No Experience. New Industry. Successful Concrete Business.

00;00;00;23 – 00;00;09;26
Unknown
Oh, hey. Oh!

00;00;09;28 – 00;00;15;07
Unknown
Oh!

00;00;15;10 – 00;00;28;17
Speaker 3
welcome, everyone, to the Blue Collar Startup, the podcast where hard work meets big ideas. This is your home for real talk, real stories and real strategies from the frontlines of life and the business of the trades. I’m one of your hosts, Mike Nelson from Five Towers Media.

00;00;28;19 – 00;00;33;01
Speaker 1
And I’m your co-host, Stuart Foster. Bagel cleaning systems here in Albany.

00;00;33;04 – 00;00;37;00
Speaker 3
Albany, New York. Yeah, buddy. Yeah, man. What’s going on?

00;00;37;03 – 00;01;05;29
Speaker 1
The I don’t know, it’s. I was telling you before, we jumped on here. It’s been, you know, a, crazy week. We’ve got some people out on vacation and, you know, like a lot of small business owners, I’m sure can relate to. It’s, you see, kind of where some of the the gaps are in, you know, what, some of the process things that, you know, may either be missing or not being, you know, followed enough and, you know, allowing a chance to dive into some of that.

00;01;05;29 – 00;01;11;11
Speaker 1
So, it’s been a busy week, but but all good stuff. How about you?

00;01;11;13 – 00;01;41;08
Speaker 3
Yeah, a little bit of the same. You know, we’re, we’re in a bit of a transition period here with our businesses. We’re launching our new products that we had to put together based around all the. I said, that’s happening. And, you know, we’ve got new team members coming on and same as you vacations. And it’s, it’s, you know, and we’ll have to ask Jeff once we get into this, but I don’t know about other parts of the country, but up here in upstate New York, it’s, July and August are just weird months for business.

00;01;41;08 – 00;02;05;27
Speaker 3
And because everyone’s taking vacations and, you know, it’s just it’s really a strange, time for us every year. It like it in some aspects. It slows down and other aspects it speeds up and it’s, Yeah, it’s just it’s it’s completely different than September through June. Like the lion August are just they just hit different. I don’t know what that’s all about, but.

00;02;06;00 – 00;02;22;24
Speaker 1
Yeah. And I mean, speaking of vacations, Jeff and I jumped on a call. I believe it was right in the middle of his family vacation. So, it he was full of enthusiasm. I’ve been looking forward to, to this interview for a while. You know, I know he’s got a great story and can’t wait to hear it.

00;02;22;24 – 00;02;29;29
Speaker 1
So without further ado, Jeff, tell the people who you are and what you do.

00;02;30;02 – 00;02;39;06
Speaker 2
Yeah. Mike, thanks so much for having me. I, I’m sitting here in Houston, Texas, just, a short flight away from upstate New York.

00;02;39;09 – 00;02;40;07
Speaker 3
Yeah.

00;02;40;09 – 00;03;07;21
Speaker 2
I’m grateful for the invitation. By way. Background. My name is Jeff Price. My company is Texas Slab guys, and we do all things concrete. So we’re the premier concrete solutions provider across the great state of Texas. Who I am is I’m a husband, I’m a father, I’m an entrepreneur, and I, I my current business is a concrete, solutions provider.

00;03;07;21 – 00;03;14;16
Speaker 2
So we do everything commercial, industrial, residential and excited to share a bit more with you.

00;03;14;19 – 00;03;31;18
Speaker 3
Yeah, I’m, I’m excited to learn about, I, you know, I was looking on your website kind of looking at your background, and you came out of, a white collar, career previously and then got into the blue collar side of things. And I’m like, my first question was like, how do you end up in concrete?

00;03;31;18 – 00;03;38;21
Speaker 3
Like, did you have a background in concrete? Because, I mean, you know, like, how does one just, you know, go into the trades and jump into concrete?

00;03;38;23 – 00;03;43;26
Speaker 2
Yeah. No, I, I do I have absolutely no background in concrete.

00;03;43;28 – 00;04;23;23
Speaker 2
For anybody listening that thinks you need experience, it’s it’s just an optional item, but, I make up for it with a lot of enthusiasm. Life. Yeah. So, so by way background, I spent the first ten, 15 years, my career and strategy consulting, finance and technology. I launched a payments company in a previous life. It’s technically still running in background on autopilot, and I spent the better part of the past five years at what I call the the tip of the spear in terms of emerging technologies.

00;04;23;25 – 00;04;51;20
Speaker 2
And so that includes both fintech payments and artificial intelligence. And, you know, to put it briefly, I am a big believer in these, these new technologies that are coming out and such a believer in there that I’m working. Right. I started looking for ways to insulate myself from being out of a job 20, 30 years from now.

00;04;51;22 – 00;05;18;21
Speaker 2
Yeah, you know, you get what you pay for. But my opinion is that you’re more white. Call it much. Many more white collar jobs are at risk of being replaced, automated, outsourced to the I relative to to blue collar businesses. And and there’s a stat out there about how, you know, 30 or 40% of blue collar businesses don’t really have a succession plan.

00;05;18;23 – 00;05;31;09
Speaker 2
And so a couple of tailwinds, plus, you know, some, some minor strategy around creating some long term security is how I ended up at a concrete.

00;05;31;12 – 00;05;51;02
Speaker 3
So so what was the what was the catalyst or what was the thing that you were, out of? I mean, because, you know, there’s a lot of options in the trades, right? There’s a lot of, industry out there. You’ve got your your general contractor, your Finnish carpenter, your welder, or your, you know, your roofer. You’ve got there’s and it goes the list goes on and on and on and on.

00;05;51;04 – 00;05;59;14
Speaker 3
I how did you say, like, concrete’s the thing that I’m going to do, I’m going to be, this is what we’re going to do, with all those options on the table.

00;05;59;16 – 00;06;46;02
Speaker 2
Yeah. So that’s a great question. I like the service businesses that have both residential and commercial applications. I like high ticket, non-recurring work, and I like the ability to to meet folks in person, when we’re doing the work. And so, what I did was I, I started in January of 20, 25, my wife and I, you know, sat down and we were talking about what some of our goals are person for, based on family lives, etc. and on the professional front, I was largely under the impression that, hey, I want to find a service business under these criteria to purchase.

00;06;46;04 – 00;07;21;15
Speaker 2
Ideally, something’s under contract by summer 2025. And so she’s like, okay, great, that sounds fun. And we started on it. And out of the gate, I downloaded every service business off Google Maps and, you know, thousands of local businesses. And so I filtered out landlines relative to mobile phone numbers. And then I started a text campaign on the mobile phone numbers that are, you know, your Google Maps phone number for your business.

00;07;21;17 – 00;07;48;04
Speaker 2
It’s a cell phone. And so every day I’d send out about 300 text messages from a, Twilio phone number that I built. And, you know, in my Kate. Yeah. I really love what you you built with Five Towers Media. If you ever consider selling it, I’d love to be considered as a prospective buyer. I local in Houston.

00;07;48;07 – 00;08;14;28
Speaker 2
And if you want to talk, here’s my cell phone number. And so I sent out thousands and thousands and thousands of these text messages over the first quarter. I started getting some good responses. And then April, we filter down from 250 300 votes, who replied and said, oh yeah, business for sale. That kind of meets your criteria. Ended up with about 40, candidates that I, I wanted to sit down with.

00;08;15;01 – 00;08;43;08
Speaker 2
And then that filtered down to about five realistic candidates that met revenue goals or revenue, floor plus, the criteria that I was was looking for high ticket owner current. And one of those five was a concrete leveling company. And I liked the business. I didn’t love it, to be honest with you. The the operator was, passionate and had been doing it for a decade.

00;08;43;08 – 00;09;01;09
Speaker 2
Was ready to sell it. Or at least he led them to believe he was ready to sell it. And. Yeah. So we can continue down the path. I actually tried to buy a water company before, and then I tried to buy a carpet cleaning company, and I just kept getting pulled back to the to the concrete.

00;09;01;12 – 00;09;28;03
Speaker 2
And so we get something under contract, we sign it and we start the hand-off process. And, and so for, for a few reasons, by not worth diving into on this call, but it didn’t end up coming to fruition. And and so second half of 2025, I watched the company and, built our text slab guys. So, we do concrete leveling, which is concrete repair.

00;09;28;04 – 00;09;49;10
Speaker 2
We do new for concrete. So everything from sidewalks, driveways, foundations to, street work and, and appropriate some, hard to reach, ready mix deals and areas that are real niche across Texas. And so,

00;09;49;12 – 00;10;19;02
Speaker 2
I wish I had a cooler story, to tell y’all. But at a high level, I really believe in and how I is going to revolutionize the working world as we know it today. And I view concrete concrete repair as a extremely stable, steady state and, high touch requirement type, type service offering that is not a few decades away from being automated at least.

00;10;19;02 – 00;10;20;17
Speaker 2
But yeah.

00;10;20;20 – 00;10;45;02
Speaker 3
So, if I heard what you’re saying correctly, you you started out trying to acquire an existing business. It fell through and you’re like, well, you know what? I’m just going to launch my own startup here. New business, no prior experience. Now, you know, you’re just completely brand new. That’s that’s that’s a really good story, Jeff. That’s, you know, that’s, that’s gutsy.

00;10;45;02 – 00;11;07;18
Speaker 3
And, you know, all the all the things that go into making an entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs. So, so, no, no concrete experience I like I gotta understand how you go into a brand new industry. Brand new business. You know what? Did you hire people that knew concrete. What did that look like?

00;11;07;21 – 00;11;39;01
Speaker 2
Yeah. Look, I’ve been so lucky to be surrounded with great folks. I, second time founder. My mantra is, if I want to go far, I want to go together. And so the the common denominator between a lot of my, my teammates and, and partnerships that that exist are, integrity, honesty and, personal values. And so there’s, there’s a line across those things and a mutual level of respect.

00;11;39;03 – 00;12;08;12
Speaker 2
And so those items are the, the core identity of Texas Slab guys and how we operate both with our customers but also with our, our, partners as well. And, and so I kind of lean on them to educate me and really be patient with me from a, subject matter expertise standpoint in the, the concrete world itself.

00;12;08;14 – 00;12;31;21
Speaker 2
I’d like to think I’m an above average, intelligent guy. And so I, I can do homework. I can read just about any industry report. And the thing that stuck out to me about concrete and in Texas is that, in Houston alone, you have the highest country per capita being poor versus anywhere else. And in the Americas.

00;12;31;24 – 00;13;07;24
Speaker 2
And so in the United States alone, we account for, 7% of all concrete being forward. And, the second largest market is the DFW area. And so, we don’t really build up, we build out. And what that translates to is a lot of roads, a lot of, you know, houses, a lot of foundations. And, the rate at which the population is growing in Texas and rallycross Houston to San Antonio, Austin and DFW, that triangle there is is not slowing down.

00;13;07;27 – 00;13;35;10
Speaker 2
And so, I like the idea of it’s relatively local, relatively close, and there’s not really a sign of it slowing down. There’s of a number of tailwinds from that angle that, that that helped inform my understanding of the broader market. But then, you know, talk about, trying not to act like an idiot in front of people.

00;13;35;13 – 00;14;06;03
Speaker 2
You know, what’s the difference between number three rebar and number four rebar? So I no idea. And so you can Google some of these things, but, it’s really a lot of trial and error. And I read what sincerity and and all my interactions, or at least hopefully that’s, that’s the, the perception that people, people see. And so, I’m quick to just qualify like, I, I don’t know everything I can create value in, in other ways that are supportive to you.

00;14;06;05 – 00;14;27;27
Speaker 2
But in terms of the actual subject matter of like, how long does it take concrete to cure, what agents can make it go faster? No, I’ve had to be a student of the industry, and I continue to be. And so now I know enough at least to be borderline dangerous. But I still have a long ways to go, you know, 18 months into this thing.

00;14;27;29 – 00;14;45;13
Speaker 3
Yeah. So did you start out with just kind of focusing on, business development and using, like you mentioned, the word partners, like using subcontractors and other companies that already had the experience to help you perform and execute. And then as you grew that way, you were able to start bringing on teammates.

00;14;45;15 – 00;15;18;08
Speaker 2
Yeah. And so we we’ve grown our team only with sales folks. And so we operate through channel partners who we set very clear QA, QC guidelines in terms of different levels of projects. And we pop in and and enforce those, those standards. And so yeah, we’ve only grown our team, Texas based team to facilitate more sales.

00;15;18;11 – 00;15;42;07
Speaker 2
And at this time, it’s not enough of the, time requirement for me personally to oversee all the production we have in place. But my goal is six months from now that that we need to hire a project manager who can can manage that actual, you know, the the operations, 20 different projects going on at the time.

00;15;42;09 – 00;16;05;28
Speaker 3
So that’s interesting. That’s it’s a very unique, way to build and grow a business, right? Where you’re, you’re focusing more on your, your sales team and being able to bring in new business as opposed to what a lot of contractors do. In all areas of contracting where they are the, you know, chief cook and bottle washer, they’re selling it, they’re performing it, they’re doing everything.

00;16;05;28 – 00;16;12;19
Speaker 3
And then they, they grow the other way and work on having an outside salesperson later on down the road.

00;16;12;22 – 00;16;26;24
Speaker 2
Yeah. And that I, I agree, I think right wrong or in different it’s a different model. It’s unique relative to how most folks operate. And the thought behind it is.

00;16;26;26 – 00;17;04;01
Speaker 2
Me trying to allocate my time into the areas that create exponential growth opportunities. And so I there’s nothing wrong with having a a service business that goes $1 million a year, maybe a 30% margin, maybe a 60% margin. You’re taking a really good money. And that that’s there’s there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. What what my goal is to do is to create a, a process oriented, level of service that can be targeting pasted across numerous markets.

00;17;04;03 – 00;17;24;06
Speaker 2
And, and anybody I’m on a phone call with. Okay. Like it? No, not right here. Give me one hour and then we care. Okay, I love you. It’s out. Like. Well, we I do it like an hour. I love you, but my son a son. Sixth birthday was yesterday. We got on my N64 and I want to play, Mario Kart.

00;17;24;09 – 00;17;52;12
Speaker 2
Not to. Sorry to interrupt the stream, but operating differently with the the mindset that I want to to be able to exponentially grow this business where, down the road, I can be just removed from it. And the the rate of growth and execution should hopefully increase. And so, the first business I created was an extension of myself.

00;17;52;12 – 00;18;25;20
Speaker 2
I hired people to, you know, have an extra set of arms who say yes to me all the time and do exactly what I asked for. And this dough around, I’m 33, 34, 34, you know, infinite wiser than my 28 year old self. So that was a lot of tongue in cheek. But, the goal is to build something that scales where I, in theory, could be removed and it doesn’t impact the business whatsoever.

00;18;25;22 – 00;18;39;29
Speaker 2
And so, you know, long term thinking, planning is, is kind of where I, I started the business in, so I can double click on things, but. Oh, friend.

00;18;40;00 – 00;19;05;27
Speaker 3
No, it’s. Well, so then we got to talk about what it takes to grow a sales team here. Jeff, that’s like, you know, Derek and I, I’ll tell you that for I. And I won’t speak for Derek, but I’ll speak for myself hiring at salespeople and then having them be successful in those roles, let alone growing a sales team, I think has been the single hardest thing that I’ve attempted and failed at so many times now.

00;19;05;29 – 00;19;14;09
Speaker 3
And so I will, you know, I am Luke Skywalker. You are Yoda. Show me the way for building a sales team in.

00;19;14;11 – 00;19;40;00
Speaker 2
Well, one of the reference I, I think that’s probably giving me too much credit. And so I’ll, I’ll receive it for sure. But just to clarify, I think I’m far from an expert. The thought that has gone into this is finding folks who work, feel and spend a lot of time in the areas or channels that they want to to, that I want to penetrate into.

00;19;40;02 – 00;20;23;16
Speaker 2
And so, you know, for instance, is golf courses there there are a bunch of golf courses in Texas, and they all have a bunch of concrete requirements because the cart paths. And so, my goal in finding a salesman there is being who is a golfer who understands, you know, the general etiquette and requirements. So of working at a, whether it’s public or private club, country club and, getting somebody that can both relate but also, treat our, our value prop to owners of golf courses.

00;20;23;18 – 00;20;50;17
Speaker 2
And so we, I’m grateful and fortunate that we found a good resource to, to approach that. And, out of the gate, we targeted everyone, both public and private. What we found was that’s not the best shotgun approach. And so we transition to a model where we target, private equity groups that own a bunch of golf courses.

00;20;50;20 – 00;21;14;03
Speaker 2
And so, the first, first one we partnered with, that’s point to golf there are Fort Worth there. They’re, wonderful team. They have fought courses in Houston, including the, the, PGA and Golf Golf Club of Houston. Of course, which is, historic and, and one of the best being forces in, in the area.

00;21;14;06 – 00;21;40;28
Speaker 2
And so, we had a chance to work at some of these prestigious forces all across Houston, and that’s helped enable our credibility and and work ourselves into more and more places. But, the scope of this gentlemen’s contract is exclusively for golf courses. And so he doesn’t have any sort of incentive to target. We drive away sales, for example.

00;21;41;01 – 00;22;27;06
Speaker 2
And so, the, the, the second guy we’re, we’re trying to bring on here is going to run a new market. And so he’s going to going to run the San Antonio and Austin market, similar to how how I might be, you know general manager of Houston Market. And so will attempt to stay on in that and so you know, it’s, it there’s there’s the broader strategy, the thought that went into it, trying to find somebody who, who looks, like and really understands that that local environment or, or or segment that you’re trying to target and then, hiring people that are much more talented, much wiser, much more experienced

00;22;27;08 – 00;22;35;17
Speaker 2
and than me. And, and the average of these two guys is.

00;22;35;19 – 00;23;08;29
Speaker 2
55. And so they both are retired. They’re very capable. But they, they like building things and they like sales and, and they like, went out and Connie and so, there’s very little I can teach them as it relates to how to do your job, you know, of sales. But I can enable them with, you know, back office automations and just general guidelines of of who and where we should be targeting.

00;23;09;02 – 00;23;28;29
Speaker 3
That’s interesting. So you you’re going after a very specific type of individual. From a sales standpoint, it sounds like, both from a knowledge experience and skill set, their stomping grounds where they’re spending a lot of time. But also now, do you, if you’re comfortable talking about this, you can tell me to, to go scratch as well.

00;23;28;29 – 00;23;43;01
Speaker 3
But I’m just curious, like going after that person that’s retired or semi-retired, does that put you in a position to be able to do like commission only, or do you still give these guys, salaries on top of that? Because that’s always something I stumble around with.

00;23;43;03 – 00;24;33;04
Speaker 2
Yeah. So one is commission only, no equity. Another is commission only and equity. And so open to all forms. From the get go, I, made it clear that I desire not to pay the salary. And this is not a, you know, 40 hour week kind of job. What a you know, retired 60 year old doesn’t need is a 34 year old asking for status reports on hey I’m going to full quotes if you go, you know if we had our numbers and and so there are times where I enable budget for them to, to have votes underneath them and, execute on different, tasks that they want to run,

00;24;33;04 – 00;25;03;06
Speaker 2
whether it’s marketing, advertising or, you know, travel, for example. But, yeah, my, my goal is to to create a very clear correlation between what my goals are and what they can generate. And so what that translates to is a, a commission off the gross margin. And, and that’s then a good gets actor. It’s not getting us both aligned and said direction.

00;25;03;08 – 00;25;25;23
Speaker 3
Yeah. I’m curious to kind of jump back a little bit, you know. Yeah. I think you said you’re about 18 months in with this venture. What, when you were getting off the ground, like, you know, for the other people out there that may be listening and considering getting a new trades business off the ground, like, what do you think was the hardest part for you in the beginning of getting going?

00;25;25;25 – 00;25;32;17
Speaker 2
Yeah, that’s a good question. What’s the hardest part getting going?

00;25;32;19 – 00;25;38;06
Speaker 2
And I know.

00;25;38;09 – 00;26;08;07
Speaker 2
I think it’s everything’s always like people related. People are always the problem. And in my opinion, you. And so I had to kiss a few frogs where, you know, you just get lied to or, you know, x, y, z happens. And, you know, it’s just kind of part of the process of finding your, your 18 players. And that was really frustrating for me, coming from a white collar world where it’s like, hey, we talked about this.

00;26;08;07 – 00;26;33;03
Speaker 2
We learned on it like, like, and you said you wouldn’t put up your own yard signs in my customers yard. And then I drove by, you know, two days later, we yard signs. They’re like, can you help me understand? Like where the confusion was. And so, in hindsight, I should have had a shorter leash on, you know, not getting folks like signatures that not you first of all.

00;26;33;03 – 00;26;34;28
Speaker 2
Right. But, you know, I know.

00;26;35;01 – 00;26;35;27
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah.

00;26;36;00 – 00;26;56;11
Speaker 2
And and so a sub that, you know, tries to pull one over you, it’s the first time you do something together is probably, you know, not your guy. And so, this year, one of my rules of, of judgment on character, which it’s not a great rule, but it’s like, can you show up on time?

00;26;56;11 – 00;27;18;27
Speaker 2
But when you say you’re going to show up the first time we meet and and so that’s like my thumbs up or thumbs down, mantra for somebody for work and get it for the first time. They said, I can get there. Can I show up at 1130? It’s like, well, I showing up on time is literally, like, the easiest thing that we can do here.

00;27;18;29 – 00;27;29;10
Speaker 2
And so. Yeah. And, and so I think discernment on finding the right folks and,

00;27;29;12 – 00;27;56;26
Speaker 2
And so, yeah, I could kind of go on, I think, you know, say sales marketing is always a top, you know, thing that, that folks want to talk about. And, it’s really just managing the, the people. And, for me, it’s much harder to manage like the subs in terms of, like emotional, taxation, not taxation, but like the amount of emotional, drainage that comes out of me.

00;27;56;28 – 00;28;22;10
Speaker 2
In terms of anything I do, it’s like managing subs. And so, I’m really grateful for the great guys that we have across, you know, foundation work across concrete floors, residentially speaking, concrete left point. And, and so, yeah, I could double click on, on all those sites, but that, that help, help paint a picture of artist.

00;28;22;10 – 00;28;22;29
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00;28;23;01 – 00;28;54;00
Speaker 3
Yeah. I mean, it sounds like, you know, especially in the beginning because of the model that you have where you’re working with subcontractors, which immediately gives you less control over a lot of factors. But so it sounds kind of like you had to just work through the process and figure out who was good and who was not, and kind of trial by error and, and develop some filters along the way as far as how you would discern from a new, a brand new relationship on who was going to, you know, be a dud and who was going to be a stud, so to speak.

00;28;54;02 – 00;28;55;21
Speaker 2
Started like that.

00;28;55;23 – 00;29;13;27
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah. Duds and studs, man. They’re all over the place in every industry. It’s, that, you know, whether it’s marketing or concrete. Doesn’t matter, man. Lots of duds, lots of studs. You got to. And I think the worst part is that in a lot of cases, the duds look like studs when you first meet them, and then they turn out to be duds.

00;29;13;27 – 00;29;15;22
Speaker 3
And it’s like, oh man.

00;29;15;24 – 00;29;16;12
Speaker 2
Yeah, be.

00;29;16;12 – 00;29;19;02
Speaker 3
Again.

00;29;19;04 – 00;29;38;15
Speaker 2
Yeah. Just you gotta you gotta keep those things loose. You know, at the end of the day, it’s like typically never a personal tack, right? Like it’s easy to think of like, oh, this guy’s late on paying my invoice. Like, he, you know, my my Keith and brings, like, he wants me to starve and miss the ability to pay my bills.

00;29;38;18 – 00;30;06;11
Speaker 2
But reality is, like, if he’s late paying me, then he’s probably like paying everybody else. And so a little bit of empathy goes a long way. And, and so, you know, trying to try to lead with empathy, there’s always something else going on on somebody else’s side, but, yeah, downright just like dishonesty or horrific communications, it’s pretty impossible.

00;30;06;11 – 00;30;08;00
Speaker 2
I look at. Yeah.

00;30;08;02 – 00;30;36;14
Speaker 3
Yeah. I, you know, we talk a lot on the show, with guests about overcoming challenges and obstacles. They, they’ve got in a way, which are always great conversations because it’s helpful to listeners that maybe they’re running into those walls. And what we don’t want, we don’t talk about a lot, though, is like the wins, because, you know, as a as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, every once in a while you get a win that just makes you want to do a dance, throw a party, you know, I’m just curious.

00;30;36;15 – 00;30;43;23
Speaker 3
You and any big wins in the 18 months that you’ve been running where you’re just like, oh, man, this is the best thing that has happened to me.

00;30;43;26 – 00;31;14;13
Speaker 2
Yeah, I mean, the highs are high, the lows are low. Yeah. And yeah, I, I try to separate myself from the business to really manage my, my, that, that emotional roller coaster. And so yeah, I mean big, big wins. We are our first six figure contract and just kind of like, heck yeah. You know, I’m the best thing since sliced bread.

00;31;14;16 – 00;31;46;09
Speaker 2
You know, get the contract signed, yada, yada, yada. And then, you know, a week or two before we’re supposed to start the work, they, they pull the contract. So it’s like, you know, I was just had this $180,000 deal, and now it’s disappeared. And so, you know, zooming out, it’s always a roller coaster, but, what I really love about my job is getting to meet with, you know, folks like yourselves.

00;31;46;09 – 00;32;09;28
Speaker 2
And also on the the customer side that are are so very different than me. And, spending time with people that think differently, lived differently. You’re processing analyze things differently. It’s been a really good way for me to learn and position our product. And so, yeah, I’m I’m grateful that we’ve had a lot more wins and losses.

00;32;09;28 – 00;32;34;06
Speaker 2
But, you know, we lost about every single way that we could those first four months. I mean, we really focused on production in 2025, but through my August through December, we’d have like almost $200,000 in revenue. And I was like, so anything could get along. It it did go wrong. And we made pile 14 or $18,000 or exactly.

00;32;34;08 – 00;33;02;08
Speaker 2
Was it it wasn’t a lot of money. For, for, you know, $200,000 apart from there. And so, yeah, you know what? That led to a, the idea like, hey, this isn’t going to work for me, but just do things differently. And so I want to be in a position where I can, can, you know, hit X dollars off of income per month without any sort of hesitation or pause.

00;33;02;08 – 00;33;36;19
Speaker 2
Then I mapped out what the year had needs to look like, and we got off to a really good start and it and some commercial deals. And so we’re seeing a little bit more commercial deals or we’re becoming a bit of an established brand, relatively speaking. And so yeah, there’s you know, a lot of tailwinds. But one thing, a buddy of mine and I was a fence supply company, he is former investment banker, and we kind of switched over at the same time, for, for service businesses.

00;33;36;21 – 00;34;07;05
Speaker 2
And so we sent each other up two of the best things that happened on to each other. Both one business, one personally and, and that’s every week. And so, the, the purpose of that is to brainwash or branding to be, you know, overly optimistic and forever looking forward to what’s in the future. Because pessimism doesn’t help anymore.

00;34;07;08 – 00;34;29;09
Speaker 2
And so, you know, relentlessly optimistic is, is how I try to position it, delusional. Optimistic. Okay, we lost my stocks, but, I, I figured I try to take from from the principle, you know, it can only get a lot better for a year, even if some things are going well.

00;34;29;11 – 00;34;48;27
Speaker 3
Yeah, it’s I, you know, that the pessimism and the pessimism. I’m sorry I got a fly, like, attacking me right now. The pessimism, I it’s like quicksand sometimes, right? If you focus on the challenges. Not in the comments. You know, like I, Derek and I talk about this with, you know, like our jobs basically are solving problems all day long.

00;34;48;27 – 00;35;13;20
Speaker 3
Right. And it’s either we’re solving a problem for a client or we’re we’re solving a problem inside of our business with our team members. And, you know, so it’s just a constant deluge of what could be considered a negative thing and finding a way to celebrate any win you get, no matter how small, becomes paramount, just to keep yourself going and, you know, stay out of that quicksand.

00;35;13;26 – 00;35;16;04
Speaker 3
Otherwise it sucks you down in.

00;35;16;06 – 00;35;42;22
Speaker 2
Yeah. And it’s not just problems. It’s the problems that people couldn’t figure out themselves, you know? And I’d like to think we all have competent folks, you know, working with us, for us. And so they’re bringing the, the premium problems to you. And so and what a fun opportunity. It’s like, you know, the the clock’s running out like, I want the ball in my hands so I can like, to take the last shot.

00;35;42;22 – 00;36;08;14
Speaker 2
And so sometimes you make the shot, sometimes missed the shot. But I love the pressure. Whenever it comes with pressures of privilege and, you know, it’s hard for a reason. And a lot of people can’t do it for a reason. And, And I’m just so incredibly grateful, just, to being a physician to, you know, be given very challenging products.

00;36;08;16 – 00;36;27;08
Speaker 2
And so, yeah, I mean, that that’s really fun. And I operate well on ambiguity. And so for folks who like routine structure, repetition of tasks, you know, maybe, maybe have a different opinion on those things. But yeah.

00;36;27;11 – 00;36;46;23
Speaker 3
I love the I love the pressure is privilege. I’m going to have to make that my mantra and just keep keep reminding myself about that. Because it it’s all day, every day, man. All that pressure. But it is a privilege for sure. I’m lucky to have the scenarios and situations that we have, the business we have and the problems that we have that go along with it.

00;36;46;23 – 00;36;52;23
Speaker 3
So, pressure is the privilege. And I like what you said to winners want the ball right.

00;36;52;25 – 00;36;54;03
Speaker 2
You know.

00;36;54;05 – 00;36;59;01
Speaker 3
I know. Right. Well movie is that for those were in the movie I think right. Winners want the ball.

00;36;59;04 – 00;37;22;17
Speaker 2
I, I was thinking of I think it carried maybe I saw it on on an interview that he did okay. But he’s like, look, I think I want to take the last shot I got. I want people think I’m the Kobe Bryant. So that means that, you know, you makes a lot of the shots, but you also miss a lot of them and know that means when you miss it, there’s also going to be a camera in the face.

00;37;22;17 – 00;37;59;10
Speaker 2
And so how do you handle, the public speaking, you know, about your feelings. And so, yeah, I mean, it’s a it translates to, you know, your professional circles or friends, you know, friends, a church, you know, and so it it it is hard, but, you know, we only have one life. Why not have outrageously, crazy goals to try to go to a volunteer?

00;37;59;12 – 00;38;01;21
Speaker 3
What’s, Oh. Go ahead.

00;38;01;23 – 00;38;25;19
Speaker 1
Yeah, it’s a I’m. I’m listening to, you know, to to everything you’re saying. And, you know, it’s kind of reassuring as I listen to it. You know, you yourself obviously coming from a different background and in different career, more of a white collar career. And then your, your buddy who’s also an investment banker who left that to to join a service business, as you did.

00;38;25;22 – 00;38;48;11
Speaker 1
You know, to me it’s that’s really reassuring for the trades. And, you know, a lot of our listeners are, you know, maybe on the fence of making that career change. And obviously there’s such a big gap between, as you mentioned, the folks who are going to be retiring or stepping away from from their business. So what is a piece of advice that you would give somebody who’s on the fence?

00;38;48;11 – 00;38;57;05
Speaker 1
Jeff, if they’re looking at getting into the trades or jumping into a new business, what piece of advice would you give them?

00;38;57;07 – 00;39;29;01
Speaker 2
You know, I mean, if you have a job right now and you’re thinking about doing it, hey, the worst case scenario that happens is you go back and you get the same job or a job that looks in and it’s very similar to it. The best case scenario is you’re wildly successful. You create generational wealth. You know, you have yeah, it’s the ability to buy back your time and invest in, things that are high value in your opinion.

00;39;29;03 – 00;40;01;16
Speaker 2
And so you’re if you’re not afraid of hard work, then. And I think a lot of people listening to your podcast are not afraid of hard work. Both physically speaking, but also, just mentally as well. And the endurance required to build something and do hard things. Then there’s literally no downside. And somebody is somebody joked about like, my first company didn’t go as well as I would have hoped for.

00;40;01;18 – 00;40;28;10
Speaker 2
We raised $2 million and over the first, like three years, we created like $800,000 of revenue. And so it was a more traditional, like, angel investment, venture capital kind of flight. We didn’t scale fast enough and ended up, you know, hiring up to 15 people on a plane by Nephilim off. And so there’s a part of my tribe that was really hurt in the embarrassment.

00;40;28;13 – 00;40;52;19
Speaker 2
And folks were ruthless on making sure I was reminded about a failure. And I’m just like, man, like like, yeah, there they were. Right? Like, I it was objectively not a good outcome as the biggest investor was a crappy out. So and, at the end of the day, I was like, but like what happened to me was like, I didn’t starve and become homeless.

00;40;52;21 – 00;41;39;19
Speaker 2
Like, I had to go just get another job, like what you’re doing. And I also had some, some incredible experience, along the way. And, and so like the for the, the worst case scenario is that you end up back where you are, which is comfortable. And there’s nothing wrong with being comfortable. But, about the upside and, and doing something, it’s that you can, can do things that, you know, most people can’t, both in terms of how you use your time, how you manage your time, how you manage, you know, that your financials obviously, you know it.

00;41;39;21 – 00;42;07;23
Speaker 2
And then, allocating resources to keep things that you’re passionate about. And so you just can’t really do that on a normal W-2 salary, traditionally speaking. And so, yeah, it’s just kind of a, there’s no cheat code because it, there’s nothing like there’s no cutting corners in building something. But if you have a big appetite, you want to do a whole lot, then there’s finite ways where you can achieve it.

00;42;07;23 – 00;42;10;14
Speaker 2
And.

00;42;10;16 – 00;42;19;20
Speaker 2
So yeah, I, I don’t know if that’s, that’s a, you know, totally professional advice. But I do think like.

00;42;19;22 – 00;42;45;20
Speaker 2
Just do you want it. And you realize in the worst case scenario, you’re just end up right back where you are, despite the best advice. Oh, I and I do want to say one thing. I almost like this. I read through the notes, you know, but on this one, when I was at rice for business school and they brought in in one of our classes and they’re like, somebody asked in which I hey, what what’s your best advice?

00;42;45;22 – 00;43;04;25
Speaker 2
And I was a guy who had started a wall firm, sold it, you know, had bought real estate apartments and sold them until he was objectively very successful by all financial metrics. And he was like my best advice. And the best advice is you just should do it.

00;43;04;28 – 00;43;34;19
Speaker 2
I think that, you know, professors are like, you know, like elaborate on it. It’s like, no, seriously, don’t do it like you probably are going to fail. And he’s like, and that’s, you know, you could build a classroom that feels really awkward and goes, okay, how many people, you know, when I walked in here, you thought about, wanting they want to start a business, you know, how to cost, raise their hand and you goes, okay, okay, now put your hand down.

00;43;34;19 – 00;43;56;10
Speaker 2
If you were discouraged or you even mildly questioned your ability to do entrepreneurship. After I just said don’t do it and have to class. But their answer was, okay, the people that should like, maybe actually start a business with people still raising their. And because what you don’t know is how incredibly difficult it’s going to be.

00;43;56;12 – 00;44;15;03
Speaker 2
You have to be like delusional and optimistic. And if I could tell you how hard it’s going to be, you know, most of you probably aren’t. So what would it want to do it? And so was me just simply telling you not to do it because I’m some successful guy. Then, you know, maybe it’s not for you, was the lesson.

00;44;15;05 – 00;44;24;29
Speaker 2
And I was just like, oh, wow, interesting. Like, if I can use you and talk down a bit, then maybe it’s not for,

00;44;25;01 – 00;44;28;22
Speaker 3
Did you still have your hand up? Were you out of the both hands? Still up. Nice.

00;44;28;24 – 00;44;31;25
Speaker 2
That’s, Would you want to bet?

00;44;31;28 – 00;44;32;20
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah.

00;44;32;20 – 00;44;36;26
Speaker 2
What’s. Excellent. But.

00;44;36;29 – 00;44;37;22
Speaker 3
That was very true.

00;44;37;22 – 00;44;57;03
Speaker 1
And and, frankly, you know, people who bring an idea to their family and say, hey, I’m thinking about leaving a steady, you know, position and salary to go do something completely different. What are you talking about? You know, because they can’t relate. So very, very honest advice.

00;44;57;06 – 00;45;12;18
Speaker 3
Yeah, I love it. I mean, well, it goes back to what you’re saying earlier in the show to Jeff with just that optimism side of things. Right. That delusional optimists like you really have to be you got to just keep believing it’s going to work out. Yeah. It’s right.

00;45;12;21 – 00;45;15;27
Speaker 2
You have to you have to.

00;45;16;00 – 00;45;25;28
Speaker 3
Love it. I love it, Jeff. I know we had to wrap it up, but if people are interested in talking to you, they’re interested in Texas lab guys. How do they find you guys?

00;45;26;00 – 00;46;06;20
Speaker 2
You know, we’re on all the socials, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook at Texas. Stop, guys, you can come to our website, Texas libraries.com, our phone number, you know, 832990 1891 is a voice I that I built. And so often don’t answer the phone myself. But, I do get a text message summary of every conversation of every inbound caller, and, yeah, I if you’re in Texas marksmanship, or anywhere, you know, in entrepreneurship, if you’re in country in the southeast or South, I’d love to hear from you.

00;46;06;22 – 00;46;31;09
Speaker 2
Our website. Hello. At Texas five guys.com. I, I was looking for our cool folks I will sell to with our thoughtful and and, like, building things and, you know, want to create some sort of legacy that that can be passed on. So, yeah. This has been such a treat. Guys, I, I think what y’all are doing is, is really, really, really important.

00;46;31;11 – 00;46;57;05
Speaker 2
To be on honest, sincere note. Like it it’s a, it’s an area that not enough folks are talking about. And I’m grateful that y’all are really filling this boy to, blue collar businesses and blue collar startups when, we’re objectively at in a shortage across the United States. And so, there’s, there’s a whole lot of opportunity, from what y’all are doing.

00;46;57;07 – 00;47;17;09
Speaker 2
And, it’s been a real encouragement to me personally, as you all invite other guests on. And I always take away a few pieces. So, so thank you all for what y’all are going to you swing to Golden and being a guest. But, I hope y’all keep producing content and, I’ll continue that. I listen to all that the folks cannot.

00;47;17;11 – 00;47;39;29
Speaker 3
Yeah, we are also delusional optimists, so we will. That’s right. And depressed for very didn’t, you know, we I appreciate what you’re saying. We you know, we’re big believers and supporters of the trades and, we, you know, we see what’s down the road if if people don’t get inspired to become blue collar folks. Right. There’s a real, real heavy price to pay if more people get into the trades.

00;47;39;29 – 00;48;05;24
Speaker 3
So, thanks. Thanks for listening. Thanks for coming on the show. It was great. And of course, you know, thanks, everybody for listening. Thanks to our sponsors for helping make the show possible and for helping us to raise money for kids, for tools and tuition at some of the trades programs here locally. We’re actually trying to brainstorm some ideas right now on how to bring some of that maybe non-local and kind of spread it around a little bit more.

00;48;05;24 – 00;48;22;04
Speaker 3
So, stay tuned on that. But thanks for everybody for listening. You can find us on Spotify, YouTube and Apple Podcasts. And of course, check out this episode and all of our episodes at Blue Collar Startup that I o. Thanks, everybody. Thanks again, Jeff. Really appreciate coming on. And thank.

00;48;22;04 – 00;48;22;09
Speaker 2
You.

00;48;22;16 – 00;48;50;14
Speaker 1
And that wraps up another episode of Blue Collar Startup. A big thank you to our sponsors, Five Towers Media, Daigle Cleaning Systems, Daigle Fire Solutions, The Michaels Group, Martin Electric, MLB construction, Pinocchio Construction People, and Catamount Consulting for making this podcast possible. And thank you for tuning in. If you learned something or felt inspired. Connect with us on our website at Blue Collar Startup Bio or email us at hardhat Dot CSU at gmail.com.

00;48;50;14 – 00;49;03;10
Speaker 1
We’d love to hear your questions and topic ideas. Help us spread the word by sharing the show and following us on social media for updates. Until next time, keep on building. Keep on dreaming and keep hustling like your future depends on it.

00;49;03;13 – 00;49;12;16
Unknown
Oh, hey. Oh!

00;49;12;18 – 00;49;13;24
Unknown
Oh!