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

Transcript

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Hello, hello, hello and welcome back to yet another episode of Electricpreneur Secrets, the electrician's podcast for electricians, by electricians show.

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I'm your host, clay Neumeier, a master electrician.

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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.

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The title of today's episode suits this so well.

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Man From million dollar undercover broke business to clarity and cash flow.

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With Austin Matthews man am I pumped for this story, joe?

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How are you doing today, brother?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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You know the idea of our own mismanagement.

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We weren't taught to run a business, were we Joe?

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No, no, literally, it was just like.

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These are Lyman Pliers.

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Go, hustle it out, let's go.

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Yeah, exactly, and so that mismanagement of the business and cashflow comes back to bite us in a big way.

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That's nearly unrecoverable and that's kind of Austin's story, and where Austin's at today is a very different place.

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Okay, so he wants to discuss all of that and help you guys.

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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.

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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.

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You ready for this, Joe?

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I'm so ready.

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Let's reel him in, let's bring Austin in.

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Come on, austin, let's go.

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Let's see if we can get him here.

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I'm going to welcome him.

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There he is.

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Oh, there he goes, austin.

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I cut you off.

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There you are, brother.

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How's it going guys?

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How are you doing, brother?

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How are you doing today?

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Awesome, awesome man, can you start us off here now?

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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.

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So accidentally I got a job as a helper running around carrying material around commercial job sites and it stuck with me.

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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?

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Um, so it.

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It was a little wild.

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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?

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I Like so did they just send you out here and tell you just to like cause as little damage as possible?

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I was like what do you mean?

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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.

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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.

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I was like I've always kind of had an entrepreneurial background and spirit.

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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.

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But that's a true story.

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But that's kind of where it started and, man, I've been after it pretty well ever since.

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Can we go deeper on that for a sec?

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I want to know, because I feel the same way.

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I've got my own kind of.

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There was a few things that stood out to me that I just knew I wasn't really fitting under someone else's umbrella.

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I had to be on my own.

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I had to be doing my own thing, Like what were your first signs?

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How did you know you wanted to be the owner of your own business?

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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.

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And then it was like, all right, funds are getting a little low.

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Uh, how am I going to survive the rest of my senior year and do my thing, driving to school and all that stuff?

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Um, and so I had two options.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Can I just plug?

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Sorry, go ahead, austin.

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I didn't mean to cut you off, brother, I don't know, I was just agreeing with, with Joseph.

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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.

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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?

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It's like, no, not much anymore actually.

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But yeah, it was so wild.

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Yeah, building big connections last for a long time there you go.

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I just wanted to plug this for for all dads out there.

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Like are there any other dads like me, like you guys, I'm sure, that wish to see that in their kids?

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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?

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Whether it's mowing the lawn or cleaning the dishes, I don't even care, just like go out, whatever, buddy.

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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.

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It'll compound over time and you'll be able to learn that skill and implement it.

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For sure 100%.

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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.

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How long have you been in business, man?

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June 1st 2020, right in the middle of COVID, we dove in.

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Yeah, we dove in.

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I've been wanting to do it for a long time and I was fortunate.

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I've only been with a few companies.

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I went on for a long time.

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The next company was was actually my?

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My roots come from commercial, industrial background, um, just doing commercial projects.

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I was project manager, uh, stuff like that.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Um, and then then the perfect opportunity arose.

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I was like, hey man, I appreciate it.

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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.

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And then then, uh, the truck had to go.

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I got a van, um, and that first year, while it was very tough, it taught me a lot of stuff.

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I had to get rid of it.

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I loved my truck.

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I had to get rid of it.

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I couldn't have that anymore.

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I had a work van that was my personal vehicle now, until we could get to that next level and stuff.

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Found out we were having a baby.

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A month and a half into about mid-June we found out.

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That's amazingly good timing, right?

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It's like, hey, I'm going to start a business, by the way, you're going to be a dad.

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Yeah, man, so it was a crazy year.

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2020, 2021, crazy years man, that's nerve wracking.

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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.

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Were you nervous back then?

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Were you worried about falling short Austin?

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You know that's a tough one for me to answer.

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I'm not really sure.

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I mean I remember thinking when I found out this is going to sound funny, but I think I'm going to do this.

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So my motivation up until I used to work I would work seven days a week, no problem.

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I was ambitious.

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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.

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I can't do that anymore.

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So my goal was to make enough money before he was born to pay him off at the doctor's office.

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So I know, clay, that may not be much to you, but we have to pay.

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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.

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And that's kind of how it worked.

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And my goal was to make that amount of money and that was all I focused on for once and I succeeded.

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That was great.

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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.

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That kind of describes the lead up to to my son being born and stuff like that.

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Just working all the time.

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I didn't give myself an option to fail.

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I guess I should say that's something that particularly stands out, austin.

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And then I feel like that really describes your character in a lot of ways.

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You can take a hit and keep going because there's something that's inside of you that makes you want to go further.

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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.

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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.

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That's a big deal.

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Well, technically, what do you mean?

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It would have been that day you would have gone to sleep, but what?

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three getting up and go back again right like you weren't thinking, hey, I'm gonna take the day off.

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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.

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Appreciate that big commitment, so that first year you once described to me as good old boy electric.

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What did you mean by that?

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Why do you call it good old boy electric?

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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.

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It's like hey, we're X amount an hour, we'll send you a bill when we're done.

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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.

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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.

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Um, you just kind of do what everyone else is doing because it works for them.

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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?

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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.

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And, yeah, that's, that's where that, that that terminology, came from.

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Where did you feel that kind of fell short for you, pretty?

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quick, I'm pretty vocal when I talk to people about this.

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I've got some really good employees, really really good.

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I call them partners in my business really.

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I mean that have been with me.

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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.

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I just kind of laughed about it.

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He's like man, I'm telling you, let me.

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And this is what I told him.

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I said, look, man, I got enough money to do that for two weeks and if it doesn't work I'm sorry.

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And you know he showed me real quick what a good service tech can do and stuff.

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And that was what planted the seed of Service Company.

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He was like man we had.

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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?

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I don't even know what this is, and um.

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So, man, I'm sorry, I'm losing my train of thought no, that's good, um, it's good, yeah.

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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.

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We're pricing stuff.

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It's like where are we even coming up with these numbers?

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Like we're, we're, we're doing it, we're basing it off board.

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When we're pricing stuff.

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It's like where are we even coming up with these numbers?

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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.

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But it's like sometimes we're 200, sometimes we're 250, sometimes we're 125.

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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.

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Uh, we had 200 in material, the job was a thousand.

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What means we made six hundred dollars.

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Right, of course I mean the insurance and stuff that.

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Just that, just you know, comes out of my money.

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Like all the money is my money.

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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.

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Um, there was never like a method.

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There was never like a method.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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You owe us $4,800.

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And it's like okay, I did $700,000 last year and I've got like 2,200 in the bank.

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How do I pay that?

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You?

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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?

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This was the first time I was like something's wrong.

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Something's wrong and this isn't normal.

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It's a scary place.

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It really, really is.

00:16:59.702 --> 00:17:08.933
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.

00:17:08.933 --> 00:17:10.538
That's the only way you'll make money doing this.

00:17:10.538 --> 00:17:12.541
You got to put the cash in your pocket.

00:17:12.541 --> 00:17:14.897
That's how you get paid.

00:17:14.897 --> 00:17:19.733
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.

00:17:19.733 --> 00:17:23.303
It's like, all right, okay, fair enough.

00:17:23.303 --> 00:17:27.576
Man Not understanding what was really going on.

00:17:29.159 --> 00:17:35.037
You said something yesterday, actually to speak to that cash that really stuck out for me when we were preparing for this interview.

00:17:35.037 --> 00:17:39.240
You said you realized a point at the 700K year.

00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:52.541
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.

00:17:52.561 --> 00:17:55.295
Well, I didn't feel like I'd been accounted for.

00:17:55.978 --> 00:17:57.795
Yeah, it wasn't a feeling like I had to.

00:17:57.795 --> 00:18:08.519
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.

00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:09.192
What are you going to do?

00:18:09.192 --> 00:18:11.278
And it's like okay, man.

00:18:11.278 --> 00:18:12.461
So I, we got paid.

00:18:12.461 --> 00:18:13.152
We did a house.

00:18:13.152 --> 00:18:22.992
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.

00:18:22.992 --> 00:18:24.454
That was the biggest house we've done to date.

00:18:25.135 --> 00:18:29.621
Um, and it was, it was about a $30 dollar job, uh, and they said hey, how do you want to get paid?

00:18:29.621 --> 00:18:30.422
You take cash.

00:18:30.422 --> 00:18:32.223
I'm like, of course, love cash.

00:18:32.223 --> 00:18:35.113
All right, we get a little discount for cash, of course, why not?

00:18:35.113 --> 00:18:36.154
That's what everybody does, right?

00:18:36.154 --> 00:18:42.720
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.

00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:44.550
That's, that's, austin got paid.

00:18:44.550 --> 00:18:53.115
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.

00:18:53.115 --> 00:18:56.932
Yeah, I feel like a gangster, you know, but it's like what, what can I do with this money.

00:18:56.932 --> 00:19:05.442
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.

00:19:05.501 --> 00:19:32.255
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.

00:19:32.255 --> 00:19:35.530
But, um, I wanted to enjoy it, you know, and I thought I had it all planned out.

00:19:35.530 --> 00:19:40.481
And by the second day, um, I was realizing, hey, we're not getting paid for this.

00:19:40.481 --> 00:19:41.491
You know we did.

00:19:41.491 --> 00:19:44.144
We had a really good week the week before, something like that.

00:19:44.144 --> 00:19:55.319
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.

00:19:55.400 --> 00:19:57.457
They're not going to drop a check off today, like they said they were.

00:19:57.457 --> 00:20:01.494
And then it was like three jobs worth about 20 grand doing that to me all at once.

00:20:01.494 --> 00:20:05.471
Right, because we had no, we had no sales method, we had no sales process.

00:20:05.471 --> 00:20:08.756
I didn't a deposit sounded dirty to me, you know.

00:20:08.756 --> 00:20:21.488
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.

00:20:21.488 --> 00:20:24.858
Whatever, you know, what do we do?

00:20:24.858 --> 00:20:25.520
How do we do this?

00:20:25.520 --> 00:20:28.079
So then my whole family vacation gets ruined.

00:20:28.723 --> 00:20:29.689
Um, I'm stressed out.

00:20:29.689 --> 00:20:33.119
We had a great time with your own, but I was stressed out the whole time like what am I going to do?

00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:49.421
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.

00:20:49.421 --> 00:20:51.404
I never want to be at a point where I can't pay my guys.

00:20:51.404 --> 00:20:54.411
They get paid first before anyone else, right and but.

00:20:54.411 --> 00:20:57.361
But if there's no money to pay them, then that's a real problem.

00:20:57.970 --> 00:21:02.075
And so I dug this hole and I really didn't see a way out of it.

00:21:02.075 --> 00:21:07.000
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.

00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:09.564
You know, we've got these nice vans.

00:21:09.564 --> 00:21:11.145
They're going to have to go.

00:21:11.145 --> 00:21:12.032
We're going to have to buy.

00:21:12.032 --> 00:21:13.679
You know we're going to find something to pay cash for.

00:21:13.679 --> 00:21:15.738
Like it was a deep hole.

00:21:15.738 --> 00:21:17.997
You know there wasn't an easy way out of it.

00:21:18.950 --> 00:21:42.035
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.

00:21:42.035 --> 00:21:51.383
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.

00:21:51.383 --> 00:21:56.378
Reflecting on that now, would you say that that was kind of like.

00:21:56.378 --> 00:21:56.980
What is that?

00:21:56.980 --> 00:21:57.642
Is that like?

00:21:57.642 --> 00:21:59.294
Is there an ego thing at that time?

00:21:59.294 --> 00:22:01.018
Was it defense walls?

00:22:01.018 --> 00:22:02.883
Or maybe our trust wasn't built Like?

00:22:02.883 --> 00:22:07.455
I know there's other people in this position, so I really wanted to call it to attention, if that's okay.

00:22:08.076 --> 00:22:09.999
So I'm so glad you asked that.

00:22:09.999 --> 00:22:12.102
I think I have a really good answer for that.

00:22:12.102 --> 00:22:16.051
So, um, I may, I want to say that I think I did.

00:22:16.051 --> 00:22:18.057
I was being genuine when I said that.

00:22:18.617 --> 00:22:30.765
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.

00:22:30.765 --> 00:22:41.786
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.

00:22:41.786 --> 00:22:43.454
That was the process.

00:22:43.454 --> 00:22:43.769
You know.

00:22:43.769 --> 00:22:52.622
We would go and sell the job and do the job and get paid sometimes, sometimes, because there was no hey, can you sign?

00:22:52.622 --> 00:22:54.564
There was no signing anything before we started.

00:22:54.564 --> 00:23:02.089
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.

00:23:02.089 --> 00:23:06.914
There was no anything to guarantee we're going to get paid, and there was also no structure.

00:23:07.075 --> 00:23:10.371
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.

00:23:10.371 --> 00:23:11.795
I mean, why can I?

00:23:11.795 --> 00:23:21.214
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.

00:23:21.214 --> 00:23:25.753
Um, you know, post on Facebook every once in a while and hope for the best.

00:23:25.753 --> 00:23:28.838
That was our lead generation.

00:23:28.838 --> 00:23:31.523
I didn't know what a Google local service ad was.

00:23:31.523 --> 00:23:31.943
I didn't know.

00:23:31.943 --> 00:23:32.464
That was the thing.

00:23:32.464 --> 00:23:37.454
I just knew that people pay Google sometimes and I didn't know how to do that.

00:23:39.230 --> 00:23:40.758
I want to thank you for your vulnerability.

00:23:40.758 --> 00:23:43.317
Obviously, you're sharing the reality.

00:23:43.317 --> 00:23:48.598
That's what it was, and we went into this wanting to help people, and I know there's other people in this situation.

00:23:48.598 --> 00:23:50.636
So, again, thanks for sharing that.

00:23:50.636 --> 00:24:00.589
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.

00:24:01.211 --> 00:24:03.618
This is going to sound exaggerated, but it's really not.

00:24:03.618 --> 00:24:06.798
I felt like I was at a point where I had no choice.

00:24:06.798 --> 00:24:08.570
I felt like I was at a point where I had no choice.

00:24:08.570 --> 00:24:16.577
It was a fork in the road of you know, you can trust someone and you can hope this works.

00:24:16.577 --> 00:24:22.243
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.

00:24:22.243 --> 00:24:26.126
Or the other option was to keep doing what we're doing and start laying off people.

00:24:26.126 --> 00:24:43.976
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.

00:24:44.738 --> 00:24:51.622
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.

00:24:51.622 --> 00:24:54.698
I've been friends with Clay on Facebook for two years.

00:24:54.698 --> 00:24:59.162
We had messaged back and forth for years, but I didn't I really didn't know much about the program.

00:24:59.162 --> 00:25:06.413
I'd heard of coaching programs, I'd heard of this and that, but I knew nothing about it, man, and so it was.

00:25:06.413 --> 00:25:08.480
It was a do or die moment for me.

00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:10.410
It was.

00:25:10.410 --> 00:25:11.333
You know, me and my wife talked about it a lot.

00:25:11.333 --> 00:25:25.162
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.

00:25:30.869 --> 00:25:32.733
It won't matter at that point and, um, thank god we did and thank god it did work out.

00:25:32.753 --> 00:25:33.375
Love the smile at the end there.

00:25:33.375 --> 00:25:35.881
Amen to that I appreciate again the vulnerability.

00:25:35.942 --> 00:25:38.653
To even be able to say that means a lot austin.

00:25:38.653 --> 00:25:41.641
So it really does sound like you were at your last.

00:25:41.641 --> 00:26:06.398
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.

00:26:06.398 --> 00:26:13.056
If I recall correctly, there were some problems we were trying to solve with you late in a project, if I recall that right.

00:26:14.592 --> 00:26:17.980
So it's kind of just a lack of clarity on the scope of work itself.

00:26:18.871 --> 00:26:24.349
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.

00:26:24.349 --> 00:26:27.578
I'm glad you brought that up, Thankfully, I've forgotten about that.

00:26:27.880 --> 00:26:39.518
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.

00:26:39.518 --> 00:26:45.935
But, um, yeah, so that that particular job did a huge kitchen renovation and, uh, we did not present options.

00:26:45.935 --> 00:26:46.778
That was I.

00:26:46.778 --> 00:27:01.857
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.

00:27:01.857 --> 00:27:11.605
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.

00:27:11.605 --> 00:27:18.895
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.

00:27:18.895 --> 00:27:24.596
You know, and I'm you know, yeah, I mean it's Less contract, more options.

00:27:25.269 --> 00:27:33.924
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?

00:27:33.924 --> 00:27:34.710
It's just a tripped outlet.

00:27:34.710 --> 00:27:35.855
It's like well yeah, what did?

00:27:35.855 --> 00:27:38.267
You pull last time you were there it's still relevant.

00:27:38.267 --> 00:27:42.320
The electronics protection, the upgrade, the systems, the end rate, like all those things are there.

00:27:42.320 --> 00:27:49.359
So it not only helps you with keeping your contract safe, but it also keeps you with future service ability right.

00:27:49.799 --> 00:27:51.624
We have a huge amount of repeat customers as well.

00:27:51.624 --> 00:27:55.980
I mean, I think we had 32 repeat visits that we closed jobs on last month.

00:27:55.980 --> 00:28:01.977
So yeah, there was actually more than any other lead source, which is a blessing, huge blessing.

00:28:01.977 --> 00:28:18.434
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.

00:28:18.434 --> 00:28:26.805
You know like it empowers everyone from the customer service rep, office manager to sales tech to install tech.

00:28:26.805 --> 00:28:31.512
I mean it's a win-win for everybody the customer, it helps the customer.

00:28:32.335 --> 00:28:39.482
I love that we're getting into today now and I got to ask Austin, would you still call it, good old boy, electric?

00:28:39.482 --> 00:28:42.372
What's the feeling you have about your business now?

00:28:43.013 --> 00:28:44.156
You know what I'm going to.

00:28:44.156 --> 00:28:57.593
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.

00:28:57.593 --> 00:29:00.500
Customer service, um, there's, there's a couple pillars.

00:29:00.500 --> 00:29:11.529
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.

00:29:11.529 --> 00:29:12.914
But it's a lot better now.

00:29:12.914 --> 00:29:14.239
It's a lot different now.

00:29:14.239 --> 00:29:17.338
We're definitely tailored as a service company.

00:29:17.338 --> 00:29:27.172
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.

00:29:27.172 --> 00:29:32.751
You know we've got other partners in the industry that are much more suited to do that job than us.

00:29:32.751 --> 00:29:35.601
You know we don't like.

00:29:38.150 --> 00:29:48.877
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.

00:29:48.877 --> 00:29:55.311
It's not 90, but it's big money.

00:29:55.332 --> 00:29:57.703
no, one year ago agreement, let's handshake on this one right you don't have to go that far back.

00:29:57.703 --> 00:30:02.182
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.

00:30:02.182 --> 00:30:04.770
It was my, my worst foray into commercial we've had yet.

00:30:04.770 --> 00:30:08.961
So, um, yeah, I had that in mind before I met you guys.

00:30:08.961 --> 00:30:14.346
I don't I don't think I wanted to do commercial anymore, but I'm really glad y'all pushed us that way.

00:30:14.386 --> 00:30:16.212
So I'm proud of you for taking it.

00:30:16.212 --> 00:30:17.916
What, what has changed then?

00:30:17.916 --> 00:30:23.919
What's making you feel so confident on your service now, outside of just standing on that pillar of customer service?

00:30:23.919 --> 00:30:32.703
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.

00:30:32.703 --> 00:30:35.159
But you know what's changed then.

00:30:35.159 --> 00:30:36.535
How has your confidence changed?

00:30:36.535 --> 00:30:41.875
Yeah put you on the spot.

00:30:42.036 --> 00:30:44.334
Big question there's a lot of answers, man.

00:30:44.334 --> 00:30:45.116
There's so many answers.

00:30:45.116 --> 00:30:46.000
So much has changed.

00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:53.959
I would say the sales process is a good foundation for that Collecting deposits, offering options.

00:30:53.959 --> 00:31:00.499
One thing that I've been working on really tough the past month or two was BAMFAM book a meeting from a meeting.

00:31:00.499 --> 00:31:07.759
We had some tough scheduling issues where people would fall through the cracks and that's how you stop that.

00:31:07.759 --> 00:31:12.422
So I would say that's part of our sales process too is booking a meeting from a meeting.

00:31:12.422 --> 00:31:19.741
The deposits have definitely changed our world for cash flow.

00:31:23.913 --> 00:31:44.070
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.

00:31:44.070 --> 00:31:45.516
Right, a little demand call lotto.

00:31:46.097 --> 00:31:46.859
Yeah, that was last week.

00:31:46.859 --> 00:31:49.236
He's probably had $8,000 or so.

00:31:49.236 --> 00:32:01.000
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.

00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:09.011
Feels good close on those platinums, right, right, right, yeah, man, so our sales process has been awesome, our office.

00:32:09.011 --> 00:32:11.961
You guys are strong on hiring.

00:32:11.961 --> 00:32:13.896
I recommend hiring someone for the office.

00:32:13.896 --> 00:32:14.317
First thing.

00:32:14.317 --> 00:32:22.811
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.

00:32:22.811 --> 00:32:26.397
I would rather give them my money than me make that money for the first week or two.

00:32:26.397 --> 00:32:28.122
That's how powerful.

00:32:28.122 --> 00:32:31.093
If anyone listening right now, make that hire man.

00:32:31.093 --> 00:32:32.135
You cannot afford not to.

00:32:32.135 --> 00:32:35.472
You don't realize it now, but I'm telling you it is a life changer.

00:32:36.916 --> 00:32:39.250
Amen to that, I agree with you full heartedly, yep.

00:32:39.952 --> 00:32:40.654
Yeah, that's huge.

00:32:40.654 --> 00:32:44.513
How has this changed your personal take with the business?

00:32:44.513 --> 00:32:46.459
Do you mind going on the personal side of this a bit?

00:32:46.459 --> 00:32:52.784
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.

00:32:52.784 --> 00:32:53.987
It wasn't consistent, right.

00:32:54.849 --> 00:32:54.970
Right.

00:32:54.970 --> 00:33:02.474
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.

00:33:03.596 --> 00:33:04.838
I've been collecting a salary.

00:33:04.838 --> 00:33:07.270
Thank you, yeah, we do all this work.

00:33:07.551 --> 00:33:21.855
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.

00:33:21.894 --> 00:33:22.836
I mean it.

00:33:22.836 --> 00:33:30.176
It changes my mentality, for for everything, man, like I, it's, I don't have to worry as much, you know.

00:33:30.176 --> 00:33:40.430
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.

00:33:40.430 --> 00:33:47.324
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.

00:33:47.324 --> 00:33:56.762
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.

00:33:56.762 --> 00:33:59.917

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

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