EP191: Building a Legacy: Jordan Daneker's Journey from Lawn Care to Evolve Design Build

Yep. We're a full scale design build firm here on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. A lot of people have heard of it. Pretty popular tourist destination. We run about 24 to 26 guys full time. kind of fluctuate there. Anybody who's in construction obviously understands that. But I would say the majority of our staff has been with us the better part of, you know, seven to 10 years. So super blessed in regards to that. We do a little bit of a unique model compared to most design builder firms where they tend to sub out a lot of their trades. We do sub things like gas and electrical, but... What's kind of unique about us is we run a lot of in-house crews. I think that I brought that over from the landscaping industry and just kind of evolved, pun intended, through the process and trying to figure out how to build a more controllable wagon, if that makes sense.

Yeah, correct. Yeah, decks and structures, whether it be the pool house in its entirety or just a basic pergola, as you said.

Yeah, correct. Yeah, if it's in the scope, I mean, you know, typically we don't want to bite off more than we can chew. But, you know, for the right client, the biggest thing I've always tried to talk about with a design build is finding your ideal client. And not everybody's a good fit for you. And so we've noticed that those higher end clients, they tend to not have the budgets that matter so much and they want the amenities. So a lot more pool houses than we used to.

Sort of. That is correct with Evolve as a brand. We rebranded. So we actually were, I started out back in, I think it was 2011. And the name of that company, which is still actively going, is Curry Tuck Lawn Care. A lot of us started out in the lawn care and landscape industry in terms of you know, some of our design build professionals in the outdoor living industry. But I actually, you know, sold that name and that company. We had 32 people with that company and we took and had another maintenance firm come and want to buy us out in 2018. And I really wanted to focus on the, you know, design build side of things, the hardscapes, the pools, you know, landscapes, you know, being an outdoor living contractor is what I call it. Right. And so they bought us out. They're still an active company. And I signed a 10 year non-compete. So I can't do any type of grounds or landscape maintenance. And a lot of those employees are still with that company today.

Yeah, basically, long story short,15 years ago, I'm a high school dropout, man. I didn't have, you know, dropped out ninth grade. And, you know. kind of just always a hard worker. And basically what happened was paramedic school or EMS is free in North Carolina. So ended up, you know, working hard and said, Hey, my buddy of mine was at the volunteer fire department said, Hey, you want to get into, you know, work in EMS being a paramedic. I said, sure. Signed up, did night classes, worked during the day, and then got a job, did that for 15 years. During that 15 years, we worked 24 on three days off 18 on. My wife said, hey, look, you got to get a job. You're sitting around here. So I said, you know what? Cutting grass is better than smoking grass. So I basically decided to start cutting grass. And I mean, started one man. I got a funny picture, man. One with my original guy who's still with me today. His name's Norman. We're out there mowing grass, man, and just burning it up. We started with like five yards. And our first year, we did $26,000 in annual revenue. Got a funny story about that, actually. Let's hear it. Yeah. You know, GIE, have you ever been to hardscapes North America?

Yeah, yeah, you're going to have to get out there, man, and check it out. I've been going now probably 10 years. And, you know, I started my first year and I was, you know, I did $26,000. I was so proud. You know, I was paramedic at the time making very low wages, you know, $37,000 a year, you know, and that extra income really helped out, you know. And, uh, basically my second year, I think we did like 175,000 and I was king of the world, you know, king of the world. I went to H and a, and I was walking around trying to find a software. And at the time, you know, I don't know if you ever remember the site called lawn site used to get up there. It was some forms. You ever, you ever remember that? It

Yeah, this was like before Instagram, it was all the messaging boards. You could get on there, these messaging boards. I'm sure in some way or shape or form you ever remember those, but everybody would post on these messaging boards, you know? And I was looking for a software, you know, of course, CRM was really new, right? It wasn't, a lot of people don't realize CRM has really only become real popular in our industry in the last like five to six years. It's not, it's not been like affluent, like a lot of other industries, you know? And Went to H &A and the lady's like, I'm up there. I'm like, yeah, you know, looking for some software. She's like, well, what is your annual income, gross annual income? And I'm like, well, $175,000, you know? And she just shuts me down right out of the gate. She's like, oh, yeah, you're going to have to talk to somebody else. Like, just shattered all my dreams. So I happened five times, man. I left GIE, was like so excited to be there, and left there thinking I was like the biggest turd in the world. Not saying that annual revenue has anything to do with it. but I just didn't realize how young I was in the industry. And I think like a lot of times people don't realize they see these Instagram, they see these Facebook and they think all these guys are instant overnight success. And it's just not the case, man. This is a tough industry.

Yeah, we, you know, we really started out on the residential sector, man. It was, you know, like most guys, you know, we picked up 30 yards,30 yards turned into 100 yards,100 yards turned into 200 yards. And then we started cutting commercial, had a couple of local hospitals. And we were, by 2016, we were doing about $3.1 million in annual gross revenue, which was, you know, it was pretty impressive for a lawn care company. But with that being said, our margins were bad, right? Like a lot of people want to get up here and boast about how much money. And the reality is $3 million, if you made If you spent $2,999,000, $3 million is nothing, right? And I'm guilty of that. Like a lot of people want to exaggerate. They think they know it all. And the reality is it's impossible to know it all. Man, I feel like I run a very successful business now. I have a healthy business. Don't get me wrong. I'm making mistakes every day. And I'm still taking nuggets. You know, when I sat down at the table with you, you know, I took a nugget from you. I took a nugget from the conference. People just get hemmed up on these numbers and they're not looking at their bottom line. And the reality is you can be working yourself to death and only owning a job. It doesn't matter what the number is. And so I think for me, I just went to lawn care. It was so difficult to gain manpower. And we're talking 2017. I was 2017. I was spent, man. I was like. Heavy into pavers. Outdoor living contracting was still a new industry. We're doing the fire pits and the basic seating walls and a little 600-square-foot patio. And I knew it could be more, but I was having a revolving door of maintenance employees. You know, I don't know if you cut grass before, but I'm sure you can imagine how difficult it is now to get employees. Even back then, it was challenging.

yeah. The Cheetah, the Azoo. Yep. I remember that thing. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had one of those.

Yeah, actually a lot of people, it's funny. They don't even realize like a lot of people are like, man, you got this. Even like my peers, my friends, I just left EMS five months ago.

15 years of service. Uh, just been hard for me. My wife is still there. And like, I finally just said, you know, we're grossing close to $7 million a year. We're going to touch right around 6.8 this year, you know, and, um, we've got a lot going on, you know, we're putting in a pool every four days. You can't, I think there was a point where I just said, you know what? I'm limiting myself. I had reached that cap and I'm, I'm a pretty tough bird, man. Like I've, I suck it up. I do what needs to be done. I'm the guy that comes in early to stay late. And it's not to brag. It's just like my nature. Like I want to make sure I'm there leading the pack, setting the example. Right. I think like a lot of owners think that they get comfortable too quick. They think I've made it right. And, you know, don't get me wrong. Success is only what you define it as, right? If you say my company is to be three guys and I'm an owner operator and I can take off on Fridays and you're comfortable with that, that is your success. For me, that's not it, right? I want to empower people and build a team. And I think I really didn't realize that till like 2014,2015. I'll never forget it. The lady's name was Shirley Mozingo. I'm cutting her yard and we are busy. I mean, it's July. I mean, it's smoking hot here in July, a hundred percent relative humidity. Shirley Mozingo was one of the sweetest clients I have. She's probably in her sixties, you know, very beautiful home, obviously successful, had no idea what, you know, who she was at the time. She's just been a good client pays her bill, right? You know, one, everybody wants a pop up on the porch. And, and I, you know, she says, Hey, have a drink, Jordan. She goes, Jordan, you're one of the hardest workers I've seen. You're here early. You're responsive. You're always on time. And she said to me, now we're talking about like a 67. I think she was 67 year old lady. She says, why do you devalue yourself so much? And I said, excuse me. I was like offended. I was on her back porch and I was just like straight offended. I mean, this little lady, she's probably, you know, five, four just says, why do you devalue yourself so much? And she says, well, I can't figure out how a guy like you is so smart, but yet he's willing to work for $13 an hour. And I said, well, what do you mean? She said, well, I've watched you come out here for two years straight. You're capable of so much more. But every time you get on that lawnmower, you only value yourself at what you can afford to pay somebody to do that job. She said, you could be creating a whole host of jobs, but yet you decide to get on that mower every week and value yourself at $13 an hour. That was it. That's all that happened in the conversation. I said, yes, ma 'am. I didn't know how to take it. I didn't know how to take it. I'm driving back to the shop. Of course, I got the four guys in tow. My mind's going a thousand miles a minute. And I'm like, wow, that lady's right. I'm like, I've capped. I've reached my peak. I'm willing to get on this mower every day. And I can have somebody, it's not so much do it, right? I can build a team. I can, there is somebody out there that would love to have this job, right? Everybody's skill sets are different. And when you're building a team, you have to realize that. And then as I started to add layers to my company through growth, I would say, could this position be replaced with somebody who would love to have this job? whether it be administrative, whether it be, you know, now in my business, we have multiple, we have a procurement officer, we have designers, right? We have a retail manager. So I've just really tried to get in there, learn the craft, figure out what it was worth, what it would take to do that job and put somebody who would love to have that job in that job and continue to grow and build the rest of my team.

Yeah, for me, it was honestly, that lady was probably one of the most influential people in my business. Like I almost felt. I didn't even know her. Like to this day, I bet I haven't talked to her five times, but like, you know, she paid her bill. I think, I think within two weeks I had built a team to cut that. And I think we get as entrepreneurs and as business professionals, like there's a very. A lot of people get it twisted. They think that everybody's an entrepreneur and it's not, it's not right. Everybody doesn't want to build a business. Some people just love their craft. I sat at that table with another guy when we did the table swap and he young fella,26,27 years old, just loved his craft. He was. loved to be out there every day. He was a builder. He had a creative imagination. He was happy, full of life. That's what he wanted. And that might be what he wants at that point in his life. Who knows when he gets, you know, my age,38, you know, and he says, I want something different, but there's a big difference between, you know, owning a job and owning a business. And for me at that moment, I realized every day that all I really did was own a job. And I had to figure out what my value was and what I was willing to do to replace those skill sets and build my team and let go. We sometimes get in this mindset of nobody can do it better than me. Nobody can do like I can. And you're probably right. Odds are, if you think that way, I would say that you are probably right. But you're going to be a bigger person and you're going to be able to grow faster and mature quicker. as a business owner, the minute you realize that you're not a player, you're a coach, okay? And those players on your team are going to mess up day and day. And like many people and many players, they deserve a good coach. They talk about great coaches in all these sports across the entire world, but they never talk about business professionals being coaches, right? And so really my job day to day is to, coach my team and figure out how we can get better with their skill sets. And I even learn things from them. And once you do that, your growth really starts to be scalable.

Yeah, man. I think, I think you hit it on the head and I'll be honest, that is harder to do than anything. It is. It feels so good and so right. Sometimes you just tell people how to do it. Like his is how you do it. And it's not. so much. Are there people that are arrogant? Have I been arrogant at times? Absolutely. Right. I'm like, look at me, look what I'm doing. Right. But you hit the nail on the head, man. You really have to humble yourself. And that is more difficult than doing the task. Honestly, it's easier for you to just say, well, I'll do it. Get out of the way. I'll do it. And to really just step back and let people mature. And that's, that's where the name evolved came from. Like, In 2018, when I was starting Evolve, I was reflecting on all the maturity I had made through the years. And I just said to myself, well, a lot of people think it's... evolve your outdoor space. And yes, there is some thought process behind that, but it was really an evolution of myself as a business owner and our firm and what we were trying to define. And it's tough out there, man. And trying to find your niche and trying to grow your team, it's much easier to just do it yourself than to build a team. But as you know, we all get older and that's not sustainable.

No, I appreciate you saying that because, um, you know, you can get so much more done with that attitude, you know, and, um, it's tough, right? Like I am very proud, right? Like I'm super proud, but it is something that you have to constantly, you know, give back and you have to be humble because I started from nothing, man. And, and honestly, without the team, they, if they up and left me tomorrow, right. I would be nothing. I am very lucky to be in this visionary position that I am now, right? And we're very lucky to love our craft, right? But we have to have these players and team to allow myself or other business owners to build your dream. That shouldn't go unnoticed. I think a lot of people have this mentality of, well, those are my employees or those are my workers. And then they wonder why they have a staffing crisis and they wonder why their culture is poor. And, you know, every single day I'm trying to figure out how I can accommodate my team and make their life more comfortable. Because the reality is those people are doing you a favor. They choose to get up in the morning to come work for you. They choose to present a good attitude and put out a good product, right? You, me, as the business owner, I don't have a choice. Sure, I have a choice personally, but I have to have a great attitude when I don't want to have a great attitude. I have to do things that I don't always want to do. And so for me to really understand and appreciate our team, it allows them to grow and creates opportunity for them, man. So I'm very thankful for that.

Yeah, with 100%. Yeah, you've got that nailed. I literally, I tell people about Tyler. Man, Tyler came out the other day and was just showing me, we're building a new shop. And he had to make some really, really long saw cut marks. And he was like, he didn't put a board down. He wanted to cut them freehand. And he was like, proud to show me, like he's making a Tik TOK video on his phone and stuff. And I'm just like, you know, I was, I was like, man, those are sick, dude. You know, like, Hey man, you crushed it, you know? And so it's, yeah, I am. I honestly, I love seeing all of them. They've all have something to offer. And I consider it a privilege to, for them. to allow me to lead the team. I really do. It's a privilege and I'm super proud of them. It's probably one of my favorite pictures. You know, not to cut you off, but this, there's a guy, his name is Josh Gillow. He posts, he does like some hardscape mentoring and stuff. And he had put a post back about a year ago and said, post the picture you're most proud of in your business. And I posted my team. I was the only person up there that posted my team because like, there's something to be said about that. Like those are the only lives that really matter.

Yeah. I would say that, you know, what I do now and what I did seven to eight years ago is very different. And I think that it's important for people to remember, just like stages of life, there are stages of business, right? And, you know, I'll start with the early stages of... you know, just genuinely having the opportunity every day to see how people's day and weeks were going, you know, when you saw their wives or, you know, during an event or when they came in, how's, how's your personal life? Like you, you should be interested in your employees. You. really need to take interest in them. You know, they're not going to be engaged in something when you're not engaged in them. Do you need to know about their personal life? No, you don't. But I really care about, hey, how's, you know, Mia doing in soccer? That was Norman's daughter, right? How's Tyler's three girls doing? You know, how's your wife doing, Amanda, when I see her, you know? In the early days, it's very simple, right? Because you can't afford the things you can when you have 25 employees as when you have three. And then when you start to scale, You start to offer these guys, you know, things like a brand, an identity. A lot of people don't want to talk about how important people's identity is. And people want purpose, Brad. They want to have a purpose, okay? If you show up every day and you put on a red shirt, you don't know why you're putting on a red shirt. You're not going to enjoy the job, even if you like what you do. Sometimes you can have the worst job in the world, but when you understand why and you have a purpose of why you're there, that's all the difference. So I have this thing that I say, I said it today as a matter of fact, because we just took delivery of two brand new trucks and they're 3500s, logoed out. I had them lifted on 35,1250s. They looked tricked out. And somebody said to me, he said, Jordan, how much did it cost to lift those trucks? I said, I don't know what you're talking about. They said, how much did it cost? I said, I'm not worried about that. I said, the first thing I do when I get up in the morning is I look in the mirror. And if I look good, I feel good. And if I feel good, I'm going to perform good. And so creating that brand and creating that identity is a lot of what these people need. And so in the early days, you're buying uniforms. You're getting, hey, we're evolved. We're a brand, right? We're a team. We unite because of that. We started offering a Christmas bonus. And, you know, hey, I'm going to incentivize you. And it wasn't just giving out the money. Never mind just giving out the money. It's so easy to give somebody a check for $200 right while you're giving them a check. Hey, appreciate these five things. It takes you literally $0 in about five minutes of your time to pinpoint a time or a. place that that employee or team member, I call ours team members, did a good job. And when you hand them that check for $200, you tell them why. That means more than that $200. Do they need the $200? I need $200. But really identifying why, right? What's the why? And then as we grow, we started incentivizing with paid time off and, you know, longevity, you know, letting them know they were a senior person. I think some of our senior guys are getting three weeks paid vacation on top of the two weeks that we offer. And you know, what's funny about that, Brad, a lot of them don't even take it. They don't even take their time because they enjoy being at work, but they know that they earned it. Right. And then now obviously we're, you know, a large enough. We're not a massive company, but I feel like we're a good-sized company that we do pay for health insurance, and we have quality health insurance, UnitedHealthcare, and we offer several series of dental and vision. And that is helpful, but I don't care what benefit or what thing that you decide to offer. There is not a more rewarding feeling than genuinely pinpointing. a point that an employee did a good job in recognizing them in front of not only their peers, but their family as well. It's a big deal.

I had the original six, which came over from Curry took lawn care.

Yeah, exactly. No, it was really, there was honestly, when we transitioned from evolve from Curry Took Lawn Care, we really drew a line in the sand because it wasn't the same firm. So it was almost like we were starting from square one. Like I did get a buyout from, you know, I sold the company and I did okay with it. Not, I should have did better, but I was, you know, I didn't know. I didn't ever sold a company before. And that was my money. It wasn't the business's money. That's something that is very important for people to understand. There's business money and there's you know, your personal money. And I sold that company and my family and I, we decided to make some investments based on that. But Evolve was almost like starting from square one. So we had separation there and we certainly didn't have those benefits.

Yeah. I mean, I think it's incredibly fair and, you know, I'll, I'll even offer this. People don't leave typically because of, you know, money they leave because of poor culture. And so. You can have companies that are offering substantial pay increases and better benefits, and you just treating somebody with humility and being respectful and being appreciative and grateful for what they're providing for you and your team, your business, that a lot of times can trump any benefit. I've seen really great people leave great paying jobs in search of a better life because they just, they're miserable. A

Yeah. I mean, that's a great point. I'll tell you a short story. There is probably one of the most well-known design build firms. If you were to get on Instagram or any social media or even in the PHTA, I don't want to mention the company's name, but they are a $40 million design build firm in Florida and probably one of the most recognizable design build firms. One of my very good friends, again, won't say his name, was making incredible money there. Probably a very talented project manager. He had, you know, I mean, done very well for himself. He's same age as me. We actually went to school together back in middle school, and he recently left. a year ago, and they were trying to increase his wages, everything to keep him because he's such a talented individual. He took a 70, like 70 to $80,000 pay cut and moved over upstate to just get away from the organization because of not necessarily a toxic work environment, but an overworked and understaffed and underperforming. They have this, they have, if you were to look at them from the outside, they look like they have everything in the game, right? They are the cream of the crop, but internally it was just a disaster. And he took a massive pay cut and is working for a smaller design build firm that he's just so much, so much happier at.

Yeah, he probably does. I haven't particularly asked him, but I know that you can talk to him and actually he sounds more relaxed. Like, you know, if you're a project manager in a design build firm, that's a tough job. I mean, you know, I have my project manager is extremely talented and he. is constantly wearing hats, constantly pivoting. And it is a tough job. I got a lot of respect. I did that position, obviously, myself for many, many years. I thank him every day how my phone doesn't ring near as much. It's probably been the most peaceful two years I've had. But, you know, that's a tough job. And so to walk away to do the same job for $70,000 less says a lot.

Well, that kind of goes back on like that whole identity thing, right? Like I'm not saying that life should be about work. That's, you know, I'm probably not the right guy to talk about if life should be like work because I love work. You know, I'm passionate about it. I want to be there every day. In fact, I find myself trying to. you know, find I'm trying to relax more and be more involved with my family. So for all the things I'm good at, I'm also trying to work on some things personal. But what I will tell you is it comes back to people want an identity. They want a purpose. So same with that shirt. They want to know that they're coming to a place where they matter to, you know, you work a lot of your life. I mean, our guys are averaging 50 to 55 hours a week. That's a lot of time. To know that where they're at, they're appreciated and valued and why they're there, that's an identity thing. And when you can create that, it's funny, we don't have issues hiring. Are there occasional positions that are tough for us to fill? Sure. But a lot of people in our general vicinity know who we are and they know how we treat our team because our teams out there, they're the best advocates for us. They're like, I love working for that guy or I love working for their team. Do they sometimes dislike me? Absolutely. Sometimes I dislike my parents growing up, but it doesn't mean I don't love them. So, I mean, if you want to find a good team and good employees, right, be good to your current ones. If you are, trust me, you will find more.

No, and I'll take it a step further than that. We recently got two young high school kids, and I'll tell you how we got them. Our same neighborhood as one of our foremen, right? And they saw him. come in and out to work every day. He was always in a good mood. He didn't work a lot of weekends. And they kept asking him, our foreman's name is Charles. And Charles said, man, I got these guys graduating high school. They live in my neighborhood, these young kids, and they don't see themselves going to college. And, you know, I'm always telling them about how much I love this job. And one of the kids' name is Chris. The other one's name is Hunter. And now they're... They've been with us over a year now and they both have done well. So, you know, they see the branding. He's coming home. They see the stuff he has. They he's he's tells them about how he enjoys his job. And here's the thing. It's not all rainbows and butterflies. OK, there are going to be bad days. Like, I'm sorry. It doesn't matter what you do. I don't care if, you know, whatever the trade is, there's going to be bad days. But when 95 percent of them are good days, you're doing better. or if not, you're in the 1% of the country that enjoys what they do.

Yeah, I think so. Yeah, for the most part, it's kind of been my platform of choice. Yeah,

I think it has a huge effect, you know, effect, excuse me. I think there's a few ways that people need to really understand social media. A lot of your jobs from social media don't come right away. It's not like a billboard. It's not like, okay, I saw there's ice cream three miles ahead. We're going to stop. Okay. Right. Buc-ee's. Yeah, exactly. It's very different, right? Social media clients are the best clients because they invest in your brand and your story. Okay. They've been following you this entire time and they trust you. You literally have a relationship with them before you even met them. Right. And so. Everybody's Instagram is different. I'm very selective about the content I put on mine. There's a lot of people that post every day. I have a very neat, a lot of times you'll notice there's breaks where I do like a video and then all of a sudden I'll do photos and then it's very broken. It's more project oriented or video oriented. I don't do like the daily post. I used to story more, but I'm trying to create a portfolio. and also engage our clients with the why, why choose Evolve. But what's important to remember about your social media is you're finding your ideal client, right? Not everybody's for you, and that's okay. I've told clients after 65 to 70 emails that we weren't a good fit. And I've had people tell me, what? You spent all that time? And I said, yeah, I was interviewing them to see if we were a good fit. Can you imagine how different?

You are, you're getting married to them. And that was probably one of the hardest things for me. And I'll be honest with you. I still struggle with it today because what's my job. My job at the end of the day is to keep 25 guys employed, right? That's a heavy burden. 10 guys, three guys. It doesn't matter what it is. You've got to be selling. You've got to be getting it done. Their families are dependent on you. That's tough, man. Now it makes you want to sell every job. It really does. You're like, I got to get that job. I got to get that job. But when you can switch that mental switch, and it's a tough one, man. It is a tough one. To understand who your target audience is and who you should be accepting, your job as a professional and your life is going to get a lot easier. Does it mean you won't get a bad client here and there? You're going to get a bad client. It's going to happen. Okay. They might not start off bad, but you're going to do something wrong. They're going to do something wrong. You're going to see something different way. But Instagram does a great or Facebook or any platform that you're using does a great job of filtering those clients because they already have an expectation of what they're getting.

Yeah. And, you know, you hit the nail on the head, man. It's reinforcement, right? That's what you're trying to do. You're trying to reinforce why you're the best choice. And, you know, reinforcement is going to bring you the clients. It really is. They're, you know, they're, they're not, you said something earlier about how they're not looking at price. If you can get somebody to stop worrying about price, you're, you're not treating them unfairly. A lot of people are like, I got to get the best price that that has nothing to do with it. Okay. Nevermind that you're offering a service at a certain value. Your number and my number might be different, but in order for you to operate cleanly is the word I use, right? Because a profitable business is a sustainable business and we all need sustainability in our lives. Whether you're selling something or buying something, it's advantageous that we both get a sustainable outcome, right? And so when they're not shopping on price, right? And they're picking you because of that, you win. And so do they.

Well, and the other thing that should be noted, you hit the nail on the head with that, but I would say your accountability, right? I always use the word accountability, right? When you charge more, you need to be also held accountable, okay? because you're offering a certain expectation that you're a professional. And so it's very important for you to have the client understand that you have a high level of accountability. There's a value associated with that. Okay. So, you know, don't forget that a lot of people, it's crazy, man. Like I will say this since we're on the social media topic, don't get influenced by people that you think are doing better than you. Odds are they're not. It's easy to be influenced, right? Just like the names are. If you think somebody got in the construction industry and is an overnight success, it don't happen. I've been on several podcasts. I've talked to several people. I've probably to this day wasted more money than I've spent, you know, correctly. Right. I'm like, yeah, I'm guilty of that. Like, I can't tell you how much money I lost and I'm not. I'm not saying I'm proud of that, but it's also a maturing process, right? You know, nothing teaches you a lesson like losing money. So just be careful with the social media. Even my guys will be like, do you see this company or you see that company? Don't focus on that, you know?

Yeah. And it's, it's very easy to post something and take a picture. It's a lot harder to actually do the work. Oh yeah. You know, well,

And the reality is like as mature as I am in business, I feel like I am right. Like, don't get me wrong every day. We're, you know, we're trying to get better. Right. I'm certainly don't have it figured out. Don't claim to, but I'm pulling a pool out of the ground this fall, excuse me, winter. We're coming up a winter and we made a mistake. I'm not proud of it. You know, I put in 42 pools this year. I'm pulling one out of the ground. I am more proud of the fact that we're fixing the issue. Okay. There's something to be said about that. If we were just skating by the, by the skin of our teeth and we weren't profitable and we weren't sustainable, there's no way we'd be able to present the correct character to pull that pool out and the correct financial backing to fix this issue for the customer. And we're in the wrong. And you know, what's crazy about that job. When I realized it was wrong, we went ahead and completed it so the customer could enjoy their summer. And they didn't even notice what was wrong until the end of the job. And I explained it to them. And I said, I don't want you to worry. The Garcia's don't mind saying their name. Fantastic client. I said, don't want you to worry. I'm going to take care of all this. I'm going to pull the pool out. And I explained why. Obviously, it was a longer version than that, right? They said, you know what, Jordan? We're glad we hired you. You're a true professional. We appreciate it. And they trust me. And they know I'm going to make it right. It's going to cost me $80,000, roughly $80,000, somewhere in that neighborhood. And let me tell you something. I'm not excited about it. Probably won't make that mistake again, but I'm certainly human.

It's funny because I've been struggling, you know, laying in bed at night thinking about, am I going to post that story? And I've really come to terms that I'm thinking about making an entire series on why we had to take this pool out. And, and, and at first I was like, ah, it doesn't really allow with our brand. And do we want to see, do we want people to see we've messed up? But, you know, failure is the path to success. I mean, you know, when you, I'm really good at failing, right? It just means there's another opportunity to get it right. And so I honestly think that I'm going to show that, you know,

Yeah, I really, I went back and forth and, you know, you can't put a price on character and integrity, man. And there's a big shortage in this world of that right now. And so, you know, whether I get any jobs from it or whether, you know, obviously I want to, I'm not looking for recognition, but it's a great opportunity to brand.

There's a great opportunity for. social media to, you know, obviously get the brand out there. You know, we follow through, but you know, people, there's also this piece of the puzzle that everything doesn't always go right. It really doesn't. If anybody's in construction a long-term, they'll tell you that all we do all day is solve problems and pivot. If, if, if you don't think that's the case, you've never worked construction. I mean, we are PM puts out a schedule every Sunday night by eight o 'clock. Between 7 and 8 o 'clock, he puts out an email with a schedule. And we have a projection schedule a month in advance. By Wednesday, something on that schedule has changed. And that's all it is. It's a balancing act. It's pivot, you know?

Yeah, it was great. I thought he was fantastic.

Yeah. I thought a lot of him. Oh, I just, I, it's funny. I literally have his book on my nightstand. I was incredibly impressed by him. I actually ended up going on his Instagram, following him and send him a message and saying, um, you know, how impressed I was and not sure if you know or not, but the event is at my place this year. And I had messaged Weston because I think that man deserves more than an hour to speak. I, there's very few times that I wanted to, I always want to hear more, right? But most of the time, by the end of the speaker, I'm ready to be done with that speaker. I was disappointed when he got off stage. I don't know how you felt, but I was just like, man, this guy is a cannon. And I just, Everything. I was like a sponge. I loved it.

Yeah, and the engineer, you know, not to get off topic, was the way he did the groups thing where he broke everybody up into the groups and talking about how it was easier to perform with more people. You know, it's funny. As long as I've been doing this now and, you know, really not that long, when you think about it,11 years, you know, he's right. That engineer was so right. It is honestly. easier now in business. Like I was so scared of making the next step and kind of implementing that person. Kind of like I was telling you, I had to trust the process and I had to let free of myself and become more humble where I'm at now in the amount of resources I have at my disposal or at our disposal. Cause we're a team is significantly easier than I had just me and four guys. I'm being honest. So it was, it was fantastic. I really enjoyed it. Absolutely.

Yeah. Yeah. New challenges, you know, like you said, but definitely, um, makes other tasks easy. You know, the, the reality is man, you know, being running a business and being an entrepreneur is it's a blessing. You know, you, you get to go out there every day and really write your own book. Now you're the author. You've got to make sure that everything's, you know, correct. And, you know, the chapters align, right? Or else the book's going to be terrible. And certainly you got to make a lot of edits, but we're really, really fortunate to be in the position we are in.

Yeah, yeah, man. I'd love to do it again, dude. I'm sorry. I'm a long-winded kind of guy. And honestly, I tell everybody, if you can't tell, I don't love what I do. You know, I do. And I could sit here and talk about it till midnight.

Really Instagram, honestly. The great thing about Instagram is if you send me a message, I will get back to you. If you're interested in pools or you're at a certain point in your business that you need to see the size up, that's something that I did. Man, send me a message. I would love to have you come by. There's no secret. I'm an open book. I'm as transparent as it can be. I'd love to show you around. you know, please do that. I am very busy, but I will get back to you and love to have anybody who wants to come down and check us out or even chat for a bit.

Yeah, man. Absolutely. No problem, Brad. Thanks for having me.