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Is Failure The Missing Requirement For Success · The Leader Mentality

0:21
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Leader Mentality Show with Rob Clemens.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: As we always do, we like to bring you a new take on every show.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: Today we've got a great opportunity because if you're a person out there, you're a young person, you could be in college right now, you might be in high school right now, you might have graduated or whatever you may be at the point of your life, and you are actually looking at a current career.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: What am I going to do in my life?
0:48
SPEAKER_00: Today, we're actually going to talk all about young entrepreneurship.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: And Rob Clemens here, your your very own host.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: I cannot be called young anymore, but at one point I was a young entrepreneur.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: But today I've got a guy who is an authentic young entrepreneur.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: I've known this guy for a while.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: He circles the HBA Home Builders Association industry.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: He's been big on workforce development, running a very successful company in town here called Surfside Window and Door.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: Jack Blymel, welcome to the show, buddy.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: Glad to be here.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: Man, well, well, you know, look, I've I've seen you around.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: We've talked a lot.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're in similar industries being in construction.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: Of course.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: And I I'm so impressed with everything you do, man.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you you really are uh what I would like to think of as a leader in your industry.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think you you have a voice of youth, which is very important for this industry in particular right now.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: But tell me all about it, man.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: What have you been up to lately?
1:42
SPEAKER_02: So recently, uh, we've been kind of running around.
1:45
SPEAKER_02: We're doing a lot of work with traditional home builders.
1:48
SPEAKER_02: So I've been influencing some stuff with them because they like to do a lot of different, you know, cool doors, which is obviously what I like to do, as I've shown you many different iterations of it.
1:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:59
SPEAKER_02: And as they have discovered, there's the more complicated you make the system, the more difficult not only does it get to install, but also how much more of a pain it can be when you're going back and having to do any kind of warranty or adjustment work when it settles.
2:14
SPEAKER_02: So one of the things that I've been working on educating several of the GCs in the area about, obviously, you know, Marvin, Pella, um, and in this particular case it was Eurodoor.
2:24
SPEAKER_02: Um, but all of those are top-hung systems.
2:26
SPEAKER_02: And one thing with the header, you know, as a home builder, is you're always going to deal with some amount of deflection no matter what.
2:33
SPEAKER_02: And one of the things about one of the systems that I use, which is the panoramic door system, um, that's the brand name, every all of the weight sits on the bottom.
2:42
SPEAKER_02: So as long as your sill is flush, you don't need to worry about the deflection like you do.
2:47
SPEAKER_02: So you can set the door and you can forget about it.
2:49
SPEAKER_02: Versus with some of the other applications, you're going back and adjusting the lag screws six, eight, ten, twelve, twenty-four months later, just because that's something you're naturally gonna see with that system.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let's make this real for the homeowners because we're talking some builder talk right now, and then you know, you start telling homeowners that are like lag bolts and this and that.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: Tell me what's great.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'll make it really simple.
3:11
SPEAKER_01: So your your door looks like this over time, it'll start to do that, right, right, right, and then your things aren't gonna slide smooth.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: For those listening on the audio version, he's showing the sagging motion.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: Tell me what's good about those doors, though, because right now in the industry, there's a lot of interest, and you being with a company that does window doors, glass, all that kind of stuff.
3:31
SPEAKER_00: There's a there's a move towards people being interested in what we would call maybe the accordion style doors that kind of fold into each other.
3:38
SPEAKER_02: I would say that that the real goal and the real push behind that's indoor-outdoor living as a term, and being able to open up that entire wall, whether it's the accordion, the bifold, whatever you want to call it, and they're all different kinds.
3:53
SPEAKER_02: Having those large openings requires something to carry the load of whatever's above it to the ground, and that's where the different door systems kind of come into play depending on what you're looking for as the opening.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I like that.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: You know, we have so many people come into the area.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, and and man, we're gonna have to make sure we don't geek out too much on construction talk because we can do this.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: We're both in this similar industry.
4:16
SPEAKER_00: Oh, of course.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: But you know, you you talk about people who move down from the northeast, and and I always have had this impression if you're one of our listeners from the northeastern area, you when you come down to Myrtle Beach, why did you come here?
4:29
SPEAKER_00: You came here for the weather, for the sunshine, for all that, right?
4:32
SPEAKER_00: And the beach.
4:33
SPEAKER_02: I came here for a raise.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: Hey, that's the first time ever heard you came to Myrtle Beach for a raise.
4:39
SPEAKER_02: Paying me more.
4:40
SPEAKER_02: Hey, can't argue with that.
4:42
SPEAKER_02: There was a problem to fix, they were paying me to come fix it, so I said, okay, I'll come fix it.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: Man, I think now we're talking about the young entrepreneurship.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna circle around on that.
4:50
SPEAKER_00: But you know, these people come to the area, Jack, and they're and and they move down here thinking, I want to be outdoors all the time.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: And what are the big most common things you're hearing people enclosing their porches for, things like that?
5:02
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the main thing that everybody encloses it for is the pollen.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: The pollen, right.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: It's always the pollen.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: Compared to up north where you were down here, is the pollen a lot worse?
5:11
SPEAKER_00: Significantly.
5:12
SPEAKER_02: I mean, like you, I have a fleet of white trucks, and from about uh you know, sometime around March till about sometime around May, they're pretty much yellow trucks.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and there and there's nothing like it.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: Always tell people when you move down to Myrtle Beach and you haven't gone through a pollen season.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's horrible.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm like just the green snow.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you guys, you think you know, but until these southern yellow pines start dropping it on you, you just don't know.
5:36
SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's it's egregious, especially with um that 94 F-150 I used to drive around, it had kind of that matte paint on it.
5:44
SPEAKER_02: All of the pollen would just kind of stick into everything because it was so old, the clear coat was gone.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: It was a mess.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: It's it's wild out there.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: I do like what you said, you know, people have this vision, and we and you hear this a lot in this industry, they'll say, I want to open up my back door, and I just want to be like I can walk straight out to the backyard, and the accordion system gives you ability to open up more of that.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: I I guess maybe uh do you do these doors that have the they'll stack in front of each other so they're just one panel?
6:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, basically.
6:13
SPEAKER_02: And and those those pocket doors, any anything of that variety, they all work very, very well as long as you apply them properly.
6:20
SPEAKER_02: The biggest caveat I see with a lot of them is honestly the screen systems.
6:24
SPEAKER_02: Doors work really, really well.
6:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but a lot of the screen systems they don't seem like they're coming with that 20, 30, 40, in some cases,$70,000 door.
6:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're right, you're right.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: No, that's a flaw in the system, and I do.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: I think that's a big complaint area.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: Jack, let's talk a little bit about you know what what all you're doing on a day-to-day.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, I know that you're a student of the game, and the reason I know those folks is because I'll meet them at a home show or I'll meet them at a you know at one of our meetings, and he'll come over and show me stuff.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: You're really deep diving into this.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh what inspired you to do this, to get into windows and doors specifically?
7:01
SPEAKER_02: Uh well, I was bored, and um it's it's uh it's a pretty interesting story.
7:08
SPEAKER_02: So um short version is is I was being a bit of a degenerate over in college.
7:14
SPEAKER_02: I went to Rochester Institute of Technology up in New York, and when you are in school, um there is a ton of things to do typically there.
7:24
SPEAKER_02: Uh, you've got hockey games, you've got activities on campus, but I'm 25 and I went to school during the 2019, 2020, 2021 era.
7:33
SPEAKER_02: So, as you can imagine, in New York, there was not a whole lot going on at that point.
7:38
SPEAKER_02: So, because of a lack of things to do, I pretty much had all of my homework done for the entire year.
7:45
SPEAKER_02: Um, had most of the group projects at least started for the portions I knew I was gonna be, because you know, year three, you've worked with these same people multiple times.
7:53
SPEAKER_02: You kind of know what you're each person's gonna end up doing because you've worked as a team so many times.
7:59
SPEAKER_02: And we were kind of all just bored, but you know, you can't really congregate on campus, don't want to get the kung flu, all of that.
8:07
SPEAKER_02: So I just applied to three different jobs, and the first place that called me back was the window company, and that happened to be Comfort Windows indoors.
8:15
SPEAKER_02: They're based out of Syracuse, but they have a branch in Rochester, they have one in Buffalo, and they have one in Albany.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: So you so you got into this industry, and maybe it's an industry that you know, coming out of school, you're not really thinking like I'm gonna go.
8:28
SPEAKER_02: I'm still in school.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: Well, okay.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: Now, where are you going to school right now?
8:31
SPEAKER_02: Nowhere.
8:32
SPEAKER_02: I've graduated.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, gotcha.
8:34
SPEAKER_02: This is we're talking, we're talking back in like 2020.
8:36
SPEAKER_02: Oh, right.
8:37
SPEAKER_02: So we're we're going back in time to that.
8:38
SPEAKER_02: So I've been I've been doing this for six years now, six and a half.
8:43
SPEAKER_02: Um started doing it back when I was 19.
8:45
SPEAKER_02: I'm 25 now.
8:47
SPEAKER_02: And um it again, it was just the first place to call me back.
8:50
SPEAKER_02: I knew how to use the tools, knew how to read the tape measure, but I had never done windows, had never done doors, so it was new to me, but I had a pretty strong foundation of what I was doing.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: How did you feel like their training was?
9:04
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're just getting in this industry.
9:06
SPEAKER_02: Um so overall, pretty good.
9:11
SPEAKER_02: They had a dedicated training truck that if you basically got through the first month or so, um, you were pretty much fine.
9:21
SPEAKER_02: So a lot of people that would show up for a couple days and quit.
9:25
SPEAKER_02: Um, which when it's three degrees and you're outside every day, I mean you're gonna have people that just can't do that.
9:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
9:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
9:31
SPEAKER_02: So that's neither here nor there.
9:34
SPEAKER_02: I stuck it out.
9:35
SPEAKER_02: I did it.
9:35
SPEAKER_02: I worked there for two years.
9:36
SPEAKER_02: I worked for another window company for a little bit, and then I landed at 84 lumper.
9:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: Uh as you've been coming up and you've seen things that you you maybe liked and didn't like, what are you applying to your current business that you saw that you liked at other places?
9:50
SPEAKER_02: So I think I think one of the biggest things is having some kind of dedicated training.
9:58
SPEAKER_02: That can be sales training, that can be installation training, that can be product knowledge is huge, obviously.
10:05
SPEAKER_02: Um, and knowing how every single system and every single installation kind of works, you're not gonna be able to learn that overnight.
10:13
SPEAKER_02: Right.
10:13
SPEAKER_02: But you can teach someone how to read a tape measure, you can teach somebody how to use a siding brake, you can teach somebody how to read a laser level, and if you can get those basics into them, when you send a relatively inexperienced person but they know how to use the tools and they understand how the materials work to a more complicated job like the bifold doors we were talking about earlier, that person isn't going to be dead weight.
10:39
SPEAKER_02: Yes, you'll have your lead installer there that understands the entire process and how it's going to work, but you don't have somebody just standing around.
10:46
SPEAKER_02: They can get the laser level set up and set them up properly.
10:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they can start getting the sealants ready, they can start getting the insulation ready, they can set everything up and break everything down to keep you moving, even if they've only been there for a month or two.
10:59
SPEAKER_02: So they're still they're still doing something that is furthering the installation, the job, the project, etc.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: That's such a good tip, man.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: I and I really hope like young entrepreneurs, but but heck, not even young entrepreneurs, I just hope business owners are listening to that because I think sometimes we get so stuck on the front end, we're gonna try to you know put you in a room and do all this talking on a computer and showing you pictures.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: And at that point, it's almost like a little too early in the running.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes you gotta learn the basics, get out there, try it.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: I would agree.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
11:32
SPEAKER_02: I I think I think my approach to a lot of things actually comes from my time of being an operations manager at 84 Lumber.
11:39
SPEAKER_02: So 84 Lumber, they have one of the best training programs that the industry has.
11:46
SPEAKER_02: They will bring you in, they assume that you know absolutely nothing, and a lot of the people there do, but they'll bring you in for the first six weeks that you're there, they'll have you do testing and um training modules, then they have you take an actual test.
12:04
SPEAKER_02: Once you take that test, you are able to start getting your full bonuses there.
12:08
SPEAKER_02: Um they they give you half the bonus when you first start.
12:11
SPEAKER_02: And then they at the eight-week mark, they send you to a dedicated uh it's like a two and a half, three-day training at their corporate office where they basically reiterate everything again.
12:24
SPEAKER_02: And anything that maybe wasn't covered in the training modules, they it's basically a deeper dive into the same tech.
12:32
SPEAKER_02: You go through all of that, and then about your six-month mark of working there, they have you do sales camp.
12:37
SPEAKER_02: That's where you start learning how to leverage, it's where you start seeing some of the deeper aspects of both business, sales, that kind of stuff.
12:45
SPEAKER_02: Training, obviously, it's very, very important.
12:47
SPEAKER_02: Repetition gets you where you want to go.
12:51
SPEAKER_02: Um, I know we briefly talked about how I train my guys, but where I get a lot of that theory from was my time at Comfort Windows, where they kind of drill some more basic stuff into you.
13:03
SPEAKER_02: Then they start sending you out on bigger jobs, and then one place that I think does training really, really well is 84 Lumber.
13:10
SPEAKER_02: Um, they do a phenomenal job.
13:12
SPEAKER_02: So you'll come in the first few weeks that you're there, you'll go through all these different training modules, and they really do a good job of taking people, young people, especially.
13:23
SPEAKER_02: That's their target people.
13:24
SPEAKER_02: They want people that are going to stay there for their entire career, and a lot of people do.
13:28
SPEAKER_02: The manager right here in town, Steve Wiseman, he started there when he was 19.
13:32
SPEAKER_02: He's getting close to retirement at this point, and he's been he's been with 84 for, I think at this point, when I was working for him, it was I think 33 years, so it's got to be like 35 or 36 at this point.
13:44
SPEAKER_00: And you just don't hear this on hardly any industries anymore.
13:48
SPEAKER_02: And even even though, even though I've left 84, I mean I would go back and work there in a heartbeat because it is a good company and they do such a phenomenal job with the training.
13:56
SPEAKER_02: They send you to Lumber Camp, which is basically, again, a reiteration of everything that you just spent the last few weeks looking at, doing, reading the PowerPoint slides, all of that kind of stuff.
14:08
SPEAKER_02: And then they have uh additional trainings that I went to Sales Camp where you learn about leveraging.
14:14
SPEAKER_02: Um, you see some of the back end stuff.
14:17
SPEAKER_02: So obviously 84 and most large corporations, especially on the building supply, they have purchasers that are dedicated to purchasing one kind of raw good, whether it be Windows or uh OSB, um two by four, whatever lumber material.
14:34
SPEAKER_02: And when you start uh seeing kind of the back end of the operation and how that transitions to your job at the sales counter, as a sales guy, as an operations manager in my case, um, you start to see how everything starts to go together.
14:51
SPEAKER_02: And a lot of it is built from the very beginning, there, where they give you the building blocks to build on, and that's I've kind of tried to emulate a mixture between what 84 Lumber does and what Comfort Windows do.
15:05
SPEAKER_02: Um we are, because of our size, there are only five of us.
15:10
SPEAKER_02: It's a lot, there's a lot more hats to wear for every single person.
15:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
15:15
SPEAKER_02: Um and the way that we kind of try to work on that is when we do a job that is different or more complicated, either myself or the other owner, Sebastian, we one of us will be there a hundred percent of the time if it's something that isn't just a normal rip and replace window job.
15:34
SPEAKER_02: And we'll take the time to make sure that the guys, hey, you know, this is this situation, this is um how we deal with this.
15:44
SPEAKER_02: So last year we did a panoramic door, two-panel door for um uh a guy over in Cipriana Park in Myrtle Beach.
15:52
SPEAKER_02: And as part of that, Sebastian and I had done several panoramic door installations at this point.
15:57
SPEAKER_02: Nathan had not done one.
15:59
SPEAKER_02: So while we were doing it, it took, granted, about twice as long as it needed to.
16:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
16:06
SPEAKER_02: But it was so that way because we don't do them, you know, every single day, day in, day out.
16:12
SPEAKER_02: We do maybe one every two, three months.
16:15
SPEAKER_02: Um, it was it was a lot easier to slow down and take the time, both because the homeowner had an enclosed sunroom.
16:22
SPEAKER_02: So if you know, if we didn't finish everything that day, it really wasn't the end of the world.
16:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
16:27
SPEAKER_02: But also to make sure that the job was done properly, and because he probably wasn't going to see another one for three to four months, two months at best case scenario, that he would at least have enough of a baseline understanding that he wouldn't just be kind of standing there watching.
16:42
SPEAKER_02: He'd, okay, we need this part next.
16:44
SPEAKER_02: Okay, get the laser, get the self-leveler, get this kind of stuff.
16:48
SPEAKER_02: And when we went uh about two months after that, and we did a Marvin installation for Quest Custom Homes, when we went to go do that, he was significantly more helpful on the second one than he was on the first one.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: Well, I agree with that.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: And one thing I'll I'll say about that is so you said that it took longer to install it.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: Was part of that reason because you are training him that it's taking longer for it.
17:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was it was absolutely like it it's not if I wanted to just rip through it and do it myself, yeah, and just have him hold the panels, we'd have been done in half a day.
17:20
SPEAKER_02: Like half the you know, I I wanted to make sure that I was actively training him, and that's why, and I know we're gonna kind of dive into this a little bit later, but with um with uh I feel like a lot of the reason young people don't stay in the trades.
17:39
SPEAKER_02: Not don't enter, but don't stay, is they don't get the training that they need in order to kind of attain the skills to get paid enough to want to stay.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: That's a great take, man.
17:53
SPEAKER_00: And and I and I agree with you.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: I've never heard it really said like that, but I think you're right.
17:58
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you to get the real money, you have to have the skill.
18:01
SPEAKER_00: To get the skill, you have to be in it long enough, and you have to have somebody that actually is gonna spend the time training you.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: And if I could, and I know like you said, we'll dive back in.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: I think one of the big challenges for us as business owners, um, but really anything you do in life, if you're leading other people, is that we know it's quicker for us to do it ourselves.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: We know it's quicker for us just to bang it out and cheaper.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: And you know, so so hey, let like let me make a proposition to you if you're listening at home.
18:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have you do something that's gonna take you more time and cost you more money to do it.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: Are you interested?
18:38
SPEAKER_00: And most people say no, but I say, but listen, this is an investment for your future.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: If you could invest this time and it will save you time later, would you do it?
18:46
SPEAKER_00: Now that changes the game.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: For us business owners, sometimes we get stuck in the weeds of that.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: I've been guilty of that, where I'm like, hey, I can just do it myself quicker.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: But that's the way we really build empires, right?
18:57
SPEAKER_02: I would agree because you have to have the systems, and systems take time.
19:00
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
19:01
SPEAKER_02: There is no end-all be-all quick thing that kind of fixes everything.
19:06
SPEAKER_02: You have to take the time and dedicate it to actually get the results that you want.
19:10
SPEAKER_02: But you also, on the converse side of that, have to be just as willing to cut the wrong people before other things become an issue, and that's not always the easiest thing either.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: Man, I'll tell you what, that and that's almost a whole show in itself.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: It's like the way to handle employee management because sometimes you do.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: You realize somebody is just not cut out for this.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: But that's an interesting place for me to go next.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: Because you said the thing about the training and the way that um 84 Lumber or whomever has a great training program.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: Come for windows.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: Or come for windows, they're exposing you to a lot of different things.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: Now there's two parts of that, right?
19:46
SPEAKER_00: One part is if I understand all the aspects of a business, it can make me more competent at my job.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: If I'm a if I'm gonna get into sales, it makes me more competent if I know what production does.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: And if I'm gonna be in production, it makes me more competent that know what sales do.
20:00
SPEAKER_02: And that's one of the things that I think, and I'm gonna kind of toot my own horn here, I think that's one thing that we as Surfside Window and Door do a lot better than some of our local and national competition where a lot of the salespeople have not been installers.
20:17
SPEAKER_02: They don't they don't understand how the job works, so they'll sit there and they'll make a promise that doesn't actually, you know, one, it's not possible, two, it doesn't work like that, things like that.
20:29
SPEAKER_02: So anytime, and we've we don't currently have a salesperson right now, I'm the only one.
20:34
SPEAKER_02: So this is not a current thing, but in the past, when I've had salespeople, I will send them with the crew so that way they can do at least one or two installs and see a couple different jobs so that way they understand hey, you know, when we are looking at this application, this is the product or the service that we want to sell in this particular area, so that way they're not selling the wrong thing and then you get an angry homeowner two, three months later.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: Well, and the homeowners usually think it's just because the sales guy is some bad guy, and he's trying to like trick me.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they are goes back to training, yes.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: Well, exactly.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: It's not that they're really a bad guy, although some of them may be, but it's just that they actually don't know, and I agree completely, it's a problem in this industry because most people, and and if you've been guilty of this as home, I think most businesses could say this you spend so much time talking about how to sell, you never thought about telling them how it actually works, and that's authentic.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you this question.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: I've I yeah, I could go a lot of directions with you on this, but when you talk about sales versus production, you, a business owner, I know personally that you sell and you do a good job with it.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: I've had people tell me that.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: I never told you that before, but I've met people who said that Jack guy, he was a great salesman.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: Now, uh you personally, what do you enjoy more as a business owner?
21:55
SPEAKER_00: The production side or the sales side?
21:58
SPEAKER_00: So
22:00
SPEAKER_02: I kind of uniquely walk the line between the two, and I kind of sit somewhere between sales and operations, and I'm not really one way or the other because of scale.
22:15
SPEAKER_02: And because of that, that lets us take on some of those more complicated jobs that other companies can't really do.
22:22
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there you go.
22:22
SPEAKER_02: Um, the con of that is that means I have to answer the phone in this way.
22:27
SPEAKER_02: So um that that part does kind of suck.
22:30
SPEAKER_02: But I I do very much enjoy doing the sales side of things, but I don't really approach it as okay, I'm trying to make this sale.
22:37
SPEAKER_02: I approach it more as okay, what do you want me to do?
22:43
SPEAKER_02: And the biggest thing that I really push is obviously our slogan is the reframe your reality.
22:49
SPEAKER_02: The reframe jobs where we go in, we rip the drywall off, we reframe that entire wall, and then we put in a transom, a big sliding glass door, a panoramic door, etc.
23:00
SPEAKER_02: Anything like that, those require a lot more time.
23:04
SPEAKER_02: They require engineering, they require multiple inspections from depending on where you're working with the county.
23:10
SPEAKER_02: You got to do an insulation, framing, nailing, everything all included in that.
23:15
SPEAKER_02: Um, and you have to know how to coordinate all those.
23:19
SPEAKER_02: They're not easy to do, but I have it down to a system where I can get in and out of your house in less than two weeks and make a massive structural modification, and everything will go relatively smoothly.
23:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
23:35
SPEAKER_02: It's not gonna be perfect.
23:36
SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna promise it's gonna be perfect because it's construction, shit happens.
23:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
23:42
SPEAKER_02: But I can get it to go smoothly enough that if there was a problem, you'll probably never know.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: One thing I do like about the sunroom industry, the glass industry, that things are doing, is you can really change a home so much quicker than any other remodel.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: You know, a lot of the remodels we have to do.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you're doing a bathroom, you might be in there for a month between all the plumbing changes and everything.
24:03
SPEAKER_02: But you can drive one I do dry.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, and then you know, all the extra inspections.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: But when you're doing the sunroom, you can really change a person's house in uh a matter of you know a week, and all of a sudden the home is being used differently, depending on the complexity of the job, of course.
24:17
SPEAKER_02: But you know, well, and I mean a great one that I love to bring up.
24:20
SPEAKER_02: I'm sure you've seen my commercial, considering I paid a lot of money to have it blasted everywhere.
24:25
SPEAKER_02: Um, but the the woman that's in that, Kathy Shea, um, when we went into her house where uh they have a pool and a sunroom on their house, and they also had this very odd dark corner uh in their kitchen.
24:38
SPEAKER_02: So what we did was we added a six-foot by two foot transom window so that way they actually had a lot of natural light coming into where their dining table was.
24:45
SPEAKER_02: We ripped out a door and a single window so that way they had a large eight foot by eight-foot sliding glass door going out to their patio, and then we did the same door where they previously had a window, so that way they could easily access their pool.
24:59
SPEAKER_02: And going walking into their house from the original way that Poulty built it to the way that we reframed it, you could easily access the pool, easily access the sunroom.
25:09
SPEAKER_02: You have a massive amount of natural light that you previously didn't have in those rooms.
25:15
SPEAKER_02: It completely changed both the look inside and outside, and it also allowed them to more freely use their space that they had invested a lot of money in because previously they had to walk out into the sunroom, then they had to walk out another door to get to the pool.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: Now they can just go right out to the pool.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: The flow is so much more important than people realize.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: I totally really cool stuff.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I you know, I want to talk about a pro tip there.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: Uh, a lot of times when I'm doing these shows, I feel like that I want to talk to the people who are in industry.
25:47
SPEAKER_00: And look, I believe if you're in a company, every position at a company should be in sales.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: I don't care if you're the accountant, I don't care if you're the the the bus boy at a restaurant, you need to know how to do sales.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of how I got in my career.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: Where money comes in.
26:02
SPEAKER_02: Well, uh well and that's where everybody's job comes from.
26:04
SPEAKER_02: And a lot of people don't like to talk about it, but it's kind of where everything comes through.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: And every person, if you can talk like that, you're gonna make everybody's job easier.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: But the thing you said to me is is, you know, you're going through your sales process, and my pro tip for salespeople would be exactly what you just said.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: You talked about the fact that when you go to a job, you talk about what their needs are.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: You're not trying to trick them into buying a sunroom or any other project.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: You're in there literally saying, What is your need?
26:37
SPEAKER_00: What is it that you are trying to do?
26:39
SPEAKER_00: And they'll tell you.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they'll say, Hey, look, I don't have enough room, I don't have enough light, I don't have enough airflow, my dog and my cat need a room.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: And all you're doing is solving that problem, and you're doing it through your expertise.
26:51
SPEAKER_02: Well, and I I think one thing, and this could be more of a pro tip for any homeowners or people that are looking to have a project, and I know you run into this.
26:59
SPEAKER_02: One thing that I'll ask a lot of people, and it throws them off guard, understandably so, because everybody has a bad contractor story, is do you have a budget range for this?
27:09
SPEAKER_02: Because I'm not going to change my price and I'm not going to run at the top of your budget, I'm not going to run at the bottom of your budget.
27:15
SPEAKER_02: What do you have planned and what is your vision?
27:20
SPEAKER_02: And I'll ask this before I even go and meet with them.
27:23
SPEAKER_02: Um, if somebody calls me and they say, Hey, we want a new front door and uh our budget's two grand, I'm gonna tell them, okay, I can get you a very basic prime door for that.
27:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
27:32
SPEAKER_02: Somebody calls me and tells me, Hey, I want to do um, I want to replace my sliding glass door, we have budgeted between four and six grand for this.
27:39
SPEAKER_02: Okay, cool, I can get you a Viwinko S series, it'll be about five grand installed, permit labor trim, everything.
27:44
SPEAKER_02: You just gotta find somebody to paint the interior trim when we're done.
27:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
27:48
SPEAKER_02: Having uh a budget range, and I don't recommend uh like budgets, but if you can have, I recommend coming up with a range of depending on the scale of your project, have like a 30% range that you want to stick in.
28:00
SPEAKER_02: So if you wanna, if you have a job that you think should cost about five grand, plan to be somewhere between, you know, hey, our range is gonna be about 4,000 to about 6,500, somewhere in there.
28:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, having something like that pre-set up makes it far easier for me to bid it for you because I can match a product that will fit within your budget for what your needs are and what you're trying to accomplish.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: Man, and you know what?
28:29
SPEAKER_00: It's so we're all so scared to ask about that budget, but that's such a powerful thing.
28:35
SPEAKER_00: I don't care.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: Just ask.
28:36
SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to, I'm trying to not waste your time and not waste mine.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: Well, I I think what I'm saying is is that you're having success doing that, and that's what I would tell you.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people when they first get out, they're almost bashful about talking about the number.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: But if you know where somebody wants to be, even if it's in a range, it'll tell you a lot about which direction you need to guide.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you and I both know if you get into the remodel industry, I mean, you can bid a$300,000 project, somebody has a$50,000 budget for, and I'm doing neither of us any good.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: So you got to ask the question.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: I I'll tell you a funny one, man.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: When I uh when I do my sales training, uh, and and I usually we have something that I would consider like an inside sales role where you're answering phone calls and yeah, let me tell you about our product.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: And we have an outside sales.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: I always used to tell my salespeople, this is a question I like to ask, but it has to be asked right, okay?
29:24
SPEAKER_00: And the question is, has any now I'm gonna give you the basic question said with the wrong inflection.
29:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna say the question is, has anybody else bid this for you?
29:33
SPEAKER_00: Has anybody else priced this for you?
29:35
SPEAKER_00: What other options have you considered?
29:37
SPEAKER_00: Now it's a simple thing.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: You know, you tell me you're looking at doing something, I'd say, hey, you know, I know you've been thinking about doing this for a while.
29:43
SPEAKER_00: Have you had anybody else look at this project for you?
29:46
SPEAKER_00: And the reason I'm asking that is sometimes people say, No, you're referred by my neighbor, you're the only guy.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: Or they they might say, Yeah, I've had 10 other people.
29:52
SPEAKER_00: My next question is usually, okay, you you had 10 people.
29:56
SPEAKER_00: Tell me things that you liked or you didn't like, because of course I'm banking all this.
29:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna use this in my presentation.
30:02
SPEAKER_00: But here's the funny thing when I'm trying to do sales training with people, if you get the wrong person with the wrong inflection, they'll say, How many other bits have you had so far?
30:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, it doesn't sound right.
30:12
SPEAKER_00: So it's the way we word it as much as the what we're asking.
30:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I completely agree.
30:19
SPEAKER_02: The inflection completely matters.
30:21
SPEAKER_02: If you have so I obviously I have a very casual conversational tone pretty much all of the time, and you can attest to this.
30:28
SPEAKER_02: You've met with me and talked with me many, many times.
30:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and that's just kind of how I am.
30:33
SPEAKER_02: It's very that coupled with my age really makes it easy for people to talk to me.
30:40
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
30:40
SPEAKER_02: And a lot of them, you know, just naturally don't think I'm gonna screw him over because I don't look like the grizzled 40-year-old chain smoker that's been doing this for his entire life.
30:49
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, you know, conversely, professional life, yes, I have been doing this my entire life.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you this, Jack.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: Uh, how much does it help you versus and and we we're gonna circle around.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna start what we you know, we're gonna finish where we started, which is we talked about young entrepreneurs.
31:05
SPEAKER_00: Being young, uh tell me how much that's helped you versus sometimes how it might hurt you in this business.
31:12
SPEAKER_00: So a good example would be earlier today.
31:15
SPEAKER_02: Um, get a phone call and I show up, uh I'll talk to somebody for about five, ten minutes, try to kind of figure out if they're going to be a lead that is going to be a good match before I even go out.
31:30
SPEAKER_02: Because whether I'm driving my Civic that gets 40 miles to the gallon, which is my preferred sales vehicle, right?
31:37
SPEAKER_02: Um, or my F-350, which gets about 10.
31:41
SPEAKER_02: So my non-preferred sales vehicle.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: And for those who make sure the time is worthwhile to go out there, I want to put some magnitude to this because some people listen to this way months after we've recorded.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: Right now, gas is about$360 a gallon, and diesel's about what, five bucks a gallon.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it makes a difference.
31:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it it's significant difference.
32:01
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it it's about$125 to fill up the truck.
32:05
SPEAKER_02: Cost me about$50 to fill the Civic.
32:07
SPEAKER_02: Conversely, when I bought both of them, it was like$70 and like$35.
32:11
SPEAKER_02: There you go.
32:12
SPEAKER_02: So even with that, yeah, it it's it makes a big difference.
32:17
SPEAKER_02: But either way, I want to make sure that I'm not wasting your time and you're not wasting mine because I'll give you, hey, you know, these are other projects we've done, they were in roughly this price range.
32:26
SPEAKER_02: Does that sound something that you want to do?
32:29
SPEAKER_02: Um, I use MI, Pella, and Vi Winco.
32:33
SPEAKER_02: Primarily use Vi Winco, you know, standard good, better, best pricing.
32:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
32:36
SPEAKER_02: Um, but MI, I'll I'll talk to people if you you know, call me.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: Oh, uh hi Jack.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm interested in getting uh sunroom in my back of my house.
32:45
SPEAKER_02: Okay, sure.
32:46
SPEAKER_02: Um, do you know, do you have any preference on brand that you're looking at doing?
32:50
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm really just uh mainly focused on, you know, I want to let in plenty of sunlight.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: I you know, I feel like right now I can't use my screen porch.
32:58
SPEAKER_02: All right, sure.
32:58
SPEAKER_02: Roughly um, how many how many open spaces do you have?
33:02
SPEAKER_02: So if you're looking at your sunroom, uh, how many posts and how many holes do you have?
33:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna talk like a consumer when I answer this, by the way.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Uh like so we have two, uh we have like two big posts uh out on the on the front side, and then there's like two smaller ones on the sides.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh I I don't know, but there are like two big ones uh on the front and then it's open, and then two smaller ones on the sides.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
33:26
SPEAKER_02: And do you have anything in your backyard, like a pool or uh an outdoor kitchen, something like that?
33:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, not really, but we are overlooking a lake.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: We're in a community.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: We have a big lake we're looking out on.
33:37
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
33:38
SPEAKER_02: And um, are you looking to do do you want like floor-to-ceiling glass?
33:42
SPEAKER_02: Would you prefer a knee wall?
33:44
SPEAKER_02: And would you prefer um an entry door or a sliding door as your main point in and out?
33:50
SPEAKER_02: Alright, so what you were saying something about a knee wall.
33:52
SPEAKER_02: What what's that?
33:53
SPEAKER_02: So the knee wall, it does a couple things.
33:55
SPEAKER_02: Uh, do you have pets or grandkids?
33:57
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, we got we got pets.
33:59
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so if we're going to have glass down within 18 inches of the floor, this is code talk, but I didn't normally say this.
34:05
SPEAKER_02: Right.
34:06
SPEAKER_02: Uh if if you got glass within 18 inches of the floor, we have to temper it for safety.
34:10
SPEAKER_02: Um, if you have grandchildren or pets, I typically recommend not doing that.
34:14
SPEAKER_02: And you can you can just do a knee-wall, it's gonna be safer for everybody involved, and it means that you don't have to call me in a few months to go cut a piece of glass out and change it out for you.
34:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
34:25
SPEAKER_02: Um, does that sound like something you'd like to look at?
34:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I like that idea.
34:29
SPEAKER_02: All right, cool.
34:30
SPEAKER_02: Um, and then benefits of an entry door, benefits of a sliding glass door.
34:35
SPEAKER_02: Sliding glass doors, especially on the outside of your house, um, they're gonna be more robust if you have any kind of wind or water.
34:42
SPEAKER_02: Um, you said you're facing the back of a lake or a pond.
34:44
SPEAKER_02: I would recommend doing a sliding glass door over an entry door.
34:48
SPEAKER_02: If you really want to do like a French door look, do it, do it as an outswing door so that way when you're getting that wind load on it, it's sealing up tighter.
34:56
SPEAKER_02: And then as far as the windows are concerned, are you looking for a sliding window or a hung window?
35:02
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, I think if you're talking about sliders, they go left or right, is that what you're saying?
35:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and a hung window are like what you have on the rest of your house where they go up and down.
35:09
SPEAKER_02: Why would I go one or the other?
35:11
SPEAKER_02: Do you think?
35:11
SPEAKER_02: It kind of depends on what you want to do.
35:14
SPEAKER_02: So if you want to have kind of the same look, if you're doing sliding glass doors, a lot of people like everything to match.
35:21
SPEAKER_02: A lot of people will do sliders.
35:23
SPEAKER_02: If you want um to do multiple windows all mold together so that way it's one big unit, I usually recommend doing hung windows because you can get those as larger mold units and you lose less glass to the framing.
35:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay, gotcha, gotcha.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: Now, by the way, and we'll kind of like we could go over a level, but but but no, what you did there, and and like I'm gonna break it down and we're gonna throw the sunrooms out of it, we're gonna throw everything out of it.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: You asked me what I was interested in.
35:50
SPEAKER_00: You you said, What's your agenda here?
35:52
SPEAKER_00: That was the first important part of this.
35:54
SPEAKER_00: You didn't just jump right in and start throwing me a bunch of stuff.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: You said, How are you actually living?
35:58
SPEAKER_00: Second thing you did is you were explaining the product, and and I'm gonna I'm gonna really focus on this for just a minute.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: You obviously sell from a position of expertise and competence, and I say that because every salesperson kind of has a hot spot of where they're the best at.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: Right, but that thing you've done, man, um you're not gonna learn to do that in two weeks of training.
36:24
SPEAKER_02: In this world, that takes time, that takes product.
36:27
SPEAKER_00: It takes time.
36:27
SPEAKER_00: How long did it take you to get to this point where you're like that good?
36:31
SPEAKER_00: Three, four years.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
36:33
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't happen overnight.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: So when you're a salesperson, you think you're going to two weeks of training and you're gonna come out and you know everything in the world.
36:39
SPEAKER_02: It takes time, and especially like with what you do in your business, where you're not just focusing in on like we do our our product, our service list is we'll do windows and doors, obviously, that's in the name.
36:50
SPEAKER_02: Um, we do sunrooms, siding, rough opening alterations, and then we do some glazing services, not a lot, but some.
37:01
SPEAKER_02: And I'm trying to kind of get away from doing the glazing just because it is a massive headache, as we know from our uh our mutual project together, which some of them are just hey, it doesn't matter what you do, there's gonna be challenges.
37:15
SPEAKER_00: But oh yeah, yeah.
37:16
SPEAKER_02: So, but anyway, so more to the point that we were kind of going at at the beginning of that.
37:21
SPEAKER_02: Um, after that conversation, I'll show up at the job and I'll get there, and they're like, There's no way you're the same person I talked to on the phone.
37:29
SPEAKER_02: I promise you I am because both phones go to me.
37:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
37:35
SPEAKER_02: I'm the only person.
37:36
SPEAKER_00: It was definitely me, right?
37:38
SPEAKER_00: Well, and and I think that's kind of how we got started.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: We said, How does being young help you or maybe hurt you in some cases?
37:44
SPEAKER_00: The youth helps because you you are, man.
37:47
SPEAKER_00: You're fresh, you look, you look competent, you look sharp.
37:49
SPEAKER_02: Well, and I mean I look like I work for an actual company.
37:53
SPEAKER_02: I have a shirt, I have a hat, I got I I don't drive a lettered truck anymore.
38:00
SPEAKER_02: Sorry, I'm getting a little far away, so sorry.
38:02
SPEAKER_02: I don't typically drive a lettered truck just because um I like having a personal vehicle and I don't want to have uh that many trucks at my property.
38:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
38:11
SPEAKER_02: So my truck is not lettered, but I'm always in some kind of a uniform, and the vehicles that my guys drive all are lettered with surf 70.
38:18
SPEAKER_02: So everything is set up professionally, and it's been like that since day one.
38:22
SPEAKER_02: So I um I started this company because I was not really happy with um just kind of not 84 lumber, but the role that I had there.
38:34
SPEAKER_02: It was just it wasn't the right fit for me.
38:38
SPEAKER_02: And what really pushed me to going and starting this is I'm not the kind of person that can live in the same kind of job or role every single day, which is why when I was doing operations management there, I really, really liked it because there was always a lot of different problems to solve.
38:53
SPEAKER_02: Same thing for sales.
38:55
SPEAKER_02: But as I kind of got the systems set up and got everything to the point where it was starting to hum along, I got bored.
39:06
SPEAKER_02: And there wasn't really anything else to do, so I started, you know, asking around and looking to see if there was something else, you know, problematic that needed to get taken care of.
39:17
SPEAKER_02: Um, and there really wasn't.
39:19
SPEAKER_02: So I just said, all right, well, I'm bored, I'm done.
39:22
SPEAKER_02: We live in the fastest growing construction market.
39:26
SPEAKER_02: If I can make it here, I'll be fine.
39:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
39:29
SPEAKER_02: And I'd previously run um a landscaping company that's actually high paid for school.
39:33
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
39:33
SPEAKER_02: Zero student debt.
39:34
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
39:35
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I did I did that for five years.
39:37
SPEAKER_02: Um it was power washing landscaping, did that for from 2015 or 2016, did that from 2016 until 2020.
39:47
SPEAKER_02: And when I did um uh when I kind of closed that down, and then I went to college for marketing, I got a better understanding of the logistics.
39:58
SPEAKER_02: Working at 84, working at Comfort, I got to see a lot more of the background of how things actually function, work, and was able to learn an environment where I wasn't paying for my mistakes, which um which as a business will no totally and and then when I was ready to make the jump to go for this, I mean I only had about five grand in my pocket.
40:19
SPEAKER_02: So it it if you're if you're scared of going and you see so many podcasts and and talk shows and and uh what's the like the TED talks type things um where people are just like, oh, what's your biggest regret that you didn't do it sooner, or other than that?
40:39
SPEAKER_02: If you think you can do it, there's no harm in trying, because I and I'm a big advocate for this, and this is kind of unpopular, you're probably gonna fail.
40:51
SPEAKER_02: Statistically, you're probably gonna fail.
40:53
SPEAKER_02: And the most important thing is if you're gonna fail, you have to learn from it.
40:58
SPEAKER_02: Because once you start to understand uh what's gonna happen and what you can do to prevent it, I think you need to have at least one failed business before you can make a successful one.
41:10
SPEAKER_02: I hear yeah, yeah.
41:11
SPEAKER_02: Because you'll be able to see the warning signs far before you ever get to that point again.
41:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
41:18
SPEAKER_02: And I have had a failed business.
41:20
SPEAKER_02: I've actually had two failed businesses.
41:22
SPEAKER_02: And I can see when things are starting to either operationally, personnel wise, start to go wrong, and I can jump in and stop those before they actually become an issue that would become a detriment.
41:36
SPEAKER_02: I don't think a lot of people talk about that.
41:38
SPEAKER_00: Well, no, I think that's a good point, and I think that it's you know, some people are just scared to fail in the first place, and they miss the point, which is if you I've I've said this at work, if you've ever worked for me, any employee out there, including my current ones, will tell you I consider uh some kind of a a temporary failure, meaning that we made a mistake, uh, it's a learning opportunity.
42:00
SPEAKER_00: Period.
42:00
SPEAKER_00: Plain and simple, it's a learning opportunity.
42:02
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you do the same thing twice, now it's just a mistake.
42:04
SPEAKER_00: And we we can't rebat rebound from making the same mistakes over and over.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: But I do like that.
42:09
SPEAKER_00: And I think this is a great place for us to kind of maybe put a bow on this show, right?
42:14
SPEAKER_00: So so you know, you talk about um that as being a big tip, you know, kind of learning from your mistakes and knowing that whatever we're doing, it's not final.
42:24
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you if you have a temporary failure, it's not like, well, that didn't work and now I'm uh ruined for life.
42:30
SPEAKER_00: You can always do better.
42:31
SPEAKER_00: But if you have one, I guess maybe final tip for a young entrepreneur, what would you tell them?
42:39
SPEAKER_02: Um, I would probably say that the two biggest things that you should do is go ahead and try, which we kind of kind of iterated.
42:51
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
42:52
SPEAKER_02: And the other thing that I would say to, and this is this is where you start to see a lot of people fail.
42:59
SPEAKER_02: Just because you think you're making all of this money, you're really not.
43:05
SPEAKER_02: And you want to hold that money in reserve so that way when things slow down, and this isn't just construction, this is every single industry, this can be software, this can be anything.
43:19
SPEAKER_02: You want to be able to hold enough money that you can still make payroll and everything else.
43:24
SPEAKER_02: You don't need to go and buy, you know, a Lariat or a platinum F-350 just because you made a hundred thousand dollars in a month.
43:32
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
43:32
SPEAKER_02: I drive a F350 STX.
43:36
SPEAKER_02: Is it newer?
43:37
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
43:38
SPEAKER_02: It's also just a base model with LED lights and a black trim package.
43:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
43:43
SPEAKER_02: Sounds nice though.
43:45
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, I could imagine that coming from a Chevy guy.
43:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a lot nicer.
43:49
SPEAKER_00: Love my Chevy, dude.
43:51
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna ride that thing till the smoke is coming out.
43:54
SPEAKER_02: No, you know those those are the two biggest things, though, that that it if you're gonna try.
44:00
SPEAKER_02: Just try and do it.
44:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
44:01
SPEAKER_02: Your worst case scenario is you fail and you have to get a job like everybody else.
44:04
SPEAKER_02: Well, guess what?
44:05
SPEAKER_02: That's what everybody else does.
44:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
44:07
SPEAKER_00: And listen, man, that this is such a beautiful tip.
44:09
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead and try and don't be afraid of the failure.
44:11
SPEAKER_00: Those go hand in hand.
44:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then just be financially prepared because things are going to happen.
44:17
SPEAKER_00: I I tell you what, cautionary tell from this industry, it happens over and over again.
44:21
SPEAKER_00: You'll see the people, they're they they think they're doing great next year when it comes time to pay those taxes, the workers' comp, whatever.
44:28
SPEAKER_00: You know, you get audited and all of a sudden you get hit and you go, Wow, we're broke now.
44:32
SPEAKER_00: And it's funny how that happens.
44:34
SPEAKER_00: It's not funny at all, but you know what I'm saying, you know.
44:36
SPEAKER_02: It you see it over and over because, and this is this is more of a take on the industry as a whole.
44:42
SPEAKER_02: You have a lot of people that are fantastic tradesmen, but running the company is almost its own separate trade and skill set, and you have a lot of people that are really, really good at what they do.
44:57
SPEAKER_02: They can do crown molding, they can do um they can build decks like nobody else, but they can't either price the work properly where they're actually going to be profitable and be able to pay the workers' comp, be able to maintain the trucks, maintain the tools, or they have a spending problem and they blow it and then those things come up.
45:18
SPEAKER_02: And a lot of people with business, I feel like you need to talk about money and know how it works.
45:25
SPEAKER_02: And I don't some people don't like this, especially other contractors, but I don't mind sharing with a homeowner, hey, yeah, I'm making this on this project.
45:35
SPEAKER_02: I don't really care if you know that because either you're gonna hire me or you're not.
45:39
SPEAKER_02: Right, exactly.
45:40
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't matter.
45:40
SPEAKER_02: This is yeah, this is the price that I'm telling you I'm going to do this project for.
45:45
SPEAKER_02: Uh, if you need a different price, we can work by either changing the material or changing the scope to get it in your budget, which is why having a budget is very, very important.
45:56
SPEAKER_00: Man, Jack, such a great tips today.
46:00
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you talked a lot about young entrepreneurship, how you got into the industry.
46:03
SPEAKER_00: I hope everybody heard and listened.
46:06
SPEAKER_00: Just for those who might be interested in surf side window and door, how can people get a hold of you?
46:11
SPEAKER_02: You can either give me a call.
46:12
SPEAKER_02: Um, you can either call the office or my cell phone.
46:15
SPEAKER_02: Um, either way, you get right to me.
46:17
SPEAKER_02: So I'll just give you my cell phone.
46:18
SPEAKER_02: It's uh 843-246-4052.
46:22
SPEAKER_02: Or if you want to text me, you can text me at my other cell phone, 484-280-3477.
46:28
SPEAKER_02: If you want to see a portfolio of our work, you can look at either our Facebook or you can go to surfsidewindowandor.com and is spelt out.
46:35
SPEAKER_00: Awesome, man.
46:35
SPEAKER_00: That's really good.
46:36
SPEAKER_00: And and I imagine if you're a young person looking at getting into the industry, you know, Jack's probably got some tips for you, just as I do.
46:42
SPEAKER_00: I mean, go to theleadermentality.com.
46:44
SPEAKER_00: I'm always glad to try to help people get a leg up.
46:47
SPEAKER_00: I want you to be further ahead today than you were yesterday, and further ahead tomorrow than you are today.
46:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, Jack, we talked about a lot of great things, man.
46:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, I I love it that you're saying don't be afraid to try something.
46:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh another beautiful point you said today is trying different things within that industry.
47:04
SPEAKER_00: Once you've chosen it, because you may find that you thought you wanted to do sales, but it turned out production was your love, or you thought you were going to do production, but it turned out that counting is your love.
47:14
SPEAKER_00: Try it all.
47:15
SPEAKER_00: Like get into it and you'll find your natural affinity.
47:18
SPEAKER_00: So, man, I had a lot of fun with you.
47:19
SPEAKER_00: We'll have to have you back on again and just thank you for being on the show.
47:22
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me.
47:23
SPEAKER_00: All right, absolutely.
47:24
SPEAKER_00: And for those of you listening, uh, we hope you got some great value from today, as always.
47:29
SPEAKER_00: I would say to you, if you heard something you like today, you know, let Jack know, reach out to the show, let us know on your social media of choice, but also go out and inspire somebody else.
47:39
SPEAKER_00: You know, take somebody under your wing.
47:41
SPEAKER_00: If you're an older guy in this industry and you forgot what it's like to be that young guy trying to make your way through, you know, reach out, help that person out.
47:49
SPEAKER_00: If you're a young person in the industry, you can be somebody that's inspiring others.
47:53
SPEAKER_00: So go out, inspire others, do your best, and uh, we'll see you all next time on the Leader Mentality Show with Rob Clements.