On today's episode of Gathering The Kings. People ask, who's your competition? And I'm like, we don't have any. You know? Yeah. Well, what about I'm like, well, that's they're not really competition. Yeah. They're in the business. We're in the same business, but I'm not competing against anybody other than ourselves. You know?
You are listening to Gathering the Kings with Chaz Wolfe Gathering fellow 78 and even 9 figure business owner 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 successful business today.
We dissect the good and bad decisions they've made along the way Chaz give a true and accurate picture The 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 Kings like today's guest. Grab your pen and notebook because we're about to dive in. What's up everybody? Chaz Wolfe, Gathering the Kings podcasting. I got Jeremy Briggs here on the King stage. Jeremy, welcome, my brother. How are you?
Thank you. I'm wonderful. How are you? Dude, I'm feeling fresh. We were just talking about it being a Tuesday, but sometimes Tuesdays are a reiteration of Monday. We both Kings chuckled at that one, but I'm glad that you're here, man. I'm glad to dive into the story. We were re I was referred to you by by another guy that was on the pod. I don't get to do this very often, and so get another layer of, friendship. We have a mutual friend now. Good stuff, man.
Well, Jeremy, tell us what kind of business that you have, brother? Well, I own a ready mix concrete business. And what that is for people to get confused is we're the Chaz that produce the concrete and deliver it in the trucks, the big mixer trucks. We take it to the jobs us, and we dump it out. I get a lot of calls all the time. You know, I don't need a patio at my house. I'm like, we don't do the labor. Right? We produce concrete and we deliver it to you.
You have somebody else on the ground and do what you want. Now I'm sure at this point, you Chaz because of those phone calls, I'm sure you got a long list of referral partners. Yes. Yes. And and hopefully, you're getting a little cut. But, you know, neither here nor The, whether you do or not, but I know I would be, you know, trying to refer business and and Kings, bring some good folks to people's I don't don't ever expect, you know, referral fees, what have you, or what are people wanna call?
Yeah. Just for the simple fact that I want everybody to be successful. It's good. And put as much money in their pocket as they can. Yeah. Focus on my business. And if I do my business, then I get my chair off of it. I still need a piece of The pot from everybody. Yeah. No. I love that. I guess there's there's two angles. I've got a good buddy of mine that's in the GPO space, the group purchasing space. And so everything for him as a contract and a relationship.
And it's like, you know, I'm gonna refer you to these contracts. You get discounts. You get great service. And and, basically, it's his job just to refer and and connect, and that's how he does his business. And so I love the other way around, though, too, is you kinda just they're doing the right thing and the right thing always comes back. That's really relationships, though, really. Right? Absolutely. 100%. The the right thing. We were we were just Kings him before I hit the record button.
Even you said that you had done some podcasting with Brandon, but, obviously, we were talking about this podcast. And some of the relationships that have come from this podcast, where I don't ask anything. Obviously, we're just giving back to the listener here today. And it's like, man, some of the some of the coolest relationships have come from just doing the right thing. So I'm having a great conversation.
Absolutely. Well, I wanna before we get into your story, I wanna know, obviously, how you guys started and a little bit of your entrepreneurial journey. Before we get into that, my first question is always the same. Why? What's your ticker? What's making you move? What makes you wake up every single day? You're obviously been successful. You could probably, you know, take some time off or not pushes hard, but you still push hard, and I wanna know why. Because I enjoy things.
I enjoy playing I'm a I'm a firm believer. There's 2 kinds of people work born in this world. Okay? There are people that live to work k? People work to live. There you go. I'm not a live to work Kings of guy. I work to live. I wanna play. I wanna have fun. I wanna have toys. Yeah. I wanna enjoy life. I wanna get up to my friends and my family and my kids. Love that. So I'm a feel like I'm a fun guy. You know, I'm always smiling. The party kinda got yeah.
That's what drives me is like, you know, that's a that's a cool convertible car there. I gotta work hard. I want one of You know, it's a cool ski boat. I enjoy going to the light and playing on the water and and things like and Yeah. You can't be broke and sit at the house and and have those things. That's right. You know, you can't. And so is it and this is a little bit of a parlay for you here just to kinda give us a maybe a deeper deeper thought.
The the toys I hear as the, like, physical representation of joy. Right? Like, when you said, I'm I'm always smiling, like, before you even said that, you know, for the listeners that are on on Spotify or Apple, they don't get to see you, but my cheeks are already soar because I've been trying to keep up with your smiling. But in all seriousness, I find it I find the conversation already been super joyful. And then your first answer is, poise, which really equates to joy.
And so my question in all that is where what's the joy? Like, why are you so joyful or why are you seeking joy in that way or toys and, you know, the manifestation of all that? Like, why is that so important to you? Oh, no. It's just fun. I mean, who doesn't like to go out and have fun and smile and laugh and enjoy things every day. What's the what's the caveat taking it seriously and being stressed? Yeah. I mean, I don't have a lot of stress in laws. I never well, I say I never have. I have.
The older I get, you know, the more I realize, hey, man. We're here for a very short period of time on this earth. And I wanna spend every second that I've got enjoying it. Nobody knows for sure what happens when we're gone. You know? And I I pray and hope that there is a a great heaven that we go and get The lee live even a better life, but we just don't know. You know? We just don't know.
As much as I wanna believe and have faith, we don't have that tangible evidence says, no. This this is where you're going. You're going to heaven or you're going to hell. So while I'm here and things can change in a heartbeat, help people get hit by trucks all the time and plane crashes and and strikes and snake bites and things like Chaz. It can come to an end real quick. So I just, you know, I enjoy it. I'd like to have fun and make memories.
So Yeah. Yeah. The make memories part, you know, I think we all like to have fun, but for The for the serious guys out there that are like me Chaz Kings, like, not shy away from fun, but think, well, I'll just I'll get to the fun later. You know? He's right. He's right. But even in your task oriented thoughts, position it like this. Position The of your boxes of things that you have to get done. To create memories, at least in your task oriented, I gotta be busy all the time.
Mindset, like, I I used to be and still am a lot of times. If I just create a box on my to do list of create memories, that part right there The helps me get into that mindset of right here. Stop thinking 5 10 25 years down the line. Think today. Mhmm. What am I doing with my kids today? Chaz am I enjoying with my wife today? What am I what am I enjoying today? You know? I think all that's just a beautiful place to be. Fact, it actually reminds me of my my my dad tells a story.
I didn't know my dad growing up. We met when I was 24. He didn't know I existed. I thought somebody was with my dad. Kind of a crazy story, but He talks about how his wife bought him his first elk hunting The, 30, you know, 2 years ago or whatever it was now. And her response was to him because he he wanted to go. He wanted to go. He wanted to go, but wouldn't spend the money. He didn't wanna didn't think he'd take off the time from work. And she was like, life's too short. Here you go.
And he jokes now that she doesn't realize what can of worms that she opened. Because we're all elk alcoholics Chaz we say now, but I'm I'm a big alcoholic, dude. So you've been up with it. You get it? So the but the reality is still the same of like, hey. Look. Let's take advantage of the moment. Let's let's let's go spend a week or 2 in the in the woods. Work will be here when we get back. I love the mindset. Okay. Is your family like The? Was your was your dad like this?
Like, what what gave you this perspective? You know, my dad and my father, he was he's passed away, passed away, years ago, but he was in the oil and gas business and also an accountant. Okay? And so he he worked all the time. Yeah. All the time. It's all he ever did was work, and he traveled and worked and worked. And I I remember you know, always, you know, where's dad from? He's he's a business trip. He's on a business trip, you know, or you come home and You got your buddies.
If you run into the house and you're being loud and, you know, it's like, yeah, outside. Dad's working. Right. Dang dad. If all you ever do is work, you know, and so I I never had the privilege or to go hunting with my father and The was a few times when we were younger, we lived out on a lake and and he bought a boat and was taking us and we were setting up a truck lines. And so every morning before school, me and my my brother, one of my brothers, there's 6 of us.
The of my brothers, we'd go check that trial line with my dad every Wolfe, he got tired of of getting up and and going. And so he finally taught us how to drive a boat, you know, like, 2nd, 3rd grader. Woah. Now I'm like, extra long. Get your butt back here. So, you know, get ready for school. And so those were some of my fondest memories of my Gathering. Was just a short little 20 minute trips out onto the check the truck and then tear back in. And we didn't get to do that a whole lot.
And and so Yeah. Growing up You know, when I started having a family and children and stuff, I was like, you know, I wanna be able to give as much as I can to my children. And Let them see that there's so much fun in life at Emming. Wow. It's fun. It is. So much you can do every day. It even if you're working, I have fun working. Yeah. To to have fun. And and so I don't know. I've never been a guy that sits around. I goes, oh, pity me. I gotta go to work today. Like, hey.
I'm gonna go to work, and then when I get off, I'm going fishing. Or Right. I'm going to a Ranger game or whatever it, you know, it might be. Or I'm gonna come home. I'm gonna lay on my bed and watch TV and be lazy. But I'm gonna make my choice for the day, and I'm gonna enjoy it. Yeah. I I the the confidence that you have even in the peace. And a lot of times, people, they're not they're not certain in their in the in the ability to have the peace.
It's the confidence of going and charging the hill or starting a new business or getting a new client or whatever. But it's like, that's that same confidence that I hear you saying, like, no. No. I'm confident in just Kings confident in having fun, confident in in providing for your family, something that you didn't really get a whole lot, which I think is a huge motivator for a lot of us. Is pretty cool. Okay. So let's get into your story. I wanna know, is the ready mix concrete business?
Was that the first endeavor? Was there something before that? Give us a little bit of your entrepreneurial journey here. So my entrepreneurial journey, I guess it started. Well, can can I do we have time for me to kinda start from the beginning? I want I want you to start from the beginning, but but we've only got 3 hours here on this podcast. So Wolfe, I won't dig too deep into it, but Chaz a young man, I'm 45 now. As a young man, I had that. I wanna party. I wanna play.
I wanna enjoy, yada y'all. Yeah. Well, that gets me in trouble because I wasn't making proper decisions. Right. Good life choices on how I wanted to handle those things. Sure. I got my Wolfe control. Not many people know this about me, just my close friends and people I grew up with. And so it's not something I just run around and talk about. I'm prepared to but I got in trouble. And at eighteen years old, I spent a year in prison, Wolfe, which was a complete and absolute eye opener.
Yeah. I was in there for 13 months, and the day I walked out, I said I will never, ever go back. I'm changing my life. Right now, I'm gonna be a good man. I wanna be a good productive citizen in our community. I'm gonna back. I'm gonna do everything I can to live a good life. To whenever it's gone, nobody can ever say, hey. That guy did it wrong. Yeah. And so that's what I've done. I coached a little league baseball for for 10 years, my nephews, my son, Friends Kings.
I'm actually about to get into it with my nephew. So, you know, I gave back that way. I've I've done a lot of things you know, along the waist. And when I started doing those things, it was amazing how doors started opening up. And a good friend of mine, mentor, what I would call him. I did knowing very well, but I'd taken a job. I was twenty years old. I'd taken a job car dealerships selling cars. And I walked in The, and I was salesman of the month, the very 1st 6 months I was there.
Well and I sold a car one day to an old gentleman, and we made a lot of money off The walked out and The managers were high fiving me, and they're like, oh, yeah. We hit a home run. And I walked into my little cubicle, and I packed my Kings. And I walked back out, and I said, I'm done. Like, what are you talking about? You know? You just you just made, you know, $3 on commission off this car. And I was like, because I screwed that old man over. Wow. Hated it.
And it Yeah. And it it stuck with me and it bothered me. So I walked in. I was done. Wolfe, I took a job as a project manager for a company doing a concrete, building O'Reilly's, okay, in AutoZones all across the the US. Doing the concrete on him. For it was a friend of mine. It was his business, and he needed somebody because he was hired to travel, and he needed somebody that go out there and run his crew.
Really. Somebody that could speak English basically is what it broke down to and could communicate. You know, I didn't know what I was doing, but he just needed somebody feet on the ground. So I took Chaz, and I was doing that for several years. Well, about 2 years, well, then my wife got pregnant and She has babies. Well, you know, I was praying, you know, I gotta get out of this. I gotta come home. I can't can be traveling and have twin daughters Right.
I you know, and Yeah. I came home the day that, you know, like, 2 days before she was supposed to have our daughters. And I get a phone call from a guy that says, hey. I want you I wanna meet meet with you for lunch. And this is where I met my mentor Kings, and he owned a pool store, building gone out swimming pools. Yeah. He's like, I need a sales guy. I laughed at him. I said, I don't know. What do you think about swimming pools?
And he said, he said, I'll teach you everything you need to know. Yeah. I also Well, we went and had lunch, and he made me an offer. And and I was like, and that's yeah. I can't make a living off of it. And so I counter offered it. I said, how about Oh, you pay me The, and I'll I will sell this many pools, and he kinda laughed at me. And he said, man, the most pools I've ever sold in year, and he goes, I've been busting my tail, and this for 10 years is 25 pools.
I said, well, if I sell a 100 pools, what will that take me? And so he threw me a number out there and I thought, man, I'll be rich in a year. I'm gonna and so he he made me a promise. I'm gonna pay you this much if If and it was like, you know, a 120 yuan in bonuses, right, with salary and bonuses, which 25 years ago. That was a lot of money. And for your stage in life, I had to have Kings. Try not to travel. Oh my god. And so then I hit the grind. I mean, it was it was on.
In the very first meeting, I went to sales meeting or to to sell a pool, I sold it. I sold it. And then I was like, that was easy. And it continued on, well, we end up selling a 115 pools in my very 1st year. Oh, and so he's just floored. He's like, it's we expanded, had to hire more people, like, you know, increase a lot more people. Business. And we did that for 10 years. For 10 years. And 3 years into it, I sold my first $1,000,000 deal.
Wow. And at a 3% commission on it, so 30 grand commission on And then that's that's really where I said this is I want more money. I want more money. So I realized it. You know, I was having fun. I got to travel. You know? I get I got that commission and I I put in for my vacation, and I went and took 2 week round trip around Northern US with a buddy of mine, camping out, driving around, yellow stone, The did that. And it came back and I was broke. And I make more money. That's where I started.
Really wanting it hunger and and wanting things and and Yeah. Providing. So we did that for 10 years. Well, he got to the point to where he was ready to retire from building pools and stuff like that. He was selling out. Well, the company that did the gun out for us, sprayed the gun out, which is the concrete in the swimming pools. Yeah. Called and asked Ken Lee and said, hey. You know, how about you sell that pool storm? You come run our gun on it.
Crew. And and and he said, well, I'll do but I'm bringing Jeremy with Like, but we don't really have a spot, but we'll find something for him. Sure. So they brought me in and took a pike. I was depressed. He's like, man, that's not what I wanna so I went to the owner. I said, what do I gotta do to make money? He's like, well, how much are you looking to make? I said, I wanna make $250 a year. And he Kings laughed at me and he was we're a long ways from I said, what has to happen? Right.
And so he said, well, tell me no. Tell me tell me the recipe. Yeah. What do we have to do? I mean, there's money to be made. How do I get into your pocket to make that. Yeah. He said, well, we'd have to start x amount of yards every month. And then I'll put you on a bonus schedule that if you can reach these milestones, it's feasible for you to reach that throughout the year. And I said, deal. So I I was like, well, put me in that spot. So he put me in.
So I started learning dispatch, you know, Kings orders over the phone and scheduling and all So I started asking, you know, what's your record, daily record, what's your monthly record, what's your yearly record. And I'm gonna break that. I was like, I'm gonna break The. Every week, every month, whatever I gotta do. And it and I started doing that. Well, I ruffled a lot of feathers, guys that have been in the business for a long time. Like, who's this that he don't know about The.
Who's he coming in here, changing our schedule, and how we do Kings. Right. 2 months into it. He cleaned house. He fired everybody. He was like, you are now my new plant manager. Yeah. I don't know what you've done, but everything's changed around here. And we started setting records. So we went and started it was his company. He had 9 trucks, old beat up mixer trucks.
When I left, he had five locations and over a hundred trucks, a quarry, a rock quarry, and a 100 haul truck and then he he salted out about 4 years ago for for well over a 100,000,000. Wow. And I was just like, I can do that. Well, I don't have to keep making people that kind of money. Yeah. And so another friend of mine, we got to talk in The day. He was like, Man, let's open our own. Like, you want The. And he said, yeah. Let's do it. So how's everything open? And the journey began.
A piece of property and ordered a plant and ordered mint trucks. And wow. That was two and a half years ago, and now we're to 32 trucks. I got 25 more order. We're building our second location, Ron. It's probably 35 to $40,000,000 a year right now. Yeah. Which I anticipate to increase. Of course. Yeah. I mean, your your history is all about increasing.
I I just love I love I love talking with The guy that has sales history because guys like you and I, we can look back into our own not it sounds crazy to, like, to to our own ability. But it is that's exactly what it is. Like, you have a skill set. You can take anywhere, and you can grow your own business, or you can grow someone else's business, or whatever.
If if if The guys had been really smart, they would have tried to work you in to you know, a a higher position and and and keep you, but the reality is still the same is that you have the skill set of people, growth, There's a certain mindset that comes along with this. Obviously, there's there's a, like, a practical skill that comes to sales, but you're you're you're always gonna be focused on growth. Always.
You also have the ability to, when you hire somebody or when you talk to another business owner, remove all excuses. Like, there is no like, you want more business? You just go get it. Right? It's like the no. No. Don't tell me it's not possible. Don't tell me I can't make whatever's having money here. It's okay. Well, in order to do that, here's the recipe. And and to that person at that time, that sounded Chaz. But to you, you're just like, I don't really care what it is.
Just tell me what I gotta do. I'll go I'll go figure it out. Exactly how it was. And, like, say, you know, I got laughed at. Well, I go sure. She, you know, prove me wrong. Right? And he threw a formula out there. You can get there with this formula thinking that you'd never do it. Never. He he was, like, It'll never happen, but here you go. Do you wanna make it happen? This is what you gotta do. And so, you know, I put a long, a long hours in. I was like, it's gonna happen.
You're gonna pay me that. Okay. We'll see. No. Exactly. Hey, Kings and Queens. Chaz Wolf. I wanna talk to you about something that's super important to me. We put a lot of time and effort. We, meaning myself and my team, into this podcast, into the content that goes out every single day. And if you have been getting any sort of value or insight from this, we want it to be able to reach other business owners too.
So we would love if you would like, comment, share, leave a review, post, share again, all of the things on social media, on all the different platforms, or even on the podcast mediums of Apple and Spotify. We would love to be able to get our content into more hands, more entrepreneurs so they can grow their business as quick as Together, we are building a community of like minded entrepreneurs who are committed to growing their businesses to new heights. So let's do this. Let's help each other.
Let's have each other grow. What would you say to the guy listening right now? You know, he, you know, here you are talking about 1,000,000,001,000,000,001,000,000,000, and millions, and he he hasn't hit the first million yet. And and he's, you know, a little bit lost. Right? He's got a lot going on in his business wearing too many hats, doing too many things. He's confused. He's he's listening today to just pick up a nugget.
Based on what you told me so far, what do you tell that guy when you just, like, you could breathe a million, it sounds like? Well, first off, The wearing too many hats. People do that all the time, and I used to do that when I was younger. Like, I can do it all. I wanna do it all. But let me have it. I'll take care of it. Well, you get to where you're not very good at any of it. Yeah. Oh, You got to you gotta surround yourself with like minded people.
Wanna work that wanna make as much money as they possibly can you've gotta be able to turn it over to him. You've gotta be able to trust him. When I hire people and I and I try to move them into, you know, manageable positions and stuff like a lot of conversations with them. I want people that are gonna treat my business. Like, I treated other business like I own it. Yeah. I want them to feel like they own the business. This is your business.
You make I want you to make decisions that you feel is best for the company. And if you make a wrong decision, we'll sit down. We'll talk about it, and we'll fix it. And then when you make a right decision, we're gonna high 5 and you're gonna get rewarded for it. And we're gonna continue on. And and then so I try to surround myself with those Kings of guys. And then I'd do that, but then they wanna try to wear all the hats. And then I always have to sit them down and say, hey.
Look. Man, The is why we have this other guy. This is why we have this guy. Let them do their job. Let them do their job. If they fail, they won't fail again. You know, they'll learn from it. And if they can't learn from it, then we'll find somebody can. And it it seems to work really, really well for me that way, you know, and to to find guys that will buy into that. 100%. You the I love how you have the perspective.
And I think for the guy listening right now, orthgal, The the difference is is that potentially when they worked for somebody, they weren't that guy. Mhmm. Right? And so they don't maybe they have a limiting belief that those guys don't exist or that those guys aren't gonna come in and work for them because they themselves weren't a go getter for somebody else.
But the reality of it is that there are plenty of people out there who want an opportunity who who do take ownership seriously, and maybe they don't own the company, but they owning their position. They're owning their own destiny, which is, like, gosh, if you've got a salesperson like that, give them the recipe. They'll go figure it out. Yeah. I try to pre send you Chaz, hey.
If you do your job well here and and we close the doors down tomorrow, you're gonna be valued anywhere you wanna so don't look at it as this is your last stop. When you're only stopped, the options and why. Hopefully, we put you in a position that you don't ever look at those options, but I want you to learn well enough that you can go anywhere in the industry and be successful.
Yeah. And so a lot of people, they're scared to to let things go or to teach people Now, oh, well, he's gonna take my job. Well, if you're doing your job properly, they're not. All they're gonna do is make you make you a better person and your company a better place. Yes. So 100%. We work real hard on that on finding those right people and and having those conversations with The. Where they're ever promoted. And we we like to promote from within.
You know, I've taken several just CDL ready mixed driver guys Chaz their content with just driving a pickup truck because they think or, you know, a big a big rig because they think that that's what The worth is, and that's all they're ever gonna be. Yeah. You know, and for whatever reason, because that's what they've been told or, you know, they've always been passed up for promotions at other places. That's not us. You know, we want to promote.
We I wanna take that that nobody's ever given a chance and say, hey. You're this guy for that job. You know? And then it's amazing how quick people come alive on the NDS and they're and and they they buy and they're they're a part of the team. They're like, oh my god. You know, thank you for giving me Chaz opportunity. Nobody in the world was ever gonna give me. And I do believe, please. Yeah. Especially when nobody else Chaz. Right?
The themselves probably haven't, you know, at least in a while. So good. Okay. So if let's let's say, you know, if that's if that's the good thing that you've done is is, you know, find good people, promote good people. Give us a give us a a specific there, and then we'll move to maybe a bad choice, but The seems to be like a pretty pretty thick vein here for you as far as how why you've been successful.
So thinking to your rolodex of experiences, tell us about a situation where you picked this guy out or he was the right person, you know, where you hired well in The is Kings like the topic that we're talking about. Love to hear maybe a specific situation. So I'll I'll put it right there. Operations manager. He he's a right hand man. He he oversees pretty much our day to day. Our schedule and our drivers, you know, he wears a lot of hats. Always tell him, hey. Somebody else take care of that.
Let somebody up. He's one of those. I have to work on him all the time. Right. But he was the company I I came from that he was a dispatcher. Yeah. He came in and hired as a driver at the time. And I I just seen something at him. I'm like, hey. This guy, he needs to be more than a driver. So I brought him in. I taught him how to dispatch. Wolfe, then he got himself into a position to where the company that we were at wouldn't promoting because he was so good at that job. Interesting.
And they were scared to move him up. He wasn't. Yeah. If we move him up and who's gonna fill that void. Right. So he was stuck there at that job. And when we opened up after about a year, I called him had a noncompete with that other company. And so for a large lawsuit, things like, but that's another story. It's a good calling when we first opened. Right? But whenever I finally called him, I'm like, hey. Let's and so he came in and visited.
And and I was like, I wanna give you the opportunity to come in and and do what I know you're capable of doing. You know, you're you're more than just somebody needs to sit and start and answer the phone and and write a schedule down. And so I give him that opportunity, and he's turned out to be, you know, one of the best in the business in our Metroplex because he was given that opportunity. And, I mean, if you're proud of the guy. And, you know, he's young.
He he's young and and grew up in the oil field. So he Chaz a mentality that sometimes you gotta be mean to people and stuff like The. And Right. Always have to break it down. Like, dude, you don't have to. You don't have to yell at anybody. It's gotta be it's gotta have You gotta yell at anybody. Get get what you need done. It gets better every day, which, you know, makes me proud to see that to see a change somebody evolve and change.
Yeah. But, yeah, that's that's probably the the best business decision I've I've ever made, you know, as far as employee. Yeah. I love that. I love the the detail of it. It's you being a good leader seeing the potential in people. I'm sure he's extremely appreciative of that, but then also as you continue to lead him, He's gonna continue to get better and make himself more valuable. I I think that reflects to you as a good leader, and I think anybody listening would say the same.
Let's flip the coin I don't have something real quick. Yeah. Please. Please. So The listeners are gonna be Kings, well, you know, you gotta find those people first and stuff like that. You really don't. They're there. Everybody wants that higher position or wants that opportunity. Well, not everybody, but Just about everybody. They just need that The right coaching and the right opportunity. If you give somebody the right opportunity.
Most of the time, they're gonna run with it, and they're gonna do good. If you take care of them and explain things to them. Oh, but then and every now and then, you'll get that guy that Chaz always made it just, you know, you feel like he's the right guy, but he's really not. It's really not. That's right. They're out there.
I mean, I've Kings, you know, that work for me now that, like I said, nobody in the world will ever gave them a a chance whatsoever, you know, whether it be their appearance, you know, and that's The sad part about it is. You know, people get judged on how they look, how much they weigh. I mean, teeth they got. Right. Personally, I don't care about all that. I want somebody that's gonna be honest and somebody's gonna work hard and and put their heart into it.
I'll take that every day over a Brad Pit. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I 100% agree. And and so for the for the owner listening, it's not just about You know, the fact that they are out there, yes. The reality is is that when you get a glimpse of the right person, whether you thought that they were gonna be or whether you groom them up to be the right person. Now that you know what it feels like to have that guy that you're describing on your team, you wouldn't go back.
Like, you've seen the light having a a wingman, as you said, you know, your right hand guide. So it's like, you know, for the guy who's listening who maybe doesn't run a $40,000,000 business, okay, fine. You still need that key role who can take certain things away. And when when they do, then it frees you up to do other things well. It was like you were talking about and not wearing too many hats.
It that right there, that mindset's a game changer, just like you were just describing, but on a much bigger scale is like those people exist. And even if The person doesn't work out long term for the next 20 years. Okay. Fine. He's with me 2 years or 5 years or whatever. I'm gonna find somebody else. I'm I now have confidence to know, like you're saying, that they exist. And the yeah. Exactly.
And then the the effect of the of of having them on your team changes everything because it allows you to actually go operate and grow. Mhmm. So alright. Well, let's flip the coin. Tell me about a bad choice. A decision that you, like, I did not turn out how I how I thought it was going to. So when we were first opening up, I needed somebody. I needed a plant manager, you know, I needed to focus on sales. Right? I needed to focus on growing the business.
I'd I did need to be in the office waiting for somebody to call and schedule something and meet a load of truck and send it off. I needed to be out, beating the streets, and and talking to people saying, hey. Give us a chance. You know? Yeah. We were moving town. You know? Right. But you knew me, but People are real finicky in the in our market. They don't like change. Like, you know, with this company here, they've taken care of me.
If I come forward with you and they find out maybe they don't pull for me again, right, things like that. And so it was a hard struggle. Well, We we found a had been in the business and and people said, but we knew he was very knowledgeable. We knew it was knowledgeable. It was like, we need somebody knowledgeable. Somebody have The to train somebody. Right? Right. We were we were forewarned The he ain't he don't want him. You know?
Yeah. He knows the business very well, but he's not a very personal and stuff like that. Yeah. Well, we we hired him any way against our better judgment. You know? Oh, Wolfe, we can we can change you. We can change. Yeah. And Oh, you know, it's it's a disaster. You can't change you can't change a lot of people. You can change some, you know, for the better The ones that are willing. When people are set in bad habits and bad ways, it's it's hard to break them out of.
Yeah. And that's what they don't wanna be. It was that's how Chaz came along. That's The I went, and I was like, I've got the right guy, you know, and went and got him. Yeah. And so through the process of of you telling that story, I picked out a couple things. Tell me if I'm if I'm if I'm if I'm off on this, but sometimes as business owners, even though we know better, we have to Kings pick the lesser of 2 evils.
In that moment, the lesser of 2 evils picking maybe the wrong guy because it allowed you to even though it was maybe frustrating for a period of time to go focus on sales. He was a stopgap. Yep. Exactly. That's a great way to say it. Knowing that, like, it caused some problems. But the problems were maybe worth it, so that you could go focus on on growing the business. So I talked to that a little bit. They were.
And when you look back at it at the end of the day, it was still the right decision. You know, he wasn't the right guy for The long term, but he was a short term fix. He was somebody that we needed. Cause like I said, he understood the business. He was Wolfe to come rot in. He was a plug and play. Here's what he wants. His batteries ran out. Here's what we thought they would. That's a good way to say it. Good way to say it.
What what do you have now, Jeremy, around, like, a decision making process? Since we've talked a lot about hiring, maybe talk about that, or maybe just decisions that come across your desk in general, do a certain step, certain mindset The take, certain process? You know, it's funny. We we have we talk about the The bigger corporations that we compete with around here, We're just bullying The around, really, is what I like to say. You know, people ask, who's your competition?
And I'm like, we don't Benny. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Wolfe, that's they're not really competition. Yeah. They're in the business. We're in the same business. I'm not competing against any other than ourselves. You know? Yeah. They gotta be better than us, which is hard to and the reason why is because big corporations Say your loader goes down, have a bit, you know, front end loaded to haul your material onto your plant and stuff like that.
Yeah. Well, gotta have a meeting or we can fix this or is it time to buy a new one? Well, let's buy a new one. Okay. Well, then they got a 3 week wait on a board meeting. People it's Kings good. This process process. Right? Wolfe, or as us, you know, we're family owned and operated. I mean, my partner, hey. Our loaders broke. And what's it gonna cost to fix it? We can buy another one for some, again, cost of okay. Let's just buy a new one. You know, and that's about a 3 minute conversation.
Right? And so we can stay ahead of the game all the time. You know, you get price increases And and it's real easy. You can just look at your numbers and say, well, this is where we where we want our margins to be. So this is how far we gotta go up. Have meeting after meeting after meeting after meeting to make Kings and and so we kinda cowboy things around here. You know, we're just Get old country boys out here, and that's Kings the right way. And Wolfe feel, and it works. You know, it works.
It works well for us. Yeah. It's the it's the, you know, it's your it's your first movers advantage. Right? It's you it's your it's your small enough to still be nimble, which is funny because, obviously, you know, there's obviously much smaller fish in the pond than you, but it's like, when you realize the nature of the game, it really doesn't matter your actual size, to you. It's The mindset of cowboy.
I'm not, like, actually just slinging out here, but there is an there is a there's a free ness or maybe a, not set in concrete pun intended for a process. Like, okay. We have a process, but, like, do we can do we can do this way faster than the next guy. So let's change it up. We'll switch it up. Let's be nimble. Let's be fast. Speed is your friend is what I'm hearing. It works well for us in our business. Our business is changing all the time. You know, we we live off the economy.
We we are not We are at somewhat a necessity, but you don't have to have concrete to survive. That's right. But I can think of some other things I would want first. So we need the economy to stay strong and things like, but it just makes it easy to be able to sit down and visit about it for a few minutes and, you know, Chaz makes sense for us. Well, then let's do it. Yeah. 100%. K. Let's go to speed round here. First question, the speed round is trackability.
I'm gonna ask you if you only had 1 KPI or The measurement to have or The trackable Gathering, in all of your business, what would it be? What would you choose to track forever and ever if you can only pick 1? I would love to track how much waste we have. Interesting. It's it's very hard to put a number on it. Yeah. We we make it. We we've got some forms whenever it comes. Okay. So just so you understand what I'm saying, our trucks haul 10 yards, cubic yards of concrete.
The can haul as little as, you know, quarter yard all the way up to 10 yards. 10. Yeah. And so say a contractor calls and says, hey. I'm pulling a house slab. I think it's gonna take a hundred yards. So that's 10 trucks. So we send 10 trucks there. They pour out of when they get to the 10th truck, and they only need half of what's in there. Right. So there's five yards coming back.
So we pour them into into forms, block forms is what they are, and people use them for retaining walls or, you know, material Kings, different places, and Kings like that is what we do with our waste. So it's a small way to be able to track it, but there's so much, you know, you pour out on the job site, you know, much you got left? Oh, about a yard on my truck. Yeah. Just dump it over there. Right. You know, or you guys come back to the yard. We're thinking about a half yard.
We'll start to make a block. Oh, nothing in our in our Washington pit. Yep. So Oh, I mean, there's thousands of yards that are wasted. And I wish there was a there was a way to track Chaz. Just really see what it was. And some companies, they they they The recycle. I got a recycle plant. I've seen those, and I've I had experienced one. I'm just not a fan of them. I just don't feel like they're a good fit for us. Sure. So but, yeah, I have another solution coming on the horizon. I can feel it.
I would love to see how much Really? I mean, that I think about it all the time, man. We we waste a lot. Paid for. Sure. It's like going to the restaurant and and saying, hey. Give me his protect and he wants to eat out Chaz knee and then leave with the rest of it sitting on the plate. Yeah. Yeah. It it it doesn't feel like you're very good steward of of what you've been given. Yeah. I can I can, especially in our edible franchises, we we try to minimize waste all the time?
At the end of the day, there's pounds and pounds of strawberries thrown away. It's just the way that it is. Okay. What book would you recommend, Jeremy? Have you heard of Extreme ownership? I have. It's a phenomenal book. Oh, Yeah. Yeah. Which what's your I mean, obviously, outside of extreme ownership. What's your one takeaway from that book? Like, what what did you get? What what can you pass along to the listener right now?
Think outside the The. Think outside the box, there's always a solution. And even though you think he might have the right one, listen to other people and and work on those Kings. You know? I'm a big believer just because I think my way is the It always is most of it. I mean, it's not. And so, you know, I'll list in in our way options and things like try to think outside the box.
And that's another reason why we've been able to grow as fast as we can and be successful because in in in our market right now, we're going through a major cement shortage. And so we're always happy to Think outside the box. Alright. Where can we get cement, you know, to handle this week and how much cut out of our mixes or You know what? We're not gonna pour this mix, you know, no commercial.
We're only gonna do residential for this week and things like versus just going with it until you run out. So I like to think outside the box and and I feel like extreme owners talks a lot about, you know, about the most fine alternative ways versus just running through the door and pull up The trigger. Exactly. I love that perspective. What do you think about intentionally networking or master mining with other entrepreneurs? I love it. Came what? People don't get wealthy by themselves.
Never met a wealthy person that did it all by himself. Never. Yeah. They might have done some things, but I think I've always had a mentor, a business partner, a leg up, you know, some way or another, other businesses other people, you know, to get to where they're at. We gotta have each other. There's a couple The companies that you're ready mixed companies in our area. We're allies with. We're good friends. You know, we help each other out. We talk all the time. How can I help you?
How can you help me Our client goes down. I'm a send my trucks over and get them loaded at your place. Yep. And they're small independent owners like we are. You know, the bigger boys, you know, commercial or a corporate us, you know, hey. My plants broke down. Come a load of 2 trucks The. No. Oh, absolutely. We're we just we're fresh out. Exactly. And but, yeah, I mean, it takes, you know, like that old people say about raising Kings, it takes a village.
Well, it it takes a village to make a log to make money. Yeah. I'll see. You can't do it alone. I don't care who you are. Yeah. I think I think the way that you said that, obviously, I mean, I'm I'm a big fan of surrounding myself with with high quality individuals, but what you just said as far as, like, you can't you cannot build wealth without it. Just plain and simple. You you have no hope. If you don't, so Pretty pretty matter of fact. I think it's true. Last question here for you, Jeremy.
You could whisper in the younger Jeremy's ear. What would you tell him? Shut your mouth. That same amount that's probably sold you 1000000. 1000000. It has. It has, but there's there's times, you know, when I was younger, I felt like I'd be a lot further along the life if I would've just shut up and listened. Chaz a younger man. Sure. It took me many years to to realize that. Just shut up and listen. You know, take it in, see what I am. You know, you know, we've got 2 ears, The mouth, Brian.
Wolfe, Jeremy, you've been you've you've been patient and amazing here with me today, giving plenty of value to not only The listeners, but me as well. How can the listener find you? They wanna connect with The wanna maybe get to know you a little bit better. Maybe they just wanna pick your brain. Maybe they wanna order order concrete from you if they're in the in the Dallas area. Yeah. We have a a website titan.com. Titnmud with 1d.com. We're called Titan ready mix.
So we plant in Crescent, Texas, and Our second location, the plant is actually being shipped as we speak. That is we'll we'll be starting the erection on The week. Which Chaz makes sense. Yeah. In Springtown. Right. So, yeah, or jeremy@titan.com. The you go. We'll put all that in the show notes as well. People can easily reach out and find you. And and there's a lot of people in that metroplex between those two cities.
And so there's a lot of people around you, and I'm sure people listening, and I'm sure that there'll be some people that reach out and connect You've been incredible. Your insight, your sales history, your mouth is has a has an extreme history. And so I just appreciate you sharing it with us here today. Blessings on you, your family, your business partner, your businesses, your people, your guy. The whole deal. Thank you for being here. Thanks for having me. It's been fun.
Thank you for listening to Gathering the Kings today. I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away. More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself.
What I have realized, not only in my own journey from multiple businesses and multiple different industries, and now interviewing 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 exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs. In fact, we are putting together 1000 Keynes specifically who are grateful, but not done.
We're intentionally assembling kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, 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 see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 kings. Talk soon.