Ep 277 - Replay - Becoming 'THE SalesBot" w/ Joseph Lucanie

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to Electripreneur Secrets. I'm your host, clay Neumeier, with my partner, joseph Lucani, also known as Joseph the Salesbot Lucani. We're here to help you master sales, simplify pricing and deliver premium level service, and that's why we're here five days a week with real, actionable advice to help you with just that. As we just gave special mention and Austin, thank you, appreciate you as well. Happy Friday. We're just seeing that on the live wall, guys. If you haven't seen us live, please join our Facebook group and catch us there too. But we just gave honorable mention to Justin Goldsboro, who managed to turn out a simple service call in his first week of business into a $6,400 plus club membership win. So congratulations again, and Justin just all owed some of the advice that we have here and took action on that. As we were just discussing in the pre-show Today, though, today's topics recorded for you live here for the podcast is going through what it takes to become a salesbot like Mr Lucani beside me here. Joseph, we got a ton to unpack with you today. Are you excited?

Speaker 2: 1:05

Nervous is all hell, but I'm excited as well. It's one of those things where I really truly do feel like I need to tell my story. But it's always harder when you're talking about yourself, especially when there's a lot of heaviness to unpack. But you know, clay, let's buckle up. I want to make sure that I'm willing to bear my soul if it betters the rest of the community.

Speaker 1: 1:25

Yeah, in our last couple of episodes we've really been talking about the gap between bad, good and great and the actionability required, and I know we're going to touch on this huge, but it really became growth or death for you, right? Unfortunately?

Speaker 2: 1:42

yeah, it really was grow or die. There really wasn't another option. I was forced in a black or white situation and I chose the road I chose. Clearly, I'm here, so it worked.

Speaker 1: 1:51

Right, and let's just talk about it for a moment. Where is here, where are we now, and what makes this journey so noteworthy for our listeners?

Speaker 2: 2:01

So you're saying the physical. Where are we right now? Well, the first thing I'm alive, so that means my story worked, I survived. But where are we currently? Right now, we are leading an industry that has not had any support. Right now, you and I are focusing on delivering an ability to help other electricians simplify their prices, master their sales and deliver premium level service. We say those three things, but we mean them from the bottom of our hearts, and we both had to walk that path before. So for any electrician that's out there, I want you to understand. This path isn't easy, but it is the most rewarding path you can possibly take, because everyone wins when you do it for the right reason. The reason is the most important. Are you doing it because you're trying to make a buck or are you doing it because you genuinely want to serve at the highest level? And that's why I feel so honored to be here today.

Speaker 1: 2:54

Absolutely. I love that and digging a bit more into where this journey takes us. When you exited your business, what are some of the numbers you were seeing that would make this a journey worth following and advice worth taking? Sure, so some of my personal acclimates. Yes, sir.

Speaker 2: 3:12

Yeah. So the claim to fame that I had was I was consistently doing over a million. I maxed out around 1.3 million out of my service van. That was consistent year by year. And I was also very consistent in my closing ratio. I had dialed into a process that was allowing me to consistently close at an 80% ratio, whether it was an opportunity call or service call, even on demand, even on warranty calls. You go into an opportunity where you think that you're going to end up losing and you find an opportunity to make it win. But lastly is, my average service ticket was $2,800, meaning that regardless of what our call you sent me to, I was very likely to walk away with at least $2,800.

Speaker 1: 3:55

That's wild. That's really good. Do you have in mind a big week where you really knew a holy cow? This was massive.

Speaker 2: 4:07

May of 2019. I will say May of 2019 sticks out in particular because that particular I don't remember why it stood out so much, but I remember on that Monday I did a $35,000 day. On the Tuesday I did a $70,000 day. Then Wednesday I did a $14,000 day. Thursday I did a $13,000 day. Then Friday I did a $35,000 day. Only two of those were pre-scheduled calls. Literally, those $70,000 was a pre-scheduled call. Everything else was on a service call. I really remember feeling like that was the win, because it was something that allowed me to say I did it. When people said you couldn't, I didn't think I could do it. I always told myself I couldn't do it. By following the process, suddenly I became a believer of okay, the struggle stops now.

Speaker 1: 5:06

Absolutely A. I'm impressed, as always, but I work with you every day, as you can tell, there's no shell shock here for me. I've already seen the proof. I've seen this stuff work. Our clients are seeing it work. Even our electropreneur listeners are starting to see it work. Guys, that's what we're here to share with you today the reasons why and how we got to this place. Because it wasn't easy. It wasn't easy. Let's start closer to the beginning. As you said, you didn't always believe in yourself. In fact, that can't word was in your mind. A lot wasn't it.

Speaker 2: 5:44

The can't word practically was tattooed across the top of my forehead. I guess it depends on what you want. Should we start from the beginning, I guess?

Speaker 1: 5:51

Yeah, give us the backstory, even from you. Know what, as a kid, did you know you were going to be an electrical?

Speaker 2: 5:59

No, no. The real realistically what ended up happening was I always knew I was different. It didn't matter what it was, where I was, who I was talking to, I was different than that person. In my opinion, it felt like not in a good way. I just knew that something wasn't right. I don't mean to say that that bad talking anyone, I'm just saying it felt it wasn't right. I remember going to my father and we have a very unusual relationship, but I approached him at 14. I said, sir, what should I do with my life? He literally looked me from out ahead and said you're going to be an electrician. I was like, yes, sir, that literally was it. There was no background in electric. He wasn't electric. We are a family of white collar professionals. It was just you're going to be an electrician. Yes, sir, command confirmed, let's go, that's what we're doing. And literally, from there I just said I'm going to go to trade school, I'm going to start reading books, I'm going to start going involved. And I got into the trade at 14, as soon as I got my working papers.

Speaker 1: 7:02

Wow, can I stop you there for a second? Say, guys, if you're listening to this live, please give us a one in the chat. If you had a parent push you into this trade and give us a two if you decided it on your own. I would love to hear it. Okay, so that says I'm going to do this. I'm just going to do it because why? What's your reasoning? Were you actually that obedient as a kid or did it? No?

Speaker 2: 7:24

no, I was not an obedient child, but I recognized structure. Structure was very comforting. It didn't matter what kind of structure I weathered it was good structure or bad structure If I knew that there was an order of operations to where things were meant to be. Even back then I naturally gravitated towards process and structure and discipline. I may not have always rebelled against it Every teenager is going to but I really loved process. I was the kind of kid that would take things apart, and you know how. Everyone will say that, but I was really taking stuff apart. I was taking apart appliances. There are probably things in my parents' house that are still just hanging on by, just like the thread of threads, but lasted that many years.

Speaker 1: 8:10

Wow, okay, and we're going to get a little more into that process piece, I think a little later in this story, and why that stuck with you so heavy. But do you remember wanting something outside of electrical for yourself?

Speaker 2: 8:24

Kind of sounds sad, but I just wanted to be happy. In all honesty, there wasn't anything else that I really wanted. I didn't care what I was going to do, I just knew that I wasn't happy and I wanted to chase anything that I thought was going to make me happy. And I was told you're going to be an electrician. And I said, okay, this is a path, there's a structure, I can follow it. So, like I went to trade school and went to college, I did the things. I worked summers, but the goal wasn't to make money, the goal wasn't to be wealthy, it wasn't for anything, it just I wanted to be happy and I just never was.

Speaker 1: 9:05

So what were you struggling with at the time that was keeping you from being happy?

Speaker 2: 9:10

The thing was is that I'm a different kind of person and we'll get into a little bit more why later. But the main reason why it came out was I wasn't able to communicate with people. If anything, can I just jump into it now?

Speaker 1: 9:25

Oh yeah, go for it. Let's hear it, man, Because I think even what you just said a lot of electricians relate to that. I don't know why this trade seems to attract us like the moth to a flame, with communication and maybe social underlying confidence a lack thereof.

Speaker 2: 9:48

So I'm going to kind of fast forward some information, but then I'm going to put it back as if a oh, if I knew then what I know now. So, I'm an autistic person. That means I'm someone who has autism and, though I may be, as some people perceive, presenting as higher on the spectrum. That's all well and good, but it comes with a lot of difficulties, like a lot of gifts but a lot of difficulties, because if you know what you are, you can plan around it. You can prevent, you can perfect techniques, you can get processes, you can do therapies. There's things you can do to get right. But when you don't know and all you know is I'm just so fucking different than everyone else, I can't talk to people, I couldn't make eye contacts, I was awkward, I had no friends, I had no support, like that's where I was and all I wanted to do was say I just wanted to fit in, I wanted to make people proud, I wanted to feel like I wasn't such a failure, and it was those things that I had in myself. It was my own limiting beliefs that I feel that were keeping me down from what I really could have achieved.

Speaker 1: 11:03

That must have been a struggle.

Speaker 2: 11:07

It was man, it really. It was one of those things where it led me down some very dark paths, but at the same time, it's one of those things where I look back at it as if I didn't go down those paths, I wouldn't be as capable of helping people and prevent them from going down a similar path. I want to reach the people who are like me. I want you guys to know if you're listening and you feel different. I want you to know that success doesn't have to look like what it looks like on social media. You can be happy and you can be successful as a neurodivergent. You can be happy and successful as whatever you are, it's really what you choose to. When you look at yourself in the mirror, you get to decide what you look like. I didn't realize that years later, but I want to share that now.

Speaker 1: 11:55

Yeah, for sure. I would relate that to. Even some people only want to be a one-man shop. There's nothing wrong with that. Should you still serve at the highest level?

Speaker 2: 12:04

I feel so.

Speaker 1: 12:05

And I think you guys would agree. But you don't have to chase revenue and there's definitely a consistent threat of people that reach out who just want to double their numbers because it's sexy. But that's not what they want necessarily. That could be what the industry wants, what your peers want, what you see people doing. That can totally be the Jones's effect happening and, as we say, revenue is vanity and profits are sanity 100%.

Speaker 2: 12:33

I mean there are so many people who are like I need to sell a million, I need to sell 2 million. I mean, think about it. Can I just speak to our trade for all you electricians listening out there, we've been brainwashed into thinking all these high numbers should be the minimum. I remember when I first started off I was trained primarily by HVAC technicians and all of that just taught me and reinforced in my mind Joe, you're not shit, because all these HVAC guys they're selling $20,000, $30,000 a week. But the Electoral Department wasn't selling anything. We were selling 2,000, 3,000, 4,000. So I thought that was the minimum standard we need to chase. And when I eventually got there I didn't realize how far it separated me from the rest of the pack and I was chasing the minimum.

Speaker 1: 13:19

Yeah, that's crazy. Right, it's crazy. Yeah, these other trades really blur the lines for us and we get unrealistic expectations. So did you always feel that you were going to be a great electrician? I know you started to answer that a bit, but tell us a bit more about when you got into it and maybe the reality of how you were feeling as an electrician when you first started.

Speaker 2: 13:43

When I first started I remember thinking to myself okay, this is going to be an opportunity for you, because I was doing new construction at the time and anyone who's done new construction you know you don't have to talk to other people. Really, I mean, you could be set on your own part of the job. You're doing this, you're doing that and you really don't run into the general public all that often. So I remember thinking this is it. I just got to be a really really good electrician. I got to just be really good at install. I got to dial my install down. If I can do install right, I won't have to talk to people and then I won't have to worry about it. I'll just get good at this and I won't have to stress about being so socially inept. So my desire was to be a really really really good electrician. But I mean, anyone who's been in new construction you have to recognize unless you're just some grunt and that's never where you're going to aspire to grow from you're eventually going to have to talk to somebody. You're going to have to learn how to lead a job. You're going to have to talk to your peers or even more. So how are you even going to sell that job. You could be the best electrician in the world, but if you can't communicate to people, one, no one's going to want to work with you, but two, no one's going to hire you. So I realized really quickly once I reached that skill level where I was able to do the work, I was like I'm still in the same boat. I was like now what I have all the skills, why can't I still talk to people? So that's what someone was struggling with.

Speaker 1: 15:12

Huge, huge takeaway there, guys. The last I'm trying to think of who I follow online there, but it was a big business article I read and they said you know it's 10% business strategy, 90% strategic empathy. That would be a good one. It took me a little pause to get that out because it's been a while since I read that, but I've seen that in every corner of every business, of every trade. If you don't have that communication piece, this whole thing is hard Cause. At the end of the day, you need to relate to the very people you said coworkers, peers, clients.

Speaker 2: 15:52

It's crazy. It's one of those things where and the worst part about it all was I didn't know any better. I didn't know. I thought there was something genuinely wrong with me, like there was no therapy at the time, I was misdiagnosed, I slipped through the cracks. There was no further testing. It was it. I was high, functioning enough that I was able to pass as neurotypical, and because you can pass as neurotypical, there weren't services that could support you. So I was just good enough to blend in, but I wasn't good enough to be fully functional in society. So it was like that sweet spot to where I couldn't get what I needed, but I also didn't know how to ask for more.

Speaker 1: 16:38

Yeah, that's gotta be really tough.

Speaker 2: 16:41

It wasn't a fun place, man.

Speaker 1: 16:43

So you hit this wall, you realize, hey, I need to get better with people. And yet you're feeling disconnected from people and probably intimidated by that very realization. Can you tell us a bit more about that moment and how you begin to overcome this wall?

Speaker 2: 17:01

Yeah. So I learned that I was very. I knew that I was a smart person, like it wasn't that I was unintelligent at all, it was. I was very good with books and I could learn things really quickly. So I said you know, I want to go to college. I went to SUNY Delhi. For any alumni out there, hey, shout out to that. But I remember I went to Delhi and it was a trade school. It was primarily focused. It was one of the best electrical trade schools that I was aware of. And I said you know what, maybe it's that I don't know enough about electric Like that's where my brain was at. I was like, maybe I just don't know about electric. It's not like I'm going to learn people. I didn't know enough about electric. So I said you know what I'll do. I'll get two degrees. I'll get an electrical degree and I'll get a backup degree. So I actually have a degree in electric construction, but also in HVAC and refrigeration. So that actually turned out to be a major stepping stone for me. Though that whole degree. I wouldn't be here right now.

Speaker 1: 18:01

Okay, how was that a stepping stone then?

Speaker 2: 18:04

Okay. So I want to give you a quick snapshot into what happened after college. So I got my degree and two days after getting the degree I graduated really high in my class. I actually, in trade school, I had a equivalent of a 99 average. It was like I was really good because one. When you don't have friends, you have plenty of time to study. So I was really really good at that. So I actually got recruited at an IBM. Right Like literally two days after graduation they said, hey, we want to bring you in for an interview and I landed it and I got a job working for IBM right out of college. I was like that's it. I made it, but it was the same problem. I had the skills and I had no social communication skills. But where the actual degree helped me was there was another company that I ended up working with. That actually, they did a commercial advertisement saying, right, this was right around 2000,. You know 2009, right, remember whatever? Like the market would crash and everything was bad and everyone was losing money. This company was like we're hiring and we trying to get so many people to come in and we have so much work. It was a marketing ploy, but they were an HVAC company and when I, because I had an HVAC degree, I said you know what, let me apply. I can do electric, I can do HVAC, we'll do a multi-trader, let's do it. And I, they gave me a test and I was awesome at tests, so I passed the test and they let me join. But if I didn't join that company, you're going to find, as I continue my story, that that company set me up to be where I am right now.

Speaker 1: 19:44

Okay, okay, so you get the job at IBM. Do you fit in right away?

Speaker 2: 19:50

No, I, I hated every single day. There there's actually a guy I was working with and I remember he used to call me stupid. Every day, every single day, he would look at me and like I remember not to, if you know my music language verbatim he would say what the fuck is wrong with you? Every single day he would look at me and he would say that and he was my foreman and my work was great, but I just could not understand social cues. I was so socially inept and I didn't know the rules that I just could not fit in anywhere that wasn't physical work. So, no, I was not happy. I was skilled, I was getting paid really well, but it wasn't. I wasn't happy. I still wasn't happy. The thing I was chasing was constantly eluding. Wow, Wow.

Speaker 1: 20:43

And for those of you watching live, go ahead and type in WTF If you've ever had a journey person appear, anyone ever talk to you that way made you feel a bit outcasted, because I know I sure did.

Speaker 2: 20:55

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 20:55

Definitely seems to happen in our working environments. A lot of pressure on people early on in the field and I feel like the irony of it is is the skills and the pressure that we feel go against the stuff we need later, and maybe that's why there's such a big barrier to success with so many electricians Because later it's not about being fast and keeping your mouth shut. It's about slowing down and understanding people and helping them at your best potential.

Speaker 2: 21:25

You're right. And the thing is is that I, deep down, I felt like I was able to do more. I just felt like, have you ever been a kid where you're playing a board game and you just want to know the rules and you kind of have to figure it out as you're going? It was like that was how my life was. I was just trying to figure it out and I knew I could see all my friends playing the game and they were being successful and they were happy. But I was reading the rules in Chinese. It was like, or I just I just didn't know it, just they wouldn't work. Nothing was translating. So I ended up getting through this HVAC company and that's actually where I fell in love with generators. And if anyone who knows anything about me, I love generators so much because they were literally. If it wasn't for generators, I don't know where I would have been in business. But this company brought me in as an install and they said you're going to do AC tuneups. So I was doing furnace and AC tuneups and then they said well, if you can do HVAC furnace and tuneups, you know we can also do generators. They're mechanical material. You can do that as well. So I got really, really good at doing generator tuneups. But then they were noticing, they were like, well, you know, you're not really selling anything on any of the calls you go to. You're just like, you're great at doing the work, but you're just not, you're not converting anything. And I didn't know, I didn't know what was wrong. So the thing was they kept shifting me from department to department and like I felt like they believed in me enough to say, like they wanted to make it work, but not enough to really put me anywhere to keep me there. Does that make sense?

Speaker 1: 23:02

Yeah, it does. Yeah, Go ahead. I was just going to say you almost become a bit of a hard hat filler. In a way. It's like, hey, we can put Joseph there, but we know he's not quite going to get the sales acceleration that we're desiring.

Speaker 2: 23:18

Yeah, it was. I was a fulfillment person. You know what I mean. Like I could do the job. I could do whatever you wanted me to do, any install they needed doing any. Like I could do the work and I was good at doing the work. And I wanted to be professional. Like I was always clean, my uniform was always on top, but like I couldn't sell because I couldn't talk to people. It was unrelatable in every aspect of life.

Speaker 1: 23:38

And looking at you now and, knowing you know where we started here today, talking about the accolades that you have achieved and come to this point, it seems fairly unlikely that we would have experienced this. So what happened to change this all?

Speaker 2: 23:55

So the thing that I was missing, other than personal understanding, was process. There was no framework that I really understood that was communicated to say if you do this, you'll succeed. I didn't have that framework and the thing was, is that this company they didn't tell me at the time, but I had found out because my, my former business partner actually was my supervisor, he was my service manager Turns out, they were like we got to either cut them loose or we got to teach them how to sell. That really was where they were at. They were going to lose you.

Speaker 1: 24:29

They were going to lose me.

Speaker 2: 24:32

They were going to cut me off if I couldn't sell.

Speaker 1: 24:34

Wow.

Speaker 2: 24:35

I didn't know that till later. They didn't tell me, but the thing was, is that? So they invested in me to go to an HBC sales trainer and I dedicated my entire life to it, like every single video, every class, every single thing that I could do. I invested it. But there was something really important that they didn't know and I feel like it's something that I want to share. It's a heavy topic, but I really feel like it needs to be shared. Can I kind of go a little dark for a second?

Speaker 1: 25:05

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 25:06

All right. So the thing was this for 21 years I thought I was the biggest POS that ever walked this earth. There was nothing was working, I wasn't understanding anything, I was struggling with alcohol, I couldn't get myself in order and I was realizing that life just wasn't really working out for me the way I thought it was. I had this 90s kid mentality of if you do work hard, you can achieve anything. But I was working my ass off and all I was doing was just constantly finding, wall after wall after wall, and I was facing it alone. And what they didn't know was that if I didn't succeed at this sales trainer's class, I was going to kill myself. When I came home and I had a plan, I had everything written out. I had everything step by step. I knew the day it was literally going to be. I had a train schedule, I knew when the train was going to come, I knew which days it was going to come, I knew which time was going to come and I kept a log in my room at all times and that was what was on the line for me. To them, if I didn't sell, I would just be replaced. To me, if I didn't sell, I'd be splattered.

Speaker 1: 26:27

Got goosebumps just from hearing it. Man, I'm really sorry to hear that and I'm obviously glad that that didn't happen. It really brings to light this statement growth or death which I've heard so many times. I've never heard someone embody it so truly and really be committed to that.

Speaker 2: 26:49

The thing is and what I want you guys to learn. If there's anything that I can impart from my story that I think would be helpful, is if you were literally training as if failure would literally kill you how hard would you be training? There was a period of time where I would take every. I took all the sales knowledge I had and I put it onto an MP3 player and this MP3 player became my Bible. So I was so proud because, as I started to sell a little bit more, I was able to buy a brand new car, which no one I never thought I was gonna be able to do so I made sure that it had a MP3 attachment. So for 2012, this was big right, and what I did was I bought a converter for my van and I bought the MP3 for my personal car and I said, no matter what non-negotiable the moment I get into any vehicle, I will train. I will not have any downtime, I will not. It didn't matter whether I was smoking a cigarette in the van or anything, no matter what happened. There was a training episode going on, and when I wasn't training, I was role playing and I was in front of the mirror and I would practice. So the thing that I want you guys to know is yeah, it's growth or dive, but think about it how many travel hours do you account for in a year, in a month, in a week? How much are you traveling and what are you doing with that time? I didn't have a choice because I knew it was at the end of the line for me if I didn't succeed. So I was gonna go down swinging and I said I'm gonna eat this happen, or hey, I know what time the train's coming.

Speaker 1: 28:37

Yeah, and even that, the number of hours in travel. I actually did the math on this at one point and you could in the average travel in the city near myself, vancouver. In Canada, they say the average person is traveling two to three hours a day and by the time I factored in the number of listening hours, you could actually accomplish a bachelor's degree in four years. Four to five years just from travel, correct?

Speaker 2: 29:06

And that's the thing it's like. If you think about it. Everyone needs a process, right, but I needed one in the worst way, because, Clay, you're a social person and it's something I really respect about you. I feel like I could take someone like you and put you into any room and you'd make a friend, and I love that about you. I never had that ability. It was something where, if I didn't have a scripted approach to everything, I couldn't communicate, and at the time, I still couldn't figure out why I didn't get diagnosed until I was 27. So this was like 27 years of I don't know what's wrong with me, but I know that if I just say these things and do these things, I can sell and therefore I won't get fired and therefore I could stay alive.

Speaker 1: 29:58

Yeah, that's wild, that's wild. I do wanna correct you on one thing. Anyone listening from my high school days right now is cringing and maybe laughing out loud that you said that they're like what Clayton Neumeyer? No, no, I've had the same social pressures, or felt I shouldn't say had the same, but felt definitely the social pressures and the awkwardness. And in fact, if I get in a room full of people, I need a friend, like stat, because I need someone to use as an anchor. That's just the way it is. I don't know, it might seem the opposite, obviously it does. We come and we put ourselves out here, but the same is true for you, right? So many people reflect on you right now and when they hear this background they can't actually believe it.

Speaker 2: 30:43

Yeah, it's one of those things where I'm grateful, because have you ever heard the expression like 1%? Better every single day.

Speaker 1: 30:49

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 30:50

That's that, honestly, I'd say, the closest representation to where I was at, because at 14 to 19, I was really good at install and that's all I was capable of doing. I couldn't talk to people 20 to 21, 22, 21 really was when I was like, okay, I could figure it out. So by 21, I had a process. So I'd been practicing it for about two years. At the time I had a process, I'd figured it out, but it was an HVAC process. It wasn't meant for electricians, so it still didn't quite line up. So because of that, I still felt just as inadequate when I was compared to my other team members. If any of you guys electricians can feel like this have you ever worked for a multi-trade company and you see like, oh yeah, how was your numbers? Well, I sold two condensers last week. What'd you sell? Well, yeah, no, I actually got $45,000 this week. I got $65,000 this week. I got $75,000 this week, joe, what'd you get? I sold two panels and I did a couple of small jobs. I did about $9,000 this week and for me I thought that was great, but at the same time I thought that once again, joe's just a POS, because everyone else was doing better, but I had no gauge of what a successful electrician should look like. I thought that was success. I thought I needed to hit $40,000, $50,000 a week to be considered anything.

Speaker 1: 32:19

The reference. I love that you tied in that 1% meter every day, because so often, I mean, we post testimonies even for people to see. We talked about Justin's earlier in that big win, and for some people that's frustrating because then we fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others. I just wanna highlight that that really isn't what this is about. It's about you being better than yourself yesterday, you being better than yourself last week, and even for us this is all relatively new. The first week we didn't get all five of these episodes in. It was three and I was bitter about it. We came into Monday, we drug ourselves from the bumper of our own truck, so to speak, and it come back and we're making it all five this week.

Speaker 2: 33:04

Right Present on purpose, you get some things better every day.

Speaker 1: 33:09

Yeah, James, as comparison is the thief of joy, and I love that absolutely. Thank you, James. I would say.

Speaker 2: 33:15

the one thing that I'd wanna say is, with the 1%, better every day is. I'm not trying to be better than anyone else and realistically, I am competing about myself. I'm competing against myself, but I wanna be the person to others that I so desperately needed when I was a kid. Like that to me is now success, and that's what brings me into this industry that we're in right now. You know, I have the opportunity to be that person when previously I didn't even think I was gonna be here. Yeah, so it's just. It really is an amazing experience.

Speaker 1: 33:50

Right, right for sure. Okay, so you overcome this place and somewhere in here you're starting your own business. And quite young, right?

Speaker 2: 34:01

Yeah. So what ended up happening was my service manager and I. We ended up being in the same situation that so many other young business owners are. Right, I was 22 years old and I'd finally figured out how to sell generators, because that was primarily what the company did. Right, I was just generator after generator after generator. I was like I got this down, I could figure out this process, I know how this works, but at the time we were doing all the maintenance, we were doing a lot of the installs, we were doing the admin, we were doing the sales. And I'm gonna say this I'm speaking to everyone else that ever started their own business it was well, if we're doing all this, why are we making someone else money? Why don't we do it for ourselves? And literally, it was that he got his master's license and said you know what I got away out of this? Let's start our own company and we'll go out and we'll take over the industry. We'll do it, we can make this happen. I was 22 years old. I was like you know what? Sure, let's set up a partnership agreement and make it happen. And I went out and we were just like. We had no idea how to run a business, but we knew how to do generators and that was the angle, that was our stick.

Speaker 1: 35:15

Awesome, I love that I do. Okay. So at this point, though, you're able to make a few more sales and you guys actually ended up dividing and conquering a bit. That way, is that right?

Speaker 2: 35:28

Yeah, so for years and years and years the company would grow in a different way. Like I'd say, if you took our first year business model, it was just two guys in a van doing everything, like I would sell all the jobs, he would manage the company finances. We would both do the installation Eventually as we were growing. Because I started dialing it in. Right, you can't spend enough time with your back against the wall and you do it to do or die. So I was getting better with this process. I would listen to any training, like I would go. I remember, I think, jack Canfield's seven secrets of Superstar Techs. I remember that was a head in CD and it would always go in, always go into my van. And Zig Ziglar I mean I still have a Zig Ziglar book that's highlighted from way back then. Any book I could get I was reading, every chance I could get. I was setting. My process was relentless because at the time and I keep saying this I hated myself. I mean, like the word loathing doesn't cover it because no matter how good I achieved, I was doing it just trying to survive. Because at the time, even then, like even then, even running my own company, I still wasn't able to talk to people. I could sell to them with my process, but then if we needed to make small talk, I would flounder and I'd lose it. So I had this mentality of saying, well, if I don't do it today, I'll do it tomorrow. And then every day it would be like, well, I'm not gonna kill myself today, I'll do it tomorrow. If not today, tomorrow if not today. And they just kept doing that for years and years and years until eventually, eventually in our business we started seeing more success and I'm really proud of the effort that we did. Like I really am proud. We grew a lot. We started developing a name, we started winning awards, we had enough money now to buy a shop and now had multiple vans. But right around 27 was really when I feel like my life turned around, like I would say like my happiest day. I usually would say that people would ever be like meeting my wife. My wife, melanie, is an utter angel married way out of my league, right, but like that isn't even my happiest day. My happiest day was 27, because I hit my rock bottom. I was still an alcoholic and I was really, really struggling with my drinking. Not because I was partying. It was that I was in a state of such emotional despair and I felt like I couldn't ever find my way out of it. That drinking was the only thing I could use to medicate. I didn't know any better. I really didn't. But I remember something happened in 27 where I was like that's it. I was like I got to go to therapy. I was like I got to get this fixed. Something's not right. I can't. I'm gonna die like this and not in the way I want. I don't want to go from liver cirrhosis. I got to get this fixed. So I ended up going to therapy and within two sessions my therapist is like you're autistic, you're really autistic. This is what it is. And some people might look at it like oh, but for me I'm like oh, my God. Like even just thinking about it makes me want to cry because it was so relieving. I finally was like this is it? This is it the social awkwardness I mean, like all the other things, like I have an insane pain tolerance. You can hit me in the face with a bat and I probably wouldn't recognize it, but you play a loud siren and I'm gonna cripple Like it's just. There's so many things that make me me that I didn't realize were so directly tied to my neurological wiring and now that I understood what it was, now I can actually actively work on improving and developing myself to be something better. Can you tell how, like, just talking about this raised my voice and my demeanor?

Speaker 1: 39:27

Oh, totally yeah. It's a different energy. So you can see that At 27,. That's remarkable, and did that also help with the drinking then?

Speaker 2: 39:37

I stopped drinking. That was the thing. Like it was one of those things where, like I stopped smoking cigarettes, I stopped pretty much doing almost anything. Like I drank, don't get me wrong. But the difference was it wasn't to medicate, you know what I mean. Like there's a difference between going to a party and having a few drinks compared to. I can't feel this way anymore and I'll do anything to numb how I'm feeling, because the sound of the firehouse next door is making my ears want to bleed. Yeah, you know. Like I couldn't quite figure it out. So I would say I mean, you know, once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic, but I haven't been drunk. I can't even tell you when, I don't know the last time I've been drunk.

Speaker 1: 40:21

So it's really Congratulations.

Speaker 2: 40:23

Thank you from going from like being drunk all the time to like I literally cannot tell you. The last time I really, ever, I yeah, I don't even know last time I had anything more than a drink.

Speaker 1: 40:36

So the twenties were a big decade. How did this, this new understanding of yourself, free you and how did that impact you at work?

Speaker 2: 40:46

It was. That is really where the shift happened, because at that time that's when I started getting to like the 80, the high 80 close ratios and the higher tickets. Because you can have a process, bob. Actually Bob Marley said it really well you can fool some people sometimes, but you can't fool all the people all the time. I had gotten good enough at my scripted process that I could dial into it and, provided they didn't want enough small talk, I could portray myself as a fully functioning adult who could get across the point and was very professional. Now, now that I was invested in therapy and I was learning coping skills and I was not drinking anymore and I was on the right kind of medications like everything was working now I felt comfortable enough with myself to start opening up with people. I was able to talk to people. I was able to relate with them a little bit more. Like I could recognize certain triggers for me. I could recognize certain things and say like okay, this situation is gonna set me off, so therefore I'm gonna be prepared for it.

Speaker 1: 41:55

So things like that you mentioned one day actually even training your process, your script, while listening to dogs barking in your headphones.

Speaker 2: 42:06

Yeah, I can remember. You remembered that. So the thing was, I mentioned earlier, I really struggle with sounds. It's something that happens a lot in neurodivergence Bright lights, random sounds, babies crying, dogs barking. So I recognized okay, joe, you're autistic. So the sound of dogs barking isn't that you hate dogs, you just hate the sound that it makes and it's causing you to feel. So I realized when I was tracking my averages I wasn't able to close it. I wasn't able to close when there was dog barking, when babies were crying, I couldn't do it. So what I started doing was I was practicing in front of the mirror and then I would play on the radio or I'd go to YouTube at the time and I would play dogs barking and I would really have to push past it. But it built my tolerances up so that eventually, when I would go to these homes, I was prepared. It would be like, okay, I'm prepared for this, let's go. The dog's in a bark, you know what to do. You can focus on this, focus on that, control your speech, lower your ears. I learned skills to get past it and, believe it or not, that actual skill is what I feel may be a more functional father Can. I touch on that you don't mind Of course, yeah, go for it. So obviously I can. I really will stand by the fact that I married out of my league. My wife is an angel. She's the best person I ever known. But the closest second I would say is my daughters. I love my two girls so goddamn much. But I didn't realize at first. I thought I didn't like kids For my whole life. I didn't think I liked kids. I thought I hated kids. Turns out I hate the sounds of babies crying. I didn't know that about me. So the same techniques that I practice against listening to dogs barking while I was working in therapy, we would have babies crying in the background and I would learn how to push past it. I would learn that ear muffs would work. I would learn that AirPods would work. So I learned coping techniques to be a better parent. And when I became a parent, then I could also be relatable to other parents. It was something that never connected with me. So now I was not only able to sell with small talk and I could sell with a process, but now I could connect with not only married people but people who have kids and I could start doing things in my process. Like you know what, I'm going to knock on the door at night. I'm never going to ring the bell Because I remember when I get upset with people, wake up the baby after I put her to sleep. So I started incorporating little things into this process and tweaking it and making my own to make it more relatable to people. Does that make sense?

Speaker 1: 45:00

Oh yeah, yeah, I love that and I'm relating right here, hand up. I've never been more vulnerable than having my own baby girl crying in the middle of the night, right, and who doesn't know that that is a father. I used to go lay on the floor. I would get in trouble. The Mrs would tell me come back to bed, stop coddling the kid. She needs space too. I couldn't handle it as a dad Like I was the most vulnerable I've ever been in my life. So I definitely relate and at the same time, still, the infant stage is hard, isn't it?

Speaker 2: 45:39

I actually have a one year old as it stands, so I'm still not out of it for now. But you know what? The coping skills keep me alive.

Speaker 1: 45:47

Awesome so.

Speaker 2: 45:48

I can't complain. I'm better now. I'm a more functional person today than I was yesterday, and I will be a more functional person tomorrow than I am today.

Speaker 1: 45:57

Can I highlight the superpower that I'm starting to see. There's actually two things you said already, three really in the last little bit. That is like where all the money is in this. Yes, there's adversity, that's what causes us to push. It became growth or death for you, and in a way that maybe some people can relate to it and maybe for some that's a little ways off what they've ever felt. I mean, it's a touching story. It's a huge battle that you face, so I want to honor that. But as we zoom out, I'm also seeing someone that just wouldn't give up and had to find a way to be freed from that, and that's kind of what adversity is. And I think that we're surrounded by people that think we shouldn't have problems. Yeah, but it's those problems and challenges that keep pushing us, that keep affirming our decision to grow.

Speaker 2: 46:57

Yeah, it's really important. And you know, in addition to that, have anyone out there that's listening ever felt littler after watching someone's social media. Like I remember when Facebook first came out I didn't know I was authentic at the time, but Facebook was like, look how happy I am, look how successful I am, look at how many friends I have, look at all the money I'm making. And I'm like, damn, I can't even be happy doing the things I like most and this guy's living the life. So yeah, it's hard, but it was one of those things where I just I don't know why I didn't give up on myself. I honestly wish I could give you a reason. I really wish I could. But it was just one of those things where I just felt that I was, that there was more. I felt that there was more that I could reach. I didn't think that I couldn't get there. I just felt that I didn't know how to get there. Like everyone else was happy, so there's got to be something they're doing. I just I believed in that vision enough to say that I didn't want to give up on that vision. I wanted just to be happy.

Speaker 1: 48:07

I also heard that in some of my mentor used to say Jim Rohn, like great you are the average of the five people you hang around most, and we touched on this briefly the other day. When you start filling your ears with these motivational speakers, but also really people that are profound in sales and understanding other people, relationships, communication. When you start filling your head with that stuff so much as you did, you start becoming it. You are the average of the five people you hang around most, even if they're just in your ear, and that's why I so commonly I'll say, hey, my mentor XYZ. And then like, oh, you know, chris Voss, I don't need to. You know what? Yes, chris Voss doesn't know me, that doesn't matter. He puts this information out for me to be a mentee of that. You know what I mean. So I love using that term and I love referencing that exact. Really, it's a solution. If you'll be with that stuff, you'll become that stuff.

Speaker 2: 49:10

I actually I had something that ties right in with that. That right is right around where we're at in the story is I didn't have many friends. I had very, very few friends at the time prior to being diagnosed, but once I went to therapy, there was actually a period of time where I did what's known as a mass Exodus. I cut off everyone I mean when I mean everyone, I mean family, friends, everyone because the thing was, I realized what I'm surrounded with right now hasn't worked, and if I keep being surrounded with what doesn't work, I'll never be in the position to find what will work. And it was hard. It was really, really anyone who's ever separated from family before. It's never easy and it's still something that I battle with. But the fact was is that now I'm in a place that I can truly say I'm me, and I'm me because I want to be this way and not I'm me because I have to be this way. And I don't think I could have gotten that if I kept surrounded by the people I was surrounded by.

Speaker 1: 50:18

Yeah, I love that and I want to relate that back to electrical language. As an industrial guy, I love ladder logic, PLCs, inputs and outputs. That's how I see this thing. And relating that to the supercomputer that's in your head is something they call the reticular activating system. You've been programming that your entire life. All these inputs are adding up and they continue to add up and they will continue to add up for as long as you expose yourself to them. It's one of the biggest things we deal with on the sales level is that first dark cloud, as we call it, the self objection cloud, the red team, the stuff that has been adding up that isn't consistent with what is available of you. I just deep dive in this for a little. Second right, Because it's so important. So if you had a brother as a kid that told you you're ugly man, You're ugly, You're ugly. Or I've heard this in a book, Psycho-Cybernetics a guy being told you got a big nose, you got a big nose. Go and see a surgeon later in life to get a nose reduction and he's like it was stopping him in sales. Literally, the guy was like no one will buy for me because my nose is so big. I need to get a nose job and the surgeon's like that's not real. People will like you, big nose or not.

Speaker 2: 51:46

I mean, look at me. I was going to say I got that Roman nose. I mean I was doing it too.

Speaker 1: 51:51

So just to tie that together if you want to change the outputs, you have to change the inputs 100%, and if you won't put those inputs there, who will Like that's like that serenity conversation right, the things. I can control the inputs. You have to control those to get this output right, all right. So, knowing this diagnosis, now collecting where we are in your story, you begin to train on this, you begin to understand better your listening to the noises. I love that. You keep working on your weaknesses. You are on and that's maybe the 30,000 foot view again, but you're on this trajectory of I know what I want, I know what's in the way of that and I need to fix or grow or focus on those things to achieve the goal. On the other side, correct, how important. And you were doing things, like you said, looking in the mirror, because language, or what's communicated, is more than just the words out of your mouth.

Speaker 2: 52:54

Can I touch on that for a moment? Yeah, please. So we started doing in therapy, we started doing social training right and saying, okay, how much eye contact is too much eye contact? Where are your hands? Where should they be? Should you visit? When you cross your arms? What's communicated when your arms behind you, what's communicated Like? I started learning how to hold myself and I started incorporating those into the process and starting to learn. Okay, all these little things that I didn't know will now make me better at selling and therefore but not because it's going to make me a better salesperson, but because it'll make me more of a relatable person. So all these things I started focusing on were just small little steps. To other people, like to a neurotypical person, I'm pretty sure they don't have to be trained on how long to maintain eye contact. But even you and I have mentioned hey Joe, sometimes it looks like you're zoning out because I'm just staring without blinking. It's just sometimes, that's just me. I just forget to blink. It happens.

Speaker 1: 53:59

Like that. What do you do? Right, I just go, embrace it. Embrace it, man, I honestly, I'm just going to insert a moment of gratitude. I don't think there's anyone else in this planet that's anything remotely close to who you are and what you've done. There's no other person that could lead this mission of mastering sales to the degree that you did, because, guys, the stuff you're hearing didn't. It wasn't just like oh, I noticed this. Most people notice things At some point. You might even address it, you might even say it out loud. For Joseph, it was a must to build a framework that addressed it and then to rehearse that framework and make sure it addressed that problem. That's not an 80-20. We're talking 95-5 or maybe 99-1. Here you are the 1% brother.

Speaker 2: 54:56

Thank you, you'd say that, and the thing is that we'll never think as highly of ourselves as others might think about us. You know what I mean. I'm taking it with a grain of salt, but once again, it was grow or die. That mentality never really changed. I struggled with suicide attempts my whole life, even beyond that point, everything I had, my struggles, what was securing it was okay. I now run a business. If I can just know that I can sell this much, I'll be good. The thing was I still was under the metrics of HVAC companies. I thought a $20,000 a week was the minimum. What I started to do was I said, okay, every day I need to sell at least $5,000 a day so that I could have a $20,000 or $25,000 a week. I thought from all the trainers that I worked with, that's the minimum or the average. The thing was I started rapidly growing my company. We started off at $90,000 in sales the first year and we just kept growing and growing, and growing and growing. In the course of seven years we were at 1.3. That's what it was, because we kept growing it and not giving up on it. It's a small appreciation of the details that mean so much.

Speaker 1: 56:17

I got to ask because a lot of people then, especially when they see a script or see a process, they've already got what their accumulation of experience is. They've already got some fears around being seen as salesy. That's that first dark cloud. Again, the self-adjection. Will you just tell me quick were your customers any less happy when they were paying more?

Speaker 2: 56:38

No, no. Let me explain a very important thing about sales that I don't think is nearly addressed enough. Sales is not something you do to someone. Sales is something you do for someone. I knew our work was top notch. We were studying, we were generator both Generac and Kohler dealers. We were Tesla dealers. We had the best financing. Our workmanship was on top. We had a lifetime guarantee on everything we touched. I knew, hands down, you put me against any other electrical company at the time. I felt strong and confident, but in order to deliver that level of service, we needed to charge more. By default, you had to do it. You cannot deliver high levels of service if you don't have the means of funding. The thing was is I stopped selling high ticket items just to have revenue. What I was doing was I was creating options and giving the customer the choice of which one they wanted to do. We would always offer six level choices Premium, mid-range and economy. Regardless of what it was, you would always have a choice For every choice. I could say I did this for you because I would tie it into the emotional reason why someone would want to have it and how working with someone like me would better their lives and their homes and their families. Yeah, they might have called me for a trip GFI and ended up getting a whole new service, but you know what? They were grateful because they didn't know they had a rot hole in their meter outside. They didn't know that their ceiling fan that was constantly dusty in their daughter's room actually was blowing fiberglass all over the place. That's actually all the dust that usually you're seeing. Once again, thank you for learning from HVAC companies. People didn't know. Hey, you know what, I've got a pool, but you know what? I have no lights outside so I've got to go swim in the dark. When I was offering things for emotional reasons that would benefit people, they stopped being upset at the price and started thanking me for thinking of them. So really, at the end of the day, all we are is just a conduit to solve people's problems and they may not be problems they knew they had. But as long as you're an honest person and you're telling them the truth, then you really are solving a problem that they need to solve.

Speaker 1: 59:08

Something you're doing with them, helping them by absolutely. Yeah, I love that and I think that there's a huge block in there for most. I think that's where we see it the most is we spend so much time with not enough muscle memory in the background to operate for us or not enough of a dialed in process that we spend so much time and energy in front of the customer thinking I don't want to mess up this price, I got to get this price right, I don't want to miss anything. There's a lot of don'ts and cants and fear of losing the sale ahead of ever proposing an honest, thoughtful and thorough solution. And that's the difference that I've seen in working beside you that I think is so profound in this process that we teach is that all these solutions we hear it from guys who've been in business for a decade or more. I just never thought of that. You've clearly taken the time to be in the buyer's shoes and think of the things that will actually benefit the quality of life going forward.

Speaker 2: 1:00:12

Can I explain why?

Speaker 1: 1:00:14

Please do.

Speaker 2: 1:00:15

So, once again, being in the mentality of being surrounded by HVAC and plumbing technicians, they have a massive advantage over the typical electrician, because there's parts that constantly break and there's also continuous services need to be offered. So, like you think, okay, I'm going to have a service call on an outside condenser. You know that you could offer a hard start kit, you can offer a dual stage capacitor, you could offer the surge protector, the enhanced disconnect, the rewiring, the fin grays there's so many things just in that that you could offer. But now you've taken an electrician and you put them in front of a GFI on a countertop. What has he done? You can't offer more things. People don't need things. But people care about being happy, and that was something that I knew I was chasing my whole life. So I said to myself okay, how can I make them happier by me being here? Okay, you've got a bad GFI. Well, right now that GFI controls all your countertops. So could I make you happier if I localized each one of them so that when this one trips, it doesn't take out the fridge and now you don't worry about losing food if you're on or you don't have to work? Right now you've got lighting in your room. Great, I see you have a ceiling fan with a remote by your bed. Wouldn't it be better if I actually cut a three way switch by the side of the bed? That way you can walk into the room and have the light on, walk into bed and be able to turn the light off. So by being creative and saying how can I make you happier by me being here, this will come up. They just will. If you truly care about people, you have to put yourself in their shoes and now that I had the skills, like I already was a good electrician, I was a bad person. I could not a bad person, I was a non-functional person. I did all the pieces were incorrect. Once the pieces clicked and I could understand and relate with people, I could connect good electric work to them, being happy, and that, I feel, was the difference.

Speaker 1: 1:02:24

Right, yeah, absolutely, man, and I think that's the difference, that's what people keep saying they're seeing in this program that you don't see anywhere else. That's the specificity, the specialized training with that thorough thought through every process from the front door to the referral, review and repeat transaction, and I'm astounded by it. So I appreciate you. I wanted to extend that gratitude. Of course, now, at this point, you exit your business and I think that's a different story. We don't need to go too deep and we're already at the hour, but can you tell us a little bit about the last few years in sense of exit, what happened next and where you believe you left this process and what you believe it's actually capable of beyond what you took it to?

Speaker 2: 1:03:18

So I was realizing that I was doing around 1.3 million, even though we were runninga company and doing service calls. At the time I really wasn't a fully selling tech, you know what I mean. I would go to a call and I would either sell it and then offer to do it or, if it was a big job, I would sell it and there'd be someone who'd follow me to do it. But eventually the goal was to have me strictly sell and just have nothing but leads and not have to turn any tools. I truly believe that 1.3 is the floor and my goal is to make every single person who I train better than me. I want that to be the benchmark. I really think that this should at least be a $2 million system, because if I could have done 1.3 while running a business, while also having a young kid, while also having to physically do the work, what would have happened if I didn't have to run a business, like if I was an employee and I was just fed leads five times a day, five days a week? What could have happened? Yeah, can I jump in?

Speaker 1: 1:04:25

there and insert something quick. You're sure to go for it. We have a five pillars document. Guys, if you're watching this live, if you're on the Facebook group, you can just actually type in five pillars and we'll send this to you. I should type it quick five pillars, a document explaining how Joseph was doing this. Really, with roughly 14 qualified leads on average per week, I think a lot of people hear the millions and they go, oh yeah, well, you must have been serving so many people, not with an average ticket that high, not with an 80% close ratio, not with repeat transactions, reviews, referrals all this stuff adds up to qualifying those leads at the front door and building that thing solid as a rock. I'm sorry to interrupt you.

Speaker 2: 1:05:10

Yeah, no, it's fine. That was that. I know we're trying to fast track it to where we are now. The goal always was happy. Once I knew that I knew who and what I was, I knew that the position of my life was a paradigm. It was a paradigm shift. At this point I realized that I really love training people on how to sell. I've developed a process and I had perfected it over so long that I wanted to start sharing with people. I literally was volunteering myself on the weekends. I wasn't even getting paid for it. Other electricians would be like hey, can you work with me and to be all over the state and all over the country. I'm like yeah, sure, you're not a competitor, let's talk. Then there got to a point when I was like you know what? I want to sell my business. I want to go into training. I want to do that. I actually contacted my mentor at the time, the one who started me off. Within 15 minutes I was like hey, I'm thinking about selling my company. Do you know anyone that would want to pursue a training career? He's like give me 15 minutes, I'll call you right back. He called me and he's like yeah, you're going to come work for me. I was like what he's like? You're not going to put your resume out, you're going to come work for me. This is what we're doing. I was like, wow, I got to work with my hero. I was like this is great. I ended up joining that team and I feel like I learned a lot. I was able to understand my process a little more. I learned more about coaching. I learned more about development. I'm grateful for the time that I spent there. I realized, just like everywhere else and it was the same problem from when I first freaking started. I'm not trying to badmouth anyone. I'm just trying to say that I started and I was an electrician being compared to HVAC. I was teaching as an electrician, surrounded by HVAC tax. It didn't quite click. I kept asking where are the electricians? They've got to be out there. People have got to need help. I can't have been the only one. Is everyone having this figured out? It was just me with my thumb on my butt. Is that it? I left. I left, honestly, clay, you were the one that actually wanted to make me do it. You did this because he literally made a post saying why should I hire you? I didn't think he was being serious or not. It was just a post. He manifested this because I was following your content for months and I'm like, damn, I would love to work with Clay. I would love to work with Clay. I would love to work with Clay One day. When you put out a post saying why should I hire you, I was like I'm just going to put it out there. Are you being serious about this? What did you say?

Speaker 1: 1:07:59

Let's get on a call. I want to point something out in full circle. Back Earlier we talked about hey, if you want to control the outputs, control the inputs. Now look at that the other way. Flip the script, guys. You have controlled outputs and you have an audience that are having inputs. That's marketing 101. We can't simplify it more than that. In our Apex Attraction Model workshop and course content we talk about this very thing how attracting A players for you on Indeed and Monster and Zip Recruiter and all these sites where you just put this long winded ad up with all the things you're looking for in a human, hoping that some number of a person applies, that may get you some resumes. It certainly isn't going to catch everyone. If I could have more than one fishing line in the river to catch a fish, I certainly would, Would you?

Speaker 2: 1:08:55

If it were, I would say, yeah, I love the fish, why not?

Speaker 1: 1:08:59

right. The same has to be asked in your business. I just wanted to touch on that with you guys. That's the Apex Attraction Method, but it worked. It's right here. This is it when you constantly put out that good energy, put out your vision, put out what you hope to reap, you do you get it. Sow the seeds, the plants you want the fruit from.

Speaker 2: 1:09:22

I really feel, if I can speak, almost in a sense of providence. I feel as if my life has led me down this river, whether I realize that or not, to shape me into this role. I was an electrician who knew that I couldn't sell. I developed such an intense self-loathing that I always thought that I was wrong. Because I always thought I was wrong, I was willing to accept help from others. I assumed that if I was doing something, I probably was doing it wrong. Any advice someone gave me, I took the heart. That's why I was able to adopt these processes. Then, over a decade, I took a process and I made it my own and I shifted it and I warped it and I made it something that worked for electricians. Then I end up working for a mentor and then realizing we're not doing enough for electricians and finding the kind of person like you are, clay, where we can really and truly actually impact our industry. We can put real empowerment into the people who are giving power to all the homes. Why is it that we're the least to get power when we're the first person to run it? It doesn't make sense. It doesn't. It's one of those things that I am just so utterly grateful to be in the position that we are, because it feels full circle. I didn't have help, I didn't have support, but now, through these efforts, there may be some 14-year-old kid right now who doesn't know what he's doing. Maybe he can listen to a podcast and say you know what, maybe there's some little autistic kid out there that's going to see this and be inspired to not want to put his head on a train track. I don't know. I just hope that my message helps someone.

Speaker 1: 1:11:09

If it helps anyone, it's worth it. Absolutely, I agree 100%. We're very clear on our mission, vision and values and that's why everyone on our team is inspired. We hear from it, from our team members daily, literally inspired. You do want to accomplish the same in your business, not just for your team, but also your clients. Be the kind of person they would want to work with. Gone are the days, like our fathers, grandfathers, where you would get work and then hire people to get the work done. Nowadays, it's about mastering getting work, mastering the attraction of people, and when people come on board that are worth retention, you turn on the tap and get more work. You do that with a fire under your ass to keep your team motivated, to keep your business growing. That's how the world's flipped. Just the same. I mentioned grandfathers. I had a grandfather that worked on a dam and I had a grandfather that was in the war, world War II, the guy who worked on the dam. They literally, when they bid that project, there was casualties in the estimate. We estimate losing 13 people through the course of this 10-year project. Wow, that old dog won't hunt anymore, right? So the game has changed, the rules have changed and again I just can't commend you enough for how well you've put these rules, our rules, together to help people adopt it and make the most of it. And what I can tell you guys? 100% and I talked to a client about this last night, last moment of our call such a powerful takeaway. The very things we've talked about today the disassociation with society, the disassociation with clients, and that feeling of personal hurt and disdain and negative all can come from and to your texts, from not having a process in place, because if they don't have a process to follow, then that means they're going out and talking to your customers all with heart, their knowledge and experience, and that's a problem when you get rejected. Oh yeah, everyone's got a great story, but not everyone can tell a great story. We have to give them the tools to tell it so that if it doesn't get taken well, like your sales process, it's the processes, diagnostics, that matter. Here it's the fault within the process, not the person. There's a better way to say that.

Speaker 2: 1:13:52

Can I add something as well? Please do Mention diagnostic, literally. Do you know how everyone says? Joe is the salesbot. That's the whole thing that we talked about the birth of the salesbot. I've always associated myself more as a cybernetic or a cyborg than I have as an actual human being, and I've been called a robot ever since I was a kid because I'm just a little awkward and robotic in my movements and whatnot. But I used it for our benefit, because I designed a self-diagnostic evaluation after the call and, as you just mentioned the word diagnostic and I figured that's something that would be helpful, because it doesn't sound like a person does a self-diagnostic on themselves. It sounds like a machine, doesn't it? Yeah, but that's the thing. There are things that you can do. When you say this is a process, the process works well. I'm not going to manipulate it and I am not going to allow my personal views influence it. I will not blame the customer, I will not blame the economy, I will not blame the weather. I will blame me and I will be able to point where I let the process down in these steps. So, at the end of the day, this bubble is the only thing you're going to control.

Speaker 1: 1:15:12

I love that. Being above the line with ownership, accountability and responsibility, that in itself is a superpower. Thank you so much for telling your story today. We are out of time. We've actually got to go back to work after this. If you can believe it, we got a call coming up in 18 minutes.

Speaker 2: 1:15:27

Oh, geez, hopefully I didn't take too much time, but it was one of those things where I just wanted to add I am so grateful to be able to share my story, not because it's an easy story to share, but I want I just want to know that if you're in electrician out there and you feel lost or you're an neurodivergent like me and you feel alone, I want you to know that my friendship comes free and I truly want to help you in the worst possible way, because I know I was going down a bad path and my sales skills is what saved me and therapy is what saved me. So if I can lend you what knowledge I have, I will gladly do so.

Speaker 1: 1:16:07

Get some good inputs. Guys have some great outputs. As always, it's Friday, but we are here five days a week helping you simplify your pricing, master your sales and deliver consistent, premium level service. I'm Clay. It's my partner, joseph. Thanks for joining us and listening to today. Guys, and please let us know if you relate to this. Feel free to comment on the thread. If you're not a part of our Facebook group, do jump on Facebook and join the Electripreneur Secret Group and we look forward to seeing you and talking to you there. Take care Bye.