like I Genuinely did not know that he knew my name. I Did not know.
Speaker 1:I literally I'm not even shitting you. I turned around I said how do you remember my name? He's like you're here all the time. Really not, okay, I'm times in 2022 or 2023. I mean, so, I Mean, I guess, I guess, I guess there's just different ways of looking at that.
Speaker 2:Like for me I Wasn't ready and then I was like open to the idea. And then I I found somebody who was open to the idea of being with somebody who isn't always, who isn't always able to be there. Right then, right there, yeah.
Speaker 1:See, and I wish I could find that but she's always.
Speaker 2:She's also my biggest supporter. She's. She's there to listen to the great day. She's there to listen to the absolute shit days where. I just want to throw my phone out the window. Sounds like me. Yeah, she's, yeah, the female version of me basically yeah, so you just need to find the female version of me. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:You mean female version of? Well, I guess, yeah, that would be right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know what I'm talking about here.
Speaker 1:Much more attractive one, though, than you.
Speaker 2:Small little less mustache, but yeah, it's never zero. No, you just again in some matter of what you want, again, she's my biggest supporter. She's the one who helps push me to want to expand. So I know if I want to expand, she's gonna be like do it, do it, or Do you have the time to do that? Yeah, she's. She's also one of those that will bring me back into Reality sometimes where I'm like I really want to do this, I really want to sell my own merch, I want to sell my own. You know, have this and we'll have this, and she's like you. Okay, well, excluding what you do and the time that we spend together, what time do you have to do that?
Speaker 1:12 o'clock to 4 am or 12 midnight, 4 am yeah.
Speaker 2:She's like I'm not trying to discredit anything because we, even before I came here, she was like I said something. I was like, yeah, I'm let Seth spend all the money on all this shit. No, I'm just gonna capitalize on it whenever I start my own and she goes. With what time? Yep, she goes. It's good that you're able to get on his she goes, but realistically she goes. I'm not trying to crush your dreams, but you barely have time to go home and go sleep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, after work. Orders and customer emails texts calls.
Speaker 2:All of that in between she's like so Once you get people hired on, then Then you can think then start thinking about it.
Speaker 2:But right now she's like. She's also like don't spread yourself to you thing, yeah, which is where I'd gotten to at one point, where it was 7 in the morning till 8 in the evening that I would be working all day, and then I would get home and do my work orders and I'd get up again at 6 or 7 and go do the same thing Five, six days a week and I had literally no gas left, yeah so and Then it also kind of this all also kind of ties into networking as a business owner when you well, even before we get on that, even family relationship 100%.
Speaker 2:Thankfully, I'm in partnership with my mother. Thankfully, yeah, thankfully, we're in, we're in business together. She does my book, she does my taxes, she does everything in Office, except for the scheduling and some of the work order stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah so I'm in constant communication with her. She's always let me know what's going on with family. My dad's in the same industry so I'm able to talk to him. We talked Throughout the whole week, especially right now that now that I'm at home right now I'm trying to figure out my living situation. But Even owning a company at that point still Kind of keeps you away from certain family members at that.
Speaker 1:Oh, it absolutely doesn't.
Speaker 1:I mean, I would know About that, because I don't see half my family as much as I'd like to. Yeah, the other half live within a five mile radius, 10 miles at max, so it's easy to go and see them or for them to come here. So it definitely also does affect your family relationships when it comes to business because, like I said, you won't be able to see them as often. You also may not get to Talk to them as often, even over to the phone, because you're always, like you had mentioned earlier, you're always on the phone with builders, me. I'm on the phone with you, I'm on the phone with clients, I'm on the phone with Corporate offices talking about other contracts that I have or trying to get. So it definitely affects family Relationships as well and it can it can make family get together is complicated, because your family is going to Want to have an answer as to why you haven't been calling them and it's like, while you have a good answer and a good explanation, it may not be good enough for them.
Speaker 2:They could either not talk to you because you're in college or they could not talk to you because you're in a business. I want to get a business and I'm doing both and you're doing both.
Speaker 1:So on top of all the other stuff I mentioned.
Speaker 2:So, anyways, I didn't want to cut you off on that. But I just before we got past just Girlfriend, spouse, anything like that wanted to talk family related, and I mean even friendships.
Speaker 1:Even friendships. Yeah, I Talked to you a little bit about this earlier. It I Needed to tread lightly, because I do have quite a few friends. However, I don't talk to them or see them nearly as much anymore. I Used to be extremely close with a friend group here in my neighborhood. I very rarely see them anymore because of work, because of business, because I'm always working on something. If it's not business, it's the podcast. If it's not podcast, I'm traveling. Like I mentioned the casino, I do enjoy going to spend money. No, I'm not gonna Spend my last dollar at the casino, unless, of course, both of my bank accounts get hacked, like happened last week where hackers stole Lots of money from me. But I'm getting it back. So, theoretically, I did bring my last dollar to the casino unknowingly unknowingly, but in a peak of Christmas season 2.
Speaker 1:But anyway, as far as all of that goes, I Don't see those friends anymore. It really is not nearly as often I've seen one of them and once in like two months that I've seen them will Snapchat or text or whatever. Very rarely even then. But so that kind of went away Friend lives in Dallas. He wants me to come see him all the time. I can't.
Speaker 1:When he's traveling down here for work I can't make the time to go see him down here even Because he's usually on the south side of Houston and we live way up north, on the very northern side of Houston, slightly outside of Houston, so it makes it difficult. I Don't want to say friends diminish when you but they kind of do that whenever you own a business, but they kind of do you start growing out of the friendships You're currently in and start looking for friends or friend groups that are in the specter of your mindset when you are now as business owner, for instance.
Speaker 1:You are the only person that I can say that I have. I'm friends with that. I talked to on a weekly basis, a monthly basis and Much less a daily base.
Speaker 2:I was gonna say pretty much daily for the most part, unless there's like a real off day or some shit.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean the, the friend group that I'm around you. For sure, I Talked to a good friend of mine who's in commercial construction, just because he's basically doing what we're doing, but a owner underneath an owner. Yeah even though he's more of a GC on a job, but he still has the same kind of mindset. So that's kind of where it's Still good. He's making great money, he does what he wants to do and that's what we're trying to do and what we're doing.
Speaker 2:But I have other friends that I used to play guitar with, I used to record with, hang out with, and that he just got engaged. I knew he'd been dating this girl forever, but did I know how, how far along all this had gone. So I mean like we've lost contact and not to throw shade on them or anything, but the one time he calls me is because his dad's interested in getting in a swimming pool.
Speaker 1:Hey, lost contact. I guess not diminishing friend groups. Yeah, contact is more so what I was getting at.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, lost contact. I mean I, like you said, the whole snapchat deal. I still have friends that'll just like pop up randomly.
Speaker 1:I'm like yeah, yeah, I forgot about you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I didn't forget about you. I just forgot to respond to you, or forgot to Reach out, like I was supposed to so but yeah, you surround yourself with people that are doing the things or that are gonna push you to do the things that you want to do or the things that you're already doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because the you never know everything. Yeah, when you're owning a business, I that also goes back into tying into the networking. Yeah, if you're we were talking about a lot of that if you own a business, 90% of your work is gonna either come from word of mouth or networking. Yeah, you would be surprised or not you, but the watchers would be surprised. How much work of mine they call them viewers the viewers.
Speaker 1:But anyway, you know what I mean. Yeah, you too. But uh, you'd be surprised how much work I get from other exterior cleaning companies. Yeah, they send me work because they can't get to it or their schedule doesn't allow or there's some mix up or something. It's just out of their jurisdiction. They just send me work and I send them work too. Mm-hmm, you'd be surprised how much work of mine comes from other exterior that my competitors. Networking is the number one thing that I could recommend for anybody who's looking at it getting into a business. Yeah, because it's Single-handedly One. You'll get more work that way to. If you're ever in a bind, you can call these people and they will show up, no questions asked. And three you want to keep a good reputation with the other contractors in your industry or, in general, other contractors around you.
Speaker 2:Well, I started thinking about this man With the service stuff that we do. What good is a painter without a house or a building? What good's a plumber without a place to plumb? What good's an electrician without? You can be an electrician all day long, but if you don't have your contacts, what are you going to?
Speaker 1:do? And what's good about a pressure washer if there's no house or concrete?
Speaker 2:If you're a plumber, you've got to have a builder. If you're an electrician, you've got to have a builder.
Speaker 1:If you're a pool builder, you have to have a house builder or a home builder or an apartment.
Speaker 2:You've got to have something, Otherwise you're just okay. I'm just a pool boy. I have no contacts. You have to have your contacts, you have to know your people. That's why I stress so much to guys in my industry, to especially ones like Clean Pools, to get in with realtors, to get in with pool builders that don't clean swimming pools, Because they, we just want to build and we want you deal with it now. They don't want to have the leftovers, they want to get onto their next project.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:So if you don't have those contacts, you can struggle in trying to build what you can do. But if you have contacts as far as builders, realtors, home builders, anything like that, you have that consistent flow of work coming in.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. And whenever you're networking, you also have to realize not everybody's going to be your friend when you're networking. I will preface this by saying that because there's a lot of people that I know that I've networked with, that I have had some I don't know the proper word, but I did, but I don't know the proper word but pride in talking to or I have trust in them. I've been trusted them with some, some ideas, and they've turned around and they've taken those ideas and gone and done them themselves, which is fine. That's competition, it's capitalism, it's America. You got to be careful who you network with and who you share ideas with, because not everybody's out to help you, not everybody's out to get you. Either there's neutral parties, there's good parties and there's also bad parties.
Speaker 2:So you have to understand that when it comes to marketing or not marketing, networking- yeah, Whether it's going to be a conference that you're going to or anything else like that. She walked in the door to to somebody. Yeah, that might be able to benefit your company. What's the what's the issue with going in there and talking to them? If you have a good conversation with them, even if they can't help you, they might know somebody that can.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely 100%. I mean, networking doesn't stop in your own industry. I've networked with pest control companies. I've networked with realtors. I've networked with and realtors is a big one to get into whether, regardless of your industry, if you are a pest control, if you're a home improvement, if you're pressure washing, pool cleaning companies, pool warranty companies, even they could Benefit from getting with a realtor, because the realtor can spread their information exactly.
Speaker 1:To their home buyers or sellers, even Depending on if they're selling in buying the home for their, their customer, or just selling the home. They could market it to the buyers. You know, I mean, it doesn't end when it comes to networking.
Speaker 2:No, and it didn't stop there.
Speaker 1:No, it doesn't. It does not. I mean, I don't know. I, whenever I first started out, I tried to network with everybody. Yeah, I have 50 to 150 client or not clients, but Networks that I can text to my customer, or a text in my contacts right now it would be there if I needed them from a variety of different industries Vendors, suppliers, other like competitors. It doesn't stop. I still networked to this day.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You, you, of all people, would be shocked to know this. When I'm at the casino I Network, I Met 10 people 20 people on this trip this last week that were in our industry or not in our industry, but in our area, who needed my service. Yeah, I Don't know the tax codes. Theoretically, though, part of this trip could have been tax deductible.
Speaker 2:I'd consult your attorneys and your.
Speaker 1:I would too. This is not tax or Lawyer, or any kind of advice when I said that I'm just saying I'm gonna let you talk about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I gave out business cards. I talked to them about business. However many minutes that was could have been tax deductible, I don't know. I Know that if you're talking about business it's technically tax deductible as far as expenses accrued.
Speaker 2:Yeah but I can't remember what it is. As far as entertainment goes it wasn't an entertainment.
Speaker 1:We were sitting at a bar.
Speaker 2:Oh well, if you're at a bar, then yet you're good. You should be all right, we were not at that.
Speaker 1:I should have prefaced this by saying that we were not at a table, we were not at a slot, we were not, that's what I was, yeah floor. We, a couple of them. We were right, we were gambling high stakes. I go to the High Limit Room hundred dollars to five hundred dollars a hand blackjack. That's my game. That or craps.
Speaker 2:And occasionally that kind of money, I could grab my pants too.
Speaker 1:Believe it or not, I really need to get you on. You're coming to Vegas, the hotel is free, the food is free, everything's free except for the gambling and the flight. And the flight is not that that much, buddy Well.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna play Texas. Hold on, let's go.
Speaker 1:I can't get you and I ever go. Anyways, with all of that being said, I Think we we've kind of touched on the relationships and the networking and friendships. I hope that this advice helps all of our viewers and listeners to this podcast. In the next episode, we're gonna be talking about something similar, but not really in networking. We're gonna be talking about other things regarding business. Now that we're off of how we got into business and what we would do differently, we're gonna start touching on two specific topics within business, for instance, like this one or like last episode, where we touched on customers being or bullying the Companies and stuff like that. So I really, once again, I do hope that this helps somebody who's starting business, who's getting into business, and we will see you guys on the next episode. Thank you for tuning into the Astrocraft grow, influence, invest podcast.
Speaker 1:I am your host, seth Mills, and joining me was your co-host Nick Dawson and we hope that you guys had a merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah, new year and Welcome to 2024 y'all.
