What is a MOE and why is it on the rise?

I'm going to accomplish this by bringing episodes that are full of information as well as bringing you some episodes that are a little bit motivational and uplifting. Because sometimes knowing what you need to do is not nearly as important as feeling good about what you're doing. And then after each episode, I would love to hear from everyone who listens to this.

So please, please send me a quick email to six figure tradesmen@gmail.com and let me know how I'm doing and how I can make these podcasts just a little bit better. So I want to open up with a question. The question is, why are you not getting in on this new fast paced industry and it's ground floor level. So what do I mean by that? Well, I mean the outsource estimating business and specifically Mo, which is mechanical outsource estimating services is pretty rapidly growing these days.

It's becoming the new trend. So I kind of wonder why people aren't getting in. And I think that it may be because they don't know that it exists or they know that it exists, but they don't know really how to get it . Okay. So first let me explain to you what a Mo is. So most ads for mechanical outsource estimating. Okay. What does a mechanical outsource estimator? Well, that is someone such as myself.

I have been doing this for over a decade now and what I do is I have clients that come to me from mechanical world heating companies, hydronic companies, plumbing companies, and these guys need my help and services to help them bid more commercial projects. Sometimes they do that because they don't really know too well how to bid the jobs themselves. Or quite often they're overwhelmed in their in house estimators. Can't keep up with the workload.

So either way they come to me and they asked me to help them out. And in return I charge a pretty nice sum for that. And in order to be good at this business, you know, you kind of have to have a lot of good work ethic. You have to be self motivated and a good self-starter . So the way I got started doing this was many years ago, I actually had a small heating company. And when the economy turned bad in 2007 2008 I had to start looking at my other options.

Although the heating business was doing okay, I was living from it, making a living. We were, we were a small enough that we didn't have a huge overhead and I could've just plucked along trying to make a few bucks doing that. But I wanted a little more out of life. And at the same time, I didn't want to go into a whole new career because I've known HVHC my entire life. I started in this trade when I was very young in my twenties back in 1996 and I started as an apprentice.

I worked my up way up through the ranks, you know, I become a a a first-class installer and then I kind of oversaw one of the small shops I was working for until finally I decided I was going to go out and I was gonna open my own shop and I did that. But when the economy turned around and you know, things got a little bit slow for all of us, I had to sit back and say, what can I do? How can I make good money but still utilize all of my years of experience in what I know.

I mean, I don't want to work in the field forever. I don't think any of us tradesmen who have ever been in the field say to themselves, yeah, I love this so much that I want to go through crawl spaces and be up in the hot attics until I retire. There are some people that enjoy doing that all the way up to retirement. I don't have any problem with that. In fact, kudos to you because that means the rest of us don't have to do it.

But as we get older, you know, especially me, I don't know about everybody else. Your body starts to slow down just a little bit. And this is, I can't do this forever. So what I started doing is I did a self evaluation of me, you know, I look to see at what I was qualified to do, what I enjoy doing and you know, where my weakness and where my strengths were. And then I started realizing that, you know, I don't really want to be in the field. I kind of want to be in the office.

So I thought, well, either a project manager would be a good fit or, or maybe a , uh , an estimator. So I started looking around for people who might be hiring for those positions and I actually found a mechanical outsource estimating firm and it just so happened they was looking for a mechanical, a guy from mechanical background who could come in and be the manager to manage this team of estimators that they already had.

And so it was a small shop when the guy started out, he started by himself and at the time when I came in, I think we had about 2015 or 20 full time estimators and over the three years that I were there, we had grown up to over 30 full time estimates and they estimated H vac, electrical and plumbing because they didn't have anything in place. They started out small and they grow really fast. So they needed somebody to create a process for bringing in new hires to train them.

And then a whole system needed to be created for monitoring the workflow as every project comes in. Because when you bet $85 million worth of projects every month, things can easily get lost in the shuffle. And we kind of had some issues where, you know, things weren't as smooth as they could be. And so I created all these new systems and processes so that we could, you know, monitor the crew that we had.

And also more importantly than the monitoring that crew was making sure the output of the product we was providing was exactly what our clients needed and that it met their standards. So that is exactly what I spent three years doing there. And over those three years we had grown that shop in over 30 estimators. And so and so over those three years, you know, we had grown that shop very well and I decided, well, I think I've done all I can do here.

I think I've realized that what I want to do is I want to be a full time estimator, but I want to do it for myself because you know, everybody has our own ideas and thoughts of how we think the things should be. And so when you work for somebody else, you kind of don't have that freedom. You don't have that creativity you're allowed to implement. And I seen a lot of things that I thought we could do better, but you know, higher management didn't see it the way I did.

So I decided it was probably time for me to move on and I formed my own company, quick some LLC and started estimating four mechanical contractors nationwide. And a , from the very beginning I started bringing in clients and I actually started my business with one full time client who had told me, if you ever start your own business, we will come to you. You know, we don't want to work with somebody else, we only want to work with you.

So if you ever open your own, let us know and then we can work and do business together. And that's what I did. So pre , you know , is provided a really nice steady income. I had a weekly paycheck but I still, I had a weekly income , um, because they sent me the jobs every weekend . I produced the work for them and then they sent me a check every two weeks in the mail. It worked really well. But after about a year of that, not quite a year that I started to set in , I needed a little more.

I wanted to do more. I wanted to grow. And so I created a really awesome website. I started some kickass marketing and by the end of my first year, by the end of my first 12 months in business for myself, I had already generated an an six figure income. And for me that was great because if you come from the field as a tradesman, even if you're in the union , um , you're not making six figures. I mean, if you are, it's because you're working a ton of overtime.

You're not making six figures on straight pay. So to be able to work part time, I really didn't put that much into it and I was making six figures from the very beginning. And that was exciting. Very exciting. So, you know, I decided that , uh, after several years of doing that, I had a lot of guys along the way, friends, acquaintances who said, what do you do for a living and , and how do you do this? Because we've seen where you come from and where you're going, but what are you doing?

And so I would teach people, and over the course of teaching some other people, I decided I really enjoy teaching and I know what I'm doing. I know exactly how this business works. I've got it nailed down as a science and I figured it out. So that's what I'm doing now. I'm creating online courses, educational things that can teach people how to become a mechanical outsource estimator who can work for themselves. And that was why I created estimating business in a box.

It'll teach you everything you need to know how to open and run your own estimating business. So that's how I got started. Um, that was my beginning. That was my roots. I went from, you know, a very, very, very green apprentice who absolutely knew nothing about sheet metal or HVHC in general, all the way up to owning my own company. And now I teach people how to estimate mechanical commercial projects. So, and I enjoy what I do. I love what I do.

I couldn't think of doing anything else these days. And the reason why I want to teach others, people say, well, if you've got this figured out and you make all this money doing it, why are you going to teach other people how to do it? That's competition. Yeah. I mean it is probably competition I guess, but what you're going to find in this business is you don't need a lot of customers. Okay? You need to run a first-class top rate business.

Treat everyone like gold that comes through your door and make sure you keep them for a lifetime customer. And by doing that and charging really good money along the way, you don't need a lot of customers, you know, unless you want to grow some sort of a giant empire. Like the guy I worked for who had over 30 estimators and there's nothing wrong with that. If that's what you want, I can teach you how to get to that level as well. But it wasn't for me. I didn't want that.

You know, I don't need a whole lot of employees. I can make as much or more money for me if I do things properly myself my way. Then by hiring a bunch of other people who could potentially make mistakes and screw things up for me in the end. Um , so that's why I've decided to go this route and that's why I enjoy what I'm doing. And so you're probably wondering, you know, what are you gonna gain from all this?

You know, especially through the podcast because what is your podcast going to be about? I don't really want to learn all of that per se. The point of the podcast is to motivate you, you know, it's to bring you some insights into this world and into this business that you may not know, but it's also to give you some educational pieces so that if you are interested in doing this for yourself, I'm going to give you the information for free. Some of it I could sell somewhat of, I do give for free.

If you go check out my courses@sixfiguretradesman.com you'll see I've got free courses on there. A , it's good quality content too. So go check it out. Feel free to download that and read that free information because I have a lot of it out there and I'm going to bring a lot of that to the podcast.

If you don't want to go to my site and you don't want to download it and go through all of the , the course material, Hey, just stick with me on the podcast I'm with a lot of that's coming up that'll be in the future episodes. I'm going to bring a lot of that to you free of charge just because I think there's plenty of room in this business for all of us. I think we can all make a good living at this.

I don't think we have to step on one another's toes and I just know there's enough room for us both. You know, I've got my clients, I don't need any new clients by the way. Um , actually I do less now than I used to do before and I still make great money. So if you treat this business properly and you run it properly , uh , treat people good. Treat people right. You'll find that you don't need a lot of customers.

It's good to have several, you know, because you don't want all of your eggs in one basket, but you don't need hundreds of people, hundreds of clients. So you know, keep that in mind as you're going through this. And if this is something you want to pursue, you don't have to go out there and gobble up the world, man. You just have to do your job and do it to the best of your ability and protect what you get. So when you get a client provide service to them that they just can't get anywhere else.

People say, how can I do that? Well, I can teach you that. That's what this is about. That's what the podcast is for. I'm going to bring you that kind of information so that hopefully you know I can help you grow. Or if you don't have a business and you want to start one, I can help you start one. That's what I'm here for. So I want to make you very successful because if you become successful than I am successful. I have done my job. So that's what this is going to be about.

That's what the six figure tradesman is going to be catered to. It is all about outsource estimators, but you know, most specifically mechanical outsource estimators, if you're any other trade, and let's say you are a plumber or a roofer or a landscaping fire sprinkler, it doesn't matter what trade you're in. This, this position exists for all trades of commercial construction. So even though you might hear me reference something in mechanical, it doesn't mean that it wouldn't apply to you.

You know, it's just, I speak to mechanical because that's what I know. I know how to read the mechanical blueprints. I know how to bid the mechanical portion. So that's what I always speak about. Like I say, if you're a plumber, I've got you dialed in. If you're a roofer, you can adapt this. Okay? The principles are all the same. It's all the exact same concepts. So don't feel like you can't do this because you're from a different trade. All right ?

And a lot of the stuff, like I said, I'm going to bring you motivational pieces. So even if you don't learn anything brand new, hopefully I'm going to remind you of something that you already knew because you know, my part of my job isn't just educates you.

It's also to motivate you and to keep you feeling good about the path you're on and to remind you that the choices you're making, you know, as long as you're making the right choices, it's all going to lead to the end result that you're looking for. If you've got the dedication and the drive, I don't have any doubt you can get there as long as you implement some ethics and some good work practices along the way. So that's this episode, episode one, the very first one of our our podcasts .

I hope you enjoyed it. I would love your feedback. You know, let me know what I can do better. If you've got any ideas or any suggestions, please, please send those to me. That's six figure tradesmen@gmail.com just shoot me an email. Tell me if you hate it, tell me if you love it. I would like to know what your opinions and thoughts are. So, you know, before we leave out of here, I've got one task that I want you to do by the end of the day.

I want you to do some research, research , outsource estimating services or mechanical estimating services. You're going to see there's a lot of , there's not a lot, but there's a few of these guys out there. So get a feel for what this is. Take a look at what's out there and the future episodes. This information that you're going to go find.

You know, I kind of want it to be in your memory and in your, in your mind, because we're going to talk about what you're finding out there and we're going to discuss how we can do better, how we can, you know, overcome obstacles to , to be found more than the rest of them and to achieve and obtain a higher level of success than some of the other people out there already have. So that's what we're going to bring you in next.

Our next episode, episode two, it's going to be how your estimate and services can stand out. Okay? All right. So that's what we're going to be talking about in our next episode. I look forward to our next podcast and please, like I've mentioned gimme some feedback and let me know what you think because if you're not loving it, I need to make things better. My name is Jamie Henry, creator of estimating business in a box, and I'll see you in our next episode.