On today's episode of gathering the Kings. A lot of people shy away from the clients that you work with. In essence, they're difficult. Let's just be honest. A lot of guys wing it in residential construction. We're trying to provide the opposite to our clients. I have had a divorce during a project. It was an affair, so nothing I did. Yeah. We were at the dining room table talking about where to put toilet paper holders.
The tennis instructor got brought up and things got hacked it unraveled quickly. I found myself out of there as fast as I could. What's up, everybody? Chaz Wolfe, gathering the Kings podcast, coming back to you here today with another king on the stage, Chandler, South my brother. How we doing? Good. How are you, man? I'm doing wonderful. Here we are. We're cranking through some awesome businesses here to talk about. Your specifically, though, tell us what you do.
So we're a custom home builder in the Fort Collins, Northern Colorado area. All of our projects have some element of, you know, either a client that's passionate about design, but that sort of allows us to do you know, some complex projects, lots of details. You know, we do big stuff, little stuff, everything in between. We don't have any sort of minimums. There's no ego in that for us, but we really have a white glove approach to building. We're not the guys in flannels. Barking at people.
So really focusing on the customer experience. Yeah. I love that. I love how you actually without with actually in the same sentence of saying that you're not niched, that you're absolutely niched. And it's that fact that you love that creative, designs focused, architectural even focused, you know, white glove. Like, hey. I wanna make something cool, creative, and unique, it sounds like, more than anything. Right? Absolutely.
Yeah. You know, I think we are we're building prototypes one after another and that, you know, creates its challenges, but also You know, I'm never bored. We're always figuring out something else to build. So Yeah. You know, it's interesting because in the remodeling and construction, new homes, like, just that general category of construction, I think a lot of people shy away from the clients that you work with. And in essence, they're difficult. Let's just be honest.
Like, they like it's highly detailed. Like you said, it's something brand new. It's creative. They're They're asking you to create something out of nothing, but they can see it in their mind so perfectly, and it needs to be perfect. And most companies that I know of, Just try to go, you know what? That sounds like a difficult client. But you've impressed that. Tell me why. Maybe I'm a necessity. I don't know.
Yeah, for some reason, you know, a lot of folks talk about engineers being really difficult. That's almost a sub niche of what we do. So I think, you know, we've created a process for this big hairy monster Chaz sort of makes it achievable for folks, you know, by sequentially going through it a specific way so that you know, we're controlling as many variables as we can because there's there's tons out there.
And if you control what you can control, You know, then when the curve balls get thrown at you, it's not that big of a deal. If you sort of wing it and a lot of guys wing it in the residential construction, arena. That's when you hear at a dinner party that we just got done building a house, and it was a nightmare, and I wanted to get divorced. You know? So Yeah. We're we're trying to provide the opposite to our clients. So You're building unique beautiful structures and keeping people married.
Yes. And, you know, we're we're we're hoping to have it be fun. I mean, I have had I have had a divorce during a project. It was one of the more awkward I bet. It was it was an affair, so nothing I did. No detail that that you missed. Yeah. We were at the dining room table talking about where to put toilet paper holders and the tennis instructor got brought up and things got hectic. And I'd unravel I melted and found myself out of there as fast as I could.
Woah. Woah. Yeah. You know, the stories of, you know, going into people's homes Again, whether it's for construction purposes, I have a remodeling company, or it's you know, I used to have I used to live next to a firefighter, and the stories that he would tell me, Like, when you go into people's space Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's tough. Yeah. Yeah. We we get to know our clients better than I I mean, I could tell story, pawn story, but that's that's one of the more fulfilling sides of it.
I mean, I think you really have to have a purse, you know, a people personality to be in this business, but, you know, we get to know clients way way better than you could ever imagine, you know, on the residential side, commercial's a little bit more black and white, fine, night, make and model. Residential is much more emotional. And, you know, some part of this job is reading people and Boy, they're in a bad mood. Like, do we don't wanna talk about this today? You know?
And that's that's been a thing that I've focused on with all of our employees is you know, really understanding where the client is that day. You know, one of the one of the worst clients I had was a day trader, and it was one day happy, happy, happy, next day. The offer save money. You know, it's it's like, where am I walking into? Be one way or the other, please. You know? So Yeah. They weren't sure how I mean, one day, they were paying off the house before it was even built.
The next day, they didn't know how they were gonna pay you. Yep. Yeah. I built the house for him, and he sold it a a few months later and made a huge profit. So I ended up on on the on the good side of the column with him, but Yeah. It's interesting that you kinda bring up, you know, like, the more, maybe, heart posture, purpose drivenness of your business. It's always my first question is is what's the why.
And I think you've given it to us Chaz far as, like, you know, you'd be able to work with people. You get to know your clients. Talk at about why that's important to you individually. Like, what's what's been your story of why that's important to you and why not just go be more black and white in the commercial space. You've you've stayed here.
You've you've you've actually carved out your own niche around working with highly creative and unique structures There's a whole lot of emotion that goes into that, and there's a bunch of purpose. What what is that for you personally? Sure. You know, I think I I have a passion for design. You know, that not a whole lot of builders have that passion for design.
I, you know, designed a few homes that I built, and I quickly realized I was not good at that is, you know, people that are are trained at doing Chaz, but I I really enjoy the creativity and you know, the the varying types of things that we get to do. And through that process, I get to you know, come up with a few little ideas. I might not be the driver of what we're doing, but I have, you know, the ability to to make it a little bit better or you know, throwing idea out there.
Yeah. But I think what's kept me in it so long is, you know, really the the thing that sounds a little bit counterintuitive, you know, we're we're building fun stuff, and and you have to have the construction. So I dialed in Chaz in itself, you know, the building is just getting harder with all the, you know, detailed specific items, technology, etcetera, etcetera.
But, you know, it's the clients, I'm in the fortunate position to meet really dynamic folks Chaz I would never have the opportunity to meet. You know? And You know, when we handle our business professionally, you know, they're usually successful folks, right, and they tune to appreciate folks that have their poop in a group, you know, and and and know how to do, their business.
Through that, you know, I've I've made a lot of great relationship with amazing people that I would never be friends with, and a lot of them turn into, you know, friends long term. And that's That's really fun. Beyond that, you know, having employees, you know, I think that's a a huge benefit for anybody that's an employer, you know, providing for them and their families and giving them the opportunity to work with great people as well and giving them the resources that they need.
And and, you know, we're a small, you know, in the grand scheme of things, a small company. And we have a family vibe, and we sit around and chat and have fun and tell jokes. And that really makes you know, you you work so much. At least I do may as well do that with people you enjoy. Right? Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting, about the employee perspective because the first sentence that you said there was It's a really great benefit for employers to have employees.
And then you pause, and I'm like, oh, man. Like, I know where you were going because I'm an employer. And I we have the same heart here. But some people hear Chaz, and they're like, oh my gosh. I I knew. I knew he was a greedy guy, you know. But then you followed it with the absolute heart of what it actually means to be an employer. It has nothing to do with, you know, the benefit, like, the actual benefit to us. Yes. There's benefit.
That's why we're Chaz, I mean, That's just the practicality of building a home or a business. Like, there's leverage points. What you brought out was, no. I get to provide for them, for their family. I get to give them opportunity. We get to be a family. Like, all of those things can feel cliche if they're not, like, landed in the right way. So I just wanna appreciate you for landing that in the just the absolute right way. I hope that your employees get to hear this.
But for the guys that are listening right now that have businesses, like, that's that's that's the choose when it comes to having a team, It's it's the reality as kings that we kinda put the leverage or the weight of that on our shoulders. We're like, hey. You know what? I got 25 families to feed. Like, they're counting on me. Now, of course, we're working together on doing this thing, but it's right here, and it's kinda heavy, but it's kinda like we like it. You know what I mean? Absolutely.
Yeah. Wouldn't have it any other way. Yeah. Yeah. There's there's there's fulfillment in that for us to be able to carry that weight, you know, even though sometimes it gets a little heavy. Comes of Burton. Yeah. That's right. That's right. Okay. Well, so let's let's talk about the practicality in the business. You've been doing it for a long time. So, like, just go back for a little while. Tell me what you did before this business.
And then we'll talk about kind of, like, the earliest for a second. I did a startup in, pet products. If you can believe it with actually a college professor, and he bought a business and and brought me in to run it. Did that for a little while. Wasn't quite my passion. And then got into commercial real estate Chaz was very intriguing. Was being mentored there, by a gentleman that was going on a trip for a bicycle race and took a small private plane. And, unfortunately, that plane crashed.
So the mentor sort of went away, and I was, you know, commercial real estate's a little bit of a Big Boyerich Club, and I was, you know, 22 at the time. So, you know, through that process, I had, you know, sold a few lots to some Builders and outside looking in, you know, it it looked like, a fun way to easy fun way to make some money and, boy, how was I wrong?
But, you know, from there, you know, I I was landscaping during the day, stocking shelves at Home Depot during the night, you know, and then I was back in the Wolfe west financing days. And I Didn't know anything about anything and decided to spec a house and and, you know, figure out how to build build houses and, you know, basically everything that I've learned has been a scar of doing it the wrong way, but now I'm very particular about how we do it so I don't screw it up and Yeah.
Every screwup has, like, an address and an example that I truly remember. And those those stick to the the best with you, I think. Versus somebody telling you how to do something. So Yeah. I had a guy on my podcast, maybe a year, a little maybe a little year ago over a year. Excuse me.
And he's in the commercial construction space, but he gave a similar example where he came to my house for one of my events and I get to get some some time with him and He gave an example of how he, you know, he remembered a situation where he spoke out of turn, made a mistake, and it was just burned into his mind. Right? And so that then has fueled all of the, like, you know, reflection after pro projects and making sure we get details, everything that you just said.
And so my my question to you in that is What is it that you can leave the person here? Cause you've got them burned in your memory. As far as, like you said, that's an address, like, oops, like, uh-uh, you learn that particular lesson. I know you're gonna to give us every single lesson. But what's the Sure. Broader principle that you've been able to take away from burning those mistakes in your mind? That you can leave with the listener right now.
Yeah. I mean, for my business, I don't know that it'll apply for everybody's business, but, you know, the So the overarching, fundamental without getting into specifics is You know, if we if we follow the same process and the same system every time and something doesn't go to plan, then I sort of have a few, you know, key things to look at, and that is, okay, did we add a new variable to that process, right, do we do we waiver from that and we need to not do that in the future?
Yep. And if there isn't any variable that through things out of whack, than, you know, I'm looking at people. And was there, you know, someone that didn't perform, or, you know, was it not done the right way? And and if it's not either of those, I mean, those are those are pretty simple things to to dig into. You know, then, occasionally, there's just some stuff that happens that, you know, no fault of anybody. It's it's a shitty situation. It just happened. You know?
So, you know, that almost puts you to ease versus putting blame on people. You know, you have a sort of a systematic approach to Yeah. Look at the way you're pulling things together. Yeah. It's a it's a data approach, and I appreciate that. I think for the for the guy listening right now or the gal, who is, you know, like, winging it, like you mentioned maybe 5 or 10 minutes ago. And there is no system. Right?
And and so you're talking to the value of once you have a system, then you can go back afterwards and go what variable, whether it was systematic or or person related. Sure. And and I just wanna point out for listener. You're talking systems as if, like, you build the same house the same way every single time, and we already know that not to be true. In fact, It's not just not true. It's like the so far of the opposite.
You've got every single project is basically it's brand new thing, and it's not even just a brand new project. It's a brand new very creative, very detailed something out of the box, beautiful project, and it's like starting the system all over again, but somehow in there, You've still created a system. Tell us more. Yeah. There, you know, I think the fundamentals can apply to to anything. So, You know, last year, we built, you know, we built a bridge for a project.
Didn't know the first thing about a bridge. Right? Same time, we we built a pole vault gym in a house. Likewise, there I know a lot about bridges and a lot about pole vault gyms, you know, I think one of the things that's been, you know, very beneficial through the years, and I look for it and and people that we have on our team here is is a curious mind, and I think there's a lot of wealth and a curious mind.
And, you know, if if you ask questions and figure out how things work and and, you know, draw from the people that are are knowledgeable about this, you know, for the pole vault gym, it was I leaned on the client, to be quite honest. For the bridge, I I talked to engineers, manufacturers, you know, did research, read some things. But, you know, I'm I'm of the thinking that if, you know, somebody's doing it, you can do it.
It's just figuring out, you know, and and quite frankly, some of the some of the success to that is, you know, what's gonna screw me here? Yeah. Asking yourself that question, you know, is really important and and thinking about the the steps and what needs to happen, you know, really is helpful. So Yeah. Chandler has given you guys I'm talking to listener now. Just really, really great tactical information to be able to sit down and look at a situation to be able to make decisions.
And so here we have this highly detailed highly successful entrepreneur, specifically in the construction space, who just gave us 2 examples of things that he did for the very first time after he had already sold the project. So Sure. You might look at that as like, oh, that that's something that I calculated detail oriented systems process person wouldn't do because it seems a little off the cuff or a little out of the, you know, out of the out of the the spectrum.
But Chandler did such an amazing job here of connecting the dots of I don't know how to do this specific thing, but since I know principles, the principles of research and knowledge and relationships and gathering it all together so that it can be a successful project, that's what led you to have those things work. You didn't just wing it. Sure. At all. Even though Yep. At the beginning, it was like, okay. I have not experienced this yet before.
Yep. Yeah. I think I think personally having humility and telling folks that you haven't done it is so much better than you know, oh, yeah. I can do it. You know, hey. I'd no. I've never built a bridge. I'm confident me and my team can figure out how to build a bridge. You know, and and a lot of it's my team. It's it's not just me. You know, I employ amazing folks that are super intelligent and smart. And, you know, I couldn't do it by myself.
But having and I and I think that resonates with folks when you look from in the eye and say, hey. You know, I I don't know the answer to Yeah. But I'll look into it, and I'll let you know what I've found out. You know, I think that, you know, when you when you share that, I think it builds more confidence than trying to convince him otherwise. So Yeah. Yeah. I think that you're right.
And, going back to the example that I just gave a few minutes ago of the very large, commercial construction guy that was on the show as Wolfe. In that example, that that very example that I mentioned, he said, if I had just said, hey. I don't know how to do Chaz. Either would you share it with your me, your expertise, or would you give me a little bit of time to gather some details and come back to you? Chaz that would have solved the entire problem.
So it's interesting that how he ends his story, generally, about that, is the same way that you did just now. Of of really just one of curiosity and humility if we can wrap up the whole thing. Right? Absolutely. Alright. Well, let me be curious on you because, since you've given me permission now, what was what was a a bad decision that you've made? You've kinda given us a couple good ones.
I might try to dig on that a little bit, but as far as a bad decision, something that just didn't work out at all, and you can save us some time and effort and energy, maybe some money. Sure. You know, I think, it's not really a a a decision, but maybe a call culmination of So early in my career, you know, I think I was maybe 26 at the time, a few years in business, you know, real estate was booming. I didn't know any better.
You know, I I I bought 7 lots and built a a spec that was a show home, had another spec house on the books. And at that time, it's when the financial crash happened. And, you know, the my bank went out of business. When they did that FDIC came in, we had a couple loans with them. They seized all of our accounts. Took all the money and paid down principal on the loan.
You know, and I think that was probably the overarching thing there is, you know, when you're When you're new in business, it it's it's a double edged sword because you don't know what you don't know, and that can, you know, some part of that has to be there, else you frankly wouldn't go into business. You know? Yeah. Be a little naive. If you really know how bad it is, would you would you do it?
You know, but, you know, that was a a good example of, you know, jumping in a little bit too confident in thinking that, you know, things won't change and and everything's gonna keep going on. You know, that's a that's an outlier.
That's not a everyday event, but, you know, that could be around the corner coming up, you know, and that's made me much more pruning moving forward, you know, there's there's different trains of opinion, but, you know, when that when all that happened, you know, I I for the next 8 years, I took every project that I could. You know, I I sold the house, on Craigslist by offering to build it at cost.
You know, I I remember being up against it and needing to sell a lot and, you know, I the the gentleman was negotiating with me and said, hey. This other builder said they'll buy my current home. Well, Frankly, I didn't have the money to buy this guy's home, but it gave me, you know, 8 months to build his house. And and at the end of it, I had about 3 weeks left. And heaven forbid, somebody came out and said, hey.
Yeah. You know, I I like this house, but you need to put a basement in I put a basement in it, finished the basement for for free for 8 years. I did nothing, but dig myself out of that Wolfe. And I think that's probably one of the things that I'm most proud of that no one could take away from me. You know, I I watched other guys go bankrupt and Oh, yeah.
Further along now, but I think there's something to be said about, you know, who you are as a person and whether you, you know, do right by people on meet your commitments. Hey, Kings and Queens. Chaz Wolf. I wanna talk to you about something that's super important to me. We put a lot of time and effort. We, meaning myself and my team, into this podcast into the content that goes out every single day.
And if you have been getting any sort of value or insight from this, we want it to be able to reach other business owners too. So we would love if you would like, comment, share, leave a review, post, share again, all of the things. On social media, on all the different platforms, or even on the podcast mediums of Apple and Spotify. We would love to be able to get our content into more hands, more entrepreneurs so they can grow their business as quick as possible.
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. Yeah. Like you said earlier, you do what you said that you're gonna do. It's a huge value piece Chaz a lot of people, you know, slip service, but in the rubber of its road, You used, the word prudent around the future.
I wanna circle back to that here in a second, but I don't wanna move too fast because, like you just said, you dug yourself out. Of a ginormous hole and for 8 years. That was not a, you know, I'm just gonna put my head down and, you know, really overcome this little this little blip, this little this little speed bump that's got me kinda off hilter, kilter here. This was, like, a a major life decision for you to see all the way through to the end.
I mean, we talk about some of the principles in Thinking Grinch often on the show. It's one of my favorite books, and persistence is a whole chapter in that book. And everything that you just said to me is, like, persistence. Like, you just did it over and over and over until it was different. Tell us about some of those moments in those 8 years. I mean, because I know it was difficult.
I know that you had to keep choosing it, but give us some of, like, the real life moments or maybe even emotions of going I don't know if I wanna do this anymore, but you did it anyway. Yeah. Certainly challenging times. You know, I was I was done at all. I was out in the field, coming home, you know, doing the accounting and, you know, doing sales when I could. You know, it was it was Certainly a challenge, and there were some tough moments there.
Like, you know, I was I was newly married at the time and Wow. It didn't go on a vacation for 8 years. You know? But it it sort of was what it was, but I think, you know, more than anything when you go through something like that, it makes you appreciate when you work yourself out of it so much more in having gone through it, I think, you know, makes you, a stronger human being.
You know, adversities never Fun for anybody, but I do think it has a ton of value just knowing if you find yourself in a you know, in another difficult situation, it's this, you know, comparison mindset of, well, you know, my my idea of bad is way different than other people's idea of bad. You know? And I I almost feel bad for folks that haven't had to go through something. You know? Right? They're getting a fender bender in it. Sky's falling.
Yeah. Yeah. You know, and and I looked for that and the folks that we work with, I, you know, I don't want the the married childhood. I I like people that have that grit and have had to overcome some things because that's Yeah. I think what builds a lot of character. Yeah. For the for the owner, listening right now, like you're saying Chaz maybe hasn't had that opportunity yet to really press in for 8 years or However, long. I mean, I could use my example. My first business was a franchise.
I had 7 locations. 3 state 65 employees didn't paint myself a dime for 7 years. Just grinding away, grinding away. Same situation. Young, young, marriage, even the young, young children, What would you say to the person that hasn't experienced that? Why should they? Why do they why should they earn that badge, if you will? Cause it's not about the hustle culture and, like, oh, look at me. I, like, outgrinded you, it's it's something that they can hold on to. But why is it important for them?
Sure. I think You know, it sort of goes back to that example that it had before, but, you know, I think once you go through something that's, you know, challenging to that extent. It builds confidence. You know, the the next hurdle that comes up is is nothing because, you know, you can get over it. I just think it's It's so valuable to have, you know, some adversity. And that's that's like, a tough thing in today's day and age with, like, you know, your kids. Right?
Like, everybody wants to give a better life to their kids. Well, you know, how do you create that adversity if it's not there, right, and and make them tough even though that's just quite frankly, not there. Right? And I do think it's important and, you know, for you, for employees, for children, and sometimes creating that adversity is a good thing as well. Yeah. What if they're in the midst of it right now? And and they're hearing you say that, okay.
Like, I I can hold on to it later, but, like, it really sucks right now. Like, they're listening right now. Maybe I'll miss this, like, a last hope. Like, I'm gonna listen to this one podcast with this guy named Chandler. No. I don't. Why why would they press in? Like, what what is like, why not just give up quit and go work for somebody? I I think that's something that will stick with you and haunt you more than anything, you know, in your lives.
I think you know, the the regrets of what you didn't do are the things that you'll think about, you know, long down the road when you're on your deathbed. You know, what did I not do? It's never What did I do that people are thinking about? And I think Yeah. I think that's just such a make or breaks decision that, you know, could haunt you for years years years if you don't step up and challenge yourself and prove that you can do it.
Yeah. I think that the mindset that you just kinda laid out is perfect for entrepreneurs because we're very much in the prove it to myself. Sometimes we have to prove it to others, but, really, it's we're playing a game against ourselves every single day. Like, how can I be better today than I was yesterday? And I think that that rings true for the entrepreneur even for the, maybe, more immature ones that are still trying to prove it to other people, they're still in that mix themselves.
And so I'm hearing you say prove it to yourself that you are capable that you can do it, that you didn't set out on the wrong motion to begin with. I wanna go back to this word prudent. It's an interesting word. It doesn't get used very often. I love. This word. I'm in love with this word, actually, because it has, like, you can use it kind of in in lots of different dynamics. It's very dynamic. But you used it towards the future, specifically.
Tell us why you use that word and what you believe is coming in the future or maybe some actions that you're doing right now because of this prudency. For the most part, I don't have a, you know, there's there's no magic globe telling me, you know, what's coming around the corner, but who knows it could happen tomorrow.
I think since that pitfall, you know, I've I've taken the marathon approach, doing it slow and steady, and you know, could be a lot further along if if I was, you know, going on the sprint approach, but I think, you know, taking that taking that long game approach and doing right by people and when a bad situation comes up, you know, Treating it like cancer, solving it, fixing the problem, and moving on.
Even if it's no fault of yours, I think that long game what hedges you against bad things coming in the future. You know, the markets will do what they're gonna do. Yeah. You can save money. Everybody can do that, but I think having that reputation and people knowing that you are, you know, a a a good Good person. Stand by your virtues. I think that has more value and will you know, provide work for you if if you, you know, truly live by that.
Yeah. I if we could just bottle that up, and put a package around it and and give it to people, we wouldn't even I mean, I don't even know if we'd be able to sell it, actually, because it's just not sexy. At all. But if we could Sure. Force, drink that to people Sure.
I think that they would just be so much better off, and it makes me think of just decision making, really, because that's, in essence, what we've been talking about, really, is how how do we make decisions and and the further zoomed out that you get You said marathon, zoom it out to 30000 feet, talk about 10 year or 20 year horizons. You can whatever the language is that you wanna use.
It's all the same as opposed to being here and today or in this specific moment or situation, I'm zooming out to this week, this month, this quarter, this decade. Right? And how do I make decisions today that aren't necessarily like, oh, back and forth about today Chaz opposed to, okay, I'm in I'm in a marathon here, and I 26 miles to run. I can't take off sprinting today, and halfway through, I'm not gonna not get my water or get my little snack.
Like, there's there's there's a strategy through the race. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. The the funny part of that is I've never ran a marathon. You know, I got one pick up. I'm about to get another one. So a little bit of a hypocrite there, but Yeah. You know, I think taking that long long game approach Yeah. And making decisions based on, you know, right and wrong in your corp values, concerted guide, all things, and make decision making a little bit more, you know, easier.
You know, there's always the details and back and forth and, Wolfe, that really wasn't my fault. But, you know, if you fundamentally, hey, the other person doesn't feel that way, and I'm gonna fix it and move on. You know, that makes things pretty pretty easy and, you know, taking full ownership on things is so overlooked. You know? Yeah. I tell every client that we built for, you know, there's probably something that's gonna get screwed up on your project.
And and if somebody else doesn't tell you that, they're probably lying to you. You know? But the difference with us is I'm gonna tell you about it when it happens, and I'm gonna fix it. And I want all the people that work with us to have that same culture, right, versus We better hide this before somebody finds out. Right? Yeah. I mean, I wanna tell them about it before they find out about it. But, you know, if if you take that approach, there's there's too many variables to to sort of manage.
And when something does get screwed up, as long as you fix it, I think most people are are probably, you know, more appreciative of that than than even having it not happen. So Exactly. Well, I think even just having them blindsided by Oh my gosh. Something that went wrong, but if they're anticipating that something will go wrong, then it's not something that's gone wrong. We were actually anticipating this.
Sure. This is really interesting language because this is something that I've implemented into our remodeling company, and and it's this. Almost the exact language that you just did. So I'm gonna give this to the listener because both you and I do this, and we have not talked about this before. So this is super interesting that we both align up on this. And it is. We explain ahead of time. Proper expectations or an agreement is what we call it. We come into an agreement.
And what that means is that here's how it's gonna go. Here's the road map. We're gonna show And along the way, guess what? This or this or this, like, all these bumps or potential mistakes or whatever, that's just the instruction Like, let's just be honest. Can't be perfect where it's it's it's handmade. This Chaz not gonna come out of a machine. And so setting that expectation obviously gives us the benefit of the doubt to be able fix it, but then guess what? You gotta actually do it. You know?
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Expectations is so much of our day to day and what we do. I mean, there's tons of examples that you can use, but, you know, it's if if you talk about the outcome of any park or piece of a home and give the pluses and minuses ahead of time.
It's going to serve you well versus, you know, they they want soft hardwood floors in their house and and a cheaper and you don't tell them, you know, that nuance and the dog goes in and scratches it, you know, that's that's I just paid for the great hardwood floor and it scratched. What the hell chandler versus well, I knew it was soft, but I saved 8 grand, and I don't care about some scratches. And we're all good. Right?
Yep. You know, getting out in front of those and and talking about sort of the outcomes and expectations is huge cross, you know, everything within home building, but I also think it's, you know, I I find myself being that, like, old guy, right, where you know, you're buying a car doing something, and it's like, hey. You know, why didn't we talk about this beforehand that this could be a possibility that it came up? Or, you know. Yep. Yep. You said you'd have my car fixed by end of day.
You didn't say that there was a chance it could be a week out. Right? I think it can help with many people's business, especially when there's a customer element. Oh my gosh. You know? Yeah. This is the end where they were were a customer service business. Yeah. We we build technical things, but we're in customer service.
So Yeah. I can tell you, just from listening, you know, and talking with you here today, Chandler, that A big reason why you're winning, especially in the sector that you are, is because you, yourself, are probably your avatar. You know, you are You have a high expectation on life. You have you're extremely detailed. You have all these, you know, just this is the way that you think. And so it actually lines up really, really well with with who you serve.
But what it also does, because you and I are very similar in this way, is that in every situation that I'm in, where it's just a broken process, I'm just like, It just is like a glaring red. I'm like, oh my gosh. This is there's, like, two steps here that would solve all of this. And I wouldn't be standing here wasting my time because you said my car was only gonna take 2 hours and here I am 4 hours later. Like, this is this is not how this works. Let me help you. Yeah. That's what I wanna do.
I'm I'm such a dorker. I, you know, I went and I I went to business and he had the most refined process. And I, like, went out of my way to find the owner. And I was like, dude, your process is so smooth. I am so because you don't find it day to day. And when you do find this, it's like, oh, that took, like, 5 minutes, and that was easy. That's wonderful. Yep. Who does? You know? Yep. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. It's interesting because, I've had some really I've had some podcast hosts, like, they had their own show on this show. And they go through our process and every single one of them, plus several others. I mean, out of the 450 episodes, probably a good 200. Literally, not even exaggerated. Have said, dude, This whole thing, like, the calls, the reminders, the thing that you sent me in the mail, the I mean, oh my goodness. Like, this was incredible.
I other show hosts are like, dude, I'm stealing. I'm like, good. Here. You want the you made it tell you the company about the thing? You know, I'm like, come on, man. Like, let's let's make systems better. Like, like, who cares about the political that's happening? Just let's just make businesses and systems better so that people can get the things they need to get because just so much easier. You know? I mean, Amazon's highly successful for a reason.
They make things easier, Rick, see if they have an amazing system. Alright. Let me talk about family for a second. You you've kinda you you touched on it a second ago, and I wanna bring it back because as an entrepreneur, you know, this is This is a big deal for most entrepreneurs, but what I have found is that entrepreneurs who are obsessive in nature.
You've already described how you've gone all in on your business and you freaking committed you know, pulling yourself out of that and becoming successful. Sure. But we we struggle sometimes in how to also be or our kids or our health or, you know, all the other things. And so my question to you is, how have you been able to do those things? Maybe not perfectly, but how have you been able to kinda be obsessed in all areas of life and and not just your business.
I think number 1, I have a amazing partner that, you know, is my other half to that. I think if I didn't have that, it would be so much more, you know, challenging and and, you know, she's been with me through the the thick and thin.
You know, I think that's a a huge part, but, you know, I, I, I do work a lot, right, and quite frankly, I do enjoy it, but sort of the commitment that I've made is, you know, and the thing that right or wrong helps me work work mentally through it is, you know, when I am home, it's a 100%.
I'm, you know, I I could be home all the time and have, you know, half of their approach or distracted approach, but when I'm home, it is quality time, and I'm making the most of it in the weekends where, you know, my wife will have the in laws pick up our kids on the weekends. And I'm like, dude, you're stealing my time. Right? My wife needs a break, granted. Like, this is the time that I get to spend with them. Don't take them away from us. You know?
So I think, you know, having that quality time, you know, and then, you know, in essence, I'm I'm time poor. Right? So the things I focus on are experiences with kids and and things that they'll, you know, I'm not buying them shiny toys. We're going on doing fun stuff. Right? I'll save the money on the toys and spend it on the experience because I think that's the toy is gonna get thrown away, you know, a year, but the Chaz experience will stick with them forever.
And I think, you know, the type of things that you do, like adversity, show them do these things. I think those things have added value of memory plus Yeah. Teaching them things. Those are huge. Yeah. We had our first family mastermind. It was a cruise to Bermuda this past summer. We're gonna do Cancun next summer, but you know, the kids. Except for the crew part. Except for yeah.
Well, we're going to land this next time, so maybe you'll join us, but I did have several others Chaz were like, dude, I'll go with you. Next time. You know? But the the the cool part of, you know, the kids hanging together and then the, you know, the entrepreneur and and the spouse working through some marriage stuff because we bring in some marriage experts and pretty intentional about family and marriage and you know, the kids, family vacation, but gets to it with other cool people.
But in that, there's there's the opportunity for the kids to see the parents, like, being intentional and working on the marriage. That's. Yeah. And the the output of Chaz, sometimes you don't realize the value of that even years later, like you're saying. Absolutely. You know, when They won't know she's gonna get some marriage age, but it Exactly. Yeah. Like, she That would be great. She's gonna be thinking about the work that we put in Yep.
Yeah. Super Yeah. I'm in line with the other out there will be willing to do it. You know? Yeah. That's the tough thing is not everybody's you, not everybody's me, but it'll make your your daughter picky and find a good one. That's right. That's right. Well, I appreciate your perspective on that. I think it's super valuable for the listener that it's possible.
And I'm hearing you say that, you know, just as detailed as you are at work or obsessive, that's how you are in all the other areas as Wolfe. And I think that's how what we call it the exceptional life, winning in all areas is is the exceptional life, and you've given us the road map on that. So I just appreciate that. I've got one last question. I wanna know if you had the opportunity kinda real back time. You see the younger Chandler standing there?
You tap him on the shoulder and you whisper in his ear? You know, work wise, I would I would probably tell him to learn from others more. You know, I did everything myself, like a stubborn idiot, and I'd be so much further along if I found a great mentor and work for him for some period of time. You know, inherently, I learned from others. Right? I just did it a little bit harder than going to, you know, someone that could fast track that. I think that's hugely beneficial.
It's something that, you know, I I moving forward, I leverage with having, you know, in business groups and and, you know, in in some builder groups that you know, you can learn so much from others. You know, I think not everything needs to be, you know, your you came up with, I think, you know, borrowing tricks from others is so important. And in today's world, with, you know, podcasts and so much content out there.
Yeah. You know, whenever I have free time mowing or doing whatever, you know, those podcast and soaking up what other people are doing. You know, it can be different industries. Right? You can apply so so many of these things to what you're doing. I think that's a huge thing. It's just soaking those things up. So Yeah. It's good stuff, man. I appreciate your perspective on that.
I have to say I agree, and I hope that the listener has taken it into into, you know, a practical way that they can they can put that in their daily, whether it's this podcast or others or mentors groups, I think you gave several examples there of just being able to be coachable, and I think I would agree with you Chaz if I had to change one major thing, it would have been just to listen to somebody else just a little bit sooner.
Even though when I look back, I'm like, I I feel like I did it pretty early, but years worth of just trying to figure it out on my own. You know, like, thank goodness. We are where we are, but how much faster could it have been? So there's always that grateful, but not done spirit. So I appreciate that. Chandler, how can the listener find you? Number 1, if, first, I don't know if we heard exactly where you're located. So give us exactly where you're located.
That way, if they're looking for a home builder, They can that they can reach out to you because, obviously, you're gonna build them in. Oh, yeah. Four Collins are my bet. But if they're in the Northern Colorado area and if they're looking to build an incredibly unique and creative and beautiful home. Maybe they wanna reach out to you, or maybe they're just an entrepreneur. They wanna pick your brain. How can they find you? Our website, Hammersmithstructures.com. Super easy.
We've got, you know, form on there to reach out and connect with us, you know, also on all the social media handles. That's super easy as well. So yeah. Perfect. We'll put it on the show notes as well. Chandler, you've been just incredible Wolfe of insight and knowledge here today. Thank you for being here. Blessens to your family. All the clients that you're getting to do super cool projects here this year and next. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me.
Thank you for listening to Gathering the Kings today. I hope that you were able pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away. More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself, doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself.
What I have realized, not only in my own journey, from multiple businesses and multiple different industries and now interviewing over 2 or 300 other very successful 7, 8, and 9 figure business owners is that It's tough to do it alone. And so gathering the Kings exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs. In fact, we are putting together 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.