Elevate Springfield featuring Troy Ruby: Elevating Through the Power of Family Business, Service, and Networking

Summary

In this engaging conversation, Troy Ruby from Ruby Electric shares his journey from working in the electrical industry to taking over the family business. He discusses the evolution of Ruby Electric, the diverse services they offer, and the challenges faced in the electrical industry today. Troy emphasizes the importance of community involvement, customer service, and personal growth, providing valuable insights and advice for both personal and professional success.

Takeaways

• Ruby Electric has been a trusted name in the electrical business since 1978.
• The company offers a wide range of services, including residential, commercial, and industrial work.
• Generators are a significant part of Ruby Electric's business model.
• Finding skilled electricians is a major challenge in the industry today.
• Community involvement and word-of-mouth referrals are key to Ruby Electric's growth.
• Troy emphasizes the importance of customer service and treating clients with respect.
• The company has invested in various equipment to handle diverse jobs effectively.
• Personal growth and faith have become important aspects of Troy's life since returning home.
• Networking and community connections are vital for business success.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Elevate Springfield, where we will dive into strategies and stories that help you rise to your full potential. Each episode, we'll talk about how you can take intentional steps to elevate your life and your business while making a meaningful impact on those around you. Along the way, we're gonna bring in the change makers from our community that are already elevating. We'll bring the actionable strategies, you bring the discipline and follow through, and together, we can elevate Springfield. Alright, let's go, Springfield. Time to 10X your life, your business, all of it. Time to crush those goals, time to get after it. Let's go. You are listening to the Elevate Springfield podcast. Robert Farrell here, certified 10x coach, speaker, and mentor here to bring you actionable strategies. You bring the discipline and follow through. And together, we're gonna Elevate Springfield. We're coming to you again from beautiful downtown Springfield in the Big Dog Construction Studio. Hey, we've got so much going on in Springfield right now. Make sure you are participating. Get out there, network with folks, be a part of the community, support local businesses, support local nonprofits, and let's go, we can all grow together. So, hey, another great episode for you today. We're gonna get right to our guest after the break. Hey, Springfield, when it comes to reliable, high-quality roofing, you don't want to leave things to chance. That's why you should reach out to Acosta Angeli Roofing, your local roofing expert serving Springfield and surrounding communities, from quick, dependable repairs to full replacement, from residential to commercial. They are your trusted pros. Call them today at 217-993-2748 or visit their website to book your free quote and inspection. Don't wait. A little leak now could lead to major damage later. Trust the local experts, protect your home, and get peace of mind with Acosta Angeli Roofing. And we are back joining me in the studio on this beautiful day in downtown Springfield. Troy Ruby from Ruby Electric. How you doing, man?

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Good. Good? Good. You you caught me bouncing around today.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

A little bit everything today, huh? Yeah, yeah. So no, appreciate you coming down. Thanks for having me. Yeah, absolutely. Looking forward to learning more about Ruby. You guys are a big name in the electrical world in the area. So looking forward to learning more about the company. But before we do that, let's just learn a little bit about Troy. Tell us about your background.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Yeah. Uh so Springfield area is my hometown and graduated 06 from Griffin and I went off to college at Illinois State. I guess before I took off for Illinois State, I was working for the company on uh summer breaks and winter breaks, and that's kind of where I started to learn the trade. Uh 16, 17 years old. Yeah. And going off to college, I did college of business. Maybe the goal was to get some business experience and come back to the company, which ultimately, as you know, happened. Went to Illinois State for business and was there four years. Before I graduated, I went to a career fair and found one company that was electrical related, Wesco Distribution.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

So I was like, oh, I know this. Let's let's give this a whirl because I was getting good grades and kind of want to try my own thing, get some real experience with uh electrical distributor, is what they are. So I already had my job lined up for when I graduated with Wesco, went to Rockford. That's for the branch I started at. Uh did a lot of basically outside sales the whole time for 13 years with Wesco. That's selling to like industrial plants and automation. So it's a little different than what Ruby does now. We do industrial, but it's it was very automation focused. Um, so two and a half years in Rockford, and then my daughter came into my life, and I needed to get closer to Indiana and Chicago. So they helped move me into the Chicago branch, was there for another four or five years, had to start my terror sales territory all over again and actually twice in Chicago.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Big territory there.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Yeah, South Chicago, basically. So a lot of driving, a lot of industrial plants. Then I made my way to right over the border in Indiana because her mom lives in northwest Indiana and worked in that branch for my remaining tenure at Westco. So basically went through four different sales territories. Yeah. Um reset each time. Reset each time. A little bit of a challenge. And things were going good with the career. There's there's no problems or anything. But um basically how I started to come back here was um my daughter, daughter's mom went to Arkansas. So then I had her during the school year, and it was the first time I could actually move back home. So me and my dad were talking and it just aligned for me to be able to come back home. Yeah. And I miss family, of course, and I miss just be around friends and family that I've known for so long. And it was nice being on my own and getting out all that experience. Right. But I'm glad to be back.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Heck yeah. So with with Wesco, you're talking about automation and stuff. So you were were you doing a lot of PLCs and different different work like that?

SPEAKER_01 5:29

PLCs, uh variable frequency drive sensors, all that stuff. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

Very cool. Very cool. Yeah, those are huge in those manufacturing facilities. Right. So for anybody that doesn't know what a PLC is, what's a PLC?

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Programmable logic controller.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Yeah, we actually talked about that a little bit last week. Uh we had Andy Melvin in, and he has a training company where they train on PLCs. And that's that's one of those things where if you're not in that world, you know, you have no idea what that was. So I worked at uh ADM and Tate and Lyle in Decatur for a little while in my younger days. So we worked with all those things. So I'm familiar with all that, all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

But yeah, if you're not in that world, then to put it in like layman's terms, I used to describe to people basically that PLC is the brain of the machine. The sensors are like your nerves, your drive is your heart, is the heart. It's kind of like a body. Yeah. You know, it's kind of like you don't think about the machines that make everything we use every day. Clothing, diapers. I mean, it's endless lists.

SPEAKER_02 6:32

That's how it works. No doubt about it. So you came back. So that was after after how many years at Westgow?

SPEAKER_01 6:39

13 years.

SPEAKER_02 6:40

For quite a while, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Also called Angle Electric, by the way. Oh, okay. Some people might know him by that name.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Gotcha. Okay. So you came back. What was your initial role with Ruby when you came back?

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Well, um, you know, like I said, Dad and I found the opportunity for me to come back in the business. And I've been back for a few years, and the goal is to kind of to transfer ownership of the company. So I purposely put myself in everything that I can.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

Learn everything.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Marketing, training, recruitment, inventory. Obviously, the most I do is bidding and estimating jobs. Sure. So just a little bit of everything.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

Okay. Well, let's let's go into a little bit of the history of Ruby. You said a sec a minute ago that you graduated in 06, yeah. Right, but you were doing work for Ruby then, so it's at least 20 years old. So how how old is the business now?

SPEAKER_01 7:27

1978, dad started the company. There you go. Yep. He was roughly 24 years old, I think he probably was. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

So he was he was young when he started it then. Yeah. All right. Yep. So what what what did he initially start with? I would imagine it was just just him starting. And so what what was his thing back in the 70s?

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Yeah. You could ask him, but I think he probably focused more on like just homes. You know, him and Kevin Workman still works for us. He hired him six months after he started the company. So they were just flying through rough and trimming out homes and learning the trade. And he'd already been doing it for a little bit of time. He went to the Air Force first and then he it was learned the trade and then started the business pretty quickly.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

Okay. Yeah. I knew it had been around a long time, but I didn't realize it was fifty years, essentially around a long time.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Almost 50 years.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

So has it always been Ruby Electric, or did it start under any other name, or has it always been exactly Ruby Electric?

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Ruby Electric.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

Cool. Over the years, what are some things you guys have done and how have you guys grown over the years?

SPEAKER_01 8:31

So the different markets we get into with being almost 50 years, there's a lot of different things that you get involved with. Residential, of course, commercial, industrial. There is some agricultural work. We do a lot of work with farmers on grain bins and make sure they're up to date. Lighting upgrades, whether that's a small shop or a commercial building, retrofitting to LED. You know, everything's on LED, of course. Right. And simple service work in homes and generators. Generators is a large part of our business as well.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

So home standby generators are even for businesses and industrial plants. So with the generators, it's not just putting them in, but we also have a lot of maintenance contracts on those generators where we service them annually, make sure everything's running right and check all the levels and making sure they are sustainable.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

That might be something I need to get a hold of you about. I've always I don't have one at my house, but I've always thought, eh, I need to get a generator. I need to just have one. Yeah. I need to just do that.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

I need to just do that, but I never have my cousin Craig works for us and he d he runs the estimating for the generators as well. All right. That side of the business.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

So he can help you out for sure. Give him a shout for that. The grain bins. What do you do on the grain bins?

SPEAKER_01 9:42

So you've got motor starters, you know, running fans or you have pumps on farms too. We talked about automation, kind of a form of automation.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Right. Right. So Yeah, because I think people maybe outside looking in when they see Ruby electric, they probably just assume, hey, it's, you know, running electrical at a house or what something like that. They might not think of the motors and the pumps and all that stuff. Yeah. But unless you're again in that realm and you know about it. So okay. So those are all the different areas that you have right now, currently under Ruby?

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Yes.

unknown 10:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Yeah, it's pretty from a wide general sense. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

What's your biggest percentage of business, you think? Is it the residential? Is it the industrial?

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Well, I guess you might. You might put generators in that category for being the largest segment. And then the next two biggest would probably be the residential and commercial.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I would imagine generators probably would be a pretty good thing.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

There are some businesses where you have to have standby generation for medical equipment for people to have to have it.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

How long was your dad, if you know, how long was your dad a little more solo like his him and maybe another guy before he started really growing the company?

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Uh a few years. Yeah. And then it just started growing. I think he told me at one point we had 40 guys in the field. Um nowadays we're probably closer to twelve in the field. But it's just always fluctuates, right? We had those big jobs, we probably had a lot more people on board.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

So do you guys do like on new builds? Do you guys do a lot of the wiring for? Yep. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So you say have around a dozen guys out in the field. It's a lot of people are talking right now about how difficult it is to find skilled trades folks, right? How do you guys find the right people?

SPEAKER_01 11:29

So I'll get into how I do that, but uh it's funny you say that, people talking about that, because I heard a statistic the other day that the nation is down 500,000 electricians. Crazy, isn't it? Yeah, that's a lot of people. So you're absolutely right. The trades, it is one of those things where everybody's looking. I don't hear people say, Oh, we're just right. Yeah, yeah, we got plenty. Well, we got more than enough. Yeah, that doesn't happen. That doesn't happen anymore. I mean, it used to be dad told me stories. There'd be people lined up waiting to get into the company. And I mean, that's long gone. So for me to find people, I use a couple different recruiting services and where they help me post it on all the job boards. They'll talk about the job description and create it with me. And then I go into a dashboard and basically funnel through people. Obviously, we're looking for experience first. So that's kind of the process in a simple form. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

Just for folks out there, what kind of what kind of experience, training, education, whatever does it take to work for somebody like Ruby?

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Typically, when I'm looking through those candidates, I'm looking for at minimum two to three years experience, kind of have at least some familiarity. Right. There's even guys that we've hired with no experience. Maybe I had a younger person come in who had none, was working at a retail store, but I loved his attitude. And guess what? We were right, he's still working for us, he's one of our best employees.

SPEAKER_03 12:59

I love it.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

So you know, you can't just knock out the resume or only believe in the resume. So but yeah, the two threes experience, and it's always a bonus if they have any type of certifications or they've done certain types of work. There may be an electrician he's done industrial his whole life. Well, it is part of what we do, but we like a well-rounded person too, where they've done the residential and the commercial work.

SPEAKER_02 13:28

Yeah, absolutely. So all 12 of those field guys that are out there, are they all you call them all electricians or what or do they have different skill sets?

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Yeah, uh most of them. So they're on the electric electrical side, not the generator side. Right. They're just electricians is what we're calling them. Uh when it comes to the generator side, we have a guy who's more geared towards installs, installation, and then another guy who keeps up on the maintenance schedule. So he's bouncing around different towns keeping up on all those annual maintenances. Then there's another guy who can do installs but also do repairs. We get a call in that something's not working and and he'll get to those as well.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

Okay. So with those maintenance contracts and the industrial places, I would imagine you guys have an on-call system where you guys are putting somebody's always on, right? Or at least there to take the call to be able to go fix the thing, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Yeah, that's another thing that I do. I've I I take the initial call in the after hours.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Uh are most of those companies that you work with like that? Are they relatively close or what's your range?

SPEAKER_01 14:34

For generators, we used to be a little bit wider radius, but now we're we say we're about 50 miles is our radius. The electrical side gets a just a hair bit smaller than that. You know, we would take jobs in um Decatur sometimes or places almost an hour away for the electrical.

SPEAKER_02 14:53

So what do you attribute you guys' growth to over the years? Like you guys are a household name now in the electrical world. So what do you attribute some of that growth to?

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Something to be proud of where the companies you own and where my dad and others have taken it is word of mouth and just having that good name in the area, trusted uh electricians. And, you know, like my dad's taught me my whole life, you know, put yourself in the customer's shoes. That's even with Wesco, that's how I treated my clients then, is always customer focus and trying to do jobs as if you're them and setting it up doing the job the way that you would want it done for your own home, you know, and just being focused on the customer. Um that's gone a long way for the company.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

Yeah, absolutely. Do you work with a lot of uh general contractors out there that are like home builders and stuff to be their electricians?

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Yeah, there's a handful that we deal with. And uh, you know, uh dad said when I came back, you know, we we used to have more, a lot more connections, but a lot of time has gone by in 50 years and those people have moved town or retired, or sadly they might have passed away.

SPEAKER_02 16:07

Um you just have to keep reinventing yourself and making those connections and there's probably not, quite frankly, as many home builders around now in Springfield compared to maybe even in the early two thousands or late nineties. Absolutely. You know, I would imagine back when he was m had all those connections and everything. It's probably more of them then. A little bit more of a housing boom back then. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

A lot like what we do with our networking group, you know, I try and build new connections and and uh regrow that.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Yeah, absolutely. Both part of Landolin Professional Networking Group, good group there. So you're talking about uh some of the larger jobs you have, but do you do the smaller jobs too, or say, hey, Troy, I need all new outlets and switches in my living room and kitchen. Can you help me out with that?

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Yeah, you might have heard me say at the group, you know, we do jobs all the way from little late and easy change of light bulb to wiring an entire commercial building. Right. So it's a wide scale of work that we do.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

Okay. Basically anything electrical, they should give you a shout and see if you can help them out.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Solar we don't do anymore, but we do have trusted people that we recommend. Okay. Did you do solar for a little bit? We did for a little bit. It just didn't make sense for the company um shortly after I came back. So Gotcha. Car chargers are a big thing too nowadays. So we do a lot of those.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Yeah. And there's a bill not too long ago, wasn't there, where they're trying to mandate those car chargers and all new homes. I don't think it eventually went through. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

But yeah, it's just it's in flux all the time.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

Yeah. I think they've tried it probably a couple of times now, but is that uh is that a pretty big thing, people having you put those in?

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Yeah. But mainly the home ones is what we're doing, where we're just putting a you know, 50 amp receptacle in their garage typically for them to plug in their charger unit to.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

Any other ways you guys have grown the company over the years or any plans moving forward for growing the company?

SPEAKER_01 18:02

Yeah. Also in the past, I'd say take on a lot of jobs. Reinvent ourselves. We have a lot of equipment to do things that maybe not everybody can do. Um and and for growth. Obviously, fostering that customer focus, um, figuring out ways to reinvent ourselves and do different types of work and getting uh more people and the right people still constantly recruiting.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

The equipment you were just talking about a second ago, the equipment that you guys have that maybe other people don't. What what are some things that you guys have that is unique-ish to you?

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Yeah, and it might depend on the size of their company, but we have uh bucket truck, we've got trenchers, bobcats, we got uh scissor lift, and we've got uh many different types of work vans, and then lots of trailers, of course, to hold wire and different equipment. So there's just a a lot of stuff you have to have to do certain jobs because if not, you're gonna be renting all that equipment. Yeah, that can get costly.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

No doubt about it. No doubt about it. Well, you mentioned Landolin Professional Networking Group. We're both involved in that. Um, any other associations or organizations you're involved in?

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Yeah, we do have quite a few uh in terms of uh reaching out to community and being involved in the community. We got a handful of different organizations. I told you when I walked in, uh me and my dad were putting our heads together. Contact Ministry, Boami Food Pantry. We're in a couple different um fishing leagues, even for high schools. We were donating for that. The New Berlin Um high school sports boosters. That's currently where my daughter goes. She goes to New Berlin. A lot of roots in New Berlin with the company too. My dad's from that area. IV Hart Memorial, the volunteer fire department, New Berlin. And then um I re- I just teamed up with uh VFW on old Jack. They just had a chili cook-off for Shriners. So I think we're gonna stay involved with Shriners Hospital and the Coom Lore Food Pantry. Oh, yeah. So they're connected with my the disc golf league around here. It's one of my hobbies. So yeah, we donate for that too.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

Yeah, the New Berlin, um, my work with the school. We've had I think we've had a couple of students actually come out and work for you at certain points in as interns in different things, New Berlin students. So I know you guys have always been active in that area. Yep. So the disc golf, how long have you been doing that?

SPEAKER_01 20:30

I to I did it in high school with one of my best friends. Nothing serious, just throwing the disc and used to be Douglas Park, now Duncan Park or Lincoln Park, or um, there's a handful of courses in the area. I didn't take it seriously, and then both of us were up in Chicagoland. He's like, dude, Troy, you gotta get back into disc golf. I was like, I don't know, maybe eight years ago. So then I caught the bug. I started playing tournaments and joining leagues, and you know, you meet a lot of people. That community I'm pretty proud in. Like, there's a lot of different personalities and just people do about anything for you. That's awesome. So I take it a lot.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Yeah. Do you know uh Miles Park Hill? Yes, yeah. I mean, he's he's I mean, he has a lot of the stuff that goes to those, right? He makes a lot of the shirts and the packages and all those different things for the I know he works with the tour a lot.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

He's my customer and we're his customer too for Ruby. So yep, good dude.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

Yeah, he was on the show, I don't know, it's probably been six months ago now, but yeah, he was talking about his work with the national tour for the for disc golf and how he works with them on providing all that stuff. It's really cool stuff.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

You know, I kind of geek out sometimes and watch the pros and and he's like, Oh yeah, you know, I was doing this for so and so. I'm like, You s you see these people all the time?

SPEAKER_02 21:46

Yeah, no, and I had no idea. I knew he was he was big into it and he supplied some of it. Yeah. But when we were having that conversation, he's like, Yeah, I know I do the you know, the national tour and I'm around. That's really cool. Yeah. So what's the best course in town? For disc golf. Your favorite, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

My favorite would be Lincoln Park South. There's two courses at Lincoln Park.

SPEAKER_03 22:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

Um if you want to drive a short distance, speaking of the pros, they actually host a tournament in Peoria. Peoria is huge in disc golf. Oh, really? They're it's littered with courses. So I actually play up at that tournament every year when the pros are there. So my little chance to meet them and see how far they can throw that thing is unworldly. I might be getting to 400 feet if I throw it perfect. They're top guys probably throwing seven to seven hundred and fifty feet on a long distance competition.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

Seven to seven hundred and fifty feet on a disc throw or frisbee throw, whatever you want to call it. Yeah.

unknown 22:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Wild. You said 400. I was like, yeah, that seems pretty far for me for a disc throw. Wow. Yeah. I had no idea that they would go that kind of distance. So do they do a pro amed where you get to play with any of those guys at some of those events? They do. I haven't got in on one, but I would for sure. Well, you're talking about geeking out on it a little bit, might as well get in on it, man. I should. Just another example, like with Miles, some of the reach that folks right here in Springfield have around the country for some of these big things. Sometimes you wouldn't think that somebody from right here would have the reach and be the like supplier or be working with so-and-so from all across the country. Yep. You know, from my office mate down the hall that from Sangham and Watches, Brian, he was alwa talking about some of the folks that he works with around the around the world. And it's just it's amazing to see what people are doing right here from Springfield, Illinois. Yeah. It would be cool. I've been imagining he meets a lot of people. Oh yeah. Yeah, definitely. Well, we've talked some business stuff. What are some ways you elevate your life personally? What's some stuff you got going on?

SPEAKER_01 23:48

You know it's the first thing that came to my mind uh when I was out by myself for many years, I kind of lost my faith. So really, since I've been back home, I've tried nowhere near great, but trying to get my faith back and my involvement with the church and community.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

You have a church that you go to often?

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Yeah, most of the time I'm going to my dad's church, Berlin Christian, on Old Jack. So definitely an open welcome church if anybody's interested. And occasionally I'll go to church with my my mom's church, or we want to try a church out that's down the street or something like that and get a new experience. So Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

No, uh my daughters were both part of a American Heritage Curls group at Berlin Christian Church for a while. That's where they're that's where they met. So I'm if we didn't attend that church, but I'm familiar with it because we would go there once once once a week for it. Well, we're at we're at West Side if you ever want to come out.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

That's one that I wanted to try. Um, who handles our marketing, she goes there and tells me all about it, and I was gonna try and make my way there.

SPEAKER_02 24:55

Yeah, absolutely. They well, as we're recording this, this is on Friday, we've got uh Night of Stars tonight, which is the special needs prom. So super cool event. My wife and I and both my girls are going to volunteer at it. They put on so many really just impactful events there. Yeah. So yeah, join us out there. Jeff goes there too, Dillman. So I saw he got baptized the other day. Congratulations. Yeah, absolutely. You ever want to come out? Come on out, man. Cool. You mentioned you have uh have somebody that's doing your marketing. What are some ways you guys market the business?

SPEAKER_01 25:28

Yeah. Um Sarah, she works for right-click digital marketing. Oh, okay. Yeah, so she she really does challenge me to hey Troy, you need to start thinking about this avenue and this. So we do uh monthly blogs that we post on our social media. Sure. We're on Facebook and uh LinkedIn, and I need to use LinkedIn more, by the way. Jeff Dillman's told me all about that.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

Yeah, that's a that's a big one, especially especially in your industry. I think that could be a big one for you. Folks that are commercial clients and the industrial clients, there's a lot of that in there. That LinkedIn for that side of it would be better than your Facebook and Instagram for that line of business. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

I've experimented with Google Ads. Um, we do a lot of co-branding with GenRack, is the manufacturer we install for generators. So actually you see Yeah, there you go. Right there, yeah. Yeah, so we have a lot of apparel and things that we market that way. Robert, what's what's a couple of Robert's personal hobbies that you really like to promote? Talk about.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

Oh, for well, for me, a couple of personal things that I like to do a lot. Uh health and wellness is really big for me. That's why I talk a lot about it on the show, and that's why I have a Friday segment about it. So for me personally, ways I try to elevate myself are through exercise every single day, nutrition. I'm really quite strict on my exercise and nutrition regimen. So that's one thing that I'm really passionate about, and then development as well, really. I'm a big listener to podcasts and reading books and everything, trying to trying to better myself any way I can. And then this talking to you guys, talking to everybody out there is I mean, all the different business owners and all the different people that I've spotlighted on the show. Yes, the person that's here gets a spotlight on the show, but I get to learn so much about all these people that are doing awesome, awesome things in the community and all these great businesses. So it's really a way for me to elevate myself too by learning about you guys, by learning about all the cool stuff that's going on, you know. I ask about business advice all the time, how you've been successful and how you've grown your businesses and everything. There's been so many tidbits and so much gold over the last year and a half that I've been able to talk to people about that it's obviously gonna elevate my life as well. So, but then outside of that, personally, we love to travel. Me and my family, we love to travel. I'm the type of person where I heard the term wanderlust where you just gotta get out of town and go do that's that's me. I just I like to get out and hey, I'm gonna get out of town for a week, two weeks, whatever it is. We're gonna go travel, we're gonna do this. So even since my girls were really young, we've always made an effort to travel the decent amount just because we all international travel too. Not in not we haven't taken the girls international. My wife and I have, but not my not my girls yet. So that's next on the list. We need to get them out of the country somewhere. So you a big international traveler?

SPEAKER_01 28:29

No, I want to do it more. I mean, only done Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, stuff close. So I would love to go somewhere on the eastern hemisphere, check that out, especially with my daughter. I think she would love that. It would be a good bonding experience with us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:45

No doubt about it. Yeah, we've taken the girls. I've got a 15 and a 12-year-old. Uh we've taken them, of course, all across the country, but we've never taken them out of the country yet. So now that they're a little bit older, we I think it's a great opportunity to do that. Maybe start with a Caribbean vacation or something like that, or Mexico or something, and then head over to Europe.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

That's a good hobby for sure. I would love to travel more.

SPEAKER_02 29:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

You actually sparked me back 15 minutes ago, you were asking me like advice about the business. And one thing would be we take pride in taking care of our people. And we care a lot. We're very family-oriented business. You've got two cousins working there. My sister's boyfriend's with us now. Obviously, my father, and then there's a another family in the business. So we're pretty close knit and we do make sure we take care of our employees for a lot of years and take pride in that.

SPEAKER_02 29:41

That's important. Yeah. I mean, to really have that. So that allows you to grow internally. It keeps good people. Well, so much great stuff today, Troy. I like to close with these last couple of things. Let's give the audience a piece of advice. One on the personal side, one on the professional side to help them elevate their life or business.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Sounds kind of cliche. We'll take it. But obviously do what you love. There's no sense being miserable in what you're doing. You know, sometimes you do have to do the miserable stuff as a stepping stone. But if you got the goals in place to where you want to be, you know, that that goal should be reflected on being happy and with what you're doing. Like you're talking about doing this and meeting people. Like that sounds amazing to everybody, right? It's fun. It's great. That's great. You're thriving off meeting people, meeting personalities, and learning.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

And that is what that's what I've loved most about this podcast is meeting all these people. Some of the people I've had on the show, I've known for a long time. Other people, I've met them through this. We had a conversation. Hey, it'd be great on the podcast. Let's come in and let's learn more about that. And that was really my first longer conversation with that person. And it's been amazing being able to learn all that.

SPEAKER_01 30:58

Yeah. So personally, along the same lines, is stay true to yourself. Don't change who you are. The goal is to our entire lifetimes, you're still trying to figure ourselves out. Right. So just stay true to who you are.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

And is there anything we can do community-wide to help all of us here elevate Springfield and the surrounding communities?

SPEAKER_01 31:18

I'd say more of what we're doing with the group we're in. Yeah, I agree. Actually connect. Yeah. If you don't even talk, you know, there's if there's no form of organization or connection, then there's there's no way we can grow together.

SPEAKER_02 31:34

So I agree. Yeah, and uh audiences listen to me talk about Landolink Professional Networking Group many times before. Jeff Dillman's been in, we talk about it a lot. It is a really great way for us to connect and really find those partnership points. Hey, how can I work with you? How can you work with me? How can we refer each other around, right? That's how we all can grow together, whether it's in that group or in any of the groups that you're in, making a concerted effort to actually connect. Not just be around, but actually connect.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

And it's contagious. So I've probably, let's just give it like a rough idea, like at least 30 jobs that I know of have come to us through the group. That's awesome. And it makes me start to feel bad that I'm not producing enough for other people in the group. So now I'm like more aware and searching for those opportunities for those people. And it's a cycle that keeps giving.

SPEAKER_02 32:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

You know, you then you become concerned and about their well-being, not just your own. And it's great.

SPEAKER_02 32:37

Yeah. No, it's amazing when you have that concerted effort to and you're actually thinking about that now, where it's like, well, if somebody ever mentions electric to me, then I've got Ruby. There you go. Call Ruby. Call these guys. You know, it's it makes it very easy for us as you know, as we're talking to people, when we're part of that group and we're really making an effort to do that, when it's front of mind, hey, if it's electrical, call Ruby. Hey, if you need a tree down, call Sangaman Tree Service. You need a new roof, hey, Acosta Angela, they're right here. Give them a call. Right. So it's it makes it so easy for all of us to really make an impact on each other's businesses. Yeah. So it's great. That's a good example.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

Like they Zach and Juan gave me jobs, and I'm like, I gotta find them. Right, right. Gotta I gotta give it get them one back. Right. Well, what's on tap for the weekend? So being a single dad and the company and all of our sports and everything, it's hard for me to get that free time. Yeah. But I did last minute sign up for a tournament here in town for disc golf. Come on. Yeah. Let's go. It's a little bit light for my daughter's sports this weekend. So that's all I got planned really in church probably Sunday and hopefully get around to some house projects that I've been putting off.

SPEAKER_02 33:48

Right. There you go. What about you? Oh, we got night of stars tonight, and then we're doing uh well, we have we have two proms this weekend. So my girls are both homeschooled. We homeschool both my girls, and uh we, as in my wife and I, we have another company called Central Illinois Homeschool, and we do events for the homeschool community. So we host dances, we do homecoming and prom. So we have our prom tomorrow night at Ursulin Conservatory. So we rented that place out. We'll have about 170 homeschool high schoolers there, and uh it'll be fun. That's awesome. Yeah, I I DJ those events. My wife, you know, you DJ too? Yeah, I do I do well just for these. So I I don't do that as a profession outside of these or anything. But is there anything you don't do? I have my hat in a lot of in a lot of areas, my hands in a lot of jars. But for these events, I do the DJing and it's it's super fun. We started doing them just as a as a thing for our girls. You know, it'd be fun to be able to give them that experience, you know, that they're not getting at the regular school, those type of events, and they've grown and grown and grown. And it's like, yeah, I'll have a little fun DJing a handful of times a year. Let's go. That's great. So and then yeah, church stuff on Sunday. But yeah, that's my weekend, man. Good deal. Well, Troy, appreciate you coming down today. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah, if somebody wants to get in touch with you guys, maybe they got some electrical work, or maybe they got a lot of electrical work, where do they go to find out more?

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Website's a good start, rubyelectric.com. I didn't mention it on the marketing piece, or me directly. Go to our Facebook page. You I get a lot of those messages. So if you just reach out to us on one of our forums, it'll get to me or Kevin, and we'll definitely help you out.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

Sounds good. Well, we're gonna let Troy get back to Elevate in Springfield and get all geared up for his tournament this weekend. But for the rest of y'all, we'll be right back. Looking for expert tree care with hometown integrity, look no further than Sangamon Tree Service. They're your trusted local pros, delivering quality workmanship, exceptional customer service, and fair, honest pricing. Every time. Whether it's trimming, removal, or storm cleanup, their team brings professionalism and care to every job, big or small. Call the name your neighbors trust, Sangman Tree Service, or visit them today at SangmanTreeService.com. Sangman Tree Service, rooted in quality, built on trust. Looking for personalized insurance with hometown care, David Hilst, American Family Insurance Agent is here to help you protect what matters most: your family, your home, and your dreams. Whether it's auto, home, life, business, David and his team are proud to serve the Springfield community with trusted advice and reliable coverage. Local service, real relationships, peace of mind. Call today or stop by their office. They can build your dream protection plan together. Call 217-726-6343. Well, thank you for joining us today, everybody. Appreciate you making us a part of your day. Hey, don't forget while you're out on social, check ours out. You can check my personal one out at RobertFarrell at everywhere. Check out those Elevate Springfield pages, those big dog business coaching pages as well. Check us out over on YouTube. Give us a subscribe, give us a like or a follow on any of those channels. We would certainly appreciate it. So, hey, take what you learned today. You bring the discipline and follow through and together. That's right, y'all. We're gonna elevate Springfield. Be great.

SPEAKER_00 37:28

When I first walked into Shudokong Karate Club, I was just looking for a way to get stronger. But what I found was so much more. Here we train in traditional karate, the real stuff. Passed down through generations. Every punch, every kata has purpose. I've learned self discipline, confidence, and how to protect myself. Not just in class, but in real life. It's not about being aggressive, it's about being prepared. This is more than a club, it's a way of life. Join us at Judocon. Traditional, powerful, real.