# He Makes $185K/Year as an Electrician. I Told Him He Can Do $1M Next Year.

An episode of [Boring Money](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1892517879), 8 Sep 2026, 1 h 14 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2609588/episodes/19763374-he-makes-185k-year-as-an-electrician-i-told-him-he-can-do-1m-next-year.mp3

Ron Butler spent eight years at one residential electrical company and didn't want to leave. He asked them to match a $100K offer he'd gotten elsewhere. They couldn't. He pitched them on starting a service department instead, four guys, he'd out-earn the whole shop. They didn't bite. So he took the other job. Day one he walked into a branch running on chaos. Day two he called his CPA and asked whether $60 or $70K working for himself, after the tax treatment, would match the $100K. She said more than match. Day three he told them it wasn't a good fit and left. He had just bought a house and had no real savings behind him. That was 18 months ago. Top Notch Electrical Services did $131K gross in its first year, $91K net, and he's at $185K over the last twelve months. All of it word of mouth. He has never spent a dollar on marketing. Nine contractor relationships, built by getting up at 7am, putting on a company shirt, sitting in a coffee shop, writing down 20 or 30 numbers and calling them. He came in planning to hire his first full-time employee. I told him not to. We break down: • Why the employee is the wrong hire: his ability to deliver the work isn't the constraint, his pipeline is, and every dollar he has should go into fixing the one that's actually broken • Why he's the bottleneck. Every site walk, every invoice, every job runs through him, so the hours that would build a pipeline get spent doing the work instead • The case for deliberately earning less this year: 1099 out jobs he could do himself, accept the lower margin, and put the freed-up hours into relationships • The idea I'd chase if I were him. Pull every permit filed in Austin, see which contractors have real repeating volume, and go get in front of those specific companies • His first job was a $20K remodel in a $3M home that he'd turned down and handed to another electrician, and the client asked for him back • Why he walked away from $30 Thumbtack leads even though they were working, and why I think that was right at his stage • Why three years to a million isn't ambitious enough, and what the 12-month version looks like: nine contractor relationships to fifty • The out-of-state licensing question, $20 to $30K a year to be a master on record in another state, and why I told him I'm not equipped to advise him on it Ron's slogan is "confidence is competence." He passed his master electrician exam first try, at 26, when the four masters he knows averaged five attempts between them. That trait is why the business works. It's also why he wants to do every job himself, and it's the thing that caps him at $200K if he doesn't let it go. He asked me for a realistic timeline to a million a year. I said twelve months. I don't think he expected the number to be that low.

## Transcript

[0:00] SPEAKER_03: A year and a half ago, Ron took a big risk, quitting his job as an electrician to start his own business with no experience.
[0:07] SPEAKER_00: When I made that jump, so I didn't have a massive savings to fall back on, but my rationale was all right, if this doesn't work out, I'm great at what I do, I'll get another electric job.
[0:16] SPEAKER_03: Today we'll learn how he grew the business that replaced his job and work through the one big challenge that is holding him back.
[0:22] SPEAKER_03: Your limiting factor is ultimately that pipeline of business.
[0:26] SPEAKER_00: And right now I'm the bottleneck because everything's coming through me.
[0:31] SPEAKER_00: So thank you for joining me on Boring Money.
[0:33] SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir.
[0:33] SPEAKER_00: I'm glad to be here.
[0:34] SPEAKER_03: Why don't you um introduce your business and I'll take you from there?
[0:40] SPEAKER_00: Okay.
[0:40] SPEAKER_00: I am Ron Butler.
[0:42] SPEAKER_00: I'm the owner of Top Notch Electrical Services.
[0:44] SPEAKER_00: It is only 18 months old, believe it or not.
[0:47] SPEAKER_00: I have been doing electrical work for 10 years.
[0:50] SPEAKER_00: And one of those things I got in the field when I was 20 years old and didn't intend to take it this far.
[0:56] SPEAKER_00: It was uh I was a 20-year-old kid, decided I didn't want to go for electrical engineering.
[1:00] SPEAKER_00: I got my associate's degree, and I'm like, ah, let me do this for now.
[1:04] SPEAKER_00: But I saw the business opportunity early on, and so stuck with it.
[1:09] SPEAKER_00: And this was one thing where at 20 years old, not a lot of kids have dedication for years to something, right?
[1:17] SPEAKER_00: And so this is my first endeavor that I could really just spend year after year doing to build my craft and something that I can be proud of.
[1:26] SPEAKER_00: And so within 10 years, I started with no experience and struggled for the first eight of those.
[1:33] SPEAKER_00: Two years I got my jer uh wireman license, four years journeyman, and at about seven years I got my master license.
[1:42] SPEAKER_00: And it was funny, it kind of rubbed some of the older guys the wrong way because not a lot of not a lot of people get their masters.
[1:48] SPEAKER_00: And I was 26 when I got mine, and it's funny.
[1:52] SPEAKER_00: I think the mindset that led me to there was hey, I'm I'm not in the field to mess around, like I want to be the best.
[1:58] SPEAKER_00: And some of the older guys, when I went to take my master test, was saying, ah, just go in there and fill it out.
[2:05] SPEAKER_00: Like don't beat yourself up if you don't pass, just get a feel for it.
[2:09] SPEAKER_00: And I was under the impression, I said, with all due respect, I'm going in there to pass.
[2:13] SPEAKER_00: So locked in, passed it my first try, and then that really opened up the world to me because at that point, it's like, okay, now I'm just not stuck being an employee and can really make a business out of it.
[2:26] SPEAKER_00: And so I didn't had knew one friend who owned a business and had for some years, and he was like, brother, it is the best thing you'll do.
[2:34] SPEAKER_00: Uh learning process, lots to learn, lots of experience, but you won't regret it.
[2:39] SPEAKER_03: So what was the first like company that you worked for, or like what kind of company was it, and what was your role?
[2:46] SPEAKER_00: It was a residential electric company, so they did all new construction, just basically building single family households and of all different scales.
[2:55] SPEAKER_00: Some of them were custom, a lot of them were production.
[2:57] SPEAKER_00: And so I started from ground zero, bottom of the totem pole, and within two years became the best service tech at that shop.
[3:05] SPEAKER_00: And at four years became the youngest supervisor at the shop.
[3:09] SPEAKER_00: So I had a few guys working for me, and I'm grateful for that time because that's where I really developed the project manager role and was able to balance a lot of spinning plates.
[3:19] SPEAKER_00: And it's funny too, because my supervisor before that, I thought I was like, man, this guy has a memory like an elephant.
[3:24] SPEAKER_00: How does he do it?
[3:25] SPEAKER_00: And then I get in the role, and I'm like, okay, yeah, it comes with the territory.
[3:28] SPEAKER_00: When you're balancing 40 or 50 houses at once, it's like just answers speak for themselves and start flying out.
[3:35] SPEAKER_03: But you learn through doing, and I mean, and so you know, that basically you learned the trade that ultimately became your business while getting paid for it.
[3:45] SPEAKER_00: Indeed.
[3:45] SPEAKER_00: So I never went to trade school.
[3:47] SPEAKER_00: That's a route that is available, but honestly, I'm not too sold on it because there's many companies out here where you can just what you said get paid to learn.
[3:56] SPEAKER_00: And really it's the intention behind it because a lot of people will get in and within six months to a year, you can develop a skill set that will allow you to be comfortable.
[4:04] SPEAKER_00: I'm like, yeah, well, I'm an electrician, I know the trade, but you see people start falling off and they start taking days off and not showing up every day with the intent to learn and try to better themselves.
[4:15] SPEAKER_00: And I would say within two years, that's what really separated me.
[4:19] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[4:20] SPEAKER_03: Makes sense.
[4:20] SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's a pathway that I talk about often that I think that more people should be thinking about is like if you want to be entrepreneurial, well, you know, starting in a business of any kind or a trade of any kind, but but basically working for somebody that is doing that successfully um already, and then learning, you know, through them or learning through their that that business structure um ultimately can be your training ground for you know, ultimately starting a business of your own.
[4:50] SPEAKER_00: I would agree.
[4:51] SPEAKER_00: And I think an important thing too is I was 20 years old, but I was still a kid at the time.
[4:56] SPEAKER_03: You're still a kid at 30.
[4:58] SPEAKER_00: The way I see it, it's like I became a man in the trades, and it was great because it's a male-dominated field, um, physically tough, so it kind of explains itself.
[5:07] SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I worked around other men my entire career, and you get to see you get to see all the different shades.
[5:13] SPEAKER_00: Same as you in business.
[5:15] SPEAKER_00: It's um you compare yourself, I think, instinctively, or maybe that's just the male ego, but nevertheless, you get to see how you stack up in the totem pole, and you should want to be the best.
[5:25] SPEAKER_00: And so that's something I had early on, and wanted to be one of the best guys, someone that the company could rely on.
[5:32] SPEAKER_00: Our builders enjoyed working with, whoever it was.
[5:36] SPEAKER_00: And I think just because I put my head down and buried myself in the work, by the time I got the supervisor position, I had all the younger guys at the shop.
[5:45] SPEAKER_00: I say younger, um, we had some really young guys, 18, 19-year-olds, but they all respected me and wanted to work for me because they saw what a serious young guy could do.
[5:56] SPEAKER_00: And so um, that was really cool as well.
[5:59] SPEAKER_00: At 26, I had a 19 and a 20-year-old working for me and a 52-year-old, but he was kind of the rotten apple that I had to try to keep in line and keep motivated.
[6:09] SPEAKER_00: But the two young guys, it was really cool because my goal was not just teaching them electrical, it was all right, let's shape how you see the world.
[6:16] SPEAKER_00: Not saying I'm the best man alive, but it's like I know what it is to live serious, make goals, and achieve them, and just make the best use of your time.
[6:24] SPEAKER_00: And so that's one thing I'm proud to be able to instill in those two guys.
[6:28] SPEAKER_00: So, when did you decide you were going to start a business of your own?
[6:34] SPEAKER_00: When I was twenty-four.
[6:38] SPEAKER_00: So after I got my journal license, I realized all right, in two more years I'm eligible to get my master exam.
[6:46] SPEAKER_00: And didn't make crazy money working for that company.
[6:49] SPEAKER_00: Just it's a residential company.
[6:52] SPEAKER_00: We're not knocking out any crazy projects, and their margins are honestly razor thin.
[6:57] SPEAKER_00: So they paid me as much as they could, but I saw, okay, there's contractors out here where I can make what I would in a week or two weeks in a day doing a single project.
[7:08] SPEAKER_00: So my first uh taking part in those projects with other guys who did have their master, that's where I was like, what's stopping me from doing it?
[7:16] SPEAKER_03: So can you explain to people that don't know like what a master license is and why it's so important?
[7:21] SPEAKER_00: For sure.
[7:21] SPEAKER_00: So a master electrical license takes 12,000 on-the-job hours to attain, and then passing a technical knowledge portion.
[7:29] SPEAKER_00: So that's one thing too.
[7:30] SPEAKER_00: I think uh many people don't jump in the electrical trade that are very intellectual or scholars.
[7:35] SPEAKER_00: Um, they just want to kind of get there, work, have a good job.
[7:39] SPEAKER_00: But I always I love philosophy, I love nerding out about a bunch of stuff.
[7:44] SPEAKER_00: That's one thing that stumbled a lot of people.
[7:46] SPEAKER_00: Like, to my knowledge, I'm the first one in my immediate and general circle that passed their first time.
[7:52] SPEAKER_00: Like, I knew four other masters who I think on average failed five times, and it's a tough test, but once again, it goes back to how are you studying?
[8:02] SPEAKER_00: Are you spending an hour while also on your phone watching TV and talking to the old lady, or are you locked in your room laser focused?
[8:11] SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
[8:12] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's yeah.
[8:14] SPEAKER_00: So you got you got your master's license three years ago?
[8:17] SPEAKER_00: Let's see, I'm 33 and a half.
[8:20] SPEAKER_03: Three and a half years ago.
[8:21] SPEAKER_03: So you got that.
[8:22] SPEAKER_03: Um what did you do after you passed?
[8:25] SPEAKER_00: As soon as I passed, it's funny because there were small goals that I set along the way since I started electrical, like the wireman license, the journeyman, and a company levels of excitement.
[8:36] SPEAKER_00: I was stoked when I got my first license, thrilled when I got my second.
[8:40] SPEAKER_00: When I got my master, I think I was thrilled for maybe a couple days.
[8:45] SPEAKER_00: And um, after that, it was uh the reality set, and I was like, I need to make a business of this.
[8:51] SPEAKER_00: So immediately I watched like a 20-minute YouTube video on how to file an LLC and the best way to go about doing that.
[8:57] SPEAKER_00: And that's what I did.
[8:59] SPEAKER_00: I started the company, designed the logo, and within I think a month I had all of my documentation back from uh the Texas legislative board.
[9:07] SPEAKER_00: And yeah, then I got to work and all right, what's gonna be my exit strategy from the company and my game plan going forward?
[9:14] unknown: Yeah.
[9:15] SPEAKER_00: So you said you started the business 18 months ago, but this is three and a half years ago.
[9:18] SPEAKER_00: So like what were you doing in that period?
[9:20] SPEAKER_00: So I was still at my previous company.
[9:23] SPEAKER_00: I worked there for eight years and I had tenure there.
[9:27] SPEAKER_00: Um, the owners loved me.
[9:28] SPEAKER_00: I was kind of a stud.
[9:30] SPEAKER_00: Like everyone respected me.
[9:31] SPEAKER_00: They know the type of work I put out, builder reputation.
[9:35] SPEAKER_00: Like if there was any problem in an area, they'd send me in there, I'd go smooth it out, get whatever project it was up and running.
[9:41] SPEAKER_00: Um, so I I really didn't want to leave, and I negotiated to stay.
[9:46] SPEAKER_00: And thank God on their behalf, they're not very good negotiators to where they couldn't keep me.
[9:51] SPEAKER_00: And what it was, I'd got I was making 80K and 3K bonuses, so 83k total when I left that company.
[10:00] SPEAKER_00: And I'd got an offer from another company after I got my master's license for a guaranteed 100k first year, including bonuses.
[10:08] SPEAKER_00: I'm like, that's a pretty good jump.
[10:10] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[10:10] SPEAKER_00: And I I went back to my first company because I didn't want to leave.
[10:14] SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, hey guys, like I love you guys, I love working here, but this is 17K we're talking about.
[10:20] SPEAKER_00: And negotiations did not go great.
[10:23] SPEAKER_00: And what's funny, they do all new construction, no service work.
[10:26] SPEAKER_00: You know, looking in the trades and studying those businesses, that the service businesses are booming and have no plans of stopping, especially they're not as market dependent as well.
[10:37] SPEAKER_03: I was gonna say they're not as feastered.
[10:38] SPEAKER_03: I mean, like new construction has a bad reputation.
[10:42] SPEAKER_03: I think anybody that lived through the financial crisis at least avoids new construction businesses.
[10:47] SPEAKER_03: And oftentimes businesses that are new construction um reliant are valued less because they're viewed as more cyclical, um, because houser house housing typically goes through like a boom and bust cycles.
[10:58] SPEAKER_03: At least new builds go have gone traditionally through boom and bust cycles.
[11:02] SPEAKER_03: So, like if they stop building houses, then you don't have any business.
[11:05] SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
[11:06] SPEAKER_00: And I saw that firsthand at my company because yeah, new construction ebbs and flows, and there were many cycles of layoffs, uh particularly after COVID, because COVID brought, man, a crazy boom.
[11:17] SPEAKER_00: I remember housing prices in dripping springs was one area I was working in, went from 350,000 to 700 within the course of 18 months.
[11:26] SPEAKER_00: And so unprecedented boom.
[11:29] SPEAKER_00: I know not many people in the new construction were ready for it, but after there, boom, you see it's dead and it's still pretty slow as of now.
[11:36] SPEAKER_00: And so when I went to negotiate to stay there, they couldn't come up on salary.
[11:40] SPEAKER_00: I'm like, all right, what about this?
[11:42] SPEAKER_00: I was like, we start a service department, give me four guys, I'll make more money than this whole shop.
[11:46] SPEAKER_00: And didn't buy it on it because the manager or the owners couldn't micromanage it.
[11:50] SPEAKER_00: And so I'm like, all right, well, I've enjoyed my time, I've learned a lot.
[11:54] SPEAKER_00: Respectfully, I'm gonna take this new opportunity.
[11:57] SPEAKER_00: So the new job, I go there first day, I'm like, holy smokes.
[12:02] SPEAKER_00: They brought me in as a uh senior supervisor who was in charge of restructuring that branch because it was pretty chaotic, still a new branch, but had a lot of potential, good area.
[12:13] SPEAKER_00: It's the Austin, and they did a mix of things: new construction, service, commercial, the whole nine.
[12:19] SPEAKER_00: And first I'm like, holy cow, this is unorganized.
[12:24] SPEAKER_00: And it started with the branch manager, and so I'm keeping my eyes open, seeing we're making a list of things that I can improve, systems I can optimize.
[12:33] SPEAKER_00: And day two, I make a call to my CPA, and I ask her, I'm like, hey, so they're willing to offer me 100K first year.
[12:42] SPEAKER_00: If I go full time by myself, if I make 60 or 70 with the tax benefits offered to me, would that equal out?
[12:50] SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Oh, more than equal out.
[12:52] SPEAKER_00: So day three, I show up, say, hey, unfortunately, this isn't a good fit.
[12:57] SPEAKER_00: And that was when I started my own company.
[13:00] SPEAKER_00: And first year I did 131k.
[13:04] SPEAKER_00: That's gross.
[13:05] SPEAKER_00: Um, my net was 91.
[13:08] SPEAKER_00: So still had just about 70% profit margins first year, and so it was a crazy experience because when I made that jump, I just bought a new house and bought a new house, started a brand new job.
[13:23] SPEAKER_00: You're burning all the boats.
[13:25] SPEAKER_00: I did, yeah.
[13:26] SPEAKER_00: And so I didn't have a massive savings to fall back on, but my rationale was all right, if this doesn't work out, I'm great at what I do, I'll get another electrical job.
[13:35] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[13:36] SPEAKER_03: Which is why, which is why I recommend this path to a lot of people, is because you know you have that option.
[13:41] SPEAKER_03: It's actually it's not as risky for you as it would be for you know somebody going in a random non-trade business because your worst case scenario is you go get a job again, right?
[13:51] SPEAKER_03: Definitely.
[13:52] SPEAKER_03: Um, but okay, so that was your first year, and what was your revenue last year?
[13:58] SPEAKER_00: So that last year, 2025, that was 131k.
[14:03] SPEAKER_00: Um, so now year to date, I'm at 185 for the last 12 months.
[14:08] SPEAKER_03: So 185 in the last in the last 12 months.
[14:10] SPEAKER_03: Um, so what do you think you'll um what are you targeting for the next 12 months?
[14:16] SPEAKER_00: I want to end 2026 at over 200k.
[14:19] SPEAKER_00: I think I can I'm shooting for 250.
[14:22] SPEAKER_00: I know for sure I'll eclipse 210.
[14:24] SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, that was one goal where I remember talking, I have a great CPA, and thank God I remember when I first started, I called the buddy who I mentioned was the only business owner I knew, and I was asking him about taxes.
[14:36] SPEAKER_00: He's like, dude, you're a great electrician, hire a great CPA, it'll save you all the time and twice the headache.
[14:43] SPEAKER_00: And so sure enough, I found a great one, and yeah, that's uh that's where we're at.
[14:47] SPEAKER_00: She when I told her 200k is my goal, she's like, you're not thinking big enough.
[14:51] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I agree.
[14:52] SPEAKER_03: I agree with you.
[14:52] SPEAKER_03: We're gonna get there though.
[14:54] SPEAKER_03: The um, so tell me, um what is your long-term vision um for this business and I guess your life?
[15:04] SPEAKER_03: Like what is it that you're looking to achieve from a business perspective?
[15:08] SPEAKER_00: So I think business is a means to an end.
[15:10] SPEAKER_00: I do enjoy it.
[15:11] SPEAKER_00: There's been a lot I've learned in these last 18 months, and I love learning.
[15:15] SPEAKER_00: I love competing, um, I love interacting with the different, all the different people from every walk of life that I come across, but it's all a means to an end for financial freedom for my family.
[15:26] SPEAKER_00: So big family guy, my parents are getting older, and I have a son on the way myself.
[15:31] SPEAKER_00: And so, with that, my goal has always been to have some land that my family and their family can grow up on.
[15:38] SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, with that in mind, I want to hit a million in revenue by 33.
[15:45] SPEAKER_00: I'm 30 years right now, and on the path to do it.
[15:49] SPEAKER_00: I think that first 12 months, it was really bury my head in work and see what happens.
[15:54] SPEAKER_00: So, what is life for you look like at 50?
[15:57] SPEAKER_00: At 50, life for me would be managing businesses, um, not just electrical, although this is my baby, and I do love what I do, but I have other interests as well.
[16:07] SPEAKER_00: And so structuring it in a way that I can step away, be present on some of the vision and executive decisions being made with that.
[16:17] SPEAKER_00: But I'm already growing up grooming up a couple young guys that are going to be solid managers and have a lot more in mind to where I'm thankful, despite the current state of the world, we got some very solid young guys coming up.
[16:29] SPEAKER_00: And so that gives me hope.
[16:30] SPEAKER_00: And I know having those key players associated with my business will give me the freedom to quarterback things as well as spend more time with the family.
[16:39] SPEAKER_00: So to answer your question at 50, I plan on having a nice piece of land that I can just enjoy some peace and quiet, get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and yeah, be a present father in my son's life.
[16:52] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but you you want you you expect your business basically to be your cash flow engine that is that is um allowing that?
[17:00] SPEAKER_00: Is that is that how you envision it?
[17:02] SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
[17:02] SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be an instrument to get there.
[17:03] SPEAKER_00: And I think electrical being the first, and then yeah, like I said, I have other interests that when you say that that makes me a little bit nervous.
[17:10] SPEAKER_03: Like, what do we have?
[17:11] SPEAKER_03: Do we know what those other what I mean is like your electrical makes perfect sense.
[17:18] SPEAKER_03: You say you have other interests, like you want to combine other personal interests with business, or like what is it that you actually mean by that?
[17:24] SPEAKER_00: So I'm an ambitious guy, and what I've learned from my early 20s to now is you can't do everything.
[17:29] SPEAKER_00: You don't have the time for it.
[17:31] SPEAKER_00: Sure, you could if you allocated the time to it, but you can do any, you can have anything, but you can't have everything.
[17:37] SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
[17:37] SPEAKER_03: You can have anything you want in life, but you can't have everything you have to pick.
[17:40] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, that's good.
[17:41] SPEAKER_03: I mean, the the the blessing and the curse, I think, of electrical is that you could I mean you could have a multi-billion dollar electrical business if you wanted.
[17:50] SPEAKER_03: So like you're not you have like by kind of going all in on that, like you're definitely better off focusing than trying to trying to um you know spread yourself too thin anytime soon, I would imagine.
[18:03] SPEAKER_00: And there's honestly a good chance in my, like I said, my early 20s, I've been like, oh no, I could swing both.
[18:09] SPEAKER_00: I'm 30 years old, I'm sober-minded.
[18:11] SPEAKER_00: I realize now what I realize what I have with the electrical, the potential for expansion, not just locally, but out of state as well.
[18:19] SPEAKER_00: Um, last year I actually I flew to Tennessee and I passed my master exam over there as well.
[18:25] SPEAKER_03: And so that's one thing that but don't you think that Texas is a big enough pond for you to get to the next step just in Texas?
[18:33] SPEAKER_00: I agree, and and it it is.
[18:35] SPEAKER_00: So I wouldn't want to set shop up over there, I wouldn't want to work over there, but there's a unique opportunity where a manufacturing company, they do microchips, um, needed a master on record.
[18:46] SPEAKER_00: So I would be in charge of permits, and it's something that could be do done remotely, and it's a nice 20 to 30k bonus a year.
[18:54] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I understand.
[18:55] SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, that was I was told by an older electrician, he was 60 getting ready to retire.
[19:00] SPEAKER_00: He's like, Man, I wish I would have started this when I was your age, because I think he got his second out of state license, and that was just an idea for me to where I'm still boots on the ground in Austin and still have a lot of work to do in that area.
[19:12] SPEAKER_00: But it's like, hey, if I can fly out, pass a test, submit some legal documentation, and expand to our 20 or 30k a year, that's roughly five to seven jobs.
[19:24] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
[19:25] SPEAKER_03: Makes sense.
[19:25] SPEAKER_03: So that walk me through your business structure as it says today, meaning like, um do you have any employees or is it are you doing this all on your own?
[19:34] SPEAKER_00: So right now it's all me.
[19:35] SPEAKER_00: I have three three or four 1099 guys that I'll use on bigger projects, but by and large, all of the projects that I've done, I'm able to handle myself.
[19:44] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's easy to replicate.
[19:46] SPEAKER_00: So um What do you mean by easy to replicate?
[19:49] SPEAKER_00: Uh it's not unique to my skill set.
[19:51] SPEAKER_00: I'm very good at what I do, but this is something that I believe I could train up to the right young guys very quickly.
[19:56] SPEAKER_00: And I have a few guys in mind.
[19:58] SPEAKER_00: I'm bringing on my first full-time employee.
[20:01] SPEAKER_00: So walk me through how you are um getting customers.
[20:07] SPEAKER_00: So it's been all word of mouth, believe it or not.
[20:09] SPEAKER_00: I have not marketed online, and I guess I'll take you to the beginning.
[20:14] SPEAKER_00: So when I first quit that last job and started my own, I was recommended uh a large project in a nice part of Austin that was going to be a 20K project right out the gates.
[20:25] SPEAKER_00: Ironically enough, um, because I started that new job, I turned it down and I gave it to another electrician I know.
[20:33] SPEAKER_00: And I was like, hey man, you know your this guy's not confident, but I told him, I was like, you know your stuff very well, just be confident.
[20:39] SPEAKER_00: You know as much as I do, you'll do great.
[20:42] SPEAKER_00: Get a message back right around the time I was thinking of starting my own thing saying, hey, um our client would be more comfortable with you because I went and checked the job out and was just more confident with me due to like my company's slogan is comp confidence is competence.
[21:00] SPEAKER_00: And I think it's 100% true.
[21:01] SPEAKER_00: I I know what I do, I know what I can do.
[21:04] SPEAKER_00: I won't promise anything more, but I'm confident in that regard.
[21:08] SPEAKER_00: And so I had that 20K project lined up.
[21:10] SPEAKER_00: They ended up going with me after I quit my job, which was great.
[21:15] SPEAKER_00: Um, took about a week to complete.
[21:17] SPEAKER_00: It was a large-scale remodel and a$3 million home, and turned out great.
[21:23] SPEAKER_00: It was a good start to it, but then it's like, all right, where's the work now?
[21:27] SPEAKER_00: So every day I'd wake up at 7 a.m.
[21:30] SPEAKER_00: get dressed.
[21:31] SPEAKER_00: Um, already printed out my company shirts and whatnot, but I would sit at the I'd go to a coffee shop, sit at a computer, and make a list of 20 to 30 contractors in the area, cold call them.
[21:42] SPEAKER_00: And I did that, and sure enough, I landed as of right now.
[21:46] SPEAKER_00: I'm working with nine contractors.
[21:48] SPEAKER_00: I had three pretty quickly, I'd say within the first three months, that started feeding me a lot of business.
[21:54] SPEAKER_00: And this is a guy that I've never met before, but just calling him, he's like, All right, I can tell you.
[22:00] SPEAKER_00: Know your stuff, I'll give you a shot.
[22:02] SPEAKER_00: And so far, that has been it.
[22:04] SPEAKER_00: Is as soon as I get my foot in the door with these contractors, they prefer to work with me versus their existing electricians.
[22:11] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[22:11] SPEAKER_03: So you're primarily doing new construction work, but part of that.
[22:15] SPEAKER_00: Not at all.
[22:15] SPEAKER_00: It's it's all resid uh it's all service work, a lot of remodel work, um, some slight additions, EV chargers, but I think I've done one new construction project, although that's what I did for the first eight years of my career.
[22:29] SPEAKER_00: So why why is it that are why is it that contractors are doing service work?
[22:34] SPEAKER_00: So the general contractors, they are doing a lot of remodels, but also I think just due to the network that they have, they're getting calls saying, Hey, I have um this customer needs electrical work done here, this and that.
[22:46] SPEAKER_00: And so that led to a pipeline and their projects though, because a lot of them I work with a couple smaller contractors who they'll have a project come up maybe every couple months.
[22:58] SPEAKER_00: It's a small-scale remodel.
[23:00] SPEAKER_01: Yep.
[23:00] SPEAKER_00: But then as of late, um, so I guess backing up, I landed a project.
[23:05] SPEAKER_00: There was a new construction for a factory, small factory, uh, 60 by 60 building, and that took months and months to do.
[23:14] SPEAKER_00: So I was working nonstop on that just me, had help every now and again, but excuse me, ate up a lot of my time.
[23:22] SPEAKER_00: And so as soon as I got my head above water with that project, because it was great for cash flow, I realized all right, I need more contractors.
[23:30] SPEAKER_00: I have these two feeding me occasional jobs, but I need more.
[23:34] SPEAKER_00: And so back to the drawing board, cold cold.
[23:37] SPEAKER_00: When I had more time, I'd actually drive and try to meet people in person.
[23:41] SPEAKER_00: But it's been all um personal introductions that I've tried to make and word of mouth, recommendations for designers, contractors.
[23:49] SPEAKER_00: But that's where I really want to place myself is doing these remodels just because margins are fantastic, it requires a certain skill set that not everyone has.
[23:59] SPEAKER_00: Um, you got to balance finesse with quickness and make sure you're very thorough in the planning.
[24:05] SPEAKER_00: Because if one thing goes overlooked, they throw walls up.
[24:08] SPEAKER_00: Hey, now you're having to cut, rerun wires, client's not happy, your contractor's not happy, damages the reputation.
[24:16] SPEAKER_03: So, what is it going to take to you for you to scale the business to a million dollars a year three years from now?
[24:24] SPEAKER_00: Five employees and five to ten more contractors.
[24:30] SPEAKER_03: Um you say so I guess when you say five to ten more contractors, you're saying that's how you're going to get your um get get your sales pipeline.
[24:42] SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
[24:42] SPEAKER_00: So as of right now, it's funny.
[24:45] SPEAKER_00: I I wrote a business model and tried it.
[24:48] SPEAKER_00: That's what I was going for.
[24:49] SPEAKER_00: Underground installation, stuff like that.
[24:52] SPEAKER_00: I've done one underground installation the whole time, and the rest has been largely remodels.
[24:57] SPEAKER_00: And what I've found is it's almost an evergreen market because as we talked about, new construction is it's not there, especially in Austin.
[25:04] SPEAKER_00: They're built out to where it's going further and further north, west, all over the place, but Austin's primarily built out.
[25:11] SPEAKER_00: And so with that, these remodels are right there.
[25:14] SPEAKER_00: And on average, I'd say they're five to seven thousand.
[25:18] SPEAKER_00: Um, I have had some larger ones as soon as I get back to town.
[25:20] SPEAKER_00: I got a$14,000 remodel that looking at$2K material and labor.
[25:26] SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
[25:27] SPEAKER_03: So if you if you get a five or seven thousand dollar job, um walk me through the economics of that.
[25:33] SPEAKER_03: Like, and if you if you wanted to um you know basically outsource the the work of that job, like what would your margins ultimately be?
[25:45] SPEAKER_00: I would still be at I'd say 70% margins, 10% material, 20% labor.
[25:53] SPEAKER_00: And that's if I outsourced it as of right now, since I've been doing it, margins have been great.
[25:58] SPEAKER_00: Um, because material does not cost much.
[26:00] SPEAKER_00: 250 feet of wire costs about 170 bucks, and the boxes maybe a few bucks a piece.
[26:07] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I guess, you know, like we you when you when I say, well, what what would it take for you to grow the business?
[26:14] SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, if you're able to, if you're confident in your ability to use contractors effectively, your um 1099s to to do that, which is how you would do it, then you don't actually need employees today to make that happen.
[26:28] SPEAKER_03: What you really need is a pipeline of business.
[26:30] SPEAKER_03: Um, and and you know, if you were if you were to put your energy into building that pipeline of business, then once it became steady enough, then you would slowly start to probably internalize those contractors to employees.
[26:43] SPEAKER_03: Okay.
[26:44] SPEAKER_03: Um, but your limiting factor is ultimately that pipeline of business.
[26:50] SPEAKER_00: Indeed.
[26:50] SPEAKER_00: And right now I'm the bottleneck because everything's coming through me, whether it's site walks, um sending out invoices, completing the work, it's all me.
[27:00] SPEAKER_00: And so that's very time consuming.
[27:01] SPEAKER_00: And try to be proactive with my time.
[27:03] SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times I'm driving an hour to or from a job, and so it's like, all right, who can I call in this hour, make the introduction, and try to build that pipeline of business.
[27:14] SPEAKER_00: Um, however, whenever I have another person doing this job, that's where I can really put more of my energy into just getting the business.
[27:23] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[27:23] SPEAKER_03: Um, but you're at a point now where you kind of have to pick and choose where you're gonna put your energy next.
[27:29] SPEAKER_03: And um my hunch is that um putting your energy into figuring out your sales process is the highest use of your time.
[27:41] SPEAKER_03: Okay.
[27:42] SPEAKER_03: Do you agree with that?
[27:43] SPEAKER_00: Um give me a breakdown of the sales process.
[27:47] SPEAKER_00: Um just getting the jobs?
[27:49] SPEAKER_03: Finding more contractors to finding more in your model, finding more contractors that are going to pass leads or jobs to you.
[27:58] SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
[27:58] SPEAKER_00: And so with the conclusion of that large project I was working on, I have two more introductions whenever I get back in town.
[28:05] SPEAKER_00: One of them is just introduction with the larger contracting company, and it's been cool because one of them, it's a family-owned company.
[28:13] SPEAKER_00: They'll give me a job maybe every couple months, and it's a great job.
[28:16] SPEAKER_00: Margins are great.
[28:17] SPEAKER_00: I like doing that type of work.
[28:19] SPEAKER_00: A newer client who I've been working with for three months, probably five, five X the amount of business they've given me.
[28:28] SPEAKER_00: Every week I have a job for them, and they're not the largest company either.
[28:32] SPEAKER_00: They have, I think, eight employees total, but there's these large contracting firms who I realize, all right, if they're doing the volume of work and it's more luxurious work, that's where I want to try to put myself in.
[28:45] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[28:45] SPEAKER_03: But I guess the question, what I'm trying to reverse engineer or help or get you to reverse engineer is um, how are we going to increase the number of contractors that we have a relationship with that are passing us jobs?
[28:59] SPEAKER_03: Like what is like what is our process going to be to do that?
[29:02] SPEAKER_00: Um, I'd be all ears.
[29:04] SPEAKER_00: As of right now, my process has just been getting in front of them.
[29:07] SPEAKER_00: Whenever I get in front of them, shake their hand, talk to them, tell them what I'm about.
[29:10] SPEAKER_00: I have a great clothes rate.
[29:12] SPEAKER_00: And they choose to work with me.
[29:14] SPEAKER_00: And once that first job's in the books, all the jobs are in the books.
[29:18] SPEAKER_00: And I think that's just a testament to the skill set as well as I pride myself on communication, which I think is huge.
[29:24] SPEAKER_00: And I saw lacking with um the larger company that I worked with doing new construction.
[29:30] SPEAKER_00: It's like every detail matters on a job site.
[29:33] SPEAKER_00: And so I'm very thorough.
[29:34] SPEAKER_00: I'll ask the right questions.
[29:36] SPEAKER_00: So even if it's not my mistake, if I think they may not be thinking about every piece of the pie, it's like, yeah, let me ask you about that.
[29:43] unknown: Yeah.
[29:44] SPEAKER_00: So what is your process today for getting in front of them?
[29:48] SPEAKER_00: As of right now, start to finish, I get on Google, search, do some research on these businesses, make sure they're reputable, make sure they put out the right type of finished product that I could get behind.
[29:59] SPEAKER_00: And then from there, I will message every key member of that staff and just see who the right guy is that I need to talk to.
[30:08] SPEAKER_00: And so I'll make a call.
[30:09] SPEAKER_00: I email, but calling's a little better, I found out.
[30:12] SPEAKER_00: I like getting in front of them if I can, but um I'll I'll cold call them and make the introduction, set up a meeting, and then just go for a test run.
[30:22] SPEAKER_00: So, how are how are you keeping track of that?
[30:24] SPEAKER_00: As of right now, I just have a spreadsheet at home that spreadsheet and a calendar that I have all of my contractors I work with, prospective contractors, and I balance that to where I just with me doing mainly remodels, um, I have projects all over, but the start time's flexible.
[30:41] SPEAKER_00: So I can make a meeting in the afternoon in the morning, but I just jam that into my schedule and make it work.
[30:47] unknown: Yeah.
[30:47] SPEAKER_03: So um, how many contractors have do you do you have any idea how many contractors that do this work are in your service area?
[30:57] SPEAKER_00: A lot.
[30:58] SPEAKER_00: And so what I found out is this not every contractor is the same.
[31:01] SPEAKER_00: Some of them are slow, some don't put out the best quality work.
[31:06] SPEAKER_00: And I have a mix of all of those right now in my current portfolio of contractors.
[31:11] SPEAKER_00: However, yeah, there is hundreds.
[31:14] SPEAKER_03: What I'm yeah, what I'm trying to get at is like have you cataloged like where my thought process goes, how we're in your situation is step number one.
[31:22] SPEAKER_03: Let's get a list of all of the contractors that are potential targets with their website, their contact information, any people we can find.
[31:32] SPEAKER_03: Like, we need to have that master list.
[31:34] SPEAKER_03: Do we have that?
[31:34] SPEAKER_03: Do we have that master list yet?
[31:36] SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't call it a master list, but I do have a ever-expanding list.
[31:40] SPEAKER_00: So I'll I'll make a list of 20 or 30, call them, scratch them off the list if it's not a good fit, and then keep it going.
[31:46] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[31:46] SPEAKER_03: So like this is the like as an example, and you could approach this in many different ways, but um, you know, why would you not go to a freelance platform like Ubwork and basically pay somebody to create that master list for you?
[31:59] SPEAKER_03: Now, now with AI, somebody who knows what they're doing could do it pretty quickly.
[32:03] SPEAKER_03: Um, but maybe it would be helpful to start with a say, okay, well, there are a thousand people that or a thousand companies that I need to get in front of um and have that be a starting point rather than you going and just googling randomly every day, maybe like, hey, let's let's let's get a starting point and then start attacking it from that.
[32:24] SPEAKER_03: And then think, okay, well, um, maybe you can come up with an email program where you, you know, have somebody help you to start emailing um each of these.
[32:34] SPEAKER_03: Like there are software, um, like Apollo, I think is the name of one.
[32:39] SPEAKER_03: Um, Zoom Info is another one.
[32:41] SPEAKER_03: There are a few of these where you can actually get contact information.
[32:44] SPEAKER_03: Like if you have a if you have a C company, you can get contact information for everybody that works for that company or for a title or for a job title for that company.
[32:53] SPEAKER_03: Um, but you need to start thinking about how you're going to build a systematic sales process that's going to do some of this.
[33:00] SPEAKER_03: And like you're small enough right now where you're going to have to do this yourself.
[33:02] SPEAKER_03: I mean, I I don't think I can suggest that you hire somebody to do this for you yet.
[33:08] SPEAKER_03: Um, you want to get to that point.
[33:09] SPEAKER_03: Um, but I think that you need to start thinking through how do you build a process that is going to make it kind of automatic for these meetings to be set up for you or to make it easier for you to do it at some more scale.
[33:21] SPEAKER_00: I agree.
[33:22] SPEAKER_00: And I actually did.
[33:24] SPEAKER_00: I have a friend of mine who he's I love this kid.
[33:27] SPEAKER_00: He's 22 years old, he's making 100k a year, and he works for himself.
[33:34] SPEAKER_00: He studied AI, he was self-taught, and he'd been bugging me, bugging me.
[33:39] SPEAKER_00: Let me do some outreach for you, let me do some outreach.
[33:41] SPEAKER_00: So for two months we did a test run and he compiled a list.
[33:45] SPEAKER_00: I would say probably need to go back to the drawing board and reconfigure that avatar because the list he produced pretty extensive, made a lot of calls, but just not the right people.
[33:57] SPEAKER_00: Kind of wasn't verified if uh I guess the volume of work was there in the whole nine.
[34:04] SPEAKER_00: And what I've what I've done wouldn't be opposed to it.
[34:08] SPEAKER_00: What I've done right now, though, is just going after a certain avatar.
[34:10] SPEAKER_00: Okay, you do this type of work specifically remodels, you have this this amount of volume, and those are who I'm going after.
[34:19] SPEAKER_00: And I I love the AI idea, and it's unavoidable nowadays.
[34:23] SPEAKER_00: AI is everywhere.
[34:24] SPEAKER_00: So I do have something in the works that within a couple months should be able to be up and running.
[34:29] SPEAKER_00: I think the first year of business, I wasn't able, not wasn't able, but I didn't put the effort into documenting everything, taking pictures.
[34:37] SPEAKER_00: Now I've course corrected, I'm doing that so that I couldn't can build some type of um what would I say business and have a presence online to where yes, I can be have Google ads the whole nine.
[34:51] SPEAKER_00: So I was a little late to the party on that.
[34:53] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, just one random idea that I'll give you that I just thought of talking to you, but I would I think it's a good one.
[34:59] SPEAKER_03: You can tell me.
[35:00] SPEAKER_03: But using uh finding someone to help you search every permit that is pulled in the Austin area um and the contractors that is pulling it, and then saying, well, okay, uh if they're pulling certain types of permits, they're likely to be doing um construction work that would be consistent as an ideal client for you, and then use that as a as a feature, like, hey, these are the companies that keep having volume and things I care about.
[35:32] SPEAKER_03: I need to get to know them.
[35:33] SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
[35:34] SPEAKER_00: And I think that'd be very easily accomplished.
[35:36] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[35:36] SPEAKER_03: And so I mean that that would be that's the kind of thinking that I would be going through.
[35:40] SPEAKER_03: It's like, you know, if if you wanted to know like who's actually doing this work, well, go find it that way, and then that will kind of lead you to where like these are the people that I need to be getting in front of.
[35:52] SPEAKER_03: Or um it also give you, you know, potentially at least, um, that you know like where jobs are happening today.
[36:00] SPEAKER_03: So if you want to stop by a job site and put that perhaps introduce to somebody in person, introduce yourself to somebody in person, then you know that they're likely to be there and you're driving by today.
[36:09] SPEAKER_03: Well, hey, I'm gonna stop by and introduce myself.
[36:12] SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, that that would be how I would be thinking about like what I what I'm trying to do is you want to be thinking through like what's the biggest problem you have?
[36:22] SPEAKER_03: You need more jobs.
[36:23] SPEAKER_03: Like it seems to me that you know, if you had more jobs, then that's going to give you um the ability to start, you know, expanding your 1099 network and then ultimately hiring employees.
[36:36] SPEAKER_03: What's keeping you from doing that is you don't have enough consistent work.
[36:40] SPEAKER_03: You don't have enough consistent work because you're spending all your time doing the work.
[36:43] SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
[36:44] SPEAKER_03: Right?
[36:44] SPEAKER_03: Um, so like it's a chicken and egg problem.
[36:46] SPEAKER_03: Well, then that means how do we get the biggest leverage on the time that you do have to start expanding your number of jobs, which means you got to build a system around that.
[36:57] SPEAKER_03: Okay.
[36:58] SPEAKER_03: Right.
[36:58] SPEAKER_03: And so um, how do you build a system around it?
[37:01] SPEAKER_03: Well, you got to start thinking through like, well, you know, what are what are how can I find um the target customers for what I'm doing and your target customers, contractors, um, and start reverse engineering how you do that?
[37:15] SPEAKER_03: It's like just in this conversation, like figuring out who's pulling permits.
[37:19] SPEAKER_03: Like that, that would be one idea that I would I would chase down.
[37:23] SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, having having a master kind of database of people you could maybe call email.
[37:29] SPEAKER_03: Um, that would be another one.
[37:30] SPEAKER_03: Like you have to chase each of those down until you kind of figure out, like, hey, this is something that's that I can kind of almost put on an autopilot that's gonna that's gonna be bringing me 100%.
[37:41] SPEAKER_00: No, you're correct.
[37:42] SPEAKER_00: Because yeah, the last two months that's been a focus.
[37:44] SPEAKER_00: I think the first year it was just treading water, making sure the proof of concept was there that I can do this, there is work out there to be done, and boom, sure enough, there's work out there to be done.
[37:55] SPEAKER_00: And so but we know but but you know, we know both of those things are true, right?
[37:59] SPEAKER_03: So, like we know that there's you know an unlimited amount of electrical um neat work needed, definitely, and we know that you have the capability to do it and the license to do it.
[38:11] SPEAKER_03: So those things are true.
[38:12] SPEAKER_03: Now the question is how do we build a systematic business that ultimately achieves your goal of you know it working when you're on vacation or you're at your you know relaxing home ranch as you describe it, right?
[38:29] SPEAKER_03: And how are you gonna do that?
[38:30] SPEAKER_03: Well, it's gonna be starting to build systems, and you know, the first system you need to build is a sales system.
[38:38] SPEAKER_03: I mean, because that's building a funnel is yeah, because that that's your weak link because like you know, push comes to shove, you know how to do the how to how to get how to bail yourself out on the job side, right?
[38:50] SPEAKER_03: Because worst case, you can go get it done, or you know enough people that you can you can get a job done.
[38:55] SPEAKER_03: That's your superpower, right?
[38:57] SPEAKER_03: That that's what you have.
[38:58] SPEAKER_03: So like that's not your that's not where your focus needs to be.
[39:01] SPEAKER_03: Like you you have to almost take that for granted.
[39:03] SPEAKER_03: Like you're gonna do that.
[39:05] SPEAKER_03: But building a system around that's repeatable around getting more business, that's that's where the focus needs to be.
[39:13] SPEAKER_00: If you want to, if you want to I agree completely, because like you said, the work is there, and I have ample men that are ready to do the job.
[39:20] SPEAKER_00: Um, people who would like to work with me full time, but also just 1099 who are hungry for work.
[39:26] SPEAKER_00: And so that piece of the puzzle is there, and you're correct.
[39:29] SPEAKER_00: Right now it's getting the jobs, and the current system is all right, let me let me reach out to contractors, try to make a personal approach.
[39:37] SPEAKER_00: And although effective is slow.
[39:39] SPEAKER_00: And so I do agree that yeah, building a funnel and just having some type of AI outreach would be extremely beneficial.
[39:47] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but what do you think about and if your economics were true, as you described to me, about the 20% labor, 10% whatever, like why would you like I would like to see you make less money by um outsourcing more jobs than maybe you're comfortable with today, and taking that time to that extra time that you have to focus on building this other system we're talking about.
[40:16] SPEAKER_03: Meaning short term, be willing to maybe take a little bit of a pay cut to value your time higher so that you can take your time and your energy, put it in bringing more leads in, um, and rather than doing the job yourself, which may mean paying somebody when you're like, Yeah, I can do it myself and make an extra thousand bucks this week or whatever it is, but consciously decide, no, I'm going to let I'm gonna let somebody else do it.
[40:47] SPEAKER_03: Um, and I'm going to take the extra time that I freed up to go out, maybe have five more contracts to generate more.
[40:55] SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you this.
[40:56] SPEAKER_00: So, my plan was, like I said, August 1st, I wanted to bring a full-time employee on.
[41:01] SPEAKER_00: And this is a guy who I trained up years ago.
[41:04] SPEAKER_00: I know what he can do.
[41:05] SPEAKER_00: He would be a younger me, but essentially that'd be me uh plugging him into what I do.
[41:10] SPEAKER_00: What do you think of that versus and or hiring just contracting everything out?
[41:16] SPEAKER_00: There is a group of 299s.
[41:17] SPEAKER_00: You're too early to be hiring a full-time employee, in my opinion.
[41:20] SPEAKER_03: All right.
[41:21] SPEAKER_03: Um, I would much rather see you put those excess resources into building the sales.
[41:25] SPEAKER_03: Well, that's good news.
[41:27] SPEAKER_03: The problem is not your ability to deliver on the on the um product, at least as you described to me.
[41:34] SPEAKER_03: Like, and I think that the nice thing is in your situation, um, you're only gonna hire people that you trust that you know do good work because you've been in the industry.
[41:42] SPEAKER_03: And if they mess up, you have the ability to go in and fix it because you have the knowledge.
[41:47] SPEAKER_03: So you're de-risked on that side.
[41:50] SPEAKER_03: What you don't have is a sales pipeline.
[41:52] SPEAKER_03: And so, like any excess money that you have or any any investment you're gonna make needs to be in building that sales pipeline.
[42:00] SPEAKER_00: I agree.
[42:00] SPEAKER_00: And yeah, just you saying instead of trying to go after one employee and just go after the contractors, they're already already set in place.
[42:07] SPEAKER_03: If you're gonna hire anybody, I'd rather you hire a salesperson because that's that's where you need the most help.
[42:13] SPEAKER_03: Like if you if something goes wrong on a Saturday, you may not like it, but you can go solve it.
[42:18] SPEAKER_03: So you you have a like and then you know you have enough that those things happen, then you go hire somebody, but you don't you don't have that problem yet.
[42:26] SPEAKER_01: No.
[42:26] SPEAKER_03: Um, and so like I would rather see you pay a premium to somebody else who's good to do the 1099 work and be willing to take a lower margin um in those in those jobs um to not have the risk of responsibility of another employee um and you know free up your time to go out and do the to build the the sales pipeline.
[42:49] SPEAKER_03: Um and also I don't want to see you burn a relationship like if you have somebody that you really like in six months, you may need to hire a full-time employee or a year, you may need to hire an employee to do that kind of stuff.
[43:01] SPEAKER_03: Um, but you know, you don't want to hire them too early and then burn that bridge because you're not able to deliver on your promises yet.
[43:09] SPEAKER_00: Exactly, not have enough work to keep them happy.
[43:11] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[43:12] SPEAKER_03: So I I I actually wouldn't do that yet.
[43:16] SPEAKER_03: Well, that's great news.
[43:17] SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that.
[43:17] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[43:18] SPEAKER_03: But we we need to put that whatever excess capital cash you generate needs to go into fit like experimenting and figuring out the sales process.
[43:30] SPEAKER_03: Maybe, maybe it means you know, experimenting with Google ads for the first time or build building a website.
[43:37] SPEAKER_03: I mean, like you can think through it all, but I think the contractor angle makes a lot of sense.
[43:40] SPEAKER_03: I mean, I think that that um you know, I I I understand that.
[43:45] SPEAKER_03: And so like figuring out a way to you can buy lists that are already generated of this stuff, or um, you know, I'd imagine you can find um, you know, pay people per inner for introductions.
[43:56] SPEAKER_03: Um there's it's a tried and true thing.
[43:59] SPEAKER_03: And um know I'd rather see you put your excess money into experimenting with that stuff until you figure out something.
[44:06] SPEAKER_03: Um and then the you you hire a a full time person when you have so much consistent work that um you know that it's that you're gonna save you're gonna save money by doing that versus the contractor route.
[44:20] SPEAKER_03: Gotcha.
[44:20] SPEAKER_03: Okay.
[44:21] SPEAKER_03: And when you get to that point it'll be obvious.
[44:23] SPEAKER_00: I agree and at that point that's someone who can go walk jobs, bid jobs, do a lot of the work that I'm doing now that to your point gets me right back in the saddle of introductions, relationships, meeting these new contractors, designers, whoever it may be.
[44:37] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[44:38] SPEAKER_03: Yeah I mean that's the that's the playbook that you that you got to follow.
[44:41] SPEAKER_03: I mean I think what's what's hard for somebody why why a lot of people in your situation don't make this switch is because they're too short term greedy.
[44:49] SPEAKER_03: Because you know they see every time they hire a contractor um they they think well um I can just do it myself and you know save money.
[45:00] SPEAKER_03: And um you do that too much and then you never you never actually give yourself the the room or the time to breathe to to take a step back and actually work on the bigger picture which is the repeatable sales process.
[45:14] SPEAKER_03: Definitely because like whenever whenever we're it's human nature whenever we get in these situations we we go to what we're comfortable with.
[45:21] SPEAKER_03: You're comfortable doing the work because you've you know how to do the work you've done the work.
[45:24] SPEAKER_03: You're you do the work better than anybody you're gonna hire you know that and so like you are just saying well I'll just go do it and like oh I don't I'll just you know spend my nights and weekends because it's good for cash flow and you know and you get you've got to do what you got to do to eat.
[45:39] SPEAKER_03: I mean it's part of that but um if you all if you look at every opportunity that way you're only ever going you're never going to be able to scale a real business.
[45:49] SPEAKER_00: Definitely and I think that was uh I guess a simplified version of my thought process was I have enough work for me right now let me work my butt off until I get so much work that I cannot do all this by myself.
[46:02] SPEAKER_00: And I guess the thought process shift now is instead of bringing on one more guy it's like hey I know three to five different crews that I could 1099 at that would knock it out in no time and definitely comfortable doing the that because the margins on the type of work that I'm going after they're fantastic.
[46:20] SPEAKER_00: It's basically all labor very minimal material cost in there.
[46:24] SPEAKER_03: Yeah but you think about it like for your stated goal your goal is to not do any of the work yourself because you want to be able to relax on your nice property with your with your family um so the quicker way to get that is the quickest way to get that is to start thinking today like like how can I be lazy in in a way like how can which which which isn't an excuse to be lazy but it's like if I wanted if if I wanted to you know have that dream today what would it take right and um you know so every step every every time you're thinking well I could do it myself or I could pay somebody a little bit and still have margin and let them do the work well then take that take option B, but then keep um putting all that excess energy and building the top of the funnel pipeline of these things.
[47:13] SPEAKER_03: And you do that long enough you'll get to the point where you'll have so much work you couldn't do it all and you're like well um you don't have to definitely I think a big thing is the trust factor.
[47:23] SPEAKER_00: It's like I I trust myself to execute flawlessly and passing that on and I think where that could be eliminated the over the need for over trust is just standards being on the same page with my contractors to make sure it's like all right do a site walk this is exactly what we're doing and trust it to get done and realize hey even if it doesn't go perfect that's all right.
[47:45] SPEAKER_03: Yeah and that's the only way you can scale I mean like there literally is no other way to scale so the sooner that you accept that and start to behave that way, the better off you'll be you know um but it's human nature so many people in these situations fight it and it's why it's why most people in your situation don't ever actually move from um being a you know high income producer that just happens to have operate through a business definitely they don't make the they they they never go from that to actually being a business owner um which requires a different mindset it may mean short term making a little bit less money or a little bit less margin.
[48:24] SPEAKER_03: But that's the only way that you really can ultimately get there.
[48:28] SPEAKER_00: Indeed because it's like if I'm gone and work's not being done and I'm not making income hey it's a job it's not a business.
[48:34] SPEAKER_03: So I agree with you so you need to be thinking every decision needs to be made made through the lens of not how do I maximize the money I make today but how am I going to build a repeatable system that maximizes the money that I make in the future.
[48:49] SPEAKER_00: Definitely I think that's crystal clear let me ask you this so as I said like my target job that I'll go after it's remodels there requires a certain level of skill set just fantastic numbers all the way around I did for a point in the first year I was on thumbtack and was fed jobs and created a presence on there pretty quick.
[49:11] SPEAKER_00: The only downside I guess in my eyes of going after those is they're highly competitive.
[49:16] SPEAKER_00: You paid 30 bucks for a lead and then 10 minutes later it shows oh seven other people have reached out and so don't get me wrong it was still working I think I was spending upwards of a thousand a week but making far more than that.
[49:29] SPEAKER_00: However I think the jobs I'm going after there's less competition because once I make the relationship and have that with the contractor then all the jobs are mine.
[49:38] SPEAKER_00: What do you think about that?
[49:39] SPEAKER_00: Should I try to incorporate some of that going forward?
[49:43] SPEAKER_03: Well I mean ultimately the answer is yes um you know I'm trying to be mindful of where you are in your journey and you know um you know you have limited fixed limited resources and you want to make sure you're using them in the most wise way possible.
[50:01] SPEAKER_03: And I'd rather actually see you use that budget to use 1099s that then free up your time to do the relationship building.
[50:09] SPEAKER_03: I mean I think that's the highest probability of success for you requires the least um kind of technical knowledge and things to go right.
[50:18] SPEAKER_03: And that's why that's where I would focus and like you know just focusing on that can easily double your business today.
[50:24] SPEAKER_03: And so I kind of don't want I don't want to see you get distracted and chase all those other things um even though like there are models and all these other things that work.
[50:36] SPEAKER_03: So that's why like I it it really I'm trying to lean into what I think you're you know and are successful at so that's where that that's where I go with it.
[50:43] SPEAKER_03: That's what gives you the optionality for the future but like in 2026 that stuff is so competitive and so saturated so expensive.
[50:51] SPEAKER_00: And that's been my thought process for not going after that type of work.
[50:54] SPEAKER_03: Yeah and that's why like it absolutely works but it's just unfortunately um I think it takes it it's gonna take more financial resources and kind of just like knowledge.
[51:05] SPEAKER_03: Like it's something you should like if if you have spare time you should be poking around with that and figuring it out.
[51:11] SPEAKER_03: But I'm just reluctant to say like hey that's your answer because I I just think that you're gonna have a much uh surer path to success by following what you're already doing exactly um and doubling and tripling down on that.
[51:24] SPEAKER_03: And um and that's why that's why that's where I go with it.
[51:27] SPEAKER_03: It's not that stuff doesn't work it 100% does work.
[51:29] SPEAKER_00: But I agree.
[51:30] SPEAKER_00: Because the the last six months I've had a 40% growth in overall revenue and it's because there was an experimentation process the first 12 months but then it's like oh okay this I didn't plan on making this my target avatar job but this is what it is.
[51:44] SPEAKER_03: These are repeatable they're evergreen and they're abundant so it's like yeah let me let me focus on and you understand it and and like you're not I you you have nowhere close to saturated your potential with that.
[51:58] SPEAKER_03: So I I want to see you just double down on that and not get distracted by everything else but do build up your Google My Business and your review profile okay because that is what ultimately you may start getting some organically that way.
[52:10] SPEAKER_03: And then once you have a little more cash flow coming in a little more resources then you start experimenting with that and that's it becomes something you add on to what you're doing rather than um you know you know be at the the expense of you spending your energy somewhere else.
[52:29] SPEAKER_03: I agree.
[52:29] SPEAKER_03: So you understand like that's the playbook is like I want to see you you know you can get to a million dollars easily just doing this one thing focusing on contractors and having that be having that be your thing.
[52:40] SPEAKER_03: So like if that's the case then let's not get distracted by anything else even if it will work I mean if it's something you really understand you want to experiment like nobody's stopping you.
[52:51] SPEAKER_03: I've already done it but it but it's just like I I just think that you should focus on what's working exactly what you understand and you're not constrained in any way by that right now.
[53:02] SPEAKER_03: So everything else is just kind of noise.
[53:05] SPEAKER_00: I agree and I'm glad you said that because I know you've talked a lot about service service based business in the past but yeah this is adjacent to that and it's still electrical service work.
[53:14] SPEAKER_00: But it's not yeah it's not going out and troubleshooting and doing this type of tedious work.
[53:19] SPEAKER_03: Yeah um I mean the thing about nice thing about electrical is you know there are so many iterations of it like you could be doing a work for data centers and and in Texas there are a lot of them I would imagine um you know there's pathways to doing that and um you know that would be interesting and we could sit here and have a great business plan on that but you've got to um you've got to crawl before you can walk you know and so we gotta we gotta go through the steps of how you put yourself in a position to be able to attack bigger and bigger jobs.
[53:51] SPEAKER_03: You need more infrastructure more cash flow all these kind of things and um the way you're gonna get it is by doing what you already know works and just figuring out a way to focus more on that and to scale it.
[54:02] SPEAKER_00: So if you're in my shoes the next five years you're just grinding down every contractor and designer and getting this type of work in Austin.
[54:10] SPEAKER_03: I mean next two years a hundred percent I think that if you do your job right in two years you can start to expand more like I think that I mean five years is a long time.
[54:20] SPEAKER_03: So like I think I hope five years from now I hope you're doing I I hope you probably added a few things but to get to you know two to three million dollars a year revenue whatever that is um you can a hundred percent do just just having a good contract contractor you know um network um and but I mean I think like if in that time period building up your you know online presence review profile you know maybe even turning on the um the the the Google call ads um there's a there's a term for it I forget like but like once you have a good once you have a profile those are like I would probably do that um or experiment with that.
[55:01] SPEAKER_03: I mean you can start like you don't need to wait five years to do that but um you can get to a few million dollars a year revenue just through a contractor network doing what you understand and know.
[55:14] SPEAKER_03: Definitely okay I mean and that's that's what I would do.
[55:18] SPEAKER_03: And you know there's nothing wrong with you talking to builders and you know exploring that and tasting that I mean I there's I mean I I wouldn't I I I wouldn't you know I would be networking if I were you and figuring that out.
[55:33] SPEAKER_03: Just like you talk about you I I look around I want to be the best at what I do you want to be the best um remodel electrician in Austin like do do that do that then then like you say hey I've I've already I've already achieved that um I need another I need another goal then you can say I'm gonna add San Antonio to it or whatever whatever you decide it is.
[55:56] SPEAKER_03: But like I I think you need to prove like you need to prove that first and establish a system in Austin first and then it could be replicated down the line but yeah I agree it's early on right you're so far away from that that don't like focus on being the best in Austin.
[56:10] SPEAKER_03: Definitely um and being the one that everybody wants to call because you do great work you're fairly priced and reliable and so like if you if you say yes they know they're handled.
[56:22] SPEAKER_03: If you're that guy then you're gonna have as much business as you want and like like it'll be enough it would be enough to achieve your current stated goal um you know for life and so if that's the case then maybe you stop you know it's not how I'm built but it's how maybe it's how you decide hey I'm gonna go do something else.
[56:39] SPEAKER_03: That's fine.
[56:40] SPEAKER_03: But you don't have to leave Austin to achieve what you say you want to achieve.
[56:43] SPEAKER_03: Definitely so um start with that then come talk and we'll we'll we'll figure out what's next.
[56:51] SPEAKER_00: For sure.
[56:51] SPEAKER_00: Yeah as of right now I think the reputation's solid in Austin but it's solid with those nine contractors and getting that to 20 contractors I think it's a task but it's it's not it's not that hard.
[57:02] SPEAKER_00: It's a matter of making calls shaking hands getting in front of people and to your point building the system of developing the master list coupling some AI with that and yeah that's exactly what I plan on doing.
[57:14] SPEAKER_03: The the trick for you will become and I'm very confident you can do it but you just have to understand it that the trick will become um keeping your service high while um using 1099s and then ultimately employees to do the work where you're not doing the work right like you have to keep you have to be able to maintain the culture that your level of service is going to be high no matter who's doing it.
[57:38] SPEAKER_03: Because like right now my guess is most people are hiring you.
[57:41] SPEAKER_03: They're not hiring your company they're hiring you.
[57:43] SPEAKER_03: Correct and um the trick you're gonna have is to prove to everybody else in that network that when they hire you, you're gonna send somebody and that that that's still going to get it done to that same reputation.
[57:56] SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
[57:57] SPEAKER_03: So that's the reputation you really need to build and I don't I guess that you haven't built that yet you don't have the you don't have enough um reps to have built it yet.
[58:06] SPEAKER_03: It would have been impossible.
[58:07] SPEAKER_00: I've gotten glimpses of it because I've I've contracted out some jobs and it's like I got I work with some great contractors who it's like the most important thing is communication.
[58:16] SPEAKER_00: I'm like all right guys we're doing X, Y, and Z.
[58:18] SPEAKER_00: And I trust that if these guys are cutting sheetrock they're not taking a hammer to it.
[58:21] SPEAKER_00: And so imposing those standards with my contractors and yeah honestly I think the biggest thing right now is just letting them have free reign because they're ready to work they're able to work I just haven't given them the green light to do it.
[58:34] SPEAKER_00: And so to your point stepping back letting them knock out all the current work I have while focusing my energy on getting more of that growing the business developing more contacts and relationships.
[58:45] SPEAKER_03: Yeah and even if you make less money for the next year while doing that in a year from now you're gonna be in such a stronger place.
[58:50] SPEAKER_03: 100% um and that that is why that needs like that's the answer to your problems.
[58:57] SPEAKER_03: And but you know don't take for granted the quality of the work in your contract network because as you scale you're gonna be further away from them further away from the customer and so you got to make sure you're putting in um the systems and the oversight and whatnot in place to maintain that because the worst thing that can happen is you scale too quickly and then you build a you know a bad reputation for a couple of jobs which can happen.
[59:21] SPEAKER_03: Bad news travels fast.
[59:22] SPEAKER_03: And and so you know just don't don't lose sight of that but um from the little bit that I I know you I suspect you really understand your craft and you understand other people in it.
[59:32] SPEAKER_03: And so you're gonna I think that will come naturally for you but you you need to make sure you don't overlook it.
[59:37] SPEAKER_00: Definitely I think in the early on it'll be easy to do that with my current workload and as it grows but then as it scales further and further having a good manager in place and someone who has the same expectations and standards as I do.
[59:51] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[59:51] SPEAKER_00: So is there anything that you wanted to talk about today that we haven't covered one thing I would like to pick your brain about so this is my immediate game plan.
[1:00:01] SPEAKER_00: This is my focus and it's really it's really all I do.
[1:00:04] SPEAKER_00: However one thing that I would like to explore would be the out of state licensing.
[1:00:09] SPEAKER_00: That's something that it really boils down to being able to pass a trade exam and a law exam, which I've done first time in Tennessee would that be something you think is viable because there's not much of a time commitment there to expand and get 20 to 30K per state not entirely passive but very low time commitment.
[1:00:30] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[1:00:31] SPEAKER_03: I mean the honest answer is I'm not equipped to advise you on that.
[1:00:34] SPEAKER_03: So like I'm not gonna tell you something I don't know um you know red flags go off when I hear that mostly from like a liability perspective like there's there's a reason why they're asking you to do that.
[1:00:48] SPEAKER_03: And and um I don't know what it is but it's just like there's like my guess is there's you know there's a reason why other people aren't out there doing it.
[1:00:58] SPEAKER_03: Maybe there's not but like that's that that's just where my head goes with it.
[1:01:01] SPEAKER_00: I'm skeptical it's it's gate kept largely um because these aren't just like one thing I would never do is lease my license out to another electrician network.
[1:01:11] SPEAKER_00: That's just it's it's not what I've done.
[1:01:12] SPEAKER_00: I've heard of it.
[1:01:13] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[1:01:13] SPEAKER_00: Liability red flags um with this it's like a a billion dollar company who is manufacturing large things and it's just gate kept it's a network of oh our current master electrician's retiring and kind of filling in some bigger shoes as they come and go.
[1:01:27] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[1:01:28] SPEAKER_03: So I'm not gonna tell you not to do it.
[1:01:30] SPEAKER_03: I would tell you to proceed with caution and make sure you understand what you're doing.
[1:01:34] SPEAKER_03: Definitely I don't know enough about it.
[1:01:35] SPEAKER_03: Okay.
[1:01:36] SPEAKER_03: You know it's not a it's not a you know I generally stick with you know things that are standard that I can at least understand that is a more technical thing that um if I told you to go you know in with both hands then and I I would I just don't know what I don't know in that.
[1:01:55] SPEAKER_03: You know I think that it's okay to be entrepreneurial and explore these things and um but you're so stretched like you're not putting the time you need now to do your stated goal of being the best in Austin or you don't have you don't have the time to do that fully and I just want to make sure that this other stuff is not coming at the expense of that.
[1:02:16] SPEAKER_03: Definitely um you know I think that unless you believe unless you look at it and you're like well this is the business I want to be in for whatever reason and again I don't understand enough about it to tell you if that's good or or bad my guess is that um my hunch is that that's a much trickier business to scale.
[1:02:40] SPEAKER_03: Indeed and and um you know so where I want where I want to see like my where my gut is like let's become the best you know electrician in Austin for remodels um and have that be our focus.
[1:02:55] SPEAKER_00: I mean that that that that's where my head goes and that is my goal yeah this was something that I'm like is it worth considering and maybe if uh maybe if the business model was different but I I agree with you I think all of my eggs need to go on the scaling the remodel electric work in Austin Basket.
[1:03:10] SPEAKER_03: Yeah and then like there's opportunities will still be there three years from now if it's a good opportunity or five years from now like there's nothing like that's one thing I've learned um you know a lot of the businesses that I'm doing now or the things that I'm doing now are ideas that I had 15 years ago and like I try and a lot of times I tried to do these things too early.
[1:03:31] SPEAKER_03: I would do them and then I would kind of fail or I would never be able to see it through and I had to shut it down.
[1:03:37] SPEAKER_03: And then now 15 years later I'm coming back and actually I'm actually doing some of these things correctly.
[1:03:44] SPEAKER_03: And I have a whole list of these things in my head and it's like I think we as entrepreneurs we see an opportunity and we want to you know take take do it all today right but like you can't do it all today.
[1:03:55] SPEAKER_03: And the reality is that if it's a good opportunity it'll still be there for you in the future.
[1:03:59] SPEAKER_03: For sure.
[1:03:59] SPEAKER_03: You know um and you know that's why especially at your scale really just getting started um you need to focus on you know going from 200 grand a year to 400 grand a year um in the thing that you're and you already have a proven model that's working for that 200 grand a year let's not go let's not deviate from from this let's just you know keep the foot on the gas and keep going that let's double this doing what we're doing and then then do that again then double it again then then like once you're like well I really have no other avenues here then we start to you know expand on the and the man on the margin but but 95 plus percent of the time that's the the I agree those are interests and ideas but I know like I said I'm I'm as a younger man I would have tried to pursue five different things at once I realize what I have here the value in it and the necessity to go all in to make that happen.
[1:04:56] SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you this what do you think the most important part of your mindset led to your success?
[1:05:04] SPEAKER_03: Long-term thinking.
[1:05:05] SPEAKER_03: Okay um and like you know I think that's why I always lead in all of these podcasts I always ask the some version of the question of well you know what um does success look like five ten twenty years from now that's why in your case I asked what does life look like at 50 um and you don't have a clear answer for that you have a couple of ideas like yeah I want to live in a nice place and spend time with my family like most people have some version of that like that's pretty generic if you in the grand scheme of things and those are great those are great goals.
[1:05:40] SPEAKER_03: You know and but you know I think the more clear you can be on what that actually means for you um the more likely you're going to be able to um put in the pieces today that ultimately get you there.
[1:05:55] SPEAKER_03: Definitely you know and um I think I have a lot of clarity around that um and have for long time and have like a and and know how like the actions that I take today or the 10 years ago also feed feed to that future um and that gives me a lot of clarity and staying power in doing the hard things you know that I that I kind of do um and you know I think that the clearer you can be on that the better off you're gonna be okay last question I think I have for you what do you think is a realistic timeline to take my business to a million a year in revenue 12 months I like that I mean there's no reason why you couldn't be doing that a year from now there's no reason I mean if you do what we talked about you should be there a year from now but you gotta focus on the sale on the on the sales pipeline I mean but it's just it's just you know go from nine contractors relationships to 50.
[1:06:56] SPEAKER_03: simple as that simple as that and it's and and so it's like the only question I I'd be waking myself every day I'd be waking up asking myself that question how do I add more contractor relationships if that's like the thing that leads to more business which sounds like it is to you then every day that would be the only question I'd be asking myself.
[1:07:15] SPEAKER_00: And that's that's been the only question on my mind waking up driving to these jobs is all right how do I get more let me chop down on this list but creating an actual system of that is going to take me to the 50 plus contractor portfolio and the million plus annual revenue.
[1:07:31] SPEAKER_03: Yeah but I you're not ambitious enough for three years on that two three years is too long.
[1:07:35] SPEAKER_03: Three years you should be three years from now you should be you know three to five million easy.
[1:07:40] SPEAKER_03: Okay.
[1:07:40] SPEAKER_03: Um I mean like that there's no question that that like if you're really serious about doing the business thing like that that that is 100% doable in a three year timeline.
[1:07:49] SPEAKER_03: But um you know in the next to go from 200 grand to a million dollars a year you should be able to do that next year.
[1:07:56] SPEAKER_00: I love to hear that and I'm gonna make it happen.
[1:07:59] SPEAKER_03: I'll check back in in 12 months and let's say let's say 2027 million it should be a million dollars plus of revenue.
[1:08:07] SPEAKER_03: I'll take that I I think I think that's I think that's so that that's really kind of it the next 18 months but you you're gonna have to you're gonna have to like you know scale into scale into that um but I think that 2027 you should be able to there's still a lot of meat left in 2026 so we're gonna start making some changes.
[1:08:23] SPEAKER_03: It's really you know as as um as hard as you want to it depends on how hard you want to hit it.
[1:08:29] SPEAKER_03: But like you know they say there there are statistics that that um you know men that have children earn more money.
[1:08:37] SPEAKER_03: And so I think that the fact that that um she's pregnant with your first son um is likely makes gives me a higher probability that you're gonna be successful because um you know that's gonna be your motivation and um and that's a real motivation.
[1:08:52] SPEAKER_03: That's good and that's good.
[1:08:53] SPEAKER_03: You know um but I definitely you can definitely do that next year.
[1:08:58] SPEAKER_03: And that's why like short term even if you make a little less money short term because you're outsourcing some of those jobs you're gonna make it afford in the back end if you do your job right.
[1:09:08] SPEAKER_03: But your job's going to turn more into sales and business development than being an electrician and you have to be okay with that.
[1:09:16] SPEAKER_03: Your identity has to shift a little bit.
[1:09:18] SPEAKER_00: I'll I'll turn it to the Austin Harvey Spectre.
[1:09:20] SPEAKER_00: I'll be the best electrical closer in Austin.
[1:09:23] SPEAKER_03: I love that I think that that's great.
[1:09:25] SPEAKER_03: I mean you if you do that then then um you know five million dollars in three in three years is is too um it's not ambitious enough you know if you really deliver if you do that and you and you have the capability of doing that I know that I mean um but you have to shift that to be your identity.
[1:09:42] SPEAKER_03: I think if you and that and that's why having like the long term vision of where you're going is so important because that that becomes your identity.
[1:09:48] SPEAKER_03: Like if you can make that your identity then that becomes who you are and you're no longer an electrician you're going to be a business owner that just happens to sell electrical services.
[1:09:57] SPEAKER_03: Yes sir um and that's really where you want to go.
[1:09:59] SPEAKER_03: Exactly that's where it's going to take you but you but you've got to make you've got to make that transition.
[1:10:03] SPEAKER_03: All right everything we talk about here comes down to your business is only going to be as good as the systems that you build that are repeatable right I mean that's what a business is at the end of the day.
[1:10:13] SPEAKER_03: And you as the entrepreneur are the you know chief system builder and like it's all your your responsibility is to is to build that system.
[1:10:22] SPEAKER_03: And that's why like you can't go out and hire somebody to do um this business development for you you're gonna have to go out and and do that right uh but then your goal is to build a system that then somebody else can do it.
[1:10:34] SPEAKER_03: The same is going to be for you know how you deliver your work in order to figure out how do we manage our 1099s first of all then how do we manage employees?
[1:10:42] SPEAKER_03: How do we decide who this job goes to how do we keep our um you know um standards high um you know and how do we build a culture that is um sustainable over time um but ultimately you have to think of yourself as a system builder um and you know that that that's to me the identity shift from going from being an electrician to to being an owner um but I think that so many people expect think that they can just go out and hire somebody and then they're gonna figure it out and like anytime anytime I've done that I make that I've made that mistake so many times um you hire somebody you're like okay I'm gonna hire somebody that's an expert and then just say this is your job and um then inevitably it fails.
[1:11:23] SPEAKER_03: Whereas if I hire somebody and like okay I build the system then I hire somebody to come in and to to manage that system and then maybe improve on that system then that's where I've had success.
[1:11:35] SPEAKER_03: But like you still have to take the ownership of building that system in the first place.
[1:11:39] SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
[1:11:39] SPEAKER_00: And I think the foundation's been laid um skill sets in place reputations in place now just building the system and yeah.
[1:11:48] SPEAKER_03: Yeah you're in a you're at an exciting time but um you know I'm I I do think being a little more ambitious at your point is it at your stage is okay.
[1:11:56] SPEAKER_00: And I appreciate that I look for motivation everywhere I can find it and 12 a million in 12 months definitely lights a fire in me.
[1:12:04] SPEAKER_03: And I think it's achievable it's not I know it's realistic there's no question in my mind it's achievable for you.
[1:12:09] SPEAKER_03: But I but I but you you want to like don't that doesn't even be at the expense of like I don't want you to overextend yourself or like you got to do it in a smart way but like you can you can 100% do it while also um not getting in over your skis.
[1:12:25] SPEAKER_00: And I don't really burn out like um my girlfriend would tell you I I'd try to I try not to work but it's hard.
[1:12:32] SPEAKER_00: I love what I do and I love I love the business aspect of it and to where a lot of times it'll be seven eight nine o'clock at night and I'm doing stuff for the business that doesn't feel like business.
[1:12:42] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[1:12:42] SPEAKER_03: Well you're at the right point in your life where you it should be your focus and um you're you'll you'll get there.
[1:12:49] SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm I'm ready to watch but then once you get to the next set of problems you can come back on we'll talk about you know you get to you know three million dollars a year and you you need to scale from that um then that's a whole other set of that's a whole other set of fun um you know problems to solve um but for now focus the the focus on what we talked about today will get you to that three to five million dollar a year business and and um so get there first then come back we'll have another conversation about how we go from from three to ten um and then after that we'll we'll talk.
[1:13:21] SPEAKER_00: Once I hit that three mil mark we'll have some celebratory cigars and continue the conversation.
[1:13:26] SPEAKER_03: Sound sound that that that sounds good to me.
[1:13:28] SPEAKER_03: Just just just let me know when it happens.
[1:13:30] SPEAKER_00: Yes sir David I appreciate it no thank you

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