Latest / Epic Entrepreneurs / Chris Powell Explains What It Takes To Build A 24 7 Restoration Business

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Chris Powell Explains What It Takes To Build A 24 7 Restoration Business · Epic Entrepreneurs

• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone, welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs.
• 0:50
  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.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm excited to be joined by Chris Powell with Pro Premier Restoration.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Christopher Powell, how are you doing today?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing good.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: How are you, man?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm doing great.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Doing great.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Do you prefer Chris or Christopher?
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: How do you how do you like that?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Chris is fine.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Chris is fine.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Chris, you know, again, thank you for coming on.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: We're really, really excited to have you on.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: So if you don't mind, let's let's jump right into it.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Alrighty.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds like fun.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: All right, perfect, perfect.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: So tell me a little bit about uh, you know, ProPremere Restoration, you know, what you're providing for the community and what communities you serve.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so ProPremere Restoration is a uh water mitigation, uh, mold remediation and fire damage business.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when you have a busted pipe, uh you have a sewage backup, your roof leaks, things of that nature.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: We come in and we try and prevent mold.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: If you already have mold, then we clean it up and get it back to where you have a safe house.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: And same thing with fire damage.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: We'll remove uh what can't be repaired and we'll clean what can be repaired.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's uh it's a multifacet business, I guess you can say.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: The only thing we don't do is repairs.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: And uh what communities do you serve?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's based out of Hartwell, Georgia.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I serve uh basically all the way down to Jackson County, Georgia, and as far north as Greenville and as far out as as like Augusta, North Augusta area.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay, nice, nice.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: And and who's Chris Powell?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: What do you got going on personally?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Any hobbies, anything like that?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, I'm a uh father of four.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um my kids are heavily involved in sports, uh, especially my oldest daughter.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: She plays middle school softball.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, she's about to trout for the high school next year, but she plays uh middle school, high school softball, travel softball.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: My uh my sons are actually getting into I guess band, I think it is.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, they're not as as sportsy as my as my oldest.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then my youngest, she's she's five years old.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: So my oldest is 14 and my youngest is five.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, cool, cool.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as far as the uh musicians, what do they what instruments do they play?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so my oldest son just started playing the saxophone.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um and my youngest son, he's still in elementary school, so they haven't really he won't really get into that stuff until next year in middle school.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: But I think he's I think he's starting piano lessons.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: I do think I I do think my ex-wife told me that.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sounds like you got a lot going on, a lot of a lot of band practices and sports practice.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sounds like you got a lot going on.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be traveling and running around a lot.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes, sir.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Chris, you have been in restoration since 2007, is that right?
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Off and on.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I uh started when I was 17 with a company called Full Circle Construction and Restoration, which is a very large company now.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then I uh I went to college, so I took a little bit of a break, uh, did about a year and a half of college, and in that time I decided to join the Georgia Army National Guard.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was in the Army National Guard for 13 years, and inside that 13 years I had two deployments.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I got back into the business, worked in it for about a year and a half, and then decided I'm gonna live a lifelong dream of being a cop uh without any intentions of ever leaving law enforcement.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but due to some some um post-traumatic stress disorder and stuff like that, I ended up having to leave law enforcement.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so I got divorced, I got my second divorce, and my dad, who's an adjuster, been an adjuster for my entire life, um he was like, you know the business, why don't you just start your own?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um so that's kind of how Pro Premier Restoration was born.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've worked for a couple of other companies in between those time frames.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, that's that's kind of how it was born.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, that's great kind of hearing the origin story, but what you know, kind of what happened with you, what finally made you decide to put your own name and reputation behind a company instead of continuing to work for somebody else?
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be honest, um it was it was really just I've always talked about it.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: One of my one of my buddies, I've been telling him since I met him back in 2011.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I was gonna start a restoration business.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: And the fear is what prevented me from it at the time.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Once I got my second divorce, it was kind of like, what uh what do I have to lose?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um, I only got one life to live.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: What do I have to lose?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's something I enjoy doing.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and you know, I always wanted to build a company around my values and and my thought processes and and be more of the, hey, I'm gonna hire somebody and promote from within.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas a lot of these bigger companies or other companies preach that they promote within, but then they hire outside, and then the inside doesn't get promoted, like they say.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and and something that was that's more family oriented and things of that nature.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha, gotcha.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: That makes perfect sense.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, your website says clients work directly with the owner.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: So, what does owner involved on every project actually mean in your week right now?
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: So, right now I am the the main employee.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of pick up employees as I go right now, um, because I'm still trying to build that base to where I can handle four or five jobs at once, you know.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: And right now I'm I'm on the precipice of it, you know.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I got to get a couple more pieces of equipment and things like that before I can really reach out and start hiring technicians.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I do hire people that I intend to potentially call back and say, hey, do you want a full-time job?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: So that way they kind of have a gist of it.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: So right now you get to see me in your house every day when you have a water damage or a fire damage.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: And and and I intend on continuing to at least, you know, be be at the at the job at least once or twice throughout the project.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: And and our projects, depending on what they are, don't last but three or four days, you know, five days max typically, um, depending on how wet it is and how long it's been wet and things like that.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: But my intention is not to be kind of like an idle owner, hey, you go do this job.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: Now, granted, the older I get, the more I might draw back.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but my my idea is I want to be with the guys, even if I'm not doing all the work or even if I'm not doing any work, at least be there when I can be.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, obviously, business things will take priority, such as marketing and stuff like that, might take priority um or expanding or whatever, you know.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so that's that's kind of what it means to me.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like I want to be there and and be part of you know, helping the guys because when I was working for other companies, it was like the owner or the project manager or whatever would call and be like, go to this job.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then, well, why didn't you get this?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: Why didn't you get that?
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and because we all make mistakes, we all miss things in in in certain aspects.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: So my my plan is to is to be able to be there to see it and and be a face with the with the cu with the customers.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now, how many hours are you kind of working in and on the business right now a week, would you say?
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I would say a hundred plus hours.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I mean, it you know, it it depends week to week, but a lot of what I'm doing is is I'm still getting the name recognition out there.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm still finding different ways because I don't come from a sales background.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: So the hardest part I've had in building this company has been getting the name out there.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: What's the right marketing strategy?
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: What's the what's the right way to put this business out there and to let people know that this is a family-owned business and I intend on it to stay that way.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but this is a family-owned business that isn't a franchise, you know, nothing against franchises or anything like that.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, uh, that's part of the reason why I didn't want to join a franchise, is because I want my reputation to be my reputation, not my reputation is affected by all these other people that I have no idea who they are, um, are ruining my company's reputation.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, because I mean franchises get a bad rap a lot of times, uh just because they're, you know, they're individually owned and operated.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I want to put out a good product, you know, I want to to make the customers happy and and really actually help the customers, you know, especially when families may not have the money, but their insurance denies the claim.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm gonna try and go the extra mile for those customers to see what I can do.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Now, granted, I'm a I'm a business, so yes, I'm in it to make money, but at the same token, I think everybody deserves a healthy house to live in, you know, and kids, kids have a have a right to a healthy house, you know, regardless of finances or insurance and things like that.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, there are some thoughts that I have of of finding out how to get into the nonprofit area where I can get donations from people to help these customers because I have had a couple customers that just they they just simply don't have the money.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're on they're on retirement.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: I had, you know, one job where it wasn't it started out as an insurance claim when I got out there.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: The insurance ended up denying it because there was so much mold growth.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: But it was an older lady that um that didn't go to that side of her house.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: So she didn't know know that her water heater was busted and things like that.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so what I did since the insurance denied the claim, I tried to give her son, which I think he was in his 40s, kind of an idea of how to handle it, as opposed to me saying, hey, I know you don't have$15,000, but give me$15,000 and I'll do this job for you.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, instead of that, I tried to educate him on what he needed to do to make the house safe for his mother.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: So you really worked.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: So you is that typical?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Is that typically what you do is you kind of work with people where they're at, uh, you know, at the time?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: I I try to.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: If if if there's any way I can um, you know, help somebody out, then um I will.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I want to make money, but I'm not there to steal your money and I'm not there to drain your bank account, if that makes sense.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I I I want to do a good job and and I want to make sure you have a safe house.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: But if you can't afford like me to do the whole job, then I try and educate somebody in your family.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: If you're if you're an older person, I try and educate somebody younger in your family that can still do the work and and let them know that they have an open line of communication.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: They can call me, they can text me if they have questions or or send me pictures.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, that's that's what I try and try and do for people.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's awesome, man.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, you don't see that a whole lot these days.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: So that's awesome that you do that work with people where they're at.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you know, I got a lot of questions about what you kind of said there before, you know, how many, you know, the hours you're working in a week and everything.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I know you obviously we were talking earlier about your kids and kind of all the things that they're they're into.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, how does that kind of affect um you know, kind of how how you're able to get to stuff, you know, band practice and all that stuff?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um fortunately, most of their stuff is after five.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I have a very good support system with my two ex wives and and my parents.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um my parents help me out if I need to get my oldest daughter, since she can't drive yet.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: If I have to get her to like lessons or something, but I'm stuck on a job, then my parents will run over to my house, pick up my daughter, and take her to her lessons or take her to her practice.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's been times where I got stuck on a job and couldn't make it to her tournament or had to leave her tournament early.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then I have a I have a couple other friends around that are are really good support system.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: And they, you know, if I need my daughter to stay at their house because I can't, you know, get her to and from you know something because of work, then they do that for me.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and they they just really help me out.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's awesome.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: So of water, fire, mold, and storm work, which services drive the most volume and which tend to produce the best economics for the company?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh definitely the water side is is the most profitable side because it's typically less labor intensive.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when you get into mold, there's a lot of labor that goes with mold.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, same thing with fires.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of times there's just fire will be a fire, fires are typically a mix between fire, mold, and water, depending on how long it takes the insurance company to do their cause and origin and stuff like that, and actually let you in the house.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there are some things that you can do right off the right off the rip if if a ceiling's fallen in, they'll let you go ahead and go in and cut that out.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that way if it's only part of the house that's affected and the house is still technically livable, you know, because a fire marshal comes out there or an electric electrical company comes out there and says, hey, you know, this this house is safe to to live in, you know, then we go and take the immediate hazards out.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: And then once they finish their cause and origin, then we go in and and we start removing and things of that nature.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now what does uh what does your team look like today?
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's not just you, right?
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have a team of of techs and everything?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: Right now, right now it's just me and I I had a couple techs, um, but they didn't work out, unfortunately, um, for for different reasons.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and and more so that was stuff that I couldn't control.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they were good guys, you know, but there were things outside of the business that um didn't allow them to continue on.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm in I'm in the process of potentially looking for some more.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and because I like to vet my people.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: I do believe in in second chances and stuff like that, but there's certain things, you know, being a business owner, especially in people's houses, that I just can't look past, um, you know, for for the liability reasons.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: No, I get it.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, totally get it.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, you can't you can't have somebody who's gonna, you know, you have to worry about them stealing something or whatever like that.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I get it.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like you said, you're in people's houses, you're around their valuables, right?
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: And you can't you can't have be around somebody who's you know gonna be worried about them stealing somebody's necklace or something like that, right?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean you can't be around that, and you can't have people with with very short fuses that you know, um you don't know what what could happen.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what they'll say to somebody, yeah.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: So um, and we gotta get into that, right?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because I this is a hot topic that I talk about with entrepreneurs every week about um is is the hiring, right?
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: Hiring, you know, obviously we just talked about it, right?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's pretty easy to find somebody, but it's very hard to find a quality employee, right?
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody that cares about what they do, that has pride in the work, has pride in showing up every day.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: What have you noticed as far as the kind of hiring good employees?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: What have you noticed in your uh in your business?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's really hard to find the those qualities that you look for.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's really hard to find somebody that can can be what's the word?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um there's independent.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: They don't have to have their phone in their hand 24-7.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't have to tell them, you I don't have to stand over the top of them and tell them, hey, cut this out, hey, do this, without them getting distracted and and and not doing things.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's one of the hardest, because my plan is to hire that can kind of grow with the company, you know.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so I would prefer, you know, somebody that's 18, 19 years old that has a good work ethic.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: I guess that's the word I'm looking for, is finding somebody with that independent style work ethic that's eager to learn and eager to do a good job for my customers.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: And like you said, it's been hard to find.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think it is?
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: You think it's a is it a generational thing?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Is it just uh you know, just a lack of work ethic since COVID?
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, what do you think it is?
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a mix of everything.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think I think it is generational.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I mean, I was born in 1989, uh, but my my parents instilled a work ethic like no other, really.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um pretty much if you're not in the hospital on your deathbed, you're going to work.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's that's just how my parents raised me.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: I started working at, I think it was 14 was the earliest I could get a work permit.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: And and I started working as a bagger at Kroger.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I would I would literally walk uh from my parents' house.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I think it was about five miles to work.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: It might have been it might have been closer to three or something like that.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: But I would walk to work if nobody was there to there to take me.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'd I'd start walking.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that sounds funny to a lot of people.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um not to me.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of it has to do with how people are raising their kids.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and that's that's probably a canceled topic, but realistically, um, I do believe it's it's how you're raised.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you're not if you're raised with a silver spoon, you know, it's gonna be hard to hard to hold down a job.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: And that's something that I'm trying to instill in my kids at at their young ages, is you have to work, and if you don't work, you're not gonna you're not gonna make it in life, you know.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I I use the term with my kids, and it, you know, I'm like, look, you're gonna wind up on the streets.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, obviously, they're always gonna have a house at my house, a room at my house, but for lack of better terms, you're gonna wind up on the streets.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've known too many people, but there's a lot of people that are my age, you know, I'm 37 now.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a lot of people my age that just wants to lay on a couch and and and collect mad building and and collect free money, you know, Fortnite all day.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I think I think it's how I I honestly think it's how you're raised as as a parent.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, it starts it starts with your parents, you know, anything that's successful starts at the top, you know, and and in a in a family, the the top is the parents, you know, um and and you're only as good as your weakest link, you know, so I'm only as uh as good as as my youngest kid, you know, and so I'm just trying to instill the same things that my parents instilled me with working hard and and things like that.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: They have chores at the house, you know.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: My kids have shown an interest in in wanting to work for for my company, which you know obviously makes me happy as a father.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: But I've also told them that it's not gonna be just handed to them either.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they're gonna have to come in and start as like a technician and work their way up.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, times are a little different now.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: And and and I'm the type of person I try and treat my kids the same, whether they're a girl or whether they're a boy, you know.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one thing I can say, I love my parents to death, but I think they're a little bit harder on me in some in some aspects than they were my sisters.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um but they I mean they've they've been there, they've helped me out when I've needed it.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: And and you know, family to me, as far as in in my life, family is one of the most important things to me.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, my parents have been there when everybody else has turned the other cheek and and turned away from me.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: But the the one the two people I could always go back to are my parents or my sisters, you know.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um so when life's got me down or or something's gotten me down, I've always been able to turn to them.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: I might not tell them everything, but I've always been able to turn to them for advice or uh for for some kind of help.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: Not not necessarily financially, because my parents don't believe really in in helping out financially.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um but they believe in what they will do is is help you help me set a budget or help my sisters set a budget.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, my parents are great, um you know.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: But they are still my parents, so you know we argue.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what does an average job look like and how does how different is the economics of a small water loss versus a major commercial or fire loss?
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um the the biggest thing is is is the equipment usage.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, right now I have uh about 47 air movers, uh, which is just you know commercial fans basically, uh five dehumidifiers and and four air scrubbers, you know, so I can handle you know a decent size, let's just say a 3,000 square foot house.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I could potentially handle handle that entire house, you know, with the equipment that I have.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh commercial buildings, I mean, some of those are the size of a house, and some of those are ginormous that, you know, 100,000 square foot buildings.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so the economics of it is obviously I bill the same way regardless of if it's uh a commercial job or a residential job.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, where I kind of change the the economics of it is I change based off of self-pay or um like insurance.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: If they're going through insurance, you know, I bill a little bit differently.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not that I bill differently, it's that I try and help homeowners out.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I will give homeowners discounts, you know, if they have to come out of pocket, because I'm I'm the type of person I don't walk around with$10,000 cash in my pocket, you know, but an average, an on-average water mitigation job is about$3,500.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh some will be less, you know, if you only have to put one or two fans and don't have a lot of removal.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and some, and obviously there's a lot that that will be more, you know.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I mean, there's some that are that are upwards of twenty, thirty thousand dollars on a residential house, you know.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then you get into commercial and you're getting into hundred and two hundred thousand dollar jobs.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just it's just the the um equipment and and time that it takes.
• 24:36
  unknown: Yeah.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now, when the phone rings in an emergency, what has to happen in the first 30 to 60 minutes for you to win the job and protect the customer?
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a lot of times it's just me having a conversation with them uh and and building a quick relationship, finding out exactly where they're located, um, find out what exactly is the problem.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if it's a if it's a busted pipe, you know, I carry a uh a water shut off tool on my truck at all times.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: So that way if a if a pipe is is actively leaking and a plumber can't get out there, you know, um I go out, I shut the water off, um, and and I carry shark bites with me.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I can cut that particular pipe, put a shark bite on it, and then I can turn the water back on for them so they're not going a day or two without water, you know, if a plumber can't get out for a day or two.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that's one of the aspects that I offer to my customers, and I don't necessarily charge them to do that.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and I don't charge for for estimates.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: So if they're not sure if they want to go through uh insurance or not, I take the chance.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: I know it may sound crazy with gas, five dollars a gallon everywhere, it seems like, but I go out and give free inspections all the time and a free estimate.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, now granted, when I send you that estimate, it's gonna have my service fee in there, but if you don't use me, then you just got a free estimate.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um, you know, so that's that's one of the I think that's one of the things that um that customers like is I don't I don't say hey it's gonna be$200 for me to come out, but on the back end, if you choose to go with me, then I credit that$200 to the estimate.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's one way I could do it, but I prefer to just stick with a free estimate.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and like I said, I mean if gas prices get much higher, I might have to add some sort of trip fee.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, you wouldn't have a choice.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's getting expensive, man.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so Chris, where do your best jobs come from today?
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, is it referrals?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: Is it just insurance, uh, plumbers, roofers?
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Where do your best jobs come from today?
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my best jobs come from my uh my networking group that I'm in, actually.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in uh Business Networking International out of uh upstate South Carolina, uh uh upstate Clemson.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and you know, I I've I've gotten about 30% of my growth from that uh that group alone.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um like I like I said at the beginning, I was thinking about shutting down my business because I didn't understand what I was doing.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and that group has not only taught me how to sell myself, you know, as somebody that really wants to do good work and really wants to do it the right way, but they've also, you know, helped by sending me referrals.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and some of my bigger jobs have come from that networking group.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said, you know, uh the the second, I would say the second tier would be plumbers.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've gotten some jobs from some plumbers uh recently, and and they've they've brought some income as well.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'd be remiss.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: We got definitely got to go back and talk about that a little bit here.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you you kind of mentioned it earlier that you you kind of struggled out of the gate there in the first year, year and a half.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: So what happened there and and what kind of made the change?
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: You said obviously B and I helped a lot.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: When did you join B and I and what happened there in that first year to kind of uh you know?
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: So the first two years, the first year I really wasn't I wasn't sure when I wanted to actually launch everything.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know what all I needed.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've taken some business classes in the past, but I really didn't know what all was required.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um so the first year I really struggled to kind of figure that out.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and once I got my insurance and everything worked out, then I started marketing my business.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: And and I did, I think, two jobs in my first year.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my second year, um, and let me back up.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: In my first year, when I first opened it, I had all these digital marketers calling me.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: And no offense to digital marketers, but I spent, and I will I will put this dollar amount out there, I I spent about$20,000 in two years on digital marketing to get$50,000 worth of work.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, and and that just wasn't the route.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I talked with a roofer friend of mine um across the state, and he mentioned B and I.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, well, how how valuable is B and I?
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, is it worth joining?
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, he told me 90% of his business came from BI alone.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and he said he made his company quite a bit of business or quite a bit of money uh in that 90%.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I decided to look up a chapter.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and in Athens there wasn't any any chapters.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: There's chapters, but they had they had water mitigation, they had mold remediation, and they had fire damage companies in there.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I kept looking around and I found the one at uh it's unlimited potential, Clemson.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: And we we meet at the Clemson Area Chamber of Commerce, and when I walked in there, it was like a family.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they they welcomed me in and they really started teaching me more about business, more about how do I ask somebody, how do I go to a plumber and say, hey, uh, can you send me some some referrals?
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um, here's what I can do for your customers, here's previous jobs that I've done, and um, these are the problems that I've solved for these customers.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so they really kind of taught me that version of it because I've always been the guy that's out on the jobs.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: I've never been the guy that goes and tries and gets jobs.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that that was a big learning curve.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: I thought everything came from Google and stuff like that, but um BI really educated me on the fact of contact contact spheres and and people in your in your sphere of influence um and how to reach those additional people in that uh in that contact sphere.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: And and it really is about building relationships.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, being a business owner, you want to, you don't have to necessarily be the friendliest person or the most talkative person, but you just have to know how to build that relationship, how to build that rapport with somebody.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, like if you had a had a friend that had a water leak, you can say, hey, call Chris with Pro Premier Restoration, he's gonna get you taken care of.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: I trust him, you know, with my life, you know.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's really about building those relationships, and that's how you expand.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, you're gonna get some jobs from Google, you're gonna get some jobs from Facebook and things like that, but really it's the it's the word of mouth and the trust that people have in in their friends' uh recommendations and and family's recommendations.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, and I appreciate that.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now you really you're really giving a big shout out to B and I, and you know, everybody should probably, any business owner who's listening should probably look into it.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: You you recommend it that much, correct?
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: Any business owner listener?
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: I I would say anybody that, especially anybody that's starting a business um and doesn't know where to start, um, I would I would highly suggest B and I.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: It is it is one of the more expensive networking groups.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: There's all kinds of networking groups out there.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, B and I, one thing that that they do is they do lifelong learning.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: You can watch some podcasts and learn more about business from Dr.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: Ivan Meisner, who started B and I.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: And he teaches you a wealth of of information about how to build your business, how to how to learn how to build the build the uh the relationships that you're trying to make to make your business successful.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: Hey you said it's on an expensive side, so I'm sure they got some some kind of plans.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't I didn't realize it was paid, I thought it was some kind of uh freer network, but it is paid.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a it's a paid networking thing, and it's it's one fee a year.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you may have like a monthly due, you know, like if y'all meet somewhere, like we meet at the Chamber of Commerce, so the Chamber of Commerce rents their conference room to us for X number of dollars.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: I have no idea what it is, but it works out to, you know, um to you know, for us$20 a month um on top of the the amount that that it costs for the year.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: But they offer so many different programs too, as far as like you can you can do multiple pay and you can also um you can uh I just lost my train of thought, sorry.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know you can you can just do so much with it and you can go to other B and I groups and and they only allow one trade one person per trade basically.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: And you can subdivide those if you like if you want to specialize, like for me and my group, if a environmental company wanted to come in and handle all asbestos abatements and mold jobs, then then I would slide over and and just focus on on water damage.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that would be the what I would be looking for.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you really teach people about your business and and it's kind of like your sales team almost.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um except you don't, you know, you don't have to pay somebody$70,000 a year.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you can pay essentially$100 a month, and you've got 10, 15, 30, depending on the size group, you've got all those different people that are part of your sales team that are listening out to help you and help your business grow.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Chris, I know insurance work can create big gaps between you know doing the work and actually getting paid.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do you manage documentation receivables and cash flows so growth does not starve the business while you're waiting for those payments?
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, I use QuickBooks to to use all my invoice tracking and my cash flow tracking and stuff like that.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's really helped because it sends it automatically sends a reminder if you set something up on let's just say a net 30 pay, which means they have 30 days from the invoice to pay it, um, it sends that it sends that reminder to them, you know, once they're passed due, it goes ahead and it'll send it um like once a month.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't, but I can also I can also automatically go into my QuickBooks and send that person a notification and say, hey, you owe this money, like get with me so we can work it out.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, so that's how I do it.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, I like I said, I'm still in the growth uh point uh or or the still growing point.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm still trying to figure out how to uh how to move money around and and set up accounts to take a certain amount a month out.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um so that way when I do get ready to hire somebody full time, you know, I have their pay for six months basically.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um I talked to an accountant one time and and he said before you hire somebody, figure out what you want to pay them hourly and have six months of that money stashed away.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so that way, you know, like you're saying, waiting on insurance payments, you know, those a lot of those take about 30 days to get a lot of times.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh sometimes there are more.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: I've got one right now that I'm having issues with, um, and I'm I'm working it out a different way, but um, I've got one that's that's almost 80 days old and they haven't paid it.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's no fault of mine, but it's it's got too many hands in the pot, basically.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so that's why that one's getting delayed a little bit.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah, I mean that's that's the thing is forecasting, figuring out how to forecast what you want to uh what your goals are per year, and then how much can you afford to pay somebody, you know, if you want to bring them on.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, how do you maintain quality and ethical decision making at let's say 2 a.m.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: for for instance, when you're not physically at the loss?
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see, because you are 24-7, correct?
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm 24-7.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if somebody calls me at 2 a.m., a lot of times I'll kind of be like, hold on one second.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: And kind of and kind of wake my brain up, and and and that way I can wrap around, okay, this is an emergency, it's actively leaking.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: We need to get out there as soon as possible.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and another thing is I don't really drink at nights because I am 24-7.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: So, and I'm not trying to put anybody else's life in danger and things like that.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, um it it kind of kind of stinks for all the party people.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, when you run a when you run a 24-hour business, I mean you you really kind of sacrifice that part of your life if that's something that you like doing um in order to to make money so that way you can coherently think it might take you an hour to kind of wake up, but yeah, when when I wake up do a phone call at 2 a.m.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_01: But um, you know, uh I usually try and apologize to the homeowner and say, hey, look, you know, I just I just got your call, you know, and if I miss the call, I I try and call them back within, you know, 30 minutes of the of the call.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: So that way I kind of have my my wits about me and and I can kind of understand what's going on.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: And and I'll try and get if it's an active leak and and something that that's really going on, then I get up, I get my truck, and I get dressed and I I get to the job as soon as I can, you know, usually within an hour.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, so that's that's kind of how I do.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh fortunately or unfortunately for me, I have most of my calls have come in before about midnight.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I haven't I haven't had anybody call me at at 2 a.m.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_01: in a long time.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: Even a couple of the other companies that I worked for.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of people they might not hear it or they might not see it, you know, in the middle of the night and they wake up and they have this flood in their house, you know.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the first thing they do, they really don't know what to do.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so they'll they'll usually get on Google and and you know, type in water damage or or flooded house or something like that and and call the first thing they see.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you know, and like I told you earlier, we have a a lot of entrepreneurs that listen to the podcast episodes with us every week.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I need you to be a little candid here.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, what would you say is kind of your biggest your biggest kind of roadblock, right?
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: What's preventing pro Premier Restoration from reaching its ultimate potential?
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um Right right now, it's just it's just I think I'm my biggest roadblock and and some of the lack of knowledge that I have.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, especially name recognition is is I can't preach name recognition more than anything.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, people gotta know that you're out there, people gotta understand what you do um and and how you can help them in order for them to call you.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I think me and just not knowing really not being a hundred percent well versed in in marketing.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's that's the that's the biggest roadblock from me going, you know, from a nothing company to a multi-million dollar company um is is to is learning that or finding the right person that that knows a little bit more about it than I do.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: That I mean that that that's what I would say my biggest roadblock is with Pro Premier Restoration.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's a three-year-old company.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so, you know, like I said, it's it's not a hundred-year-old company like SurPro or Service Master.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um but you get you get you know uh you get me.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: You get the uh you get the fact that you know I'm gonna treat you like you're my family as best I can.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it sounds like it sounds like you wouldn't mind having like maybe some uh kind of a mentor, right, to kind of help you out.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: And somebody's been there done that, right?
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: To kind of help you out with with moving and navigating along.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, i if there were if there was ever a mentor out there that you know I've I've got a couple people, but they're across the country in California, so it's diff.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_01: I've got a a old mitigation manager, and I mean I respect the heck out of him.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and he he he told me a long time ago, he said, you're going in the right direction, just stick with it.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because I called him and I said, dude, I said, I don't know what I'm gonna do.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what to do.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, here's what I'm doing currently.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_01: And he's like, you're you know, he's like, from what you're telling me, you're going in the right direction, just stick with it.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_01: And and if you have any any issues, give me a call.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I mean it's kind of hard when I'm in Georgia and he's in California, it's hard hard linking up those uh those time differences because I always have to think, what time is it in California?
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, no, that's true.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: But a lot of people, there's a lot of people in this industry that that um aren't necessarily open to a competitor or a perceived competitor calling and asking for advice.
• 41:58
  unknown: Yeah.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I I had a I had a guy I used to work with.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: I said, dude, if you ever want to go out on your own, I said, give me a call and uh and I'll try and tell you, you know, the things that I did where I messed up and my mistakes, and and so that way you don't make the same mistakes.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and hopefully you're more successful earlier on, you know, uh, because like I said, it was it was definitely difficult.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: I worked uh for the first two years, I worked a night job as well as worked my my uh business because I do have four kids.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: I I have bills.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um and one day, you know, there got to be a point where I was basically not sleeping for an entire week straight.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I finally just said, forget it.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm either gonna, I'm either gonna sink or I'm gonna swim.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I quit my night job and went full time with my business.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_01: And it was the best thing I ever I ever did, to be honest with you.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, if there was a if there was ever a mentor that that wanted to kind of see where I'm at and and kind of give me some advice on on next steps, I mean, I would be 100% open to it.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you know, kind of what does the next stage look like for the company, right?
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, obviously you told me, you know, you're gonna be looking for a tech to tech or two soon and all that good stuff.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_00: But what's the next stage of the company look like?
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say by 2030, what do you think pro premiere restoration looks like ultimately?
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm hoping, I'm hoping by 2030 I have at least four crews, four to five crews of of guys and and four to five uh additional vehicles.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_01: I I did add an additional vehicle this year, um, but that was part of the that was part of the growth.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: I had to get a vehicle before I started hiring people because I didn't want somebody to be driving my personal truck and then I not be able to go places.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, because my my plan is here soon hiring somebody full-time so that way I can go and do the estimate while they go and and do a job.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if if I've already estimated the job, I can hand them the the estimate and say, here's what you need to do.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's broken down, it's itemized room by room, and and things like that.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if it's a job where you know if it's an emergency that I haven't put my eyes on, the plan would be they would drive one truck, I would drive the other truck, and we would go out there so that.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: Way I could get them started, and if I needed to go somewhere else, I could.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that's kind of that's kind of the next phase is is finding the right person or people, and and then you know, by by 2030, I'd I'd really like to have four to five uh vehicles and and crews of of people.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now, and and this next question is kind of hypothetical, right?
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: But let's say if there were if you could wave a whack magic wand, right, and fix one meaningful thing you could change about the business in the next 90 days, right?
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: We're recording this in early October.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: That would put us right around the new year.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so if you could fix something meaningful in your business by the new year, what would it be and why?
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think it would be the the confidence to hire somebody and to where I could get out and do the marketing and and do other things like that.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um because as I've said, marketing is marketing's the the choke point really.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um but me having faith that that God's gonna provide for my business with whatever decision I make.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, just like I made the decision to quit my night job and and I've grown a lot this year um since I since I made that decision in March um to to focus on my business full time.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what I that's what I think I would wave a magic wand and have have somebody here that can run out and start working on some of these jobs that I've got lined up.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: Nice, nice.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect, perfect.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you know, and I did kind of want to ask you right real quickly about the the army and everything like that.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: You did say some you you did say about the army earlier when you first got on.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: So gotta be remiss if I didn't ask you.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, how did the army and law enforcement shape the way you make decisions under pressure as a business owner today?
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think it was a high stress situations.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the leadership training that I got from from the army and and just being in the community as a cop.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I started out in the jail in in law enforcement.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so I got to see all different types of community.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_01: So learning how to talk to different people is a big thing because you can't talk the same to each individual person, right?
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_01: You have to talk slightly different to different people depending on you know their environment that they grew up in, the way they were raised, uh things like that.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like me, you could yell and cuss at me, and I'm gonna be like, you know, uh, screw you, but I'm gonna do the job because I respect you.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, whereas if I yell and cuss at somebody else, then they might shut down.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas if if somebody were to yell and cuss at me, I'm gonna work harder.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_01: Some people might might shut down.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_01: So learning how to how to talk to people, I'm not saying that I go out and yell and cuss at people, but um being in the army, you know, and having that thought process, being in law enforcement and and you know, helping people on a daily basis, um that's really that's really what's kind of shaped me and how um outside of how I was raised, that's really shaped me and how I treat people and and how I talk to people.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it and it also helped my leadership and and knowing how to lead a team, knowing how to get people to follow and buy in to what you're doing.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_00: All right, and uh, you know, what's the best way for someone to connect with you or learn more about what you all do?
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the best way to connect is is go you can go Facebook.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's it's Pro Premier Restoration on Facebook, uh my website, uh ProPremier Restoration.com, or they can just call me.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the number is 706-498-3950.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and if they haven't, you know, if they if they're starting a business and and needing some advice, I can give them what I have.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if they want to learn more about what I do and and the problems that I solve for people, I don't mind having that conversation either.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, so that's those are the three ways they can really reach out to me.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect, perfect.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_00: All right, Chris.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for coming on and and giving us the behind-the-scenes story behind restoration, the pressure, the service, the systems, and the responsibility that comes with showing up when somebody's property is in a crisis.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_00: So um, to everyone listening, connect with Chris and Pro Primary Restoration on their socials.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_00: We'll include them in the description below.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: And Chris, um, any last words for the listening audience before we go ahead and sign off?
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I would just say if if you're scared of of doing something like this, don't don't let fear deter you from from from you know going out on your own and and and getting out from under a nine to five, clocking in and clocking out, you know, and making somebody else money.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh have the faith in yourself to to make it.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this is Cliff McCray with Action Coach Business Growth Partners.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you next week.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Chris.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, sir.