On today's episode of Gathering the Kings. I can explain to customers why they should use us. I'm good at the sales part of it. And to some degree, you know, I'm good at understanding our team and and what they're good at, but it was taking that step back to say, oh, no one's happy killing herself to make No more in profit just to say that we're a bigger company.
You are listening to Gathering the Kings with Chaz Wolfe, featuring fellow 78 and even 9 figure business owners who have real battle scars from business and life, but have prevailed as the king that they are designed to be. We welcome high performing entrepreneurs to the stage in order to reveal the reel of the reel. On what it takes to build a successful business today. Success and how you too can get there.
Through this dialogue, you will learn the value of growing your network and surrounding yourself with power players and keys like today's guest. Grab your pen and notebook because we're about to dive in. What's up, everybody? I'm Chaz Wolfe. Gathering the king's podcast. I'm your host. I've got Jordan. I'm in here on the king stage. My brother, Jordan. How are you? Good, Chaz. How are you, my friend? I'm doing well, man. We just we had our own little mini podcast without recording it.
You and I just now chatting about podcasts. And and you've started one since since, like, us inviting you, which is kinda cool. And so I wanna I wanna learn about all the things that you're doing. You got a couple of different businesses. I'm really excited for this opportunity to chat with you. So tell us what kind of business that you got, brother. Yeah, man. Appreciate the invite. Happy to be here. But, though, it kinda goes way back.
Growing up, my family, my my dad had a work in a plumbing company that was owned by my uncle at the time. Okay. And my dad was like a serial entrepreneur. Right? So growing up, I would work with him doing plumbing calls. I remember doing calls where I was, like, eight years old. Yep. But then he had a car lot. He had a sawmill business. So I spent summers growing up playing in the sawmill pile, like sawdust piles while he was cutting wood. Oh, yeah.
So the story starts, you know, kind of from being a kid growing up with him. Seeing He was always running businesses. So and when I was like in high school, he ended up buying the plumbing business from my uncle. So he ran it for, like, 12 years. So I did it for the summers in high school through college, worked there, and I knew for a fact that's not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I knew I did not wanna be, you know, a plumber.
So went to school, went to grad school, got a master's degree in accounting, worked in corporate finance for a few years. And then it kinda got to a point where my parents wanted to retire. I wanted to just take a step back. And Yeah. The the business, the plumbing business that we had Chaz such a good name. It's been in that community for so long that You know, he was kinda looking to to to sell it and there's, you know, great value there.
And I kinda he we talked about it because I stayed involved even as I was in finance because we would talk about things, especially on the technology side, whether it be the website or, you know, integrations with accounting and things like that. But I I knew all these people that worked there. They've been there for some 40 years. Wow. Some 20 years. So, like, I grew up with these people.
And the idea of a venture capital firm or even just another person coming and buying that business and and you don't then know what's gonna happen to those people that you grew up with. Yeah. Yeah. It it it just didn't sit well with me. And so we we just got to talking over the course of a few months where it was like, you know, he kinda asked if I'd be interested in in buying in with them. And kinda running it so that they could retire in a transition.
Yeah. Talk to my wife about it, and we did that. So in 2020, We we we we bought in and and partnered with my parents now, which are re you know, we kinda talked through different scenarios, but it's worked out really well. I think in my mind, and We talk almost every day now. My dad and I, just about business or whatever he's doing in Florida. But so we have the the plumbing business. Whenever I bought it, we expanded into multiple locations and also into multiple trades.
Now we do plumbing, heating, and air, and electrical. Wow. And then in 2021, or the main supplier we used got bought out, the two guys that we used the most, like the actual sales rep that we had the biggest relationship with kinda went off on their own and started a business. A few months in, I think they kinda hit some some struggles, and they approached us and asked if we'd wanna buy it.
So I saw it as an opportunity to, a, get some inventory management, but then, b, have the expertise of these guys that that knew so much. So now we have the plumbing business, and we also have the supply business that kinda does our our inventory and things like that. So I mean, that was a long story about what the businesses are, but Under the Simon Home Services umbrella, we have the the home services, and then we also have the supply business as well. Yeah. That's great.
I mean, I think that there's a natural, you know, integration there just, you know, going forward in the process or going, you know, after in the process and You've done both after in the process is, okay. Well, once we service their their plumbing needs, what else can we help them with? Let's add on these other services and and then going backwards in the process. Wolfe, Where do we get our stuff from? What happens before or even us? Well, we gotta get the product.
So I think that that's really cool that you've expanded, in both ways for your for your business. It's a conglomerate at this point. You know, you got a family. You got a decade multiple decade scenario in families. And and now you've expanded in in a couple different ways. I wanna get into more of the story and kinda how you've done Chaz, but for you particularly, before we jump into that, I wanna know your why. I mean, your your 2nd generation.
It's kinda like the 3rd iteration in your family of business, but 2nd generation. And, there's a reason why you're pushing because even even when we were not recording, you were talking about, you know, some other cool things that you do, and you're starting a podcast and and some consulting stuff as well. And it's like, you know, some of this stuff that keeps you pushing.
But even though you had all this success already, you just told me how you expanded into other verticals, into other trades, and you bought another company and all this stuff. Why are you still pushing so hard? What what what what gives you the juice? Well, you know, in the podcast, I talked to somebody one time and they use analogy of, like, you know, we go to the gym and we work out. And then once we get to a certain weight, we don't just say, well, I beat the gym and I stopped. Right?
Like, there's this pursuit of always kinda getting to the best version of yourself. Right. And for me, I wanted to create not necessarily the biggest business or or make the most money, but I wanted to create a framework where people want to come work for us where we're known as, you know, just a Chaz expert in our field, but then also, like, we take care of our people. We take care of our community, kinda like that that beacon in our in our area.
For me, that ended up expanding into to other things, you know, whether it be helping other small businesses because when I worked in corporate finance, you kinda get to see some processes procedures that these huge corporations use. And it's like, well, why can't the small mom and pop business use that as well. So how can I help you use strategic planning and different accounting operations to help, you know, streamline your business?
So then it just became a, yeah, we built this this framework, but that's now allowed us to spread that to other people. So the, you know, from the podcast where we get to tell stories or or hear stories from other people to share with others to actually gonna start. I didn't mention this earlier, but a training program as well. So they're in West Virginia. There there wasn't an accredited plumbing apprenticeship No. Program, and then you have a trade school.
So I reach out to trade schools to to talk about it, and it's like, I I don't know. You can hit all this red tape. I'm like, well, I'll just do it myself. So we actually started I I started the Mountain State Trade Academy that's gonna allow for people to go through an apprenticeship program, whether that's our people or just anybody that wants to learn learn the trade. So at at this point, it's more about, like, what can we do to keep kind of growing and and helping more people?
Yeah. I love the perspective there of not only Chaz this Wolfe your problem, right, because if you can help more people get certified, then it helps you grow. Right? But inevitably, you're helping more people, and that's the focus. And I think even bigger than that, it's a problem. Like, it's just a problem that exists. And you said, hey. If if y'all can't do it, let me take care of it. Alright. Put it put it right here. I got big shoulders. I gotta take care of it. Right? It does.
Yeah. I mean, Tran, and even from a I hope to expand it beyond that because I was talking to other trade schools that did the same thing in different states. I talked to one in in New Hampshire, the greatest state trade academy, and they were talking about, like, these YouTube videos or channels that they use to help train people. And then one was called, like, the HVAC school. So let's start doing some research. The plumbing school didn't exist.
So it's like, well, then I'll start the plumbing school dotcom too. So then we can hopefully take it beyond just you know, a a true accredited apprenticeship to help anybody that's let me learn something more about what's going on in my home or in my business or, you know, anything with the plumbing in in the in the building. I love it.
Yeah. You're you're you're hitting on all the right things, man, because, you know, eventually, what what seems to help a certain group of people can now also affect so many others. And and just to bring it always back to, you know, this this king mindset. This is what a king does. You know, it's not just There's one individual pursuit, there's one business or my just my family or or, you know, it it's not about myself. It's about, okay. So here's my talents.
Here's my influence and my impact, and I want it to be as big as possible, which then all ties back to what you're saying, which is you becoming the best version of yourself, even though you may have hit already of a pinnacle, it seems like maybe the most. There's still so much room when you have this awareness of, like, man, There's just so much more we can get done. There's so much more influence or impact that you can have. It it almost feels like what you've done isn't even anything. Right?
Do you feel that way too? Oh, yeah. For sure. But then I, you know, I as I've gotten older and I had kids myself, I'd go back to these lessons that my dad would teach me growing up and One thing I always talked about was stewardship. So, you know, even biblically speaking, like, the money, the things that we have, we are just stewards of. And I've really taken that to heart with the business. Like, it's not mine.
It's just what we have to be able to provide for, you know, all these employees and their families. So Yeah. I take it as my responsibility to make it the best that it can be as big as it can be so that we can help those people because I'm a steward for that. I love that, man. I I haven't I haven't made our core values and for gathering the king's public necessarily, but one of them is that we're rural stewards. And this this mindset right here, this this word, Stewart, is very unique to me.
And oftentimes used in in maybe more of a a faith based scenario, but the principle of it is Kingley. The principle of it is it's lack of self. It's you have to you have to think of others, which is the very heart of, you know, a father or a king, a servant. Right? Like, yes. I have this power and this authority, but but I'm using it in the way to be able to help others. And that's what stewardship is. It's like, man, I've been given all of this.
In this case, a business or influence or my son or a marriage or whatever. All these things that are connected to me, man, how can I then turn and do it well? Take care of them well. Push into them Wolfe. Build them well. All of those things. Right? Yeah. And and what I tell the team is, like, I don't I've never really been about, like, hierarchy. So instead of a pyramid, it's kind of like an inverse where the point myself being at the is the the the support system.
I'm here to support you to help you do your job as best as possible. If I'm not doing that, then I'm not doing my job. So it's to me, it's upside down in the sense of if you're at the top, you're there to to help support your team or whoever it is that's that's working with you. Exactly. Yeah. I've heard it also said, like, it's my job to make your job better, easier, you know, more fulfilling, you know, all of that.
I think that that that the all those that kinda play into that same mindset of of taking what we have and then being able to serve others through it. I think once you once your team, tell me what you think about this.
Once your team gets a hold of that also and it's not just them being served or supported, right, but them taking that same stewardship mentality or even just a servant heart and being able to press into their fellow coworkers, the clients, of course, their families, their communities, their church, like Chaz same king mindset. When you can kinda trickle that down even now you have, like, this multiplier of, like, Wolfe.
When we walk by this business or when we walk by this person's house or when we interact with this individual, Wolfe, it's different. You know? Yeah. And I think that's one thing that maybe I've struggled with is is getting that that same passion for that mission to every individual. And I think everybody, to some degree, struggled with that. Right? I mean, because they're they don't own the business.
They're not gonna and they shouldn't work as hard as you do, but getting them to understand what we do. Like, people can when you're a plumber, it's not always an easy, an easy day on the job. Right? I mean, you may be doing something that smells bad or it's cold outside or it's hard work. I always thought about it when I was in the field of, like, I'm I'm helping someone with their most valuable asset, and it's their their home.
So I get a chance to come into their home and be someone that does something for somebody rather than just thinking about it like, well, I gotta go do this crappy thing. Yeah. It's true. It's true. When you change your perspective, really in life, like, when you when you can make that shift to value, that's when you become more valuable.
Usually, that's when you make more money, usually when you grow up business, like, all those mindset shifts that we that we go through over the course of time, whether it be an employee, I can think of when I was an employee and I made that shift to how can I become more valuable? Well, I I I take this task of going and, you know, unclogging this drain seriously because, man, I get to help this family here today. So that changes my attitude when I walk in the room.
And I and I interact with the client. I'm, hey. Hello. How are you? And and maybe I'm pointing out different things in the home that I think are really cool, and I'm I'm having this experience because I wanna be valuable in in return Chaz obviously I become more valuable to the business even. So I think there's an encouraging there for for all of, you know, even team members listening as well. I wanna go into your story here a little bit.
So So you come in, you know, you say I don't wanna be a plumber. Yep. But here you are. You buy a plumbing company. And, of course, you've made some other purchases of sense, but Give us a little bit of the journey. Like, what was the 1st couple of years like? You bought bought a red for COVID. Like, just give us a little bit of that kinda you getting started story. Yes. I mean, like I said, it was there was already a really good base to the business.
We already had really good market penetration. It's a relatively smaller community, and we've been around for 40 years. So Yeah. In my mind, there was only two ways to grow. We could spread and cover more area, or we could go into different trades. I'm like, well, we'll just try a little bit of both. I mean, that's kinda what I explained to the team the first time we had, like, a meeting the transition. It's like, here's, you know, you guys have built this great business.
Here's my plan for the future. We're gonna do those 2 things. So we kind of started with just one location that's about an hour from our our main planet grew relatively rapidly. And I think that The I underestimated how easy the growth would be, especially in that industry where it's Everybody has these problems. And a lot of times, the issue is finding people to do it. Yeah. So even made the mistakes of growing too quickly and and then we're gonna put a pot. Yeah. Put a pause on it.
So, yeah, between but but then you have to have the framework too to to manage different locations. That changes your business entirely. Oh, yeah. And, you know, it's I've heard other people talk about it. Like, what there's a book. Right? What got you here won't get you there? That's right. Where it's like just because you've got a business to to $1,000,000. The difference between a $1,000,000 and a $10,000,000 business is a lot of different things. It's not just doing more of the same stuff.
Right. Exactly. Try to figure out what those things are and how to grow profitably in in a in a manageable way has been the the struggle. Yeah. Especially if you're adding in the dynamic of of a a whole another location that's separate from your current business is different from taking one physical location and going, you know, to 5 or 10,000,000 as opposed to now now we're gonna create separate locations. That's a whole another thing. I didn't know this myself.
I did the same exact thing with franchising. I skipped over from I had some locations in Kansas and Missouri, and then I skipped way over to Florida. And at the time, people, even in the franchise system, were like, why are you doing this? Are you nuts? Was just thinking, why would I not? It's Florida. Like, now now I get to go to the beach, which, you know, I think I've been to that beach two times. You know? The but the reality is is that, like, there's a whole another dynamic.
Now I I appreciate that business. It is one of the best business decisions I've ever made. However, that dynamic of another location that I can't get to within an hour even. Yeah. No. So how do you do that? The management style. You know? Yeah. How did you for how did you transition to doing a remote management? Because I think that's All kinds of fun stuff there. And and I have to give you a 240 episodes in now, and you're the you're the first guest that has has turned this back on me.
So I'm gonna answer the question, but we're gonna get right back to you, Don. Okay. Yeah. So in that, there there is a whole another level of management, obviously. Right? So for me, it's a store level. You know, same thing probably with a with a service company. You have to have some sort of an off manager or a GM depending upon the the the structure of the business of the physical location. And then I had another level of someone managing the individual managers.
And so you just it's all it really is. We know this from corporate America because that's but you and I both know this. You just you just keep going up and you have a regional person and then a director and then and then the director of the directors and then the VP, and it just it just keeps going. So that's probably the biggest difference.
And then having systems, obviously, those things just become so much more important ways to track production, making sure Chaz people have what they need to feel supported. All those things, but it just gets heightened because it's like, man, we're separated at a big at a big level here. I can't just get you to you today, which is probably the biggest blessing at the same time. So I'll I'll give this to you as well as all the other listeners.
The the the 2 the 2 franchises that always did better from a management perspective were the ones that weren't in the city that I lived. And it's because I was forced to run them in a specific way. They they couldn't just call me and me run to save the day. I had to create other solutions so that they still could call somebody if if, you know, because things go wrong. It's a business. It's not like it's not like things go smoothly all the time.
So I had to create other solutions because I knowing that most business owners like me are just fix it type people. That's what we are. We're we're we're we're problem solvers. And so if you call me with the problem and I can go fix it, then I'm gonna go fix it, which a problem if you're trying to grow and scale. You can't do that. You know what I mean? No. That was that was our challenge too because we were so used to everybody's in one building.
They're used to going to the owner and saying, hey. Fix this problem for me. It's like, well, we got and if we're going to scale, we have to get out of that. And, yeah, that was Certainly, the biggest challenge. And what's different, not to mitigate franchising, but there are somewhat a little bit more rigidity around the processes and procedures. Yep. So for us, we were just a my dad was on the verge of retirement. Wasn't really he didn't care if there was procedures in place.
It was like, we we do it this they well, they've had success. Why do we need to change what we're doing? Exactly. So that's been the thing. And a big focus of 2023 for me is gonna be let's actually put down in writing some of these processes and procedures because now we're to a point where there's, you know, a different structure and a different dynamic. And Yeah. I was afraid. So, like, specifically, I said I didn't like hierarchy. So I didn't really wanna give people specific titles.
Even myself, I don't have a title with the business because to me, we're all kinda working together. What that created was a sense of nobody knew who to go to. Yep. A 100%. I didn't I didn't realize this until it's I it's I'm big on talking to all the employees individually, but Yeah. And they started telling me, like, well, I don't really know who's my boss and who do I go to? I'm like, Oh, well, that actually makes sense.
I just I was thinking nobody wanted to be, you know, below or above, but then there was no solutions. Yeah. I mean, so I've learned a lot in a short amount of time. Yeah. I think all that's super vulnerable. I hope the listener is paying close attention because you've got 22 business owners that have had similar struggles in different industries, but we're talking about really the same thing. And as people management, it's systems, it's being able to create something repeatable.
And so, obviously, for for you. You didn't have problems getting the jobs. Right? You said, like, we got the work, and we grew faster than I thought. It's just the implementation. So you've got the client journey that's in there. You've got how your ex like, how people are experiencing you, which comes down training, which comes down to SOPs, which comes down to this repeatable process.
And so there's a lot of work that has to be done in that, especially if you got this old business you know, that's everybody's just been kinda doing the same thing for a while, and it and especially if it's all up here. One quick thing I'll give to you, and I'll give it to the list as well because there's new AI out there now. So take a video of you explaining this process or maybe it's someone on your team, even better. Right? Like, this person does this task. Okay. Great. Get on get on Zoom.
Hit the record button or use Loom. Record it. Put it into a editing software. You've got a podcast. You know what I'm talking You could throw it into an editing software. It'll transcribe it for you, take the transcription, throw that into OpenAI, and say create you know, the step by step process based on this transcript. Boom. Now you have a written format within 30 seconds of what came out of the video. So you put the video, and then the written steps in a folder.
And then whenever anybody needs to be trained on that deal, you gotta now a written and a video form of training and an SOP right there. Boom. I I can't believe I never thought of that. That's that's right. I like that. Super easy. Super easy. So, alright. Back to you. Oh, I like Chaz. I like the back and forth because it helps me and I'm sure helps the listeners to hear your insights on your business because, obviously, you found success as well. So Yeah. It's good stuff, man.
I appreciate you being willing to even ask. I wanna know of a good decision. So you've you've been in this role, especially as a second generation. Like, I think there's so many guys like me, 1st generation Chaz hope to one day maybe be in business with my kids. I would just love that. What's a good decision that you've made since taking over Chaz you could look back and go like, oh, this this thing right here, I'd do it over and over again. What is it? What can we learn?
Think There's there's several in there, but I wouldn't say it's like it's kinda hard to place it on one exact thing, but it's around the idea of, like, efficiency. So k. Yep. Starting so, like, I because I came from the corporate finance, they had structures and processes to identify different it's called KPIs. Yep. To see what's being successful. We weren't doing that before.
And one thing that I'm gonna backtrack again here, but when I worked in the business, I always felt like, you know, well, dad should do things this way. Like, I could do you it's easy to think that when you're just sit in a different chair. And then once you're once you're on, you're like, oh, crap. I see exactly why. There's a lot of moving pieces here. Or it's like, well and and not that one person's way of doing it.
Like, if someone bought the business, they may do it completely different, not that it's wrong, it's just different. Yeah. So it was around, let's actually implement some some data collection so we can make decisions. And then we started to see what type of work actually made us the most money. Yeah. What type of work, you know, was really just keeping guys busy, but was it? So the decision around, let's use technology. It was an expense. Right? To do it and to start to track it.
But let's actually find out where we need to improve what we're doing Wolfe. From a true numbers perspective, not just what feels right or what feels good, but what is actually driving the the growth and the revenue and the profit at the end. To to give a follow-up question to Chaz. When you found that, you know, a drain clog versus a new shower install, I don't know. When you had this list of like, okay. Here's, you know, it's always the 80 20. Right?
Like, 80% of our revenue comes from from these tasks here. And, you know, the rest come from over here. Did you press into the things that you weren't doing very well or not very much of? Because you felt like there was more opportunity there, or did you press more into, like, to get rid of those and only do these things. What was your what was your take there? So, well, there's a little bit of a dichotomy here.
It was a good decision to track it, but then I realized We we're a kind of a response based business. I can't control the calls that come in. It's true. So what then I found was kind of applying the eightytwenty rule was that 20% of the crews or the team was actually what was driving it. So, yes, there is types of work and and pricing structures and things like that that can make a difference, but it's okay.
Well, these guys, no matter what we put them on, they end up making more money than the other one. So then it's like, okay. Let's talk to them and figure out why that is. Is it actually expertise? Is it motivation? What what is it from these crews that makes them so, I mean, vastly better than than others? And not that the other people aren't working hard, It may just be, you know, the mindset around, you know, making sure that everything's billed properly.
Was a big one or the all their time was captured. So there were several steps in it, but until you actually pull those numbers out, you don't know. Like, you have an idea of who's making the most money or who's you know, you know, who's most knowledgeable just based on conversations, but then it sometimes that's not necessarily who's actually How does that translate to profitability? Yeah. Super good stuff.
I mean, I hope that, again, that's that the listener's paying attention here because you're given really, really practical things. And, obviously, like you said, these take like, an investment, whether it be in a software or even in time to figure these things out, and then to know what to do with it, I think, is, you know, another a whole another thing. That's where we talked a little bit about.
You know, I have these the the the home service businesses, but that's why I kinda started that consulting business on the side. It was like, hey. There's all this insight that I got from the corporate world and from small businesses that it's like someone that's just running and maybe they're just crossing into that seven figures of their kind of approaching it. You kinda are now gonna start to need a a team around it, and maybe you can't quite afford, you know, Chaz to hire a CFO. Right.
But you can use someone, you know, like myself or there's other people out there, other technologies out there that can say, well, let's here's how you actually run these numbers, and then here's how you make decisions off of them. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. There's 2 there's two pieces there. You gotta know the numbers. And I think that's probably what most business owners know. Not that they know their numbers. They know that they need to know their numbers even though they still don't.
That's step 1, but then step 2, really, the why behind knowing the numbers is so that you can make good decisions. Right? Like, you can't you're just you know, blind shooting out here if if you don't know if the the the detail. Well, you talk about this a lot in the in the show and in some of your posts where it's like, if you're in the business all the time, right, like, then you can't work on the business and help it grow because then you just have a stressful job.
The only way to to kinda even if you don't necessarily wanna sell your business down the road. Right. But if you ever wanna be able to to step back a little bit, you have to go through those policies and procedures. And I think the only way to actually know what those procedures and things like that could be is to understand from a numbers perspective, the function of the business and what's working and what doesn't.
So, yeah, I think that, you know, finding that information, is key, but it's hard to do, and I get that it's hard, especially when you're just starting out or maybe to level where you don't have office staff to to dive into it because you're just worried about satisfying the customer. Yeah. And I think that there's even, you know, you made this point a few minutes ago, even the guy who's at the 1,000,000 or 2 or even 3, they're just not they've just never really dug into the numbers.
You know, they've just been they've just been hustling. Yeah. They've just been selling and and maybe their charisma and their and their leadership has just gotten them and their team there, which is fine. It's incredible, actually.
But now it's time to, like, make decisions based on data as opposed to the WEM, you know, especially if we're talking about building something sustainable, something that's gonna be around for the next 50 years as opposed to you know, 5 months, and then now we're worried about a recession in 23. You know? Yeah. We've we've gotta build something bigger than that. I wanna know about a bad decision. Something in the last couple of years Chaz is just like, oh, palm on the head.
Don't wanna do that again. What was it? I think that it was and I touched on it a little bit, but around that growing way too fast. And it was easy to do because you have we had all these calls coming in. So it was just like, well, let's just find people to fulfill it. So you you we bought vehicles, we hired people, and then you realized that those particular people, a, it's it's if you're just throwing people in and out, you have hired turnover.
You have people that aren't bought into the mission. And then they're angering customers or they're, I don't know, just doing things that aren't really on brand. It's a trickle. So and then I'll dive in, like, a little bit more detail. So you know, we from 2020 to 2022 doubled in size. So in 2 years from so it's a forty year old business, but then we doubled. I mean, like, immediately. It was easy.
Well, I could double again if if we wanted to, but after realizing the hardships of it, I'm like, we're not gonna grow until we figure out these procedures and and and how we actually do this without being super stressed out. Yeah. Exactly. And that's what prompted the the training program too. It's like, I want to be able to let's hire people that that wanna get into this business. They wanna learn it the right way.
And we'll have our own training behind that rather than just grabbing people that, you know, are just job hopping then we're putting them on advancing them to someone's house to do work that doesn't represent us in the way that we want it. So we we ran across people that, you know, ended up then leaving or starting their own and then badmouthing was calling our cuss like, you just get involved with a bunch of people that aren't really what what we wanted.
So Yeah. Yeah. Just that push to to grow, grow, grow, to have more employees, more revenue clearly was not the way to go about building something. Yeah. Yeah. There's a to use some king language for the listener again. I love I love kinda know, going back and forth between reality and and then maybe some fictitious story here, but it when when a king takes ground, Right? Like, literally think of a kingdom.
Yes. We send the army out and we're fighting against the battle or against the enemy and we take ground. Like, back in the day, it was like, here's my ground. You know, that's your ground and we fight and I take your ground, you know, and and we take your supplies and your livestock and stuff. Right? Like, this is what happens.
If I didn't then go after the next guy on the other side of you and then the next guy, eventually, the army gets tired and then we run out of food and we run out of supplies and and all the ground that we just got that we just had that no nobody's farming it and nobody like, all the livestock is not well kept and you just over and over and over again just basically ruin what you've just taken over, and then you spread yourself thin.
And then and then someone comes and grabs you and sweeps you up pretty easily. And so there's this there's this understanding of taking ground and then cultivating taking ground and then cultivating. And so I think if we have that poise of knowing kinda when to maybe turn off the hose, most business owners like, look, man, I just need more clients. I just wanna make more money.
Right, because we may maybe haven't figured out that that that steady flow, you know, of of of prospects or calls, but if you've got that figured out, then it is the backside. You do have to cultivate. Otherwise, it'll just eventually implode. Right? Yeah. And I think to some degree, we had a you know, at least in my experience, it's a little bit of an unfair advantage in the it's a smaller community. We grew out of a sheer lack of other competition.
Isn't gonna happen in Kansas City if you're trying to start a plumbing business, but bay like, I think you can still learn some of those principles. Right? Like, We didn't necessarily have to spend on the marketing to get the leads, but we did still have to focus on that cultivation. And that's that's the part where I felt like I was better at you know, I can explain to customers why they should use us. I'm good at the sales part of it.
And to some degree, you know, I'm good at understanding our team and and what they're good at, but it was taking that step back to say, oh, no one's happy killing ourselves to make no more in profit just to say that we're a bigger company. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You it's funny because you're right. There's ego around that top line. But eventually, you realize it's not what you make. It's what you keep. It makes a big difference. You know?
And you being in accounting, a master's degree in accounting, like, you you know, like, if it doesn't make money, Wolfe, what does it make? Stress? No thanks. No. But you're right. It was around that ego. I'm like, hey. Now we have this many employees, and we're now this valuable of a company.
And it's like, but are are you really if if if it's not, you know, the right customer, that's one thing that we learned about is every customer just like and as you said, you know, some people think, just need more sales, I need more clients, customers, but some of those customers, you know, a, like Wolfe found, or they're not gonna end up paying the bill or, you know, they're just gonna complain, or it's because they've called other people and had similar issues.
Those people don't wanna work for him anymore. Yep. So there's finding the right community to build the business within. That's right. And sometimes you gotta you gotta fire customers too. Yeah. That's right. So true. Okay. We're gonna go over to our speed round here. I wanna come at you with KPIs to the one that has an accounting background. If you can only pick 1, though, One thing to track forever and ever, what would it be? I think it's I think it's profit.
I mean, I've I've settled that question for a Wolfe, and I'm like, You know, there are things that can help you make decisions to increase it, but if you're not focused on that bottom line and growing in a way that allows you to still be profitable, then it's not gonna work.
I think that we're seeing that now in the kind of overall economy where these businesses have these huge numbers, but they don't make any money And then all of a sudden, it's like, you dig in and when when times get tough, they go out. Or Yeah. You know, they can't sustain it. So that unlike, actually having the foundation of a profitable business. I think it's the most important thing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's it's why Apple has 1,000,000,000 in cash. Right? Right.
Because they know they know that the that the storm eventually comes and you have to be profitable to be able to weather Right. What book would you recommend, or maybe resource, or would you recommend for a business art? It's probably not even really a a business book, but one that I've reread probably, like, every year is thinking fast and slow by Daniel Coneman.
Just because it talks about the two sides of our the the way our brain works, where we've made quick decisions, you know, based on our subconscious that we don't even realize. And then when you take us up to pause and think things out and so just kinda starting to understand your subconscious influences and why you're making decisions can make you a better person, parent, friend and and ultimately the business owner as well. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of those decision making abilities.
I mean, that's in essence, why it crux the show on a good and bad decision because it's why we are where we are today. You and me, the listener, everywhere. Like, if we're honest, we're today where we are because of the decisions we made good or bad. So I just love that that picture of a of a resource being able to help us make better decisions. Subconsciously, yes.
I think we can even massage that tool, right, that subconscious tool or even the the ability to be able to slow down think things through knowing what you're looking for, not looking to hesitate, but to make decisions, I think, is great. What would you say about intentionally networking and or master mining. So this is something that I probably have changed my mind on lately because growing up, like, you know, with my dad doing all these business. It was always just work first.
Like, you know, do the work, do the work, and then the successful come later. But especially as a business owner, Either it it's kinda lonely at the top Chaz they say. Like, you don't have someone that you can necessarily bounce ideas off. It all comes down to you. So I have found just a comfort in talking to other people, whether it's, you know, joining the mastermind group. I I haven't actually joined one yet, but network is one of the the things that I've used the most in the past year.
I'd say is just talking to other people that maybe they're not business owners, but I found says in another area of their life. One of the reasons why I started the podcast in in in the beginning was just a chance to talk to people because You learn so much here in other people's stories, how they overcome things, and just a way to kinda say, here's what I'm struggling with. What what do you think about that?
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I I think even earlier 10, 15 minutes ago when you when you did when you did the impossible and you turned my own show back towards me. Which is which is great. I love it. I really do appreciate it. It just shows your desire to wanna, like, like, let's go back and forth. Let's let's let's do this thing together, and you're right. It it At least here's what I found. What I'm hearing you say, at least in my words, it was Chaz seemed soft. Right?
It seemed like Oh, Chaz, like, that's, like, business therapy. You know, like, ugh. Yeah. Yeah. But when you realize that, like, I am over here by myself, making pretty weighty decisions on a regular basis, and there's some weight to Chaz, like real weight. For my family, for my team, for my team's families. Like, I'm over here making some pretty big moves, and nobody knows. He's like, woah. I'd love, just a little bit of a reverberate rubberation here in the room of some some thought.
And to be able to have other people that you know they're at that level or even above, be able to pour into you is is obviously a big reason why why we do this. That's why we're doing the show right now to be able to help other people in the same exact way. So I just appreciate that Next question for you is around family. I I prepped you a little bit before I hit the record button.
I didn't tell you exactly what I was gonna ask here, but gathering the Kings this year in 23, I'm taking Not a new approach. I've always been family focused, but I'm I'm really trying to break this family marriage and business thing wide open because it's something that we we wrestle with constantly. I don't believe in balance, but what I do believe in is going after or a assessing over my marriage, my family, my kids, and my business all at the same time.
And I wanna know how you have done that practical, maybe a tip or 2, on how you've been able to obsess over all of it at the same time? I don't think I've done it well, to be honest. I I do make a lot of the decisions on on growth and trying to build something sustainable and the fact now that I have children and the idea that I want them to see a representation of what hard work and what, you know, your own ingenuity and things like that can do for you.
Yeah. I always hated the idea in corporate world that someone else put a number on my worth. Like, you could I'm telling you you make x amount per year. I'd rather make less, but know that I'm doing it on my own, and that I'm in control of it. So I hope to be a representation to my family of what hard work and things like that can be.
When it comes to balance, I have tried A lot of the reason for those policies and procedures is to take a step back to be able to spend some more time with with young children and, you know, I'd I'd I'd bring a lot of that home because, like, we talked about without a without a mastermind group, without a a peer group that you can talk to. Sometimes your wife becomes your your sounding board. Which is good and tough sometimes.
Right. So, I mean, I think we've done a good job of being on the same page about what that means, but I think And I'd be curious on your perspective on this too because we talked a little bit before about, like, you know, right now, we're we're sleeping in different rooms because of how our young children's, like, we do we don't have a lot of intimate intimacy time, and that could just be for conversation. Because you're just it's always go, gonna go with kids and with work, with this and that.
So it's like, To me, it's it's I have to I've started so what I've I've I've done some research on how to do this. It's like, well, it says that, you know, people that, you know, manage their time better do what's, like, block scheduling. So I've actually blocked off time in my calendar now. For those sort of things, or maybe it's leaving my phone away. Yep. Because there's always somebody that needs something.
Always. You know, like, So you have to be deliberate and saying, you know, this time is already carved out. Yep. But, you know, you have to also be flexible and realize that things are gonna change. Like, my kids gave me a cold this week, and then we had them at the doctor in the morning yesterday. So it's like things are gonna change, but be intentional about blocking time. So Do do you do that? Do you block time for your family? I do.
And it's and it's probably one of the biggest shifts that that I changed. I've I've made different iterations of that blocking. And so, like, right now, what it looks like is that I I go pretty hard early in the morning until about 2, 3, pick up my kids, and that's been a good chunk of time with them. I even put them down for bed. And then, you know, in the late evening, it'll either be another flow for me in the office or or time with my wife. And, again, we've got a young a young baby as well.
Same as yours 7 months. And so, you know, sleeping in a in a in a guest room has been a thing. Of passing the baby back and forth. Sometimes it's sleepless nights. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes, you know, our time that we had scheduled for us is interrupted by by a upset baby or or an older child because we got 4 that wake up and random time, you know, 9 o'clock at night, and they're just and it's like, okay. Well, here we go.
You know, so I think that there's I think the main point, really, obviously, yes. Super tactical. Put it on the calendar. If you're listening right now and you don't have, like, a family time on the calendar, that's, like, just step 1. Like, because you and I both know, if it's not on there, you're gonna do something else. Period.
And then and then just knowing that, like, you know, if you if you have it there, at least attempting to get done, but then there's this flexibility kinda like you said, the main piece, I think, is that, like, it's all together. It's not family and business. It's like, it's it we're all in it together. I had a guest a couple weeks ago say that he wanted the business to be a child, not a mistress. That's I like that.
From the biz from the perspective of my wife, from the perspective of my children looking at a mistress versus just another kid. It's like, well, yeah, like, we embrace the child that's part of the family. Like, we know their name. We love them. They're part of the activities. We're part of their, like, we're in it together.
It's not all about them, it's not they're just only one of the children, but as soon as it becomes the mistress, it's like it's like this thing over here that takes away daddy's attention and and we don't know them and and it's separate from us and it and it creates this this boundary, which I was just like, woah, mind blowing. Boom. Totally agree with that. What would you say about that?
Well, no. I one thing I think that is important for me to figure out, I think, would be really good for your listeners is that there is not a right answer to this question. So, like, I I've always been an early riser. So, like, even in college, I would get up at, like, 5 in the morning, go to the gym, have So now what I do is I try to set an alarm at, like, let's say it's 4 because I know that kids aren't gonna wake up for another 3 or 4 hours. I can get a lot of things done.
Yep. But that doesn't always work. So, like, I I like to listen and follow, like, these motivational speakers, these, you know, influential who always talk about the morning routine or this is what your day should look like. And it's like, that is good, and it's like but then I always feel like, am I failing because I'm not getting for. I'm not getting my workout in. I'm not eating healthy because we're running. And the answer is no. Like, you have to do the best with what you can.
And I think as long as you are doing that and you know, the relationship with your family and and your team is not, you know, devolving because of it, then Yeah. Do the best you can. I there is no one size fits all. It's about finding what works for you. Yeah. Well, it comes under intentionality. Right? So Yeah. If you're intentionally seeking your family at the same time you're building a business, what I've what I've said here recently, I've said this on a couple shows, is that I'm a builder.
Right? Like, I I literally get dopamine. Like, I'm excited about building a business, building a team, going after something doing a marketing campaign. Like, let's go. But then playing Uno with my kids is like, I don't know. Right? No. No. No. Like, forget the game of Uno. That's that's not even that's not even more I'm talking about anymore. I get to build my child. Yep. What am I teaching them in the game of Uno or monopoly or the cash flow game for kids, which we love.
It's like, how how do we like, I get to teach my nine year old about assets and liabilities. And so when we're on our way to Costco, she's like, Debbie, we're on our way to buy a bunch of liabilities. I'm like, yeah. You're right. Good thing, daddy's got some assets to pay for these things. It but when you have that perspective of, like, okay. It no longer is my identity of, like, that I'm a business owner or that I'm a dad. I'm a builder. The builder gets to build businesses.
I get to build children. I get to build my marriage. All this cool stuff. So, hopefully, that's helpful to you and to the listener as well. Thank you for your perspective there. I got one last question here for you, Jordan. I wanna know if you could whisper in the younger Jordan's ear, what would you say? I would say Be patient and be grateful. Right?
So one of the things I've been focusing on this year Chaz well as gratitude and kind of being at peace with and being at the moment So, like, part of that putting the phone away was, let me actually talk to the person that's here because even if that phone's here, they subconsciously can feel that that disrespect, that disconnection that you have from that conversation. But then around patience, it's like, I think we in society today, like, there's nothing wrong with ambition.
Like we talked about earlier, just because you see an influencer that has some course that they're gonna teach you how to make $10,000,000 with only work in 2 hours a week. It's like Right. Let's get some perspective. Like, people bit work a long time to to find success in life. So there's a quote that says, like, you will overestimate what you can do in 1 year, but underestimate what you can do in 10.
Yeah. So kind of set more realistic goals about you know, the short term, like, just focus on maybe the the the habits and the processes that are gonna build that long term, but you'll be very surprised where you are in 10 years. Because I always said I was gonna be worth, you know, like, a $1,000,000 by the time I was 30. And it's like, at 27, I didn't know I was gonna do that, but at 31, it's like, well, Chaz a low bar. You know?
So, like, you it it things can change rapidly, and and I think you just have that perspective on doing things the right way. Set and realistic expectations around it. Yeah. I love it. You said it right with the underestimating in a year. Overestimating in a year, underestimating in 10. I think for the listener right now, if you take away anything, I mean, Jordan's giving you so much today, but that perspective of Hey. Just keep at it.
Like and it's not even like a like a it's a lowering of a standard. It's just the disciplines that that are gonna create just just keep doing those. Don't worry about the result. And there's plenty of influencers starting to talk about this as well. Alex Ramosi being one of them. It's like, look, here's the activity. Just right here, if you just do this longer than anybody else, That's what that's what success ultimately comes from. So, Jordan, you've been incredible.
How can the listener find you? So number 1, if they just a a business owner, they wanna pick your brain. Yeah. Maybe they're a plumbing or HVAC electrical service type company, and they need some, like, accounting, consulting, understanding numbers. Maybe they need to reach out to you for that type of service. How can they find you? Yeah. So you can find me pretty much any social media. So it's always, like, atja simon.co. You can send me an email to jordan@ja simon co.com.
But, I mean, even if you just wanna chat, I'm always open to it. Find message me on linkedin, on Twitter, whatever it is, and love to hear what you're going through. And, you know, maybe we could help each other out. That's awesome, man. I appreciate you being open, and we'll put all those links in the show notes as well. Blessings on your family, on your little newborn, and, of course, your other child as well, your your marriage, and your team, all of that good, all that good stuff.
And so we just appreciate you being here. Thanks for your time and giving. Thank you for being here. Appreciate it, man. Thank you. Thank you for listening to gathering the Kings today. I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away. More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself.
What I have realized not only in my own journey from multiple businesses and multiple different and now interviewing literally over 2 or 300. Other very successful 7, 8, and 9 figure business owners is Chaz It's tough to do it alone. And so gathering the Kings literally exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs. In fact, we are putting together 1 1000 kings, specifically who are grateful, but not done.
We're intentionally assembling kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities, and here's what we believe Chaz in the pursuit of excellence in those areas, that it ignites within us the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy. So if that relates and and resonates with you. And you know that you need people around you, sharp, qualified other very successful business owners. I want you to go to gathering the king's dotcom.
I want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 kings. Talk soon.