On today's episode of The the Kings. Young dumb and hungry is what I was. Didn't realize the the magnitude of potential failure, or potential loss. A lot of people just think as long as as long as you go do the The, everything's gonna be fine. And I know people that work their tail off that still broke over Friday. Right. You know, it's understanding the full picture. What's so funny is how You're in business. Nobody knows who you are.
But when you're successful, everybody goes a lot on which I could just flip a switch and be successful like that like he did, Like, y'all didn't say much The last 8 years, did you? You know? Yeah. You are listening to Gathering the Kings with Chaz Wolfe. Featuring fellow 78 and even 9 figure business owners who have real battle scars from business and life, but have prevailed as the king that they are designed to be.
We welcome high performing entrepreneurs to the stage in order to reveal the reel of the reel. On what it takes to build a successful business today. We dissect the good and bad decisions they've made along the way Chaz give a true and your 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? I'm Chaz Wolfe Gathering the Kings podcast. I'm coming back to you here with another king on the stage today. Mark White. My brother, Mark. How are we doing? Kings great. How are you? I'm wonderful. It's it's freaking Monday. Is that how you feel about Mondays too? You you know, it's it's just the start of another chaotic week Kings for another Friday every Monday, but there you go. Right?
Now the chance to here's, a lot better weather than we had last week. Oh, yeah. You know, honestly, you know, for the for the people that are listening, not viewing. First off, if you are listening, cool, but you should check us out on YouTube so you Chaz see Mark's background. But Mark's got some beautiful white tail in his background, and that's what I was thinking about this morning because it's been like 100 degrees here in Kansas City, literally, walked out this morning, and it was cool.
And I was thinking about Whitetail. So it was a good morning, Absolutely. Yeah. Well, tell us what kind of business that you got here. You've got, you've got quite a bit going on in your world. I you said chaotic chaotic mess, but tell us what Kings business or businesses that you've got going on over there, and we'll get rolling. So my main my main source of income is I'm partners in a commercial construction company.
So We we've we're based out of West Tennessee, and my partner I purchased this company in 2010 against all odds and against all recommendations by friends and family. Everybody thought we were crazy. And if I had it to do over and know what I know now, I I probably wouldn't recommend myself to do that. So, so we we purchased this company in 2010. We were college roommates, best friends. We were both in the landscaping industry prior to Chaz, and had no experience in commercial construction.
And so that business has been flourishing ever since. So throughout the process. We've made relationships with other people, and now we're part we're part owners in a commercial development company that we're the sole contractor for. Sure. And and then my wife and I along the way of kinda bought rental properties and have a short term rental with a condo at the beach.
And And and then I've got my hands and a few other businesses that some of them I'm trying to keep under my app because it's a CAMBI conflict with other contractors because we do subcontract working some some instances. Yep. But, you know, just make calculated risk and go for it. You know? That's Kings been my my motto. I love it. I love the the diversity, but also how you said that, you know, you've got one main focus and you have had for a Wolfe now.
And, obviously, over the course of time, relationships, I also love that piece that she said relationships of what have stemmed some of the other opportunities. I wanna get into, a little bit of you, your story, but you've said several things that are super interesting already, especially the, you know, you wouldn't you wouldn't recommend it to yourself again. I think it's funny because as entrepreneurs, if we knew what we knew ahead of time, oftentimes, we never take the risk.
It it's it's too much for our brain to fathom, you know, until we actually get in it, and then you can't go anywhere. And so figure it it, like, forces you to figure it out. Is that in essence, kinda how you feel about it as Wolfe? Oh, absolutely. I mean, young dumb and hungry is what I was, you know, and can, you know, didn't realize the the magnitude of potential failure, or potential loss. And so all I knew was work hard and it's it's gonna work out. And and yeah.
I mean, now anything I get into, I'm a lot more tax related. You know, low low low more conservative. But, yeah, my partner and I, we had successful landscaping businesses. But we weren't real cash heavy. So when we bought this company, you know, we barely had enough cash to put in to the company to to make payroll, and we were having a hustle with our our existing business.
So we kept our landscaping companies And I kinda ran that side of it, and my partner kinda help head up the new construction. And we kept on one of the one of the the owners of the company to assist us the 1st couple of years. Sure. And, you know, I remember many Thursdays. Randall giving me a call. Like, hey, man. Can you go collect some money from some customers? We got payroll to make tomorrow.
Yeah. You know, and I was literally, you know, running these really fast paced landscape jobs just to try to tough as much money out of those because in construction, it your own you do it 30 days worth of work, then you're on 30 day terms and and sometimes even longer than that. So you may have to load a job for 60, 90 days before you see a penny of it. Right. Yeah. And our accountant told us we needed $200,000 in our account. We looked at him. He's like, what?
And and now that's a fraction of what we keep in our account now. Yeah. Yeah. I think that there's a lot of lot of wisdom here, not only just the prudency of building something so that way when things do go wrong, inevitably, they will, that you have a reserve. Let talk for just a quick second. I'm gonna come back to you and your deep seated why. I always ask that first, but I'm gonna I'm gonna pause here because I think we're on some really great stuff.
You know, like, in the midst of that, you being scrappy, basically. Right? Like, I don't have the 200,000 Chaz my CPA suggested. What I did have was some energy and some hunger and some figured it out in this, you know, whatever word that is. Help us understand how you made it through because what you're saying practically that you don't make those types of decisions anymore because you know things are gonna come up.
How does the guy listening right now who's in that sticky, get out or get through. Man, you just gotta be hungry, you know, and and aggressive and and And I see so many business people. They wanna be successful, but, you know, they wanna also go home at 3:30 in the afternoon or 4 o'clock. When I was young, and I'm probably sacrificed family time a little bit more than I'm I'm I'm proud to say. Right. But, you know, I put the extra effort in.
You know, I would I would go home, do the family thing, get the kids in the bed, and then work on estimates at night, work on billing, whatever I had to do to make it happen. And so You just have to do whatever it takes. And, you know, now I'm at a point that I have all the proper managers and the proper people in place. If I wanna just walk out of this office right now, the wheels aren't gonna come off. Right.
But as long as you are the one that's greasing the wheels and you gotta keep the wheels low, Yep. You just gotta make sure stuff gets done. So for that young business person, just do whatever it takes. And you may not get to have the weekend though. You may have to work this weekend, but I did that. I was very fortunate. I did that when early when I was early in my marriage and my Kings my kids were very, very young and it wasn't a big deal.
Now I coach all their ball teams, you know, I'm involved in everything, but it took me 10 or 12 years to get to that point. Yeah. I think that's a good timeline, you know, as far as Wolfe, first off, the the reality of doing whatever it takes.
That that's a little subjective, so I wanna dive into that a little bit, but doing whatever it takes, consistently for a long enough period of time to where The there are systems, people, regular, a machine that's working and not just you is what I'm hearing you say. As far as whatever it takes, define that for me a little bit because, man, I've heard it. The I've read it in books. I've read it in audio or listening to audiobooks podcast like you saying, I gotta do whatever it takes.
I used to wear a wrist brand that that that says I'm committed, whatever it takes. What does that mean to to Mark White? Oh, you know, growing up like I did on a farm, You may have to be the CEO, the secretary, the accountant. You may have to go Change The transmission in a truck because you're trying to save a little money. So at the end of the day, whatever it takes is just exactly what it is, whatever it takes.
And Yeah. I guess I guess the the easy part for me that's the hard part for a lot of people is I understood finances. And so a lot of people just thinks Chaz long as As long as you go do the work, everything's gonna be fine. And I know people that work their tail off Chaz still broke every product. It's understanding the full picture. Yeah. Uh-uh. So to managing the money, the whole process. So Yeah. Early in the career, whatever it takes was just wearing every hat of the company.
Yeah. Whatever Chaz needed. And but don't be afraid to delegate those things that's very easily delegatable. Yeah. The, you know, I mean, I see so many guys that'll step in front of their employees and do the grunt work because they weren't doing it right. Right. Well, take 5 minutes and show them how to do it right, and then you move on to the next task or or you move on to preparing the next job. Yeah. You know, And and so and so many people say, well, I'm not as efficient.
Well, sometimes growth of the company has so many levels of inefficiencies. Nobody's ever gonna do it as good as you will. Yeah. Okay? So when you hire those people and you've got them, sometimes it may take 2 or 3 people to do the volume of work that you could do by yourself. Yeah. But you can never gonna you're never gonna grow if you don't go through that process.
And so, you know, I tell people all the time, like, when I was landscaping, sometimes it took, you know, me and one guy could go out and do a job and make a good living, but it took me having 4 employees why I got to the point where I could step back and go, you know, give direction and and still make the same money. And then once I got above that, then it was more than what I could do on my own. Yeah. It's so true. You're really talking about a a very, key breakpoint.
I wanna I wanna dive more into that. You said something, a second ago that I wanna hit first, and that was that you grew up on a farm. And I think that anybody that grew up on a farm or grew up in a small town even, realizes what you just said, which was, you know, I you you you see, like, I I've seen my grandfather and even even my dad who's not necessarily a farmer, but small town veterinarian, multiple clinics. He's got, herd of cattle and some farm ground and stuff, but I I see him.
Do all the things, all the hats because it's whatever it takes. Like, that's that way of life. And so I I I recognize that, and I think that the listeners can as well. So my question is but then quickly, you were like, but you gotta delegate. And so you gotta be willing to do it all, but then you gotta be willing to give it away.
And so tell us about that transition real quick here, and I'll and I'll lead it right into that that breakpoint you're talking about having having more employees to be able to really grow. What's that break point of taking it all, doing whatever it takes, but then also being able to delegate it out? I think it's I can't think it's the point when you start to gain more work than you can handle. So when I was earning my career, you know, I'm scrambling to get every job I can and and pay the Kings.
But once I got to the point where I had more work The I can do myself, that come to point, I hired somebody. And then I hired somebody else. And, you know, it was just a slow process, and it was tough. And, luckily, along the way, I've had some key people in my life that I was able to de get delegate it.
Not everybody still with me today, but they were and and a lot of people are still I have a good relationship with and good friends with it, but I had really good key people throughout my career that were help me with that growth and be able to hand that off. You know, obviously, different levels of different types. You know, it was the guy that could run the skid steer on the job site.
So how could they be answering the phone and not you know, stopping The gift share every 5 minutes The answer the phone. Right. To to the point of having an office manager and just I mean, every it's just a little little growth and what's so funny is how you're in business. Nobody knows who you are. But when you're successful, everybody goes what? I wish I could just flip a switch and be successful like that like he did. Like, Yeah. I've been saying it for the last 8 years. Did you? You know?
Yeah. Yeah. But that's that's just being able to hand that off is It's tough. It's it's probably one of the other than firing employees. It's probably the toughest toughest thing in in my career is is delegate and giving that away. Yeah. To your point, it's the only way to grow. Going back to your other point a few minutes ago about, okay, so you know, you could do the same work as maybe 2 or 3 people, and it even took maybe 3 or 4 people really to, like, get you fully to the next level.
I find a lot of entrepreneurs get stuck right there because 2 things. 1, they just can't wrap their mind around why these three or four people aren't as productive or maybe as good as they are. Like, they it's hard for them to to process in their brain. Why do I need four people when if I got rid of all of The? I could pretty much do all of this by myself. Not calculating all of the hats and whatever it takes and the weekends, and they're not they're they're they're small minded in that way.
It's tough to go to the next level and go if I shoot. If I brought on 5 and 6, then I could really go to the next level. It's tough to get to that place. But then also just from a funding perspective, like, you're in growth mode, and I'm paying 3 guys to do the job that I was doing by myself. And so from, like, a finance perspective, I'm thinking, well, jeez. Yeah. And you want me to hire 3 more. Give us a little bit of navigation through that time frame for you.
Yeah. So that growth that growth phase, honestly, is honestly, the toughest because there's a hard decision. Do I just scale back and just do it myself and still make the same money? And But I I my situation was always wanted more. So I was never satisfied. And The and my wife's asked me many, many times when are you ever gonna be satisfied? I'm like, why? It's to me, it's about the the thrill of the hunt, the, you know, what I can it's not about the month.
I mean, the money is a byproduct of what I did. Yeah. And, it's a a vast byproduct. But a lot of times, it's more about satisfying customers and doing what I tell people I'm gonna do. It's And and then in the in the in the return, it's it's been good financially, but that growth phase And I know a lot of people that couldn't get through that. They tried it.
They hire a couple people and then they get frustrated with them and just say the heck with it and go back to you know, running everything The Wolfe and scaling down. And I was probably at that point whenever I bought the construction cup So I was kinda forced into that next level. I had probably 4 employees. I was able to go work on the job to noon. And then I'd say, hey, guys. Y'all get to this point by the end of the day, and I do a bit of jobs.
Do that And then when I bought the construction company, it forced me to instantly double in size with employees and Yep. And volume. And your think. It it it forced you to think differently. Mhmm. So and I had a part and then we gained The partner. We felt like we had to you know, at least do twice as much. You know? Yeah. Yeah. I think that you're spot on. You said it a few minutes ago that that you're you weren't done. I'm not done. I'll be satisfied. I'm not done.
And so we have this phrase inside of Gathering the king's peer to peer mastermind Chaz we're grateful, but not done. And there is a unique perspective to be able slow down enough to be grateful, be able to take, you know, a a smell of the roses, if you will, at the current stage that you're at, but then also recognize fully that zero chance I'm stopping here.
What are your thoughts on, you know, your your successful trajectory in multiple industries now and a very large commercial construction company now? It's like, surely, there's been times along the way where even though that driving force on the inside of you Chaz maybe your wife was like, oh, yeah. He's at it again. Because my wife said the same thing, but there was maybe a quiet moment where you were grateful.
Like, oh, man, I like, looking back, but then in that same thought Kings, but I can't stop here. Do you have one of those moments? Yeah. I mean, I had a business consultant in here not long ago. Just looking over some Kings, and he said, I'm scared to walk out of your office. I'm afraid you might start another business, if I'm not looking. Uh-uh.
Because one of the things in this line of work, and once you are successful and people notice that, I feel like I'm drowning in opportunities from time to time. That's right. You know, we're concerned. People throw stuff at you left and right. And so you have to be very calculated. So, I mean, I'm very fortunate The that, but Yeah. You know, I everything I do is an extension of of of the company that I have. So if I'm I'm diving off into another business.
It's because one of my one of my current businesses is an asset to Chaz. And can make it an easier way to be successful. You know, I'm working with some guys right now. We're we're we're partners in a a company, and we're quick to start building storage facilities. Storage units. I'm a general contractor. I have my own concrete crew. We we're so as a general contractor, we're a large contractor, but we also self perform concrete and masonry and some other trades.
Well, guess what's in storage unit? It's a lot of concrete. A lot of concrete. Kinda get to have my cake and eat it too. Keeping our call set a minimum, and and and being being able to supply Wolfe business with another, a bit of revenue. So Yeah. And, you know, and even in the rental business, you know, I get to use some of my construction employees on their off time to go work on some of my rental properties.
Yeah. So everything I do is calculated in and it's an extension of what I already have. So I'm not just diving off and buying some crazy business that, you know, that's often left field in another state, you know, but but everything is an extension of what I've already already do. What's some of the calculation that you've taken around some some of those businesses that you have that are, you know, secondary or even tertiary to what you currently do main mainstream?
Like, you're thinking about starting this next one and it has a it has a connection point, like you're just describing, is that You know, is there is there a calculation of of does this industry work or or how much does it affect or how much does it take me away from my current business? Or even going back a little bit when you started the very first offshoot, was the current business at a certain revenue point?
Did you have some sort of a, like, guideline around wanna be distracted and have something else going on, or you just kinda win for it? Like, give us a little bit of that. Well, just Kings what you said about, what is it gonna take away from this business? As long as it's not gonna take away, you know, like, if I buy a rental property, you know, it's calculated that when I bought my first one, I mean, it literally paid for itself. And then I bought my second The, bought my third one.
They're all they were all paying for their sale. Right. And, you know, I I know you hear Dave Ramsey say, well, you know, your rental properties never really pay the pay for itself. Well, if you manage them right, they do. And the key is not take too much out of my pocket to be able to grow those. Yeah. And then later down the road when I would buy rental property, it not be as good a deal, but I had 5 other rental properties that were cashed on. Right.
Oh, now, you know, you know, I I probably bring in a $150,000 a year and long term and short term rent. Yeah. And and I've done that with very low out of pocket cash just because I'm mainly I I took that calculated risk. Yeah. You know, my partner and I funded a a new business venture not long ago.
I'm not gonna say too much about it because I wanna keep it on to them a little bit, but we had the right person to to manage that company, and he had the the knowledge and the contacts in the industry. And We we've had to provide a little capital, but it's killing it. You know? You just gotta know your market. You gotta know what's available. I mean, you don't go you don't go open up a shoe shining shop and everybody's wearing sandals.
You know, I just you just gotta know what the market, what's available, and, no, you're not getting into something with low profit margins or or high input calls. So yeah. What I'm really looking for is low input cost for high profit margins, which, I mean, who's not, I guess, but Yeah. But to your point, that you're you're you're more fierce about calculating what that looks like and whether it's, you know, worth, a little bit or a lot of bit of your time or money.
Yeah. Yeah. You just gotta figure out if it's worth the time. And and now you I have less time and more money. You still have more time and less money. Right. So I could put time into the the the early investments. And now I can put more money in. I I'm looking for more investments to take more money less time. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. It's funny how you say Chaz The the opportunities sometimes you drown in them The more successful you become.
I had two or three people in a Facebook or Instagram DM pitch me an opportunity just this weekend. And people that I currently know, they're not just, like, random, you know, spammers, but people that I actually know, and they reached out, hey. I'd love to get your opinion on this. I'd love for you The. And both of them, I'm like, hey. I am good for you. Excited for you, but I can't be part of that.
And it wasn't because I didn't in, like, wasn't excited about their business or it just no. I'm I I got these things going on over here, and That is not in the lane that I'm Kings. And so best of luck to you. And so it's it's how's hard or feels hard to say no now, especially when you're younger, saying whatever it takes is Kings saying yes to everything. Right? Wolfe, I mean, I had somebody pitch me something a while back.
There was The easily could have been a successful business, but it was a high input cost and a high input cost of time. Sure. And, you know, and I I was like, look, this it was gonna be a long term play. It was probably gonna take several years to become profitable. Like, at my at my point in my career, I'm looking for a a residual cash flow. I'm looking for somewhere I can put my money invest in something that's gonna give me a return and not take forever, or at least not cost me anything.
If it's gonna take forever, it needs to pay for itself along the way. Yeah. You know, so it's just, you know, you know, for the early business guy, go beat the bushes and work work, get it out of work, and and make the time. And then once you get the money, you Kings kinda be a good steward of that money and and and put it in the right places to And what I'm trying to do is create, you know, generational wealth. That's where I'm at. You know, I've I've I've made it. I could retire tomorrow.
If I wanted to, I mean, I wouldn't be a wealthy retired person. I would be I would be able to survive and But now I'm at a point. I need to figure out a way to go get to that next level of generational well. Yeah. Yeah. It's an exciting thing, actually. I talk about it quite a bit.
You know, I I find myself in a I've actually, I find myself a lot of people that like to talk about it, but not actually a lot of people are are building the the framework to actually have generational wealth, which is, you know, obviously multiple assets, but then there's ways to protect it and you know, there's a lot of money and attorneys and CPAs that have to go into that. I actually had a guy on the show probably over a year ago.
And he said he he not only does he know the number, but he's He's built the entire plan, CPAs, attorneys, everything, for 4 generations. And, he's got it all. Like, it's it's like, it's like a blueprint. Just follow this 4 generations, and we're wealthy. Not we are wealthy, but it will the wealth will stay is probably a better way to say it. And so, why do you find yourself interested in generational wealth?
Why why is that a thing as opposed to giving it away or whatever else we can do with with money. Why why is it important for you that the white family for generations continues? I don't know. I just I I wanna leave my kids something. You know, I want I I'm like most families in this situation. I don't wanna put it on a platter. But but I I wanna give them opportunity. You know, like, you know, like, my my dad, for instance, he's a farmer.
And I could still be there working on the farm, probably leaving barely modestly. But, you know, over the last few years, I started buying farmland. Around my dad. So, hey, if one of my kids wanna farm The day, they're not gonna have to sacrifice until they're nearly retirement days to get get that ability. You know? So You know, it's it's it's a double edged sword because success can taint your children if you're not careful.
And I I I'm I'm trying to make sure, and I'm trying to get them to work ethic and The understanding of how hard money was to come by. You know, they think everywhere they go, they just yeah. Hey. I want that. And, you know, and we have to explain to them all the The. Not everybody can go on 5 vacations a year. And not everybody can do this and do Chaz. And you're not gonna be able to when you get a job, unless you work hard and sacrifice. Hey, Kings and Queens. Jazz 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 help each other grow. So Yeah. It's an interesting, a mantle to pass, right, because In essence, I mean, I've had this conversation with so many entrepreneurs, even including my dad, kind of a quick backstory on that is I didn't meet my dad till I was 24. He didn't know I existed. I thought somebody else was my dad. And so small town, like, the The guy I just explained a bit small, you know, a veterinary practice cattle. My grandfather, his father is a farmer and hat was for many years.
So I understand that that perspective that you're coming from, and it's like, you have this, you know, innate value in work ethic and and doing whatever it takes, all the things that we've just been discussing, And we wanna pass that along to the kids. Right? But at the same time, you are producing already a completely different life. Your kids are growing up way different than you did simply by the success that you've already had. And so it's like, how do I balance this?
How do I balance the experience that they have in life, they're not gonna go through the same things that I did or that you did, but I still wanna be able to help them think through situations like that. What would you say to that? How do you help How do you have the kids think through situations? Yeah. I mean, you know, my dad, you know, just basically made us work, you know, and it's and and don't get me wrong. He was he was a successful farmer, but he wasn't very transparent.
You know, he didn't give me a road map. When I went to college, they just placed me and said, hey. It's over there. And I went to college. You know, to to give the roadmap of how I got here doesn't even make sense because I went to school and got an Ag degree. And so for me to try to trans be I just got to be very transparent and and communicate everything I possibly can The Rachelle. Yeah. I gotta get away from don't just say because I told you so.
You know, I mean, you say that when they're little kids and you spike their butt, but I got a fifteen year old. You know, I have to give him a lot of explanation and kinda talk him through things. And he a lot of times, he don't get the answer. He wants to hear but I have to I have to just really, really, really be transparent and give a lot of explanation and try to just make every every chance I get, make it a speech in a moment. Yeah. Exactly. I mean, you're his mentor. Right?
Like, who if if you're not gonna mentor him as a young man, who will? You know, I didn't I didn't have that growing up as a as a young man. And so I can only imagine where I would be today if I had someone mentoring me at fifteen years old, helping me understand situations in life. And I think that that's one of the greatest gifts that we can give our children, not just the money piece, but yeah, The situations in life. But, yeah, that's how it's how you think about money too.
What what do you think was a good decision that you've made in your business journey that's just really practical, something that you would do over and over again, that the listeners can maybe go apply in their business. I don't know. That's the hardest hard hard question because I'm I'm I do so many different things on a daily basis because I wear so many Chaz. You know?
You know, we've talked about my construction company, but I've been Kings of the managing partner of Palm Development for the last 7 years. And, so it's really it's really hard to hard to say, but, you know, basically, just being calculated on everything you do. You know, if it don't dollars gotta make sense, you know, everything you do is gotta make sense.
And so never bite off more than you can chew from a from a job standpoint, early in our career, Randall and I was chilling in on everything we were doing, and we had an opportunity, some really, really large jobs coming to our town. And we had one of our masonry subcontractors come to us and say, hey. We wanna bid on this, but we don't have a masonry life. Well, it's easy for us to go add the masonry license to our general contractor's license.
So we negotiated with these guys to to Come to work for us. We made them 4 months, put them on these masonry jobs, and it was a father son combo Chaz their own business where you put one over one job, one over another. And we got about $2,000,000 worth of masonry on the The. Overnight. And we were a $1,000,000 a year company when we did The, by the way. Right. And the 6 weeks in, they both said, this ain't for us and walked off. Yeah. So we were like, what the heck? You know?
So we're very fortunate. We came out of that process, and we only lost about 3 quarters of a $1,000,000 over Chaz. But luckily, that would that would have sank most companies. We are I had a very good year building medical clamps that I hadn't gotten to start with. So my partner and I basically worked for about a year for 1st. Yep. And it was the most expensive schooling we ever had in our life. Oh, yeah. And once we got through that, that was, you know, that was one of those.
Don't ever do that again. Yeah. But It was also a blessing in disguise because we end up keeping that masonry division, hired the right people, and we still do masonry today. And it's a very profitable endeavor. So as well, the worst decisions I ever made, it turned into a long term play. So you know, that's Kings what I'll just keep grinding and, you know, hopefully, it'll work out. I'm not gonna say if you grind, it's always gonna work out because it don't, but Lovely we make that happen.
So Yeah. It's interesting how you tell the story because you're right. Just because you grind doesn't mean it works out. However, you know, an optimist, which clearly I can tell that you are. I recognize a fellow optimist when I when I see The, but, you know, an optimist thinks Wolfe, this is it doesn't matter how the turnout is. It's gonna be for my good. I'll either learn a really expensive lesson. To your point or or I or I won from from how I thought it was gonna go.
Either way, I actually win still. The just may set me back a little bit in time, money, or effort. And so, you know, like you said, luckily, for you guys, we're able to Kings re reconfigure Kings. What do you think you know, like, looking back on that, like, I mean, in the moment, you were like, oh my gosh, you know, quarter of a $1,000,000 or or 3 quarters of a $1,000,000, just gone working for free.
Like, that doesn't feel good at all, but now looking in many years later at The of your profitable, you know, divisions, That's a big deal. Like, and somewhere along the line there, you had to kinda go, let's just do it anyway, or was it more of a, like, Chaz. We got this set up. We have to do it. And so let's just keep it moving. I don't know. What what what was it? Well, we just, you know, it was once it was Well, both of those jobs that we got, The of them was a jail.
And if anybody on here listed and you're in the masonry business and somebody calls you about doing a jail, Just hang up the phone. Just walk away. They're not problem. I don't care. It's how you try it. So but something We were just neck deep in it, and and we had contracts, and these things were bonded. And, luckily, we were diversified.
But as far as just completing those jobs, Wolfe we got The them, you know, a lot of people were thrown in the towel, but Once we got through them and we kinda had created and built somewhat of a good productive crew, we just continued with the Maestro. Ain't it? And being the general contractor. If we wasn't The general contractor already and having our own waste free jobs to go do, we might not have kept that going. But Yeah. You know, that's one thing about what we do as a general contractor.
Even in a down economy, we do we we have that subcontractor mindset. We were landscapers before we become con con contractor. Right. So you could cut my business in half, and I promise I'd still be profitable because I would just figure out how to self perform more of that work. Right. And and that's what makes us so aggressive and so competitive in our market is because we control the schedule, and we control The profits of concrete masonry in in our business. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
I love, you know, The calculation. You mentioned something a little bit ago about family, and that's early. You probably sacrificed some of that more than you would have like to admit to, but now you you flip the script on that. My question for you is maybe a little twofold. Maybe you can give us a little bit of The and a little bit of now. But I'm a firm believer that you have to be obsessed about family, marriage, you know, the other things as well as the business.
And just like you, I spent many, many years building a business, multiple businesses, and I probably sacrificed, some of that. Even though I was saying that it was important, I wasn't, applying myself in those areas, I think there's a lot of people that think that it has to be 1 or the other.
And so I've just subscribed to the thought now that as long as I do whatever it takes, like what you're saying, be obsessed about both areas or even other areas, my health, or whatever, that I can do it all. And so my question to you is that back then when it was harder, And maybe now when it's a little easier, how are you obsessing practically with your family or marriage or children? I have 3 children, and all three are involved in sports.
And so I literally just have to call my wife daily and say, where are we tonight? Where are we tomorrow? I mean, so obsessing The rolls flip. So in the early days, it was It was all about the the business, and I just try to be home for supper. Now it's it's totally different. So Probably 6 days a week, we have somewhere to be on a schedule. At least one kid and there The has been not sure. We had 3 different places to be on the same night.
My daughter plays competitive softball competitive volleyball. My oldest, he's not earning as much. He he's just playing some baseball. My youngest is 8, and he's playing fall football, fall baseball, you know, just so it's somewhere all the time. And and so Basically, I just make sure I'm involved in everything they do. And, I mean, I was my daughter's softball coach and just till a couple months ago.
And I decided to let that go so I can focus more on her as an individual and and less as a team. Sure. But, you know, my but my business got to the point where I can do it in such fraction of a time. You know, I can do it from home. You know, our development company, a year and a half ago, we hired a a lady to be the COO of that company.
So I don't have to worry about signing letters of intent and purchase agreements and reviewing site plans and and and have I'm actually missing a meeting right now with one of our customers. She's got it handled. So now I've, managed everything from a thirty thousand foot view. And, you know, The only thing that I really get digging the weeds with is when we land new customers, and I kinda I cultivate that relationship.
Yeah. So so that's what I really focus my time on is cultivating those new relationships. In our business and managing everything from a 30,000 foot. Yeah. I appreciate that to that Kings, like, linear, like, progression, I guess. Alright, Mark. You said a few minutes ago, you know, when when in the early days, you know, you were just trying to get home for supper. Give us just a little picture of that because I know what that feels like.
When it was just all I could do was just to get get home for supper and be with the kids for a little bit of time before they went down to bed. And and then I went right back to the like you mentioned. And so I'm sure that there's a lot of early business owners listening right now that are in the same situation. And The they either feel bad about it or maybe they don't. I don't know. Maybe their wife's on them or maybe their spouse, whatever it looks like.
So for you, give us just a little insight. Just peel back the the layer just a half second when you, like, rushed home for a supper. What Chaz look like? And what were you doing specifically with the kids to know, be intentional with your time or maybe time with your Wolfe, what would that look like? Well, I mean, fortunate for me in those days, my my kids were y'all So we weren't, you know, at sporting events, and we're most folks still work The 8 to 5 job. I was working 6 to 7.
Basically, I just try to get home every night anytime to have supper with the family and and at least be there to get the kids in the bed. Meaning night spinning my office and my home office after they went to bed. Taking care of the business side of the work. So work all day, spend a few hours with the wife and kids and then work Kings hour or 2 before I go to bed. So that was that was the early days of business.
And then this fortunate my life and my business lined up, you know, as as my business as my kids grew, so did my business. So as my time become more free at work, I was required more at home. And, you know, things are done. Was was that plans? No. I was just very blessed and very lucky for that to have And probably wouldn't have survived working like Chaz, my whole career.
Because if I wasn't any good at it, I probably The Wolfe have failed and moved on and work went and worked The the man, I guess. But Yeah. Yeah. We do know The there's zero chance that would happen. And and that's that's what happened with the that that opportunity for those masons. They work for themselves, and they come to work for me. And they wouldn't used to answering to somebody. I get that. Right. You know, it was a mistake on both our court.
But, you know, it's I would never punch a car ever again in my life. So Yeah. It makes sense. To your point, though, There's some people that aren't aren't made for that. It doesn't mean that that's any different or better. It just means that the people listening here are like you and I. And and that's fine. We're gonna figure it out.
It's just gonna look a lot different and probably gonna have to work harder differently more committed in a way for, probably a longer period of time than we're comfortable with, if we're just being honest. I got one last question here for you, Mark. As we wind this thing up, you've had just, you know, years of experience, multiple industries of experience now, and success. If you have the chance to whisper to the younger mark, Tap him on the shoulder. You whisper in his ear.
What do you tell him? You know, I'm hard to say this. The man in PayPal on your podcast. And and I've yet to come up with Chaz answer. So I'm gonna try my best. But but if I had to if I had to just whisper my younger self, I think I would just say stay motivated. Stay stay engaged in the business. And don't give up because there's been plenty of times along the way that I wanted to give up, but I think to be be more calculated.
You know, even though I've been very successful, there's Like Chaz time with taking those projects. Since then, I've had opportunities to take really big jobs, and we bow it out. You know, here I am doing 5, 10, 15,000,000 jobs, and we had an opportunity of a $40,000,000 job. And they wanted us to bid on it. And we're like, in the night they were like, like, we're not ready for that. Yeah. When a lot of people that took that opportunity, The coulda No.
I totally understand where you're coming from, you know, when you're saying that you have an opportunity at a big project and it's difficult. Right? It's difficult to say no, especially when you get a little excited. I mean, you're a winner. Like you said, I don't I don't, you know, I'm committed. I'm not done. And so why do you think ultimately you did turn that $40,000,000 project down? Just because I knew just I know I didn't have the the staff to to get give them a good product.
You know, I was gonna have to grow my staff too fast. I mean, grow. I mean, we went through the ridiculous growth in our our business. You know, I think we did 1,400,000 our 1st year in 2010. We've been 2 2.8 the next year. You know, The 1st 4 years of we're using business. We grew by a 100%. Yeah. Which in that realm of 1,000,000 to 10,000,000. It's not a big deal. It really isn't. But when you get to that $20,000,000, And and and we've even approached the $40,000,000 mark. Alright.
We're at a different level now. Yep. And, we're at the level we wanna stay. And one of our senior project managers hit us up. Like, I thought y'all wanted to grow. I'm like, no. We're good. I mean, there comes a point when you gotta you gotta make good with what you got. You gotta understand the sizes of the business and and where the possibility is because there's growth phases where you're literally going backwards if you're not careful. Mark, it's amazing. Thanks for sharing.
How can the listener get in touch with you? If maybe they're entrepreneur, they want to just connect and talk business or, maybe they wanna reach out and do a deal. How can I find you? Well, I've got a couple websites. So our our construction company is bargerconstructioncompany.com. And then my development company is Palm Developmentpartners.com.
And, of course, you can find me on linkedin or Facebook, but our construction company, we locally, we specialize in, you know, anything what we call blueprint projects. You know, we're the architects for managing the projects. We're doing colleges churches, high schools, fixed start fixed start the high school football stadium for the local high school. And then I'll and in multiple states, we do single tenant buildings.
So I do urgent care clinics, autism clinics, mental health facilities, But we, as a development company, we go into markets. We acquire the land. We negotiate the lease with the client, and then we build them their site specific building. So I've done probably a 125 projects like that over 9 States in the last 8 years or so. And so if you, Cheryl, a business that made a real estate partner where we we can we can be that evident. Been very fortunate to have some great partners in all aspects.
You know, good Christian black minded people that that I'm in business with. Mark, thanks again for being here on the show, brother. We wish you nothing but success and blessing. And all that you are doing here in 2023. Thanks for being here, man. Thank you. Thank you for listening to Gathering the Kings today. Hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away.
More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it take 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 The 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 Kings specifically who are grateful, but not done. We're intentionally assembling kings who fight tooth and for their 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 doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 kings. Talk soon.