Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - Unleashing Potential: The Path to Personal & Professional Growth with Luke Etter

Episode Date: March 4, 2024

Luke Etter, CEO and Founder of Advanced Solution, shares his journey in the wound care industry and the challenges he faced in starting his own company. He emphasizes the importance of taking risks, believing in oneself, and following a higher calling. Luke discusses the limitations of societal norms and the need to break free from them. He also highlights the significance of creating a positive culture and empowering employees. Despite not having external funding, Luke has successfully scaled his company and achieved significant growth. The conversation concludes with the announcement of the company's new office space and upcoming national sales meeting. In this conversation, Luke D. Etter, CEO and Founder of Advanced Solution, discusses the recipe for success, the importance of mindset, commitment and discipline, the power of habits, purpose and faith, leading by example, competition and respect, exponential growth, differentiation through products, staying ahead in the market, unwavering belief and execution, gratitude and collaboration, and the importance of believing in oneself and taking action. Key Takeaways Taking risks and believing in oneself are essential for personal and professional growth. Societal norms can limit individuals from pursuing their true calling, but it is important to break free and follow one's intuition. Creating a positive culture and empowering employees are crucial for business success. Scaling a company without external funding is possible with the right team and dedication. Success in business requires determination, accountability, and a strong mindset. Commitment and discipline are essential for achieving goals and overcoming challenges. Developing high-performance habits and automating daily routines can improve decision-making and productivity. Purpose and faith can provide motivation and guide decision-making. Leading by example and earning respect through hard work and discipline are crucial for effective leadership. Staying ahead in the market requires continuous innovation and adaptation. Believing in oneself and taking action are key to personal and professional growth. Connect with Advanced Solution: LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/advanced-solution717/ Luke Etter- https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukedougiesalesetter/ Website- https://advancedsolution.health Connect with Shawn French: Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/theshawnfrench/ Website- www.theshawnfrench.com   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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and bring it here to advanced solution and streamline those things. So, you know, I preach to our team, our executive leadership team, culture, empowerment, accountability. And I live by that. It is my job as the CEO of this organization to set the culture of advanced solution. If I'm not going to do it, nobody is.

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and self-doubt. It eats away at you and destroys your confidence. I've been there too. Feeling like I didn't belong on the field with my teammates. But it doesn't have to stay that way. I used to compare myself to everyone around me. I thought that no matter how hard I work, I'd never be as good as the other guys. It killed myself in the lead. I now help athletes develop an elite mindset, so comparison no longer controls them. We teach techniques to cut out the negative self-talk and unlock the full potential. Imagine stepping into the box when it's a counts the most and feeling totally confident in your ability. Feeling invincible instead of insecure, ready to seize the opportunity instead of shrinking from it. That's the mindset I help

athletes develop. Don't waste another minute on comparison and self-doubt. Take control of your mindset and become the confident, unstoppable competitor you were meant to be. Beamed more comment below. Get started with Edge and transform the middle. What's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode. I am your host, Sean French. If this is the first time you're listening to this show, please hit stop, go subscribe, and binge listen to all the previous episodes before you get to today's amazing guest. I have with me a visionary CEO and founder in the wound care space for advanced solution. He is a true trailblazer and a serial entrepreneur that started this company in 2019 without any external funding sources and has grown over 300% years.

year over year. He is doing it like nobody else is doing it, truly gaining revenue and driving his business while everybody else is out there looking for money. He's creating the title wave of revenue. I have with me today, the amazing Luke Edder. What's up, buddy? Hey, Sean. Thank you for that introduction, man. I greatly appreciate all of that. It's great to be here. I appreciate you having me. Super excited to have you on the show. For those of you listening now, you know, I am involved with Advanced Solution. amazing company in the wound care space. And I got to tell you, there's very few companies that do things the right way nowadays here in today's entrepreneurial society. So it's always nice to be

lumped in with somebody like Luke in his organization. But for those, man, that don't know you, why don't you give us a little background of you, kind of where you started in the wound care space in your business venture and then graduated into leaving a cushy, you know, W2, into taking your own risk. Yeah, thank you, Sean. So I've been in this industry, we'll call it the wound care industry for over a decade now. I've worked with multiple nationally known corporate organizations

before the founding of Advanced Solutions. So that's kind of where, you know, I got my experience and got started. I learned a lot from those organizations. I learned what good looks like. I learned what bad looks like. And it truly, that's what caused me to kind of go out on my own. You know, Sean, our chief operating officer and my business partner, I distinctly remember being at a national sales event back years ago. And I looked at him and I said, we're destined for more.

And I knew, I knew at that moment, God had bigger plans for me, try not to get emotional because it's that real. I always knew that I was destined for more. And, you know, I took a risk. That's what I came down to, Sean. And, you know, you know what they say, high risk brings high reward. And, you know, I've been rewarded with taking, taking that risk on myself. Yeah, that's awesome, man. You know, it's funny because you mentioned that inflection point.

You're sitting there talking about your business partner, which, for those of you that don't, that's John Sharp, okay, C-O-O. And sitting there, just looking at somebody that you know, love and trust, that you have the same values as that's driven as you, you figure out like, hey, there's more to life here. There's more. I'm supposed to be doing more. I can remember that, man. just in my own life, that moment where you go, okay, there's more. Like, I'm supposed to do more.

I think a lot of times, man, and I think everybody listening right now can can really agree to this. At some point in everyone's life, they think that. They feel that moment, right? And then they allow others to temper those moments by way of discouraging or, you know, bestowing their own limiting beliefs onto them thinking, hey, you can't do this. So when you, when you moved, like when you and John moved into building this company, right? Was there any blowback for maybe family or friends that told you like, hey, man, you're crazy. You know, Sean, you're actually spot on. I think I heard it from everybody. Everybody who knew me and knew what I was doing were questioning my decisions. Are you sure this is what you want? Are you positive? This is a volatile industry, you know,

because like I said, I came from corporate America. In my previous roles, I had it pretty well. I was treated well. I was paid extremely fairly. So yeah, I got a lot of pushback, especially for my family, you know, my father, my mother, you know, they love me dearly. Are you sure, Luke? And, you know, I'll just take it back to, you know, God had bigger plans for me, Sean, and I could feel it in my veins, truly. So, I mean, I know that might sound a little crazy, but I'm telling you, I could, I just knew that I was destined for more. No, I don't think it sounds crazy. And, and, you know, you, You know, for those individuals that aren't watching this on YouTube or, you know, seeing the video, I can see the passion in your eyes and I can see the emotion.

And like, dude, that's the same way I feel about what I'm doing. And it doesn't sound crazy to me. I can't say that enough. It is, it is something that when you feel at the chemical level in your body and you have no choice but to move. And it's really hard because here's the thing. A lot of people want to start talking about like, well, okay, I feel this and I have to do this. but how, how, how, how. And they get stuck in that, the who's, the hows, the what am I going to do instead of the

true feeling of just going out there and moving. Can you give them a little bit of insight that, you know, for what Luke did, for what you did in getting away from the how and just getting out there and acting, just taking action? Yeah, I think, that's a great question, Sean. And I think that you're spot on. You know, people, people get paralyzed with fear and, you know, the uncertainty. Everybody, you know, nobody likes uncertainty. But when you truly know who you are as an individual and you know your personal skill set, you have to believe in yourself.

And that's truly, you know, in my story, I knew what I was capable of. And it really comes down to, it's kind of black and white, to be quite honest with you. If you believe in yourself, you've got to take that leap of faith. and who better to take a risk on than yourself. You've got to think about these risks that we take in life daily for all, you know, all these other avenues. Why not take that risk on yourself? That would be my question to anybody listening.

So that's awesome. And I think that's something that everybody deals with, right? They want to take that risk on themselves. But they're, we're also programmed, right? And it starts when we're kids, man. It starts when we're kids. I feel like in America it's like, okay, you got to get good grades, which I agree.

You have to do well in school because it shows commitment, determination, and that you're going to stick with something, right? But then it goes to you got to go, you got to graduate high school and you go to college and you get yourself a nice job. You know, that's a great narrative. I get it because, you know, we want to raise children that are responsible, right? And that are doing the right things and working hard. But also, there's more. There's more to life than just fulfilling somebody else's dream. And I got to tell you, man, you know, I spent a lot of years in corporate America.

And every single year, I became more and more unemployable. And I knew that I had to pull the trigger myself beginning at 2024 of getting away from those big corporate box companies and, you know, doing the things with my show, owning my own payroll company, and then doing things with you guys. it's an entrepreneurial spirit, right? And I have to be able to be able to control kind of how I'm going to do business. You know, a lot of people, though, man, they need that cookie cutter thing to tell them what they need to do. And that's great. I don't want to slam corporate America or the individuals that have W2 jobs. I think it's fantastic. But guys, when you move into a season

of your life or a higher power is calling you, your intuition, your gut, the universe, whatever you want to call it for you. It's telling you to do something different and to move on something bigger, you have to listen to yourselves because if you don't, you're going to regret it your whole life. I want to ask you this, Luke, in that theme, had you not listened to yourself and spoke up to John and then took the risk, where do you think you'd be right now? you know what Sean I think that I would still be in a corporate America working a job that I was truly unsatisfied with regretting that I didn't take the risk on myself well hey everybody's getting older day by day we're getting older so it goes back to taking action and Sean you know you were just talking about it there a little bit look these are societal norms society we all were raised to like you said go to college get good grades go get that go get that great job There's nothing wrong with that. And that works for a lot of people.

But it goes back to, you know, when you know, and taking a risk on yourself. Yeah, that's pretty much what I would say about that, Sean. Yeah. Does you ever at a moment feel like when you were getting down to the wire with the corporate company you're with? That because I mean, like I mentioned, I started to feel completely unemployable, meaning I did not like to be checked on. I did not like, you know, anybody. I mean, I'm always coachable.

I love being coached. But you know how it is in corporate America. It's a little different than coaching. It's thumb underneath, nail down. How are you towards the back half of your career in corporate with that kind of direction? Yeah, it's a good question. I would say that I was still, I was employable for sure. I was highly successful in, you know, my previous role.

I won multiple presidents club, Circle of Excellence Awards. I was always one of the top salespeople in those organizations that I worked for. I think I started to feel, I want to use this term loosely, but resentment towards these organizations because I was stuck in the role that I was in and I was reporting, and I mean this in a non-malicious way, but I was reporting to people that I felt like I had a more diverse and more powerful skill set than the people I was actually reporting. to. And that right there is a difficult, that's a lot to handle right there. Internally, that's a lot to deal with. So I think that's, that's that cat and mouse game that I was personally kind of, you know, having to deal with internally on a daily basis. And it gets

to the point where enough is enough. Enough is enough. And that that's kind of where I was at, Sean. You know, that's really hard, you know, because like I've been in that position too. Again, multiple presidents clubs, circle of excellence, all that kind of stuff. And then you you get into this mode, and this is where I started becoming, and again, I'm probably using a wrong word, but unemployable, right? Like, I didn't, I couldn't vibe well with the corporate environment anymore because I always felt that was more qualified than the person I was reporting to. I felt like I understood leadership much more than, than that individual, because I believe in, I believe in leading people and not leading by a number. I feel like if you take care of your

people, you nurture your sales force, and you nurture your employees, they're going to grow that business for you. They are going to grow that business because they are happy to go to work every day. How has some of those things, like knowing what you know from corporate America and being in positions where you felt that you had more enriched experiences than your leader helped you become a better CEO and leader of your company? Yeah, that's a great question, Sean. And I talked about it a little bit in the beginning of when we got started here, you know, coming from these large organizations and having a decade of experience in this field, I know what good looks like and I know what bad looks like. And I've been able to use a lot of that bad and bring it here to advanced solution

and streamline those things. So, you know, I preach to our team, our executive leadership team, culture, empowerment, accountability. And I live by that. It is my job as the CEO of this organization to set the culture of advanced solution. If I'm not going to do it, nobody is. So culture is important to me. Empowerment. You got to empower your people. People work hard when they feel empowered. They're not just another number. Everybody has a voice here at Advanced Solutions and accountability. As professionals, accountability is a big deal. I'm failing my people if I'm not holding them accountable and vice versa. If I tell them I'm going to do something, I'm expecting them to hold me accountable on that. So culture, empowerment, accountability, Sean. That's what we live by over here at a event.

a solution. Yeah, man, I feel that. I can feel that coming from the top from you and the rest of the executive team. You know, culture is such an important thing, man. You know, culture is, you know, something that I think is thrown around too loosely and people really don't understand what it really means. Sometimes culture can be uncomfortable with the accountability portion, right? We have to hold ourselves and each other and leadership has to hold everybody else accountable. And we have to be open to that. But the most important thing that I think that, you know, that I see that you guys are doing that you're doing specifically is creating a culture, an environment where people feel heard, right? I've, I've called, you know, Tyler Baum many times like, hey, this is how I'm feeling.

Can you help me out? And can you walk me through this? Can you help me? And I'm, and I always say, like, hey, I'm sorry if this is stepping over a line, but I have to have to have to ask. this question. And it's always like, I hear you. And not just lip service, right? Because there's a lot of companies out there will say, like, I hear you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you. But then there's no follow up. And I've, I have experienced the exact opposite of that with your company. That's great. I appreciate that, Sean. It's great to hear that. You know, I'm actually, it makes me proud to hear that, to be quite honest with you. You know, we, we, we, we, I think you hit it on there, though.

Accountability can be difficult at times, and it can be a little uncomfortable. But as business professionals, it's what we're destined. It's what we're called to do, hold each other accountable. If you want to be successful in business, then you need people around you. They're going to hold you accountable, and you can hold them accountable. And you grow, you grow together. So I appreciate your kind words, though, about our organization, Sean. That's awesome.

You know what I mean it? You know, let's shift into the growth. of the company, right? So I mentioned in the introduction that, you know, in 2019, you started this company, right? And with no external capital. I mean, I've built, I'm building two companies right now. I know how hard it is to build without an infusion of an investment from a VC or a business line of credit or whatever. I'm living it. I'm living it. And so when we talked about that previously, my eyes lit up because it's something that I obviously am going through.

And so I want you to kind of give the audience a little bit of context surrounding that because a lot of people aren't moving because they don't have capital. And that's not necessarily a reason. Yeah. No, I couldn't agree more, Sean. And, you know, it used to be clear. Like, I mean, we're, what, four years into the organization at this point. And I've had venture capital just trying to toss money our direction.

And still to this day, I have taken on zero outside funding. Everything that we have built has been from the inside. It has been from the ground up. And I'm extremely proud to sit here in front of you today and say that. Look, we started. It was just myself and my business partner as well as I got to give shout out to the OG. My mother, Teresa. Yes.

She's our chief. She's our chief. She's our CFO. Yeah, she's our CFO. There's nobody better to guard the pocketbook than my mother. So we joke about it here, but, you know, it's the truth. So she's had it. She's truly been at my side with as well as Jonathan since the founding of this organization.

And as we've grown, we've poured back into the business. We have scaled to 15 salaried positions here over $1.5 million in payroll. We now hold, let me see here, 80 contracts in place that are encompassing 135 sales representatives. So when I tell you that we have grown organically, we have truly grown organically. And there's been a lot of blood, sweat, and tears put in to this organization to get to where we're at. But Sean, this is just the beginning. I promise you that. I know where this company's heading.

And we're going to do it without any outside funding. Mark my words. To me, see, that's incredible. Right. And for those of you listening, I want you to really think about this, right? We're talking about funding, outside VC capital, all that kind of stuff. You know, this is a big deal because this is where most people get stuck because they aren't truly experts in the actual trade or the craft.

And then on the flip side, they don't know how to run the business. So I know a lot of mechanics. Okay, listen, let's call a spade of spade. I know a lot of mechanics, a lot of general contractors that are amazing at what they do. But the moment they start their own business, they fail because they don't understand how to run the back end. It's two different things. And when you're when you're hustling from the inside out to to gain, you know, to gain accounts and have products and drive revenue, it's it's paralyzing sometimes. And it is frustrating. And I would imagine the first year or two,

there was a lot of sleepless evenings, man. I mean, you know, was there any point where you were sitting there just thinking, man, it's like, good Lord, man. I knew it was. was going to be hard, but this is ridiculous. This is getting, this is a little too tough. You know, you're spot on. There's been many sleepless nights. But you know what they say, nothing worthwhile comes easy. So I'm not going to sit here in front of you today and say that this has been easy or go, you know, break free of corporate America, go out on your own. It's going to be all sunshine and rainbows. It's going to be great. You've got to dig your heels in. You've got to scratch and claw. Nothing comes easy.

you know, I think what I've realized as we've been scaling this organization is, yes, it's my job to set the culture, but even more importantly, it's my job to get the right people on the bus here at Advanced Solution. And when you get the right people in place, man, strap in, baby, because it's game time. That's when I started seeing the most growth. I started getting the right executives in place that were feeding their families off of Advanced Solutions. This is their bread and butter. And it was at that point that I started seeing substantial growth. So it made me realize, you know, I've scaled relatively aggressively too, Sean. You know, my mother, Teresa, last year, you know, I was on a couple hiring initiatives there. And she was coming to me.

Are you sure? And, you know, I'll just take it back to God. This is God's work. He has a plan for us. And every single thing that we have done has been put in front of us. This isn't me waving my power. wander around. The stars have aligned for us on all these different objectives. You know, I've seen it, right? I've seen it. I've been with you guys as on contract for

about, I don't know, maybe six, seven months, something around there. And I've seen the growth. I've seen the salary positions open up. I see the other opportunities. Heck, you and I have even spoken about, you know, the future and what, what it holds. You know, the first annual national sales meeting is coming in April. And I want to, I want you to talk about that too, because I know it's a very that that is it that is an emotional thing man that is an emotional thing and not only that you guys have you know we have this you know beautiful corporate location now or you know headquarters let's call it um but dude like you the the movement in the organization just since I've been involved with it has been you know the Nike swoosh man it's just like going way up

but going back to that moment where your mom said hey are you sure You know, what were those feelings like when you step, when you were stepping out of the comfort zone and growing in salary positions? Because now you have major liability there, right? Right. You know, I was sure if that makes any sense. And that might sound crazy. But I just, I was at complete peace with the growth objectives that we were facilitating. You know, we took one of 300% revenue growth.

in from 2022 to 2023. And we have come out of the gate so strong here in 2024. We were on track for a 600% year-over-year growth. It's crazy. I mean, when I tell you that business is booming, it is booming on all fronts. And it goes back to us just doing the right things. You know, I think that right now we're an attractive company to the market. We're innovative.

I hang our hat on. We're doing things different. I told you, I know a good look. looks like. I know what bad looks like. We're doing things different, Sean. You know, I'm, you just mentioned it there a little bit. I'm proud to announce the closing over 6,000 square foot home office. It is a beautiful building. It's just a staple for us. You know, for anybody that's listened to this that has known about us and they've just kind of been skeptical, this is a staple point in the advanced solution growth trajectory. We have closed

on a 6,000 square foot home office, and it is beautiful. And we do have that national sales meeting coming up, which I can talk about here in a little bit. But, you know, we're excited over here, man. The vibes are right. And, you know, we're just, we're pumped. We're amped up. There's a lot to be excited about. You know what I mean? And it all comes with a lot of hard work and in a determined mindset. Now, when we talk, when we're on my show and we talk about, you know, I, I, there's a lot of amazing people doing amazing things in business. But I also feel like there's a recipe for that success. I feel it's determination. You know, we touched on a little bit accountability, a strong mindset. What about you as far as mindset goes, you know,

how do you set yourself apart on a daily basis from, let's say, somebody else that, you know, doesn't have as strong as a mindset as you and is not going to take these risks? Yeah, that's a great question, Sean. So, you know, I think it goes back to my, I'm going to go way back to how I was raised. My father, I'm a big time wrestler. If you can't tell from the cauliflower year, I've wrestled my whole life. And wrestling will teach you a thing or two about life. The discipline that it instills in you, it's really hard to put words to it.

And for those people that are listening to this who are former wrestlers, they know what I'm talking about. So you're going to look far and wide to find somebody that works harder than I do. And I sincerely, I sincerely mean that. I am on a strict schedule. I'm up at 4.30 a.m. every morning. And I spring out of bed because I'm passionate about what we're doing here. I'm up and I'm moving. And it's games.

Every day is a new chapter for me. So I think mindset's important. And I talk with our executives here about it. Like that's all you got. Mindset's everything. And you got to have a growth mindset. And I'm not talking about this organization. I'm talking about personally.

you need to have a growth mindset for your personal life. And the minute that you can kind of start shifting that thinking, man, the chains will be broke. Truly. What I'm hearing, man, is stuff that's right up my alley.

Same way I live my life, there's a standard that you set for yourself every single day. And when you started talking about wrestling, the cauliflower ear, I kind of smiled because I think most high-level athletes are like that. Right? whether it's wrestling, whether you're a baseball guy, a quarterback. I was a baseball guy.

I played baseball at LSU or I played in the college world series. I know a thing or two about commitment, sticking with something, trying to win championships. And I don't think entrepreneurship and business are any different than that at all. I think that there comes a time in an entrepreneur's life and a business person's life where that framework of the day is going to get really, really hard. And it's going to beat you up and it's going to kick you in the teeth. And you're going to feel like there's no love, no one's watching, nothing's happening. There's no growth.

But you could always tie it back to your most commonly practiced habits. You know, so high performance habits are a thing, dude. And what you're highlighting right now is a set discipline for yourself, a clear cut schedule. right? It's like, you know what time you're waking up every day. Like, that's, that, that's already out. I bet you are the type of individual that has your suit picked out the night before, before you get up. Not only do I have it picked out, I got it hanging on the back of the bathroom door. Yeah. You know. People, people, people don't understand, dude. Like, that, people say, oh, that's not necessary. They don't understand decision fatigue. Like, decision fatigue is a real thing. Like, the more decisions you have to make throughout the day,

the more your discipline starts to run out. And you can make poor decision, whether it's with your nutrition, a business decision, a hiring decision, whatever it may be, right? If we can automate those things in our day, like the time we wake up, what we're going to wear, right? Our nutrition, do you have meal prep, right? I buy my meals. So now I just go there and pull them out. Microwave, dude, I'm done.

I don't have to think about it anymore. I hear you. I hear you. It's the little things, Sean. I mean, you're talking about it. It's the little things. And when you start stacking little wins together, it just turns into a snowball going downhill.

And it might sound dumb or like nonsense, but it's not. It's not, guys. It is truly the little things in life that will make you successful. It truly is. And here's the thing, though, and this is what people, I want people to understand,

especially the leaders out there listening to this show. Their habits and what they do in their personal life, they may think it's disconnected from their people in their organization and or their business, but I can guarantee you it is insanely, insanely parallel. It is dead on. What are your thoughts? Like when you're going about your everyday activity, whether it's getting in the gym, do you feel like it's bigger than you or is it just about you?

No, I think that it's definitely bigger than me at this point. And, you know, I've mentioned God a few times. I'm very faith-filled, and I'm, I'm proud to announce that advanced solution is God-fearing and, you know, Christian-owned. It means a whole lot to us over here. And I firmly believe that God has given me not only a personal platform, but a professional platform. And the last thing I want to do is waste the resources I've been given. I want to maximize everything that he's given to me. I deserve, I owe that not only to myself, but to him, to my family, my wife. So, you know, I think about that in every decision that I'm making life, you know,

because look, I'm flesh just like everyone else. And there's things that I don't feel like doing on a daily basis. But whenever you take it back and you just break it down and you think a little bit, it's easier. It gets easier. I don't want to waste any of this potential that's been given to me. I don't want to waste any of this platform. Yeah, that's a great point, Luke.

you said something there that I always talk about. There's going to be things throughout the day that you don't want to do. But it doesn't mean that you don't do them, right? Because hard work's hard. You know, hard work is what it is. You know, we have to dial in consistently and do that 4, you know, that 5 a.m. lift or that 6 p.m. run. We really don't want to do it.

We're wired. Like human beings, our brains are wired to be risk adverse. like that doesn't sound great. I don't want to do it. But the money is in the fact that you do it anyway because what ends up happening is for the leaders again that are listening, when you make those tough decisions based on discipline every day and you do those things,

your employees and your partners and your whole organization start to see a shift in you and they have no choice but to level up. Well said, Sean. And, you know, I'll take it back. to this, respect is earned. It's not given. And you, man, you just talked about it there. That's, it is, it is, it is accurate. I'm not expecting anybody to respect me as the CEO of this organization, including the people that work here. I lead by example. I lead by example. You ask any person who works here at Advanced Solutions, what Luke's all about. They're going to tell you grit, hard work. Discipline. It's to the T, to the T, Sean. Yeah, dude. I mean, it's,

It's one of those things that you hear about, right? Because I hadn't, you know, spoken to you directly, right? And, you know, hey, Luke's about hard work, grit. He's intense. And then we get on the phone. And it's a great conversation. And, you know, it's, it's alignment. And I can tell that the person on the other end is just as gritty as I am.

And just an absolute, you're a dog, dude. You're a dog. And I don't mean that. And for those of you listen, I don't mean that in the traditional way, right? that people say, oh, that guy, he's a dog. No, he's a dog. Like, he's going to dig his heels in. He's going to dig it in.

He's going to fight. He's going to get out of the trenches and he's going to make, he's going to make it better for the people that he's involved with, right? Whether it's his wife, his family, you know, his employees, his organization, he's going to fight for them. And so you leaders out there, keep that in mind. You got to be a dog. You cannot let up because if you let up, then you're not teaching your people anything.

Yeah, that's spot on. It's funny that you say that, Sean, because I've been called a dog a time or two in my CEO lifetime. And I joke with these guys, my assistant. I call him Daniel double dog Kent. Daniel's great, man. Yeah. But that's what we talk about over here. I want, you know, in this executive hallway here, it's all.

We're a bunch of dogs over here. And it's truly the reason that right now, more than ever, we're being talked about in this industry. And it's real. And I've mentioned it. I know what we're heading. It's funny because the same organizations I used to work for in my past life are the same organizations that we are now competing against day in and day out.

We have finally arrived to that platform where we are competing directly against those organizations. And it's awesome. It's awesome. It gets me going, you know. I think that's great. And for the audience, I want to provide a little context. Okay, so, you know, we're talking about advanced solution competing with the big, the big companies in this industry. These big companies in the industry could have been around for 20 to 30 years. Okay. We're talking about a company that has been around since 2019 that is experiencing 300 to 600 percent year-over-year growth in rivaling these companies. that doesn't happen if you have any flicker in belief and the thing that i i think is impressive is not just the fact that you have that unwavering belief in the faith in you and in what you're doing in this mass distributorship it's that everybody else holds that same belief in that flicker

of not hope but just absolute fierce focus in growing the company. Yeah, it's pretty awesome, Sean. It was actually just talking about this. And for those of you that are listening, you know, Advanced Solutions, we're privately held. Like Sean said, we were just founded in 2019. And we have taken on substantial growth. It's hard. It truly is hard to put words to it. But right now, we're treking down the court. And I look to the left and I look to the right. And all I see are publicly traded national companies that are being traded on the NASDAQ, just to give people an idea of, you know, the level that we've arrived to. And it is awesome. And I'll take it back to the zero outside funding. I, you know, I would be lying to you to tell you that I knew in my,

I knew for sure that this was possible without any outside contribution because I didn't. But as we went and as we continued with the confidence can continue to climb. And as we continued to scale, I started getting approached by different venture. capital groups. And, you know, I just had a venture capital group reaching out to me last week. They're trying to get, they're trying to dig their claws in. They see where we're headed. And, you know, they want a piece of this. And the answer is no, you know, we don't need it. I don't want to be reporting to a board of directors. I have my own board of directors. And I truly in my heart believe that you could sit our board of directors and our executive team at a

conference table with any of these competing companies, Board of Directors, and we will eat them for breakfast. I mean that, too. There's nobody that knows this industry better than the people here in this hallway. You have some very intelligent executive members. You know, you got Gabe, you got John, you got Tyler, your mom, Teresa, the CFO. You guys are next level, and it's good to see. And I think the main reason.

Well, one of the main reasons that I see from an objective standpoint as far as the growth goes and why it's been exponentially just doubled and tripled and whatever is you have options. Being a distributor for advanced solution, you're a master distributor. And for those that don't know it, the audience listening, that means they have the best of the best products possibly out there to help partner with these doctors in the best patient care possible, right? Right. Can you talk about that a little bit? Because that's not an easy feat.

I would love to talk about that. So, you know, and let's give a little bit of context here. So a lot of these manufacturers that we compete against, they're married to the products that they manufacture. And this is a very volatile industry we're in. It's very insurance driven. So depending on that landscape, and it's changing, that landscape changing. is quarterly. CMS is always, you know, throwing a curveball. And the fact that we're not married

to a certain manufacturer and we can stay light on our feet and pivot as needed, it's huge. It's absolutely huge. So when a clinic partners with advanced solution, we have over 30 advanced treatment modalities that we can offer them. And that's a big deal. Considering we're now doing business in, I believe, 44 states. So, and just two months ago was 38. So that just goes to show the continued growth. But we've now positioned ourselves where when we're, when we partner with the clinic, we partner with that physician,

it doesn't matter where, what part of the country we're in. It doesn't matter what insurance carrier we're dealing with or what wound ideology that we're dealing with. We have a product for them in our tool bag. And that's a big deal. That's something that our competitors can't say. So I think it.

I think it's yeah. I mean, I think that answers your question, Sean. It is pivotal. No, I think, no, absolutely does answer my question. I mean, imagine being a salesperson or a contractor for a company and going into a clinic or going into whatever business you're prospecting, knowing that you cannot lose. Like, you can't lose.

Your only job is to build the relationship at that point and have as much clinical knowledge or information enough to relay some of the things to the clinic or or whomever. But the bottom line is you have the best. products in your bag, you can't lose. You literally can't lose. The only way you lose if they don't like you. That's, I mean, you're spot on. You're spot on. And, you know, we are diverse. We have a lot of products. We're working on a lot of exciting things here internally, though. We have proprietary software that is being developed right now by our developers. And it's getting close to a launch date. And man, are we excited to bring that to market? It's truly going to revolutionize the way these clinics are tracking their tissues within the clinic.

I can't say much more about it than that right now. But when I tell you that we are amped up over here about it, we are. We have put a ton of monies, a ton of time and effort. We've laser focused this in. I'm telling you, it's going to be a game changer for these clinics. We're also working on some exclusive distribution agreements. Right now, we are a master distributor. but pretty soon here, you know, you're going to start seeing Advanced Solutions logo on the box of a lot of these graphs that we sell because we're reaching that point.

And it's just another milestone for the organization. And, you know, we're excited about it. So just a little sneak peek of some of the stuff that we got going on over here. I love it, man. I think the biggest thing to what I'm hearing, you know, and the things that I've noticed, like you mentioned, it's an insurance game. and CMS makes changes all the time. The one thing that I can say, and what's impressed me with you and the rest of the executive team,

is you're a step ahead. And you aren't complacent. And so what that means is you're present, you're enjoying the moment and you're executing, but you're also looking for things that you can, you know, I guess bring on board in case something shifts in the market to where there's no loss of revenue.

That's amazing. Yeah, I appreciate that, Sean. I mean, it's truly what we kind of hang our hat on. You're right. We are step ahead. We're in tune with the market. Excuse me. I think it goes back to, you know, we have over 75 years of wound care experience on our executive board. And I don't say that lightly. I'm proud to say that. That's heavy. That's pretty heavy. We're in tune with the market. We know the ins and outs. We're watching the trends. We're truly creating longevity here. There's nothing that CMS or any of these insurance,

carriers could come out here and they change policies, guidelines, whatever it may be. One thing I know for certain is advanced solution will be at the forefront of the market. I can promise you that. We're doing the right things internally here to ensure that there's longevity with this organization. I love it, man. I love it. We're coming down towards the end of the interview and I want to land the plane here. But I just want to share my gratitude towards you and to you for coming on to the show,

talking about who you are as a person most importantly, but then also about what advanced solution is, truly doing some amazing things in this market and in the wound care space. And like, dude, you're setting yourself apart from every other CEO and founder. I can tell you that because I'm also a CEO and a founder. And I see a lot of the similarities. And, you know, I just love having conversations with people

that will sit there and say, you say I can't watch me you know hold hold my water here man because I'm you just put you just put fuel in the jet right like I'm I'm going hard now so I just appreciate you man and I appreciate what you're doing and you're no you're a no doubt winner it's a no brainer um you're you're a no you're no doubt winning CEO and advanced solution is absolutely lucky to have you I appreciate that Sean and you know, likewise. It's been an honor and a privilege to come onto your show here. I greatly appreciate the collaboration. I look forward to future collaboration with you, Sean. It's been quite an honor getting to know you. And I think, you know, I'm just going to throw it back at you.

I admire what you've done here with the determinants society and the platform that you personally built. It's impressive. It's impressive, Sean. So thank you, man. I mean, as far as future collaborations go, yes. I mean absolutely one billion percent yes. Getting to know you, I really kind of feel that there's major alignment. There's, there's a lot of skills that I have that could benefit the organization. There's a lot of skills that you guys have that can benefit me and help me grow more as a professional and a person. So I'm all for it, man, and I know we're going to have those conversations. But, you know, one last thing. Leave the audience with a a little bit of advice if they are struggling.

You know, I know we've talked about it a lot, but a lot of times, you know how people are, man. You've got to repeat things over and over and over again. Give the audience some advice that helps them move in a decision that can truly impact their lives and their family's lives for the better. Yeah. You know, this is what I'll leave everybody with, Sean. Believe in yourself.

Take heart and take action. Don't put off to tomorrow what could be done today. If you truly believe in yourself and your personal skill set, like I said previously, do something about it. Take action. You won't regret it. The last thing that you want to do is live in regret. There's nothing worse than that. I think we all can look back in our lives at something that we regret.

And it's not a good feeling. So take heart. Take action, Sean. I love it. Thank you for that, Luke. You heard my man, take heart, take action. Doesn't have to be perfect. It could be messy.

But the one thing that you will never regret is betting on yourself and moving forward and taking action in your goals, in your dreams every single day. All right, guys, listen. Until next time, go out there, wake up determined. Stay in your standard and go dominate your day. Thank you all. Peace. Southwest Florida is one of the most beautiful places on the planet.

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