Full Transcript for Hiring For Outcomes: Build Better Teams & Boost Lead Quality with Michael Pruitt, Master's Landscape Design

summers working on the farm, but oftentimes in the winter months, you 73 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:16,240 know, I was learning about construction as well. 74 00:04:16,959 --> 00:04:19,595 And so that's kind of how it started off. 75 00:04:19,595 --> 00:04:25,354 And, I thought I'd continue farming, but my grandfather and my dad, you got to go to 76 00:04:25,354 --> 00:04:25,754 school. 77 00:04:25,754 --> 00:04:31,595 So, I got accepted, at Virginia Tech in their, agricultural business program. 78 00:04:31,595 --> 00:04:39,069 And after graduating, worked in the corporate world for a small stent, and then, and then, 79 00:04:39,629 --> 00:04:46,270 you know, realized that outside was still, you know, in my heart where I wanted to be and, and 80 00:04:46,270 --> 00:04:50,875 so I formed Masters Landscape Design. 81 00:04:51,754 --> 00:04:55,274 And shortly after we also relocated to Nashville. 82 00:04:56,474 --> 00:05:01,035 The company I was working for moved down south, we opted to just move to Nashville. 83 00:05:01,649 --> 00:05:06,210 Me and my wife, she was eight months pregnant at the time with her son. 84 00:05:06,290 --> 00:05:09,650 And our daughter was five at the time. 85 00:05:09,889 --> 00:05:12,209 And so we opened just moved to Nashville. 86 00:05:12,209 --> 00:05:15,925 And shortly thereafter, I jumped into doing whatever I could do. 87 00:05:16,084 --> 00:05:21,125 Started the Masters Landscape Design Company doing specializing in outdoor living and 88 00:05:21,125 --> 00:05:24,964 landscape construction, but I jumped into residential construction again. 89 00:05:26,564 --> 00:05:28,725 And did that until the recession hit. 90 00:05:29,330 --> 00:05:31,009 That was a rude awakening. 91 00:05:31,009 --> 00:05:36,850 And so, and then in the meantime, on the weekends, I picked up a gig playing music down 92 00:05:36,850 --> 00:05:37,970 on Lower Broadway. 93 00:05:38,370 --> 00:05:42,449 And yeah, so I was doing that every Friday and Saturday night. 94 00:05:42,464 --> 00:05:45,105 So there were about six years probably. 95 00:05:45,904 --> 00:05:51,104 Yeah, if you if you were to come down on Lower Broadway at the stage or the Full Moon Saloon 96 00:05:51,104 --> 00:05:56,800 or this, you know, legends or the second fiddle, I was I was usually fronting the band 97 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:01,120 and in one of those places, every Friday and Saturday for quite some time. 98 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:06,720 But and, but, you know, over time, the business was growing. 99 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:13,035 The music was, you know, doing really well also, and you chase two rabbits, they both get 100 00:06:13,035 --> 00:06:15,995 away, you know, so ultimately, I had to make a decision. 101 00:06:15,995 --> 00:06:20,794 And I think I made the right one, you know, by focusing on, you know, the business and it kept 102 00:06:20,794 --> 00:06:21,675 me close to family. 103 00:06:22,110 --> 00:06:29,310 And, and so, but a lot of memories, a lot of good times, actually sold a million dollar job, 104 00:06:30,110 --> 00:06:40,004 playing music on Broadway, had a big develop, I did $971,000 had a big developer come in, that 105 00:06:40,004 --> 00:06:42,085 was doing a bunch of work in Nashville. 106 00:06:42,085 --> 00:06:48,245 And I'm like, yeah, yeah, well, I'm a contractor, you know, do design build landscape 107 00:06:48,245 --> 00:06:49,845 construction, if I can help you anyway. 108 00:06:49,845 --> 00:06:51,125 And he was like, get out of here. 109 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:55,240 He's like, man, this that are you serious? 110 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:58,199 And I was like, yeah, he's like, man, I thought you played music like all the time. 111 00:06:58,199 --> 00:06:59,240 I had no idea. 112 00:07:00,439 --> 00:07:01,960 And I said, no, no, no. 113 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:07,334 And so they they reached out like the following week, and it turned into, you know, a pretty 114 00:07:07,334 --> 00:07:08,855 big commercial job for us. 115 00:07:08,855 --> 00:07:09,975 So Wow. 116 00:07:10,295 --> 00:07:10,935 Yeah. 117 00:07:11,095 --> 00:07:12,295 That's awesome. 118 00:07:12,295 --> 00:07:12,855 Yeah. 119 00:07:12,855 --> 00:07:14,774 So that's, that's led us to where we are today. 120 00:07:14,774 --> 00:07:18,774 And we've kind of been slow and steady as far as masters is with our growth. 121 00:07:18,774 --> 00:07:25,600 I mean, very organically, you know, really up until the last couple of years, we hadn't 122 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:29,040 really, you know, had desire to push it to the extreme. 123 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:31,839 Like I said, I've done real estate investing and things as well. 124 00:07:31,839 --> 00:07:33,199 I got into that in 2019. 125 00:07:34,415 --> 00:07:39,775 I had a friend that sort of talked me into it and realized that okay, this is a this is a 126 00:07:39,775 --> 00:07:43,295 long play here, you know, so I've started doing that as well. 127 00:07:43,295 --> 00:07:48,449 And now I've got property here in Nashville, get property in Chattanooga, and we've got, 128 00:07:48,610 --> 00:07:50,529 some in in Louisville, Kentucky. 129 00:07:51,089 --> 00:07:58,129 And so primarily residential, you know, rental properties, but I've got some commercial 130 00:07:58,129 --> 00:08:00,769 property, here in Nashville as well. 131 00:08:00,849 --> 00:08:00,930 So 132 00:08:01,915 --> 00:08:02,475 Got it. 133 00:08:02,475 --> 00:08:02,875 Okay. 134 00:08:02,875 --> 00:08:08,954 So, you'd mentioned that you were slow and steady and then something changed in the past 135 00:08:08,954 --> 00:08:09,675 few years here. 136 00:08:09,675 --> 00:08:11,354 What was the was the shift? 137 00:08:11,354 --> 00:08:12,154 What happened? 138 00:08:12,475 --> 00:08:12,875 Yeah. 139 00:08:12,875 --> 00:08:19,029 So really, was, it was my team, you know, I really tell folks all the time, we're like a 140 00:08:19,029 --> 00:08:21,670 twelve year overnight success. 141 00:08:22,710 --> 00:08:29,029

Like, it took that long for like, us to build a brand, you know, doing it the slow and steady 142 00:08:29,029 --> 00:08:29,270 way. 143 00:08:29,995 --> 00:08:34,475 And, and finally, after about that long, you know, the phone would just ring, you know, at 144 00:08:34,475 --> 00:08:36,715 that point, we didn't really have to stress too much. 145 00:08:36,715 --> 00:08:46,230 But, I hired on some some a players that really aspire to take this thing to another level, 146 00:08:46,389 --> 00:08:52,389 know, my project manager being one of them and my business operations manager, Karen, the 147 00:08:52,389 --> 00:08:56,710 other, you know, and, Nate is my senior project manager. 148 00:08:56,870 --> 00:09:01,605 You know, he originally came from a $2,000,000,000 company, you know, when he came 149 00:09:01,605 --> 00:09:02,644 over with us. 150 00:09:02,644 --> 00:09:07,205 And so, you know, he had a lot of energy and wanted to do some big things. 151 00:09:07,205 --> 00:09:10,485 And Karen says, Yeah, I think I think we can do that as well. 152 00:09:10,485 --> 00:09:16,610 And so we actually had a meeting at ninety minute meeting with an EOS implementer, you 153 00:09:16,610 --> 00:09:20,210 know, talking about, you know, is this something that we would want to do growing 154 00:09:20,210 --> 00:09:20,850 forward? 155 00:09:20,850 --> 00:09:23,169 And they they had some really big aspirations. 156 00:09:23,169 --> 00:09:27,345 And I was like, Oh, it was let's do this, You know, I'm up for it, you know. 157 00:09:27,345 --> 00:09:33,904 And so as a result, you know, we've we're a small but mighty company, and we've got some 158 00:09:33,904 --> 00:09:36,144 really aggressive goals as we go ahead. 159 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:44,679 You know, as a man told us recently that exited a $100,000,000 company, he said he said, you 160 00:09:44,679 --> 00:09:49,720 guys may be small as far as the company is concerned, he said, but you think like a 161 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:51,320 $100,000,000 company. 162 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:55,274 He said, so just, you know, you guys keep doing what you're doing. 163 00:09:55,274 --> 00:09:57,274 You've got the right principles and things. 164 00:09:57,274 --> 00:09:58,154 So yeah. 165 00:09:58,795 --> 00:10:03,595 What was, some of the the rationale for the growth, more recently? 166 00:10:03,595 --> 00:10:06,235 So, obviously, you you had this, people that said, hey. 167 00:10:06,235 --> 00:10:07,195 Let's let's push this thing. 168 00:10:07,379 --> 00:10:11,460 So what what are some of the things that have, contributed to that growth? 169 00:10:12,100 --> 00:10:18,419 Well, for me, well, first and foremost, let me just say, you know, going back to that million 170 00:10:18,419 --> 00:10:23,105 dollar job that I sold on Broadway, that it cost me a million dollars to do it. 171 00:10:25,024 --> 00:10:31,024 So you talk about, you know, just learning lesson on the fly, you know, it was, know, so 172 00:10:31,024 --> 00:10:33,745 you'd be careful with biting off more than you can chew. 173 00:10:33,745 --> 00:10:36,625 We got through it very successfully, but we didn't make any money. 174 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:39,000 It costs us everything to get it done. 175 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:42,440 And so I was I was sort of hesitant for quite some time. 176 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:49,240 As a result, you know, trying, I wasn't thinking bigger, you know, and now, you know, 177 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:52,120 we've we've really, as a team, we're thinking much bigger. 178 00:10:53,044 --> 00:10:54,964 We're taking much larger risk. 179 00:10:55,365 --> 00:11:02,565 And, you know, it for me, it's it's it's really focusing on who our ideal customer and avatar 180 00:11:02,565 --> 00:11:03,125 is. 181 00:11:04,084 --> 00:11:07,284 So I'm I'm a big reader, an avid reader. 182 00:11:07,284 --> 00:11:13,579 So I'm I'm, you know, to me, leaders are learners, you know, I'm always looking to, you 183 00:11:13,579 --> 00:11:19,740 know, if if it's not broke, how can we make it better kind of thing, you know, so, but we've 184 00:11:19,740 --> 00:11:26,345 we've instituted some changes within the company that really just sort of singles us out 185 00:11:26,345 --> 00:11:30,345 as the authority in the space that we're in. 186 00:11:31,144 --> 00:11:36,360 And I think that's key, you know, when you're you're you're in a, a, you know, if you're 187 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:40,839 going to have a blue ocean strategy, you know, what is that blue ocean, you know, for the 188 00:11:40,839 --> 00:11:48,524 longest time I was in a red ocean, you know, thinking thinking more, you know, linearly, you 189 00:11:48,524 --> 00:11:51,884 know, than vertically as to what we could do and where we could go. 190 00:11:52,845 --> 00:11:58,444 And so now we're thinking more along the lines of what it what we can be do, what we can do to 191 00:11:58,444 --> 00:12:07,659 become, you know, part of that blue ocean, if you would, with with only having my desire, and 192 00:12:07,659 --> 00:12:14,379 I said this before, my desire is not to have 30 or 40 competitors. 193 00:12:15,715 --> 00:12:23,075 I want like two, you know, based on the type of work we do, you know, and so I'm licensed 194 00:12:23,315 --> 00:12:24,754 general contractor as well. 195 00:12:24,754 --> 00:12:34,960 So the beauty for our customers is they get they get one one general contractor that knows 196 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:37,840 every aspect of the build from the design phase. 197 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:41,519 You know, we get, you know, through the engineering, we handle the mechanical, the 198 00:12:41,519 --> 00:12:45,975 plumbing, the carpentry, the electrical, every aspect of it. 199 00:12:46,134 --> 00:12:52,615 I had a customer one time say that they hired us because, he only wanted one throat to choke. 200 00:12:53,575 --> 00:12:57,589 If things didn't go well, you know, was like, okay, that's kind of scary. 201 00:12:57,589

--> 00:13:01,190 But at the same time, I'm going to remember that I'll, you know, I'll use that one day. 202 00:13:01,190 --> 00:13:09,509 So, so a lot of our customers are very busy, you know, and they want to just work with one 203 00:13:09,509 --> 00:13:15,035 point of contact and just know that things are going well and and the communication remains at 204 00:13:15,035 --> 00:13:15,835 a high level. 205 00:13:16,875 --> 00:13:22,394 Do have any mindset, shifts, you know, to to be able to attribute to your growth? 206 00:13:23,659 --> 00:13:33,419 Well, for us, number one, I read a book called, The Science of Scaling by Benjamin Hardy and 207 00:13:33,419 --> 00:13:34,539 Blake Erickson. 208 00:13:34,700 --> 00:13:43,225 And and it really challenged how I thought about the business, you know, so much so that 209 00:13:43,225 --> 00:13:48,904 going into the beginning of this year, you know, my theme for this year was think bigger. 210 00:13:49,899 --> 00:13:55,340 You know, last year, my theme was massive action, but this year was think bigger. 211 00:13:55,740 --> 00:13:59,259 And so, it had had quite an impact on me. 212 00:13:59,259 --> 00:14:03,500 So I had Karen order books for all, you know, the leadership team. 213 00:14:04,394 --> 00:14:07,835 And, and we sat down for eight weeks. 214 00:14:07,835 --> 00:14:12,955 Went through each week for about an hour and a half, we went through the science of scaling. 215 00:14:13,995 --> 00:14:22,339 And it was monumental, the changes that we made just in that one book studying as a as a team. 216 00:14:23,059 --> 00:14:29,539 And it and it prompted us to go back into all of our customer base, from the past two, three 217 00:14:29,539 --> 00:14:29,860 years. 218 00:14:30,865 --> 00:14:36,065 And we quickly realized that number one, I'm a big believer in the Pareto's rule, the eighty 219 00:14:36,065 --> 00:14:37,024 twenty rule, right. 220 00:14:37,024 --> 00:14:45,200 And so it quickly exposed that that 80% of our customers over the past several years, as we 221 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:51,839 went through our CRM and and and our numbers, 80% of our customers were responsible for 20% 222 00:14:51,839 --> 00:14:53,519 of our desired revenue. 223 00:14:54,799 --> 00:14:59,315 20% of our customers were responsible for the 80%. 224 00:15:00,995 --> 00:15:06,355 And so just the light switch, you know, clicked on for each of us and we were like, okay, what 225 00:15:06,355 --> 00:15:11,179 do we need to do to ensure that we're getting in front of that 20%? 226 00:15:11,179 --> 00:15:18,139 We're spending 100% of our time on that 20% of customer. 227 00:15:18,139 --> 00:15:23,855 And so we started dissecting, you know, what do they do? 228 00:15:23,934 --> 00:15:25,934 You know, what are the common denominators? 229 00:15:25,934 --> 00:15:32,814 You know, they're, as a detailed outdoor living, space provider. 230 00:15:32,814 --> 00:15:36,529 I tell people all the time, know, it's a vacation in your backyard, you know, no one 231 00:15:36,529 --> 00:15:39,409 really has to have what we do, but everybody wants it. 232 00:15:39,409 --> 00:15:39,889 Right? 233 00:15:40,370 --> 00:15:41,089 So so 234 00:15:41,089 --> 00:15:42,610 who was the 20% then? 235 00:15:43,169 --> 00:15:44,929 Who was the 20%? 236 00:15:44,929 --> 00:15:50,529 And that's what I was getting at the the 20% of our customers were business owners. 237 00:15:50,804 --> 00:15:55,365 They were obviously high net worth individuals, they they owned a business. 238 00:15:56,485 --> 00:15:58,004 They were in sales. 239 00:15:58,644 --> 00:16:00,245 They were in the medical field. 240 00:16:01,524 --> 00:16:02,964 They love to play pickleball. 241 00:16:03,759 --> 00:16:05,360 They love to play golf. 242 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:06,559 They love to travel. 243 00:16:07,759 --> 00:16:15,039 And so we began to quickly be able to uncover kind of how these people walk, talk, acted, 244 00:16:15,039 --> 00:16:18,184 where they shopped, where they so we began to market to them. 245 00:16:18,184 --> 00:16:23,065 We would geofence certain areas that we know that they would frequent, you know, golf clubs. 246 00:16:23,464 --> 00:16:27,865 I mean, I don't if you I don't know if you you guys know a lot about the geofencing, but you 247 00:16:27,865 --> 00:16:34,019 could geofence, like even here in Nashville, a Titan Stadium, you can geofence just the club 248 00:16:34,019 --> 00:16:34,980 seat level. 249 00:16:35,699 --> 00:16:36,740 Like, that's it. 250 00:16:36,899 --> 00:16:39,940 Like, so if you're in the suite, you're in the club club level. 251 00:16:42,995 --> 00:16:50,514 They will see your potential ad, so to speak, on social media, as long as they're in that in 252 00:16:50,514 --> 00:16:55,794 that club suite area, you know, so so that was that was, one of the things that we we 253 00:16:55,794 --> 00:16:56,754 implemented as well. 254 00:16:57,370 --> 00:17:03,049 But ultimately, going through that book, going back to the science of scaling book, it 255 00:17:03,049 --> 00:17:05,129 encouraged us to raise our floor. 256 00:17:06,490 --> 00:17:08,250 Like we were thinking way too small. 257 00:17:09,545 --> 00:17:17,144 And then sort of simultaneously as as we were understanding even more so who our avatar was 258 00:17:17,144 --> 00:17:25,570 and that, you know, the and understanding the 8020, of our business, we we realized that most 259 00:17:25,570 --> 00:17:33,330 every customer, although phenomenal people, wonderful people, in most cases, most every job 260 00:17:33,330 --> 00:17:40,724 that was $50,000 and less was that's where most of our issues came from. 261 00:17:41,765 --> 00:17:47,125 Just and it was primarily not that we had trouble getting the job done. 262 00:17:47,125 --> 00:17:51,125 It was the relationship was extremely transactional. 263 00:17:53,039 --> 00:18:03,119 And we the the customers that were spending 275,000 to $5.06, $7,000,000 with us, they were 264

00:18:03,119 --> 00:18:03,920 buying with their gut. 265 00:18:05,855 --> 00:18:10,095 And that's two completely different customers, I'm telling you now. 266 00:18:11,934 --> 00:18:18,974 And it was that was transformational for us, is understanding that, okay, our floor is $50,000. 267 00:18:20,700 --> 00:18:25,659 Like, we cannot do anything less than $50,000 because it's going to be transactional. 268 00:18:25,900 --> 00:18:29,659 Like, they don't understand the value that we're bringing as a company. 269 00:18:30,700 --> 00:18:37,595 And the people that were above our floor, the customers understood the value that we brought 270 00:18:37,595 --> 00:18:38,474 to the table. 271 00:18:39,195 --> 00:18:45,194 And they weren't buying with their wallet as much as they were buying with their gut. 272 00:18:46,795 --> 00:18:52,210 And we just leaned into that big time earlier this year. 273 00:18:52,369 --> 00:18:58,210 And it's been very nerve racking and scary at times, because when you do that, I mean, you're 274 00:18:58,210 --> 00:18:59,809 making a bold, bold move. 275 00:19:00,154 --> 00:19:05,514 And it shows up even on our website line, when you go to our website, the projects are 276 00:19:05,514 --> 00:19:08,874 starting at $50,000 and up. 277 00:19:09,115 --> 00:19:14,730 And if you're just looking, if you just got your tax check back, and you're looking to do 278 00:19:14,730 --> 00:19:18,409 some sprucing up in your yard, that's very important, and it's necessary. 279 00:19:19,369 --> 00:19:23,049 But you realize pretty quickly, okay, this is probably not the company that's gonna do that. 280 00:19:23,769 --> 00:19:32,255 You know, but it's really allowed us to focus on nurturing and spending more time though, in 281 00:19:32,255 --> 00:19:40,575 front of our ideal customer, and not be as distracted, with people that are just not a 282 00:19:40,575 --> 00:19:42,329 fit, you know. 283 00:19:42,329 --> 00:19:49,210 So, very, very eye opening, you know, for sure, you know, to to recognize that. 284 00:19:49,210 --> 00:19:57,515 And then, you know, we've since gone from 50,000 to $75,000 And the idea is within the 285 00:19:57,515 --> 00:20:00,075 next two years of going to $200,000. 286 00:20:01,275 --> 00:20:03,115 And some people go, oh, well, you're crazy. 287 00:20:03,115 --> 00:20:03,835 You're nuts. 288 00:20:04,154 --> 00:20:06,075 I'm not looking to compete with everybody. 289 00:20:06,075 --> 00:20:11,379 I want I want to do like eight jobs a year, not 48. 290 00:20:12,259 --> 00:20:20,339 And so it's just the path that we have chosen to focus on, you know, the higher ticket item, 291 00:20:20,420 --> 00:20:27,984 more specific, you know, niche type work to where we only have a couple of companies that 292 00:20:27,984 --> 00:20:32,065 we're really competing with to do some of this high level work and be able to handle every bit 293 00:20:32,065 --> 00:20:34,784 of it, all of it, as far as that's concerned, you know. 294 00:20:35,380 --> 00:20:40,179 There's a lot of really great landscape companies that can do construction and some 295 00:20:40,179 --> 00:20:42,819 hardscaping and that sort of thing in Nashville. 296 00:20:43,140 --> 00:20:49,555 And we're we know there's a lot of clientele that have the desire, you know, both 297 00:20:49,555 --> 00:20:53,234 commercially and residentially, but especially on the residential side. 298 00:20:54,115 --> 00:20:57,075 And they're willing to pay to get what they want. 299 00:20:57,075 --> 00:21:01,315 You know, one out of every three people I meet now are from California. 300 00:21:01,669 --> 00:21:06,230 You know, lot of Californians had all this in California, and they want to have a space just 301 00:21:06,230 --> 00:21:09,429 as nice in their new home in Nashville. 302 00:21:10,390 --> 00:21:15,755 And they're willing to they're willing to pay for, you know, top quality work, you know, so 303 00:21:15,755 --> 00:21:17,274 they understand the value. 304 00:21:17,355 --> 00:21:21,274 But yeah, that that is one of 305 00:21:21,274 --> 00:21:24,075 those, you mentioned, like, little bit scary, right? 306 00:21:24,075 --> 00:21:31,599 Because it's like, I am, saying, no, I don't want these jobs, which goes against a little 307 00:21:31,599 --> 00:21:36,960 bit of the brain where it says, yeah, but they're willing to come in and pay. 308 00:21:37,279 --> 00:21:38,480 Why not go through this? 309 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:43,839 But the point of you'd mentioned getting to the Blue Ocean, where it's like, yeah, you got to 310 00:21:43,394 --> 00:21:48,674 swim in a part of the water where nobody else is there because that is the differentiator, 311 00:21:48,674 --> 00:21:48,994 right? 312 00:21:48,994 --> 00:21:54,034 Like if my minimum rate today is 75, but if it two years from now is 200 ks, it's like there 313 00:21:55,075 --> 00:22:02,990 are whole 80% of demographic that's saying, nope, those guys aren't for us, which then 314 00:22:02,990 --> 00:22:04,909 removes those headaches from you. 315 00:22:05,470 --> 00:22:12,424 And you'd mentioned eight jobs compared to 48, that there's also a labor component there that 316 00:22:12,424 --> 00:22:17,304 starts to work in your favor massively compared to, like, I have to have x amount of people 317 00:22:17,304 --> 00:22:23,224 because we're doing so much work, but it's just bringing in less and less true profit or true 318 00:22:23,224 --> 00:22:23,625 dollar. 319 00:22:24,590 --> 00:22:24,990 Yeah. 320 00:22:24,990 --> 00:22:25,470 You know? 321 00:22:25,470 --> 00:22:25,710 Yeah. 322 00:22:25,710 --> 00:22:28,109 And it's beginning to show now too. 323 00:22:29,150 --> 00:22:41,325 You know, last week alone, I proposed over a million dollars of work over I think it was it 324 00:22:41,325 --> 00:22:44,684 was two projects, you know, just last week alone. 325 00:22:45,164 --> 00:22:54,890 I have another one later this week, another two that will be somewhere pushing

between the two 326 00:22:54,890 --> 00:22:57,289 jobs, one closer to $3,400,000. 327 00:22:57,289 --> 00:22:59,930 The other ones are gonna be closer to about 600,000. 328 00:23:00,890 --> 00:23:06,735 So we're it's, it's taking some time this year once we raised our floor, but now we're 329 00:23:06,735 --> 00:23:13,775 beginning to see, okay, we sort of took one step backwards to take two steps forward, you 330 00:23:13,775 --> 00:23:19,279 know, you know, but, you know, we, we have some pretty aggressive goals with this. 331 00:23:19,279 --> 00:23:23,839 And we're very intentional with our marketing, and we've really ramped it all up. 332 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,279 And we're taking risk, man, you know, we're taking risk. 333 00:23:28,605 --> 00:23:33,724 And if it all were to blow up tomorrow, you know what, we were a team full of tenacity, and 334 00:23:33,724 --> 00:23:37,644 we'll build it right back in the next few months, you know, I have no doubt, you know, 335 00:23:37,644 --> 00:23:42,285 so, but yeah, it's, it's, it's definitely been interesting for sure. 336 00:23:43,529 --> 00:23:46,090 You know, to take to take risk like that. 337 00:23:46,090 --> 00:23:48,730 But, you know, again, it's it's beginning to really pay off. 338 00:23:48,730 --> 00:23:48,890 So 339 00:23:49,609 --> 00:23:51,450 So just to clarify. 340 00:23:51,450 --> 00:23:51,850 Right? 341 00:23:51,850 --> 00:24:00,825 So when you had brought your floor, you know, up to 50,000 and now 75, Did your lead flow 342 00:24:01,464 --> 00:24:02,184 stay the same? 343 00:24:02,184 --> 00:24:04,584 Did it drop and then increase? 344 00:24:04,664 --> 00:24:09,544 Like, top go specific on, like, what it looked like before then after. 345 00:24:10,839 --> 00:24:15,799 Yeah, so so our lead costs went went up quite a bit, of course. 346 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:21,240 But the amount of form submissions that began to flow in, and the amount of phone calls that 347 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:26,025 we would receive dropped dramatically. 348 00:24:26,345 --> 00:24:34,904 But the beautiful thing is the ones that are coming through that get through the discovery 349 00:24:34,904 --> 00:24:45,070 call to begin with, you know, they're absolutely our customer, you know, so we're not 350 00:24:45,070 --> 00:24:49,230 having to weed out a lot of people that are just not our customer to get to them. 351 00:24:49,954 --> 00:24:56,434 Now we're able to, so the phone rings a lot less, we get a lot less leads in, but we're, 352 00:24:56,434 --> 00:25:01,634 they're also qualifying themselves, you know, disqualifying themselves from the get go when 353 00:25:01,634 --> 00:25:05,529 they get on our website, you know, and see, okay, what it looks like. 354 00:25:05,529 --> 00:25:09,210 And we're going to be further enhancing that, by the way, with video. 355 00:25:10,089 --> 00:25:14,490 We're gonna be making a lot of changes to our website to where you'll see what it looks like 356 00:25:14,490 --> 00:25:17,924 to This is what it looks like to work with us. 357 00:25:17,924 --> 00:25:24,005 As a design build company, you're going to need to work with, one of our design consultants to 358 00:25:24,005 --> 00:25:27,445 create a written goal of sorts, as far as a plan. 359 00:25:28,750 --> 00:25:34,349 You know, our projects are, you know, they started in this $75,000 range and go as as much 360 00:25:34,349 --> 00:25:36,829 as a million or more on average. 361 00:25:37,630 --> 00:25:42,029 You know, so we're really going to be putting it out there in a in a video form to get people 362 00:25:42,029 --> 00:25:46,105 a real understanding of what it looks like to work with us. 363 00:25:46,505 --> 00:25:50,345 It is kind of from the, you know, Donald Miller story brand, right? 364 00:25:50,345 --> 00:25:59,384 Did the book, but also, Marcus, Sheridan, the, they ask you answer. 365 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:05,519 That was a really good book of where they talk about, you know, creating the video, you know, 366 00:26:05,519 --> 00:26:08,799 to make it clear what it looks like working with you and your company. 367 00:26:08,799 --> 00:26:12,320 So those are going to be some things that you know, that we're going to be implementing as 368 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:18,474 well to simplify it, you know, so I think those that solve the highest level of problems in 369 00:26:18,474 --> 00:26:20,714 business are awarded at the highest level. 370 00:26:21,115 --> 00:26:27,515 And, you know, again, are you creating value at a very high level, you know, and so, that's 371 00:26:27,515 --> 00:26:28,315 what we're trying to do. 372 00:26:28,470 --> 00:26:32,309 You you can go to McDonald's and get a meal pretty quick if it's all you're looking for. 373 00:26:32,309 --> 00:26:36,069 But, you know, if you want to, you can go to Henrietta Red, right? 374 00:26:36,069 --> 00:26:41,990 Or, know, you know, Ruth's Chris, if you really want to have an experience, you know, a 375 00:26:41,990 --> 00:26:44,069 steakhouse like that, but it's a completely different. 376 00:26:44,664 --> 00:26:46,105 It's an investment. 377 00:26:47,224 --> 00:26:51,224 You know, when you do so, yeah, that's we're no different. 378 00:26:51,305 --> 00:26:55,545 But although we still have people that reach out to us that are not a fit, we don't just 379 00:26:55,545 --> 00:26:56,265 turn them away. 380 00:26:57,140 --> 00:27:04,259 We have a network of really highly qualified, you know, service providers in the landscape 381 00:27:04,259 --> 00:27:10,244 side of things that, that almost are counting on us to feed them work, you know, and I 382 00:27:10,244 --> 00:27:14,805 appreciate that, you know, a great deal as well, because they know, if we get a project 383 00:27:14,805 --> 00:27:20,964 that doesn't fit our criteria and who we are and fit within our floor, that we're going to 384 00:27:20,964 --> 00:27:26,679 refer it to them, you know, and so, but likewise, if they have a project that's

just 385 00:27:26,679 --> 00:27:31,799 over way outside their range, you know, and they're used to just putting in the irrigation 386 00:27:31,799 --> 00:27:35,319 or, you know, now all of a sudden, this customer wants a pool, a pool house with 387 00:27:35,319 --> 00:27:39,240 bathrooms and outdoor kitchens and living areas and what they want to build on their house. 388 00:27:39,825 --> 00:27:45,264 They know to do a quick toss, you know, right over to us as well, you know, so yeah, so we 389 00:27:45,264 --> 00:27:47,104 definitely still help the customers. 390 00:27:47,904 --> 00:27:53,904 You know, the bottom line is, you know, I'm in the I'm in the people business, we're in the 391 00:27:53,904 --> 00:27:54,384 people business. 392 00:27:54,649 --> 00:27:57,450 We just happen to do the work that we do really well. 393 00:27:58,250 --> 00:28:04,009 But first and foremost, we're, you know, people centric, people focused. 394 00:28:04,169 --> 00:28:10,125 So something that was said if you help enough other people get to where they want to be in 395 00:28:10,125 --> 00:28:15,404 life, God will make sure you get what you want in life, you know, and I'm a I'm a huge 396 00:28:15,404 --> 00:28:16,365 believer in that. 397 00:28:16,365 --> 00:28:16,765 So 398 00:28:17,964 --> 00:28:23,759 what's something that a company that has the same capabilities, so it's not that they're 399 00:28:23,759 --> 00:28:26,799 just doing irrigation systems, but they can do all the bills. 400 00:28:26,799 --> 00:28:28,079 They can do all those things. 401 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:33,920 When you either somebody use them and then they came to you or they're looking at the market, 402 00:28:34,234 --> 00:28:39,434 What's the what's the thing that that those companies are maybe missing that you have now 403 00:28:39,434 --> 00:28:46,955 really either doubled down on or that that you guys are doing that you just you aren't seeing 404 00:28:46,955 --> 00:28:47,755 the rest of the market? 405 00:28:49,269 --> 00:28:50,309 Communication. 406 00:28:51,509 --> 00:28:55,429 Like, that's probably the easiest question I could get today. 407 00:28:55,670 --> 00:29:01,670 I get I'm telling you, I've gotten projects that were hundreds and hundreds of thousands of 408 00:29:01,670 --> 00:29:01,910 dollars. 409 00:29:03,255 --> 00:29:05,894 And another company was in the middle of building it. 410 00:29:06,535 --> 00:29:13,494 And the reason we were called in to do it, and take over the project was lack of 411 00:29:13,494 --> 00:29:13,975 communication. 412 00:29:15,029 --> 00:29:17,590 And some of these companies were doing phenomenal work. 413 00:29:17,590 --> 00:29:18,630 It was great work. 414 00:29:18,630 --> 00:29:23,589 It was just the lack of communication with the customer. 415 00:29:24,470 --> 00:29:27,590 And you cannot communicate enough. 416 00:29:27,765 --> 00:29:35,924 And I've heard people say, you know, you know, there's, you know, you can get caught up in the 417 00:29:35,924 --> 00:29:38,244 weeds and communication and that sort of thing. 418 00:29:38,404 --> 00:29:43,204 But case in point, we had a staff meeting a while back and my my senior project manager is 419 00:29:43,204 --> 00:29:48,140 one of the best communicators I have ever, ever been around, you know, in my business or 420 00:29:48,140 --> 00:29:49,259 outside of it. 421 00:29:49,660 --> 00:29:54,379 And I asked him, one of our core values is communication. 422 00:29:54,779 --> 00:29:56,539 And each week we talk about one of those. 423 00:29:57,485 --> 00:30:01,164 You know, one of our core values, our entire team knows our core values. 424 00:30:01,164 --> 00:30:02,285 They're not cliche. 425 00:30:02,445 --> 00:30:08,924 And oftentimes we're talking about communication and then how someone on the team 426 00:30:08,924 --> 00:30:15,230 used it really well and how, you know, how just an example of communication, you know, out in 427 00:30:15,230 --> 00:30:17,789 the work world, you know, Monday through Friday. 428 00:30:17,789 --> 00:30:21,630 And I asked Nate, I said, Nate, you're a phenomenal communicator. 429 00:30:21,630 --> 00:30:27,494 When is the last time you ever had a customer say, Nate, I'm good. 430 00:30:28,134 --> 00:30:29,654 I think you've told me enough. 431 00:30:30,214 --> 00:30:32,375 I don't I don't need any further communication. 432 00:30:32,375 --> 00:30:33,734 I'm I'm totally good. 433 00:30:33,815 --> 00:30:36,454 He he laughed and he said, never. 434 00:30:36,694 --> 00:30:39,015 I said, never in your thirty plus years of doing this. 435 00:30:39,679 --> 00:30:43,759 And I looked at the rest of the team and I said, this this is the point I'm trying to 436 00:30:43,759 --> 00:30:44,319 make. 437 00:30:45,839 --> 00:30:49,679 If you're willing to communicate with a customer, they are willing to listen. 438 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:50,960 You know? 439 00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:59,845 And that's one of the the the biggest probably one of the topics the most that comes up with 440 00:30:59,845 --> 00:31:06,164 work that either we get oftentimes, and sometimes people will pay us more for our work, 441 00:31:07,049 --> 00:31:10,489 because we communicate it so much better than other companies. 442 00:31:10,889 --> 00:31:16,089 So, again, it's establishing that comfort level with a customer. 443 00:31:16,569 --> 00:31:21,625 If you can tap into that comfort level, and they have a soft pillow at night, which is very 444 00:31:21,625 --> 00:31:24,184 important to me because I have a soft pillow at night. 445 00:31:24,585 --> 00:31:29,224 If they have a soft pillow at night, and they trust you, that is a that makes for a 446 00:31:29,224 --> 00:31:31,544 beautiful, beautiful working relationship. 447 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:41,960 So communication being I say this all the time, I think communication solves 90% of not just 448 00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:43,640 business problems, the world's problems. 449 00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:45,720

Think that that's just a fact. 450 00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:53,835 So So when you think of the stool, and I think obviously I think I know the answer, but I'd 451 00:31:53,835 --> 00:31:55,115 love to hear your thoughts on this. 452 00:31:55,115 --> 00:32:01,160 When you think of the service stool, right, where it's price, speed and quality. 453 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:05,880 You obviously are pushing into the fact that like, we are gonna give you the best quality. 454 00:32:06,599 --> 00:32:08,599 Are you also giving speed in that? 455 00:32:08,599 --> 00:32:10,839 Or is there is there more to that? 456 00:32:10,839 --> 00:32:12,519 So when you think of no. 457 00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:14,680 No, not at all. 458 00:32:14,884 --> 00:32:17,924 And but we're very transparent and clear upfront. 459 00:32:18,404 --> 00:32:24,244 You know, in this area, we talk about timelines, in the handoff meeting with a 460 00:32:24,244 --> 00:32:24,884 customer. 461 00:32:25,445 --> 00:32:31,490 For example, we go over timelines, and we go over what's expected with communication on a 462 00:32:31,490 --> 00:32:32,849 daily weekly basis. 463 00:32:33,730 --> 00:32:39,490 And, you know, if it's, if it's beyond Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving is a is a cut off 464 00:32:39,490 --> 00:32:41,970 for timelines in our area. 465 00:32:42,369 --> 00:32:45,794 We're doing exterior site work, etc. 466 00:32:46,355 --> 00:32:52,434 There's no specific timeline after Thanksgiving because of the wet, potentially wet season 467 00:32:52,434 --> 00:32:53,794 winters that we have. 468 00:32:53,875 --> 00:32:57,315 And it usually doesn't come back in line until we get back into the spring. 469 00:32:58,990 --> 00:33:03,630 But if it's in the summer months, we can normally give a, you know, at least the 470 00:33:04,190 --> 00:33:08,750 timelines are within a few days, typically on projects, even if they last two or three 471 00:33:08,750 --> 00:33:08,990 months. 472 00:33:09,765 --> 00:33:15,365 You know, we do a really, really good job of communicating and executing the schedule, based 473 00:33:15,365 --> 00:33:19,445 on the budgeted man hours and everything that we're doing, as far as that goes. 474 00:33:19,445 --> 00:33:28,700 But we tell people often, even in the initial, you know, discovery calls, like, if if you are 475 00:33:28,700 --> 00:33:34,700 bidding this job, if you are looking to get numerous bids on this job, I want to be clear 476 00:33:35,099 --> 00:33:38,059 upfront, we will not be the cheapest. 477 00:33:39,234 --> 00:33:41,954 But if if you and and we say that proudly. 478 00:33:42,115 --> 00:33:51,394 But if you're looking if you're looking for the most value, the best warranties and the best 479 00:33:51,394 --> 00:33:58,200 communication for within this relationship in your project, then you're not gonna be able to 480 00:33:58,200 --> 00:33:59,159 beat our price. 481 00:34:00,039 --> 00:34:05,960 Because peace of mind is worth a lot to to many of our customers, when they're doing these 482 00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:06,200 projects. 483 00:34:06,315 --> 00:34:10,714 They want to be able to sleep well at night and know that you've got their best interest in 484 00:34:10,714 --> 00:34:11,275 mind. 485 00:34:11,275 --> 00:34:19,275 And so, you know, and we've had customers tell us, hey, here is the actual bids I got from the 486 00:34:19,275 --> 00:34:20,714 other XYZ companies. 487 00:34:21,590 --> 00:34:27,590 We decided to go with you and your company because we honestly, my wife and I just felt so 488 00:34:27,590 --> 00:34:33,429 much more comfortable with what you all proposed to do. 489 00:34:34,605 --> 00:34:43,085 And I'm here to say now that we're, you know, you guys have completed our project, we made 490 00:34:43,085 --> 00:34:47,724 the right decision, you know, but they valued the project. 491 00:34:47,724 --> 00:34:51,559 It wasn't just about it wasn't a leaky faucet, so to speak. 492 00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:55,079 A leaky faucet, who's going to do it the cheapest and they've got a wrench. 493 00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:58,920 They got a wrench in their pocket, you know, just come and get it done. 494 00:34:59,239 --> 00:35:05,324 But when it comes to when it comes to really doing something that's, you know, that's going 495 00:35:05,324 --> 00:35:10,925 to be in some cases, life changing, These spaces are become part of their homes, you 496 00:35:10,925 --> 00:35:17,440 know, they want to make sure they're working with someone that, you know, that they can put 497 00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:18,880 a lot of faith in and trust. 498 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:22,719 And that's very important to us, you know, and we take it very, very seriously. 499 00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:24,320 We don't take it for granted. 500 00:35:28,974 --> 00:35:34,494 You know, I was thinking back to, like, identifying, like, your kind of your core 501 00:35:34,494 --> 00:35:38,255 clients, your core clientele. 502 00:35:39,454 --> 00:35:41,695 And you did say that you're doing marketing. 503 00:35:41,855 --> 00:35:42,175 Right? 504 00:35:43,210 --> 00:35:49,530 What how much of what you do is marketing versus, you know, referral by, you know, 505 00:35:49,530 --> 00:35:54,010 whether it's by email or referral by, by word-of-mouth? 506 00:35:54,489 --> 00:35:54,809 Mhmm. 507 00:35:54,809 --> 00:35:57,769 What's how much of that is marketing versus referral still? 508 00:35:58,304 --> 00:36:02,944 I'd say right now, we're still probably sixtyforty, if you wanted to break it down to a 509 00:36:02,944 --> 00:36:10,144 percentage of where we're at, and it's 60% of marketing, paid ads in areas primarily that we 510 00:36:10,144 --> 00:36:14,869 don't show up organically around the Nashville area, for example. 511 00:36:15,109 --> 00:36:17,190 We don't typically show up organically. 512 00:36:17,190 --> 00:36:22,949 Our office is located in Mount Juliet, about twenty, twenty five minutes from downtown, east 513 00:36:22,949 --> 00:36:23,589

of downtown. 514 00:36:25,105 --> 00:36:30,224 And we don't show up as organically, for example, like in Franklin, Belle Meade, some of 515 00:36:30,224 --> 00:36:34,945 these areas where a lot of our clientele are that we that we do a lot of work. 516 00:36:35,265 --> 00:36:39,585 So paid ads help to to get us on the map and some of those areas. 517 00:36:39,585 --> 00:36:43,579 So that that is something that we spend a good bit on each month. 518 00:36:43,980 --> 00:36:46,859 But we're also the 40% is more networking. 519 00:36:46,940 --> 00:36:53,980 You know, I am I am, you know, going to different chamber events from time to time, 520 00:36:54,965 --> 00:36:57,925 going to lunches, and I'm in mastermind groups. 521 00:36:57,925 --> 00:37:03,125 I'm a member of one of the Vistage groups here in Nashville. 522 00:37:04,005 --> 00:37:06,324 And, you know, we meet once a month all day. 523 00:37:06,420 --> 00:37:10,659 And then we have, you know, of course, we stay in contact, you know, through the month with, 524 00:37:10,659 --> 00:37:11,940 you know, some of the members. 525 00:37:12,900 --> 00:37:20,295 But, you know, networking, networking lunches, I'm I'm always good to grab a cup of coffee, 526 00:37:20,295 --> 00:37:22,775 you know, to meet with builders, developers. 527 00:37:23,175 --> 00:37:29,974 So now we're, we're meeting with folks, because we're looking to pay real estate agents to pay 528 00:37:30,295 --> 00:37:35,160 developers, you know, for leads and referrals, you know, a handsome commission on what 529 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:41,720 whatever, whatever they can send us that leads to a design that leads to an install. 530 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:47,494 And ultimately, goal is, you know, Will and Justin is to get to a point to where most of 531 00:37:47,494 --> 00:37:52,934 our business is coming from our, our referral partners. 532 00:37:54,055 --> 00:37:59,735 And then we can we can begin to dramatically pull back on the paid ads on a lot of what 533 00:37:59,735 --> 00:38:01,974 we're doing as far as social is concerned. 534 00:38:02,429 --> 00:38:07,230 We don't do any like paid social ads on Facebook because our ideal avatar is really not 535 00:38:07,230 --> 00:38:08,030 on Facebook. 536 00:38:08,989 --> 00:38:09,789 They're just not. 537 00:38:09,789 --> 00:38:13,309 That's another thing we realize is like, okay, what platforms are they on? 538 00:38:13,710 --> 00:38:20,045 You know, somewhat on Instagram, yes, but very little on on Facebook, you know, as far as that 539 00:38:20,045 --> 00:38:20,605 goes. 540 00:38:21,565 --> 00:38:26,525 So that's that's kind of that's kind of been where we're at, you know, currently with with 541 00:38:26,525 --> 00:38:27,164 our marketing. 542 00:38:29,539 --> 00:38:37,860 You know, of when I when I think about it, your ideal clients who you're working towards 543 00:38:37,860 --> 00:38:39,219 requires having great people. 544 00:38:39,954 --> 00:38:40,434 Yeah. 545 00:38:40,434 --> 00:38:41,074 Right? 546 00:38:42,835 --> 00:38:45,554 So you talked about your core values. 547 00:38:45,554 --> 00:38:51,474 How does core values sort of come up, you know, with hiring or bringing in bringing in people? 548 00:38:52,769 --> 00:38:57,329 Well, we're we're really we're all about culture, first and foremost, as a company. 549 00:38:57,329 --> 00:39:06,515 And cultures culture can be difficult to to put into place or to protect unless you put it into 550 00:39:06,515 --> 00:39:07,394 place properly. 551 00:39:07,394 --> 00:39:13,394 I think as a leader of a company of any organization, I have to put the culture into 552 00:39:13,394 --> 00:39:16,915 place as to what it looks, walks, talks and acts like. 553 00:39:17,394 --> 00:39:23,900 Once I put the culture in place and begin to hire for culture, the team will then take that 554 00:39:23,900 --> 00:39:30,460 culture, if I've done my job correctly on the front end, and then they will, they will go to 555 00:39:30,460 --> 00:39:34,460 the customer with the culture, they will begin to build an organization around that culture, 556 00:39:34,664 --> 00:39:35,704 that culture. 557 00:39:36,025 --> 00:39:42,585 And then hiring is much more easy to when you have a good culture, and you're looking to 558 00:39:42,585 --> 00:39:49,170 bring in new people, and they recognize that you do have a real, a great culture, and how 559 00:39:49,170 --> 00:39:55,969 important it is, you know, how important your, you know, your your core values are, as a 560 00:39:55,969 --> 00:40:00,769 company, and how, you know, we have a huge banner in our shop when we have our staff 561 00:40:00,769 --> 00:40:05,414 meetings every Monday morning, and we go through, you can go to any one of my team 562 00:40:05,414 --> 00:40:11,095 members, any of my team members at any given time out in the field, in the office, whatever, 563 00:40:11,095 --> 00:40:13,175 and go, hey, what's your core values? 564 00:40:13,255 --> 00:40:18,295 Pip cow, professional integrity, passion, communication, adaptable, loyal. 565 00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:21,320 They know what they are. 566 00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:25,239 And then, of course, the definitions for each and every one of them, you know, we go through 567 00:40:25,239 --> 00:40:32,135 each week and we'll we'll we'll we'll pull out an example of how someone exemplified one of 568 00:40:32,135 --> 00:40:33,094 the core values. 569 00:40:33,094 --> 00:40:39,574 And so I think your a players that are looking to come to work with a company, are really 570 00:40:39,574 --> 00:40:41,094 going to resonate with that. 571 00:40:41,255 --> 00:40:41,894 Right? 572 00:40:42,375 --> 00:40:47,989 Whereas a b and c player, you know, they, maybe not, they're not going to appreciate it near as 573 00:40:47,989 --> 00:40:53,910 much, you know, so it's also why we hire for outcomes and not just with a job description. 574 00:40:54,630 --> 00:41:00,164 And what I mean by that is, if we're looking to

fill a position, hey, this is for a project 575 00:41:00,164 --> 00:41:06,804 manager, project manager must learn our CRM estimating software, you know, within the first 576 00:41:06,804 --> 00:41:13,670 thirty days, they must be able to build two teams of three, two additional construction 577 00:41:13,670 --> 00:41:19,349 crews, three man crews in the first, you know, one hundred and twenty days. 578 00:41:19,829 --> 00:41:25,714 When we put these outcomes into play, you know, in the job description, instead of just a job 579 00:41:25,714 --> 00:41:32,674 description, we also find that we get a lot better applicants, little less, again, going 580 00:41:32,674 --> 00:41:34,114 back to the avatars, right? 581 00:41:34,275 --> 00:41:38,680 As far as the customers, you get a little less coming through, but what you have coming 582 00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:44,280 through is a higher quality because your a players are gonna see that and go, well, I 583 00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:45,320 could do that in ninety days. 584 00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:46,760 I don't need a hundred and twenty days. 585 00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:48,920 You know, they they're up for the challenge. 586 00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:56,304 Whereas a b or c player may go, well, I like to pay in the job title, but I you know, I'm, 587 00:41:56,704 --> 00:41:58,704 yeah, that sounds that sounds stressful. 588 00:41:59,425 --> 00:42:02,224 They'll keep scrolling, you know, and they'll keep scrolling. 589 00:42:02,224 --> 00:42:09,800 So so that's been a big hit for us, you know, hiring for outcomes versus versus just on a job 590 00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:11,640 description and pay rate. 591 00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:19,640 That's super smart because not only you're asking for, can you do X, Y, Z via these 592 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:24,375 qualifications, but you're saying like, hey, within this timeframe, you need to be able to 593 00:42:24,375 --> 00:42:24,855 do this. 594 00:42:24,855 --> 00:42:28,855 So it makes it so much more concrete, right? 595 00:42:28,855 --> 00:42:33,255 Like where if you just look at a bunch of, here are the requirements for the job, it's like, 596 00:42:33,494 --> 00:42:34,934 yeah, I can do this one. 597 00:42:34,934 --> 00:42:36,855 I could probably figure that one out. 598 00:42:36,855 --> 00:42:38,775 Oh, maybe I got this one, this one. 599 00:42:38,775 --> 00:42:41,309 Oh, I don't have that one, but I have all the rest of these. 600 00:42:41,309 --> 00:42:44,510 But this is like, hey, within this time, you have to do this. 601 00:42:44,510 --> 00:42:45,549 That's super smart. 602 00:42:45,549 --> 00:42:46,029 I love that. 603 00:42:46,029 --> 00:42:46,989 I've not heard that. 604 00:42:47,469 --> 00:42:48,349 Yeah. 605 00:42:48,589 --> 00:42:48,909 Yeah. 606 00:42:48,909 --> 00:42:54,989 I mean, it's just and it makes it so easy as well as if you hire someone that isn't a fit 607 00:42:54,824 --> 00:43:00,824 and it begins to show up, you know, thirty, sixty days out, it makes the conversation so 608 00:43:00,824 --> 00:43:01,545 much easier. 609 00:43:01,545 --> 00:43:02,585 It's not personal. 610 00:43:02,824 --> 00:43:07,784 Like, here's the outcomes, you know, it's this, you know, this, it's not being met, you know, 611 00:43:07,784 --> 00:43:08,905 as far as that's concerned. 612 00:43:08,905 --> 00:43:12,690 So, but we also couple that with the culture index. 613 00:43:13,250 --> 00:43:13,809 Okay. 614 00:43:14,050 --> 00:43:22,530 Doing personality profiles in the culture index is phenomenal, at just letting you know, this 615 00:43:22,530 --> 00:43:28,545 is this is a fingerprint of the individual that you are about to bring in. 616 00:43:28,625 --> 00:43:36,704 And so so much so if we're even remotely considering them now, before we even have a 617 00:43:36,704 --> 00:43:41,349 detailed conversation in the interview process, we have them take the culture index first. 618 00:43:42,949 --> 00:43:50,469 How sooner after, like, the initial interview do you have them take the culture index? 619 00:43:51,284 --> 00:43:56,885 Well, if we get like a resume in, for example, for someone that that checks several boxes, you 620 00:43:56,885 --> 00:44:03,764 know, from from an ability in qualification side, then usually, it's pretty quick, you 621 00:44:03,764 --> 00:44:05,125 know, we can look over that. 622 00:44:05,204 --> 00:44:10,760 And just, you know, at that point, we'll, we'll reach out, maybe have a zoom call with them and 623 00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:17,000 say, okay, you know, just this this just short and sweet call and say, look, we're gonna send 624 00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:22,795 you, you know, the culture index, you know, get this taken care of as soon as you can. 625 00:44:23,594 --> 00:44:27,434 And then, you know, we'll we'll be back in touch. 626 00:44:27,434 --> 00:44:32,394 You know, there's no promises, there's no whatever, you know, and there's never there's 627 00:44:32,394 --> 00:44:37,079 no right or wrong answers in this culture index test, you know, but it really just kind of 628 00:44:37,079 --> 00:44:42,039 helps to see, okay, like, for example, I was labeled as a trailblazer. 629 00:44:43,239 --> 00:44:50,440 You know, I, I can sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman wearing white gloves, right? 630 00:44:50,505 --> 00:44:59,144 You know, I'm just, I am like, you shot me out of a gun. 631 00:45:00,025 --> 00:45:01,625 I am not organized. 632 00:45:02,264 --> 00:45:08,160 Like, so my organization shows up on that culture index is like, in the gutter. 633 00:45:08,719 --> 00:45:18,000 Like, I am, if there's five desks in a room, you'll probably pick mine out pretty quickly, 634 00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:23,474 because this gets something left on it, You know, I'm just not that organized. 635 00:45:23,474 --> 00:45:26,594 You know, I'm not messy and dirty and whatever else. 636 00:45:26,594 --> 00:45:29,074 But I'm just I'm just not organized. 637 00:45:29,074 --> 00:45:30,594 I really need someone.

638 00:45:30,594 --> 00:45:31,875 And that's where I'm vulnerable. 639 00:45:31,875 --> 00:45:34,835 As I say, Look, I have to have someone to do the scheduling. 640 00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:39,559 If you're counting on me to put it on the schedule, I'm over here doing something else. 641 00:45:39,559 --> 00:45:40,519 I'm already doing something. 642 00:45:40,519 --> 00:45:42,679 I need someone else that can do that part. 643 00:45:42,679 --> 00:45:47,559 You know, so that's where, you know, Karen or executive assistant comes in to take care of 644 00:45:47,559 --> 00:45:48,199 that part. 645 00:45:49,239 --> 00:45:56,184 But also, yeah, I've got someone that manages all that, that's extremely organized. 646 00:45:56,744 --> 00:46:02,265 They may be they may be very introverted, but one of their highest traits is organization. 647 00:46:02,265 --> 00:46:05,480 And I'm like, yes, we can work together. 648 00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:10,199 Don't worry about the other parts and, you know, being a visionary and being able to be, 649 00:46:10,199 --> 00:46:14,280 you know, extroverted and get out here and, you know, shake hands and kiss babies and do all 650 00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:15,239 that kind of thing. 651 00:46:15,559 --> 00:46:18,635 Yeah, you do what you're that you're good at. 652 00:46:18,635 --> 00:46:20,074 I'll handle this other part. 653 00:46:20,074 --> 00:46:26,074 And, you know, I think people who get married probably ought to take culture index as long 654 00:46:26,074 --> 00:46:29,434 before they ever get to that part just to kind of see who they're about to, you know. 655 00:46:29,930 --> 00:46:30,410 Okay. 656 00:46:30,410 --> 00:46:31,930 No no joke. 657 00:46:31,930 --> 00:46:34,090 We me me and Mike, I was just in Nashville. 658 00:46:34,090 --> 00:46:39,849 We had a dinner, and one of the people at the table said, the first date that they had with 659 00:46:39,849 --> 00:46:43,050 their now wife, he did a culture index on her. 660 00:46:43,144 --> 00:46:48,264 And, during the date, he was reading through the results of said culture index, and then 661 00:46:48,264 --> 00:46:52,824 obviously explained his and all that, which is, you know, crazy to hear this, certainly when I 662 00:46:52,824 --> 00:46:53,464 was thinking about it. 663 00:46:53,464 --> 00:46:59,409 But, like, seriously, it's like and he said, it's like, even today, the problems that we 664 00:46:59,409 --> 00:47:02,849 have, they're so obvious because of the difference. 665 00:47:03,329 --> 00:47:04,050 So yeah. 666 00:47:04,690 --> 00:47:06,289 Yeah, just wild, wild. 667 00:47:06,289 --> 00:47:07,170 So I agree. 668 00:47:08,405 --> 00:47:11,045 I'm not gonna ask my wife to take personality tests. 669 00:47:11,045 --> 00:47:17,204 We're we're eleven years in That's at this a that's a bad idea in my situation, but, yeah. 670 00:47:19,125 --> 00:47:20,164 Very interesting. 671 00:47:20,164 --> 00:47:29,030 I just I mean, I know I know we did the culture index, so I very much like the philosophy 672 00:47:29,030 --> 00:47:36,150 around culture index probably because I'm a philosopher within within culture index. 673 00:47:36,150 --> 00:47:37,555 So Yeah. 674 00:47:38,434 --> 00:47:39,394 But I appreciate it. 675 00:47:39,394 --> 00:47:45,394 I'll also say lastly to that when you talk about hiring and whatever, you know, we're 676 00:47:45,394 --> 00:47:49,155 about culture, but, I'm big on standards. 677 00:47:50,719 --> 00:47:52,960 I love what Dan Martell said. 678 00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:59,039 We don't we don't rise to the level of our goals, but rather we fall to the level of our 679 00:47:59,039 --> 00:47:59,440 standards. 680 00:48:02,175 --> 00:48:09,535 Standards go a long way with me, you know, just being a person of standards, having other team 681 00:48:09,535 --> 00:48:17,295 members that have standards, and just recognizing that we don't hire team members 682 00:48:17,849 --> 00:48:19,450 that are below our standard. 683 00:48:21,050 --> 00:48:24,890 We don't don't take on customers, I don't care what they're paying. 684 00:48:25,530 --> 00:48:31,144 If we can tell that they're going to be a difficult customer, it's not worth it. 685 00:48:31,144 --> 00:48:32,744 It's below our standards. 686 00:48:33,545 --> 00:48:35,305 It's a full stop right there. 687 00:48:35,465 --> 00:48:36,265 Move on. 688 00:48:36,425 --> 00:48:38,025 I don't even refer them. 689 00:48:38,744 --> 00:48:40,905 If we know they're going to be difficult, right? 690 00:48:41,144 --> 00:48:48,360 So really just maintaining, you know, our, just being a company of standards and individuals, 691 00:48:49,159 --> 00:48:51,719 of standards is is very important. 692 00:48:51,719 --> 00:48:58,454 So, you know, your character is so much more important to me than your gift. 693 00:48:59,014 --> 00:49:02,054 I mean, you can do the work of three men or three women. 694 00:49:04,135 --> 00:49:10,375 But if I can't trust you, you know, to work with fellow team members or or meet with our 695 00:49:10,375 --> 00:49:15,079 customers, I don't have I don't have space for you. 696 00:49:15,400 --> 00:49:19,319 So your character is so much more important to me than your gift, first and foremost, you 697 00:49:19,319 --> 00:49:19,559 know. 698 00:49:19,559 --> 00:49:22,599 So that's, that's that's very, very important. 699 00:49:22,599 --> 00:49:22,760 So 700 00:49:26,295 --> 00:49:32,695 Since we're talking about technology because Culture Index is kind of a technology, why 701 00:49:32,695 --> 00:49:34,054 don't we talk about investments technology? 702 00:49:35,589 --> 00:49:38,309 Did you always invest in technology? 703 00:49:38,469 --> 00:49:40,869 Or was this more of a gradual thing? 704 00:49:40,869 --> 00:49:44,150 Like, how did you figure I should be investing in technology? 705 00:49:44,469 --> 00:49:45,190 Okay. 706 00:49:45,190 --> 00:49:46,949 So that's a great question, Will. 707 00:49:46,949 --> 00:49:54,595 And for me, I'm by

nature a tactical individual. 708 00:49:54,994 --> 00:49:55,555 Right? 709 00:49:55,875 --> 00:49:57,155 I was a farmer. 710 00:49:57,474 --> 00:50:02,989 I do my best work on a piece of equipment, my hands in the dirt, out on a job site. 711 00:50:02,989 --> 00:50:10,269 I mean, as Gay Hendrix would put it in his book, the big leap, and I'm actually doing a 712 00:50:10,269 --> 00:50:11,869 plug right there for his book. 713 00:50:11,869 --> 00:50:21,305 Anyone listening, if you have not read Gay Hendrix's book, the big leap, it you got to go 714 00:50:21,305 --> 00:50:25,865 get it, you know, just pause the podcast and go get the book and make sure you've got your 715 00:50:25,865 --> 00:50:27,385 hands on it so you don't forget it. 716 00:50:27,465 --> 00:50:35,210 But Gay talks about working in your zone of excellence versus being a person working in 717 00:50:35,210 --> 00:50:36,569 their zone of genius. 718 00:50:36,569 --> 00:50:41,130 And Dan Sullivan touches on a lot of this too and a lot of his trainings through strategic 719 00:50:41,130 --> 00:50:42,010 coach and whatever. 720 00:50:44,125 --> 00:50:47,885 But my zone of excellence is in the dirt. 721 00:50:48,364 --> 00:50:53,885 It's, you know, I love the smell of diesel fuel and grease and dirt and just getting things 722 00:50:53,885 --> 00:50:54,204 done. 723 00:50:54,204 --> 00:51:00,489 That's that's why I'm that's that's who I am as a tactical individual. 724 00:51:02,650 --> 00:51:04,250 But here's the thing I realized. 725 00:51:06,650 --> 00:51:17,305 If any of the deliverables within our company require me, then I don't have a company. 726 00:51:18,824 --> 00:51:19,865 I have a job. 727 00:51:21,465 --> 00:51:27,880 And the only way I would be able to get to that point to where we would be able to automate and 728 00:51:27,880 --> 00:51:35,400 get better and be able to provide a much higher, much greater value, if you would, of 729 00:51:35,400 --> 00:51:39,640 service to our customers was to embrace technology, you know, to Will's point. 730 00:51:40,199 --> 00:51:47,214 So many years ago, we did we we bought into budgeting and estimating programs and, you 731 00:51:47,214 --> 00:51:50,494 know, that that fit, you know, our company and what we're doing. 732 00:51:50,655 --> 00:51:52,414 And there's a lot of them out there. 733 00:51:52,414 --> 00:51:53,454 There's a lot of them. 734 00:51:54,059 --> 00:51:58,140 You know, there's Buildertrend, there's, you know, in our case, landscape management 735 00:51:58,140 --> 00:52:01,019 network, there's Jabber, you name it, Houzz has one now. 736 00:52:01,019 --> 00:52:02,619 There's a lot of them out there. 737 00:52:03,420 --> 00:52:07,340 You know, Procore, you know, Aspire, these are all just tools. 738 00:52:08,125 --> 00:52:13,325 You know, like a guitar, it's only going to be as good as whoever's playing it, right? 739 00:52:13,325 --> 00:52:19,164 You've got to become really good at implementing and putting things into place with 740 00:52:19,164 --> 00:52:19,724 these tools. 741 00:52:21,320 --> 00:52:26,280 And so we were very successful with implementing software and utilizing that to 742 00:52:26,280 --> 00:52:31,000 where we had guys clocking in and out using the software on their phones, we could we could 743 00:52:31,000 --> 00:52:36,925 track jobs, we do our job costing now through, you know, SED software, to where it's our 744 00:52:36,925 --> 00:52:39,325 reporting is much cleaner, much simpler. 745 00:52:39,644 --> 00:52:44,764 And, know, if you can't, if you if you can't or don't measure it, you can't track it, you have 746 00:52:44,764 --> 00:52:45,644 no clue what you're doing. 747 00:52:46,079 --> 00:52:50,720 So these are these have been beautiful for the last ten, fifteen years for us. 748 00:52:51,200 --> 00:52:56,480 But here as of late, we've really begun to adopt more and more of the AI. 749 00:52:57,519 --> 00:53:02,625 And there's there seems to be a cut off with how people feel about AI. 750 00:53:02,625 --> 00:53:06,625 You know, it seems like when I talk to some of the old heads, you know, I'm 49. 751 00:53:06,625 --> 00:53:10,224 So when I talk to some of the guys that are late fifties, early sixties, they're like, oh, 752 00:53:10,224 --> 00:53:12,385 this AI thing, it's just up the devil. 753 00:53:12,385 --> 00:53:12,625 Right? 754 00:53:13,110 --> 00:53:16,789 You know, whereas your younger ones, they're all about, well, let's dabble in this thing, 755 00:53:16,789 --> 00:53:23,510 you know, so, so I began to dabble in the AI, I'm kind of the Ron Burgundy of the AI 756 00:53:23,510 --> 00:53:26,070 construction world, in a way. 757 00:53:26,869 --> 00:53:35,275 Yeah, so, it so for me, and our team, we've really sat down and had some deep dive 758 00:53:35,275 --> 00:53:41,680 conversations about AI and here's been the result for me, in our company. 759 00:53:41,680 --> 00:53:46,320 Number one, I don't believe AI will replace people. 760 00:53:47,519 --> 00:53:51,760 I believe people with AI will replace people without AI. 761 00:53:54,864 --> 00:54:01,105 And recently in my business group, we had a gentleman, Devlin Lyles, came to speak with us 762 00:54:01,105 --> 00:54:06,704 just to he's, he's probably been one of the greatest speakers so far that I've I've 763 00:54:06,704 --> 00:54:12,190 listened to on kind of the origin of AI, where it's at now, where it's going, and that sort of 764 00:54:12,190 --> 00:54:12,670 thing. 765 00:54:12,670 --> 00:54:18,670 And he basically broke it down and he said, in the world of AEC, right, in your architectural 766 00:54:18,670 --> 00:54:23,710 engineering construction, talking about the percentages of how people are using it. 767 00:54:25,445 --> 00:54:28,644 And it's it was mind numbing to me. 768 00:54:28,644 --> 00:54:35,925 He said, some of you think that you're at the beginning or in the middle of a five to ten 769 00:54:35,925 --> 00:54:40,849 year curve with AI, and you think

you're behind. 770 00:54:40,849 --> 00:54:43,010 How many of you think you're behind as a result? 771 00:54:43,650 --> 00:54:45,089 We all raised our hand. 772 00:54:45,089 --> 00:54:47,250 It's like 16 CEOs in the room. 773 00:54:47,969 --> 00:54:51,944 And he said, you're not in the middle of a five to ten year curve. 774 00:54:51,944 --> 00:54:58,824 He said, you're in the beginning of a ten to fifteen year curve. 775 00:55:00,744 --> 00:55:01,945 You're in the beginning. 776 00:55:02,105 --> 00:55:10,779 And the statistics were like, you know, like, 27%, I think, as a whole of of of firms in 777 00:55:10,779 --> 00:55:18,474 construction just, again, touched on AI in some form, shape, fashion, you know, whatever. 778 00:55:19,114 --> 00:55:27,355 There was less than 1% of construction companies across the board that had integrated 779 00:55:27,355 --> 00:55:32,579 AI into their organization with how they operate on a daily basis. 780 00:55:33,300 --> 00:55:36,739 We are part of that less than 1% as of right now. 781 00:55:36,739 --> 00:55:39,860 And this was a '20 late twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six poll. 782 00:55:40,674 --> 00:55:44,434 And I've got some slides from him that I can more than happy to to share with you guys as 783 00:55:44,434 --> 00:55:45,954 well that shows a lot of this stuff. 784 00:55:46,994 --> 00:55:58,400 And then he said 79% of construction companies, architectural engineering, constructions, 79% 785 00:55:59,280 --> 00:56:02,400 haven't instituted any of it. 786 00:56:02,800 --> 00:56:08,639 Shy of just I got on chat GPT one time and asked it a couple of questions. 787 00:56:09,255 --> 00:56:15,974 But 79% of companies in our spaces right now so he said, you're early. 788 00:56:15,974 --> 00:56:17,574 You guys are early adopters. 789 00:56:17,574 --> 00:56:19,494 He said, just keep using it. 790 00:56:19,815 --> 00:56:25,380 And and essentially, going back to the guitar theory, he said it's gonna get to the point 791 00:56:25,619 --> 00:56:27,859 that it's not about the AI. 792 00:56:27,859 --> 00:56:29,940 It's not about the platform you're using. 793 00:56:30,019 --> 00:56:35,859 He said, even when you do get on AI, if you're on chat GPT or Claude or whatever, use the 794 00:56:35,859 --> 00:56:39,905 lowest thinking model, not the highest thinking model. 795 00:56:39,905 --> 00:56:47,664 He said, use the lowest thinking model because there's only a 12% separation from using the 796 00:56:47,664 --> 00:56:49,985 lowest thinking model to the best thinking model. 797 00:56:51,269 --> 00:56:55,430 He said, but you you guys are gonna see this in the near future. 798 00:56:56,070 --> 00:57:01,030 It's gonna cost a lot less to use the lowest thinking model than the highest thinking model. 799 00:57:01,030 --> 00:57:05,349 He said the key is just like playing the guitar, become a better player. 800 00:57:06,684 --> 00:57:09,644 Learn to use it better. 801 00:57:09,964 --> 00:57:12,444 That's where you're gonna get

the most benefit out of it. 802 00:57:12,444 --> 00:57:17,405 Not going to to AI using the highest thinking model and expecting it to solve all of your 803 00:57:17,405 --> 00:57:18,619 problems, You know? 804 00:57:18,619 --> 00:57:29,660 So if you if you use it correctly, you can expect AI to help you to 70% get to the 805 00:57:29,660 --> 00:57:31,500 solution of the problem that you're working on. 806 00:57:32,574 --> 00:57:35,615 And so I thought that was that was very interesting. 807 00:57:36,175 --> 00:57:43,775 And then he also mentioned, you know, you know, the the cycle, it will plateau, you know, water 808 00:57:43,775 --> 00:57:44,335 power. 809 00:57:46,160 --> 00:57:49,039 You know, there's there's a lot of people that will be listening to what we're talking about 810 00:57:49,039 --> 00:57:52,719 now that go, man, that know a lot more than I do at this point. 811 00:57:52,719 --> 00:57:54,800 Again, I'm just going down the rabbit hole. 812 00:57:54,800 --> 00:57:57,119 And I've just been intrigued by some of the things that I'm hearing. 813 00:57:57,119 --> 00:58:02,074 But, you know, understanding that there's a shortage of water and electricity that is gonna 814 00:58:02,074 --> 00:58:09,034 take to to keep these things, you know, going at a at a high level is, is is also something 815 00:58:09,034 --> 00:58:12,795 to take into consideration, you know, so eventually, it will slow down. 816 00:58:12,795 --> 00:58:14,234 But but but here's the thing. 817 00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:23,160 He said an Uber ride from here to the airport in Nashville, you know, in 2017 was $6. 818 00:58:24,840 --> 00:58:27,159 That same Uber ride today is $60. 819 00:58:28,954 --> 00:58:32,315 So those of you that are using AI, get ready for that. 820 00:58:32,474 --> 00:58:35,515 Right now AI, chat GPT It's cheap. 821 00:58:35,675 --> 00:58:36,635 There there is cheap. 822 00:58:36,635 --> 00:58:41,195 He said use all of the plumbing, use all the plumbing and AI as much as you can. 823 00:58:41,900 --> 00:58:47,019 Because once you get to that enterprise level, where you're beginning to pay $100.200000 a 824 00:58:47,019 --> 00:58:52,460 year on the low end, it begins to get expensive, really quickly. 825 00:58:52,780 --> 00:58:55,820 And so, so we've been doing just that. 826 00:58:55,820 --> 00:59:00,835 We are on the cloud, platform as a team. 827 00:59:01,474 --> 00:59:05,394 We have a team account, and we're using the plumbing. 828 00:59:05,554 --> 00:59:12,835 And then also, we're beginning to dive into agents even more as well. 829 00:59:13,019 --> 00:59:17,820 So agents are gonna be really, we can already see that the writing on the wall agents are 830 00:59:17,820 --> 00:59:18,700 where it's gonna be. 831 00:59:18,860 --> 00:59:24,699 You know, if I'm a custom home builder, for example, and I've got guys that do framing, 832 00:59:24,699 --> 00:59:27,885 electrical, plumbing work, hardwood flooring. 833 00:59:28,125 --> 00:59:29,405 They're the agents. 834 00:59:30,045 --> 00:59:37,485 The hardwood flooring agent knows all things hardwood flooring, like is an expert in all 835 00:59:37,485 --> 00:59:43,840 things, you know, whereas right now, Claude would essentially be the custom home builder, 836 00:59:43,840 --> 00:59:48,960 you know, they they handle, you know, a platform that has all these things, but your 837 00:59:48,960 --> 00:59:53,519 agents specialize in certain aspects of what you're doing. 838 00:59:53,519 --> 01:00:00,945 And so we're in the process of building custom agents as we speak, to help us better do what 839 01:00:00,945 --> 01:00:01,665 we're doing. 840 01:00:02,144 --> 01:00:07,889 Because I shared with both my estimator and my business operations manager recently, I sat 841 01:00:07,889 --> 01:00:10,449 down with them individually and I said, listen to me. 842 01:00:12,369 --> 01:00:21,215 You are blockbuster to Netflix right now when it comes to AI. 843 01:00:23,614 --> 01:00:24,895 That's the bad news. 844 01:00:25,614 --> 01:00:31,614 The good news is we're talking about it now, and we we can fix this. 845 01:00:32,210 --> 01:00:39,570 We're we can work through this and create agents and create a system to where you're not, 846 01:00:39,650 --> 01:00:44,210 you're still going to be computer facing, but you're going to be directing agents, you're 847 01:00:44,210 --> 01:00:49,724 going to be directing AI and how it needs to go and what it needs to do within the 848 01:00:49,724 --> 01:00:50,605 organization. 849 01:00:51,965 --> 01:00:58,284 And you're going to, you're going to get five times the things done versus where you're 850 01:00:58,284 --> 01:01:04,349 currently at now, Because those are the people that do not that the people that are in those 851 01:01:04,349 --> 01:01:09,869 types of positions that are computer facing that don't adopt, they're the ones, they're the 852 01:01:09,869 --> 01:01:11,469 ones that AI is coming for first. 853 01:01:12,284 --> 01:01:13,324 And I could see it. 854 01:01:13,324 --> 01:01:15,405 I could see it from an estimation standpoint. 855 01:01:15,405 --> 01:01:20,844 I could see it from a from a, office manager, business operations perspective as well. 856 01:01:20,925 --> 01:01:27,809 And so we're doing those things right now to embrace AI to to make them better at at at said 857 01:01:27,809 --> 01:01:30,289 jobs to make us that much more efficient. 858 01:01:30,289 --> 01:01:32,130 So and it's working. 859 01:01:34,050 --> 01:01:34,849 Wow. 860 01:01:35,090 --> 01:01:42,125 I love the perspective, and this is going just circling looping back to speed and being able 861 01:01:42,125 --> 01:01:48,525 to speed speed up what you're doing, this is definitely the way to do it. 862 01:01:49,085 --> 01:01:53,484 But like Devlin said, he, you know, he said in in in the nineteen seventies when Excel came 863 01:01:53,484 --> 01:01:58,849 out, we had 750,000 accountants. 864 01:01:59,889 --> 01:02:02,530 And and I may get

these numbers a little bit wrong. 865 01:02:02,769 --> 01:02:06,210 Hopefully, if Devlin hears this, he doesn't sue me for it, you know, right, but I think I'm 866 01:02:06,210 --> 01:02:06,609 close. 867 01:02:06,609 --> 01:02:15,195 A 750,000 accountants handling like 200 a population in America of 250,000 250,000,000 868 01:02:15,195 --> 01:02:15,835 people. 869 01:02:17,675 --> 01:02:19,994 Everybody thought, oh, here comes a calculator. 870 01:02:19,994 --> 01:02:21,515 Here comes the Excel. 871 01:02:21,755 --> 01:02:23,275 There goes the accounting jobs. 872 01:02:24,069 --> 01:02:25,909 You know, you don't need accountants anymore. 873 01:02:25,909 --> 01:02:27,429 You got all this new technology. 874 01:02:28,150 --> 01:02:33,269 And we all know as we said here on this call, accounting is still alive and well. 875 01:02:33,750 --> 01:02:39,135 But essentially, if you fast forward to today, you still have a number, I think, somewhere 876 01:02:39,135 --> 01:02:47,615 around 750,000 accountants, but they're serving 350,000,000 people within this country. 877 01:02:47,775 --> 01:02:52,175 And so he said, essentially, that's much of how AI is gonna work as well. 878 01:02:52,789 --> 01:02:59,989 You know, once people learn to harness it and use it, you know, to their advantage that it's 879 01:02:59,989 --> 01:03:03,190 just going to make you that much more productive at what you're doing. 880 01:03:03,190 --> 01:03:06,789 And we're beginning to see the effects of that, you know, as well as a team. 881 01:03:06,789 --> 01:03:06,869 So. 882 01:03:07,655 --> 01:03:09,894 No, that's a good point. 883 01:03:10,855 --> 01:03:12,454 This has been a ton of fun. 884 01:03:12,454 --> 01:03:16,054 I I love to sit and chat more with you. 885 01:03:16,054 --> 01:03:17,655 You have the best quips as well. 886 01:03:17,655 --> 01:03:19,974 So I'm I'm I'm I'm a big fan, Mike. 887 01:03:20,199 --> 01:03:21,320 No question about that. 888 01:03:21,320 --> 01:03:23,640 But I think it's time for our last question. 889 01:03:23,719 --> 01:03:24,360 Will? 890 01:03:25,559 --> 01:03:26,440 Alright. 891 01:03:26,519 --> 01:03:30,599 So, Mike, if you were to go back twenty years. 892 01:03:30,760 --> 01:03:31,079 K. 893 01:03:31,079 --> 01:03:34,440 So this is '2 2016 or no. 894 01:03:34,440 --> 01:03:34,920 Excuse me. 895 01:03:34,920 --> 01:03:35,559 2006. 896 01:03:37,175 --> 01:03:39,175 What advice would you tell yourself? 897 01:03:39,414 --> 01:03:46,934 What you tell yourself twenty twenty years ago to either make yourself more successful, to 898 01:03:46,934 --> 01:03:51,109 make yourself be in a better place, to right? 899 01:03:51,109 --> 01:03:57,109 Because, look, we know everything, and we know up until this point. 900 01:03:57,829 --> 01:04:00,630 And we there's some I'm sure there's some regrets. 901 01:04:02,054 --> 01:04:02,695 Right? 902 01:04:02,695 --> 01:04:05,974 Or maybe some learning lessons you wish you had learned earlier. 903 01:04:06,534 --> 01:04:07,574 Will that be? 904 01:04:07,734 --> 01:04:08,054 Yeah. 905 01:04:08,054 --> 01:04:10,215 I think that's a that's a that's a great question. 906 01:04:10,695 --> 01:04:11,574 It really is. 907 01:04:11,574 --> 01:04:15,734 And and for me, I'll take wisdom over money all day. 908 01:04:16,659 --> 01:04:17,460 All day. 909 01:04:17,460 --> 01:04:19,860 And you give me enough wisdom. 910 01:04:20,500 --> 01:04:24,099 You know, obviously, the money and anything else is not gonna be an issue. 911 01:04:24,099 --> 01:04:24,579 Right? 912 01:04:25,300 --> 01:04:33,635 But I think in all sincerity, knowing what I've gone through and the difficulties and the low 913 01:04:33,635 --> 01:04:41,469 times and being in the valleys, being also being on top of the mountain, I would tell my 914 01:04:41,469 --> 01:04:50,670 younger self, if I went back twenty years, I would I would say simply, everything, every 915 01:04:50,670 --> 01:04:57,014 difficulty, every trial you go through, everything that you experience that's difficult 916 01:04:57,014 --> 01:05:06,695 to experience is gonna be necessary to build the character in me that I will have to have to 917 01:05:06,695 --> 01:05:08,934 sustain the success on the other side of it. 918 01:05:11,940 --> 01:05:17,619 Because if I did not if I did not embrace all of the challenges that still to this day 919 01:05:17,619 --> 01:05:28,275 continue to come at me, I would not have the character needed to handle the success on the 920 01:05:28,275 --> 01:05:30,434 other side of all the difficulties. 921 01:05:30,434 --> 01:05:33,394 And I'm I'm so thankful to God and grateful. 922 01:05:33,554 --> 01:05:35,394 I keep a gratitude journal every day. 923 01:05:35,579 --> 01:05:37,099 You know, I meditate. 924 01:05:37,099 --> 01:05:45,420 I I do all these things that I'd laughed at when I was much younger because they all play a 925 01:05:45,420 --> 01:05:49,420 very important part in who I have become in this journey. 926 01:05:49,820 --> 01:05:57,795 And so I'm very thankful that I went through those things to have the character today to 927 01:05:57,795 --> 01:06:01,074 handle the success that we have. 928 01:06:01,074 --> 01:06:01,954 Very grateful. 929 01:06:04,210 --> 01:06:07,010 That's very reflective, very self reflecting there. 930 01:06:07,250 --> 01:06:08,130 I love that. 931 01:06:10,130 --> 01:06:12,769 Mike, if if somebody wanted to get ahold of you, what's the best way for 932 01:06:12,769 --> 01:06:13,650 them to do that? 933 01:06:13,969 --> 01:06:15,170 So you can find me. 934 01:06:15,170 --> 01:06:17,489 I'm on LinkedIn, Michael Pruitt. 935 01:06:18,275 --> 01:06:21,394 On LinkedIn, that's probably the quickest and easiest way. 936 01:06:21,394 --> 01:06:25,635 You know, of course, our website, it's, you know, it's masterslandscapedesign.com. 937 01:06:26,755 --> 01:06:38,610 You know, my direct email is Mike Pruitt, you know, p r u I t t, MikePruitt2@Gmail.com. 938 01:06:39,489 --> 01:06:42,930 Love to connect, love to help other people. 939 01:06:42,930 --> 01:06:48,434 That's I've said many times, if every job in the world paid $5 an hour, you know, what would 940 01:06:48,434 --> 01:06:49,075 you do? 941 01:06:50,914 --> 01:06:56,755 That's what I would do, is help other people avoid a lot of the pitfalls that I had to face 942 01:06:56,755 --> 01:06:57,474 head on. 943 01:06:57,954 --> 01:06:58,515 No doubt. 944 01:06:58,515 --> 01:06:59,075 Yeah. 945 01:06:59,315 --> 01:07:05,569 And and so it's it's very important to me, you know, that coupled with understanding my 946 01:07:05,569 --> 01:07:12,369 purpose is to plant as many trees as I can here on this earth that someone else will enjoy the 947 01:07:12,369 --> 01:07:14,049 shade of, not me. 948 01:07:14,555 --> 01:07:21,114 You know, I'm enjoying the shade right now of trees that my great grandparents, you know, 949 01:07:21,114 --> 01:07:23,355 planted to prepare for me. 950 01:07:23,835 --> 01:07:27,434 And, you know, speaking of grateful, I'm very grateful. 951 01:07:27,755 --> 01:07:32,410 You know, it's not the happy person It's not the grateful person that's happy. 952 01:07:32,410 --> 01:07:33,930 It's a happy person that's grateful. 953 01:07:33,930 --> 01:07:37,130 And so I'm I'm very grateful, you know, for all of that. 954 01:07:40,809 --> 01:07:42,650 I love that so much. 955 01:07:44,075 --> 01:07:50,474 Well, listeners, I hope you had as impactful as a conversation or at least a listen as we had. 956 01:07:50,474 --> 01:07:52,715 And until next time, adios. 957 01:07:52,715 --> 01:07:53,435 Adios. 958 01:07:53,595 --> 01:07:54,474 Thanks, guys. 959 01:07:56,730 --> 01:07:58,570 Thanks for listening to Building Scale. 960 01:07:58,570 --> 01:08:04,329 To help us reach even more people, please share this episode with a friend, colleague, or on 961 01:08:04,329 --> 01:08:05,210 social media. 962 01:08:05,449 --> 01:08:10,730 Remember, the three pillars of scaling a business are people, process, and technology. 963 01:08:11,755 --> 01:08:18,074 And our mission is to help the AEC industry protect itself by making technology easy. 964 01:08:18,555 --> 01:08:23,595 So if you think your company's technology pillar could use some improvement, book a call 965 01:08:23,595 --> 01:08:28,769 with us to see how we can help maximize your IT cybersecurity strategy. 966 01:08:29,010 --> 01:08:33,889 Just go to buildingscale.net/help. 967 01:08:34,609 --> 01:08:36,050 And until next time. 968 01:08:36,929 --> 01:08:38,289 Keep building scale.