Profit & Grit with Tyler

The HVAC Hustle of a Tradesmom - Rachel Evans

• Tyler Martin • Episode 16

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Rachel Evans turned her firing as an HVAC sales technician into the catalyst for launching California Mechanical, a thriving San Diego-based HVAC company built entirely on word-of-mouth referrals.

• Took her contractor's license exam while nine months pregnant
• Gave herself a three-month runway to build momentum before potentially returning to employment
• Landed two installation jobs just before starting a new job, enabling her to commit fully to entrepreneurship
• Initially specialized in mini-splits due to physical limitations during early motherhood
• Now offers comprehensive residential and commercial HVAC services
• Operates on 100% word-of-mouth referrals without purchasing leads or running advertising
• Uses FieldPulse for business management and ADP for payroll
• Structures her business to train technicians who may eventually become contractors themselves
• Values uplifting others over maximizing business growth
• Recommends new contractors "follow the leader" rather than trying to innovate business structures

"If I'm a good person and I have a good work ethic and I'm smart, I know that I can do this too. If they can do it, I can do it."


🎙️ Profit & Grit by Tyler Martin
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Speaker 1:

When I decided to strike out on my own, I saved up three months rent and expenses and saved up some money to buy some tools. And I said to myself I'm going to quit this job, and in three months, in two and a half months, if I don't have, if I don't land an install, you know, and if I'm not making enough money, if I don't have momentum, then I'll just get a job. And I got a job with a refrigeration company and the day I was supposed to start, on a Monday and the Friday before, two installs got approved. And so on Monday I called them. I said, hey, just kidding. So I went, I did my installs and then the work just kept coming in and I never looked back.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to Profit and Grit with Tyler, where blue collar owners and insiders spill the real story behind their hustle, building businesses that thrive through sweat and smarts. We'll dig into their journeys, from scaling chaos to growing the bottom line, with lessons and grit that pay off big. Here's your host, the blue collar CFO, tyler Martin.

Speaker 3:

Most people wouldn't dream of taking a contractor's license exam while they're nine months pregnant. Rachel Evans did. But she didn't just show up, she passed. Then she launched an HVAC business built on grit referrals and figuring it out in real time. Rachel went from getting fired for bad sales to running her own HVAC company in San Diego. But there's no ads. There's no fancy marketing, just word of mouth and hard work. In this episode you're going to hear how she carved out a niche with mini splits during her early motherhood, why her team runs lean and loyal without buying leads, and her bold approach to leadership training her techs to grow, even if that means launching their own shop someday. This one's honest, sharp and full of real-world lessons for anyone building a blue-collar business from the ground up. Let's get into it. Hey, rachel, welcome to the Profit and Grit Show. How are you doing?

Speaker 1:

Good, thank you. Thank you for having me on.

Speaker 3:

Thanks for being here. You know I was already excited about this conversation, but even more now you're in your truck. Like I think, like that is like so raw and real. I've had some people say to me hey, I can't come and be a guest because, you know, right now I'm out in a truck and I don't really want to do it while I'm in my truck. So I love just the like, the authenticity of it, like it's realistic to me.

Speaker 1:

This is my safe space, right here.

Speaker 3:

I probably live in here. I hear you, I bet you you do. Okay, let's start with that. Uh, what do you do, uh, from a professional standpoint? Let's start with that one. Can you share a little bit about yourself?

Speaker 1:

sure, I'm the owner of california mechanical testing is my business's legal name. Um I frequently go by california mechanical and um I do residential and commercial hVAC Awesome Installation maintenance.

Speaker 3:

Very cool. And then how about just something personally about you? I know we could all go to Instagram probably find out your whole life story, but let's assume we don't have that available. What can you tell us? Something, maybe, that people don't know about you, if possible.

Speaker 1:

Well, okay, so I love HVAC, I'm really into it and all that, but it's not my whole personality. You know what I mean. I have a lot of interests in, in all that outside of work, even though even though I don't really get a lot of time to to actually do all the things that I like outside of outside of work, I don't know Recently I've been getting my feet wet with something called being a death doula. A death doula.

Speaker 3:

That's fascinating. I always like I don't know, death is such a hard thing to be part of. I'm not so sure I could do that Like. That must be emotionally a little bit challenging, I guess I'll say, because you probably get connected to the person to some degree. Is that a fair statement?

Speaker 1:

Well, in all the times that I've done it, I was connected to the person, like it was always a family member or somebody who was close to like, basically like family.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, got it. Wow, those are special people. Okay, shifting gears. I want to learn a little bit more about you. I love how you said hey, I love HVAC, but that isn't my identity. That's not really all I just do. Why was that important for you to say that? Like is there? I mean, do you think people tend to wear their professions a little too much on their sleeves?

Speaker 1:

No, not, absolutely not. I don't think that's a problem at all. If somebody finds a lot of identity in their career, I think that's great, actually, because somebody who finds identity in their career really values what they do and cares about their work, you know, and that's somebody that you can trust to hire. But I say that I'm not sure you just, I was just trying to think of something that people don't know about me. You know and I have missed many split people know me as an HVAC person, you know and that's just something that people might not know about me.

Speaker 3:

I love it. I love it, I got it. I want to talk about, like you, being an entrepreneur. Is that something you always saw yourself as an entrepreneur Like? How did you get into that journey? I'd love to know. When did that start? Where is the young age? Did you have family members that were entrepreneurs? When did it all start?

Speaker 1:

I don't have many business owners in my immediate family or any, I should say, extended family, but yeah, it is something that I always knew I wanted to do was be a business owner.

Speaker 1:

But it's something that I also never thought I actually would be until one day, until I started HVAC. Honestly, and once I started HVAC and I saw that I was good at it and I was moving up in my career and I was asking myself what's the next step? And eventually the next step was business ownership. You know, because I went from apprentice to installer to service tech and then I was like, oh, $25 an hour, $30 an hour, $35 an hour, and I'm like I guess I should just start my own business, you know. So it was kind of a natural. But at that point, at the point that I decided to start a business, I was like, wow, I can't believe that I get paid to climb up on ladders and use power tools Like this. These people are insane that they actually trust me to do all this. You know what I mean. But that was what gave me the confidence to become a business owner was getting in the trade and finding out that I'm capable of so much more than I ever thought.

Speaker 3:

How did you get into HVAC? And just before you answer that you know I think of HVAC it's male, dominated, mostly male. At what point do you go? Hey, I want to be in the HVAC industry try to keep it simple.

Speaker 1:

I got in the trade almost just like anybody else, where I was looking for a job, seeing what was out there, wanted to do. I knew I wanted to do construction. And my friend my friend was like, hey, I work, my boss is hiring, why don't you call him and apply? And I did, and he hired me. And yeah, I was like I told the contractor I have no idea what HVAC is, no idea if I'm going to be good at it, don't know what it's going to take, can't even fathom what you do in a day. But I can promise you I was 25 at the time I can promise you I'll show up on time every single day and work, do my very best every day, and that I can guarantee you. And so he was like yeah, okay, start on Tuesday.

Speaker 3:

Wow, and so this was was this your first trades type job too?

Speaker 1:

I had been working as a countertop or finisher for three or four months, right before I decided to quit that and find something else.

Speaker 3:

Okay, when did the whole working with your hands and doing a trades type work start? Was that at a young age, or how did you get introduced to that or even think like that was a good route for you?

Speaker 1:

Well, there was some foreshadowing. When I was in high school I took auto and I loved that, but I, my family, wanted me to go to college. They weren't like you know, you better go to college or else type of family, but I knew that that would make them happy and it seemed like I was like, okay, I guess I'll go to college. And I did and I hated it. I hated every single moment of it, every class, every semester, and then eventually I was like I hate, I hate this and I hated my life just in general, like where it was going, and so I decided to just give my whole life that. I created myself a giant middle finger and said I'm going to do what I want from now on, and what I want to do is construction.

Speaker 3:

So that's what I did, so I want to talk about that. But how did you find when working with males in a, a male industry, did you always, were you always welcome? Do you always feel like it was even playing field? Did you have to deal with sometimes imbalance and how did you deal with that if that did come up?

Speaker 1:

I think that you know, being in Southern California, people are pretty open minded here. I think a lot of people have the attitude out here where it's like just pull your own weight type of thing. I mean I'm kind of oblivious in a way. I think that a lot of people just kind of keep their mouths shut. I have run into a few things here and there, but not really in any kind of a circumstance that really mattered. I mean there were, especially in the beginning when I was a lowly tech and you don't have a lot of respect anyway there were a few instances of like sexual harassment.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, I mean I mean but, anywhere, as you know, that's, you're going to get that as a woman, no matter what you do with yourself. Right, Right, totally agree, ok. So now I want to talk about your business a little bit, and no matter what you do with yourself.

Speaker 3:

Right, right, totally agree. Okay. So now I want to talk about your business a little bit. So you get into HVAC. You see your pay slowly going up and then you're like, hey, like if I go into my business for myself I could probably even like it doesn't have to slowly go up anymore, it can infinitely, in theory, go up. What was that like? How do you know how to start a business? How do you know to get your first client? Like what gave you that stepping stone to actually start your own business?

Speaker 1:

Probably naivety.

Speaker 3:

That's honest.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes it's like there's like this meme where it's like out there, somebody's making more money than you because they're too stupid to doubt themselves.

Speaker 3:

I love that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I feel like it was kind of one of those circumstances, I don't know. I just looked around and I said there are so many dumb people who are successful, so many people who don't care. They're terrible, they have terrible ethics and yet they're out here making money five times as much as me. If I'm a good person and I have a good work ethic and I'm smart, I know that I can do this too. If they can do it, I can do it. So that's kind of where my logic went with that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that makes sense. I used to joke with my staff. My staff used to say this is before I sold the business. My staff used to say, man, there's so much competition out there. And I used to always say, yeah, but most of them suck and that allows us to look really good because they're doing such a bad job, and that's how I used to always kind of look at it yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah, okay.

Speaker 3:

So kind of walk me through, though, a little bit, like how do you know? Like how do you get your first client, like did was that through the company you'd already worked for and then someone said they wanted to work with you? Or did you just one day quit your job and say, well, I'm going to go out and find clients? I want to know how that initially started to get legs to it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love telling people about how I did it to give them inspiration so they can do it too. And yeah, so my plan, I guess. Through being employed, I met general contractors and when I decided to strike out on my own, I saved up three months rent and expenses and saved up some money to buy some tools. And I said to myself I'm going to quit this job, and in three months, in two and a half months, if I don't have, if I don't land an install, you know, and if I'm not making enough money, if I don't have the momentum, then I'll just get a job, I'll go back to work, no big deal. So I did that. I quit my last job. It was for Tarpy Eden Air.

Speaker 1:

Actually, they fired me because I was a selling tech and I was a terrible salesperson, so yeah. So after they fired me, I was like, okay, I'm going to do this now. And nothing got accepted until I was like, okay, finally, I'm going to. It was like two and a half weeks. I was like, okay, nothing came through. I had no work for two and a half months and I got a job with a refrigeration company out here called Ryan Refrigeration. And the day that, the day I was supposed to start, on a Monday and the Friday before two installs got approved. Wow, and so on Monday I called them and I said hey, just kidding. So I went, I did my two installs and then the work just kept coming in and I never looked back.

Speaker 3:

Wow, what a cool story. And from there like so, so what was your dream Like? Was your dream to, or is your dream to, become like this big old company? Is your dream to be at a certain size, Like, how do you, where do you kind of want to be at?

Speaker 1:

That I'm still deciding, but I know that I want to my for my business structures a little different, where I take anybody who works for me, I groom them to become their own contractors and I will teach them the process, give them my processes, give them my insight, help guide them through becoming a contractor, and then they can fly out of the nest and go to their own thing and then start over again.

Speaker 3:

But you don't think that? I mean, I think that's really cool, but on the flip side of it, the business side, do you think that inhibits your ability to be able to grow your own company larger?

Speaker 1:

Along the way, there are going to be people who don't want to become contractors. So yeah, there's probably going to. I am estimating that 50% of people come through me are going to fly off on their own and 50% will stay ratio, how that plays out or how that does play out.

Speaker 3:

Also, I know you've referred yourself as mini split and having a little bit of dialogue with you, kind of things change. Can you take me through that story? I think you initially wanted to start out in that direction exclusively, but you've kind of morphed into a broader category.

Speaker 1:

Yes. So, going back to when it got started, I initially started just working for general contractors. Uh right, and I got my contractor's license while I was doing like new construction type of work. And then, and as I got, when I got my contractor's license, through the process I became pregnant and then my baby. I actually took my contractor's license test while I was eight or nine months pregnant and my baby was like a couple months old when they finally awarded it to me, and so being postpartum, and then I had another baby. So being postpartum and being a new motherhood and also having this brand new business at the same time, I decided that I was just going to do mini splits, because that was really all I could do physically. You know what?

Speaker 2:

I mean.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so I did. That was when I started Miss Mini Split Instagram and for a few years that was pretty much all I tried to stay focused on was mini splits. But now they're older and I don't really need to do only mini splits, so I'm kind of back in the game as a just regular HVAC.

Speaker 3:

Got it. So it was really more of circumstances in your life at the time. And then from there you kind of just switched the light back over to a more broader category and then I think you said you're working with contract. I know you started your business through contractors, it sounded like. But now your mix is it direct relationships with residential owners? Okay, so it is. So that's your mix. And how does that business? Does it come through referral or do you use any advertising channels? Or where does that business come from?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, right now I'm 100% word of mouth, wow.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

People do find me through random things online Instagram, my Google page, whatever but not a lot, wow, yeah, people do find me through random things online Instagram, my Google page, whatever, but not not a lot.

Speaker 3:

Wow, so you're just all your business is all by referral, basically people that have worked with you in the past.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, Wow, that's really good. What a what a cool testament to the quality of your work. What do you find the most challenging part of running a business? Growing a business has been.

Speaker 1:

I think, for I'm sure people would have a lot of different answers to that, Sure, but yeah, for me it's, I think, being so alone in it, you know, not having the. What I liked about being a tech and working for a company was that you had so many people to fall back on in working for a company, was that you had so many people to fall back on. When you work for a company, you have a lot of backup and a lot of people to throw things. You know, get advice, but in my position I really don't have anybody. You know what I mean. I have my employees. I actually ask my employees all the time what they think, you know.

Speaker 3:

But other than that, yeah, it's just really there's no that I don't have the camaraderie, the team that I, you know when you're working with somebody side by side all the time. You know, yeah, that's probably. Honestly, one of the biggest things for entrepreneurs is the loneliness. You're kind of the person at the top, if you will, because it's your own business. It's very lonely because even if you have a staff, a big staff, it can be lonely because you just have no one to turn to. Sometimes you, you know and I'll have clients come to me this way they don't necessarily want to go back to their spouse and be sharing with their spouse all the problems and the challenges, because then it puts a burden on their marriage and so sometimes they don't know which way to turn. Like, who do I turn to, just to sometimes just share their story. It's not even necessarily like any, like crazy thoughts or anything, it's just just so people can connect with them.

Speaker 3:

You know, some things to think about, just food for thought. There are, like entrepreneurs organization is one, theyo, they call it. Vistage is another. And there's these organizations that they're basically like masterminds, but they don't call them that, where, like, groups of entrepreneurs get together once a month and it's just a way for all these entrepreneurs to connect and be able to kind of collaborate and connect. That could be something. Sorry if I'm going into problem solving mode, but I was just thinking, as you're saying, that that might be something to consider at some point.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I did join one group like that. Yeah, similar yeah.

Speaker 3:

The only problem. I'll tell you what those groups and I'll be curious if you found this if they're all doing something different or they're in different stages of their business, a lot of times those groups can feel not like the best use of your time because they're just in different worlds. Is that, was that kind of your experience?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the group that I'm in, yeah it's. Everybody has a different business and so that aspect doesn't make it the best. There's no other HVAC person necessarily for me to talk to in my group, but there are hvac people in the organization in other groups, you know. I mean, like in other regions that I that I would be able to theoretically reach out to um, but it is good for referrals like um. So it is. It is good for for getting leads and business and that sort of thing.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

And also generally making friends with other business owners, you know, but yeah, that specific like needing somebody who either has been here or in the same place or is in the same place that part still is absent.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. And then, what about, like, in terms of your business mix? What do you focus on? Is it? Do you do more repairs, more installs, or what's that mix of repair versus install? And I'm talking mostly residential.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to, I'm aiming for 50-50.

Speaker 3:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

Right now I'm doing probably more installs.

Speaker 3:

Okay, wow, okay. And how do you do, particularly on the repair side of things? So there's a few different ways. Some people say to me hey, I just give them a flat fee and whatever it is it is. Some people say I do a hybrid type of methodology in terms of my billing, where there's a component of flat fee and then I add things to it. And then others just say, hey, I won't know how much I'm going to charge you until I've done the job, and it's going to be between this range and this range, and then, after I give the job, I'll give you a final bill. How do you?

Speaker 1:

kind of do your services on the repair side. Yeah, so when I was a technician I did Nextar. I was like a Nextar company, so I or and service time. So that's kind of how I structure it, Just flat rate for everything.

Speaker 3:

Okay, you do. Okay, one of the pushbacks I always get for people that haven't done that is they go. Oh man, I can't flat rate it. I don't know how much time it's going to take me or how much it's going to be in parts or whatever. What's your thoughts when someone says that, like, how do you overcome that mental lapse?

Speaker 1:

I think that there are pretty cross the board industry energy standard pricing for a lot of these repairs and as long as you're ballpark, you're going to be fine got it okay, good, good feedback.

Speaker 3:

And then on the installs you said now you're no longer just doing minis, but on the installs are those and those are just all coming by referral. You're not having to do any lead generation at all to create new business. Is what you're saying, right?

Speaker 1:

I don't yeah, I haven't done any any buying leads or anything like that.

Speaker 3:

That's awesome Switching gears here. If you could look back, like just where you're at today, what would you tell your younger self in terms of maybe don't do something, or do something double down, or maybe don't do it what would be something you'd tell your younger self?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, in terms of business or starting the business, what would I have done? I know this sounds pretty simple, but when I first incorporated I didn't know if I should do an LLC or C-Corp or an S-Corp. So I guessed and I picked LLC and it was a huge mistake and I had to go back and refile as an S-corp and pay an additional hundreds of dollars to be able to do that. And so that's one thing that I would have done differently is just do it the right way. And for other people starting out, I would recommend them to just follow the leader.

Speaker 1:

There's a way that everybody does it and don't try to do anything different. Just follow the system in the same way everybody else does, because it's already been figured out. And that was kind of where I thought I was like my mentors were all S-corps and they didn't know why that was what they picked 20 years ago. And I thought I was like my mentors were all S-corps and they didn't know why they just that was what they picked 20 years ago and I thought I would figure out better that I was going to do an LLC, but I should have done what they did.

Speaker 3:

Yeah Well, honestly, if that's your worst mistake, that's actually not too bad. Kudos to you, though, for just being aggressive and just trying to figure things out on that. On that front, do you? When it comes to like running your own business, do you? I know the loneliness is part of it. It sounds like you've got a great referral base. How much do you focus on like getting reviews, or do they just audit organically come in? Is that important to you in terms of getting reviews online, or where does that fit in with your business strategy?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think that my business has probably struggled more because I haven't been review focused, and that's something that I have been focusing on a lot more lately is asking for the reviews and sending them a link and, yeah, making sure that I collect those.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's funny how, if you don't make it a priority or a focus, they don't have, even if you're doing great work, they just don't don't organically, unfortunately, happen.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, you have to ask for them.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, what tools do you use? Do you use like a house call pro or an a jobber, or what do you use for your tools in terms of quoting and reviews and stuff like that?

Speaker 1:

Right now I'm using FieldPulse.

Speaker 3:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

I think that I might switch to Housecall Pro. Okay, I was using them and I switched to FieldPulse, but I think I might go back to Housecall Pro. I would definitely recommend Housecall Pro for anybody who's starting out, and, other than that, I'm using ADP for payroll. Okay, I don't think that there are really any other software?

Speaker 3:

Really, yeah, nothing else. So you don't use any type of automated review reminder software or anything like that.

Speaker 1:

That's built into the CRM.

Speaker 3:

Oh, it is built into the one you're using now, FieldPulse.

Speaker 1:

Yes, okay, yeah, cool.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, because I know Jobber has nice jobs. I believe is what it's called. It's tied into the back end and it reminds after the job's completed, and I imagine it sounds like yours does the same thing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's cool, very cool. Okay, I think I'm trying to make sure I didn't. Oh, I do have another one. Any metrics or benchmarks? Do you like look at anything among your staff in terms of I think you have multiple staff members among your staff in terms of I think you have multiple staff members in terms of your expectations around how fast they do a job or how many jobs they get done? Are you doing any type of tracking or metrics that you pay attention to?

Speaker 1:

Not exactly. I mean, I know how long I expect a job to take and sometimes usually they blow me away and get things done way faster than I expect. Yeah, I'd say probably 98% of the time.

Speaker 3:

So Wow, so you have a really good staff. It sounds like.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, these guys that I have right now are amazing.

Speaker 3:

That is awesome. That's really cool. That makes being a business owner a lot easier.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, definitely I'm gonna be sad when they fly out of the nest and become their own contractors, but I'm going to be happy for them.

Speaker 3:

I'm going to talk to you someday about that. I don't know you well enough yet to probably give you my opinion, but maybe someday when we get a. You know, if I ever know you, I already know your opinion. Don got to do what fuels your soul, so I'm all for that, but it is counterintuitive if your goal is to grow your business. I mean and this is where I come from, and I come from a place of not greed, it's a place of, and you even kind of said it yourself. I do believe if you treat people really well, like, this is the best place for them to be. In fact, even the 50% think that they're cut out to be a business owner oftentimes, honestly, really aren't meant to be a good percentage of them, and so I guess that's where I come from, but it's not from a place of like it's a terrible idea or anything like that.

Speaker 1:

I think, yeah, you're right. I mean, it's not always what is best for somebody. Sometimes it's better for them to find a really good job, a union employee or something like that.

Speaker 3:

Well, even like your organization, you sound like someone. I mean, look at how much you value them. You said I've got great people right now. They do a great job and 98% of the time they're bang on. You value them, and so I wonder if they feel valued and they feel safe and they are comfortable where they're bang on. That's all. You value them, and so I wonder if they feel valued and they feel safe and they are comfortable where they're working and you're paying them timely. They're not having to worry about paying their own bills or finding their own business. So there is something to be said and I agree with you. I don't know, 50, 50%, maybe it is, but I find most people having worked with a lot of business owners, I'd probably say it's like 90% are probably better off being an employee and 10% probably have the right makeup to be on their own.

Speaker 1:

An even greater goal than growing my business is to uplift the people around me and be a positive influence on other people's lives, and so if somebody says that they think that they want to become a contractor, then I will do everything that I can to help them go in that direction.

Speaker 3:

That's awesome.

Speaker 1:

On the flip side, if somebody says that they want a job and they're a good worker, but they don't want to make a career out of HVAC, then I'm not even going to bother with them at all.

Speaker 3:

Right, that makes total sense. What makes you drive to want to like, uplift people and support them? Is that just something inherent in you? Is that something? Maybe you didn't get along the way and you want to just be opposite of that, or where does that come from?

Speaker 1:

Probably. I'm sure it's probably just wanting people to think I'm a good person. No, I'm just kidding, but no, yeah, I don't know. I mean I honestly don't know. There is the whole this argument where it's like are people inherently good or are they only good because of the reward of it? You know what I mean, and I do feel like there is a huge sense of internal reward that comes from helping other people. You know what I mean, but I still think that that's better than being a crap person.

Speaker 3:

Sure, sure. I do always selfish. I do chuckle, though. You know. You always see online like people will be like, oh, I gave a thousand dollars today or you name whatever good deed they did, and I always just chuckle a little bit. Like people be like, oh, I gave a thousand dollars today or you name whatever good deed they did. And I always just chuckle a little bit Cause I'm like okay, I get it, but like, but now you're bragging about, yeah, Doesn't that like take away? And I don't know, that's just maybe my like older side kicking in.

Speaker 1:

You see, what's funny about that is that people comment on my, on my page all the time. Well, how come you don't promote the trades to young people? How come you don't mentor people and this and that? Because I don't brag about it on social media? You guys are just assuming that I don't mentor young people or that I don't mentor young women. People have no idea what I do behind the scenes. You know what I mean, right? I just don't go online and talk about it all so people really comment like that though?

Speaker 3:

huh, like just questioning, judging you in a way, without even really knowing you well, that's usually.

Speaker 1:

It's usually they only make those comments on my posts that are very controversial controversial. I mean I made this one. I got that comment a lot on this video I made making fun of women in construction and it was a joke. Like people didn't think it was a joke, they thought I was really talking shit about women in construction, whatever.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's fine. Okay, this great conversation. You're fun to talk with your website. Calimechcom is your business site. You're located in the San Diego area. What's the radius that you guys cover?

Speaker 1:

All of San Diego County.

Speaker 3:

All of San Diego County. Okay, and then, if people wanted to reach out to you, is your Instagram. Do you want to give your Instagram handle? Is that the place to do it?

Speaker 1:

Sure yeah At Miss Mini Split across all platforms.

Speaker 3:

Oh, where are you at? You're on TikTok. Same same handle, instagram. Do you have YouTube too? Yes, youtube, okay cool, I didn't check out YouTube. I'll have to do that.

Speaker 1:

Okay cool, I'll put all that in the show notes for people to reach out to you and wish you the best of luck. I mean you're fun to talk with and I absolutely love your Instagram. I'm always like kind of mouth is half open to be honest with you, like, oh man, I can never say that.

Speaker 3:

That's part of the reason why I say it. I know For that reaction.

Speaker 3:

Just so you know you're getting one from me, anyway. Well, hey, thanks for taking your time to talk to me on your busy day and being in your track. I really appreciate it, thank you. Thank you, sure, Take care. I love this episode.

Speaker 3:

I love talking with Rachel. She's just so honest and open and pretty much anything goes as far as what you can ask her. Here's my quick take as a CFO she's building a great business that runs on trust, referrals and word of mouth, and that's incredibly impressive. And when she mentioned training people to become contractors and essentially leave her business, well, that's the kind of decision that's admirable, but it can also be very financially tricky. On paper it sounds very generous, but in practice, you're giving away trained talent, reducing retention and you're creating a revolving door. That means lower capacity, more onboarding time and less compounding value in your team, which has a direct impact on your profit margin and your growth ceiling value in your team, which has a direct impact on your profit margin and your growth ceiling.

Speaker 3:

Here's how I think about it. If you're committed to helping people launch, build that into your model. Maybe they pay you for mentorship or they operate as a subcontractor under your license while they're building their own book. And, by the way, this may be how Rachel's handling it now. I did a horrible job of learning about a process. I kind of glossed over it and I feel bad about that. I'd love to have digged in more and learned about it and then, at minimum, track your average tech lifecycle. If they're leaving every 12 to 18 months, you're gonna need a hiring engine just to even stay flat. That's a tough way to scale. So the bottom line is this helping people grow is great. Just make sure your model supports it and that you're not scaling heart first and cashflow last. Thanks again for listening.

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Tyler Martin

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