Mana Mentality Podcast
Mana isn’t just strength — it’s presence, purpose, and power.
The Mana Mentality Podcast is a high-impact show hosted by a proud Polynesian voice bringing real conversations around sports, athletes, entrepreneurship, sales, and mindset. This platform is built to inspire the underdogs, the grinders, the leaders, and the next generation chasing greatness.
From locker rooms to boardrooms, we break down what it truly takes to win — mentally, physically, and spiritually. Whether you’re an athlete, a business owner, a sales professional, or someone striving to level up in life, this podcast delivers raw stories, actionable lessons, and a mentality rooted in discipline, culture, and resilience.
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If you believe in hard work, legacy, and building something bigger than yourself — this is your tribe.
Mana Mentality Podcast
FROM DOOR-TO-DOOR TO MULTIMILLION DOLLAR CEO - CODY VEIVELL
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From Door-to-Door to Multimillion Dollar — How He Built It, Ran It, and Ran a Marathon Too.
Before the company. Before the national footprint. Before the multimillion-dollar operation — there was a door and a decision to knock on it. Cody Veivell, CEO and co-founder of a powerhouse nationwide enterprise, sits down to talk about his upbringing, what becoming a parent changed in him, why running a marathon reshaped his leadership, and the principles that separate those who scale from those who stall.
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#CEO #Entrepreneur #DoorToDoor #Leadership #Mindset #Marathon #Mentorship #SolarSales #BuildingEmpires
Welcome to the Monumentality Podcast, where we cultivated cultural success, empowered the underdogs, and give a real game to people who actually do it. This platform is built for the 99%, the overlooked, the doubted, the underestimated. But today we're interviewing the top young person too many. What's up, everybody? Welcome back. Welcome to the Monumentality Podcast. I'm gonna be straight with you guys. I'm super excited for this episode. This has been in my mind for the last week. You shot me a text, I want to say last Thursday, and he said he'd be in town on Tuesday, and I've been I've been counting down. So person I'm bringing out isn't just somebody who got lugging sales. This guy's been doing it for 24 years in the DDD space. And before most people had figured out what they wanted to do with their life, he was already working on that. So it's only right to bring on the one and only the guilt, Cody Babel.
SPEAKER_01Oh man. How are we doing? Man, that's it. That's a good intro, but I wouldn't say I wouldn't say I'm any of that. But lucky, lucky to work with you and learn from you and your team.
SPEAKER_00We're excited to have you on. Cody, you want to talk about before the money and before the titles, and obviously just talk about where you were when you first grew uh you first started. Let's go back before it. Where what was life like for Cody? Where are you from?
SPEAKER_01And I'm from a little town called Beaverdam, Utah, tiny place between Tremont and Logan, right at right at you know, northern Utah, right at the Idaho border. So there was within like five minutes, the only house that was within five minutes of my parents' house was my grandma and grandpa's house. So in the middle of nowhere, farmland.
SPEAKER_00How many people live in the town?
SPEAKER_01I mean, I think back then maybe 150 total, but it was five minutes to the next house from our house. So just big, big farm and you know, moving pipe, driving tractor with my grandpa for two bucks an hour, you know, growing up. Super bad allergies, eyes would swell shut in the summertime, you know, kind of uh yeah, it's fun.
SPEAKER_00What is so you grew up in uh in a small town? What uh and I want to just jump into it if we can just get into it. You know, how did you end up on the doors? What was uh kind of the transition from being going from a small town and then transitioning into door-to-door?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I was I was uh certified welder and then was also working for my dad's machine shop my first year at Utah State. So I graduated from high school in 2001 and then immediately went to uh Weaver State for one semester and then transitioned up to Utah State. All my buddies, you know, I was doing the welding stuff, and then I was also working for my dad's machine shop at the time. And my buddy came home who I was living with, who was about to go on a church mission, and had this the Utah statesman, the actual paper, you know, back then there was a physical paper, and he said, Hey, you should you should you should call this company. And it it said, you know, pest pest control sales for the summer in Dallas, Texas. And he's like, You'd be good at it. So I called. The people were coming in like the next couple weeks. I met with them, signed up, and then this girl calls me and says, Hey, if you're gonna sell pest control, I think you should sell alarms because you can make more money. So if you just learn to sell the same amount, you're gonna make a ton more money. It's like, no, I'm good. I really like these guys. She's like, Well, just meet with this company because if you meet with them, then I get a gift card to Maddox. And anybody that's from northern Utah knows what Maddox is. So I was like, all right, you know, I'll go, I'll go meet with them. So I show up to this house, guy opens the door and says, fill this out and put this on, hands me a shirt and a packet of paperwork. So I thought I was showing up to an interview.
SPEAKER_00How old were you there at this time?
SPEAKER_0119.
SPEAKER_0019.
SPEAKER_0119. There was like six to eight people in the room, like collared shirts, like, you know, I didn't even know anything. Yeah. It's like it's kind of weird. Fill this out, put this on. I've, you know, just 19-year-old little, you know, shy guy. Put the shirt on, filled out the paperwork, and signed up to sell alarm systems in Kansas City that summer.
SPEAKER_00Did you know what you were signing?
SPEAKER_01No, he comes, he I mean, I kind of guessed because there are people doing like door approaches and stuff in the room. So he then comes down the stairs. So he disappears. He hands me the paperwork, goes back up the stairs. And these guys are doing pitches, comes back down after I filled it out. He's like, did a couple door approaches, he's like, let's go. I was like, where are we going? He's like, We're going to we're going to knock.
SPEAKER_00All right.
SPEAKER_01So I so you were you were supposed to go down to Dallas to go do pest, but then you Dallas for Pest, and then this was still preseason, so I was still in school, finals hadn't happened yet. So I just met with him in Brigham City, where I live now, and had that that interview, and then ended up signing up to sell alarms, and they took us out to practice right away, which now I'm looking back, I'm like, that's genius. You know, I used that trail all through my whole career. It was like sooner you can get them a sell, sooner, you know, get them trained up.
SPEAKER_00Well, what's going through your mind during that time? Obviously, you're you're just doing this to be nice to the girl to give you to get the gift card.
SPEAKER_01But when they just they just throw you out there, or did you just so they said you're gonna that's this guy's Bryn Winward, he sold his first one yesterday. He's really good. You're gonna follow him. We hit three doors total, and he said, It's too hard with two people take that side of the street. So that's kind of how I started.
SPEAKER_00What is the what because this is 2002?
SPEAKER_012002, yeah. What was commissions like during that time? Back then it was it was pretty low. It was like a hundred bucks a sale up front, and then the rest was back in, but it was like I think total pay was a little under 200. I I think I installed 105 and made 17 grand all in, and I was the top, top rep in the office.
SPEAKER_00So did you end up ever going to Kansas City?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's where we went. So he got us out doing preseason, getting excited, you know, making some sales there to prep once you're done with finals, you ship out for the summer.
SPEAKER_00How was it your first week in Kansas City?
SPEAKER_01First two weeks, super hard. I I sold a couple in Utah, so I was thinking, well, I'm gonna go out to Kansas City. It's gonna be, you know, there's more crime. People are just gonna be asking for it. You know, I'm gonna answer their, I'm gonna knock on their door, they're gonna open the door and say, sign me up. That's that's how it felt. Utah's super safe. I sold a couple there, it's gonna be easy. Show up and just get my teeth kicked in for two weeks straight. Two weeks straight.
SPEAKER_00Were your parents ever supportive of you doing it when you first started?
SPEAKER_01My parents were supportive of it, but they were skeptical. Like, wait, you're gonna do what? You're gonna move where? And you're gonna do, huh? So I had three older sisters, there's eight kids total, so six sisters total, three girls, and then me. And so those girls, the girls had never really moved away at all. So I was the first kid that's like, I'm I'm shipping out halfway across the country and I'm gonna make all this money. And they're like, uh, this sounds kind of weird. Um, they were supportive, never said don't do it, but you know, they were kind of like, You sure you want to do that?
SPEAKER_00You know, you can make your money here at you know, your dad's shop, and so because you you worked with your, I mean, I one of the stories I still remember is you uh going up on Sunday or Saturdays and having to go meet the uh the deadline for things that your dad would tell you to get done.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um was your did was what was like the ideal setup that your dad wanted you to go do in life? Did he want you to like take over the business or no?
SPEAKER_01He my dad is so chill, and you gotta meet him someday. He's so he's so laid back. Like, I don't know how he did it with me because I'm like I probably wasn't the easiest to uh raise, but the way he managed me was perfect for my personality because I have a very headstrong personality, but his he basically would just say, Hey, here's the work that needs to be done for the week. I need it done by 5 a.m. on Monday because that's when I have to deliver the orders. So the only rule was get the work done and you can't work on Sunday. So you just do whatever it takes to make it happen um to not work on Sunday. There were a few times where I did show up at midnight Sunday night, Monday morning, and work five hours that morning and uh and make it happen um to get the orders out on time. But that pressure of not like letting him down because he's like, hey, just do it. And if I was him, I'd be like, uh, are you gonna go get that work done? But he never said anything. He just kind of let me do it, which was which was awesome for my career.
SPEAKER_00Is that something that you implement now with your kids?
SPEAKER_01I try to. I try to. It's really, really, really hard to do. But um, yeah, I think I think we do a pretty good job. And I got a great wife that helps, you know, when I want to be a little bit more aggressive or controlling, then she she kind of pulls me back a little bit.
SPEAKER_00I'm trying to learn because obviously, you know, you met me when my son was, I think, a week old. And now he's getting at that age where I'm like, how do I want to go about this, especially with parenthood? You know, the hardest hood. It's parenthood.
SPEAKER_01It's it is hard. It is hard, especially when they hit the teenagers, which your daughter's getting about that age.
SPEAKER_00We just got her phone. Wish me luck on that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00We uh we got her phone and you know, she's going through this. I mean, it's it kind of feels bad because there's nothing she can do on it. It's like secure. But uh, I think that's one of the things I'm looking at is is the right way of parenting. You know, there's no right or wrong way, but I do love that about your story is uh, you know, your dad in Still Dad is taking initiative and just being accountable and not pressure pressuring you to go do it. Do you think that was something that helped you when you got into into the doors in Kansas City?
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, yeah, and I I I mean, because I had to be self-motivated through working with him, and it was like there wasn't anybody breathing over your shoulder. And when you get dropped off in hood, no one's watching. No one no one knows if you're sitting down. The only person that knows is you. Yeah, and so I think that definitely played a huge part in it. The other part, my mom is an entrepreneur, she's had a dance studio since like she was 18. So she's 66. So that's that's the other piece. I mean, I watched her develop you know, young girls from no confidence to tons of confidence. So I think it was like the perfect combo.
SPEAKER_00Wow. Is she is that something that she was like did she grow up doing doing that?
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00And so all your sisters.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah. Oh yeah, all my sisters, man, it was crazy. Being one of two boys, six sisters, one bathroom growing up, it was like, man. So that's the other thing I learned a ton about like managing emotions um by having six sisters, which I'm super grateful for. And as you know, working with salespeople, I mean, any leadership position, you're constantly managing emotions.
SPEAKER_00So what is what are some of the things you remember with mom when she would uh instill confidence into people that were struggling?
SPEAKER_01I mean, they're just just always she just always believed in people. Was it just like more affirmation and just uh they would they would push people and they still do push them really, really hard. I mean, you know, your wife, you know, she's she's doing similar stuff with cheer. You push them hard um because you know what they're capable of. And I think as you know, a real leader pushes people to their potential and helps them see their potential, and that comes through, you know, a lot of driving and and a lot of driving and pushing, pushing past comfort.
SPEAKER_00So that summer you go you go out there to Kansas City, and then we know we talked about this, but you were at Pinnacle?
SPEAKER_01Um or is it federal? It was Pinnacle Security my first two years. Okay, and funny story. So my second my second summer, I was like one of the top reps in the company, and they shipped me from Dallas to Tampa because Tampa was the worst office, and they want to see if I could revamp it. So I go out to Tampa and I'm there and I'm selling more than the office combined, and um I go home to see my girlfriend and I come back. This is in Utah. Yeah, I fly back from Tampa to Utah to see my girlfriend. I fly back and nobody's there. My apartment's locked. I call my manager and he's like, Oh, we shut down. I'm like, oh great. So you're not gonna tell one of the top reps in the company and the guy that's doing all the volume that you're now gone. And so I called up the owner and he's like, You need to go to West Virginia. And I was like, No, I'm going to Chicago because that's a top office. West Virginia was the second worst office, and now it's the worst office because you just shut down the office I was in. I'm not doing it. He goes, Well, you can get over it or leave the damn company. So what were you thinking during that time? I said, All right, I'm done. So I quit. This is pinnacle.
SPEAKER_00So then what was the next next uh opportunity that came your way?
SPEAKER_01So I quit. I called my manager for my first summer. I knew he had just started a little uh monotronics dealer and was operating out of Utah. I said, Hey, you can I come and knock doors in Utah, get through the summer, and then go build with you. So I did that. I just left, walked away from all my back end. It's kind of just a crazy, crazy moment. But I'm like, I'm not gonna work for someone like that.
SPEAKER_00How long were you with with Federal?
SPEAKER_01Three years.
SPEAKER_00Three years?
SPEAKER_01So you went two years, pinnacle, three years, and then what was the the transition into the guy that I worked with who was my manager my first summer and owned Federal Arms, fantastic guy, super, super good friends. His he didn't he didn't want as much out of it as I did. I wanted I wanted to go big, I wanted something great, and he didn't. So our interests weren't aligned there. Um, he just wanted slow and steady, you know, stay, you know, small, live in, you know, small town, and just kind of do his thing, which he's done, and he's done great. Um, and I wanted something bigger for the people that I was gonna bring on.
SPEAKER_00During that time, how many people were you managing?
SPEAKER_01So those three the first year I took five people out and we all finished. So there were six of us total, had a great year. The next year we hired like 25, and then I only had four or five come back, and then the next year, you know, there's like 45, and so it was just it's kind of like bring a ton of people in, give them an okay experience, and and I just wanted something bigger, so I made the transition in the fall of 2007.
SPEAKER_002007, who was the initial contact of recurring you over?
SPEAKER_01I can't even remember who I called, but I called somebody that I went to Utah State with and said, Hey, and I think he was done with the space, he graduated and moved on. And I said, Hey, if you were gonna work for anybody at Apex, who would it be? And they said, Jared Young. I said, Send me his number. Sent me the number, I called him up and said, Hey, this is Cody Vable. I'm excited, you know, to hear more of what you have to offer. This is what I've done. Um, can we meet? He sets an appointment, says, I'll be in Logan, you know, on this day, sets an appointment to come to my house, comes to my house, walks in the door, puts the pay skills on the table, and is like, look them over, let me know if you have any questions, and leaves. So I was like, Well, quite the recruiting pitch. He thought I just wanted the pay skills, you know, to use against him because we'd recruited against each other for three years. And uh, well, I did the math, built a vision for myself, called him up and said, I'm good to go.
SPEAKER_00What do you think made Jared Young so special?
SPEAKER_01Uh very caring. I mean, the guy puts everybody ahead of himself and had all the way through. I mean, we we were together for the entire time that I was there. And as we were moving up in the company and the company was growing, he brought me on as a partner pretty early on to help. We had um very different styles that were we complemented each other so well, and he yeah, he believed in me, trusted me, put a lot of teams with me and and helped me develop them.
SPEAKER_00And what was the setup? Because to become like a partner, obviously that's something that's you you you gotta go do tons of tons of volume. Um, was that like in a year span? Did it take you some time to become a partner at Vivemin?
SPEAKER_01So my goal at Vivem was to double my production every year. The way that I was gonna do that was double my teams, and then it just put a ton of pressure on me to to put in the work to build the teams. And so I I did that for four years straight, and then after that I went full regional. So I I stopped moving for the summers. But also part of that goal was I'm gonna also be the top rep. So all four of those years I was the I was the top rep. Nobody outsold me in my org. Um I think top 10 or 12 in the company as well. What do you what do you think, Cody?
SPEAKER_00And I'm actually actually curious to hear this. What do you think separates the top reps in most companies?
SPEAKER_01Um you always have to be you always have to be learning, but I think the two the two indicators of success in life, and this is anything. Um and I always tell people, hey, we're not just door to door, we're we're we're just business people, and this is life. And there's there's two things. If you want to have success in anything, you have to have both of them. And it's very simple. And it's just put in the effort and have a good attitude. And if you have those two things, then you're gonna dominate. It's just there is no if, ands, or buts. And if you're ever having a a hard time in life, you're missing one of those two. You're either not working hard or you're having a bad attitude.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because that's one of the things I see. There, there's really talented uh reps in the space, but they just lack the emotional control. And I think, you know, I actually adopted that was like one of the first things you said to our team when you first came out here was those two things. And that's one of the things we've implemented in our organization is just be a good person, have a good attitude, smile. And usually, if you can you can have those two things every single day, you're destined to find success. So I'm gonna talk about Vivin. Um, Cody, the uh me outside in, I come from the inner city, come from LA, so I don't know much about the space. Um, but like Vivin was the like the Mecca, and I felt like it created so many entrepreneurs or so many great stories that we hear about. What was it like working with you know Jared Young and some of the you know like Todd Peterson? What was your experience during those times?
SPEAKER_01Um, I mean working with Jared just he was just cared a ton about people, and that was that was big for me. The other thing is he he taught me to relax a little bit, you know. Everything doesn't have to be perfect, everything doesn't have to be the way that you think it has to be. There is no there is no like perfect box of a leader, you know, just just go do your thing and relax a little bit. I mean he he looked at everybody as uh extremely capable. Um it wasn't like they didn't have to look a certain way, they didn't have to come from a certain background, it was anybody, anybody can go and do this, and he would always talk to everybody and say, hey, if this this redhead from Gunnison, Utah, can go and do this, then you can, you know, and that was that was kind of his his thing he talked to everybody about, and then obviously from Todd Peterson, he was very he was very similar, but the thing about Todd that's impressive, and you know, uh I've been all over all kinds of different um networking events, um rub shoulders with all kinds of investors and business people, and everybody knows Todd, and I have not ran into one person that has said anything bad about him, and I can say about Jared Young as well. Yeah, I mean, you just don't find anybody that is like, and they they weren't they weren't pansies, they held people to a standard, but everybody loves them, and I think it's because they just believe in everybody, yeah. Believe in everybody, and they just and their vision was so big. I mean, Todd's vision for what he wanted to do was so big that it was almost like everyone thought he was a little bit crazy, but then he went and did it.
SPEAKER_00What was his vision when you first came in?
SPEAKER_01Well, I I mean at first was uh hey, we we need to we need to deliver. I mean, his dad told him you've got to deliver, you know, uh a great experience to your customers and your employees. That was the biggest thing when he started the company. And he was starting to see things as because Apex was just a dealer. So we were selling off, we were selling other people's product and we were selling the monitoring services. And he said, in order to give the experience that our customers need, we need to do it all. And so he went full full fledge on that, and then he tried to get Honeywell to start building a touch screen because he wanted customers to have a better product. They told him no, so then he started his own product company, tested it, used a bunch of dealers, and then used that money to fund his own internal um stuff that we built and full-on home automation and all of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because I mean, you were there 15 years. I mean, you helped build that company, uh, talk us through that journey of going fifteen years with Vivin and what you learned through it.
SPEAKER_01I mean, there's there's so much. I mean, we could spend hours on on what I learned. Um Um I I think the the biggest takeaway is just it's just fun to go to battle every day with people that have a similar vision and work hard side by side. And it's not always perfect, but it was just an incredible experience to take something that was just a dealer all the way up to what it what it is today. Four different, you know, I think they've had four or five transactions now, which is pretty, pretty incredible. And uh it's changed people's lives, not just financially, but as has taught a lot of people, and you look at how many companies have been built off of that offspring.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, and that's I think that's the thing that Todd is probably the most proud of, is how many people have um not just thrived there, but have also just thrived from from the things that you know everything was learned and and taught in that ecosystem.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Because you mentioned, you know, Jared Young, obviously you worked with him and he was able to get you to a partner level. Um what did that mean for you becoming a partner at that level and being able to go run in skill organizations?
SPEAKER_01It was fun, but also challenging because you had, you know, when they when they brought the seven together, because there was at that point there was like three or four different divisions in the company, which is kind of like different groups, right? And the company said, Hey, these guys are fighting each other for recruits all the time, so let's just bring them together. So imagine taking like your biggest enemies in life and putting you all on the same team and saying, Hey, you guys are now partners, and you split pay. So make it work. So it was uh How'd you guys make it work? You know, it it's like anything in life. You when you're if you really just sit and and get to know somebody, there's so much good. There's so much good if you're looking for it. If you're looking for the bad, and when you're competing, you're always looking for the bad. But then you get around a table with these guys and you're like, wow, there's a lot I can learn from them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I mean, I learned I learned a ton from every single one of them.
SPEAKER_00What's the what was like one of your obviously other than Jared Young, what was your other big and big influence with the uh other guys that you worked with?
SPEAKER_01Was it I mean, they're all amazing. Yeah, Scott Scott Brown, Scott Brown is just a crazy networker. Like he would bring groups in from all over the country all the time. Yeah. Did a did a great job, good connector. Jason Brown, who I was became really good friends with, um, is another one of those Jared Young's just cares and loves about every uh loves everybody. Um, Jeff Mendez was just crazy, crazy good at systems, like building the best systems. And like I remember traveling with him one time when we were up in Canada, and the Canadians were just obsessed with him because he can just quote like just quotes after quotes after quotes and books after just the knowledge in that guy's heads crazy. Casey Boz obviously, you know, leads with his heart and has done a lot of good for a lot of people. Um, Bodie Gardner probably had the hardest job along with me in inside the partnership because we're having to deal with a lot of the money, so the hard conversations, the legal side of stuff. Um, and he handled it, he handled it really well. He protected our margins.
SPEAKER_00Um, I want to talk about that, Cody, the uh the finance side of running a business, because running a business is tough. I mean, in industry now, companies are going bankrupt left and right. When you're managing a business, especially at that level, what are some of the things that you're looking for to evaluate? Is this a good decision we go do, or you cut back?
SPEAKER_01And it kind of goes goes all the way back to the most important thing is that you you gotta, in order to have a good business, you have to take care of your employees and you have to take care of your customers. And so you have to, if you're gonna do that, you have to evaluate risk constantly. You constantly have to be looking at what what type of risk. So every decision that you make, it's like, where's the risk here? Yeah. And if it if it could jeopardize those couple things, you've got to just you've got to just make the hard decision and say no. And it's hard to do, especially as a sales guy, because you're looking, well, if we can generate more revenue, then but is it sustainable and is it more detrimental to the sales guy's mentality if it doesn't work out and you can't pay them right or you can't pay them on time?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Because I think that's that's that's a tough spot to be in to go make those decisions because not only are you impacting yourself, there's hundreds and thousands of people that you're gonna that you gotta go and um and lead. For for you, um especially in a leadership space, what are what are the the characteristics that you need to have in becoming a good leader in business?
SPEAKER_01Everybody's different. So everyone's but you have to be honest, you have to be able to make hard decisions, uh, you have to have tough conversations, um, but everybody's different. And I had managers and still have managers that are they're just all so different the way they do it. And some get the job done at a higher level than others, but others still get the job done and they still have a massive uh impact on what we're doing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Because I think that's one of the most you know powerful things that it that you can learn as a leader is is um is just the characteristics. You know, you gotta be honest. You're at you're at Viven for 15 years, you were you're part of the four transactions. What made you leave Vivent?
SPEAKER_01So it's kind of a little bit of a forced out. It was kind of a kind of a sad deal a little bit, but uh it was the right it was the right timing. I mean, we were getting paid a lot of money. Okay. Um we were getting a lot paid a lot of money. We were creating the value that we were getting paid. But you know, like any business, you look and say, okay, well, what's the most expensive stuff, and can we do the job without that expense? And so that was one of those conversations, and it was yeah. How'd you feel about it with it knowing that man, I 15 years I handled it, I handled it pretty good because I knew that you know there's a time and a place for everything, and everything happens for a reason. And putting myself in the shoes of the guys that reported to me, um, you know, me getting out of the way gives them gives them uh another bounce in the step and uh another boost. And you know, there's gonna be a time where that that day comes here too, and I think that's just inevitable in every in everything that you do. There's you know, you're gonna reach a point where you've got to create room for for the next people to step up.
SPEAKER_0015 years you technically retired. How long are you retired for?
SPEAKER_01I last about six months. Six months? I was uh I was a really good taxi driver for the kids, and you know, six months of sitting around and thinking about life and what you want, and money becomes a lot less important than you thought, and you start realizing what's important. And for me, it was way more important for me to walk away from that deal that I had with them that was kind of lulling me into complacency and taking me away from the person that I was. Um, and I didn't want my kids to see that. I want my kids to see somebody that's out grinding and you know, putting in the time and effort because especially my girls at the time, my girls are you know teenagers, they're 17 and 14 now, but like what are they? They're just gonna expect their husbands to be sitting at home all day and have all this money, like you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00So gotta go grind, make it happen, show them that that's what that's what we do, and so you they can find girls right now are doing dance, and then you got you got boys that are playing baseball, right?
SPEAKER_01Baseball and golf, baseball and golf. So they're in golf lessons, they have golf lessons every week, and then um my my nine-year-old said he was done with baseball, and my seven-year-old was like, got asked to try out for this comp team, which was a nine-year-old team, and he went and made it, and then I was talking to the coaches, and they're like, Don't you have a boy that's and I was like, Yeah, but he doesn't want to play. They're like, just have him come to practice and see if he likes it, and if he's good enough, we'll put him on the team. And so he did, and he he's loved it. He just hated his coaches the year before, and that's what's so important about leadership and believing in people. It's like Cooper's a completely different baseball player this year than he was last year.
SPEAKER_00What do you think was it the coach that just the way their approach was?
SPEAKER_01Their approach is is so good and calm, but also they push them. They push them, but they don't push them in a negative way. So all of the pushing feels very positive and uplifting, and like we believe in you.
SPEAKER_00Positive reinforcement. Yep. Rather than just I see that in most sports as it's like negative. You know, I I was kind of raised that way where you know the coach would yell and nag at you, and I was kind of taught to take that controlled aggression and channel it in a good way. Now I'm learning in my life, probably not the best way to go do that, especially when I'm dealing with guys on a day-to-day basis. But um is that something like is that like more your parenting style now?
SPEAKER_01Um it's something that you're you're constantly working on. Constantly working on it. You know, because there is no there's there's nothing that puts more pressure or has you question yourself more than being a parent. You know, like at work I can just make decisions and drop the hammer, and it's like all the emotions are aside, and like I just but with parenting, it's like, oh, did I do that right? Should I do that a little different? So parenting is for sure the the toughest form of leadership.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Six months retired. Six months what got you what got you back in the driver's seat to get back out there.
SPEAKER_01I knew I needed to do something, and I I got I got hit up on LinkedIn by uh quite a few recruiters, but this lady in particular was talking to me about this opportunity. I said, No, it was a headhunter. I said, now I'm good, and she said, You're gonna want to meet this guy. So I was like, All right, I'll take a call. Took the call, and I would happen to be going down the next day to Arizona, and that's where he was with my wife to um to visit her sister. So I was like, we'll grab lunch, and so just kind of yeah, just ended up feeling good about it and jumped, jumped all in. Who's the first person? It's actually ironic. Today is four years exactly.
SPEAKER_00We we we put that into the notes to do this episode. Four years, that's crazy. Who was the first person you called when you were like, hey, I'm doing this?
SPEAKER_01I don't remember. I don't remember probably my wife. So when I ended up deciding, I mean, I took a long time because I knew I wanted to be sure whatever I did. It was yeah, it was probably three at least three to five weeks, maybe longer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And you felt good about it and you jumped into it, and then we heard Ty's story, you know, bringing those guys over. And I mean, it's obviously I'm you know, being listened now, but then seeing where it first started.
SPEAKER_01What was it like in year one? Uh, year one was just figuring it out. I knew nothing about solar, absolutely nothing. Um, I'd never been a CEO.
SPEAKER_00Do you feel like that was a disadvantage?
SPEAKER_01It was a disadvantage in the sense that we I mean we we had a lot of fixes we had to do that first year because we're we're great at the sales. I was really good at sales, um, but I didn't understand, you know, how to build the right operations to keep your costs down. Um, and so we made a lot of mistakes that first year. We ruined a lot of roofs, spent a lot of money to fix those roofs, but I did make sure a hundred percent of our customers were taken care of, but it was expensive. We made we made no money that first year.
SPEAKER_00It's hard to believe that because you know, you guys tell me about this, you know, yeah, we we gave all gave away all these roofs, but I'm like, there's no way. But obviously, you know, I hear from you know Steven and these guys of like how you guys first started. What do you think on the operation side most businesses fail at when it comes to um overhead? Is it more of just scaling too fast? Is it maybe more of just um not having it?
SPEAKER_01Understand every single piece of your expenses, okay, and then you have to build the right comp plan for the people to get the results that you want. And that's where we we had those screwed up. We didn't really know we knew the cash was coming in, we didn't really know where it was going out, and we didn't um have the proper um compensation plans for our operational team. What were you guys doing volume-wise, like as far as revenue from your 22 million, I believe, that year from April 21st through the end of the year. And what was the first adjustment you made to uh a few months in we switched everybody to uh from once we started having all these problems, we switched everybody to from salary in the field to um getting paid per job, and then we would bonus them based on past inspection.
SPEAKER_00So we just with that little that little adjustment from year one to year two, where did you guys end up in year two?
SPEAKER_01Well, the f the day that we made the adjustment, we lost 60% of our crews.
SPEAKER_00Oh.
SPEAKER_01But we actually with the 40%, we were actually doing more, we were doing just as much work with 40% of the people. And then we just built the vision. If you do it, you do it right, you're actually gonna make, you know, we drew it out just like you would with the sales guy. Said, okay, last year you made 90 grand. If you do it this way, you're gonna make 110 on our program.
SPEAKER_00You so year two, um, from 20 million, what what where were you guys at in year two?
SPEAKER_01Uh year two, I want to say somewhere in the let's see, that would so 22, 23, we did somewhere in the 40s in the 40 million recognized revenue, so turned on customers, not sales revenue, actual um installed working customers.
SPEAKER_00What did where when when did you know like in this space? Because you know, obviously, solar is like the wild, wild west. I've been in an industry, my opinion, I feel like I've been in for 15 years, but when you're evaluating just the marketplace, where are most companies going wrong? And where did you feel like hey, if we focus on these inputs, we can have a higher chance of number one staying the business but also scaling the business?
SPEAKER_01I think most most companies in any industry is they create too much complexity. Too much complexity. And I think in solar in particular, I think the reason why a lot of companies had a hard time is because they created a lot of complexity with the amount of partners they had. Um, you know, a lot of companies had multiple modules, multiple inverters to choose from, they had multiple finance companies, they just created this tons of just hard stuff to track. Um and I think it's always better to, you know, even if even if people make a little bit less money per deal, but you create a really simple, narrowly focused business plan, they'll actually make a lot more money because there's less complexity for them.
SPEAKER_00Year two. You guys get up into that range, and obviously, you know, year over year, Centria's constantly growing and growing and growing. I think that's one of the things that we've especially this year, one of the big big players fell out, and now we're starting to see uh a massive exodus. What do you see in the industry right now that you still feel like there's huge opportunity?
SPEAKER_01I think there's a huge opportunity for um, I think a big part of the future is battery storage. And I don't think anybody's really figured out real good battery storage. Um, but I think that's gonna be the the future. That the groups that figure out that piece are gonna be the ones that are way further ahead. Because real battery storage that's not necessarily completely relied on the grid is um because the utilities can still continue to constantly change stuff and do whatever they need to do to the customer, and storage helps eliminate that the power that the utilities have there, but also with the right product, you can create a lot of demand relief, and the the grid's so far behind that they need something incredible like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Because right now, the current the current setup for batteries is like the Teslas. What's the problem right now with the current setup with like the Tesla power balls and some of these batteries now?
SPEAKER_01They're just not they're not super, super capable. Not super capable, they're not really taking much off of they're not really taking much load off of the grid.
SPEAKER_00So the future is batteries where where we're getting to.
SPEAKER_01I th I think so. I think so. I think there's always gonna be an awesome place for Pv only in certain markets where net metering is still really good and um great thing, great thing for the homeowners.
SPEAKER_00But in a lot of the markets where you know there's not net metering, there's you know, a lot of issues with data centers going in and tons of grid pull, then so what what do you think I think I I think this is just a topic because there's so many people right now that are obviously looking down on the solar industry on just you know, is it sustainable? Um what do you what do you have to say about that? You know, for those recruits that are probably you know possibly looking at joining the industry, but they just don't have full confidence. What advice do you have?
SPEAKER_01I mean, you just got to get with the right company that makes the hard decisions, but uh you as a sales guy have to be okay with that. And the problem is most of the most of the companies that have gone on out of business um have had amazing sales leaders, but they also made the decisions. And the decisions that they've made with kind of like owning the installer a little bit is the reason why they're going out of business.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean it's starting to see there's just there's I I feel personally the marketplace is always gonna have its ups and downs. I think I've I've prepped myself to know like every year there's always gonna be something. You know, last year we dealt with the tax credits going away. Uh, we dealt with you know ownership. Now it's now we're from pivoting to TPO. But I always find like there's always opportunity when things like this come up because those who figure out how to go solve those are typically the ones that get paid the most. Um and I think that's one of the things that I'm excited about this year is is jumping into solving a big energy issue. For a lot of the reps that are typically selling right now, um where's a lot of the because you you talked about reps owning the installer, right? Like what do you mean by that? Are they just leveraging the company too much?
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, and it's in I mean we get we get this, like you know, there was a couple years ago when everybody was going to Illinois and they're like, oh, get on with Sonova. We've got to, we have to have Illinois, and oh, I don't know if I want to be at Suntria because we're not going to Illinois. And it's like you just you can't you can't make the decisions that the people without the information want you to make.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And the information and the books of Sonova never looked good. And anytime you go and have thousands of salespeople flood one market the same year, what are you gonna have? You're gonna have extended timelines, you're gonna give a horrible customer experience. And how do the reps live on commission? When do they get paid? They get paid at install. Yeah, a little bit with setters, but you're just you're gonna do it's gonna be a horrible experience. And maybe it's 20% easier, but you know what? Let's just go put 20% more effort where I know I can fulfill in those two areas that are important. And then, you know, sure enough, everybody ended up leaving Illinois. Illinois about bankrupted, you know. I could count six companies if they didn't bankrupt those six, you know, most of those are already bankrupt, but you know, there's a couple hanging on, but it's been a rough and that decision right there alone was what put a lot of them in a bad position. I mean, 20, 30, 40 million dollars are uh owed to some of these installers from Sonova when Sonova filed bankruptcy, and it was all Illinois volume. So you just can't you just you have to you have to hold fast and just say, you know what, I'm okay growing. I mean, this year we're up 57% year over year, everybody's flat, we're going backwards. And this is the first year that we've done that type of growth, and that's okay. Yeah, and I'm all about a valuable company just keeps going this way, and that's that's kind of what we're doing.
SPEAKER_00And you know what I love, Cody, the most is with all this going on, you're always in this like calm state where you're still going on your your marathons and your runs, and life's good and life's great. And all this things could be going down. You know, hey, companies are, but one thing I do notice is you're still focusing on you know your health, making sure you're in the best shape to be able to go lead. What's the what's the where did the marathon running come from?
SPEAKER_01Oh man, I don't even know if I like it yet. I just really don't. I just pretty similarities. I like pushing myself to see if I couldn't. And last year my daughter got in a car accident in in October of 24. And it was it was pretty bad. Fractured her pelvis all the way around. And I'm like, you know what? I'm just remember that. I'm just gonna live. I'm gonna do something every year that's just makes me feel like like more alive. So I just was like, said, you know, for 25, I was gonna do a half marathon, but I want to do it fast, not just do it to do it. I want to do it fast, and then a full marathon. I ended up getting injured, didn't do the full, did the half. I was a little bit short of my goal time, which is fine. I I gave it my all.
SPEAKER_00So for a lot of listeners who are listening, what's a half marathon? How many miles is that? And what's a full marathon?
SPEAKER_01The half marathon's 13.1 miles, and a full is 26.2.
SPEAKER_00And right now, to be in like marathon, what is the pace you need to keep for like to hit a half marathon or a full marathon? What's like the pace per mile?
SPEAKER_01Depend depends on your goal. I think anybody that does uh any of them is just it's just awesome. I mean, I stand at the finish line and watch people come through, and it is very inspiring. I mean, you've got all kinds of people, you got super old, you've got you know, bigger, um young, slow, fast, you got it all, and you just see the emotions from every person, it's phenomenal because they all just went and you know, they pushed themselves. Nobody goes and does it, even though you know someone might finish a half marathon in three hours, but they're they get to that finish line and they gave their all. You know, you see it on their face. So it's pretty, it's a pretty cool thing to do. I mean, if you ever want to see you want to see like people that really just gave their all, watch the finish line of a full marathon.
SPEAKER_00Did you see the one?
SPEAKER_01Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00There's this like marriage uh it's actually going viral right now on Instagram or social media. There's like a guy that's cruising at the uh end of his race, and then there's another guy.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, I saw that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and he's like giving it his all.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think that was the LA marathon um this year.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I would see that I'm like, it's not how you start, it's about how you finish. So right now you're about to go into uh I think it's in is it in Ogden, farm Farmington? Ogden.
SPEAKER_01Ogden. So I have the Ogden marathon on May 16th. I believe it's like three and a half weeks out. Um so my goal for this year is a fast full marathon and then uh 50 mile trail race. And I'll do the 50 mile trail race in October.
SPEAKER_00How many miles have you done so far this year? I have no idea.
SPEAKER_01Or how many miles are you doing monthly? I'm just focused on this week. This week was my peak week. I think I'm I'll hit close to 60, close to 60 this week.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Do you feel like uh running and getting these marathons is pretty similar to business?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's it's you can't just go start anything in life and have it just take off right away. You know, it's it's a slow progression. It's a slow climb. Yeah, I'm not even gonna be able to do that. You don't just start out running fast. It's you know, you you create a plan, you follow the plan, and that that plan eventually gives you the results that you want.
SPEAKER_00So, Cody, what is your vision? I gotta I gotta, you know, every episode I I sit down with every every guest and we talk about you know the vision. What is the vision for you personally?
SPEAKER_01The main thing that I want out of business is I want to see I want to create something that builds lots of young entrepreneurs into feeling like they own they own something. So I don't know exactly what that looks like long term, but I want to see lots of people take a shot at themselves and a chance on themselves as an entrepreneur and build and grow. And I actually think that's gonna be kind of the wave of the future, you know, with with AI and the ability for everybody to be more efficient and learn stuff, I think there's a huge opportunity with creating opportunity for people to um be in some type of business role capacity um and with ownership.
SPEAKER_00So last message for someone that is listening to this show right now episode, and they're thinking about jumping into it. What advice do you have if they're currently dealing with doubt? What do you tell that person?
SPEAKER_01What's I just what's the worst thing that happens? What's the worst thing that happens? You you go bankrupt. Who cares? It's just money, start over. You know, that's the thing. It's like there really isn't any downside. There really isn't downside. Um, you're still healthy, you still got your family, you still got, you know, a lot of great things. You can walk, wake up in the morning, life's good. So just take a shot at it. And you know, if you fail, you fail. But I can tell you if you put in the effort with a good attitude every day, your actual real effort, not just like going through the motions, then it always works out. But you really don't have anything to lose.
SPEAKER_00I love it, brother. That's uh you heard it live and direct from Cody. Cody, appreciate you uh jumping on. You literally uh you came in at one o'clock, and now you're at it, you're headed back, you're headed to St. Doors tomorrow. Yep. So I appreciate you making some time to jump on the on the pod. But um, where can we find you, Cody?
SPEAKER_01I don't really, you can't really find me. I don't do much on anything that is.
SPEAKER_00I heard that you're gonna be doing uh the marathon and you're gonna you're gonna capture every single every every single mile.
SPEAKER_01Well, maybe, maybe somebody will we'll see.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. One of these guys, you guys gotta keep keep the camera going. But Cody, appreciate you. Um gotta do one, do one more of these.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, dude, appreciate you, man. It's been a pleasure the last couple years. Love you tons. What you've built, these guys. I mean, you're just inspiring so many people to become their best self. So I appreciate it.