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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 19 - Cultivating the Trade, Culture, and Big Ass Alliances with Rusty Page
Discover the journey of Rusty Page, the mastermind behind Page Electric, as he shares his transformation from a master electrician at the University of Kentucky Hospital to a business owner with over $4 million in gross revenue. Rusty's story is one of resilience and strategic vision, spurred by a timely nudge from his friend Chris, an executive at Big Ass Fans. Listen to Rusty's reflections on overcoming monopolistic competitors, the significance of strategic partnerships, and his dedication to teaching and nurturing new talent in the electrical trade—an essential element in his recipe for success.
Explore the dynamics of a company that achieved platinum status by embracing every opportunity and delivering exceptional customer service. Rusty unveils the logistical triumphs and challenges of handling demanding clients like Amazon, emphasizing the importance of the right equipment and teamwork. This episode brims with actionable insights into building strategic alliances, like one that garnered $750,000 with a 73% profit margin, and proactive strategies that elevate businesses beyond complacency in the competitive landscape of the electrical industry.
Rusty also highlights the transformative power of communication and company culture in fostering a thriving business. From transparent communication practices to a supportive work environment, Rusty shares how Page Electric creates customer loyalty and employee satisfaction. With stories of personal dedication and mentorship, Rusty invites fellow electricians to reach out for guidance, underscoring his commitment to uplifting the industry and the profound satisfaction derived from guiding apprentices. Join us for an inspiring conversation filled with practical insights and heartwarming tales that illuminate the path to becoming a million-dollar electrician.
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Hello, hello, hello and welcome to the Million Dollar Electrician podcast where we help home service pros like you supercharge your business and spark up those sales.
Speaker 2:I'm Joseph Lucani and, together with my co-host, Clay Neumeier, we're here to share the secrets that have helped electricians sell over a million dollars from a single service van.
Speaker 1:Now it's time for sales, it's time for scale, it's time to become a million dollar electrician. If you're listening now and you should be, welcome Rusty Page to the show of Page Electric, you heard it just about five years in business Last couple of years I think you're around 4 million gross revenue does in staff. Is that right? Yes, sir, that's roundabout where we're at Absolutely Awesome Out of Kentucky. Here's what you're going to get from this show Besides just how to treat people right, how to attract the kind of people you want to treat right, how to retain that level of staff, how to set this roadmap for them to want to stay.
Speaker 1:But Rusty didn't always have it easy either. He's going to walk us through how he started, why he got started A big myth. In that first year, the first six months, I believe he had a major challenge here he had to overcome. But not only that. You've built a strategic alliance with a major company that some of us know a lot about and others don't know anything about. So I'm so interested to get into that, and not only how to develop an alliance like that, but how to dominate and absolutely dominate. I mean, you guys are going to hear all about this and how Rusty did it. On top of that, rusty has been teaching second year apprenticeships in the electrical trade for the last seven years. Is that right, rusty? Did I get that?
Speaker 1:all yes sir, that's correct. Awesome, you're doing great things. You're a perfect candidate for this show. We couldn't be more excited. So welcome to the show and thank you for starting us out with the all-important matter of human resources and what to do with them. Will you take us back to the beginning and walk us through why you got started with Page Electrical and how this kind of fell flat right away for you?
Speaker 3:Absolutely so. It started just after COVID, so roughly 2020, mid to late 2020, early into 2021. I was the master electrician at the University of Kentucky Hospital. I was one of the masters. There were 12 total at the time master electricians. I mean it's 600,000 square feet of hospital space, so we had quite a bit of you know, we needed 12 electricians to do our jobs every day, not including all outside contractors. So I was one of the 12, loved my job.
Speaker 3:It was my retirement job. Like I didn't work real hard, I was always in good conditions. You know I didn't have a port ofa-john that I had to. You know to go to like things like that and every electrician out there knows exactly what I'm talking about Like to not have to have air conditioned bathroom every day and have a regular, you know, seven to three thirty, never overtime, unless you know they asked me was just that that was the retirement job. Like I was in it and I had a friend of mine, chris, who was an executive. Uh, he was pretty high up the level with uh, big ass fans which, uh, some people know about, some people don't. It is a large 24 foot tip to tip um industrial fan. It's called an hvls. It's high volume, low speed. It spins really slow. It puts out a ton of air, just period they're phenomenal products that's their product, absolutely.
Speaker 3:So me and him have been friends for a very long time. Our kids actually went through daycare together, like when when my son was six weeks old and when he went into daycare Chris's son was like nine weeks old. They went, they literally daycare all the way up. So we kind of just we were dads that you know, kind of occasionally talked and we bonded and you know, I did some electrical work for him and things like that.
Speaker 3:And he came to me one day I'm a master electrician at the time at the University of Kentucky and he came to me and he says hey, I really need you to start your own company. And I said dude, I'm in my retirement job. I, you know, I don't want to like they didn't get. I mean, I'm getting paid really well to do basically nothing which you know, at a certain level in your career, you're like this is it? This is where I want to be. It's, you know, I could do more, this is where I wanted to be, and I was very happy with that. And he says, well, we have this other installer that they're our only installer, so they're setting their prices. They're not, you know, hitting their deadlines because they don't have to. You know they're doing a lot of things that big ass fans as a company didn't want but they couldn't control because they were the only person there was. No, they had the monopoly in the area.
Speaker 3:And so we went back and forth and you know me being me and who I am, and outgoing as I am I just decided you know what I'm a master electrician. If I don't like it, I can always find a job and I can always go back. You know, within reason, obviously, you leave on good terms, you know. So that situation was always there. So I said you know what I'll do it, let's, let's start it. So I quit in January 15th of 21. And was it 20? Jill, was it 20 or 21? My wife's in her office around the corner. So anyway, I quit january 15th. February, 4th page electric exists just straight up. That was us, um, we. We set our you know our secretary of state. We opened the llc february 9th. I took on my first customer, now joe. I know you don't know our background and what's went on, but Chris did say hey, you start your own company and you come in, we'll give you. There's a ton of work. We have this many thousands and millions.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, we know that story right.
Speaker 3:We've all heard that one.
Speaker 3:So, it's just fine. It's not like I didn't trust him or anything, but I went through the process and for the first six months of owning my own company I got zero big-ass fan jobs zero. So from february 9th, which is the first day, I went out and just did side you know I used to call it side work. It was just work at that point. But you know, you know a couple service calls here and there in the neighborhood, you know things like that and um, you have, for six months august of that year I got my first big ass fan job. And so between February and August I had to learn to run a company. I had to learn to market. I had to learn to pay bills. I had to learn to pay myself. I had to still have the same lifestyle that I had when I worked at UK and the check just showed up in my bank account. I showed up, I go to work, run a little pipe, pull a little wire, whatever it is, boom, paycheck. Now I had to do all that, just straight grassroots, and that was challenging.
Speaker 3:The only positive that I had going into it that. You know everybody's a lot of people that want to start a business. They can't get over the fear. I never had the fear, just because that's just not who I am Like. I mean, the fear was never really there. My wife asked me you know, hey, how are we going to do the pay? I said I'll pay myself, exactly what I made at UK. If it doesn't work, I'll figure it out. You know well, I'll go get another job whatever it is, but like I never took another penny more than I made before I started the company, so that was pretty important on how I'm going to reinvest into the company.
Speaker 3:But when it came through, when I worked at UK, I had a bunch of neighbors and side jobs. I never did them. But what I would do is I'd call my other electrician friends that were all single or had a new family or needed that extra money and I'd say, hey, you know, ronnie or Travis or Jason or whoever, hey, I got this customer that needs this done. Do you want? You want to do the work? And they were all like absolutely send me all the work. And I had a little deal with those guys that I would send them jobs, big or small, it didn't really matter, it was a side job. They would give me $75 as like a referral fee and they would just charge the customer whatever they saw fit, whatever they saw fair. From that $75 on was all theirs.
Speaker 2:So it didn't affect me. It's a solid deal.
Speaker 3:But the customers were calling me because I was the contact. So when I started the company now these customers are still calling me. The only difference is I'm not giving it to Travis and Ronnie and those guys. It was just that was my work orders at those times.
Speaker 3:So it wasn't horrible getting started. But you know those neighborhood, those I don't know. Do you have next door, the next door? Yeah, that's not something I want to pursue. So yeah, exactly. But when you're starting, put your name next door, put your name on a Facebook page. That's all it takes. And you know, everybody's got that GFI on the front porch. That doesn't work. Everybody's got the ceiling fan needs changed. Everybody's got the laundry room light that needs changed.
Speaker 3:That's how I started straight up and I was very simple and I was very honest with every single customer. It was here's what I charge, here's how long it should take me. If it takes me more, it'll cost you this period, like there's no reason to blow smoke up anybody's butt. And oh well, I don't really know what it's going to take. I'll have to get my hands dirty. No, should be this much. Shouldn't be more than this much. I'll be somewhere in the middle. Are you happy with that? And that's how it starts. And you've really got to starting off. You've got to drill that into your customers and be consistent. If I'm going to lose money, it's on me, because I told them $200 and now it's costing me $220 in labor and material to do it. Guess what? I'm not charging them the extra $20 because my word is my bond. If I say I'm going to do it for this, I'm going to do it for that.
Speaker 2:I love that about you.
Speaker 3:A lot of long nights doing that. But Cone Boss. So a lot of long nights doing that. So, but big-ass fan job and here's where it takes a twist. And clay knows what I'm talking about. So I got a job, we killed it.
Speaker 3:Um, they internally have big-ass fans, have a, have a company meeting within the you know the directors and the project managers, coordinators, things like that about every six months and they go over the pluses and minuses and the goods and bads of all of their installers in every region and things like that. And my buddy, chris, was in that meeting but he was kind of in the back and he had to kind of keep it zip, but he was texting me while it was going on. He was like hey, we're in a meeting right now. We're talking about installers. And one of the other guys just happened to look at the numbers and he literally said hey, why is Page Electric only had one job? And one of the coordinators, like I, gave him a job, and and then Chris spoke up and said no, you didn't give him a job, I gave him the only job on this list.
Speaker 3:And so what happened was is all the coordinators were, they all had their installer, which was the previous guy. So they were all like just giving it to that installer. There's multiple coordinators were. They all had their installer, which was the previous guy. So they were all like just giving it to that installer. There's multiple coordinators. They were giving their jobs to that installer because they're like, oh, the other coordinator will give Paige a job.
Speaker 3:So they all thought someone else was giving me a job and no one was giving me a job. Well, luckily this meeting happened and the guy that was in charge that found the numbers. He's the numbers guy. His name's Brian. I don't know if he's still there or not, but Brian said hey. He said in six months we're going to have this meeting again. He said Paige, better have 50% of all the jobs in their area. Let them hang themselves if they're no good and let them strive if they're great. He said let them fail, let them succeed. You don't make that decision for them.
Speaker 3:And literally from August of that first year to the next six months. So there's platinum installer and then there's just gold installer. Platinum gets every job that they have in your district, your region, your state, whatever. They have it set up as the installer right below them, the gold installer. They get anything that the platinum installer says no to or anything that the scheduling just doesn't permit, and just go ahead and give it to the next guy that we don't have to worry about. So in six months we took over platinum status from the other installers and in one year we never once said no to a job from them, never once. Like we didn't turn down any job If they said hey, we got a job for you. Yes, sir, no problem, let me get it scheduled.
Speaker 2:Period that literally has to be like the ultimate valve. Can you imagine being the other guy for a second where you're like I have a complete monopoly, I can charge whatever I want, I don't have to do it on time, and then suddenly this new company comes in, not only takes 50% of the leads but does such a good job in their customer service that now, within one year, they only take your spot and refuse to pass any jobs down. So the valve is completely shut.
Speaker 2:It's insane how people literally hang themselves, trying to just skirt by doing the minimum, when they would have thrived just choosing a little extra further.
Speaker 1:This is a huge point I got to jump into, and first, I think it's only right that we thank Brian. So, brian, if you're listening, page Electric loves you. Thanks, brother, for doing the right thing and sharing the workload. That said, though, how many people are listening that had a door open? Maybe it's just a crack and maybe didn't have this clarity at the upper level. Who is your Brian in that strategic alliance that you're trying to break wide open and have the shot to prove? But also, the other side of this is the fact that, like Joe touched on and I'm going to hit it again you did not act in complacency on that either. You took full advantage by showing up, and there's a deeper truth here. That is just understanding what your counterpart in this arrangement requires. What is their weakness? How do you improve so that it's a mutual benefit? And I think we'll continue going down this path and understanding just how big of a benefit that's become to you guys.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we've been named their platinum installer for the past four years.
Speaker 1:So how much revenue per year, would you say on average, comes from this one arrangement?
Speaker 3:Last year alone was three quarter of a million dollars. See, that's not small. No, not at all. Last year alone was $750,000. Now do you want to know what our margin is on jobs like that?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, because that's a big factor of it 73%.
Speaker 1:Gross profit margin.
Speaker 3:Gross profit margin Nicely done and we provide some material, like angle iron. There's some hardware, some certain things we have to provide. Most of our work is traveling angle. You know a little bit of material at labor, traveling labor and being there when they need it done. So, like right now, my big ass fan crew. It's usually a two-man crew and we can separate them. They both have a vehicle so we can hit smaller. You know, one day, two-day jobs individually.
Speaker 3:I put four guys on it Right now. I got my one van with a helper, another van with a helper, so they're all four guys. They're doing 28 fans. They have to be done by the end of the month. They actually just called in a minute ago, while we're on the phone, I went in and buzzed them over it because they know what I've got going on. But they have a 28-fan job. They started on the 13th See today's, the 18th. Today's my father's birthday. Happy birthday Dad. Happy birthday Dad. They've been working on it for five days straight. They will be done on the 23rd. They do not have to go all the way to the 31st. They've been killing it.
Speaker 3:How many fans again, Sari 28 fans in seven different buildings, seven different locations, which means I have to coordinate seven different scissor lifts, seven different moves, seven different fan openings and closings, but 28 fan total, and they all have to be done by the end of the month because they're all inside of an amazon so these are all amazon jobs would you mind if I ask you a question on that, because I think that's actually something that a lot of people would want to know.
Speaker 2:As far as the technical aspect.
Speaker 2:I actually really enjoyed installing big ass fans, because they are a phenomenally built product and, though they have a ton of control boards inside of them, they truly are like it. It's. Casablanca used to be the best and now this is absolutely blown out of the water. But one of the biggest concerns that people run into is how to physically do the lift. Obviously, people can use scaffolding, you can use your laddering, but they are heavy and substantial when you have your long down rods. So have you invested in interior scissor lifts that can be mobilized in the home?
Speaker 3:Not in a home. We have a 21 foot. It's a little giant skyscraper that we use for any big ass fans that are essence or below. We typically don't do their third larger industrial that way, but anything Essence or below. I got a 20-foot 1-foot ladder and a strong back that says I can get it up to the top of that ladder Okay fair enough.
Speaker 3:So their smaller industrial fans are about 260 pounds. They're not lightweight. We actually have scissor lifts. I mean we have purchased, we have multiple scissor lifts. We have a 40-foot scissor lift coming. That's our newest addition to the, to the. I want to see. That's where it happened. So, um, and have you ever linux or you know rhino lining linux, that kind of yeah, I mean, I've been, you'd rhino boarding for floors. Is that what you're meaning? No, like the bed liner, you put your truck. That has that.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, okay, yeah, I used our last scissor lift.
Speaker 3:I actually took it to the linex place and actually got the whole thing covered in linex like rucksack because, like it's mine now, I don't have to have all the stickers and the high biz and the you know united rental or you know, you know some belt rental. I don't have to have those anymore. It's my scissor lift, I made it my own, so we roll in there and it's just that's another thing that it catches their eye. Oh, that's a scissor list I haven't seen. And they start looking at it. Then they see page and then you know, yet again, live and rent free. It's just one of those things again.
Speaker 1:So I want to call attention to another thing, because we touched on it, but I don't want to breeze past this. People need to hear this and and really understand. We talked about gross profit margin In residential service. A lot of the best performers are 60, 65% really earning that. Now to get to 73%, did you say? There's another factor that comes into play, because often we're talking about increasing our pricing, we're talking about incentivizing our team to do things quicker, right and better. We're talking about incentivizing our team to do things quicker and better. We're talking about material management and reducing additional runs, etc. But it sounds like by being this platinum level big ass fans installer and main partner in that, the ability to keep doing the same work over and over and over, is actually increasing your standard and increasing your profitability. Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 3:And so we started our gross margin at the beginning with big ass fans was about 40, 40, 45. You know, a typical. I mean it's a really good. It keeps the bills, you know, paid. It keeps everybody happy. You know they're, they're, you know we're. And it's not that they increase their prices, we didn't increase our prices with them. It's actually, you know, year over year they changed their own prices on what they were going to pay us to do certain installs.
Speaker 3:So actually it's our guys being more efficient and me providing the tools that I know that they're going to need, because, I mean, I'm certified too. No joke, I will get up in a scissor lift. I will get hands dirty every day of the week, that's. Another thing is I'm not just an owner of a company, I don't just sit in front of a computer, I'm out in the field every single day. I was in the field working on vans this morning, uninstalling ladder racks and reinstalling ladder racks on, you know, changing from one van to another. But you know I'll get up there and I know what it takes to do the job. I know what it takes to make the job more efficient, just like they do.
Speaker 3:And we have a meeting, you know about every three weeks we have small meetings within the company. It'll be me and two guys, me and three guys, me and four guys, you know, and they're different sectors, and we'll have lunch. I'll take everybody to lunch. We'll go to Hooters or whatever. We'll grab a beer and we'll have good bads and uglies. What do you got going on? What do you need from me? How can I make it more efficient? Period, because they'll tell you. Every single person that works for you, every person in the field, no matter what sector service calls, industrial, commercial, residential, if you're a pool electrician, you have certain things that you can do. Man, if I had this, I'd be better If I had that, I'd be better If I had this, I can do it faster. I mean, I know we talked about it, clay, but Joe, every one of my employees has 40 hours worth of work at the beginning of the week, every one of them. If they get done in 30 hours, what happens?
Speaker 2:Now I would suspect, based on how you're leading with this, that they still get the 40 hours.
Speaker 3:Bingo they go home.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 3:Why would I? Why would I penalize them for being really good at their job and efficient? If they can get 40 hours worth of work in 30 hours, they can go home. My employees don't choose to go home. They can. They all know that they can. So what do they do? They call the next guy. Hey, what do you got left on your job? Can I come help? They'll just show up on the other job site help him rock out his 40 hours. He might be sitting at 36, 38 hours to get his done. Now he's got two extra guys showing up to help. Now he's getting done in 32. Then now I've got four guys available. Now those four guys call the other two guys, the other three guys.
Speaker 3:What can I do to help you guys? You know any guys that I got a dentist appointment, I got a doctor's appointment, I need to go to court, I got jury duty, whatever they got going on. We have a phrase don't be a buddy fucker. If you've got something going on, get with the guys in your line and say, listen, I got some stuff going on. I don't want to screw you because we run two main crews. I don't want to leave one guy by himself with you know, three Tesla chargers to do in a day and no help. That's brutal. Nobody wants that. So we tell it like if you got something going on, be just out and honest with it. You got something going on. How can I help?
Speaker 1:How can I transfer a guy over to help you? How can I go in the field and help them? Period, hey, I hope, go ahead.
Speaker 3:I hope that term goes viral and I hope that many, many electricians use that hey, listen, I thought about no joke. I, this is a. This is an embroidery shirt. I thought about getting my page electric logo screen printed. I'm on the back, but don't be a buddy fucker, just straight up. Yeah, like, why not?
Speaker 2:you know that's more. If you would definitely turn heads, I give you that that'd be cool standing behind you in the supply house and being like I gotta talk to this guy. I don't know what about, but I gotta talk to this guy.
Speaker 1:That's something yeah, it reminds me of starting out in the trade. Even you know, one of the first splices I taped, I remember my journeyman being like what's this no end for a friend? Yep, you screw in the next guy. It just takes time. You're taking time from the team.
Speaker 3:When we're doing residential and we're doing new construction or remodels, like we all know what it takes to get the job done. But we also know, if we just do that little extra step, that little extra effort and I don't charge for it and that's why I kill a lot of people on is I'll do the extra thing that it takes that if I have to come back to this house for a service call, I'm in and out Like I know I'm done so like I'll parallel every single plug with a pigtail period on every house, because if I come back and that plug's not working, I'm changing a plug. It's $125 service fee, I'm out the door, I'm. 10 minutes, 125 bucks, I'm gone.
Speaker 2:You're not finding the localized. Which one is daisy chain, which one's not. Which one has a loose neutral?
Speaker 3:Yeah, like the like, the little, I don't, I can't. I don't know who teaches this, because I drill into all of my apprentices that I teach If you stab in a wire and I see you, it's over, like there's no reason to stab in a wire. There's occasionally a reason to stab in a wire, but you better be stabbing it into a lever lock way ago and extending that wire, that's it. So pigtail everything because now, if that plug is bad, it's the plug. Change the plug, go on with your day, you're done, instead of having to be like oh well, this plug's bad, well, it's because it was in a closet three rooms over, because they, they, they series to everything. It's. It's very simple to trouble to prevent things from happening, and we do that on every job, every time, that's trained.
Speaker 2:You know, the thing that really stands out as well is we're going into it from an efficiency standpoint, but I like to look at things as well from the customer service standpoint, because really, when you're serving a higher level, you justify the premiums you're charging. And the thing that stands out in what you're doing is all the electricians that are listening to this. All know the team that daisy chains Like. We've all seen it, we've all experienced it, we all know we're supposed to parallel it. But if you really soul search, how often are you truly paralleling every single circuit you run or every outlet you're connecting? And the fact that you're doing it for all of them is very impressive and it shows the standard to the level of service you're trying to provide, cause that is not an easy thing to do because it does take a little extra time, but, just like the service loop, it's a little bit extra for the future service ability.
Speaker 3:It takes extra time, it takes a little bit of extra material, but it prevents so many problems. But here's the problem the people that are seriesing all of those circuits and we all know those guys those are also the same guys that are not doing the troubleshooting.
Speaker 2:Correct.
Speaker 3:That's the problem. If you send the same guy that seriesed it to go troubleshoot it, he's going to be like oh, I was in this house, I borrowed this house five years ago. I know exactly where to go. He doesn't, because he seriesed everything. He's got to do the same troubleshooting that anybody that comes in behind them has to do. Now my guys know let's spend the extra time, the extra effort right now, which is minuscule on a scale of profit, minuscule Like people look at it as oh, we just stab them all in, we'll be this much faster. Yeah, you might be four hours faster at getting the job done, I might be four hours slower. But now I've got a service call five years from now that takes me 10 minutes and super profitable, which is just building on my work, and you have the same service call five years from now that's going to take a guy that doesn't know what happened three hours because he has to trace out every plug, every switch, every light all the way until he finds that spot. He might get lucky, like we all have. You know he might. Oh, it's probably right here. Oh, there's the loose wire, and he got lucky. We've all done that. But if he didn't. I've had one.
Speaker 3:I walked into a house I joke you not. I told the lady. I said here's what happened, right up front I said I know a neutral or a wire has come unstabbed from one of these stabbing things. It could take me 10 minutes or 10 hours. That's what I told her. Five and a half hours later, five and a half hours later of troubleshooting, I found it and guess what? I felt really bad because I had to charge her for five and a half hours of troubleshooting Even though one minute in, I knew what the job was. I knew what the problem was. Matter of finding it.
Speaker 2:You know, the cool thing on top of that is, if you really put yourself in the customer situation, you're also reducing the inconvenience they have to experience Because, let's say, sake of argument you're also reducing the inconvenience they have to experience Because let's take of argument you have what someone has a home office and you have everything paralleled and you have one outlet that fails. There's a difference between one outlet doesn't work and I'm plugging a cord right next to it, versus my room doesn't work and now I can't work from home and I need the same day repair and I'm going to be charged a premium to do it all because the electrician wouldn't take the extra time to not series it.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and I provided the customer service like this for so long and I've done clay this before and I know you don't know it yet, but my customers don't ask how much anymore. None of them, nobody asks how much. They say here's what I need done. Can you do it? Absolutely yes, and when can you start? Those are the two questions my customers ask me. I'm not really expensive, but I'm not cheap. But I tell them right to their face Listen, if you need cheap, you can find cheap. I'm not that guy. I will do it right, I will do it very quick and you'll be very happy, period. Never do they ask how much.
Speaker 3:If I get a customer that says, hey, can you give me a quote on something, I can give you a quote. But if they say, hey, can you come by and give me an estimate, take a look, give me a price and try to hem it off. We are not the right customer. We are not the right customer for you. You are not the right customer for us. And you know we can weed those out pretty quickly because we're here for efficiency, we're here to get whatever problem you have done. We're here to make a profit. We're here to go to the next job.
Speaker 2:You know it ties in with big ass fans as well, because part of the branding is you're supposed to have the felt white gloves that come standard with it, like every single technician needs to have those felt gloves because of the way that the metal is. But the thing is it's so cool that not only are you actually wearing white gloves, but you seem like one of the very few people who truly understand delivering white glove experience, because if customers are not asking you what it is or how much the cost is, then you've established yourself in your community within a particular demographic, that you are their person and that they know you're a safe bet, and they've experienced enough of the competition to say I'm never going back to that.
Speaker 2:That's a phenomenal branding flag that's been stuck into my head. That's a great point.
Speaker 3:So this is my business card.
Speaker 2:It's very simple.
Speaker 3:It's just my logo right on the back and then obviously I get information on the front. So I used to do my personal information. This is me, and then my guys would have this is them. This is so. This is a generic card. This is just a what we certify in, what we're good at. Give us a call period. Every one of my guys can hand this part out at any point. So when I started the company, I was like man, I really need that slogan, I need something that does it, that just hits. So at the beginning I used to be, you know, I used to tell people like, listen, when it comes to electric, you know a guy, I was that guy and that kind of hit for a little while, but it never stopped, but I guess, subliminally.
Speaker 3:And you know everybody like, you're right, I just give them the service that they expect for the money they're paying and I just am the guy, without having to tell them hey, when it comes to you know a guy, don't forget about me. You know a guy. I don't have to be that guy, I am that guy, just without them even thinking about it. Now.
Speaker 2:That's phenomenal, I love that With that.
Speaker 1:I'm going to pause this for a moment because we always do this little segment wins of the week. I've got a couple to share, rusty, and then I'm going to get a couple of questions for you. I'm going to bring you back. We're going to lean back into the personnel piece and why the 40-hour weeks are so important to you. I know there's a burner behind that as well, so I want to dive. But we've got two of our OGs to discuss this week Dorian, I believe this one's.
Speaker 1:Just yesterday he said in our wins chat just landed another job for 22K and a bronze for 4K. I received that at 5.44 am my time, so that might be about 8 am Dorian's time. Good looking day and just congratulations to him. Dorian prefers to and still sells all of his jobs himself and has the team in the background helping him with that. So really good job on that one, dorian Congrats. And actually this one is from today.
Speaker 1:This morning Another OG of ours, dan Totten, one of our gold level clients, one of his techs, one of his sales tech. Tech sold 67K before noon and has two more calls to go. He did a 57K full home rewire with service replacement and a 10K portable gen setup. Now I'll remind you guys, those are big wins. But every one of those that we share every time is typically accompanied by six or five other options that the customer chose. The one that we're sharing Always premium, mid-range and economy. For those reasons we just help people buy. There's never sales pressure in that. So those guys truly deserve a round of applause for just showing up for their customers and being a premium provider.
Speaker 1:Back to it. My little infomercial is done here to pump some people up with some evidence. But the 40-hour weeks. There's two parts of this. One is why is that important to you? And two is how the hell do I get my team to choose not going home early but rather to go help the rest of the team go home a bit earlier, rather than take the full 10 hours for myself?
Speaker 3:Well, it's just company culture. It's just the culture that we've personally built. Is, you know, I have the guys that I have A because I could. I mean I can't necessarily pay more, I don't necessarily have the better benefits than other companies. I mean I have competition. All the competition know me just like I know them. Guess what I used to work for them too. Competition, all the competition know me just like I know them. Guess what I used to work for them too? So, and I teach their apprentices. So it's not like you know, I, I haven't picked the cream of the crop. People come to work for me because of our culture. They know, hey, I got 40 hours for the work. I could go home at 32.
Speaker 3:They're the ones actually choosing not to, but at the same, time if my guy goes home at 32, there's not one person that's going goes home at 32, there's not one person that's going to criticize him for it. There's not one guy that's going to be like oh well, why didn't you come help me? Because, guess what? That guy has 40 hours of work. If it takes him 40 hours, it's no different than working for anybody else in any other trade, in any other company. That's just how we set it up. Eight hours a day, five days a week, that's 40, 40 hours.
Speaker 1:So my guys go ahead, so I was just going to ask then. So why do you think people want to work for Page Electric then?
Speaker 3:Um, for that reason they have. So one of my guys actually told me. He said I like working for you because it feels like I work for myself. I'm not micromanaging, I'm not choking him down on. Why are you not doing this? Why are you not doing that? I expect a certain level of expertise, a certain level of customer service that he needs to provide. That is the page electric way. It's not specifically me, it's just what's right, it's what's right to the customer, it's what's right to the, to the, and those are the guys that that may have. You know, not everybody's a customer front person. They're not. You know, not everybody can articulate what the customer needs to hear or say they know how to do the electric but they may not be able to explain to the customer.
Speaker 3:Here's why I was broken, here's why I fixed it, here's why it won't break again. Not everybody can do that and that's OK and that's okay. But my guys know that, like, give that top tier level of customer service, because it's their next door neighbor that's gonna call us next week, that pays our bills, it's their grandma, it's their sister, it's every referral that they're gonna give me is the reason we do that to you. Now You're getting the best customer service, because this is one of my favorite things that I do. This is crucial. So when I have a repeat customer and I have lots of them I tell them straight up like, hey, no problem, I'll take care of you. I will give you the repeat offender rate and I call that customer to their face a repeat offender. And not one time has that ever backfired. I'm not going to say that it won't in the future, but they love it. Like that's one of those things they eat up. It's like oh, I'm the repeat offender. Now I'm not going to lie to you. I don't give anybody a discount. I give military personnel a discount because I am a military veteran.
Speaker 3:Half of my employees are military veterans, the other half are felons. That's a joke. Some the other half are felons. That's a joke. Some of them are, some of them aren't. I don't really care. Guess what. Half of us got caught at something Half of us did. That's just the way life is. We all have the same go-getter characteristics. I don't care what your background is. Are you good at what you do? Can you serve the way I need served? Can you execute the way we need to execute it? You're hired period. I don't care what kind of background you came from. I want to know what you can do now.
Speaker 2:I truly wish that that mindset was more present in the States as well, and I really feel like that would help a very large underserved community, because, once again, felons are not animals. They're people who just had a situation that happened to them, you know what I mean, so you're not looking at it.
Speaker 3:We had social media when I was a kid. We'd all be screwed A lot of things that I'd probably go to jail for. So I mean, that's everybody, that's you, that's Clay, all of us have done something that we're like glad we didn't get caught doing that.
Speaker 2:Whatever it is, even if it was stupid, I'm with you a hundred percent. I really just want to say I personally respect you for what you're doing. It's really important.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and there's no tax benefit to it. There probably is in some states. I can't say that there's not. I think for some reason, if you hire felons a certain percentage and veterans a certain percentage, there probably are taxing. Where I'm at doesn't matter. Those people are the people that have that strive and that go get them and that gumption that I need and want as an employee.
Speaker 1:Love it? Yeah, great share. And, speaking of people, I also want to know about the apprentices that you train and why you choose to be a teacher and what importance or value that brings to your life, rusty.
Speaker 3:All right. So when I got out of the military I actually became a mailman because that's like job number one you're a former military, you become a mailman. Love that job, phenomenal job. But I talked to my wife and I'm like I don't really know what I want to do. I didn't have aspirations beyond delivering the mail. I knew that wasn't really going to be my like end all be all career.
Speaker 3:But I always wanted to teach. I always wanted to teach math specifically. I don't know why. I guess I just was at a young age. I loved my math teachers. I love just doing the math in my head was amazing.
Speaker 3:I had that teacher, you know, growing up like, oh, like, oh, you know, you need to show me how to do your work because you're not like gonna be walking around with a calculator in your pocket later on in life. Guess what? Yes, you are so you know. But you know I did it in my head just because that's who I am. I'm a mechanical, numbers oriented person and so I wanted to teach math and so I looked into and there were just so many hoops and so much education you had to go through. I'm like, oh, you know, I'm not going to do that. So electrician was the closest thing to what I did in the military. So I became an electrician and when I went through apprenticeship school, I went to the same school that I teach at. When I went through, as soon as I graduated, the director said hey, have you ever thought about teaching? Because I'm a teaching journeyman. Everybody knows a teaching journeyman. Everybody knows a teaching journeyman versus just a journeyman.
Speaker 3:I work for a guy named Mike Smith, which is the most generic name. So it could be any Mike Smith, but he was scatterbrained Smith. He would start here and jump to there, and jump to here and he would never tell me why he's doing what he's doing. So, as an apprentice, that was brutal. I had to think all right, why I couldn't? I hate. Hey, mike, why are you doing that? Because I there was never. You know, I never learned from Mike. I had to teach myself by watching him do, which is the worst way to learn. So I you know my eyes coming up.
Speaker 3:I always told myself man, if I ever have my own apprentice, I'm going to make sure they know why I'm doing what I'm doing. I'm going to show them. Here's why I'm doing it. Here's the easier way. Here's what I found to make hard, don't make this mistake, because that's how you should be taught. If you're in a trade, you should be taught don't do this. Don't cut this wire. Well, why don't cut that wire? Well, I told you not to. I want to know. Don't cut that wire because you'll jack up this piece or this piece of equipment or you could cause a short. You know, I want to know why. And so I've always been.
Speaker 3:You know, ever since coming into the trade, I've been a teaching journeyman and, you know, a teaching apprentice. I was an apprentice who taught other people. This is what I saw. Here's what I found. And when I was given the opportunity to come to the school, I said, hey, I'm not a master, I'm just. I was a licensed journeyman.
Speaker 3:Finishing my third year third year in Kentucky, you can take your journeyman test early. My last day of third year of apprenticeship school, I passed my journeyman test. So fourth year of apprenticeship school was a breeze. I just had to show up, but I'm not that guy either. So going through fourth year, our, our fourth year instructor, his mom was dying and so he needed all the help he could get to get all the other guys on board in class to learn the material to, you know, cumulatively, go over what we needed to do to pass that curriculum and make sure.
Speaker 3:And I was that guy I just had. I just, you know, it was a natural inclination to me to to step up, help out. Oh, you know, let's look at this. And and so when they asked me to teach, I didn't drop, I didn't even hesitate. I talked to the wife. I said hey, you know, you know they asked me to teach. What do you think? And we, you know, decide hey, you know, yeah, absolutely. And I didn't know I was good at it, I didn't know I would enjoy it, I didn't know that. That really, and I tell my, my director now we have a different director from when I was taught I said, listen, I would do this for free. You all pay me a ton of money, don't get me wrong, I like the money, but I would teach for free. Like if I ever just like sold the company and just had millions of dollars and I have to, I'd still teach. As long as my wife is okay with it, I would still teach, because the second you have an apprentice that you've been teaching for three or four months. That doesn't even work for me, that doesn't have any of my, they don't have any background on me.
Speaker 3:And you see them get it. And you see that light bulb go off when you ask that code, question or that requirement of whatever we're talking about. When you see it, it's worth it. Right then, that's the second that I got paid. That light bulb hits on that apprentice that everybody has, the apprentice that they're like man, is this kid? Is he even getting it? Is he just dumb? What's going on? And then they get it. And then the next question they get it. You're like it's over. That kid has just moved from I don't know what I want to do with my life to a career. Right then he, literally you can watch him jump. This is now a career because now he gets it it's no longer a job that he got or his buddy got for him, or the guy at church said hey, come be an electrician. It's not a job anymore, it's now a career.
Speaker 1:I love that. Yeah, good share, share, good share, and you're in the right place, rusty, so thank you. Personally. I want to thank you, I know, for for what we represent and growth in in this trade, specifically for electricians, by electricians, and you certainly, uh, are in the right place and and well represented here, brother, so thank you for that. Um, it brings, brings a couple other questions, but ultimately I've got a hard one for you. Now I'm going to make you think if you could go back five years, four years, and give yourself a message. In the first six months you got three keys you could give yourself. What would they be? What would you accelerate? What would you get rid of? What would you change? What would they be? What would you accelerate? What would you get?
Speaker 3:rid of? What would you change? This is a great. Let me start with what would I say and I say this to my apprentices that I teach all the time Know your value and know your worth period.
Speaker 3:Because a customer is not calling you to their house to help fix something Because if they did that, they would already try to fix it. They're calling you to their house because you have the knowledge to fix it. That doesn't mean you're like, oh, it's my neighbor, I'm going to do it for 20 bucks. No, your neighbor is the same $125 that the guy that you've never known is $125, that your father is $125. They're all the same price because that's what my worth is, to you, to my neighbor, to my father, because if I didn't charge them that, that's because they could do it. I mean, if they could do it, they wouldn't have to call me right.
Speaker 3:So the best advice I ever got was actually from a customer. We were riding from where we one of his job sites over to where we parked, which is they were just different buildings, and I said man, like you know, we've known each other for years. I said, dude, I was already in the neighborhood, I've already finished my work for the day. I've gotten enough that I don't need to charge you for this. He's like listen, he's like if I call you to my house, I expect to pay you a hundred bucks period, no matter if you're there for one minute or one hour, my brain tells me, as a customer, a hundred bucks. That's the best advice that I've ever gotten because, like I was really early and I was charging.
Speaker 3:I think I was $60 service fee and $60 an hour, so it was 120 bucks was roughly what the average like just quick service call less than an hour would have been is 120 bucks. And for him I was like man, I just 75 bucks, you know. And he's like I'm giving you a hundred bucks because I expected before you showed up, to pay you a hundred bucks. He said, and if it turned into 200 bucks then so be it. And to see that from the customer side as a business owner.
Speaker 3:It changed everything and even to this day, like I said, I tell my apprentices know what you're worth, because they're like you know you get those customers like oh, if you do this for a good price, I've got all of this work up ahead. Sure, you do, but until you hire me for that, you're not getting a special price today and I have builders that tell me hey, I've got seven houses for you. Awesome, every seven houses will cost you X amount of dollars. Period, you're not getting bulk rate. I'm not that guy. If you want it done right, you want it done fast and you want no problems in the whole process, and call me if you have a question, I'm that guy. You're paying for my customer service.
Speaker 1:You're not paying for just my abilities.
Speaker 1:Really powerful, Sounds like a strong message and in 2025, about to happen here. Right, we're approaching Christmas and New Year's. Like a hundred bucks even won't fill the van. You can't cover your burdens for the hour with a hundred bucks, so we really have to check that pricing in our approach to these service calls and I think that's great advice, Rusty service calls and I think that's great advice, Rusty. What other advice, as we're running out of time here just for the end of this what other advice do you have for electricians listening to this today to improve, to follow in your footsteps, to better their business?
Speaker 3:So I mean honestly, communication is number one. I had customers when I first started that I would answer the phone. Hey, page Electric, how can I help you? Hey, rusty, page Page Electric, what can I do for you? And so many customers early on were like, oh my God, you answered the phone. Or oh my God, you called me back. Or oh my God, you're going to be the person, like you showed up to do the work.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, communication has been 95% of all of my business. A customer doesn't care if you can't get to them for three weeks or a month, they don't care. All they need to know is I have an electrician coming. They're going to take care of it Three weeks from today. He told me he'll be here. Two weeks from today, on Wednesday period. He's going to be here, he's going to be here.
Speaker 3:The communication has been if you can communicate with every customer, like I said, they don't care. I tell customers right now hey, listen, we're three weeks to a month out. You need a ceiling fan dome, or three weeks to a month out, that's how booked up we are. And they don't care. They're like, absolutely, put me on the list. And the customers that say, all right, well, I'll call back in three weeks Guess what? Three weeks from now. We're six weeks out from today's date now and a couple of customers have learned the hard way. But communication is what I can tell anybody and everybody If you answer the phone, you return that phone call, you return that text, you return that email, you're going to get the business.
Speaker 1:Really good. I appreciate that, Joe. Any more questions for Rusty on this one?
Speaker 2:I mean, really, what I've learned from Rusty is just you need to serve at the highest level, and I'm so impressed and really honored that you'd be willing to join us and share these kinds of knowledge. I don't have any more questions. I just want to say, if nothing else, I truly respect what you're bringing to the industry, because it's not just the knowledge, it's not just the skills, it's not just the culture, it's the why you do it, and I think that's the most important part of all this, because if you can follow and execute on that level of a why there is no future that's not attainable for you, absolutely, and I'm very impressed with everything you've done. You have my respect.
Speaker 1:Thank you. If someone wants to learn more about you, Rusty, or reach out, do you invite that contact.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Listen. I go to these events for the IEC, which is the Independent Electrical Contractors, which is where I teach, by the way, national events, and we have guys that just come in, that are just starting a business and they're like, hey, this is probably a pretty good convention. I've had literal guys. I had a guy that I'm like listen, call me, I'll mentor you, I'll answer a question, I will FaceTime you if you have a problem. I'm that guy. Anybody and everybody, I don't care, internationally. Three o'clock in the morning my phone rings answer, answer. It is what it is. My wife hates it. That's what pays our bills. I'm going to answer the phone. Anybody can reach out to me. I'm dead serious and you'd be surprised if you said someone that like oh, you know, I'll reach out.
Speaker 3:No, they won't, but if you reach out to me, I answer my phone every time, all the time. What's the best way to get ahold of you, rusty, go to our website, pageelectricllccom.
Speaker 1:Awesome, and contact form will take me to an email address, et cetera or their phone number listed.
Speaker 3:Contact form comes directly to my phone.
Speaker 1:That's a responsible owner.
Speaker 2:Direct elevator to the executive suite Direct.
Speaker 3:So I tell customers they call me on my personal cell phone, which is not listed on the website, and they're like customers. They call me on my personal cell phone, which is not listed on the website, and they're like hey, do you do electric? I'm like, yes, I do. I said, but if you're calling this number, it's either because you are someone or you know someone, because my OG customers, my original customers, my personal cell phone number was on the side of my vans for the first year of my business. So you either are someone or you know someone. If you're calling me directly and guess what, Typically those customers I go do myself. I'm the one doing the service call. I'm the one doing the service upgrade. I'm the one climbing on your roof doing your solar install. I'm the one doing your generator install. Because anybody that takes the time to give me a referral to my personal number, I'm going to take the time to make sure to treat them like every other customer that we have at PageElectric.
Speaker 1:Well, you heard it here first. Guys, please don't abuse this man. Reach out. If you need some help, he's happy to help you. Do not abuse the privilege. We have such great guests here that keep sharing the most personal contact methods like phone numbers et cetera. You just got direct access to Rusty Page himself and Page Electric. Rusty, thank you so much for joining us. You truly truly did bring a ton of value here for electricians everywhere and I hope we get to do this again sometime.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Hey, listen, I don't just walk the walk.
Speaker 1:There it is tattooed on his forearm. Folks, I'm fully invested, I love it. I love it, man. And that's a wrap for today's episode of the Million Dollar Electrician Podcast.
Speaker 2:We hope you're buzzing with new ideas that charged up to take your business to the next level.
Speaker 1:So don't forget to subscribe, leave a review and share the show with fellow electricians Together. We'll keep the current flowing.
