On today's episode of Gathering The Kings. The governing is much harder than conquering, you know, as time goes on. And building and building that up over over the years. And then teaching other people, teaching your people to have an abundant mentality and The, the see that there is opportunity in any kind of market. And, and so, I mean, we're growing people and is bigger than just selling metal. So Yeah. I say if we're just pushing metal, you know, we're not doing our jobs.
You are listening to Gathering the Kings with Chaz Wolfe Gathering fellow 7, 8, and even 9 figure business owners who have real battle scars from business and life but have prevailed as the king that they are designed to be. We welcome high performing entrepreneurs to the stage in order to reveal the reel of the reel. On what it takes to build a 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? I'm Chaz Wolfe Gathering The Kings podcast. I've got John Fruttell here on the stage. My brother, how you doing? I'm doing great, man. Great to be with you. Thanks for having me. I appreciate you being patient.
We had some technical difficulties, and The just now, I forget totally forgot to ask you the pronunciation of your last name. Thank goodness for editing. We can get all that out of there, but, dude, I'm glad that you're here. I'm glad that we get to tell your story here today. What type of business do you have? Yeah. So we are a professional sales business, but we sell HVAC equipment. Commercial industrial, HVAC equipment.
And and we serve clients from the pre construction design air period to helping them figure out how to replace that equipment that's been in their building for 20 years. Yeah. So that is our business. I, you know, I have I totally respect the mindset that you just laid. I don't even know if the listener caught it. You said you're a sales organization that happens to sell this type of equipment. Not a, you know, a mechanically equipment selling company. Why the distinction?
What why is that so important to you? Why does it sound like that? Yeah. It's part of our mission. And so we we talk about Kings a professional sales organization and being proud of that. You know, there's a lot of people that, you know, they would they want their title be anything but sales because they don't wanna be a sleazy sales guy. Yeah. It's a key. Or gal.
We take pride in that and but we think that selling is more getting the client comfortable and confident in that decision that they're about the about that product, they're about to buy more so than features and benefits. And and we have a technical product that requires us to be competent. And then also be able to help that client make The decision quickly and get there efficiently. And it needs a work too. So we we try to do all that.
Everything that you just said is so applicable for the listener that it's crazy ridiculously stupid, actually. It's simple, really. You helping them make the decision is how sales are made, and then that's how businesses grow. Well, this is gonna be a fun conversation, obviously, with with my sales background and with your positioning of your company, think we're gonna be able to put out a lot of value.
I wanna know before we get too much into the story here, though, at this level, you're crushing it. Right? Like, otherwise, you wouldn't be here. We we we interview pretty pretty accidentally. Why are you pushing? At this level of success, you've achieved a lot. Chaz? Why are you still doing it? Well, I keep going? Yes. Yeah. It's our mission. And, our so we have a mission we talk about a lot is to be the leader and to think like the leader, not necessarily be the biggest, but to lead.
And eventually, what you do has to be bigger than which who you are and what you're trying to do. So eventually, you gotta get something that so We have great people that were bringing along teaching this industry to open that they will take it and run with it. Tremendous amount opportunity. Nashville is where we're located. It's a booming economy. Nashville's been growing.
So, you know, we have The privilege to represent about 30 lines with exclusive rights to to represent manufacturers Wolfe And and so, you know, they also look to us that, you know, they need us to continue to grow with our market and Nashville. So that's a motivator too, but I'd say personally, it's the transition between, you know, faking it to making it is something has to go off in your mind where it's it's bigger than you. And and we got there probably a few years ago.
And and then, you know, those are stories that you can spend hours talking about, but it it's definitely become bigger than just John Frutell or the Frutell family or mechanical resource group. It's really trying to just serve clients and create a great business for people to see, and I don't think they're gonna make entrepreneurial businesses out there for people to wanna be like. So, yeah, Well, that goes back to the the mission that you said that you wanna be the leader.
Obviously, that can be defined in a couple of different ways, but being the example is often what the leader is. I love the language that you're using. We use something similar inside of Gathering The Kings as a mastermind group, but it's this transition from warrior to Kings.
And that mindset you're talking about where it's about you or about you and maybe a a few people, you and the family, maybe, then eventually you transition to not just having to worry about the singular battle like the warrior does, but like the king where it's like, It's my team. It's my family. It's the future. It's the legacy. It's my community. It's my church. It's like all these things Yeah. That as a king, we're like, wow. Like, there's so much more than just Yeah.
Taking care of the bills or, you know, buying the car. Yeah. You know, governing is much harder than conquering. You know, as time goes on and building and building that up over over the years and then teaching other people teaching your people The have an abundant mentality and the to see that there is opportunity in any Kings of market. And and so, I mean, we're growing people and it's bigger than just sell a metal. So Yeah. I say if we're just pushing metal, you know, we're not doing our job.
That's right. Well, I think we're gonna be able to get to some stories maybe. Yeah. I wanna know how maybe it started. Like, was this the 1st business? How did entrepreneurship even start for you as a person? Yeah. So I kinda got I got The business by default. It's a family business. My brother and father The chose Nashville. They all we basically were all over the country. My dad was in New York City, and my brother was in Savannah. I was in, Atlanta.
My sister was in Birmingham and in Philadelphia. So my dad basically said, hey. If there's a place where we could all come back to and Kings be a family Gathering, where would that be? And if we could create some commerce in order to, you know, afford to, you know, make all this happen, What would that look like? And everyone was really excited about Nashville, and this was 2007 before people were excited about Nashville.
Yeah. And you could still drive across town 15 minutes and give everyone it. And, like, you know, now people would be like, oh, I wish I could be there back then. Right. But it was a lot scarier because we just My dad and my brother set up a shop. They were in the business before. They were a mechanical sales. My dad was 35 years with a competitor. Got it. And my brother was, like, I think he was in probably, like, 7 years. And I was a contractor. I was in construction.
Had a developer, build a building here in Nashville. I moved up here built that. It was a 30 month schedule. $105,000,000 commercial office building. Did that with some really good friends, and, that was a fun experience. But then we finished that in, like, September 9th, and The company I was working for was a great company, but they they wanted me they offered me to move to Beaumont Texas and then the Dallas. Okay. And, I was just about ready to have my second child.
I got 4 Kings. And I was like, man, My family's here. We finally got the one location. I don't know if I really wanna go, you know, Chaz tumbleweeds in Beaumont, Texas. Yeah. So I got into this business. We needed a service business to support the equipment that we were selling. Yeah. And, I got into Chaz. Had no idea what I was doing and just kinda rolled my sleeves up and try to figure it out and failed and seated and all that together. I love it. I love the family dynamic.
I love the fact that you your dad was actually able to pull it off by bringing everybody back together. Like, I Yeah. Some of those stories you hear, like, of a theory or an idea, but nothing ever happens. You know? Yeah. It took a lot of sacrifice too, though. So, I mean, you know, my father's probably the most underpaid founder in in history.
And, you know, people don't see that sacrifice that goes along with it, but it the mission is not just for him, but it's for generations that we're trying to do here. So Yeah. And not just our family, just for others too. So it's cool. I love that. I think that just even that move defines the family feel, which then obviously, like you said, it eventually overflows past the actual family to then Yeah. You know, team family and even your team's literal family, their kids, and their family.
And, man, now we're back into kingship again. Now we're talking the the community piece. So okay. Well, let's talk about in those earlier years. When you first were coming on, you said you had no idea what you were doing. You rolled up your sleeves. That's the time frame I want you to be in. When you're answering some of these questions. The listener today, you know, they're 6 figure business owner. They're trying to tactically find that key to get The to that 7 figure mark.
What was a good decision that you made when you talk about rolling up your sleeves in those 1st couple of years? What'd you do, or maybe what the family choose to do as a decision as a business Chaz really catapulted things for you guys. Yeah. Things definitely change when we just focus on hiring really good people and selling. And I spent, like, the 1st few years in this business trying to manage and micromanage probably and Sure. I set up a bunch of processes.
And we we signed up with a franchise early on to help get us off the ground. That that was a big success for us to help us get up and and off and out faster. Yeah. But when I all that really mattered was making sure we had really good people and that we were filling those really good people with a pipeline of opportunities. And when I stop focusing on operations and just hired good operating people, let them do their job.
And then I just focus on filling that funnel, telling The story, and then Kings in young sales professionals along with me and then trying to just show them how that works and then learn from them too. And building that team. That's probably the massage coming around with operations and just start selling and let people do their job. Exactly. You know, I I think that you know, you you can flip the you can flip the balance, you know, one way or the other, really.
There's people that say, you know, create an amazing product and experience, and people will come. And then there's the reverse, which is just go sell it, and you'll figure it out along the way. And, obviously, there's balance there. It's not like you don't have any systems or any or any sort of organization or operation, you do.
I love what you said The distinction was, find good people, good operating people, And then they themselves with their own talent Kings formulate those things on your behalf or inside the organization. It's not something that Chaz the owner, we have to, you know, architect every little last SOP. Yeah. So, I mean, I remember I had a I was when we I was in the early growth mode, I was hiring people And and they'd come back to me and be like, you know, you're you gotta disorganized.
You don't know, you know, what you're doing. You don't know how to, you know, get things in and out. And then my frustration was like, I know it hired you to help us get organized. You know? And then but I realized that early on, we couldn't hire the people the level of talent that we really want to hire, we couldn't attract those types of people because we hadn't established ourselves yet.
And then and it was a lot harder to sell what we were doing than it was to do it because it's been done before. So we had to go out and tell our story. And The when we filled that pipeline and we gave areas responsibility rather than tasks, That's a big deal given Ares responsibility to your operations team rather than task. And I think that goes from, you know, micromanagement to to giving a ton The your team. Right? Let them make those decisions.
Give them the the the guide rails and then just say, alright. We go. We're gonna go do The, and we're gonna sell it. And then if you keep everybody busy enough with with the pipeline, you know, people don't have time to complain. They don't have time to you know, get distracted. You know, they feel like they're on a team. They'll help pull together and take you together in the The same direction. Yeah. Chaz took some time, but that was a big part of our success. Love the honesty.
That was not only just a key part, but that it took some time. That doesn't happen overnight. You don't find good people. You can't just attract them right away. There's a lot of things that maybe go into just the authority telling your story. I love how you gave you these super practical things that the listener can take away. Because it does.
Over the course of time, when people realize that you're not going anywhere, that you do what you say, that you have a brand, even if you're small, it's okay. They will attract people who want to grow it and who have skillsets and talents. You Kings you mentioned this, but you didn't hit on too hard. I'll give you an opportunity here to kinda expand on a little bit. With good people, does it automatically come like you gotta pay more? Like, that's kind of a hot topic right now.
You pay more, or do you find the right person and grow them? What's your strategy there? We've done both. Yeah. I mean, it's definitely expensive doing a hard start. Yeah. And if you wanna attract quality people, you gotta have something Chaz and quality people cost more. We've had a really good success recruiting other people. When when our employees bring somebody to us Chaz says, hey. This person is worth their soul. Know, The you probably need to take a look at The.
You know, it's it's time to listen because you have your own people bringing quality people to you, and you need to listen to both. And, Thankfully, we're over the hump that, you know, we are a place where people wanna come to work, but it it took us a long time to get there. But listening to your people and hiring good people makes it It does make it easier. And, I think it's I think it's worth I know it's worth the investment.
If you just go ahead and say starting a business, it wouldn't cost money, but we you can make it as fast as you Chaz lose it. You all gotta do is sell. We'll just say to the guy right now, you know, he's doing 6, 700,000. He's got a good little business. He's not very organized, maybe, like, a lot like you were at the beginning. Yeah. He wants to hire the guy Chaz just to fix it for him, which is Kings what you're saying, but I know there's more than that. Like, you can't just hire somebody.
Give them no guide rail, like you said. Yeah. I guess. I guess. I that was I had to do the work. I had to sit down. I had to grind it. So one of the things that I early on, I read 2 books. The was like, oh, The entrepreneurial myth. Oh, yeah. E myth. Yep. E myth? Yeah. That was a great book. Just kinda taught about how to step back and become, you know, an operator, and a leader Gathering than the actual, you know, worker Yep. That helped.
And then traction was another book that I did with Regina. Yeah. Read him probably before it. He was cool and and popular The is probably about. 5 or 7 years ago. And I sat down probably 6 weekends and wrote standard operating procedures for almost every role in job descriptions and then turned it over to the team. And then I understood how things should go. And then just reinforce and and supported rather than trying to do it all myself. And that was a big that was a big turning turning point.
And that was probably that was 20 13. So I was probably, like, 3 years in before Yeah. Before, after 3 years in after I I kinda got to the point where I could do that. Yeah. Exactly. Well, I want the the listener to pay attention to what you just said, obviously, that your sales minded, your growth minded, your talented people minded. I I love all of The. But you just said you can't skip out on the work.
You gotta create the SOPs, the job descriptions, all those little details that we know, but that nobody ever takes time to do. Once you create the guardrails, like you said, though, then you put people in place, good people in place, and they should be able to take it from there. They should be able to take it from there. And then One of the things is, alright, I'm gonna I'm gonna bring you on board, but your part of your job description is the teacher replacement.
And then they start writing those job descriptions of standard operating procedures, and you don't have to do it. You your goal should not be to do that forever. Set the example and then hand it off and manage and support it. Exactly. Alright. Let's flip the coin, John. I wanna know a bad decision. Chaz you made that's maybe Chaz you take a step back here? Oh, yeah. So, I mean, so I came on board. I was a contractor.
I thought I was in the business, but really I'm in the service business, and those are very business. The are very different. And and I was Way too impatient with people when I came on board. I assumed that things were gonna be done per a contract. I didn't realize that there was, you know, you had to gain trust and build trust. So there's a lot of soft skills that I had to learn along the way. When I came on board, I I made a mistake, and I let some key people go.
And I I shouldn't I should've I should've kept them on board, and I shouldn't have made a knee jerk reaction. And I think now I'm probably a lot slower to make personnel changes. And I'll look for a place to to put somebody to help them be more successful if they're not in the right spot. And, and on that, I know if if my delegation isn't working, it's usually a training problem. It's, you know, I think most people will like to be successful in what they do and wanna be good.
And it it took me a while to Kings figure that out, but learning that if, you know, if they're not taking it and running with it, I probably did a poor job of communicating or training them. And and I need to be patient with my people for them to be patient with me and be patient with our clients too. So Yeah. Such good, you know, advice, but honesty, vulnerability. How did you come to know that? What's the story behind? You being a little bit honest with yourself there.
Yeah. So I, I mean, we were doing a job. It was for a a client, a financial firm, downtown. I can't say their name, but it was a it was one of our first big projects. And and we were behind schedule, and I was really frustrated. And I wasn't used to not performing. And and, like, now is my team, and my team was not performing. And so I ended up firing my lead guy on the job. And, you know, what that meant? That meant I had to go out there and do his job. So I was in the cooling tower.
I was do doing out there, you know, getting dirty, you know, not doing my job. I was doing somebody else's job that I I just let go. I should have just been patient. Yes. Yeah. But, yeah, that was a big learning learning point of humility and learning, hey. Not every teammate's gonna be perfect. We all gotta learn how to work together.
And How do you notice how the distinguish the when you do need to let that guy go, when he is being malicious or, like, like, where you actually do need to say in the middle of the job, hey. You leave. Yeah. So that's gonna So this guy was being malicious. He lied and and he we had a leak in the roof, and he didn't patch. And he told me that he had he did, and that came back to me. But I didn't I wasn't at a point where I could move.
I still needed him to finish the job, and, you know, there was probably still a way to probably salvage that relationship. Sure. But if so I would say that the if you have a mission, a company mission and, and if people are operating outside of that company mission, then that's the time to probably make The decision to, hey. We need The part ways. But if a people are failing just because of lack of knowledge, lack of training, lack of understanding, then those are opportunities that, hey.
We need to slow down, and we need to revisit what you need to be successful. I think we've come along. Mechanical resource group has come a long way in having that type of patience for those type of people. Do you feel after that happen, you know, for you, that The other people got to see Chaz, or maybe even just the fixings of that. Has that, like, duplicated down in a good way? I hope.
Yeah. No. I mean, I'd you know, It's the embarrassing part is, you know, I got people coming to me that have worked with me for, you know, twelve and a half years, and they're like, man, you're so much more calm than he used to be. And, man, he used to, you know, you would have flowing off the handle on that, you know, a few years ago. But, you know, that's a that's where you are when you're young and, you know, you don't know You don't know really how to be successful yet.
And there's a lot of fear that you're operating off of. Fear's a a great motivator, but it's also it's also it can be dangerous too if you don't you don't know what is what is motivating you. It can't be your primary driver. Yeah. Exactly. I had a scenario. This was earlier year, and I was in front of a couple of clients Chaz well as a couple of team members. And I got impatient. And I said a couple of things that you know, really weren't that big of a deal.
It was just me being impatient, and it came off different than how I normally carry myself. And so the I caught it immediately. It was like, I shouldn't have said that. And it was funny because the two people that commented basically said, you know, You're right. That's that wasn't you. And it was just like an acknowledgment of, yep, you were a dick, but I'm glad you acknowledge it. I'm glad you're I'm glad you heard yourself.
Yeah. And also the appreciation of, like, right there in the middle of it, the humility to go, that came out not how I wanted it to, you know, because we don't have to be perfect. All the time. I'm not saying that we need to be dicked, but but but when things do happen, it's okay to go. You know what? Let me correct The. You know? No. I want people on my team that'll call me that that can calm me out and say, hey. You're being a dick, you know, calm down.
So, you know, they need to know that we're all equal. Yeah. And that that and so One of the things I say, you know, I don't you know, you only correct the children you love. And and and so, you know, I think as long as we all have that mentality. Exactly. It's gotta go both ways. It's gonna be a a much healthier environment. Yeah. I love that.
But thankfully, I got people now that are like, man, Johnny, you gotta calm down or man The time to ramp up or, you know, I got guys who know we we know each other's hearts now and a really valuable place to be, from a from a company standpoint. That's where most companies probably wanna get to where you know your team that deeply where you can help each other respond. In a way that's 6 successful. Yeah. Exactly. Hey. Kings and Queens. Jazz Wolf.
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Let's help each other. Let's help each other grow. Like, so good. Talk about a decision making process now. We've talked about good and bad decision. Decision comes across your desk. It's a big decision. It's heavy. Wadey. We do these all the, you know, all the time. Is there a process? Is there certain steps that you take? Help us out. Yeah. So that's a great question. I'd say I used to internalize them a lot, and I'd I'd put them on my own shoulders before I would distribute it to the team.
And I say now when I have a a weighty issue, I don't make a reaction. Immediately, how usually communicate it to the team, whoever that would be The needs to know about it. And I think the faster you do that, the faster you take it off your shoulders and and you're able to distribute amongst a team and and then attack it as a team rather than an individual. And I've had a lot more success doing that than than just going on my own.
But the hard part is Sometimes you gotta take it on your own too when, you know, you're Kings. It's part of your mission. What you you know, you gotta do something that's part of your mission. But it's not gonna be comfortable for a lot of your team to do. And, okay, so how do we attack that?
And then when you do attack this when the leader needs to know exactly what they're gonna do and communicate that extremely clearly and make sure that you roll that out in a process where you Kings start to drip it and then push it through in a way that make sure you're leading and the way you know, make sure, you know, you're leading it you still have people behind you The you turn around. Yeah. And, I've done it both ways. I've I've I think I'm leading And then I turned around.
No one was behind The, and I realized I did a really crappy job at communicating that. I need to go back while I start all over again. So Yeah. Yeah. That's for leadership is hard. It is. Well, you're I think you've hit two sides of the same you know, issue, which is you can't do it alone, but sometimes you have to do it alone. You know? And even in the aloneness of the decision, like you said, you still have to look behind you and make sure that you've led well. It may have been your decision.
It may have been, you know, the the signature was yours. But you look behind and the influence or the inspiration of that decision, you've gotta be able to communicate it well, which I think that was, like, The number one said there to make sure that the they understand it. If they understand your vision, your heart, why you did it, how it affects them, how it affects the mission, then, of course, they're gonna be right there.
And that's a continual, I mean, you're a farmer and a cultivator of that forever. I mean, that's your job as The leader as Gathering. That is your number one Kings. You're doing is is you're communicating that mission, that vision. And you gotta be saying that somehow on almost every single meeting with your people. Whether it's, you know, you flash it up on a screen The the deck can actually talk about it. The might do that quarterly or just starting off every sales meeting, like, alright.
Who's got a good example of mission? You know, who's got a good example of serving the client and making sure we're we are doing what we say we're gonna do. And then those decisions that you make that are hard, if they're based on that mission and you've been planting and dripping that and cultivating that over the years, then people are a lot more willing to be like, alright. That's why we're even just gonna be uncomfortable. That's why we're gonna do this.
And I underappreciated Chaz when I first started this business, I did not realize how important that was. I thought I could just be the boss. I could tell you what to do, and everyone's gonna follow me. And that is not how business is. The gotta want to follow you. Yeah. You can do it, but it's not gonna be at your level. The guy listening right now who's doing that, he can keep doing it if he wants to.
He's just always gonna be where he is frustrated, you know, you know, revolving door of people, probably clients as well. Business is so hard, man. It's it's really I'm so glad I got business partners, and I'm so glad I got a team. Yeah. I would not be able to do it by myself. Yeah. That's real. That's real. Right? So I don't have to quote that. Okay. I wanna go into the speed round here, John. Yes, dude. Come at you a little different angle. My first question is around tracking.
If you took this entire, what you say, sales organization and dwindle it down into The trackable metric, you can only pick 1. Yeah. Client appointments. Client appointments, Jay? Why? Why for you? Why does that make you understand the rest of it with one metric? The client's the only one that's got money. You know, they're the only one that's gonna give you business. And, and if you're not talking to them, they're gonna give that business to somebody else.
And so one of the metrics we have is We want our salespeople not behind their desk, but seeing at least 2 clients every single day. Yeah. And we measure that. Not to a point where it's like, you know, we're gonna give you a hard time about not doing it, but, hey, how often have you seen these clients? When's the last time you saw this The? Are we making sure we're getting them and not touches? You know? Yep. The client is is only one that's gonna give you opportunity.
And and if you can make sure you're taking care of them and then you have the team behind you that that understands that and is willing to execute, then we we found success with that. Wanna point out something that you just said that I just think is so unique because, obviously, every sales process is a little different. The entire idea of the sales process is the same in every single business, but for you, what you just said, client appointment, it's not the guy that, hey.
I got a new lead, and I'm gonna go out and do an estimate. What you're talking about is How can I continue to build a relationship? Cause in your industry, there's really only so many clients. Yeah. And you're managing a relationship long term. So that way, when they need something, you're the top of mind. You're the one that they trust. And so when you say client appointment, it's not so much necessarily a new client.
It's lifetime experience or lifetime value, really, that you're maybe tracking underneath even that client appointment. For them, it's easy just to, hey. Go check-in, do a touch. Don't say the same thing every time. Don't make a phone call. Drop in, bring a note, bring lunch, like, we're doing these things long term to build a relationship, which is value, and then then return when they need you, Boom.
They know you by the first name basis because you were over at their daughter's 16 year graduation or or party or whatever. The distinction there for lifetime value, I mean, I we're saying the same thing. You use different language. Do you wanna do you wanna tie those together, you know, for a lifetime value? So, I mean, we're fortunate to be in a business where we have a a product life cycle.
So when we sell something, it's like we're we're sending our little family members all the way out in all these buildings and we're getting them installed, but then we get to go back and follow-up them meet with these clients and talk about new things, new technologies, new ways to save energy, pollution, global warming, you know, so many new things, efficiency, energy, so many things that we can go back and talk to them about.
And even our contract and making sure we're, you know, we're helping them be successful in their business and selling more jobs. And but are we Are you managing those relationships to the point where you are that number 1? You're you are the leader and you're top of mind when they need you, and they're gonna feel like I'm gonna call you. Yep. And that that's the point where I think if you have a repeat business, that's primarily driven from account management.
You know, it's not just pure prospecting. That's where most people wanna get to. And when you get there, you the One of our biggest fears is that we're gonna lose that trust of that client. And it is so hard to replace those clients. And, and if you're not if you're not Kings to make sure that you're serving them the way that you should be. Someone else probably is. And, and we, you know, we wanna defend that Chaz that piece of dirt that we bought The, you know, Wolfe thus far. So Yeah. Exactly.
Give that ground up. Yeah. Like you said, it's a whole lot easier to conquer than it is a govern or a part of governing is to cultivate, to protect, to to to keep hold of all of those things because it's you're right. It's a whole lot easier just to be just to blow through people. Just go get new, but eventually, you run out. And cultivating those relationships is extremely important. You've already mentioned a couple of books here, John.
Anything else that you'd say on, like, a book or, like, maybe an educational thing that has really meant a lot to you? Oh, man. I'm always consuming. And I'll I'll almost got to the point where I had to, like, stop. I had to stop listening to, like, books. Yeah. And I have to, like, almost turn it off and be like, alright. I just started focusing on mission vision and then just only focus on things that we're gonna reinforce that.
Yeah. Because, you know, when you're young and this when you're young trying to grow a business being an entrepreneur, you know, you can You know, nobody wants to be that manager, that leader who, you know, every employee knows what book they're reading because, you know, they're implementing some new tactic. And that's not healthy for teams or cultures. So I think it was probably about 5 years ago. I was like, alright. I'm gonna consume it. I'm not gonna make it everyone's consumption.
And we're only gonna focus on things that reinforce our mission vision. And and so I, like, I I made a personal mission statement Chaz have keep close to The, and I keep it on my bulletin board, but it was I did this in 2013. It was to lead the team and family to wise incompetent freedom. The, and I so I govern myself by Chaz.
And then our mission as a company is, be the leader, but the serve our our clients, The serve our employees, to serve our community, make sure we're getting back to our community, and then make sure we're serving our vendors and protecting The. So they're proud that MRG is representing them. Yeah. So and we try to make all our decisions based on that mission. And Yeah. It makes it pretty easy to decide if work does it not work. If it doesn't fit the mission, you just don't do it.
It makes The hard decisions really easy. That's right. So it makes it logical. No emotions attached. Love what you said there, you know, about sometimes you gotta shut off the education, not some from, like, an angle of, like, I I got it. I'm good. I don't need anymore. Not that attitude, but sometimes there's just implementation. It's like, okay. The cup is full. Time to go work. Yeah. And just dial in, I think, is probably a good way to say that for a period of time.
And then eventually, what I have found is that you get into a rhythm where, okay, you're through a period of time. And then the cup runs down a little bit, and it's the time to get some more education, some more learning, some more motivation. That's perfect. I always say one of my things is, like, you can't give what you don't have. Right? Right. So, like, and everyone has different cycles and seasons in their life.
And, like, I knew that I was young and probably underqualified The the lead in my role. So, like, I really had to make it till I make it. So I was consuming as much as I can't I could. I was trying to I was trying to create something in myself that I could give back to other people. And then there's a point where it's like, alright. I've I've hit this point. Now I can focus more on giving than I can, you know, consuming and teaching training. So I think both are really important.
It's just you gotta know that there's a season. And and not everything should last forever. You shouldn't be a student for the rest of your life. You know, sometimes you gotta flip that switch to become a teacher and you know, The the robe of responsibility. So Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. I think that we could use the warrior king language here again, even past the Kings. What's past the king, the sage? You know? Like, the gray hair gives it back. You know? I don't even know about the The yet.
Yeah. That's yeah. Yeah. I don't even have any hair. So, you know, We'll see you. Hear from me. Yeah. We'll see you. We'll see you very good. That's awesome, man. Okay. I got one last question here for you, John. I wanna know, actually, 2. My bad. I'm not the skip 1. Oh, goodness. Alright. This is the most important, obviously, gathering the Kings, especially since we have a mastermind group Chaz I love this question. What do you personally have you?
What have you experienced with networking and or master mining with other entrepreneurs? But what are your thoughts Oh, yeah. So I'm part of peer groups. That's been really important for me to grow. Yeah. Number The thing that I learned is, it doesn't take much to become an expert. Yeah. I think you gotta probably gotta do it twice. And then all of a sudden, everyone thinks you're the expert. And so business leaders are just like everybody else.
You know, entrepreneurs The just like everybody else, and everyone's trying to figure this out together. And it's amazing how people are willing to help each other, you know, without a expectation and return. And, and the leaders that have an abundant mentality, an abundance mentality where they think that, you know, the There's so much opportunity out there. There's not one person can take at all. So let's figure it out together.
We're all gonna we're all gonna, you know, improve and grow along with it Those are the type of people that I want in my peer group or my think tanks and and people that I wanna and I want people that are Chaz I learn more from hearing other people's failures than I do hearing about their successes because you learn a tremendous amount, Ruth. Realizing something to work. And and Well, it makes it real. Right?
Like, yeah, for us, personally, even at our own level, like, here, It's like, man, if I when I heard you make those bad decisions Chaz we call it, man, I I know I've done that. I know I'm gonna continue to do Chaz. Not that I'd wanna try to continue. But it makes it real. Like, okay. I can actually achieve what it is that John's saying that he's achieved because he's dealing with the same stuff I am.
Yeah. I remember, I mean, when we first started, I think I think The 1st year, I think we did, like, a $170,000 And, like, we were my dad was like, John, one day, you're gonna do that in a month. And and, like, now, you know, that's the bottom line in a month, some days. Oh, yeah. That's right.
You know, it's, you know, do a it and it's just it's amazing how when you zoom out, how you don't think you're making progress, but when you zoom out, Kings consistent and doing the same thing over and over again. It's like, all of a sudden, you're an overnight success after 10 years of just, like, slaving and you know, working really hard. And then all of a sudden, people are like, man, you're an expert. You know, you got a team and you guys are leading. People wanna be on that team.
And so it it comes It comes so fast that you can't even see it coming. Yeah. And I've seen people give up and quit right before. Chaz moment that there's a breakthrough. I just say, you know, the really successful people in this world are the ones that just don't quit. Right? There's ones that just keep going no matter what. And, and, you know, that's I hope that's encouraging to somebody because Sometimes I was, you know, wondering, hey. Is this worth it?
And it is eventually, but it's definitely hard work. Yeah. If they're listening, Yeah. Last question here for you, John. If you lost it all yeah. Man, if I lost it all, I'd probably go big. Right? So, If you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose. I think Bob Dylan said That's freedom, baby. Yeah. You know, if you ain't nothing to lose, you know, might as well go big again. That's right. I yeah. I I think I probably would.
I'd probably just I'd probably just go try if I could start over and get it be a lot or and and I've learned so much. I wouldn't have to screw around trying to figure it out for teen years or whatever it is. That's right. But, you know, if I could do anything, I'd I just wanna help other people and however, I can help them figure that out. But if I lost something that I would have to go make some money for my family and get some food on their tables. Hopefully, I could figure that out.
Yeah. I'm sure at this point, you you'd be more than capable. I love the response there because what it tells anybody who's actually paying attention is that they should have full confidence just to go for it. Just go for it. Don't wait. Don't wait to lose it all. Just go for it now. And I I want actually, I wanna sneak in one more question because this is kind of tied to this.
It, you know, what you just said there as far as, like, you know, being able to maybe do it faster or kinda skipping some things that you went through just because you already know it if you had to start over again. What would you whisper in the younger John's ear? Man, I wish I just had a lot more empathy and patience for people. I was focused on the goal rather than the person. Yeah. For real. Yeah. Absolutely. And when I slowed down, I grew in empathy. The team did better. And it was easier.
So that was a big lesson for me. I would definitely start over with It's good. John, you credible. How can The listener find you? Connect with you? Maybe maybe they Yeah. I'm on LinkedIn. I'm primarily on LinkedIn. So John Fortell on LinkedIn. We got a YouTube channel for, for training, mechanical pros. Those are the two places that that find me. And And and just speak on that for just a half second. If a mechanical Pro is listening today, how could you benefit them? Could they work with you?
That type of thing? So we provide free training. It's a it's technical based. It's for HVAC. But what we're trying to do is we're trying to encourage people into the trades and then promote how is a great industry for people to be in and how you can make a great living? I got I got technicians that, you know, are crushing it, and and they're out there you know, fixing machines and living the life, and they're having fun. They just didn't ever wanna be in an office and behind a desk.
And, you know, I'm thankful to have But that whole we're we provide mechanical pros on YouTube primarily to, to be that leader, that thought leader, and we just share information and help promote the industry of HVAC because we think it's people like air conditioning. So I don't think it's cool to airframe. I don't think it's going anywhere. That right? I don't think so. Yeah. Yeah. John, thank you again for your time.
Yeah. I've given just the insights of of your family dynamic, how you guys started. All Chaz is just so, so good. Wobby we'll get all this cut up and out to people as soon as possible, but you've been incredible here today. Blessings to your family. Yeah. It's to your business and your team. Thank you for being Thanks, Jazz. Yep. 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 The 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 1 1000 kings, specifically who are grateful, but not done.
We're intentionally assembling kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities, and here's what we believe Chaz in the pursuit of excellence in those areas, that it ignites within us the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy. So if that relates and and resonates with you, and you know that you need people around you, sharp, qualified The very successful business owners. I want you to go to Gathering.
Kings 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.