Ep 321 - From 1M Undercover Broke Business to Clarity and Cashflow With Austin Matthews

0:02 Hello, hello, hello and welcome back to yet another episode of Electricpreneur Secrets, the electrician's podcast for electricians, by electricians show. I'm your host, clay Neumeier, a master electrician. This is my esteemed co-host, joseph Lucani, joining me always, and we're just a couple of master electricians with business addictions who keep showing up, and we've got another electrician with us today to help share his story, because he's helping us show up today to help you guys master your sales, simplify your pricing and deliver premium level electrical service. The title of today's episode suits this so well. Man From million dollar undercover broke business to clarity and cash flow.

0:45 With Austin Matthews man am I pumped for this story, joe? How are you doing today, brother? Man, I'm feeling amazing and, honestly, I've been looking forward to this interview for so long, because Austin is not only like a model kind of person, he's just a good dude to the core and, like you just got to talk to him for five minutes to like him. So I can't wait to have him here and, plus everything he's going to be sharing, I know there's going to be something in there that's going to help the person listening to this, so it's just a win-win for everyone. Yeah, we go back a ways and for many of you listeners, like we've been chatting a while right, we tend to have a bit of a following and this is a story that many of us know too well.

1:31 It's kind of the story of our biggest fears coming true, blocking us from our biggest dreams, and that's kind of around this. You know the idea of our own mismanagement. We weren't taught to run a business, were we Joe? No, no, literally, it was just like. These are Lyman Pliers. Go, hustle it out, let's go. Yeah, exactly, and so that mismanagement of the business and cashflow comes back to bite us in a big way. That's nearly unrecoverable and that's kind of Austin's story, and where Austin's at today is a very different place. Okay, so he wants to discuss all of that and help you guys. If you're in that place of uncertainty, if you're in that place where you're missing clarity or missing cash, if you've got cash holes the more more cash holes than cashflow then this is something that could really move and help you guys.

2:19 Today, as Austin shares his journey, now feeling in complete control, able to see the truth in the next steps, able to grow the team confidently and even buy their own 9,000 square foot facility, Austin's about to spill his secrets of how he came to realize the cracks in the foundation, take action and ultimately start building the company of his dreams. You ready for this, Joe? I'm so ready. Let's reel him in, let's bring Austin in. Come on, austin, let's go. Let's see if we can get him here. I'm going to welcome him. There he is. Oh, there he goes, austin. I cut you off. There you are, brother. How's it going guys? How are you doing, brother?

3:25 How are you doing today? Awesome, awesome man, can you start us off here now? We got a bit of history, but I always like to hear why electricians choose to become electricians was like $4.10 a gallon and my mom was like you better find a job. So accidentally I got a job as a helper running around carrying material around commercial job sites and it stuck with me. Yeah, you mentioned something originally about it when, like you were going by, like what was it like being that in that place, that mind's place where you were? Um, so it. It was a little wild. I thought I was doing great and then, uh, about three weeks in, one of the guys was like so did they just send you out here and tell you just to like cause as little damage as possible? I Like so did they just send you out here and tell you just to like cause as little damage as possible?

4:08 I was like what do you mean? But one of the guys early on was like you know what, austin, if you want to make good money, you need to be an electrician. When I made thirty thousand dollars last year and I was maybe in 17, I was like this guy's rich, you never see that kind of money before. I was like I've always kind of had an entrepreneurial background and spirit. I really, just early on in the trade I was I mean before that summer was over I was like I'm going to run a business one day, I'm going to own an electrical company one day, and I would like be picking up like nuts and bolts off the ground and putting them in my pocket Like, all right, here in the next couple of weeks when I start my electrical business, I'm going to need these nuts and bolts, man. But that's a true story.

4:50 But that's kind of where it started and, man, I've been after it pretty well ever since. Can we go deeper on that for a sec? I want to know, because I feel the same way. I've got my own kind of. There was a few things that stood out to me that I just knew I wasn't really fitting under someone else's umbrella. I had to be on my own. I had to be doing my own thing, Like what were your first signs? How did you know you wanted to be the owner of your own business? So it really started to hit me after that my senior year, because I made, you know, I saved up a good bit of money over that summer and so I had a little bit of money to make it through until like Christmas time. And then it was like, all right, funds are getting a little low.

5:31 Uh, how am I going to survive the rest of my senior year and do my thing, driving to school and all that stuff? Um, and so I had two options. I could either go to Wendy's and make like $7.25 an hour for like two or three hours after school or something like that, or I could find another way, and so I found out real quick that if you throw a push mower in the back of a truck and like start hitting up your teachers, one of them is going to let you cut the grass, you know. And so that 30 minute, 40 minute grass cut for $25 sure goes a little further than the three or four hours at Wendy, these or wherever at the time. Um, and I was kind of it was like okay, I can make a lot more, a lot quicker with a little bit of effort.

6:13 You know if I, if I do a little bit of leg work, if I do, you know if I just ask, if I, if I put myself in front of somebody, you know it might work out. You know it's so wild that you say that, Cause I remember when I was starting off and like 17, 18 years old, I was getting paid like $30 an hour trying to do my own thing and then realizing like wow, I've never seen this kind of money before. And then you end up going back to those same clients later and being like, oh yeah, well, they don't even mind $300 an hour. So we were so undercharging ourselves, you were undercharging, we were undercharging, but the fact is you built that level of experience, that entrepreneurial spirit never leaves it, only compounds and grows. So you planted the seed, you put your own coin into the machine, you turn the dial and this is what it produced A lot of interest over a long period of time.

6:59 Can I just plug? Sorry, go ahead, austin. I didn't mean to cut you off, brother, I don't know, I was just agreeing with, with Joseph. I mean, it's funny how a lot of the same customers that, like I, was 17, 18 years old cutting grass for these people, now we're. Now we're wiring their houses, we're doing you know and what used to be a 30 one hour grass cut is now, you know, like you said, three, four or five, you know thousands of dollars of work, uh, and and they're like and then they're still like, hey, do you still cut grass? It's like, no, not much anymore actually. But yeah, it was so wild. Yeah, building big connections last for a long time there you go. I just wanted to plug this for for all dads out there. Like are there any other dads like me, like you guys, I'm sure, that wish to see that in their kids?

7:45 That level of industriousness and like taking just responsibility and being resourceful and going out and just creating a solution for someone and getting paid for it? Whether it's mowing the lawn or cleaning the dishes, I don't even care, just like go out, whatever, buddy. yeah, my daughter is four and I'm already in a situation where I'm trying to teach her about like I'm not going to give you money, but I'm going to teach you how to produce value for other people and, as a result, you can learn how to create value now. It'll compound over time and you'll be able to learn that skill and implement it. For sure 100%. So tell us about Matthew's Electrical, then, and let's get to more of this current journey and what we're talking about today. How long have you been in business, man?

8:27 June 1st 2020, right in the middle of COVID, we dove in. Yeah, we dove in. I've been wanting to do it for a long time and I was fortunate. I've only been with a few companies. I went on for a long time. The next company was was actually my? My roots come from commercial, industrial background, um, just doing commercial projects. I was project manager, uh, stuff like that. Um, and then that didn't work out and I went to another company, uh, and they were strictly residential, and so I went in there about a year and a half before I started my business. I'd never worked the house like I was, I knew nothing, and so in that year and a half, I really fell in love with residential work, um, working with people, just the whole change.

9:11 You know, it was so different, you know, breath of fresh air and, um, within about a year and a half, within a year, I was like, you know, I'm kind of ready to make my move. Um, and then then the perfect opportunity arose. I was like, hey man, I appreciate it. I got to go and uh, we, we dove in, uh, with like $600 in the savings account and a pickup truck, um, and went after it and uh, it was just me for a long time, and then I got a little helper, uh. And then then, uh, the truck had to go. I got a van, um, and that first year, while it was very tough, it taught me a lot of stuff. I had to get rid of it. I loved my truck. I had to get rid of it. I couldn't have that anymore. I had a work van that was my personal vehicle now, until we could get to that next level and stuff.

10:03 Found out we were having a baby. A month and a half into about mid-June we found out. That's amazingly good timing, right? It's like, hey, I'm going to start a business, by the way, you're going to be a dad. Yeah, man, so it was a crazy year. 2020, 2021, crazy years man, that's nerve wracking. I don't think you're alone either, right, there's a lot of people out there having kids and then the second baby, the business at the same time. Were you nervous back then? Were you worried about falling short Austin? You know that's a tough one for me to answer. I'm not really sure. I mean I remember thinking when I found out this is going to sound funny, but I think I'm going to do this. So my motivation up until I used to work I would work seven days a week, no problem.

10:44 I was ambitious. Coming up I didn't make a ton of money on the hour as my electrician job, so I was doing stuff on the weekends for five, six, seven years and so I got used to doing that seven days a week and me and my wife had a talk and I told myself the day my son's born, that's out the window. I can't do that anymore. So my goal was to make enough money before he was born to pay him off at the doctor's office. So I know, clay, that may not be much to you, but we have to pay. So our doctor told us you have to pay X amount of money before we'll deliver the baby more or less kind of how it worked. And that's kind of how it worked.

11:28 And my goal was to make that amount of money and that was all I focused on for once and I succeeded. That was great. I remember my memory, the core memory I always tell people is I remember looking at my phone at one o'clock in the morning in someone's attic and thinking to myself all right, you can go home or you can stay here for another hour, you can go home now and come back tomorrow, or you can stay here for another hour and you might get to go home at normal time tomorrow and like that kind of. That kind of describes the lead up to to my son being born and stuff like that. Just working all the time. I didn't give myself an option to fail. I guess I should say that's something that particularly stands out, austin. And then I feel like that really describes your character in a lot of ways. You can take a hit and keep going because there's something that's inside of you that makes you want to go further.

12:11 Your why is very clear and the fact that you're like, just think about it, most of us don't want to be an addict to start with. Then you're an addict at one in the morning and you're convincing yourself to stay later so that you can be present for your son when you get home the next day. That's a big deal. Well, technically, what do you mean? It would have been that day you would have gone to sleep, but what? three getting up and go back again right like you weren't thinking, hey, I'm gonna take the day off. You were saying I'm gonna stay a little harder, and that I think is incredibly commendable and that shows you can build something really good. Appreciate that big commitment, so that first year you once described to me as good old boy electric. What did you mean by that?

12:53 Why do you call it good old boy electric? because, uh, as you can tell by my accent, we're from, we're from georgia, we're, uh, we're good old boys, so to speak, and so that term came from the way I envision everyone else around us operating, which everyone's pretty similar. It's like hey, we're X amount an hour, we'll send you a bill when we're done. Take it or leave it, you know, if you don't leave, I saw a comment today that really really stuck with me was if they don't leave a voicemail, that's their fault, you know. And so, if you know, we're not worried about calling people, we're not worried about calling people, we're not worried about calling people back, them calling us. Um, you just kind of do what everyone else is doing because it works for them.

13:34 Just look at them, they're walking around with a nice new truck and, uh, they're, they've been in business 20 years, so it's got to be working for them, right, yeah? And so if we can just copy them and if I can just kind of sneak around and figure out what their hourly rate is, I mean, that means I'll be rich like them, you know, and be a good old boy with them, you know. And, yeah, that's, that's where that, that that terminology, came from. Where did you feel that kind of fell short for you, pretty? quick, I'm pretty vocal when I talk to people about this. I've got some really good employees, really really good. I call them partners in my business really.

14:15 I mean that have been with me. Most of my guys have been with me for a while and so when I first hired my first all-star player, like my key player, he came from a service company that distributed service work and he kind of showed me this and that and like the first thing that stuck to me was the pay he was asking for to come on board was way more than I was making as a business owner, you know, and I was. I just kind of laughed about it. He's like man, I'm telling you, let me. And this is what I told him. I said, look, man, I got enough money to do that for two weeks and if it doesn't work I'm sorry. And you know he showed me real quick what a good service tech can do and stuff.

14:56 And that was what planted the seed of Service Company. He was like man we had. He came from a big box company, you know, towards Atlanta, and he was like man we had 30 vans doing this and I was like what is? I don't even know what this is, and um. So, man, I'm sorry, I'm losing my train of thought no, that's good, um, it's good, yeah. So, um, very quickly, we started doing doing the service work kind of stuff, and I came to a point where I felt like we were just kind of throwing darts at the board. We're pricing stuff. It's like where are we even coming up with these numbers? Like we're, we're, we're doing it, we're basing it off board. When we're pricing stuff. It's like where are we even coming up with these numbers? Like we're, we're, we're, we're doing it, we're basing it off hourly, like we're not giving them an hourly rate but bidding stuff. But it's like sometimes we're 200, sometimes we're 250, sometimes we're 125.

15:37 If I know the guy like there's no, there's no rhyme or reason to it, and I've never kept making, you know, in my mind, okay, I paid my guys two hundred dollars. Uh, we had 200 in material, the job was a thousand. What means we made six hundred dollars. Right, of course I mean the insurance and stuff that. Just that, just you know, comes out of my money. Like all the money is my money. I'm just paying the insurance out of my money and, uh, and I'm paying for the trucks, you know, when I'm paying the workers comp and stuff. Um, there was never like a method. There was never like a method. There was never a breakdown of how the money actually worked and the structure of of how to how to manage it or where you know how much you need to actually how much it actually costs to operate.

16:18 Even like when you get that call where it's like hey, you're workers comp, you're, I didn't know how workers comp worked, and so my first year of work I've had workers comp worked. And so my first year of having workers comp, I get an audit at the end of the year over our payroll and they're like hey, you forgot to tell us you hired three guys. You owe us $4,800. And it's like okay, I did $700,000 last year and I've got like 2,200 in the bank. How do I pay that? You? know where's all the money at Where's all the money, at why are we doing these huge numbers and we have no money? This was the first time I was like something's wrong. Something's wrong and this isn't normal. It's a scary place.

16:58 It really, really is. And outside and looking at other people you know, and even just even being open enough to talk to them about it, they're like oh no, no, no man, you got to put cash in your pocket. That's the only way you'll make money doing this. You got to put the cash in your pocket. That's how you get paid. You don't want no money in the bank because if something happens well, they'll just take that money and they won't know about the cash. It's like, all right, okay, fair enough. Man Not understanding what was really going on. You said something yesterday, actually to speak to that cash that really stuck out for me when we were preparing for this interview. You said you realized a point at the 700K year.

17:39 You feel like you did closer to a million and likely that was the case and a lot of cash transactions and stuff, but you felt like you said you felt like you were needing to lend your company money to get by. Well, I didn't feel like I'd been accounted for. Yeah, it wasn't a feeling like I had to. It was a hey man, you owe 10,000 in payroll this week and 15,000 in material needs to be paid by Friday, and there's $4,500 in the bank. What are you going to do? And it's like okay, man. So I, we got paid. We did a house. This this is this is when, when it all came to a head you know, it was actually ironically right before I really got in with you guys Um, we did a house.

18:22 That was the biggest house we've done to date. Um, and it was, it was about a $30 dollar job, uh, and they said hey, how do you want to get paid? You take cash. I'm like, of course, love cash. All right, we get a little discount for cash, of course, why not? That's what everybody does, right? It makes sense um, here's, here's, you know, fifteen hundred dollars off for just for paying the cash, and I'll put it in my pocket. That's, that's, austin got paid. Really good, this, I mean, I won't, I won't need another paycheck for months now and uh, and so then then I had this huge sack of cash. Yeah, I feel like a gangster, you know, but it's like what, what can I do with this money. I can't, I can't take it to the bank, I can't go buy a vehicle with it, um, like I was stuck with it.

19:05 And then, all of a sudden, it was like all the bills from that month started piling in and I got to pay these bills, and so we as a family, we go on vacation the first week of October every year, and so we took a long vacation last year because it worked out where we could, and so we were gone for about a week and a half and about the second day First time I've ever been to Disney World world man with my wife and my young son uh, you know, pretty big investment for that trip. But, um, I wanted to enjoy it, you know, and I thought I had it all planned out. And by the second day, um, I was realizing, hey, we're not getting paid for this. You know we did. We had a really good week the week before, something like that. Right, we had like 15, 20 000 in accounts receivable, um, and all of a sudden started clicking to me hey, man, these people are not replying to my text, they're not going to pay me today.

19:55 They're not going to drop a check off today, like they said they were. And then it was like three jobs worth about 20 grand doing that to me all at once. Right, because we had no, we had no sales method, we had no sales process. I didn't a deposit sounded dirty to me, you know. So we were floating everything and then by Wednesday it was like, okay, I'm in, I'm I'm two States away from home and there's no money in the bank for me to transfer money, because I kept it all just hidden under the bed. Whatever, you know, what do we do? How do we do this? So then my whole family vacation gets ruined. Um, I'm stressed out. We had a great time with your own, but I was stressed out the whole time like what am I going to do? Like, when I come home, I'm going to take every penny I've got to my name and put it in the bank and pay off these bills from last week and then pray to god we can go make some good sales and turn them quick this week, or we're in real trouble, or we're like telling people to sit at home because I cannot pay you next week.

20:49 I never want to be at a point where I can't pay my guys. They get paid first before anyone else, right and but. But if there's no money to pay them, then that's a real problem. And so I dug this hole and I really didn't see a way out of it. I was I was honestly, at the point where I was like you know, whatever we're doing right now, it's not working anymore. You know, we've got these nice vans. They're going to have to go. We're going to have to buy. You know we're going to find something to pay cash for. Like it was a deep hole. You know there wasn't an easy way out of it. And now, when we were talking, it was just before that vacation when we really got serious about let's put a call on the calendar and let's see if we can help you with this, Austin, and actually I have our conversation, our original messaging, and this is interesting and I'd love to hear your perspective on this, because now you're fully transparently saying, like, look, we were in trouble here, right, Everyone can sense that, I'm sure.

21:42 But in our conversation just a week prior to that vacation, you had said well, you know, maybe we could use some help with lead generation, but our processes are pretty good and things are going well. Reflecting on that now, would you say that that was kind of like. What is that? Is that like? Is there an ego thing at that time? Was it defense walls? Or maybe our trust wasn't built Like? I know there's other people in this position, so I really wanted to call it to attention, if that's okay. So I'm so glad you asked that. I think I have a really good answer for that. So, um, I may, I want to say that I think I did. I was being genuine when I said that. Um, because of my idea of process is uh, you know, austin or Cameron goes to a job and sells it, and then, uh, this guy or this guy goes and does the job, and then Austin goes and gets the money Right.

22:30 Or the perfect world is Cameron goes and sells a job, does a job, brings Austin a check, you know, or you know, or enter whoever you know, any of my service takes the time. That was the process. You know. We would go and sell the job and do the job and get paid sometimes, sometimes, because there was no hey, can you sign? There was no signing anything before we started. There was no, you know, this is due at time of completion, but there's no hey, we'll book your job with a deposit today. There was no anything to guarantee we're going to get paid, and there was also no structure. I mean, I can't be mad at a customer if I didn't tell them they owe me money the day we're done. I mean, why can I?

23:11 Why should I assume that, um, if I'm not laying out, you know, if we're not sticking to any kind of sales process or anything, um, so I think I thought we had a good process. Um, you know, post on Facebook every once in a while and hope for the best. That was our lead generation. I didn't know what a Google local service ad was. I didn't know. That was the thing. I just knew that people pay Google sometimes and I didn't know how to do that. I want to thank you for your vulnerability. Obviously, you're sharing the reality. That's what it was, and we went into this wanting to help people, and I know there's other people in this situation. So, again, thanks for sharing that. That said, then, what was it that pushed you over the edge to finally accept some help and realize God, there's more to this that we just need Right.

24:01 This is going to sound exaggerated, but it's really not. I felt like I was at a point where I had no choice. I felt like I was at a point where I had no choice. It was a fork in the road of you know, you can trust someone and you can hope this works. You can throw some faith in somebody and see how it goes for a month or two and hope to God it works and pray for it. Or the other option was to keep doing what we're doing and start laying off people. Go to the bank and get a line of credit I've never had one of those before for my business Start figuring out how to go deeper into debt, but then just I mean honestly the other option is to go out of business one day and go out of business with a huge personal debt because of it.

24:44 Honestly, looking back and also in the moment, I think that's the feeling I had was I know I don't know these guys. I've been friends with Clay on Facebook for two years. We had messaged back and forth for years, but I didn't I really didn't know much about the program. I'd heard of coaching programs, I'd heard of this and that, but I knew nothing about it, man, and so it was. It was a do or die moment for me. It was. You know, me and my wife talked about it a lot. I was like, well, we're going to put this $2,000 or, uh, we're going to put this investment on a credit card, um, and hope that it works out, you know, and after a one month or two months or something like that, we're so we're going to be so far behind.

25:30 It won't matter at that point and, um, thank god we did and thank god it did work out. Love the smile at the end there. Amen to that I appreciate again the vulnerability. To even be able to say that means a lot austin. So it really does sound like you were at your last. I mean it was credit, you were stretching credit to even make this work at all and I actually remember in the first calls um that you I think you and Cameron were on some of the first classes and I recall you may have still been in that house because you were having issues with there was some debate over whether or not you know, wiring of appliances was included or install of appliances. If I recall correctly, there were some problems we were trying to solve with you late in a project, if I recall that right.

26:14 So it's kind of just a lack of clarity on the scope of work itself. Yeah, and that was what options really really changed the game for us to you know, and I think that's, I think, that job right there. I'm glad you brought that up, Thankfully, I've forgotten about that. but I, yeah, so we did escapes the igloo brother I almost wore a branded igloo shirt just for you today I couldn't find one. But, um, yeah, so that that particular job did a huge kitchen renovation and, uh, we did not present options. That was I. I don't know if we priced that right before we joined up or if that was like we priced the first couple of weeks and we still were just learning, we were just trying to understand at that point, and that was actually the job that the switch flipped for me and I was like, all right, this is why we have to have options.

27:01 Not only does it empower us to give the customer better options so they can control the job better, but also it gives us it's almost like an insurance agreement for us. You know, like, hey, man, this is, you know, this is where you were at and it's it's, it's right here, this is we could have done all this for you right here. You know, and I'm you know, yeah, I mean it's Less contract, more options. Yeah, the best part about that on top of it is that you realize there's every time you go back to this customer too, like you've ever been there, like what do I quote? It's just a tripped outlet. It's like well yeah, what did? You pull last time you were there it's still relevant. The electronics protection, the upgrade, the systems, the end rate, like all those things are there.

27:42 So it not only helps you with keeping your contract safe, but it also keeps you with future service ability right. We have a huge amount of repeat customers as well. I mean, I think we had 32 repeat visits that we closed jobs on last month. So yeah, there was actually more than any other lead source, which is a blessing, huge blessing. And so that you know and obviously some of those are from before and stuff like that but having that roadmap in front of us of like when they call, hey, so-and-so was out here, they were talking about this, and that we weren't ready at the time, but we're really ready to talk about that now Awesome, and we've got it right there. You know like it empowers everyone from the customer service rep, office manager to sales tech to install tech.

28:26 I mean it's a win-win for everybody the customer, it helps the customer. I love that we're getting into today now and I got to ask Austin, would you still call it, good old boy, electric? What's the feeling you have about your business now? You know what I'm going to. I'm going to go on a limb and say I would, because we still not the operating side of it, we don't operate like that anymore whatsoever but we really still, we really still keep that hometown, you know, uh, close to heart. Customer service, um, there's, there's a couple pillars. You can stand on a customer service the one I stomp on every day just as tall as I can, you know, um, all of our we have a close relationship with our customers, uh, and I think that does kind of throw us in that good old boy category.

29:11 But it's a lot better now. It's a lot different now. We're definitely tailored as a service company. In fact, if someone calls today and says, hey, are you interested in doing a commercial project, we're probably going to refer them out from that moment on and say, hey, thank you for calling. You know we've got other partners in the industry that are much more suited to do that job than us. You know we don't like. That's a huge win, because previously let's talk to Austin two years ago and just be in a situation where you're fresh into business, getting ready to rock and roll, and someone goes hey, I'd love to give you a nice commercial contract. It's not 90, but it's big money.

29:55 no, one year ago agreement, let's handshake on this one right you don't have to go that far back. It was one year ago and and I think we were we're wiring a chiropractor's office one year ago and it was, uh, the last. It was my, my worst foray into commercial we've had yet. So, um, yeah, I had that in mind before I met you guys. I don't I don't think I wanted to do commercial anymore, but I'm really glad y'all pushed us that way. So I'm proud of you for taking it. What, what has changed then? What's making you feel so confident on your service now, outside of just standing on that pillar of customer service? I mean, that's great, and I love hearing, by the way, that you can maintain a culture while having a really big thinking process, something that will suit you for a while. But you know what's changed then. How has your confidence changed?

30:36 Yeah put you on the spot. Big question there's a lot of answers, man. There's so many answers. So much has changed. I would say the sales process is a good foundation for that Collecting deposits, offering options. One thing that I've been working on really tough the past month or two was BAMFAM book a meeting from a meeting. We had some tough scheduling issues where people would fall through the cracks and that's how you stop that. So I would say that's part of our sales process too is booking a meeting from a meeting. The deposits have definitely changed our world for cash flow.

31:23 The service call process, demand call process that's changed drastically, changed our world as well, if we can give you a shout out cause just before this, not to interrupt your flow, but we were just talking about one of your guys, hayden, who's been exceptional in these demand calls with this process Just had I think it was an $8,500 silver ticket from one of those demand calls. Right, a little demand call lotto. Yeah, that was last week. He's probably had $8,000 or so. This week he's had one $4,400 platinum and a couple other basics and silvers this week and it's a holiday week so it's kind of slow. Feels good close on those platinums, right, right, right, yeah, man, so our sales process has been awesome, our office.

32:09 You guys are strong on hiring. I recommend hiring someone for the office. First thing. If there's one thing that I would go back and change from day one of my company, I would hire someone the first week when I couldn't afford to. I would rather give them my money than me make that money for the first week or two. That's how powerful. If anyone listening right now, make that hire man. You cannot afford not to. You don't realize it now, but I'm telling you it is a life changer. Amen to that, I agree with you full heartedly, yep. Yeah, that's huge. How has this changed your personal take with the business? Do you mind going on the personal side of this a bit? I'd love to, because before you mentioned like, well, I'm not going to pay myself for a couple of months, I pay a little bit here.

32:52 It wasn't consistent, right. Right. Where are you at now, with yourself and taking care of your family on the personal side of this, I became a W-2 employee this year. I've been collecting a salary. Thank you, yeah, we do all this work. We do all this work just to strive to be a w-2 employee again, um, so I'm, I'm, I'm an employee again, uh, which comes with a salary um, it's been that way all this year um, which has been uh, nuts man to go from. I mean it. It changes my mentality, for for everything, man, like I, it's, I don't have to worry as much, you know. And also with with our sales process and um, the, the, the KPI trackers, you've given us sales plans and stuff, um, I can see where we're going to go.

33:40 You know I can set plans and I can know, for I can see how, for the the next six months, I don't have to worry about my salary because I see where we're going. You know, you give me a roadmap to grow with, and as long as we do our job, you know, day and weekend, whatever it's there, man. So I feel more comfortable. I feel more yeah, I'm losing the word right now, but comfortable is a good way to put it I feel more relaxed. My personal finances, I feel more comfortable than I've ever felt and I'm not having to still for myself to do it anymore which is amazing.

34:20 It's amazing to think about and to just put it in this perspective. There are some of us who have, like quote unquote, big money from big checks and we look at those as the big, wonderful things. But what we don't see in the background is that big check maybe they have to stress that for the next six months and that previously was what you were doing You'd get a big commercial job, you'd close it, you'd clear out your debts, you'd sit on that money because you don't know when you got to get paid. Now the difference is even if now I know you've paid more, but even if you paid yourself less, at least you'd know where you're at and you could say, yeah, I'm taking this amount and I know where this is going to go I can't even imagine the like mental relief and the sigh of relief that would have come from just knowing that you're not always looking at the bank account wondering what's going to hit and when you know what I've the even bigger than that for this I would say it started this year is after, you know, I had I had uh two or three months last year of uh, towards the end of the year, of getting some information from y'all, started our coaching program, uh, and I felt like, really honestly, the first of the year this year is when I felt like, okay, I'm ready, like we've got this, and I don't honestly since then, like my biggest problem before was not even worried about paying me.

35:32 I was always worried about paying my guys, which is, you know, if y'all are listening, I'm sorry if y'all knew that. I hope y'all didn't know that, but you know it kept me up a lot and I haven't had to worry about that at all. You know, I know with ourselves the way our sales process works. I know where the money's coming from. You know I get a notification on my email every sale we make, whenever we collect that deposit, and so it's just a constant reminder of, hey, man, we got this. We're good. Isn't that a nice feeling Seeing the email reminder of a deposit come in that you yourself did not have to go and push for right. Congratulations on that and congratulations on the big new uh shop location too thank you, I'm excited, man.

36:20 we're just now it's. Uh, man, this is gonna the end of this year and next year are going to be insane. Like I see it, I feel it, I know it Like the ability to have pallets of material stacked up for jobs next week ready to roll. So the guys, just they come in and a lot of times I load it. I enjoy that. That's. My favorite thing to do right now is when the guys come in from the day, loading their material up for the next day, making sure it's all there. Something about it's just relaxing, it's calming, knowing that it's handled. I agree with you 100% and I can relate with that feeling.

37:03 It's the feeling of knowing that there's other people pulling on this rope other than just you. Right Like, imagine you're stuck on the side of the road and you got someone attaching to the toe, but the only person that's trying to tow you out is yourself. It's not going to work, but knowing that you've got other people who are able to be like you know what, I can get a sale. I can get a sale. I can get a sale. But also I'm willing to step up and take accountability for this. I'm willing to step up and show up and do this. It doesn't feel like you're alone anymore and that's such a pure and just strong feeling and I'm so proud that you're able to get to that point. Like, truly, I am so proud of you, austin. I appreciate it and I wish I could say it was all me, but you guys and your team have been a huge, huge help Like in so many ways I never.

37:44 I never realized just how much help we needed and just how much help some a couple of guys talking about electrical work, running an electrical business would impact just not just my electrical business my life, my health, my mindset, my mental clarity. You know it's, it's, it's awesome. And also having the the community around it as well, with, with everyone in our the, the group chats we're in and stuff like that and it's, it's nuts. We're honored for the compliment, thank you. We wanted you guys to have something that we didn't have and we're going to keep working and pushing to make it better and better and better every single day. But I want to say thank you and everyone else.

38:28 That's a part of that program, because it would not be the same. Without you it really wouldn't. Yeah, we couldn't do without the team and you're a big part of that culture, so we do appreciate that. There's a question I have for you that we don't often ask, actually, and it's something I would like to ask if there's something in the day or the week that we're involved with that you look forward to at that silver level programming that you're in. Of course, we've got the eight classes a week. We've got the community support chats. We've got, you know, the Facebook groups. You've got your accountability coach. You've got us. You can see in class like is there one particular thing that you really this is your favorite thing and it really helps drive you and your success outside of igloo jokes showing up to my classes?

39:12 just to make fun of the canadians. Oh man, neither one are you going to love this answer. The best thing to come out of sle for me has been my monthly uh, my monthly uh accountability coach. Uh, partnership with reina okay why, you know why she pushes me, she really pushes me and she hounds me and she gets on me. You know, not only I don't want you to check in once a month, you know, with a phone call she checks in multiple times during the week. Hey, how did it go? You said you were going to call this guy. What happened? You know what did he say? How, how, how does that make you feel? You know, really pushes me and that's what I need. That's that's where I thrive at. And then, you know, I love catching the.

39:55 Lately it's been easier for me to catch the options in the afternoon with Joseph. I always make it a priority. I try to make it a priority on Mondays and Fridays to be to be in the classes with Clay as well. I try to get a little bit of everybody every week. It can be tough for me to make every single class, but I'm getting my guys on a regimen where we're going to make time every day. I wonder if that's time. Hey, from 9 to 10, you're going to sit in the van without that. Just plan to, whatever you're doing, make sure you're you're, you're done by then. If not, I'll come, do it. I'll come, I'll come cover for you. Um, that's big, that's really big right there. We got to do it, man, yeah, too often people don't. They cut on the training for the sake of the productivity.

40:38 Not realizing the training is the thing that'll increase the productivity. A hundred percent. Yeah, I'm at a mindset now where we can't afford not to. We're doing great. You know what I mean, and but the more we know, the more we practice this, the better we're going to get. You know, and I don't ever want to get, I don't want me or anyone to get so comfortable with our processes that we're just, you know, grinding out basic options. You just grinding out basic options. I want to be creative, I want to think outside the box, and that's what really sets us apart. I get asked all the time who's your big competitor? We don't have one. There might be 20 electrical companies in our small town, but we don't have competitors. We're the only ones doing this and it shows I really do feel that way.

41:21 That's awesome and as a testament to your leadership. Actually, I saw Cameron in the chat yesterday and he was asking about generators and options design and he was doing I think he's working on maybe an estimate that he's never done. It's going to be a 400 amp. I can't wait to sink my teeth into that. And when he said the spiel was the 400 amp, this is perfect for options design clinics. So I'd said to him in the chat like hey, do you think the big man will let you have an hour 40 minutes to come in and work with Joe on this Five? minutes later I saw your reply. We'll be there. That's great leadership. That's exactly what we're talking about.

42:01 Sacrifice this hour today to grow your team, to invest in this kind of experience with, as I keep calling them, the wizard of options over here. I like that. That's a really good use of an hour. Awesome. We're going to run out of time, brother. I want to thank you for this, but I've got just like two more questions, if that's all right. We've said a few things here, but, in the interest of helping others, what are your big three secrets? What are the big three things? If you had to wash everything else the way that we've talked about or done or worked on, what are three things? If that's all you could take, you would take with you and do this again.

42:42 The sales process in general. So the deposits, number one you've got to get on deposits. Um, cashflow is King. Um, I, I'm not a financial guru by any means, but, uh, you know finance. Uh, cashflow is King. One blank period you got to keep that coming. Deposits make that happen, uh, and they also keep people from canceling jobs. Number two options. That's a given. I mean it's, it's. If you're not offering options at this point, you're just you're shooting yourself in the foot, man, like it's. Like I said earlier, it's not just about trying to put more numbers in front of the customer, it's, it's also a really good insurance policy for you and it's also a great roadmap for future work, you know.

43:27 And if you feel like you're going to be a salesman, let me tell you, the customers love it. They want to see options. They really do, you know, and they don't get to see enough of them. So be the different one that does it. Number three this is going to be a different answer too, but really pouring some effort in that office staff, man, a good office, is key. I mean it'll, it'll, it'll. It may look like a uh cost of, like an overhead cost. It's just just money coming out of your pocket. But let me tell you that money that they're bringing into you is it's unmeasurable, the the, the time they're buying you, the everything man put some real effort into that office staff.

44:14 Spend some time with them, um yeah, all right. Well, I appreciate that Last question, man. This time we're narrowing it down to just one message. If your best friend or someone in the next door town or next state over is looking for advice on starting their electrical business or improving their electrical situation maybe from good old boy electric, the old one, to something a little better, a little more sustainable, so they can take care of their family, what advice would you give them? Brass cap letter better, a little more sustainable, so they can take care of their family. What advice would you give them? Price calculator, get that price calculator. I had to talk with an electrician this morning that started his company not too far from here.

44:56 We got to talk about coming up with burden rates. He started talking about burden rates, overhead rates, percentages, this and that. The first thing. First thing I said was how many hours you planning on working this year. I mean, how many billable hours does that include? And uh, get that. Get that price calculator. Uh, if your pricing isn't right, then you can't afford an office staff and you can't afford and I don't want to say office that you can't afford a cs. I don't want to say office staff, you can't afford a CSR. You know if you're not billing for it. And so I think that's a really good foundation to build off of is know your numbers. Know what you need to be charging, even if you're not charging it yet, even if you're not sure, know what you need to be charging.

45:36 That way, at least, if you're robbing yourself, you know it. B Love that. Great on that. And to our listeners. Is there anything else you wanted to say today, austin? Keep doing it. Do the hard things, you know. Just keep doing the hard things, uh and, uh, keep killing it out there. That's what you keep doing, man. We have nothing but faith for for your future. We see it, uh, as bright eyed as as you do by the sounds of it today. So looking forward to everything that comes you and to your, to you and your company. Forgive my stutter there. So, austin, I want to thank you bottom of our hearts. Joe, I'm sure has his own words for it, but man, just thank you.

46:20 Thank you for joining, thank you for helping so many who are going to listen to this and be able to reflect and see the parallels in their business. Thank you all for having me. Thank you very much. I just want to add one more thing to that, and that is Austin. I hope you know, at the end of the day, that you truly are an amazing person, and then the story that you bring is something that not a lot of people fully see and understand, but once they hear the full story, it's going to be like oh yeah, that's me. I've been there. So many of us have not pressed right, so many of us have not known what we were doing, and some have ended up in very bad situations, and at least what you're doing is you're putting a handout and saying here's another way, and I'm really proud of you for being willing to be vulnerable enough to help people in that way.

47:02 That's what a real good person does, and you have my complete and total respect for that. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Thank you, man, and with that I'm going to take us off here. So, guys, I know that you got some value from Austin's story today and we're going to be back in a couple of weeks with another one. Of course, next week again. We've got another episode. We're going to continue to help you master your sales, simplify your pricing and deliver premium level electrical service. And if you haven't seen this 50K offer, where we literally guarantee you 50K months, you might want to check that out on our Facebook group, electricpreneur Secrets or on our website, servicebyelectricianscom. Bye for now, you guys. Look forward to seeing you soon.