Jack chats with Nexstar board of directors member Mary Jean Anderson. Her company, Anderson Plumbing, Heating & Air, does more than $30 million in revenue and employs 109 people. Her face is on the company's trucks, but she'll be the first to say it's her people who make the business successful. Anderson tells the story of how she went from being a nurse to helping her husband right-size his struggling business.
Jack chats with Nexstar board of directors member Mary Jean Anderson. Her company, Anderson Plumbing, Heating & Air, does more than $30 million in revenue and employs 109 people. Her face is on the company's trucks, but she'll be the first to say it's her people who make the business successful. Anderson tells the story of how she went from being a nurse to helping her husband right-size his struggling business.
Hi, this Jack Tester and president CEO of Nexstar and welcome to another episode of Leadership Lounge. I am in the good fortune to be in New Orleans, New Orleans. Today. I'm sitting in a little room off a French restaurant real close to the French quarter and across the table from, he was a very special person. How you doing Mary Jane Anderson. Hi, thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be here. So glad you're here. Truly appreciate the invitation y'all. Thank you. Thank this weird down. You're on the next star board of directors and we were in town for a board meeting and doing some long range planning for next door and you are a part of that, so thank you for that. It's wonderful to get to sit with all these brilliant minds. Busy. Yes, he really contributed a lot and you've been on the board for a couple of years now. Right, right, right too. So thank you for that. You're welcome. So I want, um, you have a fascinating story to tell and I can't wait to get to it, but so what, what I want to do is kind of set the table for that. So tell us about your business today, Mary Jean. Today we are$30 million strong female owned. We have 109.
Speaker 2:The employees, we have money in the bank, right. Savings. And that wasn't the case when I joined Nexstar.
Speaker 1:Very cool. Very cool. So your business,$30 million, San Diego doing plumbing, heating and air conditioning, all residential service replacement. Hundred percent a hundred percent right, right. Very good. Well first, um, you know, there's 80, some odd thousand contractors in United States and not a lot of them are doing, not many of them are. Very few of them. I can probably less than a hundred of them maybe are doing the kind of job you've done in growing up a very large, very successful straight service replacement business. So congratulations. Thank you. That's wonderful. Thanks. What does it takes a village, isn't that right? Yeah. Talk about that. Certainly not one person. I know there's a lot of people there and you have a great team and I've met a lot of them in, they're very talented people. Right. But you are the face of the business literally, literally faces on the truck, isn't it really? That's very cool. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's important. People want to know who they're doing business with. Right. And your, you know, this industry is changing, but you know, female ownership, you know, I would say when we started next star was a very rare thing. I can maybe think of one that came to mind. Maybe Monica Ryan might've been the first one I met who runs a great business still in Houston. Yeah. Right. But then there's more now. Right, right. They're popping up and, and folks like you, but still, it's not, it's not typical. And I think it's an interesting story and I want you to tell it. So tell us how you got into business in the industry. I mean, oh, sure, sure, sure. So,
Speaker 2:um, I was a nurse by education and training and um, I, my husband started the plumbing company. It was the plumbing at that time. 100% and it was new construction. Okay. And by that was in 1978 1985 he was really struggling. He was really unhappy and working hard. Working hard. Yeah. And being that, that personality, if I want to fix it, I want to help you. I jumped in. Yeah. I was a fixer. So I got involved with him and a pre, previous to that I would do bookkeeping at night, that kind of thing to keep it going. But that's when I really jumped in and rolled up my sleeves. Did not like the business model of new construction. I have to take, well you get paid 90 days later and you front that whole thing and they held 10% retention and you can, there's no way you're gonna make 10% profit. So I felt like we were helping other people get rich and we were always in debt. That's the truth. Not a bad way to put it. Right. So here you are. You're, are you still a nurse or you're working or not? Not, after 85, I came to full into the business and the business, 83 I started some, but then I quit my job and came full into business native five. I'm going to tell you that right now your story is very typical husband and the business tradesmen working hard, need some support, wife's got another job, maybe raising a family and you decide to come in to kind of help out. And that's the office right? Is that what I'm, that's out of what's happening right now. Exactly it how'd it go? Um, we, it was up and down. It was just up and down, up and down. And um, anytime we started getting ahead of my husband wanted to jump back into new construction because that was his love. That's your right to do what he did. He didn't lie, service and repair. And at that point he was doing the repairs and it was tedious and he'd rather be out there in the sun shine, you know. Um, he did them on the way home from work or something, I suppose. You know, got caught a call on the way home. Oh yeah. Many thanksgivings. Thanksgivings. Now he missed many thanksgivings. Right. Great Memories. I guess you could say that. So tell me about how, tell me how the, how things have things progressed from that point? Well, um, we, and it's very difficult and if there's women out there listening that are in this type of business with their husband, it's, it's tough to work. Husband and wife. Very tough. So, um, can you could just elaborate cause I haven't done it. Tell me more. Well, you know, you're talking about business and there's disagreements and there's stress and you forgot this and why didn't you do that? And how about, you know, the things that come up and then when you're raising a family, it was twice as hard. So, um, we had the opportunity, we were doing some reports. That's when the whole pot CPRC polybutylene Jill came down and we were doing a lot of reports and we were offered a job in Phoenix. So I went to Phoenix and I was kind of running that and I realized there was a huge need for, um, I'm just being honest, there was huge need for service and repair there. So I decided to run that. And you kind of commuted to Phoenix. I communion started another business or yeah, I was there five years and I built that from zero to 5 million in five years. Which husband is in San Diego this time. Right. And he's getting back into new construction. Okay, so you're doing re pipes there, but now he's going back to new construction that way life you loved and to be honest with, and it was stressful. And I was standing there trying to get this going and he was there and I was, he was losing money fast and I can make it and quite frankly, we sat in our, um, our CPA's office and he said to me, wow, we would have lost this company had you not made the money in Arizona and the Ma, the marriage was really stressed at that point. And I was done. It was like, that was the final Straw. And so we got divorced, continued to work together. He got, he got, we, we kind of worked our way back out of new construction again and um, yeah. And, and then we got divorced. We actually sold the company Arizona use the money to get divorced. Worked together for years. One day he walked in and said, I don't want to do this anymore. So you moved back to San Diego? I did. Still working in the business. Yes. This time ex husband, this his partner I guess as partner East it was easier actually once score divorced. Quite honestly it was easier. That was in 1999 all that was okay. Yeah. And we worked together till about 2000 well our divorce was final in 2000 so we worked together till late 2004 and that's when he decided to get out. So what happened then? He said, I don't want to be a plumbing contractor anymore. He didn't like service and repair. He really, right. Well, yeah, cause I was kept pushing the service repair because Jack, you pay your guys on Friday, you get paid at the door, pay your guys on Friday and you pay your, um, you know, your vendors at the end of the month. It's just common sense to me. It just makes all the sense in hold on, wait and 10, 10% hold. And it just made good business sense and he just didn't like it. He didn't like the way the industry was going. He just didn't like it and he really wanted, wanted out. So I took out alone, thought him out, bought his half out. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, in, in you, just so you just decided, I'm going to stay in this thing. I'm going to buy him out and now you're the sole owner. In 1999, it was very scary because I had decided I was done and was just in the middle of getting my real estate license and he walked in and said, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm done. And I just panicked for a minute. And then just took that cannonball spirit that I have and said, I'm going to do this. Okay. And that was, that wouldn't go back to that. The cannon ball spirit. Cause that's the name for you, isn't it? Yeah. They're all going to come back to that. Okay. Remember listeners, cannon ball talking to, right. Everyone's not going to call me cannonball now, but we'll see. Okay. Well you referenced it. I know, I know. All right. Um, so, so tell me about your journey after that. So, um, it went pretty well because I got a base going in, in service and repair. We rebranded as women owned, truly women owned use. The Anderson named continued that way. Yeah. Now no woman wants to do that. No one wants a five foot picture of their face anywhere. But I really believed that that was the right thing to do, was to, to use that opportunity to show it was female owned and did the white and pink trucks and pink right away then. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. When we rebound. Rebranded. Yeah. In 2006. Okay. So in 2006 you went with a pink white and then it's not as clear and got you and you got your lecture signature on there and even don't choose something like that. Um, I have the nobody wows clients like we do is the brain. Yeah. That's our tagline. Okay. So you're growing the business that things are going pretty good. Right, right. I kind of built it on Costco and Nordstrom mixed was my head was where my head was going. Kind of who you wanted to be considered. Yeah, I wanted to be, I wanted to be the best. I didn't care about being the biggest, but I wanted to be the best service provider. And in my mind I had the Nordstrom theory of customer's always right even when they're wrong and you give back and your big give back more. And, and then of course the Costco, which was the quality that they, you know, they're, they serve as a quality customer that likes quality. Um, so you thought about them when issue or running your business. Right. Read a couple books. So what did you find? What was the first reaction when you, when you went female on the truck and when it became evident, you just weren't Anderson Plumbing and heating a family owned business. It was Anderson Plumbing and heating and cooling, a female owned and operated business. Tell me about that. Well, it wasn't easy. I, to be honest with you, it was not easy. I would literally walk into a PHCC meeting and this circle would close. And what you mean with not me? Yeah, I think that, yeah. You know, just there were a lot of rumors that were, in fact, we're going to talk a little bit about the book I wrote. And one of the reasons why I wrote the book was to set the record straight. Um, but yeah, it was tough and I would, um, rumors, well, yeah, there were ridiculous for that were, but it was, I remember one PHCC contractor said to me, well, you've been in business for 20 years, you can't ruin it. You've been around too long. And it was like, in my mind, it was like, it's been run three times already. We fought back every time, you know, but it would say, you know, it's just the mentality and you know, if some people, not all people, but it is, it turned out jacket turned out to be very positive actually because it became, um, being women owned gave me a special leverage. So it was rocky at first when I was accepted by my peers originally, but then it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. Right then from an employee side of, cause she'd been added for a long time. Right. You had field workers and office folks. They knew you had the chops to do it. That could've been an issue, I wouldn't think. No, it wasn't that people were very loyal. I saw people that was, was have been with me for 25 years. Correct. One 28 years. So yeah, I rode the wave is the wave wave wave. Honestly, when I got, I was running the plumbing business. Okay. Okay. And decided to start heating and air and that's when I started tank. Why is that? Um, I didn't know I was doing, I mean, you get in heating and air at that time. What year was this? Now? This was in 2000 and, well, I met my husband, my husband now, and that's was his thing. He loved heating and air. And so we started a separate business, a partnership, which was Anderson Heating and air. And, um, he knew all the technical and the great part about it, you know, the great, he knew everything in the field and I thought I knew everything in the office, but there are two different businesses. And so I got off to a very rough start, but we bought a small company air best to start us off. It was all smoke and mirrors and didn't do a great due diligence. And before you know it, that was in 2008, no, seven. It was 2007. And then the great recession of 2008, nine. And that's when I was desperate and found next star and went to a meeting in Seattle. And, um, John Conway told his story about being$1 million in debt. And guess what? I was$1 million in debt. He said I was 990,000, you know, and it was so cute the way he said it. And I thought God should be sitting in, I'm a million. That was$1 million a day. Yeah. Between buying the company for 500 and then the recession and not wanting to let go of middle management. And I drove it to the ground and I was very desperate and I didn't know where to go. And I knew I was a hard worker, but you know, Jack, my mom always said, show me your friends and I'll tell you all about you. I heard that. Yes. So cool. I live by that. And um, so I found next star because I wanted to find a group of heads that were smarter than I was. I wanted it to be, I want it to be less least educated in the room.
Speaker 1:Okay. All right. So you found next door. And so what happened then to you? What happened in your heating and your business? Because it's what I'm getting the picture is, is the plumbing was good. You know, you kinda have that figured out, heating and air. You didn't quite get the business model. No. You know, struggling. And someone could, you could rationalize this and say, well that's because your weather's perfect in San Diego, right? Like Minnesota where it's 30 below today as we're doing this. Right. So, you know, tell us about what happened then. How did, how did you get back on your feet? Well,
Speaker 2:you used a credit card to join. Okay. And then I, I, Jodi, Jodi, uh, why am I going blank on her last name? Julie. Peter. Peter was, we were assigned to Jody and I wanted her specifically because I wish it was a female and she had run a very successful heating and air conditioning company. Right? So our first meeting, I was very direct and I said, I know you, you know that you do this book. I need you to help me figure out how to close this down. And I've got to figure out how to build the plumbing up to pay off the debt I've incurred in her exact words were we laugh about this now. Whoa, Whoa, whoa. Can you just let me hear the story first? Could you, could you just do that for me? And so I, and, and she just helped me next to our help me. I just, I just did everything that I was told to do. Everything. If she would've said do cartwheels down the hallway, I would have done cartwheels down the hallway. Failure in our family is not an option. It's just not, that's the way I was raised. And, and so, um, I had to figure it out one way. They're close it, the heating and air or build the, you know, and um, when she said we can fix this, just do what I tell you to do. She had me at that and I know she had, yeah, she had me there. This was in 2008. Yes.
Speaker 1:So the recession was just Kinda kinda getting rolling. Yes. All right. So tell us what, uh, tell us, you know, just some, some of the lessons learned along the way as you kind of figured it out and got to 30 million. Let's just talk about some important things that happened along the way.
Speaker 2:I think the biggest for, you know, I think back about what really, how did this happen and I would think it's the leaving your ego at the door. I think that, um, you know, we come in and, you know, like I had done the plumbing okay. It was profitable. It wasn't like it is now after being the next I remember, but it was okay. And I think you kind of think that you've got it figured out and um, you know, I meet people and I think their egos get in the way that really do and they don't want to ask for help. And being dyslexic as a child undiagnosed, I learned early to ask for help and to seek help when I needed it. And that's, and I, I know you don't want, this isn't about going on and on about next, but it is for me because I found the help. I've thought I did what I was told to do and$30 million later, we were at about 6.2 million when we joined Nexstar and we're 30 million today. So if you do the math, it's only been 10 years or, yeah, just about 10 years because it was late and eight when we joined. So just a little over 10 years and we've been able to go, go, uh, you know, grow from six to 30 million. That's significant. That's significant. I would take it back though. Okay. All right.
Speaker 1:So you know, you, you left your ego at the door, you have bumped into Nexstar on how you did, but you did, you for some reason you are open, but you know, let me say something, you'd lost a lot of money up to that point. So what, what was preventing you from saying, what am I doing? How do I stop this? How do I, you know, between the zero and in million, you know, what happened or was it nothing?
Speaker 2:Well, somebody said, I don't remember who said, um, revenue solves a lot of problems. Okay. So I thought, okay, if I can get the revenue up and solve these other financial barriers, which, you know, I was overpaying for equipment. I was overpaying for a labor. There were a lot of different things I was doing. Um, yeah, that were wrong. And with the profit pricer and everything that we got from next door, I was able to start understanding and, and quite frankly, Jack, I'm a hard worker. I've always been a hard worker. I think being, um, having hard time in school as a youngster, I had to work harder than everybody else. So I rolled up my sleeves and I just did what had to be done. Okay.
Speaker 1:All right. Very good too. So what, what, what, what I heard you say though, is that you kind of thought you could kind of sell or grow your way back to making money. Correct. Right. Correct. And then, but that you're, you're, you are growing the business, but it wasn't, it wasn't working. Right. Right. On a heating air side. You right. Gobbling up the overhead was gobbling up the, the margin dollars. Right. All right. Well, very cool. Um, so that was kind of the turning point. Just found some people that could help you grow the HV side. You continue to do what you do on the plumbing side and between 2008 and 2019 here just the$30 million business to a great, can you, I can't even believe it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Pinch me. How did this happen? It was never my dream, Jack. It wasn't, I mean, I, I want it to be good. I really wanted to be the best and maybe that's my upbringing, but I never thought I'd be a$30 million company, but we hung our hat on being the best and I was so excited because we already had that vision and I really respect and believe in what our trades are all about and what they do. And I look at these guys saying, Gosh, you know, takes them just as long as a doctor to, to um, to hone in on their trade. And they are touching things doctors wouldn't touch in a million years and they don't, they don't get the respect. So that was already in my head and I loved the people that I worked with. And so that, I think that's how the brand got bill was just my love for what they do and the respect for who they really are.
Speaker 1:So that's, that's interesting. Can I ask you a question? Because it was a lot of people feel that way, but they don't get to 30 million. Why you? How'd you get it? You know, there's a, there's a thing of fixing it and then say good, you know, or in kind of being okay with Ben, you know, I don't want to say average because you weren't average at 6 million. You are above average, but 30 million's a lot.
Speaker 2:I think high because I wanted to see other people succeed. I have to be honest. Okay. I love watching people succeed. I love seeing people to grow, grow into valid. Okay. I don't know how many next star people do color code, but I'm a blue red, so I've got that. I love who else has blue? Red? Who's that? Me. Yeah. Oh, I did hear that. Yeah, right. Yeah. So, uh, you know, we're, we're that kind of leaders where we really care when you care about people. And then you've got that red that's, you know, achieving, achieving and goals. I think that, um, and I just, every time somebody bought a house or drove down my driveway and honked and there was a brand new black convertible Mustang and technician said, I want you to see this because I got this because of you. It made me want to work harder and harder and harder. And I think that that really is, it is by empowering them to do their jobs with guidelines of course. But, but, but believing in them, trusting them and um, and letting and giving them the space to excel. It just happened.
Speaker 1:So you, so the, just having a growing business provided opportunity for the people that were dedicated their career to Anderson and that, and that was something that said, I've got to grow this thing. Dot. Because it's, I get to grow this thing. There's a better way to put it. I get to grow this so that I can watch these people get opportunities in their life and do things they never thought they could do. And if you had a stagnant or just a comfortable that wherever I am and just kind of limp through, he wouldn't have provided that. Is that, is that fair? That's fair. That's a perfect analysis. Very good. Well done. That's so cool. Well let's talk now. Um, you know, we jumped through a lot of years there and I'm sure it wasn't a straight line. Right. And I'm sure it was a lot of ups and downs and this and that. A lot of other people helped. You know, I know you're, you're, you're such an open person people, I mean people are, you know, like to spend time with you. You're interesting. You care about your good conversationalists I know that when you come to the next start meeting, you know, you can get all the help you want from members. Not to mention the paid coaches at Nexstar. So good personality. So let's talk about what's going on right now because this is w your anniversary year, isn't it for the business. Tell us about that and what you're doing special for that
Speaker 2:40th year anniversary. And we had some fun stuff going on to celebrate and addition. I wrote a book and that's what we talked about where cannonball came up earlier. Um, it's called, here comes Cameron
Speaker 1:in a cannon balls. You right? Yes, I'm cannon ball. They're reflections of 40 years in business. Wow. Tell us about why you decide to write a book.
Speaker 2:I wanted to set the record straight. Well, yeah. Okay. So originally I love marketing. So originally it started as a marketing tool in my head and I wanted to, here's, I thought if I could get in front of the customer that needed a$12,000 job done and they wanted to think about it, we could give them the gift. The 40th year we're telling them we're in business 40 years, here's the story. And I thought they probably close with us. So it started way. But then as I started a blog being on it, that's what this is about. And but then as I started to think more about it, I thought, you know, I want to set the record straight and I want something for my grandkids. My grandkids are the world to me. And I wanted something for their kids. Five, four boys and a girl they had. Thank you. So, yeah, so I wanted something for them and I kind of wanted to set the record straight on how it really went down because I said earlier, there were a lot of rumors that were so ridiculous and so not true. I did get my ex husband's blessing on the book, which I really appreciated and yeah. And so here it is and you're just going to, it's your story of Your Business. What are you gonna do with it? What else? Well, it's the ups and downs of it. Um, and, and, and, and I just hope one personal read it and say, give me one yesterday. Yes, for sure. Yeah. And I hope someone will read it and say, I can do that. I've been there. I understand. Um, I, it's more about the journey about being dyslexic and, and struggling. What does it do for you? Tell me about that. That the soldiers Lexican you've mentioned it a bunch of times. It seems to have been something that they're really shaped you in a unique way in it and talk about that. Well, I didn't know what it was and um, I didn't know. I didn't understand. I, I had it down in school. I had new end to cough when it was my turn to read it and go outside the room to avoid that. And, um, when my daughter was diagnosed in ninth grade, it all came very, very clear what had been going on for you. Yes. For me. So, yeah, so that's, yeah, that's the story. And um, but what it did, and I'll go back to the next star, is I learned to ask for help. I couldn't depend on me figuring everything out on my mom had my Iq tested because everyone else in the family was doing a good job in school. Why was I struggling? And then I had a very high Iq, which made it worse because not only was I, you know, not so great in school, but now I was lazy because obviously I was smart and that was the, the men, you know, that's the message I heard. I'm not saying that that's what my parents thought, but that's the message I heard. So I learned to work harder than most people. And it does take hard work to be successful no matter what anybody says. You know, you work smart, but you have to work hard to, you have to be dedicated. And so I learned that value. I'm very grateful for that today. I look back, if there's any, that's one thing I absolutely would never change because it taught me not just to work hard, but to ask for help. And believe it or not, people enjoy helping people and they'll give you those gifts, those golden nuggets, you know, just like next door to us. But I saw, that's a great story. So there's this, I call it a weakness, you know, and from that weakness became this incredible strength you've got. Correct. Absolutely. Raise my hand. I'm not going to sit here in silence. Right. And feel stupid. Like I should know this cause I, you know, whatever. They just developed that habit, right? They carried it through another, even when you're not reading, right, right. You're still asking questions. And I've seen you, you're very reflective. You know, I watched you in a board meeting. I can tell that you're listening, you're taking notes in your, you're deep in thought. You're not checking your phone, you're not doing all that stuff. I mean, you're, you're in the moment. They're listening to the folks. I'm so grateful. I'm grateful to be on the board. Like I really thought I was going to go on the board to give back to people that have been so good to me. And when I'm finding is I'm with all these brilliant minds and I'm learning even more. And that wasn't the point of it. But yeah, it's been a fabulous experience. Oh, that's good. That's good. So what's next? What's next for Mary Jean? What's next? Well, your journey here. The other reason I wrote the book was I wanted to use as a platform to get out into the community. And that's what I'm doing starting next week actually to talk about the PR issue that we have nationwide in the trades and not being able to find qualified people. I've been very successful bringing women into the industry. I've had women, I have women technicians, I have nine today and I have two in our school. We started a school, Anderson career career builders institute, and I believe that, um, that it's, and it's necessary and I want to get, I want to help people. I want people to understand that this isn't a dirty, nasty, crack plumber joke. People, these are intelligent people that have a huge service and really are responsible for the health of the nation. Seems to be forgotten. All the jokes and how we got to where we were not anymore. And I think we've got so many young kids that are getting all this college debt and they're working as a Barista at Starbucks when there's these six figure jobs. So my goal when I call phase or act three is I really want to get out in the public and I want to get people to understand, and I want to bring people to school, not necessarily our school, but just to get into the field one way or another, and help an industry of dignity. Very cool. Yeah. Very cool. That's, that's an awesome, was a third Third Act Xochi called Third Act, third act. What would you say, because you've, let me say that, that we're seeing in our classes now a rise in female workforce and the frontline workers, plumbers, they're efficient mechanics, electricians, et cetera. But you've got nine and I don't know of a company in America has got nine. I mean I've seen one or two or you know, but not nine. That's a ton. So there's a young lady listening to this and they're, they're 17, 18 years old. What would you say to her about this trade? Either as a, as a encouragement or even as a watch out? Or is it right for you kind of a thing? What would you say? I would say there's absolutely no watch out. I think that, um, uh, 78% of who we are working within the home is a female or a female. Technicians wait, so they'll go on vacations. They for two weeks, people will wait a month to have Maria or Katie or, or all these people in their homes. They want that woman that's there. Gow and they relate. And, um, they tell me that when they do work with men, that as soon as the man knows, that understands, they know what they're talking about, their guard is down and they're actually super comfortable. And so they're really good fit in our industry. And what happened in World War II when everybody went to war, women put their pants, you know, on and went into the factories. And that's what we have to do today. We have to look, we have to be creative and we have to look at everyone. Is it easier now to get a female technician started in your business when there's nine versus just one? How would you think about, or does that not matter? I mean, it seems like a accommodating environment. Got a female owner, you know, you've got nine other folks are versus one. The first one's gotta be tough, I would imagine. Yeah. The first one was tough. Um, by the way, she has four, she was sleeping in her car when we brought her in and she has four children now and just bought her second home while sold one and bought a second home. So she's making$160,000 a year. Yeah. So I mean it's, it's a wonderful story. And, um, and yes, the first one, but once I, it's a couple of ways that it happened. The word gets out, everybody starts talking about it. And then we literally have had walk-ins, um, that said, I heard you hire women. You know, I had one gal that was a flooring flooring person then moved to San Diego. She saw our tracks and she walked up to, and male technician said, hey, I see there's a woman on a truck, does, um, do you hire women? And he said, absolutely, we do. And she walked in and she turned out to be a great plumber with education. Yeah. With education and training. Yeah. So we're, we've been very fortunate and now the words out words on the street. And so we are, we are getting women applicants and then we are, part of our funding for our school is State. And so we are with the state we've agreed, which I wanted to do is focus on women, women in the military and the military. So our classes are, um, are, are our school revolves around that sector kind of skewed that way. Yeah, that's fantastic. So just as a, as a point of clarity, the technicians that work for you there, they're doing residential service or not on construction crews or anything like that. They're running in a truck and they're an off I'll both trades that you have. Oh, and they're either or, but yes, both trades, plumbing, plumbing, um, maintenance. We have plumbing, plumbers, maintenance technician on the plumbing side, h Vac, a service repair and maintenance. And we have our top producers. Thousand and 18. Um, first$2 million close was Eden who was a next star. Um, she worked for next star company in Minnesota, actually transferred to San Diego workforce as a dispatcher. And if I could say anything to everybody out there is, look around at who you've got because she came forward and said, I want, I would love to go in to the field I want to sell. And it was great. Let's test you. Let's see if that's where you would, and she did well on the testing and sold$2 million slash salesperson permit. She salesperson. Yes, Hac South. Got It. 2 million last year. She was a dispatcher for you and, and raised her hand and uh, and maybe even kind of enclosure. I find it absolutely perched here. Well that's a fantastic story. Yeah, isn't it? It's great. And the best part was that it was a Nexstar. I mean she purposely applied with us when she moved from Minnesota because she was looking for next star company cause she loved what next door was doing. That's so cool. So you got a great technician because of that. You know what's, what's, I'm going to say this, that no one ever moves from San Diego to Minnesota. Nope. Well it's below 50 book glow today. Cold up there right now. So. Well that's, that's awesome. Well, congratulations. I've really enjoyed our conversation. Thank you. I've enjoyed it too. Thanks for letting me share. And if one person out there gets something from it, then this was all worth it. Right. Well, I heard a great story. I heard,
Speaker 1:um, a lot about, about advice you'd give. Uh, you know, can I keep this going? I want to ask you another question. Is it okay? Yeah. Because I've been thinking about your journey and, and this great advice you just gave us at the end of this or recently about, you know, hiring female technicians and how to make that an accommodated workplace. And you know, I know you do all that. What advice could you give,
Speaker 3:mmm.
Speaker 1:A wife working alongside a business. Like you did think back, you could go back today and talk to a younger married gene in that environment about business, about, you know, what would you say? What would you tell yourself?
Speaker 2:Um, you know, that's an excellent, I love that question. I'm thinking about as I'm speaking. Yeah. But I would absolutely say date night. I think that you take the business home with you and that's hard on a marriage. So I would say to try your very best that when you, when you leave for the day that it's more about the family and not about the business. And then I think a date night would really help that if you just made every Friday night or whatever night date night where it was just the two of you and not talk about business. We talk about your relationship and, and fun things instead of keeping your head into business 24 seven that's wearing on anybody. It is, you leave, leave your breathing at living it, breathing at 24 seven and you never get that break and we all need a break. Right.
Speaker 1:And do you find now though that that now that your business is successful and you're not living paycheck to paycheck and you're not trying to make payroll, you know those stresses, right? And you have, and you know, it's not pay this vendor hope he doesn't call, you know, that kind of stuff that it's possible to do those things in an easier way. Meaning that it's, it's a, it's a real reason to be successful because I think it, cause I've run businesses where I've had struggles and you know, and I, it's hard to get it out of my head when I'm in trouble financially or the business is struggling, you know, it's just, it's a, it's simple as they take a date in there. How do you take a date? And I don't, I don't want to turn our money. Right, right. But I guess what I'm saying is that there's this huge incentive to get it right so that you can turn the key in the door leave and it's easier to turn it off. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2:It is easier to turn it off. It absolutely. Totally agree with you. Um, and, you know, interesting. I had to do it before, now I don't have to do it. And I love it. So it's when, when that pressure is gone that, um, how do I make payroll that when that pressure is gone, you really get to do and as you grow, you get to choose what you'd like to do in the business. And, um, I would never be a general manager. Hats off to all the general managers out there. It's a tough job. Um, but you get to do what you like and, and then you love it. It's not something you have to do. You do it because you want to do it right. And it changes
Speaker 1:the whole ballpark. Then what I hear here is this, this benefit of growth for you now is, is you know, clearly when you're running a$6 million company and you're kind of in the whole, you're doing everything right here. Everything you're doing, everything you have to write, and you're just trying to keep your head above water. You're, you're, you're jumping around the place. You don't choose. You know, if you do do what you want, you go bankrupt. Right? Right. So there's, and I've seen guys people do that right then I'm not going to do this. I'm going to live my own life and bankruptcies around the corner. Right. I can almost predict it a great. Yeah. But now the success, you know, you get to do, you get to wake up and say, this is the things I'm great at. This is what Mary Jean's great at doing and maybe things that only married Jean can do. Well like marketing. Cause I know you've got a great marketing.
Speaker 2:I liked the marketing and I like being the company cheerleader. I've love catching people doing things well and bringing that to their attention to the rest of the team's attention. And I don't have to worry anymore about an insurance claim because you know, that kind of thing or an auto accident, it would waste so heavy on me and I don't have to deal with that. I get to hear about it when it's already been handled well and um, so those stresses are off. I think honestly the stress of once you get over that financial hump and you, like I said, it's, you're doing it because you want to, not because you have to. And that makes life so enjoyable. It really does. I hope people listening to this because I, I, I've seen this and I felt it myself, that, that the reason to grow is to get to that spot, not just for your people, right. Not just to create this opportunity to see that the person, the Black Mustang and the lady who bought the second house. But it's also, it's, it's, it's a life yourself. Right? And I'm, I'm, I'm going to say this and I don't know that this is true, but I'm going to venture it. You're not close to burnout RDO. No, no. I'm not close to burnout. It's, I love it. I do. I love it. And I want to do more. I want to see, that's one of the reasons why I want this third act is because now my goal is to bring people in. I want people to have a mind shift. I want people to start to thinking about, um, about not having all these causes day about going into a great tree. I mean, in this trade, you get to help people. You, you, you get, I mean, you get, if, especially if you're mechanical, you get that mechanical part, but you get to help people. You get to make lives better. And so it is a just, and it's a great trade for women because women are kind of, we're kind of built that way a lot of us. So for bringing women in where they get to do a job where they can be mechanical, but they're also helping people, they're solving problems, right? And they get to walk away knowing that they did something. And now at the end of the day you can see it. Guess it's a tangible thing, you know? So often we have jobs where it's like, what did I do today? I don't know what he did. I'm not sure what I accomplished, but I know what the technician that I did these three things and three smiling faces and that feels good. It does. And I get to see so many smiling faces, you know? It's just, it's really, really a fabulous way to go. Love it. Well, I just think that that what I, what I've been at the, you've been at this awhile in business, right? And I would imagine that if you were still doing what you did 25 years ago, you might be burned out. Yeah. Oh absolutely. Absolutely. Just kind of making it work and just kind of, he can through and hoping that you have a big, a big job or something comes around or I think I'd be an angry person. Honestly. I think I'd be, I'd be grumpy all the time if I still had to live that way. But it's when you, God, when you get to the other side, if anybody's struggling out there listening to this, don't give up. I mean, never give up because once you get to that other side, life is wonderful. It really is. And then you get to choose the part that you like to do. You know, there's all these jobs, you've done them all. Think about that. Even the book paper you've been know, you know, and the dispatcher, you've been there, you've bought the insurance, you've done the market and you've done,
Speaker 1:and now you get to watch other people do it and you can help them from your experience, but let them do their own job with guidelines and empower them. And then you get to choose that. One thing that you want to do. This is, I'm an, I don't know how you listened to this and I get excited about growing a business to that pot because I'm seeing the, the, the, the smile on your face of seeing the gratitude in the way you go about your, your life. And I know that you've earned it. And I know that there was a lot of hard work that, that they're, man, I hope there's a young person sitting there. The scientists business is hard. You know, this is hard work, you know, male or female and just know that there's definitely, um, the work is worth it. It is worth it. Right. I can do work is worth it. It's worth it. Work Smart. What I'm hearing from you is, I'm going to paraphrase some things. I heard that I thought it was great. What did your mother tell you about your friends? Show me your friends and I'll tell you all about you, right? So fuss you found some successful people that you just, and because of your dyslexia to willingness to ask questions, you did. You're asking the right people, you continue to be open to feedback, you know, and, and that's what happened here. And that's what happened. I get the story now, right? Yeah. And I found next star kind of warned me that you didn't want me to talk a lot about next time, but I have to say that next door was my guiding lights and I would not be where I am today without following the next star training programs and doing exactly what I was told to do. You know? Well you make it fun for us. I can tell you that right now. You make it fun for the good people at Jody and a lot of the members you helped and the rest of that, our staff. So thank you for that. And thank[inaudible] encouragement. Thank you. An example, right? Don't give up guys, do it. Just do it. Do it. Well, merging. Thank you so much for spending some time here and in New Orleans apps on this. We all the best on your, I'm going to call a book tour, but your book launch, you know, and and, and all the best in your third act. Thank you. I think you're going to make a huge difference in this industry and I thank you for that. That's my goal. Thank you, man. All right. I think you all for listening this very cool, very special additional leadership lounge as jack tests or with Mary Jane Anderson. I'll catch you next time. Thanks so much.