On today's episode of Gathering the Kings. The one thing I've learned the most in all these companies is having the right people, but finding people that you align with and Yeah. Your values Chaz if culture is important to you, then it has to be important to them. 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 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 keys like today's guest. Grab your pen and notebook because we're about to dive in. What's up, everybody?
I'm Chaz Wolfe gathering the king's podcast. I've got Robin Bertzel here on the King stage Chaz a queen, of course. Did I how did I do with that German name there, Robin? I know. Thank you. Got it. So I mean, in the States, everyone calls it since Warzell, but Betzell is more German. More German. Yeah. I love it. So Warzell, obviously, like you just said, just really appreciate you being here. What kind of business or businesses, in this case, Robin, do you have?
Well, about a 25 years ago, my husband and I started construction company, general contracting company, where it started working out of our home and realized pretty soon that that wasn't gonna had a 2 young kids at home and a dog that every time they made noise, quiet everyone down. So we moved into an office and in 2008 when the economy crashed, construction wasn't doing so great. So he said we need to open a company that gonna withstand the economy or Right.
You know, and here in Texas where we live, H EAC, Wolfe plumbing always does. And then, of course, H EAC is, you know, at the event. And then about 5 or 6 years ago. We had electrical. So that's the service company. We also start building our offices and bought land and turn it into a business parks. Then we have a a land development company. We're building out some more now. And then that on that property, we opened the commercial kitchen complex. So it has 7 commercial kitchens.
So it's just like naturally things kind of progress. We've opened some businesses that weren't good fits in that, you know, either closed or we've even, let the, you know, general manager or partner just take because it was a distraction. So and then about 5 years ago, we moved out to some acreage. My daughter wanted to start a boarding and horse training company. And Yeah. She quickly realized that wasn't what she wants to do full time.
She's working back with us here and my husband's managing that. So we don't actually do the CD. We just kinda manage it, but it's on our property. So we get to see the horses and donkeys and all Chaz. That that's incredible. A lot going on in your world. Yes. That's what I said. Sounds like you just kinda how you guys like it, though. Yeah. I think we do. You know, it's yeah. Probably do. It just continues. Yeah. Exactly.
One kinda leads them to the max Wolfe, we're gonna have plenty to talk about, plenty of experience to draw from here today. So just really appreciate your perspective. Even before we get into coming from different industries. You're coming from service. You're coming from construction. You're coming from land. You're coming from from horses. Sorry, man. You're gonna give us a lot of perspective here today. Before we jump into story and your businesses and stuff like that, I wanna know why.
Why all of these things? What's the bigger picture? Why business? Like, what are you doing this for? I had started out actually, I was a flight to for 28 years raising the kids. My husband started the construction company And, you know, we work together at some level. I I graduated from LSU with the degree in marketing and the business degree. So I could draw on Chaz. Some I grew up in a fan my dad my step dad who I grew up with had his own business.
It was well, he had a family business, a oilfield company. And so the whole family, Lisa's nephews, cousins, you know, at work through there at one point or another. So I've never really known any difference Chaz kind of having Chaz in the background. So when we started the company, the construction company, I wasn't as involved at first. And then when I retired from American Airlines, the service company was where I stepped in to do marketing.
And decided that there's some things that I wanted to change, mainly the culture. And Yep. My husband and I both are very people first kind of managers, and we just wanted to have a culture that was we like, you know, we like the people we work with and we want to help them in their dreams, even if it wasn't here, you know, if someone comes to us now and they wanna move on, I think sometimes they get upset. We're not trying to keep them here, but we we ask questions.
What is it do you wanna do and what are you, you know, and try and help them direct them to a place that would be a benefit or You know, sometimes I think they think grass is greener, and then they we've had many people come back to work for us in some time. So I think giving them that permission to go see what out there, and then we're, you know, we're here if you wanna come back.
We've always had open door and probably have about six people working for us now that it been with us in the past Chaz have come back. So so we like that. It's, you know, so that's one part. Yeah. It means that they that they didn't know what they Chaz. And then, obviously, when they realize it, they they wanna go back and get, which speaks to, like you said, the environment that you guys are creating and and value. Right?
Because that's that's that's what that means to them is that their their life in some or maybe multiple ways is better with you in it. Yeah. I think that's obviously our responsibility as leaders. Yeah. I know one time because we've had our kids all work for us. At one point, we have 3 children. And one time, we had to let some logo and I remember a a younger person who Wolfe for. She said, Wolfe, you say you're like family, and that just wasn't very nice and was upset with us.
And I said, you know what? We've let 2 of our kids go. Before, for different reasons, it is part of the family because you have to be honest with your family members, and they have to be accountable when You know, they can't just just because, you know, they're related. Doesn't mean they have a job. So I know when my dad's company growing up, he never let us personally work in it. Because he felt that we should find, you know, what our own thing, you know, what we wanna do.
But I do know when He was hard on us like that. Yeah. He didn't. I played. He was an umpire. I played baseball, and he would strike me out, and he'd always say he'd go down swinging. So he was never a dad that really made things easy. He always was challenging me and pushing. And this is my stepdad I talk about because I've he raised me. My real father's in the picture, but He was my day to day debt. So Yeah. Yeah. Understand.
Yeah. I think the just the mindset of what you're giving is so applicable. I guess my follow-up question to that is is for the listener today, you know, maybe it doesn't have a big team or have had a chance of firing and and then rehiring somebody. What would you impart into them about what they could do now while the while the thing is small? To be able to have that opportunity in the future where you're the place where people wanna come back to.
Well, you'll hear a lot when you listen to podcasts or rebut about successful companies, and I always talk about the culture. And that just comes naturally to my husband and I, we felt it that But what I found is it doesn't always keep people here, but I think that's what brings them back because a lot of people, you know, it's about the money. They'll make more money here. They'll take you know, sign on bonus and you're, you know, kinda sad, but they're following the money.
But once they get into that role, they may realize that's not really the most important thing. So Yes. We Chaz, you know, the culture is what we like to say. We care about everyone, but it doesn't always translate. To every person you hire. I mean, everyone wants to come on for the initially, you know, what's in it for me, the benefits and the bonuses and stuff like Chaz. And, you know, so It doesn't always translate, but I think it's what we enjoy working.
If I'm gonna work in a business, I want to enjoy what I do and what feels good to me. So that's probably why we, you know, it's so important. Yeah. Absolutely. Tell us about a little bit how it got started. You said you mentioned you were you were flight attending. While raising kids and and your husband started the construction. What was the involvement when you transitioned out of that? Like, how did you get into business?
We had a manager at the time that decided to go off and do his own thing. And my husband said, well, you can can you do this until we find someone, you know, full time? And I'm never I've always believed that I could do anything. You know, I want Chaz. It's not a problem. We had the company set up, and Wolfe follow kind of a mentoring and training group called Nexstar Network for the service industry. And I was already familiar with them. I knew they would give me the Chaz maybe I didn't have.
The part I didn't know was the operational part, the field thing part. And so I hired several managers or general managers operation managers, and it just wasn't working out. And I had to learn a lot of the field stuff quickly, not how to do it, but how to talk to the text, what, you know, expectations they have. And that I do find as a woman and it's kind of a male dominated field. I often got pushback, maybe Yep.
A little I don't know if I Chaz use where a little b s in there, you know, so I had to figure out how to work through all that and eventually 2 years ago, I found a a general manager that him and I, we just really felt we were on the same page, had the same vision, had the same ideas, and We just he stepped in and since then things, you know, have been really doing well with that company.
So I The one thing I've learned the most in all these companies is having the right people, but finding people that you align with and Yeah. Your values, your, you know, Chaz if culture is important to you, that it has to be important to them. And so and you can go through a lot of interviews and a lot of hires. You don't know people until you're 3 to 6 months in. So it's but when you do find those, it it you just wanna keep them because they're they're what they lift you up.
Always think of it Chaz way. You can't do it all on your own. And so when you find someone that support, they're just helping, you know, push you up and and likewise, you're helping push them up. So it's a support Thank you. That's what I look for. Yeah. The the the word that you use alignment is such a great word because it doesn't have to be same. They don't have to have the same vision or dreams as you personally, but there's alignment in the business.
And their their personal goals and targets are somewhat in alignment with with yours or maybe it's the vision of a business, but you can serve each other. That's what the alignment means is that we both get served in this relationship. And so I just appreciate that perspective. I wanna I wanna switch to, like, a practical conversation here. We kinda give us how you got involved, and it sounded like it was out of me. And then and then you probably just crushed it. And so you just why why go back?
I'm I'm I'm here. I'm I'm winning. You know? So I wanna know in those 1st couple of years, you kinda just mentioned, obviously, hiring and some of those things. But if you can nail down one decision that was just bought on, you nailed it, you do it over and over and over again. They could be helpful to our listeners would that be? I think one thing I've learned not only through operating a business, but also through my education, reading, listening, podcast, and stuff is having systems in place.
The best example I can talk about is if you're gonna run across the United States and you decide I'm gonna do 10, and you may have heard this scenario before this thing. I'm gonna run 10 miles a day. No or what, and I'm gonna get here on this day. And if you do that, you will get to your end goal. But if you wake up one morning and you're not feeling well, it's raining and you're like, well, just wait. The next day, I'll run twenty miles, and then something happens.
Then you start going down that path, you'll never get to the goal. I'm an LSU tiger person. So follow football. I think Nick Sabin, though, I think what makes him so successful is that it's every day you look at that next play. You're not looking at the end game. You're not looking at the win or the national championship.
You're looking at that day, that play, that run, you know, and If you keep focusing on those things, then the end will happen, but you put all the systems in place and then just follow and, where she'll have things that throw you off every time. We have to just figure out how to come back to it. So Right. So I think that's the the biggest thing that I've learned. Yeah. You you've done you can kinda mention a couple things. I wanna dig into one side of it.
Obviously, having systems in process, it's something that we kind of as entrepreneurs throw out a bunch. And and then there's some people may be listening going. I've heard that, but what does that mean? And so you likened it to a football a little bit where it's like, look. We gotta block and tackle. We gotta run the play.
We gotta we got, like, these are the things today that we're doing in a row in the same way with perfection, with his system so that every day we can win, and that's in essence what a system is inside your business. But I guess my question for you would be, If a person listening today has never thought about a system or a process and they're kinda just winging it, let's just be honest, you and I both remember what that feels like. How does that person come out? How does that?
Well, I know that when I talked about it earlier, this system that we use was already built. So, you know, I could also tell everyone, why there is systems for every business you're at, you know, whether you could find it or talk to a mentor. My husband still talks to people in the construction that he worked when he was just a drafts person, and they're always happy. Any Even if it's in the same industry, we should always be helping and building people up. It's one thing I totally agree with.
There's never There's so much work out there if you're competing and pushing against the other people that you're not learning from them. And it's not about competition. I know some companies do. They want the biggest market share. But if we're helping each other and we're learning from it, then not Chaz business or that market will just grow because Right. You know, we're all kind of, you know, working together and helping each other.
I think when you get that mindset too and reach out to other people who are there, learn from them, that will help you build the systems for your particular industry. With the nets Netstar that I stepped into, that's why I mean I could do this is that they have a system. They call it their double digit profit, and it starts with an agenda card. They talk about Chaz. So I've given away their secrets here, but it's it's basically an agenda that shows customer.
This is what I'm gonna go over today, and this is how we're gonna do this call. So the customer is fully aware. And then we offer We don't sell. We never talk about selling. We offer options to the customers. We look what's in their best interest, and then we lay it out for them.
And then they they pick what's best for them, what's best for maybe their finances, what's best for their, you know, if they want something more along the green line as opposed to at some, you know, sell this more of energy efficient, I guess. So Sure. We just let them know all the options and then And then we do the work and always just like girl scout and boy scouts, we Chaz place better than we got there. So, you know, make sure we bring up. Now that's perfect. Not every system's perfect.
And not or every person's perfect. So we do have breakdowns in it, and then you have to monitor that and and hold people accountable I think the hardest part for me is when I get a bad review or we get a bad review or a call from a customer that's you know, upset or disappointed. And I know every single time where it fell, it it was a breakdown in the system. And it's Yep. Without that. So then you just have to train that person or, you know, let them know how to do it better next time.
So that's the biggest part. And the you know, the faster you grow and the bigger you get, it's harder to do this. So you have to put people in place to also manage them. It You know, just layers. So Yeah. 100%. Such a good answer and even follow-up. Just explanation. I just think that you you can tell you've gone through it. Because the answer really is just don't have an ego. Right? Like, reach out. Just ask for help. It's okay. You knew you had a system that you could follow.
And I'm sure even even with that, you still reached out, like, to other owners and to other people in the program, I'm sure. And, hey. What are you guys doing? How's this? How's that. And so I just love the humility of that answer. I think it's true. And we we all have to kinda get it out of our own way to let someone else kinda come in and not, like, give us all the answers, but we just need a little bit, like, would you say earlier experience experience sharing maybe?
Mhmm. So let's flip the coin, though. Let's talk about a bad decision that you made. Something that it just, you know, palmed to the forehead and it just didn't work out well at all. Well, I think when I another thing you learn and then but what happens is just like if you have children, you know, that you can tell them what to do, but they're gonna make their own mistake. And you just hope Chaz, you know, eventually learn.
But when I'm following the shiny thing, and we've done it many a times, told you, we do have several businesses, but there have been so many businesses or parts of a business or something we decide to add. Like, oh, that's a great field. It will be easy. We already have the infrastructure. We just add this on, and it's not because we're trying to build this huge thing. It's just Like, one of them was a heritage waste. It was a waste company. I'm like, well, we have construction. We have this.
So we have all these opportunities and you know, we're paying for waste companies so we could do that. And what it does when you add these things is it takes you away, takes your focus, it takes finances away from what you're doing Wolfe. And Yep. It you know, if you break in too many pieces, it becomes you're fractured. And so some of the things that we've added have in the past, we've gotten rid of, and then knowing when to get rid of it too, that's always a another Good one.
That's hard to know. I think every business we've always said 3 years. We usually try and stick with it 3 years. And then decide if it's something that we wanna continue to pursue. So so yeah. So it's just that's been Find following the shiny thing, not keeping a focus on what you're doing is a big one. With me, it's One of the biggest mistakes I did in this company is I let someone decide on a contract for a uniform company to switch, and we didn't follow the contract correctly.
And so then they came back and sued me for breach of contract, and I had to get an attorney. And then you learn this too with businesses. Okay. It might settling on something might be cheaper, but then your pride gets in and you're like, but I know I did. I'm not doing anything wrong. And so I'm gonna fight the fight. And so what's best for the company and what's best for your ego can sometimes get involved?
I did settle that one and I won, but it cost me as much in attorney fees as it did than what I would have sold or so. Did I win? You know, I don't know. But I've but those are some of the kind of pitfalls you look for. Growing too fast is another one. We've had that happen several times and Chaz not having the right processes in place when you grow fast, then you kinda lose control.
And so those are the three things I think that, you know, I've learned from and hopefully, you know, we'll improve on and do better at Yeah. So much value there. Those three things. Just because you ended with the grow too fast, I'll pick off that one as a as a follow-up here, but I mean, we all talk about growth. We wanna grow fast.
We wanna, you know, have lots of revenue and lots of team members and be able to provide for them and and for ourselves and But as an entrepreneur myself, I've realized that anything worse building for the long term anything that's sustainable, anything that's gonna be around for a 100 years. It doesn't necessarily have to just grow fast.
And I that's not what I'm not interested in Chaz, but you mentioned this growing fast and then there's systems and, like, we kinda misted the mark and So then you have to kinda dial back down and so with that being the backset, here's my question. There's this growth bass. Figure out the rest later. And then there's put everything in place. Be perfect analysis paralysis. Who's name? Right. Where along that scale should the listener buying themselves because it there's value in both.
Mhmm. There is. And so what would you say what would you answer Chaz? That's a good one because, I always think of it kind of weird construction. So building a base, and you just build a very solid base. And things that you could, like you said, grow on things that will hold you up or support you. I would be more of the conservative one Sometimes. And as he knows, I have my husband I'm in business with, and he'll come to me and say, he's gonna do this and go to this amount. And I'm like, woah.
Wait. Let's talk about this. And how are you gonna do that? You know, so we've gone through this for 20 centimeters, but I've have a you know, a partner now and a general manager in this service industry, and they just went to a conference and got really fired up and came back and said, we're gonna grow this over a 100%. So we're gonna go from, you know, 3000000 to 7000000, and I I was like, what? Okay. Let's talk about this. You know?
So they think I'm pulling back I'm just trying to I said main thing is, 1, you have to show me how. And, 2, you have to convince everyone on the team What is in it for them? Because if you're gonna grow to them, they're thinking this is more work, what am I gonna get out of it? So I said paint picture show me a bit and show me, and then I'll support you in, you know, that decision. So whether or not, how do you find that exact perfect part? Place. I don't know.
Yeah. But with us, it's just been kind of going through some of them. The 1st 3 years of business with workers or builders. We were the fastest growing 3rd fastest in Austin and 12 fastest in the nation. And this is 3 years in business. So we're like, wow. This is this is easy. This This is great. We're we're great. Yeah. We're right. And then guess what happens? The economy crash. So we're like, oh, okay. And now we had companies not paying us and You know, it just became Yeah.
I remember the constable coming, and he'd have another lean notice for my husband. He's he my husband said, just put it under the pile because, you know, We're waiting on payment from owners, and then we couldn't pay people soon. But what the other thing that I think I always like to go back to my husband Wolfe never get up when the things get harder is when he digs in more where I might be kind of like, oh my gosh. I'm tired. He just keeps pushing it pushing it.
And it's I've learned a lot of that. A good scenario about that is I remember a Gold Rush story where, you know, someone finally they were digging for gold digging for gold. They finally, they just gave up. And someone else bought the lease and within 2 Chaz, they would have struck holes. So it's like that. Never give up. And he'll find the most imaginative ways to get through things.
So it's I think that's the difference between people who really make it in business and who don't is the ones who they scratch and claw and they find another way and they're creative. And, you know, when the economy went down, we had bankers that would give us money when things happen, the economy crashed. The banks Nope. Didn't wanna deal with us. And, like, when things are good, they'll give you money. And then when they're not, they don't want you.
And so Yeah. We just kept going bank to bank, and we found someone who believed in us. He was actually someone that started in a grocery store. Wow. And he he took us on, and now we have several. So we don't give blood. Sure. If one's portfolio is too full or they don't wanna you know, then we another one will always take us. So having relationships with bankers are very important in those times. Hey. Chaz Wolfe here.
As many of you know, I have been on an absolute mission to help entrepreneurs from all across the country in many different industries, level up their game and grow their business, and intentionally connect with other entrepreneurs. We do Chaz, 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 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, want you to go to gathering the king's dot com.
Fill out a short application, and, it'll come to an application, call with me, and I wanna chat with you to see if it might be a good fit. Talk soon. You know, the the description of your husband and being persistent, really. You know, it's funny this weekend. I told you I had the Gathering of King's Mastermind at my house. Part of that, we have some smaller business owners, probably similar to the listeners. They haven't hit they haven't hit 7 figures in their business yet.
And the the main vein that I personally gave some value in was just around persistence. And it's because I think people like you and I know because we can look back We can look back on the moments where, you know, you and your husband persisted through the downturn and figured it out and got creative and And when most people gave up, you kinda just kept going and maybe it made sense in some moments. Some sometimes it was blind ambition.
Yeah. But regardless you persisted through, and you can look back now. And so that's that's what they don't have yet. They don't have the the ability to look back yet. And and see how they persisted through something in order to be able to say, look. I've got you know, we're we've got one of our companies who's gonna go from 3 to 7, or at least that's target. And, and they're just mind blowing on how to get to the first 1,000,000. And it's like, what? You just have to persist. Right?
Because 0 to 1 oftentimes is the hardest, and 3 to 7 is a whole lot easier usually. So you you're thinking of these all these tactics and strategies in the systems and stuff. But a lot of times, it's like, okay. You you can't persist through the wrong thing. You can't be doing the wrong thing over and over and over and over and over. Right.
But the attitude of never giving up, never quitting clawing for success like you gave the picture to us is oftentimes, like you said, kinda like that it factor Chaz all the people that have, quote, unquote, made it, can can say it's not like really the date where anything special. They just look back and they have this history like you just described. We kinda just push through it. Yeah. You wanna add me one last comment to that?
Yeah. Well, when you get back, I always like to talk at stories things that inspire me, but the story with Thomas Edison, he failed more times than he prevailed. And that's part of the business that's you're learning every day from something you did. And if you just don't make the same mistake twice, you know, try and keep going in that day, you will persist. But That's right. That's right. Okay. So I wanna switch over to our our speed round here, Robin.
I got a couple different type of angle questions coming at you. I'm gonna switch over to KPIs and and got a lot of different businesses in different industries, so I'm I I love this when I get someone like you that's in different industries because I'm not looking for an industry specific I'm looking for when you think of all of your business.
What is the most important KPI or rather if you could only pick one to track forever and ever, which one the service business, it's definitely I'm a marketing person. So and it has it's it's not a common KPI. Like, most people say, you know, but it's 1. It's it's retention and current customer base and Yeah. Them referring us out. So I know a lot of people wanna get in the digital, and they wanna pull all these new customers in. And it's Right.
To me, it's more about the repeat customer, the same customer. And right now, we've been saying it, like, 80%. So when I feel I lose a customer, I'm I'm losing a part of that. That's what I strive for the most. So I keep that love keeping our roles at 80% or our current customer base. And then we build from there. That makes me most proud of the company. Yeah. I think The other biggest one is retention of employees because it's, you know, getting the right employee and keeping them his.
So there are 2 different than conversion rate or, you know, profit margin or, you know, stuff like that. But I know with those 2 things because that's when you're successful. So it's They'll keep the other things will fall in place if you keep people happy. The people work for you and the people that you're working for. So Yeah. I understand that you you kinda summarized it there for me. I was gonna do it for you, but that one KPI is people. Right?
And then, of course, Well, what does that really mean? You gave a great description of how to break that down because you're right. The front end, the client, the back end, your your customer, your your team members, if if we can do a good job of retention, which is such a, like, a corporate word, but, really, it's relationship. Right? Exactly. How do I hold and facilitate the relationship? How do I add value over and over and over again?
And to your point, I mean, 80% is an extremely high retention number, but it's a whole lot easier to get a person who's already done business with you. To do business with you again and to go find somebody new, and it's also a whole lot easier to take somebody who already believes in trust in the mission on your team, to another level. So I think that you hit it nail on the head here, but my follow-up question to you is, how did you know Chaz? Or How did you come to know that?
Maybe is the better question. Well, I like I said, I have a marketing background, so a lot of it comes from that. But why did I take Mark, you know, go into marketing? It's something I love. Always a flight attendant. You know, they ask me, why do you wanna be a flight attendant? It's people. It's the people that I love, and it's always wanting everyone to to achieve what they wanna achieve.
My husband and I do a lot of mentoring, or we did in the past, you know, things right now with COVID Chaz kind of backed off, but we still are here for people, and we try and help them Whether it's with our business or another business, we have young kids that will come to us and wanna start a business, and we'll we'll help them, you know, that way as well.
So it's it's just probably more what is important to my husband and I is the people, and we saw that When we work with the people, everyone we work with, that's when we enjoy our work. So then work's not work. It's just part of what you do and can you know, day in and day out, you come to the office and you see the people that you enjoy being around. You can, you know, work with people that, you know, you build relationships with. We're very much into networking.
Both of us we've been in BNI Business Networking International for over 14 years. So we we love that aspect of it. Just meeting people and building relationships. So it just is what maybe becomes natural, but then once you do it, you know, that that's also the us that we have. It's because of that. 100%. K. Next question is what book would you recommend, Robin, for a listener today, want to grow their business? Oh, wow.
I really can't tell when because what I do is I I listen now audible because I drive so far, but reading books and listening It's one of my favorite things to do about leadership, about business. And every bit of it, you take 1, you take something from each one. And so I can't just point to one because you'll read the beginning and you get all this insight and then you read another one and you just start putting it all together. So That's right. Yep. I just I really fit in point to one.
It's a the accumulation of all of them, my breath. Be hungry. Go after it is what you're saying. Yeah. Yeah. You can always, I think, oh my gosh, the most disappointing thing to me is when I hear someone, especially young, and they think they know everything. They have nothing more to learn. And every day. And I'm not just talking about business, but in life, every single day is an opportunity to learn.
And, you know, seeking those little nuggets every day is It's just fulfilling for me and Chaz, you know, so it disappoints me when I hear someone that thinks they got it all because it's like, oh my gosh. You have so much more you could learn from. So Yep. Exactly. Yeah. Patrick Lentione talks about in his book, the ideal team player, hungry, humble, and smart.
Those are the 3 attributes that they hire off of, but, obviously, you know, being those things as an entrepreneur, hungry and humble are are interesting duos, but smart as is a complimentary. Hey. I I I do have some things here. I am intelligent, but, man, Chaz humility and hunger, keep it Keep attained is what it really is.
And even as you continue to press in, like, you're suggesting that the listener does Chaz you learn more and listen to more and more books or podcasts or events or whenever your your spark goes up. You become you become better, but you still gotta hold on to that hungry and and the humble piece. Otherwise, otherwise, it doesn't normally work out. Yeah. I just wanna say conferences. I love I could be a conference junkie because every time I go into them, it it gets you you know, that motive.
I sold real estate for a while too, and I used to love those conferences. It gets you so hungry and you come back and you have so many ideas, but you have to keep keep that going because that I don't know. There's kinda like a kinda like a honeymoon stage with a, conference and, you know, so Here, the conferences you learn so much. You get so much energy from them. I highly recommend them. You know, I've been to it doesn't matter.
If it's real estate, I've been to concrete conference that I love to involve Vegas, an extra conferences. I get so much out of those, so they're a lot of fun too. It's good to stop. This is actually parleys right in my next question. But before I ask question. I'm gonna give you up, or I wanna I wanna keep your converse your your incentive going there. The the exactly why and Gathering the King's mastermind, it's not just an event. Right?
There's an event followed by a monthly roundtable and some weekly connection stuff and relationship building stuff. And then and then another event, there's all this this trail of relationship building. So that way, what you're talking about is that you get you get both benefits of being able to get the high and the hunger, but then also then the discipleship of of walking through some of those things you gotta really excited about Mhmm.
And actually going and implementing them So not necessarily just that I'm the only one that offers that. My question to you then is you obviously do BNI networking What do you say you thought you already told us what you're thinking about that? What do you what do you think about masterminds or conferences? Like, tell us a little bit more. You kinda give us a little bit. That was my next question, but Yeah. I don't know. History.
We'll just I think if I had the time to do more, I mean, there's so many that I would look into, but I told you, so I'd love conferences. I think they give you a lot of value and networking. I'm trying to think of, you know, kind of your question. And more than that, it's If I could do more of it, I would. There's, like, women in business here. There's Yep. So many different organizations I would like to do, and maybe I will at some point.
You know, right now I'm working more in the business and on the business than I would like. I hope to build that to where you know, I could be more in that realm. I figured he also opened you up to, again, more mentoring, being around people that have also been in your shoes. So you can I it's so fun when we go to dinner with someone that has another business and we start talking about the pitfalls? And it's always like, well, let me tell you because I've been there or this is what happen to me.
And it's funny how those are the sometimes the hard times in your business, but when you talk to someone else who's been through it, it becomes actually some of the highlights because of where you are now and what you learn from it and that you got through it. And Yeah. So So it's so, yeah, I just like connecting to with people that have also, you know, going through the same things. We are. We're a regular basis. Yeah. A 100%.
It's it's You know, it's, one one of my one of the the guys Chaz I've recently met here in my group. He said, you know, I've been so hungry for community. I guess I didn't realize it because that's an entrepreneur. We kinda silo ourselves. Right? Like, we, you know, talk to your house or your your spouse, usually, unless you're in this in the business with your spouse. But even that is, like, then you take kinda taking it home a little bit. Can't talk to your team.
I hope who do who do I talk about these pitfalls? Right? Mhmm. And getting around other entrepreneurs is sometimes difficult because we're always so busy in doing our own thing. We silo ourselves. And so I mean, he's just describing how, you know, really, it's it's friendship, it's community, it's accountability, it's encouragement.
Like you said earlier, you know, it's like all these things wrapped up into, man, I just I just need some people to be around and and and goes back to relationships, which is exactly what you talked about earlier. So yeah. I think that's when we focus on the relationship, And not only do we keep do we give value to our clients and to our team members, we can also get it on Chaz. I think of another as a in this position Another analogy someone gave at, you know, one of our conferences.
And they say when you're the owner or the, you know, the CEO or something, you're like a Swan on the top of the water and you're pedaling so fast underneath, but you want everyone to kinda see you in the calmness as a fly shot same thing. If you heard someone to play in the bump Chaz kinda made people nervous. You maintained your calm and then, you know, because you wanna keep everyone else You wanna be the one that's worrying about things, not have everyone else worry about it.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It makes for a difficult time, but also that's what we're made for. Right? Like, this is literally power designed as entrepreneurs, and it's why it's why we have this this obsession with solving problems and building businesses and people. So Robin, I have one last question here for you. If you could talk or whisper in the ear to the younger Robin, what would you say? I think I would say, you know what?
You're gonna have a really wonderful life and then just take the ride and enjoy every minute of it. So because I, you know, I have every day Chaz been great. We have problems in life. We all do, but the end of the day when you take it all in summation. Yeah. There's just been so many good things. So don't worry about the little things. Enjoy enjoy the moments. So Did you find yourself along the way being anxious and worried about the detail or even the future? Is that why you're Doctor.
Do you remember yourself that way? I always have a plan a, plan b, plan c. My husband just he waits till things kinda, you know, maybe fall apart, and then we'll fix it So so it's maybe that staying in kind of in the middle there, you know, and I know the biggest thing with Being an entrepreneur with your husband is we both have different ideas on so many areas. So we've decided We just play in our own sandbox. We have expectations. This part you do. This part I'll do.
And we can offer each other advice and suggestions, but we don't we let that person make those decisions. So That's good. I'll say yes? Good. And it kinda got off your question, but anyway. No. No. It That's a great value. We could spend a whole podcast on how you and him have made these lanes and all of that. It's just so so good. I think that every every business owner, whether the spouse is in the business or not Chaz to figure out what that looks like. What what are the lanes?
How do we respect each other? What's your autonomy? What's mine? How do we challenge each other that, but not really. You know, there's all of those things that we can do. In fact, I'm I'm I'm so, like, it is this conundrum of marriage and parents and entrepreneurship and all these things that really, like, are glued together a whole lot closer than we realized.
It's it's becoming an obsession of mine and building my children and really trying to focus in on my family, but yet, build my business as bigger than they've ever been. And and so I've got a couple of ideas, one of which next year, we're gonna pull up a family mastermind where Okay. Go on a trip and hush-uh husband's wife have a have a marriage session talk around the business. We've got business talk. Of course, like, a mastermind.
And then we've got parenting stuff going on and then time for your family time for your family with other high performing families to do cool adventurous things. I just creating a space for that has been has been something I've been thinking about, but it ties in, exempt everything with what you were just saying. So it takes that entrepreneurs are thinking about these things and and it matters. It's the relationships that are closest to us. Let's just be honest.
Yeah. And all of my kids have started there. My son was 14. He started a company called AirSoft able airsoft because you wanna airsoft all this stuff and, you know, I said, well, you gotta figure out how to pay for it. So he started DBA and started selling it. And the only problem was at 14, I had to be the 1 shipping thing. So that kind of fell to that. And then my daughter's starting her horse horse boarding business. So they've all, you know, done it too.
And I think it's great with your kids. I mean, even eliminate Stan, you know, just teaching them Given them a little taste of entrepreneurship because some will be and some will be. Some people don't wanna do more than their 40 hours, and that's fine. So That's that's great. I've got a nine year old who I've I've been playing with my nine and my six year old, but we've been playing the cash flow game Yes. Recently, and we go to Costco this past weekend. And my nine year old was like, hey, daddy.
We're on our way to get a bunch of liabilities. Yes, honey. Yes. Yes. We are. And thank goodness we've got a bunch of assets to pay for those liabilities. So Robin, you've been sensational you so much for your time here today. How can the listener find you? They wanna connect. Maybe they're in your area and they wanna do business with you. They just wanna pick your brain as an entrepreneur, maybe as a woman in business or spouse in business? How can they find you? How can they connect?
I guess my email is the best way, but they can it's always hard to spell it out. So Robin at and it's the number one sthcs.com, which is 1st home of commercial services. They're, you know, I and then other than that, yeah, I mean, I have several emails, but that's the one that's the easiest to roll off my tongue. Yes. So No. That's fine. And we'll put it in the show notes too.
So that way, if they they didn't quite hear right, they can get it right in the show notes and just click on and send you an email. But, again, blessings on you and your your family and your businesses, your teams, Thank you just so much for being here and spending time with us. We just so appreciate it. Thank you for being here. That is great. 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 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 in multiple different industries and now interviewing over 2 or 300 other very successful 789 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 other very successful business owners. I want you to go to gatheringthekings.com. 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.