On today's episode of Gathering the Kings. When those warning signs are on, that warning light of dashboards on blinking. Right? Is whatever amount of money is on the other side of that finish line is almost never worth the the brain damage it it takes to get there. Because along the way, it becomes a distraction generally, and it takes you away takes me away, at least, from looking and listening for those good opportunities with customers that care about us.
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 real of the real on what it takes to build a successful business today.
We dissect the good and bad decisions they've made along the way give a true and accurate picture of the journey of success and how you too can get there. Through this dialogue, you will learn the value 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. We're back with you today. Barry Whistle here on the king stage. My brother.
How you doing? Hey. Good. Thanks. How are you? I'm wonderful. And I appreciate you being here Monday morning. We were just talking about us both doing some skiing here in the next couple of days. I'm excited that we both get to get a little powder underneath the feet. Yeah. We'll be close proximity wise anyway. That's right. That's right. In comparison. Wolfe, Barry, I just so appreciate your time and and you being here.
This is actually a a unique episode for us because we had your wife on the show gosh, probably 2, 3, 4 months ago, maybe. And and you guys just have some incredible businesses, and she gave some awesome perspective from some operational side of things, and I just had to get I had to get the vision. I had to get the man, the myth, the legend on here on the show. So, Barry, thanks for being here. Why don't you remind us? What kind of businesses that you guys have?
We have, well, we have a service company in HVAC Plumbing Electric Service company. Focuses focuses almost solely on residential service. We have a concrete cutting demolition firm and a general contracting firm that performs only private to commercial instruction. There you go. A lot of lot of things going on in your world.
Mhmm. I appreciate you stepping away from those things for for a little bit of time here to give some of the listeners some some value, but Barry, tell us tell us why you do this. I mean, you just mentioned a lot. I know you got family and and all this other stuff going on outside of the businesses. What's your what's your bigger picture? What what's the why for you? Well, the why for WERZL, the general contracting business is I'm a builder at heart.
And when I was little, well, when I was little, I'd, you know, always put models and figured out how to build things out of whatever I could find in a garage, but, yeah, I'm just really, I guess, a true builder. And then we started Warzone Builders in 1998.
Chaz was just my opportunity to go try it on my own and see if I can continue to to build things and hopefully make a difference in the way the business is or the way the construction industry is is managed from a general contracting perspective. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, you kinda hit on 2 things there.
I wanna dive into a little bit more, but you being a builder at heart, I think that that is an identity that maybe that you and I are similar in that way, but, and then I also heard you say that you're an industry disruptor a little bit, you know, an industry that you thought maybe was being done in a certain way. And you thought, well, you know, if I can impact that, that might be good. And so I'd just be curious on that on that industry disruption.
What what do you think that you or what value do you think too broad or what was about the general contracting industry that you wanted to change or that you wanted to upgrade? Like, what are some of those things to give us give us some thoughts there? Wolfe, before I went out of my own, I guess a good example is of this is before I went out of my own, worked for a company, the president of the company, was kind of a hardliner, if you will.
And, his way of doing things, I'm not gonna say it was wrong, but it sure wasn't very user friendly. And so, in a times you can't always be used friendly, but he seemed to pull the trigger in that to space before trying to really be intentional and connect with somebody to work through a problem. And he and I were on a trip to a project once, and we were talking and and about a topic.
And I just remember thinking, you know, we are the we are decision makers, and we can purposely change or behavior to be more more of a team player, more collaborative and solving problems. So I just at the time, it's interesting because at that time, I knew I was already gonna go out of my own. So that's a that's a lesson. Of course, I've dealt with people like that since a million business, other owners, for example.
And so I I remember that often that even though the hard line is some times the path you need to take. I always search for the solution first and and, you know, work with the end of mine and work with work try to find a a collaborative way to solve the problem in most in most situations as possible. Sometimes not, but mostly us. Yeah. I love that perspective because you're right. And I think construction in general, there's a a lot of the hard line.
But oftentimes, just in business doesn't really, I mean, come across a lot of industries. There are hard drivers, and that's what makes us successful. A lot of times is that we've just would just push hard enough through through the, you know, through the Ick of business, but I love the the the language of collaborative problem solving, you know, looking to modify yourself as a leader to be able to to be, you know, aware of those that you're working with.
And so what do you think, I guess, other than that scenario here, like, what's the value of being collaborative or or problem solving as opposed to the hard line? What what have you seen? Cause it seems like you're far the other way. What's the value of it doing doing it this way? Well, if you, probably at least 2 things.
I'm sure there's I know there's more than that, but mainly, if you can collaborate we're not even if you think that you've done everything right, all of us, you know, are flawed. We all make mistakes and Yeah. And most things we do. And so to take the hard line and not look to for the collaborative approach is Can't think of the right word right now, but it's just Seems love itself.
Not. It's just doesn't it's to to to be collaborative is to have show the grace, have the grace, and and look for the path to solve the problem together. And the benefit there is is that we might both be wrong.
Shoot even they may be wrong, or maybe I'm mostly wrong, but at least by having a collaborative approach for you, have meeting the minds and solve a problem, you generally come out better on the other side of that solution rather than someone being really ticked off about feeling like the machine Wolfe Yeah. Sometimes that's unavoidable, but most cases, I think I'm able to be part of that process. So we at least have a win win or as best of a win win situation as possible.
Helps the long term relationship. Yeah. I was just gonna say, do you think that that's built relationships and you kinda answered the question there by itself, but with relationships inside of your team, relationships with other contractors, relationships in the industry, like, any any relationship that that hasn't helped? Yes. There are a few because some folks I don't wanna put labels on on anybody or anything.
But, yeah, sometimes that they're I've dealt with people that they're always the smartest person in the room. They're always right. They can't listen to, you know, another perspective and Yeah. So it doesn't change the way I approach it. I still try for that path, but Right. Sometimes, you know, just just just doesn't work. And at least I know that I have tried that approach. And if it doesn't come out great, then it's probably come out better than if had I not used that approach?
And that's really be an indicator of somebody who you may not wanna be in relationship with anymore. Yes. Yes. Yeah. You do enough you do enough deals, and you start picking and choosing pretty quick. It it takes a while to learn that. Sometimes. At least it did for me. Yeah. Yeah. Well, maybe we'll jump into some of that here in a minute.
You know, Barry, I think that we're already, like, just a couple of minutes in here into some pretty deep stuff, but, you know, you being an industry disruptor wanting to do things differently, collaborative, like, that's not what I hear. You know, hard driving, you know, GC saying a lot. It's it's, you know, gotta get the project done on on time, you know, all this very, very hard line efficiency stuff that you're talking about.
Love what you said underneath that Chaz that that doesn't put that stuff to the side. You still have to get projects done on time and be efficient and I just think that, what you've done is that you've had a perspective of people through the process. You've been able to to be aware do you think that that comes from? Is that is that from someone not being able to see you in a project, or is that be be that's where you're raised? Like, where does that come from? I'm not sure.
Honestly, I just know Chaz I'm wired that way. And I I don't know that I learned it. I'm just wired that way. Yeah. I guess. Simple answer. Simple answer. It it just be be be collaborative. I think Chaz, not only do I agree with you, but I think that the listener could easily like, pass over this and be like, oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, it'd be collaborative. But I think it's probably one of the biggest things that has led to your success.
Yeah. I mean, I've had some failures along the way, plenty of failures. I always tell folks that when I talk to them, especially those that the the coach was in that, but, that some of my successes is greater than some of my failures, and I've had some big failures.
Yeah. But, yeah, the cloud, the collaborative approach is is is is 2 sided and it and we're talking about the general contracting business, it's really important that the subcontractors and suppliers that we work with by taking the same approach with them, we get a lot more think benefit out of it, especially Right. In long term relationships.
They know we're here to, to help them even though we're we're we we fail sometimes, but we're we're here to solve a problem and make it right and treat each other as a team player and and, you know, it's just like any kind of family. You have ups and downs, but if you continue to work together, Right. We solve problems and it's a long it's a long term journey. It's a it's a massive journey.
Yeah. I mean, would you say, like, mean, from the relationship perspective, whether it's a GC or just any business listening right now, and they're in the 1st 5 years. I mean, they could have some Uber success already, but I'm I'm more so talking tenure. Right? So 5 years or less in business, you're obviously far beyond 5 years. Wolfe you say that that relationship that you just described, vendor, you you can even talk employee, subcontractor, looking decades down the road.
Was it more important than you realized? Like, looking back, Yeah. Yes. I've always been this way, so I I I have looked back in many situations and and thought about, well, that came out better than I had expected maybe as maybe as well as I'd hoped for, but I also look back. And I think, of course, I've had, like I said, a lot of situations that that didn't really work out like I'd hope, but they're still probably came out better.
And even though I I think it's the right way to approach solving problems. It's, again, it's just to harm wired. And so even if I didn't see as much success, I probably wouldn't change. And my I I might look at what am I doing that I could be better at it, but sure. Just to collaborative is, I think is the best way to solve problems. Well, let's talk about some of those good decisions and bad decisions that you were just kinda hinting at. I'd love to start with a good decision first.
Well, something that you did inside the business that we can learn from that. You would duplicate this over and over and over again if you had a chance. What is it? So learning wanna say no. There's plenty of them, but I'm gonna pick that one today. Yeah. Can you tell us about that? The the this had to do with an owner. So I guess I was firing a client, and that's that's an important thing to to do when the time is right. And we started a project.
This is about 10 years ago, and I'd already learned this by then, but about 10 years ago, our project was getting started and there are a lot of site problems on hidden conditions. It was essentially, Chaz I think, it was a dump because you look at the soil report, and and and there was no indication that there was any hidden conditions in to go to go to start excavating and then we're finding all kinds of trash and concrete and debris.
And, you know, we had to put time out here and just stop and say, hey, mister owner, we've got these issues and and their whole posture was now, you just need to take care of it. You're gonna pay for everything and not gonna give you time to schedule it. We're just really, really hard line and for about 2 weeks. I'm trying to work work through with him. He says, look, there's no indication this material's here.
It's here now, so I don't know if the the the the the company that did the investigative work, missed it, or if something changed since this report was done. So, anyway, they just kept trying to pound on us, and I decided, you know, I'm just not gonna just not gonna continue on this this project. So Yeah. Hindsight was 2020. I mean, a good decision, which is 2020.
And, knowing what happened after we decided to not do the project is Chaz, you know, it's a small, small world we hear what's going on in the folks ended up doing the project was they had a really, really terrible experience. Yeah. And so Yeah. That's an example of a good decision. Yeah. Yeah. He dodged a bullet on that.
The principle underneath, like you said, is learning how to say no. What do you think gave you the ability in that moment to walk away, like, to and it didn't it didn't sound like you were, you know, emotionally charged. It wasn't, like, in a hot, you know, heated conversation in a debacle. And you said, you know, forget this. I'm out.
It sounds like over the course of a couple weeks, you worked through practically trying to make it work through your operative approach, and then you decided practically, this isn't a good fit for us. How did how how did you come to the table with that level of poise? Like, what can the listener be working on right now to build this that you have? Well, I Chaz, unfortunately, and, unfortunately, I Chaz the experience that I've been burned before.
You know, it's like a second movie you've seen, right, the commercial you've seen and, it showed all the signs of of of of of driving towards a cliff. And so Yep. I thought that I'd tried everything to keep, you know, keep the wheels on, but they just weren't gonna have any of it. So so it's experienced, and I was very confident where where I was headed and decided that, you know, we're just not a good fit. And and, essentially, they were able, and that's what we did.
And went a different down a different path. And, you know, so it's just confidence in my past experience. Exactly. Yeah. You I the example that you gave there that really stuck out to me was that you had the indicators. Right? So you knew as you were passing these mile markers Chaz, like, wait a second, the clip's coming up. We we should we should not keep going. And so I think that the most important thing that I think that this show offers is the learning of the indicators Mhmm.
That you just described. And so if yeah. If someone can listen to you or any of our other episodes and go, man. Okay. So that's what I should be watching out for. And then boom. Boom. Boom. That turns into a now good decision, or keeping away from a bad decision because it could have gone the other way. You could have kept going, and it would have been maybe a bad decision.
And the thing about it too is that And I've learned before Chaz, and that decision was really helpful to our subcontractors because we've been involved with projects leading up to that one, and there's been some sense We've had some bad Acre owners that Right. They start getting near the end of the job, and they wanna negotiate pennies on the dollar, you know, release the retainage.
Hopefully, most listeners here are familiar with the general contracting business, but it puts our general puts our puts our subcontractors and suppliers in a bad position. Because they're relying on on us as well to help make the good decisions and help protect them. And so Yeah. Yeah. I saw that coming, and there's just gonna be a problem all around for me and my team and then all the services to work with us. Yeah. Yeah. I think that there's just a lot.
I mean, we could probably discuss this ins and outs the entire podcast, you know, as far as how you got there. But a quick takeaway here, a little recap for the listener, is that they should they should be paying attention indicators. And, specifically in this, the indicators in here, because I can I can relate, you know, whether you're dealing with a client that is kinda hard line, like you said, a little bit bull bullheaded?
If you're dealing with somebody that's, like, uber detailed, like, so much so to where it's not just detailed, it's now complaining. It's, like, unsatisfied completely always forever. I mean, those are indicators that you can you can catch up on, whether it's a construction project or if you're doing, you know, a podcast with somebody. It doesn't matter.
They make themselves known, but you just gotta know you know, what you're looking for, and I think that you and I both have given some some good indicators here. And oftentimes, it's hard to say, you know what? I don't need this. Because you're you're giving up money. You're giving up business. You're giving up, you know, maybe work for your team or for your subcontractors. Speak to that for just a quick second here, Barry.
How do you say no to money when even though my maybe it's hard, you know, and you're like, oh, I could I could figure it out. I'll deal with it. But rather you say no, what what gives you the power to do that? It gets back to that experience. That's my money some time becomes that shiny thing. You've probably heard chasing the shiny thing is is is generally problematic.
And so, we're, obviously, we're in business to make money and and we need projects that are profitable so we can keep right, paying or paying our team. And, of course, I I like to make some money as well. And so but when when when when those warning signs are on, that warning light of dashboards on, blinking, right, is whatever amount of money is on the other side of that to finish line is almost never Wolfe the the brain damage it it takes to get there.
Because along the way, it becomes a distraction, generally, and it takes you away, takes me away, at least. From looking and listening for those good opportunities with customers that care about us. Yeah. So by pursuing that, not only do I have to deal with the problem on the back end to get paid for I I may have likely missed some good opportunities along the way that are much, much better. Yeah. A lot of lot of lost opportunity or opportunity costs, as they say. When when you're distracted.
That's for sure. Barry, what about a bad decision? Something that you did that you Wolfe warn us. Stay away from this. We what what can we learn from? Well, there was a time about, oh, I guess we'd been in business 6 or 7 years and, decided that we're gonna continue to grow and grow too fast and have these aspirations. I'm gonna do this and and, grew too fast to have problems. Didn't have a good plan in place to hire.
Didn't have a good plan in place to with systems and process is to handle the added work. Right. Pretty much you name it. We're just more prepared. Even though I personally felt I could do it, which I could do it, but had more than people than just me, and we just didn't have the infrastructure in place to handle it.
So Yeah. I started having problems and pulled back and And then since then, our growth has been much more steady, always creating and and and improving systems and processes to help us manage that growth. Yeah. Grown to say that. That is Yeah. I was gonna say, obviously, it's a grown, yeah, the growing too fast piece is, you know, think a lot of people listening or like, just give it to me. I'll figure it out. You know? Just give me the business. I'll figure it out.
And and for somebody who hasn't experienced that like you and I have, and it it's not a very good feeling, really. It's not a matter of, like, oh, I can figure it out. I I'm I'm I'm, you know, can get in there and build a team. Like, it's not like that. It is, like, drowning is what it is. And it sucks. So Speak to the guy right now who hasn't experienced this kick in the face where you lose all teeth in that one kick. Because it because he's he's thinking, oh, I got it.
Like, you know, Barry Chaz, you guys, you know, you guys can't handle it. I'm just I'm just bigger, faster, stronger than you. I'll handle it. Give me the business. What is he missing that that you and I have? Perspective and the wisdom. And, I mean, that's probably obvious, but I'm I'm one of those 5 a half pound. I'm always working for 5 a half pounds of stuff with a five pound bag, so I get it. Yeah. I'm I I still do that when I can.
Yeah. But I'm a lot more careful because of those problems that I had. And and even though I think I can, if it were just Barry Whistle, I could and it was only me involved, and it was a little tiny thing that I can man's, I can probably do it.
Yeah. But when you're talking about a business like most of us have or are involved with, where you have many people different customers, you know, subcontractor suppliers and suppliers and just all those moving parts in our business because we make our money outside our Wolfe. It's not like everything is within these four walls. I got a shop table or Right. Computer screen, what have you. We have to rely so heavily on the the team that's not within reach, if you will.
I gotta get in a truck and drive over there generally. Right. Yeah. Of course, this happened also before tools like who we have now. Like, ProCORE is one of them. Probably heard of that where we have cloud based systems where if I wanna see a project, I just get on feeder and I can click and see pictures. Right. So it might be a little less complicated now, but I think it would be a problem.
So need systems and processes, good people, coaching and just just we just need systems and processes and folks to help you manage it. They're they're they're aligned with you. Both the morally, ethically. Yeah. They honored to get the mission to vision that we're we're striving for. And we are when everything's in alignment, you know, the systems and process in place, then it's in a place where it could succeed Chaz the opportunity to succeed without it.
Yeah. How do you how do you go back and forth on the gotta be prepared, build systems, and be ready to we don't have anything in place. Just jump. We'll figure it out because neither because you can't just be solely in one camp. It's it's a little bit of both. Right? Like, you gotta take risks. You gotta jump before. Maybe you're fully ready. Mhmm. But you can't you can't do it so fast so quick that you have nothing in place. Like, what's that balance? It's well, you've you've been there.
It's it's some sometimes it's instinctive. When I was younger and we were smaller, I had less systems in pro in place. So I probably took more risks than I should have or maybe needed to. Still take risks now, of course, but we have more more folks here. We have more systems and processes. So we have a a broader, you know, deeper and broader foundation pull from, I generally start putting systems processes and and safeguards in place before I need it.
Even though it takes some resources time in in in terms of time and money, almost every single time, though, it's it's it's paid off because when an opportunity comes and they usually do, I say, hey. I'm really in a good place to do this because I've already done that be ready for this. Right. For some derivative of this. So Yeah. I think just learning that it's it's it's you almost can't ever be too far ahead. Right. Get ahead of everything you can get ahead of.
Even if you haven't, you don't have that thing that you need to be a head for. Right. Plan. Work to what's the plan to work and work the plan. Yeah. Absolutely. I agree with you. And I think that, you know, the opportunity train, as you mentioned, it comes around repeatedly. And oftentimes, the bigger you get, it comes around more often.
Mhmm. And a lot of times, you you're we're saying no to to those as well because maybe it's not the right fit and goes back to what you said earlier, but the the being ready is important. And so here's let me let me keep us in the same vein, but I wanna flip it on its head here. You've got a guy listening right now who's building a business, and it could be, you know, small business.
He hasn't hit a 1,000,000 yet, or he could be even 5 or 10,000,000 on the residential side or maybe even 10 or 20 on the commercial side. And, you know, like, they haven't really spent time on the systems. They haven't really spent time on leadership or you know, core values or or what, you know, whatever the the the systems inside of the team are. Right? What do you say to that guy who's like, man, I wish I know I'd Barry, I know you're speaking the truth.
I know I need to, but I don't have time. What do you say? Well, that's the lack of planning is a problem. That's where we usually get run into problems. So by not having the time, not making the time. Chaz we learn, we get older time management is is Chaz a real conundrum at times. You know, you probably heard this saying we all have never seem to have as much time, but we all have all the time there is. That's right.
So if you're gonna be if you think you need to do something and you don't have time to do it, then you really gotta at my opinion, you gotta back off and figure out, okay, what needs to what needs to be given up so I can plan to do that thing. Because if I don't plan to do that thing, That thing is gonna become a problem.
Yeah. And especially if it's a customer or someone that's, has some real expectations of your performance, you just, like I said, you're gonna be beating your head against the wall. It's gonna be it's gonna be nine and a half times out of 10. It's gonna be a problem. Like, I I've I've bet I'd put money on it.
Yeah. The the big takeaway here for the listener that I'm and, you know, tell me if you wanna add anything, Barry, is that not only as you're growing, that you've gotta build sustainable which includes you talk about processes and people. So there's hiring, there's team building, there's leadership, there's people training, product training, process training. I mean, there's just stuff that goes into people and hiring.
And then, of course, the actual, you know, SOPs, they're like, okay, step 1, step 2, step 3, for this person. And step 1, step 2, step 3 for this person. And that takes time, money, effort, but you're saying not only do it But oftentimes, if you can just pull back just a little bit, especially if you're growing fast, if you're listening right now and you're growing fast, it's probably an indicator that you should pull back even more.
Not necessarily pull back from the growth, but make sure that some of these things are in place. Barry, would you add anything to this? No. I agree with that. It's okay. It well, I will add it. It is okay to pull back. Pulling back is not a is not a a sign of a failure, a sign that you're going in the wrong direction. It actually takes more strength because of the wisdom Well, if you haven't gained it yet, you will.
It just it really takes more strength and courage to do that and to get your, you know, backyard in order, if you will, to be ready to then okay. I bumped up against the wall. I'm starting to have some, you know, some problems here. The warning lights on my dashboard are starting to flash. I'm gonna back off. To figure out what what the problem is here. Let me let me get some systems in place or fix that thing, and then then we'll start to accelerate again.
And then Almost always, you'll be in a much better place. And customers and subcontractors Chaz are responsible for Wolfe react accordingly and be much happier. Yeah. Yeah. They they and they see that over the course of time as a history that you're building with them, whether they recognize it or not, they start they start realizing that you do things in a certain way. And then like you said, they'll fall in line with that.
I wanna move on here, Barry, to our speed round, I wanna get you in here to some to some more practical questions. But my my first question is around KPIs. You've got obviously several companies. If you could only pick one thing to track forever and ever, what would that be? Pick one thing to track. Mhmm. That's a tough question. I guess cash flow. Yeah. A cash flow and profit. I guess the the the 2 are are independent.
They're in their their, what, they're tied together, but they're mutually independent, I guess, is the right term. Yeah. So track much more than just that because that sounds like we're just money driven and but You gotta have the money stuff in order in order to pay the bills and and keep growing. So that would probably be it, but we try many more than that. Yeah. Of course.
Is there is there something else that pops into your brain as far as something else that you're that you're tracking that you wanted to say? Yes. We track quality control. We track progress on the schedule. I mean, these are all all these things that are probably what most companies do.
Definitely, all of them I'm sure do is, again, experience, but we have a weekly updating of our tracking process so we I can see numerically how we're doing both on schedule, how we're doing in other words, we turn on over pay applications in on time. So I get I get report. What Chaz that's monthly. I get a report on Chaz, and there gets a a number assigned to it and our phone program is tied to it for super tenants and PMs.
And and so I can see that, and I track that over time so we can see if we're getting better or not. So PAP applications, that that's also indicated Chaz we can pay subs on time. So we're doing we're getting PAP vacation submitted owners and refinement. We get paid, and we've got the money there to pay subs timely, which is what they want to need. Right. Quality control, safety, claiming this job science organization and job sites.
I will say there's a long list, but there's about 20 items that we that we track pretty closely. Yeah. It's awesome. Mhmm. Barry, what would you say as far as like a book or a resource that you'd recommend for business owners trying to grow? A bunch. I've written a bunch of books. Well, one of them is, especially for the younger group is a few It's the it's the it's the up 1. I wanna say it's called opportunity meets the monkey.
K. That guy what it's about to essentially don't take on stuff that's not your responsibility. Yeah. It's a real thin book. Monday morning, leadership is another one. It's a real thin book. I'm kinda familiar with any of these. It's it's an easy read. It probably take about an hour. A lot of good a lot of good messages in that in that book. I wrote a book called Innovation. I think it's the name of the book. I can send you this list if you like.
Showed us about I was about 2 years ago, but it's it's all about innovation. K. Talks about especially in our industry, it's got topics in our industry, which is really interesting. So it kinda helps helps keep your mind open to a change and that, you know, you just you need to always have a of of a finger on the innovation space. Right. Especially in our industry, construction doesn't change much. Just doesn't change much. And it's hard to Chaz the the avenues for innovation are limited.
It's not like other areas of, of, of the other world's operation. But Yeah. Anyway, innovation. Think of a few more. No. That's okay. Those are all great. We'll put them in the show notes as well for the listener, and they can they can grab those. What what do you think about intentionally networking or master mining with other entrepreneurs. Oh, I think it's absolutely necessary, especially if you have peers you can network with.
I mean, we network my Wolfe, Robert and I, network with subcontractor suppliers, folks that we don't do business with, folks that really aren't even in our We network with other general contractors. We network with owners. So it we I will hear something or have a conversation with could be a supplier of a certain product and next year. Wow. And I didn't know that that was being developed or or that's a good way to do that.
And be talking to a developer or an owner and hear of a of of something that I didn't know anything about. And so not only is it a form of education for me because I like to learn, because there is a ton that I don't know, and I know I don't know what I don't know. Right. And so those relationships not only help bring business and business opportunities.
It helps educate and And I'm a firm believer that we we need to but Robin and I are both a member of BNI, and they have a saying calling, basically, paying it forward. K. But their actual saying is called Givers Gains. And so we need to always be here not just to learn and to serve ourselves, but also how can we help whoever it is we come in contact with me? And may we have referral for them? May we have a Right. A name is someone that can solve a problem form.
So it's by doing that, we can always maintain some level of 2 way opportunity and 2 way helping. Yeah. That's a long answer. No. It's a great answer. Even just Chaz last point, I find that even inside of our mastermind group gathering the Kings, you've got you've got guys that have just passed over that $123,000,000 mark and you got, you know, we've got a a couple big GCs, but some some bigger guys. Let's just say it like that.
And then you have you have different things that come out in situations, but a lot of times what you just said is give give give mentality, whether it's the the the little guy, the the $1,000,000 guy given energy and inspiration and insight of just battle wounds to the guy that's been around for a while, or the guy that's been around for a while saying, hey.
Here's here's something that you may not be seeing around the corner, and it's just as much life what I've learned for that guy to be able to give in that moment, rather than receive, he actually is receiving. It's it's like an undertone receiving, though. He gets to give from from wisdom. He gets to give from experience just like we get to do right now on the show.
It it's a little bit you really put in that perspective, it's a little bit selfish that we get to be here today with each other, learning and growing everything from each other and giving, but the beneficiaries are the listeners. Or the small guy in the other example. So, a lot a lot of good ways to give, give, give, as you said. So I appreciate that perspective. I got a question for you about family.
There's this energy around an entrepreneur and being obsessed with his business and but yet, he's married. And and, yeah, he has kids. And, like, all these things and all these dynamics and and they they pull on each other a little bit, or maybe they don't have to is kinda what I'm like, pressing into. And so, Barry, how have you facilitated this environment for obsession in your businesses, but yet also obsession with each other in your marriage? With your kids, your family?
Like, how do you keep it all on point? Well, it's definitely an art to steadily work in progress It's definitely out of science. Well, at work wise, because we're both working the same building here. We and offices used to be right next to each other. And when we've got a chief of staff, which is not a position you don't have in in in our industry, but when she so she moved down the hallway as soon as we got a chief of staff here in the Whirlpool side.
So We have we have our Sandboxes, and we know we know where the edge of Sandbox is. It doesn't mean we don't talk about problems and doesn't mean I don't know what's happening with the first with a service company and doesn't mean she doesn't know what's happening with Warzone. But when you talk, talking home, you know, talking and going, and, you know, day stuff or whatever.
But Yeah. We when it comes to decision making and we stay in our sandbox, We don't and and typically if we're if we're venting, the other person would just listen. And, I know I will say, are you, would you like an opinion or what be back. Normally, just a lesson. And, usually, it's not just once you listen. Uh-huh. Knowing those rules and and staying within the has really been critical might be too strong a word, but necessary to Yeah. Remain or to keep a balance in the work versus home life.
Yeah. Yeah. I think that those are great. The the language that Julie and I use are lanes. So she's got her lane, and I've got mine. And sometimes sometimes they cross over, but generally speaking, if I'm trying to go a hundred miles an hour and she's trying to go a hundred mile and and we're in the same lane, it's like, it doesn't work. You know? So I like the sandbox analogy. We know where the edge is, or we know where the lane kinda begins.
Mhmm. But but if if we're gonna go fast, we we gotta we gotta know and trust that the other person has that sandbox under control. There's a lot of lot of dynamics there even though maybe you're a little bit more separated than just doing everything together, I still think that there's a lot of a benefit there. I got one last question here for you, Barry. You ready? Yes, sir. If you could whisper in the younger Burries ear, what would you say? Trust your instinct. Trust your gut.
It it mainly has to do with getting involved with a bad project or a or a bad actor and owner. Sure. You're I I I there's a book I read just asking about a book, and I can't think of the book right now, but I talked about instinct and how Unoften. That's a word. We we we we trust what we're feeling, but, you know, something that's just, man, something doesn't feel right. And if you go against it, then you have a problem. It's like, you should listen to my gut.
So Yeah. Listen to my gut and instinct more because in my early years of being a business I I wish I did because I made some mistakes, not listening to it. I listened to it more now, yeah, than I used to. Yeah. Kinda goes back to that that fire that burned us or the cliff, the indicators that we start recognizing the cliff comes up. All those things can can teach the the intuition or that gut instinct. Sometimes it's just It just is. And you just have that feeling. Right?
Maybe it's a download from heaven even, you know, but, like, we just gotta listen to those those circumstances sometimes because I agree with you. I think that there's there's a moments where and even sometimes I can think of where where some of those indicators or some of that gut instinct has come through my Wolfe, and I've ignored it. And I'm still had a a bad time. What were you gonna say to that? Well, as I said, I've forgot to mention that.
Yeah. My I've always felt that Robin's intuition is better than mine. And so I'll often ask her questions. Hey. What do you think of this? Right? I got this thing coming up. What what's your thought on that? Better involved in certain interviews, for example, So it's because she Chaz the perspective. I think women in general do than men. Maybe it's just my wife has a better intuition than me, but I do know that it's a blind spot for me. Or Chaz be.
And so I got a resource over there, and, I'll definitely tap into that. Was that said Roosevelt that said I use all the brains I have and all I can borrow? They can't do that. So so true. That's yeah. Yeah. And and why wouldn't you? It would be it would be egotistical not to. Mhmm. So, well, Barry, you've been you've been humble. You've been you've been clean as far as, like, here's how to do it. Like, you just been super straightforward with us.
I love the the humility and just, I guess, just genuine approach, really. It's probably the best way to describe you and our interactions with you here today. So I'm just so appreciative. How can the listener find you. So same thing. Your your g your GC company, your service company, how can we find you if we wanna do business with you, or if we wanna pick your brain as another entrepreneur, how can the listener find you? That'll be email me. K. You want me to give my email?
Yeah. You can give it to give it here here, and we'll put it in the show notes as well. Okay. Yeah. My email address is barry.worzell@worzellbuilders.com. And I can I definitely can share some things of what I did that were not good? And Yeah. One thing that that that history does is the repeats itself. Yeah. And a lot of us have it's hard to learn from history, and I'm sure Chaz way when I was younger too, then I Chaz handle that. I got I got this one in. Right.
So history has a tendency to repeat itself. So some bad some wisdom that I can share that help help folks to out of trouble. Love that. Well, Barry, you've been incredible. Blessings to you and Robin and teams, your family, all that you're putting your hand to in 2023. Thank you for being here. I've lost you to Chaz. Thank you so much. 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 industries and now interviewing literally over 2 or 300. Other very successful 7, 8, and 9 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 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. That 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 dot com. I want you to take a look at doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 kings. Talk soon.