On today's episode of Gathering The Kings. I got to realizing that I don't want Elliot's son running the company. I want Ben running the company. I want this to be Ben's footprint that everybody looks at and and the leaders of the company to say that's to do what I wanna follow.
You are listening to Gathering the Kings with Chaz Wolfe Gathering fellow 78 and even 9 figure business owners who have real battle scars, from business and life, but have prevailed as the king that they are designed to be. We welcome high performing entrepreneurs to the stage in order to reveal the real of the real on what it takes to build a successful business today.
We dissect the good and bad decisions they've made along the way to give a true and accurate picture of the journey of success and how you too can get 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? Wolfe Gathering the Kings podcast. It Chaz got Ben Levine on the Kings stage. What's up, dude? How you doing?
Hey. Still honored to be here. Thank you for having me. Of course, man. We we are honored to have you. We were just talking, you know, off air a little bit. You're 4th generation business owner. I just I I I've got questions for you today around legacy and Yeah. You being the 4th gen I mean, I wanna get into a deep, but, Ben, tell us what kind of business did you get, brother? We're plumbing service business. So we're finding 2 trucks on the road. We serve the Greater Montreal area.
Up in Quebec, Canada, and we take care of what we're we're based as a service company. So we take care of everything that has to do with plumbing, water teething, natural gas, everything, but new construction and new development. We, we try not to get into that at the completely different beef, where it's the lowest comment that I'm gonna do the base standards based on on code and based on plans, and really we look to elevate the industry, elevate the service we provide.
It's I always have Henry poured in my head When he said, if I would have asked my clients what they wanted, they would have said faster horses. So we provide a level of service beyond which the customers even even know what to ask for. Oh, I love that. We can definitely get into that. I I think customer experience is the new speed to your point. And so we Chaz just get it Experian. The full experience from a to zed. Exactly. Oh, sorry. Zed Canada. I apologize. Z. Yeah. That's alright.
That's alright. I get it. So here's the reality is that 22 trucks in the The, you're crushing it. You you've been crushing it for generation since your family has been and then now you, but at this level, I mean, bro, you could you could probably do pretty much whatever you wanted. I mean, I know that's relative, but you're still pushing. You're still grinding. You're still you're still here on the podcast producing time and content, and you're getting the word out. And Why?
What's the bigger picture for you? What are you after? So so there was, let's say, about 4 or 5 years ago, about 5 years ago now, my dad handed over the reins as president of the company to me. And honestly, I had no real idea what that meant. It it's pretty surreal experience, and I was working in the business. I was supporting the project managers. I The meeting clients. I was Yeah. Doing everything I could to run my dad's company.
Yeah. And then It it I started I took 1 course coaching course. It was my first one. It was the most expensive Kings decision I made with no proper returns that I signed right on that line. It was it was $5. And I'm like, I was shaking after. I'm like, but this is the right thing to do. Yeah. And I went through this course through the Procter Gallagher Institute. It's based on think and grow rich. By Napoleon Hill. Yeah. So it really got me thinking about what does the company need for me?
Hey. How do I get out of my dad's shadow? And and the way I said it and felt it in my head is that I was in The data with his footprint. Yeah. And I was like, oh, it's awesome. It's Elliot's Connor running the company. Yeah. And then I got to realizing that I don't want Elliot's son riding the company. I want Ben riding the company. I want this to be Ben's footprint that everybody looks at, and and the leaders of the company to say that's The do it I wanna follow.
That's so really at at at the base of it all is I wanted a better kind of company. For everyone to work at. I I feel a few sense of responsibility we have depends on the day. Actually, as of this morning, we have 40 9 employees. We just hired a couple of apprentices, so that was pretty cool. But I feel a responsibility to them Yeah. 49 people, 49 families Chaz we're helping to support. Yeah. That's right. The aspect that keeps repushing for better and better. Next is I wanna elevate the trades.
Like The trade. I it's it's I wanna get that image of the plunger and the dirty closed and the hatch crack out of people's mind and bring a respectability to create service people, service providers as a whole Yeah. And bring professionalism to a different level. I speak at different school. I speak at the plumbing school, and I talked about pride in being a plumber. I talked I was actually brought in to a private high school.
Because up here in Canada, we have, like, equivalent to almost like a junior college after grade 11, you graduate high school, The it's a junior college for a couple years, then you jump into university for 3 years or if engineering doctor for more. Right. And I was brought in because there were so many kids worried. Like, what if I don't get into the college I want? What if I don't get into college at all? Can I still be successful?
Yeah. What's The and and and it was such an amazing experience So so I spoke and I gave my perspective to these kids. And then when I went to go sit, I was went around and I spoke with with a lot of The, and they're looking me in their way. So from a plunger, you made a living, I'm like, no, dude. From a business. Yeah. I made a career, and I made a light for forty five people with me. And he looked through his leg. Yep. And I said plumbing is more than just a plunger. We need to elevate Chaz.
We come in. We're experts. Yep. We we have an expertise that, honestly, it's so cool. Well, we need you to pass the dispute. Yeah. And I and I think a lot during the pandemic over the last, like, 3, 4 years, 2 or 3 years. People really saw that they needed us as they were using their home more and more in ways that it was never designed to. Yeah. Exactly. I think that The the industry disruption that you're talk I just wanna just point this out for the listeners you're talking.
Yeah. Yeah. Go for it. The the reality here is What's your who you're listening to? I I wanna just kinda I mean, we we just officially met. Right? I know we've been interacting with you with my team and stuff, but The I'm talking to today is an industry disruptor. There are people who are motivated by a certain couple of things. Every single person falls into you know, one of about 4 or 5 categories. For me, it's legacy. My hope is that 3 generations deep for me that there's a Benjamin.
Chaz there's somebody on the on on my my grandson or my my grandson's son or my grandson's daughter or whatever is an industry disruptor like Ben is. And so what he's talking about is not necessarily talking 4th generation down. He's already that. His the legacy before him has already laid the groundwork. He has a whole new challenge ahead of him. And so that's the that's the light that we're gonna go into here.
But you're an industry disruptor and so you're, yeah, I you won't stop until the industry is better off. With you. That's exactly. I want everyone to know that the even even people in the trades, and that The gets me when it's like, guys will do what jobs on the side are in in France. That there's an expression at The Sunday plumber. There's that or the one man chose to devalue our trade and undercutting everybody because to them, it they have no real expenses. It they do the invoicing at night.
So in their mind, it's all profit, but it really it it it Kings the professionals out there. Right? And that's where I wanna get even within our industry to know that Dude, we're experts. We deserve to be paid, like, expert. Yeah. Exactly. Which is which is what you're trying to do. Trying to bring value to everybody. Even the guy that's currently not bringing value. But you're trying to bring value to him too. So let's jump into your story here, man.
I wanna know, obviously, how are you came to be an entrepreneur or a business owner is by generation. Right? But you have had to, had some different challenges The maybe somebody starting from scratch. We'll get to that here in a bit. Yeah. Tell us about the I mean, obviously, you worked in the business. He didn't just hand you the reins. Like, tell us a little bit about the back story. So so I I grew up in the business. I mean, winter break, spring break, very few vacations growing up.
And, especially in Canada, winter is crime heating season, frozen pipes, emergencies are that much more urgent. We need to be there. So Very few vacations over winter break. So I I'd be working in the office. I'd literally, I'd be painting, fitting, Actually, we have one plumber who's been with us for 39 years. I'm forty years old. So, really, he remembers me in diapers when I was fifty seven years old, I'd I'd go with him to do service calls, and he's the one who taught me my tool.
I I'd literally be handing him tools while he's fixing a toilet. I'd go fix faucets with him. And even we had a nice storm up here, when I was in grade 11 in January of 98. All the rest of my friends were sitting in a home playing video game. And I was on the road, 14, 16 hours a day, And it it was it's part of what I grew up with is the work ethic. It's the helping out within the company. And then once I got into college and university, it was it was the same idea.
But going back to my my whole journey, is going into junior college or CJEP here. I I actually wanted to be a physio. So I everyone thought, oh, his path is laid out for him. He's gonna go into the family business, easy life. Right? Well, that's not what I wanted. Obviously, I didn't want an easy life. I wanted to be a sports physio. I love playing sports, and I always played for my Mac. Didn't matter if it was ultimate Frisbee, and then the park with my buddies.
I I would dove into thorn bushes to make that catch. Wow. And so I was always hurting myself on top of that. So I just figured it was a good make Gathering, but at The Hey. At the same time, while I was helping out on on during vacations or days off, I'd go in. And I love building. Yeah. So I'm an avid avid Lego builder. But I love building. I love, at the end of the day, looking back on work with pride of workmanship on it Chaz I just helped that customer. They couldn't have done it without me.
Yeah. And there was actually one case. There was a huge imprint on me when I was in University. And it was after I went into business school with the mindset going into the company, but I was we're working in probably about a hundred and fifty year old condo in Old Montreal. And We broke open the floor, and I looked at the piping. And I turned to the plumber who, by the way, is now one of the project managers in the office. So I came to the plumber and his name is Jimmy.
I said, Jimmy, this is messed up. They should call somebody. And now now, Jimmy is like, if I put something or other, but not that much more, he comes up to here on me. And he went right up into my face, and he looked at me. He's like, The did call somebody. We're here, and nobody coming behind us. Wow. We're their hope. We're not leaving here until we make sure The have it right. And it's like, damn. We're superheroes. Yeah. Literally.
So it's like we're it's it's one of those tag Kings I like to use when I talk to people on business development is we We don't look at a call as a fail, but using our expertise to help people. Yeah. And that that resonated Chaz that conversation from Jimmy So, yeah, I went in I went into school. I got a Bcom in economic just because I love playing with with equations and variables and pick and all all with the intention of coming into the business.
I wanted to better myself to see how I could help the business out. And The, literally, I had knee surgery on the first day I was able to. I was Kings over from answering the phones in the service department. He came back 2 weeks later. I was downstairs sweeping the office. I was helping answer the phone. I got my apprenticeship card that went on job site. I got my hands dirty. The our our guy who was looking after the warehouse, he had a heart attack at around Christmas time.
And so they asked me to come in. So now all of The sudden, I started looking after the warehouse. Yeah. I started looking after the warehouse. Started doing pricing and Gathering. And now I'm within, like, a 6 month period of me starting, I've done about 7 or 8 different jobs and responsibilities within the company, and it was an amazing introduction into the company. It sounds like not not from prompting from your dad either. Like, it wasn't like him as the owner going here.
So I learned all this stuff. Because you're I'm grooming you. It was more of a Kings sounds like an open hand. Like, you you kinda kinda bounce around a little bit and to figure these things out for yourself. Am I am I picking that up right? Yeah. It was it was always it was always where do they need me? The the only time that I actually asked with direction to go is after a certain amount of time, I'm like, dad, I need to go back on the road. I need for a few reasons.
1, I need to show these guys that I'm gonna be in the practice with them. Yeah. I needed to earn their respect that I'm gonna work Just as hard if not harder. Yeah. That's 1. And number 2, I need to know the business. I need to know the technical side of it. I, I was exempt from plumbing school. In in Quebec, we have 2 exemptions, and I was the on the or the thief the bot, which is literally the boss's Kings. So my apprenticeship card was a different color than everybody else.
I got embarrassed a couple of times by inspectors on job sites, where after Chaz, I got I was just called Pete. I was just called son after forbid, but I kept pushing. And I had helped out in the service department. So I was helping to schedule where all the helpers were Kings. So I made sure if it was a small spot, I was in there. I don't know if you could tell, but I'm fixed 1, and I'm not a small guy, but I'm up for any challenge. Any heavy lifting I scheduled myself in.
Yeah. Digging in an underground. I put myself in that basement by myself Yeah. Which The story I found a petrified cat. Literally, it Oh, wow. It was just like a mummified Chaz. Where I was sent into this crawl space, which was just dirt and gravel. And I had to dig for 3 days by myself. With very minimal lighting, which was probably my fault at the time, but I didn't know that all to be able to, renovate that whole apartment on top of it. But I put myself there. I scheduled overnight.
So it was really important for me Yeah. To to be in the trenches with these guys. So that was on the most part, it was what is yeah. It was like a goal with the flow. Your journey of taking something over looks different than someone starting something from scratch. And so I'm gonna Oh, yeah.
I'm gonna make I'm gonna make a delineation here for the for the listener because whether the listener has started something from scratch, or whether they've taken over something, they have their own challenges and and don't necessarily covet the other. However, I will say The. Purchasing a business or taking over a business, although it has its own challenges, I'll do that over and over and over again Chaz opposed to I've started.
I look. I'd Gathering the Kings was my last start from scratch, and that was Kings of just more out of, like, this is how I'm this is how I'm designed. This is a way I think that said this is the thing that god has made me to do type of a thing. But outside of that, it's like The challenges that you faced weren't necessarily hitting the pavement to get the next customer. The was already a sales process in place in the business, but the challenges that oh, yeah. You made it better. I'm sure.
It's 2022. It's different than 1982. And so sales are done differently. And so I know you've had to upgrade that, but but that's a challenge is to upgrade the sales process and to get in and get your sales guys or your techs to get them to believe you and not to just be the son or Elliott's son, but to be Ben at to be Ben The owner or be Ben The the the entrepreneur. And so think that just to make that distinction, you've done a really good job of Kings giving us your story.
Although different than somebody who had to Kings, like, maybe, quote, unquote grind it out, Yours was grinding it out also just in a completely different way. It's putting you in a position to be able to basically earn the trust of this thing that's already been built. Would you like to add anything to that? Just a real huge differentiator is, I mean, coming out of university. I started, and it's almost like coming out of plumbing school, you start with, like, 0 experience.
And all I was Kings, and this is Hey, Duran. I I depends on the day I've bounced back and forth. I was going around observe but also maybe thinking out loud of things I wanted to change. And my uncle at the time called me if it was awkward. He's like, You're scaring people. I'm, like, I'm, like, that physically intimidated. Like, whatever you guys, you're talking about everything that you're Kings to Chaz And, honestly, you don't know the business yet.
So what I'm gonna need you to do, and I'll I'll I'll censor a little bit to touch your mouth. Keep your eyes and ears open and learn how we do it. Yeah. So when you're ready and the company and the people are ready for chain, You know Yeah. What you're changing from and what the downfalls you're gonna be missed. So that Chaz was that was a great piece of advice he gave me. And it definitely did not have gave me how fortunate I was.
To to come into a company with, 1st of all, the best reputation in the city. I I'm I'm gonna tell you everybody that I spoke to just compliment me on my dad. It's like Yeah. Your dad is the nicest. He's always been there to help us out. And it it it's Probably not possible for you to be able to hear that being said about your dad. Yeah. And then that goes towards legacy Alto. Right? Yeah. Yeah. That's good. I I I wanna relate this. I've got just a quick experience here.
When I was building my first sales team, I I took over a sales team, And at the same time, we me and this other guy, we interviewed, and he he built a brand new team. I took over the existing team. They wanted 2 teams. There was only one. I took over the the current team. And and there was a lot of times where he would come over and be like, oh, I'm, you know, I don't have enough people or I'm telling, you know, interviewing and this and Chaz.
And I had a whole team already, but All the things that you just discussed were absolute things that I had to go through as well, which are a I'd I didn't change a bunch right away. Of course, Like, eventually after, like, a year, year and a half, I changed the team name. I changed how we celebrated. I changed I I made it mine. I made it our brand. You know, quote, unquote, inside an organization, but it's the same thing I had to go in.
I had to show them that that they that I was in the trenches with them. I was willing to help them on deals and and really fight the fight for them because they they didn't know. They didn't they didn't have that experience with me. In fact, I remember standing in the room where the sales director who had been the sales manager. He got promoted. That's why they needed to fill The spot. And so he's standing in the room with the team, with me. And he's like, alright, guys.
Here's your new sales manager. And I remember a lady, it's going, well, why can't we just have you? Outstanding right there.
I'm like, So you got your work cut out for you when you're taking something over and you've given us some some exquisite advice or and even through your uncle, pay attention to the people, pay attention to currently what's Gathering, identify areas of opportunity, don't go change things too quick, earn trust, earn trust, earn trust, earn trust, earn trust, earn trust, The some more time, probably earn some more trust.
And then over the course of time, as you're building that trust, you can change a brand or an identity or a culture inside of a business. Would you like to add anything before we move on? No. That that's awesome. Hey, Charles Wolf here. As many of you know, I have been on an absolute mission to help entrepreneurs from all across the country in many different industries level up their game and grow their business and intentionally connect with other entrepreneurs.
We do that obviously through the podcast, but we also have a peer to peer mastermind group specifically for 7 to 9 figure business owners. We are bringing some of the best and most successful entrepreneurs and minds together in a regular and a super intentional way to not only grow our network, but to be able to leverage. And at a certain point in business, success becomes about leverage, leveraging time, leveraging resources, leveraging key relationships.
This is exactly what we're doing inside of the peer to peer mastermind group called Gathering the Kings, specifically for 7 to 9 figure business owners. So if that's you, if you're ready to level up your 7 to 9 figure business, even to the next level and get around other big hitters just like you. I want you to go to gathering the Kings dot com, flood a short application, And, it'll come to an application, call with me, and I wanna chat with you to see if it might be a good fit. Talk soon.
Perfect, man. Alright. Let's go over to a good decision. You've made lots of them. I'm sure. What was a good decision you could look back on? Share with the audience right now. So, actually, it followed followed one of the bad decisions I've made. It was I I did tell I'll I'll I'll just paint a little bit of context here Kings out of four air, four and a half, five years ago now. We had one major client, thankfully. Still have him as The client. So, well, thank you very much for your business.
Really appreciate it. But at the same time, we were the only plumber that he used. He had 50 buildings around the city. We're the only plumber, and my goal was to serve them. A lot of my time was taken up with Chaz. Sure. Sure. And and it was I mean, it was almost at a point. There were some years. It was 60% of our total sale. Wow. With, you know, all the eggs in one basket type scenario to a key. Yeah. Then There. We were on one job site and really cool.
It's a complex of 10 buildings around a garden with a nice fountain in the middle. And we were systematically renovating every single building. And he was the the owner at the time was on vacation in Eastern Europe, and he got a garbled up message from a secretary blah blah blah inspector blah blah blah plumbers, electrician, jobs that closed. Oh. So what ended up happening is that morning The whole complex got surrounded by police.
The our construction regulating commission came with inspectors. Our workman comp, which here at CME FFP with our workman's comp inspectors, came and visited, and almost like our provincial IRS, which here is Revenue Quebec, The also had inspectors in place. Wow. And all that that owner got from that message was somebody called The factors in to close the job site and was either the plumbers or the electrician.
So he sent a an email out company wide, that nobody is to call us or the electrician until further notice. Well, the next morning, we had fixed trucks parked at home. Right. And I had no real idea why. I was calling everybody. And, apparently, anonymous tip really means The anonymous The. Until we were able to figure out what happened, but it took about a week, and a couple days that we were just lost revenue? The of lost revenue.
And then I got a phone call on Tuesday night saying, oh, sorry, Monday night. Saying we have to deliver 19 apartments. And by Friday oh, and by the way, it was one of the tenants that She got into a fight with one of the contractors, and the dude decided she had already caught with the window dollar and the dude decided he just didn't want to engage with there. So he pretended he didn't speak English or friend. And he just went out in Russian.
And in her mind, well, if he's only speaking Russian, then I'm calling in the IRS, then I'm calling everybody And I'm making his life miserable. Good. So it's literally one tenant that did all of this. Wow. But I made a decision. So this is where that that good decision came in. Yeah. I made a decision that I would do everything that I could to make that not happen again, to not have one person be able to impact my business in that way.
Yeah. So It got me thinking as a president in a different way than I had ever before. Like I had said before, I was working in the business. But now all of a sudden, how do I start? I I didn't even know where to start, but Yeah. It's like I needed to hedge my back. Yeah. I needed to diversify our portfolio I needed to do it for the health and betterment and future of the company. Yeah. And that plan families that you're that that are counting on you to do so. Yeah. Exactly.
And that's when, like, serendipitous guy that I played hockey with when I was at elementary school, sent me a message on LinkedIn. Hey. Are you interested in coming to visit a referral business group? And I'm like, Yes. Yeah. Okay. Is it is it being high? He's like, yeah. Is that okay? I'm like, hell yeah. Let's do it. 2 days later, I visited, and I have it looked back then. It's That's awesome. Got me on The a networking in a way that I've never done before.
I started investing in coaching Yeah. Like, I had to head shortly thereafter is when I had signed that signed with that coat, The personal code right there. And and then let Chaz led to so many other opportunities that opened up afterwards. And that decision right there was probably the best one I was able to make. That's incredible. Well, I think that there's so much to learn from Chaz, your story, but, leading up to give us such a perspective of, like, oh, no. You're right.
We can't have it all in one basket. Sales or a new marketing solution to fill the pipeline, and that's in essence what you did with the networking group as you filled the pipeline. When you have a full pipeline, you don't to be so, you know, focused. Well, you you still wanna be focused on every client, but you don't have to be so, you know, tied to to one one other person's issue. That he had the issue. He took the took it away 6 six six jobs.
So are you are you giving me this good and bad decision all in 1, or do you have a another one that you wanna share? So I I definitely have another bad decision, although I'd like to just maybe give a little bit more of of the lessons I got out of it. Yeah. Please do. It it I had an ex girlfriend whose dad is probably still is an accountant or was an accountant.
And the one thing he said is he was part of a charity organization but he, like, he was the treasurer, and people, people kept coming up to him. He said, okay. You made that a complaint. I need the receipt. They said, don't you trust me? I need The trust, but verify. I love that phrase. So it it that stuck with me. Maybe I didn't take that advice to heart enough at the beginning, and it came back to bite me in the bud.
But, honestly speaking, it led me to really be able to understand that there's provide fillers out there for a reason. There's I mean, I speak with my accountant 2, 3 times a month, even when there's nothing major coming on. I keep it. I treat to my lawyer maybe once every month or 2 just to, hey. I have an idea how far off based am I gonna get hit in the ass with it. And that's where use professionals and that's and and always verify.
Yeah. Yeah. That trust, but verify, especially, I can only imagine with your history of, you know, family and older business. Lots of dynamics there. I'm sure that there's dynamics with you know, just, like, all the regulation that you just mentioned with that previous example, we've got regulation here in the US as well, but that seems like a lot. It's like, you know, we gotta cover cover your heine on on a lot of those things. So what what process do you have now, Ben?
Now that you're it's yours, fully yours, your company. You're the you're the full blown deal now. You've been like this for a while. You've made the good mistakes or the good choices. You made some bad choices. How does a decision process look for you now? So there's there's a few things. 1, I'm partners with my brother-in-law. So still a family business. So that that's pretty cool. He's a great sounding board.
Decision making for me, one of the things I keep meeting to repeat myself, and I get that comes from coaching and mentoring is to respond, but don't react. Make sure motions are completely out of decision making. That that's a tough one for a lot of people that I that I work with, that I deal with, Chaz may don't understand how I stay level headed a lot of the time. Yeah. But say a lot of times I need a few minutes to to get to that level of perspective, but at the same time, You can't react.
And when I find myself about to, I stop. Yeah. I started you eluded a bit that that were a little bit of an outside the box service company outside the box plumber. And I started a few years ago. An advisory committee. Basically, it's a group of the senior plumbers Wolfe, 5 plumbers, my fellow, My office manager, we get together either every month or once a quarter. And, honestly, I run things by them. Most of what I I try to do is to make their lives better.
Yeah. I talked I I call them our internal client. Yeah. Literally. Our plumbers on the road. There are internal clients The are top priority. I don't care if you're that one client with 60% of my business. Our plumbers are above you. That our goal in the office is to serve them properly. So with that in mind, The every decision I make is with that in mind. I I collaborate with them. We We actually something else we've done.
And I found that this added clarity to my own decision making, and I found such a huge improvement with our our key employees and and people in our office and our plumbers on the road. Is we sat down and we had a, a powwow, I guess, best way to describe it at seminar. I on the power of y. And, honestly, I chose Simon The talk and ask them what our y is and based And The, okay. What's our core values?
We, as an office staff, came up with our core values and our mission statement, and, boom, we put it up on the wall. We have it in 4 different places in our office. Mission statement and core values. And what I always say, use that add your light house on a foggy ocean and make a decision. Don't need to consult me if it's in line with our values. Okay. If you were wrong, we The after and readjust. I'm okay with that.
But if you make a decision Chaz The gain those core values, now we start to have a problem. Yeah. So decision making is so much easier When you know what your values are, you know what you're in line with, and to a different degree, I've also sat down and come up with a vision board of where I wanna go, and the vision become much easier if it support that vision. If it doesn't support that vision, sorry. No. Does it support the vision? Okay. Is it in line with our values?
Okay. It's almost like At that point, you take the emotions out of it because so many businesses I speak to, it's like, okay, gut decision. I'm like, what? Okay. At a certain point, if you're balancing between 2, if you're know that one isn't intrinsically wrong, and you don't feel right about it. Well, that means that against your values. Exactly.
Get that in place, and that will make decision making so much faster, so much easier, and easier to be able to communicate why you made those decisions. The. You you just did an amazing job of breaking that down. I think that there's been a lot of people here on the show. That that's my answer as well. It's like, look. What do you want? And then does this help me get what I want? If it doesn't, I don't do it. If I if it does, I do it no matter the cost.
And so I think what you just did is you gave us a beautiful breakdown of what that actually means in the moment. I mean, how we're using that as a as a guide or a light, like you said. I'm gonna switch over to the speed round here. I'm gonna come at you in a little different angle with some questions. Alright. Here we go. You ready? Hit me. I'm I want you to break down this plumbing business of yours. I want you to tell me what's the one metric.
If you Chaz only pick 1, So one metric that you would choose to track forever and ever. Why it repeat rate? Yes. Tell me why real quick. Alright. Really quickly. If a client's coming back to you, that means you did good by them. That means they love the experience. That means they buy into what you're selling. Yeah. 100%. Plain and simple. They're a raving fan, as we say. Yeah. What book would you recommend, Ben, for a business owner who's not yet at the 7 figure mark?
Damn. That's a hard one to nail it. Nail it down to 1. If if you'll allow me, I have 2. One of them is to give me Yeah. Great book. Email where I and that example is the baker. It makes amazing pies. The she opened the bakery just because you're amazing at baking pies. Doesn't mean you should be opening a bakery. And if you do open a bakery, understand that the business. You're not a technician anymore.
Yeah. What needs to go into a business that different than learning how to bake the best damn pie there is. That's number 1. And number 2, maybe a little little lesser known. It's the slight edge by Jeff Holton. Yeah. Great book. Yeah. And there's really one huge message and one image that thick to my mind. It's mastering, unmeasurable efforts to get to the next level. He uses going to the gym, but he uses one analogy really quickly. It's 2 frogs in a bucket of milk that they fell into.
And one of them, we're just swimming around, realizing Right? I'm not getting anywhere and just gives up, and then he drowned. The other one keeps going and going and going. And eventually, he turned that bucket of milk into butter and then he was able to hop out. But he would never have been able to to see that based on 3 stroke in there. So that that had really stuck with me. Yeah. Hence The hence the name of slight edge for that advantage.
You already mentioned Kings, and how valuable it's been for you. What would you think? My my question really is, what do you think about networking and Mastermind? You've already talked about networking. What do you think about Masterminding with other entrepreneurs specifically Mather Mining. I always I love meeting business owners.
It's it it whether they're coaches or mentors or business donors and whether they're a business owner just starting out or they're multi millionaire business owners that are on the verge of retiring. I asked these people that I look up to. I asked them to go for lunch. And I've gotten so much value out of it. Yes. Is there to to harpreet, they're in, There's a book called Ethics of The Gathering in Jewish liturgy. And and The paraphrase, it make a teacher out of everyone that you meet.
Yeah. And I take that to heart. And then once you're going to mastermind, you're going to like minded people who just elevate each other were were the sum of the five people we spend the most time with. Yep. And so if I'm getting a little here, a little from The, and all of a sudden, I'm building myself just by osmosis, by being around these dude, these people.
It's it's So huge huge advocate for MasterWines, huge advocate for getting a quote, getting a mentor, and, obviously, networking to take business to the next level too. Yeah. I mean, the listener is doing it with us right now. They're they're by Osmosis, learning from your story, and and raising the tide underneath their ship here. So I got one last question here for you. It's it's a little bit of a deep one, but we're almost done with the show here.
So I want you to tell me because your 4th generation Yep. And so I'm I'm curious to hear if this answer is different. If you lost it all and maybe you're all maybe I'm setting it up to where your all looks different because It's, like, I think maybe, like, more weight because it's the 4th generation. If you lost it all, what would you do? Who? I I I I'm about to be between 2 things here. 1, start it again. Learn my mistake. Learn what what happened. Try it again.
Maybe, maybe do a deep personal dive. Maybe really do different kinds of market studies and get the key people that we have in the company on board with me. Yeah. And, dude, let's let's let's go at it again. The other thing that I've been thinking of, and and really, there's a lack of trust and pride in our society right now. So I I know there's, like, Annie's list or Better Business Bureau or things like that, but, honestly, to maybe be a trade concierge, so to speak.
Yeah. Just being able to connect the right kind of trades person to the right kind of building or homeowner and and even helping to to look after that expertise. Yeah. So it's it's one of the 2. One of them is really going at it again. Still young. I still have the energy. I still have The drive, the fire. Yeah. So if you ask me right now, probably, yeah, started all over again. That's awesome, man.
I love I love the energy, like you said, as far as I I I guess what the the the weight in in even me asking it was like, man, If I was the 4th generation owner, would I make decisions differently? Would I would I be hesitant thinking, you know, great grandpa, x, y, z, this Kings, and and then pass it to, you know, blah blah blah, whatever the scenario is. It's like, does that does that live on me? But Your answer is is the same of of a lot of other owners, which is free.
It's free to say, look, if it's all gone, dude, I should do it again. I know how to do it. Why wouldn't I do it again? That'd be silly. Oh, I love that. I love the perspective. Love the mindset. You've been incredible here today. How can the listener find you? LinkedIn personal connection right there where I'm on it regularly. I'm posting videos on The all so, but if you connect with me on LinkedIn, it Wolfe be my pleasure to, have a chat with you.
That's the easiest way to connect personally, or our Levine Bros So we're really active on Facebook, The, LinkedIn, and YouTube also. So Yeah. Anyway, your message, it it'll get to me. That's awesome. I I I just so appreciate your time. Your your 4th generation expertise, the struggles that you've been through, the decisions, your vulnerability, You've been incredible. Thank you for being here. We wish you nothing but success and blessing on your family and your business. Thanks for being here.
The, man. Thanks so much. Thank you for listening to Gathering the Kings today. I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away.
More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself, doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself, what I have realized, not only in my own journey, from multiple businesses and multiple different industries, and now interviewing 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 Kings together successful entrepreneurs.
In fact, we are putting together 1000 Kings, specifically who are grateful, but not done. We're intentionally assembling kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities, and here's what we believe. That in the pursuit of excellence in those areas, that it ignites within us the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy.
So if that relates and and resonates with you and you know that you need people around you, sharp qualified other very successful business owners. I want you to go to Gathering. I want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit. To 1000 kings. Talk soon.