The Real Cost of Building Something | Below the Surface | UNFILTERED #1

Jared Shepherd built ProServe from his garage with nothing but a truck, some tools, and his wife Maria saying "okay." Now he's responsible for 50+ employees and their families — and for the first time, he's talking about what actually sits underneath all of it.
In this unfiltered episode, Jared introduces himself, brings on co-host Matt Wiggins, and gets real about anxiety, panic attacks, work-life guilt, loyalty, and why the "grind 24/7" message is BS.
Drop your questions in the comments — next episode is all Q&A.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey, what's up guys? Welcome to Below to Surface Podcast. Um, actually, this is the unfiltered um version of Below the Surface. Um, it's brand new, it's a little bit different. We don't really have a guest. I do have a co-host. Yeah, what's up? That's gonna help me through this process, but a little bit different. Um, very unfiltered. Um, another thing that I realized in the last two weeks, guys, was I didn't introduce myself really and who I am, um, which is pretty funny. We kind of just went straight to talking to guests and never really got on a topic of me. And actually, one of my guests actually brought it up and said that, hey, let somebody interview you. We're not going to quite do that, but I did want to have an episode to explain who I am, why I'm here, and why I'm doing this. Um, and that's the biggest reason today. Um, I did want to introduce um Matt, Matt Wiggins.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Hey, what's up, man?

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Uh, Matt's going to help me um on these episodes. So normally going forward on these episodes, it's gonna be I'm gonna we're gonna have questions and answers for you. So it's gonna be a more un you know, unfiltered question, uh Q ⁇ A. Um, so that's why last few days you've seen me on Facebook. I've been asking for you guys to send me questions um so we can go over those throughout the episode. Um, but getting into me a little bit, um the biggest reason I did this podcast and the way we have it set up is you know, people know names, people know businesses, um, but they you only see the outline of things. Um, they only see the wins, the logos, and all the visible stuff. Um, and they don't ever really see what sits underneath all that. Um, and that's the biggest reason I started this podcast because I'm not a podcaster at all. It's not me. Um, and you know, I I don't think people see the pressure, the failures, um, the long nights, um, the moments of missing your family, um, all that good stuff. So that's why I started a podcast to talk about that and bring on guests that have been through that process so people can actually see what success really is. Um, and you know, that's why the slogan of the podcast is depth over image, um, because all that stuff underneath really is more important and it's actually what creates the image of the person. So um that's why that's that. Um Matt, tell us a little bit about you and um why you decided to help me on this.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Yeah, boy. So yeah, my name's Matt, uh local New Bern native here, bounced around the Carolinas a bit, but always seemed to find my way back into New Bern. Uh yeah, I've known Jared now going on what since 2018. It's about eight years. I think I've always kind of helped you with graphic design stuff, logo stuff, and business branding. So I've seen you kind of grow the business and what you're about with it. So yeah, when you asked me to come out and help this one, I was excited to come see it. We had talked about doing the podcast thing kind of a while back, right before you started.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

So it's fun to finally get to be out here and help out with it.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Yeah, man, and I uh I appreciate it. The podcast has been on my mind for a long time. I was actually on the phone earlier with somebody about that. Um telling, you know, it was actually somebody I was inviting on to become a guest. And, you know, they he was saying some of the same things I get a lot is man, I don't like to talk. Yep, I don't like to talk in front of people. And the funny thing is, I'm you know, outside of work. Um, I I don't like to talk either. I'm I'm pretty pretty quiet, um, keep to myself and just kind of hang out with my family and fish and not have a lot to say um unless somebody gets me all wounded up. Then I do, but I said we can get into that later. Um but again, thanks for coming on. And I think the reason I got the podcast was an idea of mine, I guess, and that's what I was telling the guy earlier was I owe it back to others. Um podcasts really helped me, um, especially when I was in my mid-20s. I really leaned onto podcasts, and that's like when podcasters were like really starting to get popular, but not popular. So, like you really want the cool guy to listen to podcasts. That was in what you were doing. Um, but for you know, while what I was doing for a career, I was on the road a lot, so I got tired of the radio, so I just started listening to Success Podcasts. And one of the first podcasts I listened to, he was talking about how weird he is, and how growing up he always thought he was weird, um, why he didn't do good in school, or why uh, you know, he didn't like to talk to people very much. Um and all the way up to my mid-20s, I just thought I was weird instead of different. I never really understood I had something that a lot of successful people do. Um, and not until I listened to those podcasts I realized that hey, I wasn't alone. Not weird. I actually have something special that I just haven't learned how to twist and angle it right to use it. I didn't use it as ammo, I used it against my own self. Um, so I just think I owe it to others to be able to be a voice. Um, I've been through some things, I've built some things. Um, so now I just hope that what I talk about and what my guests talk about um you know help somebody else. And that's one reason I want to bring on guests because two men talking or you know, man and woman talking um about things like that, things can get pretty deep and things can come out when you're just talking to you know with yourself on a podcast, I think you can only give it so much out. Um, but sometimes people can bring answers and questions out of you that you normally wouldn't get. Um, so that's why this was built. Um, it's very uh unfiltered and raw, and we just like to talk about what's going on. Um so why did you think why did you want to help me?

SPEAKER_01 6:14

So, like I said, I've known you for a while, and I know you were big into wanting to coach. I think when I first met you, you were actually a trainer over at so I knew you as a trainer, and then I knew you as a business owner, so watching that grow, and then I knew you as an assistant coach. And so I've saw you constantly in these roles where you were trying to like pour in, dump into people, uh build leaders in the business. So knowing your goal was always to help inspire people and see you get that drive uh and really get hyped up when it was about talking to people helping build. So I knew that was something I think you would have been excited about.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Um and just having a good you've built up such a brand now where I knew that you'd have that influence and have that respect to get people to like pay attention and see what's up.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Right. Um yeah. Um I and I don't even it's funny you say that, that you know, I feel I have a follower or I'm an influence of people because I I don't feel that way at all. Um I'm told I'm just told that. Um I'm very humble uh when it comes to that type of stuff. Um because still in the back of my mind I'm still that weirdo. And I still haven't completely figured it all out, you know. Um that's why this podcast will be a working project project because you know I haven't figured it all out. I just know I have some purposes that guys put on my heart to do. Um, and I just have to do it. Um, but you know, I'm I'm really nobody special at all. Um, first off, my name, you know, um I'm Jarrett Shepherd. Um, if nobody's caught that yet, um, but I'm sure you have. Uh first and foremost, uh I'm I'm a husband. That's that's the very first thing. Um my first priority is my wife. Um, I got two beautiful daughters. Um I'm eight and six years old. Um, so if anybody has two daughters that are at close of age can understand, you know, uh where a lot of my stress may come from. Um I'm a business owner. Um uh I'm a builder. I say I'm a builder because I like to, even as a kid, I I've always liked to build things, um, but I really enjoy building businesses and people. Um so um that's why I I call myself a builder. Um I'm somebody that believes standards matter over everything. Um standard and work. Um that that's what matters. Um and probably the biggest thing to me is loyalty. Um loyalty is probably um the most important thing to me, and it should be everybody. I guess without you know you being loyal and having loyal people around you, then you're not you know, you're not much, you're not gonna amount to much. Um and the biggest thing is uh I think excuses, uh excuses cost people more than they really think it does, uh especially leading people. Um going through my journey of leading people, you know, because I started leading people when I was still trying to learn how to lead myself. So a lot of it's from error. Um, you know, most of it's from error. Um, so but just seeing other people, you know, it's the excuses that they make that really hinder them because everybody I've been around, it's they're really built to be something. It's just they've heard excuses and made excuses their whole life, and that's just become a norm. Um and a lot of great things, you know, in my life, and I know most successful people, and one of my beliefs is things are built under pressure. Um, so if you're around me, um I strive under pressure, which is really, really weird, drives my wife crazy because she's a totally opposite. Um and uh and I think pressure tells the truth about people. Um I think that's why it works so well. Um why it's so important to your success and why I think I work so under you know well under pressure. Um, because I think I've put so much pressure on myself my whole life is made exactly who I was supposed to be. And I don't I think people don't do that enough.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Yeah. You did mention like you talked about a little bit stress, uh excuses, and then kind of how you actually thrive with pressure. So like what would you say is actually your struggles then like personally? Like what areas do you struggle with, get you down, like puts you in a slump, or stops you?

SPEAKER_00 10:53

Um I wouldn't say I get in slumps. Um I'll go through phases of again, I work good under pressure. So that's why I would wouldn't say it was a slump to me. Um I can have moments of disappointment or second guessing. Um I get in a point to where I feel like something's not working, it's not more of a uh slump or sadness or aggravation, it's more of a um I don't even really know how to put it. It's I get down on myself and start second guessing myself. Um but it it doesn't last very long at all. Um my wife always makes fun of me because I can literally go to bed like the world's ending and wake up tomorrow and be full speed, ready to go. Um so I'm that type of person that a good night's rest. I can wake up totally fine. Yeah. And even a marriage is funny because you know, you know, she'll hang on to stuff. I wake up and fine, I don't really remember what even we argued about. And it's a lot, and I think that's what makes successful people really go. It's because everything is short-lived. One thing your struggles and your failures and your complications are short-lived. But also, and a a lot of people think it might be a bad thing, but your success is short-lived. Look at uh coaches, Nick Saban, you know, all these coaches that have won championship after championship, um they celebrate for a few minutes, and then you interview Nick Saban after a national championship, he's talking about his recruitment next year. Everything's short-lived. Um, so I think that's why I don't get in slumps, and for my struggles, um there's a lot of things I struggle with. Um I guess the biggest thing is carrying things all the way that nobody sees. Um I don't think, and I think that's probably the hardest thing and the biggest thing I struggle with. Um for example, payroll. You know, we have over 50 employees, so and I take that personally. I'm responsible of 50 people plus their families. So who knows if you do the math, you know, it's not you know, 200 people, yeah, um, probably more likely. Um and all those people are dependent on you. Um, because without I can make one mistake that can literally mess up 250 people's lives. Um, hopefully not for a very long time, but for a short amount of time, I've caused a problem. Yeah. Um, I've caused you maybe to struggle with money, um, to buy groceries or you know, most of all the happiness of their father or their mother. Um and trying to grow and fix problems every day uh on top of trying to lead. I think that's been my biggest struggle over building ProServe was I'm a leader and I'm a builder. Um and I'm what I really realized is I'm not an operator. I've been able to teach myself how to be an operator and be a good one. Um, but starting out, I was not. I I built it. Um, and a lot of that is kind of like we talked with Tim um last week is a pastor takes care of his people, a preacher builds. You know, I always so I'm a preacher, you know. Um I like to build things, help people move on, build, help people move on, build. Um, but what we've done at ProServe was we built something, you know, so big that I got stuck in operations for a very, very long time. Um, so in my opinion, the the building and the relationships and stuff, I was missing that. But in reality, I've learned that I was affecting a lot of lives. But in the moment, it was a very big struggle for me. Um and the second biggest thing, and that's more of my personality. Um, but again, I think it makes successful people is my brain never stops, it never shuts off. Um, so that builds up stress, anxiety. Um, you can have depression moments. Um, so I've been through it all. Um, you know, anxiety, stress, depression, panic attacks. Um, I've I've done it. Um, because I again going back to the pressure, I've always just put a lot of pressure on myself way before even pro surf. Um, and now I got all these people. I mean, so the pressure is just and then when your mind don't shut off, even when you're home, you're tired, I could be fishing on a boat in my happy space and boom, have an anxiety attack.

unknown 15:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

Because it's just pressure, even when you're not even realizing in the moment, it's a lot of pressure. Um, and it just causes a lot of things, um, you know, a lot of struggles. And sometimes people think strength means you don't feel pressure. And I think that's BS. Yeah. Um, the truth is strength usually means um you feel like you can't keep moving, but you're always moving. I think that's that's what strength to me is. Yeah. Um you you constantly fall flat on your face and get up. Any successful person, any champion or anything that you've seen in your life that have been great people, literally are the people that you literally just can't keep on a mat, and and that's it. So I would say those are my struggles and some of the stuff that I I go through. Um, but anybody watching or listening, just keep moving. Um, because that's why I said like I don't have slumps. Um, but my wife might disagree. I might have slumps, but yeah, um, but I in my mind I really don't. I've always just gotten right back up and kept on trucking along. We for one, again, that pressure is a bad thing and a good thing. The good thing about the pressure is that's what does keep you moving because I'm very aware of that I can lose it all in one day. And so if I lose it all in one day, so does everybody else. Exactly. So pressure is a positive and negative to me.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Yeah. I think one of my favorite companies I worked for out when I was in Asheville, um, they always had something going on. Like there was never a period of rest. Right. But I love that because there was always like a goal to work toward that it just felt like it was constantly moving, like there was always something next, like we're ahead of target and we would celebrate that target. But then it's like, cool, how do we like do this better? Right. And it was like honestly, it was fun. Like you didn't feel like you were stagnant just sitting there just on a mundane repetition, like something to work toward.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Exactly right. Um it's funny that you say that too, because we had some meetings today, um, and I had a meeting with a few techs, and we're constantly growing, so with growth, it's constantly struggle, constantly adapting, you know, have having to adapt. Um, things change, procedures, all that thing is constantly changing. As soon as you got something down, something new is thrown at you. You got new software or new ways of doing things because you grow and double in customers and you grow employees, like there has to be different processes to things because you add different people, you have more people in the puzzle. So, of course, you have different, you know, things going over here that used to go over here, now go over here. And so you have to, and I was explaining that to them, like, you know, we're not built for everybody. Um, you know, we're not built for the people that don't like the change, don't like different scenery. Um that if you want to be stagnant, you know, you like steady, and don't come work for me, don't come work here. But um, but I think most people do exactly what you said, they like the change and the constant chase of something different and the growth of things because I think that's been one of our successes is being able to keep employees that way, is because they do see that part. Even through the pain and struggle, they see that we're constantly growing, and we've proven that people grow within us, you know, because we only promote within. So they've seen these other people get promoted and they know we're not lying. Um, you know, so I think that's one reason that we've been successful is exactly what you talked about. It's just, you know, what you liked about the the company in Asheville. We try to do the same as much as we can, you know. I think in Asheville you were with uh exploring or a venture company or something, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:48

There was that one, but the one I was actually talking about was actually a church out there. And they were a mega church, like seven campuses. I think since then they've opened up five more. So I mean they're doing well and still popping up out there.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

Yeah, and we try to do the same thing. I mean, people want growth. Um, like I said, we try to make it exciting as we can, but at the end of the day, we we do just fix things for a living. So it's not very exciting, but we try to do as much as we can, and that's when we focus it more on the people, build on the people. Um, at the end of the day, people care about people around them. I don't care what anybody says or what the news tells you now. People love people, people want to help people, and people want to watch people grow. Yeah. Um, and I think a lot of companies miss that.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

But I mean, you guys also still expand because every once in a while I'll see like you guys pop up and like, oh, now we have like refrigerator trucks, like we can handle more services. Now we're hiring electricians, plumbers. Like you're trying to still grow, like here's what we can offer customers and how to increase service. Right. So, like, yeah, you can say it's like, oh, we just fix things, but really it's like we are trying to do a service to a community. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Yeah. And I think um that is the thing with us. Like I said, we're always trying to grow. Um, and it's to the point now it's I leave it up to my employees um on how far they want to take this. Um, because it it's so far past me anymore that I could want to grow it as much as I want to. If they're not on board, then I'm just chasing my tail. So we have constant meetings with you know leadership on how far they want to take this. And they just know I have their back. Um, and uh I listen to their ideas, um, and you know, you know, they kind of they're driving a ship, I'm just a captain of it. Yeah, you know, so but I think what you were saying, um I think that's my opinion about it, is just you have to grow. You know especially when you get to the point of business that we're at right now, is you're not a startup, you're not new, you have a name, people are chasing you. People see you, people want what you want, what you have, and people will try to take it. But people don't realize. So if you're not constantly outworking them, out outthinking them, outperforming them, um they will catch you. Um, and so that's what I express to my team. And you know, I treat my team like I treat myself because I need mini versions of myself everywhere. Um, and then I need smarter versions of Jared in places. Um, and I think that's where we're at right now is I have people smarter than me, and I have a lot of minimies that they kind of taking what I have in my dream and running with it, which makes it easier.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

Yeah. And it kind of circled back, you talked about you have all that, like all your team that you're like collecting, you have like all these ideas, and so you go home and your brain is just like constantly firing. So, how do you have that moment like okay, like disconnect, focus on family, focus on like personal health, like not be stressed out?

SPEAKER_00 22:54

So I don't know what's disconnect look like um that's that's you know, and that's what I encourage the guests that come on here too, is is to be real and honest, and you know, that that's a weakness. Um, I don't um I love to fish. Um, anybody knows me knows that's my outlet, and I can thank my wife for that. Um, I think we're about six years in a business, and she's like, you have to find something else to do. Put it all away for a couple hours and find something to do because you're you won't survive it. And people think that's a joke, um, or that's being, you know, that's not the truth about when it comes to running a business or having a lot of pressure on yourself. Like, if you don't find an outlet, you won't be here very long. That's the truth. Um, I've seen many people, you know, have depression and take their own life that are business owners. Um, you know, because just they never took the time to have that outlet. Um, so I I really don't know why I literally just told you while I'm fishing, I can have an anxiety attack. So I, you know, even when I try, it's not online. But my biggest struggle with troll uh troll um struggle is trying to find balance because you have to find balance for yourself, which is what which is number one, which that's been my last thing for years is me. So I'm trying to just slowly remind myself that I have to take care of me first, and if not, then nothing else matters. Yeah. Um, then it's my family, um, and then it's the business, and I have to take care of all that every day. So you constantly feel like you have a foot here, foot there, foot here. So that's been probably my biggest struggle when it comes to business and not being able to own one line is I never feel like I'm doing the right thing, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

If I'm on the boat, I feel like I should be home or at work. If I'm at home, I feel like I should be working. If I'm at work, I should feel like I should be home. So you constantly have guilt. Um, because you're needed so many places. So I've trying to understand and teach myself that it's not about the um quantity, it's the quality of time and everywhere that you are. Um, and that three hours here of straight attention, even with my employees. You know, before I moved into this office, I was on site all day, every day, but I was probably never present. Now I go to the office once a week, but I they get my whole attention for six hours. So they get more of me actually. Yeah. Same thing with my family. If I give them a whole Saturday and they only see me here and there throughout the week, but they got a full 12 hours of me, then that's more than most people are given on a whole seven-day schedule. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

It's also just more structured because you can say, like, I'm allotting myself this period to give like to focus on you because I have this like many other things that also need it.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Correct. And it's small things, you know. Um, actually, Maria noticed on the last time we went to eat, I didn't have my phone. She's like, Did you leave your phone in the car on purpose? Yes. Because if not, I know what I'm gonna do. Because there's work on here.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

So I'm gonna read emails that because my brain don't shut off from that. It's not a it's not a purpose thing. I'm not trying to be disrespectful to anybody.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

No, but I forked out with you in the mornings when your phone like rings 30 times in like one hour.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Yeah, and I got you to the point now, I go to the gym, I have to turn my phone off because I don't work that way. I will get to me, business is important. So if I get a phone call in the middle of a gym session, I'm probably gonna leave and go take care of work. Yeah. Um, but it I've learned that that's not how I should be. Me comes first. Um, because I'm, you know, I realize um if I don't have me, my time, um, and I like I don't work out, I don't feel good, um, I don't do something to relieve some stress, I'm no good to nobody. Yeah, I'm just a tied up, wound up ball ready to explode. So um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

No, I mean, when I did the outdoor adventure stuff, that was something we always had to talk to our participants and people about is you have to worry about you first. Like you're no good to the group if you are struggling. And also, like the type of outdoor growth we were doing was therapeutic to like help people improve. And so they had to be a little selfish. They had to like, hey, like advocate for myself and say, I need this, I need to focus on this, I can't worry about anything else right now. Like, that's step one. That's a good thing, right? Like, selfish has this weird context of it's a bad thing, but if it's something you struggle with, of like I always give more of myself away to it's okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Well, here's the biggest character people don't realize about that is if you don't learn to be selfish, you start to resent people.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

And people don't notice that it takes a long time to even notice it when you're doing it. Um, because in your mind you're constantly pouring into others, and then in in reality, you feel like, okay, I'm not getting nothing back. Because you're not even giving it to yourself, so you're like literally on zero. So in reality, it's not somebody else's job to fill your cup. You fill your cup, but once it is empty, you start looking to the outside source to fill it up, and now you're pissed because nobody's giving back. But we we forget why we do give, it's got nothing to do with giving back to me. I don't need anything, but when you are an empty, you you seem to start resenting people um because they're not pouring back into you.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Yeah, I know you probably struggle with this too. I know I'm a yes man, like I love to try to help people. People come to me all the time with like, I need help with this. Can you do this for me? And I was I think it's a I don't know, raised southern hospitality thing. It's like, yeah, like I can help you out. Like, that's fine. Like, right, I'll give you this. And like a little bit's good when you start having multiple people and you're just like, I'm getting stretched thin, and like I hate every one of y'all for like coming to me. But it's like, I'm the one that did it, I'm the one that said yeah. Correct. Can people see Dallas? Dallas is like racked out, right?

SPEAKER_00 29:16

So if you hear snoring, that is Dallas. Um, she is uh not a very good uh co-host. Um, she has passed out. Um, she is a 15-week 15-week King Corso um that we just recently got, but she goes with me everywhere. So if any I just wanted to bring that up because I'm sure you're hearing snoring, and that is Dallas. But yeah, I'm uh a yes man too. Um I I try to work on it and get better, um, but it's definitely a struggle. Um again, I think that's a lot of what I put pressure on myself. Like I just said, I never I feel like I have to be here, here, here, and here because again, that's just saying yes, yes, yes, yes. Um, and and never shutting one thing off saying no, you can wait. Yeah. Um, but I've gotten a lot better at that, and that's actually made me be a better leader over the last, I say, few months. It's I finally that finally clicked with me to start saying no, limit your time, structure your time, give people limited access to you. I've been able to teach people up under me and my leaders to do the same, and I've starting to see them get better and better and better. Um, so I just hope it don't take them as long as it took me to realize that it's okay to say no. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

No, especially for like setting expectations. Like if you're just yes the entire time and then somebody's like, you didn't do this, it's like I didn't have time to do it. Right. I just I would have liked to have known no. Correct. So I wasn't expecting it. Correct. Communication.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

That's it. If we want to go back to something that bugs me, that's probably number one. Um, I don't really that's about the only thing I get upset about. Um, even in my relationships, it's with my employees. Um, I'll never get mad at you if something didn't get done and you told me it wasn't going to get done. Um, but if you knew it was expected to get done and then you just go home and it's not done, and I catch it later, that's a problem. But if you would simply just send an email and say, hey, I got behind today, it's my first task tomorrow morning, I'll get it done. We're good. Um, so communication is everything. Um and in business, it's not just with customers. Everybody knows that's big with customers. Everybody tries to come up with the best new thing to communicate better with customers all the time. But the biggest thing I think businesses make is internal communication. They just focus so much on the outside, but they don't even know how to talk with each other inside, so nothing is really getting done or getting handled correctly.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

So yeah, communication. No big one for sure. For sure. It's yeah. You you you want to piss Jared off, do that one. Yeah, just don't talk. Yeah, yeah. I don't, you know, because I'm big on everything. If I call you, I email you right behind it. There, you know, I teach my employees that too. There's a paper trail. Communicate in multiple different ways. If you call somebody, they don't answer, text them. There's proof. Um, and that'll get you out of a lot of trouble in business and in your relationships. Oh, yeah. You know, you know, e even with your wife, if you you didn't call me. Yeah, text to you too. You see it? Yeah, yeah, you're you're right. You know.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

No, a big thing I've learned, I mean, I learned this, you know, from every single job, yours included, and where I'm even at now is the worst thing I think people have to do is like they have to ask, what are you doing? Like, hey, where's this? Like, I should just be able to communicate. This is what I'm working on, this is where I'm at, this is where you'll find me. That way nobody else has to like come track me down. And I find I now even get resentful when I have to do that for like other services I'm looking for. Correct. If I've like ordered something and like I haven't heard an update, it's like, okay, where's this thing I got? Like, why am I not hearing why it's late? Like, just talk to me. That's all I need. I shouldn't have to seek out information. Right.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

Um, biggest one of the biggest things we teach at work is that I try to get through their heads is if a customer calls us, that's not a good thing. Um, for one thing, we don't sell a happy service.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

No. When the process something's broken, you're about to spend money.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

A lot of money, you know. That's all when yes, they can love us all day and like us, but when they see the pro serve logo, they see dollar signs. Yeah. It's not they don't see happy faces. And this is not a boat ride or a fishing trip. This is you're about to spend money on something you do not want to spend money on. Um, so when they call us, it's not a good thing. So either they're calling us because something broke, they're not happy, and then anything outside of that, the reason they're calling you is probably more they're looking for an update. And that's not good either because they're already upset that you're involved, anyways. That's is dollar signs. Yeah. Now they're upset because you're not communicating the next steps and they're wondering why their cooler is still down. You know, so we're very strict at work about that. Like, um I tell people you can't over-communicate. So we're very strict about it. Like, it's part ETA, far gets in, it's here. This is when it's scheduled, it's on back order. Um, the and the biggest problem in our industry is like these restaurants and these um our our customers have multiple managers. So we can really be 100 at communicating, but the managers didn't communicate. So we called and talked to Sarah and let her know the part easier. But Nikki comes in on Monday morning, Sarah didn't tell Nikki. So Nikki calls ProServe whenever parts at. Yep. So then a day, but again, that's why it's important we noted in our system that hey, we spoke and talked with Sarah yesterday.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Um, so long as we know we're 100, we're good, and and and then we can, you know, let Nikki know, hey, I did call, you know. So yeah, communication is everything like you said. I mean, I'm I'm I'm the worst customer that anybody could ever have.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

Because you normally offer the best customer, sir.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

Yeah, I know what it expect. Like don't not answer my phone calls. Like, if I've spent a lot of money with you and you've given me your personal number, call me back within the same day. Um, because I don't I don't turn mine off. You know, I might not answer you all immediately, um, but if I know you're important to me and my business, I'm gonna answer the phone. So that's number one. And number two, it's just horrible customer service over the phone when you're trying to talk to them. Yeah. Um trying to schedule things, um, you know, updates. Like I tell Maria all the time, it's like, I don't know how people stay in business. Because I know how hard it is for me to stay in business and what my customers expect of me. How the hell do these people get away with it? I like I I can't figure it out. Um, and that's why people tell me because like sometimes I go look at my company and say, Man, we're horrible. Like, God, we gotta get so much better. And then, like, you call another company for yourself, you're like, I'm not as bad as I think I am. No.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

So, and that's the goal. You'll hear that too. You'll get the guy that's like tired of you or gets mad at something, and he'll leave until he goes somebody for a couple months and then they immediately come back and realize how bad some of the other places actually operate.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

Oh, for sure. I've had customers fire me for six months, a year, and then they come right back because people always think it's green on the other side. Um, and it's good for you to realize that too as a business owner, or you know, if you're working inside of a company, is the goal is not to be like for me, and I what I had to realize, I always try to be like the absolute best version of myself every day, which that's that should be the goal. Um, but it's almost impossible. You know, at the end of the day, long as we're doing enough when we close out our day, is where we're better than our competition. You've done enough. Because if you're trying to compete with yourself on a daily basis, you're never going to stop working. Because like that's just that's an endless step. You know, you you you mark something off and then it's next. You mark it off and it's next. So it's when do you shut it off if you're constantly just chasing yourself?

SPEAKER_01 37:39

So I agree with that. And then another big thing that you've kind of talked about too is uh the loyalty aspect, like making sure like you're loyal to these customers, but also making sure they're loyal back for you.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

Yeah, there's yes, I'm big on that. Um people have actually had really big eyes around me when they see me work, um, because I have fired customers. I've fired very a lot of revenue-generated customers um because the loyalty wasn't there. Um, because when I bring you on as a customer, you get my all, you get my team's all. Um, so if I feel like you're not being loyal to me in return, I don't really want to do business with you. Um, and I think that's the biggest thing, any especially any business starting off is realizing that not every customer is a good customer, no matter what. They can be your most revenue-generated customer and the most profitable customer that you have, but look at it on a personal standpoint. How much emotionally do they drain your team? How much how emotionally do they drain you at the end of the day? Um, and if you could, if you remove that, how much freer would you be and how much more business could you go get?

unknown 38:51

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 38:52

I proved that to me and my team. Um, so that's why like we don't really chase business, you know, we let customers come to us. And the whole another side of that is you have standards from the side of your company that your employees you should live by and believe but believe, but your customers should believe the same thing. Your customers should be aligned with your values and standards just like your employees are.

SPEAKER_01 39:15

Yeah. So I mean, you you know, people drive by and they see a pro serve truck, they should see it at like a respected place, not something that's like, oh, they're there. Correct. Like, what are they doing?

SPEAKER_00 39:26

Yeah. Yeah, and it just and it takes a long time to get that. Um, um, it takes a lot of punches to the face, and you know, a lot of people don't understand what what all it does take to get to that point to be at that respected point. But also when you're that respected, you're hated by a lot of people too. There's always that part that comes with that, and that's another thing people do not get it. They try to please and be liked by everybody. Doesn't ever happen? No. If you're a successful leader in anything, there's you don't have many people in your circle. Yeah. Uh for one, you left everybody behind going through your growth. Um, because you outgrew those people, and then you didn't have time to meet any new ones. So, and then when you start to get time, um a lot of people who just have taken you wrong over the years, um, and they just don't want to be around you or they just take you wrong way. But then it starts to turn a little bit because people start to open up and realize what your whole intentions were was to make their life better. But then you also start getting around like-minded people, um, which you start building a different circle. So, but through those first 15 years or so, I'm gonna say is it's gonna be very lonely and and and long nights and not a not a lot of friends and probably not a lot of people that that like you very much.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

Yeah, you said the first few years. So, what's the first few years of ProSurf like? Because when it served, it was just you and Maria, like you working out of your garage, right?

SPEAKER_00 40:58

Correct. Um, I worked for a company out of Wilmington. Um actually, our oldest was only six months old. Uh, me and Maria were only married for a year and six months. Um, just bought a house together. Um, and me and her, Maria knew who she married, and I and I give Maria so much credit when it comes to that, and I give so much advice to young men when it comes to that when they're looking for a spouse, is you better find a woman that understands you completely and believes in you. Um, because us men are crazy, and we're gonna follow and chase some crazy things. And if you don't understand that about your your husband, then it's gonna be rough. Um, so I give her a lot of credit because she always understands what I was about and what kind of was going on up here, even though she's completely different than me. She kind of understands what's going on and was churning. Um, so she knew that I wanted to my own business. Um, but she kind of really didn't know the timing of what's gonna happen. So um I called her and just said, Hey, I'm about to quit my job. And she just said, Okay. Um, and we went and bought a truck, um, bought some tools, and we actually started off by doing residential HVAC through a home warranty company. Um, home warranty is free leads, pretty much. You don't have to really build a company because they just send you the leads, you go repair it. Um, so we made some quick, easy money for two months. Um, I wouldn't say easy because I had to climb attics and crawl spaces and stuff. So it wasn't easy, but it was a quick buck. Yeah. Um that gave us enough money to build a bigger van, uh, more tools, and give us enough pay for a few months to to live off of. Um, and then I'm an old school marketing type of guy. Um, that's how we still build our business, is we just knock doors. Um, we do do some social media stuff and stuff like that, but most of ours is salespeople knocking doors, and that's because that's how I started. So I just started knocking doors um from here to Wilmington to Riley, Greenville, Rocky Mount, um, and uh built up a good customer base um and got lucky enough to hire you know two good young Marines. Didn't know, you know, anything. Um, but you know, they rode with me, taught them. Um, we literally would work 24 hour shifts. We, you know, one of them still works here today and we joke about it. People think we're we're lying, like we work 48 hours straight and never go home. Um, but that's kind of what the first few years looked at was um I had a six month old home. Um probably never really saw her again until she was two and a half, be honest with you. But at the same time, um Mary got pregnant again. Um, and that's probably about the only I remember within those first three years I could. Vividly remember having two days off. One was when my youngest was born. I literally stayed at the hospital for a day. And I got so sick that I passed out at a Texas roadhouse from pneumonia and the flu. And I had to be off the next day. Uh so that's what the first few years of what Pro Trip looked like. Um and that started in our garage. And within the second year, we had an office in Maysville. And within the third year, we had our first office in New Bern. Um, so, and we went from just me working to I want to say six employees with those first three years. Um lot of lessons learned. But the reality, that was probably one of the funnest and most exciting times of my life. Um, because that's just how I'm built. I like to just grind and and just grow, grow, grow. Um, for one thing is I got a crazy brain up here. So when I'm that busy, I don't got time to think.

unknown 45:04

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

I get in trouble when I think. So that was a lot of fun for me those days. And you know, it and ever and really since then it's been a real big struggle because every year I have to find a new version of Jared and really reinvent my whole life because my whole life changes. Like right now, um, I've been able to fully move into a CEO role. Um, and I feel like what do I do? There's a lot to do, but I just have to structure and figure out exactly what my daily task looks like now. And it's been like that so many times because I went from being a service technician to a dispatcher to a parts person to the GM or the salesperson. So I've literally been every position in a company. So um over the last nine years, that's probab that's been you know a real struggle of me because I'm you know, we talked earlier about being like um understanding ourselves and being stable and stuff like that, and you know, getting in slumps and stuff, haven't really been able to because it's been so like straight up. Yeah. Um, so yeah. That's the first few years of ProSafe.

SPEAKER_01 46:15

There you go. No, that's kind of circles back to what we talked about with that, like the business was never stagnant. Like the first two years of you said it was most fun, it's because it was the most changing. Like there was always something you were working forward to. And so how does it feel now? That's like you said you're moving more into this role. Has it been like a weird Yeah?

SPEAKER_00 46:32

I mean, the last two years have been really weird. Um, it's been a lot of growth, but growth is different now. It's not as fast. Um, it's crazy, like it's bigger increments like a revenue and stuff like that. Um, but it's slower on the like the excitement side of things because like you really don't notice too much going on.

SPEAKER_01 46:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:53

Um because you're such in the back part of it that you're just I mean, 20, you can get 20 new customers a day and I won't know about it, you know, so it's no excitement to me. I'm not the one doing it. Um so that's you know, that's where I'm at now. Um I'm trying to enjoy it. Um and I I think in a in a phase I'm at right now is I've been able to build a team that I can lean on. Um I'm kind of using it as more of a I'm still working, of course, but really just a break. I I went fishing twice last week. I'm going fishing twice this week. Um and I'm gonna do just that for a while until I really gain back all my energy because I I'll be honest with that, I got pretty drained out. Um and you know, and God kind of forced me into where I'm at right now with with my stress and my anxiety, um, stuff that I was going through that turned into physical stuff. Um, God forced me into that. And that's nothing I'm gonna tell people like you're gonna avoid that stuff all day. You think you're the toughest person in the world? That's that's me. Like mentally, I'm good. You can put as much stress on me as you want to. I'm gonna keep going and keep keep grinding, but he will put something in your past that that will literally stop you and force you. Um, so all you're doing by keep pushing is really just ignoring him. You know, that's that's what I've had to learn. It's been the heart, you know, because I'm still recovering from it all. Um, but people need to really realize that, and you know, that's probably the biggest thing people are gonna hear in this podcast is the total opposite because the days, time, what you hear on social media is grind 24-7, work, work, work, work, work. If we're gonna be successful, it's BS. Yeah, it's BS. Um, you know, um the guy behind me, Andy Frasilla, um, that's really what got me started on podcasts. And one thing that he does is he he has a five-tast list thing. He calls it the power list. Um, you literally write down your most five critical tasks throughout the day, and that's what you do. You still have like your little duties here and there that come in, like meetings and stuff. But long as you knock out those five critical tasks that moves the needle forward, whatever it is, send 10 emails a day, call three big customers a day, um, whatever that is, you know that stuff moves the needle forward, that gets you a percent better every day. And one percent a day is what you know, it's a lot of percentage at the end of the year. Yep. Um, so I think a lot of people would just swing for defenses. Um, and what's the best baseball player? It's RBIs, you know. Those those guys are the one winning championships. Yeah. Like I've said before, I like I don't even think like Barry Bonds and him even have a World Series championship. Um they they just hit home runs. So yeah, um that's where things are right now in my life. Um, with my business life and personal, because you know, my dumb my business life is my personal life. Exactly. It all just bleeds in the yes.

SPEAKER_01 50:04

Nice buddy. And then you actually have the fishing side now going on too. You're trying to get the tournament and charity events going, right?

SPEAKER_00 50:14

Yes. Um the Pro Surf uh Carolina Trout Masters. You know, I started doing tournaments two years ago um under the um News River Fisher Driven with Brian Saunders, which is a guest coming up. Um, excited about that. But um I started doing tournaments with him two years ago. We sponsor him. Um just really caught my interest in the good that they do for the community. Um at the end of the day, that's why we created ProServe, which ProServe is our ministry. You know, we want to grow people and give people good lives. So as guys allowed us to be successful, we like to give a lot and do a lot of charities and stuff like that. So um, and that's a lot of Maria's world. She does most of that, but I wanted to do something too in my own way. Um, and I like to fish. So, and I kind of saw what Brian Saunders was doing. Um, and I was like, that's really a good way to raise money for people um and to get you know a charity that you support out there and noticed. And also, and how we're doing our tournament is a big marketing for businesses, which I want it to be, I wanted that to be a different part of it. Um, because most stuff that you do, like you sponsor, they'll put your sticker on something. Do you really get anything out of it? No. Um, but how we're doing our our series, or it's not a series, our two-day tournament, it's it's gonna be live. Um, and you know, it's gonna be like short commercials, stuff like that. Um, it's gonna be a live event. Um, we're gonna blast your business um through our social media, through the live event. So it's two aspects of that. It's giving back to our charities, our community, but also giving back to our sponsors and allowing people to start a business. But um it's just another crazy thing that I decided I wanted to start to do, Matt. But uh I do have a lot of passion behind it, and I've been very blessed. They have Brian Saunders, um, Tim SQ that owns ECIC that we had a um podcast with last week. Um they have local tournaments, very successful tournaments, and I have their full support. Um, but and and when I when I started this, it was not to compete with them anyways. Um it was something that I wanted to be in addition to. That's why I called it the Trout Masters. Yeah. You know, it's let's figure out who the real true Troutmaster is. Um, let's get the people from these other tournaments to do this two-day event to see who the real champion is. So that's the whole purpose of it. And I've been blessed to have their support and understanding. Um, you know, like Tim said, you know, like the more people we can get together like us to help people, that's great. So why not help each other? Um, but it has been a blessing to have their support because the world we live in today is very rare. Because a lot of people just look at it as competition, and your intentions was never to be that. Um competition or what? You know, I'm not making any money off of it. It's you know, it's not competitive for me like that. It's you know, he can help certain people. Brian can help a certain group of people. I have reached to a different type of people. So now we're we're helping three different types of communities, three different types of people. So why not you know have more you know people out there doing the same thing?

SPEAKER_01 53:45

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 53:46

Yep, so that's that's where that at. And that's uh November 7th and 8th. Uh it's gonna be at the Vandemura boat ramp. Um, there's a blast, there's a remote blast-off aspect of it too. Um, to where we have four other um boat ramps that we'll have a team member at and that you can launch there. So that gives a really big competitive edge because fishermen can kind of fish where they want to fish. So I think Dallas is getting a little uncomfortable over there. Yep. You good over there? Yep. And guys, please subscribe to us on YouTube, um, depth over image. Um please um hit that subscribe button. Um, if it's this podcast gives you any kind of idea, helps you in any kind of way and your success or or just your life, please hit subscribe to be able to follow our content. We're on Instagram, depth over image also, and also on Facebook below the surface. So please give us a follow. Your support means everything. Um, we don't got nobody supporting this podcast. Um Jared and himself supports this podcast. So um your help matters, and like I said, I mean, the more that we can get the views of, the more this is being able to be seen by more people, and hopefully, like I said before, um, a podcast and a person from a podcast really shaped my life. So I hope I can be the same. So please hit that subscribe button. Got anything else for me, brother?

SPEAKER_01 55:25

I don't think I do, buddy. I think that's it.

SPEAKER_00 55:28

Cool deal, man. Um and I did want to say talk a little bit more about family side of things. Um, because that's probably my biggest struggle. Um, and what I mean by struggle with that is I mean my family is everything, but when you're building a business or building anything, it can start looking like to them that it's not your most important thing. So I encourage anybody that's in that season to really take a look in the mirror and kind of look at where your time is spent and when you're spending your time. Um, and like I said, it's it's uh quality over quantity. Um, and if that's you know, it's the biggest advice I want to preach, and you're you'll hear me say it over and over and over and over and over again, um, that we need to remember that quality part of it. Um, because just because you're home every day at five o'clock that's what if you're not spending time with your family, why does it matter? Um because I used to be that naive. I would I would say, well, I'm home, but I would be home working. I might as well have stayed right here, right? Yeah. I mean they just see me.

SPEAKER_01 56:43

Yeah, I'm still here, but I'm just you know, I got a laptop in front of me and I'm not looking at anything.

SPEAKER_00 56:47

Right. So, um, but just to close that, this podcast is I I really want to hold on to that to you know, a little tidbit, um, you know, how to survive the the below the surface stuff. Um is that you have to learn how to be okay with being okay. Um it there's times to chase greatness, there's times to be the alpha, but there's also times to just be okay and be uh um the sweet little guy that you let your daughter put makeup on. You know, there's there's different times and seasons in lives, and that's the biggest thing that people need to realize. Um, but going forward, guys, um, like I said in the beginning of this podcast, um, this is unfiltered. Um, moving forward, um, we will have questions from get um you know followers. So please um you can put in your question in our YouTube comments. You can go on Instagram, send us a message. You can go on Facebook, send us a message. Um, so please, please, please, please send in questions because we want to hear stuff from you. I don't want to talk about me. I didn't create this podcast to talk about me. Um, we want to hear what you guys got going on in your life. And I don't know if we have the answers, probably not, but we will try our hardest to be able to answer your question and help out any way you can. Um and if you take anything out of this podcast today, um the biggest thing I hope you guys can take is what shapes most people usually happens when nobody is looking. That's what is shaping you. So again, what that's saying is you know, the strongest battles most people fight, they never make a post about, they never share. You're never seeing that real person. I think social media's made it so horrible when it comes to people influencing others and what what people are looking up to, um, especially um mothers. I notice that a lot because like you can get on Instagram, you can watch what my wife is watching. It's like these moms and stuff, they just constantly go on these trips and play crafts with their kids and play Legos with them. Well, they probably did that for five minutes for video. You don't know what happened when the camera went off. So don't judge yourself to those people that you're seeing. Um, try to listen to people that are telling the truth. Um, they got nothing to hide, and they're also sharing the struggles with their wins. Um, if you're following somebody and it's nothing but win, win, win, win, win, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy.

SPEAKER_01 59:28

Probably second guess it.

SPEAKER_00 59:29

Uh probably second guess who you're following. Um, and that's why a lot of you guys, if you follow me personally, uh I post real stuff. Um, I like, you know, I I wear my feelings on my shoulder. Um, but that's real. I get a lot of messages every day saying thank you for saying that because it's something I wanted to say. Um, but that's why this podcast exists, is gives you give that outlet to people. Um next week I want your questions. Um, and please stay tuned for all the uh live guests that we have coming up. That's every Wednesday at 8 a.m. If for some reason we cannot make it on that Wednesday, we will give everybody a heads up. But um, thanks for listening, and uh I will see you guys soon.