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Be Present in Your Purpose, How A Contractor Rebuilt, Scaled, And Gave Back with Nathan and Jen Dockery · Epic Entrepreneurs

• 0:28
  Bill Gilliland: Hi there.
• 0:29
  Bill Gilliland: Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs.
• 0:31
  Bill Gilliland: I am Bill Gillalen, your host.
• 0:34
  Bill Gilliland: I am the principal and action coach business growth partners and one of the founders of the Asheville Business Summit.
• 0:41
  Bill Gilliland: And today I am super pumped.
• 0:43
  Bill Gilliland: We have a really great story for you.
• 0:46
  Bill Gilliland: I've got Nathan and Jen from the Dockery Group, and I'm going to let them tell you what they do and how they do it and how they serve our communities.
• 0:54
  Bill Gilliland: But uh so, Nathan, Jen, y'all introduce yourselves, tell us a little bit about your your business, and uh and uh can't wait to hear the story.
• 1:04
  Nathan Dockery: Absolutely.
• 1:05
  Nathan Dockery: Thanks, Bill.
• 1:05
  Nathan Dockery: Appreciate it.
• 1:06
  Nathan Dockery: Um I'm Nathan Dockery.
• 1:07
  Nathan Dockery: I am Jen Dockery.
• 1:09
  Nathan Dockery: And uh so we uh we have Dockery Group, which we're a general contractor, which we focus in the commercial space um at this time in history.
• 1:21
  Nathan Dockery: We've done other types of construction historically, but um, and then we do real estate development.
• 1:26
  Nathan Dockery: So we develop everything from residential neighborhoods to mixed use to light industrial and commercial.
• 1:34
  Nathan Dockery: And so that's that's really what we do in our day-to-day under the Dockery Group umbrella.
• 1:41
  Bill Gilliland: That's cool.
• 1:42
  Bill Gilliland: So just as a I you know, out of out of curiosity, you know, I do you do more, is it more general contracting or more development, or is what's the split and how does it work?
• 1:51
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah.
• 1:52
  Nathan Dockery: So we do a lot of general contracting.
• 1:54
  Nathan Dockery: That's what really feeds our business and our day-to-day operations.
• 1:58
  Nathan Dockery: Uh, and I always joke that I have to do general contracting to be able to support our development habit, right?
• 2:04
  Nathan Dockery: Because real estate development, obviously very cash in intensive.
• 2:09
  Nathan Dockery: And so um, through the general contracting and also some strategic investor partners, that's how we're able to develop.
• 2:17
  Bill Gilliland: Oh, that's cool.
• 2:19
  Bill Gilliland: So the fun is the is the real estate, or you enjoy the contracting as well.
• 2:27
  Nathan Dockery: I don't know.
• 2:27
  Nathan Dockery: I I guess I'm a big vision guy.
• 2:30
  Nathan Dockery: Um, you know, so bigger is is better, which is kind of how I I ended up doing all commercial now.
• 2:37
  Nathan Dockery: Was you know, if I could wake up in the morning and only do one thing, it's it's build big projects.
• 2:43
  Nathan Dockery: Uh I love moving dirt.
• 2:45
  Nathan Dockery: We love going vertical.
• 2:46
  Nathan Dockery: And then the development, um, I guess one of my talents that that God put in me is just to be able to visualize it when it's finished.
• 2:55
  Nathan Dockery: Uh, I can look at a piece of dirt, I can tell you what we're gonna build and what it's gonna look like, and and then we get our architects and our engineers to to help us bring it to life.
• 3:05
  Nathan Dockery: So that's really, you know, and and you can ask her, like I I love development, you know, I love building things.
• 3:12
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, that's that's yeah, it's it's it's fun when you get to get up every morning and work and make money doing something you really love doing.
• 3:19
  Bill Gilliland: So yeah, that that's exciting.
• 3:21
  Bill Gilliland: Well, let me let's let's let's shift gears here a little bit.
• 3:24
  Bill Gilliland: Let me ask you some of the business questions.
• 3:26
  Bill Gilliland: So, and I think some of the story will come out over this.
• 3:29
  Bill Gilliland: So if you had to start from square one in business, what would you do differently?
• 3:34
  Nathan Dockery: I think the biggest thing is is uh is hire the right people.
• 3:39
  Nathan Dockery: You know, before when I when I built all the companies, um, you know, we just kind of hired everybody we could, and we didn't have a really formal process.
• 3:49
  Nathan Dockery: Uh we didn't vet everybody, we didn't hire by values.
• 3:53
  Nathan Dockery: And I think as we've rebuilt the company, uh we've done, and I would say we've done a really good job of it.
• 3:59
  Nathan Dockery: You know, we go through a multi-step hiring process with everybody we hire.
• 4:04
  Nathan Dockery: Um, our company values and our identity and how we treat our clients and our investors.
• 4:12
  Nathan Dockery: Um we really want everybody with our organization to share those values.
• 4:18
  Nathan Dockery: And that and it no matter if it's a doctor we're building a new office for, or an industrial client, or or a real estate client that Jim is working with, like our experience, they're their experience with anybody in our team is consistent.
• 4:34
  Nathan Dockery: And so if they're talking to one of my superintendents, you know, one of the things we get in our feedback is that they really care.
• 4:41
  Nathan Dockery: Like, and and actually we've got clients that are now investors because of their experience with our people on the job, um, where they find out maybe that we're developers and they need, they want to get into real estate, but they don't know how, and they invest in in developments or projects that we do.
• 5:00
  Nathan Dockery: Uh, they saw how we were a fiduciary to their money and their project and how we really cared about making them successful through that.
• 5:09
  Nathan Dockery: And so that really leads as one of our number one hiring criteria.
• 5:13
  Nathan Dockery: And I didn't used to do that.
• 5:15
  Nathan Dockery: So when I rebuilt the company, we were very strategic and lean in who we hired um to make sure that that we're very consistent across the values.
• 5:27
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I love that.
• 5:28
  Bill Gilliland: I love that.
• 5:29
  Bill Gilliland: So you it's probably gonna come out in this.
• 5:31
  Bill Gilliland: And the next question I usually ask is about what are your biggest learnings?
• 5:34
  Bill Gilliland: But it I want to, I gotta ask you about the rebuilding.
• 5:37
  Bill Gilliland: Like what happened to to make you have to rebuild it.
• 5:40
  Bill Gilliland: And um, what are the learnings along the way?
• 5:42
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah.
• 5:43
  Nathan Dockery: So yeah, so built a group of companies over the course of about a decade, and uh unfortunately through a series of just uh call it life, uh a divorce, a bankruptcy, kind of everything that gets rolled into that, uh completely went and and had to start over.
• 6:02
  Nathan Dockery: And so I kind of joke, I started over with me in a truck and me.
• 6:07
  Nathan Dockery: Yep, and Jim, and Jim was there for the rebuilding.
• 6:12
  Nathan Dockery: Yeah.
• 6:13
  Nathan Dockery: Yeah.
• 6:14
  Nathan Dockery: So and she was key in that.
• 6:17
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah.
• 6:17
  Bill Gilliland: So what so what have been some of the learnings that you've had?
• 6:20
  Bill Gilliland: I mean, you've already hit on a couple, like hire the right people and you know, focus on values, but what are some of the other learnings that you've had as an owner and employee?
• 6:30
  Nathan Dockery: Well, I think make sure that everybody in your boat is rowing and not drilling holes.
• 6:35
  Nathan Dockery: And so, you know, like with with Jen, um, when she started kind of working with me and and kind of being that um, I don't know, I guess like you kind of handle all the office and and the accounting.
• 6:49
  Nathan Dockery: And so she handles all that for our company.
• 6:52
  Nathan Dockery: And when it was just me and I was out in the field, you know, she was kind of my support team.
• 6:57
  Nathan Dockery: And then I started back with a very core group of subs, and then I started to build the network of who I wanted to do business with.
• 7:04
  Nathan Dockery: So one thing I did differently was I figured out who my avatar was, and I hunted with a rifle instead of a shotgun.
• 7:11
  Nathan Dockery: Where before we had all these companies and we had all these clients.
• 7:15
  Nathan Dockery: And once we really dialed in on who is our avatar, who's our client, then we went and figured out who do we need to network with and what circles do we need to get in with to be able to have access to those people, gain their trust, and then show them how we can be a resource.
• 7:31
  Nathan Dockery: And so I think as part of that, we were really streamlined for the first couple of years.
• 7:36
  Nathan Dockery: And so I went out in the field and I hired one guy, and I had like one, I'll call him like a worker, you know, and so and then we subbed everything else.
• 7:47
  Nathan Dockery: So I was running all of our projects because I didn't want to relinquish control.
• 7:52
  Nathan Dockery: And that was the biggest thing for me was once we got in the right network and we started hiring the right people, then I was able to start handing off more responsibility and delegate and really build it from a solid foundation.
• 8:05
  Nathan Dockery: You know, we're a builder, obviously, it's easy.
• 8:07
  Nathan Dockery: It's a house, the foundation's got to be solid.
• 8:09
  Nathan Dockery: Go back to the Bible, it's the same thing.
• 8:11
  Nathan Dockery: We built it on the rock.
• 8:13
  Nathan Dockery: And so having those few key people and then building that network and taking the time to do it.
• 8:19
  Nathan Dockery: So we spent several years doing that, and then we really had explosive growth after that.
• 8:24
  Nathan Dockery: But we couldn't have done it without that core.
• 8:27
  Nathan Dockery: Right.
• 8:28
  Bill Gilliland: Right.
• 8:29
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, it seemed like you had a lot of learning that that led to the that led to you being able to get it.
• 8:35
  Bill Gilliland: So what are some of the common misconceptions about running a business?
• 8:42
  Nathan Dockery: It's a little bit more stressful than most people think, right?
• 8:45
  Nathan Dockery: And and so it's it's unique having a company with my wife.
• 8:50
  Nathan Dockery: Um, so Jen handles all of our real estate clients, so she's a licensed real estate agent.
• 8:55
  Nathan Dockery: So she handles all of our real estate and then just kind of I guess really manages kind of like kind of like a CFO kind of position within the organization.
• 9:06
  Nathan Dockery: And um and I guess like the stress levels of managing a company that's scaling, and we've been growing 200 to 300 percent annually for the past few years.
• 9:18
  Nathan Dockery: I think the biggest misconception is that, oh, you can just keep taking on more clients, and it's it's the same.
• 9:24
  Nathan Dockery: It's really not as we scaled at a much faster pace than I did the last time.
• 9:31
  Nathan Dockery: We've had a little more bumps in the roads.
• 9:33
  Nathan Dockery: I think I tell a lot of the guys that I meet that are trying to build their companies that keeping money in your company and not going out and buying boats and trucks and ATVs, and I mean you you see, you know, $150,000 trucks because they make their first $200,000.
• 9:48
  Nathan Dockery: You know, you've got to leave that money in your company so that you can grow and be able to pay everybody where you wait on the payments.
• 9:56
  Nathan Dockery: And that's um, you know, and I think I'm a little less stressed about that part than Jen is because she sees the money and she handles all of that.
• 10:04
  Nathan Dockery: Um, and I'm always like, Yeah, yeah, let's go, let's go, let's get another project, let's buy some more land.
• 10:09
  Nathan Dockery: And she's like, Well, hang on, let's do a little financial planning here.
• 10:14
  Nathan Dockery: I keep him grounded.
• 10:15
  Nathan Dockery: Yeah.
• 10:15
  Nathan Dockery: So I think that's the one of the biggest misconceptions with a lot of guys I know is they haven't gone from six figures to seven figures or seven figures to eight figures, and there's some really big jumps in financials, right?
• 10:29
  Nathan Dockery: When you go and take those big leaps.
• 10:32
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, there's some natural uh sort of levels in there that that that just occurred.
• 10:39
  Bill Gilliland: Like there's a little bit of a pushback, I guess.
• 10:42
  Bill Gilliland: You get it?
• 10:43
  Nathan Dockery: So what do you attribute your growth to you know, um, I think first and foremost, what we've been able to accomplish, we couldn't have done on our own.
• 10:55
  Nathan Dockery: Like one, like our faith in God.
• 10:58
  Nathan Dockery: Um, we're a kingdom company.
• 11:00
  Nathan Dockery: I believe that we've done the right thing, we've hired the right people, we've been stewards to all of our employees, their subs, our community, and we give back.
• 11:11
  Nathan Dockery: We do a lot of projects.
• 11:13
  Nathan Dockery: Um, like we just did one that was a a large project for a local um outreach center that works with kids um in in Noonan, where we live.
• 11:23
  Nathan Dockery: And it's about a quarter million dollar project that we basically helped raise the money to pay for the cost, and then did the whole project for free with them and uh you know, redid their entire facility.
• 11:34
  Nathan Dockery: And being able to give back like that is is one of the things where we we've run this business with an open hand, I think.
• 11:43
  Nathan Dockery: And you know, our employees and our subs, like we feel responsible to make sure that they grow and that they become leaders within their homes and their families and their community as well.
• 11:54
  Nathan Dockery: And so really by doing that, I think you know, that just has illustrated who we are and our actions have spoken louder than our words, and and we don't have to go out and really market ourselves.
• 12:07
  Nathan Dockery: Um, we've become a resource and a value to everyone that we're around.
• 12:12
  Nathan Dockery: Love that.
• 12:13
  Jen Dockery: I think a big part of that is connections, yeah.
• 12:16
  Jen Dockery: So we can attribute a lot of our success and um growth to the connections that we've made.
• 12:23
  Nathan Dockery: Yeah.
• 12:23
  Nathan Dockery: You know the old say your your your net worth is your network, right?
• 12:28
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah.
• 12:28
  Bill Gilliland: Jen, say a little bit more about the connections.
• 12:31
  Jen Dockery: Um, just being involved, like he said, you know, like with our church, and that's how we actually met um the owner of the uh the project that he was referring to, and connections with our employees, uh, developing uh like a family feel with them, and that's kind of what created the trust and the um uh the way that we work together with our team, and that's kind of helped build our uh reputation with our company as well.
• 12:59
  Bill Gilliland: Love that.
• 12:59
  Bill Gilliland: Love that.
• 13:00
  Bill Gilliland: Yep, love that.
• 13:02
  Bill Gilliland: So this ought to be interesting.
• 13:06
  Bill Gilliland: How do you balance your uh business life and your personal life?
• 13:11
  Jen Dockery: Is that a word balance?
• 13:13
  Nathan Dockery: Uh high-paid therapists.
• 13:15
  Nathan Dockery: And I'm just you know, um, you know, it's it's been interesting because the first few years uh we didn't have a whole lot of bumps in the road as we've gotten a lot bigger and busier, and and you know, which is a blessing that I'll complain about but never want to give up, right?
• 13:34
  Nathan Dockery: Um when we've had challenges, you know, we've gone and really sought advice and knowledge from people who are just smarter than us that have been there, that have done that.
• 13:43
  Nathan Dockery: I mean, just earlier this year, we spent some time with a business coach who focuses on high performance athletes and business owners.
• 13:50
  Nathan Dockery: And a lot of them are married couples.
• 13:53
  Nathan Dockery: We we met her through another married couple that owns businesses that we build for.
• 13:57
  Nathan Dockery: Um, and it was kind of like a little tuna, you know.
• 14:00
  Nathan Dockery: We get on the, you know, I'm I'm a fan of the whiteboard.
• 14:03
  Nathan Dockery: We got on the whiteboard with her, we went through four or five sessions and talked about making sure that we we did keep business and personal somewhat separate, but knowing that being married and living in the same house and and working together, even though we don't see each other all day sometimes, there's still got to be some like kind of division so that you know, going when when we're at home, you know, we may still be working on some things, but then when it's date night or we're doing something that's not work related, we kind of have to just tune it out for a minute and remember that like, you know, we're in a in a different relationship that's not business.
• 14:41
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I call them, yeah, I call them hats.
• 14:44
  Bill Gilliland: Like what's the like you put on your hat?
• 14:47
  Bill Gilliland: Well, and I got on my husband hat now.
• 14:49
  Bill Gilliland: I'm not not you know, not not contractor hat or yeah, I had a client one time who uh she she just she didn't like hats.
• 14:59
  Bill Gilliland: She's like, Bill, I don't like hats.
• 15:00
  Bill Gilliland: And I said, Well, what do you like?
• 15:03
  Bill Gilliland: She said, I like boots.
• 15:04
  Bill Gilliland: And I'm like, all right, well, put on your boots for you know, put on your wife boots or put on your horse riding boots or put on your sales boots or whatever.
• 15:12
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I just thought it was pretty funny.
• 15:14
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah.
• 15:14
  Bill Gilliland: She just thought.
• 15:15
  Nathan Dockery: Well, you know, the boots, like you saying the boots, and and I can't remember who I heard say this, but they they were like this this person at one of their their coaching things was like, I don't know where my purpose is.
• 15:25
  Nathan Dockery: I I've got all these different hats, these different shoes.
• 15:29
  Nathan Dockery: And he told her, he said, uh, your purpose is where you're standing, right?
• 15:34
  Nathan Dockery: So sometimes you're standing at work and your purpose is as a leader at that workplace.
• 15:38
  Nathan Dockery: But then when you go home, your purpose may be a mom, right?
• 15:42
  Nathan Dockery: Because you're cooking dinner for your kids or you're helping them with homework.
• 15:45
  Nathan Dockery: And then your purpose is a wife, because you're you're also a wife, right?
• 15:49
  Nathan Dockery: So your purpose can change throughout the day.
• 15:51
  Nathan Dockery: And I think it's important just to be present in that moment.
• 15:55
  Nathan Dockery: And and we we have kind of what we call mandatory date nights.
• 15:59
  Nathan Dockery: Um, we're into fast mandatory, mandatory.
• 16:02
  Nathan Dockery: Yeah, they are, man.
• 16:04
  Nathan Dockery: They they're a game changer for us.
• 16:06
  Nathan Dockery: 100%.
• 16:07
  Bill Gilliland: I yeah, I a lot of my clients have we we I make them do that stuff because they have to.
• 16:11
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I mean it otherwise.
• 16:13
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah.
• 16:14
  Bill Gilliland: Present in your purpose.
• 16:15
  Bill Gilliland: That was what I was gonna write down.
• 16:17
  Bill Gilliland: All right, tell me about the cars.
• 16:18
  Bill Gilliland: I I'm hearing about that.
• 16:19
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah.
• 16:19
  Bill Gilliland: Oh, no, well, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 16:22
  Nathan Dockery: So I mean, I guess I've always been a car guy.
• 16:24
  Nathan Dockery: Uh she's become a car girl now.
• 16:27
  Nathan Dockery: Um, so I mean, I've I've got some toys and I've got an RA.
• 16:31
  Nathan Dockery: We got her a Porsche this summer for our anniversary.
• 16:34
  Nathan Dockery: And and so we spend a lot of time in in some car groups, yeah, obviously for networking opportunity, but really great people, a lot of a lot of different conversations when you're around all those people who are successful in their different fields.
• 16:49
  Nathan Dockery: And we've got we've got people that do everything.
• 16:52
  Nathan Dockery: And so it's really allowed us to go out and do something that we enjoy, which is driving and and using our cars kind of as a tool and also giving back.
• 17:00
  Nathan Dockery: You know, we'll go and use them uh for experiences with kids or schools or you know, some of the uh the the rides, the benefit rides or whatever.
• 17:09
  Nathan Dockery: Um, we may do one this Saturday, which we get we get to go drive on an airstrip, which means you get to launch your car in and around 150.
• 17:16
  Nathan Dockery: I'm aware.
• 17:17
  Bill Gilliland: I'm aware, that's why I asked.
• 17:18
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah.
• 17:20
  Nathan Dockery: So yeah, but it's it's for us, it's just been something recent that I wouldn't allow myself to do.
• 17:26
  Nathan Dockery: All my other toys aren't as fast.
• 17:29
  Nathan Dockery: You know, they're they're nice and they're fun, but um, getting into that's kind of been something that we've both really enjoyed and has also been great for our business as well.
• 17:38
  Jen Dockery: I was seeing more connections with that.
• 17:40
  Bill Gilliland: You haven't gotten into airplanes yet, huh?
• 17:43
  Nathan Dockery: No, I don't know.
• 17:44
  Nathan Dockery: I uh I don't know.
• 17:46
  Nathan Dockery: Airplanes, I I still I still feel like we should have had wings if we were supposed to be flying.
• 17:50
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I got you.
• 17:51
  Bill Gilliland: I understand.
• 17:51
  Bill Gilliland: I understand.
• 17:53
  Bill Gilliland: So um, yeah.
• 17:56
  Bill Gilliland: So what qualities do you look for in employees?
• 18:00
  Bill Gilliland: And how do you foster that positive productive work environment?
• 18:05
  Nathan Dockery: Well, I think one is we we do spend time with them.
• 18:07
  Nathan Dockery: So when we go through Jen typically is the first, you know, kind of person that looks through, yeah.
• 18:13
  Nathan Dockery: She goes through their resumes and kind of, you know, then says, all right, I think we should look at these people.
• 18:18
  Nathan Dockery: I typically look more through their qualifications on the construction side or or whatever we're hiring for.
• 18:24
  Nathan Dockery: And then we'll do an initial interview, just you know, and I've got kind of a list of questions I'll go through that are obviously somewhat psychological, you know, in nature that I've picked up over the years just to kind of get their opinions on things.
• 18:38
  Nathan Dockery: And then we typically go eat with them.
• 18:40
  Nathan Dockery: We go have lunch with them, we go have dinner with them.
• 18:42
  Nathan Dockery: I see how they interact with a waiter or a waitress, right?
• 18:45
  Nathan Dockery: Like big key indicator.
• 18:46
  Nathan Dockery: How do you treat somebody who really, you know, serving and yeah, is is taking care of you.
• 18:51
  Nathan Dockery: Um, and then we just have light conversation.
• 18:54
  Nathan Dockery: We have we talk about the business, we talk about their where do they want to be in five years?
• 18:59
  Nathan Dockery: What are their goals?
• 18:59
  Nathan Dockery: Do they have kids?
• 19:00
  Nathan Dockery: Like, really learn all about them.
• 19:03
  Nathan Dockery: Um, not that we use that criteria, like if you have kids, we don't hire you or something like that, because most of our employees have kids or they've got grown kids.
• 19:11
  Nathan Dockery: Yeah, and we've got three kids.
• 19:13
  Nathan Dockery: So I don't, that's not like we don't hire based on that, but just to understand their mindset and where they want to be, because you get some people are like, man, I'm just looking for a paycheck.
• 19:23
  Nathan Dockery: And you know, like they're probably gonna show up for work, but they're really not gonna show up for work.
• 19:28
  Nathan Dockery: And and um, and what we're looking for is people who want to come in um and they want to be part of a team and they want to go do great things and they want to live a better life for it, and they're out there, it just takes a lot longer to find them.
• 19:41
  Nathan Dockery: And so, I mean, we spend three to six months when we have to hire positions, sometimes finding the right fit.
• 19:48
  Nathan Dockery: Um, because we do have a, I mean, our team is like we've we've got a great team of people.
• 19:54
  Nathan Dockery: Um, like some of them go to our church, like I work out with a couple of them in the gym in the afternoon sometimes.
• 19:59
  Nathan Dockery: Like, we've got great people that we live life with.
• 20:03
  Nathan Dockery: And uh, and and and we've had the we've had the privilege, honestly, of changing their lives and helping them get get houses they didn't own houses and watch them have their babies and and just you know become better people and and just pour into them.
• 20:18
  Nathan Dockery: And you know, when you do that, what we've seen is that just you you not only get employees, but you get people who get hungry to be better and to grow and be part of the organization and understand the mission.
• 20:33
  Nathan Dockery: And it's really exciting to see that.
• 20:36
  Jen Dockery: It's more like a family than a work environment.
• 20:38
  Jen Dockery: I mean, obviously, we still put in the work, but we care about the company as if it were part of us, like not just me and Nathan, but our our team.
• 20:51
  Jen Dockery: Like that's like they care because we do have that environment where it feels like you know, it's it's not just work.
• 20:59
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, that's yeah.
• 21:00
  Bill Gilliland: I think I think it's fantastic what you've created there.
• 21:02
  Bill Gilliland: Sounds like an amazing culture.
• 21:04
  Bill Gilliland: So yeah.
• 21:06
  Bill Gilliland: All right.
• 21:06
  Bill Gilliland: I gotta so be epic is is is my acronym.
• 21:10
  Bill Gilliland: And um what I want to hear is a couple of words or maybe a sentence or two about each one, just your thoughts.
• 21:17
  Bill Gilliland: It's it and I and I'll give you the the the letters.
• 21:21
  Bill Gilliland: So it yeah, I came up with this a few years ago when I wrote a book to about um and just and uh it's interesting what people's thoughts are.
• 21:29
  Bill Gilliland: So I think this one will be easy for you.
• 21:31
  Bill Gilliland: So B, I find I didn't have B in the beginning, but it was just epic.
• 21:35
  Bill Gilliland: But I added B.
• 21:35
  Bill Gilliland: And B is bring the energy.
• 21:37
  Bill Gilliland: So a couple of quick thoughts on bringing energy.
• 21:41
  Nathan Dockery: So I think you know, the first thing for us is is uh we we talk about core four, let's see, passion, purpose, productivity, and power.
• 21:50
  Nathan Dockery: So the energy is going to be the power.
• 21:52
  Nathan Dockery: We work out um prereligiously, we stay in shape, we eat healthy.
• 21:57
  Nathan Dockery: Our kids, they kind of have followed suit.
• 22:01
  Nathan Dockery: They go to the gym with us and work out.
• 22:02
  Nathan Dockery: We've got three teenage boys, half our employees all work out, they're healthy.
• 22:07
  Nathan Dockery: Um, you've got to keep your body healthy to bring the energy every day, right?
• 22:13
  Nathan Dockery: And that's really what drives you to be able to do all the other things you've got to do.
• 22:17
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I love that.
• 22:18
  Bill Gilliland: I love that.
• 22:18
  Bill Gilliland: So the E is education.
• 22:22
  Nathan Dockery: Never stop learning, right?
• 22:24
  Jen Dockery: Never stop learning.
• 22:25
  Nathan Dockery: Love it, yeah.
• 22:25
  Nathan Dockery: Love it.
• 22:25
  Nathan Dockery: And I yeah, and I think we we encourage that.
• 22:28
  Nathan Dockery: Um, like actually, we're getting several of our people certified for another certification um in the next couple of weeks.
• 22:35
  Nathan Dockery: They're they're signed up for some courses.
• 22:37
  Nathan Dockery: And and so that's that's a big part.
• 22:40
  Nathan Dockery: Um, with the real estate, with what I do, you know, we we go see coaches, we constantly listen to podcasts.
• 22:48
  Nathan Dockery: You know, if if we're getting ready in the bathroom, one of us, there's a podcast on of some sort that we're learning from.
• 22:54
  Nathan Dockery: And so I think that's the key is you got to have that mindset that you're never gonna know everything and you've got to constantly be learning.
• 23:00
  Nathan Dockery: Yeah, I love that.
• 23:02
  Nathan Dockery: P for planning.
• 23:06
  Jen Dockery: That's his specialty.
• 23:07
  Nathan Dockery: So I'm the planner.
• 23:08
  Nathan Dockery: This is the one who packs the morning we leave, right?
• 23:11
  Nathan Dockery: So um I I think I think you kind of have to have a little bit of both.
• 23:17
  Nathan Dockery: Um, you know, you've got to be able to pivot, you know, because as an entrepreneur or a builder, especially, or contractor, things are gonna change throughout the day, the week, they're never gonna go to plan.
• 23:28
  Nathan Dockery: It's gonna rain.
• 23:29
  Nathan Dockery: So I think you've got to be able to realign yourself, but I think you've got to have a plan because if you don't, you don't know where you're going.
• 23:36
  Nathan Dockery: And if you don't have a destination, the plane cannot get there, right?
• 23:40
  Nathan Dockery: You've got to know where you're headed.
• 23:41
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I love it.
• 23:42
  Bill Gilliland: I is inspiration.
• 23:46
  Jen Dockery: Words to live by.
• 23:47
  Jen Dockery: Yeah.
• 23:48
  Jen Dockery: We have inspiration all over our house.
• 23:51
  Jen Dockery: Like we have quotes, we have we like you said, the podcast that we listen to every morning.
• 23:55
  Jen Dockery: We're very big on inspiration and inspiring our employees.
• 23:58
  Jen Dockery: And um living by those words is what we try to do, obviously, without perfection, but um we're always looking for ways to inspire, um, not just with our jobs, but like with us with the fitness stuff.
• 24:12
  Jen Dockery: Like we um try to help people in the gym or inspire them to live healthy lives and take care of their their bodies and their health.
• 24:20
  Jen Dockery: And and then with work, you know, you can take over with that.
• 24:23
  Jen Dockery: You inspire.
• 24:25
  Nathan Dockery: Um, I think just pouring back too, you know, like I've got I've got kids that constantly reach out to me.
• 24:31
  Nathan Dockery: Yes.
• 24:31
  Nathan Dockery: They're like, I mean, that like walk up to me.
• 24:35
  Jen Dockery: Like, we'll be like, we saw your video on social media.
• 24:38
  Nathan Dockery: And and just are like, hey man, can I could I have a 30-minute call?
• 24:42
  Nathan Dockery: Like, could I could you just like Jacob Harper, you know, like this kid, you know, he found me and he's like, dude, can I have 30 minutes?
• 24:49
  Nathan Dockery: I I want to be a race car driver, and you know, can you tell me how to market and get sponsors?
• 24:55
  Nathan Dockery: You know, it's just like we think it's super cool that we inspire this, this, this next generation, including our kids, you know, selfishly.
• 25:02
  Nathan Dockery: But you know, we've got stuff written on our mirrors that we read in the morning.
• 25:06
  Nathan Dockery: So we are big believers in that.
• 25:08
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, no, yeah, finding it.
• 25:11
  Bill Gilliland: Well, it sounds like you're also being an inspiration as well, which is which is you're finding inspiration, but you're also being an inspiration, which I think is in a lot of ways the goal.
• 25:21
  Bill Gilliland: Um C is commitment.
• 25:27
  Nathan Dockery: No, commitment.
• 25:28
  Nathan Dockery: I think that's in every part of life, right?
• 25:31
  Nathan Dockery: So, like commitment in your relationships, in your marriage, a commitment to your children, commitment to your employees, right, your investors, your community.
• 25:40
  Nathan Dockery: You know, I think being committed, some people call it being obsessed, but I think it's being committed to something that you believe in and having a higher standard than others.
• 25:52
  Nathan Dockery: And I I don't think you go to the next level without high having a higher standard.
• 25:57
  Nathan Dockery: And and if you don't, uh if you don't have the commitment, I mean I just had this, I was had this chat with my 14-year-old about wrestling because he was decided to miss practice, and I was like, look, you're either all in or you're out.
• 26:10
  Nathan Dockery: You're you're we're not putting our toes in the water.
• 26:13
  Nathan Dockery: You've got to be committed.
• 26:14
  Nathan Dockery: If you're gonna be part of that team, you have to show up every day.
• 26:17
  Nathan Dockery: And so, you know, we try to live by those words, and and obviously, you know, we fail sometimes.
• 26:23
  Nathan Dockery: I think that's good that people see that everyone's human, uh, and then you learn from those mistakes, and then you just keep going.
• 26:33
  Bill Gilliland: Like it.
• 26:33
  Bill Gilliland: Thank you.
• 26:34
  Bill Gilliland: What's what words of advice would you offer other business owners who are looking to grow?
• 26:39
  Nathan Dockery: So I think one, what build your network.
• 26:42
  Nathan Dockery: Uh definitely, yeah, build your network and and make sure that you don't go out and just, and this is what I tell everybody don't go and just be like, hey, buy my stuff, buy my stuff, buy my stuff.
• 26:52
  Nathan Dockery: Like go value or offer value.
• 26:55
  Nathan Dockery: That's right.
• 26:55
  Nathan Dockery: Yeah, be valuable, right?
• 26:58
  Nathan Dockery: Show your worth to others and show that you don't just want them to be, you know, a buyer, right?
• 27:05
  Nathan Dockery: So if if I'm in a group of people and and somebody's like, man, I need to get my HVAC fixed.
• 27:11
  Nathan Dockery: I'm like, hey, call this guy, you know, he can help you out.
• 27:15
  Nathan Dockery: And it's it's all about becoming a resource.
• 27:17
  Nathan Dockery: And a lot of times the relationships that we build over years, they grow fruit, but we have to plant those seeds years in advance.
• 27:26
  Nathan Dockery: Um, you know, and so I think that's a big deal in that.
• 27:30
  Jen Dockery: And with that comes patience, would be another key point, is to not just uh try something and then give up and try something else and give up.
• 27:38
  Jen Dockery: Like stay consistent and do the same thing and have patience because it does take time.
• 27:42
  Jen Dockery: Everything takes time.
• 27:44
  Nathan Dockery: But don't be afraid to to kind of change it and find out what works, right?
• 27:49
  Nathan Dockery: Because uh we'll we put systems in place and and what the systems that worked at 2 million in revenue, yeah.
• 27:57
  Nathan Dockery: We broke them at 8 million and then we broke them at 15 million, right?
• 28:01
  Nathan Dockery: So I always joke, let's build this system and let's get it to work, and then let's do so much business, let's break it and let's figure out how to make it better, right?
• 28:09
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, so I think that's a key too.
• 28:11
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah.
• 28:12
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, the same stuff that got you to 15 won't get you to 100.
• 28:16
  Bill Gilliland: So yeah, just just not gonna happen, right?
• 28:19
  Bill Gilliland: That's cool.
• 28:19
  Bill Gilliland: So what's the next big thing?
• 28:22
  Nathan Dockery: Um, we've got I guess the we got a yeah, a lot of developments coming up.
• 28:27
  Nathan Dockery: Um, you know, in the rebuilding, the first what, five years?
• 28:32
  Nathan Dockery: Like we really couldn't do a lot of development, you know, starting back from zero.
• 28:37
  Nathan Dockery: Obviously, it's it's an expensive habit.
• 28:40
  Nathan Dockery: But it was always like one of my goals to get back there.
• 28:43
  Nathan Dockery: And so we've got, I mean, I think we've got like four developments breaking ground in the next 12 months, you know, all the way from big shopping centers with rooftop bars and food courts and um mixed-use projects.
• 28:58
  Nathan Dockery: And and so really excited to get back into bringing all these developments that we've been working on over the past year to life.
• 29:06
  Nathan Dockery: Um and then just continuing to grow.
• 29:09
  Nathan Dockery: You know, um we've been we've been blessed, you know.
• 29:13
  Nathan Dockery: I kind of joke, it's like bamboo season.
• 29:15
  Nathan Dockery: We stole that from a from a pastor um that we listen to online sometimes.
• 29:19
  Nathan Dockery: And you know, bamboo grows underground where you don't see it for years, and then it comes up everywhere.
• 29:25
  Jen Dockery: And you can't get rid of it.
• 29:27
  Nathan Dockery: Right, then you can't get rid of it, right?
• 29:28
  Bill Gilliland: And it grows something like 50 feet in a year or something.
• 29:32
  Bill Gilliland: I mean, it's something crazy.
• 29:33
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah.
• 29:34
  Nathan Dockery: And so we've seen that we've seen that exponential growth because like like Jim brought up, we were patient and we were consistent and we were committed, like you brought up, you know, in your acronym.
• 29:48
  Nathan Dockery: And uh, I think that was the key.
• 29:51
  Nathan Dockery: And so now all those seeds that we planted are all bearing fruit.
• 29:55
  Nathan Dockery: And uh we just we just get to continue to pour into people and and just change their lives and their families' lives through building our business and them being a part of it.
• 30:05
  Bill Gilliland: Love it, love it, love it.
• 30:08
  Bill Gilliland: So, lastly, what's if someone wants help or they want to get in touch with you, or they want to invest, or they want to just talk to you, what's the best way for them to get a hold of you?
• 30:19
  Nathan Dockery: Well, I mean, they can always check us out on our on our website, and which is just you know uh dockeregroup.com.
• 30:26
  Nathan Dockery: The other thing is we've both got an online presence.
• 30:30
  Nathan Dockery: You know, I'm on Facebook as Nathan Dockery.
• 30:32
  Nathan Dockery: Dockery Group's got a Facebook page.
• 30:35
  Nathan Dockery: She's on Facebook as Jennifer Dockery.
• 30:37
  Nathan Dockery: And then we're on, you know, Instagram and all that.
• 30:39
  Nathan Dockery: All the socials.
• 30:41
  Nathan Dockery: And because we do believe like kind of your your brand, like you are your brand, right?
• 30:46
  Nathan Dockery: So we try to share insights into our lives personally and professionally.
• 30:52
  Nathan Dockery: Um, so that if somebody's out there and they, you know, because now a lot of our clients, you know, they Google me before I ever talk to them, right?
• 31:01
  Nathan Dockery: If I get referred to them.
• 31:03
  Nathan Dockery: And so they'll find my Facebook page or they'll find my Instagram or or whatever.
• 31:07
  Nathan Dockery: And I'm I'm having my first conversation or second conversation with them and be like, yeah, man, you know, you look like you work out.
• 31:14
  Nathan Dockery: Like I see you working out on your Facebook page, you know, like, or, or I love that you do this, or or we've got, or I've got kids too.
• 31:21
  Nathan Dockery: And so there's just something that draws them to you and you can build that personal relationship, which is important because I think in business, and like you know this, and a lot of people we probably talk to, you have to want to do business with somebody, right?
• 31:35
  Nathan Dockery: Uh, because if I'm a client that's building a building, I can pick 20 contractors and they can probably all get the job done.
• 31:42
  Nathan Dockery: But I I I want to work with someone that I'm gonna enjoy working with, right?
• 31:46
  Nathan Dockery: And that I like.
• 31:47
  Nathan Dockery: I'm not gonna hire somebody I don't like uh unless there's certain circumstances for experience or a bank or something like that.
• 31:54
  Nathan Dockery: So I think at the end of the day, we want to uh, you know, I think show that information, you know, and represent who we really are at the end of the day and just build that uh build that relationship before we ever meet them so that our name carries some weight.
• 32:11
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, it's an interesting stat these days that they're sort of people are sort of 70% down the buying path before they ever actually meet you in person at this point.
• 32:22
  Bill Gilliland: So it's a it's a it's an interesting one.
• 32:24
  Bill Gilliland: Well, hey, this has been fantastic.
• 32:26
  Bill Gilliland: I really appreciate y'all being part of the business community and all you're doing in the world.
• 32:32
  Bill Gilliland: And um, I know that you're gonna continue to grow and be successful.
• 32:36
  Bill Gilliland: So thanks for taking the time to to to to sit with us today.
• 32:40
  Nathan Dockery: Oh yeah.
• 32:41
  Bill Gilliland: We appreciate the opportunity, Bill.
• 32:42
  Bill Gilliland: Hey, and until next time, all the best.