Ep. 10 - The Cost of Success: What Owners Endure Behind the Scenes

Ever wonder what separates a true entrepreneur from everyone else?
Drop a 🔥 if you've felt this. I've built a business from nothing — working late nights, taking all the risks, and carrying the weight of everything on my shoulders.

Employee's can sometimes see revenue and think they are profits. They don't understand a profit and loss or a EBITDA. They can see the wins but don't know about all of the losses. So when they tie the business revenue as a reason to request unreasonable wages you can sometimes look like the bad guy explaining that the business will not pay a significant amount over the reasonable positions wage cap. The owner has to protect the business and reinvest profits for more growth and better systems. Also, when the rainy days come around the employees will not be the ones bailing the business out. 

 Here’s a truth: You didn’t get those results from work you didn’t do.

Entrepreneurship is a solo race — the grind, the risks, the sleepless nights. Nobody else is in your shoes.Support your team, pay them well, and celebrate their effort—but remember, you're the one who built the foundation.

 If you’re thinking about going solo, just know: the darkness is real before the dawn — but so is the reward.Worth thinking about.What’s your biggest challenge as a business owner or aspiring entrepreneur? Drop below 👇

 And tag a fellow entrepreneur who needs this reminder today.

#EntrepreneurMindset #BusinessTruths #HustleAndFlow #CapitalizeOnYourWork #OwnYourJourney

Today's Spirit: Penelope Toasted Bourbon Small Batch

Keywords

audiology, hearing aids, bourbon, business ownership, patient stories, technology, healthcare, insurance, social media, personal journey, social media marketing, imposter syndrome, content creation, lead generation, bourbon tasting, Wax and Whiskey, entrepreneurship, authenticity, marketing tips

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

All right, all right. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Wax and Whiskey Podcast. I am fully clocked out of Altamont Family Hearing. We're gonna talk about entrepreneurship, hearing healthcare in general, crazy patient stories. And if you're into that and you're clocked out, grab a drink. Let's dive in. I hope you guys enjoy the show. Hey guys, what's going on? This is JC, and welcome back to another episode of Wax and Whiskey. And today I have a conversation that I'm gonna have that might get a little bit uncomfortable throughout, especially if the one hearing this is not an entrepreneur. If you're not an employee and if you're considering being an entrepreneur, this is a conversation you need to hear. If you're not in a place of confidence in your business journey, if you're not in a place where you know who you are, you know the seeds that you've planted, you have cultivated those seeds, you are the one that is putting all of the work. And then somehow, let's say other people feel that they are deserving of the work that you have put in, that they're deserving of equal compensation or a significant compensation for the work that you primarily did. So this is also going to tie into capitalism. And I don't really get political or anything like that, but I do believe in a capital in capitalism in in general. Like I am an entrepreneur, I employ, I provide a si uh service, I we help people in our community. And, you know, in doing that, we are for profit. In having profits, we have employees. In having employees, you know, we can pay their livelihood. They invest into our economy either by going to the groceries, buying cars, buying goods. It is trades. And um, I do believe that people should make a reasonable wage. I do believe that as a business, you have a right to profit. You know, you are the one that is working hard, putting the sweat equity in, taking all of the risk. And we're gonna die, we're gonna break that down a little bit. If you're new to this show, this is Wax and Whiskey. I own Altamont Family Hearing. We're a hearing aid store in Altamont Springs. Um, this is year six of ownership for me. And and I would say that in the last year, year and a half to two years, maybe, is that we've started to catch our stride and and grow, right? We are not, I haven't made it. If you're the first time watching this and like, oh, he hasn't made it, but he has a pool behind him. I owned, I just want to preface this because I can kind of see how that can be a thing, right? Um, and by the way, if you're listening to this, because I do a video version and a podcast version, um, I normally do this video outside of my patio. Oh, we're hearing some alarms. Maybe that'll pick up or not. Outside of my patio, and normally my pool is behind me. And uh, I just want to say you could have a I actually had my first pool home making $10 an hour working for somebody else without being an entrepreneur. So um it just depends on how bad you want things. And I'm gonna dive into that, right? So, but if it's your first time, I'm clocked out. It's a Friday. I'm not seeing any patients after this. I'm in my casual clothes, not the shirt and tie you would see me in. And um we sip bourbon today. I'm gonna, ooh, I'm gonna, it's kind of hot. I'm gonna have to probably take this headphone off in a moment. But we are sipping on Penelope toasted bourbon. I have had this before. Usually on this show, I'm trying different things. This is one I have had before. This is the first time I purchased this one, if I'm not mistaken. But someone did gift this to me once and I loved it. And when I saw it in the store, I'm like, ooh, this is the one. Also, this this I have a bittersweet story with this. Um, when I had lost my mom, a buddy of mine, that's that's actually where the gift came in. A buddy of mine came to my house with all of my friends unannounced to check on me, and they came with this. And that's why I'll never forget it. And uh, it was great. It was so good. It's been two years since that happened, or about to be two years since that happened. And um, yeah, I'm gonna try not to go there, but it was a good time. And it was such an amazing gesture for my friends. These are my brothers, by the way. These are we we have a boys' chat. I play video games when I have a chance. I do have two kids, so I don't always have a chance to do that. But this is that chat. These are those guys. He's actually, those guys have been my boys, my friends since day one. Like they help me think about the name of my business, kind of every brainstorm, every step of the way, these are the guys. These are my vent session. Um, you know, like I sent him a picture even before doing this podcast saying, hey, we're going live, and they're like my number one supporter. So, guys, if you're listening to this, I love all of you. Albio, Angel, Gabe, Steven's not part of the chat, but Steven's in here. Kenny, RC, Vic, I mean, man, Sam, Oz, it's just now I feel like I'm forgetting somebody and I'm like nervous. But um, Sal, well, Sal, Sal was after Diesel, Orlando's his real name, not Diesel. But um, all of the boys, man, all the boys. I love you guys. You guys helped me through so many stages of this entrepreneurship journey. But most importantly, stage one, day one, day zero, before there was a name. My business, it's Altamont Family Hearing, so we are a hearing aid store. It was called Your Heard at some point. Now, a little bit about me. I was born and raised in New York in the Bronx. Then I moved to Miami in 06. So I'm kind of New York in Miami. I it's hard for me to fully claim New York because I wasn't ever an adult there. But um, yeah, your heard. That was gonna be my my urban name. So uh those that know me professionally, you're probably looking at this like, wow, this is a very different light, right? Because they show my tattoo. I'm normally shirt, tie, and not my casual self. But welcome. This is me clocked out, and it's okay because I'm not serving you as a patient right now. I'm clocked out talking about entrepreneurship, talking. Thank you for supporting me in this journey. Um, and uh, and and yeah, so and if you're an employee somewhere, let's say maybe you're considering becoming a hearing aid specialist or an audiologist, maybe you're a student, maybe you're just thinking about opening your own business. There's gonna be some things here that might be sting a little bit. And that's okay. It stung me. And that led me to go kind of have a puzzled feel of like, what is going on? I need to, I need to talk about this stuff. So, first, first and foremost, let's pour up this beautiful Penelope. Let me tell you about it. So, this is their toasted barrel finish. Um, it says a toast is medium, and I do remember that it wasn't like too like charry tasting. It had like a little mellowy. I mean, we'll we'll see it again, but that soft, like almost like a marshmallow feel in the background. It's a hundred-proof. I like 90 to 100 proofs and a little bit of it. All right, so let me read this. Let me tell you a little bit about it. Penelope Toasted Series explores the depth and complexity different char and toast levels have on our flavor profile. After full maturation, we finish straight bourbon whiskey in a charred American oak barrels, in new charred American oak barrels. 50% alcohol by volume, four years. That's cool. It has a batch of 25302. Here we go. Let me open this up. If you guys are listening and not watching, just so you are aware, we do have a video podcast on Sodify and on YouTube. Making sure we're still working. Yeah, I had to take the headphones off. We're in Florida and it's getting way too hot. But before we begin, cheers. So you guys look at that. Nice golden color. Oh, it smells so like it already has the scent like right off the bat. It has that toasted, yeah. It's like a toasted, like buttery. Yeah, like a nice little toasted buttery smell. It smells amazing. Like I just so normally what I'm doing is I don't know what I'm doing, by the way. I'm not a bourbon aficionado. What is it? A connoisseur. Oh, what's the other? What's the name of the person? Is it a connoisseur? It's not a connoisseur. It's a it's gonna hit me after this podcast watch. The person, Somolia. I'm not that. So I'm trying to figure this out, right? But it's mainly me just seeing what I like, what I don't like. And and yeah, I remember liking this, and I already have like I got flashbacks just smelling it. Also, it was a special moment in my life, so I think it's a little more memorable, you know, that my friends came to support me in that in that really darkest time of my whole entire life. Not as sweet as I remember. Oh, but it definitely has that like that delicious, like toasty, toastiness to it. But let's dive in. So the first thing I want to talk about. It's a line that I say all the time when it comes to the gym. I'm just getting into that. I have a hundred-pound weight loss journey. I'm I'm always going up and down in weight. I go to the gym all the time. Um, I'm a dad of two, as you guys know, entrepreneur. Um, it's been harder recently, but just I mean, it's excuses, honestly. Like, I'm not even gonna say anything about it. I gotta I go to the gym three, four days. I'm just not working as hard and eating as clean. But a line that I always say with the gym, a line that I say in everything, and it is the first time I think I'm applying it here in business. Is I actually, no, nothing, I think. This is the first time I ever say anything like this because I don't like being, I'm braggadocious when it comes to like the things that I talk about online as far as offering best practices, being the best in my area. I say it with confidence and I and I mean it. It's not an act. I I tell anyone that you can come to me, you can go to three of my competitors, four if you want. And what we're gonna offer is going to be greater because we're gonna take longer, we're gonna service you more, we're gonna take the time, we're gonna make sure your hearing aids are always service. We have all of the manufacturers to service. We follow best practices, meaning real your measurement, electroacoustic analysis, a complete hearing evaluation. I'm getting nerdy for those that have nothing to do with hearing aids, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna pull back. There's so many more things I can list. But I see all of my competitors, and um, no disrespect to any of them. I think that anyone that wants to do better has the opportunity to do better. They just need to want to do better. And I'm pretty transparent in what it is that we're doing. It's not a lie, it's not a lie, it's not a secret, is what I'm trying to say. There's no, there's nothing that I'm holding back. It's just do the best that you can at the minimum that the state requires you to do. Take your time. Maybe the setting that you're in, if you're in a corporate setting, they're looking at how long did you take with Mr. Smith? And you're not, you don't have the ability to do so. And if you have a frustration doing that, I would say go do it for yourself. I don't mean to make entrepreneurship sound easy because man, it is not. Just this year, I was looking at personal loans just to make payroll for my employees. So let me dive into that. But if you have that passion and drive, it is worth doing, you dive in. You do what follows your heart. If you're like, man, I could do better than my employee thinks my employer wants me to do, do it. I say this, even if you are my employee watching this and you feel, you know, this is might be a little contradicting, right? If you feel like I could do this so much better if I did it on my own, if you do it and you have the resources and the means and the mental health to do it, then do it. And the reason I say that is it's not easy. It is not easy, but it is always worth it. Right. So the the line is don't be mad about the results you didn't get for the work that you didn't do. And where I'm going with this is in a business, the business owner has all of the risk, everything. When things go south, we're the ones that take it. When in the middle of the night, the burning question, the things that keep you up, keeps us up at night. It doesn't keep the employees up at night, or it should not, I should say, because you don't get paid enough. No matter how much you make, you don't get paid enough to carry the weight of the business if it is in your business, unless you're somehow a co-owner or something like that, right? The benefit of being an employee anywhere is that you get to clock out. And clock out means you go home to your family, you have fun. Yeah, I'm not saying that jobs that you shouldn't ever have stress because every job will always have stress, but it is never the mountain that the employer has on his or her shoulders, unless it's a huge company that has managers, supervisors, and then, you know, they they've made it. But I'm talking about small business mainly. Every small business owner stays up thinking about how do I do this? What about the marketing? Is my payroll right? Did this money come out? Did it go back in? Did this person clock in on time? Are they milking the clock? Are they doing the things they should? Are they saying the right things on the call? You know, is the patient being taken care of? Did we drop the ball? You know, should we take this level of disrespect from a patient? When do you say no? Structure. I could do this all day. I mean, I could do this all day. The amount of things that go through my mind are something that no employee ever thinks about. My wife doesn't think about if she thinks she works with me. I'd say even some of my competitors that are entrepreneurs, and I say this respectfully, I don't think that they all are as invested as I am. And the only reason I say that is because I see the level of effort that I have, and they don't have, they don't put that out, or at least it's not public, I should say, when it comes to marketing, doing videos, doing podcasts, doing this, doing that. Like this is a hobby to a degree, but it's also part of my job to a degree. And the reason that I do this is one, because I actually do love giving content, doing resources. And recently, you know, I keep getting messages and stuff from providers or people that want to open their business and fuels me so much. Like I love doing this, but I cannot tell you this is my hobby. This is my what I love to do on my time off. You know, there's other things that we do, right? But that we do it, why? Because those things lead to being front of mind, having content, you know, being up front. And your employees aren't doing that. My competitors aren't necessarily doing that. And if no, they're not. They're not, I was gonna say if they are, they're not doing it well enough to where it shows up, but they're really not because it doesn't um hit my radars. But I'm not saying that they don't care about their business or anything like that. Please do not misunderstand what I'm trying to say. What I'm trying to say is I am all in on my business. And being a business owner means you are all in on your business. So someone, even if they're in within your business, cannot, should not, it is inappropriate for them to think that they should get a slice of the pie because they are contributing quite a bit into the business outside of their wages, outside of bonus structures and things like that, that they should get a bigger slice of the pie because the business is not doing well. And what I want to say here is in a business, there are um your job, if you're an employee, is a contribution. You're being paid for that contribution, your time for the hours, you're getting paid for that. You have a role and you're doing that role. And if you're doing that role well, you get promotions. If you're doing that role well, you get pay increases. But you're just doing the role that is assigned to you and other things. Like I'm not saying that there's that, you know, there's other tasks that you can do, there's other things that you might do. Maybe outside of your role, maybe you weren't really paid to wipe down the, I don't know, the desk, right? But there's also like common courtesy, and there's also like, well, this is where I live and I spend most of my time, so I wipe it anyways. But then to go, I should get paid to have wipe down that countertop. It's like, well, you know, yeah, I don't know. There just comes a point that it's like, I didn't force you to do that or, you know, or or any other task. Like, you know, there comes a point that if I'm paying you by the hour and there are there's downtime and you're helping, like, yes, there's recognition, yes, there's bonuses and all these other things, and you're helping in certain areas, like, yeah, you should be recognized for those things. And those are the things that are reviewed whenever annual reviews come in, right? But let's say the business goes from $500,000 to $5 million. Just because the business hit $5 million, it isn't because you, and I'm not saying that the contribution is not, um, how do I put it? That the contribution isn't valuable, but it isn't the reason for the $5 million revenue increase. It isn't, there's so much more to that story. Like even in this hypothetical that I'm talking about, right? And by the way, this is not my story. I'm not $5 million. I'm not even a million dollars in my office. So the the uh, you know, just because the business has boomed, it doesn't mean like I should get 20%, 10%. Like I do 20% of the work here. So I deserve 20% of the revenue. Absolutely not. Because you're not the one that did all the work to get whatever the revenue that the business has. This story comes is the reason I'm sharing this, it kind of comes from two different things. One is to tell the story that if you're an entrepreneur in your opening, you're gonna do a whole lot of work. The juice is worth the squeeze. Maybe it's gonna be tough in the beginning. And I say this line a lot. My wife says that I'm corny about this, but I don't know why it sticks to me. The juice is worth the squeeze, but you're the one squeezing. You're the one getting those lemons, you're the one squeezing. So you deserve the lemonade whenever, you know, whenever, um, whenever there's profits, whenever things come out, like whenever, whenever there's there's revenue, and and finally you're seeing seeing the light because only entrepreneurs know how dark it is whenever you're you're going through down months, having to figure out how to pay employees, having to figure out, like, man, I only have X amount of dollars. Do I put this in marketing to try to increase? Do I roll the dice so I just sit down and pray and hope that things come in? You know, that's happened to me, and I'm I'm telling you, that's happened to so many businesses. Actually, what is it like 50% of businesses fail before five years? Like it's a thing. Everyone sets out because they have passion in what they do and they think they can do it better, but it is hard out here. Rent is expensive, all these things, having employees, have like it is expensive. So it just takes like a few bad things that can happen to really like, and it could happen to me, you know. And I'm I'm blessed, I'm thankful. I am, you know, I've also worked so hard. So I gotta pat my back a little bit. Like I am working so hard to keep this thing going and afloat, and thankfully we're doing well. But it takes another pandemic for us to not do well, you know. It takes, God forbid something happens to me, everything changes. My employees stay without jobs, you know, I my family. I I mean so many things, right? And um, you know, I'm almost like jinxing even saying that. And so I wish I'm gonna knock on wood or something, but but we're the ones taking all this risk and doing all that, and we don't have, you know, you should have a safety net as a person, as a business, as whatever, right? But like all those things can can happen, right? And we're the ones that carry the weight of that shoulder, the weight of the of the world on our shoulders. We're the atlas in this one. And so the reason that this story comes to mind is two things. One, I saw this video. There's a guy, I'm a tech guy. I'm into PC. I've built, I don't know, like six PCs, seven PCs at this point. Um, I have kids, so I don't really get to play anymore, but I follow tech, TVs, laptops, things. It's not just hearing, it's like I'm into all sorts of tech. Like that is something that I absolutely love. And there's a company named Um Linus Tech Tips, and a few, he's been around for a long time. And recently some of the people that are in his videos have left. They're no longer there. Some, one of them, um, they've kind of all like made their own channels, they're popular on YouTube, they monetize on YouTube. And this is maybe sort of like a celebrity figure situation. You know, they are part of the talent that generates the revenue online. And so they probably thought that they could do it on their own. They thought that they could do better. So they went ahead and did their own thing. But in one of the videos that I saw, one of the guys is like, you know, it takes you building your it was something like, it takes you building your boss's third house for you to sit down and question, am I ever going to be able to afford a home on my own? And um I've I that resonated with me to some degree with one thing, um, with one point of view. And the other is there was another video from the owner sort of saying, This is everything that it takes to be in business. This is how much we do on payroll, this is what our rent is, this is what our research and development is, this is what our marketing spend is, this is what all these things are. And when you break all those things down, like that man, that resonated with me because we're the ones that pay the bills, we're the ones that pay the rent, we're the ones that pay insurance. When things go wrong, like we're the ones that pay. We pay the merchant fees, we pay the taxes on payroll. There's investments, you're paying the investments. You're I'm I mean, for the employees, like 401ks and simple IRAs and stuff like that. You know, I mean, it's just so much, right? Like you're the one paying all those things. So, like if you are the one that built the machine and you're consistently putting all the work, you deserve to reap the benefits. This is where I'm coming back to capitalism. Like, it should not be, in my opinion, an even playing field. Like the government is saying everyone makes the same amount of money because that that kills inspiration, drive, you know, for people to do better, for people to to do the best that they can. If we're all getting paid the same, then it kills, you know, it it would take away this fire that I have to be the best in Central Florida. To be the best in Florida, I already consider my our practice to be the best in Central Florida because of all the things that I and my new employee, um Tony, does. But, you know, I want to be recognized on a bigger stage in just Central Florida. And that drive that I have, if we all made the same amount of money, like why? You know, why? Like to be to get a trophy? Like, no, I want to be the best so that patients continue to trust us and come to us so that we can grow, so that my family has a better future, so that I can hire more employees, so I can pay my employees even better, so that I can invest, you know, I want my people to make as much money as they can make. But there is a certain cap. Let's just say, let's say that you are a massage therapist and you hire a receptionist. There is no world where that receptionist is gonna make $80,000 a year, and unless they're doing other things, unless you're doing a trade. But as their role as a receptionist, it's not realistic. $50,000 a year, I would argue, is too much for a receptionist in today's day and age. You're answering the phones and do like, you know, it's there's there's certain things that like, yes, we'll we can pay you well, but here's that parameter, right? Like if a provider makes $100,000 a year, how can the receptionists make $80,000, right? Like if they're the ones bringing revenue and doing all the things, like their trade services, good, like it's it's very different. And people get uncomfortable with that sort of conversation. And I recently had a similar conversation to this. I'm not gonna put the whole story out there, but um, it was a bit uncomfortable. But um, someone wanted to make six dollars an hour more than their current rate, and I had to have this conversation of I love you, I appreciate you, I value you, I would be so sad to see you go. But I what this person was requesting was over fifty thousand dollars a year for a role that would does not make that, you know, um, in in our trade, in our space, right? But I also told her, hey, I would never have left to do my own thing to open Altamont family hearing if it wasn't a catalyst of I was at Here USA and I was not getting paid enough and I felt undervalued. You know, they would say, Oh, you're great, this and that, your clothes rate, you're this, that, like all these other things. I became nationally board certified. I didn't get a pay increase. I requested a location, which is Altamont Springs. They told me no, because if I'm not a doctor, Of audiology, I'll never have it, which today they have had hearing aid specialists in that location. But you know, I'll digress. If it weren't for those things, I wouldn't have taken the step to open on my own. So I told this person, and I'll tell you, whoever the viewer is, whether you're an employee or you're an employer who your employee is thinking about these sorts of things, if they have the opportunity to make a significant amount more, like, you know, you could try to earn them back. Like if they present, like, hey, I'm getting a dollar more here, it's cheaper to keep an employee, you know. And when those circumstances present themselves, you need to evaluate can I comfortably afford for this, or should I re-evaluate my the position that I have? Should I maybe have a new person that makes a little less, but maybe get a second person to pass the ball around a little bit more, delegate some tasks, quality of life for both of those people, right? All these things that, you know, the business owner has to think about that the employers don't know are happening behind the scenes, right? But if that person has the opportunity, there comes a point that it's like, this is not personal, this is business. And if you have the chance to make $50,000, $60,000, $70,000 as a receptionist somewhere, then do you do it? But normally, when people want to make more money, and I want everyone, everyone watching this, everyone in my circle, I want everyone to do better for themselves. You have to have a trade. You have to do a thing. There has to be a level that comes up of like what you are inputting in order to be comp to, you know, to have more compensation. Because being an all-star employee, doing everything perfectly will only will generate more, more revenue. Like there's gonna be considerations for promotions in other places. There's gonna be that person becomes a manager, that person becomes a area manager, supervisor. You know, a normal, especially if it's like a corporate sort of setting, like those people are going to have more opportunities to make more money. Like those people get recognized. So I don't, I definitely don't want to knock on like do the best that you can no matter what your trade is. But let's say in a small business like ours, where there those positions don't exist, right? It is okay to say, I want you to do the best. And the day that some that you get offered $50,000, $60,000 to do the same role, like it will not be a personal issue that we're gonna have. It won't, it's business. It's I want you to make more money. If you have to, you have to do what's best for your family. But I'm gonna bring this all back to say, you know, part of this was like the same thing as that Linus Tech tip's sort of comment of like, well, the boss is doing better and and doing all these things, like I deserve to make that much money as well. And, you know, I just have to say my position on that is no, because you are never working as hard as the boss, you are never considering as much as the boss, and the boss is not, the boss is irreplaceable. And man, I mean this in the nicest way. An employee, even the most value, like you know, you know, I have to walk on eggshells when I'm saying this, because there's people that I wouldn't want to lose anyone in my company right now, and I and I mean that I say that, but at the same time, I was replaced and I thought I was the best. There's no one that's not replaceable, right? But if the employee if the owner goes down and he's the one that's overseeing everything in operations and there isn't a good system in place and uh, you know, then the ship sinks, right? So it's okay. So if you are a business owner and you're presented with this sort of thing, pay your people as much as you can. Especially if you think they might leave and they don't want to leave, pay them as much as you can. But there is that as much as you can, because you also have to be smart to to look at, well, can I keep them on a relatively, you know, a competitive wage? I would I'd actually say I'll I'll go and say pay them more than what the position normally pays. My employees are making, um, in my opinion, more than what is the norm for the role, at least as as um, you know, you should ask around and find out like what are people making. They're making more for the role and they're gonna make even more as we continue to grow for sure. But I'm saying this today in a position that our my business is doing well, and I'm thankful for it. I thank God for it. I thank my patients, I think my community, I think all the people that that um have supported like me on this channel and and like and comment. And by the way, I don't monetize on social media, so I I say that because I mean it from my heart, not because YouTube is paying me a penny. I haven't seen a penny for monetization. You know, you gotta do like a viral TikTok dance or something crazy that I'm not doing. This is just me like sharing my journey with you guys. But um, but I am thankful to you guys because it means the world. Like it fuels me to keep doing videos and stuff like this. And, you know, so so still going back, like you can love those people. You want to retain those people as much as you can, but also you have to have the confidence to be like, hey, I'm the one that built this ship. And the uh there are the dark the dark times of the business, that employee was napping or sleeping at home or partying or on a cruise ship or living their life, doing whatever they do, doing whatever they do. They're doing whatever they do, and you're the one losing your mind. You're the one trying to figure out like how to, you know, how you're gonna get by tomorrow. So, yes, hard work deserves recognition, compensation, all of those things. Like, do it. Like, yes, they deserve that. They absolutely do deserve that. Um, but also you are the one that built the foundation. You are the one that's doing all that. And when, even when someone like it, it's almost like sometimes you gotta have to not care what other people think, in that someone could be thinking, like, oh, this guy's got all these profits and all these other things, which by the way, is not my story. I'm just I'm I'm giving you like a hypothetical because yeah, like it's just I don't know, with it with everything that we have in our lives, I'm thankful for the growth of our business. But, you know, I'm just gonna go back and say, like, our home, we had it before I had a business. Like our, this is not actually not even a luxurious home, but we were in a 1700 square foot three, two house in Altamont Springs, you know, and someone might be like, oh, but you know, you have a home. I had a home when I was making $10 an hour. I said in the beginning of the video by myself. No one co-signed, no one gave me a penny for it. I've also, I've also always had work ethic drive. I've always wanted like anyone, I could tell you anyone that that's ever worked with me will tell you that I've I've never been like a lazy person. Like I've wanted to be the best provider, best employee, just about wherever I can. People that have seen me networking in the chamber. I did that before even owning a business. I was going as an employee trying to build up an office that wasn't even mine, right? Like it's just it's that's my work ethic, but my parents were entrepreneurs. I grew up seeing hustle since I was a little kid. You know, I've said the story in another podcast, but said this story another podcast episode. You know, not everyone has that same exact drive. And, you know, that's it goes back to don't be upset for the reward you didn't get for the work that you didn't do, right? Like it's it's that's that's okay. Like that's people. There are people that are going to be employees forever. There are people that are going to be annoyed enough to become entrepreneurs and go on their own. Some of those people will thrive, some of those people will fail and then realize how valuable being an employee is, where you don't have to have all of that work, you know, all of that on your shoulders. And there's entrepreneurs that will go crazy and build another, you know, go open another business and do that. And I know that tomorrow, if like hearing aid stores went away or something like that, like if technology changed and affected the space, which, you know, um, I hope this never happens, right? But like I'm gonna do something else. I'm gonna open another business and do another thing. But that's just the way that I've been wired. My wife will tell you that we've been together 16 years for the 16 years before I was ever in this field. That's just been the way that I am wired. Anyone that knows me know that that's how how it goes for me. And those that are going into business for themselves have that same little level of crazy of like, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it on my own, it doesn't even matter, I'm gonna hustle, I'm gonna do it. And other people don't have that. They have, you know, they are they want to be comfortable and like that is valuable. Those are the employees you want to give them a good foundation for them to do their job, get raises, get increases, get bonuses. You know, they get home, they have a feeling of fulfillment and you know, and they get home and they don't have to carry all that with them. But but yeah, but just because the business did well, tomorrow I go from I make a million and I make 50 million and a hundred million, that doesn't mean that the employees are gonna be making $10 million if the business did $50 million, right? Like it's just not realistic. As you keep making more money, you have to invest in the business. I want more employees and I I want to have a community of good people that I love, that love me, that are connected, that wanna do the right thing for people, that we can pay them well, that they can take vacation, that they have quality of life. But I want to keep having employees and I want to have a, you know, one day I would love to have a second, uh, a second location or a third or that. So there has to come, like when there's profit, it's not like, oh, I'm gonna blow it and I'm gonna do all these other things. No, no, no. You got to save that money. You got to put it away. Try to put it away. And because tomorrow, whenever you're looking at that building you want to buy, you buy it. The employees are never gonna be like, they're not gonna be there. They're not gonna give you the money to buy the like, no matter how good the employee is. She's not gonna co-sign on the building that you're buying for your business because it's your business. She is your employee. You can love her. She could be amazing, you can love him, he could be amazing, but he's your employee, not your, he's he's not your co-owner, right? There's they're not a shareholder. That's that's kind of the idea, actually. Why didn't I say that in the beginning? They're not a shareholder of the business. They don't get a percentage of how the business is doing if they didn't invest. And investing doesn't mean the time, especially when you're paying them for this time. They could do a good job in the, you know, in the time that you're paying them, but that is just them doing exceptional, uh, which is recognizable again, but in the time that you're paying them. It is not like they came in and said, I have $30,000 to invest and I'm gonna work day and night and I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna rewrite our books. Like I'm they're not coming in as an owner. They're coming in as an employee. Now, I would even say that even if an employee wants to become an owner, um, wants to be a co-owner, wants to buy part, wants to, you know, do those things. I'm a small scale. That's not something that's in the books for me. I don't, I don't want to have more than two or three locations. But, you know, I'm sure that big outfits have several shareholders and several people that are investing in multiple owners and you end up buying one out and doing that. And then whenever profits come in, they're looking at distributions amongst all and you know, all these other things, but that's not a small business. That's not Ultimate Family hearing. So, um, so yeah. So I know this is a little bit uncomfortable, especially when we get into money. But if you're ever in this situation where you feel like an employee deserves more because they are the reason, especially if the tonality is like we're the reason for the growth. No, you nip that in the bud, like it as soon as you see it, as soon as you hear it, because they were not with you when you were writing this business plan. They were not with you looking at loans, personal loans, personal loans, just to make payroll. They were not the ones that put all of the equipment on the credit cards for you to get started without having a loan. They are not the ones that are putting the sweat equity day, night, extended hours on the weekend. No. So they do not deserve that. Unapologetically, I say that. They do not deserve a shareholder percentage of your business because they're not a shareholder, they're an employee. Pay them as much as you can and as much as is reasonable, especially if you love them and you want them nearby. Um, so yeah, I'm gonna sign out on this. Love you guys. Thank you so much for all of the support for the bald hearing guy, Wax and Whiskey. I'm gonna sign out, get to editing some of these videos so it doesn't take three months to post them online. You know, it's just hard. I have a family, I have kids, and I have a business and a growing business with amazing employees that I wish that will stay with me forever. And I mean that. Um but yeah, let's get back to the grind. Take care, guys. Peace. And if you're in if you're into bourbon, definitely pick up this Penelope toasted. I didn't have as much of this on this podcast. I was really hooked on this conversation. Man, but that is very good. I strongly recommend it. It was like $40 too. Everything by I buy, by the way, is like $40, $50. It's not nothing's like way too expensive, nothing's out of out of the blue. And um, like, yeah, I don't, I think I haven't even spent $100 on a bottle, but one day I will. But I don't know, like $30 to $40, $50 is the range that I'm kind of staying with it because there's so many to select from. I do need to go to Kentucky. If anybody, this is kind of the the outro, I guess. But if anybody here has recommendations for where to go in Kentucky to try more things, to learn more. Maybe I need to do like a bourbon tasting. Actually, I would love to have someone who does know bourbon who can explain things better. Maybe someone who is a connoisseur, maybe not a smalier, but you know, of uh of bourbon that can kind of help me on this journey because I'm really enjoying it. I love what I'm tasting. For the most part, there's been a few that makers. I'm gonna go back. I didn't like it. The makers regular, and then the other one that I had was the 46. That was like two, three episodes ago. Um, that was not for me. But this so far is good in that Heaven Hill that I had before. That was that was really good so far. And of course, the what was that other one? The Buffalo Trace. I know, I know, I know. Everyone makes fun of that one because that's like the easy one that everyone loves. But hey, I love it too. Everyone loves it. All right, guys, bald hearing guy signing out.