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Three Full-Time Jobs In A Sooty Hat with Matthew Anstine, Spazzacamino · Epic Entrepreneurs

0:45
SPEAKER_01: Alright everyone, welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs.
0:49
SPEAKER_01: 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.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: All right, so today I'm excited to be joined by Matthew Anstein with Spazacamino.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: Matt, thanks for being here.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: How are you doing today?
1:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm doing great.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: Good morning.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: Good morning to you.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: And we're very excited to have you.
1:09
SPEAKER_01: So let's go ahead and jump right into things, if you don't mind.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: So for those of you who may not know it yet, you know, what is Spazicamino?
1:15
SPEAKER_01: It's a beautiful, wonderful name.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: So Spazicamino, and it just means chimney sweep in Italian.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: I there's a Spazicamino festival every year in northern Italy that commemorates basically a huge stepping point in the chimney sweep trades.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: And so every year they have a festival up there for chimney sweeps around the world together.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: And when I was there, I learned that Spasicamino actually means chimney sweep.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: So it's pretty cool.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
1:47
SPEAKER_01: And and who is Matthew Anstein as a person for you personally?
1:51
SPEAKER_00: So I've kind of condensed this down to a little sentence or so, but basically I'm a high adventurer, college-educated Boy Scout who is naturally mechanically inclined and a highly skilled laborer.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: I've always told myself if someone else has done it before, I could do it too.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: So I've I haven't limited myself as far as you know, I'm a I'm a I can attitude.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: And as far as chimney, as far as Spasza Camino, it's it does mean chimney sweep, but chimney sweep or spazicamino is my is my company.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: I'm a chimney sweep.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: Um I became a master chimney sweep this past year.
2:31
SPEAKER_00: There's not very many master chimney sweeps, but I'm one of about 16,000 certified chimney sweeps in America.
2:38
SPEAKER_00: And I deal with wood, gas, pellet, electric, and even dryer vents.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: And I just make sure that people are safe.
2:48
SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: Now, Matthew, let's go ahead and get it right into the business side of things and talk about it.
2:55
SPEAKER_01: So, what would you say is something about running your business that people think is amazing, uh, but it's actually not when you hear it?
3:03
SPEAKER_00: Right.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: So I I think that people would say it'd be so amazing to run your own business and think of think of all the time and money you'll make.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: And the truth is, I work probably three full-time jobs.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: And to, you know, when you're networking and growing, you can't price yourself to what really you feel like you're worth because you're trying to grasp the business in the area and you're trying to uh get people excited to share your name and and and get the work.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: I love sweeping repairing fireplaces, but I still have all the finance and administration responsibilities to do at the end of the day and and networking.
3:41
SPEAKER_00: So I gotta work all that in there, and of course, there's a lot more, you know.
3:45
SPEAKER_00: Like I built my own website, which I never did before.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: There's a bunch of things that I haven't done before that I'm that I'm doing now.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's uh I guess it's a great learning experience.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: So that's not the I guess that's not so much BS, but all the work that I put into it, it's an unbelievable amount of work.
4:07
SPEAKER_01: Of work, yeah.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: Now, what would you say was the exact moment where you realized, you know, this business can either really work or it can completely blow up in my face and I lose everything.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: So I suppose it was basically when I started like putting a lot of money into it.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: So as I started to reinvest or invest the initial, make the initial investment into doing it, I had a lot of the tools I needed, but I didn't have you know the thousands of dollars worth of tools.
4:40
SPEAKER_00: So it was basically I started, I started my got my my business name at the county, got my license, got my insurance, joined the B and I group, bought all this equipment, and I'm like, well, it's either gonna work or it's gonna fail.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: And I and thankfully, through networking and getting my name out there the best I could, um, it hasn't failed.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: It's it's grown.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
5:06
SPEAKER_01: Now, what would you say is the moment, the most stressful moment you've ever had as a business owner?
5:11
SPEAKER_01: Like a, you know, how am I going to get through this type of moment?
5:15
SPEAKER_00: Well, thankfully, this isn't my first company.
5:19
SPEAKER_00: This is I've been I've been running my own business since a teenager.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: I was my first company was lawn maintenance.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: I used to just mow for all the neighbors in the area and make, you know, make a couple bucks here and there.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: But this one so far, the only stress is just wondering if my investment's going to to produce anything or if I'm just gonna wind up working down at the local gas station.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: But uh my my stressful points were to learn how to to I guess charge the right price.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: I've always charged a little bit less than I probably should have.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: And I've I've lost businesses in the past because I've not charged enough.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: So that was always, you know, making sure I was doing everything the best I could.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: But I've had some experience, like I said, for this one.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: So this one hasn't been so bad.
6:09
SPEAKER_00: I've been kind of able to work through all my issues fairly easy.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: It's been a little stressful.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm a little older, I got mouths to feed, so I gotta make it successful.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: But uh I would say that the most stressful point in this business so far was when I started to scale too quickly and I started getting five to six calls a day.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: And some of and some of the companies have three as much as 300 cabins.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: And I was worried about, you know, hey, I'm I'm gonna be scheduled out weeks in advance, possibly months.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: And I don't, I'm not leaving myself any breathing room.
6:47
SPEAKER_00: If if I get sick or if something breaks, I'm just gonna start getting piled with, you know, double the workload or more very quickly if I don't make make plans to have a sick day or you know, have a down day.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: That's where I started really kind of uh freaking out, really.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: But as soon as like, okay, I gotta start leaving a day here or there for you know for the rainy day.
7:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I agree, I agree.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: Now, have you ever thought about quitting your business?
7:18
SPEAKER_00: I have not thought about quitting this business.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: I've always been a non-quitter.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: The only reason I would quit is if I had to because of health, or you know, if everything burns to the ground.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: But I've never been a quitter.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: I think that's the entrepreneur sense in me that's just, you know, just go at it and adapt, you know, basically adapt, overcome, and conquer.
7:45
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
7:45
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: Now, you know, let's say if you could wave a magic wand and instantly fix one part of your business tomorrow, what part of your business would you fix?
7:57
SPEAKER_00: Oh, well, being a small brand new company, obviously I want the magic wand.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: I want to be able to just make it 10 years from now.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: Because in 10 years, there'll be all the procedures in place, all the the possibly in I hope, staff to to help run it, uh a good team and you know have some have some good a good help.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: I guess a good team.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: The best thing is I I wish I I had a good team to share all this with and teach and and grow with because I do like doing this with a group of people.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: I came from too many doctors in Bailey, Colorado, and I I managed that and I I it was really fun training people and and having a culture.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: Right now, my I'm a culture of one.
8:53
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
8:54
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
8:55
SPEAKER_01: Now, what do you think is currently preventing you from getting that solved?
9:01
SPEAKER_00: I'm not quite sure.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: I'm once again, new in the area.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: People are saying it's tough to find hard work here or find good work here, sorry.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: Find good help here.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: I'm not quite sure if it's if it's people don't also believe in in the work.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: I know there's there's plenty of people out here that do have good jobs.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: There's people who care about training.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: I've met other companies who have good employees, have a great team.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: So I know I it's it's possible.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: I just got to attract the right folks that would be also willing to grow and learn into a pretty neat trade.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: I guess it's just because I'm so new.
9:45
SPEAKER_00: People may believe or not believe in my company, meaning it's it's right now it is basically a garage company.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: I don't have a I don't have you know a shop or anything yet, still growing into that.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: So maybe it's because I'm so small that I I I'm not getting any people that can trust that I could employ them long term.
10:07
SPEAKER_01: Okay, gotcha, gotcha.
10:08
SPEAKER_01: That makes sense.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: Now, you know, what what what do you think, or what's something about you personally that had to change in order for your business to grow?
10:17
SPEAKER_01: Anything in like your personal life, your personality that had to change?
10:21
SPEAKER_00: I know you're kind of still new, but yeah, no, it wasn't so much me having to, I mean I changed pretty much right before I made a change right before I started this business.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: I don't think it would have made any difference whether I was gonna start the business or not, but since I sold my home in Colorado and and had some downtime while while I transitioned here, I actually went and spent some money on some mental health courses that taught me how to basically come out of my chronic fight or flight.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: I was sitting in fight or flight for, I don't know, decades.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: So I was finally able to, I guess, learn how to recognize and control my triggers so that I could, I guess, think straight.
11:13
SPEAKER_00: So I'd have a better, better head on my shoulders when you know, when tough times came.
11:18
SPEAKER_00: I I did always, I always had a tough time managing uh stress.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: I think I sat at a very high stress level.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: So if any more stress landed on me, I'd have you know physical issues.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: My eye would twitch, my twit, my chest would twitch, my skin would get tight and hurt.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: There's all kinds of physical things that would happen that would were basically stress, stress related.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: And after I was able to take these this this class and learn a lot more about myself and how to, you know, basically de-stress, calm down, come out of my fight or flight state, that really helped me in every aspect.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: So I would recommend, you know, I I came, I'm a I'm a Gen X.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: I would I would I would recommend that anyone in our in our age group go and even though if they feel like, oh no, I'm perfectly fine, because I totally did.
12:11
SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh no, I don't need any help, mental health.
12:13
SPEAKER_00: But I would recommend it to anyone.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're not necessarily saying you're crazy for going and getting mental health education.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: You're just gonna make your life easier.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: So I would recommend anyone do it.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna learn something about it.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: Now, and and 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 you say would surprise them the most about how you operate your company?
12:40
SPEAKER_00: So I I actually like shadow shadowers.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: Once again, I I used to train people.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: Um I like to I like to share my my knowledge.
12:48
SPEAKER_00: I want to, I want, I want my skills to be passed on to the next generation.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: I think it's important to share with the the next generation or just share your knowledge to anyone.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: But I think what they would notice is how how efficient I am, how efficient I become because I've I've done manual labor pretty much my entire life, and I've I've become very efficient.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: And then I think they'd also notice that I like to educate because I I like to educate, I consider education half my my my job.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: I educate the customers, I educate my helpers, and I've gotten pretty proficient at it.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
13:32
SPEAKER_01: Now, what would you say actually moves the needle most in your business right now?
13:38
SPEAKER_00: It's it's pretty split.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: I've got I've got a lot of short-term rental rentals in my area, and they they actually require someone to go through and and check all those fireplaces.
13:50
SPEAKER_00: So I have that.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: I think networking is the main thing.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: Networking has got to be probably well, it's pretty much 100% of what I've done so far.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: That's how I get the I've gotten the work.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: I don't advertise, so I've gone through and and met with the local chambers coming from a small town.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: We are the chamber pretty much ran everything.
14:13
SPEAKER_00: It was pretty much the the local government.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: So I went, I went to the the chambers, the two local chambers near here, and joined them.
14:21
SPEAKER_00: I joined a B and I group, and then I went around and met the local stove shops, asked them who who are the local chimney sweeps, and I've tried to meet any everyone in my my area, uh in my field in the area.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: And and so it's all been networking.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: Now, what would you say is giving you kind of an unfair advantage over your competitors?
14:52
SPEAKER_00: You don't have a lot of them here in the area, but so unfair advantage, definitely that I'm an educated guy.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: I I have I hold I hold all the major certifications for chimney sweeping.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: There is I'm a master chimney sweep, there's less than a hundred in America.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm let's see what else.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: I kind of hit a wall here.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: There's there's really not there's really not a whole lot of uh other professional chimney sweeps in the area.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: And if there were, I would just make them my friends anyway, because I would have cooperation, not co op uh competition.
15:34
SPEAKER_01: So so Matt, what would you say is the hardest leadership lesson you've learned, you know, while you're trying to grow your team?
15:46
SPEAKER_00: Well, once again, a company of one, but but back when I was the general manager at the last gym company I was at, it's culture.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: You you have to make sure that the people on your team believe in the same thing you do, that you have a almost moral or ethical obligation to make sure people are safe.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: And some of the some of the tough things are obviously the toughest things to do in a business, I believe, are are to let people go.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: And if someone's being really toxic in your company and destroying that culture, then you have to you have to let them know.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: I I typically don't I typically don't just go out and want to fire anyone.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: So I will go and and actually confront the problem head on, say what's going on.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: And it's it can be, you know, it can be tough, feelings can get hurt, but at the end of the day, if someone's just toxic for the for the for the culture, you've you've got to you gotta let them go.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: Or you gotta and and when when I let people go too, I'm I don't just like say get the hell out of here.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: I I typically will try to ask them what else they may want to do and actually help them get get to that point.
16:59
SPEAKER_00: So nice.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm I I want to help people, I don't want to, I don't want to burden them.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: I mean, because it's it's tough out here, right?
17:07
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's a it's kind of a tough world.
17:09
SPEAKER_01: I mean, gas is almost five dollars a gallon and you know, groceries are tough, you know.
17:13
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's you spend$100 and get milk and basic basic necessities these days.
17:17
SPEAKER_01: Right.
17:18
SPEAKER_01: And you spend$100 on a on a small bag of groceries.
17:20
SPEAKER_01: I I literally did that.
17:21
SPEAKER_01: That's why it's in the the top of my mind.
17:23
SPEAKER_01: I think I went on what was it, Saturday, right before Memorial Day to get some stuff, and I literally just grabbed like some milk and some basic stuff, and it was like$140.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: I'm like$140 on what?
17:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
17:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
17:47
SPEAKER_01: No, it's it's it's a it's an interesting time.
17:50
SPEAKER_01: But have you ever had to make a tough call at, you know, like you know, let's say well, you kind of talked about it there a little bit, you know, letting someone go or kind of cutting something off, or maybe denying a job from someone that ended up being the right move long term.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
18:06
SPEAKER_00: So I had uh I had a a couple different uh guys.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: One guy was it was tough because because he he just he started he started falling, I guess not falling, he just stopped caring as much.
18:19
SPEAKER_00: He you could tell he was struggling with with wanting to stay motivated to do the work.
18:25
SPEAKER_00: So I told him, you know, you don't you don't have to do this for the rest of your life.
18:28
SPEAKER_00: You can do other you can do whatever you want.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: You know, this is this is a this may be a job for you, but you know, think about what you want to do.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: And so I actually he was a good worker too.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: I I really liked him.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: And but what I did is I helped him actually, he wanted to do tile work.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: So I I motivated him to continue for I think it was at least a couple months that he stayed with me while he was b growing his business.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the couple months, I go, all right, well, maybe if you're ready to go, if you got some work, it's time to go.
19:02
SPEAKER_00: And so he he popped off the team and and he went.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: And you know, we lost a good employee, but but he got to do what he wanted to do.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: So once again, I I try to help people along.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: That was kind of and and I did have to, I did have to let someone go because of their their toxicity to our our culture.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: That was whenever they walk through the room, you could feel the energy, and it was it was odd.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: And so I once again I confronted it, but it it was it's just it's something that I learned once like once again recently about that mental health thing.
19:35
SPEAKER_00: Um if you're if if you you could you can certainly change a room by walking into it if you are triggered or in a bad state.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I totally agree with that.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: I actually had, you know, I used to be a director of operations of a small uh financial firm here, and you know, I had someone like that as well, where you know, I literally couldn't stand working with them.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: And it was like, man, something's got to change.
19:59
SPEAKER_01: Like I I didn't even want to go to them for assistance or hey, I need this done by this time or whatever.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: And it was it was just bad.
20:06
SPEAKER_01: It's like, man, if I can't, if you know, you spend all your day at work.
20:10
SPEAKER_01: You spend we spend more time at work than we do at home with our family, right?
20:13
SPEAKER_01: Right.
20:13
SPEAKER_01: And if you can't stand a person that you work with, well then you know, probably something needs to change.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
20:19
SPEAKER_01: That's never a good environment to be in.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: Right.
20:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:22
SPEAKER_01: So I mean, I had to definitely have to uh you know nip that in the bud and and and take care of that, you know, take care of that person because it was it just wasn't a good a good situation where like I said, anytime I had to go and ask them for anything, it was just it was just tough.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: I I I gritted my teeth.
20:37
SPEAKER_01: Oh god, I gotta go ask this person for something.
20:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that's just not good because they're very because they were very difficult to work with, right?
20:42
SPEAKER_01: So it's just it's tough.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's tough when that's the case.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: They're usually they're usually pretty vocal about it to everyone.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: So they start really, like I said, being toxic to the team.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: No one else, that it's it's everyone beats shuts up and is is cowering or gets gets the hell out of the office as that person comes in or goes, you know, goes through.
21:01
SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
21:03
SPEAKER_00: Something to deal with.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
21:05
SPEAKER_01: All right, so perfect.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna go ahead and head into the quick fire round.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, so how this works is I'm gonna give you the first thing, or I'm gonna give you one word, and I just want you to tell me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear each word in regards to running your business uh or or in your prior experience as well, and then kind of give me like a little small paragraph on why you chose what you chose.
21:23
SPEAKER_01: That makes sense.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: I'll try.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: All right, perfect.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: First word is success.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: Oh, financial stability.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: I would love to be I'd love to be able to just not worry about next month's bills and just you know grow the business and be secure in my in my uh finances.
21:45
SPEAKER_01: Failure.
21:47
SPEAKER_00: Quitting what I love, like quitting having to quit quitting chimney sweeping.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: If if I had to go and work somewhere like Home Depot, I just wouldn't, it wouldn't feel this.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: I'd feel like that was quite quite a failure.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: I like that.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: Next word is burnout.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: Over overbooking.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: Burnout always followed, you know, a long stent of hard, heavy work.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: If you overbook yourself, that you're you're setting yourself up for a burnout.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: Scaling.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm not quite sure scaling yet, but I would say controlled growth.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure if scaling is controlled growth, but that's what comes to my mind when I hear scaling.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: So try to control or manage the manage the growth as it comes in, or you know, plan.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully you're planning to scale.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: So controlled growth is what comes mine.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: Hiring.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: Oh, hopes and dreams.
22:59
SPEAKER_00: No, I would love to hire someone.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: I just need to meet meet the right people.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: I've had I have had a couple people ask me, but they are they're you know, they're over an hour away.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, you would be so mad at me by the time you got to me, man.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: And not only that, I mean having to do that every day, that would be kind of rough.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you can only do that for so long, I feel like, uh before it gets old.
23:21
SPEAKER_01: Next word is competition.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: Friends, cooperation.
23:26
SPEAKER_00: So once again, I I've never I've always eaten this field of embraced other chimney sweeps.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: I want to be their friends, I want to help them, I want, I want to be able to grow together and and teach and learn from each other.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: And the last word is freedom.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: In this sense, uh the ability to have a business that of my of my choice, to be able to do what I want in my business, or to have a business, really, and do what I do what I love.
24:02
SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: All right, perfect.
24:04
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you getting through that quick fire round there.
24:06
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, with all this talk of AI and self-motivation, you know, where do you think your industry is going?
24:12
SPEAKER_01: You know, where do you where do you see your industry 10 years from now?
24:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, it I do have concerns.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: There is, I think our industry is in direct attack, under a direct attack from the electrification movement.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: People want to get, I'm not gonna say everyone, but I'm gonna say there are there's a group or there's there's people out there would want to get rid of wood-burning appliances.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: Once again, I'm I'm more than just wood, I'm wood, electric, gas, and pellet.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: But I would I think there's there's a lot of people that are getting out of the wood burning fireplaces.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: And I think that that's that's a bad move because once you give up your your wood appliance, your your alternative heat appliance, you are basically getting rid of your independence of energy.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna be required, you're gonna you're gonna have to buy energy from gas or from electric to heat your home, where once you could have just used wood.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: Once again, I coming from Colorado, Mountains of High Mount Mountains of Colorado, I would spend probably$100 a year heating my house.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: And there's other people who are spending$1,200 a month on propane.
25:36
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: So I was able to take that money and put it to better use for my family, for food, for enjoyment.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: And so I think that it's really important that people maintain, learn about it.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: But and I think that's one of the reasons it's it's also under attack is because people need to learn more about the appliance, the wood burning appliance that they have.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: I think there's a lot of misinformation.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: I think there's a lot of, I hate to say it this way, but ignorance.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: But once once you learn about it, burning wood in your home can be, and I'm not supposed to say it, safe, but we've got to make sure someone someone has to look at it, some professional had does have to look at it and make a judgment call on that.
26:18
SPEAKER_00: And if there's any any repairs that need to be played made, you know, to keep that independence, I would I would certainly make those repairs and have my appliance.
26:28
SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
26:30
SPEAKER_01: Now, where do you think your business, your particular business, will be by 2030, next four years?
26:37
SPEAKER_00: Well, hopefully I'm in a nice little shop down the street.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: I don't need a storefront or anything, but I do would like to have a little office down the street where employees can where I'd have hopefully I'd have two to three trucks and an office staff to to run a nice little company that where we were helping the community uh stay safe.
26:57
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I'm not out here to make a million dollars.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: I just want to make sure that people are safe and I and I have a that I have a good living.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: All right.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, and I want you to be as candid and honest as you can on the answer to this next question.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: But, you know, let's say if a business owner, small business owner, a small entrepreneur is listening to the podcast episode with you today, Matt, and let's say they're you know they're feeling stuck or overwhelmed, they're just not having a good go of 2026 so far.
27:26
SPEAKER_01: What's a piece of advice you'd want them to hear from you today?
27:30
SPEAKER_00: Hold in there, keep at it.
27:33
SPEAKER_00: You're not dying.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: Just think about think about what where you'd rather be.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: Think about what you need to do to fix it or or to have it the way you'd want it, and just make small changes, at least make small changes every day or as you know, as soon as possible to get to that point.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: But there's it's you, it's it's a mental, it's a mental game.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: You gotta you have to pull yourself out of a funk, you have to see see yourself in a better place or a you know, better environment, and then you gotta work until you get there.
28:19
SPEAKER_01: Okay, no, I appreciate that advice.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: So what's next for Spazakamino?
28:23
SPEAKER_01: What should people be excited about coming up in the near future?
28:26
SPEAKER_00: Employment opportunities, education, and hopefully with more with some employees, I can people who can people be able to get their appointments sooner instead of waiting eight weeks.
28:41
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
28:42
SPEAKER_01: Okay, gotcha, gotcha.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: Now you said you're are are you currently hiring right now?
28:47
SPEAKER_00: I would be hiring right now.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: I can only hire one at a time because I'm only a company of one currently.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: I don't have any trainers.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: So I would I want what I'd love to do is hire the right guy that wants to learn an awesome, really niche trade.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I got I was I was a contractor my entire life, and I I found this field after being a construction superintendent, punch list guy, own my own contracting company.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: I found this and I just fell in love with this chimney sweeping stuff.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: I deal with all the dangerous stuff, I guess, in the house, which I think is is great.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: Gotta have good ethics, good, good problem solving skills.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: But if I could find the right guy, train him up, and he can believe in the same things I do, then he'd be great for you know having a truck and and and a helper or be able to train more chimney sweeps.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: And so yeah, I am currently looking for you know someone has who is a high adventurer as well, someone is not afraid of getting on the roofs.
29:46
SPEAKER_00: And I have all the safety gear.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: I I'm OSHA trained as well.
29:49
SPEAKER_00: So I have I have I have safety equipment of all kinds because I'm dealing with I'm I'm dealing with fine particulate dust, I'm dealing with roof work, and and I'm doing structural stuff too.
30:02
SPEAKER_00: So it's it's pretty cool.
30:03
SPEAKER_00: It's it's like, I don't know, the I would say a very high-end contracting position.
30:11
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
30:12
SPEAKER_01: All right.
30:13
SPEAKER_01: And and finally, what's the best way for someone to connect with you or learn more about what you all do?
30:18
SPEAKER_00: Well, all right, you can go to my my website.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: It's severe spaz.com.
30:22
SPEAKER_00: That's severe county spaz.com.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: And or they can alternatively text or call me at 720-755-0398.
30:36
SPEAKER_01: Perfect, perfect.
30:37
SPEAKER_01: Any social media we can check you out.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: Um I am on Facebook.
30:41
SPEAKER_00: I think I have a a Snapchat or Twitter, but I I just signed up.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: I I can't, I don't keep them very active because I'm always out doing stuff.
30:49
SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm I'm usually hanging out at my office, which is on top of someone's house looking at the mountains.
30:55
SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay, perfect, perfect.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: All right, Matt.
30:58
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, this has been fantastic.
30:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you for coming on and sharing your story and your perspective.
31:02
SPEAKER_01: Any last words you have for our audience before we sign out?
31:05
SPEAKER_00: Well, I would say everyone get their chimney swept by a professional chimney sweep through the CSIA or the NCSG.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: And if you need to get a chimney installed, I would go to someone that is certified through the NFI.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: Nice, nice.
31:20
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
31:21
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
31:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks, Matt.
31:22
SPEAKER_01: We appreciate everything you're doing for the community and wish you continue to success in the future.
31:26
SPEAKER_01: Really appreciate you coming on.
31:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:27
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.