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The Real Dirty Work Behind Entrepreneurship with James Moore by AMPS Facility Solutions · Epic Entrepreneurs

• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: I am Cliff McRae with Active Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to turn big ideas into real scalable growth.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm excited to be joined by James Moore with AMPS Facility Solutions.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: James, how are you doing?
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: We're excited to have you here.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm doing great, Cliff.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Glad to be here.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having me.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: We're really excited about it.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go ahead and jump right into things.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: So so for those of me I don't know it yet, you know, who are you, James?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Who is James Moore and what is AMPS Facility Solutions?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm the managing partner and CEO at AMPS Facility Solutions.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: And what we do, Cliff, is we provide janitorial services and commercial cleaning in the industrial, institutional, and commercial uh space.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: We do that by handling day quarter service, routine cleaning, and floor care.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we do this for operations, property, and facility managers.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: And that way they can focus on managing their facility as opposed to cleaning it.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: What we try to do is go beyond cleaning and transform their workspace into a spotless, stress-free environment that reflects their business's blunt brand.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: So that's just a little bit about who we are and what we do.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And on the personal side, you know, who are you?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, how much time do we have?
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: So, Cliff, I'm a retired military veteran.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: I've also spent 30 years in corporate America in the operations field with uh manufacturing, and now I have transitioned into pretty much the people that I used to hire to perform services for me.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: When I was uh managing facilities, I was responsible for uh many things to include uh hiring the people that were providing our janitorial services, and now I am he.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, love it, love it.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, James, real talk.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, let's go ahead and dive right into it.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, what's something about running a business that people think is amazing, but it's actually complete BS?
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: Well, for one, it always looks easier when someone else is doing it.
• 3:02
  unknown: Okay.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we we look at the perks that people have when they're running a business, and it's like, oh man, you you have you can come and go as you please, or um, you don't have to deal with this or deal with that.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: But actually, you're dealing with everything, especially when you're a solopreneur or in um a small, small business.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: So it always looks easier to everybody than what it actually is.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, what would you say was the exact moment where you realized, you know, this could either really work or it could completely blow up in my face?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I actually didn't have a moment like that, and I'll I'll tell you a little bit about how I got into this business as a little context for why I didn't have that.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: I already know it's not gonna blow up in my face.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: So back in back in 2022, our youngest son actually started this business.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: We have a blended family of five, and our youngest son started this business as a side hustle.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: He was working for a um Fortune 500 company, and he had already had a retail business and determined that hey, retail wasn't you know the thing for him.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: So he sold that business and he started this one.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: And he built this and it's already been successful.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: So we already have a model that works.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I knew going into this that it wasn't gonna blow up in my face.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: And you said it was a blended family of five?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we have five children.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Five children.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, man, that's a big family.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: So have you ever thought about quitting or and going back to a nine-to-five?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: I know you say you have a uh background in operations.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: I do as well.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I used to used to be a director of operations, operations manager, so I know kind of uh a little bit about your experience.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, have you ever thought about quitting and going back to that?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: I did think about that once.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: I I saw a position that flashed up on my phone.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: It was paying about$225 a year.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: And that made me pause for a moment, but only for a brief moment.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: You see, the reason I got into this business is to build a legacy for my grandchildren.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: Two and a half years ago, my wife took another job that was in a different city, well, in Columbia, which is where I'm at now.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: And for two years I commuted from Tampa, Florida to Columbia to make sure that one, that she was happy with the work that she wanted to do, and two, that we weren't just moving too fast and pulling up roots from Florida.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: So after we determined that, yeah, this is this is a good fit for her, she's gonna keep doing it, then I decided I was gonna move.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I had to resign from my corporate job, and then I had to make the choice of okay, do I want to retire?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: Which my wife said no to that.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: So that was a non-option.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, do I want to find another corporate job or do I want to work with my son and create a legacy for my grandchildren?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: So I opted for the legacy route because it was a it's this particular business aligns well with my skill set, having been in operations for so many years.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now, yeah, man, I are we related.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we got operations background.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm actually from Tampa, Florida as well.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm saying it.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's actually where I moved from.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now tell me, you weren't commuting every week, were you?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Or not every not every day at least.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: So about two and a half years ago, when I told my boss I was gonna be moving to Columbia, he said, Well, you know, I'm new here because I worked for my last job as vice president of operations for a medical device manufacturing company.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I worked for the president of the company.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: So when I told him I was gonna be moving, he said, Well, I'm new here because he had only been there six months, and there's some things I need to do, and I'd like for you to be here with me to get those things started.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: So, although that that particular role was an on-site role, we worked out a hybrid agreement where I would work in Tampa for three days a week, and I would work remote two days a week from Columbia.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: So I did that for two years, about three, sometimes four weeks out of the month.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I commuted for that period of time.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: And the company was kind enough to help me with how offset the cost of some of the travel.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um so we so we worked worked that deal out for the benefit of everybody.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: So if he got what he wanted, I got what I needed because you know what was very important to me was making sure that my marriage stayed healthy and our family stayed intact.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, happy wife, happy life.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I tell people that all the time.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Once you once you figure that out, your marriage will change.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Some people like to be very, you know, just don't like to listen to that.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, but I need to, yeah, yes, you need to be happy too.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: But when you make your wife happy, she'll make you happy.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's my that's my thought.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: No, that's right on point.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the other thing people need need to figure out if they have it is that it's not 50-50, it's 100-100.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody has to be all in.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, agreed, agreed.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now, do you miss Tampa at all?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: I do.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: I miss Tampa because Columbia is a smaller city, about a third of the size.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: So we don't have the amenities, if you will.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: We don't have the professional, the professional sports.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we Tampa, we have hockey, we have baseball, we have the well you're from Tampa, but your audience, you know, this may not maybe not.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: So we have all of that.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we had the the Strath Center for the Performing Arts, which we had season tickets too for their their Broadway series.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_02: So and the cuisine here, as far as the higher end restaurants, is not as expensive.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, you know, those are things that that I miss.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: But life here is is good, and this is where I'm managing the business from at this point.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, and me personally, I mean personally, I don't miss the weather.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know some people do, but I don't miss the weather.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: I don't miss nine months of summer.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: So me personally.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: I I like the winters, but I know everybody's different.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: How do you feel about them?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: I love the weather in Tampa.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: You love the weather in Tampa?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, yeah.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: Some people like it.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: I'm uh I'm a I'm originally from New York, but I'm a I'm really a warm weather guy.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: Jumping snow is not one of my favorite things to do.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: And we defin and we had to do that a couple times this past this past winter was kind of rough.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: We had a couple of a couple of big snowstorms, man.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was something we usually don't get snow like that, but it was different.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: It was different.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: And this and this business is not one obviously this business, you know, they do this in the northeast, but this is not one that I really want to be involved in as heavily as I am in the northeast.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's just much more challenging in terms of logistics and and and the uh demographics of the area.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: So Yeah, no, agree, agreed.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, James, what would you say is a mistake you made early on that cost you either serious money, time, or reputation?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: Early on in this business or early in my career?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: No, in this business, yeah.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: In this business.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that's a good question.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: I think maybe I'm not sure if I'm gonna call it a mistake, but I've I would call the coming up the learning curve.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: I I tend to be very analytical.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, operations guy.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like me.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I I gotcha.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just like it too.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: I I overthink things sometimes.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: So in in in putting in somebody infrastructure for our business, I may be taking a little longer than I should have.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_02: So just to give you a little bit of background, when my son started this business, he started as a subprime business, which means that we do work for the large companies, the giants of the industry, the ABMs, the Janikings, the Velocities, because they they tend to sub out all of their work.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: And what I said to my son when I kind of looked at all the numbers and how the business was spread, I said, this is great, but we're really have someone else in control of our destiny.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I think what we need to do is we need to expand in two areas.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: One, we should go out and get our own prime contracts, and two, we should go after some government work also.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: So we didn't really have the infrastructure in place to do either one of those two things to expand in those areas.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I've been working on infrastructure for prime contracts, and we've you know picked up a few prime contracts.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: Probably could have had the infrastructure in place a little quicker, but it's just a matter of coming up the learning curve and not wanting to waste money, but in not wasting money, obviously there's a trade-off in time in terms of research and implementation of you know different systems.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: So has there have you ever had a time where you had to change something about your person, you know, about you personally in order for your business to grow?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like your personal, you know, kind of the way you act, the way you go about things.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I I definitely have to make a lot more phone calls now than I used to.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: Having been in operations, I've been very much accustomed to sourcing and managing vendors, suppliers, materials, and that sort of stuff.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: So that stuff is is those skills are already there.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: Not as much interface with the customer in the past as I have now.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess I am learning more about dealing directly with customers, potential clients.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then this next question, this is kind of a hypothetical.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's say if someone shadowed you, you know, they came behind you and watched you work for a full day or or even a full week, what would you say would surprise them the most about how you operate?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: Well, depending upon the person, what might surprise them may be the broad range of skills and activities that I'm involved in.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, being a small business as we are, you know, I wear, you know, you you hear the term you wear a lot of hats.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I do wear a lot of hats.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: Now, since I've been in industry for quite a while, though, I've worn a lot of hats for quite a while.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: So I have a pretty broad range in terms of things that I can do and have to do just because of the nature of the business.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: I don't have a large team as I've been accustomed to in the past, so a lot of the things that I would delegate in past lives, I'm doing those things myself now.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk numbers without getting too specific.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what what would you say is the turning point where things started to scale for you?
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: That's actually a good question from my son because he actually took it up that curve to where our business is now in terms of the you know that exponential growth curve that you see early on.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: He actually took it up that curve.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_02: And so now I'm trying I'm actually helping him build on that.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Your son are you what does your son do now for the company?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: Well, he's the president, and he he works primarily on business development with our subprime clients.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: He also recruits talent when we have an area where we need to recruit cleaners.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: He actually spent some time with a recruiting firm earlier in his career.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_02: So he's very good at that.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: I know a lot of people have trouble getting good people.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um that's that's a a talent that he has and that's been very helpful to our business.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now, James, what would you say actually moves the needle most in your business right now?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: In terms of revenue?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh definitely our subprime contracts.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's the genesis of the majority of our revenue.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now what about you know, what about does that generate the leads for you as well and the conversions?
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: Well, with the with the sub with subprime contracts, they have already sourced the end user, the the end client.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: So we're we're actually just providing the service at that point.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_02: So there's no marketing elite generation for us when we're dealing with subprime.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Beautiful, beautiful.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's usually, I mean, I'll be honest with you, talking with a lot of business owners, you know, kind of daily.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's always the biggest thing that they, you know, that they would say needs to be better or that they would do if they had to start over again, it's marketing more.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it's nice that you don't have to worry about that part because it seems like that's a that's a pain point for a lot of entrepreneurs.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: Well, yes, we don't have to concern ourselves with the subprime contracts.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_02: But as I indicated earlier, we're not as diversified as we need to be, and we lean on that heavily.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and that's really because that's the model that my son used to build a business to where it is today.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_02: So we want to diversify to make sure that we're stronger and healthier.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: So if there's a downturn anywhere, we're not hurt.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: So James, what would you say is one thing you're doing today that's giving you an unfair advantage over your competitors?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_02: An unfair advantage over our competitors.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: That's a that's a good question.
• 17:23
  unknown: Yeah.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, what are you doing better than your competitors, basically?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_02: Well, since we're on the subcontract side, I mean the subprime side, we're probably on par with our competitors in terms of service delivery, customer service, and you know, just doing a good job.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: On our subprime side, however, we are providing a more personalized service, if you will, than many of our competitors because they are how do I say this?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: You you know how when you incorporate America, sometimes you haven't you have the feeling that you're just a number?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: Well, a lot of the large companies, the clients, that's kind of how they feel.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: They're just a number because they don't get the individualized attention that you can do when you're small.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_02: Our challenge will be in the future continuing to to provide that personalized service as we grow with our prime contracts.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: Right now, I would just say it's our personalization because you know everything is turning towards AI now.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: So, and yes, we do AI use AI in our business for some things, but there's no substitute for talking to a person.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I agree.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'd rather talk to somebody than to talk to.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, like yeah, because that was that's something that actually brings up a quick story I can tell.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: Is uh I was calling to Walmart the other day because I had an issue with uh with the product I bought from there.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if you've called Walmart any any recently, but they have a new AI thing, that AI customer service thing that they have now on their customer service line.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I absolutely did not did not enjoy using it.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll just put it that way.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'll I'll be nice, but what's not wonderful.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Just it's it's just so much better to get it the person on the phone and explain your situation rather than going through an automated system.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's my personal opinion.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, well, you know, we've been dealing with automated systems and menus for a long time, and I haven't found anybody that's actually got it down to where you can actually get to who you want to very quickly.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, James, what would you say is the fastest way?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: And this is all hypothetical, obviously, but what's the fastest way someone could lose their job working for you?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: The fastest way someone can lose their job working for me is being disrespectful to the client.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, everybody needs to be treated with dignity and respect, even when they're wrong.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm not saying the client's always right, but I am saying that they always need to be treated with dignity and respect.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: And if that's if that's something you can't do, because that's something we should do for everybody, if that's something you can't do, then we have a problem.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I can teach you, we can teach you how to clean.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: But if you're not, if if you don't treat people right, you know, I I you know that's kind of I'm kind of beyond that at this at that point in your career if you don't have to treat people right.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's a lot of that's a lot of uh work that needs to be done there.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: And on the flip side, what makes someone instantly instantly valuable to your team?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the things that make anyone a good employee makes them valuable to our team.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: One, they're easy to get along with.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um they're enthusiastic about what they do.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: They have a willingness to learn, to be coached, to be trained.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I've I think that's undervalued sometimes.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: I hear that a lot from people.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, you need to be able to enjoy the people you work with.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, think about it.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: We we spend more time working than we do with our families.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I let's say I have to I need to work with Susie or whoever the case may be in.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: If I can't stand working with that person, if I have to cringe every time I need to go to her desk, then that's not somebody that I find valuable to my team and probably needs to that probably needs to change.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: How do you feel about that?
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's absolutely the case.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like as you indicated, we all spend a lot of time with people we work with, okay?
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: And it needs to be a pleasant environment.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: That doesn't mean it won't be high stress, doesn't mean it won't be intense, but it should be pleasant.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: And you shouldn't have to be concerned about approaching someone, you know, for any reason that you need to approach them about.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: You know, one of the things I've I've told team members in the past, and my management doesn't all hasn't always agreed with my approach, but what I've always told people that if you know if this isn't a place that you like working, if we if we haven't made this a place where you like working, then let me help you find somewhere else to work.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: Because I want you to come to work because you want to be here and you want to contribute and you feel this is a good place to be, not because you feel like you have to be here and you don't care for it.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: I like that.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: I like that.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: So, because you know, that's why I would go to work, because I like being there.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: I feel as if I was treated nice and I was paid fairly and so on and so forth.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: If I didn't feel that way, then guess what?
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not there anymore.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know, Cliff, I'm I'm a I'm a person of faith.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I always do the best, I always do the best I can, even if I'm working for someone that I don't particularly care for.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_02: And that just you know goes back to one of the scriptures in Colossians 3.23.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: Whatever you do, work hardly as for the Lord and not for men.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_02: So that's the perspective I take when I'm working.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_02: But then again, when you're working for that person that's not pleasant, your experience is not as pleasant as it is if it's someone that you like and is pleasant.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Agree, agree.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, have you ever had to make a tough call, like you know, example, letting someone go or cutting something off that ended up being the right move in the long run?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: You want corporate life or you want entrepreneurial life?
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh you probably have a better story for the corporate.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Whichever story is better that you're I have both.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: I have I I had a person working for me, this was several years ago, and the person was retiring soon.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_02: So the person was you know much more senior to me in terms of time with the company.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: But he was retiring soon, and he felt a little entitled that there were some things that some equipment that the company wouldn't mind if if he just you know kept it for himself.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: Well, unfortunately you know, it was it was theft.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, we had to uh explain that to him and and walk him out the door.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: And he felt entitled to that because he was getting ready to retire?
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: He said he hey he felt like well, nobody was using it, and you know, nobody cared that he was gonna take it with him.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_02: He was taking it with him.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_02: And he had already taken some things.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_02: So you know that you know that was you know that was you know, short-term and long-term good decision.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: I had a I was mentioning a facility one time, and we had we had a product that we used to put batteries in, okay, alkaline batteries.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, batteries aren't inexpensive, right?
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_02: So we were noticing that we kept running short of a certain size battery.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, what happened is you know, in in the operations world, when you're looking at inventory and and something's not right, you start paying more attention to it, right?
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_02: And monitoring it more closely.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_02: And what we figured out is that one of our cleaners was actually stealing batteries from us because they come in after hours, they do the cleaning of the building, and we you know figured out that that's what was going on.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_02: And although we didn't have to let that cleaner go, the their boss let them go because we said, hey, here's what's happening, and you know, we'd have evidence and so on and so forth.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, you know, small things like that.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I've had to have let a number of people go in in the past.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: I have a person that I'm about to let go.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: They won't hear this podcast.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: They didn't service the client and didn't tell me that they didn't service the client.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: And when I checked in with them, that I just got no response.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'm in the process of replacing that that person, and and I'll probably be making that call today.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: So did he lie?
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: Did that person lie and say that they did the job?
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: Is that no, they didn't communicate.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: They did communicate.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: My partner had my part I reached out to them, they didn't respond.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_02: Phone, text, email, no response.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: My partner reached out to them on Facebook, they responded, said they had some issues with their car, and you know, hadn't got it fixed yet.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: So it was like he said, Okay, well, you know, call James and you know, let him talk through about it.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: He'll be understanding, but you got to communicate with him.
• 27:15
  unknown: Yeah.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_02: So hadn't heard from that person, and it's like, hey, you know what?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_02: If we if we're gonna have this this kind of issue now, we're gonna have more issues in the future.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: Agreed.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's just a phone, I'm just a phone call, a text away.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: I've been reaching out to you.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I know things happen, right?
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, when when when cleaners have issues, it's a little tougher for them to recover because you know they haven't they're not making a six-figure salary in general.
• 27:47
  unknown: Okay.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: So, and and I understand these things.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_02: But we need you to figure out a way to take care of the customer, not just you know, radio silence.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I I hate that.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I've I've talked about this many times on some of the episodes where in in some entrepreneurs have said it it's weird how we have more ways to communicate than ever, but we do a poorer job of communicating now than ever.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you don't even have to make phone calls nowadays, you can just text or email.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: You don't even have to, you know, because you know a lot of people, oh, I don't want to disappoint that person.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you don't even have to pick up the phone and hear it.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Back in the day, you had to actually pick up the phone because there was no text or anything like that.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: But you can't even I mean you can't even ship me a quick text saying, hey man, I just wasn't able to make it.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, not a big deal, but just communicate.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_02: Well, a lot a lot of people haven't figured out that you know, there are a lot of things that ruins relationships, but communications is a really big one.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_02: If you're not communicating, you know, whatever that relationship is, at some point it's gonna go south.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you know they see it because I mean everybody's always got their phone nearby, right?
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, I I don't know anybody that doesn't have their phone right next to them.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't, you're you're probably gonna be looking for it in the next five minutes.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's how it works.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: So you know you see it and you can't just really respond and give you that respect.
• 29:07
  unknown: Yeah.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that's a huge thing.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so yeah, pretty quick to answer those questions.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, we're gonna head into a quick fire round.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: So how this works is you know, I'm going to give you one word, and I just I just want you to tell me the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear that word in regards to running your business, and then kind of expand upon it uh in a few sentences after.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, let's do it.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: All right, perfect.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: First word is success.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_02: Success.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_02: For me, success is having satisfied customers.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: You know, there's nothing more rewarding than having customers that provide you with feedback that says, hey, you know, love the job you guys are doing with with the building.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: Keep up the good work.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: Failure.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_02: Failure is the opposite of that.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_02: We get customer complaints saying, hey, we've got this issue, we need to get it resolved.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_02: Not happy with your service.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: We don't get many of those.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_02: Burnout.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_02: Burnout.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure about burnout.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_02: I've I've been accused of being a workaholic in the past.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I tend to not get burned out.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_02: Scaling.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_02: Scaling.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_02: Scaling is challenging.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_02: And the reason I say that is because the systems that you put in place when you have a a smaller client base aren't necessarily the system that will work as you scale and your client base becomes larger.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: Hiring.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: Hiring.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_02: The thing that comes to mind when I think about hiring is thankful.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: I'm thankful that my son has a skill set to where he's really good at recruiting and hiring people.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Competition.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_02: Competition.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_02: The pie is big and there's enough for everybody, so I don't really care about the competition because there's enough out there for everybody.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: And the last word is freedom.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_02: Freedom.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: What we all want.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_02: Freedom.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we are when I think about freedom, I I I think of we're already free.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_02: And what I mean by that is we live in a society that has challenges and we have problems.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_02: But if you've traveled and been to other places in the world, you know, this is what we the what we deal with is nothing compared to a lot of other places in the world.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_02: So living in America is freedom.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: All right, perfect.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I appreciate you.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, and especially with uh some of the third world problems and stuff like that.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm actually from St.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: Thomas, Virgin Islands.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that's on American territory still, but uh if you go there, it doesn't quite feel like America.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure if you've ever been to the Virgin Islands, but I have I have uh been to most of the islands in the Caribbean.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: They're the way they operate is different.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, you could be sitting here working on something, your your electricity goes out for four hours randomly, just cuts, right?
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: And here we take advantage of that.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, man, we've got electricity, and if it does go out, it it comes back on pretty, pretty quickly.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: But they just have rolling, rolling blackouts, rolling power outages, and I'm just like, wow, this is uh a different way of living.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: They're very different.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, I was we we were in South Africa a couple Africa a couple of years ago, and you know, you're you're driving down the interstate, or what we would call the interstate, and you look to your left or to your right, and you see people that are living in housing made out of tin, like what we put on roofs.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_02: You know.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, we we you know, we we come we complain, and not not that there aren't things that need to be fixed, but yeah, I I yeah, having been a few places, we we're very blessed.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, agreed with that.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: Agreed.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: Need to be a little bit more grateful for it.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: So where do you think your industry is going and and what are most people getting wrong about it right now, would you say?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well, where the industry is going is more and more automation.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm not gonna say AI, I think I'm saying automation because as in the industrial world, as you know, we try to automate, you know, we've always tried to automate things that were being done manually, okay.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_02: Now they've got there they've got drums that will pressure wash windows, right?
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_02: Window cleaning.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, more automation, of course.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, there's no, you know, I don't know if you've been involved with the military, but you know, we have a thing in the military.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_02: There's no substitute for boots on the ground.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_02: AI is not the threat that it is to some other industries because AI is not gonna come out and you know, take the trash out and wash the windows and clean the tables and mop the floors and so on and so forth.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, there will be equipment that will help us do that, but you're always gonna need people, just like you're always gonna need tradespeople, electricians, plumbers, so on and so forth.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, no, I agree.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: I agree with that.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: So this next question is hypothetical, and I want you to just give me the best answer you can, but uh, and I want you to be as candid as you can as, you know, as well.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just say hypothetically, let's say a business small business owner is listening to the podcast episode today.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh let's say they're just having a bad week or a bad month, or let's say they're just having a bad start to 2026.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're already in the second quarter here, heading into almost the middle of the year.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, let's say they're just feeling stuck or overwhelmed, not having a great go of things in 2026.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: What is a piece of advice, James, that you would like to them to hear from you today, or that you would give them today.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_02: Well, one of my favorite art um authors is Simon Sinek, and he has a book, Start with Why.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_02: And what I would say to those people is that if things aren't going the way they want them to go, and things, you know, they're just really having a hard time, they need to go back to their why and understand why they're doing what they're doing, you know, why they're in this industry, why are they in this business, and make sure that they understand their why.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_02: And once they understand their why, then they can figure out how to get to where they need to be because of their why.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_02: And we need to be purpose-driven, right?
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_02: So what's it what's why do you do what you do?
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know, because maybe you shouldn't be doing what you're doing, maybe you should be doing something different.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of people don't realize that there's many things that they can be successful at.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's not just one thing that they can be successful doing.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I definitely like that.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely like that.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what would you say is next for AMPS facility solutions?
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: What should people be excited about coming up in the near future?
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_02: Growth.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_02: Just taking on more prime clients and venturing into the government contracts.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_02: That's what's exciting about this business, growing it.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that's that's the plan.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_02: We're putting that infrastructure.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_02: You know, this summer, what I'd like to do is either hire some people here in Columbia or buy a small business and grow it as part of Amps, a small cleaning business.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, right now, um, since I've been here in August and actually restarted operating in September, you know, we don't actually have our own people on the ground.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_02: We're using contractors here at the moment.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_02: So what I'd like to do is get some employees either by um hiring or acquisition as soon as we can get some more prime contracts to put those people to work.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, is there is there a job posting up or anything like that?
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_02: No, not at the moment.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_02: But as we bring on some more business this summer, we'll be doing that.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_02: So either to hiring or acquisition.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, perfect, perfect.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, stay on the lookout for that, guys.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, going into that a little bit more, what's the best way for someone to connect with you a little more about what you do if they're interested?
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_02: They can reach out online at amps facilitiesolutions.com.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_02: That's our website.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_02: And there's a contact us form there.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_02: There's a scheduled walkthrough form there.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_02: They can get an online instant estimate by just filling out um some information up for our estimator.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_02: And there's also phone numbers to contact both our Florida and South Carolina offices.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_02: So we're easy to find and easy to reach out to.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect, perfect.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: Any social media that people can look at?
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: Get what you guys do?
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_02: We are on LinkedIn and Facebook, Ants Facility Solutions, both of those.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: Any plans for TikTok or Instagram?
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_02: Or we haven't we do have an Instagram account, but we've not started being active on it yet.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_02: No plans for TikTok.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: No plans for TikTok.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: All right, James.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, this has been fantastic.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, any final shout outs or anything else you'd like to say before we before we wrap up?
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: No, just other than to your audience, if they're looking for someone that's gonna give them personalized service for their facility, or they just want to get a competitive quote that they can reach out to us, and we'll be glad to help them out with that.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: All right, perfect, perfect.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: All right, James, yeah, this has been fantastic.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you've been an excellent conversation.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story and your perspective.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: Really appreciate you coming on today.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: It was an excellent conversation, I feel.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_02: All right, well, thank you for having me, Cliff.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no problem at all.