The Electrical Contractor Reinventing Company Culture

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Unknown
Oh, hey. Oh!

00;00;09;28 – 00;00;15;07
Unknown
Oh!

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Speaker 2
Welcome to the Blue Collar Startup, the podcast where hard work meets Big Idea. This is your home for real talk, real stories and real strategies from the front lines of life and the business of the trades. I’m one of your hosts, Mike Nelson from Five Towers Media.

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Speaker 3
And I’m your co-host, Derek Foster. Bagel cleaning systems. How are we doing, Mike?

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Speaker 2
I’m doing good. I’m doing good. Sunshine and rain stops. No complaints. How about you?

00;00;39;29 – 00;00;58;14
Speaker 3
I’m doing well, man. It’s, It’s been a great week. I’ve actually, Ben out in the field here a few days, covering and running a boom left. So getting, getting away from the, you know, the the office for a little bit is not a bad thing. And, having a lot of fun out here.

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Speaker 3
So working with the guys and having a good time.

00;01;01;12 – 00;01;07;05
Speaker 2
The, real quick. Do you prefer being back out in the field versus being stuck in the office all day, every day?

00;01;07;08 – 00;01;24;26
Speaker 3
I love it, but I don’t think these guys could deal with me being up every day. I had, you know, and. And our team is great, but, we started early yesterday, and, I mean, we were we were roll until about 530 last night, 6:00, just to stay on track and keep the schedule because we we lost a day.

00;01;24;28 – 00;01;36;01
Speaker 3
The Lyft company, forgot to deliver our Lyft the first day. So you know how it goes. You make it work and troubleshoot as you go. So we made up a day’s worth of work yesterday.

00;01;36;01 – 00;01;59;07
Speaker 2
So nice. Never a dull moment. No magical moment about your world. How things things are I, you know, same thing I’ve been saying for the last couple of months here. You know, everything’s, moving pretty quickly in change pretty quickly with all that AI changes. I think since we last recorded, you know, Google had their big announcement about, how they’re changing their whole whole way.

00;01;59;07 – 00;02;33;27
Speaker 2
They do search, which, of course, you know, Google is just under 90% of the search market. So, it’s pretty wild. It’s pretty wild watching how rapidly the answer engines limit. I thing is, disrupting consumer behavior. I mean, it is. I was laughing last night because I needed to source, instant hot water tank for our camp, and, I never left my eye, like, I just I had a conversation, like, here’s the parameters.

00;02;33;28 – 00;02;55;14
Speaker 2
What I’m looking for. Can you search and find it? Came up with an option. I’m like, are there better options, or is that the one I should go? And a couple follow up questions. And it was like, not like, give me a link to Amazon. It gave me a link to Amazon. I bought the damn thing. And you know, instead of, instead of the traditional, you know, 45 minutes of research I would have done on Google, it was literally like it was less than five.

00;02;55;14 – 00;03;14;22
Speaker 2
It might have been like two minutes with with Claude. So, that’s that’s a consumer pattern that is being seen more and more and more and more in not just in, in products, but across every, every vertical, you know, whether it’s services. So pretty well, a lot of lot of crazy apps going on.

00;03;14;24 – 00;03;17;12
Speaker 3
Yeah. It’s, it’s very interesting time.

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Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;03;18;05 – 00;03;32;08
Speaker 2
It sure is. So, so let’s get to our guests here, man. Tom, I’m going to Tom from astronaut. I’m going to let you, introduce yourself here, you know, tell us who you are and give us a little bit about, astronaut.

00;03;32;10 – 00;03;47;11
Speaker 1
Yeah. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. And, you know, it’s funny hearing your guy’s story about the AI stuff and going back in the field. It’s my first time in years. I’ve been in the field the last three days, and, you know, I kind of love it again, and I miss it. It’s not. The office is not for me.

00;03;47;13 – 00;04;10;08
Speaker 1
All day, every day kind of thing. But you’re right. Yeah. So I own Astronaut Electric here in apex, North Carolina. We are a residential electrical service company only, been in business since 2018. Started out, started out as a same ownership business. Started actually as a company called Alternate Current Solutions. My wife thought it was horrible, hated the name.

00;04;10;08 – 00;04;31;23
Speaker 1
And when we started at the time, we did a little bit of everything. So all residents or I’m sorry, all electrical, but we did residential commercial remodels, new construction, and as we decided to go strictly service route, we rebranded, hired a company in new Jersey called Kit Charge Creative. They rebranded us astronaut. We went live with that in January of 2023.

00;04;31;23 – 00;04;50;21
Speaker 1
So almost three and a half years now. But fun, like family owned business. So, you know, my wife and I, our kids are here all the time. We got about 13 full time team members here, you know, and and that’s what we do. We. If you want to add something, fix something. You know, look at, you know, making changes in your house.

00;04;50;21 – 00;05;07;20
Speaker 1
That’s what we can do. We don’t work with contractors, no realtors, builders, none of that kind of stuff. Just direct between us and homeowners. You know, we service a relatively large area, but, you know, it’s a really awesome team we have here. A lot of, you know, we’ve had some guys that have been with us for six years, five years, four years.

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Speaker 1
So, you know, it’s it’s nice, really cool team. And, you know, I’ve been doing a lot of work for 20 plus years and, you know, it’s, you know, it’s what I it’s all I know. You know, when it comes down to, you know what the home services and I love the home services. So I appreciate you guys having me on here today.

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Speaker 1
Yeah absolutely.

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Speaker 3
How did you how did you get into electrical work Tom. What’s your what’s your background and how did you land there?

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Speaker 1
Yeah. So, you know, growing up, I always knew I wanted to do something more like hands on. My dad’s side of the family is, you know, opposite of hands on. More like it. Corporate. My mom’s side of the family is more like hands on. Like my grandfather and uncle. Always, like, be building a car in their garage at any given time and working on things themselves.

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Speaker 1
And I, I tend to, you know, lean that way, like go work with them, help them and have a lot more fun doing that. You know, when I was graduating college or high school, my parents like, what are you going to do? And I was like, I don’t know, and where are you going to go to college?

00;06;06;05 – 00;06;21;21
Speaker 1
That’s what we do. And I was like, I don’t want to go to college. You know, after two years of going to college and, you know, my dad talks about it being the most expensive party’s ever paid for. You know, I left college with a family friend, that owned an electrical company at the time, up in Pennsylvania.

00;06;21;21 – 00;06;31;26
Speaker 1
He was like, hey, if you want to come work for me some summer, just work in the warehouse, see what you think of it. You know, 22 years later, here we are.

00;06;31;28 – 00;07;01;29
Speaker 1
So. Which is awesome. And I’ve been in the electrical trade ever since, right? They did. That was a huge company in P.A.. You know, I thought it was just going to be a part time summer job. And, you know, it just kind of worked my way up, got into the field and, you know, and kind of I’ve done it all residential, commercial, some industrial stuff and everything from being an apprentice to being in the field, you know, service managers and general managers at other locations and even tried, you know, business partner stuff with other people in the past.

00;07;01;29 – 00;07;16;12
Speaker 1
And then, you know, it was, I was working in 2018, I was working in another company, and that was when I decided to leave and start astronaut. Well, at the time, alternate current solutions. Yeah. Going on almost eight years now.

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Speaker 2
Very nice. It’s. So you took that route of earn while you learn and came through and did it your apprenticeship with those guys and and learned on the job as you went through.

00;07;28;18 – 00;07;49;22
Speaker 1
I did yeah. So I did like, you know, it’s you know, down in North Carolina, we really don’t have a lot of apprenticeship things in place, which is kind of disappointing, like structured ones at least. The company I was working for in Pennsylvania had one. Right. And it was a three year apprenticeship. We you, you know, you work all day and then you go to school back in school at night, like 2 or 3 nights a week from like 6:00 to 9:00.

00;07;49;24 – 00;08;06;27
Speaker 1
Yeah. But I loved it. I learned a ton. Right. And, you know, and that was my thing. Like, I love hands on training. I love, like, being out there in the field and, and then, you know, just kind of work my way up and get, you know, different companies and different roles and, you know, identifying what it was.

00;08;06;27 – 00;08;27;14
Speaker 1
And quickly, like, I’m, I’m a much more like, social person and, you know, love connecting with people so quickly realize like, commercial is not the industry I wanted to be. And you’re just you’re just a number. You’re a laborer in that industry. So kind of started leaning more towards the residential side, you know, and just kind of stuck with it.

00;08;27;14 – 00;08;42;28
Speaker 1
And, you know, I never really thought I was going to start my own business. But I’d been, you know, been doing it up until 2018, so like 13, 14 years. And I told my wife, I’m like, you know, every company is the same. They just they don’t care about people. They just care about the numbers. They don’t.

00;08;43;00 – 00;09;03;19
Speaker 1
You know, I, I joke that like in 13 or 14 years of doing it, I never once had like a beer or went to lunch with anyone I ever worked with. And I was like, when I start. So I was like, I want to go do something that’s like totally different. So when I started this thing, it was all about like, you know, our very first person we hired, like we paid 100% of their, like, full health insurance and everything.

00;09;03;22 – 00;09;24;11
Speaker 1
And we still do that for all of our employees in, like, the very beginning, like everyone, I, they’re like, dude, you’re nuts. And I’m like, yeah, but that’s what I want to do. Like, that’s what I want to create. I want to create this culture that is all about, you know, growth and learning and having fun, but also like taking care of people and making sure that, like, they’re way more understood that, like their life, their family, their friend is way more important than what we’re doing.

00;09;24;14 – 00;09;28;05
Speaker 1
We’re just a platform to allow them to continue to do all that stuff.

00;09;28;07 – 00;09;42;09
Speaker 2
I love that man. And was that the the catalyst for you deciding to leave the job you’re in and go out on your own, was the fact that you really were not a person. It was, you know, just a you’re just a guy that showed up and did the work and then left.

00;09;42;11 – 00;10;07;01
Speaker 1
Yeah. Kind of. So, you know, the last job I was in, I was kind of like running the whole entire service department for them. And when I took the job, I said to my wife, I’m like, look, maybe this is maybe this is it, like good salary opportunities, decent benefits. It seems like good people. I don’t want to, like, jump around to companies, like, maybe like, this is finally like something I found that I thought was going to be awesome.

00;10;07;01 – 00;10;24;05
Speaker 1
Like, let’s give it a shot, let’s see how it is. And, you know, I’ll never forget like day when I got there and it was almost like, oh shit. Tom started today, right? Like the owner was like, hey, can you do me a favor and just, like, hang out for a few minutes and then I’ll come get you, and we’ll run to staples, and we’ll buy your desk, and we’ll buy your chair and we’ll buy this.

00;10;24;08 – 00;10;40;27
Speaker 1
And I’m like, guys, like, you know, I’ve. You offered me this job three months ago, you know? So, you know, but I was like, all right, I’m going to give it a shot. And I quickly realized, you know, I was there for about a year and a half, and I just, you know, I kept sticking it out and sticking it and just told my wife when like, there’s I just see nothing in this.

00;10;40;27 – 00;11;04;16
Speaker 1
Like, I don’t have that drive to want to go in there every day. The guys that work there don’t want to either. We’re losing people left and right. And I was like, I’m just I’m not doing this anymore. Like, I’m going to go try to do this thing on my own. And and it was it was different because when I went that route, I went from like running a service department to like back in a van and crawl spaces and attics, like doing it myself.

00;11;04;19 – 00;11;19;26
Speaker 1
But you know, I love doing that as well. And, you know, the guys that I said, you know, the guys that have been here for 6 or 5 years have all got to work with me in the field for that time, too, which was, you know, they’re all our top guys and leaders of this company now, which is great.

00;11;19;28 – 00;11;30;06
Speaker 1
And, you know, sometimes I like sometimes I’m like, I wish I would get back out into the field more and enjoy that stuff. It’s it’s exciting and I enjoy the, the coaching and teaching part of it. Yeah.

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Speaker 2
It’s. So when you decided to make that leave, was it what did that look like for you? Was there a slow transition where you kind of doing both at the same time that you work your, your job and then do side hustles at night or.

00;11;43;15 – 00;12;07;29
Speaker 1
Yeah, it was it was like a very slow transition. So it was kind of like side hustles. Right? I, I’ve already been licensed and all that kind of stuff. When I started my own business, like on the back end wasn’t competing with the company we were with at all. And had a few contractors that I knew that we were doing, like kitchens and bathrooms, and I’d be helping them, like after work, or I had guys that were like contract work doing it for me.

00;12;08;01 – 00;12;29;11
Speaker 1
And then, yeah, I mean, it was, you know, funny story, but I, you know, I’m not the most tech savvy person. And I went and, created my resignation letter, saved it to my Google Drive, and the vice president called me, and she’s like, Tom, Tom, what did you just do? I’m like, what? And she’s like, you just saved your resignation letter to, like, the company wide Google Drive.

00;12;29;11 – 00;12;42;24
Speaker 1
And I was like, I was like, no. And she was like, look, I deleted it quickly. What are you looking to do? This? And I was like, in the next 2 to 3 weeks and she’s like, you need. I don’t think anyone saw it. But she’s like, you got to do it today. And I was like, all right, sounds good.

00;12;42;24 – 00;12;57;26
Speaker 1
Guess I’m doing it today. So, gave my notice, was told like, hey, I don’t want you to keep working. Like, you know, he was not happy about it. And when I started my thing for a while, he was not happy about it. But. Yeah, that’s that’s what it was. It was just kind of like there wasn’t a good enough plan.

00;12;57;26 – 00;13;13;27
Speaker 1
And I’ll be honest, I Michael, like, I wish there was more of one. There wasn’t a very good plan other than like, hey, I’m just going to go out there and wing it like, let’s there’s a bunch of contractors calling me. You know, I know I can do really good electrical work and I can show up on I say, I’m going to show up and I can do what I say I’m going to do.

00;13;13;27 – 00;13;33;11
Speaker 1
Like, let’s go do it and see what happens. And then it’s kind of like winging it at first where there’s like first few months. So I left that, you know, I started the company like in 2018, but didn’t leave my other job till 29th April of 2019. You know, I think in 2019, we did like $320,000 in work like that year.

00;13;33;11 – 00;13;47;28
Speaker 1
So it wasn’t anything big by any means. It was just like me trying to do it. I had one helper helping me do stuff. And then 20, 20, we really started to transition more into like the business side of it, and not just like a one man band type thing. Yeah.

00;13;48;00 – 00;14;13;01
Speaker 2
You know, I gotta say, I’m a big fan of winging it and, you know, and just kind of jumping in and and letting go of that safety blanket, so to speak. But, I know that the smart play is always to have a nice plan and, you know, follow the plan. But I’m kind of with you in the mentality that, like, nothing makes you work harder than the need to work harder.

00;14;13;01 – 00;14;17;09
Speaker 2
Right? Like, you get rid of that parachute. You better learn how to fly real quick.

00;14;17;12 – 00;14;30;07
Speaker 1
Yeah. You’re not kidding. You know, especially. Yeah, especially when you have, like, a wife and kids involved. But you two and you’re in it, you’re going to figure it out pretty quickly. Yeah. You really you learn you learn a lot of things along the way, too.

00;14;30;09 – 00;14;38;16
Speaker 2
But listen, I mean, you know, first year in business, doing a few hundred thousand dollars in revenue doesn’t sound too bad either. Man. It sounds like you were on the hustle pretty well.

00;14;38;18 – 00;15;02;18
Speaker 1
We were maybe. Maybe a little too much. Right? Like I was. I definitely had the workaholic lifestyle going on, you know, like weekends and and I still do. I struggle with that, just like myself, who I am. And I think it’s why I’m so like anti that for the team. And in you know it’s probably one of my downfalls is I try to, I try to protect everybody from any of the struggles that I ever went through.

00;15;02;23 – 00;15;19;25
Speaker 1
Right? I do it with my wife, I do with my kids. I do it with the team here. Like, you know, we don’t we don’t work nights, we don’t work weekends, we don’t do on call. And I’m okay with all that stuff. But like, I don’t even want the guys stuck, like, you know, no hit a a bump in the road on a job at 4 or 5:00 and need a hand.

00;15;19;25 – 00;15;51;26
Speaker 1
And I’m just like, all right, I’m coming out there, you know, and we got plenty of other people that come in and my wife’s like, baby, you know, you could come home. You’ve been gone since six. And like, yeah, but they need help. Like, I gotta get out there. I gotta do it. And, you know, it’s just, I think it’s that that hustle culture that allowed me to, like, build what we’ve been able to build and still build together that, like, you know, I just, I don’t really have, like, I don’t have, like, a second speed, like, that’s just, that’s what I do, which is spot, you know, and you know, you know, and

00;15;51;26 – 00;16;06;14
Speaker 1
I’ll be honest with you guys like Derek, I mean I would so much, so much rather spend 50 hours a week in the field than spend 20 hours a week in the office, like. And I think I think my team would probably agree with that too. When I’m in the office, they’re like, oh shit, Tom’s here. What’s what’s he get?

00;16;06;16 – 00;16;11;27
Speaker 1
What what, what’s changing today? You know? Yeah. Hundred percent.

00;16;11;29 – 00;16;21;12
Speaker 2
Do you think it goes both ways? Like you go out into the field and your field crews are like, oh shit, Tom’s here. Then you’re at the office and they’re like, oh, shit, Tom’s here. It’s like it might.

00;16;21;12 – 00;16;43;26
Speaker 1
You know, I I’ve told everybody and I still do on everyone’s first day, like, you know, when they’re interviewed or not interviewed but onboarded, you know, in the beginning it was all me. Now, you know, other people handle the onboarding, but I’ll always spend a little bit of time with them. And I always tell them day one. Like, never, ever, ever, ever, ever change or feel like you have to react differently when I show up, like, don’t ever do that.

00;16;43;26 – 00;16;58;12
Speaker 1
I don’t I don’t ever want you to do that. Like if you guys are in the back and we got like a big warehouse of ping pong and all these games, you guys are back there screwing around, playing off, and I walk in like, keep playing and do what you do, right? And I tell him the exact same thing on a job.

00;16;58;15 – 00;17;15;13
Speaker 1
I think the guys actually, I think it’s not just said, I think it’s very felt. I think they understand that. Like they know that if I show up, like I’ll never show up unannounced. And, you know, I have people that tell me that all the time. They’re like, dude, you’re the owner of a company. Like, you can just show up unannounced if you.

00;17;15;13 – 00;17;29;07
Speaker 1
I’m like, I could, but, like, what if I show up unannounced and Chris is like, oh, man, if I knew you were coming in, I needed this. And, like, my phone call could have prevented that. Like, I’m not trying to catch people from trying to catch people or I think you’re sneaking and doing something like, I don’t want you to work here anyway.

00;17;29;07 – 00;17;44;07
Speaker 1
So if I do show up, I think it’s fun, right? The only time the guys will get frustrated, they’ll tell me. Sometimes they’re like, look, if you show up and you’re going to start something, finish it or don’t start it, but just hang out with us. Like, because they’re like, you love this start. Show me. Like, I’ll go do this.

00;17;44;07 – 00;18;02;15
Speaker 1
And then two hours later I’m like, shit, I got a call, guys, I gotta go. And they’re like, well, you’re halfway done with that. So they’re like, if you’re not going to if you’re not going to finish it, don’t do it. I’m like, all right, cool. So we have a very, very good culture relationship around here. You know, some somewhat to a downfall as well.

00;18;02;15 – 00;18;22;04
Speaker 1
I think we’re all very, very, very close. The people have shared like new people that joined the team have shared before. It’s extremely intimidating when you first join here because of how close everybody is until you get welcomed into that. And then it’s it’s almost it’s almost tough when you don’t fit in. It’s almost like very hard.

00;18;22;05 – 00;18;39;03
Speaker 1
You like to to last year. And I don’t love that. That’s something I’ve always kind of worked on that like, hey, maybe you don’t want to be our best friend or hang out with us, but you still want to do phenomenal electrical work and you’re a good person, like, you should still be able to have just as good of an opportunity to have a career here.

00;18;39;05 – 00;18;46;27
Speaker 2
That’s interesting. Yeah. Imagine. That’s hard because it almost if you’re on the outside, right? When you’re a new employee, it almost feels like a click.

00;18;47;00 – 00;19;09;00
Speaker 1
And it trade does. Right? I mean, there’s different guys hanging out like every weekend. Eventually somebody in the company is doing something together. Right. And so yeah, you know, there’s 47 different side group text messages and chats. And do you get in one of those. You’re not. Right. Like but it’s it’s awesome. Like I love that too.

00;19;09;00 – 00;19;29;02
Speaker 1
It’s exactly what if somebody was like dream what you would want it to be one day? That’s what it is. It’s like the fun culture that, you know, I can literally say, hey guys, Friday night we’re doing a barbecue at my house. Wives, kids, frat, you name it. Sure. And we have like 100% participation at those things every single time, which is cool.

00;19;29;02 – 00;19;34;13
Speaker 1
So and we have a blast doing that stuff. So I like it a lot. Love it. All right.

00;19;34;15 – 00;19;54;26
Speaker 3
I got a question for you. Yeah. Tom, just in regards to that. And you know that the thing that stuck out to me was the benefits that that you offer your your guys. And I’m sure a lot of our listeners go back and forth about what they can actually afford to do for their staff versus, you know, what they think they can afford to do.

00;19;54;26 – 00;20;17;28
Speaker 3
And should I do this, should I not? What have been some of the benefits to you, offering that that maybe are overlooked, like, for example, you know, retention costs, you know, being one that that comes to my mind, what are some of those, those benefits and maybe you didn’t expect when you did offer that?

00;20;18;01 – 00;20;37;18
Speaker 1
Yeah. I mean, I think it’s funny you said that not to just like, jump on what you said, but I think, like, the retention cost is probably the number one thing. Not just retention costs, but also like recruiting, right? So as the team begins to do it, like as we begin to grow and, and it start, it’s all just so natural of who we are.

00;20;37;20 – 00;20;56;28
Speaker 1
It, you know, people, the word start spreading around of, oh, hey, go meet with astronaut. Like this is what they offer. This is what they do. This is how they do it. I think the other thing it allows us to do is, to scale easier because we already know what those costs are, and we have an understanding of what those are.

00;20;56;28 – 00;21;22;01
Speaker 1
So for any listeners out there who are like considering doing it, like today’s the best day to do it right. The more you wait, the more it’s just going to get more expensive and more expensive and more expensive. Like, you know, I don’t I don’t know what our monthly health insurance cost is, but I could promise you, if somebody came to me today and said, hey, Tom, we’re going to start offering insurance to all the team and it cost X.

00;21;22;01 – 00;21;50;03
Speaker 1
I’d be like, no way am I paying that a month, right? But now what it is, it’s just like, all right, cool. I mean, we did that with like, you know, we don’t use the word employee here. Like for I hate that word. So it’s everybody’s team members. But like, team member number one was, you know, for health vision dental insurance, we offer A41K in a match and we offer unlimited PTO and all of those kind of things like mean the world to us.

00;21;50;03 – 00;22;10;16
Speaker 1
So, you know, when you sit there and say, like, what does it help with? Like it helps with recruiting. It helps with retention cost. You know, we’ve been in business for eight. I’m coming out. Let’s let’s throw out the first year like coming up on seven years. We’ve had two one person retired and two people turned in their notice.

00;22;10;16 – 00;22;35;17
Speaker 1
In that entire time we’ve ever been here, like everybody else has been, you know, told like, let go or just wasn’t a good fit. So I think that has a lot to do with it as well. And, you know, I think you have to as a, as a business owner, you know, a lot of people love to, you know, talk like, oh, my guys are my they like, you know, they worked for me.

00;22;35;17 – 00;22;52;21
Speaker 1
Like, I hate that mentality. It’s like, you know, we’re doing it for them. So one thing you have to be very careful with is like to not get caught up with that. Like when you decide to offer that to someone, it can never be like cloud over their head ever again, right? So can never be like, well, we offer you these, this and we give you this.

00;22;52;22 – 00;23;07;25
Speaker 1
We give you that like tough shit, man. I’m like, you did that day. One like that was your choice to offer that to everybody on the team. So don’t ever let that don’t ever let that become bigger than what the picture. And the reason is why you’re doing it. Don’t do it to be like, oh, if I do this, they’re going to do more for me.

00;23;07;25 – 00;23;17;11
Speaker 1
Like, no, I don’t want that, I want it. Hey, if I do this, it’s going to attract the best of the best. And that’s what we want to love it.

00;23;17;19 – 00;23;36;08
Speaker 2
It’s good at it. Yeah. I and I share your sentiments. I do the same thing. I don’t like the word employee either. And, just leave my phone call on. Yeah, I call everyone that we. It’s it’s either coworker or teammate. Like, we work together, like. Yeah, it’s,

00;23;36;10 – 00;23;50;06
Speaker 1
My family’s all in PA, and they’ll get mad, like, my brother will joke. I’ll be like, oh, yeah, we like, like one of the guys in the team. He’s like, dude, my brother’s dude. What are you talking just say employee. I’m like, it’s not like we don’t use that word. I’m like, yeah, I like I literally had my wife go through.

00;23;50;06 – 00;24;03;24
Speaker 1
We like it’s removed from every contract, every every time we get like an attorney to update anything. It’s like employee, employee, employee, right. Like, well, go through and change all that. Like remove it from everything. Love it.

00;24;03;26 – 00;24;24;20
Speaker 2
I got to ask you two about the unlimited PTO and this. This is, to be fair, it’s probably for my own benefit, but I. I’m sure if I have the question, other people have the question as well. So hopefully it’s it’s helpful to our listeners. But I come across unlimited PTO all the time. Yeah. And we offer PTO, but we don’t we do not do unlimited.

00;24;24;20 – 00;24;42;03
Speaker 2
And the fear I’ve always had with that idea, although I love the idea of it though, is what do you do when someone abuses it? If all of a sudden someone’s just not showing up to work and they’re just taking PTO all the time, like, do you put guardrails in ahead of time or how does that work for you guys?

00;24;42;05 – 00;25;11;02
Speaker 1
Knock on wood, we haven’t had it happened yet. Right? So, I guess I can’t sit here and say, what could we do to prevent someone from abusing it? I think what I could or how would I even react if somebody did? I try to be proactive in it, in, hey, what do we need to do to prevent someone from doing it, or preventing the wrong person getting on the team that would want to do it right.

00;25;11;02 – 00;25;37;18
Speaker 1
So, our unlimited PTO policy is as long as we have a two week notice, it’s approved, right? You tell us about it two weeks in advance. It’s approved. I meet with everybody every year in the beginning of the year, as well as throughout the year to understand like what your goals are. So if you give me these goals, then and I’ll ask you, I love when I’m like, hey, what’s your goal this year?

00;25;37;18 – 00;25;55;24
Speaker 1
And I call myself $800. I’m like, cool, Michael, what do you have this all week to do that? I don’t know. 52 divided by 50. I’m like, you’re going to work 52 weeks this year? No, I’m going to do it. I’m like, okay, so let’s let’s reverse engineer it. Like, let’s let’s see, like how many weeks are you going to work off.

00;25;55;24 – 00;26;18;17
Speaker 1
All right. So you know, we’re off for two weeks for paid holidays. You’re going to guaranteed take off two more weeks for for something. So the bare minimum you’re at 48. Like do you think you’re going to take off another two or so. Okay. So what’s budgeted based off of 46? Since I’ve started my business I every budget I run is based off of a 4646 week annual year.

00;26;18;20 – 00;26;41;16
Speaker 1
So the additional six weeks is like built on top. So everything I do is built on how many weeks are there in a year it’s 46. The reality is, if you become that person that takes off eight weeks and you’re reaching your goals and your goals are aligned with our goals, then hey, go for it. Like you’re performing.

00;26;41;16 – 00;26;59;11
Speaker 1
You’re doing what you told us you wanted to do. You’re meeting the expectations, and I think I haven’t had to have the conversation, but I think if it started to become an issue, I might go with somebody and say, hey, like, you know, I’d love to sit down and chat with you. You’re missing a lot of time.

00;26;59;13 – 00;27;17;27
Speaker 1
You’re taking it off. It’s being approved. You’re way behind your goals. Like, what do you, like, kind of fill me in on where you’re at, and maybe they’re going to be like, oh, yeah, you know, it’s not working out. Or. And that’s why I’m taking off more time or hey, you’re right. Like I’m stressed out and I’m dealing with X, Y and Z at home.

00;27;17;27 – 00;27;39;07
Speaker 1
And so that’s why I’m taking time off to, to do this. So, so I guess I don’t know how to I don’t know how to, like, directly answer the question of how to prevent it. Or what do you do if it’s taken advantage of. I think it just to have the unlimited PTO, like you can’t just sit there and say, hey, congrats guys, we’ve an unlimited PTO and run your business.

00;27;39;09 – 00;27;58;02
Speaker 1
It’s not like it has to align with who you are. So it’s got to align with like the culture, the values, the goals of who we are. So if that does, then when we decided to offer it and we implemented it two and a half years ago, that was the only to everything else was implemented from the beginning and limited PTO was two and a half years ago.

00;27;58;06 – 00;28;19;11
Speaker 1
And really, I never denied a PTO request prior to that. I just made it official at that point. I think as long as it aligns with everything, then it’s just it’s not a concern, right? It’s not. If you come to me and say, hey, I really want to work at astronaut, and I want to take eight weeks off a year, and I’m going to I do this and I do that, and I’m going to try to do this.

00;28;19;11 – 00;28;38;21
Speaker 1
And these are my Goldman awesome. And go do it. Go live your dream. Like have fun. Take the eight weeks off travel. What do you need from me you know, to be successful here and then great. This is what success looks like. Can you do it? You know, and it’d be different if you had somebody who was like, hey, I want to take off every other Friday.

00;28;38;23 – 00;28;57;07
Speaker 1
Right? Then it may be more of a conversation of like, hey, do we need to restructure? Or do you only want to work four days a week? And we might have to look yet for you to work four days a week. It would be x, y, z type thing. But yeah, we haven’t had to get there for the uncomfortable conversation because we try to just like spearhead that stuff ahead of time.

00;28;57;09 – 00;29;01;24
Speaker 1
Yeah, I hope that made sense. Know I know you didn’t add some. Didn’t answer directly.

00;29;01;26 – 00;29;24;23
Speaker 2
Yeah. No, it definitely did. I mean, it’s as I’m thinking about what you said, it’s like and that, you know, they have whether it’s, number of billable hours, a goal or a sales goal or whatever it is, if it’s identified. And so long as they’re hitting it and you know what your salary is for that person, you know how much that person is going to cost you as long as you’re hitting your goal, their goals.

00;29;24;23 – 00;29;27;01
Speaker 2
Like, I guess it doesn’t really matter, right?

00;29;27;04 – 00;29;49;20
Speaker 1
Yeah, okay. And there’s there’s studies behind it. I’m not a big guy in that stuff. But like their studies behind it that say like when you offer unlimited PTO, people take less time off. Yeah. So, I don’t pay attention to that. You know, and, and I think if you do it in that mindset again, you’re doing it to kind of like cheat the system.

00;29;49;21 – 00;30;08;06
Speaker 1
You’re kind of like, oh, I’m going to offer this to make you feel bad about taking off. We’ve had guys who’ve shared before here like, hey, I feel bad taking off. And I’m like, shit. I’m like, what? Like, can you tell me why? Oh, well, we’re having a slower week and I know that I’m performing well, and if I take off, it’s going to impact this and this and this.

00;30;08;06 – 00;30;25;06
Speaker 1
And I’m glad they share that. Like it’s cool that they feel that. But I’m like guys that’s like that’s not your problem. Like go to the beach with your wife, right? Or else if you tell your wife, like, yeah, I can’t go to the beach because Tom really needs me. Like, well, your wife’s going to quickly get you away from Tom, and then I’m.

00;30;25;08 – 00;30;26;10
Speaker 2
Not going to like Tom very.

00;30;26;10 – 00;30;44;03
Speaker 1
Much. Yeah, exactly. So I, you know, I think it all kind of just it all boils down to, like, you know, you just treat everybody as human beings and, you know, in the business has to make money and do what it needs to do. But, you know, as long as we’re growing and hitting our goals, I’m okay with that.

00;30;44;05 – 00;30;56;21
Speaker 1
I could, at the end of the year, be like, man, if we if nobody if everybody took off two last weeks, we could have done an extra, 400 grand this year. But like, what kind of mindset is that to have, you know.

00;30;56;23 – 00;31;17;16
Speaker 2
Yeah, it’s interesting you said that too, about that study about people taking less time off because we have one of our longest running employees. And, for us, after your first year, you get a year PTO. Every year you’re with us up to up to four weeks of PTO. And, she never uses it. And I actually would, like, had a conversation with her.

00;31;17;16 – 00;31;25;00
Speaker 2
I’m like, you know, you have all this PTO and you’re not using any of it. Like, you need to take some time off, buddy. You’re going to get you’re going to get burnt out. You’re not going to like it here.

00;31;25;00 – 00;31;42;04
Speaker 1
But yeah. Yeah. And it’s they need to do that. Like my brother in law works here. And he’s the same way. He like I have to be like Chris right now. Like go grab the time off seat, pick three days and go turn it into Clarissa. Right now. It’s like no, no, no, no, I’m good. I’m like, nope.

00;31;42;04 – 00;31;57;05
Speaker 1
Do it right now. Take it. I don’t get it. And then like, it’s funny. Like sometimes he’ll forget. I’m like, hey, you know you’re off tomorrow. And he’s like, no, not. I’m like, no. Yeah. You turned it in like four months ago. And he’s like, I don’t want to be off. Like, no, take off. Like you need off like we planned for it.

00;31;57;05 – 00;32;21;24
Speaker 1
Like, you know, you’re going to get burned out. And, you know, we’re mental health is is huge to us as well. So we offer like we offer a free therapist to everybody in the company. So, up to like four hours with the therapist per month per employee. Team member. Sorry. And like, that stuff means everything to us, right?

00;32;21;24 – 00;32;42;22
Speaker 1
Like, you know, and if we can help and I think, you know, 5 or 6 people here talk to her and, you know, it’s all confidential. And I don’t get an email that’s like, oh, Tom talked for five hours, and it’s like, I get an email. It’s like, hey, here’s a bill for 17 hours last month. And you know, I trust her, but I tell her to do it that way because I don’t want I don’t want to know.

00;32;42;22 – 00;33;01;18
Speaker 1
Like, it’s not my business to know who’s talking to you and why they’re doing it. Yeah, but I love that we can offer that service. Right. And, you know, that’s that stuff’s just very important to us because, like, everybody here, like, you know, they’re like kids to my wife and I, you know, and and we want to we want to make sure you’re happy.

00;33;01;18 – 00;33;15;21
Speaker 1
Right? You know, I’ve had guys tell me that before, like, dude, sometimes will come to work in, like, a bad mood and, like, you call it out like that, and I’m like, I know. And they’re like, it’s fucking annoying. I’m like, all right, sorry. And they’re like, do we can, like, never just show up in a bad mood?

00;33;15;21 – 00;33;29;09
Speaker 1
You like, pull it out of us. You like, call us out on it. And I’m like, sorry. That’s just like, I’m not saying you can’t come to work in a bad mood, but as close as we are, if, you know, if Derek or Michael came in one day and you were down, like somebody is going to know it.

00;33;29;12 – 00;33;45;09
Speaker 1
And I think it’s kind of cool to, like, have people to lean on, you know? I mean, a lot of these people here spend more time with each other than we do with our spouses and our girlfriends, significant others. You know, we we spend a lot of time together. Yeah. So I’m oh four.

00;33;45;16 – 00;34;08;00
Speaker 3
Before I get that jump, guys, I got one more question for you. Time that that I want to ask. And it goes back to your earlier days. So obviously you’ve had quite the journey and have progressed along the path from working in the warehouse to apprentice. And so for our younger, younger listeners, what are some of the things that you did, maybe in your early days that set you apart from the rest of the team or group?

00;34;08;03 – 00;34;21;23
Speaker 3
And you know, whether, your, your employer saw something in you that wanted to wanted him to move you down the apprentice path. How did that all start? And what were some of those things you did in the early days?

00;34;21;26 – 00;34;26;20
Speaker 1
Yeah. And you’re talking early days, like pre starting my own business. Just like being a trade.

00;34;26;22 – 00;34;27;18
Speaker 3
Exactly.

00;34;27;20 – 00;34;32;28
Speaker 1
Yeah. I mean Derek, it sounds so like.

00;34;33;01 – 00;34;51;01
Speaker 1
You know, generic to say, but I think it started with my childhood. You know, anything I’ve ever done, I’ve committed to doing. Right. So, you know, I never, I, you know, I joke about, like, I went, you know, I went to high school for four years and never missed a day of school in four straight years.

00;34;51;03 – 00;35;10;03
Speaker 1
I was never sick, never took off, never called out. And it just, like, wasn’t an option for me. So I think, I think the biggest thing was just, like, always, always, always ask questions, right? When you ask questions, it it shows that you care and it shows that you learn. And I tell everybody here to like, you can call me whenever you want.

00;35;10;03 – 00;35;34;24
Speaker 1
If you have a question related to work, like whenever you want, call me. And and I, I used to do that right. So I would show up if, if work started at 7:00, like I was there by 630 at the latest, every single day, I was always willing to help clean up. At the end of the day, I was always willing to chat with people and I think in the trades, because that’s all I can really speak about.

00;35;34;24 – 00;35;40;28
Speaker 1
I can’t speak other industries in the trades. It’s so.

00;35;41;00 – 00;35;58;19
Speaker 1
It doesn’t you don’t need like, hey, if you don’t have the degree, if you don’t have this, if you don’t have this, like you can become so much more by just like standing out as that individual that’s willing to do it. And that was my entire focus. It was never like, get to the top. It was just like, I’m going to show up.

00;35;58;19 – 00;36;16;02
Speaker 1
I’m going to be a great person. I’m going to work hard every single day. I’m going to communicate. I’m going to ask questions. I’m not going to screw around, and I’m going to do really good work. And I think, like, that’s what’s so cool about the trades is like, you know, we have a guy here that started 4 or 5 years ago.

00;36;16;02 – 00;36;33;18
Speaker 1
He’s been with us. And when he hired him, things were it was right around Covid. When we hired him, he was an apprentice. He had new nothing was making $13 an hour is what we were paying him last year. He made over $100,000 a year here. Like, that’s the kind of stuff that I just love about the trades.

00;36;33;18 – 00;36;54;12
Speaker 1
And I think that was just me. Like everything I get into is competitive, not against anybody else. But just like for the like everything I do, there’s a reason behind why I do it. So if you don’t understand the reason, don’t go do it. Like ask the question if your boss comes up to you and says, hey Derek, go put those eight outlets in and come get me whenever I’m done.

00;36;54;13 – 00;37;08;27
Speaker 1
Whenever you’re done. Right? Like, okay, hey, no, no worries. Happy to do that. Like and then I’m coming back to get you, like, do you mind just explaining why I don’t want to just tell you? Well, hey, if there’s other things you want me to do, just tell me. Are you okay? Yeah. Go do those eight. Go into that room.

00;37;08;27 – 00;37;29;29
Speaker 1
Do this, do that. Okay. All right. Perfect. That works. Let me go ahead and do that. Right. And when you do that kind of stuff, you’ll stand out a little bit more, right? Don’t be afraid to get in the trenches with everybody else. Don’t just stand around, you know, and I’m talking trades here for a minute. If a supply truck shows up, start unloading it.

00;37;30;02 – 00;37;47;21
Speaker 1
If you’re working with the group and Derek and Mike or finishing up the job and there’s stuff laying around, put it all the way so that when Derek and Michael stop turn turning their last wrench, everything’s cleaned up and it’s like, cool, we’re done. So I think those are the things I think in the early days it’s like, show up with a purpose.

00;37;47;21 – 00;38;09;01
Speaker 1
Just the home services and the trades are so special that if you have the right mindset to show up every day, be an honest person and be a hard worker, there’s nothing that can get in your way from being successful. Absolutely nothing. Corporate America. Plenty of things could get in your way, right? Oh, you don’t have the degree to move up here.

00;38;09;03 – 00;38;25;20
Speaker 1
You don’t have enough hours to do that. You don’t have enough of this. It’s like, screw that, right? You show up every day committed, willing to work hard, be honest, and show up like, you know, as a team player, nothing will stop you from being able to accomplish whatever you want to do. And I think that’s the key when it comes to home services.

00;38;25;20 – 00;38;44;04
Speaker 1
And hopefully if there’s any young listeners out there, even people that just, you know, want to make a switch and get into the home services, like that’s what it’s all about. Like, yeah, you know, be a good person, be honest, show up, work hard, you know, ask a lot of questions. It’s not it’s really you know, it’s it’s not that hard.

00;38;44;04 – 00;38;51;19
Speaker 1
But you know, a lot of people struggle with it. Well, then so.

00;38;51;21 – 00;39;01;16
Speaker 2
Speaking of backing up a little bit, I wanted to one thing that I flagged in my mind here was when you guys launched, you got jumped in there D.

00;39;01;19 – 00;39;09;09
Speaker 1
Yeah. Are they. See what I got? Thanks. Yeah, yeah. Be safe out there today, you know? Thanks, buddy.

00;39;09;12 – 00;39;27;14
Speaker 2
When you guys first launched and you said you were kind of doing everything, anything, right, like commercial didn’t matter. Like. Yep, we’ll say yes to it. Which is my belief always is when you’re new business. Like, you kind of have to do that if you if someone wants to pay money to you something like absolutely the answer.

00;39;27;16 – 00;39;55;24
Speaker 2
Yes. Right. You know, even if I don’t know how to do it yet. Right I’m going to figure it out. But, but I am curious because I do think that any business that lasts long enough has to make the decision at some point in time of who? Who are we? Right? Like, what is it that we do really well and are do we want to keep doing all of these different things, which obviously breeds chaos and stress and can have a negative effect on your team members?

00;39;55;26 – 00;39;59;06
Speaker 2
I’d love to hear about what that looked like for you. And, you know,

00;39;59;06 – 00;40;13;12
Speaker 2
why did you finally say, hey, we need to change who we are and what we do a little bit here and, and and what it was that kind of made you go in the direction that you went in.

00;40;13;15 – 00;40;37;09
Speaker 1
Hey, everybody, just taking a quick break to talk to you about one of our sponsors, Curtis Lumber. Curtis Lumber is the professional’s choice for home improvement from windows and doors, roofing and siding, decks and building packages to floors and more. Trust the pros at Curtis Lumber for expert advice and daily delivery. For locations, visit Curtis lumber.com. That’s Curtis lumber.com.

00;40;37;12 – 00;40;50;01
Speaker 2
why did you finally say, hey, we need to change who we are and what we do a little bit here and, and and what it was that kind of made you go in the direction that you went in.

00;40;50;03 – 00;41;14;24
Speaker 1
Yeah. So, you know, for listeners that are sitting out there right now, they could be like, oh, this astronaut company, I mean, it sounds amazing. It’s they think they’re the best. Like, they got it, like all figured out, like we don’t. Right. And I let me tell you, we still don’t. Right. I am are you familiar with, like, the iOS business model at all?

00;41;14;25 – 00;41;17;06
Speaker 2
Yeah. Oh, yeah. We talk about it all the time.

00;41;17;08 – 00;41;41;07
Speaker 1
So I’m about the most visionary human being you ever meet. And about as far from being an integrator as possible. So when I started, it was like I can constantly see this giant vision. Let’s just go. Yep. Somebody says yes, yes, yes, yes, I’ll keep doing it. So, I a couple years ago met somebody through some people and interviewed, started me with this guy.

00;41;41;10 – 00;42;11;04
Speaker 1
And he was like home services, like his specialty was like systems and processes. Like he was very, very good at that. So we agreed to kind of have him start coming to work here kind of on like back end of systems and processes. Shortly after he and I ended up partnering together. I like sold him, you know, I like and you know, I honestly I gained 50% of the company or sold him first of all, not 50% of the company, which ended up becoming a big thing.

00;42;11;04 – 00;42;31;26
Speaker 1
And long story short, about two and a half years ago, we split off and, you know, and it was an ugly situation. And, and I at the time, whenever I decided to move on from him, it was like, we’re not seeing eye to eye, we’re not seeing eye to eye. And, you know, looking back on it now, I’m like, you know, he helped us so much become who we are.

00;42;31;29 – 00;42;53;04
Speaker 1
Like. And he really, really did, wanted it. So so I guess the first thing I would say, you know, at the time we had like a bunch of random quotes around our office and he put a quote above my desk and we were picking different quotes to pick. And then he had like, had them all made. And we put this quote of on my desk that said, you grow by saying no.

00;42;53;06 – 00;43;15;09
Speaker 1
And, and I looked at that like every day. And my problem was we would we would get together and we’d say, okay, hey, we’re not doing any commercial job over $60,000. Like, it’s just we’re not prepared for it. And somebody would pay. Tom, I got this job. They need this thing done. They need this done. It’s, you know, if you want it, it’s probably 100 grand, like it’s yours.

00;43;15;09 – 00;43;47;25
Speaker 1
I’m like, yeah, we’ll take it. And he’s like, Tom, remember? And I was like, well, hey, like it’s it’s money, dude. We’ll get them, we’ll figure it out. And so I think when you say, what was the number one thing, I think it was profitability. I quickly realized when we were bouncing around and doing everything, we couldn’t be as profitable because we didn’t have a scalable business that had systems and processes in place that were strictly scalable, that we knew we could control and hire the right team members to put into these roles to make this thing become successful.

00;43;47;25 – 00;44;06;26
Speaker 1
Like today, you could say, hey, Tom, what does it look like to be $20 million? And I can tell you exactly how many techs, exactly how many leads, exactly how many installers, sales. And boom, just like that. That’s what, 20 million it now it sounds easy. It it takes a lot to go get all of that. Yeah. That’s back then we did it like it was.

00;44;06;26 – 00;44;28;23
Speaker 1
As we were doing all of this, we started we started. So I think the big eye opening wasn’t just profitability, but it was some of these contract jobs that, you know, as as we’d sit there and go through all these things and Paul would say, hey, Tom, can I show you something today? I’m sure he’s like, look, we spent, you know, four days, two guys on this entire job for this kitchen remodel.

00;44;28;23 – 00;44;50;24
Speaker 1
And, you know, this is what it cost us. And then we went and changed this panel for this customer over here. We’re there for six hours, and we made more money over here. You know, I was like, Holy cow. Like, are you kidding me? So as we started to dial that in, we quickly identify like, what are our, what are our like, top strengths.

00;44;50;26 – 00;45;14;15
Speaker 1
And we knew like our culture was huge. Our, our customer service, our team and all of that kind of stuff. And we said, so where is where what does that have the biggest impact on? And we are like homeowners, contractors don’t care as much about that. Like we used to have a sign when you walk into our office, it said we’re, customer service company that hires awesome electricians.

00;45;14;17 – 00;45;31;13
Speaker 1
Because that’s what we focus on so much is customer service. So at that time, we start as we started that, you know, lose money on these bigger jobs and all. But hey, you know, it’s it’s keeping us busy for five days and we can put three guys on it. And then, you know, payroll comes around and we’re like, oh, where’d all the money go?

00;45;31;16 – 00;45;51;28
Speaker 1
That’s when we decided to get the clear image of like, we want to go residential, 100% service focused. Let’s ideate. Let’s start doing that. So it was like the end of 2021 when we started the switch, that 2022, we started making that happen. That’s when we pulled the trigger on rebranding and then went live with the rebrand in 2023.

00;45;52;01 – 00;45;52;23
Speaker 1
And which.

00;45;52;23 – 00;46;06;27
Speaker 2
By the way, I love your brand. I was checking out your website earlier, looking through everything. It’s like it’s fun, you know, like and it’s it’s well done. So whoever your branding company was, you know, kudos. Those guys did an amazing job.

00;46;07;00 – 00;46;28;13
Speaker 1
They’re awesome. Yeah. Thank you. I was very happy with it. I was I was, you know, I’m not pleased off in with like, that kind of stuff. Like, you know, wolf companies that would be like, hey, Tom, we redid your website. Boom, here it is. And I’m like, oh, that sucks, right? And it was like, you know, the last the company has done our website right now, rival digital there are phenomenal.

00;46;28;13 – 00;46;43;01
Speaker 1
And I told them that the first day that they showed us our website, I was like, honestly, I’m telling you guys right now, this is the first time I’d seen 20 website. It’s the first time I’d been in this industry where I looked at a website and I was like, boom, you you nailed it. Like to a tee.

00;46;43;01 – 00;46;53;00
Speaker 1
Looks awesome. So we love our brand and we, you know, and we we build off of it and it’s, you know, the brand is much bigger than just what our logo is. You know.

00;46;53;02 – 00;47;01;28
Speaker 2
If I go to a baseball game in apex, North Carolina, am I going to see a guy running around? And, what’s the mascot’s name is?

00;47;01;28 – 00;47;03;04
Speaker 1
His name’s Watson.

00;47;03;04 – 00;47;04;14
Speaker 2
Watson? That’s right. Yeah.

00;47;04;14 – 00;47;25;14
Speaker 1
So not not. Yeah. It’s funny, we thought about we’ve we’ve had several quotes. First of all, you’d be stunned how expensive some of those, those ski costumes are. And then like, I’m a much bigger guy, right. Like I’m like six, five. And so then it’s like, all right, well, do we buy one that will fit, Tom? Or do we buy one that fits other people or who do it?

00;47;25;14 – 00;47;35;06
Speaker 1
So we haven’t sold the trigger on it yet. We do the local like Apex Christmas parade every year. And we keep saying like, we should really have the mascot by the time the Christmas parade comes around.

00;47;35;06 – 00;47;57;28
Speaker 2
So yeah, yeah. That’s fun. That’s a lot of fun. All right, last question for you, Tom. And I really appreciate the time that you’ve been spending with us here. I think, you know, if someone’s thinking about the trades or maybe they’re in the trades and they’re thinking about, starting their own business, you know, what is one piece of advice that you would give them?

00;47;58;00 – 00;47;59;25
Speaker 2
If you were going to only, say, one year?

00;47;59;28 – 00;48;28;22
Speaker 1
Yeah. If you’re okay, I’m going to take it two ways, right? Because I’m going to take the join the trades one way or start your own business the other way. Okay. Start your own business if you choose to do that, the one piece of advice I will say is like, what is your differentiator fact? Like, what is that one thing about you that you’re bringing that you can impact the business in services that you’re providing, and you have to identify that as an individual.

00;48;28;25 – 00;48;44;02
Speaker 1
So like if you’re going to get into if you’re going to go start like, you know, answer the trade one in a second. But if like, I’m going to go start a business, identify like what is that thing. What’s that like number one wow factor that Michael has that Tom has that you have. And then never forget that.

00;48;44;05 – 00;49;04;07
Speaker 1
Never ever, ever let anybody take that away from you because that’s in your at all, at all times. No matter how big your team is, how much your team loves you, trust you, they’re never going to be able to do it the same way you do. Identify what that it’s actor is and then and focus on it and build that business around that would.

00;49;04;09 – 00;49;18;01
Speaker 2
And what we’re saying is we’re not saying like your business is one thing. So it’s not like a gimmicky thing. This isn’t like quality or service, you know, like a lot of businesses do. This is your personally about you, the business owner.

00;49;18;06 – 00;49;48;06
Speaker 1
Personally about you as the business owner, like I have like let’s let’s use an example like maybe like maybe that thing about Michael is like, I have the ability to get things done no matter what happens, no matter what chaos is thrown at me. Like when things become chaotic, I can handle it, right? Or I have that ability at any given time to, to be able to connect with the human being and focus on that and believe in the positive and create that connection.

00;49;48;06 – 00;50;09;27
Speaker 1
Because if you do that, you’re going to have to start. And the reason I say that Michael’s because you’re going to have to start that business. So like nine out of 99 out of 100 business owners are in the home, services are coming into it like turning wrenches themselves to getting there. Very rarely is it like, hey, I’m going to go start a home business service business, I know nothing, and I’m gonna go hire four people tomorrow.

00;50;09;29 – 00;50;28;07
Speaker 1
Right. So by you having that, you’re going to start teaching that to everybody else. So, you know, if your number one strength is your ability to. And it may sound like cliche, like your ability to communicate with homeowners and like, then you’re going to teach that to everybody. That’s going to be the number one thing that you can teach.

00;50;28;09 – 00;50;57;09
Speaker 1
So identify what that is. And at the same time understand what your weaknesses are. Love it. You know that. And then after. And then if you’re going to get into the trades, I think, just because I hear this so much and I felt this a little bit myself, if you’re going to get into the trades, do not allow like the outside noise to make you feel embarrassed.

00;50;57;12 – 00;51;19;23
Speaker 1
We have a guy that works here who, man, he is a race 24. He’s a freaking rock star. He’s going to he’s going to sell $2 million this year. Has already has bought his him and his wife their first house, has bought his wife his dream car and bought himself his dream truck, does what he wants to do.

00;51;19;25 – 00;51;44;19
Speaker 1
Like not a cocky way or anything, just like loves life. But he went to a customer’s house one time and he was out there and his meet with the lady in there, and it’s like two years ago, and it turned out to be like the mom of a kid he went to high school with, and all the kids were like at home and hanging out, and he was down in the crawl space doing stuff, and they were all making fun of it, like, oh, that’s look at what he’s doing.

00;51;44;22 – 00;52;03;05
Speaker 1
He’s crawling around the crawl space. And they were like, as he was moving, they were like stomping on the ground in it, like tore him down. And he’s like a son to me. So like, I hated that. Like it knocked him down so much because he was so embarrassed about it. And I was like, dude, while you’re doing that, they’re hanging out at mommy’s house on a Wednesday afternoon.

00;52;03;11 – 00;52;24;09
Speaker 1
Like, think about that. And like, when you’re going home in your own house and put into your own garage, they’re hanging out in mommy’s basement and like, so, so my thing to like, if you want to get into the trades like do it because you care and like don’t allow that outside noise to affect you. Like don’t allow people to tell you that, like, oh, you’re going to be a tradesperson you’re dirty.

00;52;24;09 – 00;52;38;06
Speaker 1
You’re going to I don’t let anyone look at you differently, because I’ve been doing it for 20 plus years, and I sell that like I used to, and I used to. I used to live that myself. Like my wife was in corporate America for a long time, and she’d call me and be like, hey, we’re all going to a happy hour.

00;52;38;06 – 00;52;53;19
Speaker 1
Do you want to call? And I’m like, no. And she’s like, why? And I was like, no, I’m good. And then it was like, finally she said, what? And I was like, I, I have no interest in showing up there like dirty and my dirty shirt, my Carhartt pants while everybody’s brand suits. And then everybody’s like, oh, here’s that Tom guy.

00;52;53;21 – 00;53;23;08
Speaker 1
And she’s like, Tom. She’s like, come on, like, but but it’s real. Like it’s it’s a thing out there. Right? And it’s, it’s the coolest, most respectful, close group organization within the home service industry that you’ll find in the entire country, like the fact that you and I can jump on this together and connect like that. Yeah. The fact that you can go on Facebook and see how many different people are friends with different people in home service, business owners are out there willing to share advice and things for free.

00;53;23;10 – 00;53;43;27
Speaker 1
Just so I would say, if you’re willing to do it, do it and trust your gut and just don’t listen to that outside noise. So many people give up on it because of that. They’re afraid that, like, I’m not going to go take a job making $14 an hour and be an apprentice and be this and, and dig a ditch or any of that kind of stuff, like have a plan, go do it and watch what, what’s how you can blow.

00;53;43;27 – 00;53;55;27
Speaker 1
Right? You know, you’re going to be college debt free making 100 grand a year. Yeah. You know, if make 200 I mean, I know, I know technicians that are making 3 or $400,000 a year, you know.

00;53;55;27 – 00;54;12;13
Speaker 2
Yeah, I know what I really yeah, I know in our area, you know, HVAC techs are making 100 hundred and 50 grand a year, like, you know, no problem. And that’s it’s funny that you brought that up to you, because we do talk about it quite often on the show. And it was when we first launched a few years ago.

00;54;12;13 – 00;54;31;15
Speaker 2
It was kind of, I don’t want to say a driving factor, but kind of helping to redefine that stigma that, like, we grew up with, you know, like whether it was going to Boces like that was like a bad thing, you know, and going and like going into the trades was like what you did because you couldn’t get into college.

00;54;31;15 – 00;54;50;16
Speaker 2
And now it’s like, I definitely think that sentiment is starting to turn. I don’t know anyone that’s in the trades that’s broke. Well, and I know a lot of college educated people that are broke. So like, yeah, it’s I definitely think that’s at that’s turning around. So sorry for your team member that went through that. But I’m sure.

00;54;50;17 – 00;55;04;06
Speaker 1
I mean it’s he’s he’s grown from it. It’s it’s awesome. And you know, I try to give him the advice all the time. I’m like, you know, when you purchase things and you buy things, I’m like, just make sure you’re doing it for you. Like, don’t do it for other people. Yeah. Like don’t go do that too to put the image on that.

00;55;04;06 – 00;55;24;10
Speaker 1
Like, oh, look at my truck. I have because I can do that. Like buy because you want it, you know what I mean? And yeah, but it’s cool that you I’m not even kidding you. In the last month and a half, I’ve had at least half a dozen people I know reach out to me of like, hey, my kids or, you know, my kids thinking, finishing, you know, graduating high school soon.

00;55;24;10 – 00;55;37;26
Speaker 1
Not sure what they want to do. I’d love to pick your brain. Like, my cousin just reached out and was like, hey, my son’s like, think. You know, nap has always been all about college. Now he’s thinking he doesn’t want to get in college and wants to go into home services. Like, would love to chat with you. Like I love that.

00;55;37;26 – 00;55;41;12
Speaker 1
Like it’s more and more coming up. Yeah.

00;55;41;14 – 00;55;45;18
Speaker 2
Yeah I know. Listen, I hope none of my kids go to college and they all go into the trades. Yeah.

00;55;45;18 – 00;55;49;17
Speaker 1
Me too, me too. They sound a lot of money. Yeah, it’s.

00;55;49;20 – 00;56;09;22
Speaker 2
Well, and it’s like, you know, one of the things I was thinking about when I was looking through your website was some of the services that you guys offer were like, just gone in an outlet repair. Right. And it’s it’s one of the wildest things. And to me, because, I mean, we’ve grown up like, you know, we all kind of learn how to do that stuff, but like, you know, shame on us.

00;56;09;22 – 00;56;37;15
Speaker 2
We didn’t do a good job teaching our kids. And there’s just so many people that don’t know how to change an outlet. Right. And and the and that’s just one little thing inside a vast array of services that, you know, is encompassed by the trades. And it’s like the value of those skills becomes so huge, not just now, but even 5 or 10 years from now when no one knows how to fix anything except for that select few that are in the trades.

00;56;37;15 – 00;56;42;02
Speaker 2
I mean, at that point, you know, you kind of become royalty. You know, you got you.

00;56;42;03 – 00;56;43;08
Speaker 1
You really do.

00;56;43;10 – 00;56;47;02
Speaker 2
Yeah. You know, you got dirt kicked on you for years. But now, you know, now.

00;56;47;02 – 00;57;04;19
Speaker 1
You’re working in I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love it there. They, you know, they allow us to be in business. But I mean, yeah, it’s, you know, sometimes when people are like, oh, I need a switch installed and the like, we can do that for you. But like, you don’t know how to install that Switch Lite, but they don’t.

00;57;04;19 – 00;57;24;19
Speaker 1
Right. Or they don’t or their time is more important. And like that’s why we exist. And you know, and I tell people all the time like we’re, you know, don’t get upset when somebody is like, there’s no way I’m paying you for that. I can do that myself. Like, you are, right. You 100% can. We also, like you called us out here like I didn’t knock on your door and say, hey, can I change your for recessed lights for you?

00;57;24;19 – 00;57;31;20
Speaker 1
You know, like, yeah, our price is our price. You can say yes, you can say no. Just be respectful, you know? Yeah.

00;57;31;23 – 00;57;47;15
Speaker 2
So, Tom, thanks so much, man. I really appreciate you coming on the show. I love the conversations. A lot of great stuff. And, if people want to learn more about, Astro War, if they want to, reach out to you, ask questions, anything like that. How did they get all of you guys?

00;57;47;17 – 00;58;07;04
Speaker 1
Yeah. You can follow us on social media, right? So we’re on all all the social media handles, right? You can also go to our website which is call astronaut.com. From there you can contact us if you if you want to talk to me or you have questions, you know, if you go on the website and fill it out and, and share your thoughts and ask for me to call you, I’ll give you a call, right?

00;58;07;04 – 00;58;24;08
Speaker 1
Like, you know, I’ll give I’ll call anybody and give them my personal number. And you know, if I can ever help, I’ll do it. And if you’re ever thinking of getting in the trades or in the trades, you want to do it and want to come visit us. You’re more than welcome to come spend a day with us, a couple hours with us, you know, treat you to breakfast, lunch, dinner or whatever.

00;58;24;08 – 00;58;29;02
Speaker 1
You, you know, whatever you want and, you know, kind of show you the ropes. And if we can help you, we’d be happy to do so.

00;58;29;04 – 00;58;38;11
Speaker 2
Love it. Hey, I got to ask one last quick question. You’re going to franchise this thing because it looks like you got a great brand, the natural. Like.

00;58;38;13 – 00;58;59;11
Speaker 1
I don’t think we’ll ever go that route. Maybe, maybe add additional services at some point, but I don’t I don’t think we’ll ever franchise it. Like a goal of mine would maybe be, like long term, do some sort of like Aesop to be able to, like, sell the business back to the to the to the team themselves to allow everybody to be shareholders and things like that.

00;58;59;11 – 00;59;06;02
Speaker 1
That would be super cool for me to do. But yeah, I don’t I don’t have any interest in, in pulling the whole franchise style.

00;59;06;04 – 00;59;07;10
Speaker 2
All right. Fair enough.

00;59;07;10 – 00;59;09;24
Speaker 1
I figured I’d ask them though I appreciate it. Thank you.

00;59;09;26 – 00;59;37;24
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;59;37;24 – 00;59;50;19
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;59;50;22 – 00;59;59;25
Unknown
Oh, hey. Oh!

00;59;59;27 – 01;00;01;03
Unknown
Oh!