On today's episode of Gathering the Kings. I spent a lot of my life, Chaz, being scared. And this is gonna be a big statement. Chaz there is absolutely no reason to be afraid. You are listening to Gathering the Kings with Chaz Wolfe, featuring fellow 7, 8, 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. We dissect the good and bad decisions they've made along assess 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. Welcome back. Gathering the king's podcast. I'm Chaz Wolfe. Your host And I've got Tom Gisler here on the King stage. My brother. How we doing?
Fantastic, man. Good to be here. I appreciate you being here and and being kind, you know, the listener. My editor won't won't completely let on to the fact that I I butchered the intro there, but but to to the point of not having to be perfect, Here we are. And it it leads us into your story. I'm gonna get to your story here in a second, but one thing that you said to me just a few minutes ago was, man, I failed a bunch.
So long as you're willing to let me share my failures, and so I figured I'd sneak in that little failure that I just had there. So we can be relatable here today. Tom, I'm so excited that you're here. What kind of business do you have? So I run a restoration business. It's franchised, meaning I'm the president of the franchisor. We've got about 300 and change locations, coast to coast.
And we are there are other big names in this space, one that people might know is Cerpro, Service Master is another big one. Yep. But, yeah, we're a restoration company, which means if a building be at a home or a or a business has anything catastrophic or even maybe less than catastrophic that happens to it that involves water, fire, mold, biohazard, any of any of the above.
Something gross that seems outside of the the expertise of people, but we could come in and do that often at the behest of insurance companies. So that's sort of the model. And, yeah, that's what we do. Well, let's let's not forget the name of your company. You gave us 2 competitors, but what's the name of your company, Tom? Rest. Thank you. Restoration 1, the number 1. Yeah. Restoration 1. And we're a little bit of a zebra in the horse barn.
So as we talk over this, we'll be able to talk about differentiators because we've got some. So I'm excited. Love it. Love it. And, you know, honestly, it's it's it's an industry that we all know. Right? Like, we all know that that that thing happens when the disaster of sorts and and it's a sticky situation. Oftentimes, It is.
And so to know that we've got somebody that takes care of us from a residential or commercial perspective, I think that there's a lot of reasons that an expert in your industry exists. And so I think that not only you'll be able to give us business story here today, but maybe some maybe some industry specific specifics. Wanna know before we get started into your story though, Tom, I wanna know why you do this. Like, the deep seated why? Like, the burning desire. Like, why are you doing this?
After years of success, you're still at it building. Yeah. So I got into restoration accidentally. I was running the middle of the country for Habitat for Humanity. And so had just dropped out of seminary where I failed at becoming a pastor. So I I knew that I wanna something missional. I don't even know if that's a real word, but something that that feels like I'm doing something to change the Wolfe, which led me to Habitat for Humanity.
Okay. The nonprofit space itched most of, you know, those things inside of me except for one and that was it was difficult to make any money. And I was married and I had a couple of kids and so I just looked around. Is there anything else? And a friend of mine said, you need to check out this guy that that that that works for Servpro and is looking for a guy that's basically doing what you're doing with Habitat Habitat called them affiliates rather than franchisees, but Got it.
His franchisees are trying to grow these small businesses and help people on on many times on the Wolfe day of their year or more. And so I talked to him and brought him on board and it had much of the missional aspect of Habitat but it allowed me, free range to make as much money as I had grit and determination and it really lit a fire in me for not apologizing for the fact that if you do the right thing and you work really hard at it, you're rewarded.
And Chaz those rewards could be spread around. So that's sort of the the biggest possible why is that that mission aspect to it. Why I keep going is that I am fascinated by how the a changing culture and a changing world is impacted by business and how business can impact the changing world. Right. So that's 1. And then 2, I cannot let go of the magic that happens when you find people and you give people a chance to change their life in the way that it was for me.
I mean, it's literally changed my life. It's put food on my table, and I have I have security in my life now that I would have honestly never thought possible. So doing that for other people is just amazing. And that's what I'm hooked. I'm still hooked on it. Yeah. There's so many different, I guess, maybe layers to that too, especially even in your system because you've got a team and those people are associated to the success of the business.
And then you've got franchisees, location, the individual, almost operators that their success And then their team, it's like, there's a lot of people associated to what you're doing. So many people, and those people live in communities and those communities vary widely depending on where they're at, but even among the variants, there are these sort of commonalities about living in in America. Today.
And, you know, it sounds really grand and it sounds woo hoo, but it's my belief that small business can change. It it it it can change families those families can change communities and those communities could change a country. And and I really think we'll be about that. Absolutely. I agree with you 100%.
And in fact, actually, it's some of the King language that we use with Gathering the Kings mastermind or even on the podcast many times here, we talk about the difference between warrior and king and warrior being more selfish or individually focused, which there's a period of time for that. And I'm sure we'll get to some of that maybe even in your story. But the king mindset is there's a lot of things going on inside of all that I'm responsible for. People dynamic systems, process teams.
When you think about a literal kingdom, that's that's what it is. And so it it no longer is about the one person. In fact, it's about the leverage that that one person can can pull on behalf of everything else going on. Absolutely. Absolutely. And and listen, the responsibility that comes with being at that high level is It's challenging at times. Yeah. Even today. Yeah. I I like being in a position where I can make decisions. Right. But it gets lonely. From time to time. Really, really lonely.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We call it the weight of the crown. Right? It's the it's the it's the responsibility of power. And when you hold it, number 1, someone like you or I, we don't shy away from it. We're like, oh, that's heavy. Here. Put it put it right here. Mhmm. And it doesn't mean that we have an ego or that we think we're better than anybody. It we just know what we're made for.
And when we know what we're made for, it's like, you can take that weight and put it right here because I'll carry it because that's what I'm made for. No. Chaz doesn't mean that it's not hard sometimes. Like, you just said, like, there's weight in those decisions and the moves that we're making, and it it can get cumbersome, especially if you don't have others that are around you. So you can make for make for a difficult path.
So inside of the the the story of of Tom and how you've got to where you are, give us, like, take us way back. You and business and the the initial collide. Tell us about that. Okay. So you feel free to cut me off or how this is, but there there's there's a backstory. Keep you moving. And and and yeah. Exactly. So I was raised by a hippie woman and and I don't mean like a fashionable she wore bell bottoms and listened to, you know, rock and roll music although she did Chaz.
She she was a genuine hippie trust fund kid. My my maternal grandparents were well off and that provided her a lot of freedom Chaz a result, when I was born, I was born Houston, Texas very shortly thereafter, I began ping ponging most of my life between Northern India in Central America. Wow. She followed a a Yogi, a guru, a teacher back and forth, and and and drug me along. I was an only child, unexpected child.
In fact, her her her teacher taught that children detracted from the devotee sense of devotion to the teacher. And so a part of my upbringing was dealing with an environment where in which I wasn't always welcomed, by by the community, so to speak. Right. So I ping Paul back and forth and and really the shortcut Chaz, you know, probably what I'm realizing later in life is pretty interesting story. It was normal to me growing up.
Yeah. Was the fact that I didn't go to school in any form or really know how to read in a an actual usable way until I was fourteen or fifteen years old. And what happened was I got really, really sick I was outside of Taguosaga, Honduras, and my mom just called her called her grant her parents, my grandparents, and and said, little Tommy's probably not gonna make it. I had some tropical disease. I still don't know what it is. And my grandparents state god said, unacceptable. So they flew down.
They picked me up, kinda medevacked me back to the states. I got healed up in a hospital. And after I was well, I said, well, I guess I'll go back with mom. And they said, Nope. It's a wrap on the mom deal. We're gonna figure out another thing to do with you and they put me in high school Chaz didn't go so well. I was gonna say that sounded like a disaster. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Didn't go so well.
Oh, the the the high school thought and I don't even blame them for this, but they thought that I was probably learning disabled in some way. I was feral. I didn't how to stand in line or that I should wait to do things. I had no idea about sports or any of the things that really kind of make American kids American Yeah. But because my grandfather had made, a sizable donation, I was given a high school degree at the end of it and I couldn't go to college.
So, my grandfather probably I'm sure pulled some strings that got me into the air force and man, I discovered Disneyland for me. It's important to it's important to remember that when you wanna rebel against a hippie bomb, you don't go smoke weed and, you know, if it's not you you go the opposite direction. Yeah. Structure. Yes. Someone yelling at you. You know, kind of conservative mindset, individualism, you know, all that sort of stuff.
And so I discovered I discovered it in the air force that I always knew what I was gonna eat. I knew what I was gonna wear. All the buildings looked familiar. There was a numb there was a system to everything and it just unlocked something inside my soul. That really just kicked off this wonderful time in my life.
And after 4 years in the air force, my boss Lieutenant Curl Frazier sent me down and said, listen, if you could do another 4, you'll have 8, you might as well do 20, goes, but I don't think you ought to do that. I think you ought to get out and go to college. I think you ought you've got something to offer that I don't really think's gonna flower inside this environment, but I took his advice. I got out.
I found the first college that I came to, literally, which was Southwest Baptist University outside of Springfield, Missouri and Bolivar, Missouri. I Wolfe in by paperwork and I said, this is me. They said, come on in. And they put me in with the football players. So my first classes were sort of like one cloud plus 3 clouds. You know, it was like, and I appreciated that. I thrived in that environment.
I ended up graduating it by undergraduate with a 3 point time, a sum of and I got a full ride to grad school at Baylor and was off to the races. And I've just been in love with learning and and what my current operating theory is this.
We start off as children being highly curious, being very absorbent to the world's information, But, you know, preschool and school and just sort of life begins to answer a lot of questions and block us off and and then pretty soon, whether you think this is a good or a bad thing, a lot of that curiosity, that natural curiosity gets gets quenched. That's right.
For me, the blessing, even though there was neglect and weirdness and I've had, you know, a lot of counseling to figure out how to be a semi normal person than the years since. What I've discovered is the great gift I was given was curiosity. And that curiosity has continued to this very day, and I'm still a learner, man. I'm still just learning sometimes really basic stuff even at fifty one years old.
And it it's just been an absolute gift and a blessing to me that I I don't know all the answers. And and because of that, I still get to have the fun looking. Yeah. I love how you associate the learning piece to get the answer, which is the game, which equals fun because that part never ends if you don't want it to. And I I love the word curious. I've taught I've taught thousands thousands of salespeople how to be curious just genuinely, just, like, like, take interest. Be curious.
Yes. Which is funny now, you know, almost 300 episodes into a podcast. I do get the wow. You're really good at this. And I go, I I don't really feel that way. I mean, I understand what you're saying, but I just put myself in front of another human, and I'm curious. Right. Right. You know, like, take a little bit of care. Yeah. See the other individual as a actual human and, like, I wanna know your story. Like, maybe there's something in there for me. I don't know.
Maybe I'm just curious enough to maybe pick up a nugget, which you've already dropped so many in such a short time. So I the the story of, like, I mean, not like, I guess rags to riches, but kinda like that, like, stark difference is your story. And then the ability to kinda, like, press through, what would you say is applicable that you I mean, because you just so many, like, really strong principles in there. What would you give to the listener right now?
Who's just like who's like me a little bit jazzed about your story? Would you say? Like, if you had the one thing based on, like, okay. Here's where I came from. The here's what led me to being a learner doll is what you said at the end. What's the one piece that you would identify for the listener to take away in that? I I think for me, aside, again, from the curiosity point, which is you know, trying to foster curiosity is so incredibly important from every aspect of business.
But Yeah. One of the things that I missed that one of the buses that I've missed in my life that I'm thankful for missing is I didn't get taught social rank. I grew up in this weird way in which it was pretty egalitarian. You there everyone you could approach anyone. And everyone kinda put their pants on the same way. And so as a result, if I'm gonna knock on the mahogany door and I've got this big meeting and I'm aware. I'm aware of the stakes. I'm aware of the opportunity.
I want it to happen, but it never occurs to me that the person listening to me is better than me. Yes. And that I'm I'm I'm walking into in fact, it's it's been it's been quite the opposite Chaz as I've been curious that I've gotten to know people that were so much more accomplished than I was what I discovered was they had all of the insecurities.
They had all of the, you know, everything that I would that I would wanna flush out of my life and and and it would be easy to believe once I flush all this bad or shadow out of my life Chaz I'll, of course, be Warren Buffett or fill in the blank. You know what I'm saying? Chaz it's a process. That's not the case. It's about accepting that those things are inside me, working consistently to better myself, That's right. Just not letting something that looks like a stop sign be a stop sign.
And and and certainly not believe that whoever I'm trying to convince either to be a partner with me or to buy a franchise or to open a national account, that person is me. Chaz we have so many commonalities that really that sale is less about the delivery of information and more about the identification of where do we Where are we in sync? Are we? A lot. Yep. Everything else becomes much easier. Yeah. I mean, it we could we could probably send the whole entire podcast talking about this.
It's such a good point. Confidence comes from the history that I've built. Okay. Cool. But when I see the other person as no better or worse. It doesn't mean that I'm putting myself above this person, so I'm lowering it. It's just that we I just they're just a human. Like, This is Tom. This is Chaz. I've got my story. Tom's got his. There's been things that he's overcome that I haven't had to deal with. There's been things that I've overcome that he hasn't had to deal with.
We're both successful. We both have families, and we both wear pants. Like you said, put put your pants on the same way. It's like, Wolfe, wait a second. Like, there's just so much back and forth and an alignment that it doesn't matter age. It doesn't matter, you know, the fact that you have way more college education than I do. We can still collaborate as peers. Mhmm. And I think I just there's a humility in that is really what it is. Right?
Like, when you have humility, it's not about building confidence and lowering of the person. When you just have humility and when you can actually just see the other person, which makes you curious, I just think there's so many doors unlocked. Thank you for giving this, that example. I think that usually in my experience, especially even with some pretty big business owners that we've got inside of the mastermind group, Gavin Kings, the bigger those guys get, the more of a realization.
The bigger that I get as far as revenue and success or, you know, net worth, I just realized that more and more and more that I would much rather be with a guy that thinks like this than a guy who's excited about, you know, his shiny whatever. It's like, you know, It's okay. We all like nice things, but, like, I would much rather an in-depth, like, quality conversation, whether there's mahogany between us or not. You know what I mean?
Well, what I've noticed so often is that the loudest folks, and it's, you know, certainly not always been it's very often women. The loudest ones in the room, the one that they're wearing the the, you know, the diamond watch and driving the dice car and they're like the suit, they're the loudest look at me. I'm successful. Not always, but always. Chaz is a that's a facade that they have built to cover up deep insecurity.
I mean, that that's and Chaz oftentimes, especially the the really hyper aggressive ones, if if you're in this for the long game, those people will come and they'll go. And and and it's not that I wanna celebrate anybody going. What I've learned to do is sit back because I could be intimidating. Oh, man. That's person is so different than I am Am I missing something? Should I? Totally. There's something I can learn here.
Is there something that I, you know, but I've learned to relax and sit back and say, listen, time will prove this. Both in my life and their lives. And and sometimes those people are are humbled and and we get a Chaz to meet again for the first time. And and and sometimes one of the reasons why I'm so adamant about sharing my failures is just as you did Chaz when you said, hey, I botched the introduction that first time. What that does is it lets the pressure out of the situation.
Failure's okay. I failed. And that allows them to share failure and underneath that failure really is the raw material for success. And That's so true. Yeah. It really leads to some really great things. Yeah. Well, talking about material for success and failures, wanna get to good and bad decisions here, and you've been so willing to share your failures, but I'm gonna make you start with a good decision.
I wanna know of a particular circumstance or a moment in time where you can look back and go, okay. This was a really good choice. It's led to a lot of success in my life. I would do it over and over again. Chaz can we Okay. Okay. I'm gonna give you 1 and it's it's it's gonna be interesting. Okay. K. So I got fired from a job, and this sounds like we're going a different direction, but just hang with me. I got fired from a job. Absolutely should have been fired. It was an abject failure.
They brought me on to basically revamp their national sales program and for a variety of reasons, both that I own and that they have to own, it just fell flat. And at the end of it, I was so disheartened It was such an epic public failure Chaz I think I went into, tailspin and had what amounts to a little bit of a midlife crisis.
Sure. And the thought of restarting the machine and doing something over again became for this brief period of my life just to anathemaize, and I just can't keep doing this grind. I've gotta I need a a really strong influx of information into my head. And I decided I I was at the gym one day, and I was just complaining this guy I was working out with that what my situation was, and he goes, hey. Because I'm a cop. We really need good people.
If you're in a position and I was, right, the money wasn't the object. It was really the challenge. He goes, Why don't you see if if you could become a a cop? And I was at the time, I was 45. It wasn't that long ago, and I remember calling the Atlanta Police Department. I lived in Atlanta. I called the Atlanta Police Department recruiting line, and I thought for sure they would go look, Grandpa, thanks, but no thanks. But instead, they were like, can you fog a mirror?
Are you actively smoking crack. If the answer, yes, no, we got a place for you on the force. And I decided to do it. My wife, god bless her, she had a, you know, she had a wonderful career of her own. We, you know, build up a little nest egg that allowed me to be a little goofy. And I decided to go a completely different direction. Am I thinking at the time? Yeah. Was two twofold. 1, do I have enough brain elasticity left up here? To learn brand new things.
Not an extension of what I already know, but brand new information. Do I have what it takes? And then in the midst of this chaotic job, is there something that I can learn that I could take back to my normal life? I knew that I wasn't gonna be a career cop. But I but I wanted to see if I could also be a positive influence on the career. Now listen, the bad decision was thinking that I could have a positive impact on policing as though that was something that I had the power to do.
And that was Right. That was a dumb thing. I I did not. Have a positive impact on policing. Now on the micro level, I had a lot of little positive impacts on people along the way. Oh, sure. Of course. But my 2 stated goals, which is brain elasticity. Can I learn new things? The answer was yes. I can. I can learn all the laws associated how to deescalate and how to meet new people and how to control the situation. Yep. But then what what would I be able to take back into my career?
Wolfe I tell you that the 3 or so, 3, 4 years I spent in policing were transformative to my leadership now? It is absolutely not an understatement, and I would never have been able to predict it. The fact that as a police officer in the city of Atlanta, at least, there are no partners So you are often inserted into a highly charged situation, a lot of emotion, a lot of energy in Chaz, and you've gotta step out and single handedly control a room. Yeah. And change minds.
And when you have to make hard decisions, sometimes violent ones. I've gotta take someone's freedom away. Yeah. You've gotta do that quickly. You've gotta make a snap decision on whether that's the right move or wrong move. And then you gotta stick to that. That's right. And then you've gotta make that person in that short interaction begin to understand that the best route for them is to cooperate and help them begin to see the light at the end of this tunnel.
And that Chaz has paid off so much in my ability to manage teams to do crisis management, which happens all the time, happens on especially on Mondays late today. You gotta walk in. You're hitting the face with a situation where people are highly emotional. You're not believe this email. You're not gonna believe what this guy did and Yep. You know, you gotta be able to deescalate that situation down and then help people see the the light at the end of the tunnel. It's been enormous.
So it was a really, really goofy, sorta left hand turn at Albert County decision that has paid off my life big time. Yeah. I I I love the left hand turn. You know, it's funny too because we all have them. We all do. Yeah. And it could be as as not as drastic as an example of you Chaz yours. I mean, that that's pretty drastic. Let's just be honest. That's why that's why it's a good story. But but we can all relate to that thing that we tried or did.
And oftentimes, at least in my in my story, it's a failure. It's like something that I I skirt over here, and I go, I shouldn't have been there. I looking back, I'm like, why did I do that? Maybe you kinda feel that way even about the department, but but in it is when I picked up X Y Z, and I'm like, well, I mean, that's why I did it. I know now, but in the moment, what was doing. What was that? They get Right. Right. Goodness that I did because I picked it up.
Now I I wanna know because we talked about being a learn at all. So is it the fact that you're a learner at all that you made the circumstance what it was? And so now you've gathered the information, but aka, if you weren't a learner at all and you went to the department, would you have gotten the things that you needed to be able to say, I can now change my career with leadership skills that I developed? No. No. No. I don't think so.
In fact, I think one of the problems with policing as as a matter of fact is that it's it's become this thing where you know, you work for the city or work for some bigger deal and you get a pension and you're just kind of, you know, trying to tread water and you know, stay out of trouble and hopefully stay out of bullet holes and, you know, just, you know, get on to get to to get along. That's that's the majority of it. And, yeah, so I I don't think so.
I I think my natural curiosity that led me to do it in the first place was what kind of unearth this and and also the the framing of of of the event or the the kind of left hand turn as I'm going into this to gather resources to bring back. I don't know if they'll be good or bad resources. We'll see what they are, but I've never been over here. I I tell you. What policing did was show me that there's this whole world that exists right beside us that I just never had seen.
I I I didn't know that there were the number of homeless people or or what made I'd always actually built that, and I've been worried because of my upbringing, I actually always sort of thought, you know, I could become homeless. Like homelessness is a specter Chaz, you know, let's let's have 3 or 4 bad events in a row. I could be there.
And one of the gifts that gave me is that while sort of homelessness that that that occurs suddenly as a result of, you know, I lost a job and then had a medical event and then whatever happens. Chaz homelessness does exist. It's actually pretty rare. And and when that happens, there are tons of resources both privately and in the in in governmentally that can very quickly write put you right back in the game.
What keeps people homeless is a combination of mental illness and drug addiction, period. Yeah. Period. It doesn't have to do with housing. It doesn't have to do with with, you know, necessarily their upbringing. It has to do with mental illness and drug addiction. And until we solve those, things. We're just gonna continue to to to deal with that. So it it allowed me an intro, an entree into a world that is basically in a parallel dimension to ours that most of us don't interact with.
Chaz was really valuable to see it. Yeah. It's speaking from a genuinely curious individual. Right? Like, it's valuable to see things that you hadn't seen before. That's what being curious is. You know? Right. Right. Because at some point in the future, I might be able to use it. You know, my wife says sometimes because she, you know, my studio is upstairs. She can hear me, you know, on these podcasts, and I've got clients that I talk with.
And, of course, we have our mastermind roundtables with the with the group and stuff, and She's she's Chaz said multiple times. You know, how do you know that? Like, it just sounds like it's golden b s just flowing from your mouth. You know? And, how did you, like, her thought is, well, that seemed like but then it works.
You know, like, she I I see the result of you said to do something, and then that person either agreed or we're going back and forth or they took your advice and it worked, how did you know that? I was like, well, I mean, there was one circumstance one time when I was 25 or 32.
And I was talking to a guy named Tom, and we were talking back and forth about policing, and he gave me some stat about homelessness and and x, y, z. And it's like, That's because I was curious enough to meet with Tom that one day, and we were curious enough about each other where we got to know each other's story. Like, it Chaz all go back to desiring information and not just information for the sake of information, but, like, give me give me a, like, tell me a story.
Like, it let me get in here and and learn about what you've learned. And and in business, it's like, if you can help me stay away from the bad and help me point me towards the good, then I can save a bunch of time. Like, that's the practical piece. That's why the podcast exists. Right? So if someone listening right now is going, well, what does police have to do with anything, Chaz? Well, has everything to do with Tom and his story.
And if you can pull things from Tom, then you can either stay away from what he's already learned from the bad, or you can press into the things that he's already learned on the good. So you gave us the good. Let's flip the coin. Give us the bad, Tom. What was the failure? So so so many.
Yeah. I think that every time that I've had something that stands out as a bad decision or a failure, it really is all It it has its roots in the soil of hubris of of me getting ahead of myself of me believing that I am capable of of things that I hate to say that I'm cable of because I I genuinely do have sort of a baseline that says that I'm capable of most things. If I have the right amount of knowledge and the right tools, I can share most anything.
Right. But I think it has to do when when and this is easy to do. So Chaz, forgive me for not just having something teed up here, but It's okay. I'm a guy that that operates, and I heard you saying this just now. I I operate from a gut level. Oftentimes. There'll there'll be times when I answer a question or I respond to a situation.
I'm doing so almost from instinct, and I've learned to rely on that that I don't know that I can explain to you why it's right right now, but I know that it's right, and we're gonna we're gonna go through. Yeah. But there are times when when that happens enough that people begin to buy into Chaz, people, other people begin to buy into it. And they say, you know what? You just make good decisions no matter what.
You need to have more ball control and sometimes you drink your own Kool Aid on that, then your decisions can subtly change from I'm listening to my gut. I'm making these right decisions to I'm making decision because I can or it'll make me look better or I'm gonna make this bet because Yeah. It's a projection. It's a projection. And when that happens, that leads to really, really bad things.
That job that I got fired from is a is a great example of a time when they said, can you do this big hairy goal? And I was convinced that I could do the big hairy goal without really looking into what it was what some of the challenges would have been about it. I just said, I may. Of course, I can. And that's a really dumb place to start from because my power is in needing to gather this information and process it and and that sort of stuff.
So so so taking a job without first really understanding why others have failed, really what the stakes of that decision are led to a situation where a year later, we had to part ways. And and so that was tough. So that would be an example of of a bad thing. And then the the other another bad decision that I would have taken, and I don't know that I could give a specific to this or maybe even maybe it's that I'm not comfortable doing it if I'm being honest.
But there have been times There have been times when I have not always been good to people close to me. I'm a hard driver. And I drive myself just really, really hard. And and and I understand why I do it. I I do it because improvement is is this drug that I'm hooked on. And Yep. And and and and so my love language is often pointing out where you could improve. And not because I mean that that you're bad. I love you. Not critical. I think you're the bomb.
But if you'll change this little thing, you could go even faster and know what else your life is gonna have the the the Cajones to tell you this, but I do. And sometimes, sometimes that there can be a selfishness to that. I I don't know how to describe it. And that happens less now as the older I get, but it still happens. It could happen with my life.
God knows it could happen with my kids, but it could happen with business partners, with people that I supervise that that if I don't really think about how I'm presenting this message, I can do so in a way that heavy handed and harmful. Yeah. I mean, super vulnerable that you would share that. If I'm being honest, I'm the same. And a lot of times, it's it's coated in in sugar, and it's like, oh, Chaz has a high standard. Right? Mhmm. And I do. About a higher standard for myself, which is easy.
Like, I'm gonna hold the line with myself all the time no matter what, And then on top of that, we Chaz these really direct and forward big personalities. And so whether we want to press upon our standard on other people or not, it happens. Right? And that's just the, like, I think the older we get, we just realize that. Right? And so whether whether we're actively going, like, you know, you need to change or if you would tweak this or, I mean, I think we both do that too, but email.
Even if we aren't, like, actively searching that out, I still think that that's, like, an experience that you get with guys like the us because when you step into someone's presence, that's a high driver always, even just for themselves, and they're not even they're not even projecting that on you. Even though we can project it. That's the experience is still the same, which the cool part is is that when you step into a room of guys like us, you immediately have to elevate.
Which is, in essence, what I've done with Gathering and the Kings. Like, when you step into a room like that, I don't necessarily need practical, like, business advice. Right? I just need to step into a room with a guy like Tom. And I go, I gotta hold on. Let me let me exit and come back because I gotta I gotta level up, you know. And that in itself is, like, this huge ability for guys like us to go to the next level. It's not like a specific key that it's unlocking.
I just need to, like, be challenged. You know? Yeah. But with other people with other people, it's like it can it can come across as strong or even demoralizing or, like, picking a park, you know, critical high standard, like, never satisfied. You know? That's right. That's right. I'm sure you've heard all of them as well. I have. I have. And and I and I hate it.
You know, when I try and tell people, there's actually a process if if you're gonna be in my inner circle, if you're going to be prized, I I prefer to to frame it as mentored by me. What I tell people is I am attracted to potential. If you don't have potential, I'll ignore you. I'll look. We're not even talking to the top of you. It's not that I don't it's not that I don't like you. You're just not there.
Yeah. But if you glint, if I see something shiny in you, that potential that could get better, I'm gonna hone in on you and it can feel like sun on a winter's day or it could feel like the eye of sauron depending on depending on you know, you're the day you're having or the day I That's right. Whether or not I tried to, you know, to cut it with any sort of niceties, But if I'm the more stressed or the more I'm trying to operate it with a quickness Yeah. The less the sugar comes off.
And I'll be Yes. Stop that right there. And the magic is that that the people who are close to me who are are able to kind of flex with it. Yeah. The beauty is that they do improve And and I'm not a guy that comes back around and goes see what I did for you. I celebrate what they did for themselves. Yeah. Exactly.
Yeah. That's a nice little nugget there that you dropped off at the end, but I want the listener to pay close attention to that because there is a selfish ambition to helping other people We help other people. Yeah. To help them, but it kinda makes us feel good. Right. And that's okay. That's okay.
But when you see people on your team, people in your family, rising up to the occasion, even when it's guys like us, you know, and I see you rising up to the occasion, I'm like, we could be in the same industry. Right. And I'm gonna go, you know what? Good for you, man. Because I come from a place of abundance. Abundance mindset, even if we were doing the same thing in the same city, recognize Chaz? I'm gonna go, yep. Absolutely. So, you know, you're just you've given us already so much.
I wanna transition to the speed round here because I wanna pull out some more. K. So you you lead a a big organization. KPIs are everything. We know it. Yep. But I wanna know if you could only pick one thing to track forever and ever going forward, Tom, what would it be? Big question. Big question. What to track if I could track one thing. You're right, man. There are so many KPIs and we and we tend to focus on it. I I'm gonna speak from the hip, and I could very well be wrong.
But I'm just gonna I'm just gonna answer the question. If I if you tell me what time you start your day, I can predict your success. Interesting. And I know that's a weird KPI. And and and and I've got a whole dashboard full of them. But I could tell you that the the people who start early and who are intentional about framing their day from the outset almost universally are more successful than other people. And so it's really a matter. Here's what I wanna say.
If you are if you are maximizing your time, and and what I believe is that starting your day early is the indicator that you're gonna maximize your time throughout your day. Then the only thing you lack is knowing what's possible. If I can show you what's possible and you have command of your time, then we'll figure out the rest. Yeah. I love that. I love that. Is I assume so, but let me ask a question inside of your team. I mean, you're having, you know, sales meetings.
You're having marketing meetings. You're having franchise support meetings, like, all these types of just daily functions. Are you are you asking folks when do you wake up, or is it more of a, like, an indicator of maximize time and and being diligent, being excellent. How does that come out in the day to day? I'm curious. Yeah. So I'll I'll give you I give you 2 answers. 1 in our new franchisee training program, which also new employees go through as well.
I I teach the section, what I call golden hours, which are those hours that I control. No one's they're my hours. So I teach that and for years in my life, I took the approach that I would teach those things and then I would demand sort of time tracking or I would sort of I would try and press you into that mold. And and I was just largely unsuccessful about that. So I I've got a new thing that I've not knew. It's the thing that I now do Yeah.
Is that I have a stand up meeting that is not mandatory. Every single day at before working hours, it's 7 o'clock right now. I get on to a teams meeting and whoever from my organization, whether it's staff, franchisee, etcetera, Chaz get on that meeting with me. Yeah. And I notice who's there and I'm able to pour resources into those people because they have a little bit more trustworthiness about those resources than someone who's not there Chaz they're willing.
And so it it literally is an opportunity to succeed. You know, it's it's funny. It I'm gonna give another example here of of this and I wanna I wanna make it clear to the listener. It's not a matter of, like, trying to trick or trap trap people. You just simply give people opportunity. And then and then people people show you themselves regardless. Absolutely. Time and time again. And it and it's okay because they can still grow and modify it later.
It's just who they are right now maybe isn't able or capable or doesn't have the capacity. And and all those things are okay, but now I know it. Which helps me make better decisions. This is this is a similar thing, but it's in in my personal life. I wanted to I wanted to do a like, read the Bible beginning to end. I've done it before, but I wanted to do it again this year. And I thought, you know what? This would be kinda cool.
I'll just throw it out there and see who else wanted to do this with me. So I threw it out on social media, and I had, I think, about sixteen people on the calendar invite. And I even put in the thing that we were doing at 6 AM, on Saturday. Oh, nice. And I specifically chose 6 AM on Saturday, not only because I'm up, and I wanna keep accountable to the time that I get up, I'm up before that, but I wanna I wanna keep accountable even on Saturday.
And I knew that I would be keep kept accountable if I was leading a group on Saturday. Right. Right. But I wanted to give people an opportunity who maybe aren't normally able to get around me or get around somebody who's willing to walk through that type of a thing all year long. Not that I felt like I was giving them a favor or anything, but I just wanted to open it up and be a be a value, be a blessing to somebody. And so 16 people respond. They're on the calendar invite.
They're still on the calendar invite. You know how many people show up every week? Tell me. To others, which is fine. It's no big deal. I have no judgment towards the other people. 0. Right. Because I was there. Right. Right. I was there. But I I know something about these 2 individuals, specifically in their regard to their hunger in this area, that speaks volumes. And so I I love it the same way. Yeah. It it's a it's a way to speak. Hunger is a big deal. I'm hungry. You're hungry.
Grateful, but not done. That's what we talked about at the beginning. Mhmm. And so if I can give ways, not only for myself to express that, but for the people that I'm leading or people in my family, like, it's the same thing with the kids. You know? I'm trying to give them opportunities to show me. That I wanna do this. You know, I had a Valentine's Day just a couple of weeks ago, and a couple of my franchises are still very much associated to Valentine's Day. It's a big time of the year.
I took my nine year old, and she's there with me for a couple of days. And I told her on the day before Valentine's Day, I'm I'm going in. You can go in with with our friends that are here with us a little later, they're gonna come in about 7:30, but if you wanna come with me, that's fine too. She's like, oh, I'm coming with you. What time are you going? I was like, I'm going at 5. She was like, Oh, yeah. I'm I'm like, not even a question. You know? Nice. Not even a question.
So, anyway, just to just to reiterate the point here for you is that it it shows hunger as an indicator of, like you said, who I can pour into. I wanna transition to a resource. Give us a book. Give us a podcast. Give us your your favorite resource for growth. Goodness gracious. Yeah. So I'm really hooked on currently I'm going back through all of the holiday. The philosophical, socratic stuff. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Basically, it's it's a philosophy thing.
So Yeah. Wolfe other probably 2 hours we could talk about this, especially I would love to talk about it with you. Is this idea of faith. It's an area in my life that I have enormous hunger and yet complete blockage on. And we don't know what to do about it. Right? I am I'm lost in the weeds. And what I've done is replace what used to be a faith in my life with philosophy. Yeah. And and what it does is just it it allows a framework for thinking.
Which I believe is is really what a lot of spiritual teachings are, at least in part, is a framework in which to see the world around you and to see opportunity. So, I'm really going back through that. That's good. Yeah. I think that's really the answer. That's that's kind of what that's what I'm doing right now. In terms of growth, man, I'm an omnivore dude. Listen, it's all about I I am absorbing podcasts.
If I'm on a drive, if I'm in the shower, if I'm doing if I'm working out, if I'm doing any of that, There's just there's just somebody talking in my ear and and probably 50% is brand new content that people are suggesting to me. Another 50% is the stuff that that I listen to that that kinda comes and goes.
Yeah. But it it's it's really about just maintaining the attitude I don't know at all yet and that and even if it's if it's an area that I'm especially comfortable in, that's usually an indicator that I need to be opening those doors up wider because if I'm getting comfortable, then I see comfort as ossification. It's calcification. This idea that comfortable means I've decided. And once you've decided, that leaves you very vulnerable for somebody to move the cheese or, you know, whatever.
That's right. That's right. Right. Alright. I got a question for you about family, and then we'll look to wrap up the show here. Family's obviously a big deal. We talked about even you know, being a hard driver and and sometimes maybe even, you know, searing some of those touch points for the better, for the worst. You know? And so as entrepreneurs, I I've just settled in my spirit that there is no such thing as balance, but that there's obsession. We I am obsessed. This is what I am. Right?
I'm obsessed with my business, and I can be obsessed with my wife and my children, but there is a difficulty to that and especially doing all at once. What are some practicals that you've done throughout the years to be able to maintain obsession in kind of all these. Yeah. So first of all, let me say this is an area of huge failure. So I have I am not married to my first Wolfe.
And a big part of that was this idea that I saw myself solely as a breadwinner Chaz that for whatever reason, my complete idea of myself was that I was responsible for producing the wealth and opportunity that came into the Wolfe. And and that's still an important facet of of how I see myself. The work for better or for worse and I'm not defending it, my work still defines me.
Yeah. So so what I have done instead over the years now and I it it is 1, I've looked for ways instead of trying to segment my life where I said, how do I make more room for family? I have brought my family into my work as often as possible. Yeah. For for a couple of reasons. Seeing children and and and I'm the furthest thing from a child expert. Okay? But it is my belief that we are teaching our children in a more powerful way when when they are simply observing what we do.
Yeah. And so so seeing for my children to see me struggle and to work hard and to overcome is is a teaching tool for them. Yeah. And and I'm very thankful that that my 2 older kids are are successful and look to be growing in their success and and they credit. Some of the good they credit is is from Chaz. A lot of the bad is from that as well. Yeah. So so I'm getting better at that. Let me tell you, this is what I'm excited about.
So I spend a lot of time on the road, unfortunately, and travel a lot and I do so voluntarily. I it I cannot govern my organization only from my office. I have to get out and see what's out there and so that's important to me. So one of the changes that I've made is is an example. In a few months, I'm gonna rent an RV. I don't know what I'm gonna rent an RV. And I'm gonna take my wife and kid, and we're gonna go visit franchisees in the United States. And I'm not separating them.
They're gonna go with me, and I'm gonna invite my franchisees to bring their family and we're gonna talk about family as a KPI on success. Love it. And my family's gonna meet their family and kids are gonna play together and hate each other and throw rocks do whatever else happens, but they're literally going to be with me. And my wife's gonna run her own business from the RV as Wolfe, and that's gonna equal stress and conflict and and and we're gonna work all that out in real time.
But yeah, I I I seek to try and break down those cell walls between this is work and this is family because the fact is I've always been really deeply crappy at living work behind. It just always is here. So Well, I think we can all relate to that. Right? I think you gave some really, really cool examples that are are applicable, not only in your industry, but in today's Wolfe, you know, like, I mean, I can be here. I can hear my kids downstairs right now. Yeah. Working with you.
I'm gonna as soon as we get down here, I'm gonna go downstairs, give my baby a kiss. My older, I'm sure I'm running around doing something Chaz, and and then I'll come back up from my next meeting. It's like and some people have to some people are at an office. Some people are are in a service, and they're at someone else's home and installing a garage door.
Like, it it doesn't it's not always like that, but there are certain practical things that you can do or choose to do, really, is what what I heard you say is I could I could go travel the world or you know, in the country visiting all my locations, why not take my family? And so I think it's just second questions like that we can, like, come back and go, well, this would be my initial response, but what about what about the family response?
It's cool that you're gonna talk about family too with your with your franchise Ises because it's a big deal. And it's oftentimes a topic that's not not, you know, not really addressed. And and even this year, gather the Kings is why a part of Chaz asked this question here is that we're doing a family mastermind cruise.
We're cruising from New York to Bermuda, and it's this idea of family vacation, but I'm gonna be with some other high performing business owners, and we're gonna talk family and marriage and business. But, like, inside of the constructs of a family vacation, you know? And how amazing will it be not only for all these these folks in the mastermind group to be together, but the spouses and kids who may not be in that meeting to say, how do you handle being married to this creature?
And they are gonna share best practices. That's right. And and and lean on each other. And that's just that becomes that's how community's pretty. Yeah. That's right. I love it. Tom, I got one last question here for you. Are you ready? Sure. I wanna know if you had a chance to whisper in the younger Tom's ear. What would you say? Oh, I spent a lot of my life, Chaz, being scared. And this is gonna be a big statement, but there is absolutely no reason to be afraid. Wow. None. It's you're okay.
It's all okay. And and and and the worst case scenario is okay. Yeah. It's fine. We didn't get to talk about it. Maybe we will in the future on a cruise. Somewhere, you know, whatever. But one of the things that I am so thankful for and I didn't buy it. I didn't earn it. It's just something that is in my heart. Is the steadfast belief that you can take it all away. And I'll just get it right back. Yeah. And not because I deserve it, Not because I'm special, but because that's how life works.
And I'm not I'm not scared. And it took me a long time to not get scared. So I would I would just poof. I might get emotional. I would I would hold him and I whisper in his ear. Everything is absolutely okay. Yeah. It's awesome, brother. Thank you for that. I think that that hits home for anybody who's paying close attention. They should they should receive that is what they should do. Tom, how can the listener find you?
Number 1, I wanna give the opportunity for anybody who's listening, who's interested in opening up a restoration, a restoration franchise, or maybe they own a restoration business and they need they just need to hook their wagon to your caboose or whatever that phrase is. How can they find you there? But then it's particularly, how can they find you individually, maybe pick your brain and and do the entrepreneurial networking? Yeah. So so let me give you my email address.
My email address is It's super simple, Tom at restoration, the numberonehq.com, and reach out to me, you know, be patient you know, super busy. It's, I don't always email back the same day, but, yeah, it hit me an email there and So that's one way. Obviously, you can go to restorationone.com. Yeah. You know, we didn't get to talk about this this, you know, part of things, but Restoration 1 is concentrating on, you know, post truth. This is a crazy statement to make.
I'm sure in a post truth society, we are hitching our wagon to just telling the truth. Man, we're gonna tell the truth and we're gonna we're gonna concentrate on some really old school things like customer service and honesty and and we're finding that that differentiator really leads to some amazing success because you stand out, unfortunately, today's world by just being honest. So we're doubling down on that.
If you wanna figure out not just the the, you know, flavor of the week, and how do how do I succeed long term in the restoration business? I think we've got some things to teach it. And I'd be glad to talk to you about it whether you're a franchisee or not. I I have a I I have the same mindset you do. There is no lack. In fact, I want more people in my lane because that means I'm in the right lane. So Right. That's good. Tom, you've been incredible. Thank you for being here.
We'll put all that information in the show notes as well. A a king, no doubt. And you've provided straight value here today. So because on your family and your business, all your franchisees, just thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much, Jess. 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 mall different industries and now interviewing literally over 2 or 300 other very successful 789 figure business owners is that 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 gatheringthekings.com. 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. What's up, everybody? I'm Chaz Wolfe gathering the king's podcast today. I've got tipped. I'm looking at your last name, Gisler. Wow. This is two times.
I'm gonna leave it on here. My my my editor to show me these moments. Two times now of a at a 300 where I I butcher it like that, but let me give it a take too.