Episode 1 - From 'Maybe' to Millionaire w/Guillermo Castillo

Rise II Rise Ep1 Guillermo Castillo

Tue, Nov 01, 2022 5:09PM • 1:03:03

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

business, people, service, bit, clay, customers, electrician, absolutely, wife, number, contractors, life, organization, technician, big, guillermo, company, talked, rise, electrical

SPEAKERS

Guillermo, Clay Neumeyer

Outline

Don’t throw the towel in.

0:00

How he got into the business of electrical work.

1:57

What is it about Residential Service that sets it apart from everything else?

8:21

Clay’s passion for helping youth and youth.

15:08

The importance of onboarding your staff and why.

21:24

Winners and losers have the same goal, they do.

27:32

Keep going and keep going.

32:27

The highway of pain and suffering is the highway of suffering.

36:43

The importance of having faith in your life.

41:01

What is the most important mental shift you need to make as a business owner?

45:32

The six basic human needs that every person has.

52:44

What’s the most important thing he would give advice to other contractors?

57:15

Clay Neumeyer  00:45

Clay here. And thank you for joining us on the rise to rise podcast. I've got such a treat for you today here without any further delay I want to bring to you Guillermo Because still Oh, come on, brother. Let's go. Thank you very much clay for having me on. I really appreciate what you and Rebs is doing for the industry. So I really appreciate you asking me to join you. Yeah, of course. Guillermo, thank you so much for joining us, my brother, Guillermo, for you guys that don't know, Guillermo and I have met through revs. And really, we've connected through some other content. And Lloyd and I, if you're in the ribs group, you've seen Lloyd and I, every week, and now bi weekly, we're showing up. And we're really just trying to help all contractors rise. Yeah, we do that through sharing some strategy, and more recently sharing some great stories. And so Guillermo, and I connected, and Guillermo is going to tell a fantastic story, some great things to share with us today. And so Guillermo, I'm gonna ask right away. Tell us a bit about your childhood and how this thing came together. Well, I'm originally from Nicaragua,

Guillermo  01:57

I came to the States when I was very young. Actually, my first first childhood memory is watching my father go to work and me wanting to go to work with him. Fast forward, 2003. The dream happened. I ended up going to work with him and electrical connections started. My background was Business Administration and Finance. And electricity was something that I never thought I would be doing. But here I am.

Clay Neumeyer  02:29

It's so interesting that you went from, from the business background, to them the trades? Yeah, was that decision hard for you to make?

Guillermo  02:38

Um, I think my father made me this way. In many ways, he made me the worst employee possible, because growing up, he told me three things living in the States was number one. You if you work your heart, if you work your butt off, you can accomplish anything. Number two, why you're why you're climbing up that ladder, treat everybody around you the way you want to be treated. And number three, be your own boss. So every time I would start a job somewhere that was always sitting in the back of my head, I need to be doing my own thing.

Clay Neumeyer  03:17

Wow. So even as you're getting that business education, you're probably thinking, Well, I can see how this would help someone else. But also knowing what your dad told you. I gotta make this work for me.

Guillermo  03:28

Correct? That is correct. Yeah.

Clay Neumeyer  03:31

Well, and you grew up in the United States.

Guillermo  03:34

Yeah, I grew up in Washington, the Washington DC suburbs. In Montgomery County, Maryland. That's where our shop is based now in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Clay Neumeyer  03:45

Awesome. Awesome. Very cool. And so a bit more on that transition from business now to apprentice you must have as an apprentice, yeah. Our entire apprenticeship. Working with your father.

Guillermo  03:59

Yeah. So the way it kind of went was, uh, you know, I went from working at a brokerage company to literally pulling wire and moving ladders around for my dad. So it was very humbling. So I did a lot of my training under him. And then I ended up going to a local trade school. And that's when it kind of all came together. And then I had a buddy of mine who was actually opening up a restaurant and he heard that I was in the business. And I started doing the lighting design and everything for it. And I really started to have a love for it. After the first year, I saw unbelievable potential. We were barely tapping into it so I fell in love with it really quick.

Clay Neumeyer  04:48

Interesting. And some of this potential now I'm dying to know at that level, what do you recall what some of that potential was and what it was and how

Guillermo  04:57

I mean, I mean, back then if I look at myself, you know, 2003, I had dreams of being the biggest, the largest, the most trucks. I mean, you name it, I wanted to be the biggest in the area. Fast forward now is not about size. It's not about sales, it's about the people that are around you. And it's about the profit margins, the most important thing, who cares about sales? It's about the profit margins that stay in the company.

Clay Neumeyer  05:30

Right? Absolutely. And I love that people come in. And from our chat prior to this in those notes, I've definitely got some of your philosophy on people and how that's changed your business. I can't wait to get into that here in a little bit. Oh, yeah. At this point, now, when did you begin to become an entrepreneur in this journey?

Guillermo  05:52

So I would say, think for me, it was probably when we started to really focus on residential, like, mitigation work, insurance work. So back in 2008, I think a lot of us on this podcast were on ribs. Remember, the housing market crashed, we lost so many clients, I was able to get the largest mitigation company as one of my clients. So no matter what the economy did, we always had work. Because when there's a fire, or a flood or something, a house has to be rebuilt. Two things happened to me while that time with the mechanic, we're working with that mitigation company. Number one, I saw firsthand what electrical hazards can do to a home, most electricians don't see it, all they do is do new construction, remodel, whatever. But when you're one of the worst things you can see is when you see a homeowner shifting through burnt up pieces of what their house used to be to pick up burnt up pictures, that has an impact on you. So it really made me start to think like, what I do isn't just about putting up lights and plugs or dimmers or anything. I have the direct knowledge of keeping people in my community safe. And then number two, what it did for me was, I started to, you know, do the estimates and everything more more with a fine tooth comb. And I saw how the profit margins with these type jobs were so razor thin, one change order could wipe us out. And would there come a moment in this time of our company history, where we were owed a lot of money by this mitigation company. And when you're dealing with contractors and insurance companies, you almost float every single job and become their bank. And we were owed a lot of money. And I had to scrounge around for quarters and dimes out of a penny jar to buy cheeseburgers to feed me and my wife. Now, I don't know about you, Clay. But that was one of the most humbling things that I had to do. And as a man when you can't provide, I started looking at other ways to be able to change things up for us. So those are the two things that I kind of got out of that moment in time. For sure.

Clay Neumeyer  08:21

No, that's incredible. And I appreciate that share. Because I'm sure if you're listening to this now you might be one of these people facing those cash flow issues. And for me and you both and I can only imagine, in fact, would you tell us again, like how long are we going without payment after a project is complete?

Guillermo  08:40

I think the quickest is 30. There's been times where we weren't paid 90 plus days, and we were fronting payroll material overhead. And if that's your number one clientele, then that's where the only source of money is. So you better make that money last and

Clay Neumeyer  08:59

It hurts. salutely Absolutely. And that's the point I was going to touch on especially in a small business or a new business. A lot of times and for a lot of guys and gals mind you, if you're escaping a position that you're already in to go and take this leap on your own. You might be in that insurance game, you might be in that construction game, facing some of the risk with general contractors especially because there's constantly new companies being brought in and and coming and trying to leverage new relationships and sometimes it's these new contractors and new subcontractors and everyone's at risk. Yes. And no one has cashflow figured out or even really a plan for it. Yes and I found it so difficult in my own experience as it can bring you to feeling like a beggar. The works done you're begging for paid why

Guillermo  09:54

exactly why or why should I be asking for my money? I did. I passed all my inspections, customers were happy, and I completed the job on time. Why should I be asking for my money? Why do I need to get quarters out of a quarter jar to feed me and my wife after I've worked so hard on these jobs? It was, I had to make the change.

Clay Neumeyer  10:19

And you did, you made a huge change from my notes. Tell us a bit more about that period. So you're scrounging you know, something's gotta give this is your big wall. And you got to get around this or what I mean, were you considering closing at that point, too.

Guillermo  10:36

So when you work so hard, and you don't see the fruits of your labor, your your your spirit, your spirit really becomes negative thinking, my passion for the business was was going away, I was figuring out, maybe this is just not the right thing for me to do. I love electrical work, but maybe I just can't hack it. So I decided to look and see what else was out there. That's when I discovered residential service. residential service is a business all to its own. It's another way of completely doing electrical business. And that was the answer to my problems. And it helped me to use my strengths to maximize the revenue for my business, and my family and my organization, is what residential service did for us.

Clay Neumeyer  11:33

And I just kind of get a bit deeper on that, because a lot of our listeners may not actually have any relevance to this solution yet, or any reference. Rather, maybe it's a better word. What is it about residential service that sets it apart from everything else? In your opinion, good,

Guillermo  11:52

man, where do I begin? So I have, I'm the type of person that I really love, I like connecting with my clients. And not only that, not only do I like connecting with my client, but after being exposed to so much destruction, and so much pain and heartache from people having their house burned down or disasters having to their house, I was able to use and pivot my ability to connect with my customers, my genuine, my genuine care for families. And I was able to pivot that into the why of our business. And I discovered I rediscovered my why or why I do this. And, and I was able to get my passion back, I was able to give that level of service that no other electrician in my area had, and I rebuilt my company, one customer at a time. And I lost a lot of my employees because they didn't believe what I was doing was what I was trying to do. But I rebuilt my company and my brand, one customer at a time.

Clay Neumeyer  13:09

Wow, that's remarkable. And thanks for that share. One thing that really stood out to me was the why and I think you said it twice honestly. How important is that? Why? What do you do? And furthermore to anyone really trying to do their own electrical gig at all?

Guillermo  13:27

Yeah. So think of your electrical business together like Frankenstein, right? Think of it, you got the arms, you got the legs, you got the head, it's all there on the table. Right? Why is the soul that goes inside of that body once you figure out why it will bring life to the organization. And it's infectious because it's infectious, sorry, infectious, it will just ooze and into all the pores of your business. And you hire you because of your why you fire because of your why you make decisions because of your why? And whatever that is for anybody. They must have a passion and know why they are opening up a shop. Why are you doing this? Is it because you just want to have a business? Is it because you want whatever that may be for you. My reason is I genuinely want to keep homeowners and my community safe. I want to get my organization to the size where I can impact my team's lives in a way that it's going to give them a lifestyle of living that they never knew. I want to get kids out of high school. Maybe they're not meant for college, but I can show them a roadmap of how to make a good living through the trades. That's my Why help people around me inward and outward of my inward in my organization. Mission outward of my organization.

Clay Neumeyer  15:02

Wow, wow is all I can say to you and I connect there, we haven't connected behind the scenes there. But I'm also quite passionate about helping youth find it as well. In fact, we've got an at risk, rather than Youth Center here in my hometown Chilliwack, where I am, again, we're looking at ways to work with them, because there's a lot of people that are just lost. And I found that not to go too far off track here. But I found that when people get lost, and they don't have any activity, working them in a positive, momentous direction, it just seems to get deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper.

Guillermo  15:41

Absolutely. Clay. And isn't it amazing clay, how when you help somebody and you go out and and help others, how it comes back 10 times it comes back tenfold. And you're not doing it because yes, I want to get it to come back to me tenfold. You're doing it because you genuinely want to help others. And it's amazing how those fruits come back to you. And that's happened so many times.

Clay Neumeyer  16:07

That's perfect. I actually want to spend a little more time on this, if that's alright, because I think there's a lot of people now bridging into the service game, especially those who are a little hesitant to hire young help and apprentices. Have you made room for that in your business? And how have you maintained that in a profitable sense that, you know, isn't completely a donation? So to speak? Right,

Guillermo  16:36

right and going? And so Yep, absolutely. Clay? Great question. So we're so our future, my future goal one day is to have an actual trade school attached to the organization. I want, that's my future goal. But for right now, you have to be number one, you have to be priced. Right, you have to be priced right to be able to have a guy ride with one of your lead service technicians. And to slowly but surely get up there, you have to be priced right to budget, what their tuition is going to be at a trade school, you have to be priced right to be able to send them to national academies here in the United States, or I'm sure that in Canada as well, to be able to invest in them. But if you're not price, right, you're not going to do it, you're not gonna be able to do

Clay Neumeyer  17:31

it. So it's got to be part of the plan, it's got to be part of the plan has to be Wow, how important. And so if you're listening to this at this point, slight plug here. But you know, what, if you haven't got that financial plan, if you haven't figured all your burdens and your pricing to be right, as Guillermo has said, What advice would you give these people Guillermo,

Guillermo  17:58

I would say every year must start with a budget, you gotta have a roadmap of how you think the year is going to go and plan for the worst. For example, if you're going to wire up a brand new house, you want to know where the lights are gonna go. You want to know where the receptacles are going to be? You want to know your switch legs, you want to know what your panel is, your meter, all that stuff? Why wouldn't you do that for your business in the year to come? And we start analogy? Yes. Yeah, no, no problem. We start looking at our budget for the next year, in August of the previous year. We don't have anything set in stone. But we can already kind of analyze the numbers of eight months, and kind of see how the next year is going to be. And then October, November, it's crunch time for us. That is when we start implementing this is how many technicians we're going to add. This is how many trucks we're going to add. We're going to add this new program, that new program, we're going to expand to a new warehouse. We're going to expand to a new market, how much is that marketing going to cost? I mean, everything gets accounted for how many people are we going to have to refund money to all that's budgeted, everything is budgeted.

Clay Neumeyer  19:16

Wonderful. I love that. I love the level of detail that you take that definitely brings me to a couple of thoughts. And one was around the service game. One of the popular objections that I've heard coming from really prominently construction contractors. Yeah, similar niches and electrical. Were you ever concerned for there being enough volume is the question I'm getting at here, Guillermo? Yes,

Guillermo  19:50

absolutely. Like marketing. So I think we're really starting to turn a corner when it comes to marketing. But the best way that I can really describe marketing is think of marketing, like a contractor. One of the worst positions to be in for an electrician is to have one contractor be 100% of your revenue. That's scary. Because if you piss that guy off, guess what, you're not going to you got to, you're not going to have work. Marketing is the same thing. Think of your marketing, your Google your yelps, your home advisor, your E locals, your service agreement programs, your, your, your Hulu commercials that you put out there, Facebook, all that stuff, think about them, like contractors, and you have to be spread out and not rely on just one source. That's the best thing to do. And on top of that, you must build a, a some sort of a repeat type clientele. And one of the best ways to do that is to have service agreements in place in your organization. It's great to have a lot of new customers coming in. But right now, I would say 60 to 65% of our clientele, our previous customers, that's a healthy business right there. Yeah, yeah,

Clay Neumeyer  21:24

That is healthy, isn't it? So many times we talked about lifetime client value. And contractors, at least in my experience, tend to relate that to the average ticket price, right. And that just can't be the way we think about our customers. And, of course, in construction, or maybe in your insurance contracts, you've got these great big service agreements, and they can last years, right in my mind that actually creates more risk, the same as the diversity that you're talking about with the marketing channels, or as you call them, separate contractors? Yes. Yes. That's a wonderful way to look at it. And I really appreciate that. I think honestly, a financial advisor gives us kind of the same advice, right? Yes. Exactly the same thing. Exactly. Okay. So I'm going to jump back to this why a little bit, we went down a bit of a tangent there. And I hope that answered some questions that many would have. But on that, why does that then translate to your customers, to your staff? And maybe in some cases, from your staff to your customers? And do you think that it's important there on the frontlines as well for your business?

Guillermo  22:38

Absolutely. So I mean, our why, like, our tagline is safety driven, unmatched care. And that really does come from our why because we are proactively trying to keep our client safe. And then we back that up with just unbelievable care about the client, their well being and their overall experience with us. Our reason begins with the onboarding of our team, because you can't just hire a guy, and here's why go out there and do it. Absolutely not. Your preparation for your brand to be used. Because when you hire somebody, that person must know who they are for you. They must know your brand, your WHY it all begins with that initiation of the onboarding. Some guys will put a technician in a truck and say go out there and be with the best guy. What are you doing to onboard that technician properly? Wow, is this you hire? Understanding the reason why the organization exists? And on top of that, how is that technician going out there and representing the brand? It all begins with onboarding? That's where everything begins. For that, why

Clay Neumeyer  24:06

really powerful? And then of course, I know you've spoken so highly about the training and the investment in that staff. I can't wait to get more into that. But you know what, I think I want to take us back to the story a little bit. We're getting pretty deep into strategy now. And I love it. And I could swap days talking to you about Oh, yeah. So you decide to go to service. And things are going well. Can you give us a bit of a timeline here at this point?

Guillermo  24:32

Yes. So we jumped into service about 2013. I pretty much lost every single employee I had when I first started because I found out that guys couldn't pass drug tests. I found out that guys couldn't pass a background test. Some guys didn't want to wear uniforms. So it was just me and another technician. We started to build it from 2013, to about 2000. And, and 16. to about a five tech level is where we were at. After that, we kind of plateaued and stalled out a little bit. We spent a lot of time learning our KTI’s, really learning the process of being a service business training, flat rate pricing, and the overall experience of the customer. Dispatchers call takers, I mean, man, it was such a learning experience. And it was like drinking water out of a firehose. And the only way that we really did it, honestly, Clay was to take one piece of it and just do one piece of a time, it felt like it was eating an elephant. It was just one bite at a time. But all that immense diving into everything, learning everything it prepared us for what was to come in COVID came along, and it again, it almost wiped us out. We went from about total about 12 employees, including me and my wife. And we were down to me, my wife, and two two employees. And we were literally weeks away from from, from closing the doors down, we would have just enough calls to get us through the next three days. And then no calls and then enough calls to get it through the next three days. I don't know how we made it through clay. But we made it through. And we just fell back on the fundamentals of what we had learned in the past. And we have met some some people on our journey to get us where we are today. And right now we're sitting at 20 employees. Pacing $3 million at a 21% profit margin is where we're at right now as of today. And I couldn't be here. If it wasn't for all that learning, and messing up and learning through that process of being in the service business. It was tough.

Clay Neumeyer  27:32

Okay, hang on. So I've heard this before. But for those of you listening who haven't heard this, so just just to clear this up. So in just under three years, you went from weeks away from total annihilation. Shut the doors. This is it. We've tried everything. You know, pandemic. Yes. Is so many people were destroyed by this, too. Now, three years later, just shy of 20. Staff?

Guillermo  28:00

Yes. Pay 23 million. Pacing 3 million at a 21 21%.

Clay Neumeyer  28:08

Yeah, yeah, that's workable.

Guillermo  28:10

I can't wait. Thank you very much. I can't believe we're here. Yeah.

Clay Neumeyer  28:14

Okay. But you mentioned having helped along the way, it wouldn't be a complete show without a couple of plugs there. Yes. By the way, you guys, this is not advertised, these stories are coming out raw and real. That's our entire intent for this show is to only do it that way. So Guillermo is going to tell you about everything that's worked and what hasn't worked for him. And so in this case, he's had a couple of organizations help them out. Would you tell us a bit about that and how that's fostered your growth?

Guillermo  28:41

Absolutely. So we initially got into service through an organization called SGI Success Group International, which has now renamed themselves certain paths that really got us in the service world and helped us build the systems out. Around that time of the pandemic a little bit before that. I met up with an old friend of mine, Joel Grady from their service profit group, and the guy wears his heart on his sleeves. My wife is a really good judge of character. And she loves that guy to death just like I do. He's a guy that like you clay are out here trying to kind of raise those ships, raise the water for everybody and show everybody a better way of doing business and other owners that have helped me just pick up the phone when I needed help was guys like Mario out of LA Kent out of Minnesota. Carrie Atkins out of Alabama, West Carr West Carver out of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. There are so many owners out there and what's great about this Oregon great about our industry clay It's how we genuinely want to help each other. The whole reason I'm here today is because I want my story to genuinely help somebody else. I'm sure there's another electrician listening to this right now, that is ready to throw the towel in, I got something to tell you. Don't throw the towel in, you're just a next move away from being where you want to be. I was weeks away from closing my shop. But I'm sitting at a profitable, successful business right now, because of the help from others. And my journey has been nothing more than mistakes and help from others to get me where I'm at today.

Clay Neumeyer  30:35

That's so incredible. And you know, you're such a testament to this, this journey for so many people that it can pay off. A couple of things I got to throw in there. Something I've heard, and now I've adopted this entirely is winners and losers have the same goal. They do. Everyone wants to win. And your success is where it is now. But it's been iterative, right? It's grown to this place where goal after goal, you meet it, and then you paint a new one, meet it paint a new one, a new vision, right? Keep growing this thing. It's important to keep having those goals and keep setting them because that is success. It's your ability to realize the destination from the direction that you're headed. Really? Yes. So if winners and losers focus on the same thing, what's the difference? And for me, you know what? I want to know your answer. First. I do I want to ask you what, what's the difference for you between winners and losers.

Guillermo  31:36

So the difference between winners and losers is to look at your losses. As your victories also, I look at my losses as victories. Because when I lose, I know that I'm not going to make that same mistake twice. And the next time I come across that specific situation, I'm going to be much wiser of how to handle that situation. So because you're losing, that does not mean that's your that's where you are. That's your stock, or that's your destination, your losses. Winds are nothing more than a bunch of losses. That's all winds are. And that's why I think I'm successful, is because I look at my losses as a positive thing.

Clay Neumeyer  32:27

Yeah, I love that. That's a great answer. And I share that with you. Actually, I don't look at it as the big loss. Right. Right. There's sort of the battles and the war. Yep. But in terms of the war and getting this big win. For me, it boils down to consistent activity. Yes. And that is just as much, right? This podcast, for example, we could do three episodes and give up on it on the fourth week, because only 300 people watched it instead of 1000. Yeah, I don't believe that's going to happen personally, because we're telling some dynamite stories that are gonna change. No, we're lifting that tide you were talking about. But what it comes down to is not giving up. That's really the only way to lose, give up. So the ability to be able to measure and decide what's working and what isn't. And the ability to make changes based on that data. Yeah. And just keep going. And just keep going. And just keep going. And I can't I could keep saying that over and over. Keep going. Keep going. Just the way you've played with that today. So,

Guillermo  33:38

spray now you're 100% you're 100%? Right, Clay 100%. Right when you say that,

Clay Neumeyer  33:43

I appreciate that. And I appreciate the kind words he gave me. Obviously we're trying to help people, but something else you said was so huge. Yeah. Yeah, I know the reasons. I mean, I'm an electrician, too. So that's a big reason for me being here. But in this trade, I've been endlessly flustered by the number of people who are actually trying to stand on the shoulders of everyone else. We're trying to keep it away. Like it's a like it's a secret, right? Like a soccer match. This isn't a game of keep away. There's so much that is just creation that isn't competition. And even and especially in home service. Sure, we might visit the same homeowner. But they're still at least by by what we've said here today, they're still going to make a choice based on who they like. Exactly, exactly, don't you that's the law of small business. Who do you know like and trust? Yes, I love about serving people. And me like you I wasn't doing insurance but I was doing big industrial projects and there's just no love in that game. Now they're even for my staff will just say quick, sorry. It was like yeah, I'm trying to give my all to these people. I care for them and I want them to do well. Yeah, at the end of the day, we're all working 1214 hour days. Get paid this hourly wage with no Commission's or real bonus structure. Yeah. And yeah, I had some influence. And there, it was just it was very challenging. And when people got sick, we did everything we could to keep them going to keep them working. Now,

Guillermo  35:13

you're I mean, you're 100, you're on a percent, right. Like last month, we had one of our record breaking months, I think we almost broke our company record in revenue and sales. But I look at everything that happened last month. And I'm gonna tell you the one that we had, one of my service technicians went to a call and he saw that the son of the homeowner was a very just kind of introverted type kid, and, and he spoke, he got up a conversation with a kid and, and the little boy wanted to be he wants to be an airline pilot. You I, for some reason, he opened up to my service technician, talked about how he got bullied at school, talked about how what he wanted to do. And my service technician kind of went through the same thing in high school, he came to me and my wife and said he wanted to buy him from the company on Amazon, this little plaque about being a pilot in the future, and wrote him a little card saying that you can do, you can do whatever you put your heart into it. And we said that to him. Now, I look at it as a business owner, I look at that as like, high sales, high revenue. My technician under understands my wife. And my why is more important than sales and revenue. And that was our wind last month. That was our when

Clay Neumeyer  36:39

you just gave me goosebumps. My hair ending? Yeah. It seems to come in that we go through this busy life and really trying to be with your clients on this one. For example, we all have this busy life. And we're all being interrupted on what I call the Highway of pain and suffering. Yeah, I call it that. Because if you look around, people really are doing this to themselves. We're just holding the clock here. And we're so busy. And everything's kind of blinders on. And we're all being you know, marketed to 3000 plus times a day between your phone notifications and your email. Yeah, all this stuff's going on. So I can just fully appreciate every moment that two people are more able to get out of that, like we're doing here right now. All the notifications off just one another. Yes. vulnerable and sharing something. Sharon? Yes. Special. How important to me. That's the biggest, biggest win for for this industry, for long service electrical, wow, to be able to actually impact someone.

Guillermo  37:46

I mean, could you imagine getting that in the mail? I don't know how that how that little kid's going to take it. But that's that's just all to me. That's awesome. If I would have gotten that one, if I was going through something like that, and got that kind of encouragement that I mean, that's awesome. I love that. Yeah.

Clay Neumeyer  38:02

Yep. Yeah. I love what you said about, you know, you guys working with Joe. And as a husband and wife, I think you guys kind of work together a little bit, right? A lot, a lot has your wife been to.

Guillermo  38:14

So I'm going to be honest with you. So I didn't really start seeing true success in my business, until I stopped putting it first in my life. When I put my business, fourth place of my priorities in my life, is when I came to work sharper than you could imagine. I used to put my business in front of my family, my wife, everything I used to breathe my business. So I'm I always tell you, Clay, God bless brother, you know, have a blessed day. I'm a man of faith. So for me, my number one thing in my life is my faith. So after that is my relationship with my wife, the time I spent with my children. My health comes comes third. I quit I quit smoking cigarettes, I was smoking like almost a pack and a half a day. I'm really taking care of myself. And then fourth is my business. If I have all that stuff, in check, and in order, when I get to work, and it's time, it's time to make some an impact in that's how I show up.

Clay Neumeyer  39:30

I love that. I love that. I just want to point something else out there and we talked about it a little bit. It's, at least to me, it doesn't seem like something you just decide, like I'm putting my business first. It's not that it's not a zero or a one. It's somewhere in between. It's a gray area, but I've found it to in my experience and sometimes still do where you come up for breath air and you realize, holy heck, I've put my business first again this week. It's not a perfect thing is it's a constant

Guillermo  39:59

it's a child Challenge. It's a challenge claim, because they could suck you in.

Clay Neumeyer  40:04

Yeah, yes, sir. So how do you maintain that ongoing? Do you have a check and balance daily? Is there a routine that you do that maybe someone else could benefit from?

Guillermo  40:14

So, I mean, that's gonna sound a little a little funny, but so you know how you have KPIs for your business. I also have KPIs for my life. So I, I literally track how much time I spend with reading the Bible, how much time I spend with my wife, things I do with my children, if I'm going to the gym if I'm eating right, and what golden nugget that was able to accomplish in my business today. So I've been doing that for some time. And I can see and track and make changes in my personal life that I need to make, you know, so personal

Clay Neumeyer  40:56

running dashboard, essentially,

Guillermo  40:58

or myself Correct. My own personal KTI.

Clay Neumeyer  41:01

Brother, I've got the same thing. That's not rehearsed. We know. I mean, other. But I almost

Guillermo  41:09

felt a little weird sharing it. I mean, yeah. And I'm not, you know, but that's just kind of what's been working for

Clay Neumeyer  41:14

me. Yeah. I've even in some people with my friends that come over and go, Okay, maybe too much, right. But I've done that before as a family exercise, too. But we all felt drifted a bit. And we felt like, hey, you know, what, we need a bit of focus, and having some stuff listed out and where it's even fun for the kids to participate? Honestly, absolutely crazy stuff. It was like, a good deed of the day. Yes, it will. Last one, everyone checked it off, right? Doing something or giving a compliment counts, too, because there's not enough of that in the world. And I feel like if we can bring our kids into that kind of life, then maybe there's a chance here for for this kind of thing, this, this these relationships and this service provider and and become a premium service provider. As I say, maybe this stuff can continue with our kids as well.

Guillermo  42:06

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And, and you know what, though clay wouldn't when you're when, when your relationship I don't, I'm not trying to you know, I'm just talking about myself when my relationship with the Lord is close. My wife and I are happy. My kids and I are spending quality time. I just got out of the gym in the morning, when I come to work clay, I feel like I'm a lion ready to just tackle the world. That's how I feel. Because all that part of my life is just running on all cylinders.

Clay Neumeyer  42:41

I love that. I love that. And I definitely am right there with a lion as well. That's it's on my pendant that I wear every day. Yeah, it's always there to remind me that, hey, there's work to do. And sometimes you got to be a lion. For me, it doesn't always feel like you want to be aligned. That's why I wear that really? Do you ever feel like that? Are there times where you feel a bit sheepish? And you get, you know, maybe it's impostor syndrome? Or you realize, holy cow, there's 20 staff that depend on me? How are we going to keep doing this? Do you have those moments too?

Guillermo  43:15

I do. I think we all do. Once we all become business owners. I mean, we leave being in the electrical business, and we enter being in the people business. And, man, it's sometimes it's just so much easier to install a 42 space panel, turn the phone off, versus deal with everybody just pouncing on you. But, but nobody's going to do it other than you, you as the owner or the leader. And you just got to get through it. And the way that I have found myself to get through it is through my face. That's it.

Clay Neumeyer  43:54

Absolutely. I love that. So I also want to bridge something in here. And I hope that it comes off entirely respectful. Not everyone puts their religion so high up the list. And I just want to really, really underline that word faith and how important it is, with or without a religious undertone. If you're someone listening, I just want you to be able to relate to this to faith, for me, at least and correct me if you feel the need to faith has been about belief, correct belief in a trajectory, belief and realization. And the reality is in my life that faith has led me to accomplish amazing things too. And at times that faith can waver and at times we don't realize it the way we intended to. But I very much believe in manifestation and I believe that if we set our sights on something, and continue to hold it in our mind that we can hold it in In our hands, and that's been one of the most impactful things in my life.

Guillermo  45:04

And I 100% percent agree with you, I, I shouldn't be here. We should have been out of business years ago. But it's the faith in me and my ability to faith in my wife. And the dream that I have to where I want to take this thing that is gotten through the tough times. And so I 100% agree with what you're saying.

Clay Neumeyer  45:32

It's incredible, incredible, incredible. So you talked about something else? We'll shift gears a little bit here, because you did say it. And it's one of my favorite things that you've said. Not that at all isn't great. It's all right. But I asked you right away in one of our pre sessions, what maybe one of the most important mental shifts was around this game caused you have so much success? I see what I'm talking about.

Guillermo  45:59

Yes. So I just mentioned it before. So I, for many years, thought I was an electrical contractor, I thought I was an electrician. Once I became an owner of a business. I didn't realize I think probably until the last about three years ago, actually, through this whole COVID thing. I came out of there with a different mindset that I really am not in the electrical business. I'm in the people business, I'm in the system, creating businesses, the business that I'm in. So once that mind shift happened, that's when a lot of things really started to change for me all around all around me. So that realization really changed me

Clay Neumeyer  46:46

incredible. And then you even went a step further with that and told me, you know, since that shift in mindset, you've also had a shift in what you prioritize is sort of the top few things that you need to do as a CEO. Yes. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

Guillermo  47:04

Yeah. So really, that shift of being in a truck, and then being in the office, that's, it's a major shift, and it's going to happen to you. And your, this is what's going to happen to and I'm, this is what happened to me, you're gonna feel lost, you're gonna feel like, what the heck am I doing now? I'm in the office. I'm not used to this. But you need to divide your time into three things. Number one, you need to know your numbers, you must do your daily KPIs. Check how many calls came in? What was the average ticket? What was the conversion rate? How many service agreements, just things that numbers that are super important in your business? Those must be checked every day? Number two, you must be recruiting always. Because if you're not, you can't be one of these owners at all. A guy quit. Now I need to go find a guy. No, you must be crew, we recruiting nonstop, every day, 24 hours a day looking at resumes. And the last thing you need to be doing is you need to be training your people. Right now, I'm at a point where I don't train directly my technicians and my call takers and all that. I train my trainers right now. So I'm always training by always training. And that is just made transformational changes in my business.

Clay Neumeyer  48:35

No kidding in how powerful I think it's one of the things that we miss. And last week, I talked a few times about this. Love the caterpillar, and some we call the Law of hindrance as well. And they kind of go hand in hand. I'll take a minute and share this with you if you don't mind. Yeah, the law of the caterpillar really talks about our individual metamorphosis from simple naive creatures that started at a your first job, your first j ob just over broke it. And for whatever reason that was you're saving for a car or girl or whatever your situation, you're young, you're new to the game, and you've got tons to learn that you just can't learn at home. So stage one is sort of that that job, that first job, but at some point, most realize, hey, there's more out there for me. And they have a shift. It's not about the time I put in the hour I get paid for it's the value I bring to the hour that I'm getting paid. Yes, yes, they can. They can escalate or evolve in this case, to level two, which is more a skilled professional. And at this point, for most people, there's an opportunity of say 100,000 Plus, as a career. Level two, yes, four levels to this. That's not the end. For a lot of people. It's the best still, you know, it's everything to them and that's fine and they'll settle with that and be totally happy and I think all those people are the kind of people that we're trying to hire. Really? So no, it's not a fault to never go past to plenty of people are happy there. But for some, it fails the equation, which is well, I'm trading all my time for all my money. Yes. And so I need to up my game. And how can we do that by starting our own company? Because learn more and work less, right? Yeah, that's what they say, oh my gosh, this is crap. See, the biggest thing that I think people fail that you've said so wonderfully here is you're in the business of people. Nothing's ever been truer for entrepreneurs. So when you get to level three, if you never find that person to delegate to, if you never find those people to hire, and bring in that work for you and gain your trust, then you are limited, you can't get past this, you get stuck. And that 70 80% that are failing in the first three years. The Level Three connects perfectly with that law of hindrance that I mentioned, where the deficiencies in the discipline number one, so it's the discipline of what you just talked about, knowing what to do, when to do it. And for who. And that's evolving to this isn't just a zero and a one again, there's actually a lot to this art, right? There's kind of the science of business, but then there's the art of management, right and actually making it happen. Yeah, credible. So if you're half behind the wheel of a van, and then getting into the office, and you're finding that balance and finding what do I delegate What don't I. And that brings us to level two or not level two, the second problem in the law of hindrance, which is trust, a lot of us are building an electrical Island. And we get stuck behind this. We don't have that trust. And we think well, I bring someone in, but there's an investment and a risk to hiring them. What if they don't do it as good as me? Right? Oh, it is? That's not true, is it? They can't, they can't do it as good as you know what at first anyway. But you'd hope that instead of being a general, these people become specialists in that area. And they take it further beyond what you could even do. Yes. And for of that caterpillar before I bridge back, because there's something important there. Level four is really philanthropy. So I don't know, if you feel you've realized level four, yet not many people ever get there, because very few really maximize level three. But level four is where we let go of a product and service and we sell our vision. And that impact we're bringing to the world.

Guillermo  52:44

I 100% agree with with everything that you're saying. I think I mean, for us, I'm thinking of things right now for next year for the company that I could not thought of behind a tool belt, or being so hands on every single part of the operation. You know what I mean? Yeah, you know, and I finally have a leadership team in place where I can train them, and they can go out and train the other team members in there. But now it's time for me to kind of invest in myself a little bit more, because a company is only as good as the leader of the organization is I have given so much to my team members. And the best way that I can give back to my organization is to reinvest in myself again. So I can go ahead and pour into my team member members again. So one of the things that we're going to be doing next year is going to do doing a lot of leadership training, a lot of management trainee, leadership training, how can we inspire the people around us? Because my technicians and my CCR, their customers? Are the homeowners, my managers, their customers, or their technicians? Are the inventory. Guys are the warehouse people are the call takers or the dispatchers? How are they serving their customers? And my customers? Are my managers. How can I serve my customers better?

Clay Neumeyer  54:26

What an incredible insight in on that topic of trust? How big has that been for you and being able to delegate to people who have now risen and proven themselves and and have you experienced this, you must have were a few have risen beyond what you've expected from them.

Guillermo  54:43

I mean, so if you don't rise, I mean, this is what's going to happen. It happened to me years ago, you know that when I first started in the service business is that if you are not growing, this is what's happening to you. You're dying. You because the people and the talent that you attract, if they don't see room for growth, if they don't see an upward mobility for themselves, they're gonna find it somewhere else. You must grow, to survive, you must be better to survive. And you can't be complacent. You can't be complacent, or you die.

Clay Neumeyer  55:24

I love that growth or death. I love that when I share that with you to actually, yeah, there's something and I talked about it in our program frequently, just the six basic human needs. Yeah, I find it's actually, I don't want to say predictable, but it's common, the phases that people go through. And if we really take an unbiased look at why we lose someone that we really did appreciate, etc, we're usually able to find something in their needs, that was just maybe not communicated, or we didn't do something to bring that out in them. Or even sometimes, I found that personal relationships can be so strong that our employees feel conflicted about telling us their true feelings. Yeah. But absolutely, those six basic human needs are quite simple. Everyone needs variety. To a degree, they got variety. Everyone needs certainty. That's those basic needs the paycheck that shelter, food, water and air growth, which is one you just said it's so powerful growth or death, everyone actually needs that to some degree. The priorities are different at different stages, but we all need it. Then we've got significance, contribution, and connection. Yes, six basic human needs that we all have. It's like a recipe. And we just got to figure out, what's the dish this week? What do we need to eat? Right? Yes, everyone again, prioritizes those? Well, have you had any tricks in your staffing that you've used to recognize stages of people or help influence them?

Guillermo  57:05

Um, I mean, we do have, I think right now for that right now, we're, we don't have a lot of levers in place. One of the things that we're going to be focusing on next years, and we're actually going to be throwing some money at this. And developing this for next year, is our retention program, a retention program is going to be able to recognize not just sales of revenue, that's, that's, that's easy to measure. But I want to dive deeper, I want to go deeper with my team, I want to be able to send my team's wife or husband a letter saying, Hey, Mrs. Jones, I just want to tell you what an unbelievable asset, your husband is here at this company, this and this is what he did. And I want to sign it, and my wife sign it and send that to his house without didn't even know what little things like that, to recognize him or her at the organization. And I want to, I want to be able to, you know, do our our 90 day rule or 90 Day reviews, and really track that a little bit better and create positions, not for the now, but create positions for the future for them. And I think that for us is really going to begin at sharing our what our our company structure is going to look like in three to five years, and where you fit in that in the future to show and show them how to get to that pass. And that's something we're going to be working on next year.

Clay Neumeyer  58:43

Incredible. Yeah, I appreciate that share. It's so important, right? And I always look at it as an iterative process. You take care of your staff, your staff, take care of your clients, your clients take care of the business and the business takes care of you. Yes, around and around and around. So

Guillermo  58:59

it's It's the circle of life, the circle of business life.

Clay Neumeyer  59:04

But as you said, again, taking care of people right, brother. Yes, absolutely. So what is I just we're getting late in the hour here. So we're wrapping this up a bit. And I think there's a ton for us to talk about, by the way. Oh, yeah. They do this again, if if, if we found time. Yes. So what what's the most important thing here? If if you had to give, let's say a newer contract, or someone in their first couple years, the keys to the kingdom? Here it is, this is what you need to know. Is it something we've already said here today? Whatever you want to highlight or bring out or that I haven't asked about, please share it with us.

Guillermo  59:46

So I'm going to kind of say I think there's three things that I would probably want to give advice to on other contractors. I think number one is that you're Business is a direct reflection of who you are. If you genuinely care about others, if you genuinely, really want to make others better around you, your business is going to reflect that. So whoever you are right now, look in the mirror. And that's what your business is going to be like, like you. Number two, is to remember that we've said this three times already, but that the business that you're truly in is the people business. You know, customers are going to come and go, projects are going to come and go. But at the end of the day, you really are in the people business. And I would say, the last thing for you to have real solid growth is you must set clear goals for your team, you must hold them accountable. And you must show them a path for growth. Those are the three things that I would give advice to other owners out there.

Clay Neumeyer  1:01:07

That's incredible. So impactful, I just know that this is going to change lives. I do, man. So I thank you so much for sharing your story here today. Guillermo, I appreciate you so much, brother. I'm so glad we met in that Rebs group in the last year here. And we're able to connect with this

Guillermo  1:01:23

a man and you guys look like I told you before, keep doing what you're doing. You guys are the light that everyone is seeing. I'm seeing so many electricians being attracted to what you guys are about. And it's all about changing this industry and, and showing electricians that we should not be living a life of one job to the next we have a skill set that saves lives that puts food on the table that can provide an incredible living and play. Kudos to you. And everyone that's a part of this. You know, God bless you guys.

Clay Neumeyer  1:02:00

I appreciate that more and more than you know. So thank you so much for that. Wow, what an incredible story. Thank you so much for joining us. If you connected with our guests here today. If you took some inspiration, some tools some strategy from that you've got to let us know by leaving a review and like right where you heard it first. If you're an electrical contractor looking to rise then you want to grab a free summary of today's episode notes and guest contact info at www dot rise to rise.com. That's www dot rise to rise.com. For those of you looking to increase sales service and client value today, we've got the service rise 101 tool to help you accomplish just that. This thing is going to point you in the right direction to get an immediate boost that you can literally see in the bank this week. Cheers to your success. I'm Clay Neumeyer bye for now.