The Home Service Expert Podcast - The Path to Meaningful Change with JD Ploetz

Episode Date: March 14, 2025

In this episode, JD Ploetz, a long-time area manager at Tommy’s company, shares his journey as a seasoned leader and manager, growth, leadership, and overcoming challenges in the trades industry. JD reflects on his early days as a technician and the evolution of his role into management, eventually overseeing multiple locations. He opens up about the struggles of managing people, balancing business growth, and the importance of leadership in creating a successful team culture. JD also discusses his recent book, Nothing Changes When Nothing Changes, which highlights actionable advice on personal development, time management, and financial responsibility. He shares how these principles have transformed his own life and how he’s using them to mentor his team and help them navigate not only their careers but also their personal challenges. This episode is packed with insights on leadership, personal growth, and the power of building trust within a team. You can purchase JD’s new book here!  https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Changes-When-Universal-Meaningful/dp/1953487211 Don’t forget to register for Tommy’s event, Freedom 2025!  This is the event where Tommy’s billion-dollar network will break down exactly how to accelerate your business and dominate your market in 2025.  For more details visit freedomevent.com

You have to educate yourself. That's part of what I write about is that it's okay. As long as you understand nothing changes when nothing changes, you also have to understand that unless you change your thinking, you change the information you have between your ears, you've got to educate yourself about whatever it is

that you're trying to change. Ignorance is bliss. You don't educate yourself. You don't know. You don't ask for help. You don't make yourself accountable. The change will never happen. I guarantee that because I've been there and done that too, right? For four decades I didn't

try to help myself. Welcome to The Home Service Expert, where each week, Tommy chats with world-class entrepreneurs and experts in various fields, like marketing, sales, hiring, and leadership, to find out what's really behind their success in business. Now, your host, the home service millionaire, Tommy Mello. Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on

the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text NOTES to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299 and you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also if you haven't got your copy of my newest book Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a 200 million dollar company in 22 states. Just go to Elevate and win.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview. Alright, welcome back to the home service expert today. I got a good buddy of mine,

JD plots. He's been with me at a once is 2016 and Started out as a technician used to work for the bad guys Yeah, the green team. I'm not gonna even name a but a great competitor. Actually, they weren't great in Phoenix That's why the guy got kicked out of the franchise But it's weird in a franchise that could be great ones and they're gonna be really really bad ones And it was very evident with that particular company who were the good ones and who were the bad ones. Yeah, I mean we've learned a lot from some of those guys. You know they've got some good owners, but that's like any other franchise. So you just wrote a book I've got I wrote the forward to it.

Nothing changes when nothing changes and this book came out last month. It's a bigger book. How long did it take you to put this together? From beginning to end, it didn't start out as a book, but from beginning to end about 18 months. I'm going to guess. 18 months. Yeah. When I first started putting things together for my technicians, that's how it started, was I was trying to put actionable items together for them because I'm always

trying to make my team better. So my girlfriend and I were trying to figure out how can we help them aside from work and all the KPIs, well, what can we do to help them be better? So we put a list together about 15 or 20 things, time management, money management, just things they could do very simply put, very simple instructions to just take a step forward instead of taking a step back.

And that's how it started, was me putting things together for my technicians And you managed to Sun you managed to go over kind of the last eight nine years here day one Like where you came in what you started managing some of the problems with some of the technicians How many guys have you hired? How many people have you? You know whether you've terminated them or they've quit. I'm just curious about all the numbers I mean, it's been a bit a while here. Okay, so by the way was I started Phoenix in 2007 added to some by 2010 It was our second market. It's one of our bigger markets Well, not today, but it was big

I mean there I mean Denver's blown by us Vegas is blown by us, but but Tucson is Tucson Well when I started I was a technician I came over from that other company The interview process was me sitting down in a room with you and Rob and going can you do this? I said yes, it said okay. Here's your truck It was a long time ago But but I had the experience Started out in a truck in Tucson back, we didn't even have a shop. I don't know if you remember, but parts were brought down

to a dirt lot in Tucson, because we didn't even have a shop in Tucson. So we would meet somebody. That's how small we were. There were three technicians, including me, me, David Parks, and I forget the other kid's name. Brad. Brad hired Dave.

That's right, Brad. And then Joe Cassidy was, Joe Cassidy was out because he got injured or something. So there's actually four of us. So when we started Tucson, I went to Goodwill. I remember going to Goodwill and buying like $20 desks in the most ridiculous chairs. I mean, back then it was like bootstrap, man.

Right. Yeah. Well, I think you had a shop before I showed up and then something happened And you guys had to close it. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, probably. Yeah, but anyway, so So I so I ran I ran jobs I was a technician I wasn't a manager and then you could see that there was a need for a manager So I do remember I kept pestering you and I kept pestering a couple other people that hey if it's not the Adam Yeah, Adam

If it if it's not me and I really didn't need it to be me But we need a manager in Tucson because like the Wild West I'm not saying bad things were happening But just everybody did whatever they wanted to do and luckily the four or five of us that were there We're pretty good at what we did. So the money kept generating but I I mean, someone with no experience would have never, it would have been bad. Yeah. But that's what's going on right now in certain markets. There's no leadership. And we're working on that. You know, it's hard to run you do you run Albuquerque. It's hard when

there's no boots on the ground. You can't have real one on one is very device. Yeah. Yeah. Shout out to Mike and Albuquerque. Real quick. Yeah, that's a Mike he is he is wonderful. Yeah, he's doing a really good job. So then I slowly moved into the management position just because you guys weren't sure or whatever, but I started doing the started doing the deposit and I started doing a little bit of this and I come up to meetings about twice a month of Phoenix talk to you and Adam to see what we were doing. And then finally, I don't remember when it was but finally I was named a manager and then the

and then the next difficult step was getting me out of the field because it's difficult. When you're in the field and then you have to sit behind a desk, Adam used to call me and yell at me and tell me that you have to be more office-centric. You can't be going out and fixing everybody's problems. You need to be concentrating on this, concentrating on that. But eventually we got there.

You know, then everything changed with the structure and then there was area management. I remember the day I got the call somebody said, um, we're gonna give you Albuquerque to manage and I was scared. I had no idea how I was gonna do that because really we weren't doing a whole bunch of that yet. We didn't have any examples. Yeah. But it but it all worked out. Luckily luckily when that did happen I did have a few guys in Albuquerque that kind of stepped up for boots on the ground Yeah, knew the business they knew they were good technician because that's what scared me Is it I wouldn't have somebody there that can fix the problems Then how many guys are in Albuquerque now?

12 I think and what do you got in Tucson? 28 28 to 30 depending on the day the week it is I mean not because they're coming and going but it's just I have a few apprentices now They're hired to do maintenance tech work. Yeah So you got a stars good. Yeah. Yeah, so I mean and then and then they do come and go by the way Unfortunately, that's the nature of the beast is when a growing company hiring 30 to 40 techs a month, some guys get in the truck and they realize, this isn't for me.

Cause we don't get a lot of people with garage door experience. No, we don't. Well, personally, I don't want somebody with garage door experience. I mean, very rarely. If they came from the right company and they got a good edit, especially if they moved,

those are good guys. But when they jump around from job to job to job, they think it's a problem with every company they work for. They never look in the mirror. Exactly. Exactly. It's a me thing, not a them thing. Yeah. And they don't get that. If if I could do one magical thing, I would make my picker the best in the world, meaning that I could interview and do things and and and pick the best guys, the ones that are really going it if you knew that one skill that one skill Billionaire right if you could identify the people that'll get stuff done that will actually enjoy their work

I read this thing JD, and I want you to finish your story But it said you work eight hours to have fun for two hours you work ten hours to enjoy one hour And I just it was this Instagram post it had all this stuff and my comment. You know what I wrote It was a Facebook actually I wrote then enjoy your work And yeah, if you don't hate work if you actually have a good time at work Then it's like you're acting like you're washing dishes. By the way, I didn't mind washing dishes It wasn't like this hard ridiculous job. But what if you enjoyed your work? Then it wouldn't feel like you're always hating life but

So you came in you became a, you took over Albuquerque, you had two sons, and you had a lot of guys that came to you. Like, the guys that come to me still. I had a guy come to me recently, going through a nasty divorce here in Phoenix. You got, you know, custody battles, you got alimony. Then you got guys that just can't seem to save a penny that are bringing in 150 grand. And they buy new trucks, they buy their Harley,

they'll go buy a Can-Am. They have no retirement account, they're in their 30s, and you're wondering, where's the money? Where did the money go? Right, where's the money? Well, I was that person when I started. I mean, it took me 40 plus years to be able to manage money. And the opportunity I got here allowed me to surround myself with

the right people to help me with the money portion. You know, when I first started with that other company, it was managed by a gentleman in Seattle, and I was making $760 a week. And I'll tell you what, I thought this guy in heaven had opened up. I was a single dad with three kids. And then I surrounded myself when I moved to A1 with people that could help me with the money. Adam was actually, I went to him more than once. You know, we didn't get along to greatest. I actually went to him more than once to ask him about budgeting and things like that. And he really, really helped me out.

He's really smart with that. Very, very, very smart. Very disciplined. But back to your point of they come to me and they do come to me with personal problems, with money problems. That's when I know I'm doing my job correctly, at least in some scope,

because they feel comfortable enough to come to me. And I can't tell you how many people I pointed in the right direction for legal advice, for monetary advice, for kid advice. That's the other big one. Some of these guys have young kids with a family. They can't save any money. And they have all these questions. How did you do this? How did you do that? How did you afford diapers and formula and all this and still make your wife happy? I mean, they bring all sorts of things to me. And that's honestly one of the barometers I use to, you know, our numbers fluctuate in quote, the business,

you know, the KPIs fluctuate in the business, but I know I'm doing a good job when they trust me enough to come talk to me about that. You know, that's where I feel, and that's why this book happened, was to help them change starting in their personal life, because you can apply some of the stuff in this book To your business life, but it was more to get their personal life straightened out first because in the business life

It goes a lot better. You know they say happy wife happy life, but it's really happy home right happy. You're successful. Yeah Yeah, absolutely happy so so cool. So you it sounds like I you know we have a morning mojo call We have a Thursday meeting every week You're interviewing a lot of people What would you say? Yeah, this is a real question of mine You got guys like Dave Parks that have been there a long time yeah saw a producer I know you've had to tame him a little bit, but he kind of just does his own thing. Yeah, he does But he just you depend on him. He's been here what ten years? He's longer than me. Yeah so he's been here a long time.

So you got those guys that are just they're gonna do their thing. They're gonna be pretty good. He's a pretty good producer. I don't know has he got Coles hit Pinnacle? No he does. He for whatever reason and I don't know all the particulars but he really didn't shoot for Pinn, and I don't know all the particulars, but he really didn't shoot for Pinnacle. I don't even know if he signed the paper, honestly. Because David, if we're using him as a case, he is a very, very rare case. First of all, he's been in this business for that many years. He's always been successful.

He has struggled with some personal issues that he's gotten to the other side of. And that allows him to go on autopilot kind of now. He reaches out to me occasionally for help, but just what you said, he's a top producer that is very, very steady. And that's, but it's been time that's allowed him to do that and him dealing with his own stuff. I don't know why he just pushes a little harder. He just snap out into the goal setting, writing things down. And that's another thing. So you got guys, what makes you know, with it? So we train guys in the market for a month, they come to Phoenix for

a month, they get back, they we do a little bit of polishing. And where is it that when do you find out? Because obviously, you don't hire them unless you think they'll succeed. I mean, there was a time where we all hired people that we thought we could save. We're gonna like fix people and we were gonna like we were doing like a good deed by God by hiring this person that was an extra addict and like, really like homeless or whatever. We're like, we're gonna save their lives. Exactly. And every one of us have done it. And I'm like, okay, we're stopping playing Savior. So when is it that you know someone's going to be an excellent fit? That is a really tough question because I have to use my two Pinnacle guys as my examples here. Okay, I have two technicians going to Pinnacle and I have an installer going to Pinnacle. Yep. My youngest technician is going to Pinnacle and my oldest technician is going to Pinnacle. Oh, that's interesting. No, it's very interesting.

And Anthony Tay, whom I love to death, he, and he doesn't mind me telling the story because he'll personally tell the story. He was that close to being let go. He was an absolute disaster when he started. But he helped me understand what to look for in somebody. He never gave up. He truly wanted to be better.

And he came to me, if not every day, every other day. What can I do to be better? What are my numbers? Did I get any callbacks? And that, and he made that paradigm shift himself in his own head, again, going back to the book. Nothing changes when nothing changes He knew he had to change something and he came to me for help to make those changes

But the key here is he never gave up he would fail, but he never quit Okay, that's another huge point in that book there is that there's a difference between failure and quitting Failing is fine. You have to fail to get better. But when you quit, that's when everything, and that's what a lot of guys do. Now, so that's Anthony. I mean, he just wouldn't give up. Now there are similarities in that Angelo, my youngest technician, came out of the gate swinging. I mean, he swung for the fences and he hit a lot of balls out of the park. Yep His thing and he'll tell you this I brought him into my op when when I knew that he was capable of following our direction Because that's all you have to do is do what we ask you to do in the order

We ask you to do it in don't think about it Just do it and and to get results right and and have the customers best interest at heart If you do that, you'll be extremely successful and he did just that no baggage Didn't think twice about it wasn't selling out of his own pocket. Yeah, he just he just went and did he did two three knocks He made sure everything on the door was shown. I mean he just did it by the book his Thing was that he's 21 or was 20 at the time or 21 anyway he's only maybe 22 now that I had to keep him humble because it was real quick when he saw what he was capable of his head swelled up and he could barely make it through the door

and he's walking around cocky and I brought him in my office more than once more than once and I just wanted to do one thing I didn't ask him to change anything I told him be humble Make sure you stay humble. And he asked why, and I told him, well, first of all, you're gonna think you're all that in a bag of chips, which to a certain extent you are, but when you start overthinking what you are compared to what you're capable of doing,

that's when everything goes downhill. And I've seen it over and over and over. I've seen guys that are really good at this job not stay humble, and then they work themselves right out of the job, either because they don't listen anymore because they're that good, or they're so toxic to the rest of the guys with, well, I'm better than you are and all that, and it'll just drag a market into the mud. And he did, and I get goosebumps saying it, he did exactly what I asked him to do. He stayed humble the whole time. I'm not saying there weren't bumps in the road but for the most part he was a, I hate to use the word perfect but he was as close to perfect as we can get a technician that we hired, trained, put into the field and now has had longevity. I mean he hit Pinnacle his second year.

Well you know I've got a couple guys that that are gonna go on Pinnacle this year That they're in certain markets and they call me up. They're like these guys don't think Pinnacle's Possible, but yet we have more guys going than ever before there's like 50. So like What is it that these guys walk in and say that's not possible? Like what do you think this defeat they before they even get started? They've already given up and by the way Pinnacle's a trip where they get some access to equity and they get, it's a fun trip to Mexico. It's like, it's going to be a game changer for a lot of people. It's like a very prestigious thing for the listeners, but go ahead.

Well, it'll also do with the baggage that they're carrying around. Book number two, which we'll be out at some point, is called The Beginner's Mind. And that's exactly, okay, using Angelo for an example again. Angelo, because he is so young, which I always thought that worked against us in this business, but I've rethought that entire thing now, is that he didn't have all the history. Life experience. Life experience and everything where everything that happened in the garage, he would compare it to something negative in his life and then he wouldn't

either pursue it or do what we asked him to do because he knew better. He had a beginner's mind in the garage door business. Excuse me. You know, preconceived notions. Exactly. And that's what people from other businesses, from other sales things come in other sales businesses other home service Business see the way we do it. We do it so differently that They're just used to that and they're and and they think themselves. There's no way this can work

It is so different and they don't allow themselves They don't open their mind enough which sounds a little crazy But they but they don't allow themselves the luxury of just plain dumb and doing what we ask them to do. They just overthink everything. I mean, I have the youngest guy and the oldest guy. All of them, I mean, both of them with less than five years experience going to Pentacle. One of them one year, one of them I think two and a half, three years.

So I have the two extremes in age if you want. Well, a lot of guys say, well, I'm too old to do it. I can't work that hard. I can't spend that time in the garage. Anthony pushed himself like you wouldn't believe in. He's not the healthiest. I'm, okay, I shouldn't say healthy, but he's not the youngest.

He's not a spring chicken anymore. Yeah. You know, it is all negative thoughts that they have put into their head. And I, as a manager, can change some of those thoughts, but I can't read your mind. You know, I can read your numbers and I can bring you into my office and say hey I think this is going on I think possibly is what we need to do to change that and but if they're not willing to even listen to it to be open

to it then I'm just talking to myself. At what point do you decide what's the the straw that breaks the camel's back that you're like? Because I always say if there's if there's a will, I'll find a way. Right. If they want to meet me 50 50, even 60 40, I'll do the 60. I'd even meet 70 30. But when it when when a relationship becomes they don't care about the relationship, there is no respect, self-respect and mutual respect. That's when you start to wonder even if you are a producer like

You know, you're not part of the team. You're not pulling your weight. You don't show up to meetings You're actually bringing everybody else down like Dave Did I always say this about like a lot of the people I'm like like me and you don't talk a ton I'm not I never call you up a bitch, right? But I don't call you up and say man, that's like when I call you, we smile, we catch up and we laugh. But what point do you decide, no bueno? I gotta make some moves here. Okay, it isn't so much I decide,

but it's the few red flags that pop up. We all have group chats through now Teams, which is great by the way, thank you for the use of that. Because doing group chats otherwise. Negativity in a group chat is the first red flag. Or me being told someone is being negative by somebody else, you know, a little bit of hearsay, but I just don't go from the first piece of hearsay.

If I hear that, then I start asking guys, is this person sane doing this? But that's a big red flag is negativity. Now, you can turn that around if you get on it quickly because that's just like a cancer. I don't, you know, it's, it grows very, very, very quickly. And I know you've seen it here. It can go from one guy to another guy to another guy

in the span of a week. And then all of a sudden you have three people that are just negative and dragging everybody down. So I guess to answer your question, is it negativity and disrespect for their peers is one of the first red flags that I look for in the beginning that is gonna drag that person down or drag somebody else down.

As far as the final straw, like I mean, if you're talking about letting somebody go. You feel like they self-eliminate eliminate because I was talking to Dan in Michigan and he goes Most of my guys self eliminate. He's like, I don't really have to do much there. I know Because when he's talking to Luke, who's our coo Or or even brian david port. They'll be like When are you gonna let this guy go? He's like I don't spend any time with the bottom 20 percent Because they kind of fall off anyway.

Right and that... And do you think that's the right mentality? Do you think just let that... do you think that they should be there long enough to quit? Or do you think you should get in front of it before? I guess it's circumstance. Well, we had a circumstantial and we aren't the company we were six years ago. So there's legalities and everything else you have to think of. Yeah.

You know? I will say this, when I partnered, when I talked to Quartek about this, you know, our legal team was a lot more, I said, I think it's bullshit. And I called Doug with Quartek, I think it's really crappy that we gotta do like six performance improvement plans. We'll fire a top guy like this,

if they don't show up to a meeting, we're like, gone. But we're like, we're going to hold onto people that are actually losing us money that don't allow us to pay our bills that'll close our doors if they were, you know, unfortunately, like we've got obligations and bills we need to meet, right? Rents and service tight and you know, all kinds of stuff. And he says, no, he goes, we'll, we'll deal with the lawsuits. You you fire them you get rid of anybody not pulling their weight meaning in effect It should not be hard. We work for I'm glad we working right to will Like look at my job is never I don't enjoy firing people unless you lie cheaters still then it's easy

But why if we know this person's gotta go what what advat- I'm telling you right now, get rid of them. I mean, just after this meeting. You cut them, as long as you wholeheartedly in your heart believe they're not right, don't wait. Okay. Well, no, and that's, and I know that you've actually said that at the manager meeting, you said something very similar to that.

But from the HR side, and I'll back HR up on this, we do have to have some sort of documentation, not the big long drawn out. So I don't think anybody should be getting let go that doesn't see it coming. So yeah, there should be something. But I don't think you just wake up one day and be like, this person's got to go.

I think it's probably been a couple of months. So hopefully, if you're thinking correctly, I know you just don't wake up and be like, man, this guy's got to go. I think it's probably been a couple of months. So hopefully, if you're thinking correctly, I know you just don't wake up and be like, man, this guy's gone. Yeah, well, Dan is correct. I mean, the last few people that I've lost or that we've parted ways, however you want to say it, Tucson,

where everything was lined up to do what we were gonna do and all of a sudden you get a phone call. I'm just gonna come give you my keys this morning, JD. Okay? Okay? And that happened twice in the last six months. You knew if you were in the bottom percent. Yeah. And you just said, hey, you pack up your stuff

and say, look, this was fair. Like I had a chance to work harder to get above the bottom 20% because new people coming in is a good thing. They have fresh blood. Anyways, I know we're going off here. This is the want to talk- You said something pretty important though, because when you on the Thursday meeting or

Luke or somebody talks about that bottom 10 and 20%, there is a noticeable improvement in KPIs and metrics in technicians across the board, at least in my market. It is, you can actually write the day, you can put an X on the day you guys talked about it, give yourself a week, and anybody that was trending down, all of a sudden is trending up. And I don't think it's fear. Well, some of it might be fear,

but I think some of it is that they know that you care enough to tell them that, because a lot of companies won't Say that a lot of them don't even give the numbers, right? Exactly. So I just want to let you know because that popped in my head that when you guys discuss those sorts of things on the Thursday meeting on the bring the fire meeting it really has an effect on your markets Well, you know what's interesting is back in the day and you remember these days back over on University. I Well, you know what's interesting is back in the day and you remember these days back over on University I Used to have people write down we'd make a smiley face and in black you'd go write your numbers in your KPI's And then in red I'd write an unhappy face

And I'd give the markers teach first because I knew it was only like in Phoenix. There was only like 20 guys Yeah public shaming works and it was kind of shaming and I said all the losers come up and write their numbers And I don't but by the way, I didn't mean you're a loser as your character public shaming works. And it was kind of shaming and I said, all the losers come up and write their numbers. And I don't, but by the way, I didn't mean you're a loser as your character. It just meant you lost this week. You didn't hit the goal. So Steve Siraj, you know really well,

he always tells me when you said that, and I took the red marker and he was walking really slow. I remember this day and he puts, and he just kind of fills it out real quick. Sits back down he goes, never again was I going to be on that side. Something to be said about just accountability and pushing people and say, look, how does it feel to be in the bottom five of this company? And then you're going to have a person that says, Either they're going to quit or they're going to get better.

Exactly. And I want to get they're gonna get better. Exactly. And I wanna get that out of them quicker. Exactly. Like listen, if this is not working, let me know. But if you want help, tell me. I'll get you the right ride alongs, we can send you back to Phoenix. We got so many opportunities.

You stick with me for 30 minutes before Thursday meeting, we'll work through this together. But let's figure this out today. Yeah. Because I'll tell you this, I wouldn't be able to go home and look at my wife, look at my kids if I was in your position. Because I know you're better than this. That's what I would say. Well, a lot of days don't talk to their girlfriends or their wives about their work position. As I found out, Lisa, my girlfriend, when we

have the holiday party, she actually speaks longer than I do, because she's talking to the wives and the girlfriends. And I'm telling you what, talk about a game changer for improvement. When the wives and girlfriends knew how important and what these guys did, how the money worked a little bit, she didn't go into details. But I'll tell you what, having that camaraderie between the families, and we don't do a great job of it in Tucson, we're trying to do better. But I can tell you what, that when she spoke directly to the wives and girlfriends and families during the holiday party, we again, I kind of watched everybody's faces and I took note and I'll be darned if some

of these guys' numbers didn't start improving. It's, you know, I think who does this the best? Eric Park says once Leslie started carrying, he did over a million dollars in doors this year I mean he's the number one guy that we have in door sales and he said without my wife talking to me about my day and going through it with me and I'm telling you the more successful people I talk to they bring their wife and kids into it like their kids ask him at the dinner table how did today go and of course dad asks how did your day go right you know

there's like, but they actually care about each other's day. They're pushing each other. Like Leslie's like, we're going to Pinnacle. Like when you have somebody like, what's it gonna take? Do you gotta pick up a six day? Do you gotta go do the ride along with this person? What is it gonna take for you to win?

When you have that person supporting you, a lot of people don't have that, but a lot of people do have it, but they just never asked them or brought them into it. And that's, for the guys that don't have that, but a lot of people do have it, but they just never asked them or brought them into it. And that's for the guys that don't have anybody. I have an installer or two now. I have some technicians that don't have family in town. I try to call them.

I've taken them out of my side by side. You know, Lisa has offered at the holiday party, she offered to all of them, if you need help with money, and I know a few of them do, we offered our services to help them get a budget in place. Anything we can do to help them improve their personal life just a little bit will pay out tenfold in business. But having that support at home is so important if you have the people to support you. And if not, I tell them, you can come talk to me anytime.

I mean, I'll be that support as much as I can, and Lisa's, again, which is amazing to me, is she's even offered to do that with them with the money. So having some sort of support behind you definitely, again, changed her, I think. I think the problem is people, and you know this, I think they live above their, and you know this, I think they live above their means. When they start making six figures, it's like,

you know, I've always said this, JD, if you can't save money at 40,000, you can't save money at 100,000, you can't save money at 200,000. Everybody thinks it's a production problem. I need to make more money. It's not, it's a spending problem. It's exactly, it's a spending problem.

It is not a production problem. I had a technician, I'm not gonna say his name, but he was paying 1200 bucks a month for rent between him and his wife. They were bringing in over 250 grand. And he had no money, nothing. I said, wait a minute, $1200 a month? That's a 15 grand a year.

So that leaves you with $235,000. I know there's some taxes and you got a kid and you got some stuff But what's going on? You don't even own a house like what what where's the money? You know, here's the problem is they don't want to write it down. They don't want to keep track It's almost like it's embarrassing to them. But if they just would get started We have a guy Chad, you know that works for us. He went and got his body fat last week. 27%. It's considered obese. He's skinny. He's ready to change because he knows the facts. The body fat, that's the best, most accurate thing. When you do this, you got to look at yourself and deal with the facts. I think when you go to the doctor that my dad hates going to

the doctor because you might have something but you could prevent you you could fix it. Right but you don't want to know you don't want to know. Most people don't want to know. I've been there done that. And it's like the the the truth kills but then you can make change but you got to know exactly where you're at. We call it the known financial position that That's what Alan Rohr taught me, the known financial position. And when you got that, it's like you could work miracles. You got to have a plan. You got to be realistic. And it might take a year. It might take two years. But it took the decade to get you in that position. Right. And it's the reaching out for help that's the most difficult thing. I mean, that's again, you're doing really good segue into the book here is that

nothing changes when nothing changes that, you know, people say that different versions of it and everybody just kind of listens to it. Oh, yeah. But when you really think about it, let's just take money. For example, if I'm if I don't have any money today because I'm spending all this money, then I have to change something in order to fix that. You know, and in order to change, you're stuck. Yeah, you have to educate yourself. That's part of what I write about is that it's okay. As long as you understand nothing changes when nothing changes, you also have to understand that unless you change your thinking, you change the information you have between your ears, you've got to educate yourself about whatever it is that you're trying to change.

Ignorance is bliss. You don't educate yourself. You don't know. You don't ask for help. You don't make yourself accountable. The change will never happen. I guarantee that because I've been there and done that too, right? For four decades, I didn't try to help myself. You know, it took me that long to reach out for help. But once you make yourself accountable,

once you understand that you have to educate yourself a little bit about whatever it is that you're trying to change and talk to another human being about it, you can do anything. I mean, you can absolutely do anything. Hey, hope you're loving today's episode. There's someone you need to know, someone who played a huge role in how I built my $220 million home service business. His name is Al Levy, and

he's the mastermind behind 7 Power Contractor. He's helped hundreds of home service owners, including me, scale with more profit and less stress. Now he's retired, no consulting, no events except for Freedom 2025. Al's planning to make a rare appearance to hang out and, if time allows, host a meet and greet with attendees. This might be your only chance to meet the legend in person and pick his brain for a few minutes. Grab your ticket now and lock in our early bird bonus package worth over $5,000 plus VIP tickets are 20% off. Don't miss this rare opportunity. Go to freedomevent.com now. That's freedomevent.com. All right, back to the episode. I agree, man. And you know, it's so crazy that you see guys, you know

randomly Brandon Colby and Mike Price stopped in my house just randomly the other day the Mike Price his fob Stopped working to start the car. So it had they had to pick it up and take it to the dealer get reprogrammed so they were riding together they had a job by my house, so they stopped by and You know Colby did darn near two million dollars pretty good pretty good year for him and little little shy of two million and I mean that's that's a large amount these guys are performance-paced so the more they sell and obviously there's a scorecard there's other things that weigh into that but I mean it's a crazy amount of money but you know he's got what four

cars he's got a house he's got you know he's got what four cars. He's got a house. He's got you know he's got a can-am He's got you know these guys act like man things are tight. He's paying for his mom's car his mom's rent Yeah, when you're doing that any parties a little bit, so you know I'll pick up the bar tab so Yeah, I mean look That's what's interesting you know I lived in the apartment for four years I don't really need these material possessions to feel like it's nice to go out on the can-am But dude, I know how much you could get you could rent them for how much I go out, right? Like there's nothing important to me about like I need to have these material possessions like they're great in the beginning

You love it. You love your new car. You love this, but I Have never been like man. This is what makes my life better beginning you love it you love your new car you love this but I I've never been like man this is what makes my life better because you get into this debt and then what's worse is when you just can't sleep because you can't make ends meet. Right and and I well again I only know me and what I've been through and I've watched you do your thing and for those of you that don't believe them that's I can attest to the fact that you had you had no one or desire for material things when you were

building this business, which I found amazing. Because back then, just that short time ago, I was short-sighted and thought, if I had that money, I'd be doing this and I'd be doing that and I'd be doing this. It took me a few years. And now where I'm at, I understand completely what you were doing. Believe me. But it took me, like I said, 40 years to get to where I could just save something. I hope Brandon, if I give Brandon one piece of advice, is take 5% and put it away.

Just take 5% and put it away. 10% is better, 15% is even better than that. He's got to start somewhere. You've got to get in the habit. You've got to change, change that one thing of just take it, put it away, and forget it ever exists. That's why I'm so happy with the 401K. I mean, I'm up to like 30 grand in my 401K already.

Thank you. I wonder if there's anything I could set up where certain people would give me, I'd insure it, I'd put it in an account that I gotta sign off and I died, but they'd have to come to me to get it out and just something to like, because look, I could afford to cover everybody's

in a way of like an insurance, but put it into some type of trust or some type of tax shelter. Like. Well that's what the 401k is, right? Yeah, 401k, Roth IRA, there's a lot of different things that do it, but it's like, yeah, 30 grand is great,

but think about this, and I'm not sitting here saying, look at me, I ain't care less, but when I was 16 my cousin Red Corvette it was in 87 Nothing special. Uh We got in his car at gilbert at my uncle's house and he was listening to uh, don't speak no doubt on the cd player Um, then I was 16. So this was 1999 And he said, uh, how much money do you make a month? And at that time, I was

a lifeguard and I was busing tables. And I don't remember what I said, but he goes, how much have you put away into your Roth? I said, what's a Roth? He goes, IRA account. He goes, you don't have one? I go, no, I'm 16. He goes, I don't care how old you are. Let's go start you one right now. So we drove over. I don't know where we went to the bank or whatever. We got one set up and I Wrote on there $50. I wanted to put out per check. He goes no, no, no do 300 I'm 16 Wow. I had to pick up extra shifts. I had to like dude It was like a lot for me to put 300 but I put 300 You know, there will be

Next year that account over $2 million tax free. And I haven't been able to put into that since I was 29. So think about that. When I was 29, I was seven years into the business. That was 2014 right before you started. I couldn't put any more money in. So that's compound interest each year is crazy that last decade. So the more you get in there, obviously, you know, the ideas pay off your house. That's probably going to be your your number one asset because that thing will keep going up like as inflation happens, real estate keeps up with it.

We did we did that a few months ago. We we wrote the last check. You wrote the last check. We wrote the last check. We had a mortgage burning party. It was fun. I think you told me that that's incredible. A lot of people are paying off their houses Dan far. I love that because you know, I like people that are in charge that actually take good financial decisions. They make good financial decisions that people could look up to you to say, listen, that guy had enough discipline and perseverance to pay off his house. And the next thing is buy another rental. But that's the thing is don't buy something for yourself. A vacation house by a rental. But that's the thing is don't buy something for yourself, a vacation house, buy a rental.

You have to understand, I think from what you just told me, you're a very rare case. There are very few 16 year olds. Now one of my kids has a Roth IRA and my stepson has a Roth IRA and they're 18, 16. But you're a very rare case. Most people don't, aren't that. I got lucky that he told me to do that. Right. And I respected him.

And see, there you go. That's the thing. If do that right and I respected him and see there you go That's the thing if if anybody that you didn't respect told you that you probably my parents or my sister anybody else I respect this shit out of this guy. So I said, alright, I'm gonna do it. Yeah, and I look at this annuity It was a I took this class when I was 19 called finite Finite math and in the back there was all these tables and they had these annuity compound interest. Yeah, so it was like, I go and I go 40 years, I'm only gonna be 56, at the time I would have been 59,

59 and a half, you can start pulling. 40 years of compound interest, that last five years is like bang, bang, boom. Every year you left it in. Now if I live it until I'm 80, because I won't need it. I mean, look, at. Every year you left it in. Now, if I live, leave it until I'm 80, because I won't need it. I mean, look, at the end of the day, I don't want to start like enjoying my life at 80,

but there's good things that have happened since then. But like that's tax free. And that's what I want everybody to understand. Yeah. That's listening. Like our jobs, if you take one thing by the book, nothing changes if nothing changes. But your technicians, they need financial literacy. They need to learn a little bit about discipline I don't care about leadership. I don't care about motivation. I care about personal discipline

But what I've learned is I cannot discipline you I cannot tell you to wake up You've got to actually exactly build that that that strength that muscle up yourself Exactly, and that's just another good segue Thank you, Tommy the whole second half or the part two of this book, the first part, just so everybody knows Is this story about you? It is a story about me. You've been through some shit. A story about me and because I'm not famous, you know, a lot of these, a lot of these,

well, I hate the phrase self-help, but we'll call it that. Self-help books are done by people and no offense intended here by people that have already made it. They're, you know, they have a lot of money, they're successful and all that. And for some people, that is a hard leap to make. Now, some people do it just fine, but it's a hard leap to go from here to up there.

That's why I thought it would be a good idea that I'm not bad off, I'm not super wealthy either. I will be, there's no doubt in my mind, I'm gonna be able to- And make the right moves. I'm gonna be wealthy either. I will be. There's no doubt in my mind. I'm going to be able to— I'm going to be able to retire comfortably. So that's what the whole first part of the book is, is letting you know that these are the steps you need to do that when you want to make that change, these are the steps that

you can follow. It's not the only way, but you can follow the ones that I followed to make that change happen. But the whole second part of the book is actionable items. It isn't me babbling on again. Lisa and I did the research. It's how to have better time management. It's how to manage your money.

Very easy, simple steps. It's how to advance your career, how to talk to your boss to get a raise. All these little things that you can do to advance yourself just a little bit, just a little bit, just to show you that you can do to advance yourself just a little bit just a little bit Just to make just to show you that you can actually make change happen. So again, and that's that's why I did the book Is that it's I think everybody can benefit from it whether you're in Tommy shoes my shoes or the guy that's on the corner shoes

There's something in there that can help you take a step forward. There's something in there. I guarantee it Have you done the audible yet? What? Have you read the audible? Have I read? Yeah, for audible. Yeah. Yeah, I actually have it, but I'm just...

Is that out yet? What? Is it out? Yeah, but I didn't do it. It's done by AI, which so there's a few quirks, but because the second half is all actionable items that you would want to refer back to a lot, what I'm going to do is along with the audible, is I'm going to have part two on a very slim pamphlet that you can get,

and I'll make sure that everybody gets one. If they get the audible once it's available, I have to make it. Yeah. But anyway, yes, answer your question. Yes, it is out. It is absolutely out. AI is, we're training my, that's one other thing I got to make a note of. We're training my AI. one other thing I got to make a note of we're training my AI

Literally, it's my face. It talks to you. It's loaded up all the podcast and I've got a way to train it actually to the next level Which I think is important one day, you know one day I'm gonna die all of us are I'm pretty sure that and I All of us are I'm pretty sure of that and I Think it's cool to have a legacy that if I load it up and and I record enough stuff over the next 20 years It kind of it's not me, but it's a remnants of me And it's gonna make sure for then leave that around for the next you know Hopefully I have kids and you know there's something left for them to kind of it's not the same at all

But at least it's like hey dad, what would you do in this situation? I don't know. I don't know if it will help them or not. It's a weird thing, but I thought about when my dad passes or my mom, it's gonna be the worst day of my life, but also to just, I still know they're gone. Yeah, there's a lot of regrets I have

when my parents passed away that I wasn't, I was in the throes of my addition, especially when my mother passed away. And I do have regrets that I didn't sit down with her and get more written down. And, you know, remember, I mean, what you're doing is great. You know, this is my legacy kind of from like my great grandkids and stuff, you know, who want to know a little something about me. They have that, they have coloring books, you know. But yeah, I'm big into AI. I I I don't use it for the super duper important stuff

But I'll tell you what I would be lost without it now in a daily basis What do you use AI for give me a give me give me give me a ride through I I ask it questions like when something pops in my head I need to know about the What is it chat GPS? Oh,. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Well yeah, I have conversations, but right now, and I'll do a quick plug, my pug, Miss Ruby, she does coloring books. So she actually has them up on Amazon for sale now.

I use the AI to help me generate pictures of my idea for coloring books. I also have it help me come up with subject matter for some of her children's books that she's writing. I use it, emails are great. You know, when I, like if I'm writing an email- So chat GPT is what you use? Oh yeah, oh yeah.

That's the only one you use. No, no, no, I use mid-journey for pictures. I also just started using Gemini for Google for generating phrases and pictures as well. But yeah, chat GPT is my go-to. I even have my own. I did a chat GPT because you can construct your own GPT. You can give it instructions. So I have a couple of those that are mine that I use for specific things. So I don't have to go through the whole rigmarole of telling it what I want, all the details. I just give it. it already knows the details

and have saved them. Yeah. Like, like if I tell the one GPT to, let's just say, draw an apple, okay, if you just plug that in there and draw a red apple. Well this GPT is set up for coloring book pages, lines, just, just black and white lines. So when I type apple in there, it types me a perfect black and white line drawing of an apple. It doesn't do the color. I don't have to tell him how to do color and do all that stuff. That's great. Yeah, I like that. Oh, no, I love it. There is there is so many great tools out there. It's like, look, you know, I've taken a lot of school, university. I've done a lot. I got an MBA. I took 60 credits of prerequisites for dental anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, organic chemistry.

It's been a long time, but I wish there was more practical, just no fluff, bullshit. This is an AI course you're gonna take. It's for advanced learners to go from zero to hero. And I wish, even all the apps on your phone, I just wish there was like Maybe if somebody's listening to this and you listen to this podcast DM me if you know of a place that offers really well put together courses that are not

20 hours, I don't need an accreditation. I want to do it for myself if I took a course a week Yeah, and I actually like used it. I don't want to take courses to something I don't want to use. I'll use it too because all my learning on AI is it's taken a lot of time and I mean, I'm you know, maybe there's a YouTube channel that does that. Yeah, maybe. I started using AI for our KPIs. I actually have a chat GPT that I can use for one-on-ones. I should show that to you. Oh, I love to see that. Yeah, no, it's great. So when you when my buddy Aaron Gainer loaded up his, it said renegotiate with your vendors because this is like it literally said all this stuff. And it's mine starting to get to know me. Mine is like if you want to talk to Blackstone and KKR and like this is what the some of the things they'd be interested in. It's like it's it's it's personalized. Yeah, which is incredible. So what do you you know you talk a lot about accountability. You see that's the first thing and that's been a big buzzword today once for the last couple of years. And I know Luke gets really frustrated when he hears managers say, you got to be more accountable,

because what does that exactly mean to you? Because it's just been a really big word for us. Accountability, you've got to stay accountable. But what does that even mean? Okay. So last year, and we even, I think you said it in one of the Bring the Fire meetings, last year was the year of accountability. Okay? I think that was given throughout the company.

Accountability, I had to take it a step further. And actually on the last mojo that I did, I've been off a couple days was I told all my guys, this is the year of personal accountability, not just accountability in general, not just following the rules and doing this and doing that, but personal accountability. And I told them it is the year of personal accountability, meaning in your personal life and in your business life. Yes, you have to follow the rules. We just said, I can't believe people are making such a big deal out of this uniform thing.

What do you mean? What is happening? Oh my God. And for those of you who don't know, we've always had our black shirts that we were in. I'm not wearing it because I'm on PTO today. So that's why I'm not wearing my shirt, because I have to keep things separated. But yeah, we said, listen,

we're going to have certain color jeans and shorts. I've been telling them for years. This is coming, guys. This is coming. Just wear clean, dark shorts. Well, people were wearing like really, really crappy, the cowboy boots and ripped up pants and like and I was stains everywhere Yeah, yeah, we're not doing a normal. You don't we're not doing like you got to wear long sleeve with patches all over and booties on your feet, you know

You asked me a little while ago what I thought the red flags were, you know That's actually one of them that when a guy shows up and he cannot take personal accountability or care about his hygiene and his looks is a huge red flag. I don't know anybody that's successful in our business that looks that way. Yeah, that's interesting. Comes in with stained pants, they're wearing the same pants every day, they wear them for a week because they think they're saving money on washing. I mean, you're losing money in the garage. Oh yeah, and they smell.

I've had that conversation more than once in the last eight years with guys. And that's probably the toughest one. It's easier to fire somebody than tell them they stink. It is. You know, I'm just a guy, that's not hard for me. I mean, I understand how that could be tough, but it's like, literally like sometimes

either you smell like clone too much You're covering something up or look. He just you don't smell You're not pleasant, but I think the uniform thing that you guys have given to all of us is absolutely a hundred percent a Fabulous thing and the right thing and I think you're gonna see the numbers move a little more just because of it And I'm gonna get into this for myself, zero profanity, as far as SRF. I would love to try to do that. You know, it's not that hard because when I talk to,

you know, my niece and nephews, I don't ever, I'm not a big customer. But when I'm, sometimes on this, you know, not the stage, but when I'm talking to, you know, bring the fire meetings, I'll slip in an F word here and there, but there's nothing that like, there was nothing great about that. It was not like it made it made the meeting better,

but someone might've got to find it. So not usually our guys, but overall I was doing this to, I was talking to like 40 companies at one point and there was a couple of women and the guy that was having, he goes, that was the best meeting I've ever attended except for the two F words. He's like, I would support that a hundred I'll be 100% behind you doing that. That is a good thing. So accountability, personal accountability, I believe there's this thing called the law of the lid. I know that there is.

John Maxwell. And you'll only grow as your lid grows. So the more you learn, the more you're, and you start growing this lid. So now I've told the guys like Luke and Brian and our whole team over here, Adrian, is like, look, you guys are going to need consultants. I'm going to need to get you. You guys are going to need to learn more. You're going to read the books I tell you to read. We're going to have a book club because what's important to me is that they continue to grow or otherwise I'm gonna outgrow them because I'm reading I'm doing

I'm podcasting I'm going to visit shops like and I've never been like I don't want that for you guys I never said that I've always invited them. So now I'm starting to get way more into like let's do more group activities Let's get more involved because that's the evolution and this is the way to make it's good for the community. It's good for the people It's good Everyone needs a helping hand a lot of people try to do this on their own and that's a red flag And this is the way to make it good for the community. It's good for the people. It's good. Everyone needs a helping hand. A lot of people try to do this on their own. And that's a red flag barometer right there too. The guys that are the technicians that when I have things that we do together and they don't want to show up, I'm not saying I'm going to fire you if you don't come or do stuff with us, but it definitely makes

me take notice when people don't want to learn something new, when they don't want to do a ride along or they take a ride along for granted just to take the money. That's another one of those red flags that you were talking about. Again, not a fireable offense by any scope of the imagination, but it and it should. A lot of times they say I can't afford it. Right, but I think you should take notice to the people that don't want to do the things, which I'm sure you probably already do. That's interesting. So you've been through a lot. I mean, you've been through some drug addictions, some alcoholism, you got caught in a country

that you almost got in big trouble for something that didn't happen, but it was almost like a rape case that you could have had a prison for a long long time Probably a decade you would have been in jail or something. Oh god. I would I would still be there I'm sure I mean so all that's in the book So you've been through the ringer and that's and that's just the parts I can talk about Yeah, I mean you've heard some my other stories Mike Bailey's heard my stories Yeah, you say everybody says you need to put those in a book and that might happen someday But yeah, I've been not to my own horn, but I've been through some shit It's a

But doesn't kill makes you stronger, I guess so Yeah, there's a lot of good information first half of the book would nothing changes Nothing changes is about you and the next ones practical things nothing changes, nothing changes is about you and then the next one's practical things that you could do or your technicians or your people that you work with that makes sense. Can you go through a few of those? So time management. Yeah, time management, money, money management, how to communicate more effectively. That's another big one. And there's just some very simple things to do and a lot of it's mindfulness, especially when it's the communication part, is think before you talk, okay?

Everybody says it, but if you actually do it, your level of communication with people you don't know and also people that you do know gets better. You just have to slow down a little bit. Like I'm really bad at it, okay, because of the ADD and ADHD, whichever one I have that day. Yeah, I don't always slow down. But I learned to do that when I did radio for years, you know, because you because you had to stop, I had a lot of things

written down to I can't see that good anymore. So I can't really write it down that far. But I can do it from memory. And then the other big one that's in there is actually that I've got the most compliments on is the very simple time management stuff. And it uses practical things. And it isn't just being polite and being on time. There's apps you can use. There's exercises you can do.

Just very simple things that you can change today. You don't have to go buy something. You don't have to go buy something you don't have to do this. All of the stuff 99% of it that's in there. Once you read it you can actually put it into action and start doing it right now today. There's no the only thing stopping you as you the only thing stopping you. What does this book sell for on Amazon? I have no idea. I actually actually have a publisher working with me on this one. So I'm not even allowed to give them away. I had to pull teeth to get these two for you.

Oh yeah, you know, if you got it published. Yeah, so you didn't self publish. Well, no, I didn't self publish, but he only has it for a year. And the reason I had a publisher help me is the only part of this that I was really hung up on I had everything written Everything was ready to go but formatting the book correctly to get it on Amazon. So it looked good. I Struggled with it and struggled with it and couldn't do it. So that's why I hired Kevin to do it. It's a super nice guy

He's a local guy. I think we actually advertise with them now Here's the thing in Oro Valley does but anyway, so yeah this this is this this is self published, but he's just he just running it for me right now. Just yeah. But I think it's 14, 15 bucks. Yeah. Well, you should. Yeah, my assistant did that. So you guys should check out the book. Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes. JDPlots. P-L-O-E-T-Z. Closing thoughts here. I asked the same few questions here. So, somebody wants to get a hold of you JD. What's the best way? They can. I have a couple emails out there. That's probably the best way to reach me. One of them is, well actually you can just go to the website ncw nc.com nothing changes when

nothing changes.com and all my information there if you want to get a hold of me and is there any books that you've ever read that really changed the way you think about life and maybe business is there like yeah I talk about it quite a bit every time we bring it up the five dysfunctions of it ticket, I think it's five. That one really hit me between the eyes because when I was reading it, we were right in the middle of pre- The siloed.

Super siloed. Of pre being bought into and all that stuff. And the stories they were talking about, about the lack of communication, just hit so far home with us. And we have gotten better at it for sure as a company, but that's always going to be a struggle I think for anybody growing as fast as we are. So anyway, that's the one that really switched my...

Patrick Licione is his name that wrote that book. And he also wrote The Ideal Team Player. He also wrote Meeting Suck. He's great books. Yeah, One Minute Manager was also a good one. Yeah. That gives you a lot of quick things to think about. Again, actionable items you can use right away.

You don't have to do a bunch of research. You don't have to write a bunch of shit down. You can just have, write at it right then and there, if you're willing to make that change. Because that's where it all starts. If nothing else, nothing can change, if you don't decide you wanna take that step in your own mind and actually do it You know how many times I've told you JD and I've told the company that don't get comfortable

Things are gonna look different in a month things gonna look like I've learned to love change You know, it's not fun to change payroll systems or go from QuickBooks to intact, but I was looking forward to it. I Don't like I'm like dude. It's time to get on the most elite of the elite softwares it's time to do service Titan was tough and that shit that was Those darn near a year when you were working as we were on. Yeah. Yeah, you're on that other one before service Titan Yeah, no, we were on a bunch of them, but that one was called before Service Titan. Yeah, we were on a bunch of them, but that one was called Abtura. Okay. Yeah. And then there was a couple before that. So yeah, listen, I think you're right though, man. I think that you got to be comfortable with the idea of making quick and effective

change. And a lot of people just they get started. It's so hard because their habits need to change. Yeah, that's a great book. Seven Habits of Highly Successful People is your habits need to start to change if you want to change. You've got to realize your Achilles' heels. Some people it's social media. Some people it's TV. Some people it's Netflix. Some people it could be alcohol. But whatever those are, you've got to figure out how to change that portion and sell a different habit. And ask for help. For God sakesakes people. You don't have to do it by yourself There's nobody listening I would hope to this that doesn't have somebody they could reach out to for help and I'm not talking about horrible dire things

I'm talking about just very simple things that you need help with don't be afraid to ask for help I tell my technicians that all the time That's why I think we're as good as we are is because my guys have gotten used to reaching out for help. Yeah, just And how do you how do you build that? How do you get people comfortable? because my guys have gotten used to reaching out for help. Yeah. Just, you know. How do you build that, how do you get people comfortable? Well, what do you gotta do to make that happen? Well, first thing you have to do is make, is you have to make yourself available to them,

I think, as a manager, which I didn't do for years, I'm being honest, I was not that available. But once I started making myself available. How do you make yourself available? What does that even mean? You have to just do it. You have to start picking up the phone. I mean, do you tell them these are going to be my hours?

Do you text them and say, let's have a chat? What's the first thing you're going to do to start that? Well, first of all, you tell them that's... Respond when they text. Right, right. You're going to be available. I don't give them certain hours, but I tell them that if I can pick up the phone, I will pick up the phone.

That's the way that I do it, just because my day is so crazy and then with grandkids and all the other stuff, that if I can, I will pick up the phone. If it is really important, make sure you shoot me a text right afterwards. And I think, I would say almost 100% of my guys would tell you today that I made myself more accessible in the last year than I did the last couple years. So then once you show that example that you will help, there's a couple core guys you asked to maybe start picking up the phone a little bit more and I've done that and they've done that for me. As far as getting over the fear of calling somebody for help, that's something you just have to get over. You have to do it. It's

just like anything else, you know, you just have to get over. You have to do it. It's just like anything else. You know, you you just have to pick up the phone You gotta do the work. I mean, but but getting started is half the battle I mean, I will say like I always say getting to the gym is the hardest part once you're there. You're gonna do the work So any final thoughts brother? Yeah. Well, yes and no I mean just and again I didn't want this whole thing to turn turn to a book promo But I guess it really is just I just want everybody to know that I did this I didn't do this I did this for my technician. That's where it's that that was my why for this book Because I know that's a big thing

The why was to help them it wasn't for me to make money and do all that stuff Yeah, you're not gonna make any money. I hate to tell you but books don't make money Get your name out there people start you know, it'll it'll help in the long run It's your calling card Like you got to figure out after this year how to buy books for a few bucks Instead of giving away business cards, you're gonna give away your book to send them out to people So doing some podcasts here and there this is a good start and and then I guess closing thoughts. Just thank you Yeah, I appreciate you man. You just wouldn't happen coloring books wouldn't happen. There's I appreciate you, man. You've- Because this wouldn't happen, coloring books wouldn't happen.

I wouldn't have my, I mean, there's so much that A1, and it isn't just you, it's everybody that works behind the scenes. It takes a village. Yeah. To make A1 as successful for all the individuals as it is, it takes a lot of people. I've never been given that opportunity.

I have been given it. And I'm just gonna keep moving forward. I don't know what's next, but I'm just gonna keep moving forward. It's my job is the vision of this company is Look, we're gonna make history. It's gonna be it's still I always say this but it's still so small Compared you would think at this size like man This is like things are changing though, like my position is changing like I'm no longer involved in the projects

Like now I got to really have this trust and I wrote down become the best interviewer on the planet Hire the best people like that's what got it's got to happen for my vision to maintain the way It's going is you've noticed the people that have come in are just the elite Luke's been Growing dramatically for a few years ago. There's a lot of people that have decided I'm gonna grow alongside of this company and if now we're going to continue it doesn't mean they're not on the bus. It means they might have to get on a different seat. But you're the man, brother. You're doing great. And by the way, Tucson is a massive market. When I say markets, I go Phoenix, Tucson, Vegas, Denver, Houston,

Milwaukee, and Detroit. Those are our mammoth markets. Well, yeah. Well, there's quite a few that have passed us in personnel. The thing is that Tucson's never gonna grow exponentially like Vegas and Denver. It just doesn't have the population. It physically can't do it either, honestly. So, I mean, but we're gonna keep doing what we're doing. I mean, our budget, we just got our budget. I think we're a couple million over from last year that we have to do. Yeah. Totally doable. Not even worried about it. 151, That was a hell of a project. 151?

Yeah. I was like, that was project 151. The one where you just blurted the numbers out that we're going to do 151 million times 2? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. Well, we'll look at it. No, but I made it.

I did my part. Yeah, no, no, no. There's, forget about it. I'm switching 2025. It's all like 2024 was like how much profit can we do? So we really, really got the bottom line dial. Then we negotiate with a couple of vendors.

Massive opportunity 2025. I just wrote a long email that I'm 100%. Let's get the revenue growth back to where it needs to be because 2026 prepping for 2026. And then I just think like people are, I'll close with this. People overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in five. We are the type of, uh, you, you Americans, we, we tap our feet when we go to the microwave or like we make popcorn.

We're like, we're just very impatient. And whereas like you look at like some other cultures, they're so patient. So like we gotta slow down and enjoy the process. Enjoy playing the game. Because dude, otherwise you wake up and it's like, you're always waiting for this destination. And when it comes, it's like not what you thought

it was gonna be. It's like this isn't, you kinda, it's a few weeks of fun, and then you're like, I'm losing purpose. That's why a lot of people, when they sell their business, they're very depressed. Like they lost their baby. They have no meaning. Like they go in and they're like, what do I do now?

And I never want that to happen. I will never be like, what do I do with my life today? But thank you, my brother. I'm very fortunate to will never like be like what I do with my life today, but thank you my brother I'm very fortunate to have you on the team you All the guys look up to you you run a great market several markets So keep up the great work everybody buy this book nothing changes when nothing changes Just remember nothing changes when nothing changes. It's the The universal blueprint blueprint for meaningful change and long-term success.

Yep, that's exactly what it is. All right, my brother, thank you. Thank you, Tom. All right, thanks everybody. Hey there, thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be

applied to any business or organization. It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service. So if you want to learn the secrets that help me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700 plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book. Thanks again for listening and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.