From firefighter to security business owner: THE PROTECTOR MINDSET

#entrepreneurship #franchisebusiness #adt #podcast

Hosts interview Vinson Baker, an independent  ⁨@adt⁩   dealer who left a successful career as a firefighter to gain more flexibility and be present for his two boys, eventually founding Safe Dwelling Security after installing ADT systems in his rental properties. 

Vinson explains ADT’s dealer structure and how his passion for protection and fire safety shaped his approach, including providing free smoke detectors, and shares the early hard lessons he learnt.

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Transcript

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Whatever you don't have time for, you need to have money for it. Whatever you don't have money for, you need to have time for. A substantial amount of money was lost in my first three months because it wasn't being done right. I'm always grateful for the people over at ADT because they gave me a chance to make it right. Welcome to Built for Profit Podcast, where entrepreneurs share real stories and strategies that actually work. We're here to inspire, challenge, and give you the playbook to profit with purpose. Let's get into it. Let's do it. You see these trucks driving around all the time. And now that they're on your radar, you're gonna see that the little signs, it's just gonna be everywhere. We didn't realize that this company was structured this way. And I'd say this is the second time we've had a real conversation like this with a company, and we didn't realize whether it was a franchise structure or a dealer structure. And so today we're talking with Vincent Baker and he works with ADT. He's got a background that started in a totally different industry. And he got out of that. We'll let him share his own story, but to focus on more of having time with his boys, having some flexibility and freedom. Common things that we hear about entrepreneurs, when you see it happen and come to fruition, that is a refreshing story to hear. And he's got a lot of lessons. Shay and I have had the privilege of talking to him previously. And we said, your story needs to be on the podcast. That's why we brought him onto the Built for Profit podcast. So, Vincent, welcome to the podcast. Hey Vincent, nice seeing you again. What's going on? How y'all doing? Thank you for having me. One of the things that Shay and I found so interesting the first time we talked was when you talked about what you did previously. You know, you had a successful career and something that you did enjoy, but then made this jump to entrepreneurship. So start off by telling us what did that look like for you and what really drove you to make that change. So I was a firefighter for the city of Atlanta. Great job. I really enjoyed it, grew me up as a person. I was doing that, but I was also doing real estate development. So while I was working at the fire station, my dream was always to be an investor, you know, to have residual income. I never thought I would get into the active entrepreneurship. And I tell people all the time there's a difference between an investor and an entrepreneur. I learned that over the years. So I was living in Italy with my ex-wife, and I knew that I needed to be able to see my children. I have two boys, and you know, we have a great relationship, but I needed to have a great relationship with my children as well and be able to see them and raise them. So I knew being a firefighter wasn't going to work. You know, our schedule was 2448. And then ironically enough, the guy that I did ADT with, I put ADT in every single one of my rental properties was like, you know what, man, I got an idea for you. How about you start a dealership? And that's it. It seemed simple enough. And then next thing you know, safe toil and security was born. I love it. Because you can just wake up one morning and be like, you know, we need to go from firefighting to security. Yeah. Yeah, it it doesn't just naturally jump into that. No. But what's interesting is you've been a protector in either role. But you know, I mentioned this in the intro. Shay and I didn't realize before like two years ago, probably, that ADT was structured the way that they are. And obviously they're not exactly a franchise like we're typically featuring on the podcast, but the way that they have independent dealers still with this structure of support and systems that come in to help that mimics a franchise model. And that's why, you know, we still wanted to feature it here. So tell us a little bit about like, was that something that you were definitely looking for? Or was it just like because your business partner or friends? Yeah, my ex-business partner, he just was a high-level salesperson for a dealer. He was saying, let's start a dealership because I put in every single one of my houses. I referred ADT. I should have been a salesperson for ADT before I was even a dealer because I was referring it to everybody else because I do real estate. And a lot of my buddies did real estate, so I was like, yo, put an alarm system in there. Because one of my Airbnbs got robbed, and I was really upset. It wasn't worth taking the deductible because they took all my flat screen TVs, so it came around 5,000. My deductible is 2,500. So from that point forward, I learned my lesson to put on an alarm system in there. And so that's how I got into it because it was a lateral move in a sense. Like you said, with the fire department, I've seen also where smoke alarms do save lives. And they can be aggravating to the firefighter because it's like 10 o'clock in the morning and it's a false alarm, or somebody was just cooking French fries and they and they had the oil too high, right? So in all of my alarm systems, I give away a free smoke detector because of that, because I know for a fact it's going to save lives, not to make it dark, but having an alarm system that alerts you before the smoke reaches your nostrils, before it reaches a room, or saves your pets because you're gone is so important. So it was a lateral move. And when my partner and I was talking about it, we put all that together and we came up with our business plan and we started from there. I can hear your passion in your heart. I mean, you really believe in what you're doing, you're protecting. Thought about animals being alone in the house. It makes a big difference. So, big difference, you know, being a firefighter. I mean, not personally done it, but it seems like you're, yeah, you said you're on, you're off, you're you're there, you know the drill, pun intended. And then you go to self-employed. You are your own boss. You get to fire yourself, hire yourself back, all the good things. So you jump in. What was the biggest, like, uh-huh or lesson you learned right out of the gate? Not to go too deep into it. And I'm always gonna be thankful for this gentleman for starting the business with me, but the business wasn't done correctly. I didn't know anything about the business. I read all the paperwork. I knew what was at stake for me signing off with my name on this business and starting it. But I didn't know the operations of an alarm company or a sales company. But we're not just sales companies. That's the thing about being a dealer with ADT. You're also a service company. You have to know how to install these things, you have to be low voltage licensed. That was my biggest learning curve. And to answer your question specifically, getting organized and understanding the operations of what this business meant was my biggest aha moment in knowing how to pay attention to what's going on in the company so it doesn't come back, cost you either time, money, or legal. So that was my first lesson in entrepreneurship. Can you share without going too deep, Vincent, like a lesson learned so that they do not do that? So mine was money cost. A substantial amount of money was lost in my first three months because it wasn't being done right, caused the separation between me and my business partner. I'm always grateful for the people over at ADT because they gave me a chance to make it right. And it took me a while, but that process is where I learned it. So to answer your question specifically, you have to do the research. And if you don't do the research, you got to have the money to pay somebody to do the research for you. But then you can't just pay them. You have to have some type of contract that holds them responsible. You got to cover your basis because I can pay anybody to be an expert to consult me, but it's a time-money thing. Whatever you don't have time for, you need to have money for. Whatever you don't have money for, you need to have time for. So you have to figure out where that parallel works between you and your skills, then know who to hire and know what you need to do. And starting a business, you know, cash flow is important. It's okay. Just for a full disclosure, we did not hire him or give him a script to work in from our training. No, but it's so important. It cost me money if I had somebody with me there or if I knew what to look for there, it would have saved me a lot of money. So many people are gonna hear that and go, uh, yes, because you go into business to have more time and money, and all of a sudden you're like, what happened? So I'm gonna hear Vincent some tactical things because I know just from you, because we have already, you're operating different now than you were five years ago. So, what are key things that you do different now than even say three years ago you weren't doing? The biggest thing that's changed in the last couple of years where we've really started taking off is of course we start hiring people, but getting help, right? So the first thing I did was I brought some help and I pay them weekly. They handle things that take the time off of my plate. We have our meetings every Monday, and then I have my reflections every weekend that way I'm fresh from my meeting on Monday. And then, of course, because we're in sales at my sales meetings, at my technician, where I meet with my tech manager, and then anything else for legal or any admin work, we have it's separated in three different parts. We have three different workflows for the week with three different sets of objections. And you basically know your number that you got to hit in sales anyway, to keep the business operating. And you should know that number. And this is what really changed for me. I understood my percentages, I know what percent of a deal I make, so I know what my overhead is, and so I know how many deals I need to make based on that percentage per deal. And this was key because of the way I learned business factor in loss in that percentage. So I don't just go off the deal on the money I make, but I literally factor in X amount of dollars of loss every month. So I know if I cover this, even though I'm trying to recoup loss always, if I don't, I know I'm covered if I get X amount of sales, and that's the biggest difference. I could go into 18 different questions. I know Shea could too. No, can I ask one more? Keep going. Vit then, how does it feel operating the way you do now versus the way you used to? You just went on a list of things that we could dive into, these different meetings, these reflections, the way you're leading these teams. It's all gold. But I'd have to imagine this feels so different showing up, not as an ADT dealer anymore, but as a CEO. I felt like a hustler in the beginning. I used to put that on my hip as a kid, like, oh, I'm a hustler. I'm gonna go out here and I'm gonna get it. I'm gonna get it. I'm gonna get it. Same thing in the fire department. I remember in our training, you gotta get it. That's always been my mindset, but it feels so different now because on top of that, you know that's your baseline. You know you got the work method. But true efficiency comes in when you have work. I want to make sure I'm saying this right. I don't know the actual definition, but I'm gonna say it in my terms. The ability to work plan. You put that together, you have now efficiency. But in the past, I was just I was a workhorse and you got power going in one direction or all over the place. It's not as powerful when it's all over the place. But when you streamline it in one direction, it's so effective. And it gives you the ability to see afar off and plan your future around that thought process, around the expectations you know you and your team can hit. Instead of you just saying, Oh, I'm gonna go out there and I'm gonna get as many deals as I can today, or I'm gonna serve as many accounts as I can today. It's a real plan. Listeners, get pen and paper, write this stuff down because I think when you first start getting business, it's just like grinding, right? You have the harder I work, I'm gonna keep working, working, working. It's gonna work out. And that's not a good plan because you may be working really, really hard, and I believe that entrepreneurs do, but not maybe focusing on, like you said, the things that bring you the most revenue or doing something that's very reactionary. You sound like a calm, intentional implementation person as opposed to whack them. That's so fun. Yeah, learn that the hard way. My mom always told me if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Quote from Danella Baker herself. You're doing great, Vincent. You're our poster child. You're saying all the things that you're collapsing a curve, you sharing your story is helping other people not make that costly three-month mistake. And that's really what it's all about. It's kind of like you ever told your kid, okay, don't do this and that. And sometimes you just have to go learn it the hard way. Yeah. Frustrating to watch happen. So we want like lean in, listen to the wisdom from Vincent. And, you know, Vincent, we absolutely can hear your why and your passion. You know, you you protect people. I mean, that just comes across hands down. And you found a great way to do it and have such a wonderful impact. I mean, I'm thinking of dogs and families and all the things you talked about. So I'm having a Hallmark moment here. Thank you so much for sharing your stories and thank you for the service you did as a fireman and the service you're doing now in the communities and protecting families. I've always enjoyed talking to you, but I have even learned more today and so much good stuff you shared. Yeah, it's gonna be very impactful. Thanks for sharing, Vincent. It's always great to see you too. Yeah. We are proud that today's episode was brought to us by Imperial Design and Display. You know, Elizabeth, when you walk into a retail store and you see all the products, the merchandise, the racks, all that good stuff. Yes, everything that distracts. There you go. That's what Imperial Design and Display does. They're a US manufacturing company, which for me, all right, made the USA. They do everything from design to installation to program management. They get it done. Yeah, and the caliber of brands that they work with is very impressive. Not trying to be a name dropper. Drop some names. Here we go. We're talking GameStop, William Sonoma, Blasby, Home Depot, Caribou Coffee. I mean, some high caliber brands, right? And not only do they make it look good, it's functional and they're cost conscious. Which we love. So we are proud to have them as one of our sponsors for the Bill for Profit podcast. That is Imperial Design and Display. And Elizabeth, I have to give a little shout-out. I love a good tagline. They have a good tagline. Let's move at the speed of retail together. So Imperialdesign Display.com and click on the link to get more information about Imperial Design Display. We'll see you in the next episode.