On today's episode of gathering the Kings. Bad decisions have come when we've gotten ourselves in a position where we had to hire the job and not the person, and that can be difficult. Yeah. The super practical Are there any practicals inside of the filtering or interviewing process that helps you find the person as opposed to doing the job? 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 to give a true and accurate picture of the journey of success and how you too can get Through this dialogue, you will learn the value of growing your network and surrounding yourself with power players and kings 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. This morning, I've got Adam Toth here on the King stage, mumbra, the Adam.
How are we doing? I'm doing great. How are you this morning? Dude, I'm rocking and rolling. Really, the the the answer below the rocking and the rolling because I am rocking and rolling is that, man, I felt like I got hit by truck. I'm kinda dealing with a little allergy or something, but that's okay. We do it anyway. Don't we? Absolutely. Life goes on. Live goes on. Well and we were talking about kids before the recording here.
I'm sure we'll get into this here in a little bit, but when you got 4 kids, there is no such thing as sleeping in. You just do the thing as dad and take care of business. So, Adam, I'm so glad that you're here. Tell us what kind of business that you have. So I'm the president of Tothan Associates It is a consulting engineering firm, and we do electrical engineering, civil engineering, and structural engineering.
We're headquartered in Missouri, and then we also have 4 offices spread around the Pacific Northwest. Love it. Fellow show me stator in. I don't know. I didn't say that right, but show me show me state, a fellow fellow guy here. And so I appreciate that. I wanna know your story. The industry that you're in is so different than mine. And so I'm always super curious of an individual to get to know people that are in different industries and such.
But what I really wanna know first is your burning desire, and I've kinda changed this over the the course of 300 plus shows now. Of your why to burning desire because it's the same thing, but burning desire comes from thinking grow rich, and it's like a definiteness of purpose. It's like the thing inside of you that is just so hot. And I wanna know that. What's that for you? So for me, it's really other people So we have a 170 employees.
And every day I go to work, I wanna make their lives better. I want to give them more opportunities. I want to get to know their families, and I want to really I want to better the lives of the people around me. And then we also work with a lot of girl utilities and they may be underserved in the in the engineering realm. And we wanna give them the same service that that all utilities deserve. And then, you know, also, we helped after the Joplin tornado.
We helped the city where the school district of Joplin get safe rooms for for all of their schools after that horrible tornado. And so helping protect kids in schools And, ultimately, you know, I wanna be there for my family. I wanna provide for my family. And at the end of the day, I wanna be able to go home and coach my kids' teens and and and be there for the families. So Yeah. I love that.
I gotta take it this opportunity because I pointed out, you know, some trophies and and been a basketball in your background for the people that are listening. See the video. He's got a beautiful office, and he's got some cool stuff in there. And he's like, oh, no. That's that's my kid's stuff. Like, oh, we just took it to a whole another level of king. Tell me about the kids. Talk about the business here in a second. Tell them about the kids. So I just appreciate that perspective.
What I heard from all of that is a pouring out. Right? Your cup is your cup is full and and then out of that, you get to pour. My my follow-up question Chaz is that was it always like that? Did it change? And if so, how did it change? When did change, that type of thing? So I had the fortune of starting this company with my dad almost 20 years ago. And so I got to watch him, and this was the second company he had started. And so He he taught me a lot of those values.
And so, obviously, earlier in my career, I'm a very competitive person by nature. I wanna win I wanna be good at everything I do, but it's way more enjoyable and rewarding whenever you do it with other people.
And so I suspect that the older I've gotten, the the more I have focused on and realized the joy of others, but I think it's something that is ingrained in my soul that I, you know, They're I I think that the best term I've heard is that I I'm a servant leader, and so I try to lead by serving others. And that's probably just ingrained in me. Yeah. I love that. I'm not sure if you've taken, oh, oh, at the strength finders. No. Yeah. I think that might be it. I'm drawing up blank.
I don't use it very often, as you can tell. But there's 6 oh, it's it's working genius. That's what it is. It's working genius. And so there's 6 different you know, working geniuses. And one of them is galvanizing. And so Chaz, I mean, I'm just hearing, you know, this potential working genius of yours where it's like, I just put people together. Like, just all the time I wanna be with people.
In fact, I had somebody, there's probably 2 or 3 months ago, somebody that was kinda working through just some, you know, business tactics and stuff and They were asking me about my day. You know, some people get get curious about daily structures and stuff like Chaz, morning routines and stuff.
So I kinda walked through And what they noticed was that at every little kind of spot along the way Chaz I have other people with me, like, almost all day long, even though I do a lot of it virtually, but there's always people with me. And I'm like, oh, that's you're right. But I do it more so. Well, I mean, it's love for people. Yes. I want people to come with me. But I know that if other people are there, like, I'm gonna show up. You know?
Yeah. Sounds like you do it because you love people, and and I do too, but sounds like you're just more of a natural, like, love place for you, which I've I don't think I've had to learn how to do over the course of time if I'm being honest. So I appreciate that in you. Do you think that your perspective, because of your dad, right, like, he had business and and was successful. And and then, of course, you guys gotta do something cool together.
Like, I guess my what do you think that'll do for your kids? Will they have to say, will they be able to start with that almost King mindset from the beginning because they've yet to see you and your dad do it. Yeah. It's interesting. You asked that because, you know, people have asked me, oh, Wolfe, one of your kids take over the business one day.
And I don't know how to answer that because, you know, we've got a lot of great people and I I feel like if my kids were were deserving of it, maybe, but I think that, you know, there's a difference that I was there day 1 when this company started and you know, I brought in a lot of our people and worked on those relationships, and it's a little bit different. And I I do hope that no matter what my kids do, that they will be successful, and I will try to help them in whatever it is.
But I don't necessarily I don't know if that any of them will wanna go into engineering or or come along for the ride, but that it it's I don't have the answer to Chaz, and I guess that's something that we'll see. But, hopefully, they they have that same desire to be successful and that they lead with people first because I think that that will help make them successful. Yeah. Really in anything that they choose to do. Right?
Is that is that king mindset or that perspective that you've given to us of of people first? I loved how you started with Chaz. Obviously, here on the show, but then even in our little preset a few minutes ago before we were recording. You were like, let me let me tell you the backdrop. And all of the backdrop, this for listener, Adam talked about his people the entire time. And so I just appreciate that hard perspective. Okay. Let's talk about a little bit of the journey.
So you started this with your dad. Tell us about what you did before. Obviously, it sounds like you were in school and you're kinda making a transition. Give us a little bit of that story. So I I I work I've I got my engineering degree from University, Missouri. I worked a couple summers with him actually at his previous firm, and then I decided I did not wanna work in the power industry. It was too boring. I didn't wanna do it.
And so I went and took a job with a company that was in the nuclear weapons complex and the the place that I work manufactured 75% of all the components on nuclear weapons. So had to have a a equivalent of a top secret DOE clearance to to even set foot in the building. It was the cool job. Right? It was the opposite of power. And what I realized was It's not the end product that makes a job fun. It's what you get to do on that product because what's cooler, power lines, or nuclear weapon, Right?
I was helping design radars in antennas for nuclear weapons. That's pretty cool. Right. The job wasn't very much fun. And I specifically remember a time when I asked for more work, and I was told, oh, you don't ask for more work. Year. You pretend like you're busy, even if you're not. And that just rubbed me the wrong way.
And, you know, when dad and I started this company, I got to speak before the board of directors of $100,000,000 corporations, and I was the expert telling them how to invest in their future. And so what was neat to me was learning that the end product of what you're doing is not what gives you satisfaction. It's what are you doing in the process? And so at when I was working at in the nuclear weapons complex, my role in the process was not satisfying.
Yeah. And even though, you know, power lines or roads, are not as sexy as nuclear weapons if you're an electrical engineer, but what I get to do on it is so much more rewarding and seeing the people that we help is so much more rewarding. And so I give that as a takeaway is, you know, if you're looking at jobs or careers, don't necessarily focus on what the end product is. Focus on what's your role in the organization because that's what will make you truly happy. Yeah. I love that.
I I've had a similar conversation with entrepreneurs, you know, through the years, the last decade, decade and a half of just talking to business owners And I found that there's there's 2 types of people, if you will, or entrepreneurs. I guess you could say just people for people who wanna have jobs, if they're engineers, And it's like the the person that needs to, like, you know, they need to, like, fall in love with the daily action. Right?
And then there's the person who can just love, like, the the the impact. Right? And so I hear you saying a little bit of both. You're like, the daily can be cool, but the bigger thing is, like, way cool, but if the daily isn't there, then there's a disconnect. Which which for the entrepreneur is like, well, like, you gotta love this business, this particular widget. You gotta love this industry, and and then you're making your your Your passion come through in that.
And the other side of it is, I well, it doesn't matter what the widget is. So, you know, the widgets been fruit baskets, We just been real estate. The way just been podcast. You know, you name it. I love business. You know?
And and but I think that still connects with what you're saying, which is On the daily, every day, I love relationships, negotiating, finding cool deals, customer service, and helping people, serving people, experience, like, all of these things that we throw into a big bucket of business, it's like, yes. No. I don't I don't really wanna, like, do the individual widget every single day. I wanna do business every day. You know what I mean?
Yep. Absolutely. And so I think it was really neat that my dad was willing to start the company with me. Right? He had sued or retired after selling his first firm. And I called him up and I said, hey. I'm considering law school. I'm considering going and getting my masters in engineering. What do you think about starting a company? I know that you're enjoying this golf thing. But what do you think about it?
And so it was really cool to get to to be there on the ground level and and get to work with my dad every day. Yeah. And and I've I've really enjoyed that. And then, you know, about 4 or 5 years ago, I officially became the president of the firm and and that's been a really fun transition.
Yeah. I love the underneath what you just said there is Chaz, basically, because of his fill in the blank connections, experience, his covering Chaz dad, as president, as previous, you know, business owner, that, you know, it paved it paved away. Maybe not the whole way, and maybe it definitely didn't make your whole journey easy. But when I think about what I wanna be able to do for my children, It's like, I I wanna I'm a trailblazer. Right? Like, I just, like, here I go. Right?
And then I want them to be able to kinda pick up where I left off and continue. But I think what a lot of us do, whether we're successful or not, we either we don't give anything to them. We say You gotta figure it out on your own kid, which is them blazing the same trail, like, that we've already blazed, which seems completely redundant and not necessary. But then there's the other side, the other camp that's like, here's everything.
And it's like, well, they can't pick up where you left off if they have silver spoon or if they have, quote, unquote, everything. They didn't understand how you blazed that trail. So somewhere in the middle here is I blaze this portion, and I'm gonna equip you so that you can pick it up and continue to blaze on and then you give it to the next generation and so forth and so on. You kinda feel like this is, like, you're in the midst of this? Because it sounds like it.
It was really cool because after a few years, what I think helped us was my dad got to do the things that he really liked to do. And then I got to fill in the blanks. And so, you know, he the dirty work. Even though she started a firm grew to about fifty people, sold it, He never really liked the business side of it as much. He likes the engineering side of it more. And so as I came up and started taking on some of that business responsibility.
His last few years, he he just more did engineering stuff because that's what made him at. Happy. And so we were able to be a good fit in what what I tell young people in our organization or elsewhere is I I coach them to see what the business needs. And even if it's not in your job description, fill in those blanks because that will people will notice that and that will help the company and that will help you.
And so you know, I started taking on roles that may be, you know, with permission, but roles that my dad I could tell he didn't wanna do, and so I asked if I could help him with those. And and then ultimately, those became my responsibility. And so I think for young people looking for how to make an impact in the company, it look try to find those things that your leader needs support on and fill in those gaps even if it's not in your job description.
Obviously, do it the proper way and get permission and all of Chaz. But but that's a real way that you can add value to your organization. Yeah. You make yourself so valuable that even in a looming recession or fill in the blank, that you're the very last person that they would wanna get rid of because you're constantly adding value. And we can say the same thing as business owners.
If we do the same thing for our clients, if we do the same thing for our team members and for constantly adding value, then we're the last place they wanna leave or the last person that they don't wanna do business with. So I think I think that that principle is huge, and I appreciate you sharing. I wanna know of a good decision, kinda basically, you've you've got 20 years of experience to pick from, so good luck.
What's the what's a good decision that you made somewhere in that 20 years that you can share with us that's really led to a lot of your success. So I'm gonna give you a broad answer And then I'm gonna give you maybe a a very specific maybe some of your listeners will chuckle Chaz answer, but I think that the best decision that I've made is putting people first and leading with people. And so let me give you a few in more detailed perspectives on that. 1, we're a consulting engineering firm.
We don't own any patents We don't sell any products. Yeah. Our people are our product. And so what I tell people is, hey. If if Apple lost half their employees, they still own the Iphone, they still own all the patents. They can just go hire a bunch of Stanford Grads and it will and people won't notice. For us, if we lose half of our people, we lose half of our product. And so recognizing that our people are our product has been one of the best decisions I've made.
And so that that's That's lip service. Right? But how do you do that? Yes. And so how I have done that as a leader Probably one of my biggest business philosophies. You've mentioned I have 4 kids is when something difficult comes up, I ask myself, How would I want an employer to treat 1 of my 4 kids? Yeah. In 99% of the time, that's the decision I make. The other one percent of the time, legal says I can't do it. And so that it's not just lip service.
You know, we had a difficult thing come up with, employees a few months ago, and we had made a decision. And that night, I didn't sleep Wolfe. And I I was like, you know, I wouldn't want someone to treat my kid that way. And the next day, I did a 180. I came back in and I said, we're changing our decision because that wasn't the right decision for the employee. And so Chaz is something really actionable. I ask myself that question all the time. Now on a micro level, a kind of a funny level.
So we moved into our new headquarters right in the middle of COVID. And one of our VPs suggested, hey. Why don't we get a one of our conference tables is the same size as a ping pong table? Now I was like, okay. Whatever. Well, then when COVID happened, you couldn't have meetings anymore. So this room was a ping pong table and you could stand 9 feet apart from each other and play ping pong.
Yeah. So our office has a ping pong table in the main conference room right in the middle of the office and it has really brought people together. People from different departments will come and play against each other. We have tournaments in the office. One of our engineers wrote a full algorithm where you can put in your your scores and it ranks everybody with Goodness. With z scores and it and it gives strength to schedule and all this stuff.
And so it's really become a little bit of our culture. And Oh, yeah. You know, Some people would think, oh, man, what a horrible idea. People are just gonna slack off and play ping pong all day. The reality is our best employees are the ones that are playing ping pong. And it's because they're competitive by nature, so they wanna be good at something.
And, also, they're willing to stand up there in front of the whole office and say, it's 10:20 in the morning, and I'm taking a 10 minute break to play ping pong and I know that you can't judge me for being a bad employee because I'm a star. You know, it's the employees that are sitting there at their desk hiding on their phone, scrolling Facebook Chaz you have to be worried about. Someone willing to stand up in front of the office and play ping pong you probably don't have to worry about.
And so that has created so many friends in our organization. Yeah. And One of the things I don't remember what book this was in or what study, but, you know, one of the main drivers of people leaving a company is does their manager micromanage them or, you know, do they have autonomy in their job? And and that's very actionable for entrepreneurs. But something that maybe isn't as obvious is people don't leave companies where they have friends. That's right.
And so what the ping pong table has done is it's created a lot of friends in our organization. Yeah. And we have extremely low turnover of employees, which is remarkable in today's day and age because I know my employees are getting contacted by recruiters weekly, and they don't leave. And I think it's because it's easy. It may be easier to quit a company. It's harder to quit your friends.
And so We've created this culture, this family environment at our company, this friendship culture in our company. And so people really, we have great tenure in our employees. And so buying the pingpong table was a great decision that really created some culture. Along those lines, we also have a free fruit bowl in the office. Anybody can go grab a fruit whenever they want. And we also have a fancy coffee bar that, you know, makes Espresso's mochas, macchiatos.
We've got all the sauces and flavors. And so just little things like that, making a work environment that people want to go to you know, if you're gonna spend a third of your waking life at the office, you might as well have an environment that you enjoy going to. So Yeah. Creating that culture of friends and people and leading with people first Chaz really been the best decision that that I've ever made as a leader. Yeah. Yeah. I just kinda put 22 together in my mind.
You know, we talk about creating an experience for our clients all the time. Culture is us creating an experience for our team members. And that's an Chaz I mean, all these little pieces, it's not it's not coffee bar that does it. It's not the ping pong table that does it. It's a combination of of all of it.
And underneath the combination, it's someone who cares who's genuinely trying to put together in an environment where, like, I want you to be able to know it come and perform at a high level, but that you enjoy. You wanna be here. You know, I've played many of ping pong games in a corporate environment so I can respect that totally. I think what everybody's wanting to know, though, is what's your stat? Where do you fall on the ranking?
Hi. I just this was not my idea to get the ping pong table, and we've got about fifty people ranked on our website. Oh, well, I hope I hope your employees listen to this. They pull you into a tournament I just happened to be number 1 at this moment. It Oh, dear. I hate I thought you were gonna go the other way. I thought you were gonna say, no. I let in play. I don't do it. Wow. He's number 1. You wanna talk about a competitive spirit? Love it.
I bet you they just are trying to knock you off every single week. I love it. They're just naming the system that goes on, but it it it's fun. It's fun. I love it. I love it. You stay you stay there late night practicing. Yes. No. I I I gotta get home when we get to the kids baseball or soccer games, but but, yeah, it's it's it's fun. It's fun. It's awesome. Hey, Chaz Wolfe here.
As many of you know, I have been on an absolute mission to help entrepreneurs from all across the country in many different industries, level up their game and grow their business, and intentionally connect with other entrepreneurs. We do that, obviously, through the podcast, but We also have a peer to peer mastermind group specifically for 7 to 9 figure business owners.
We are bringing some of best and most successful entrepreneurs and minds together in a regular and a super intentional way to not only grow our network, but to be able to leverage.
And at a certain point in business, success becomes about leverage, leveraging time, leveraging resources, leveraging key relationships, This is exactly what we're doing inside of the peer to peer mastermind group called Gathering the Kings, specifically for 7 to 9 figure business owners, So if that's you, if you're ready to level up your 7 to 9 figure business even to the next level and get around other big hitters just like you, I want you to go to gathering the kings dot com.
Fill out a short application, and, it'll come to an application, call with me and I wanna chat with you to see if it might be a good fit. Talk soon. Okay, Adam. Tell us about the bad decision, and I love how you broke down the good one. So break down the bad one for us too. So the worst decisions all say plural have come from hiring whenever it is we have to make a hire out of need.
Yeah. Desperate. And so Let's say that we haven't done a good job and we haven't created a redundant person And so if somebody that is one of those key people leaves, now all of a sudden, we have such a need. And let's say it's a substation design engineer. They are not substation design engineers just all over the place. And so if you need somebody that has project experience that has 5 years or 10 years of experience as a licensed engineer to fill in the gap, Yeah.
It's very hard to find people like that. So somebody applies and you you probably are gonna hire them because they gonna fit the bill. And we've had great hires come out of those times of need, but we've had a lot of not so great hires come out of those times a need. And so our best hires have always been when we hire the person and then train the job. And so one of our VPs, he was a college study buddy of mine.
He had worked at GE doing train locomotive controls, had never been in our industry at all. And I hired him because I knew him as a person, his work ethic, and he came in and he's worked up to being a VP in the company. And it took some time, but he's an amazing employee. And so hire the person and train the job. And so that bad decisions have come when we've gotten ourselves in a position where we have to hire the job and not the person, and that can be difficult.
Yeah. The super practical Is there are there any practicals inside of the filtering or interviewing process that helps you find the person as opposed to filling the job? So what we look for, we're an engineering firm. So we have to have smart people So we do ask for transcripts. We check GPAs, and that is important to us. But that's not everything. We have to have people that fit into our culture.
Yeah. And so, you know, I don't specifically have the answer on how to find the best culture fit but, you know, trying to talk to people and getting to know them a little bit and, you know, asking the question, who are you as a person? You know? Yeah. Tell me about you. Trying to get the real answer. A lot of people will talk about their career. Some people will talk about themselves And if they start talking about their career, I will focus them back on no. I wanna know about you, the person.
And so some I don't do this, but I've there's a a guy you can read on the internet about that. He makes every interview, play him in pingpong, and he says every you can learn so much about someone. Are they willing to do it? Are they willing to say, hey. I I've never played, but I'll try. Are they willing to you can so sometimes I'll ask someone if they wanna play ping pong, and you can learn a lot about somebody.
And so just trying to Obviously, they have to have the intellect in our industry, but then trying to dig in and learn who they are as a person A question that I like to ask sometimes is what would your mom or dad say is your biggest weakness? That's a fun one because if if you ask people what their biggest weakness is, people have an answer to that. But whenever you ask, what would your mom burden and say is your biggest weakness if about it.
Usually catches them by surprise, and they gotta think, and you get a much better response if you ask that question. I love that. I love that. It's funny Chaz you said, you know, have them play ping pong. In my mind, I was thinking, we'll just take them over to the ping pong table. See. It's I'm I'm glad that you mentioned that. I'm glad that you've done that.
When I was in this this game that I'm about to mention is a a little bit more, you know, communications oriented and and and, like, quick quick wittiness oriented, but for salespeople, I would have them play catchphrase in the interview. And catchphrase, you have to get the other person to say the word without saying the words. I have to describe it. I have to get you to say it without me saying it.
And so their willingness to play it, even if they never have, their ability to read the word, understand the word, communicate other words to get me to understand something. That's this is what sales is. Like, I need to I need to help understand something, which is your need. And then I need to be able to present information complex things, make them simple so that you understand them.
And then on top of that, if they have a good time and have fun with it, like the ping pong table, you can learn a lot about somebody and about 90 seconds. Yep. Absolutely. Pretty cool environment. Love that. Okay. What about your just philosophy or maybe decision making process? Something comes across your desk today. You're an engineer. So I'm sure you got, like, a 4 step process, but how do you how do you calculate or filter decisions? How do you make good choices today?
So it's it's really about relationships and longevity you know, we get hired by utility companies or architecture firms or developers we have to decide, is this a good long term client fit? Right. And we, as a company, don't look for jobs or take jobs that are gonna be a one time job. That's not the way that we operate. We try to find clients that are going to be long term clients. And so that's the first thing that we evaluate is are they a long term potential?
And then a lot of the time, I will tell people. I will say, hey. I wanted do business with you for a long time. Give us a small job and let us see if it's a good fit. And then I also will talk to people. This isn't answering your question, but this is along that topic. I will talk to potential clients. And if I meet them at conferences or things, And I ask them, you know, who's your consultant? Do you like your consultant? And if they say yes, I say keep using them. Right?
There's a lot of value in having a long term relationship Yeah. Between a client and their consultant. And if they're happy with their relationship, I don't want to try to interrupt that. And I say if something changes, if your consultant retires or if something happens, then then give us a shot. And so We're lucky that we don't have to be quarter driven. You know, a lot of stock market companies, it's all about the next quarter. And for us, We're making 1, 5, 10 year plays.
You know, there's one client that, going back to my dad's first company, they would call on them going back into the eighties nineties. They're spending a month into years saying hi, and they had used the same consultant through the years and had a good relationship. And then Matt Consultant retired. And just about 5 years ago, they called us up, and now we're doing work for them. And so you know, that was a 30 year play in reality.
And so the decision making process is does this opportunity have a long term impact? Yep. And the the fortunate thing for us as a business is that also really helps us weather the ups and downs in the industry because if you're having to fight for or bid on every work you're doing the next 6 months or year, and a recession comes and everything stops, you're in a tough spot. But if you have those relationships where you are getting that constant flow of work, Right?
You can weather those storms a lot easier. And so I would say evaluating for us if a job is a potential long term client is is really a a key for us. Yeah. I was just going through the same conversation. It's obviously a little different with with our gathering the king's mastermind versus an engineering firm and and your clients, but the process of building a real relationship is what we're what we're both talking about. And so even on our side where it's like, okay.
If this person wants to be a member, what I'm not interested in no matter how big their business, because I don't need a sale. Right? So that's that's Chaz you're talking about. Going back to the desperation, I don't need a sale. What I want is a relationship.
And so if this person wants to join the group or become a member for the wrong reasons or, you know, there's just not alignment, I just have no problem saying no. And for the ones that are the right fit, and I know that Wolfe add value and, you know, just this really synergistic play, or years to come, then it's like, that's the that's the type of client that we want because it's not a 2 month engagement. It's a it's a 20 year engagement.
You know, one of our members right now just had bypass heart surgery 2 days ago. And I know his wife's name. I know his kid's name. We sent them a bunch of stuff, and I went to see him in the hospital and a bunch of other members. I mean, whether you do that with your clients or not, that's not my point. It's, like, the relationship piece. That there's there's a difference between just transaction, and you have to transcend that up above, up above, to the actual relationship.
And then you're gonna do cool stuff up here over the next 10, 20 years together, which is exactly what you're talking about. So different industries, maybe different tactics, but the relationship is what, you know, remains same. Would you agree? Absolutely. Yeah. Relationships. And what I think is a key takeaway there is looking at relationships internal and external.
So there are lots of leaders that may focus on relationships with their clients but they don't build the relationships with their employees. Yeah. And so I think that for us, we look at building relationships internal and external, and that's really key to our success. Yeah. It goes back to your people first kind of mentality that you introduced to us, you know, 15 minutes or so ago.
And if and if you're genuine to that, of course, you are, but if the listener wants to come into that type of mindset, then it can't just be and we're we're people first when it comes to these people. You know? It's like, no. No. No. You have to see people And and I don't know. For me, personally, that has a lot to do with my faith because if I can see another person, like, Wolfe, like, I that's a human over there.
They've got thoughts and and and ambitions and desires and family and, like, that's a real person over there and my interactions with them matter. Mhmm. Absolutely. Very cool. Okay. So speed round time, Adam, I wanna know in my first question here, because I'm sure you have spreadsheets galore in your business. What's the number one KPI or the one thing that you would track forever and ever if you can only pick 1? So, obviously, profits. So we'll just leave that aside.
But it would be longevity of clients and employees. That that is key. And I want to At one point, somebody I was interviewing said to me, they said I was going through your firm, and I noticed that your 10 year of your employees is double the industry average. And I'm like, I didn't even know that was a thing that LinkedIn put out there. And I'm like, that's pretty cool because we're a new firm, and most of our employees are, you know, millennials.
And so we have a lot of people that couldn't have even had a long career for us to have that tenure of employee compared to industry is really an awesome thing. And so Yeah. The the tenure of employees is really a key thing. And then also same thing that we just discussed, longevity of clients. How many clients are you turning over? What's your are you losing any clients and why?
And so, yeah, I would say for me, it's looking at that Chaz tenure, that longevity is really that's not a quarter to quarter thought that but that's what's going to get you Wolfe into the future. For the person listening right now who maybe is new in business, let's say, in the 1st 5 years, and and they're really, like, they like what you're saying. I wanna be people first. Adam's giving me some good stuff here, and and I wanna be client driven. I wanna be employee driven.
How does this person start to look at longevity of client or longevity of team member within the 1st couple of what actions can they take? Because they can't really look and go, oh, someone's been with me for 20 years. Or can they look and say, well, someone's been with me since inception or or 2 years? Like, give us some thoughts there? I think you can tell, and I think that you can I you know, the the cliche is Get the right people on the bus and then figure out the way the bus is going?
It's true. And so if you're early in the process, There are many of businesses that started with the right people on the bus and then did a total pivot 180 and went into a different industry. Oh, yeah. And so I can't tell you how to decide if the right people are on your bus. Every industry is different. Everybody has different needs to compliment their skill set. Right? So somebody that is the right person for me, they're gonna compliment my skill set.
But that may be somebody different for you. And so I think that you can get a feel, though, for is somebody in it for the long run. Do they care about your company? Do they or are they applying to other jobs? And so then you can also see if your clients are calling you back. Right? Most clients will call you back within a year or 2. And so in in, you know, our industry isn't Google review driven or anything like Chaz.
But I think if you can see some of that from existing clients, see if they are talking about their customer experience And if they'll reuse the business, those are metrics that I think any business, TN, can garner even in the 1st few years. Yeah. I agree. What do you think about a business resource book, podcast, event, something that's helpful for you over the years that you can share with us so we can go partake in. So there are 2 of the 2 of my favorite books are 2 of the classics. Right?
Good to gray, 7 habits of highly effective people. Those are both. Really good books. I mean, I I find myself quoting them at times. And so I've read and listened to lots of podcasts through the years, but those the ones that I seem to quote the most. And so I guess they're a cliche for a reason. They've withstood the test of time and, you know, good to great.
Sometimes gets a a tough rap because some of those companies fell on hard times later, but I think the underlying principles in those book Wolfe withstand the test of time. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. The principles remain the same. It's how I feel about thinking grow rich, but you know, it's interesting I had podcast guests, I don't know, maybe a month or so ago, and he shared this sentence that you just made me think of because you said, you know, they're cliche.
He said, we just execute on the cliche. It's like They they are a cliche for a reason. I'll give you one other that seems so simple in business, but yet so many people fail at it. Is do what you said you were gonna do. In our industry, you would think engineering firms, right, smart people. They are gonna do what they said they're gonna do. And if if I hear negative things about other firms or why did somebody wanna switch firms? It's because they didn't do what they said they were gonna do.
And so Chaz is so simple and cliche, but it is so true. Just do what you said you were gonna do And you will be more successful than most people. Yeah. It's it's hard to do Chaz, and that's why most people don't, which makes it really not that difficult or pretty easy, actually, for guys like you and I to be able to come through and just follow through, execute, do the things that you say you're gonna do. Don't let it be cliche, but actually follow through on it.
And and even when it's hard in in a remodeling business that's in my portfolio. We have a client right now that things did not go well with the remodel. And it was a variable situation. It wasn't all necessarily technically our fault, but it's like, no. That none of that matters. Come in. Let let's remove everything, and we're gonna start over, and it's gonna be what it is that we said it was gonna period.
And that sucks from a financial standpoint and a time perspective, but what will happen, whether we get you know, a 5 star review from that person or not. It doesn't matter. It's it's the longevity of doing what we said we were gonna do and then the residual of in the team them seeing me going, no. No. No. No. No. No. Here's a hard line here, and we will do what we said we were going to do no matter what it takes. There's resolve in that. You know what I mean? I absolutely agree.
And I think, you know, you you make a really good point there that it's not just an outward look, but it's an inward look. Right? So it doesn't just send a signal to your client in the outside world that you're gonna do what you said you're gonna do. It also tells your employees that they will do what they're supposed to do because that's the company culture. And so I really like your perspective on that. Yeah. Appreciate that. We got a question for you about family.
We've talked kids for for a half second here. I wanna dive into a little bit more. My thoughts around family are what's gonna make me successful as a dad or as a husband or a family is obsession because obsession is what's made me successful in my business. I don't like the word ballots. I throw it out with the garbage every day. I want obsession burning desire. And so my question to you, Adam, is how have you been obsessed with your kids and wife at the same time as your business.
So I think that there are so many opportunities today to just vege out and scroll on your phone. And so I think that we all need to be more intentional about our time. And I struggle with it. Right? There are times when I've had a hard day and I just wanna sit on the couch and and scroll on my phone and not give my kids that attention. Right. And I have to be intentional and say, no. Put your phone away. Be present with your kids.
And so I think that I I think that just being there is so important. And then, you know, I try to be the best dad that I can. I've coached all of my kids, soccer teams. I've coached my older daughters, basketball teams. I've coached softball teams. Have helped with baseball teams. And so I just I don't see it as an obsession because it's just doing the right thing almost.
But I feel like if you look at it from the outside world, some people may say, oh, man, this guy is just the Energizer buddy, and he doesn't stop. And he's just doing this and this and this. And it's just, you know, it's stopping and thinking and saying, What can I do? How can I better use my time? Because it is very limited. And And I think that that intentionality is really, really a differentiator.
And I think everybody if they have an obsessive personality or not, can really can really always be more intentional with their time and and and give that to their family Chaz a great place to give it. Yeah. I love the the intentionality of your words, intentionality, and then just the practicality because What it does is this. It puts it in a perspective of a national ping pong player or, you know, the NBA finals are playing right right now.
All of those athletes have had to be extremely intentional about diet and exercise and their craft, their actual, you know, honing in on the spin of the ball. And, you know, whatever else goes into ping pong, clearly Adam can tell us more because he's number 1, but you don't understand what I'm saying?
Like, you we have to be intentional to, like, hone those things in, and that's the same for being dad and underneath that umbrella is coaching or or, you know, leading or correcting or guiding or, you know, read to my kids every single night. We do affirmations in the mirror. Like, these are all very intentional things that can just easily just you don't do them. Yep. Absolutely. Just like brushing your teeth. It's just as easy not to do it as to do it. That's that is the word intentionality.
Like, it's easy to do, easy to not do. Most people don't. And if I just stick to it, like you said, then it makes a really big impact in those kids' life. Would you agree? Absolutely. Yeah. I think being present I mean, kids just need somebody to be present and give them attention. It doesn't matter what you're doing, but kids just need a parent to give them the attention, and that will pay off so many times over in their lives. Yeah. I agree. I got one last question here for you, Adam.
I wanna know if you had the opportunity to whisper in the younger Adam's ear. What would you say? Enjoy the moment. And be patient. So I was always wanting the next thing, or I can't wait for this to happen. And I think that I missed some of the rye. And so there's a lot of value in the rye. And so I would say don't don't live your life. Always looking for the next thing.
So I used to I used to lit be like, oh, I can't wait until this or I can't wait until that or when we hit this number or when we do that. And I feel like You missed the enjoyment of the moment if you're living your life in that manner. So I would whisper to myself. Be patient. Enjoy the ride and and and good things will come. Yeah. It's good perspective. I think that every high driving, not patient entrepreneur out there Chaz take heed to that a little bit. How Chaz a listener find you?
Adam, first off, if if they're in the engineering space or in the construction of of those things, and they need to connect with you, or maybe it's a good fit, or they just wanna, you know, get to know you as an entrepreneur. How can they find you? So I'm on LinkedIn, Adam Toth t o t h. I do answer my messages. Our website, if you send in a comment on our website or I think we have a an email thing where that you can send in an email. I will personally respond.
I look at those things and and so, yeah, find us on our website. Find me on LinkedIn. I'm I'm pretty easy to be found, and I'd love to connect. And I'm never shy for giving my opinion or word vomiting on people. So if you just wanna chat, you know, I'll probably talk your ear off. That's awesome. Well, we we appreciate you word vomiting on us here today. I don't feel like that's what it was at all. It was value vomit, really. That we might have to coin that value vomit. I like that.
I may have to start using that Yeah. I I think you should. I think we both should. Hashtag value vomit and, find Adam and and I together on this podcast. I just so appreciate you, man. I appreciate your intentionality, the things that you're doing in in the Wolfe, and also in your family. I see you, and I just appreciate all the the things that you've done here for us today. We wish you nothing but blessing on your family and your business. Thank you for being there. Thank you so much.
Thank you for listening to gathering the Kings today. 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 kings dot com. I want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 kings. Talk soon.