Latest / Epic Entrepreneurs / A COVID Shutdown Sparked A Smarter Pivot with Branden Joynt, Joynt Industries

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A COVID Shutdown Sparked A Smarter Pivot with Branden Joynt, Joynt Industries · Epic Entrepreneurs

• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Hey everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: I am Cliff McRae with Action Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to turn big ideas into real scalable growth.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Today I'm excited to be joined by Brandon Joint with Joint Industries.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Brandon, how are you doing today?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing well, Cliff.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: How are you today?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing excellent.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: We're excited to have you on.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: So let's go ahead and jump right into things, if you don't mind.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, for those of you who may not know it yet, you know, who are you?
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: What is Joint Industries?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, my name is Brandon Joint.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Our parent company is Joint Industries, and we have another one, IMPG Holdings.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we have two separate corporations.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Our primary emphasis through Joint Industries is actually floor care and restoration.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: We own a company called Nice and Clean Floor Care and Restoration, and we focus on commercial carpet cleaning, tile and grout, upholstery, things of that in the commercial realm, a lot of hospitality.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then we also do emergency water response.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: So anything floods, mold, odor remediation, fire, anything like that.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: And who was Brendan join as a person?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Who are you personally?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, goodness.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: 42-year-old overgrown man child.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: I love to play.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: I love music.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: I play classical piano in my spare time.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: I play music at church on Sundays.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: I love I hike a lot.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: I actually went on a little hike yesterday up to Big Creek and just had a had a great time.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Went and visited a whole bunch of little waterfalls, and that was my day yesterday.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I had to work on the weekend, so I comped out yesterday.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, anytime I can get a chance to get out, I'm a little bit of an adrenaline junkie.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: I like rock climbing, skydiving, anything like that.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: And and you know, we were both talking ahead of time that, you know, I'm a musician as well.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I actually played trombone in in high school and college.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: It actually paid for my my full scholarship, uh, which is pretty amazing.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: That that is that is amazing.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: I did I do a lot of, you know, of course, the church is we're playing uh contemporary, contemporary Christian music, and uh I also love uh throwback through the old hymns and stuff like that.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm actually working on a set of about 30 old hymns currently and just to get just for for fun.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: But also I love playing Chopin, rock mod and off, but um uh working on some Beethoven pieces right now, just a whole bunch of just like monster pieces that'll probably take me way too long to finish because I'm working on too many at the same time, but that's okay.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's just for fun.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: So let's get into you know the business talk.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, what's something about running your business that people think is amazing, but it's actually a complete BS when you hear it?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, definitely the oh, you can you can make your own schedule, you can do whatever you want.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, entrepreneurs are are all wealthy, you know, whatever.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: The body inside of course you hear that one, oh, it must be nice to be able to do XYZ, whatever.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: But if people really miss all the the work that goes into it on the front side and all the education and training and just the studying that goes into it and sleepless nights, you know, it's it's it's always challenging, but you know, uh every every time it's a chance to to solve a problem, and which is kind of where I thrive.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: I I love uh I I really enjoy problem solving.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: So that's but but again, like you know, a lot of people assume that it's easy or you know, that you came from money, or you know, any of these long listed things.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: So there's definitely a lot of misconceptions in the world of entrepreneurism.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like you got the Bugatti and the Lambo sitting in the garage, right?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Sure I do.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I don't I don't remember which garage I put them in.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's funny.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: So, Brandon, what was the exact moment where you realized, you know, this business could either really work or it could completely blow up in your face and you could lose everything?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, actually, that that that's actually a very easy question.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: So years ago, I actually started out running movie theaters.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: So when I was in high school, I got a job working at a local drive-in movie theater.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that that is absolutely the most fun job I've ever had in my life, just as far as, you know, I I love the atmosphere and stuff.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: And but but that was fun.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: I worked with that company for about a decade, but it was a small independent company.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: The guy that owned it passed away, and then his family came in, took over, and started liquidating locations.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And they one was a retired school teacher and the other was a retiring nurse, and they they didn't want to be running movie theaters, which which I completely understand.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now I didn't really understand it back then.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: I was, you know, in my 20s, and they they were starting to liquidate locations, and I was an area manager, and I looked at my wife and said, Hey, you know, we've got kind of two choices.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: If we stay where we're at now, this company's gonna close.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be hard to replace my income.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: So we could lose everything.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: I said, or we could go out and try to do this for ourselves, and that would, you know, and in the worst case scenario, we lose everything.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And my wife was like, okay, I'm down.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: And we literally found this little theater in a different state.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: We moved from Kentucky down to East Tennessee and and opened a movie theater on a shoestring budget.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think the day I signed the lease on the commercial property, I had a hundred dollars to my name.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was it was it was a crazy time.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: And and now you have a team of employees that work for you?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's 10 plus me.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: So so yeah, with there's there's a whole team of us, and yeah, they're they're structured out a different across different aspects of the business.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: So have certain people that work in in specific different roles inside of the two different companies that we have.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, but there's 10.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: We're a team of well, 11 if you count me.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Brandon, what would you say is the most stressful moment you have had so far as a business owner?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like a, you know, how am I going to get through this type of moment?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, well, that one's also easy.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: When COVID started, I owned two movie theaters, one in East Tennessee and one in Lebanon, Ohio.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And everything shut down.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And there was the first three weeks of COVID, I lost over$50,000 of liquidity, like right out the gate.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, we all know how long that lasted.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: And the movie theater industry still, in my opinion, hasn't made a recovery.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: So really glad I got out of that.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that was honestly the best thing for me.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: But that was an incredibly stressful time for me.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's hands down the most challenging obstacle that we've overcome as a company.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: Very nice, there.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, have you ever thought about quitting your business?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: No, no.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: I I just uh I absolutely love what I do.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very, very driven.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: And like it gets hard, of course, but I think I think the the thing for me is just having future goals of what I want it to look like, and knowing that like we can set our own path, a clear path on how to achieve these goals.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: And some of them are trivial.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, a lot of people talk about like setting goals and stuff, and it's like whether it's you know the hybrid or like fast car or whatever, for me it's just rental properties.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: I I love rental properties.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: So uh long-term specifically is the niche that I that I steer towards in my IMPG side of the company.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: And just knowing that we can set a clear path on how to obtain these goals and just coming to terms with the fact that it's okay when things get hard.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like every day doesn't have to be sunshine and rainbows, and you know, you're allowed to have hard days.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: So you you choose your hard and you choose what what challenges you face, whether it's you know, working in someone else's company, that's gonna have its own challenges, but life is all about challenges and overcoming them.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: I agree with that.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe this is hypothetical, but maybe you can come up with an answer for this.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: If you could wave a magic wand, let's say, you could wave a magic wand right now and instantly fix one part of your business tomorrow, what would it be?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'll be honest, we're really weak on marketing.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: So we have, I think, I think that would be the the magic wand.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's like because I feel I feel like there's no one singular right answer.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: But in instead, you know, in in our business, that's been it's been something we've definitely worked on over time, and that's its own story in and of itself.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: But but that to me would be the one area of my business that we've really just not put enough effort into.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you know, okay, so following up with that, what would you what would you do?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: What what kind of what would that solve, getting the marketing?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: Would that it result in additional business?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of what are you looking to solve there if that were if you were to get solved that problem?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, so I I definitely think that people just have to know who you are, because they no one can utilize your services if they don't know who you are.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's the first step.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: But also, like just because I offer services, it doesn't mean that somebody's ready for my services at this point.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Not some point in the future they will be.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: I just have to be the one top of mind when that time comes.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: So really it's about visibility, just making sure they have you in mind when they're thinking about that.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: And and we we've we've made huge progress over the years, but I think going into this whole entrepreneurial experience, that was my personal weak link, something I really just didn't understand well at the onset.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: So when we started the Nice and Clean Floor Care and Restoration Services Company, that's not what it started off as all.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: This is we started off as Newport Carpet Care, and we were just focusing on cleaning carpets residentially in Newport.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that market just wasn't a sustainable one for us.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: But then when people did call us, they'd be like, Hey, do you service Morrison?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, do you service Pigeon Forge?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, do you service because it had the wrong name?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's that's kind of the starting point.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I didn't take branding seriously early on.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now we take it very seriously.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: My vans, now you can't miss them.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: I actually some of my vans are bigger than they need to be just because they're billboards for us.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: But that's been part of our our journey as far as fixing our marketing.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I guess what we really lack is in the is more the digital realm.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: The digital realm.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: So you're thinking more like, you know, maybe getting social media more social media?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, is I don't have anybody currently on the team that's good at it.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: So okay so we're that that's that that is our weak area.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: And if I could, if I had one, a magic wand to fix one element of my business, I think that would that would be it.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay, yeah, that's fair.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: Now, let's say if if visibility suddenly doubled tomorrow, do you feel like your current systems and team could handle that growth?
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: We would probably add team members from an equipment standpoint.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: We could absolutely handle it.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: I believe in over investing in equipment and capacity.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: So for example, the equipment and machinery that we utilize on our trucks, it is the leading industry standard.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: So we have the largest truck mounts, the largest slide in truck mounts on the market.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: They don't make anything bigger would have to be direct drive.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: And there's just honestly, there's no need for that in this area.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: For example, we go to Nashville twice a year to sub out for another company because we can extract 14 floors up in the air and in these high-rise buildings.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're doing hot water extraction without using portables.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: And most people just can't do that because they don't have the power to run that far.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got two of those because I like having redundancy in my systems.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: For example, we were on a job one time, and you know, trucks are equipment, and equipment breaks down.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we had one of our trucks, you know, something broke.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, we got it fixed right away.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: But being as I had that redundancy, I was still able to meet the timeline for the customer.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: We just worked late one day and a little late the next day, and we we got it done.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: But if we didn't have redundancy in our system, then then that customer would have been, would not have been serviced properly.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: So so I think that investing heavily in equipment and capacity, that way, as we grow, it's really more about just adding team members and so our equipment, we actually kind of stay ahead of the curve.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this next question is hypothetical, but let's say if someone shadowed you, you know, went behind you and kind of watched you for a full day or or even a full week, what would surprise them the most about how you operate your company, would you say?
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: We are very we're we're very we're structured, don't get me wrong, but we're also very I don't want to use the word casual because that's not the right word, but I try really hard not to micromanage my teams because I've got really smart, really great people that work on my team.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I will ask them, hey, what are you doing today?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: What do you need me to do for you today?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there's it's not just top-down leadership.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: I have my own defined roles inside of the company, as do my management, you know, they have their own defined roles, and and we also something else that's kind of unique about our company is we actually two years ago completely did away with our vacation and sick days policies because I think that if a person, you know, has a sick kid, they need to be with their kid or their spouse, or like life happens.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so creating a work environment that's that's really centered around the team member first, because what they're doing at work is to enable their life outside of work, and that really shows in our company we have a very, very cohesive team, and I think a lot of it's because of the culture that we've built, and we're not I'm not looking to work my guys absolutely the hardest that I can or the longest amount of time that I can, or I actually one of my guys last year was or two years ago, whatever it was.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: He was he was stressing out because he's like, Hey, you know, I've got my vacation I usually like to do with my wife, I got my family vacation, but I haven't been to my home state in 15 years.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, well then go.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, I don't have enough time.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I told him I said, You're going.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yes, you are, you you do have enough time.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: You just you you put on the schedule, work it out with your other co-workers, make sure that we're covered and staffed, and you're good to go.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like, don't don't not go see your family back home.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like that would be a horrible thing.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: I and I wouldn't want an employer to be nitpicking me that hard.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I I prefer that he goes and and does that.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, you know, he's happier because he's got to accomplish one of his goals and a timeline that was ahead of what he thought it was going to be.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I do feel like, you know, especially now, you even more so because you know, life has changed so much here in 20 in the 2020s here.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: Micromanagement just doesn't, it doesn't seem to be as effective.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't even know if it's ever really been effective, even back in the 80s when, you know, there was really hardcore, everybody was really micromanaging.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: I just don't know if that's an effective way to manage and lead people.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because I mean, I feel like, you know, they they say to fear their fear your boss, but I mean, I I don't know, man.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: I just feel like I feel like, you know, being kind of a you know a teammate, more so than just I'm your boss, is a great way to manage too.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: How do you feel about that?
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh I'll I'll give you an example as far as our company culture goes.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I actually did a survey of the team a little while back and asked, what changes would you like to see inside of the company from a from a management standpoint?
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like what would give you more job satisfaction?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you it did not get the responses that that you would have anticipated.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that we do is we do an annual team building day where we go out and we just do something fun.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: We've done everything from paint and ball to just like whatever, we just go play, you know, as a team.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: We've gone uh rock climbing, we've done like a lot of just different activities.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the feedback I got was hey, we would like two team building days a year instead of one, because we really look forward to those.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: And like that was some of the feedback I got was hey, can we incorporate more team building into our into our schedule?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, well, absolutely we can do that.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, that's huge.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's huge.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, because I you you're right about that.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: That was the that was the thing because I was actually a director of operations at my last position.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: And you're right, when I when I first came into the comp that company and I ran a survey, that was the that was the exact same thing that we got to.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: We need to do more rather than just because it was a collections floor, right?
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: So it's rather than just coming in every day, you know, same thing, getting on the phones, going home, you know, they want some, they want some breakup.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: They want some, you know, from the monotony of the job.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, let's do more, you know, let's go out more, let's get some ice cream, let's do games, you know, let's break up the monotony.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like that's important.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Another area we push really, really hard on in is is education or certifications.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I I I believe that that certifications, well, well, they actually follow the team member, not the company.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: I have an open policy with my with my staff.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: If there's a class that they want to take, I'll pay for it.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: If it's if they tell me, like, hey, this is gonna help us as a company, this will help us grow, this will give us new capabilities, uh, it's an open checkbook for them.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: The same when it comes to like literature.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: If they have a book that they want to read or anything, like it's you tell me how much it is, and like I'm I'm going to buy it for you.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: And and they take me up on it.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: One of my guys actually just finished up a very aggressive path, but he f just finished his triple masters with the II CRC.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: To put that in perspective, there's less than 2,000 triple masters with the II CRC globally.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, globally, globally, yes.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: And and I have one on staff, and he actually got his before I got mine.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: And well, I I don't have mine yet.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: I've I've got four more courses that I have to take.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: And but we fast-tracked him and we prioritized that because that was one of his personal goals.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: And as a company, it helps us grow because when you're doing restoration work, the IICRC is the one that sets the standards for restoration, mold, water, structural drying, fire, trauma crime scene, odor remediation, all of those, all of those things fall under the IICRC.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: And they're the set standards.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: And having having a triple master is it's just it's a really, really big deal.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: And but I mean, it cost me a lot of money, but we we have literally invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into education over the years.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow, that's awesome.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: No, I love that.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you know, let's talk about numbers without getting too specific, you know, since you've you've been in business.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: How long have you actually been in business?
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: How many years?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oh goodness, 14.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: 14, okay.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so a good while.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so you were in your late 20s, I guess, when you signed up?
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: I was.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: I was 28 when I started.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was one of the youngest independent movie theater operators in the nation.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: 28 is really young.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: 28.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh my gosh, that's such a kid, you know.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't buy it, you know.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: But but but looking back at my management style and stuff then was very different than what it is now, too.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that's something I'm proud of as far as personal growth was I was that like show up to work, like really strict.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it was a movie theater.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: I thought everybody should be in a shirt and tie, you know, sort of deal.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it just from a culture standpoint, like I think I was probably a little on the toxic side back then.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: But but but but here's the thing some of my original people that I hired back in the day to run my first movie theater are still with me today.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: So it's transitioning out of that industry into a completely new industry and ultimately keeping the the overwhelming majority of my management staff with me, my management team stayed with me for this transition.
• 22:34
  unknown: Mm-hmm.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: So the guy that just finished his triple masters was originally an assistant manager at a movie theater.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's great growth.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: It it really is.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's a unique path.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's very different.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: But but when you when you have the right team, I sincerely believe that you can accomplish almost anything.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Now Brandon, what what year would you say out of the 14 years, what year would you say was the turning point where things started to scale?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: As far as as far as the floor care company, 2017 is when we decided to focus into commercial and it was it was the second half of of 2017, yeah, 2017.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: And before that I had I'd had a one experience cleaning a commercial property.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was a very bad experience for me.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: I had trouble getting paid.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: I had trouble with you know just everything and and and I just decided oh I don't I don't want to be in that world anymore.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: But then I realized like hey I can actually set I need to get better about setting terms and expectations and and then we stumbled into one really great client and that that ballooned and and actually over doubled our company overnight back in 2017 and and we've we've doubled several times since then and but but being willing to accept like commercial cleaning is is hard it has its own unique sets of challenges.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: And we actually specialize in something in low moisture cleaning and what we can we do hot water extraction as well but we also a lot of our commercial clients are you know high occupancy fast turnover dry times are incredibly important.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we have we invested in industry leading equipment for low moisture cleaning so when we're going into commercial properties and let's say we're cleaning a hotel room or a cabin or a resort whatever we can go in clean and an hour two hours later they have a a guest in that area that we just cleaned so I mean that that business has absolutely exploded over the years.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely not what I saw myself doing if you'd asked me you know 15 20 years ago like hey what do you think you'll be doing with your life that's that's not that's not what I would have anticipated but that's that's where we are and it's just it's been a very organic growth for us.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm okay now you know and let's get into your competitors a little bit what what would you say is one thing you're doing today that's giving you kind of an unfair advantage over your competitors?
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: That is actually a really good question.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: It would depend on you know which branch of the company we're referring to specifically but like we do we're very much a a business to business company.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we we do just an incredible amount of business networking networking events chamber events you name it hospitality associations chamber events BNI you name it we we do we do all of that where we focus so heavily in business to business networking and and that's one thing that I I don't see my competitors doing consistently I see them doing it but it's it's very it tends to be a little bit more hit and miss.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's like oh we got busy so we're not going to do that right now we're gonna we're gonna run more radio ads and and you know if it's working for me that that's fantastic I actually have some some really fantastic competitors in in my market.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: I got there's some there's some companies out there doing some really really great things there's even companies that are out there that if I find out they're running a contract I don't try to bid on it because I know that they're that client is receiving high quality service and and definitely of the mindset that there's plenty of business for all of us out there.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody else doesn't have to lose something if they're doing a great job with it for for me to make a buck I can go make it somewhere else it's not a big deal.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: But I think the I think the consistency in the networking is is something that we've been doing better.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: And and and our actual branding I think is our branding's really on point or like our our we have full wraps on our vans and we have big large vans and you you can't miss them.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: We have we have a for a small company we have a very large presence in s in uh severe county.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay okay now you know and this is kind of a you know it maybe it's hypothetical but it could be a you could have actually had a a situation like this but let's see have you ever had to make a tough call let's say like you know letting someone go like an employee go or or maybe cutting off and stopping a job halfway through or just turning the job uh turning a job down completely that ended up being the right move long term?
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah absolutely I I well we we've definitely turned jobs down we actually turned one down recently because there's certain things that you know clients will want something to be done a certain way but if it breaks what the standard is for that you know I I'm gonna I'm gonna pass on that because you know if if somebody for example let's say you've had a a trauma issue whatever that might be and you know there's been you know you're dealing with you know blood or whatever it is then that's not something you want to just it's like oh well we'll just fill in and we'll wipe it down clean it and it's fine like it it's not okay and there there's there's standards for that there's certifications that are required for that and and there's protocols that need to be followed and and we're not going to compromise on that.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like somebody out there will I I guarantee you know somebody will do whatever you know a client wants on we'll use that as an example but there's but it's more about doing things right.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: I actually without saying any specifics I'll tell you about a job I'm doing right now we're just finishing up where we're doing a a it's it's remediation project dealing with rodent infestation.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: And when we got into it you know we quoted out the job it's not an insurance job so we get a quote for the job and let the client know that like hey we're gonna need to you know remove and replace these materials whatever but then bluntly I wildly underestimated the amount of time that it would take so we're we actually just completed that job yesterday and did a fantastic job on it.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now the client's gonna get the original bill that they were quoted.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: I ended up spending like an extra five days on the job with multiple technicians.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna eat it on that one.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: And and that's okay because to me it's about doing the job right like I don't want to just go in and and do something halfway and then somebody you know some somebody's gonna live there later.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that would not be okay.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: So you know if I if I miscalculated the amount of time that it would take to do a job well that that that's on me.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's not on the client.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna go back and try to build a client more I'm just gonna I'm I'm gonna eat that and like hey I learned something on this and education is valuable.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: Ultimately it's a cheap it's it's a cheap lesson for me.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: All right so we're gonna go ahead and head and head into what's called the quick fire round so how this yeah so how this works is I'm going I'm going to give you one word and then I just want you to tell me the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear your reach for it in regards to running your business and then kind of give me a little blurb at the you know like two or three sentences a little paragraph or whatever you know on why you chose what you chose if that makes sense.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: All right of course what is success freedom freedom to to to follow what what you want to do do things that you enjoy the most successful people that I've ever known in my life had very little money and to me if you're not happy without money you won't be happy with it.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: And financial is is a whole finance is a terrible way to measure success.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: My parents they were self-employed they fantastic people my mom passed last year but just absolutely just fantastic and they they invested their time and efforts into the community and the people around them our childhoods and they were just amazing amazing parents and to me that's the pinnacle of success uh it's not about dollars and cents it's about the impact that you leave on the world around you and definitely rest in peace to Mama Joint she was an amazing lady oh my goodness she was she was the best well you're an amazing gentleman so I I don't doubt that at all.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that failure not living up to potential failure to act I think that failure is is kind of giving up or just not doing something you could because you know scared to take action I think I have a fairly high risk tolerance and I'm definitely not afraid to to try something or to put myself out there or in situations where you know I might not be successful the first time on something but I can decide if I want to try that thing again or learn from it.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: But failure is to me not taking action.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: Burnout last week oh man it was it was a rough one you know when you're running a company sometimes there are so many different elements that people don't see you know you're you're on a job and you know sometimes you know the days will start and my phone will start 715 730 in the morning and sometimes it doesn't stop until midnight and sometimes you just have to unplug and actually I did that yesterday I went out and I just I just went hiking because and I even told the team hey today I'm taking a mental health day don't call me unless like you absolutely have to I need to recenter myself and so I literally took yesterday as a day to just kind of but of course you know I had a crazy end of last year with my mom and then my dad was sick or earlier this year.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: He's doing much better and so there's been a whole lot of trips to Kentucky plus work plus you know the the other projects that we're working on right now and just it's just a lot sometimes and sometimes you just have to unplug and I think being willing to recognize that when you need to take a second be like hey I'm maybe not my best decision making self right now let's fix that what does it take for me to fix that for me it was a walk in the woods you know much better today that's awesome scaling scaling yes for me it's a very specific goal to me I mean scaling is about growth and I think I think just obtaining whatever whatever goals you set for yourself.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: For me I like investing in long-term rentals so to me like making it or whatever is is having 100 long-term rentals we're actively working towards that so everything we do every every decision I make I try to do it with that filter in mind hiring hiring be the person that somebody wants to work with competition healthy i think I think I think having comp having competition is good because it pushes you to be the best version of yourself but I also you also have to understand like I'm I I know a lot of my competitors by name you know we're we have each other's phone numbers I've called competitors to consult on jobs with me you know we're we're we're we're friendly with each other it's not it's not there the the pie is big enough for everybody I don't I don't it doesn't it's I don't need to have somebody else's job there's plenty of people that need my services without me going after a specific company for example like I'm not uh there there's growth opportunity out there and I I don't think that I I think competition should be people that you actually network with because sometimes there's things that they're gonna have that they don't want or have the capacity to do.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're friendly with them then they can pass it to you and and vice versa there might be something that we come across like you know maybe this isn't our forte we could refer you to somebody else so I don't think competition is something that is something that people should be scared of I think I think you should be I think your competitors should should also be your friends.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: All right and the last word is freedom I know you talked about this a little bit earlier.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh freedom ability to just make make decisions and just kind of kind of follow your path and do what you want to do.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: For me it's you know one of my goals this year is to get outside a little bit more.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: So and being proactive about scheduling that out and stuff achieving goals and and and really you know having the team built that you can depend on so if I do want to step away for a day or two or a week or two whatever like earlier this year I went to Japan I spent I spent like eight days in Japan and the team did absolutely fine without me they didn't call me they didn't have any crises and and it gave them an opportunity to just to do their thing and and prove that they can handle it in my absence.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: And again I've been working with these guys some of them literally for 13 years and 12 13 14 years and they you know they're they're capable so freedom I can go check on my dad I can I went to Japan I have you know whatever and then I I think freedom is just the ability just to to kind of try to make the business fit your lifestyle as well.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah yeah and we live in an absolutely beautiful area so you you definitely gotta get out especially with the weather it's absolutely two weekends from now I'm gonna go do White Rock I think so oh nice nice I know yeah we yeah we actually plan on doing that we actually got some family coming down uh around the fourth of July so I think I'm I think that's actually where we're going is right rock.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: So you gotta it's a beautiful I've been up there twice second time I hiked up there it was in a cloud uh that was a long way to go to not see anything but yeah it's just it's a beau beautiful beautiful area where we're blessed to live in this region.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah really really all right so I appreciate you getting through that quick fry round so you know just a couple last things here you know in in this one here you know obviously with the talk of AI and automation and everything that's going on nowadays where do you think your industry is going you know where do you see your industry 10 years from now?
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: I I think that people who use AI on the onset to help offset tasks and stuff that they'd be doing manually otherwise will be ahead.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: So AI is not going to go anywhere.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's here to stay.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: So you may as well use it to your advantage.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think I think one of the pitfalls people are going to run into is like you can still really tell when like graphics and stuff are AI generated and stuff like that.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: And and I think we have to be aware of not moving towards conformity as far as you know marketing and stuff goes like that.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time like we use AI all the time to look through quotes to help us with like material lists or for for mundane tasks if I have to for invoicing for example oh my gosh it's great.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like and we series of different AIs to help us do to do different things.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's here to stay so you may as well find what works for you and embrace it because if not your competitors are absolutely going to no I agree with that.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now where do you think your particular business will be five years from now where do you see it honestly we're really focusing in on the on the restoration side of things.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: So so we we really like I love drawing buildings I love drawing buildings and I hope that five years from now doing 10 times as much of it as I am now oh and more rental properties too five years from now I plan on plan on having four more by the end of this year.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: But you know so hopefully five years from now we'll be much closer to my goal of 100.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: So okay love it.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now you know in in this next question you know I want you to be as candid as you can on this on an answer to this next question.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: But you know let's say a a small business owner is listening to the podcast episode today with your brand and let's say they're they're just having a tough go of things right now just you know they're stuck or overwhelmed they're just not profitable right now.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_01: What's a piece of advice you would give to a struggling business owner today study.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: Study study so for example one thing is I listen I listen to books all the time I listen to so many books and books about leadership books about finance this books about investments books about real estate books about if you if you name it if if it pops into my head as an interest I I I literally go out and I I get a book and and I listen to it and I study constantly and I think personally it's the biggest thing that separates me from a lot of other small business owners is a lot of times people get into becoming an entrepreneur because they say hey I do this and I have a boss and I think I can do it better than my boss and and in many cases they're right but running a business and and performing a task are are not the same thing.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: They're two uniquely different skill sets and if I hadn't invested in you know books on leadership for example then I would still be running in the old mindset of when I first came to Tennessee of hey you have to look this way dress this way you have to you know and don't get me wrong we have uniforms and stuff but like but but we're we're so much more of we're we're I'm not running things like as an authoritarian perspective trusting your team building team getting the vision to your team members and stuff and don't be afraid to scale the worst thing that happens if someone doesn't work you just have to start again and you know I think I think most people don't succeed because they're afraid to try and I think I think fear fear of failure is the number one thing that keeps people out of the market.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then once they do get in they either are they're operators and they don't understand enough about running a business.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so my advice would be study and then surround yourself with people who fill the gaps for you.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: So for example I'm not an accountant I'm not even good at paperwork.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay so uh but this is something I recognize in myself so we have a lady on staff who she does all of our data entry and she does all of our bill pay and she does all the paperwork stuff.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I have a CPA and because I'm not a CPA that's not my job my job is to to market and grow my company doing floor care and restoration services.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it's my job isn't to be a CPA.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of people waste so much time when they could be producing because they don't find the right person to fill the gaps that they need.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times they say well I can't I can't afford it.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well you can't afford not to for example with my rental properties I don't mow the grass.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: I have somebody that mows the grass for me because if I'm mowing the grass is it's cheaper for me to pay somebody to mow the grass so I can focus on doing my job.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's kind of that's what that's what I would tell an entrepreneur.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: And like however hard you think it's going to be it's going to be harder and you you have to be very resilient.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah yeah get knocked down and get back up and get knocked down again and get back up stronger right the other thing I will say is dedication or discipline discipline beats talent every time I I think that that being disciplined and and if you're disciplined in one area of your life you should be disciplined in other areas of your life so like I would say like hey you know you want to be an entrepreneur do you exercise I mean like I know I sound silly but like you know I would say like that takes discipline.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying like do you do you go to the gym five days a week no do you do something to to work on your on on yourself you know and do you have the I would say like if if you can't be consistent you're gonna you're gonna struggle being an entrepreneur and there there's it just takes it takes a lot of determination and dedication and and I think that discipline really will show across all areas of someone's life if they're if they're an entrepreneur and they you you'll you'll see it it it's it's an entire lifestyle and you know work-life balance is not really much of a thing in the entrepreneurial world so because you're on sometimes 247 and you have to be willing to accept that and you know people are like oh I just My phone off at 5 p.m.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if I have a client that has a flood, they expect my phone to be on at 2 a.m.
• 44:35
  unknown: So yeah.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: So, Brandon, what's next for joint industries and you know the other company?
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_01: What should people be excited about coming up in the near future?
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: Or actually, like to today, we're actually signing on a um, I won't get into all the crazy details, but we're we're doing a uh we're doing a consolidation today on some stuff.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: And uh that's the the deal we're closing today is gonna be a little over$1.1 million dollars, and that's gonna be and that's gonna help us get to the point where we can build out a few a few more rental units.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_00: We're consolidating some mortgages and restructuring some stuff.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a project I've been working on for a long time, and that's that's coming to pass today.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I think it's it and it's the next step in our in our goals for where we want to be.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_00: We're really focusing in on, we've been focusing on growth, growth, growth, but we also have to focus in sometimes it's not as exciting or fun, but you have to focus in on things like cash flow.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, hey, does all this work?
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and yeah, and and the the math all works, and so so doing that and uh it's gonna save us a ton of money, it's gonna give me room to invest in, you know, more new projects, and it's gonna change the debt's income ratio stuff, and it's gonna all be very, very positive for us.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: And we're actually still dealing with the fact that I owned two movie theaters when COVID happened, and that was uh such a huge deal.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: And we made the right decision, but we we borrowed a lot of money to stay afloat through that.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: And today, that problem, the years later, through hard work, dedication, and that problem gets solved today.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: And this is gonna be a great, huge step forward for our company, it's gonna give us more capacity, and you know, we'll be bringing on at least one, maybe two more team members almost immediately because of it, because we'll be able to afford to and fixing bottlenecks and capacity as far as you know team members go.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_00: So uh we're we're doing we're doing some some amazing things.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_00: So we're we're always pushing and growing.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_01: No, I love that.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: And and Brandon, finally, what's the best way for someone to connect with you a little more uh more about what you all do?
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, you can you can, as I said earlier, our online presence is not what it should be.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be the first to admit that.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: We do have our website, it's uh niceandcleantn.com.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: All spelled out niceandcleantn.com.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: We have our business phone line, which is uh 423-237-3858.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then honestly, like I give out my personal sale all the time.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: I have a contacting number because it helps with spam, but um, I can be reached directly at 859-749-6942.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: And also email us at office at nice and cleantn.com.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's it.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, so um yeah, office at niceandclean tn.com for for our email as well.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_01: So all right.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_01: All right, Brandon.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, this has been fantastic.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you so much.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds like it's really exciting times for you and your businesses.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_01: And man, I I just I I think I I'm like, man, I I think I want to keep in touch with you and probably in another couple years, maybe have you on and see what what things look like in two or three years.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think that'd be exciting.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: I would I would I would love that.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for inviting me on.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_00: I I really appreciate the opportunity to be on here.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I I hope it helps somebody, you know, uh ultimately if you know if people are looking at like, hey, I want to start a business or something.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like so, I mean, like something I found out years ago was and and always I always tried to keep uh I try to surround myself with people who are smarter than me.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not hard to do.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of really smart people out there.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_00: So you just you find them and and you ask them questions and whatnot, and then you grow from their experiences and stuff.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I always try to keep a mentor or two or three or whatever people I respect.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't always agree with them on everything, but but but something I've found is people who are successful, you know, in the business world.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, really in any way, if you if you want to have a great marriage, find somebody who's been happily married for a long time, go talk to them, you know, ask them, like, because if it depends on what sort of success you're looking for.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so you don't have to invent the will every time.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_00: You just you take great ideas and or people with great ideas and and you ask them questions.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, that's what I do.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I I I try to I study and I and I try to find smart people and people who are doing things that I want to be doing.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, if anybody wants to reach out to me, feel free.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_00: I I promise there's smarter people out there, but you know, I'm happy to share my experiences and uh there's people out there that have achieved better success and stuff, but you know, we started with nothing, and you know, we're running, you know, a solid little company now, you know, and we're we've we've we've done some really amazing things over the last several years, and we've actually, without going into specifics, we have more than tripled the net worth of our company since COVID.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_00: And also to go from something that was like to go from something that was like like, hey, you know, we're have a really high traffic flow with clients and stuff, uh running movie theaters and stuff to changing industries to forging a new path and then being like, you know, then to have the company grow as much as it has in the last several years and the actual just value of the company.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're we're doing something right.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: But it's it's been it's been a wild, it's been a wild ride.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just glad to be on it.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome, man.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you so much again for coming on, man.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_01: We really appreciate you everything you're doing for the community.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_00: Cliff, thank you.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I appreciate you having me on here.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_00: This has been this has been really this has been really nice, really nice.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_01: It has.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's been fantastic.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you.