On today's episode of gathering the Kings. Somebody might somehow be an overnight success. But if they have not been through the trials, if they have not been through the failures, if they have not been through the lowest of the lows, If they haven't learned how to struggle through the days when they just don't even wanna get out of bed, if they haven't learned how to deal with the biggest freaking problems they could ever imagine, they're gonna lose all of it.
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. Picture of the journey of success and how you too can get there.
Through this dialogue, you will learn the value of growing your network and surrounding yourself with power players and keys like today's guest. Grab your pen and notebook because we're about to dive in. Alright, everybody. I'm Chaz Wolfe, gathering the Kings this week. I've got Rocky Anderson, the king stage. Welcome, brother. How are you? Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate. I'm doing great. Good, man.
You know, since our first conversation, I've been looking forward to this because you know, there's a lot of guys in business that I just get the, like, stuck up feeling from, but when I chatted with you, man, it was just like, man, that dude was real. Just authentic and straightforward as they What you see is what you get. Yeah, man.
So I'm super looking forward to this conversation, but Please tell us who you are, what industry are you in, what kind of business you have, give us a little quick introduction here. So Rocky Anderson, of course, and my my business is like ABC Wastewater Engineering. We design wastewater treatment systems for projects, like, housing developments, shopping centers, resort, that kind of thing and our specialty use projects that are not connected to public sewer.
So we have to treat and put the somehow get the water back in the ground within the boundaries project. So what we really like to do is is treat to reclaim water standards and then you reuse the water for landscape irrigation and that sort of thing. And and if we can't do that or if the project doesn't make sense, then we treat it to a point where we can put it back into the ground and then indirect clock off of a recharge from there.
Yeah. Yeah. Nice. That that may have gone over, you know, a lot of people's head. And so we're gonna dive into some of this maybe a little bit. Maybe not the x's and o's the actual engineering of it, but but how you've built this business. And I'm just really excited about that piece of it. So before we do that, though, what's that? Sorry. Just the short of it that we joke about is we do poop.
Hey. You you they say you're supposed to be able to say what you do in in, like, this much, and you didn't want There you go. You know, at least at least it's not as a crappy of a situation as a plumber. It's very true. And we don't walk around, and we don't walk around with our ass cracks hanging out. So I forgot to, I'll ask. Is profanity, like, allowed on this or is it better? We're good, man. Okay. So I got a question for you. At this stage, you're crushing it.
And for all intents and purposes, most people who are listening are like, Rocky's gotten to the stage of, like, I can only dream of being where he is. So why do you keep pushing now even after all the success? I'm just committed to I'm literally committed to finding the highest best version of myself that I can possibly find. And each time that I get to a different level and I I don't mean just financially. I mean, physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, everything.
And, of course, that all directly translates to my business. And Understand. You know, every time that I have sort of met my, like, the next level of myself, then I see an entirely another level of myself that's possible. And so I'm not somebody who's ever gonna retire or anything like that. I just that's just not in my DNA.
So I just I I am just really committed to I have I also feel like I have a lot to make up for with some of those circumstances of my own life, and so I just I just plan on pushing until I'm 6 feet under. That's right. The the purpose that you've kinda just identified of, like, reaching for the next level or the best version of myself always. What what gives you the mindset or the insight to understand that when you've gone to the next level, that then there's even another level above it.
Like, what how does how does how does that work for you? How have you figured that out? Well, a lot of it is actually, to be honest, you know, you know, I'm in the RTA syndicate. And a lot of it has been Andy, Andy Priscilla, and Ed Mylet's coaching, and and and just really understanding that even dudes that are at their level, you know, worth almost a $1,000,000,000 a piece, and they are not. They still, you know, they know that they they could still go broke.
They know that they have to keep pushing. They have to keep growing, or, you know, they they could lose it all too. So, you know, and it's not like it's a fear. It's just that they know you're either growing or you're dying. And if those guys are saying that, and they obviously both have built incredible dynasties for themselves. And if they're saying that and they believe it, then who am I to who am I to refute that?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting when you when you talk with guys who have the DNA of success. I mean, that can be defined many ways, but there's there's not usually a lot of self absorbent actions. It's usually delay delay delay. Think about the next version. Think about the next deal.
Think about you know, kids, grandkids, like, the future is just very it doesn't have to be right now where I get the result, but I'm I'm pressing in for the next thing, which is what you just said even about Wolfe. It's like, I'm satisfied with, like, I'm I'm good with where I'm at, but I'm not, like, okay with being there forever. You know? Right. Right. Yeah. To be here. You know? Exactly.
And that's and that's the balance I think is is being I mean, a part of my morning routine is every morning, like, literally saying out loud to myself what I'm grateful for. And Yeah. And I think it's okay to be dissatisfied with where you are because, again, it's not just about money. To me, the to me, the financial side of it is is the result of you having put in the the the daily effort on each and every part of your being. And then it just eventually takes care of itself.
The money and the finance and all that kind of stuff and the the blingy stuff. You know? And and so to me, it's to me that's the end. Of course, I have a vision board, and, of course, the vision board has lots of cool stuff on it. And but Chaz stuff. That's not really what I'm chasing. What I'm chasing is who I have to be in order to actually have obtained that stuff and achieve that stuff. That's so good.
Like, that point right there, because so many people get locked up in whether it's a vision board or just a desire for whether it's something material or something for their family, or even something on behalf of others, but but the point of it is is that takes finances to do Chaz. And to what you're saying, it takes a certain character, a certain level or a certain process of you becoming you in order to achieve the financial positioned to get those things. Exactly. Right?
So, like, how how do you project that onto someone now or, like, maybe someone who's listening right now who says, that they want a nice car. They want a nice house. But at the same feeling, they're like, oh, that sounds selfish. And maybe I just need to wanna give money away, or maybe they wanna give money away. They don't want a nice house. But either way, it's money. What would you say to that person that they're kind of in that limited thinking?
They still want it, but they're limited in their thinking. I'd say a couple of things about that. I one, I think that I think we are in a little bit of a slippery slope in society where there's a loud contingent trying to make it sound bad to wanna be wealthy and to wanna be independent. And The bottom line, there is there are enough resources in the world for everybody to be wealthy.
Sure. There there might be a couple bad actors out there, but for the most part, people don't paying a $1,000,000,000 net worth by screwing people over. They obtain that kind of net worth by bringing people up along with them. So whether you wanna spend the money or give it away or whatever you wanna do, the first thing I would say is nobody should be ashamed about wanting to make or actually making a lot of money. And nobody should be ashamed about about flexing what they've gotten out of it.
You know? I mean, it's just because I know I know for me, I celebrate you know, dudes that I know. And I see they're driving a new exotic or or, you know, somebody's upgraded their freaking airplane. I'm I'm excited for You know, I'm not I'm not feeling jealous. I'm if if they're ahead of me, I'm it's inspiring me to think about, man, what do I need to do to, like, what am I need to push hard? I need to push harder. You know? So there's that piece of it.
And then because I think if you can't celebrate people winning, you're never gonna win. Because you're putting the you're literally putting the energy out to the universe that you don't wanna win, that you think winning is bad. Right? Yeah. Yep. I think visualization is incredibly important around visualizing not just seeing things, but actually, you know, slowing it down to where you can feel it. Taste it and touch it and smell it. And, you know, if you want a Ferrari, what does it sound like?
You know, what does it feel like a sit in the sit in the driver's seat and fire that sucker up, you know, or whatever whatever the thing might be. Yep. And really vision but then also visualize the feeling. Like, again, like, who are you that you that you have achieved these things? Like what Right. What's going through your brain right now? What's what's, you know, what thing what are you dealing with internally right now? Now that you're at that level.
And then I and then and then I think you have to be able to to when you kinda come back to putting your vision and a meaningful action, which is the other half of because nobody gets anywhere by just dreaming. Nobody gets anywhere by just thinking or just having fancy pictures on the wall. You have to take meaningful action, but I think you have to take the meaningful action as that person you can't get to where you wanna be by being who you are that's managing your current situation.
You have to be that person Chaz that is in your vision and you have to walk like that and breathe like that, talk like Chaz, and think about what that person would would say about certain things and how they would act about certain things and then do those You might not have the resources yet, but you can still you can still walk in the same footsteps as who that person is. Yeah. And I I think that's the only way to actually get there.
Yeah. No. I think what you're saying is so, like, spot on, especially for the, again, the listener 6 figure trying to 7, which is just a small, like, little jump in the road in the in the grand scheme of things.
But it's such a big mindset jump because this, what you're talking about, is everything when it comes to that type of switch, you know, and it didn't have to be necessarily just 6 to 7, but that's generally, like, the the the trajectory that I figured out is that when that mindset shifts, things start to open up pretty, pretty big. And so How does someone listening right now who's, you know, maybe they've been in business for a year or 2? Maybe they've been in business for 10 or 20 years.
I don't know, but they just can't get past that that place of where they are now, probably because they've been operating as the person that they are now, to your point, how do they how do they pull that person forward? Right? Cause they they either don't believe it or they haven't ever met that person Right? Or they don't know what that person's thinking or feeling. So how do they get into that place or that person that they're supposed to be now before that person exists?
So, it's a lot to unpack there. Yeah. Hey. You you brought us here. I think that I mean, one of the things that I would say is even though even though it seems like a monumental shift, man, you you win in millimeters.
I believe you literally win in and it's it's it's it's every little thing that you do and then do it over and over again and do, you know, you do a little bit more here and a little bit more there, and and you just you just eventually before you know it, you don't recognize yourself anymore. Like, you look back to the person you were 5 years ago and you're like, oh, shit. I would have never been, like, I can't even go back to that way of thinking.
So I don't know that I'm I'm sure there's probably people who have some sort of life altering epiphany and things just click and off they go. That's not my experience. So I've been in business for a little over 30 years, actually. I think I started when I was 23 and I went full time when I was 26. Okay. And I spent really up until 10 years ago. I spent being that small person, and I I don't wanna say that negatively. It's it's not negative, but but just, you know, I didn't see my my value.
I didn't see I was a I was a I was self employed. That's how I would put it. You know? And And and that's and my dad was eventually. He was a, who was a partner in a small engineering firm and then and then became self employed. And that's how I would describe him. He was self employed. Wasn't an entrepreneur. He wasn't, he wasn't a he wasn't a scaler. He wasn't a builder. He was just self employed. Didn't have any employees or anything else. And And that's kinda how I saw myself.
I I sort of came into this business by accident, actually, even though my dad was an engineer, and I'm actually a high school dropout who happens to own an engineering firm. So I'll leave it. I think we we might have talked about that. The intro group. Yeah. Yeah. Hope to get into that. And and so it was really up until about 10 years ago that, you know, that I just I didn't see myself as much I had tried to actually build my business a couple of times, and I failed. I failed miserably.
I went broke a couple of times. And and then I just kind of I don't know. I just made a shift about 10 years ago to start looking for people who were far more successful than I was look at what they were doing, start following them, start reading about them, start learning, and and just kinda start applying some of those you know, philosophies, and it was a lot of trial and errors and a lot of, you know, inconsistency and and but it was but it was growth.
And Like I said, I wouldn't even I I I wouldn't recognize myself 5 years ago, but, like, 10 year 10 years ago, just be like, no way. No way. You know? But it didn't happen over It just kinda it happened because of all the little things that I did over and over again. And even when I would, you know, fail or fall down or whatever you wanna call it, I'd just keep going. And and that just keep working at it. And so that's what I would say. It's just it's it's not fun.
I mean, it's on on winning is fun, but the work is not fun. The work of, like, getting up at 3:30 in the morning every morning and, you know, trying to have What's that? Pressing in. Yeah. Yeah. Whether you want to or not, because it's not about the days that you feel like doing it. The separation is in the days that you don't feel like doing you do it anyway. You know?
Yeah. Yeah. Whether it's the gym, whether it's whether it's saying I love you to your wife or whether it's, you know, pressing on on a particular project that you gotta get done or whatever it is. You know, it's it's the days that you don't feel like doing it and you do it anyway and you do it like you do wanna it. You do it like you do. Love it. That that's a separation. Yeah. I've got that saying that confidence is a drug and winning is the dealer.
And Yeah. It it wraps up everything that you just said because the person that's listening right now They just need to win more. Yeah. That seems so simple, but whether it's the over the course of a 30 year career or just Waking up tomorrow when you said you were going to? Well, that's a big thing that I mean, really both Andy and Ed talked about that, but Andy, especially that, you know, you have to you have to start by winning the day, whatever that is for you.
So, like, Andy has this thing called a powerless. I happen to use it but you got 5 things on there that you that those are the things you are gonna get done that day. And some of them might be repeat things. Like, say you wanna lose weight. Well, there's gotta be something on there every single day, or you wanna get in better shape, there better be something in there every single day about getting to the gym or doing whatever you're gonna do.
And then eventually, once you've done it for for 3 months and you're and, you know, you're still doing it every day where you could take that one off the list because now it's a habit, and now you could move on to the next thing that you wanna improve upon. And or there might be some other critical stuff on there like a particular phone call that needs to get made or whatever. And I tend to like to put one thing on or scares me a little bit every day and something that makes me uncomfortable.
And Yeah. And you if you check those things off by 11 o'clock in the morning, will you just do one the day? You know, it's as simple as that. And and because I think confidence, a lot of confidence, I think, comes from just doing what you told yourself you were going to do. When nobody was listening. Building a history of it. Building a history of it because then when when shit hits the fan and you say, I can take care of this.
I can fix this or whatever it is, you know, you will because you've built a history with yourself of doing what you said you were gonna do. Yeah. And so I think I think that's where the confidence starts is just by just by winning the day in in in each and every because you you start stringing together a bunch of days that you win. Well, now you've won the week, and then eventually won the month and eventually won the year.
And and it's it's really a it's really an interesting process, I think, of of of having having your big vision and having your big intentions, but then you really gotta bring it right back to right now and just what needs to be done right now. Yep. I have found is that there are some people entrepreneurs usually find themselves in 1 or 2 categories.
They're good about the right now, which is, you know, like your your integrator, your your X's and o type of a guy who just head down doing the work. And then you get the other guy. There's a visionary who has a terrible time with the accretion of the day. Yep. But if you what you're saying is if we can get both of these together, then I can see who I'm supposed to be. I can try to pull that person into to today And then practically, like, okay.
How do I how do I be that person today through these things that I'm trying to get done, whether it's a habit that I'm trying to create, or an actual difficult task that I need to, like, dial in and make sure that I get done so that I can create this repeatable history with myself of yeah, I'm gonna do what I say, and I believe in myself because of it. Absolutely.
And and, you know, and and to that point, taking action from the person your future taking action from the perspective of your future Wolfe, somebody who's winning like that, they're not procrastinating. They're not turning away from things that that make them uncomfortable. They're not avoiding conversations they need to be having.
You know, they're they're they're just getting in there, and they're taking action, they're getting it out of the way, and they're moving on to the next thing, because they know that procrastination is a killer. It's the death now. Right? Yep. And and so so again, it comes back to that of like, okay, I wanna avoid this, but this dude over here, who's worth a $100,000,000, doesn't avoid this shit, so I better get to it. Yep. Exactly.
You know, before we move on, I I you said something that I wanna ask you and and, hopefully, you'll you'll answer or be able to answer. You said you write something down that's scary. What what scares Rocky Anderson? It still is really uncomfortable for me to because a big a big part of my work is relationships. Like, I mean, that's that's how we that's how we that's how we ultimately gain our clients.
Is by building relationships with, you know, national builders and national developers and that sort of thing. And so Right. It's still really uncomfortable from uncomfortable for me to even if it's sort of a a a a almost warm lead where, you know, I already know the division president Pacific Northwest X National Builder, and I it's uncomfortable for me to call him. We have a relationship with gun projects together, so it's uncomfortable for me to say, Hey.
You know, here's what we're doing now, and we're we're growing the side of our business. And would you be willing to introduce me to your counterpart in Arizona? And that's super uncomfortable for me. And then even once he's made the introduction, it's still uncomfortable for me to, like, be reaching out to the people he said, this guy's amazing. His company's amazing. You need to meet him.
You need to introduce, you know, you need just need to know who he is so he can help they can help you out. Yeah. It's still uncomfortable for me to to to go because I still, you know, I think we all have it to a degree. I still have that, like, imposter you know, syndrome where, you know, I'm sure I'm just I mean, I'm I'm a high school dropout. What the hell does anybody wanna talk to me about engineering for?
You know, it's like, And so I have to, like, I really have to overcome that conversation all the time. Not always. Sometimes I think sometimes I just really own Chaz I'm a badass. Yeah. And sometimes, and then sometimes I'm just like, yeah. I'm nervous about making this call. So Yeah. Is so good to hear. So those kind of call those kind of calls go on my power. It's a lot of having to get. Of course. As they should, because you're the person that can make that call, Yeah.
You know, and the I I just hope that the listener it just took in what they what they just witnessed, you know, just a a literal king in the business who who says, you know, some some days some days it's difficult. And not some a lot. Yeah. You know, if we're being honest. You know? Yep. It's the weight of the crown. You know, it's the weight of the decisions or the phone calls or the things that make us uncomfortable, but you still make the call. Nobody really knew that you hesitated.
Nobody really knew you had this back and forth. You had the back and forth. You may be wrestled with yourself a bit. Maybe you walked away from the desk, but you forced yourself to come back and you freaking made the phone call. Yep. Yep. Absolutely. That over the course of 30 years, I mean, How can you how can you not win? Right. Right. What would you say to the person right now who's less than 5 years into their business? And they want, obviously, everything to happen right now. Right?
They're like, oh my gosh. I'm a failure. I'm not at the 7 figure mark by 5 years in. You know, I must I must not be out for this. I must not be good. You know, like, all of the doubt. Right? Like, what would you say to that person? I would say that it's not gonna happen overnight. I think it's an anomaly when when stuff like that does happen overnight, and I don't think it really happens as much as people try to make it seem like it happens because, again, you you cannot it's just not possible.
Somebody might somehow be an overnight success. But if they have not been through the trials, if they have not been through failures, if they have not been through the lowest of the lows, if they haven't learned how to to struggle through the days when they just don't even wanna get out of bed, they haven't learned how to deal with the biggest freaking problems they could ever imagine, they're gonna lose all of it. It's gonna be gone. It's gonna evaporate.
I mean, what do you think you know, so many so many sports figures and and entertainers and whatnot. Right? They they they boom. They explode in a starter lottery winners or whatever. They explode into money, and it's gone before you even know it. I mean, there's dudes that are, you know, that have made millions in in professional sports that are back living with their parents. You know? Yeah. Yeah. And and so it's it's not meant to happen overnight. It's just not.
It took me a lot longer than I think it should have because I was because I was I was playing small, and I was in a I was in a relationship that sort of kept it that way, which was also my fault, but it's not supposed to happen overnight. You're supposed to you're supposed to have to do the work in order to get there so that you because you're building character along the way, you're building your stamina. You're building your toughness. You're building your mind.
You're building everything that you need to build to the discipline to to continue to grow what you've built once you've gotten to where you think you wanted to get to. Because once you get to where you think you wanted to get to, it's it's time to keep the big boy pants on and keep big girl pants on whatever and just keep going. Because if you stop, if you think you can you're gonna start drifting and going backwards. 100%. Love it. K. So so good. I hope the listener's paying attention.
You've been able to give them mindset. You've been able to give them daily disciplines even. I mean, so far, like, I'm I'm ready to go explode into the next chapter. I don't know about you, but I'll fired up, ready to go. It was funny because I I just came off of our very first person or, sorry, 1st in person mastermind event. This just this past weekend. So I I saw I'm all I'm all burnt and stuff here on my face.
We'd we went deep sea fishing and, you know, did the relationship stuff similar stuff that you've been involved with and And that feeling that you walk away of, like, man, I know I'm I know I'm gathering with other kings Chaz Mhmm. I just just the everything that you've given so far is just, man, you can tell that you've worked on you. You've tell you worked on your business and people and and that you give.
And so my point in saying that is not to, you know, blow blow smoke up your skirt, but to let the the but let the listener know that, like, wow, this is This is the real deal. And and it's not Rocky's done something that you can't. Right. Right. It's just the process that he just described that you go through. And even when you think someone's been overnight, you know, I've had people, you know, look at my story and been like, well, I knew you were super successful in your twenties.
It's like, yeah, but I was also the guy for 10 years before that being super disciplined and reading hundreds of books when My friends were partying. You know, I was preparing just the same as you're talking about. And so I think that that's super important to remember that you're in the process of the journey. You're in the process of the preparation. And so and you've heard it from somebody who's who's been doing it for a long time.
So Give us just a little couple minutes here on how the entrepreneurship journey started for you. I know, obviously, you kinda mentioned briefly here on this call, but you gave me more before. The fact that your high school drop out, but that that you own an engineering firm, like, how how did that start? How did you fall into that?
You know, give us give us a little bit of the backdrop So so, yeah, the the one piece of it is my dad was self employed, and he was a professional engineer, and he happened to do septic designs sometimes. So when I was even a little boy, I had a postal digger at six years old. I would dig per Coles for him. And I didn't know anything about business. To stick the circles for him. And and then eventually, I actually was intending to be I was intended to be a rock star.
And that's a kind of a little bit of a different story, but but It it ended up that ended up flaming out by my own by my own smallness. And and, So then I was working at I was a production manager to steal company in my early twenties, and I just realized that was just not built to work for somebody else. You know, I was applying. I applied for some other jobs. I just, I couldn't quite put a finger on it, but I just, I just, I just hated working for somebody else. I just, I just, didn't like it.
And so I happened to kind of know septic designs on the periphery. So I studied and took a couple exams and past the local test that I needed to pass and and, started doing septic designs part time while I was still working at the steel company, and I just, you know, do evenings and weekends, go out and meet clients and Yeah. And handle the design work after hours and that kind of stuff and So I basically had 2 jobs for a couple of years.
And and and then I was finally making enough money to go out on my own, and and I did. And then my think at the time, you know, you gotta bear in mind. It's just like early nineties. I was doing maybe 1500 bucks a month, part time, whatever, and It's like, alright. I can make I can make I can I can do this this buy? I can make it work. And and then my 1st month my 1st month out $75 in revenue. Wow. Wapping 75. Yeah. But that's so that's kinda how it that that's how it started.
And I actually I was positive that it was a a temporary sort of thing until I found my passion, you know, and blah blah blah and now hearing up 3 years later. And and for me, it just now I know exactly what I'm doing. But for me, especially as I kinda got busier and things got more complicated and, you know, the projects got more complicated and everything else. I there were times I just I just hated I did.
I absolutely, like, I would I was just sick to my stomach when I'd wake up in the morning and think about having to go do what I was gonna do. And I couldn't really put my finger on it, but there were a handful of times where I was ready to just walk away. I was ready to just quit. And and and I literally was like, done. Like, I don't fucking care. I'm done. And and each time, this probably happened, like, 4 different times.
And each time, just like, a little voice in my head just would chime in and say, dude, I mean, you've already got this reputation. You've already got this clientele. You've got infrastructure. You've got, you know, whatever. And Like, if you're just gonna walk away, you're not talking about selling a business. If you're just gonna walk away from what you're doing, why not, like, how how could I retool it in a way that would actually make me wanna get a bed in the morning. And so I did that.
And then, like and then, of course, then that became a pull to a point where I don't like it. So then I do it again, and I just kinda really almost by accident. It did that, like, four times. And then until I until I actually got it to a place where it's like, alright. I can I can Like, this is cool? I like what I'm doing. And then the scaling thing and everything else that we're working on now is an entirely different conversation.
That's, like, that's, like, hold everything, but I would have never gotten to the point that we are now where we're ready to really take off if I hadn't been through those if I hadn't been through those points where I where I wanted to give up and I didn't. Yeah. What you just said was pretty profound you said that, you know, you were doing something that you didn't necessarily find the most joy in, but you were doing it because that's that's that's what you were doing.
And that's just kind of the simplicity of it, really. But the mindset that you had in that moment was, why not just retool it or change the circumstances to where maybe it is something that I can enjoy or something that I do like. And so he made some adjustments. My guess is that you hired a couple people. You get some you put some people in place or or or some structure in place, and and then you you kept on a certain role and you gave certain things away. And then you do that again and again.
And and now you've got this variation of yourself Chaz well as a team that is prepared to scale much, much larger than just what most people think of the scaling. But is there was there a was there a a tipping point for you in that of, like, okay, was this just me trying to figure out the business to something where I liked, or was there help that you had, a book that you read, you know, anything like that that hap came across the way they gave you the idea of, okay.
Well, if I retooled this, then it could be something that was good for me. Or was that just inside of you? It was literally just I was just done and then it just was and it just kinda came to me each time. Yeah. Yeah. Good. Okay. But it's interesting because each time that I had it, I've forgotten that I'd already done it before. The third time I I've realized like, oh, we've done this before. You could do it again. Like, you can you Chaz, like, it's okay to it's okay to do that.
So it got easy to analyze, make some adjustments, and move forward in a slightly different way. Yep. Yep. That's good. That's good freedom right there, honestly, because things are gonna ebb and flow in business all the time up and down around and around we go. Okay. Got a question for you on on decisions. Okay? I want you to tell me a good decision that you made specific as you can. That was just super rockstar.
Of you. If I if I'm gonna be totally a 100% honest, if I'm being a 100% honest, because I could I mean, there are other examples, but but I'll I'll be leaving something on the table that isn't you know, that I could say, which is Sure. It kinda ties into my worst my worst decision. My worst decision was choosing to marry the partner that I did back when I was young. And because I didn't even know it until I ended that relationship 25 years later, that that's what was keeping me small.
And you adjust your identity temperature to to to what you believe in yourself. And I and, you know, maybe some people are immune to it, but, man, it's, you know, your spouse goes a long way towards what you believe in yourself. You know? I mean, you know, if you if you've truly married the right person, you've married your best friend at your confidant and somebody who, you know, you you really can divide it. If you haven't, then it's just constant tension and negativity.
And Yeah. And so best decision one a was actually choosing to get divorced after 25 years of marriage. And Yeah. We had 2 older adopted kids. We didn't have any biological kids.
And that was, like, the most scary thing I've ever done in my life because we met when we were seventeen years old, and I never really like, been on my own per se, if you will, in that regard and and just not knowing if I was making the biggest decision of my life and potentially just setting my life down a freaking, you know, train wreck. You know? Yeah. Just full of fear. Yeah. Totally full of fear.
And even though I knew, even though, like, the other side of me was, like, totally liberated about it, like, total 100%. Like, 100% sure that this is what I'm doing. There is no way I'm turning back on this and half of me saying you're gonna fucking die. Yeah. Just the uncertainty of the unknown.
Yeah. Yeah. Because part of it too was I gave I literally gave her every ounce of cash we had, every ounce of equity we Chaz, I took all the debt, and and I ended up taking on a lot of unsecured private debt personal debt in order to, you know, to just I just wanted the band aid ripped off. I wanted it done. So I so I went broke again, and like, literally literally broke.
Like, I, like, there were there were Fridays where I didn't know how it was gonna come up with $12 on Monday to pay staff and pay my lease and that kinda shit. And then So I would just I got into this habit of like, okay. I can't afford to think that I'm screwed. As Chaz as I start thinking, I'm screwed, I'm screwed. There's no other there's literally no other alternative to be other than to be screwed if I start telling myself I'm screwed.
Right. So instead, I just started looking at what can I, you know, even if I can't generate invoices because work isn't to a certain point or whatever, what can I actually do to just push things forward move work forward, keep everything moving at Chaz high of a level as I possibly can because it's the only thing I can think to do to just kinda create the energy and the universe and just I gotta I I have to just trust that it's gonna work out?
And sharing up, there were probably three, four times where I I literally had no idea where the money was gonna come from. I mean, I knew, you know, I had invoices floating out and blah blah blah. And, but I had no idea when somebody was gonna pay me or whatever. Every single time. My money came through every single time. I'd wake up, you know, I'd wake up in the middle of the night.
The, you know, the night before the big day when I needed to write a lot of checks or sent a lot of payments out and and, sure enough, somebody, you know, 1 or 2 clients who would have made a big deposit in my account, it was just enough to cover everything. It wasn't like I could breathe again. It was just, okay, I made it. I made it through this cycle. And and the best decision b, one b, if you will, was I didn't even know it at the time.
That I would that I would be saying this, but but marrying my current life because it's been it's been a game changer around just her encouragement her encouragement and her belief in me and what she sees in me Chaz I wasn't seeing in myself yet. You know, now I actually can generate that for myself. Now I actually do because I I come from a super dysfunctional family and super just highly abusive and dysfunctional family. Yeah. Yeah. And neglectful family.
It's given me a lot of strengths as to who I am today. And I wouldn't change it because I wouldn't wanna be anybody else today. It took me a long time to get out from under that cloud to really start understanding my worth, my intrinsic worth, Yeah. Yeah. And so as you were working on yourself and that, even letting, you know, 1st wife go and then second wife coming and kind of stepping in to a level that you'd already been building. I'm sure just was, like, gasoline on the fire.
That was already been starting to build. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's incredible. Well, you've answered the the good and bad decision in in one fell swoop, my friend, which is great. I think that, you know, the I guess the takeaway here is that you're right. The spouse matters, man. I mean, whether the spouse is involved in the business or not. You know? Absolutely. Because my current life is not zero involvement whatsoever.
Like, I I I mean, I I have a very detailed list of things that that she'll need to do if something happens to me, Sure. Chaz sounds like my my my piece of paper. Yeah. Yeah. But it's, like, super detailed now. Like, here are the access codes. Here are the password. Know, like, here's what you're gonna need to do for 2 weeks until until, you know, so and so can step in and kinda help out.
Yep. And, you know, but it'll be stuff that it'll be stuff she's never had to touch life, you know, and hopefully, hopefully, we never have to think about it. But Exactly. But, yeah, she's not involved in it at all, and I prefer it that way. I I I person. I know a lot of people successfully work together as as husband and wife, but I really like the I really love the the separation there.
Yeah. I think there's there's identity for both, you know, parties, especially if if if there's not a desire there. It's funny that you said all the the setup. Julie and I are the same way. I'm like, Here are the two people you need to call. They'll know what to do. You know? Don't lose these two phone numbers. Right. Whatever you do. They have everything. And by the way, would you please practice opening the safe a little more often? Right.
Yeah. Yeah. Because, you know, it's the it's the manual Yeah. It's like, you have to be able to do it under duress. It's easy to do when you're not stressed. So just, you know, keep practicing it because you're gonna be kinda stressed out if something happens. I I think I think everybody needs to have that. I mean, you know, I mean, although although funny, having things in place is a big is a big deal. So New Zealand.
It's a part of for for me, it's a big deal around being able to sleep at night because because you know how many more moving pieces are happening, and you know the weight of the crown. Like, we were just talking about before we got on the air. It's like the the weight of the decisions that you and I make or others like us where it's like, 1 not necessarily one decision gone wrong and it unravels, but, like, there's lots of plays being made.
Investments in here and business here, teams being built here, people here, people here, and, you know, that without you or at least the expertise of you could make her world a mess. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The power of of what is it? Just provider. You know? In fact, we wanna just not only be provider, but the but, like, a covering. Is what it is because it's even past past you. Right? Yeah. It is. It and it's a really cool.
To me, it's like a really I just feel like it's an honor to be able to lean into being a provider and a protector. And, I love it. I love everything about it, right down to thinking about, you know, They practice the combination of a safe few times with you. Yep. We we could we could probably have a whole bunch of shows. Yeah. I'll go even as far as, like, walking into rooms. I'm like, Hey. You see that door over there? See that door over there? Like, CS people over there.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Situational awareness. She always she always, like, I'm on Chaz. She appreciates it, but she always laugh at me because she knows I wanna be seated to where I can see out towards everything going on in the restaurant. I don't want my back to the door. Nope. And I've done a quick scan. I've and I've taken a picture. Yep. That's good. Okay. Let's go to speed round. We this conversation has been so good.
I've just allowed it to just flow, but wanna hit the speed round questions before we go. Right. What is the one metric inside your business that you would choose to track if you could only pick one thing to track? Jesus. I guess I would say it's an interesting one because maybe it's not a a typical one, but I would say, are we is everybody consistently and always following all of our procedures and protocols to a t because if they are Chaz means our culture is there and intact.
It means our quality is there and intact. It means our commitment is there and intact. And if those things are intact, there is no way we don't win. Love it. Great answer. K. What book would you recommend that a six figure owner read? That is so hard. I would say probably because I'm reading it right now, but it actually is a pretty amazing book. Ed Mylett just put out a new book with the power of 1 more. Yep. I don't know if you've if you've seen her.
Haven't haven't gotten it yet, but I've heard lots about it. And because I because if I wasn't gonna say that, I'd probably say you know, think and grow rich or maybe even outweighing the devil by Napoleon Hill. Outwitting the devil's incredible read. But Ed refers a lot to Napoleon Hill. So I would say the thing about his book is that he really puts a lot of highly tactical things that you can just do right now. To get an action.
And and really the whole of power 1 more is just it's all about, you know, at the end of the day, it's all about, you know, one more rep, one more set, one more phone call to the to a client, one more back check on your quality before something goes up the door, one more I love you to your Wolfe, you know, whatever whatever it might be, but it's the power is in, and it's true. The power is in that one more.
The like I said, there's we win in millimeters and the degree of separation between people who are making 7 or 8 or 9 figures and somebody who's making 6 figures is you go hang out with Chaz, and Andy, they're normal dudes, they're not directing their as intentional as as it gets, and that's it's such a little nuance.
But, you know, I think I think if you truly become that person who doesn't stop it good enough, never stops it good enough, who never walks by something that that they see isn't quite right and doesn't stop fix it. If you become that person in just little increments, there's no way you're not gonna win. There's just no way. So, anyway, I really I like that book a lot because it it really talks a lot about that. That's good.
K. Do you intentionally network or mastermind with other entrepreneurs and why? Yeah. So mean, it's part of why why I said yes to come out of your podcast because, you know, I I love I love talking to other business owners, and I love getting inspired by just the energy and and and, I mean, I feel energized by this conversation, you know, and 100%. And so that's so I I say yes a lot. To to that kind of stuff.
And then also the we have a a pretty solid, Aritae syndicate, group in Arizona actually. That's like thirty people strong. So we we get together once a month, and it's usually 12 to 15 of us. And, you know, everybody's kinda pushing each other. And, you know, some of a lot of us become have become friends And and then I also go to the the RTATE syndicate Chaz a summit once or twice a year, and I go to those as well. I try to only surround myself with people who, when I leave, I feel energized.
If I've noticed that I'm feeling drained or neutral, I'm probably, if I'd notice that a couple more times, that person's probably not gonna be in my life anymore. Yeah. Yeah. That that's a good barometer, a good litmus test to be able to go, is this person in or out? And if you feel inspired or or ready to go charge the hill after spending time with them, probably a good one to keep. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I got 2 more questions here for you. This one this one this one is a good one.
I've I've this is a new one. Actually, if you only had 1 hour each week to run your business, what would you do in that 1 hour to successfully run your business? Just like you do now. I think I would go back to that one metric. Making sure that that that the actual execution is occurring, I would I would I would focus all on that because I, again, I just I just know that if everybody's executing, it means that it means the culture's there. Blah blah blah blah.
It means it's all there All the way down. No way we don't win. And so if I had to only have an hour, that's what I would have to focus on. Yeah. Love the I love the connection between those 2 answers. K. Last question, Rocky, if you lost it all again, what would you do? Same thing I've always done. I, you know, it's interesting because, you know, what would I do? I mean, number 1, I'd make sure my family is good. And, you know, number 2, I'd get right back to work.
And I'd look I'd look for a problem to Wolfe. And I'd start working on solving that problem. For some reason, it it it couldn't be this business anymore for whatever reason. I don't know what that would be, but I would just try to find a new problem to solve and then get to work on solving it and providing, you know, providing value.
Because if you if you find a problem to solve and you focus on providing value and don't worry about the outcome, you're committed to what you want to achieve, but you don't worry about the outcome at the moment. You'll you'll be fine. Yeah. Love that answer. Rocky, if someone connected with you today, they wanna reach out to you. They wanna figure out how to find you on social media. Where can they find you? Instagram, I'm just on it's I.m.rocko.com.i.m.rocco.
And, ROC K O. And business wise, it's Rocky at ABC Wastewater Engineering. And those are probably the 2 best ways to to find me. Perfect. Rather, you have been an incredible source of value today, but the fact that you're willing to give your time to help other entrepreneurs speak so much of your character And so thank you for that. Thank you for even just the inspiration you've given me today. And I hope that there's future deals for us to be had.
So looking forward to those those moments in the future for us. Great. Thanks for listening to Gathering the Kings. We hope you got a ton of value today and learn a thing or 2 about taking your business to 7 figures and beyond. If you desire more and want a community around you to help you get there, I want you to go to gathering the king's com. That's gathering the king's dot com, and I want you to apply for our next becoming a king 90 day intensive.
We are extremely exclusive by nature as a group. What that means that we're really wanting only the entrepreneurs who take their business and targets super serious to apply. So if that's you, you think you got what it takes to level up your business. I want you to go to gatheringthekings.com and apply and we will see you