1 00:00:23,399 --> 00:00:38,200 Ask What Up? What Up? Everybody? Welcome to another episode Let's Ask 2 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:42,320 Paul the podcast where you can ask me Paul Abernathy anything you want about the 3 00:00:42,399 --> 00:00:46,719 National Electrical Code, electrical in general business. Hey, I've been in business 4 00:00:46,759 --> 00:00:50,880 for over thirty some years, so feel free to do so. Excuse me. 5 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:54,119 All you gotta do got choked up over it? All you gotta do 6 00:00:54,679 --> 00:00:59,039 is go to Paul Abernathy dot com, submit your question, and more than 7 00:00:59,119 --> 00:01:03,200 happy to lend my expertise where I can to help you be better at what 8 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:08,239 you do by sharing my experience, whether it's a national electrical code, dissecting 9 00:01:08,239 --> 00:01:11,840 a code question, answering a question about business. I've been there. I've 10 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,959 run a business. I have ups and downs, I've had businesses that fail, 11 00:01:17,159 --> 00:01:22,280 I've had businesses that succeed, all types of things that I've done through 12 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:25,439 the years, and I just want to be a resource for you. Now. 13 00:01:25,439 --> 00:01:29,359 This episode today is sponsored by Electrical Code Academy. That is obviously our 14 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:34,400 academy where we teach literally thousands and thousands of people the National Electrical Code, 15 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:37,519 whether it's residential, commercial, industrial, grunting and bonding, whatever it is. 16 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:41,000 If it's something about electrical code. We have a program for you, 17 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:46,400 so check it out over on fast tracks system dot com. That's fast tra 18 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:51,480 X system dot com. I also want to give a shout out two fast 19 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:57,079 Tracks two, which is growing like crazy if you haven't heard of it. 20 00:01:57,079 --> 00:02:02,840 It's our exclusive platform for videos on the electrical industry without the bs. Okay, 21 00:02:02,879 --> 00:02:07,039 no commercials, none of that other garbage, nothing but videos. So 22 00:02:07,319 --> 00:02:12,400 doesn't matter what educator it is. We get rid of the commercials so that 23 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,719 all of you can enjoy pure content. So that's why it's worth the subscription, 24 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:23,039 and it's just an amazing platform. Check it out fast tracks tube dot 25 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:27,439 com. Okay, got a double wamy in there for my advertising, so 26 00:02:28,159 --> 00:02:30,039 bear with me on that. All right. So today I have a question. 27 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:35,240 It was submitted. I think it's a great question because it's not directly 28 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:38,479 you know, it's it's a general type of question, but it is one 29 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:45,360 of those questions that people ask all the time, and the question is that 30 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:50,800 it was actually the way it was submitted is I want to go into man, 31 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:53,520 let me read the whole thing. Hey, Paul, love your podcasts 32 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:58,719 and your videos. I'm an electrical uh No, what did he say? 33 00:02:58,759 --> 00:03:04,080 I am electrician? Thinking about becoming an electrical contractor, and I want to 34 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:08,400 know what are things that I have to think about when I'm thinking about becoming 35 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:15,479 an electrical contractor. Thanks in advance again, love your podcast. All right, 36 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:19,240 well, thank you there you go. Thank you for submitting, Matt, 37 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:22,319 And again this is kind of all right enough for that. This is 38 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:28,080 kind of a general question because it could really go across all different platforms, 39 00:03:28,159 --> 00:03:30,960 right, whether you want to be a plumbing contractor you want to work for 40 00:03:31,039 --> 00:03:34,960 yourself. You want to go into business for yourself, no matter what you 41 00:03:35,439 --> 00:03:38,680 do. I mean, that's supposably, that's the American dream, right, 42 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:44,919 Everybody wants to work for themselves, set their own hours, do that type 43 00:03:44,919 --> 00:03:50,439 of stuff. So when do you make that leap? Right? When do 44 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:53,159 you are I mean, maybe you're just content and that's perfectly fine too, 45 00:03:53,319 --> 00:03:59,520 right, if you're content with working for somebody else and getting a great, 46 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,800 great paycheck. I hope, hope all you getting a great paycheck and working 47 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:08,520 for yourself is a big leap for some people, and it's not right for 48 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:12,560 everybody obviously, But there are some pitfalls things that you have to think about, 49 00:04:12,639 --> 00:04:16,279 and we'll kind of go over those a little bit today and kind of 50 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:24,160 give you some insight. By no means do I ever discourage anybody from wanting 51 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:29,079 to be their own entrepreneur go into business for themselves. Most people know here, 52 00:04:29,199 --> 00:04:33,360 for example, me at the academy, I do many things. We 53 00:04:33,399 --> 00:04:41,160 have a project management software company PPM Butler. We have We believe in people 54 00:04:41,199 --> 00:04:46,199 getting online and having websites as easy as possible. That's why we have Empire 55 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,879 Butler dot com. That's you can have a website up and running and hardly 56 00:04:49,959 --> 00:04:55,120 no time that you can promote. It's very search engine friendly. These are 57 00:04:55,120 --> 00:05:00,360 all resources that we, you know, put the together to help support our 58 00:05:00,399 --> 00:05:06,600 infrastructure to help you be successful. We have an accounting software again, Accountant 59 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:11,720 Butler. Yeah, all Butlers. By the way, if you want to 60 00:05:11,759 --> 00:05:15,920 see all of our products, go to Butler sweet dot com. But at 61 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:20,360 the end of the day, we're an educational provider and we've been in business 62 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:25,240 now for quite a few years. And I had other companies underneath me. 63 00:05:25,319 --> 00:05:28,680 But most people also know that I work for other companies as well, and 64 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:31,240 I work as a consultant, so I'm always hustling, and that's the nature 65 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:35,160 of business, right I'm a big believer. I used to tell some of 66 00:05:35,199 --> 00:05:41,399 my students who were we're in business or as a contractor, and maybe they're 67 00:05:41,399 --> 00:05:46,160 just taking my course to broaden, you know, broaden their knowledge of the 68 00:05:46,199 --> 00:05:49,680 code. As an owner, you want to have that that enhanced the knowledge 69 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:51,959 of the code. That way you know your guys are doing it right and 70 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:59,079 everybody's following the same path of success. But I've always been one of those 71 00:05:59,079 --> 00:06:01,160 guys to say, you know, don't put all your eggs in one basket. 72 00:06:02,399 --> 00:06:09,079 I remember a contractor back in Virginia, and I won't mention names because 73 00:06:09,199 --> 00:06:11,360 you know, they might not be you know, they might not want me 74 00:06:11,399 --> 00:06:15,040 to talk about them. But it was doing a lot of work for one 75 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:20,639 contractor, a general contractor, and it was busy, busy time, and 76 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:26,720 they were doing quite a bit of work, and so they started having these 77 00:06:26,759 --> 00:06:32,319 issues where they weren't I wouldn't say they weren't getting along with the general contractor. 78 00:06:32,399 --> 00:06:35,600 I'm just saying that the general contractor maybe was taking a little bit of 79 00:06:35,639 --> 00:06:41,360 advantage of them. And what happened is when time started getting a little bit 80 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:45,439 tighter, what was happening was he was saying, well, I need to 81 00:06:45,439 --> 00:06:47,160 get pricing and bidding, where before he could just do that. He was 82 00:06:47,199 --> 00:06:50,439 just like no, that he was going to give him the good price and 83 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:55,240 just let him do the work. Well, that's kind of started changing a 84 00:06:55,319 --> 00:06:57,040 little bit. And he came to me and he says, look, I'm 85 00:06:57,079 --> 00:07:01,120 worried what happens if I'm growing so well as a company, but then I 86 00:07:01,199 --> 00:07:04,920 lose this one source. And I said, well, that's a classic example 87 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:08,959 of having all your eggs in one basket. You have one source, so 88 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:13,519 you remove that source, and now what does your company have. You you're 89 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:18,480 one general contractor away from nothing, and you've got employees, you've got people 90 00:07:18,519 --> 00:07:20,480 that rely on you and all that. So I said, you know, 91 00:07:20,519 --> 00:07:25,000 you need to diversify out and find other things that you can add. And 92 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:29,600 I'm sure all of you've done this too and looked at these things. Then 93 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:31,879 when you're starting in business, you don't really have all those options. You're 94 00:07:31,959 --> 00:07:35,120 you're you're hungry, you're willing to take anything. But in this case, 95 00:07:35,519 --> 00:07:40,519 he had a good business with a general contractor. So I advised him that 96 00:07:40,519 --> 00:07:46,439 that he slowly start expanding and thinking about offering service work, dedicate a vehicle 97 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:48,639 and somebody to that when there's no service work that could help you with the 98 00:07:48,639 --> 00:07:51,959 normal work. But when there is service work, they're the ones that take 99 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:56,439 care of it, make them invested in it, make them kind of a 100 00:07:56,480 --> 00:08:01,920 partner in it, profit share with it on the US end of it. 101 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:05,360 That makes people eager to want to do that, and they get a taste 102 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:09,639 of feeling like they're in business for themselves, and everybody wants a taste of 103 00:08:09,639 --> 00:08:13,040 that. But anyway, he expanded it and added Generator Services, became a 104 00:08:13,079 --> 00:08:22,160 Generat dealer. He added the service division to it, and really started actively 105 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:26,240 thinking about expanding out and getting other gcs. Now that sounds like that should 106 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:31,879 be logical, but you get into this comfort zone where you've got something good 107 00:08:31,919 --> 00:08:37,720 going on and you think it's gonna last forever, And all I gotta do 108 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:39,720 is tell you to go back and think about where you were ten years ago. 109 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:45,639 And ten years flows pretty damn quickly, folks. I remember ten years 110 00:08:45,639 --> 00:08:50,200 ago my father passed away, and it's been coming up on ten years and 111 00:08:50,279 --> 00:08:54,559 it's it seems like eternity, and the memories start to fade, and you 112 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:58,759 don't start to remember all the important moments. As we get older, the 113 00:08:58,759 --> 00:09:03,440 memory starts to go anyway. The point is you've got to think about tomorrow 114 00:09:03,759 --> 00:09:07,799 and you've got to always be looking forward. And so I advised him to 115 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:13,240 add things services and actively work on them, especially why you still had the 116 00:09:13,279 --> 00:09:18,200 general contractor giving you the business. You're still building your business, but expansion. 117 00:09:18,399 --> 00:09:22,559 Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Right. You might be 118 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:30,240 doing very good, let's say in residential, but if the market slows down 119 00:09:30,399 --> 00:09:35,159 or you're not able to competition gets stiffer, what else do you have that 120 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:39,600 brings income into the business, that helps steering those rocky times, you know, 121 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:43,919 rough out the the bumpy parts, make it a little smoother. Well, 122 00:09:43,919 --> 00:09:46,720 think of adding a service division. Service work is great people, some 123 00:09:46,759 --> 00:09:50,000 people don't like it, but I mean there's there's money to be had in 124 00:09:50,039 --> 00:09:54,799 service work. Homes are aging all the time, so there is things that 125 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:58,919 people want to add and do and and things like that. So think about 126 00:10:00,159 --> 00:10:03,600 that. But but you know, that's kind of a kind of digress from 127 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:05,159 what we were originally going to talk about. So let me try to We 128 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:09,720 all know I have ADHD anyway, so let me kind of get back what 129 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:16,879 we're what we're talking about is the hardest things to overcome when you're starting a 130 00:10:16,879 --> 00:10:20,799 business, okay, and making that decision to start a business. Number one, 131 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:24,559 and this is common I pull this information. This is not just from 132 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:28,440 me. This is stuff that's it's readily available. Uh and it kind of 133 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:33,679 coincides with me looking at and going yes, I agree. It's kind of 134 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:37,799 a list of things. Number One, I want you to remember that it 135 00:10:37,879 --> 00:10:41,559 is going into business for yourself, whether you're whether you're working for somebody, 136 00:10:41,159 --> 00:10:46,039 and maybe you have a prospect where you're working for somebody, and and maybe 137 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:50,240 a builder or something says, hey, if you branch out on your own, 138 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:52,360 I'll throw you business, and you're like, okay, okay, okay, 139 00:10:52,399 --> 00:10:58,759 I can do that. It's lonely, Okay. It is lonely as 140 00:10:58,799 --> 00:11:03,240 a contractor because you are the bottom line. You know. You have to 141 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:07,519 remember that if you if you're grow to some point where you have people under 142 00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:11,879 you, electricians, helpers, things like that, you know, and this 143 00:11:11,919 --> 00:11:15,840 can go across any spectrum, right, plumbers, mechanical, it's not just 144 00:11:16,639 --> 00:11:20,679 an electrician thing, an electrical contractor thing. But then you've got their burdens 145 00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:24,759 and their responsibilities, and you want to keep them employed. You don't want 146 00:11:24,759 --> 00:11:26,960 to harm anybody. I mean, they work for you. You want to 147 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:30,240 take care of them the best you can. That's what a good boss should 148 00:11:30,279 --> 00:11:33,360 do. That's what a good owner should do. But you all of a 149 00:11:33,399 --> 00:11:35,600 sudden, I have that stressful burden. So it's it is lonely at the 150 00:11:35,639 --> 00:11:39,600 top. Okay, if you're doing it alone, you don't have any partners, 151 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:43,039 you don't have a not going in it that you can weigh this burden 152 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:48,039 on your shoulders with. It is definitely lonely at the top. You're going 153 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:54,360 to be putting in tons of extra hours with the ultimate goal of having all 154 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:58,399 those dreams that you want. But it is lonely. And I will tell 155 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:03,080 you if you think that where you work now or who you work for now 156 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:09,320 has rules and obligations and stuff you don't agree with, and you know you 157 00:12:09,399 --> 00:12:11,919 just don't agree with some of the stuff that's going on in the company you 158 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:18,159 work for, don't think becoming an owner it's going to make it easier because 159 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:24,240 now you have more bosses. Right, you have the general contractor that you 160 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:28,480 might be doing work for. You have the owner that hires the general contractor. 161 00:12:28,559 --> 00:12:33,399 If you do service work, every owner is your boss. You know, 162 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:37,679 I see a lot of stuff where where people will go. I do 163 00:12:37,759 --> 00:12:39,519 service work. I do it. It's my rules. I don't the owners. 164 00:12:39,759 --> 00:12:43,120 The customer is gonna have no you have to do what I tell on 165 00:12:43,279 --> 00:12:48,120 me. No, you work for the customer. Right, So, at 166 00:12:48,159 --> 00:12:54,360 the end of the day, being your own boss is going to be lonely. 167 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:58,320 Now there's great rewards and it can be but it is going to be 168 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:05,960 lonely, so be prepared for that. The next thing is if you decide 169 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:11,120 to go into business and you do partner So let's say you have your your 170 00:13:11,159 --> 00:13:18,480 electrical and maybe you know somebody that's a great mechanical guy or a plumber and 171 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:22,759 they've been wanting to go into business. You partner up and create a company. 172 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:26,480 In that way, you're doing electrical and you can feed off each other. 173 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:31,679 That type of scenario. But let me tell you what, be careful. 174 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:37,720 Partnering can be very difficult. You have to set some guide rules up 175 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:43,279 really early. I always give an example of me and my brother were in 176 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:48,039 business together, and my brother is My brothers are my biggest heroes. I 177 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:52,000 love my brothers to death, and I don't get to see him because I'm 178 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:56,120 out in Texas. But I always looked up to my brothers. I looked 179 00:13:56,159 --> 00:14:01,440 up to you, my brother Todd, who's just simply an amazing guy. 180 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:07,320 I mean, just an amazing guy and can do just about anything. You 181 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:15,200 know what I'm saying. Anything, builds amazing decks, houses, does electrical 182 00:14:15,519 --> 00:14:20,279 amazing electrical. You know, can plumbing mechanically do anything. I mean, 183 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:24,639 if I got an issue with something, I just pick up the phone and 184 00:14:24,679 --> 00:14:26,120 give my brother a call. You know that because I'm not you know, 185 00:14:26,159 --> 00:14:30,759 I'm electrician, and I know my you know what I'm saying, I know 186 00:14:30,879 --> 00:14:33,600 my boundaries. I can be as good a handyman as anybody else. I 187 00:14:33,639 --> 00:14:37,600 can do sheet rock repair, I can do all that. But when it 188 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:41,720 comes to something significant, dude, I'm on the phone to my brother now. 189 00:14:41,759 --> 00:14:46,960 But when we work together, both being very thick headed electrically, and 190 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:52,960 I'm more code inclined. My brother's more mcgiver inclined. He understood the concept 191 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:56,480 of, look, if I'm doing something for a little old lady, we 192 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:00,000 need to get it done. And I'm more like, well, it's still 193 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,639 needs to be code. So he was more practical than me. I was 194 00:15:03,799 --> 00:15:07,720 very code driven from an early age. And of course along the way it 195 00:15:07,799 --> 00:15:11,039 caused us not to work good together. But that's okay. That happens, 196 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:15,240 and we separated and I had my own contracting business, he had his own 197 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:18,000 contracting business, and that's how we went. But we worked together still. 198 00:15:18,519 --> 00:15:22,159 I mean, he's subcontracted work to me. I would come and help him 199 00:15:22,159 --> 00:15:28,080 as a separate company, and it worked. It worked. You know, 200 00:15:28,159 --> 00:15:33,360 hindsight, we're looking back. Don't you wish you could go back and get 201 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:37,720 rid of all the drama because you know, here, forty years later, 202 00:15:39,399 --> 00:15:45,320 I think we'd work great together because it took forty years of humility to calm 203 00:15:45,399 --> 00:15:48,080 us both down and realized, look, we can work good together. So 204 00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:52,559 that's what partnerships are all about. So if you're going to partner with somebody 205 00:15:52,879 --> 00:15:58,080 in your business venture that might increase the odds of your success in a business, 206 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:00,879 then make sure you lay the round rules out first. Make sure you 207 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:04,879 understand how this is, how this is going to happen, and that you're 208 00:16:04,919 --> 00:16:11,159 going to have arguments. So it's kind of like creating a prenuptial agreement on 209 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:17,120 how these discussions are going to go. Your decisions for the electrical or your 210 00:16:17,159 --> 00:16:22,559 decisions his decisions for the mechanical or his decisions anything that makes it affects the 211 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:29,240 entire business, like marketing, advertising things. It has to be something that 212 00:16:29,279 --> 00:16:33,039 you'll agree on, but think of all the possibilities it cause conflict. Think 213 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:37,039 of everything. Even though you don't want to be negative. I mean in 214 00:16:37,039 --> 00:16:40,720 your mind you don't want to be negative, you don't want to initiate an 215 00:16:40,759 --> 00:16:44,279 argument, but you need to think about all the possible conflicts that you could 216 00:16:44,279 --> 00:16:48,919 have and then write down pre ahead of time how you're going to to kind 217 00:16:48,919 --> 00:16:53,559 of create a roadmap if you're going to go to partnership route things like that. 218 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:57,799 Okay, and that can help you because it is lonely, but if 219 00:16:57,799 --> 00:17:00,240 you have somebody to share that with, it can help you. But that's 220 00:17:00,279 --> 00:17:07,839 another way to get started is if you happen to know somebody that's in another 221 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:11,200 trade that you can pull together and start a business together. It can be 222 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:17,640 beneficial obviously, but again be careful because partnerships don't always go very well. 223 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:23,039 Okay. The next thing to remember is everybody thinks that going into business is 224 00:17:23,079 --> 00:17:27,720 going to be that the American dream is to have a lot of money. 225 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:33,720 It's that's not the case, you usually have to have some operating capital, 226 00:17:33,759 --> 00:17:37,000 right, You're gonna have insurances, licenses, You're gonna need some money up 227 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,680 front. You know the old saying you can start something with nothing. That 228 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:44,519 that is not the case in business. Now you can go get a business 229 00:17:44,559 --> 00:17:48,039 license and pay twenty five bucks for a business license. You can do all 230 00:17:48,079 --> 00:17:52,799 that work and have that that license. Right, It's pretty easy to incorporate. 231 00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:56,880 I've incorporated my companies myself through the years. I've never used an attorney 232 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:00,000 for that. Now we have attorneys now for things, but I never used 233 00:18:00,039 --> 00:18:07,319 that. I did it all myself. It's pretty simple. But you gotta 234 00:18:07,599 --> 00:18:11,359 you have to remember that you have to have money to make money. You 235 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:15,240 have to have this starting seed, that's starting capital. Uh, you know, 236 00:18:15,319 --> 00:18:19,720 somebody willing to invest in you and help you do that type of thing. 237 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:30,640 So that that's kind of one of those those those areas where you you 238 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:33,680 need money in order to be able to be successful. Okay, So I 239 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:36,839 don't think you're gonna make money because you're going to be poor for a while. 240 00:18:37,319 --> 00:18:41,480 Dude, You're gonna have to budget yourself. You might need to get 241 00:18:41,559 --> 00:18:45,039 rid of things that are subscription programs that cost your money, gym memberships, 242 00:18:47,039 --> 00:18:51,400 maybe not eat out as much as you did before, be very frugal with 243 00:18:51,559 --> 00:18:56,119 the focus on what the goal is. What's the end goal? Well, 244 00:18:56,160 --> 00:19:02,240 the end goal is your business, your business, and it might mean that 245 00:19:02,279 --> 00:19:04,519 you sacrifice other things. And I know people out there say, I will 246 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:10,960 never sacrifice family and time overgrowing the business. But come on, I'm here 247 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:15,759 to to to be not Uncle Paul and tell you the reality. But I'm 248 00:19:15,759 --> 00:19:18,960 going to throw it in your face and I'm gonna tell you you're going to 249 00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:23,799 have to shun things that are going to stop your progress from being successful. 250 00:19:25,519 --> 00:19:26,960 I can tell you I I look at it all the time and go, 251 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:30,920 you know, I wish I had to spend more time with my family, 252 00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:33,720 my son growing up, you know, And we did. We did the 253 00:19:33,799 --> 00:19:40,319 vacations annually and did that stuff. But I was so business focused, and 254 00:19:40,839 --> 00:19:45,920 you know, and to this point, I would not be making and doing 255 00:19:47,039 --> 00:19:52,039 what I have today if it was not the focus early on. You can 256 00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:55,319 reap the benefits later. But I know, I hear people all the time 257 00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:59,000 say, well, I don't wouldn't sacrifice business for my family. Well, 258 00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:03,240 you're gonna have to kind of walk that type rope with it because it takes 259 00:20:03,279 --> 00:20:07,200 a lot to be successful, but you're gonna be poor for a while. 260 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:14,079 So when you do get successful, you will remember those hard times when you 261 00:20:14,119 --> 00:20:18,200 struggled. I remember, I remember back when I started my business ventures, 262 00:20:18,279 --> 00:20:22,119 my first business venture ever. Even though I had my electoral contracting businesses with 263 00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:26,000 my brother and then started my own, I also opened up a boarding kennel 264 00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:33,000 for dogs and then a grooming salon, and I was always in the entrepreneurial 265 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:37,640 mode. But that was a twenty four seven job. My wife literally ran 266 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:41,759 the kennels for me. She worked twenty four seven to take care of people's 267 00:20:41,799 --> 00:20:48,799 animals. And it is a lot of work and not a lot of reward. 268 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:53,039 And you know, people say, well, the reward was taking care 269 00:20:53,039 --> 00:20:57,160 of animals, that whatever makes you feel better, makes you feel warm and 270 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:00,160 fluffy inside. The reality is it a business. We were there to make 271 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:06,400 money, and so you know, I tell you things that other people won't 272 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:11,119 say because they're too politically correct, or they would for whatever reason. I'm 273 00:21:11,119 --> 00:21:17,880 being real. We're in business to make money, that's it, flat sure, 274 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:21,319 But you're going to be poor for a while, so you need to 275 00:21:21,319 --> 00:21:22,680 think about that going into business. You have to be frugal. You're not 276 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:25,839 going to be able to do the things you might do now when you have 277 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:30,519 expendable incomes cash that you're from working for somebody else. They take out the 278 00:21:30,559 --> 00:21:34,039 taxes, they do everything, and you just take the money. Just think 279 00:21:34,079 --> 00:21:38,559 about what is involved when you are, you know, working for yourself. 280 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:45,119 Okay. The next thing to think about is I am going to tell you 281 00:21:45,839 --> 00:21:52,400 that being in business for yourself is way less sexy than people portray it. 282 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:57,279 Right. I talk about this all the time with my brother. And again, 283 00:21:57,319 --> 00:22:02,279 I'm not here to sway any body from going into business. Okay, 284 00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:04,559 there's there are upsides to this, but these are things that somebody's got to 285 00:22:04,559 --> 00:22:07,559 tell you. And you still could press through and say, hey, I 286 00:22:07,599 --> 00:22:10,640 knew about all these things, but I still said, you know what, 287 00:22:11,559 --> 00:22:14,960 I'm going into business for myself. I'm going to make a name for myself. 288 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:18,640 But you gotta remember that you're gonna go through hard times. When you 289 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:25,000 see somebody that's successful, they don't necessarily always share the crap they had to 290 00:22:25,039 --> 00:22:30,160 go through, right, And when you write something out, you put numbers 291 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:33,160 on paper and you say, okay, I can do this, I can 292 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:40,079 do this I got it sounds really great, but it never really seems to 293 00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:45,359 pan out exactly how we script it on paper, and so you have to 294 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,559 work hard for it. But it looks it looks I mean, you know, 295 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:52,640 you might see where, oh this contractor general contractors offered me their business. 296 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:55,839 I'm working for somebody, but they say, look, if you leave, 297 00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:59,559 I'll give you all the business. That's still an egg's all one egg 298 00:22:59,559 --> 00:23:02,839 in the bath get scenario. You have to be thinking about the next plan 299 00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:06,720 where you're gonna go from that. Are you going to expand out and all 300 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:08,279 for other services? Are You're gonna work slowly, but at least you have 301 00:23:08,319 --> 00:23:11,759 some seed money coming in because somebody is hopefully going to guarantee you some work. 302 00:23:12,799 --> 00:23:17,240 That type of thing. So don't think it's sexy. It's it's it's 303 00:23:17,319 --> 00:23:21,200 it's too glamorous to be your own boss, because it's it's not. There's 304 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:26,839 been times where I'm like, screw it. So the next thing I will 305 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:30,160 tell you is that as your own boss, at some point, you are 306 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:34,279 going to doubt your abilities. You're gonna think that you're on top of the 307 00:23:34,319 --> 00:23:38,160 world. You're gonna think that you know everything about everything, and you're gonna 308 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,079 get into business and you're gonna get a project, you're gonna get something, 309 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:48,680 you're gonna get involved in something, and you're gonna find out that you don't 310 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:52,079 have the knowledge that you would like to have it now. For us, 311 00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:56,200 in that case, we see this a lot. This is this is why 312 00:23:56,640 --> 00:24:00,920 we offer electrical code related courses. People ask me why don't I offer hands 313 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:03,359 on and you know, hey, if there's anybody out there that wants to 314 00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:08,079 invest a couple of million dollars in a physical building here in Texas, I 315 00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:14,440 am more than happy to open up a physical hands on facility with your money, 316 00:24:14,759 --> 00:24:17,720 not with my money, but I will give you a lot of my 317 00:24:17,839 --> 00:24:22,440 time. And I think that it's still something needed. Although we do have 318 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:30,160 a great apprenticeship programs, the point being is thinking about you know, you're 319 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:34,240 going to run into something where your abilities are going to be challenged and you're 320 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:38,599 going to start doubting yourself. No, just get the education. That's why 321 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:42,759 we have people that doubt themselves electrically. They don't have the code knowledge, 322 00:24:42,799 --> 00:24:45,759 and what do they do? They get into our courses, and our courses 323 00:24:45,799 --> 00:24:51,119 flat out it's not a commercial. Our courses are like no other course. 324 00:24:51,559 --> 00:24:56,039 And you can say what you want, but I guarantee you go through our 325 00:24:56,160 --> 00:25:00,799 fast tracks programs, whether it's a residential, commercial, industrial, in the 326 00:25:00,839 --> 00:25:07,160 feedback that we give, you're gonna learn more in those exam prep the NC 327 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:10,640 fast Tracks Black, for example, it's not just for exam prep. We 328 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:14,200 have a lot of people in that program that just want to get a better 329 00:25:14,319 --> 00:25:17,400 understanding of the n EC. That's the reason they're in it. They're not 330 00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:21,599 in it to pass any exam. They know, they recognize that their knowledge 331 00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:26,960 is limited and they struggle. And so that's a good a good example. 332 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:30,720 They doubted their abilities and what do they do. They stepped up and they 333 00:25:30,759 --> 00:25:33,839 invested in something that's going to give them a better understanding. And that's kind 334 00:25:33,839 --> 00:25:38,599 of one of the reasons that I put together the program. The next thing, 335 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:45,240 you know, you will start to think that your troubles or your issues 336 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:48,519 or things that you have in business as you're starting out, you'll have you 337 00:25:48,559 --> 00:25:52,519 won't you won't you'll bid on jobs and you won't get it. You'll you'll 338 00:25:52,559 --> 00:25:56,200 have problems where something happens on a project and you're thinking, oh God, 339 00:25:56,279 --> 00:26:02,680 why me, I'm the only one, right, I must be targeted again. 340 00:26:02,839 --> 00:26:07,240 I must be some karma in another life. It's something Why am I? 341 00:26:07,319 --> 00:26:12,640 Why am I experiencing this heart ache or hardship or whatever as a business 342 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:17,759 owner? Okay, the reality is you're not alone. All of us have 343 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:21,599 experienced it, all of us. As a contractor, one of the things 344 00:26:21,599 --> 00:26:27,200 I hated the most was bidding process. I literally hated the bidding process with 345 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:32,759 a passion. Now I used a bidding software, but you know the old 346 00:26:32,839 --> 00:26:37,480 saying, crap in, crap out. You know, there's this fudge factor 347 00:26:37,559 --> 00:26:40,119 that you always try to come up with in case you don't want to get 348 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:41,079 screwed. You don't want to be too low, you don't want to be 349 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:45,519 too high. And then you start wondering why I didn't get the job. 350 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,880 And then you start thinking, damn, could I call them and say, 351 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:52,000 hey, can you for my feedback? I understand I didn't get the job, 352 00:26:52,559 --> 00:26:55,000 but for my feedback, could you tell me why I didn't get the 353 00:26:55,079 --> 00:26:59,119 job so I can learn from you know, And then you realize that people 354 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:03,599 are just fit. People will go with the lowest price, and your problem, 355 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:06,839 you know, doesn't necessarily mean they're gonna get bad quality. Uh, 356 00:27:07,039 --> 00:27:10,319 you know, maybe somebody gave a low price, they're a good contractor they 357 00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:14,000 just did not how to price their work and they beat you out. So 358 00:27:14,039 --> 00:27:17,119 you're gonna go through that. But don't think you're the only person that's ever 359 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:22,440 gone through those hardships. Okay, as rough as it will be, everybody's 360 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:26,519 gone through these hardships. I've gone through these hardships, and it's just, 361 00:27:29,039 --> 00:27:32,960 you know, it's just one of those things. Now, the next thing 362 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:41,039 is you will mourn, you will cry, you will you know, grown 363 00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:45,359 men do cry. Okay, you will go through something where you think, 364 00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:51,119 why the hell did I do this? It's not all peaches and cream. 365 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:55,240 Folks. Obviously being your own boss because everything's a burden on your shoulder. 366 00:27:55,319 --> 00:28:00,960 Your family is depending on it. But if you're hungry, no task is 367 00:28:00,079 --> 00:28:06,079 mundane, whether it's flyers in a neighborhood that you know that the homes were 368 00:28:06,079 --> 00:28:08,200 about ten years old, and you're doing a flyer that you door hang and 369 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:12,440 you got to do it yourself. When you're hungry, you do what you 370 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:17,119 need to do. That to me, that is a problem with this generation. 371 00:28:17,839 --> 00:28:22,039 And I'm not saying everybody you know as a whole. I'm just saying 372 00:28:22,039 --> 00:28:29,720 what I see in today's gin, whatever it is is everybody wants it, 373 00:28:30,599 --> 00:28:33,880 but they don't want to put in the nearly to put in the sweat equity 374 00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:40,880 that's necessary today. You know a guy a man to feed his family or 375 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:42,799 a woman. Well, you know, if if I had to feed my 376 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:47,680 family and all of my work that I put in, all the companies that 377 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:55,160 I have, were to go belly up, you know it's would I scrub 378 00:28:55,200 --> 00:29:00,200 toilets to feed my family? Absolutely? I would. It's not beneath me. 379 00:29:00,079 --> 00:29:03,480 It is not beneath me to do whatever I needed to do. And 380 00:29:03,519 --> 00:29:11,559 if you're the kind of business person that has things that you just will not 381 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:18,400 do right, then being an entrepreneur is really not for you. It's really 382 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:21,359 not. And I don't mean that to offend you make you feel bad, 383 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:23,359 it's really not. Stay where you're at, stay in your comfort zone. 384 00:29:25,039 --> 00:29:27,400 If you're not willing to get your hands dirty and get out there and hand 385 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:33,079 out business cards or or door hangers or or whatnot. I tell people a 386 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:37,680 story. I remember when I was a contractor. I used to go to 387 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:42,640 the home depot and lows and I would actually slide my business cards inside of 388 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:48,640 the boxes of ceiling fans and luminaires because it's you know, it's taped up, 389 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:52,519 but there's always this little sides or on the sides that are not taped 390 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:56,160 up, and you can slide it right in there so that when they open 391 00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:59,119 it from the top, your card will fall out right on top. You 392 00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:00,759 can't get it in the b but you just get it in the flaps, 393 00:30:00,839 --> 00:30:04,160 you know, push it in the flap. And people said, I can't 394 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:07,319 believe you do that, and I'm like, why not, dude, I'm 395 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:11,640 hungry. I'm hungry. I want my business to grow. And if you're 396 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:17,440 not hungry, then you're gonna have those days you know, where you're gonna 397 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:19,960 cry, You're just you're going to you're gonna wonder what the hell did I 398 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:23,839 do? But it's okay, we've all been there. I've been there. 399 00:30:25,359 --> 00:30:27,960 I've had my electrical contractor. But this is what I love about social media, 400 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:32,319 is it People would always say, Paul, you teach and you do 401 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:34,640 podcasts, you do videos, you consult around the country, but you never 402 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:40,319 got your hands dirty. You know. It's I guess it's at the point 403 00:30:40,359 --> 00:30:42,960 now where I kind of laugh at that, because you know, everybody's gonna 404 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:47,279 get in their fifties and sixties. Whatever you're doing now in your twenties and 405 00:30:47,319 --> 00:30:51,480 thirties, your life's gonna change. So I love to see that. I 406 00:30:51,559 --> 00:30:55,720 love to see the comments from the people on social media that you teach you 407 00:30:55,759 --> 00:31:00,799 can't do and they realize that electricity hasn't changed. It's the same electricity it 408 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:07,480 was when Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla was around. We have other technologies that 409 00:31:07,559 --> 00:31:10,880 emerged, but you know, the last I checked, brand circuits are run 410 00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:12,640 the same way. Feeders are run the same way. Switch gears installed the 411 00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:18,319 same way, panelboards installed to save the same way. Conductors are run the 412 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:21,240 same way. Cables are run the same ways. They're secured and supported the 413 00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:25,839 same ways. Race ways are bent the same way. There's nothing miraculous has 414 00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:30,920 changed. We all did it as an electrician. So to think that you're 415 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:36,079 greater than somebody else is kind of foolish. Really, you're gonna be that 416 00:31:36,119 --> 00:31:40,000 fifteen, sixteen seventy year old guys or gals someday, So grow up, 417 00:31:40,839 --> 00:31:45,240 right, Just grow up and realize that. Okay, So at the end 418 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:51,559 of the day, I've got the scars and the and the cuts to prove 419 00:31:51,599 --> 00:31:53,279 that I was in the industry. But I don't have anything to prove to 420 00:31:53,319 --> 00:31:56,200 anybody. All I want to do is pass on my knowledge and try to 421 00:31:56,200 --> 00:32:00,480 help somebody and offer resources. So you're in business for yourself or you want 422 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:06,119 to be in business for yourself, you know, just realize that it is 423 00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:07,960 going to be those hard days. There are going to be those hard days, 424 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:10,880 and just get used to it. Next. You know, as a 425 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:15,359 business owner or potential business owner, you're never gonna know what to expect. 426 00:32:15,359 --> 00:32:17,400 So don't think that you can create a game plan that's going to be perfect. 427 00:32:19,119 --> 00:32:22,960 Things are going to change all the time. You're gonna be positive and 428 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:24,920 then something's gonna drive you negative. You're gonna go up and down, up 429 00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:30,680 and down. It's gonna be a roller coaster ride. But realize that no 430 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:36,079 one step leads to another step, and you just have to keep putting one 431 00:32:36,119 --> 00:32:38,000 foot in front of the other and keep moving forward. That's all you gotta 432 00:32:38,039 --> 00:32:45,960 do. Also, you know, remember that mistakes are inevitable. You are 433 00:32:45,079 --> 00:32:52,319 going to make mistakes. You can't get around it. Business is a collection 434 00:32:52,359 --> 00:32:59,279 of mistakes. Success is built on many mistakes. Nobody's a success right out 435 00:32:59,279 --> 00:33:00,440 the gate. And if you are, you're an exception to the rule. 436 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:05,079 You're gonna make a mistake, You're gonna learn from that mistake, You're gonna 437 00:33:05,079 --> 00:33:07,599 move forward. You're not gonna make hopefully the same mistake again, but you 438 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:15,079 might. Okay, it just happens. The next thing I'll tell you is, 439 00:33:15,079 --> 00:33:19,240 look, do me a favor. If you ever have this desire to 440 00:33:19,279 --> 00:33:23,440 compare yourself with another company, another electrician, another trade, don't do it. 441 00:33:24,119 --> 00:33:31,119 Don't do it. Never compare yourself to somebody else because you don't understand 442 00:33:31,279 --> 00:33:36,240 their background, their training, what they've been through, and a lot of 443 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:43,279 people on the surface are nothing, are totally different beneath the surface, So 444 00:33:43,319 --> 00:33:49,480 a snapshot in time. So don't develop an opinion, don't develop something of 445 00:33:49,559 --> 00:33:52,880 somebody else based on what little knowledge you have of them, And don't look 446 00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:57,640 at somebody else's company and compare it to yours and things like that. It's 447 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:01,960 it's only going to serve to give you a downfall, to make you go 448 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:07,159 into that spiral of doubting yourself and being negative and all that. You're you, 449 00:34:07,159 --> 00:34:12,239 your individual. What you do is you. That's the beauty of being 450 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:15,199 your boss. That's the beauty of on your own company is that you get 451 00:34:15,199 --> 00:34:20,559 to set the tone, so you know, it doesn't matter if Johnny is 452 00:34:21,159 --> 00:34:23,679 uber successful. He might Johnny might have got to help along the way, 453 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:28,119 might have had a family that already had money, might have had a couple 454 00:34:28,119 --> 00:34:30,400 of contractors who invested in him early on, so he already had a leg 455 00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:35,000 up. And you're wondering why the hell I can't get jobs when Johnny over 456 00:34:35,039 --> 00:34:39,239 there is not as good as me in your mind, but they've got all 457 00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:43,880 the work they can handle. Don't let it eat you up because you don't 458 00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:46,639 know Johnny's situation. You don't know who gave Johnny a leg up. You 459 00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:50,679 don't know he was at the right place at the right time, with the 460 00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:54,639 right connections. Don't do that to yourself. It's just it's just gonna eat 461 00:34:54,679 --> 00:34:59,199 you up, tear you down. It's just not worth it, okay. 462 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:06,840 Another thing to remember is that going into business for yourself, it just may 463 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:10,599 not work okay, And there becomes a time when you'll have to make a 464 00:35:10,639 --> 00:35:16,079 decision whether or not it's time to say it doesn't work and go back to 465 00:35:16,119 --> 00:35:20,360 work for somebody else. And we we all know have been through that and 466 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:25,679 made that decision, and you just have to be ready to make that decision. 467 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:30,239 Now. The next thing that I tell you in business that I hear 468 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:35,559 all the time that I just it cringes me when people say this, and 469 00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:38,719 people that aren't really you know, the accountants and other people that don't know 470 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:43,360 your business say this all the time, but they say, always pay yourself 471 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:46,960 first. That's what they say, Always pay yourself first. I'm here to 472 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:52,800 tell you that's bullshit. Okay, that's bullshit. You pay your vendors, 473 00:35:52,800 --> 00:36:00,920 you pay your your accounts, you pay your expenses first. You always get 474 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:05,679 paid last if you're paying your expenses, and ultimately at the ends, you 475 00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:08,840 don't have enough money to pay yourself. That's why you need money to start 476 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:13,000 up. That's why you need to have money in the bank, because you're 477 00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:15,960 going to be spending more out than you're taking in. If you end up 478 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:19,840 paying yourself and you don't pay your vendors, it's not gonna be long before 479 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:23,800 you can't get any supplies. It's not gonna be long before you're a pariah 480 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:28,480 when it comes to the supply houses or the different vendors, and nobody's going 481 00:36:28,559 --> 00:36:30,960 to want to work with you right, and it's not gonna be long before 482 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:35,880 you're gonna find yourself hopping around to different vendors trying to find product and it 483 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:40,239 just doesn't work. It doesn't work. You have to pay your people, 484 00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:45,360 you have to pay your vendors, your supplier, you have to pay every 485 00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:50,079 your insurances. Everything has to be paid before you pay yourself. And I 486 00:36:50,159 --> 00:36:53,280 know accounts to say no, no, you gotta pay yourself first. I'm 487 00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:59,199 telling you they're full of shit. Don't listen to them. It's not gonna 488 00:36:59,199 --> 00:37:07,119 work in business, it's not. You have to pay your expenses first. 489 00:37:07,079 --> 00:37:13,159 You always get paid last. You know you're successful when you can pay all 490 00:37:13,159 --> 00:37:16,360 of your expenses and pay your salary to you or pay money to you. 491 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:22,159 And if the company has zero at the end of the month, after you've 492 00:37:22,199 --> 00:37:30,039 paid all of your expenses and paid your salary, then you're successful. You 493 00:37:30,119 --> 00:37:36,119 are so you know at the end of the day. You got to think 494 00:37:36,159 --> 00:37:39,119 of that type of mentality. But you can. You cannot pay yourself first. 495 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:45,440 I hear that all the time, and that is just I don't understand 496 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:51,079 it. I don't get it. The next thing to remember, being your 497 00:37:51,079 --> 00:37:53,400 own boss is and I would be remiss if I didn't say this. If 498 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:59,159 you already work somewhere now and you're moaning and groaning about the fact that you 499 00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:01,039 have to go in at a certain time and get off at a certain time, 500 00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:07,119 realize that when you're in business for yourself, you're twenty four seven, 501 00:38:07,159 --> 00:38:12,039 folks, really you are. You're not a nine to five or anymore. 502 00:38:12,519 --> 00:38:17,519 A business owner is working twenty four seven. You're working in your sleep because 503 00:38:17,559 --> 00:38:24,519 the processes that you set up in your company are are still going, still 504 00:38:24,559 --> 00:38:30,880 being done while you're sleeping. Right, If you're marketing, you're advertising that's 505 00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:35,519 out there, If you're doing the service work and all that stuff's out there, 506 00:38:35,599 --> 00:38:42,599 you're you're doing this even in your sleep. Okay, So you're working. 507 00:38:42,679 --> 00:38:45,119 And so if you're just used to Monday through Friday clocking in and the 508 00:38:45,119 --> 00:38:50,239 weekends are yours when you're starting the business, that's not how it's going to 509 00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:52,400 be. If somebody needs you on a weekend, you better do it now. 510 00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:54,679 If you say I am not doing that, I am only working, 511 00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:58,840 then you're going to struggle. And if you're okay with that struggle and you 512 00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:00,480 can make it past that struggle. And there's an exception to every rule, 513 00:39:01,039 --> 00:39:07,159 then you go for it. Okay, I'm just saying, Okay, you're 514 00:39:07,719 --> 00:39:12,280 you're you're. If you're used to your eight to four, seven to four, 515 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:16,440 whatever it is, you're working weekends off, then being an entrepreneur is 516 00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:20,559 not for you. You can do a little side hustle here and there. 517 00:39:20,599 --> 00:39:22,639 That's fine. As a little income helps pay a bill, that's fine. 518 00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:28,199 But being an entrepreneur and being in business and having all these burdens that you 519 00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:30,960 have to be aware of, people that depend on you and things like that, 520 00:39:31,079 --> 00:39:34,800 then you're not ready. And I would say, don't do it. 521 00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:38,559 Don't don't waste anybody, don't don't waste that time of your life struggling, 522 00:39:38,599 --> 00:39:43,719 because it can be a pit of hell, sitting at the bottom feeling like 523 00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:46,599 what the hell did I just do? If you're not willing to put that 524 00:39:46,639 --> 00:39:52,320 time in, don't do it. And as far as getting a good night's 525 00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:57,519 sleep starting off as an entrepreneur, business owner wanting to branch out on your 526 00:39:57,519 --> 00:40:00,440 own, you're not going to get good night's sleeps. Trust me, You're 527 00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:05,719 gonna be laying there and you want to lay there with your eyes closed with 528 00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:08,519 nothing flowing through your mind. But You're not going to be able to stop 529 00:40:08,559 --> 00:40:13,440 it. All kinds of craps going to be flowing through your mind while your 530 00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:17,159 eyes are closed trying to get to sleep. And you know, maybe you're 531 00:40:17,159 --> 00:40:20,920 one of those guys that can close your eyes and boom, you're off. 532 00:40:21,119 --> 00:40:25,559 I'm not. When I lay down. I have so much stuff replaying in 533 00:40:25,599 --> 00:40:30,599 my mind because my mind is always thinking, and so it makes it tough. 534 00:40:30,679 --> 00:40:37,800 I do suffer from occasions of insomnia and being a diabetic, I have 535 00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:42,079 issues with sleep. But you know, through the years, it's been stress 536 00:40:42,159 --> 00:40:45,079 as a business, a project that's not completed yet, maybe I have a 537 00:40:45,079 --> 00:40:47,880 timeline that I have to complete it or I'm gonna get a penalty. Different 538 00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:51,840 things that I've encountered. Affects your sleep. You're not going to get a 539 00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:54,800 good sleep now. As you get on and become successful, yeah, things 540 00:40:54,840 --> 00:41:00,119 will change for you, but early on, just be prepared, okay. 541 00:41:00,639 --> 00:41:04,800 And I remember, if you build it. A lot of people say if 542 00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:09,039 you build it, they will come. They might not come, but again 543 00:41:09,639 --> 00:41:15,199 or how relentless are you? I can tell you myself. I put if 544 00:41:15,239 --> 00:41:16,920 I started in the business, the first thing that I would do is electrical 545 00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:19,719 contract Let me. Let me explain what I would do. And I'm not 546 00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:22,599 talking plumbing mchannal. That's their own deal. But as a contractor, if 547 00:41:22,599 --> 00:41:27,599 I wanted to get into contracting, I would start out me doing service. 548 00:41:28,159 --> 00:41:30,559 I would get a work truck if ID out what I could afford. If 549 00:41:30,559 --> 00:41:37,039 already had a truck, that's great, I would put magnet mounts on it 550 00:41:37,079 --> 00:41:38,840 because I'm a big believer in professionalism, at least having your name on your 551 00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:44,079 company. Obviously, get the licenses and permitting that you need per your state 552 00:41:44,119 --> 00:41:47,760 and locality or whatever. Follow the rules. But if I was a licensed 553 00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:52,599 contractor and I just got into it, service work is the easiest to get 554 00:41:52,599 --> 00:41:54,800 started in. Although it's a trickle effect. It doesn't start up right away. 555 00:41:54,840 --> 00:42:00,239 But you can go to things like Vista Print and get good door hangers. 556 00:42:00,599 --> 00:42:07,039 And I always search for neighborhoods that have a good supply of houses that 557 00:42:07,079 --> 00:42:09,920 you can cover them by just walking the neighbor neighborhood. You can pay some 558 00:42:10,039 --> 00:42:13,639 kids to do it for you, you can get family members to help. 559 00:42:14,039 --> 00:42:19,519 But get the door hangers. Offer a special target those things that you know 560 00:42:19,559 --> 00:42:22,159 the homes need, like ceiling fans, luminaires, chains, fix that broken 561 00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:29,639 switch or receptacle, all those little things. Freshen up your house. By 562 00:42:29,639 --> 00:42:32,239 adding all new luminaires, it makes a difference in the look. And YadA, 563 00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:37,360 YadA YadA. You can add ring, you know, Ring cameras and 564 00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:44,519 ring whatever you want. Automated systems, you know, Alexa stuff and all 565 00:42:44,519 --> 00:42:46,840 that. But you can go around the neighborhood and door hang these things and 566 00:42:46,920 --> 00:42:52,199 realize it's a slow trickle. It is with apps now like next door. 567 00:42:52,519 --> 00:42:55,400 And my point is you got to be aggressive. And if you're aggressive, 568 00:42:55,559 --> 00:43:00,440 you can start out and make a good income on it. But you have 569 00:43:00,519 --> 00:43:07,039 to start okay. And just remember there is no such thing as an overnight 570 00:43:07,119 --> 00:43:10,880 success story. You can get all the help you want in the world. 571 00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:14,800 You can get somebody who wants to invest in you. Ultimately, at the 572 00:43:14,880 --> 00:43:16,840 end of the day, it's all on your shoulders and you have to make 573 00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:23,280 that decision. Remember, being an entrepreneur is not for everybody. We need 574 00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:28,920 leaders and we need followers. There's nothing wrong with a follower. You're working 575 00:43:28,960 --> 00:43:31,079 for somebody. You're happy to get the payroll, you're pleased with it, 576 00:43:31,199 --> 00:43:35,599 you're content, you're making enough for your family. Maybe you have a dual 577 00:43:35,679 --> 00:43:37,480 income family where the wife is bringing in money and you're bringing in money and 578 00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:44,840 you're happy. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But don't think that 579 00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:49,239 going into business for yourself is an instinct success. You're gonna make money. 580 00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:54,199 I'll give you an example. My son is a pool cleaner and he works 581 00:43:54,199 --> 00:43:59,719 for somebody, and he thinks that he'll immediately wants to be in his own 582 00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:01,400 busines in this cleaning polls that he's gonna make money for himself and he's going 583 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:04,440 to be an instant success. And I have to remind him. I'm like, 584 00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:07,840 you got no customers. You can't poach your customers or your company because 585 00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:12,199 you're not touching enough of them. You might be doing ten service calls a 586 00:44:12,280 --> 00:44:16,440 day, but that's not going to sustain you, and you can't. It's 587 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:22,079 not right to poach their business. That just wouldn't be morally right. So 588 00:44:22,119 --> 00:44:23,599 how are you going to get these customers? So you're gonna go from a 589 00:44:23,639 --> 00:44:30,840 guaranteed income to zero income and you have no nest egg. I'm not willing 590 00:44:30,880 --> 00:44:34,159 to invest in you. You don't have the experience for me to invest in. 591 00:44:34,159 --> 00:44:37,440 You're on my own son. But I'm not investing in you. I 592 00:44:37,519 --> 00:44:42,239 only invest in people that have three and four years of experience in something that 593 00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:45,599 I know. I've had people come to me for electrical contracting and want me 594 00:44:45,639 --> 00:44:50,239 to help them out, and I will help them out, but at the 595 00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:53,199 end of the day, I need to see that commitment. And no, 596 00:44:53,320 --> 00:44:58,920 I'm by no means shark tank. But I have helped people. I've given 597 00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:01,920 up to ten grand to a contractor to help them out, whether it's for 598 00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:06,760 tools or whatever it was. And don't all you people start emailing me for 599 00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:12,039 that help. I'm just saying I've done it, and you know, and 600 00:45:12,400 --> 00:45:16,280 luckily so far they've been successful and I got my money back. And I 601 00:45:16,320 --> 00:45:19,960 didn't do it to make a bunch of money. I did it to help 602 00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:25,840 people get started. Reality is, I'm not investing in and you know, 603 00:45:25,880 --> 00:45:30,320 I wasn't investing in my son, for example, because he hasn't really not 604 00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:35,840 put in the work, put in the work to be successful. He just 605 00:45:35,880 --> 00:45:37,920 thinks, immediately you go into business for yourself and you're gonna have this this 606 00:45:38,239 --> 00:45:44,239 your money's gonna change. It's not gonna change, it's gonna get worse. 607 00:45:44,599 --> 00:45:47,760 I've got no money coming in now. And if you're not willing to hustle, 608 00:45:50,039 --> 00:45:51,880 you know, I could tell he didn't like to get up in the 609 00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:53,480 morning, he hated getting out of bed. He wouldn't do anything you asked 610 00:45:53,559 --> 00:45:57,360 him to do, so I knew that he wasn't the kind of person who 611 00:45:57,400 --> 00:46:02,360 was going to run out indoor hang and hustless to earn it. I don't 612 00:46:02,400 --> 00:46:07,400 invest in people like that. I'm sorry. I have scraped and hustled my 613 00:46:07,440 --> 00:46:09,800 whole life for my businesses. Like I said, if I lost everything, 614 00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:15,679 I'm cleaning toilets, right, I'm bear handing it, folks. If I 615 00:46:15,719 --> 00:46:21,320 need to feed my family, that's the difference. If that's you, then 616 00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:24,800 greeting an entrepreneur. Owning your own contracting business is great. It's a lot 617 00:46:24,840 --> 00:46:29,760 of upsides to it. But I wanted to make you aware of the downsides. 618 00:46:29,800 --> 00:46:31,639 It's not to be the Debbie downer. It's just to make you aware. 619 00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:36,880 Trust me, there are beautiful sides to being your own boss. Right. 620 00:46:37,239 --> 00:46:39,320 Just remember that it's an equal thing here. You're gonna have the down 621 00:46:39,400 --> 00:46:43,639 with the good. You can't just make a schedule where I'm going to work 622 00:46:43,639 --> 00:46:46,639 this and this and this until you become very successful at it and have other 623 00:46:46,679 --> 00:46:52,280 people that you can cover those areas you're going to be struggling and just realize 624 00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:54,599 that's just part of it. But if you're hungry and that's what you want, 625 00:46:55,000 --> 00:47:00,320 by all means, there is something beautiful about the American dream. Owning 626 00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:04,559 your own company, doing your own thing, setting your own tone, willing 627 00:47:04,599 --> 00:47:08,480 to take all those burdens on your shoulders, press forward and become a success. 628 00:47:09,280 --> 00:47:15,639 Not everybody's going to succeed, but those that do there's definitely a pot 629 00:47:15,639 --> 00:47:17,480 of gold at the end of that rainbow. All Right, folks, Hopefully 630 00:47:17,599 --> 00:47:21,880 got something out of the day's podcast. It's not like my normal podcasts. 631 00:47:21,960 --> 00:47:24,760 Hopefully the person that I'm talking to out there that sent me that email, 632 00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:29,079 hopefully you got something out of this. Hopefully it was inspirational to you. 633 00:47:30,519 --> 00:47:32,320 Again, I'm here if you need me. I have been doing this for 634 00:47:32,360 --> 00:47:37,079 over thirty two years. I have owned companies good and bad. Okay, 635 00:47:37,119 --> 00:47:42,039 I lost nearly a million dollars in a company that I invested in years ago, 636 00:47:43,800 --> 00:47:47,519 and most people can google it was Radio pet one of the first underground 637 00:47:47,519 --> 00:47:52,440 pet fencing companies out there, and I lost my ass on that. And 638 00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:57,800 you know, and so at the end of the day, I've I've been 639 00:47:57,920 --> 00:48:02,920 up and I've been down. I've lived in a in a room a building 640 00:48:04,719 --> 00:48:07,679 with a grooming salon, trying to run an electoral contracting business, and at 641 00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:13,360 night pull out a mattress out of the closet and sleep on the floor in 642 00:48:13,480 --> 00:48:17,519 the commercial building because I couldn't afford an apartment with my wife, because I 643 00:48:17,559 --> 00:48:22,760 was hungry. I was growing my contracting business. We were trying to grow 644 00:48:22,800 --> 00:48:28,719 the grooming salon and a boarding kennel, and people believed in me enough to 645 00:48:28,760 --> 00:48:30,440 help me get started. But they did, but it didn't bring income right 646 00:48:30,480 --> 00:48:35,960 away. But I had to sleep. It was easier to buy a mattress. 647 00:48:36,400 --> 00:48:38,320 There was a wall separating the front part of the back part, so 648 00:48:38,360 --> 00:48:44,360 you couldn't see behind it. So I we slept in our businesses. We 649 00:48:44,519 --> 00:48:49,880 took baths in the dog tubs. Okay, I've been there, Okay, 650 00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:53,760 been there. Luckily, my electric contracting took off, my consulting took off, 651 00:48:53,800 --> 00:48:57,360 our kennel and all took It got better. It did get better. 652 00:48:57,760 --> 00:49:02,519 I never gave up. And if you've got that tenacity and you're willing to 653 00:49:02,519 --> 00:49:06,840 push forward, you can be successful to trust me. You can do it 654 00:49:07,119 --> 00:49:09,199 all right, folks. Until next time, I hope you got something out 655 00:49:09,239 --> 00:49:13,960 of it. Till be safe, God bless, love one another, and 656 00:49:14,239 --> 00:49:38,639 I'll see you in the next episode. Let's ask Paul Baska, ask Ball.