Blind Ambitions
Blind Ambitions podcast offers a captivating journey into the world of the solar industry. Each episode features special guests actively involved in the industry, providing unique perspectives and insights. The show not only explores the latest in solar technology and trends but also delves into Abby's own life and career, offering an in-depth look that adds a personal touch to each episode. With a diverse range of guests, the podcast promises a rich and varied exploration of the solar sector, making it an informative and engaging listen.
Blind Ambitions
Empowered Growth
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In this episode of Blind Ambition, Abby sits down with the powerhouse duo behind Empower to talk about the real journey of building a business—from early wins to major setbacks, and everything in between. They share their honest experiences, the challenges they’ve faced, and the mindset it takes to overcome roadblocks and keep pushing forward. The episode is packed with valuable tips for companies looking to manage growth, navigate tough moments, and stay grounded in their mission. Plus, we dive into their upcoming appearance at SolarCon and what they’re most excited to share with the industry. If you’re a founder, leader, or just someone on the grind, this episode is for you.
Welcome everybody to the Blind Ambitions podcast. I am so excited. This is the first ever remote Zoom recording of the Blind Ambitions podcast. You're going to see a lot more of these so that we can get amazing guests to you faster and share more and more stories. But today I have two incredible guys with me. We have Robbie Edge and Sean Sullivan. They are partners at Empower, which is an amazing EPC. I've been hearing so many things about. I'm not going to share too much because we really want to get in the slow role to let everybody out there know about these guys. I feel like they're a little bit of a hidden gem right now, at least that's my perspective. Jumping in, Robbie and Sean, thank you so much for making time to join us today. I would love for you each to just give us a quick intro, your background, maybe high-level overview where you come from, your intro into solar, and then you know what brings you here today.
SPEAKER_01Go ahead, Sean. Well, thanks for having us, Abby, and we're uh happy to be on the show today. Um, I uh I you know started my sales career really in uh direct sales and uh got into alarm sales and like many that are selling in solar, you know, made the transition of solar. Um I owned an ADT alarm franchise for 25 years and uh you know operated in a couple of states and multiple cities. And uh it's funny, the the way I got into solar, I actually had uh a colleague from the alarm industry reach out to me by phone and said, Hey, I'm I'm gonna be in town, you know, I'd love to take out lunch. And I was like, Man, I'm I'm too busy. I don't I don't have time to you know hear a sales pitch or anything. And um he called me the next week, he said, I'm I'm here, you've got to eat lunch. I'm you're going to lunch with me. So he closed me out. We went to lunch and um you know, he pitched me on what solar was. And, you know, I just thought it was the most unique selling proposition I'd ever heard of. Um, you know, to be able to basically replace something uh that a customer was already having to pay for with and converting it from something they're renting to something that they're gonna own. I just thought it was just incredible. And um I slowly dipped my toe in the water and uh ended up becoming their first sales dealer uh in uh South Carolina. And you know, like many have experience with the solar coaster, um, worked with two companies uh for the first year. Both of them ended up closing shop and I had customers stranded, and uh one went out of business and couldn't pay bills. And you know, at that point, after the first year, I realized I had to take control. And in order to control, you know, both customer experience and and my my livelihood, I had to control the finance. So I moved into the installation side.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um for me, Amy, I you know, I've got a little different uh journey to get into solar. I was actually uh I was a tennis pro for about 25 years and uh worked with uh young, aspiring uh youth players that were trying to get into college and and maybe even go pro, things like that. Absolutely loved what I did. Um, I I wouldn't trade a second for it, but I remember I was telling we were actually just talking to Joe about this the other day. Um, it was kind of funny. I I I was dating this girl at the time, um, and this was probably about 10 years ago, and we were out at dinner after dating for about a year one night, and I looked at her and she just had this funny look on her face, you know, just kind of goofy look, and it hit me all of a sudden. I was like, this girl actually kind of likes me, you know. This is going somewhere. It hit me, you know. I was like, I'm a tennis pro. I said, I don't make very much money, you know. So this I said, I've got to figure out something, you know. And um anyway, it was kind of interesting, you know. She was a really good tennis player too. Um, and she encouraged me to, you know, I was always entrepreneurial anyway, and she'd encouraged me to do some things. So we we actually opened some retail stores, uh, which if you've ever been in retail, sports retail, that's that's something you should never ever do. And um, but uh we had a lot of success with it for a little while, and then all of a sudden, you know, our that industry changed a little bit. A lot of read online retail came about in that specialty retail, and we got crushed. And um, yeah, some people know this, but towards the end, I had uh four retail stores, and towards the end, I had to close them all, and I was actually I lost everything. I was living in the uh back of my original store on an air mattress with my two dogs, taking showers at the YMCA next door, trying to keep this thing alive. And uh, you know, it eventually overtook me. You know, I just couldn't couldn't figure it out. We just got crushed. And and uh that led to me, you know, for a few months kind of trying to figure out how the heck I was gonna get my life back together. And I'd never been in a situation like that, had always been an entrepreneur and um never had anything like that happen. And then just one day I ran across this guy, uh, totally other story I could tell, but ran across a guy one day and uh they introduced me to the solar industry and took him a month and a half to get me to even try it. And then when I did, man, it was just an incredible opportunity that I found. Um, I'd never seen anything like that, you know, and had a lot of success in the sales realm. Uh one of the you know, top salespeople in the country for a few years, and then I built some good teams and things like that. And and then kind of eventually, like Sean, just had repeatedly had some bad experiences and um, you know, decided we had to take it under our own wing if we wanted to really control what was going on with the customer and our own salespeople. So that's kind of where we ended up meeting up not long after.
SPEAKER_00Wow. Um, Robbie, I I didn't realize that about your story, and that is that's such a cool story. It's always feels awkward to tell somebody, oh yeah, your paint is really cool. That's that's a cool story. I think it's cool because I have my own similar, like you're you're speaking to my heart, but I'm I'm of the opinion, the very strong opinion, that those um really rough bottom stories are what uh turn us into amazing leaders and business owners in the future. And so I think I wear mine like a badge of pride, and hopefully you do too. But we'll have to hear a bit more about that. I'm excited to circle back. And Sean, I loved what you touched on, which is here's how I would word it. The solar industry for me, coming from like contracting, which is still super, you know, contracting, uh trade focused, at least from my perspective on the build side. Solar has this magic built-in purpose to it that almost just sort of taps into, oh wow, I don't have to have a career or even build a business that's just you know only about making money. Like I think there's so many cool opportunities to feel like you're helping other people, giving them incredible opportunities like other people did to you too. Come in this industry, come in this space. There's so many good things going on. And it's it's been a rough minute, which we've all felt, but um, I still think that rings so true about the space, and hopefully you guys feel that too.
SPEAKER_04Definitely.
SPEAKER_00So let's jump into empower. Um, give me and give the listeners everything. What markets are you in? What are you focused in? What are what are some fun differentiators? What should we know about empower? I've heard phenomenal things.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, I think it really boils down to where we come from. Um, you know, we we both Robbie and I both come from the sales side of the business uh initially. And uh when we teamed up in early 2020 to form the current Empower, um, we were vertically integrated. So, you know, being vertically integrated, I think really gives us a very unique perspective in that you know, we understand the ping points for sales, we we understand the pain points for operations and the pain points for the install side. And you know, as we uh you know kept building Empower and you know, reinventing and re-evaluating and trying to hone it to what it is today, um, you know, we've always kept that in mind. You know, what what is important? It's important, uh, we believe in transparency, um, making sure everybody's on the same page. We believe in strong and uh constant communication, both with our sales partners, our customers, our install partners. Um, because if you can if you can be very uh deliberate and everybody's on the same page, it just gives you uh an opportunity to be successful in a business that's very difficult.
SPEAKER_02Um so you know that I mean I think I mean just to reiterate, I I think you know the the sales background, I think, is one of the biggest things that made has made us successful at what we're doing today. I mean, I think you know, a lot of times there's there's a framework, uh, a mindset in building an EPC. You know, sometimes it comes from an operational framework, you know, an operational mindset, sometimes it comes from a sales mindset that's trying to get the it's not that you know our our sales background is obviously just unique. I mean, I think there are quite a few people that have done what we are have done as well. But I think, you know, the fact that we've been able to scale that, grow that, have a proven track record in in not only growing the EPC, but also doing it with a very supportive nature to our sales partners that you know partners are excited about. I think that's that's what I'm I'm the most excited about that we've been able to have proof of concept that we're doing it at a very high level and we're you know we're we're having a lot of success that way. But I agree with Sean. I think just the the level of services that we offer and the things that everything that we've done and all the things that we built into the business for sales partners come from a sales mindset, you know, knowing what was important to us, things that frustrated us coming into you know building an EPC, um, I think it just gave us a very unique perspective in how to do that. Um and and we understand the the sales mind, you know, when they when they're coming at us and want something new or trying, we're we're open-minded to it, you know, we're not shutting things down right off the rip.
SPEAKER_00So absolutely. Yeah, I I could definitely see the value there um from where I've come from in my experience too. What markets are you guys serving right now? And are you looking for new sales partners?
SPEAKER_02We're always looking for new sales partners. Um something we discussed with with Joe on his podcast the other day is we want to find right the right sales partners too. Okay, um, we definitely want to grow um very responsibly, right? Um, you know, I know a lot of EPCs, you know, they're they're always just looking at the intake revenue, and it's not necessarily our model. We're not in that position where we need revenue like that. Um we want to grow, we want that revenue, but we don't have to have it to survive, right? Um as far as markets, I mean we're in 15 states currently.
SPEAKER_03Oh wow.
SPEAKER_02Um and we're we've got two or three more on the horizon. But right now, um you know, we're in the Carolinas, uh Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, uh Virginia. Very cool, Virginia, Massachusetts, uh, Illinois, Texas, Arizona, Kentucky, Missouri, you name it.
SPEAKER_00That was an impressive rip off the list. I love it. I love it. That's great. Um, you guys give me such a great lean into some of these questions here. Um, you both come from more of a sales background here. What do you think would be maybe one of the biggest mindset shifts that you had to make when transitioning in or adding in the build side?
SPEAKER_01I mean, I I personally don't feel like it was that much of a mind uh shift because you know, the the techniques, you know, the the lessons that were learned in sales at an early age, like for me specifically, you know, it it transitions over to our operational staff, you know, and we're we're bringing in new people the way we have set up our training and um is around you know having the right type of attitude um to get things done. You know, you you can go to the DMV and you can see people sitting there just absolutely miserable, you know, doing what they're doing. Hopefully, I'm not offending anybody at DMV, but um having that do whatever takes mindset, charging it down, you know, not not taking no for an answer. That that's the type of attitude that we try to instill in our operational staff. So that when they're you know submitting permits and they're getting pushback from an AHJ or or someone that is uh you know giving them a hard time, it they're they're relentless, you know. The HOA submissions, they're they're only HOAs for approvals, you know. And and I think that you know, just really being a solid planner, that that is to me, that is probably the biggest aspect of being successful in an EPC is you you have to have a clear plan. There's no question about it.
SPEAKER_04Right, right.
SPEAKER_02I think I think the people that we've been very fortunate, you know, the people that we have brought on, you know, share a very common vision for us of not only what we want to achieve and and how we want our sales partners uh treated and things like that, our customers treated, but I think just the kind of attitude, you know, again, that you know, that we have ourselves and kind of that we expect you know from our organization is to you know not settle, you know, push, you know, charge things down, like Sean said, and make sure we push through barriers. You know, I think that's why we've been very successful. We just got a lot of people that are are go-getters, man. It's really incredible. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Love that. One team, one dream focused around what should be right, excellence to the consumer and the product and the delivery. I love it. I think I think you're dead on. I think that the right people um on the team really should be looking at that core vision. And um, I love that. It doesn't require a big thing.
SPEAKER_02I will say one thing on my mindset that did have to shift a little bit, and I'll say this jokingly because Sean has operations style before me. I had to get my mindset wrapped around a little bit about okay, this is what like sales expects and this is what operations can deliver, you know?
SPEAKER_00There's always that gap, right?
SPEAKER_02It's yeah, and you know, like when you're first when you're first doing it, you know, it's like there's a big chasm in the we've done an incredible job of narrowing that down a lot, you know, and getting I love that.
SPEAKER_00I love that. That's so important for any business too. Even even a completely fully internal company where you've got you know representatives at the table that are head down focused just in their area, it's really easy to for that to build more like a chasm. Good on you. Um I got a I got another one here for you. So you know, I I think I'm I'm gonna slip another one here in the middle. I talk to a lot of folks um specifically from the sales side that will reach out and want to try to maybe get into the build side. Uh, but more often than not, it's a there's a ton of hesitance. Would you can you think of anything? What maybe would come to mind for you and what gave you confidence to move into the full stack, the build, the build part, um, and maybe your outlook on it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, uh the confidence part I think is easy to answer for myself. Um, you know, really, again, it kind of goes back to the people that kind of had it surrounded by, right? So, you know, originally when we started in power um as it is today, um this is about five years ago, um, you know, we were really I was personally surrounded by a lot of people who had the same vision that I had, which was, hey, look, you know, we're very tired of what we've experienced in the industry so far.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And we know the only way to own that and have that what we want and what we want for our customers is for us to take total control of that. So now a lot of the people that I was with at that time, you know, we didn't know how we would do that exactly, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, and then not shortly after Sean and I met, right? But the the the point is is everybody in that boat with me at that time had that same vision. We we want to control, we want to offer something better, we want to be unique in the in the space, right? And so that that gave me a lot of confidence. Now, then the mub rubber had to meet the road, right? And then I started figuring out how to do that. And then that's you know, where Sean and I met, and and you know, just to be honest, again, like some of the people that we have in the organization have the exact same personality types that we have. Um, and you know, that gave me a lot of confidence. You know, they're very process-driven people, you know, they they're very open-minded to make sure that um, you know, we want to, whatever we say we can we can do, we we we can do, right? Yeah, and so I think that type of attitude gave me a lot of confidence, even though just to be honest, you know, I was very lost at the very beginning. You know, I I joke this about this all the time, but the first year it would go, it kind of went like you always think it would go when a bunch of sales guys open up in EPCA or a full stack company. But you know, since then, you know, as Sean mentioned earlier, you know, we've kept re-evaluating and improving, and and I think we're one of the best in the in the company in the country right now at what we do, for sure.
SPEAKER_01I be Abby for me it was a little bit of a different you know, uh introduction into becoming an EPC because you know, I I've run an alarm and alarm business for 25 years. I I had you know multiple technicians and uh it's a lot different type of business, um, but it but it has some similarities. Sure. And really for me, the you know, when I first got into solar and and again I I just fell in love with it, I I made a decision, you know, after six months, I'm gonna sell this 20-plus-year-old business so I can focus 100% into doing this. Um, but even doing so, you know, I I I will never forget the first time someone told me that the install crew is made up of electricians and roofers. It scared the hell out of me. Like, oh my god, an electrician and a roofer going and drilling holes in people's houses. Yeah, and uh, you know, I I was very hesitant to jump into the install side until I had a really good solid understanding of you know the intricacies related to it. But but for me, it was more out of necessity. You know, I I had been with two companies that had hit the ground running, sold a bunch of jobs, very few of them were getting to the roof, very few of them you know were being communicated with. And and again, you know, I I'd made a big decision to make that transition into something that was very safe for me that I've done for a long time. And I just knew for me to be able to succeed in this, I had to control that other aspect. So it was more for me and the necessity to do it.
SPEAKER_00I love that. That's such a that's such a great answer. Um, piggybacking right off of that. What are some hard-learned lessons in your previous lives before solar? Uh, previous roles, previous experience. What are some hard-earned lessons that you brought into these roles that um served you well in stepping into what is some some pretty big shoes of a national EBC? Good on you.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I I think for me, I think you know, some lessons that I've learned in my many years of being an entrepreneur is, you know, to as much as possible, you've got to be able to expect the unexpected. Um these law, things things are gonna happen. And you know, as much as you try to plan for things and and be one step ahead, you you have to put yourself in a position to be agile enough to be able to pivot, you know, based on a market condition changing that's out of your control. And that's very prevalent in solar. It's you know, something I've dealt with for the 10 years I've been at it, you know, time and a time again.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, you know, I think that another issue that I see with companies that are, you know, that are doing what we do is I think that they build so much weight, they they add so much weight as it relates to fixed cost. And you know, the the nature of sales in this industry is you know, they're they're somewhat cyclical. You know, they're gonna have higher months and lower months, and yeah, and I think that you know, being able to manage your staff and the size of your staff effectively is also uh something that that I've learned, you know, many, many times over.
SPEAKER_02Um I think we the way we've been building the company the last few years is to again to be nimble enough to adjust to what's going on in the industry, right? We've we've been very fortunate to to remain pretty much debt-free, you know, or as little debt as we can. And we've been very we built the company to be very nimble, so it's it's definitely worked pretty well for us in that regard. Um a lesson lesson for me, I think, you know, again, I'll say this jokingly, you know, I think um, you know, it's it's really been more about listening to the people that are in the boat with me.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, I I'm I'm kind of a hard charging stuff. You can laugh at this. I'm stubborn as anybody. Yeah. I'm stubborn, and I if I if I see something that I think is the right move for us, you know, I'm gonna charge at it pretty hard because I know what the reward is on the other side of that risk. You know, um, but you know, if you can kind of think of like uh you know a race car driver coming in with the with the engine smoking and the weird, you know, the fire, you know, I can I'll get us there, but you know, the reality is I might bring it in like that. And but you know, kind of dialing back and starting to to trust and and listen and be patient and and you know, listen to the advice of all the people that we have brought in that we can trust now, you know, allows us to come in with a with a fine-tuned Ferrari as opposed to wheels on fire. And uh it's good. So I think it's more about this listening and and being more collaborative in our vision, you know, more so than I had been in the past.
SPEAKER_00I love that. I I just got off of a conversation a little earlier this morning um talking about um basically how to how to grow and succeed in early days. And you know, I couldn't get past the extremely simple answer that was just sort of right here that I feel like people don't talk to, you know, talk about enough, which is are you asking for feedback? Are you getting feedback and asking people, do you do you like my approach? What do you not like about what we're doing? How can we, you know, cater? It's I think a lot of people are so concerned about either getting bad feedback or they're just really locked in thinking they know, you know. I think open-mindedness and listening is so important. It's such an over overlooked hack, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, it's tough. That was a tough lesson for me. I I would hear the feedback, but I'd just be like, all right, thanks for the feedback.
SPEAKER_00I've been there. Like every good entrepreneur, right? I'm better better. What uh what are would you guys say are some signals that the business is doing well? Things are going well and you're doing right. You know, is this KPIs that you know you're tracking for success of the business? Would love for you to give advice to some of the others out there. What do you look to to say for to be your North Star for success in your EPC?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, I think uh for me, I mean, I think you know, we we we have some slightly different responsibilities in the organization right now, but I think for me, you know, a lot of it is uh centered around you know our uh sales partner feedback, right? So we have some some great people um you know that kind of head Up that partner success roles and things like that. And I'm always kind of got my ear to the ground about like what is the feedback that we're receiving. And the the feedback, I mean, obviously right now we we're having some incredible feedback as to like you know how we're performing as an EPC and the services that we're offering and the support we're offering sales partners. So we're getting all this incredible feedback. That is always like again a huge piece for me. Because just like you know, we take this approach with like the customer itself, the homeowner, you know, if we can communicate at such a high level with them, you know, we know that we're gonna have a high level success with them, right? And it's kind of the same thing. If we're getting positive feedback, we we know that you know partners are enjoying what we're the service that we're providing. If we keep hearing that, we know we're succeeding, and and that will lead to long-term success for us as a business. Um but I think like, you know, probably things for us, you know, like um, you know, I'm looking at things like what we call like our DRCs, our deal review complete rates. Um, yeah, I don't pay attention to sales, we really pay attention to more to like how many of those sales are making into the pipeline. But cash flow, those types of things, you know. But um, but yeah, I mean, I think from my side, I think it's a lot more about the satisfaction from the sales partners for sure.
SPEAKER_01I I think also, you know, and Robbie touched a little bit on this, you know, our our customer experience is very important to us. And we know that that's very important for our sales partners too, because at the end of the day, you know, you want to be able to look and talk and uh reply to the customer after the install and project's done. And and I find that, you know, in in many times, the a lot of the feedback we've gotten from sales orgs or salespeople in general is you know, the the the way that the project you know progressed through the EPC was just so awful. The customer experience was so awful. The sales reps didn't even feel like they could even talk the customer when the project was done. So, you know, I think that you know, other things to consider are you know some of the black eyes that the industry's gotten over the last couple years with customers being orphaned and you know companies going out of business, and for for whatever reason they went out of business, but you know, one key metric that we pay very, very close attention to is our install PTO. Um, because at the end of the day, the quicker that we can get the job turned on, the better the experience is going to end up being for the consumer. And I just actually ran a bunch of KPIs um just yesterday. And and right now we're averaging 50 days from install to PTO, which is it's pretty, it's awesome. It's really, really I love that.
SPEAKER_00I can't express to you how happy it makes me to hear companies socializing and focusing on the speed to PTO permission to operate for those that are maybe a little less familiar with that terminology, um, because it really is the the measuring stick by which we should be tracking. Um, and I know that you know we've come from a little bit of a different culture uh in this space. And so good on you. I love that. Um you you gave me a really good lean in, so I'm just gonna pivot here because you talked about the industry. Um, I would love to know from your perspective, what are you both seeing? What do you feel is is your read on the industry landscape, what's keeping you up at night as partners, um, maybe some also some optimism that you have. Love to know your thoughts.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think the industry is actually trending back to a pretty positive place, to be honest. I think um I think there's gonna be a lot of changes on the horizon, you know, from the sales side in particular. Um, I think you know, compliance now is taking a huge uh front and center. I think you know, things like recheck and things like that are probably coming to try to clean up the industry to a certain degree, right? Um I think those are all super positive things. I I think there might be some short-term you know dips, you know, from some of these things as they make the sales practices a little bit more in line with what they should be.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, but I think overall the industry is gonna become stronger for that. It's gonna be uh, you know, the industry from a homeowner's perspective, it's gonna be more trustworthy. There's gonna be less, you know, less bad things out there over time. And I think that'll be a positive thing for us in general. Um, you know, we're we're we we you know completely you know understand and believe in what you know protecting the homeowner. So we have kind of the writing processes and things like that. But um I think that's a huge, huge thing. And I think the industry, I mean, if you still look at like you know, the penetration, you know, in our country, um, as long as you know incentives stay in place and things like that, I think we're in for an incredible ride, just to be honest.
SPEAKER_00I'm so aligned with that. I completely agree, Robbie. Thank you. What do you think, Sean?
SPEAKER_01I I think uh a lot of the same things Robbie said I I think you know, getting getting a little bit better guardrails on the sales aspect to make sure that you know the the people that are solar is being sold to are people that need to be able to be buying solar or can have the ability to buy solar. Um, you know, not everybody, it's not a good fit for everybody. Let's just let's say what it is. Just because they can't afford it, it still should benefit them, you know. Exactly. Exactly. Um, so I I think you know, the regulation, some of the regulations that we're seeing, like with some of the lenders with Recheck and some of the things that I believe are on the horizon, will end up uh, you know, anytime change is present, it's always hard. Um, but normally when change happens, it ends up being a you know for the better down the road. But the thing that keeps me up at night is this thing called the solar coaster and just you know not really knowing what to expect um as every Monday rolls around. So just trying to be as prepared as we can and keeping us in a position where we can be as successful as possible.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the only guarantee is change, right? Unfortunately. Um, I love that. Um as far as empower standing out amongst EPC options out there, do you feel like it's been difficult to stand out? Is it been easy to stand out? And you know, in what ways do you feel like um empire or empower is standing out in the market?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think uh that's kind of funny. We were talking about that the other day. I um if you're listening, we'd love to obviously you know have a uh a call with you to kind of show you what we're about and what we do and how we handle things. I think um you know, once we're in front of someone, I think they're absolutely blown away by how we're running this business and and the the services again that we offer and everything. I think it's um I think one of our biggest downfalls, Abby, you and I were joking about this the other day. Um, you know, we're not the best at getting out there and beating our chest on the front lines and telling everybody about Empower, you know, we're pencils are the best ones. I think it's it's funny, you know. We um I think that's something we have to improve at to get people to to know about Empower. You know, I mean I think the partners that are using us just absolutely know what we're about and and and you know what we're doing. And um I I think the other thing probably in the in the industry right now is I think because of what's happened over the last few years, you know, there's been a lot of new EPCs that have kind of sprung up. Some of them are small, medium sized, some of them are large, right? But the reality is I think you know, reps as they're seeing these ads flood in from you know on their Facebook profiles and things, I think a lot of times now it's getting harder and harder for a uh sales org to kind of understand the BS versus the reality, right? Everybody's you know claiming these incredible timelines and their financial security and and all this stuff. And and the reality is, I mean, a lot of that is is is sales, right? And I think it's become more and more difficult, you know, for uh you know, for good companies to stand out because there's a lot of stuff out there that's probably not you know as accurate as it should be, right? Yeah, but um, but yeah, I think once we once we talk to someone, I think they can clearly see, you know, kind of what the differences are for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I think you know, again, I said it earlier, I think transparency, you know, but often uh we we get feedback from sales organizations, sales reps that you know they they turn a job into an EPC, they have no idea what's going on. It you know, they're trying to communicate, it's taken days, weeks to get back with them, and you know, it just creates a lot of uncertainty. So I think that you know, through our technology that we uh utilize, I think that transparency aspect is a big thing. Um, we we don't hide anything, so our customer communication is visible with the reps uh on a rep level for their customers. Um, you know, and I think that you know, having that solid communication, we understand the one thing that we learned very early um that we were failing at is the communication with the customer. And and this was years and years. And you know, after evaluating uh you know all the things that we felt like we could improve on, that's the one thing right there we're 100% in control of. So there's no excuse not to do that. You know, we've instituted uh procedures where we have developed an entire department dedicated towards customer experience, our customer ambassadors that each they're assigned to customers, their role is to communicate on a seven to ten day basis, uh, both through calls, personal uh calls, emails, through automation, through our app. Um, and you know, we really want them to build a relationship with the customer um, you know, over that period of time until we until we get to the roof. Because at the end of the day, is you could be the best EPC in the world, but at the end of the day, this is a construction project.
SPEAKER_04Right, right.
SPEAKER_01Everything is very smooth until the install. And that's when I tend to see if if something does go off the track a little bit, it tends to happen at the install. Um, but if you built a solid relationship with the consumer, you know, from that sale to that install date, it allows you to weather, you know, things that might pop up that might not be the perfect scenario for the customer because you've established that relationship with them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and Sean nailed it. I mean, we're we're communicating every seven to ten days with our with our customers through through automations from the CRM. We have our own Empower app that's the customer-facing app for the customer side for their journey. Um, again, and through like phone calls and text. I mean, we're communicating with them all the time. So, but I think on the flip side of that, we do the same exact thing with our sales partners as well. So we have partner ambassadors, which is kind of an alternative role to our customer ambassadors, but partner ambassadors are meeting with sales orgs every week. Um, we have live sales support at all times. Um, we've got uh just all kinds of automations that are going out to the sales partners so they know what's going on with their projects. You know, we've just got a lot of communication.
SPEAKER_00Ummunication is one of those things. I think if you're outside of our space, it's it sounds like we're talking about something so complex and it's really so self-important. I know, it's unreal. It's so difficult to get right, to be consistent, to be to have you know informative, accurate communication. I feel that with from from where we're coming from and from this line of business, communication is is very difficult, very important. It's what makes or breaks the entire experience. So I love how much emphasis you guys are putting on that. Um it sounds like you're you're absolutely focusing on the right things and building a phenomenal organization. So good on both of you. Um I'm gonna I'm gonna move here to our last question. I feel like we've had some really, really good stuff. A lot of our listeners here on the Blind Ambitions podcast are business owners. Um, a lot of a lot of entrepreneurs, you know, first time, second time, third time coming back from from failures um and also in the middle of successes and are feeling some pains right now, um, worried about what might be to come. What would be a single piece of advice you have for other business owners, maybe their first time through, something something encouraging, just your high-level mantra?
SPEAKER_01Um, I I think I I just think that you know, one of the things that that you have to, you know, always possess as an entrepreneur, you have to have a burning desire to succeed and and not be afraid to fail. You know, it is success is not easy, and you have to charge it down day in and day out. There they're gonna be setbacks, and and you have to expect that. Um, you have to be prepared for that. I I think that is the more well-rounded you can be, both through knowledge and learning, um, being a true professional in the industry that you are in and understand, you know, not just if you're a sales, not just understanding the sale, understanding the operational side, understanding the installation side, the complexity. It just makes you more well-rounded. And I think that, you know, from a selling perspective, the more well-rounded you are when you are in front of a customer, it it allows you to put yourself on a pedestal compared to others that might not have that depth of knowledge.
SPEAKER_04So true.
SPEAKER_02I think um, Abby, I know you were asking a little bit about like somebody who might be going through a little bit of a hardship and and trying to kind of keep their chin up, you know, through that. I um I don't know if you ever watched Ted Lasso, Abby.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I love Ted Lasso. Ted Lasso. That's a good thing.
SPEAKER_02You know, Ted's got his sign up there, you know, believe, you know. And it's um, you know, it's so funny. Uh I I know Sean's been through this in his own life and and myself, but like, you know, I think everybody's had some some hardships they've gone through, right? And I I remember like with with stuff going on with you know, when I kind of ended up with my tennis career there, and then before I got into solder man, I thought I I had no idea what I was gonna do. I thought I was gonna end up homeless, you know. I was like, oh I'm gonna be like trying to figure it out. And then even like you know, when we looked at like uh 2023, you know, I think uh you know, where the industry was really getting ripped up. Yeah. Um, and you know, there was it was a hard time to kind of keep your head up. But you know, whatever it is that that kind of you find your belief in, you know, like for me, you know, I I had I know Sean as well, we have our own faith, you know, and stuff, but you know, just to kind of keep in mind that things will work out, you know, if you have faith in in some of the right things. And um, and you just again you you gotta keep plugging, you got to keep working, you gotta keep you know striving to achieve. And and there's failures are gonna happen, you know. I think that's the thing. I mean, they are gonna happen, right? Um, we've we've all failed, right? It's happened, right? But the reality is like a lot of times from failure, you know, um better things come from that, right? As long as you're learning and you're and you're keeping you know moving forwards, I mean you can learn and grow even stronger, right? So um, I think you just gotta believe in that. But um, yeah, I mean it that's that's kept me going. Stay relentless. Stay relentless, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00Beautifully said, so, so good. Thank you for for sharing that. We're gonna do we're gonna do a hard energy pivot here because you ready for my excitement? I want to talk about SolarCon. Oh, yeah. If you have been listening to this and you're thinking, man, I need to connect with these guys, I need to hear what uh Empower is about, and I need to get in front of them, which you very much do. Uh, they are going to be at SolarCon with a booth and are going to be available on the floor for face-to-face relationship building. So I hope that you're going to make sure and be there. What are you guys excited for for SolarCon?
SPEAKER_02Vegas. Um, uh no, we're we're thrilled, man. We we really uh again, I mentioned this earlier. I think you know, we built something incredible here. Um, we won't, I mean, one of the main reasons going back to why I'm so passionate about what we're doing, you know, you know, kind of kicked off of this. Solar changed my life. You know, I mean, I I was in a position where I didn't, I had no idea how I was gonna move forward with my life, right? And solar gave me an opportunity that allowed me to change my own life in in an incredible way, right? And that kind of led to me wanting to be a leader in this industry and and things like that. And now we've just really taken that from being a sales leader to saying, hey, look, now we want to provide that opportunity for anybody who wants it, right? And uh and and try to make sure that companies that are trying to build the right way have the opportunity to build the right way and scale. Um, to do that, they need a great installation partner. And that's kind of what drives me now. And and that's why I'm really excited about SolarCon. I want to meet more people who have that vision, you know, they're trying to do incredible things and just need somebody incredible to do it with.
SPEAKER_00Um I love it. The Shears show is going to be so, so good. If you haven't registered yet, make sure that you are there in that building. So many incredible people from all walks of life from the industry. And it I was just sharing this a bit ago with somebody else. The the temperature read, the landscape from the industry that I perceived it from Sean and I were calling it uh what what was it called before RE Plus?
SPEAKER_04Oh SPI, SPI.
SPEAKER_00We were showing our solar age a bit ago, and so I have to giggle about that. But back in the SPI days, there just was really a lack of collaboration, unity, and positive working relationships among the industry. At least that's how I felt, certainly as a CEO, trying to uh make my way in this space. And fast forward to now, I think there's been a lot of humility, a lot of a lot of change, a lot of you know tough times um shifting and new companies cropping up. But what I feel abundantly in the space, and what it's got me the most excited for this year, is you hit it right on the head, Robbie, meeting new people, finding out what that what's happening, um, all the newest, greatest, and best folks like these guys. Um, and also, you know, there's Tony Robbins. There's gonna be an incredible show on the floor where there's after parties and um education galore with so much thought put into that. And so I'm so grateful that you guys decided to support the show um in a big way this year and are showing up and um setting the bar for other people to do the same this year. It's gonna be great. So make sure that you meet up with Empower at the show, find their booth, or find me, and I'm going to walk you over to their booth. And uh Rob, Robbie, and Sean, I have very much enjoyed this conversation today. It's been amazing. I know that we are going to have some people that want to connect with you, and you're going to give me a link for a form. And I'm going to go ahead and embed that right here into social media channels and into all of my different posts. So just watch for the link. Go ahead and uh make sure you can connect with them that way or again at the show. And thank you both. This has been an incredible conversation.
SPEAKER_04Thanks, Amy. Great to meet you.
SPEAKER_00Take care.
SPEAKER_04All right, take care.