The Gold Coast Podcast

What Happens When You Bet Everything On Yourself? | Angelo Verardi

• Eric Winegard • Season 3 • Episode 13

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Most people see the finished product.

The business.

The success.

The family.

The freedom.

What they don't see are the years of uncertainty, the sleepless nights, the risks that could have gone completely sideways, and the moments where quitting would've been the easier option.

In this episode of the Gold Coast Podcast, Eric Winegard sits down with Angelo Verardi, founder of AV Mechanical, for a conversation about entrepreneurship, fatherhood, immigration, risk-taking, building a business from scratch, and what it really means to bet on yourself.

Angelo shares his journey from a young tradesman in Canada to building a successful commercial plumbing company, taking the leap into entrepreneurship, and eventually moving his family to Florida to start over in an entirely new market. What followed wasn't a smooth success story.

Visa issues.

Financial pressure.

Starting a business with no local network.

A tornado damaged their home.

Raising four kids.

And the constant challenge of balancing ambition with being present for the people who matter most.

This conversation goes far beyond business.

It's about the decisions that shape your life.

The moments where everything feels uncertain.

The sacrifices people don't see.

And the realization that sometimes the hardest experiences end up being the ones you're most grateful for.

We also dive into:

• Building a business from nothing
• Taking risks when nobody believes in you
• Why adversity can become your greatest advantage
• Entrepreneurship and leadership
• Creating a company culture that lasts
• The trades industry and the opportunities people overlook
• Marriage, fatherhood, and responsibility
• What success actually means as you get older
• Why some people stay stuck while others move forward
• The challenge of providing for your family without losing yourself in the process

One of the most powerful parts of this conversation is Angelo's perspective on legacy.

Not the business.

Not the money.

Not the accomplishments.

But the impact you have on your children and the example you set for them every day.

If you're an entrepreneur, a parent, someone thinking about taking a risk, or simply trying to build a meaningful life, this is a conversation you'll connect with.

Guest:
Angelo Verardi
Founder, AV Mechanical

Instagram: @angeloverardi and @avmechanical 

website: https://www.avmechanical.com/

Hosted by:
Eric Winegard

CEO of Rare Blue Moon Marketing

Gold Coast Podcast

Like, subscribe, and turn on notifications for more conversations with entrepreneurs, leaders, founders, and people building extraordinary lives.

Thank you all for listening in on today's episode of The Gold Coast Podcast!

SPEAKER_04

Have you guys hung out with Francois and Jesse yet? We did. Cool.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we Francois and I had a lunch. Uh it was a good time. And then we set up a dinner uh with the wives and that was fun. It was nice. Great people. The best. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, the best.

SPEAKER_03

You get around the right people and you're like, yeah, I'll have a few. Yeah, yeah. They're kind of like that, you know?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah. You know? Like we don't drink a ton. Like, don't get me wrong, I I'm not anti-drinking at all, but no, but I I'm I'm like you.

SPEAKER_00

I I will enjoy a few, but uh it's not I'm gonna get smashed tonight. It's uh I don't have that in me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

I don't think Francois has uh knows what a hangover is. He can go after it. I gotta no, well, because I I'll see him have three or four bourbons and then he doesn't complain about the next day. Because what you what here's what women don't realize about Manhattans. Yeah. Is that they're two and a half drinks per Manhattan. So if you have four, you just had ten drinks.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, so it tastes good and it's cool in the meantime, but you know, ne the next day, I I'm I'm kind of hurting for two days when I do that now.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah, no, I I when I do it, I I I hate it, I feel it. And with the kids, there's no resting.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Like we got I got so much shit one time. When we came back, when we first moved here, and then we we came back for the summer, and it was her sister's engagement party, and the next day was Marcus's.

SPEAKER_05

My third son's first birthday.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and it was like we're having like a hundred people over. And we I took it, I took it like, oh man, I'm just back. It's my sister-in-law's engagement party. I know my sister-in-law since she was five years old. I got into I got into it. It was the worst I've ever drank, really. I slept for three hours. She woke me up. She's like, it's Marcus' birthday, you have to be. I have never been in so much pain in my life. Oh, you just know that if I have a late night, I'm I'm up at six no matter what. Like, there's nothing that's stopping that.

SPEAKER_05

5 30 even.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. In the day. Yeah. How's your wife feeling?

SPEAKER_04

She's great.

SPEAKER_00

Good.

SPEAKER_04

I think she's officially going into her third trimester tomorrow. Oh, so you it's getting close.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, we're so excited. So last night was really cool. Yeah. Because it was the first time that we actually saw the baby physically in her stomach. Yes. Looking like a little alien pushing on her belly. It was it was a trip to see. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Like it gets really hard, and you could like you actually see. Like the the yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

She but does she like like I remember when the baby was moving third trimester for sure, and you just feel like the brushing.

SPEAKER_04

Or she got really bruised when the not to get like go crazy political with you right now. But as I've I've never been a supporter of abortion, I just never have been. And I know it's like the most heated argument people can get into.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And the more I've witnessed a pregnancy, the even stronger I am against it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So you see that baby. Same. You will. Yeah. I can't, I can't believe it happens. Oh yeah. Once we had, once I laid eyes on Leo, like our first, you it's it I'm so excited for you because it's the most life-changing thing that will ever happen. And like I can't, I tell her now when I hear things that are happening to kids, I I can't I actually can't take it. It it it angers me. Depending on what it is, it's either I'm super sad or I get insanely angry about it. Like it it's it it's uh yeah, it's crazy, man.

SPEAKER_04

You know what we had come over our house the other day. Do you know what a doula is? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that day that we were at PBD's house and we were all hanging out, so my wife has interacted with his wife probably for the past three years now. Yeah, yeah. When they're not like best friends or anything, but they interact, I guess, at the events, right? And uh she recommended this doula to us. And I didn't really remember talking to her about the doula. Did you? Yeah, I remember I never knew what a doula was. Yeah, yeah. And uh, but now that the doula came over to my house on Saturday with Alexis and myself, I see how necessary I I'm a big proponent of them. Yeah, because she's already giving us, she's not pushing us either way with anything, she's just there to help educate us on our own decision making, it feels like, right?

unknown

They're great.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, no, they're I would highly recommend them. So I'm excited, and she's a super, super cool girl too. My kid's not even born yet, and I've I've been getting like crazy emotional out of nowhere. Yeah, it's not my kid's not even born. Yeah, like I I was running a meeting here the other day, and you know, I was just talking about this young man. Apparently, I sent he he relapsed on drugs. Okay. And when I found out, he was he said when he went to jail he was scared to death because I was the one that employed him. He said he was scared to death to get out of jail and see what my text messages were. Yeah, he it was like he was just dreading it, you know. And uh apparently I texted him, you know, hey brother, just want you to know I love you. I don't think any less of you, and I just want you to know that you will overcome this. You can't work with me anymore today, but I do know you're a champion, you're gonna overcome this, and there will be a day that you're better off for it. And I just want you to know when that day comes, I know there'll be a future opportunity for us to do business again. I wish you the best. So we started, he owns a company, a landscaping company in upstate New York now, and I've been doing business with him the past couple months. Yeah, and he said his business is going from 500 grand to now he he believes they're gonna do a million dollars this year with our marketing. Good for him. And he told me, he goes, I've been waiting for eight years to let you know about this text message. Wow. And he goes, and I just wanted to say thank you. And uh and now we're doing business with each other, right? Which is which is like it just gets me your employee. Exactly, yeah. Wow, yeah, and uh which is so I think what makes me emotional about it is that I I can only think of how dark of a place he was in. Yeah. To where now he has come full circle and he's running this successful business and he's sober. That stuff, you know, it gets me fired up too, man, you know, like when of course, of course.

SPEAKER_00

And then you see kind of well, you wonder, right? How do you get there? And then you think you're gonna have a kid and the the the the things that I mean, the things that run through my mind about being a dad and with my boys is just and are you doing this right? Are you doing that right? When do I tell them this? When do I push him hard? When do I lay off? It's it's and every one of them is different, right? I mean the two younger ones aren't there yet, but with two older ones, it's yeah, well never you're the the gears never stop. The gears never stop. So how old are your three boys? Nine, nine, seven, three, and one. Nine, seven, three, and one.

SPEAKER_04

Oh my god, four. Yeah. I forgot. I was thinking three for a second. Yeah. Mark, I heard Marcus.

SPEAKER_00

It's Leo, Luke, Marcus, and Matthew. Wow. Yeah. Nothing biblical there. No. No. No, they all kind of Leo was Leo was gonna be Luke, but friends of ours had a Lucas, so we avoided it.

SPEAKER_04

If I named my kids Matt, Mark, Luke, and John, I would tell my kids to call me Jesus. Could you imagine? Somebody would probably take that the wrong way, but um dude, I want to talk shop with you a little bit. Okay. Is that cool? And we've we've been rolling, by the way, so we're we're into it. All right, all right. I like to do it that way. It like makes people like ease into it. Gotcha. Versus because this room can be a little intimidating.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, a little bit. I mean, uh, you do have a way of of you know calming things down. I I could tell even from the content before, but yeah, definitely you're like kind of nervous and what are we gonna talk about, but I'm excited for it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, no, me too. I I want to get right into business because I think um, you know, I'd like to get into your journey as to how you got here, but let's just talk shop a little bit. Um you know, kind of unpack um what you were talking about with Alex there. Yeah. You've made the transition from a contracting business near Toronto. Yeah, in Toronto. In Toronto, yeah. To now having a fully up and running and established business down here in South Florida. Yeah. Kind of unpack and tell the story of that transition.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, uh I I'll I'll try and get through it quickly, but it it is a little bit deep. So I mean, um, in terms of how I got into it, I I I never saw myself getting into the trades uh at all, to be honest with you. Um I was in 11th grade. I was starting I started getting nervous about what I was gonna do after high school. I started kind of thinking about, you know, what route am I gonna go? Academically, the options were there. Um and my father says to me, he goes, uh, you should try a trade. And I'm like, really? I know the stereoty I don't know, you know, the stereotypes that exist. I was aware of all of them, and I'm like, I didn't, I don't, I don't see myself doing it. And uh I took his advice. Uh my school offered a co-op that allowed you to go on a construction site with 10, 12 students, and uh you could try various trades. My dad's like, try plumbing. So I did it. I did a semester. It was actually um we had just met uh at at that point as well, my girlfriend at the time. And high school still? This is high school, this is 11th grade. 11th grade. So it would have been uh I'm Canadian, so I don't know. The year the year before before senior. Okay. So Yeah, I forget the yeah. Yeah, so um I tried it. I went into plumbing um and actually uh I worked with three brothers. The guy uh ended up really liking me and he goes, Okay, I'd like to sign you up uh into the union um once this is done. He ended up taking me off site. Uh he had to sign paperwork to do it because you're only allowed to work between school hours. I did that. And um my teacher ends up asking me one day, he's like, uh, is he paying you? I'm like, no, he's like, if you work before 8 a.m. and after 2 30, you should be getting paid. And I'm like, no, uh I'm not. So it's Easter Monday, and we're working that day as well. And he looks at me and he throws me $40. And he goes, You're a rat. I'm like, what do you mean? He goes, You know why. He's like, You're a rat. And they hit me, okay, that my teacher had said something, so I had a bad taste in my mouth at that point.

SPEAKER_04

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

And um and another thing that happened is when he said he was gonna sign me up, I thought, okay, this is a proud moment, there's a path. And I walked, I I I walked into my house that day, I looked in the mirror, I thought I was supposed to be super happy, and I was absolutely terrified because I basically just saw the rest of my life in front of me. I'm gonna be signed up, be in union. This is gonna be, you know, I'm gonna work X amount a year, I'm gonna make X amount a year, I'm gonna maybe go on a vacation once every two years. I didn't I didn't like the knowing. At the end of that semester, I I basically said this is everything I thought it would be with the stereotypes. I'm I'm I'm screw this, I don't want to do it. Back to school, graduated, still didn't know what to do, ended up finding my way back into the trade. Again, I worked with you name it, I I worked with them. And I said I don't I don't see myself, I see myself as more as this. And I ended up doing it long enough that I just said, okay, I'm gonna get my license. I'm gonna get through this, and once I'm done my license, if I change, um then so be it. That's what you know, I'll but I'll always have this in my back pocket to fall back on uh as a career if I wanted to. And um I was getting to that point where I was about to write my ticket. I did not really enjoy any of the companies I was at um for many reasons. I did not see growth there, I did not see a spot, I did not see a future, but I was good at what I did. I learned that I'm a perfectionist, I if you know, no matter what the task is, I'm gonna try and beat everybody. That's just the way I am, naturally. So if I'm sweeping the floors, I'm gonna be the best guy you ever see sweeping the floors. That's just in my nature. Um and I started thinking about maybe I'm gonna try this on my own. Uh my girlfriend's parents, uh, who are entrepreneurs and jewelers, they basically said to me, You should my father-in-law kept saying you should try this on my own. My parents are the complete opposite. They wanted me to entertain nothing about it. So basically, before I write my ticket, I quit my job. I actually end up proposing to my girlfriend and and decide I'm gonna go on my own. So I'm unemployed, engaged, don't have my ticket. I write my ticket just before Christmas. I find out early in January that I pass, and in February 2011, I open up the company. No knowledge, no business knowledge whatsoever. I just knew how to do the work, I had no leads, I had no I had nothing. Started telling friends that um I started my own. I started getting little jobs here and there, and I just started picking up momentum. If I if I worked three days a week in the first year, I was I was lucky. Um and the reason why I supported is because fast forward two years, I'm on my own and I'm growing a little bit, and I need help. And my brother, I have two younger brothers, my middle brother, the three years younger than me. He went to school for video game development and finds out after that he has to go to Vancouver, California to really thrive in the position. He finishes top of his class, and he's like, I don't I don't want him to leave. Excuse me. So I was sitting at the table with my family, and I said, Anth, I need help. I have a job I need some help on. Why don't you why don't you come work with me? And my mother, no, no, don't do it, don't do it. Because if my if I call my mother today and said me and Anthony gone to a fight, I'm never gonna talk to him again, I'll be we'll be burying her tomorrow. That's how she is. She just doesn't want she wants to avoid she thinks we would have problems, whatever. He ends up working with me. He ends up staying with me. So he's with me um about 10 years, and my brother not that he's my brother, he's fantastic. Learns the craft, fantastic in what he does, pride in his work, never asked me for a raise, never asked me for anything. Just showed up to work, whatever I say, do it. We grow the business to a pretty good level, COVID hits, and at this point my wife starts saying to me, COVID was tough up north. And she starts saying, I I want to leave, I want to go to Florida. We've always had Florida in our blood. My my grandparents, my mom's parents, uh started a hotel business just before I was born in St. Pete's, Clearwater, that I was supposed to end up being at, that never ended up coming. But I spent my whole life coming here. Her family has a place in Jupiter, so I got to learn that, and it's always it's always been a place for us. And I said to her, There's no way. How can I be gone from the business here? What would happen? You know, I had people in place, we were at a decent size. And she's like, No, we should do it. I'm like, no, she's like, it's not gonna change here. I'm like, it's gonna get better, it's gonna get better. She's like, no, it's not. And one day Smart wife. Yeah, very smart wife. And I I I kept putting I kept putting milestones, like, if this, you know, it's not gonna end up getting to the kids. They're not gonna touch the kids, they're not gonna get and they ended up trying to do that, and that was the point where I'm like, okay, I think Touch the kids how in terms of forcing vaccinations on them, right, which made no sense to me uh whatsoever. Uh none of it made any sense, and I kept saying make it make sense, and I kept saying it's gonna get better, common sense will prevail, and obviously that never happened, uh, and still is not happening.

SPEAKER_04

And you're a minority in of this opinion in Toronto, right? Extreme minority.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, extreme minority. And I was living the most normal life because being in construction, we were deemed uh essential. So we didn't miss one day of work at all. I went to the office every day. It was it was a dream. I had no traffic and I was still doing business, I was still making money. A lot of people were suffering way worse than I was, but it just never made sense to us, and especially my wife, uh, a lot more. I kept holding hope. And one day, um, I don't know, having a rough start to the day, whatever, business-wise, and my brother calls me and he goes, Hey Angie, how's it going? And I'm like, Oh, I'm having a brutal day. He's like, me too. And I say to him, Well, what's going on on the job? Like, what's wrong? He we were on a very large project, actually for the US military uh contracted company in Canada. It's our biggest project um ever at the time. And he goes, uh, he's married. My brother's married, he's about almost two years married at this point. And he says to me, Um, I found Alvanessa's cheating on me last night. Oh, wow. Yeah. And he's crying, and I'm crying. It's my baby brother. Work with each other every day. And and that was kind of uh the piece of the puzzle, um, because what happened after that point was he decided to leave her, which I was a big part in pushing. I said I respect anything you want to do, but if she's gonna do this when you have no kids and you have the best freedom of your life, you'll never have more freedom than you are right now, married in your own home, whatever, she'll do it again to you. I promise you that when kids run around. Uh, and you don't know what day of the week it is or what time of the day it is, right? So I say to my brother, and it was starting to weigh on me that he was such a good employee, and he's also my brother, and I want to see him go to the moon. And I said, Anth, you know, I've been toying, I've been I've been thinking about either you buy into this business, we open up another company here, and Christina's really been thinking about us expanding to Florida. What do you think? And he's like, I want to go to Florida. He's like, I I want a fresh start, I want to go to Florida. So that was when we made a decision to do it. Scared shitless. Yeah. Um and so that's kind of the backstory to to the expansion to give some context, yeah. We got we gotta we gotta make a movie out of this.

SPEAKER_03

This is good. And I mean, uh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

No, no, uh obviously, of course. And um so we expand, and I mean, you're you're in business, right? It's so easy to put up as many obstacles as you like to say why you're never gonna do something. Or as learned as up to that point, with my experience of businesses, you know, you just do it and you figure it out, right? So we go for the visa, we were advised by our immigration at the lawyer, a lawyer at the time because I told her that I want the goal is residency, the goal is green a green card, right? I don't want to go through this um constant renewal process. You know, we had at the time we had two kids, and my wife was pregnant with a third. So like, okay, well then you're gonna go basically uh for an L1 visa, which is basically that the the the US con the Canadian company is the um owners has ownership of the U.S. company and the U.S. company's a subsidiary, right? So we get the visa and it's the greatest moment. Like my we, you know, we basically had to drive to the border, Buffalo border, to have the interview. We are packed up and ready to go. And they were either gonna deny us or grant us the visa on the spot. So we're we're there that morning. We haven't we have no idea which way it's gonna go. But uh we we were uh concerned because obviously we're still in COVID and we don't know what what approach they're gonna take. They gave us the approval and it was like it was like we were free. I don't know how else to explain it other word than free. And my brother tells me he goes, because he was in his own car, we were in the hour of the car with the kids, and he's just like I just screamed at the top of my lung for like five minutes of happiness. And I guess for him at that point, it just felt like he was rid of everything he had just gone through. So we get we get we land Palm Beach Gardens, um open up, and you know, I I I was telling Alex earlier, we had to get social security number and had to be able to legally do work. Um and we couldn't we couldn't there was no way of fast tracking it. It it was you need a visa, then you need a social, and then you could challenge your trade exam. And uh in between getting the social and challenging, we basically tried to prove our experience so that we could kind of they could kind of give us an exemption. Um but in the meantime we said, you know what, let's just the first available opportunity, let's go challenge it so we can make some money because until then we're not making anything, we're making squats. So we were just working doing work for the Canadian company remotely, essentially. Okay. And uh we went to challenge it in Orlando, it was a 12-hour test. It was in comparison to a four-hour test in Canada. It was brutally intense, and we passed that. And the next step after that was to have a take a business and finance uh exam. And I remember it's just we had we had to be urgent and searched everywhere in Florida to take this test last minute, got the books, I went to take that, uh passed. That my brother took it past it, and you know, we were off and running at that point, finally. And uh fast forward a year, we had to do our extension. My brother gets approved and I get denied. So my lawyer says to me, Well, technically you have to leave. My kids are just started school. Oh man. Yeah, damn. Um the baby was just born and she's like, Well, you're Canadian, they might be okay, but you take yourself off a payroll immediately. And I'm panicking. Like, I I remember tearing up in front of my lawyer because I'm like, I failed my family. She's like, No, you were ill-advised. You should never have gone for this. This visa is meant for companies that have hundreds and hundreds of employees. This visa's not meant for you're expanding and you're just gonna have two of you because the challenge was we had to hire within the year that they needed to see us hiring. But because we took us over six months to get licensed, we're also the type of guys that unless I'm not unless I can offer you full-time work, I'm not gonna do it. My brother's capable of doing the project, I'm capable of doing the project, and we didn't have a pipeline at that point. So we just busted our ass and did the jobs ourselves. I would fly in if I was in Toronto, I'd fly in, drive there, we'd work 18 hours and get it done, and then so we had ended up hiring one guy just after the year mark. They gave my brother the visa, but they denied me. So I had to shift to an investor visa. And uh got that, got through all of that. Um my wife was actually I think we were I think we were still in Canada prior to this or during this period because I also have to I have to spend a minimum amount of time here. So I was away from the family for months at a time just to make sure I did my time that I needed to do so that immigration won't be like, well, you're not spending enough time here, so you're not taking this serious enough. We're gonna just keep you back. So we got through all that, and a year later, we got hit by the tornado that was coming across from the hurricane in Tampa. House destroyed or new house destroyed. Uh no, not livable, I shouldn't say a lot of damage. Lost both our vehicles. She I never forget the kids. We were we're we huddled in the closet, and I could show you pictures of this as crazy. And we get out and it was like a bomb hit. And the boys are they see outside, one of them's crying. My oldest one was oddly tough. She's pregnant with our fourth at the time. Um so there's been a lot of hurdles. And financially, they don't recog you know, you're not recognized here for anything you've accomplished out of the country. So the most they wanted to give us when we got here was a hundred dollar prepaid visa. So there's been there's been significant hurdles and um but we we never thought about quitting. Um the opportunity here is immense. Um it is the best place for our children. Uh but business wise, it's been it's been phenomenal. It's been um just to see the path that we have in front of us and and being able to execute on that is I'm excited for it. And yeah, that's kind of where we're at now. Uh that's that's the and business is thriving today. Business is thriving. We've uh we've uh we've assembled a really fantastic team right now, so we have a lot of confidence because you know what it's like, right? You can sell as much as you sell, but if you don't have that team behind you to execute it, especially uh in the trades where I'm we're not with these guys every day. You know, we're we're in the office, we're doing our thing, we'll make site visits, or mostly my brother will make site visits, but they have to be out there, they're communicating, they have to carry themselves professionally, they have to execute the work to the standards that we hold. And you know, without without that team in place that are executing it, you really don't have much, right? So uh we've been through a lot of guys for sure. Um the system here is is weak in terms of building up the trades and and and um recognizing the trades to have kind of respect that go behind it.

SPEAKER_04

But is it in the States or Florida?

SPEAKER_00

Uh to be honest, I don't know. Um but with Florida in comparison to what we have in Toronto, it's it's night and day. So while you while you have such an amazing um challenging way of getting a license, which uh with which I agree with, there's no there's no nothing before that in terms of a a program in place where similar to like you're going to college where you have to do five years, you have to, you know, you have to achieve this type of level of score, and if once you do that, you're gonna get your license or degree. That exists in Toronto. So that there's there's something there that allows for um there's a lot of structure, whereas there's no structure here. However, that creates great opportunity for us um because we could build a structure internally that will attract talent.

SPEAKER_04

You gotta that's uh there's so much I want to unpack there. Um I think you know this is where my crazy brain goes.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Have you ever it's it's impossible to think like this in the moment.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

But do you think have you and your brother ever said this to each other? Was it Stephanie? Was that the wife?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, Vanessa.

SPEAKER_04

Vanessa, yeah. Have you ever said to each other her cheating on him was one of the best things that ever happened?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah. I've said it to my wife often. Where it's like, if that didn't happen, I I don't think we're here right now. Yeah. Yeah. It was the best thing that ever happened to him, too.

SPEAKER_04

The the the catalyst to do the thing.

SPEAKER_00

I do want to hear something crazy. Yeah. He's getting married this Saturday.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, no way. Yeah. What's your bro's name?

SPEAKER_00

Anthony.

SPEAKER_04

Anthony Ant, does what he called him Ant?

SPEAKER_00

I call I call him a bunch of things. Ant.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_04

Wow, okay, cool. So he's in love and happy and found himself a South Florida girl?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Okay. Is she from Canada by anything? No. Okay. Yeah. Wow, dude. So here, yeah, like there's so many, there's so many instances in my life where I think in the moment this is tragic and I can't believe this is happening. And then six months later, a year later, it turns out to be, oh my god, if that never happened, I never would have taken this detour.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So it's hard, it's really hard to appreciate that in the moment. Um, because the pain is real, the suffering is real, the chaos is real, but but the the that's that's an unbelievable story. You know what I don't get about you? Why did you keep doing the trades? It sounded like you hated it when you're like what made you just kind of keep doing it.

SPEAKER_00

I didn't know what else I wanted to do. I just I don't know what it was. I didn't know I just didn't know. I I did enjoy there's obviously aspects of it I enjoyed. I love being able to produce work that was better than everybody and faster and and seeing it at the end of the day. I did enjoy that. And I started to have a love for that, and there was aspects of the job I started to have a love for. Um, and then once you know, you you you get to that point where okay, I know I have a goal line, I know that I I'm in it this far. Let me get my license. And then just the jump to try the business was why not, I guess. Yeah, and I learned I did learn that in doing so, how much I love business. And that's that's my real passion, i is is the team and and building it and the wave and the ups and downs and and seeing people succeed um with you, uh, really. So that's but yeah, I know I don't know why I did either.

SPEAKER_03

Do you think because when you're telling the story, wait, there's a missing piece here.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, he doesn't like it, he keeps doing it, yeah, goes back to it, knows he doesn't like it. Do you think it was is this is it possible that what you didn't like wasn't the trades, but it was the fact you were working for someone else?

SPEAKER_00

I don't, you know, to be truthfully honest, looking back now, yes. Uh a lot of it was the people I worked with, if you want to be really honest with you. It was the mentality of a lot of the guy uh of the ownership that I worked with, or or the stereotypes that I had to admit were actually true about a lot of people in the trades, unfortunately, at that time. It has changed a lot, um, and it does still exist as well. Uh, but but that was part of it, and it was a big part of it too, was not really seeing a future um of just the ceilings in place, and asking myself, okay, really, like I don't want to be able to just get to here when I know I'm capable of that much more.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, so okay, so do you think that what are some of these stereotypes? That just that you what are the ones that are true and untrue?

SPEAKER_00

I think a big one of them is that you're in the trades because you have no other option. Right? Um and in ways a lot of it was true. In ways now I do think it's changing because there is such a demand for it and the world is changing as in terms of you know job security towards it. That was a big one of them. Um one of them that I do can say I was wrong about, and it might just be I was jaded to this is what I'm doing is because this exists in in everything. It's just, you know, I worked with a lot of serious addicts that were able to keep the job, a lot of alcoholics, a lot of guys with Royd rage. I I worked with a lot of that um inconsistency, and they just and perhaps I I think I was wrong about that. I think the biggest one was that you have no other choice. This is why you're doing this.

SPEAKER_04

Well, you know, it's interesting because um I think I think we all know that e whether you're a tradesman or an attorney, yeah. I know plenty of of attorneys with a coke problem.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly. And that's and that's exactly and that's where it's like okay. You know what I'm saying? The grass is you know, and the grass is the you know the term the grass and knowledge community is like it it's everywhere. And to think it's just in what you do because it's a little bit more rough and tough, or it's it's not a fair thing to say.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. You know, one of the best, one of the most fun times in my life was I worked there was a summer I worked for a moving company.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And I was always like a really muscular guy. And when I was 19, I was I was a 19-year-old shouldn't be that muscular. That's all I did was worked out, you know, 10 days a week. And these uh movers, these guys were all yoked, right? And I was like the littlest guy, right? But like the brotherhood and the camaraderie of just talking like dudes and bros. Yeah, you know, and even though we worked from 7 a.m. to like 8 p.m. at night, like there there was, you know, yeah, some of these guys were drinking on the job and stuff, you know. But it was fun, I will say that. Like I really did enjoy the camaraderie. I can imagine there's more of like camaraderie with a trades job than there is, you know, working in a legal office.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, for sure. Right. Yeah, the culture, the culture that we have in our company is amazing. It's amazing. And uh we have we've retained amazing talent because of such a such a great culture that we have where yeah, you're out there, you're grinding, you know, you're you you really have to have each other's back, you know, the safety-wise, um, executing wise. And um and we've been able to build that here as well. And it's I would say it's our strongest, one of our super skills is being able to have that culture, that family feel. That's one thing I'll as as big as we grow is the one thing I'm gonna always protect, is that yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I I felt, you know, during COVID, I was like your wife. I was like, dude, something happened here. I don't know what has been unleashed, but the people that I know are not themselves anymore. Yeah, I don't I was always a conspiracy theorist. Yeah. So I was always, you know, and I hate calling it a conspiracy theorist because there's really kind of like a wacko connotation to that now. Yes, yeah, but I was always very skeptical, right? And and then I'm not talking Democratic or Republican, I'm talking government, like of course, yes, all the time. Government, yeah, right. And and when COVID started happening, I was like, wait, what? Like this, wait, you're telling us to do what? You're telling us to go where? You're telling us to wear what? You're telling us at warp speed, we got to take this and that. And uh it was just like people were voluntarily destroying society because of something that's murmured on CNN or Fox News. It was exactly what is going on, yeah. And it's like people were voluntarily doing this stuff, and uh and I remember like your wife, I I I was like, Oh, these people aren't coming back from this. This they have changed, yeah. And I saw that and I immediately I fortunately I went through a divorce then, yeah, right? So no, there wasn't cheating going on, fortunately, but you know, it that divorce, which was chaotic, was actually one of the best things for me because it happened during COVID or right before it. Yeah, and it created that opportunity to relocate. Yeah, I met Alexis on June of 2020. Yeah, boom, love of my life. You know, we fast forward our relationship. We moved down here, uh, Thanksgiving of 2020. And uh, you know, moving down here was such a blessing because there's so many of us. Yes, you know, and it's like you know, we met at SLS, yeah, right with Patrick by David. You know, me and you are buddies, you're buddies with Francois, and it's like there's so many people that experience this chaos. We're all like, no, we're not gonna tolerate that. And we all kind of came down here, yeah. And uh I've just dude, my circle of friends is is thicker and better than ever now.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Oh yeah, same same with us. We we say uh you'd have to pull us out here kicking it, screaming. We we're never like it is like you said, the the depth of of of relationship that we've found here, um we've I can't say we ever really had it. And COVID was the greatest blessing in so many ways. Because would we have made any changes if it never happened? Exactly. It's hard to say, right? Uh and I thank God we did every day. And it really did. The time made no sense, the numbers made no sense. Um I'm just talking about COVID, not not business wise. I mean you put put it this way, and I could be wrong, but say you're an alien, right? And you just you're observing Earth, and someone said gives you data of the deaths from 2000 to 2023 or 4, whenever it ended, and they'll tell you, well, there was a pandemic during this time, which years were it? They wouldn't be able to tell you. That's how crazy it was.

SPEAKER_04

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

That's how much not have it made sense. But again, people changed and they the the separation and the disagreements, it it truly is sad, but it brought us here. And yeah, that's something we'll always be grateful for for sure.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, it's um there there's there's some things that I have discovered over the years with conspiracy that I I I literally don't even want to say into this mic because I feel like if I say it, yes, it'll get you know, my content will start to get um I don't know, uh stifled, I don't know what the word is, muted, right? Because you know, it's obvious as day. Like like I'll give you an example. Here's one, right? And I think I could probably say this without getting muted, right? Do you remember when um there was a lot of information out there that TikTok is bad?

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_04

And that is under that is under the pretense that what Facebook and Instagram are not bad?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So TikTok is bad, Facebook and Instagram are good. Is that what they're saying? And they're saying, oh, well, the TikTok is the Chinese and they're trying to manipulate our youth. Well, I would argue that I I can guarantee you that there has been plenty of girls that are 14 years old that have committed suicide because of some false look that they can't live up to and they and they're unconfident about, and they see these pretty girls and they commit suicide over it, right? And you know what I believe was happening with TikTok, this is just my humble opinion, is that TikTok was the best platform. I think TikTok's algorithm was giving us better content, more free speech content. Yeah, and I believe people were getting more relevant content to what they want.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So I think it was eating Meta's lunch, and I think Mark Zuckerberg was throwing a fit. And I also think because of TikTok shop, it was very threatening to Amazon. Because clearly a video demonstration of a product is gonna be better than a non-video demonstration of a product.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So I my just gut instincts tell me that Zuckerberg and Bezos went to the government and said, dude, we gotta tell them TikTok's bad because they're eating our lunch. And like it's just obvious as day to me, right? So so like when I whenever I hear something said on the TV or the news, I just I hate to say it, I know it's probably not true.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Right? I agree. And COVID proved it. COVID, yeah, COVID exposed everything. And it's a sk it's scary in a way because it's sad that you can't trust anything. It's not a good place to be. But we have to question everything, and we have to let common sense prevail.

SPEAKER_04

And that's the big What advice would you give to me or any new parents out there? Like, what do I do with vaccines and my soon-to-be daughter? What's what's that decision-making process?

SPEAKER_00

It's tough. It's tough because obviously we grew up in a time where it was never questioned. Um, and when I think about it, yeah, I ask myself why. There was so much more trust in the whole institution of it uh at that time. It was and I and I think I don't know if it was ever rolled out here. I think the first time I personally ever started questioning it was when Christina, it was more for the girls in eighth grade when they started pushing out the or seventh grade, the HPV virus, or vaccine, sorry. And it was basically you're supposed to take it if you're sexually active to prevent I think HP HPV, right? And I started questioning, like, why would you start pushing this on a child now that I'm older? It's seventh grade. Like, okay, obviously some people are active, but you know, you're forcing this thing. And COVID flipped everything on its head. And with the kids, I mean, our two older ones, we did the regular stuff. It didn't feel right to me, to be honest. And with the other two, and and she's the my wife's the lead on this. I'm not gonna sit here and say I'm I'm more I wrestle with it a lot. Um because I just it's just a scary mindset to be in, I think, to to because when you don't trust anything, I feel at some point you're gonna slip up on something you wish you did trust. But I'm not saying that we're wrong in distrusting it, right? So with with uh with our two younger ones, they they got nothing. And and I'm gonna tell you something, and I'm gonna be completely honest, they're healthier than my older two. They are they get sick far less frequently. And and and with the one-year-old, it's I mean the sample size isn't there, but with Marcus, our three-year-old, it's crazy. Our older two could get sick. Marcus is not getting sick. He just it's not happening. And if he gets something, it's in and out in an instant. So the data I have is you know, it suggests that you're better off not taking it. Or any of them, really.

SPEAKER_04

Um Yeah, no, that's I I want to ask you some rapid fire questions, if you don't mind. I I feel like at one moment it sounds like you quit your job. Yeah. You proposed to your wife, yeah, and started a company? Yes. All in the same 30 days? Yes. Are you a psychopath or what was I I'm a psychopath?

SPEAKER_00

I I've learned I think I'm a psychopath.

SPEAKER_04

Well take me back to that moment. What was going through your head?

SPEAKER_00

I'm a big believer, and you know, everyone's like, Well, I'm not ready for this. I'm not ready for this. I Need to be ready. Now's not a good time. This is I'm a big believer in the second you actually think you're ready, it's too late. So I I would say it's just a switch flip for me. I just I knew I wanted to become something. I knew I didn't want a ceiling. I knew I wanted to challenge myself as much as possible. I knew I was with my soulmate. For the moment I laid eyes on her, that was at 15 16 years old. At 16 years of it. Yeah. And uh and I just decided to just dive in. And there was a lot of pushback, especially for starting the business. Uh 100%. My my parents, I love them to death. I have the best parents in the world, but they were completely against it. And I think it was just a fear thing. They're not they're not one for risk whatsoever. But I just knew I wanted to I wanted to go after it, and I felt like I ha now's the time to do it. Like, and I wish I did it sooner. But I was twenty-three at the time. Twenty-two, twenty-three. Yeah. And I never looked back after that.

SPEAKER_04

Great. Um that first year, how close did you come to failure?

SPEAKER_00

In a lot of people's eyes, I was probably failing because I might have done twenty thousand dollars that first year.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

And and who knows how much I actually made because I I had no background. It was just learn as you go, and I'm able to do the work and we'll figure out from there. So from a execution perspective, I obviously was able to execute on everything I did. Financially, probably I I know I made nothing. Um it was just and my saving grace was I was 23 years old, I was still living at home. I didn't have much in terms of financial responsibility or bills to pay. Just whatever I did, I had to cover.

SPEAKER_04

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Wow. So it's not like you're taking home, it's not like you're profiting a hundred grand.

SPEAKER_00

We we were we were we had a two-year engagement. You could ask her a lot of cash jobs at that time, obviously. And I would get paid $200, I would go, we'd have envelopes for every vendor for the wedding. Um, and I would be like, okay, I made $200, shove it in this envelope for the flowers. I made $300, shove it in this envelope for the videographer. That was that was it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

We didn't uh lean years, the lean years.

SPEAKER_00

Very lean, very, very lean. But it's the ride, it's fun. I mean, you don't know it at the time. I didn't know. I I didn't know if I wanted to be a guy in a truck that just worked for himself, made his own hours, maybe brought in 70,000, 150,000 for whatever one man could kind of accomplish, or if I wanted to grow it as big as we can. So uh I I've I learned a lot about myself through the process of like, no, I I like having a team under me. I like I like the responsibility of it. I love the responsibility of it, to be honest. Uh if you were to ask my wife what my biggest fear is, is not being able to have work for a guy for the next day. That is my biggest fear.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, they're relying on you. Yeah. Yeah, that's a lot of pressure. Yeah. That's a lot of pressure that the average person doesn't get that the entrepreneur takes on, right? Yeah. They just think it's uh, oh, you're making money hand over fist, but oh yeah, you're always wrestling with with decision making, you know?

SPEAKER_00

All the time. And if in in our field, if you don't have too much, you don't have enough because you're you're relying on weather, or is that other subcontractor going to meet his schedule, or is that GC gonna be ready when he says he is? So if you say, Oh, I have the perfect amount, all it takes is a bad week of weather, or let's call it electrical subcontractor didn't complete his work that made us ready for to come in, and I'm just keeping guys at home. So you have to be in that chaos all the time.

SPEAKER_04

How did so? This is something you didn't talk about, and I think this would be a great uh inspiration for somebody, yeah, whether it's somebody starting, because you basically started a brand new business down here. Like sure you had experience, but you didn't have the connections, you didn't have the leads, like you know, you had the wherewithal and the knowledge. Yeah. How did you get your drum up your first few clients down there?

SPEAKER_00

So part of part of the visa process was you had to lease a unit, you had to have an office space. So I had to I had to enter a one-year, as a one or two, a two-year lease without knowing I was ever actually gonna be actually be able to get here. Yeah. That was part of the plan, part of the deal. You have to do it. And we had a an agent uh looking for us, and he's I was picky with where I wanted to be, and and I knew the area well, and he wasn't finding me anything, so I just kind of took matters into my own hands and started looking. I found a spa which was our office now, and I knew there was a few GCs that were in that plaza, that little strip of units. So I was able to get one right beside uh a general contractor and um introduced ourselves and they gave us a shot at some stuff, and this guy was pretty well established, knew a lot of guys in South Florida, and he referred us to a few um contractors, uh national guys that uh tried us out, and we've been their go-to ever since. And then we've just kind of piggybacked off of that momentum. Uh big, you know, obviously and I think in business, all businesses relationships are everything. And we've been able to get them in our door and and kind of keep them and and be able to execute on everything for them across Florida. Uh and I met some other people, uh, I met another Canadian that's been down here for 10 years. He made a couple of introductions. We were able to get our foot in the door with them and just kind of pound it out really, grind it, pound it, make sure that we give them what they need. And our job is to make sure that like any job, I'm not a headache. You have enough headaches, let me do what we gotta do for you, and you don't have to worry about us.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. I always say, I always tell people one of the best ways to drum a business is it sounds counterintuitive, but go spend some money. Yeah. Right? Like if I let's say um, I don't know, there's a business that does uh a gym, yeah, uh a bodybuilding gym. And let's say you want them as an account, yeah, to sell them marketing stuff, right? Or whatever. Go sign up.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Go join the gym.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Go buy some products from them, go buy some personal training.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Right? Spend a few hundred few hundred dollars. Yeah. Have an organic conversation, spend some money. If you go spend money places, it creates an opportunity to network. Yeah. Right? So it's like you bought an office, yeah. You had to invest in the office, and what that does, what that did was uh what that dud. You're getting me speaking, I keep hearing process, and I want to start talking Canadian.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's I don't like the accent of people saying that sounds awesome.

SPEAKER_04

Process, it's probably the right way to say it. Process. Um but uh but you know what that did is it got you closer to this other guy. Yeah. And sometimes people don't understand that proximity, sometimes you have to pay to get somewhere. Like paying to get into value taintment or you know, other networks. Like it it there is an ROI if you can get yourself next to the right people.

SPEAKER_00

Of course. You know? Um definitely strategically it's important.

SPEAKER_04

Um so you're doing all commercial jobs? Is that what it is?

SPEAKER_00

We're only mainly commercial, yeah. Uh a lot of retail as well. So we've done restaurants, retail, uh projects like the building you're in, um medical. Uh we've done some custom residential as well, but I wouldn't say it's our bread and butter.

SPEAKER_04

You got a great story. Thanks. No, it's a great story. No, it's it's a story of like I don't know, competence, confidence. Competence and confidence, I feel like, is your your winning strategy.

SPEAKER_00

Thanks. Yeah, no, it's tough. Especially, you know what, uh the the biggest challenge I would say is uh once you become a parent and trying to do it all and still accomplish where you want to go, um, but be present. When they're babies, it's okay. But once they start to have that personality, that's the biggest thing I would say I wrestle with. That that would be the biggest challenge for sure.

SPEAKER_04

Truly being a present father, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But also providing Providing to the level that I want to provide. Yeah. And what that means.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, no, I I um I've been wrestling with that too mentally. Um and I think it's tough. I had a guy in my podcast last week. Yeah. And he got super emotional when he said this.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

He said that his and and he's he's a go-getting entrepreneur. He said that his dad was a real estate guy, and he said that if his dad had an opportunity to make twenty thousand dollars at six PM, his dad would say no because his son had a baseball game. And he cried because his opinion was that wasn't the right decision.

SPEAKER_01

Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Wow. Yeah. His opinion, I'm just telling you. He looking back, he thinks his dad should have been a better provider.

SPEAKER_00

Wow. It's funny you say that because I just had somebody I I won't want to say the relationship I have with him, but he lost his father. His father did well. And he told me that his father was never around, and he would have preferred to be on food stamps and have his father there than have the money his father made.

SPEAKER_04

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And it's crazy because one of the big things for me, and maybe perhaps it's where we grew up, is that all the men that I knew that achieved some level of success were horrible fathers. And a big chip on my shoulder is that I want to be that dad and I want to achieve that success. That's a big thing for me. But it's tough because when it's five o'clock and your son has a soccer tryout and you know you got a lot of work on your plate and you're that driver of that business. What do you do? And and what do you do?

SPEAKER_04

What do you do there? No, no.

SPEAKER_00

You know when when my boys my f my first two are young, I was I was working a lot, like five 4 a.m. to eleven p.m. and it was probably only Sundays that I was home. And then I would say the move here has been a big shift. Um because we just have each other. You know, we we just have each other. It was we have we I would say we have a great marriage, but moving here has like next leveled it, I would say, because you we got nobody else. We're when when we're back home and we have big Italian family and everybody around, and no one else, we're the oldest two, and we're the only one with children. It's very easy to lean on everybody, and they want to come and help, and they want to come spend time with the kids. We're here, it's like, okay, came here with two, we have four. Two of them are in the extracurriculars, and they gotta go to school and they gotta get picked up. And how do you watch two? And like we have some help now, but I've been I've been blessed to have a team in place that has allowed me to be very present. But something that dawned on me earlier this year, and I was kind of unhappy, is that I was feeling like I did kind of coast a bit. And I and there was the there was this massive stress of the move, plus the tornado, plus the children, plus the visas, and I'm not trying to make excuses because I don't know, I chose this. Nobody put a gun to my head. Right. There was a lot of factors. There's a lot of factors that made it challenging. I think we've kind of gotten past that and we really have a lot of momentum. And I looked at my wife and I'm like, I feel like I've just like it's just kind of monotonous for me. And she's like, Yeah, you've coasted. And when she admitted it, that that really turned it on its head. Right? And and so I'm in this phase now where it's like, no, it's time to find another gear and be that dad. And I'm at the I'm at all those things. Okay, I'm at my son's golf tournaments, I'm at my other son's soccer, and I'm and I'm only not at one because I'm at the other. And I'm lucky to do that, but I have to find that time, and it's just basically finding a way. Finding a way. Instead of chilling at 10 o'clock, just get that work done, get ahead. Because if you want to you want to do it all, you could there's a way to do it. That's I won't I won't go off of that belief.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, no, I I think I think I I I think if the choice, and this is just me speaking for probably most fathers. If the choice, if you're in a destitute place, and the choice is that daddy has to work from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. at night to feed the family and to provide shelter, that's what you do. Yes. The goal is to hopefully ascend past that position. Yeah. But if the choice is family survives or dad, dad is you're out there. Yeah. Go get your ass to work. Yeah. Get your ass out of the house. A hundred percent. But then it's also your responsibility to probably, if you're in that position, to probably take it so seriously that you either ascend at your company that and become a manager or whatever, so you don't have to work those hours, or maybe become an entrepreneur and ascend to where you do have the choice over your schedule. You don't miss the recitals, but you had to be a little late to the soccer game because you had a six-figure job you were on.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_04

Right? So what you the the one option that is a no is just to be the deadbeat.

SPEAKER_00

A hundred absolutely because I want to be home with absolutely because the the goal is freedom. And it's the level of freedom that you determine. One one man, one father might see that freedom as I do my nine to five, I know I'm gonna provide, I know I could provide this to my kids, and I'm happy with if it's just that and I'm there, right? Or the other freedom, level of freedom is I want to be able to have my kids in private school. I want them to have access to the best, I want to take them on as many vacations as possible. I want them to eat as as much as they want. I want them to experience as much as I can give them. I want to have, I want to lay out a future for them as much as possible. Whatever that freedom is, exactly. The choice is don't be a deadbeat. You don't you there's that's no choice. Sorry, but it's I guess at the end of the day, it's determining the level of freedom you want to achieve to be there for them.

SPEAKER_04

I think on the flip side, um last point I'll make is I heard Tom Brady say something really fascinating. Because what Tom Brady was chasing was GOAT status of all athletes ever. Yeah. You know, I remember there was a comment he made one time, you know, he was chasing Joe Montana, and he said something like, Oh, Joe Montana didn't have six championships. He was chasing Michael Jordan, yes, you know, for this like supreme athlete of all time, at least in American sports, right? And uh, but I heard him say maybe about a year ago that he did because of that journey, he didn't have the same relationship with his kids that he had with his father. And I thought that was really interesting because that tells me there's like I wonder if there's regret in there because that's because that wasn't providing. It this is interesting. That's not for providing, that's that's him and his own accomplishments that he was striving for.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I mean, if he doesn't have regret, do you think differently of him as a person?

SPEAKER_04

Probably a little.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, but I think he I think he has to have regret. I think how can you not have regret? Because once all it once it's all said and done, what's gonna be his biggest accomplishment? Is it gonna be his kids or is it gonna be the championships? Because that's a real legacy is your kids like I could accomplish all kinds financially, but if I don't have my kids aren't confident, if they don't know that I'm there for them, if they don't know who I am, what's the point?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Especially if the daughter's and I'm I don't know if he has a daughter or not. You don't want her having daddy issues. No. You don't want her like that's all I'm thinking about now. Right. I'm gonna love my little girl like crazy, so she's not yearning some other man's attention.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly. Her her biggest challenge is gonna be finding a guy that can become remotely close to who you are.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, that's the goal, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Right?

SPEAKER_04

That's the goal. This was good, man. You you got a cool story. Um, I think you got a very inspiring story. Thanks. I love hearing that you want to go another gear because I'm in super psycho mode right now, and I and I vibe with that. Yeah. So let's let's kick it up a notch. Yeah, do me a favor. Uh take that handsome Italian face and don't and don't say the word process. I'm just kidding. Um, do a quick little 30-second kind of elevator pitch on your business. And if anybody does want to consider to do business with you, where can they find you?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so the business to Avium Mechanical LLC. We operate in Toronto and South Florida. Specialize in commercial plumbing, renovation, construction, you name it. We also do chill work, uh, boilerw. Uh, you could find us at aviamechanical.com. Uh social media, there's aviamechanical for X and Instagram as well.

SPEAKER_04

Guys, thanks again for tuning into the Gold Coast Podcast. And sorry the tech went out on us. But uh make sure to like and subscribe. We'll see you again.