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Why Smart Owners Outsource Peace Of Mind For Their Seasonal Homes with Nick Gomez · Epic Entrepreneurs

• 0:26
  Cliff: All right.
• 0:27
  Cliff: Well, welcome to the first episode of Epic Entrepreneurs, Freedom for Bill Gilliman with your local business firm and coaching firm Active Coach Business Growth Partners.
• 0:37
  Cliff: I'm excited to have Nick Gomez with Mountain Vantage Properties as the focus for our Epic Entrepreneurs podcast episode today.
• 0:43
  Cliff: So Nick, please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself and your company and what primary products or services you offer the community.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: So like Cliff said, my name is Nick Gomez.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: I am a resident of South Asheville, but we call it Arden.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: You know, let's call it the Asheville area.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: I am about 31 years old, been here about four years.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: It's been a good good four years.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Our company, Mountain Banage Properties, is a home watch and property caretaking company.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: So what we specialize in is taking care of the vacant second homes for people that are seasonal residents of the Asheville, Hendersonville, Weaverville, and Black Mountain area.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: So, you know, there's a lot of those types of houses out here.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: You know, Asheville is still a vacation destination.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: And a lot of people, when they vacation here, decide that they would rather spend a little more time here than they originally thought.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: So a lot of them end up buying second homes that they don't use as a source of income, which uh is a pretty nice way, nice thing to have if you're able to.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: So uh as you guys might know, maintaining a home can be quite cumbersome.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: And we just basically take that over for them while they're gone so they don't have to worry about it.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: So we specialize in checking the house, we do any do or coordinate any maintenance on the house, but really just provide that peace of mind for those people while they're living in you know Florida or Texas or New York, wherever they may be.
• 2:05
  Cliff: Okay, great, great.
• 2:06
  Cliff: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 2:07
  Cliff: It sounds like a really good service.
• 2:08
  Cliff: All right.
• 2:09
  Cliff: So if yeah, so if you had to start the, I mean, you know, it really does.
• 2:11
  Cliff: I mean, you know, obviously if you if you're you know, if it's a second home and you're not there, you know, you want somebody to go check on and make sure it's standing, make sure her unholding didn't come through again, you know, all those things.
• 2:20
  Cliff: So um, yeah, definitely it definitely seems like a good business to have, especially for, you know, like you said, the vacation area that this is.
• 2:28
  Cliff: Um so if so if you had to start from square one in the business, what would you do differently?
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Oh man, that's a good question.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: I think what I would do differently.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: I mean, this, you know, it's kind of a funny question because some of it is like, you know, you have to go through the the rough patches and the learning, the learning uh that comes with starting a business, you know, from scratch.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: I would probably invest more into learning about marketing out the gate versus being as concerned with the operations of the business.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: And, you know, so my background is in operations and management.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Um, you know, I come from an engineering background.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: I spent a lot of time working in factories, you know, learning how to run factories from a technical and uh you know organizational standpoint.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: So my strengths really lie in operations and management, but I don't have any sort of background in marketing.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm a people person, but that only gets you so far.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: So kind of learning the you know, the best ways to market.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: I'm still kind of figuring that out for such a niche clientele.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: But the best ways to market and the ways to be savvy about capturing people's information so you know who to talk to that might be able to help you, right?
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: And um knowing what you know, vendors or other business owners adjacent to my industry might have been able to help me out from the start, as opposed to kind of just try and meet everybody and then you know, I don't want to say it was wasted time, but you know, it wasn't the most efficient use of my time because I might have been talking to business owners that were A, just as new as I am and don't have an aim with that clientele, um, you know, or maybe don't have anything to do with that clientele.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: So I think I would, I would, you know, if I could wave a magic wand, I would instill that knowledge into me immediately, but it's part of the learning process of starting a business, you know.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Some people it's quite the opposite.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: They have a huge marketing background and they have no idea how to run their business, and then that that can be quite a growing pain for them too.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Um, I would probably say that I liked having it my pitfalls be the way they were, because I'd rather know how to run the business first, but you know, I could have it all.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Marketing would be definitely the first step that I would you know go back and fix.
• 4:47
  Cliff: Yeah, okay, yeah, good deal.
• 4:49
  Cliff: Good.
• 4:49
  Cliff: Yeah, fun fact about me, I actually am operations back around itself myself as well.
• 4:53
  Cliff: So I know what you mean.
• 4:54
  Cliff: You know, you know how to do certain things in the business, but then uh you know, actually getting your stuff out there and and like you said, marketing yourself in front of leads and capturing leads is kind of a hard part.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: So exactly.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: The vision of how I want things to run is very clear, but going out and getting the leads is where things get a little murky.
• 5:12
  Cliff: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 5:13
  Cliff: No, understood.
• 5:14
  Cliff: All right.
• 5:14
  Cliff: So, what have your biggest learnings been as an owner or an employer since you started your business?
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Ah, man, so I think the biggest thing I've learned is that we well, you got to be patient.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm still working on that.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: My, you know, I uh not with like people or employees that work for me, but with myself and the expectations I set for the business.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Um one of the bigger learnings is like, hey, nothing is that big of a deal when it comes to the running of the business.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: Now, obviously, if we have a home that's got a water leak or has some sort of emergency, that's a big deal, and you got to move that up to the top of your priority list.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: But when it comes to the inner workings of the business, nothing is that big of a deal to the point where I need to lose sleep or worry about things maybe that I did at the beginning.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Um, but again, it's all part of that like building the momentum and the understanding as a business owner, you know, to where now it's like, all right, I uh you know have this issue, it's fine.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: You know, I don't need to freak out about it, it'll get resolved and then we'll be okay.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Whether it's like a bookkeeping question or something about you know the software that I use, or um, you know, a big, a big uh issue for me in the beginning was figuring out my pricing.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: You know, I realized pretty early on that the pricing structure for these types of companies in Asheville versus out in Cashers, where I learned this industry, uh, I can charge a lot more money out here.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: And I came out the gate as one of the cheaper providers in the area.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: And actually learning that that is pretty poor when you know, going back to marketing, when you're the cheapest, that usually signals a bad side to people, especially a uh a clientele that's dealing with a luxury service, you know.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: So um, you know, learn how to price point price myself accurately.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: And I also learned that not every client is worth the the headache.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: There are some there are some people that I've had to turn away because they were screaming and and pounding their fist that they wanted a certain thing in the contract eliminated, and you know, because I do a service contract with all of our all of our clients, and you know, just having to trust my my my people, right?
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: You know, I I had an attorney draft up the the service agreement.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: It wasn't just something I downloaded off the internet, you know, trusting the people that I've paid and put my faith into to help do the right thing for me.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: So, you know, just you know, it's just all there's so much learning that goes on, to be honest with you.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: But there's you know, pricing, not every customer is a customer you want.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: It's it's okay to tell a customer no if you realize it's not going to be worth it and be a bigger issue down the line.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: And just learning to kind of take a deep breath when things happen, let things play out, and just you know, fix it when you can.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: And uh, you know, not everything needs to be go, go, go right away to the point where you might get burned out a little bit, you know.
• 8:08
  Cliff: Okay, yeah, that makes sense.
• 8:09
  Cliff: So, what are some common misconceptions about running a business and how do you address them?
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: I think the common misconception about running a business is that hey, you you uh you incorporate, you file an LLC, and then the money starts flowing in and it's just raining on it.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: You know, I uh I wish it was the case, right?
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: I think that only happens for a few people, uh, especially in like a software, maybe like a techie kind of industry.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: But that's not to say that those people don't have tons of leverage and risk that they have to you know deal with themselves.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: But um I think sometimes business owners can be seen as you know dreamers and a little more scrappy than you know someone who just works a regular nine to five.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: And it's you know, or or someone who can't fit the mold of a nine to five, and it's really not that way at all.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: It's just more people that are just kind of wanting to do their own thing or are motivated to do things a certain way.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: And um, you know, they just want to live their life the way they see fit.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: And it's not it's not as big of a risk to start a business as some people might tell you, depending on the the the you know field you pick.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Um yeah, I think I think it just kind of just kind of depends on the person.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: But yeah, uh yeah, that'd be that'd be that's how I feel about that.
• 9:28
  Cliff: Yeah, yeah, okay.
• 9:29
  Cliff: What have you what have you uh attributed to your growth so far?
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: I think it's just been me just relentlessly, you know, networking.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: And I think at first I was sitting with everybody and anybody that would listen to, you know, my spiel about the company and who I am and about me.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Um and like I alluded to in the first question, I mean, not all of those people were going to or were going to be able to help me, right?
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: Some of them were just in the same boat I was, their niche wasn't, uh their clientele wasn't the same as mine.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: Um, you know, so I've had to learn part of another learning I've had is I've had to learn where to spend my time when it comes to networking, you know.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Um it's been it's kind of strange to say I am not the kind of client that my business would serve, right?
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: I don't have a luxury, you know, million plus dollar house that I just come to once or twice a year.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: So what I needed to do was kind of get in the mindset of who is around those people, right?
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: And how do I get in those circles of those those business owners or you know, groups that those people might hang out in?
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: And I'm still learning my way, but it's a lot more pointed and a lot more intentional than it was in the past.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: Um so yeah.
• 10:49
  Cliff: Okay, okay.
• 10:50
  Cliff: So this is always a good question.
• 10:52
  Cliff: How do you balance your personal life with the demands of running a business?
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think the first so it's actually funny.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Uh what before I got on my entrepreneurial journey, I read a book called Uh The Millionaire Next Door.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: And uh great book if you or anybody else listening ever gets the chance.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: And it's kind of funny that the the premise of that book was like, you know, basically if you just save and you know invest in their wise, you know, you can become a millionaire by the time you're ready to retire and you can have live a nice life, blah, blah, blah.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: But the one of the things in that book that the author kept hammering was the biggest financial decision you will ever come across is who you marry, if you choose to get married.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: So, you know, it's hugely important that you marry someone that is not like crazy with money.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: And I think the bigger thing too is you marry someone that is supportive of you and your dreams and your goals and doesn't try to hold back.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: So I'd say the easiest way to balance life with running a business is having someone that understands the why and why you're doing it and supports you in doing that.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Now that that doesn't mean there's healthy boundaries that you set or that, you know, like my wife might have to tell me, like, okay, enough, like work and come hang out, and that's totally fine.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: And I, you know, I have to be willing to receive that feedback, right?
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Which I usually am because I love hanging out with my wife and my dog, right?
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: But um it's just that would be the hardest part.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: But someone else asked me the other day, because I have another company that I run in town, and I still have a W-2 job that I, you know, do you edit that part out of the podcast because I don't want them to know.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: But um it, I and I did this back in my days as an operations manager, it's just and I I I like this term, it's just ruthless prioritization and execution of the calendar.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: So, you know, if you looked at my calendar, it's crazy.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: But I block off time where I know I'm gonna work on something.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: And if I don't hit it, I have to move it.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: And if I don't hit it, it's probably because something else came up and I had to move stuff around.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: But I don't just let myself miss like in a week, I don't let myself miss my targets.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: I still have to write a blog on Monday.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: I still have to do at least two to three social media posts, I still have to go ahead and run payroll for my employees on Wednesdays, right?
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: And I I have those priorities and those metrics that I have to hit, not metrics, but those goals that I need to hit.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: I tend to do it on my calendar.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: If I need to, I'll write it down.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Um, but honestly, it's about being flexible and being easy on yourself too, because at first it's gonna be tough.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Like you're gonna have to like try things, fail at it, then go back and retry.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: And I mean, you can't like be hard on yourself and beat yourself up if you're struggling at first.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: There's not gonna be many business owners or entrepreneurs that come out the gate like batten a thousand, like, oh yeah, I got my business is making money and I don't have to do much to it.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: It markets itself, and my home life is, you know, not seeing any sort of uh backseat, right?
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, there are times when I do have to go out on a Saturday or like if my wife gets home late, I have to run out to someone's house and do something.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: But again, it's like it's just part of you know that understanding of each other.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: But, you know, like I said, also good planning.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: My wife knows that I'm good at planning.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: She knows I'm, you know, I'm very, very tight with my calendar and I plan my days out ahead of time.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Usually on like Friday, I'll start planning the week ahead.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: So if she comes home and I'm stressed about something, or I'm not home and I'm out at someone's house, like it's not just because I was sitting around all day and decided to just you know start the work at 2 p.m.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Like she knows I've been going all day long.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: So I mean it really, it really just depends.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Open the kitchen for sure with your spouse.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: So you go.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Um, but yeah, I would say just stick to your guns, try things out.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: If it doesn't work, some people can't do the calendar thing.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Some people like to do like the eat the frog, start of the suits, do the hardest thing in the beginning of the day.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Um, you know, some people like that.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: I like a steady, like do the same, do this thing at this time, this day.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: And I I that goes back to my days as an operations manager too.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: I did the same exact thing back then.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: It's what worked for me, is what helped me and my team, you know, through COVID.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Uh so you know, find what works for you, try things out, and then go from there.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: And then that's how you balance things, you know.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: It's all, you know, they what do they like to say?
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: It's not a work-life balance, it's a work-life integration, some people like to say.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: Um, that's kind of how I view it, you know.
• 15:22
  Cliff: Okay.
• 15:22
  Cliff: Now digging into that a little bit further, how do you handle vacations?
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so sadly, we can't really take two-week vacations anymore.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: It'd have to be about a week.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Uh, but that's okay because my wife and I are we are planning on having our first kid in March.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: So we're trying to save all the PTO we can.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: So it really does.
• 15:43
  Cliff: Congratulations.
• 15:44
  Cliff: Congratulations, Nate.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: That's awesome.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: And she doesn't get as much PTO as I do with her job.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: So taking two-week vacations and stuff is not really in the realm of possibilities right now, but it will be eventually.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: But luckily, I have a team of people that I can rely on for both businesses.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: One of them floats between both businesses, and you know, I trust him with a lot.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Um, and that goes to kind of like the hiring and figuring out how to choose the right people and making sure there's people that he trusts.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Um, and I always like to make sure, like if I'm leaving town, you know, I make sure the houses are good to go before I leave.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: And, you know, maybe check the weather, make sure there's no freeze or any crazy storm coming.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: That being said, we were in Germany when Hurricane Helene hit, so that was wild, you know.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: You know, people are worried about their houses and we're not even in the country.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Um, some things you just can't plan for, but vacations, you just kind of, you know, we make it work.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: We my wife and I love to travel.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: So we still, you know, we still get around, you know, different places.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: We were in Columbia earlier this year.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Um, right now we're saving PTO, but still, right?
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: We find ways to make it work.
• 16:57
  Cliff: Awesome, awesome.
• 16:58
  unknown: Yeah.
• 16:58
  Cliff: So what qual what qualities do you look for in employees?
• 17:01
  Cliff: And how do you foster a positive and productive work environment?
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so for employees, I mean, the first thing I'm gonna look for is integrity and honesty.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: I don't really care about, you know.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: I don't really care about, you know, their work history.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, as long as their work history doesn't show that they're like bouncing around and they can't hold a job.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Um I I'm a firm believer that people can be taught.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: I look more for the work ethic versus the the work task.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: Um and yeah, my number one's always like honesty and integrity.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: So if I, you know, sit down and talk to somebody and uh, you know, this has happened to me where I think the interview went well, and then I do a background check and it lights up with some pretty gnarly stuff.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: You know, that I mean, obviously I'm not gonna hire them for the legal ram or the potential legal ramifications, but also it hurts when uh, you know, people are trying to pull wool over your eyes.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: But yeah, if I can tell that someone's honest and that they have good core values and they care about doing the right thing and being a good person, uh, then they're we're probably gonna get along really nicely.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Um and it's easy to work with them at that point because we're on the same you know level, you know, eye to eye.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: Um also I'm I'm pretty firm with explaining to my employees the way our roles will work.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: You know, they will be working in the business, and I will be working on the business.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: So it's not one of those things where you know they're out doing work and I'm just kicking back and cashing checks and kissing babies.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: You know, it's I'm I'm out there and I'm trying to network and spread our name around town.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm trying to facilitate relationships with, you know, different realtor firms or just different real estate agents or different vendors that might be able to do landscaping or plumbing, right?
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I'm out trying to forge those relationships so that my team only has to worry about these are the houses I need to check.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: This is how I check them.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: And okay, if there's something wrong, this is who I call, you know.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Um, and that's the system that I want.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: I don't want, I don't want people that are checking our houses to be frantic.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: If something's wrong, you know, and this has happened to me too when I'm out in the field.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: If something's wrong, you got to know how to handle that problem immediately.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: If you're, you know, calling me freaking out, or you don't know what to do, then that's a failure on my end, right?
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: So um I look for someone who's easy, you know, can communicate well.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: If I'm trying to, I'm a big texter, so if I'm texting them stuff and they're not texting me back, that's a huge red flag.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: I need to be able to communicate with people.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: And some things cannot wait for a phone call at the end of the day, you know.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Um, just I'm just looking for someone that's a good person, honestly.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Like I'm not someone that's easy to get along with, someone you can trust going into empty homes that are five million dollars.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Like that's a huge thing, and I mean, homeowners will meet me and trust me because I'm the face of the company, but they have to trust that I have thoroughly vetted and you know, scoped out some people that act with integrity and they can can be in a five million dollar house and not steal something, right?
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: So that's the first thing I'm looking for is just how how they how when when we sit down and give you how they interact with me, are they warm?
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: Are they open-minded?
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Are they are they there for a conversation or is it more transactional?
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Are they a little closed off and guarded?
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Um just looking for someone to be like a normal person that acts with high integrity and high honesty, you know.
• 20:24
  Cliff: That's a little tough to find sometimes these days, but I get it.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it is.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it is, man.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I mean it really is, and you and and that's something that business ownership taught me too, is you know, I think in the corporate world, now the corporate world has its setbacks with people who are only out for themselves, and I get that, but you you you see a lot more polished candidates for stuff in the corporate world than you might in like the service industry.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Um you know, and polished doesn't mean that they have a tight haircut and they're they're well dressed and everything's print and proud.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: I don't care about that, right?
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: I don't I could not care less how they dress, how they look, now if they're dressing inappropriately, whatever.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: But you know, I need to know that they can be a normal person, they're gonna do the right thing when no one's looking.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: And if they mess up or even if I mess up, they need to be able to tell me that and say, hey, this it would be a lot better for me if you did this, if you communicated this way, you know, they need to be able to manage up, as we would say in like corporate America and tell me where I can be a better manager for them.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Because if they're scared to tell me stuff, just kind of breed that resentment and breed that like looking for the next gig.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Whereas if they can be honest with me and tell me what they need and give me the opportunity to improve on whatever it is that whatever that shortcoming is, then that's the type of relationship I need with my employees, you know?
• 21:40
  Cliff: Okay.
• 21:41
  Cliff: Okay, yeah.
• 21:42
  Cliff: So next uh next round's gonna be the quick fire round.
• 21:45
  Cliff: So I'm just going to basically throw out some some words to you, and you don't have the first thing that you think of when you hear these words.
• 21:52
  Cliff: It's it's in regards to your business.
• 21:54
  Cliff: Yeah.
• 21:55
  Cliff: Education.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Uh uh, YouTube, ChatGPT.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: I like that.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: I haven't gotten that one yet.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: We can expand on anything too if you want.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: So just let me know.
• 22:10
  Cliff: No, I mean it I mean it's pretty self-expensive, but yeah, I mean, if you need something, you can go to YouTube to find it.
• 22:14
  Cliff: You can go on ChatGPT and ask them for help or even learning, even learning on the marketing front.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Like you can tell that marketing's a big thing for me right now.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Learning how to write SEO blogs.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: And you know, I might not write the blog, but I tell Chat GPT all the technical things that need to happen.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: So I mean, you know, watching things on YouTube, like how do I do this?
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Or you know, blah, blah, blah.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, sometimes, you know, you gotta learn on the fly.
• 22:38
  Cliff: Oh, you you're you're exactly right.
• 22:39
  Cliff: And I don't understand some people.
• 22:40
  Cliff: Um, you know, some people they ask me, oh, how do you do this?
• 22:43
  Cliff: Oh, how do you do that?
• 22:43
  Cliff: I'm like, man, we are in the the technology age.
• 22:46
  Cliff: I mean, these are things that are all over the internet.
• 22:49
  Cliff: You can Google it, you can YouTube it, you can do this, you can go on TikTok.
• 22:52
  Cliff: I mean, you can do everything these days.
• 22:54
  Cliff: And people are asking a basic question.
• 22:55
  Cliff: It's kind of interesting when you have a computer in your hand to call a phone or a smartphone and you can look it up in two seconds rather than me talking to you.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and it's so it's one of those things like back in the day, I think old school leadership was the leaders always have to know.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: And even if they didn't know, they would act like they did.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: But I'm very comfortable if someone says, Hey Nick, how do we do this?
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Like, dude, I don't know.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Let's look it up.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: There's a million different uh, you know, models of HVAC units or refrigerators or water heaters.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: So if you ask me a specific thing on, you know, uh uh one brand versus the other, I'm not gonna know that.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: I'm not an appliance repair man.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: However, I know where to go find the answer, you know?
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Like that's the type of stuff you gotta be able to do.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: And uh, you know, you you gotta be willing to, you know, admit you don't know something and go figure it out.
• 23:47
  Cliff: Yeah, no, I get it.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: All right, planning uh and it's just one word.
• 23:55
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:55
  Cliff: I don't know.
• 23:56
  Cliff: I mean you could no, it's just it's really just the first thing that you think of when you hear that word.
• 24:00
  Cliff: It doesn't have to be one word.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Prioritization would be my word answer to that.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Prioritization.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Learn how to prioritize, learn what's important, when it's important.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Not everything can be a firefight, you know.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: Inspiration.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: Oh man.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: My inspiration is that I want it all.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: You know, that's what that would be the term.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: You know, I it's not achievable, which you know, I guess we could have a different conversation about that, but I don't ever want to feel like, oh, I can't achieve something, you know, so why not go for it?
• 24:40
  Cliff: You know, so you're not scared of anything, basically.
• 24:42
  Cliff: You're you're ready to go get it, or at least try.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm scared of not achieving my dreams, right?
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: I'm not scared of failure, I'm not scared of being wrong, I'm not scared of things going wrong.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's inevitable, right?
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Um, but I am scared of being on my deathbed and being like, oh man, I should have, I wish I had, you know, I wish I had done this, I wish I had tried that.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Like, you know, that's a scary to me.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: That's more scary than okay, I started a business and it didn't really work out.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: You know, I didn't lose anything, but I learned a lot, right?
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: So it's just it's just uh I guess an appetite for risk, you know.
• 25:20
  Speaker: Okay, okay.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: Commitment.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: To me, yeah, I would say soul.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Like that's just what's in your soul, right?
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Like commitment to my family, commitment to my wife, to my incoming son, uh, commitment to myself, right?
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: That I'm gonna not be hard on myself, but keep pushing myself.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: So that's part of your soul.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: I guess uh, you know, I say it's how you're wired.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Um, it's how I'm wired at least.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: And I think commitment is huge for me.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: I you you can tell how much I touched on integrity and honesty.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Um, and that goes for myself too, right?
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: So uh it's just how I am, it's how I've always been, and that's how I'll continue to be, right?
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: The only thing I have to learn is when to be hard on myself and when not to be hard on myself.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: And and sometimes being hard on yourself doesn't mean you're beating yourself up, but you are taking a good look in the mirror and looking at your shortcomings and how you can address them.
• 26:11
  Cliff: Okay.
• 26:11
  Cliff: All right.
• 26:13
  Cliff: So, what words of advice would you offer to other business owners who are looking to grow?
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: Man, I'll say, you know, be patient, have a plan, right?
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: And you know, execute your plan if you feel that it is the right one.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: Now, I think there are things that go with that.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: I think finding good mentors are is huge, right?
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: And I don't mean like you have to go pay someone to be a mentor, mentorships can be organic.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: I have, you know, two business mentors right now, one for sure, one that I'm kind of working on being more of a fluid relationship.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Um, and like sometimes they'll, you know, they'll push me indirectly by saying, hey, why don't you try this for marketing, or why don't you try that?
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: And I've had my mentor who runs you know a four million dollar test company tell me, okay, next time we meet, I want to see these things.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: I want to see a plan for this, I want to see your outlook, blah, blah, blah.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: So read this book and then we'll talk about it.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Um, finding mentors is huge, not only to keep you accountable, but just for inspiration.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: And again, I kind of touched on letting you know that everything's gonna be okay.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: You know, there have been some times I go to my mentor, like, you know, the pest company guy, and I'm like, dude, this happened, this happened.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: I am just in the pits.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: And he's like, Oh, yeah, I remember when I used to feel like that.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Like, you're gonna be okay.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: You know, it's gonna be fine.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: And uh, you know, it's is it's nice to have someone who has been through it and understands what you're going through.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: And it's kind of like looking at your future self.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: It can be that in a way, and saying, you know, that guy is where I want to be.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Let's let's get after it, right?
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Let's get after it.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: I think another thing that business owners need to do when they're starting out, like myself, is be careful on who you're taking advice from, right?
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: Whether it's friends or family or even other business owners.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: I've had friends, one of my best friends uh has like made fun of me for my entrepreneurship journey, right?
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: I've got family that's questioned it, other business owners say, What?
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: You're just taking care of vacant houses?
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Like, how can that what is that?
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: You know, and it's like, yeah, and then you see all the projects I'm coordinating and vendors, it's more like a project management role, and then you got to deal with employees, right?
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: And um there's there's quite a few notable business people in the Asheville area that are great people, but when I told them, you know, my business ideas, they kind of poo-coo it, and it's like, okay, well, good to know, right?
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: I guess they'll never be my competition, you know.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: But uh, I'm not necessarily gonna run to the hills and go back on my progress, maybe because I have a slower company, and by slower I mean a company that builds clientele slower, but this is a recurring revenue business.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: So, man, once it gets rolling downhill, we're gonna be forced to be reckoned with, right?
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: So other homewashed businesses are like that.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: So it's not, it's not uh it's not like I'm just doing something that's never been heard of here.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Um yeah, so be careful about who you take advice from.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, take advice from whoever, but don't let it eat at you.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Like, I'm not saying like someone gives you advice and you like write them off.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Like I those business owners and friends and family that still questioned it, I don't write them off.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: They're still my friends and family and people that I see, but don't let it eat at you, right?
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: And pick good mentors.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: And I mean, really pick good mentors.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: You could be sitting down and having coffee with somebody once a week or whatever, and if it's not working out, it's not working out.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: You don't need to continue it.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: But if there are people that are making you think bigger or think outside of what you were thinking, and you and you're sitting there going, Oh man, I didn't think about that.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: That's a great idea.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: Let me try that, you know.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Or man, that guy just makes me want to achieve, like, get after it.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: Like after I talk with that guy, I'm ready to go.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Like it might be Friday afternoon and things are winding down, but the wheels are turning, right?
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: So you can find people and surround yourself with with people that help you become better, then I would say do that.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: And it's sometimes it might mean that you.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: Spend less time with your friends who just want to go out to trivia and go drinking on a Thursday night, right?
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: That might happen.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: And you need to get comfortable with that.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: You need to make a decision.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that you don't ever see your friends again, but sometimes there are choices to be made.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: What kind of person, what kind of life do you want to lead?
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: What kind of person do you want to be?
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Going out with your friends is not a bad thing, but you gotta make choices, right?
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: There are sometimes you gotta stay home and handwrite letters to people and mail them out.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: You know, like it just sometimes you gotta stay home and do some accounting.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Like it is what it is, yeah.
• 31:03
  Cliff: Okay, okay.
• 31:04
  Cliff: So what's the next big thing for Mountain Vantage properties?
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the next big thing for us is, you know, I'm trying to have more of a presence in the community, not just the business community, you know.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: So I think we'll try to partner up with like, you know, some places where some of my clientele might be like racket clubs or golf courses.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: Um, and I do have an in-to-do events and things like that through the realtors that I've met.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: So it's nice to have that.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: Um, but you know, just just more of an emphasis.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: You know, I've heard some companies describe themselves as like marketing companies that do this.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: And I kind of want to flip my mindset to that, where you know, we are not a home watch company that markets okay.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: We are a marketing company that does home watch.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Like home watch is easy, we got it.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: Let's figure out how we can market ourselves bigger, efficiently, um, and to the right people, you know, and and do things in a smart way that that's still authentic.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: It still gets who we are across, who I am across to people, and still gives them the confidence that uh we're gonna do a good job for them.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: Um, I think another big thing is that we're getting more into the project management side of home watch, which is, you know, I I'm what two years into this now.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: So I have a lot of good vendors that I trust.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: So I can confidently look at a homeowner and say, yeah, you know, you can use this plumber, but I've got one too that I really like.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: And don't get me wrong, I have a big plumber that I like to use, and I have a small plumber that I like to use.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: But it's nice that I can say, Yeah, I've used this small outlet.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: He's a great guy, he's gonna get it done fast, it's gonna be it's gonna be at a good price, and we can knock it out for you to get it done.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: And then still that confidence in people, you know.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: So that's a good revenue stream for us too, is the project management.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: Um, so that's that's gonna be something we're really focusing on here in the next couple of years, you know.
• 33:05
  Cliff: Okay, perfect, perfect.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: And it aligns right with my strength.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: You're balancing multiple plates, your project management, you know, you're you got a lot of things going on at different houses, you know, then that's that's that's that's what the business is.
• 33:17
  Cliff: Yeah, okay, perfect.
• 33:19
  Cliff: Uh, and lastly, what's the best way for somebody who's interested to get in touch with you?
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think uh so we're on social media.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: I don't really get many leads from social media, and that's okay.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: That's more for awareness of what we do anyway, to other businesses and people around town.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: But uh, you can always get get to us through Instagram and Facebook.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: Uh on our website, you can see you can see our uh email, hello mvp.wnc at gmail.com.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: Or my the the business phone number, 828-585-4889.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: I can text that that goes straight to me.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: So you're not gonna be talking to some robot, right?
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: So if an owner has a question, they can call me, text me, and we'll get it figured out for.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: Um you know, for for for right now, you're gonna be dealing with me.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: If we grow big enough that I need an admin, that that's great.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: But uh for right now, it's always gonna be me, and then you know, that's how people can hear and touch if they need anything.
• 34:11
  Cliff: Perfect.
• 34:12
  Cliff: And you said text is preferred, right?
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, text is preferred, but I mean, if it's someone that is trying to look for us bringing them on as a client, they probably need to call me.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: But if it's someone just wanting to reach out for advice or, you know, anything like that, or just to talk business and like set up a meeting, then yeah, text is probably easier.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: Um, you know, I give my personal number out to my employees because I really need them to be on the ball when it comes to answering me and myself, vice versa.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: I need to answer them.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: So sometimes the voiced service can get a little bit in the way of that.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: So I keep them on personal for those reasons.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: But business lines will always remain for clients and you know, things like that.
• 34:53
  Cliff: Okay, perfect, perfect.
• 34:54
  Cliff: Yeah, well, thank you so much for being a part of the community, and we we thank you very much for being on this episode of Epic Entrepreneurs Podcast.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: Thanks, man.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: I appreciate it.
• 35:01
  Cliff: All right, well, thank you.
• 35:02
  Cliff: Thanks.