On today's episode of Gathering the Kings. If you've lost that passion, go back to why you started in those seeds and find that path again because that's where you have to go from your heart and your it has to follow what you think is important. Go back to your values. Because, again, Hopefully, you didn't do this just to make a a crap ton of money. You did it because, hey, I wanna help people. I wanna help. Right. This person do this.
I wanna help these people around me go up and learn more development, you know, skills and things like that. So go back to that part and then say, is this next step gonna get me there? You are listening to Gathering the Kings with Chaz Wolfe. Featuring fellow 78 and even 9 figure business owners who have real battle scars from business and life, but have prevailed as the king that they are designed to be.
We welcome high performing entrepreneurs to the stage in order to reveal the reel of the reel. On what it takes to build a successful business today. We dissect the good and bad decisions they've made along the way that 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 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. Hey. What's up everybody? Chaz Wolf Gathering and the Kings. We've got Henry Kerkowski on the show today, and he literally talks about how he started in the wireless into 20 years ago when Wolfe before Wi Fi even started and, starting a business in that environment and really the the gumption that he got to do that all stemmed from winning some money on freaking wheel of fortune. You guys are gonna love this pod.
Jump in right now with your pen and paper. Take some notes because he's got some good stuff here for you coming right at you. Alright. What's up everybody, Chaz Wolfe gathering Kings. We've got Henry Henry. Say your last name for me. Welcome to the stage. Thank you. It's Kirk Howe ski. It's like a house ski. Yeah. Think of captain Kirk riding a cow that's on skis. Bro, if you just look at the name, I I it says Kirk house I I just should've just said it. You know? Dude, thanks for being here.
I really appreciate it. Can't wait to have this conversation with you. You're gonna bring so much value here today, to these folks listening, Tell us what kind of business you have, and let's get started with that. Well, right now, I'm I'm I'm managing several businesses, but my main gig is, ewireless and 1 Wi Fi. We started ewireless about 20 years ago when Wi Fi was just getting started. It was back then. There was no smartphones there. Laptops didn't even have Wi Fi.
You needed to slap a card in the side of your wife into the side of your laptop to get Wi Fi and Right. Starbucks didn't have it. But we started out, e wireless as a way the problem solved. That's been my whole Reason for being has been problem solving. And back then, the problem was, most place DSL was just starting to roll out places in Tier Two Cities, like Fort Lauderdale and Indianapolis, and I was going back and forth between the two cities.
And, You know, so he was either dial up or a T1 line. And most small businesses, you know, they couldn't afford T1 lines, so they were, you know, doing dial up. And so we came up with this plot. All I can think about is a terrible sound. Oh, man. I know. Right? I mean, that's the stuff of horror movies. Yeah. Exactly.
But, you know, we created it to bring in a t one line into a commercial property, break it up wirelessly so we could work with property management groups, and set make their places more rentable because then they could say, hey. Listen. We got high speed internet at in all our locations and, you know, give them a a differentiator for property on other properties. Yeah. That's awesome, man. Yeah. Did you bring so much experience, into the digital space because of Chaz?
But you've got your hand and a couple of other things to give us an idea of what's Chaz? What what what else do you have going on? Oh, well, we also, when we're, working on an online gift store. And what we're doing is we're we're reimagining Antiques, and what we're doing is putting the symbolism behind them that that store's pimballberry. And, we we give the history of it, the symbol of why you wanna give this, and it's kind of a new way to reuse re up, re, you know, create things.
So we find really hard to find objects and create a a a store and why this would make a great gift for this kind of a person. And like I said, it's not something you could get at, you know, online from any, you know, other places. We we have paintings that have been lost in history that we've refound. They did different things. So we we know all the history, so they're all from different time periods.
From all around the Wolfe, and, it's we were creating a new gift giving experience because everything that we give is comes with handwritten notes they're wrapped beautifully. So even if you're buying yourself a gift, it's something special for you when you get the box. Dude, that's incredible. I love the uniqueness of Chaz. Being an edible arrangements franchisee, gifts are are in my wheelhouse, but but for a totally different reason, So I love I love that, that you've thought about it.
And that's really probably the differentiators that that you've thought about it. It's not just like a, oh, by the way, let me send something. It's No. Like, I've got this specific person and they like these specific things or whatever. So I think that's really cool. Obviously, with the with the wireless stuff, we're we're gonna have so much to talk about. I I can't wait, but you you have, you have recently the last couple of years, especially with COVID. You've written a book.
Tell us about what what's the book name and and tell us why you create why why ever why you wrote this book? Yeah. It's, the title is remote work technology, keeping your small business thriving from anywhere. It's published by Wolfe. And, you know, we started our company ewireless to be fully remote 20 years ago. And we've got hooked on it being distributed having, you know, our teams are in, anywhere from New York to Iowa to Orlando, and our developers are all over the Wolfe.
And so we've been I've been working remotely for 20 years. When COVID hit and all these small businesses shut down, there was a lot of panic there, you know, you saw on the news, all these people struggling with zoom fatigue, burnout, isolation. And I was like, man, if I had a better platform. I could, you know, help some of these people out, and I I I wrote a couple of articles and Forbes about it, but I was approached by Wolfe Publishing.
And, you know, I pitched in an idea for the book, and it was, you know, perfect storm. So it was great timing. I interviewed people, business leaders across the nation during the shutdown just a couple months into the shutdown, and they were telling me, you know, all the things that they were going through and think, you know, things that they regretted, things that they would have done differently. You know, when when they went remote. One of the first things they did was, hey.
You know, nose to the grinds until we pushed through this crisis. Right. And they were know, everybody was, you know, on board. Like, scared scared to lose production. Right? Exactly. Exactly. Because they they don't know.
You know, there are a lot of unknowns and and human reaction when, you know, you're hit with a crisis and you don't know you what's going on, you try and gather as much information, work as hard as you can, push through it, they didn't realize that what that was doing was actually creating burnout, creating feelings of isolation, and, you know, they they lost people during that shift because of the way that they were managing their people.
And unanimously, everyone said, I said, what would you do different? They said I would have been leading with more empathy. I would have taken notice of what my people were were how my people were struggling. They said, you know, They had people that, you know, are normally very well kept. You know, you know, look good. We're new, you know, wearing fresh clothes every day. Then they suddenly saw them. Yeah. There was a mess in their background. They weren't combing their hair.
They were wearing the same clothes they wore yesterday. No. Those are all now we realize those are all signs of people struggling, you know, with some, you know, something burnout, things like Chaz. And they weren't catching it because they were in such a control the crisis mode Chaz they weren't keeping an eye on their own people. They were, you know, so now it's the Instead of client first, it's employee first because, you know, at the end of the day, your employees are your brand ambassadors.
If they're miserable, for whatever reason, your customers are gonna be miserable. Totally. Yep. Yeah. You can tell you can tell when you walk into a restaurant or or call a customer service a department or or whatever and and get that experience of someone who's experiencing burnout or they hate their job or whatever. So you're you're a 100% right.
Yeah. Yeah. And and I talk about it in the book, and I make it, you know, by company culture, like, you you a lot of people don't know what a good company culture is, but you recognize a Chaz one right away because, like, we've all seen, yeah, it's like a a TV trope or a movie trope where somebody walks into a supermarket and it's nearly empty. There's a manager, you know, in the glass booth, you know, reading the newspaper. There's a cashier who's barely paying attention to the customer.
There's a stock boy with earphones in, you know, lazily putting crap up on the shelves and, you know, those that's a sign of a bad company called people are disconnected. They're not working as a team. It's a purely transactional relationship. They're there for x amount of hours. To get x amount of dollars and they don't care about the customers or the or the place of business. Yeah. Yeah. Which is obviously, the end result is is not good.
And so you've created this book, and I know that you've you've worked with some some pretty, high level folks in regard to this this topic. And so I'm I'm anxious to get into some of the stuff here with you as far as how you've been doing it in your own business. To kinda ask you a question that I always like to ask everybody near the beginning of the show, it's because at this level, you've done quite a bit. Right? Like, you manage multiple businesses.
You've had this one business for 20 plus tiers, you know, you didn't create wireless, but, man, you were right there. The way that the way that we've talked about it off air is just that and wireless was created, then, boom, you guys took it to market basically in different ways. And so what keeps you pushing at this level? 20 years into this this one business. You got all these other things we talked about going on, the book, all this interest that you got.
You got lot of energy even now today talking on the podcast, but like, but why? What keeps you moving and focused? You know, it's I've I've I've had to do because of some life because of life. I've had to have that kind of reflection past 2 years. Right. Haven't we all? Yeah. Right. And, it's it's always have a higher purpose. Like, you know, I don't do any things for me. You know, even in my volunteer work, and if the groups that I work with, it's for a higher person to get to a greater goal.
And it's about helping people. Like, even even with, you know, COVID, the shutdowns, our customers, you know, there are a lot of them are restaurateur. Right. We, a lot of times, we we were just listening to people some of them were crying on the phone. Hey. I might have to take, you know, you know, close-up. I might have to fire some people or let let people go. And Chaz those are the thing. You know, and so I'm I feel that I'm here to help people along their journey to their success.
You know, I've I've done that for another matter of fact, you know, I've even taken a number of people in the past 10 years into my home that were homeless or didn't have a place to go and help them paid for classes for them, bought them the right clothes so they can get job interviews, drove them back and forth so they can get a car. It's about helping other people go up. So I it's not about if it was trying to make me successful, I wouldn't be doing it.
I wouldn't have I wouldn't have the drive for, but I I know I'm working towards a higher purpose and helping others become better because I know that every person is like a universe on into themselves. They're gonna touch a bunch of other lives and help those lives get better. Yeah. The ripple effect is huge. Yeah. It's it's, you know, and so I keep my little corner of the world a little better every day, and that's what I work on.
Yeah. I mean, obviously, that perspective is is is pure, and and I think everybody, you know, naturally agrees with that. Do you think that that has been something that you've grown in over the years, or has that always been close to your heart of the greater purpose, helping others, you know, that type of I think it's always been part it's something I've grown in. I think I think it was always a part of me, but I didn't recognize it for what it was. Till I got more mature.
Like, now I think I'm I think I'm 52 now. And, yeah, I I forget. Times are relevant. To meet you. It's Wednesday. If you didn't know, you know? Yeah. But, you know, when I was younger, I was like, well, what's driving? Because, like, I would be even when I was in my twenties trying to pay for college, I would get up.
I would go work at a deli from, in New York, from 5 AM, helping make sandwiches and stuff like that for the for the worker crews, then go to class at 10 o'clock, then work as a cashier after school. You know, so, I I've always been a hard worker is drilled into me. My father, my I come from a military family. My father is 1st generation Polish American. His parents were farmers. My mom came from the Philippines.
So, I mean, it's hard work and being honest with your work and doing the right thing for those around you was, like, ingrained into my psyche since since, you know, I was a kid. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And I and and you can see that, obviously, it means a lot to you. I'm I'm I'm just so intrigued by the the growth of someone's perspective as it changes over time. And I love how you had said that you know, maybe you had it in you the whole time, but that it it was something that grew.
And so along the way, was that because because you were able to grow a business and it and it gave you more time and resource that you were able to then kinda, like, overflow the cup to others, or was it a mindset shift that happened along the way? Like, what do you think that was the maturity point for you on that? I think it was a mind shift along the way and also having a diversity of people I was surrounded by.
So, you know, working, as a volunteer in the arts, in Indianapolis and other, nonprofit organizations. I because of my success in business, I was able to sit on boards and communities for some large organizations, and I'm sitting there next to the chief medical officer of Eli Lilly. I'm sitting there with the with the senior partners of certain law firms and things like that. And I'm thinking, hey.
I'm just this poor kid from Long Island, you know, and I'm sitting next because I I don't have a college education. I I I couldn't I couldn't swing it. You know, so everything I've learned is self taught. So, you know, and that can be intimidating when you are sitting next to people who are graduated from Harvard Business School, things like Chaz, you know, who have big degrees but, you know, I learned that, you know, we're all equal.
You know, because we're all here working for this caused together standing in the trenches side by side, and it didn't matter. You know? So and, you know, then I realized that they don't see me the way I kind of see myself as, you know, it's Yeah. As just this uneducated person. Right. Right. You know? So Chaz you you were you were a little bit more valuable in their eyes. That's why you were at the table. Right.
And then that made me realize, you know, more of my self worth and value that I bring because I'm constantly thinking oh, well, that was lucky it happened. Then I'm reminded by something, no, don't you remember? You did this Right. 2 months ago to set this up in motion Right. And have this this exact result come out. Yeah. Exactly. I think that's so good. I think that you're I mean, we're we're just getting into some really good stuff here.
I think that the listener who's paying attention right now. What they're hearing you say is that first off, you have 1st generation parents, from from immigrant parents. And so you have you have a perspective of nothing, like, literally nothing. And then on top of that, you have been able to grow into this, what you call now, this ability to, have a higher purpose and and press in to the help of others. But along the way, I'm hearing you say that, like, it it wasn't always like that.
Self worth of just thinking about yourself and and not even maybe, you know, chalking yourself up to the same standard that everybody else was around you, but but because you surrounded yourself, it was able to bring yourself to a higher thinking, really. Yeah. I mean, and, you know, it's also, you know, I think being around different people, like I said, I mean, I attended bar and weighted tables, for 15 years, New York, and South Florida.
So even then, you know, I was I was around, and it was a lot of who was in fine dining restaurants and things like that. So I was around people who were, you know, important business people, celebrities, you know, local politicians, things like that. So I was always felt comfortable in those in those spaces, but I never thought of myself Yeah. Being at at that level.
And Rebecca, I kinda joke now because, like, you know, when I was single in Fort Lauderdale, I'd meet somebody nice, and they'd ask what I do for a living life. Oh, I I don't date waiters. I don't date bartenders. Oh, okay. You know? So it's like, don't attach yourself work to what you do. Because it's really how you impact people is where your your value lies. Totally.
Yeah. And I think that you can break that all the way down to the employee level of your value then obviously is based on the impact. Like, it's the they're they're they're attached. The impact that you bring is the value, which then obviously it all ties back to experience and and probably all the things you talk about in your book. But let's let's let's jump into your entrepreneur journey here when you started your company or maybe it was before that.
I wanna know where did business start for you? Was it something that how you grew up with your parents, or was it just you just decided to start this wireless business? Like, tell us about the beginning. Wolfe, so kind of with my parents because, you know, it's weird. If you didn't have 2 jobs, you were considered lazy. I I know it's I know that. I know that feeling. Single body over here. Oh, yeah.
So, I mean, so from that, but, you know, my my so, you know, even have my own paper route, as a kid, you know, you worked completely on tips. So the nicer I was, the better my tips. The more more efficient I was, the better my tips. Building a relationship with my customers. The better than tips.
And then Chaz that went on to, you know, waiting tables and bartending, but I think my real big experience of being an entrepreneur was I was working for a group of people on Long Island that owned, 7 restaurants, and some of them were also night clubs at night. And they had one that wasn't really doing well. I was like, hey. I got an idea for a night club. Let me take this over on just Sunday nights.
And they did, and they put some money behind it, and they they they paid for promotion materials. And I ended up having, The back of the day, it was if you made $12 ahead or $15 ahead per person coming through the door, you were doing great. I was doing 22, 23, $24 ahead. So they saw the value. And then if and I was able to even, they gave it to me for the rest of the week. To to run. They promoted it through, some of their other night clubs too and brought in acts.
I have Ruth Paul when she just Wow. Started out having her thing. I have her at the club places. Pat, people came from Brooklyn, in the Bronx back, you know, down the Long Island for the club to come see her and see what we were doing. So I think that was, you know, one of my first real entrepreneurship, and it taught me about marketing. Right. You know, PR things like that, you know, and and how to deal with vendors and and everything.
So, you know, that was my first real foray into entrepreneurship. Yeah. I love that. I love that. You know, I I equate that to sales in my in, like, in my my upbringing. Right? Like, multiple jobs. Yeah. That's fine, but I would have been stuck there doing the multiple job thing if I didn't think about sales or then eventually opening up businesses. But that that track record that you're talking about, you get to learn the kind of like the pieces along the way.
And then you realize later you just put them all together and and you run a business. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So Very cool. And then, yeah, and then like I said, from there, I went to to Fort Lauderdale, was waiting tables and bartending for a Wolfe. Then I, you know, I had the idea of flipping houses, so I wanted to get my mortgage broker's license. But, yeah, I was so stuck in that whole take home a couple of hundred bucks every night, you know, that's so addictive. It's true.
You know, in that thing. And, luckily, I got on the wheel of fortune and $116,000 Chaz? I was yeah. So I was able to get a domestic. I know. I've I've gone crap. It's it's amazing. And it it came at, like, just the right time. And, you know, my friend Shannon still pissed at me because I was just there to stand in line with her. For for the thing. And I was, like, hungover from the night before, and I'm sitting in this hot sun waiting to get in this thing, and they just happened to call my name.
And then I ended up getting getting on the show. On the show, I made $16,000 from the show. Yeah. And then gave me a nest egg to go and confidence to say, hey. Listen. I can quit waiting tables. Quit bartending. Got my mortgage broker's license. And then one of my and, again, people in networking, one of my regular customers Chaz a I was gonna do residential.
He had a commercial finance place right across the street and said, I I got I heard that you're gonna get your your mortgage broker's license and, like, hey. Where are you gonna hang your license? Like, I don't know. I haven't bought that far yet. It's like, come hang hang it in my place. Yeah. You. So and then he took me under his wing, and it was a small boutique shop, but we were doing big we were only 5 of us. And that that's made me fall in love with the idea of a a more boutique company.
But we were doing $300,000,000 loans. He was he had gotten in with different, Indian tribe Native American tribes that were putting up their casinos, and they were looking for funding. So he was flying all over the country putting to get packaging together a $150,000,000 loans, $300,000,000 loans. So and it taught me a lot. I was in charge of everything under 5,000,000. So I was staying in town, taking care of all, like, all all our customers in town Wolfe they were flying around the country.
And so it gave me, you know, independence It gave me a lot of experience, met a lot of people. So it's just like you you never know where your journey is gonna take you. And, hell, if you can get on the wheel of fortune, do it. You know? And my that's my lesson, and you're you're take away from that. I was just saying, I think the takeaway that we we we end the show right now, we say, forget everything. Close the doors to all businesses. Go play wheel of fortune. Wolfe.
What a what a fitting name too? It sounds like it was just like a it was like a catalyst in that moment, like you said, to free you. And so there's there's mindset there that I wanna pull out for the listener because as funny as that all is, because it really it really is. Pretty comical, actually, but the mindset that you described of the freedom you had in that moment of when you had the $32,000 on a lot of money, it wasn't really that funny even back then.
Yeah. But what it did is it freed you from the addiction that you said of a hunt couple hundred bucks a night. I gotta I gotta I gotta get it on the the the the job and it and it frees you to think about something bigger your future a little bit. And so how Chaz that played into running your your your wireless business for 20 years now.
That same mindset of being able to think ahead or think forward because you've been able to free up your time because of hiring a team or growing your sales and so now you have more resource kinda like with the Wolfe fortune different. Like, is it the same mindset that's helped you in business too and if so, how? Yeah. I mean, absolutely. Because, you know, it's it is about freedom because I I feel success is is is the definition of success for me is freedom.
Being able to do what you love doing, being able to do it when you want to do it. You know, that that's what's important to me. And that's how, you know, I thinking in those steps ahead and and and strategizing, that's why we made the company remote first. So it could have freedom to go back and forth to Key West or, you know, see my mom in California, things like that. And also it helped give other, you know, the people who are working with me freedom.
You know, because I I I consider everybody a co worker. So and and I want them to be happy too because I think that's how you, you know, that's the best metric of of how you Wolfe you're doing is satisfaction, not just customer satisfaction, but satisfaction of the people around you. Because, you know, I said, you don't want I I don't want anybody to be miserable. You know, not a customer, not, you know, a coworker, nobody might or me.
You know, so I think that's where it goes to is to have that level freedom and how do you accomplish that level of freedom. Right. And how do you keep everybody satisfied and and even thriving? Not not not you know, you shouldn't just be satisfied. You should be thriving. You know, go for driving. Yeah. Exactly. How do you so, you know, for the guy or gal, this right now. They're at the 6 figure mark. Most likely, they're not they're not quite at that $1,000,000 in revenue or more.
And so they might be wearing a lot of hats. Let's say. Right? And and maybe they're not as satisfied, or or, thriving as maybe they they would like you know, the business is maybe growing a little bit, but they're overwhelmed. They're stressed. They know they need to hire, but they're scared. Like, all of these things that that what we're talking about is gonna free them. Right? So if they hire some people, their their their calendar's gonna be free.
If they they hire sales guy, they're gonna have more revenue, which is gonna produce more freedom in the business financially. Like, but all these things are, like, they're strapped right here. Right? Like, right here in the right now. Right? And so they want the freedom that you're talking about. But how did how did you get over that hump of whether it be investing or, pouring into your team or even hiring a team member to begin with? Like, understand what I'm saying? The the the pinch point.
Well, I I think that, you know, at the end of the day, you have to have a talk with yourself. If you if you feel Chaz you're at that place where, you know, you're at a precipice, and you can either keep, you know, keep standing there at this exact state at the same space or you feel like, hey. I can jump and go to or, you know, you you don't know if you're gonna soar, you know, go back to why you started it all.
Hopefully, you didn't start it to just make a lot of money because that's your own chasing a buck, then you're never gonna be satisfied. You know, somebody who opens a a restaurant or a a a gift shop or or what have you. They do it because I wanna have the best coffee shop in town. I wanna be be, a place where people can gather Wolfe families can, you know, people school can come come here. That's why you you did it.
You know, go back to why you started what you were signing and follow that passion. Fine. If you've lost that passion, go back to why you started in those seeds and find that passion again because that's where you have to go from. Your heart and your it has to follow what you think is important. Go back to your values. Because, again, hopefully, you didn't do this. Just to make a a crap ton of money, you did it because, hey. I wanna help people. I wanna help this person do this.
I wanna help these people around me go up and learn more development, you know, skills and things like that. So go back to that part and then say, is this next step gonna get me there? Right, get me finally to where I wanna be and and and and see if that answers yes or no. And that's how you do it. Yeah. I I love the I love the broke down there. And I would even say to stretch or to stretch your answer a little bit, even even if they are motivated by money, and they wanna be rich or whatever.
Like, okay. So even Chaz, though, why? Like, why do you wanna be rich? And it's it's usually tied to the freedom that that money gives you or the decisions or the that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, whatever that looks like. But to your point, it's, okay, let me remind myself why I got into this pickle. Like, I started this business because I didn't wanna work for somebody I wanted to make more money or I wanted to take care of my family or I wanted to help people whatever.
And I think that that you're right. It's a little cliche for guys like you and I to say it, but but we've been there. We've been in those moments just like these guys are listening, and and we've had to remind ourself of like, I'm doing this because of x. And then and then you Right. You you renew and you and you restart it again, or you you press in again. Right? Right. Right. Yeah. Because I funny.
It reminded me of this conversation I had with one of my mentors who worked at the the commercial financing company, but he was in the real estate side, not the the the finance side. And I said to him something. He was in a bad he was in a pissy mood, and I said something, well, Joe, you know, that was my time too. And he's like, hey. Your time is not as valuable as my time. I was like, what? I was like, what are you talking about? He's like, I make way more money.
I'm like, yeah, Joe. I know you you got 1,000,000 of dollars in the bank, and you're you're doing this to get 1,000,000 something. Like, What are you doing with that money? Like, you're not happy. Right? And you got a great looking girlfriend, but you're you're you've been dating here for 3 years. You're not getting married. You know, and, like, what what are you working for? What we what what are you working towards? Where what's what's the end goal? What are you doing with it?
Because he's not volunteering. He's not donating money to to charities or replaced around them. He's not creating fun, you know, college funds for kids or nothing like that. What do you do? You're just hoarding a bunch of money, like, for for what? Why, you know, why? Right? What what what drives you? And and they and that that made him pause because he was just working to work because he had nothing else in his life. Yeah. Yeah. Which is sad.
Yeah. But but the question that you're asking him is the question that we all should be asking ourselves and not just once, like, repeatedly. Right? And it changes the why changes over the course of time And, and and and it has to change over the course of time because the difficulty of business or the difficulty of life, we were just talking about you know, you're you're thinking about doing an addition. I just got out of a home build.
Like, the fact that costs have gone up and, like, things are gonna come and go. Difficult, smooth, easy, and and we're gonna need those moments to be able to okay. I'm doing this because or Why am I even doing that? You know, sometimes you gotta drill it down a little further even. So I'm really curious. I wanna get into, some decisions here. I'm I'm big on decision making. And I'm I'm I'm big on the where we are today is based on decisions we've made. Good and bad.
And so tell me, Henry, a a good decision that you made along the way in business that would be applicable for the six figure owner listening today. He's taking notes, and he's just trying to get a nugget from you. What what do you got as far as a good decision? Oh, man. And it's it's it's it's almost It's been said over and over again, but if somebody asks if you could do something and you're not sure, and it's a great opportunity, say yes and figure it out. Yeah. Because we did that.
We got, a large franchise, national franchise, restaurant franchise. I'm not gonna say the name. And, we were rolling out Wi Fi for them. A new senior VP decided that he wanted to mix it up at his company. And instead of allowing us to manage the rollout, he wanted all the different franchisees. And this is, like, 12 thousand locations. He wanted all the franchisees to make the order on their own and decide when they wanted to get it done, but he wanted to make sure it was fully complete.
The project was done by November. Yeah. And I'm like You want it as hard to be too. Yeah. I mean, but, you know, and I'm like, okay. And there were there were no we I went into detail, and I talked about this in the book, went into detail about how why that's a bad decision. You know, they're all gonna procrastinate until the the absolute last minute which they all did. And that, you know, having 12,000 decision makers is a really bad idea when you're trying to get one project done.
So but, you know, we said, yeah. We can do it. And we've Wolfe figured it the hell out. Because we weren't set up that way. So we had to create an online system where they can order through there for you because usually we would say, hey. Listen. We're gonna do this section of the country. This and we do because we work with the broadband providers too. I, you know, make sure that all the equipments are already set up before that.
And, you know, they wanted them to just have the franchisees decide whenever they wanted Chaz long as it was all done by November. And that was just 3 months. I'm like, man, that's that's gonna be tough. But They're all going over the last 2, mate, 2 2 weeks? Yeah. We said we we could do it, and, we we figured it out. We we ended up figuring it out. Yeah. I mean, the the lesson there that you're sharing is is Wolfe first off, we're never gonna always have it figured out. Right?
So whether it's a client request or just something new. Like, it's alright. Just just try and see what happens. Yeah. And and because you don't know, worst case scenario, it wouldn't have worked. And but then you Wolfe you would have learned. Right? And and I bet you did learn a ton through that process. Oh, man. Did we?
Yeah. Yeah. Because we we all we made in that process, we made a couple of bad decisions And, we hired a software company, to create a platform for us that we could you know, allow 12,000 locations to order, get it billed because this is a monthly service thing, figure out how to bill them, you know, just so we had to create all the new things. And the software company that we hired did not live up to their promises. And so, you know, halfway into this, we're like, we are jamming up here.
You know, we're we're our accounting system's getting jammed up. Everything, you know, everything's going wrong. You know, the customers never saw this. Right. You know, so we're we're just kinda like But it's a hay day on your end. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's like the duck Chaz, you know, you see you on the river. You never see how fast theater paddling underneath, you know, he looks calm and smooth.
You know, so we round him through, but, you know, that we had to switch software vendors halfway through and get a get a platform that was better, which means we also had to take all the data from the customers that had already ordered and switch it to this new system. So, you know, that was a bad decision by picking a a a vendor that we didn't fully vet, to make sure that That's the that's the learning. Yeah. I mean, they they gave us a we had a fear of missing out.
We allowed that to take over control. There was a the time crunch Right. That we were having. So all those things came to create a bad decision. Yeah. Would you say that's that's somewhat typical of just bad decisions in general or or, like, there's external factors pushing speeding it up or anything like that? I think you make bad decisions because of a of a crisis of time. You know, if you feel that poverty of time happening and and and, you know, the Wolfe closing in.
So you're like, screw it. Okay. Let's go. You know? And, you know, that that's the main thing. So if if It's always good when somebody who is very heavily emotionally invested in an outcome to allow somebody else who is not to take a fresh look. And say that's a bad decision, you know, or that's a great decision or, like, if you do this, watch out for this.
So Yeah. Somebody who is doesn't have that cry the time somebody who's not so emotionally involved in the outcome, let them come in and take a look. Yeah. I love Chaz. One of my questions that sometimes I like to ask is a process, and you kinda just gave it to us, which is great. So I wanna recap it real quick, but re and it number 1, your bad decision was vetting vendors. And so I think that that that shouldn't be, just quickly over gone because you're right.
Sometimes we can make an emotional decision.
In fact, most of our decisions are emotional based But if we can slow down the process just a little bit and put some logic to it, especially with the vendor that you're gonna be working with for a long term, and then even more so to your point, If it's a vendor that's going to help you fulfill something for a client, even more of a reason to just spend the your time and not let, like you said, the the fear of missing out or the urgency of the moment, you know, overtake.
But what you said there is on the of having other people take a look at it. I love that because I do that same thing. But at the same time too, I would say that or maybe you can agree or tell me your history, but there are times where I've shared with someone who I know is not in the weeds. Right? And I and I and I want their perspective because they're out of the or out of the forest, if you will.
But because we're so emotionally attached to what what they were doing, what really all we're looking for is validation, we want them to agree with Yeah. And so if they disagree, now it's like, man. I didn't want your opinion anyway. Right? Like, I don't always feel that way, but I I have experienced that. And I think that a lot of folks get caught up in their decisions because of this because they were really just looking for validation data.
They weren't really actually open minded to a difference of opinion. So what are your thoughts on that? Yeah. And so and that's the thing. Like, I I've asked people for advice before that I finally decided, no. I don't think that's the right to go. And they're like, well, it's why you bothered me if you're gonna ask me for advice and not take it. So they they, you know, they get offended by that, but So at the end of the day Yeah. Still your decision. I'm I'm I'm the captain of the ship.
I have to make the final decision. So I have to weigh because I'm one of the few people who have the full perspective of everything that's going on. Yeah. What's coming down the pike? So at the end of the day, Yeah. I I'm gonna I'm gonna listen to, you know, because I I never wanna be in a room surrounded by Yes, man. I want to be in a room where people are are are to disagree with me and feel safe disagreeing with me.
And, you know, so I can I can pull the best information from different perspectives? That's why diversity in a in a work in any workplace is vitally important because these people are the some of the people I work with, you know, they're here from Indian I'm from Long Island. There are people here from rural areas. You know, and all of the and they all bring different perspectives to the table from their past, their experiences.
Yep. And it's a wealth of knowledge and wisdom because, you know, that that another thing, you know, working in Fort Lauderdale, and the bar and restaurant industry I work with people from Ireland, Hungary, Ukraine, like, all over the world and getting that those that perspective and ideas of how people think. Because I it doesn't matter to me so much what your opinion is. I wanna know how you arrived at that conclusion because that tells me your thought process.
And that's really the vital thing because at the end of the day, people make, like you said, people make decisions based on emotions. They but what triggered that emotional reaction? Right. Right. Where did it come from? Get to the root get to the root thought that that call that spurred that action. Yep. Exactly. I love it. You're giving it so much. I hope the the listeners taking notes here. The the the the process that you described, and and then we'll move on here.
But I just I just think it's so important, especially for the guy who's trying to get the 7 figure mark, first off decisions are so big. But I loved how you said, like, for you have to be open minded to other people. But you also have to be closed minded to know that, like, look, at the end of the day, it's your business. It's your ship. You're the captain, like you said. And so you can't be so swayed or so blown in the wind. By people around you.
And like you said, you might have a guy that says, well, why'd you ask for advice? It's like, well, no. No. I wasn't asking for you to give me an answer. I wanted your opinion because I genuinely care about it. That doesn't I still have to make the decision, though, for for what it is that what's going on. So I think that that's huge. I wanna just actually add an extra point to that to the listener here.
Chaz that ability that you have as a business owner to be able to get key people around you I mean, that's an essence why I created Gathering kings, right, Chaz to get key people around you where they you you value their opinion. It may or may not be the right answer for you, but you're at least getting sounding board, advice around you. And then and then you have to go make the final decision. So such great value. Thank you so much. Okay. So speed round. You ready? Yeah. We're gonna go fast.
One word answers, if possible, but I might dig in for more. So first question is this. If you could only pick 1 metric, in in your businesses that you would track forever and ever, and you couldn't track anything else. What would that one metric be? Satisfaction. K. And satisfaction of both the customers and the the people I work with. Yep. I I I figured you were gonna go there, but that's great. I wanted you to explain.
What book would you recommend for a 6 figure owner trying to get to that 7 figure mark? Oh, man. I I he's not gonna be just one. I got 2. Okay. Great. From good to great. Okay. Jim Collins, and then masters of sales. It's it's neither one of these are new books, but my everything you do is sales.
I mean, everything, whether you're talking to a bank, you're selling themselves on on your creditworthiness, if you're talking to a a vendor, if you're talking to somebody, at health, you and I had a sales pitch meeting on why we should do podcasts together. I mean, Yep. Everything at the end of the day is you're you're you're selling a story. You're selling yourself. You're selling an idea. Yeah. Exactly. Love it.
Okay. Next question is do you intentionally network or mastermind with other business owners? I do, but in a roundabout way. Like, you know, when I go to, events, arts organization, events, things like that, they're all always people there. So I used to go to more conferences. I don't so much so I can focus more on family and and, building my other businesses up. But, yeah, but going out to arts organization events, going out to openings of places, that's where I run into people.
And I'm introduced to people, and I introduce other people that's the best thing. You know, the best thing about networking is getting to introduce other people to other people. That's right. Serving them. You know, that's the that's the best way to great build a great network is to to help other people network. Yeah. It it it you become the connector, really. That point. And and I think that, you know, as an introvert myself, it it that's difficult.
But, but, exactly, you're right that the value that is is huge because now now you become the guy. Maybe not the guy for the solution, but the guy who knows a guy. For the solution. Yeah. And, you you become known. I think that we can all agree that becoming known in whatever business that you're in is obviously gonna be beneficial. So Very good. Last question. Ready? K. If you lost it all, there was no more wireless business. In fact, Wi Fi went away. No more internet. I don't know.
If all if it all went away, you lost it all. What do you do? What do you do? What what what would you do? Honestly, if, you know, to make a living, I'd probably go back to bartending because it's it's never boring. Every day is different. You don't have any take home work. You know, you don't have any stuff to do. Are you addicted still to the $200 a day? You know, I like meeting people. I I I honestly I like meeting new people, learning about them.
You know, I I think I'd go to a place where it's more tourists driven, like, go go to Key West or something like that because me too from all around the Wolfe, And that's, you know, I just I never met a stranger. I just I just enjoy talking to people and and learning about them. So That's awesome, man. Well, we definitely appreciate you being on the show. You've you've added value to our day, our businesses. All of that's been incredible. Thank you for for being here.
And then, obviously, you've got several projects, and I know one a little bit newer than the other. So we wish you best of luck in all that. If if someone wanted to connect with you or someone wanted to get your book or entertain a conversation with you around any of the things that we've brought up today. How would they how would they reach out to you? Can you reach me on Twitter? My handle is Henry Indy, I n d y. The web, the the website for my book is the remote workbook.com.
There's a contact form there or hit me up on LinkedIn. There you go. Yeah. I think that the remote work piece, obviously, is just so big and and so great. So thank you for serving the the whole world, really. The whole marketplace, in that way, I I think that pretty much all of us could relate to a degree of that separation and and, burn out all the stuff that you mentioned, that that it's in the book. So I'm sure it'd be a great book to pick up. Henry, we appreciate, man.
Thanks for being on the King stage. We wish you best of luck. Alright? Hey. Thank you, Chaz. I appreciate you having me. Absolutely. Thanks for listening to Gathering the Kings. We hope you got ton of value today and learn a thing or 2 about taking your business to 7 figures and beyond. If you desire more and want a community around you to help you get there, I want you to go to gathering the king's dot com.
That's gathering the king's dot com, and I want you to apply for our next becoming a king 90 day intensive We are extremely exclusive by nature as a group. What that means that we're really wanting only the entrepreneurs who take their business and targets super serious to apply. So if that's you, you think you got what it takes to level up your business. I want you to go to gatheringthekings.com and apply and we will see you