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From Military Aviation To A Neighborhood Woodworks Business with Frank Campagna · Epic Entrepreneurs

• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I am Cliff McCray with Action Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to turn big ideas into real scalable growth.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm excited to be joined by Frank Companion with Companion Woodworks LLC.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Frank, how are you doing?
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: We're so glad to have you here.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing well.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for asking.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, no problem at all.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: We're excited to have you.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go ahead and jump right into things.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: So for those of you who may not know it yet, you know, who are you?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Who is Frank Companion and what is Companion Woodworks LLC?
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, again, good morning.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: Companion Woodworks LLC is it's a small business that I started kind of not so much by surprise, but just it wasn't something I was planning on.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: I I recently retired from the military in July of last year.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, as a an aviator, I flew airplanes, helicopters, I was aviation safety officer and ground safety officer, and you know, just wanted to go into the uh into the uh commercial industry safety industry and ended up kind of falling into this handyman woodworking carpentry business through friends of mine who were looking for help.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: And that was something I've always wanted to do as far as an occupation, is help people.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I live in a very large neighborhood, and and my company focuses on those tasks or those jobs around homes where it's a little too big for the average DIY or homeowner, and too small for a larger organization to come in, it's it's really not worth their time.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: And and and my job focuses on those projects around the home, fixing, repairing, installing solely in my neighborhood.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: And that and that's what I do.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now, so I I and I know we've talked about this personally, but how large is your neighborhood again?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's pretty big.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's one of the largest subdivisions in our in our city, and I want to say we have about 10,000 residents in this area.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's massive.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh I I really should have had the the the correct or the accurate number of homes, but it's pretty big and it's growing.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, there's no shortage of people needing help.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: And it the neighborhood's actually that that perfect setting where the homes are starting to, you know, we've got new homes and we've got homes that are 20 years old in our neighborhood where people are looking for upgrades or people are looking for repairs so they can sell, or you know, just anywhere in the spectrum that you can find, there's somebody that needs help getting something done.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it sounds like your your whole neighborhood's like a city in itself, like a little town or something.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: It really is.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: We have our own little town center and we have running paths, and you know, it's kind of neat.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's you know, the basic suburbia where at the when school, the elementary school that's in our neighborhood lets out, you've got you know, 20 golf carts waiting to pick up their children in the little area.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's it's it's bananas how many how many families are here, but but it's it's it's great.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: It was a great place to to to raise a family.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's awesome.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: And and now you talked about Capanya Woodworks.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now, who are you as a person?
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: Who am I as a person?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, that's a pretty vague question.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: I one, I'm I'm an amazing guy, I guess.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you're amazing.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: You came on our podcast.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: So yes, you are me.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing things you asked me.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: A little bit about me, I guess.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I've got a beautiful wife.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_02: She's a school psychologist.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: I've got two awesome kids.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I say children, but they're they're college kids.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: I recently retired from the military, like I said, about a year ago, uh, almost a year ago.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I spent most of my life in the military.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, I've got a great group of friends.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: I love hanging out with them.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: I love boating.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: I love fishing.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: I love fixing things.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: I love working, you know, building stuff.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I've got a great church group of friends.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: Just I don't I don't know.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's hard to for me, it's it's hard to talk about myself.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I like I said, you know, the military was a big part of who, you know, of my life for for over three decades, but it's not something that defined me.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it it molded me a lot, but I like to think that for me, I'd like to, if you were to ask who is Frank, I want to be known as that family guy who you know loves his family and will give the shirt off his back to help a help a neighbor.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Nice, nice.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: I love it, love it.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, Frank, real talk.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: What's something about running a business that people think is amazing, but is actually complete BS?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: So that's that's a that's a great two-part question.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: So what's amazing about the about running your own business is you know, you know, everyone growing up or as a young adult or you know, even as a you know small child, we all want to own our business.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: What what it is, we don't know, but we we want that.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: And and owning a business a lot of times comes with personal freedom.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: And it really is.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: And that was one of the selling points for me to go into this business is the ability to to to uh work my my my schedule, do what I want, when I want, and and how I want.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: But we all know that we all work for somebody, and sometimes you can't always have that.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: I think that that being able, you know, that freedom of being able to have your own schedule and accept the work in this line of work, what you want and when you want also comes with a price, which is you know, you can easily lull yourself into a sense of complacency, where you know, for lack of better terms, just get lazy.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to do that today.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to do that today.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_02: Or, you know, it's it's too hot.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: So for me, I think you know, it's awesome owning a business where you can run your schedule like that, but at the same time, I can see how, especially in this industry, from from what I've seen, uh, there are a lot of oh, how you know, these guys only work half days on Fridays or paydays, or you know, it's raining or it's too hot, whatever the case may be.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: And it's it's very easy to to get complacent.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: But that to me, uh hopefully I answered the question properly.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, that was great.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: That was a great answer.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: So what would you say was the exact moment where you realized, you know, this could either really work, this business could either really work, or it could completely blow up in my face and I could lose everything.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: Oh man, I was hoping you would ask something like that because it it really is an interesting story how this how how it came to be.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, when I retired, I I put in, I can't even tell you how many applications for environmental health and safety manager job.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I was really looking forward into to getting into the industry and and and working for somebody else.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I didn't have to really, you know, something I could go to work, leave work, and not take it home with me because I took work home with me for so many years.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I retired in in July, and I wanted to take a couple of months off and hang out with my wife because you know she she works school hours, and I noticed a lot of friends saying, Hey Frank, you've got some time.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: Can you help me with this?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: Can you help me with this?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: And what started out as just stuff I've done for so many years, just helping friends out, didn't matter the time.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: People would go, Frank, we were gonna pay somebody something anyway, so we might as well pay someone we can trust.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I started thinking, Pan, this this really could work as a as a as an occupation.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: And more and more people started asking me, and I started helping more and more people, just you know, just as my neighbor.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: And one day I was scrolling through YouTube and this short reel, you know, those one-minute, two-minute videos popped across.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: And it was a friend of mine that I had deployed with to Iraq, gosh, almost 10, 15 years ago.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: And he had started a business in Charleston, South Carolina, and watched a couple of his videos, and it was really, really interesting how he kind of fell into it and how he how he how he managed it.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: I called him, talked to him.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_02: I started doing my research.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_02: I started calling other handy men and carpenters around the state, not in our city, but around the state, and started kind of picking their brain.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, what what can I, you know, you know, you know, what's what's the hurting, or you know, why not try?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I I submitted for my LLC business license, my tax ID number, insurance, and you know, I didn't advertise, I just had a you know, you know, a handful of neighbors who needed some work done, and I wanted to do it legally and you know, where I was covered with, you know, insurance and I I wanted, you know, to do it right.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: And then next thing you know, I just started getting calls and text and word of mouth and you know what was supposed to be a part-time job, you know, I I could make it, you know, a full-time plus if I wanted to.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: And so it it really just kind of fell into my lap.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I closed my Indeed, my monster account, you know, all the job search profiles I had, and said, no, this is where God wanted me to be.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I tell you, there's nothing more satisfying than helping, you know, a neighbor who has spent weeks, if not months, or even a year trying to find somebody just to simply return their call and then helping them out and charging them a fair price.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, once that happened, you know, I'm hooked.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: I I absolutely, you know, I do love what I do now.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, it's not it's not the money, it's not the freedom, it's helping people and seeing how happy they they become when finally somebody returned their call and finally somebody showed up at their house and looked at what they needed.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, there have been times where I actually went, you know, and again, these are my neighbors, these are all people in my my community.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_02: So when I say I'll be there in 10, 15 minutes, it I really am 10, 15.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm I'm not having to drive all the way across town just to uh to charge somebody an on-site fee of you know an estimate.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: There have been a couple of times where I actually showed up to somebody's house and I said, dude, you don't need to do that.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: I just here, let me send you this link on Amazon, buy this part, and you can absolutely do it yourself.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: And it won't cost, yeah, it won't cost a thing.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: And they go, Wow, that's incredible.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, that turned into, hey, I got my number from your neighbor, my neighbor, and he said that you really helped him out.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: Can you help me with this?
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: It it really is that networking and you know it, you know, that whole pay it forward thing.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_02: It it really is real.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's pretty cool.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's pretty cool how it works.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like word of mouth is is an extremely huge thing in your business.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: It it really is.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: And so for me, the way I got into this occupation or this this job is, you know, I have a business degree.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: I have a and you know, I remember all the marketing classes and the technology and the brick and wall, all that stuff.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: Even though it's been a minute, you know, the the principles are are still applicable.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: And for me, again, what you'll find a lot of in this industry, you'll find a lot of people they will they'll overextend their their capabilities, and they're okay with that because you know that's their primary source of income.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: And and and as long as they're turning away work, whether they show up or don't call back or whatever the case may be, you know, they're advertising, and if it's a one or two-man operation, and all of a sudden they get that surge of of business, they they have no way of completing the task in a timely manner if it's just that you if they've if they've overmarketed themselves, if you will.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: And so for me, it's you know, if I have a job, great.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: If not, and and again, not everybody is in the same position I am.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: But for me, you know, I I haven't been in a position where I had a lull where I was concerned about that revenue.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_02: So for me, it's you know, if if I do advertise if on social media, if I have a a Facebook page, because I am a one-man operation, that one major task that somebody that I that I you know that you know that I'm marketing myself or I'm putting myself out there, all of a sudden I get two, maybe three big tasks that come out.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I can literally put my my my business in a lull for two, three months, and then all of a sudden now I'm starting to get people calling and asking, and I'm having to tell them no, or I'm having to, you know, what turned into a part-time job, turned into an 80-hour a week profession.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not something I asked for or wanted.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_02: So for me, the marketing, I I kind of keep it simple, word of mouth, and I and I believe that that is, you know, in in the business world, that is you know, you can you can have a great Facebook page, you can have a great you know, account, you can have you can look great on paper, but we all know if if that guy should doesn't show up on time or he doesn't call back or his his invoice is a is a piece of note, torn-out notebook paper written in pencil.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, for me it's it's the professionalism, it's the timeliness, it's you know, it it's it's the word of mouth is is is key because if your neighbor will recommend you, and then they know that you're a neighbor of them as well.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_02: I remember standing on the lake looking at somebody's dock that needed to be repaired, and I said, That's my house right there.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_02: And he goes, You live right there?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Yes, sir, that's my dock right there with you know with the flag on on it.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: And he goes, Cool.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: And then he goes, I don't need to, you know, I you know, I'm sold.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, please get a couple of other estimates at the same time.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: But I think that that word of mouth is is is massive because you you don't have that anymore.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, that's true.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: I wouldn't say anymore, but very, very seldom do you get that.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's true, it's true, because everybody now is communicating through social media and online, so yeah, it is weird for people to actually do it in person, right?
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, again, like you can associate word of mouth with, you know, he's a 4.5 stars out of five, you know what I mean?
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like Amazon.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, or Google Reviews or whatever the case may be.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: I uh stay clear.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: So so Frank, what's the most uh, you know, what would you say was the most stressful moment you've had as a business owner?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, how am I gonna get through this type of moment?
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds like sounds like everything's been going great for you, but uh, have you ever had a moment where you kind of wondered how am I gonna get through this?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and uh again, uh I am in a position where you know not very many people.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, people may listen to this podcast and go, man, this guy is, you know, all you know, yeah, you know, sunshine and rainbows or whatever, and he's he's amazing, he's got the best life on earth.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, that didn't come overnight.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you know, we worked hard, we saved, we we we lived within our means for so many years, and then now I'm in a position where I can work in in the way I want to.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: But to answer your question before we go down that road, there there, and again, I haven't been doing this very long, but there has been a couple of positions where you know, how did I put myself here?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: And for me, it's you know, a lot of the the clients I have are my friends.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: And it's very difficult to say, hey man, you know, I I estimated this job with you know this amount of material and this amount of time, but we ran into a lot of delays, like when we we opened up that sheetrock, I had, you know, we I was I was afraid there was gonna be some electrical wire there and and we're gonna have to either you know put this somewhere else or we're gonna have to you know rewire or something.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: And so for me, it's having to tell a friend, hey man, I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to ask for a little bit more money because it's gonna take a lot more time.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: And for some people that that's easy, and for me, it's not, it's not easy at all.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: So for me, uh you know, having to, and and it's not even that much.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's the the estimate I did for the the material was right on the pen, you know, right on the money.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: However, with you know certain delays and and hang ups and issues and stuff like that, it took two, three, four hours longer.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: So, how do you tell somebody, hey man, I'm gonna have to charge you a little bit more labor?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: And so that that to me is the hard part.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's that's what you would call the BS aspect of running a business like this is you know, nobody wants to come to their their friends or someone that they know and go, hey, I'm gonna have to charge you a little bit more.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: So that's that's to me, that's the hard part about owning a business is owning owning that.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Frank, have you ever thought about quitting?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: And if so, what stopped you?
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, I have not because again, I'm I'm still in the I'm still in the honeymoon phase of this business.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I haven't, you know, we we've all whether is it not this job or a different job, we've we've all run into that that that day where it's like, okay, I'm done.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: I can't do this anymore.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_02: I I I quit.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna quit.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: This is this is it.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: But fortunately for me, I have not I have not found myself in that position yet.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's fair.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's fair.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what would you say?
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: And now, have you, you know, let's see, I'm trying to figure out how to ask this.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: What's something about you in your personality or your personal life that had to change in order for your business to start to scale a little bit?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Has that have you had to do anything like that?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_02: And that that is that that that's a great question because you know, and you I'll give you an example, a parable, if you will.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_02: So I was helping out a friend of mine two doors down, and I was telling him, I I don't know what this is going to turn out.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm at my estimate is gonna be, and he he kind of knew my personality, which is charging friends and and and and charging them fairly.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: And he said to me, he goes, Frank, he goes, You need to get that out of your mind because what's happening is you are taking away a blessing from somebody else that wants to give you a work, that wants you to provide them with a good service and a good product, and then they want to be able to joyfully pay you for your services.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: And so you need to change that attitude of because you're only gonna screw yourself over and under you're gonna undervalue your your work.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_02: And there had been a couple of times where you know, I did a job for a friend of mine and I gave him the the bill, and he goes, This isn't right.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: I said, No, this is what we said.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_02: He goes, Well, you know, I had the day off and I told you I would help you, and I know what you did, and this is not the value of what you gave to me.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, I know, but that's what I said, so I have to stay by that.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you have to honor it.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: I have to honor it.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: And he goes, he goes, it's still not right.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: And my response to him was, don't tell anybody what I charged you.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: And that's that's I don't think that's good business practice because I undersold it to a friend.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: And so one thing I have to change, and I'm still, you know, it's a daily something I work on daily, which is how do you charge your neighbors?
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: Even if they're, you know, even if they're not your friends right now, eventually they will be.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: You'll you'll run into them at the pizza par uh parlor in our town or the little town center at one of the little you know village green, you know, events, you know, farmers markets that they do, or food truck day that they do.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: And you're gonna run into them so they're your neighbors and now you're they're friends.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: So uh for me, the thing that Frank has to change is the ability to turn on and off.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: You know, is this business or is this friendship?
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, right now we're in the business mode, and then you know, I'm gonna charge you, and I'm just gonna have to go.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, if you found a better price and you feel like you can get a better deal, go for it.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: I think for me is I I don't want to let down my friends because I know a lot from a lot what I've seen is a lot of these people, I wouldn't say they're batting into a corner, but they're like, I have not been able to find anybody, and the ones who do give me a bill, it's it's way too much.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: And and then you go, well, you know, it really is a fair price.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: And so you find yourself going, well, I'm gonna I'm gonna appease my friends and just kind of come down a little bit on the price, even though it was a good price, but to them it wasn't.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_02: So that's that's where I'm I'm having to change and kind of I feel like I've got thick skin, but I'm just gonna have to get even thicker skin when it comes to money, money and and friends.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: No, I get it.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: I get it.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, and and this is this next question is hypothetical, but let's say if someone shadowed you for a full day or let's say even a full week, what would surprise them the most about how you operate your business, would you say?
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: Because of what I do is it it's it's so dynamic.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: It there it's it's constantly changing.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_02: You know, one day I'm hanging up string lights for a graduation party, and the next day I'm you know building a home office.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: And if they were to shot to shadow me, you know, some people would say, you know, I love this, you know, the constant change in environment.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_02: Or I don't, I don't like the the you know the change in in environment.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_02: I uh there's no structure.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: Some people would like it and some people wouldn't, you're right.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_02: They go, I I want to be able to go, okay, I gotta be at work today at 8, and then I'm gonna be done by four or five o'clock today.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: But with me, and you know, you're talking people's homes, some people will say, Hey Frank, here's my garage code, have at it.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_02: And then some people go, I don't get home until 2:30 today.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_02: Can you meet me then?
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_02: And that's where you have to, you know, and one of the most unproductive things you can do is stop what you're doing, go see somebody, and then pick back up where you were, especially if you're at somebody's home and you go, Hey, I've got to leave for an hour or two, I'll be right back.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, in the back of their minds, whether you say that they are or not, they'll go, hold on a second, I'm I'm paying you to be here to do this.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you're you're taking your personal, you know, you're taking phone calls, you're taking, you know, an hour to go see somebody else.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's kind of where the beauty is of being in the same neighborhood that all the jobs are in.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's you you're literally within at the most 15 minutes from somebody's home.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_02: But if somebody were to shadow me, they would they would say, you know, it can go either way, it can swing either way, left or right.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: I love this constant change.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: I don't like it because there's no structure and the hours are are kind of weird.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_02: I don't like going into people's homes, or I I enjoy seeing how other people, you know, their decor or their paint schemes and stuff like that, especially for people who who do like DIY or people go, oh my god, it's so hot out here.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to do this anymore.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let me in your house, please.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: We're putting in pavers for a walkway to somebody's boat landing, and you're like, oh my god, it's a hundred degrees out here in the shade.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I don't want to be here anymore.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and for context on the podcast, everybody, we're we're recording this section early.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: May it's actually been a very cool start to May so far.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so summer hasn't even kicked in yet, which is great.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm not in I'm not complaining, but uh yeah, just giving some people, the people some context here uh because you're talking about hot a lot.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: So but go ahead.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: I think I think that's about it.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: For me, you know, there could be some days I go, oh my god, Frank, you know, when are you gonna leave the house, man?
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: You're lazy.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I could just say, hey man, I put myself in this position for a reason.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_02: So uh but I I think you know, if somebody shadowed me and and for a day, I I also think that they're going to like how I talk to people.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I spoke with one older lady and she was just telling me her experience with a contractor that came out there, and she was he was very, very nasty to her.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_02: And and a lot of times people will do that because they don't want to do that job because it's outside of their wheelhouse or it's too small, yeah, it's too small of a job.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: For they'll just so they'll just be ugly to them, and then they'll just overcharge them, and then the and to to tell them no.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: And again, I've watched so many YouTube videos and talked to so many people, and then they go, Oh yeah, I did not want that job, and I wrote down some ridiculous price on the estimate, and they they're like, All right.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_02: And so so now I'm doing it, and I don't want to, but I have to.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_02: And um, and so for me, you know, the way I talk to people, you know, I yeah, I don't want to come across as that creepy guy.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: I I I helped out a lady the other day about a month or two ago, and then her garage door openers stopped working.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_02: The batteries just quit working, and you know, it was an unrelated event.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, she she had no one else to call.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_02: And she texted me.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_02: She's like, Frank, I hate to bother you, but I've been working on this, trying to replace the batteries.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, Yeah, you know, you know where I live.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_02: I'll I'll come over to your house, I'll be there in five minutes.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_02: So I came over to their house.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: I knew what she needed.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: I replaced the batteries on all of her garage door openers for her cars, and you know, gave her a hug, and she's let her talk because you know she needed somebody to talk to, let her talk for about, you know, I was there for five minutes replacing batteries, those little quarter-sized batteries in all her garage door openers.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_02: And then the next 30 minutes listening to her her talk because she just needed somebody to talk to.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: And then she gave me a big old hug.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: I gave her a hug, and then she goes, What I owe you?
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: I said nothing.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_02: And and so when people people are shouting at me, they go, Holy cow, how do you, you know, how do you make you know, you spent an hour of your day on a on a Sunday afternoon.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_02: You know, how do you, you know, that's that's weekend on call type service.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Well, you know, these are our neighbors, and you know, a month or two or three down, you know, they're gonna need something else, and they'll know exactly who to call.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's planting that seed, but it's also, you know, if for someone to shadow me, there's one thing I am good at, it's knowing how to read people and how to develop that rapport.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: No, I definitely agree with that.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, and what would you say actually moves the needle most in your business right now?
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: Would it be delays, conversions, pricing, or your performance?
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_02: I think a little bit of all, you know, it is absolutely you know, it is absolutely mind-boggling to people when they get when you when they call you and they say or they text you, hey, uh my neighbor, XYZ, gave me your your your number and had nothing but great things to say.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_02: Can you come over here and take a look?
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'll be there.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_02: What time?
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_02: And they said, how about five o'clock?
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_02: I get off work.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'll be there at five.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_02: And then they, I, I give them, you know, tell them, you know, what I would recommend or what they what they want.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_02: And then they'll say, When do you think I can get an estimate?
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'll have it written up for you by the end of the day.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_02: And when I mean day, I mean like before I go to bed.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll email it to them.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: And it's a fillable, electronic signable PDF where that you know, you can review it, look at it, call me.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's got my home address on it, my personal phone number, it's got where they can agree to it, sign it digitally, and then email it back.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: And for me, what moves the needle is uh you know promptness, ability to go, yeah, I can't do that, or I'm not gonna do that.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: And just be honest with them.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_02: Up front, pricing, fair price, and you know, there are a thousand apps out there, and I'll just give you a quick example.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_02: Lowe's, you know, I'll do a a job quote and I'll just do it exactly like that, and I'll and they'll go, hold on a second.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_02: The estimate is for one thousand one hundred and ninety-seven dollars and eighty-two cents.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: Where did you come up with that?
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll go, I'll show you to the penny.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_02: Again, I don't I don't say, oh, it's gonna cost about six thousand dollars, and then whatever's left over, I pocket.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_02: No, I'm you're paying for the material, because there are some handymen out there though, that they they'll want the customer to go with them to the store, pay for everything with their credit card, and then drive back to uh you know where their house is.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_02: And and for me, is I've got a business card, I've got an itemized listing of everything I spent on there.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_02: And so for me, that what moves the needle is you know, professionalism, neatness, promptness, quality, obviously, and then fair pricing.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_02: This isn't something I need to do, but I I enjoy doing it.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_02: And again, we're we're still kind of in the the new phase of this, and so far, I think I've I've probably underpriced myself more than I have priced myself normal.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm still learning too.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_02: Holy crap, that's a great price.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: Sure, I'll do it.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's like woo woo.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: You can do it and I don't have to do it.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let's go, man.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now, now I know that you know you have said, you know, obviously you're really new at the you know, doing this, the business and everything like that.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to ask you here.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, this is kind of a side question here.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: Really, it's not not anything on here, but do you have any plans to scale at all in the near future or in the future at all?
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you know, there are there have been a lot of businesses out there that have really just exploded.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_02: And it what started out as some dude named Bill working in his garage building computers, you know what I mean?
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: And then it just exploded.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: Didn't plan on taking it anywhere, but the demand was there.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: And did Microsoft start out that way or something like that?
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't they work out of their garage or something like that in 90 in the 90s or something?
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: You're correct, you're correct.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_02: So for me, I I you know I'm a little long in the tooth for really building and expanding and then passing it on to my children because they're they're they're gonna be graduating college soon.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_02: But for hiring anybody, I've I've had to manage people.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's like herding cats, man.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like these are grown-ass adults, and you're you're having to deal with silly things.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_02: But I I I think again, not to go down the rabbit hole.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_02: I uh I don't plan on really expanding with more people, more trucks, more, you know, a standalone business or home office.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_02: I'm kind of content where where I am right now, where it's you know, you've got that personal relationship with your neighbors, you're going out and and and helping people and meeting people.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, there have been a couple of times where somebody said, Hey, you know, my son would really be interested in learning how to to operate that table saw or you know, power tools.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, Yeah, sure, by all means.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh he's more than welcome to come out here.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, people who are on a timeline and time is money, they won't do that.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so for me, I I I don't want to lose that that that was what I'm looking for, the the that environment of being able to keep it slow, keep it personal, and then you know turn it into a teaching experience to to you know, hey, let's can you help me put in a smart switch for this outlet?
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_02: Do you know how this works?
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: No, well, let me show you.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_02: And then they just look over my shoulder while we do it.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: And that way they can do it for themselves in the future.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, yeah, next time.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and so for me, do I plan on expanding?
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: I think we got really off topic there.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_02: No, but that's not to say that it won't happen.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay, okay.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so yeah, we're gonna head into what's called the quick fire round.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, how this works is I'm gonna give you one word, and I just want you to tell me the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear each word in regards to running your business, and then kind of expand upon why you chose that in a couple of sentences after that.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, perfect.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: We'll do a bad.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: All right, perfect.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: First word is success.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_02: Success.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you strive for it.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know, uh a goal.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_02: How about goal?
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_02: Goal is a one-word goal for success.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's a goal.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I I think, you know, I've got my health, I've got my family, they're all happy.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_02: And for me, I'm already successful.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_02: And the goal for that success is to maintain it, to, to, to keep building on it, and to to you know, make sure that they stay happy, that they still stay healthy, and that they stay, you know, grounded, and they they you know, that they still love God and they they still love their dad.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_02: Failure.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_02: Failure.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_02: Not an option.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_02: No option.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_02: We all fail.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_02: It you know, it that's one of the sucky things about life is we all have to fail to learn some, you know.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of times you have to learn from your mistakes.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_02: But there are people out there who failure, let's just put it this way, failure is not in their vocabulary because it's expected.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_02: It's expected for them to make mistakes and then they're okay with it, they won't lose any sleep.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_02: But uh, it should be the other way around.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like you try not to fail, you you don't do your best not to let it happen, but what it does, you do learn from it.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_02: So it does become a success.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, that's the difference between I think handyman who could sleep at night, even though they did a piss poor job, and handyman who can't sleep at night because they failed.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: Burnout.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's real.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_02: I think we've all we've all been burned out in you know, one way, shape, or form, and it, you know, it takes a toll of your physical and your mental acuity.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's where you know, I did a lot of interviews before I decided to start this job, and that burnout is part of that work-life balance, and so you wanna you wanna avoid burnout because it's gonna equate to what you just uh said earlier, which is failure.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: You know, a lot of a lot of mistakes get made or failures are occur because people are just burned out, and then they become unhappy, and it kind of spreads like wildfire.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: Competition.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_02: Competition is good.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_02: Competition is very good.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, I had a commander one time tell me that you know, competition breeds excellence, and if you're out there and you're you're trying to be, you know, there's another handyman out there, and he's you know, not in my particular situation, but and he's out there, you know, undercutting you, underbidding you, and you know, driving the price down or doing better work or doing, you know, he's more reliable, or whatever the case may be.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: I think that competition does drive you to be better.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_02: I I I completely, completely love competition.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: And the last word is freedom.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_02: Freedom, gosh, happiness.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_02: I think that you know we all you know, we all want to be free from our our our bonds.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like you want to be free from fiscal responsibilities, you want to be free from being under somebody else's management, you want to be free from time.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_02: You know, this time is the most expensive thing out there because you there's no amount of money that can pay for some for your your time, you'll never get it back.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_02: So, freedom, I think, is you know, it's a success.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we we all want it, we all you know, and we all want to work so that one day you'll have that same joy of freedom.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: All right, perfect.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: Appreciate you getting through all those words there.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, so just to wrap things up here a little bit, you know, where do you see your your industry going, you know, with the talk of AI and everything like that?
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you see your industry going in the next, you know, let's say five, 10 years?
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_02: One, I love AI.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_02: I I really, and again, you know, it's as technology, it's it's what it's what drives the train in marketing and sales and stuff like that.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I use AI every single day.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_02: But one of the things is because it's a tangible occupation, AI will never be able to hang those string lights for my friend's son's college graduation.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_02: AI will never replace, you know, replacing the attic door that the wooden steps broke and they can't access their their their attic anymore.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_02: AI is not going to to uh to uh to take that away from me.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_02: However, I believe that AI is you know it's it's a great tool.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's you know, I use it to help price.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_02: How much does someone normally charge to replace a ceiling fan?
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_02: How much you know on Chat GPT is you know, not to put in a plug for chat GPT, but I tell you, it's it's a fantastic tool.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_02: And you can take a photo of a pergola and you know, and go, hey Chat GPT, how much would it cost in but in labor to build something like this?
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: And it will really spit out a very, very close, you know, detailed account of what you're trying to do.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_02: So I think technology and AI in this industry will not will not it's not gonna take the job away.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_02: It may take some of the aspects out of it, but at the same time, I think it's actually gonna help with fair pricing, accurate pricing, because if you if you give somebody a quote and then they they actually they they'll they will go online, they'll Google it or they'll chat GPT and they'll go, how much would it cost for me to install this office?
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_02: And then and it's a they go, Oh wow, Frank's pretty accurate, pretty, you know, or that or we're just using the same app.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, chat GPT.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it it's it's something that, and especially with me, you know, I I kind of do kind of clerical stuff, right?
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's huge for me.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I use it every single day.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's not a day that goes by that I don't use it.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it's I mean it's a huge help.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: But like you said, you know, it's I don't you don't think it's gonna take any work away from what you do, you know, handyman work and everything like that.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, and uh again, uh, and I'll give you kind of an example.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_02: So my my uh my daughter's a business major as well, and she was gonna she was leaning in the the marketing aspect, and she had changed her major, or she had declared her major her sophomore year, and it was going to be marketing, and she took a class and it basically talked about how and I remember those same classes, you know, um teen years ago, how you know back then they were tracking your cell phone, and then they knew that you were going into Best Buy or you know, Foodline or whatever the case may be, and all of a sudden you'd get these indicators on you know coupons or sales or stuff like that.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_02: So that to me back then was a little scary, but I knew that the the way of the brick and mortar was was kind of going away and it was going to become more of an e-commerce.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_02: But my daughter, she again, she was talking about becoming a marketing major, and then after one semester taking a couple of marketing classes, she said, I'm not doing it because AI is going to take away, you know, because it can develop all these algorithms and know what you're watching on all your social media platforms and your phone and Google and what you're watching on streaming services that they will cater to what you're looking for or what you need.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, who hasn't been talking about getting a new pair of you know flip-flops for the beach, and then all of a sudden you're scrolling through Facebook.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_02: You you didn't even type it up.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_02: It just I was like, holy cow, like why do my why do I have Birkenstock flip flops on my advertising on Facebook?
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's absolutely bananas, and that's that's where AI marketing is going.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_02: So she she ended up changing it and to something else.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_02: But I I think it I I think it's it's it's a great tool.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we're able to do so much more and efficiently with it now.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_02: We just have to to see what the needs are outside of it.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_02: But again, I think I think you know AI is not gonna come in and put in, you know, a hundred feet of 12-inch pavers for someone's backyard anytime soon.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, no, agree, agree.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now, and I want you to be as candid as you can on the this, you know, pretty much last question here.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, if you need to, just as long as it's light, you know, nothing.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, okay.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'll keep it easy 13.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_02: Go ahead.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: All right, all right.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, so you know, let's say a small business owner is listening to the podcast episode with you today, Frank, and let's say they're just having a bad day, or let's just say they're having a bad week or just a bad start to 2026 in total.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're almost halfway through the year already.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: What?
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's going fast, but let's say they're just feeling stuck or overwhelmed, they're not profitable, business is just not going well.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: What's a piece of advice you'd want them to hear from you today, or that you would give to them today?
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, that that that's a pretty deep question because you know, I don't want to sound like a like like a Debbie Downer, but like no amount of great vibes or attitude or like keep your chin up is gonna pay the bills.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you know what I mean?
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, or or keep working, keep working towards your dreams.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like you shouldn't.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: Especially when gas is four dollars or four dollars a gallon.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like, hey man, grocery bills have gone up twice or you know, 100% in the last 10 years.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_02: So for me, it it really is if somebody's having you know a bad year, or you know, it's not kind of you know, their their short-term plans aren't going as well as they were hoping, they're not generating the revenue that they want.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_02: I I think, you know, for me a piece of advice I would go is you know, if if it's not working now, it's not gonna work tomorrow.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's not gonna work, you know, if what you're doing right now is not working, try something else.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_02: And in my business, there it's kind of neat because there are like forums, there are Facebook chat groups, and what's what's kind of neat about and I think this is the case in any business, if you were to call a business on the other side of the country, a lot of people will tell you what you know what they learned or what you know what worked for them or what didn't.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_02: Get out there and network.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_02: Get out there and and do do some more research.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you've got a handwritten sign that says handyman services stuck in in you know the entrance to a neighborhood or in front of McDonald's, it's it's probably not gonna work.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe you know doing some, you know, creating a a Google site where people can leave reviews or you know, flyers or or or you know starting, you know, different business loans.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you know, I don't I don't know.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's kind of such a vague or an open-ended topic, but for me, it's you know, don't wait for something good to happen.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_02: You gotta go out there and you gotta make you gotta make it happen.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_02: Gosh, I'm I'm trying to put myself in that position and it's it's kind of hard for me because you know, I've been blessed and you know, things have kind of you know, kind of everything just recently has been falling into place.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_02: But if if if I if if if uh if what I'm doing is not working, you know, reach out to other people in that same industry to see if they would help.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, what's the worst they're gonna do?
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_02: They're gonna say, yeah, no, I'm not gonna tell you my trade secrets because I'm not gonna, I don't want you to take in any of my business.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_02: That's kind of why I was saying talk to people outside of outside of your local area so they won't feel threatened by your your you know, your questions, yeah, your presence or your questions.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why, you know, all I did was, you know, when I were when I when I seriously started thinking about starting this, I I called people in in Atlanta, called people in Charlotte, I called people in Charleston, I called people in, you know, as far as Savannah, and just talk to them.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_02: And and I find most people want to share their lessons learned.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_02: And here's here's a lesson uh, you know, and and we'll we'll just use this as an example.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_02: Let's just say that you know, in the handyman service, a lot of people think that I know what I'll do is I'll get I'll get in in business with some of these local real estate agents.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_02: And when people are buying a house and they want it updated before they move in or they're trying to fix punch list stuff so that they can put their house in a market because the inspector said this GFI is broken or this microwave needs to be replaced.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'll be in with the real estate agents in the area and they'll they'll send me business, and that's where I'm gonna generate my revenue.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I spoke with one guy who said, Yeah, that's what I do.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then I spoke with another guy and said, Don't do that.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, Well, why wouldn't I do that?
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_02: And he said, Well, the thing about real estate is these people are either making commission or they're not.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_02: And if they call Frank and say, Hey, I need about three days worth of stuff fixed, and to them, like three days is like, oh, I can do that, and it ends up being two weeks.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_02: And then say you're busy, and you go, Well, when do you want it done?
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_02: I need it done by the end of the week.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_02: Why?
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_02: Because we need to close on Tuesday.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna be able to get there, and they'll go, okay, thanks for your help, and then they'll move on.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_02: They'll just basically take your number and and they'll put it away.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_02: They won't get rid of it, they'll put it away until they need you again.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_02: But they they're gonna go to the next guy, and then they're just gonna ask him, and then they're gonna and then so on.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so just because let's say that handyman is not doing so well because he he put all of his eggs in one basket by relying solely on real estate agents, he may have pissed somebody off, or he may have, I wouldn't even say made him mad, but he he could not deliver for them when they needed, and so they just moved on.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's nothing personal, it's just business.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_02: And and so then they get down, they're upset, no one's calling me.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_02: What did I do wrong?
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I did everything right, everything's pricing.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, no, it's because you did everything right, but you just could not deliver, and therefore they've moved on, and now you're taking it personal.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_02: So you diversify, find something else.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_02: But at the same time, in my business, I I also found a couple of dudes who said, you know, find your niche.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_02: Find like, are you really good at sheet rock?
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_02: Then kind of cater towards sheetrock stuff.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_02: But if you suck at at building decks, don't advertise that you could do decks, because then that would that's you know because that's that's one job that'll ruin you if if it gets out, or you know, um, or painting or or you know, doing carpet or whatever the case may be, you know, fine, and and then don't don't advertise like and I did, and I, you know, my wife and I we were on a road trip and we probably wrote down a hundred things that I I felt like I was pretty good at doing, anywhere from you know leveling doors that are kind of rubbing or fixing cracked tile or replacing faucets, air filters, lights, you know, all this stuff.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_02: And then you can she goes, well, you you know, when if you decide to create a a page, you can have all this stuff wrist listed.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_02: And and the guy goes, Don't do that, because people are gonna look at that and they're gonna go, you know, he he he does a lot of stuff, but he does, you know.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_02: I had a had a test pilot tell me one time, he goes, I could do a lot of things half-assed, or I could do a few things really well.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's kind of what I would recommend for somebody, you know, find the stuff that you're really strong at.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_02: Because if if you're having that that slump and your business is sucking, you know, look at your you know, look at yourself in the mirror and say, you know what, and be honest with yourself.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's a lot of times people are they they uh they're not they're not honest with themselves.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe this isn't something I should be doing.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_02: Because I've I've I've again I've talked to a lot of handymen and they go, can I tell you something interesting, Frank?
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_02: I said, sure.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_02: He goes, he goes, Do you know who gets into the handyman services?
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_02: I said, no.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_02: People who suck at carpentry, people who suck at who are not good at anything else, and and they can't hold down the job.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_02: So what do they do?
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_02: They start a handyman service because they don't have to deal with people, they don't have to, you know, and all of a sudden they show up with piss poor tools and you know, half broken down truck, and you know, and dirty clothes and you know, ragged shoes.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_02: And it's because they they can't do anything else.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_02: And so a lot of times you'll find handyman who just absolutely suck at what they're doing, and then they end up taking advantage of people, then they don't ever call them back, their phone numbers are out of state.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_02: And and so uh a lot of people get into the handyman service because they suck at, you know, or they can't hold down a job doing anything else.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_02: And and so if if you are having you know a tough time, you know, maybe maybe you are doing something wrong.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's not the economy, maybe it's not, you know, you know because things need to get fixed whether you want to or not.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_02: You know, whether you, you know, whether you it I'm trying to say it without coming across as crass, but let's just say, hey man, but AC guy, how about this?
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_02: The guy goes, hey man, I gotta it's gonna cost a lot of money to replace this air conditioning unit in July.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_02: And people are gonna pay it anyway because they gotta get it done.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, July.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_02: And and that's the thing about handyman, is to me, and again, I could be completely wrong, there are a lot of things that need to get done because you know their doors don't lock or their door won't close all the way or won't open, or their you know, their faucets leaking, and they're you know, whatever the case may be, they got to get it done.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_02: And so the work is out there.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_02: There, there is no shortage of work, but it's how am I performing across all the facets of owning a business that either draw people in or push people away.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_00: And fine, so yeah, this has been a fantastic conversation, Frank.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so what's the best way for someone to connect with you a little more about what you do?
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_02: They can uh obviously email me.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think I gave you my my email address.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_02: They can they can you know I have no problem talking to people on the phone.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_02: If uh, you know, that's one thing my wife says is one of my downfalls is I talk too much or explain things too much, but uh I'm you know, I'm more than willing to just you know have a phone conversation with anyone if this is something that they're interested in doing, and and at the same time, you know, I'm a I'm kind of new at this too, so you may want to take what I say with a grain of salt, or that you may go, oh, but it's kind of neat hearing it from a new, you know, it's still fresh on your, you know, it's still kind of new to you versus who are people who have been doing it for 30 years and they're just mad at the world.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_02: You know, oh don't do it, it sucks, people suck, you know, gas sucks, driving sucks, material sucks, you know, lumber's expensive and the quality is bad, you're not gonna get anywhere with that.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_02: You want to talk to the the the young guys who who are who are doing this, and but uh uh to give out my number if they you know they can reach out to me.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_02: I have no problem answering my phone.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to go in and give it out over there, that's fine.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_02: Well, actually, let me just give you my my email address, and then that way you can email me, and then you know we can uh kind of start the the the conversation that way.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_02: But my work email is is one word, it's companionwoodworks at gmail.com.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_02: That will be C A M P A G N A W O O D W O R K S at Gmail.com.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry, I did that from the top of my head.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of letters, and so but it's uh companionwoodworks at gmail.com and again um and then when I respond, my my signature block is down at the bottom with all my contact information, and then I'll just root this and then they can they can uh reach out to me that way.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_02: And again, at the same time, I am you know I'm an open book, but at the same time, if there's a guy out there who has been in the business for a year or two, which is obviously longer than where I've been in and go, hey, I would love to share this nugget of information that I gained, and I would love to share it with him.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, by all means, man, I I am I no matter even in my old occupation, I was never, and again, I think that's one of my strengths, is I was never above taking recommendations from the youngest guy in the organization.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_00: All right, Frank.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, this has been fantastic.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you for coming on and sharing your story and your perspective.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'd really like to, you know, what I'd really like to do is I'd really like to come back to this maybe two or three years from now and see, you know, what's changed or what's been updated.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_00: It'd probably be cool to hear well how things have pivoted in that time.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think about that?
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_02: By all means, uh feel free to uh to to reach out to me and then and uh I'll be more than happy to uh uh to you know listen in what you know how this this podcast went and then where we are today.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, that that thank you for the invite.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_02: I will definitely take you up on it.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_02: All right, thank you.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_02: Have a lovely day.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_00: All right, you too.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_00: Bye bye.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_00: So how did you how'd you think that went?