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Million Dollar Electrician - Sale to Scale For Home Service Pros
Rewiring Our Mission: (Electricpreneur Secrets)
Helping Electricians Achieve the $1M Service Van so they can experience ultimate control over their futures.
Join Clay Neumeyer & Joseph Lucanie for a new electrifying episode & High-amperage action item each week to spark up your service van sales to $50K, $70K, $100K, $150K months, and beyond!
Million Dollar Electrician - Sale to Scale For Home Service Pros
Ep 324 - Rich’s Road to Year One Service Success...and $90K Months
Hello, hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of Electricpreneur Secrets, the last one. Joe, if you guys heard the announcement, this is the last episode under this name, electricpreneur Secrets. The following should be the same links, guys, but new name the Million Dollar Electrician. But this one we're going out with a bang. We've got our homie Rich with us from TrustPoint going to join us here very soon. Joe, how excited are you to get into this interview with Rich?
Speaker 2:Rich is a very particular individual that's become very close to my heart because one the man's from New York, only like an hour away from where I live. He is also bald and beautiful, so I can't complain about that Fellow Italian right. But the fact is is that Rich is the kind of guy that it's impossible not to respect and love. He just has this charisma about him that you want to hear the things he's saying and when he says something, you want to do, the things he's asking you to do. He's like a natural born leader. I really have an immense amount of respect for him.
Speaker 1:Couldn't say that better. Some people you do want to follow. Rich has had some people following him into this new venture he's headed for, having just started his business in November, really going out on his own Again, some some entrepreneur experience from before, but ultimately on track to do 1.2 million in home service this year in his first year, really reaching kind of 90 to 100K months in that area. So we're super pumped about Rich, super pumped about his success and how just such a great student he is and his entire story is going to help you guys with your adventures, with your visions.
Speaker 1:And one of the most noteworthy things I do want to say and I hope that Rich doesn't take this the wrong way for me saying it but is closer to middle age, this is a guy feeling the pressure of you know, hey, do I have another kick at the can do? Do I really have time to do this again? And so there's a message here that's between the lines that I want you guys to take away. That is absolutely. You have time. I think colonel saunders was like 67 when he broke it open, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's wild when it happens, but it's true. I mean, the thing is, is how many of these great businesses started? Either a out of a garage or two out of someone who is already finishing one career and starting another? It doesn't matter the time, it matters the volatility and the viability of the idea you're trying to do, and Rich wants to serve people at the highest level, and that never goes out of style. I was told a quote when I was younger, which is you know, there's a million doctors out there, but there's always room for another good one. The same can be said about electricians, and Rich is clearly, clearly one of the good ones.
Speaker 1:You nailed it, man. Definitely a dude centered on his values. He's got a big why. It's big enough for all of us to fit in. So let's bring Rich in and get into this interview. What do you say? Let's do it Come on in. Rich, let's go, rich. Welcome Rich, he's in the house. How are you doing today, my brother?
Speaker 2:Hello New Yorker here. Good morning boys. How are you doing?
Speaker 1:Fantastic man, fantastic Rich. Can I point something out right off the bat? Sure, you've got that record behind you, damn right, he does. He knows what's what you didn't know. We were going to talk about Wu-Tang today, but I have to. I've got to bring this up. That's a Wu-Tang record behind you, is that right? It is, it's uh from 1993. It's uh 36 chambers.
Speaker 3:Okay, will you share with us why that's there. What does that represent for you? Uh, sure so, I'm a, I'm a huge wu-tang fan. Um, love hip-hop and uh and I, uh, I really got. Uh came out in 93 and my wife, uh, my wife knows my love, so we went to the uh, we went to the 25th anniversary concert. For our anniversary. She took me to Tucson and we went, and then she gave me this gold album that's signed by the whole crew. So, you know, I became a huge fan because of their structure and because of their culture, and I don't know how much you know about them, but all the way from you know, they compare themselves to an old eighties cartoon, voltron, where they form his head and body.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's, it's, it just spoke to me. And the way that they take care of each other, the way that they compliment each other, the way that they build off of each other and use each other to propel, propel, each yeah, it just felt, felt, good.
Speaker 1:So, would you say, then, going right for the heart, are those some values that you also try to install at TrustPoint Electric?
Speaker 3:I do. I think that you know we start, we get our our need to start our business and to go off that entrepreneurial seizure right as Gerber calls it. But it's so important to know our team and to know that we're all here together. I always tell my guys this is not my company, it's our company. I couldn't do this without you, you couldn't do it without me. We're all here to to work together and and fill the pieces and help each other.
Speaker 1:so very similar yep I love that rich yeah, thanks if there's one thing we can tell you guys about rich is rich has been with us sheesh, it's coming up on almost a year now I think. We've been working together in different capacities, but rich has been full of heart the entire time. Like every class, rich shows up great questions, which again seems to be a trend of people that come on the podcast right, highly engaged, engaged with others in the group. You just said in the back, behind the scenes here, before we got started with the recording, you were talking about how much you enjoy when other people actually have reached out and sought any advice from you. They could get so Rich. I just wanted to honor you by saying, man, we appreciate you and thank you so much for for really being a part of the crew for so long. It's awesome.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. It's my pleasure.
Speaker 2:Honestly. At the end of the day, rich, you know, having great students is really a joy, but being able to make a friend out of it, I feel like I could visit your state at any time and know that there's a door waiting for us that's open, and if you ever want to come back to New York, my door is always open for you as well, because we've got nothing but love for you. You're just a genuinely good person, and I'm so honored to be here to support you with that.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. Same for you guys.
Speaker 1:You guys have always been great so as we mentioned in the intro, rich has been around the block. You've been through some stuff, man. I can't wait to jump into a bunch of this, but there's this rubber band principle that I love to discuss and I think you're the perfect example of it, if I may. Law of conservation of energy States that it's neither created or destroyed, simply transferred. Rich has been transferring energy into this business launch for a while now. This is something that you clearly had a vision for. You've been working up to.
Speaker 1:You were working with us before you started the business, and then you started the business in November of 2023. Is that right? That's correct. And now, at this point, you're on track to do 1.2 million. Hopefully, things keep going the way they're going. You're on pace for that, and that is exact exemplification of this principle, where we're putting so much energy into this and taking all the collective experience and knowledge that you've attained throughout your different careers as an electrician, as a teacher, as an entrepreneur and a student and putting all that energy forth to create something so beautiful in such a short time, man. So again, I wanted to commend you on that and we've got a lot to look forward to here. But will you take us back to like why'd you get into the trade then? What was the electrical spark for you, man?
Speaker 1:That's a great question.
Speaker 3:So I originally was. I went to a kind of a renowned high school in the Bronx, fort McRap. I was going to go for law. I wanted to be a lawyer and a single parent going to be a lawyer and single parent.
Speaker 3:You know my mother was a Catholic school teacher and administrator and you know working up through the ranks they're not the highest paid. You know business to be in but the tuition, I think, was about $5,000 a year. So in order to pay my tuition I had to go to during the summer to stuff envelopes for alumni, to ask for donations, to do different tasks. So one of the tasks towards the end of the summer was renovating part of the school and they literally did a lot of it in-house and it kind of just opened my eyes to more of the construction industry.
Speaker 3:My grandfather was a brickie in New York City and spent a lot of time in Manhattan, you know doing all different types of jobs. So I saw that I had that work ethic kind of through my childhood. I saw that you know a tiny man comes home every day to his family and you know just the roughest hands you could possibly think of, but the strongest morals and the strongest structure for family and just, uh, just grinding it out every day, and my grandfather was a big, big influence in the person I wanted to come and uh, and when I saw, when I saw an opportunity, it just it pulled me.
Speaker 2:I don't, I don't have a, you know, I, I, it was a, it was a here you go this is what you're doing at the lighting bolt like this here's your sign, kind of thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's so funny because my, my oldest son right now is is struggling. He's 16 years old and he's he's going through and trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life. And my wife and I had this conversation. You know she had she struggled with it when she was picking her, her, you know, trade, trade or job and for me it was just like no, there's no options. I didn't have any options, it was immediate. I want to be an electrician. I lucked out because I was able to work with a family member who had a shop in the Bronx and took me through. Everybody says Phoenix is the hottest place on earth. I beg to differ.
Speaker 2:It's a bakery in midtown Manhattan in the summertime, right on Arthur Avenue man, like you already know.
Speaker 3:So bad. So I just remember like melting from the fires and ovens. And, yeah, my cousin, through marriage he owned a shop, small mom and pop shop, and he kind of brought me in a laundromat mom and pop shop. And he kind of brought me in the laundromat the second day I was there, had a row of maybe like I don't know what felt like a hundred washers and dryers and he said, look, this is how you wire one, go ahead, just go. And I just went and uh, and I became completely obsessed with with the industry. Wow, so, uh, yeah, that, that was, uh, that was 93. Yeah, it was. Uh, it was 93. Yeah, it was, it was 93.
Speaker 3:So I was a little too young to work, so I don't want to get in any trouble. But but no, I, I did that for for the summer, completely fell in love with it and I just I had a real hard conversation with my mother that said, look, you know, I'm going to this high end Jesuit high school and I and I don't think it's going to be the right move for me. So we looked into some trade stuff and kind of went back and forth. I ended up transferring schools and set myself up to go to trade school. The nice thing about the trade school was it gave you credits for high school.
Speaker 3:It was like a 12 to two program, so you would go to your regular high school in the morning and then go 12 to two to to, you know, electrical school.
Speaker 3:And I did so well in the first like two quarters that I was there that they said, look, they offered me a work program kind of situation to where you can, as long as you had over a 95, you know, maintained average, you can get a job with a contractor and it would count you for credit for high school. So I was like, yeah, that's me, I want to go to work, I'm good to go. I started doing that third quarter of my junior year and spent my whole senior year, literally of my junior year, and spent my whole senior year literally gym at 7 am for school, because you have to take that. I think it was English, and then I think it was one other class and I was on the job by 9 am for the end of coffee and the coffee break. So I spent my whole senior year working from 9.30 until 4.30 every single day in the trade.
Speaker 2:And I feel like that's absolutely amazing because, for anyone who goes through the modern education system, the thought of being able to say, hey, I'm going to not only take the time that you're there, but we're going to give you an applicable skill that you're going to be able to build I'd rather learn that than some of the math that they're teaching. You were able to learn something that you were directly able to apply to a career. What would we have done if we had that extra year? It's amazing and I think it's so cool the fact that you already just knew.
Speaker 2:Like a lot of times when people think of, like a typical high schooler, we don't know what we want at that time. So the fact that you knew and you're going to like so much so that you went from I'm going to be a lawyer, you're in a high-end Jesuit school, you're then going to transfer out and do what you need and it's just so in sync to who you are and what you want as a person, almost feels like divine intervention. At that point you could have gone down a completely different path and, regardless of whatever path you did, I have faith you'd be incredibly successful, just because the kind of person you are, you don't get those character morals without ending up with something. But like man, I feel like I'm just sitting here with my jaw open listening to how in sync everything was.
Speaker 3:It's crazy. I don't know, I can't explain it. I just it was uh, it was just how it happened, and I think that spoiled me a little bit, Cause, like I said for my older son, I'm like what do you mean? You don't know what you want to do for the rest of your life, you know, and it's like it's not that easy.
Speaker 1:So I got to call out another coincidence here. A coincidence, joe, for all our diehard fans that are listening to all of these and aren't just here for the Rich Show. Did you notice how I had my Canadian brother north of the border here last time? And now Rich the New Yorker is here for Joe. Joe's been organizing these interviews and I'm starting to wonder if this is a little bit of a coincidence or what. Joe.
Speaker 2:Honestly, I have a bit of a bias towards Rich. In all honesty, rich is one of those guys that you just meet and it's hard not to fall in love with him. And what I mean by that is like you find certain morals and certain character traits that stand out, but when you find good character, attached to integrity, attached to good business sense, attached to good, like it's he's the package man and like it's hard, it's hard to not want to showcase that to someone. You know what I mean. Yeah, he's from new york, yeah, he's bald and beautiful, but hey, what else? You know what I mean. Yeah, he's from new york, yeah, he's bald and beautiful, but hey, what else? You know? And we all, I got my biases. What are you gonna do?
Speaker 1:right, not to mention the ball. I see what's happening here.
Speaker 3:All right I had hair last week. I just shaved for joke for today.
Speaker 2:That's what that's specifically what he had, like a long mullet locks.
Speaker 1:That I get it, yeah yeah, do you guys ever consider a toupee? Is that weird?
Speaker 2:no, no, no, no, I was no, no, I was going to say I um. I've known people who are close in my life who used to wear rugs, and it's just. I like it. I like it being off man. I'm aerodynamic and rated for maximum heat dissipation in an attic. That's how I like to describe it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's a sunblock holder up there, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a sunblock holder up there, right, yeah, eventually, anyways, wow, that was we digress. Rich, you became a master electrician in 2002, from my notes, and then you moved. You left New York, sorry, joe.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:And you moved to AZ. Is that right? Yeah, honestly great part of my story. If you don't mind, please, by all means, we all want to know. So I was. I got so into electrical, like I was.
Speaker 3:The 2002 code book. I was like I could pretty much recite the pages. It was that bad when I don't have interest in something, I kind of disconnect from it. And that's where I was with the academic side of high school, after, I mean, I went from getting into all three high schools I applied to to just not doing so well, because I was just like no, I'm focused on electrical. And having a mother in education, that's like no, you have to do this. We went through our hard times occasionally, but my mother, being an awesome person and an awesome person and, and, uh, and, did a great job, you know, raising me, I feel, um, it gave me the chance to really just excel. Right, I fell asleep in my code book. I was constantly in it, um, so I, I got my electrical license in 02, but I, I'd gotten into the union in in 97, uh, or you know, 97, 98.
Speaker 3:And I was. I didn't start going to school until close to 2000. So I was hitting my third year of apprenticeship in the local, but I already had my time to take my master's test and had gotten my license in 02. So I was a third year apprentice with a master's license, which is kind of it was a little bit of a challenge, because going to work every day and having somebody tell you what to do, and then you're like yo man, I gotta you know a little tougher. So a little bit of a chip, you know, on my shoulder when that happened.
Speaker 3:But uh, but I met my wife. So my test was, uh was April 13th of 2002. And I went on a blind date, or my blind date was set up for April 12th and I almost didn't go, uh, almost decided not to because I didn't want to fail my test. I was like so nervous but I did and it was. It was the. It was one of the best things I ever did was go out on the 12th to meet my wife and then uh, be able to call her on the night of the 13th or 14th and be like, hey, I passed my test. So we uh, it was a crazy time that, that April of two.
Speaker 1:Okay that that alters the course here.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry, man.
Speaker 1:Not only do we have a successful master electrician, a successful business owner at this point, but we did not know we had a successful blind date candidate. There's very few of you, Rich.
Speaker 3:I don't know many blind dates that have gone all that well, yeah, somebody I worked with set it up and she was a nurse, she worked with his wife and he was like, hey, you want to go out tonight? Go to the bar and hang out. I was like, yeah, whatever. And she almost didn't go because it was raining and she got her hair wet and she was on the way in she was like, you know what? I'm just going to go home. So we both have our stories of why we almost didn't go. And uh and I got two beautiful kids and uh and a great family to to thank God every day.
Speaker 2:We did so yeah, I mean, man, that's wonderful. I'm really really happy for you there. You know, the thing that I think is really cool and I don't know if it's just a me thing, but being able to say you knew your wife before your license almost feels like a little flag in the ground there, because I remember I knew my wife before I passed my test. And it feels so good that we can celebrate that memory together and be like hey, remember all the studying, hey, remember digging the. So it's really cool. Even though I know it was the day after. You can technically say Nope, I was with you before. I think it's really cool, is your wife?
Speaker 1:in New York, or two then.
Speaker 3:She is. Yeah, she is. She lived in Westchester County. I moved up to Westchester after we left the Bronx. But what really sealed the deal for me is when she heard I passed my test. I used to drink a lot of Dunkin' Donuts coffee right, I was a big coffee guy. And she showed up to my door with a large coffee one night and I said to her oh, thank you so much. And she goes, come out to my car, I want to show you something. And I was like what? And she popped it open and she knew I had wanted a DeWalt combo set and she bought me, like the Sawzall, the screw gun, the flashlight at the time.
Speaker 2:It had just come out, carried her instantly, instantly.
Speaker 3:She sealed it, sealed the deal. So, this was a week after we met. It was a $500 combo set.
Speaker 2:I'm already calling that. Her love language seems to be giving gifts, because between her going out of her way to take you to your favorite concert and get you an amazing gift and now get you the combo set, like it seems, there's a lot of very good, thoughtful intention behind it. You landed a good one man.
Speaker 3:It's a great one. I wouldn't be half of what I am today without her. I love that.
Speaker 1:You want to know how you could tell I'm Canadian.
Speaker 3:Yeah, How's that?
Speaker 1:I mean, at one point I had a partner buy me a chainsaw Husqvarna chainsaw for an anniversary gift and I literally teared up. I was like, oh my God, this woman really cares about me.
Speaker 3:That's awesome.
Speaker 1:Sorry, I couldn't help but reminded me of that.
Speaker 2:Oh boy Okay.
Speaker 1:So what brought you guys out west then? Why the big move? And tell us about getting into home service now.
Speaker 3:So my at the time, you know, new York union, I was doing all you know we were doing all. I worked for about 125 million a year contractor. We were doing all bigger commercial work. And I love commercial work, I love bidding it, I love like studying the numbers and figuring out how to break the break the barriers. And so I was working she was working as a nurse.
Speaker 3:My in-laws actually came out here and and found we live in Anthem, arizona right now. They found this little town that was just being, you know, had just been built, just being developed. They fell in love with it. And they they said to her hey, you know, had just been built, just being developed. They fell in love with it. And they said to her hey, you know, we're going to go on vacation, come with us. She fell in love with it.
Speaker 3:We were trying to buy a house in New York and it was like everything was $500,000. We needed 20% down. I just couldn't do it. You know, I wasn't even a journeyman yet and we just couldn't do it. So we decided, um, we got married in 04 and we decided that we were going to buy a house as an investment $200,000, you know, whatever, move there and go have this house as an investment. Well, we started to kind of just want to be here, so we came out. Um, I still had a ton of family back in New York. My grandparents were still alive. It was too early, we didn't have kids. We probably we should have not come to Arizona or we should have just stayed once. We were here because it was just it was not the right time. Something pulled us back so we were only. We came out to Arizona for about a year as a married couple lived in the home. I actually gave up electrical.
Speaker 2:I was a. I was a poker dealer in a casino. Whoa.
Speaker 3:Yup, I refused to work in the in the heat for $10 an hour when I was just working for 40 in uh in New York.
Speaker 3:So yeah, it was a little bit of a mindset shift, um, but I, I, we ended up going back to New York that following year, Cause I just felt like you know, uh, we still had family and I was a little homesick and I feel like I didn't finish what I needed to, so I went back. Unfortunately, we had some family pass away my grandmother, my father, my grandfather but I did start my own union shop, so I got approached by the local to teach. I was teaching from 06 to 13. From 06 to 13. And and then we I started my own union shop in 09.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we were doing mostly retail office renovations and college renovations.
Speaker 3:Very cool yeah, we were doing about 3 million. We got up to about three, three and a half at the height, and then we ended up having kind of just a reality check and and just life check and saying you know what we we had. My son was born in 07, so he was kind of, you know, was going through and um and uh, and you know, toddler stage, um, uh, my, my, uh. Youngest son was born in 12, in January, um of 2012. So we kind of just said, you know what? We have kids where we're thinking about them. So we decided to move to Arizona in 13 and uh, and step out of the rat race. We call it.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, that is. That is kind of what New York feels like. It's not necessarily priced to live anymore, and you know the thought of being able to take your kids to have a better opportunity. Yeah, they may be a little bit further away from family, but you can create your own and give a better future for them. Just, it's no different than our parents coming from Italy. You know our grandparents come from Italy. You know what I mean At that point.
Speaker 3:It's all about the kids. You know it's, it's all about we could. I was fine in New York, we were making money, we were doing okay, but it was more about what does their childhood look like? And I had one of the best childhoods I consider ever and I grew up in the Bronx and it was a great experience. But it's not like that anymore as far as I'm concerned. So good opportunity for them to come out here and just have something new.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Do you ever regret the move? Sounds like you're on.
Speaker 3:No, the only part that I, that I, I wish it's like a bittersweet thing right when we originally came out here in 04, if I, would have stayed here.
Speaker 3:My business would have been uh, it would have been crazy right now. What would it possibly been? But at the same time, I needed that experience of having. You know, I had 15 guys in a union environment where, every month, every Monday, my, my, I think it was like 70 or $80,000 in payroll every Monday and I needed that, I needed to see what that was and I needed to experience it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, for sure. Oh, that's remarkable man. And so fast forwarding a bit more into more of the home service stuff then, because you really just began in that in in arizona, then is that right?
Speaker 3:yeah. So I I came out here and uh, and I I brought my van with me, brought my, my e350, and I was, you know, getting myself situated, and I remember a guy pulling up to me. He was a pest control guy in town and he said, uh, he goes. Well, either you're the I've never met this guy before in my life and he says to me you're either the worst electrician in the world or you just moved here. That's it. Yeah, I just moved here, man. And he's like, because nobody's like standing by doing nothing midday, you know, cleaning out their truck. I'm like, oh, thank you, you know, nice to meet you. Uh pulled me into a networking group there and the next thing, you know, uh, I got two trucks and we're doing, we're doing residential, residential stuff wow, that's a funny story.
Speaker 1:That's like bill envol, here's your sign, right, oh man, okay, so did you started up shop on your own again then, right off the bat, or were you working for someone else, or what happened then?
Speaker 3:No, when I came back out in 13, I had to do my own thing. I was already got to taste the entrepreneurial life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hard to go back.
Speaker 3:I wasn't going back unless it made really like a lot of sense. And I did that from 13. So from 13 to 18, I did that in Anthem Arizona. I had a company, anthem Electric. We kind of went around, we did everything from you know hanging a ceiling fan all the way up to you know a store in one of the malls or something nearby. We just we did pretty good. We didn't get super big, we were doing about like five and change a year, but I was content it was, I was making money. But again, I always go back to Michael Gerber type of stuff and I owned a job. I didn't have procedures, I didn't know anything even remotely close to what I know now or you know. So there was just a lot of you know, $75, service calls, 125, you know kind of situations and um, yeah, you know, am I making it?
Speaker 2:oh, great is everybody getting paid.
Speaker 3:Great, you know, are we happy? Yes, check, let's go um no, no kind of vision for the future, no vision of what my why would be, which is a big part of you know I am now and I didn't really have a path for the guys. I didn't have a set plan.
Speaker 1:Did you hit a wall, then Did something cause you to have to stop, or what happened next?
Speaker 3:No, I was approached so kind of a little bit of a of a unique situation is, you know, it's very small town.
Speaker 3:So everybody knows each other and and I liked I, I just really liked a lot of the other trades, like the guys. They were just good guys. You'd see them, you know, once a month at least in a networking event or a chamber or whatever else. And I got approached a little bit of a sticky situation for uh, for an HVAC plumbing contractor, a local guy. I got approached by them to uh to want to know if I wanted to come aboard to to run their electrical division. And you know, we made kind of a little bit of a deal for um for me giving up the business and me coming aboard and uh, I I don't think I could have, I definitely couldn't have done it with anyone. It had to be somebody that was like minded, somebody that I knew had a good heart. These two guys are are great people and I just felt like like it was a, it was a great move.
Speaker 2:I thought it was a good son especially when you could judge it by the people. Like the first thing you said wasn't that, oh, they were doing so. Well, it was, they were good people.
Speaker 3:Right, I had. No, there was a, and I I told them that after we you know I could have never done that with anyone else. So I joined up as the electrical portion of an HVAC plumbing company and and I really went into it with. You know, we're going to swing for the fences. Sky's the limit kind of kind of mentality, but I didn't have a lot of the education you know I didn't know a lot of it.
Speaker 3:You're also, when you do something like that, which I didn't realize is that you're also it's hard to change like, it's hard to be in control of anything. You have to kind of there's checks and balances, there's there's a progression and you have to. You know they were extremely open to suggestions and very receptive with growth. You know things I wanted to do, but at the same time, you know there's also they used to actually kind of give me a hard time about, you know about my style of running Anthem Electric in their company. So it was all fun though.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, I did that until this past November and we we got bought out by private equity two years prior to that and you know a lot of a lot of things that kind of I didn't maybe prove up a hundred percent or kind of just things drift. But some of it, some of that, some of that. What attracted me to the company in the beginning kind of kind of wasn't, didn't stay and uh, and it was unfortunate, uh. But you know, again I just look at it as it paved the road for something else.
Speaker 2:So yeah, fair enough, you know that's the best way of looking at it because, like I can relate with where you're coming from. Like you think something is the way it is and then you join it and you're like time changes your perspectives, you know, but at the same time you can look back at it and say, yeah, but I needed to make those moves, because those moves brought me to a place where I could do something better. Right, and looking, yeah, looking back, the perspective on that is huge, right.
Speaker 3:So I think it's two sides of that right. For number one, I think that you learn what to do. You learn what not to do, right.
Speaker 3:You learn there's both sides of that and it's the same thing of when we fail in life. Right, if we do not learn from that experience, that's the real loss. It has nothing to do with the failure. Everybody fails. It took me a really long time to understand and know that right, but we have to get something from that. There has to be a positive spin on that. The other thing, too, is I could pick up the phone today and call either of them. There were two brothers and I can call either of them and say, hey, you know, can you help me with this or whatever. And I know they would drop whatever they were doing to help me, and that that means a lot. It, uh, I, I owe them just as much. You know gratitude as um as anything else.
Speaker 1:so I recently took this from a mentor in a. In a book that they wrote, they said uh, you know, time to time people will tell us business is business, and he said it couldn't be further from the truth. Business is personal. It's built on the relationships. It's built on the leverage of the people around you, beneath you, above you. There is nothing about business, that is just business. Honesty.
Speaker 1:I agree more impactful stuff, so rich, then you get this renewed vision. You're going into your own business. That's why we're here today, because things are going great. We got to work together with you on that. Can I ask, though, if you had this experience and things were going kind of well, what in you is saying let's invest, let's do something else, let's get help with this, let's do something different? Why not just use the formula that you already kind of had there?
Speaker 3:Well, I think number one, the biggest hurdle that we overcome right, as proud entrepreneurs, is knowing that we're doing something, to recognize that we're doing something wrong or lack thereof Right. So what happened to me was I was in, I was at work one day and I was talking to the HVAC manager, who's a great guy as well, and he said to me he goes, you know, you really got to check out this podcast, you got to check out Waste no Day.
Speaker 2:And I was like, yeah, brian and Nate, they're awesome people.
Speaker 3:I mean yeah, and so I, of course, you know, I go right on, I'm listening, I hear electrical, plumbing, hvac. I'm like, yes, right, and the first podcast I come across it must have been fresh in the queue or whatever was Tommy Mello's podcast, right? So that was the first one. And then I heard that and it kind of sparked a lot. No-transcript, you're paving roads. You know that. You're doing something that you know helping the redheaded stepchildren and something that you know, yeah, I mean it, it's, it's the honor, that's what really like, I gravitated towards your message and towards what you guys were putting out there and, um, I think it was almost like, you know, like superman, finding that, that green crystal man, you know, I just, uh, I picked it up and ran with it and it was just like what, what do you mean? I? I'm like I was always concerned about pricing and am I too high? And you know, but I never did the math on what is that pricing doing for me? And then back to, you know, originally hearing Tommy Mello's podcast is, you know, is. Then I got my eyes open to procedure and you know, al Levy and marketing and seven powers, and it was just like you know, my head was exploding.
Speaker 3:And then you start to see similarities, right, you start to hear, you know like you guys had Dan Antonelli on and you start to hear somebody say, oh, you should really get branding done with KickCharge. And then you watch a podcast and there's Dan Antonelli, and then you hear Tommy talk about him. And then you hear and it's like, wait a minute, these guys know something I don't know. Well, let me go, you know, let me go talk to Dan Antonelli. And the next thing you know, you have a kick-ass logo and not, you know, a branded package. So I just think that, my, you almost get to a point I'm sure you guys feel this all the time where you just want to, like, give somebody, like anybody that wants to be an electrician, you want to give them a welcome packet.
Speaker 2:That's like, look, save yourself 25 years, do this and then carve out whatever you need to from there, and it's I feel like that particular thing hits so close to home because I guess you know when I started off, like yeah, I did a lot of electric on my own and things like that, but really almost every coaching development that I hired was HVAC and plumbing based and I had to translate everything from HVAC and plumbing to electric to make it make sense. It took seven years to make that happen. But the reason why I'm so happy where we're at right now is an electrician could start off in a similar place that you were and, instead of having to go through all those life experiences and all those bumps and all those hurdles, be like I could fast forward you not seven, but like 14 years and be like here you go, learn from all my fuck ups. You don't have to do them yourself and just I felt like that wasn't there previously for electricians and I'm just so grateful that you recognize that.
Speaker 3:The last three years. Joe, to be honest with you, the last three years have completely changed my life and whether it's from you know, it's everything together, right. I went to Home Service Freedom in 23. That was a life-changing experience the first time I heard your podcast. A life-changing experience the first time I heard Waste no Day talking to al levy like I just it's over. It's so overwhelming on a good, on a good side, right usually, where I mean I've gotten so much information, sometimes like drinking out of a fire hose. Right where you're just like, yeah, and it's just um, when I think about how eager and how willing um people have been to help me in the last, let's say, two and a half years even I could shrink it up a little bit it's just, it's amazing, remarkable, how you can see why all these people are great because of their contributions and because of their willingness to help others.
Speaker 2:I think it also says something about you, though, right, and I'm going to circle it back, to point the finger back at you. So you may have all these great trainers, you may have all this great content, all the providers that are out there, but why are they gravitating towards you? Because people want to help good people, and you've always shown up as someone who wants to succeed for the right reasons, and when you see that in someone else, you want to get them to the next level. So keep being the person you are and you'll keep finding those people who want to connect with you and elevate you further and further, because, I mean, you won me over instantly. So, like I know, that's going to happen to other people. You just got to show yourself to the rest of the world, and hopefully this podcast can do that to you, or do that for you.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:You know what the crazy thing was. I'm going to touch on this rubber band principle again because, rich, when you started coming, you were kind of in between space. Right, there's some vision, you're working, you know you're building up your business, but you, uniquely, were showing up to class almost every class, probably 99% of classes as a student Like we're talking a serious student. And I'm hearing Jim Rohn's voice in my head even as I say that, right, rich is a serious student. Everyone else is like on the call out there working or dropping in for a minute. Rich is there throughout the whole thing taking notes.
Speaker 1:And I have to admit there was some curiosity because we knew there was a launch day coming and it was like, okay, how is the student going to change all of this into activity in as short a time as possible and how is that going to work out? And we've seen that actually a couple unique times in a couple unique ways in the program and the guys that, with your level of dedication to it, just absolutely blow us away with how quick they can get results. Because, as Joe mentioned, like I didn't have that in any of my businesses. Joe didn't have it, there was no quick, it was like years of trial and error and taking help and trying to make something work. It was like years of trial and error and taking help and trying to make something work. And, man, I think the first win that you shared, you had your guys and I don't even have it up, rich, so you might have to help me with this but it was like a week of sales or two week of sales and you guys did like 20K.
Speaker 1:There was a big launch to this that I was like, yes, the student clicked, like it just happened so fast. Do you know the one I'm talking about?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I think it was in December. It was. It was. I believe it was the second week in December. I think we had a 25K week.
Speaker 1:It was awesome. I wanted to share that with you. I don't know if we ever got to truly share that excitement, but I remember it still. It was clearly pivotal man. So so much congratulations to you and your early success with all of this stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1:Gents, we are running low on time, so I want to just focus on the last few questions, if we can. Rich, is that all right.
Speaker 3:You got another five or so for us, yeah, sure, sure you go Awesome man.
Speaker 1:Appreciate you and your schedule. So what do you think are kind of the biggest changes then that have driven you to this kind of newfound success in service? Because I think I saw on your notes like feeling like maybe you're doubling your old average sales in home service from before. What are the biggest things that are contributing to that for you guys?
Speaker 3:So I think one of the biggest is the fact that we know our numbers and I think that so in the past, from past experiences, we used to worry about the price of a job and directly correlated with, like, getting a one-star review right.
Speaker 3:And if you said, like our pricing is too high, people are going to give us a one-star review. I'll be honest with you, they're not Okay. If you try to rip them off, they're going to give you a one-star review. If you try not to give them good service, they're going to give you a one-star review. But I've been. I worked out my numbers. I've been charging what I need to charge to run my company the way I want to run it, to give my employees what I want to give them, and and we're at a very modest, you know, profit margin. Um, and we have, we just hit 101 five-star Google reviews.
Speaker 3:Um, because, but but here's the thing right Already. I needed to. I needed to learn that right. I needed to learn that right. I needed to learn that it has to all do with customer service, it has to all do with the quality of how you're serving, and very little to do with the price. I mean, people buy Lexuses, they buy Toyotas, they buy all different cars. They need to know what they're getting, they need to know the value and, like I said, people that that really don't focus on what they need to operate their business correctly. They focus on what the cost they think the customer wants to hear, and that's uh. Or compare themselves to somebody else.
Speaker 3:I, I could care less what anybody's doing right now. I got blinders on. I worked my numbers. I know what our insurance costs, I know what my guys cost, I know what the TrustPoint experience costs, what that costs for me to bring to the customer, and I don't have any. You know there's no downside to that. It just is what it is, and either we're the right fit for you or we're not, and that's okay. I'll do whatever I can to help serve people at the highest level, but I cannot do it to compromise. This is going to sound familiar right, but I'm not going to do it to compromise anything to do with our culture, anything to do with safety or anything to do with the quality product that I give to the customer.
Speaker 2:I love hearing that. It's near and dear to the heart. I love when you say that yeah.
Speaker 3:And that was really a key thing for me to understand and realize. But it was a process, right? I didn't just go in and say somebody's saying to me hey, trust the number, you're good. I had to go through your pricing model, I had to look at it and work at a couple different ways, I had to start to implement it, and that all changed the game.
Speaker 1:Was it hard for you at first? Was there a kind of a fear point for you in the beginning, a self-objection, if you will?
Speaker 3:God, yes, absolutely. Yeah, You're well cause. You're sitting there and you're like what if nobody understands? What if I don't sell the? What if I don't make the, the, the, the selling points known correctly, or the, or the value and the quality right? What if I don't do that as a leader? What if I don't do that successfully or, worse, even off? What if I cannot train or make my team invest in it and buy into it, right?
Speaker 3:And I remember when we did our orientation in November, when we were getting ready to launch in December, I sat everyone in a room and I showed them the whole calculator and I said, guys, this is what the breakdown is. Here's our CRM, your service titan. Here's Rilla. Here's our marketing budget. Here's this, here's that. Here's your brand new van. Here's your Milwaukee packout system. Here's everything that I'm giving you to be successful and succeed. And you know, here's our sales training, everything. And and I honestly asked them, I said you know, what do you think of the, our billable unit rate, what do you think of? You know, how do you think the customers? And at first everybody's like, ah, I don't know, you know, but then I, when you start to talk to them and say, look well, all right. Well, where should I take it from? Here's our profit margin. It's not a thousand percent. Where should I pull it from? And nobody said their salary, which was-.
Speaker 2:Big surprise right.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So they all agreed. They said you know what? No, we believe the number, it makes sense. And that set us up and propelled us to just go go out and and they look at more of his experience. Right, we are that cup of coffee. You're walking into that deli and you want a cup of coffee. Great, it's trust point flavor, it's the best coffee you're gonna get and it's also, you know, a little more than starbucks, and that's, that's how it is for everyone.
Speaker 1:Listening to this, you might want to go back about five minutes, listen to it again, replay it again and again, and again, if you have not absorbed this already in your business, please, rich. You said that so well, brother. Everything from comparing it to the one star reviews and how you shared it with your team. I know a lot of people are on the fence about even sharing their numbers when, at the end of the day, this isn't a secret, there's no ripoff, it's simply math, and the math is telling us what the picture is asking for. It's not really something you can argue with. You just have to go and do the thing. So I appreciate how grounded you are in your brand and your coffee, as you said, in your flavor, and we're digging it too. Man, I I would drink a TrustPoint coffee any day of the week.
Speaker 2:Any single day of the week. Man, I'll double down on that. Rich, you are truly an amazing human being, and it has been one of my highest honors to have the pleasure of training and working with you.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. Same here, guys.
Speaker 1:What's the big vision for TrustPoint Rich? Do you mind sharing that a bit? Where do you see this in two, three years?
Speaker 3:Yeah, right now, I mean, I'm 47 years old, right, so I still got some gas left in the tank. I don't think, honestly, we're swinging for the fences. So I think it all stems around my why. So I kind of have mapped all that out and kind of looked at you know, why am I getting up every morning and doing it? And where do I want my family to be? Where do I want my guys, you know, where do they want to be?
Speaker 3:And I will quote, you know, tommy Mello on this, where he says you know, build a dream so big that everyone else's could fit inside of it. And that's a, it's a great way to look at it. It fuels. It not only fuels you, but it fuels the team. So I think, as far as TrustPoint goes, honestly I just want people to wake up every morning and and be thankful to be part of the team and to be thankful for what they have and to be able to to, to provide for their families any way that they want or or fulfill their was. So that's what, uh, that's what my vision is. If that's, uh, that's 5 million, if that's 10 million, if that's a hundred million, um, then it is what it is.
Speaker 1:So really powerful.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, very powerful, rich, are you hiring?
Speaker 3:We are. Uh, I'll give you a ticket. Find your first class out if you have experience. No, yes, we are, we are. I mean, we're always looking for you know skilled guys. But really, what I've been focusing on the last probably 30 to 45 days I know we didn't talk about this, but I kind of went in stages of how I've been building right so the offer needed to be perfected, the structure needed to be perfected, the marketing needed to be perfected so we can have the ball rolling and the train moving. Right now I've been the last 30 to 45 days I've been focusing on turning you know entry level from green to go. The guys you know really entry level from green to go, the guys you know, take really, start with a good foundation and good people and then bring them into the culture, train them you know from what I, what I know and and get them in a truck ready to serve.
Speaker 1:I love that and if you guys didn't pick up on it earlier, rich is, I think you said you're teaching a couple nights a week still and that's technical training. Is that right I am? I teach in Phoenix right now two nights a week still, and that's technical training, is that right?
Speaker 3:I am, I teach in phoenix. Uh, right now two nights a week, but it'll go back down to one soon. Uh, really, just for entry level. Um, guys that are coming in, it's a 16-week program, um, and we kind of bring them from. You know entry to being able to wire receptacles, gfi's electrical theory, pipe bending, you know stuff like that, conduit bending.
Speaker 1:So incredible man. I can't think of a better person to learn from and go and work with guys. If you're in rich's area in arizona, you might want to check it out. Rich how could someone get a hold of you?
Speaker 3:um, so yeah, if anybody ever needs anything, uh, I'm available by email. Uh, it's rich at trustpointelectriccom. More than welcome to just shoot me an email and I'd be more than happy to help. Anyway, being familiar with the New York markets and Arizona sometimes, I've had a lot of great conversations with people all over the country. So far, I'm always willing to help.
Speaker 1:Really moving man. Appreciate that. If you could give one more piece of advice to any of the electricpreneurs or electricians out there listening to this right now, what would it be, brother? Wow, that's a big question Wide open. You got it.
Speaker 2:Right on the tee for you, brother.
Speaker 3:You know, I think that being able to take a, take paper and map out your plan and map out your why, as I said, I think it's such an important part. But I think that once you do that, you realize that other people have those, those visions and dreams as well, and I think that you learn that in order to be truly successful in this life right, because everybody's looking for like that, they want. It's not a black and white definition, it's your version of successful and your version of accomplishment. It took me a lot of battling with my inner terrorist. I call it right, or my coach calls it, the person that's always talking in your ear the negative stuff. It takes a lot to overcome that. The negative stuff. It takes a lot to overcome that. And I think that if you can understand what is truly going to make you happy and make you successful, that's the first step, and the second step is helping others achieve that for themselves.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 3:I think, if nothing else, by doing that, it's like I tell my guys you know, sales are not going to come from just sales, they're going to come from serving at the highest level and the by-product is going to be sales and revenue. That's how I need to run, that's how you need to run your life. You need to know that by by working towards your success and willing to help others succeed, it's all going to fall into place and propel you probably higher than you even know you could have gotten. So that's my last.
Speaker 1:Incredible man man. This has been a thorough breakdown with you, you guys. I want to thank Rich so much and I want to let you know that while Wu-Tang Clan ain't nothing to mess with, neither is Rich at TrustPoint Electric. If you guys want to see an action taker in action and be a part of that, go ahead, reach out to him at rich at trustpointelectriccom. I'm sure I'd be happy to help you and if you think you'd be a fit for that culture, go ahead and apply, because this guy's going places. Thank you again, rich, so much. We can't wait to chat with you again, brother.
Speaker 3:Guys, thank you so much for having me today. It was an honor, and keep up the great.
