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
S2 EP53 Record Sales & A Level of Service They Thank Us For with Austin Matthews
Austin Matthews was like most electricians, skilled, honest, and stuck. Until one shift changed everything.
In this episode, we uncover the mindset that turned slow calls into $48K weeks. No gimmicks. No hard closes. Just the truth about why electricians are stuck chasing small tickets and what happens when you finally learn how to serve at a higher level.
Whether you're an electrician, HVAC tech, or home service pro feeling stuck, burned out, or underpaid, this story will show you what's possible when you stop rushing and start leading.
What You’ll Learn:
- Increase average ticket on every service call
- Serve homeowners with confidence and integrity
- Create trust without ever feeling “salesy”
- Build a business that pays and feels good
⚡️Jump into the Million Dollar Electrician Community and connect with real business-minded sparkies!
⚡️If you are an electrician looking for trade-specific business training in pricing, options, sales, attraction, and marketing strategies, Then our Loop Method is your answer!
⚡️Learn how to serve and earn at the highest level.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Introduction
00:05 - Meet Austin Matthews – Return to the Show
06:00 - From Good Old Boy Electric to Pro Service Team
09:15 - The Moment Austin Stopped Micromanaging
14:00 - Promoting Wes & Building a Scalable Team
19:00 - Cam’s Growth: $110K Month With Week Off
23:00 - Austin’s $123K Month & Letting Go of Sales
25:15 - Most Profitable Jobs: Service Upgrades + More
30:00 - Win of the Week: Club Membership = $15K Sale
34:00 - Content Marketing & Overcoming Camera Fear
38:00 - Advice to New Electricians & Owners
41:34 - Admitting You Need Help – Austin’s Turning Point
43:00 - Closing
#ElectricianPodcast #HomeServiceBusiness #AustinMatthews #ResidentialService #ElectricianMindset #ServiceSales #ServiceLoopMethod
The hardest thing for me was understanding that I did need help. I'll say it today I'm a dang good electrician. You know I'm a really hard worker. Especially when it's got my name attached to the brand, it's hard to know you need help. It's hard to admit that. You know, maybe there's people that know better about this business stuff than me. You know Reaching out to, if nothing else, a coaching group. You know, I know two guys that are great right here on the podcast with me. Don't be ashamed to take that advice, don't be ashamed to act on it and don't be ashamed to ask questions. You know I I wish I had done it three years before I did. You know it would have saved me a lot of heartache, a lot of headache.
Speaker 2:Yeah 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. Now it's time for sales, it's time for scale, it's time to become a million dollar electrician. So we've got Austin Matthews back. It's been a little over a year, I think, since we did your first interview, austin, but welcome back to the show. We had a ton of fun. On the last episode we talked about how, when you first started out, I think you described it as good old boy electric. That initial approach maybe you know service last, just trying to make it work right, like so many of us do. Do you remember those times, the good old boy electric times, austin?
Speaker 1:oh, yeah, man, yeah yeah, good times Kind of.
Speaker 3:Lay it on us, man. That feels like there's a backstory attached to that.
Speaker 1:I'm glad that I get paid now. That's awesome. That's the best part is that I actually get paid to work.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think that's a very good way to put that. Yeah, fair enough, so would. I think that's a very good way to put that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, fair enough. So would you say that you're in good old boy electric today, or or has that changed a bit for you?
Speaker 1:If, if we are, I would say that we've redefined the good old boy electric. Um, I think we've got some good old boys working here. I can tell you that much. Um, I'm very proud of the changes we've made. I think everyone that works here, even the guys that came on last year, would say even from when they started last year, we have grown exponentially as a team, as a company, as electricians, as humans, all of it, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you said some really important things there, actually like growing as a team and the whole team being bought into. We're not who we were. This is a different identity. I'm going to ask you a hard question what do you think your team would identify as today If we were to ask them that what is it If it's not good old boy electric, or if you've changed the meaning of good old boy electric? What does it mean today? Do you think if they were to answer that?
Speaker 1:What I would want to hear is we're the home service professionals. But the truth is, this is probably what you're going to hear. You're going to hear more along the lines of we're a group that tries really hard every day. You're going to hear you know, we're trying to do right, we're going the extra mile. Just the other day I heard so this happened twice. Now one of the guys the other day just happened to mention he's like yeah, I remember that job. That's the job. I went home and recorded the the tv show for the lady and then brought it back and emailed it to her the next day and I was like I thought, I thought that technician did that. He said no, no, he did it too. That was a different job and it's it's like you know, um, that's something that a year ago, I don't know if I would have thought of. You know what I mean. I don't know if any of my guys would have thought of. You know what I mean. I don't know if any of my guys would have thought of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's interesting. So you're seeing it come out like why am I seeing a Shrek reference? We shouldn't have started with dad stuff, because I'm feeling like layers to an onion here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, parfaits. Everybody loves parfaits.
Speaker 2:Thank you, eddie Murphy. Parfaits, everybody loves par phase. Thank you, eddie Murphy. Par phase, everybody loves par phase. So there's layers to this. The people are complimenting each other. At this point it sounds like Absolutely, yeah, overall, absolutely. What changes within the person? What changed within the value set? How would you even begin to quantify this? Like, how would you even begin to quantify this? How do they become that team that takes care of the person versus that team that maybe rushes in, rushes out, takes care of themselves? Where do you think that change?
Speaker 1:starts. I've got a really good answer to that. It's probably not what anyone's going to expect, right, me taking a step back and me not. A micromanaging and, b allowing people to fill the roles that they need to fill. So we've got this employee. His name's Wes. I've known Wes for 10, 15 years now. I remember his first time in Georgia as an electrician. Right, wes is our service manager. Now he oversees the install crews.
Speaker 1:And when we made that decision to put Wes in that position, it was because I realized, wow, these guys need me to answer their questions. You know, run material, lay them out on job sites, and there's three crews of them. And I also need to help with the sales team, help with customer service. At some point I have to run a business as well, right, and it's like I'm failing them by trying to do it all myself, right. And so we took we took our sure enough A player, wes, and said hey, man, you know you've got all the qualities we'd love to see in an electrician in person, person.
Speaker 1:You know how can we empower you to rub off on other people? You know, it's like we're gonna pull you out of the. You're still gonna be the van maybe it wasn't pickup truck now, but we're gonna pull you out of that install van and it's like I want you to to get these guys to the point you're at. You know I want you to to help them grow, help, help push them, lead the way. You know you're already leading the way. It's like I can't do it the way you can because, at the end of the day too, like I'm the owner, so I have a different perspective on on what needs to be done than they do as well, you know. And so me taking a step back and allowing other people to step up, to fill that place where I stepped from, you know, and to to take the reins and just go. You know, obviously that's. There's some oversight there. Obviously, me and Wes talk a lot, but it's it's. It's beautiful.
Speaker 2:That's what it is. I love that. How do you know, like if someone's listening to this and they're like, well, maybe that's what I need, maybe I need to bring a guy up the ladder or someone in to be an install manager, did you second guess that at all? Was there like a period where you thought, well, if this guy's not on the tools, that's a hard transition. How did you know that needed to happen at that point?
Speaker 1:point Wes in an install van was the equivalent of having two install teams in one van. That was. That was how good he, that's how good he is Right. And so for us to lose that, I was scared to death. I was like, you know, we've got a lot of. We have a bunch of young technicians that are, that are, that are hungry, that are eager, that are, they're learning and working.
Speaker 1:But then I had my one guy that's been here for a while, that's really bought into the brand, bought into what we are, what we do, and pulling him from that spot it's very scary, it's hard right. Scary, it's hard right. But when I got to the point where I realized I'm on the phone saying yeah, I'll send you the address, and I hang up the phone and I call someone else and say hey, where are you at, what can I do with you? And I never send the address. And then I never go and buy the gfis or I never, you know. And then so then it's like two hours later I get another phone call and it's like hey, dude, I'm still sitting at home depot, what are you doing, you know. And it's like hey, dude, I'm still sitting at Home Depot, what are you doing? You know, and it's like we kind of grew into that from, we didn't have choice. You know, it was like this this isn't going to keep working unless I'm willing to step back and allow someone to to to do that job.
Speaker 3:Um, you know, I feel like it's one of those situations where it's a struggle that most business owners have, because we all look at it like it's our baby, like speaking. We started off talking about kids but literally this is like your baby and you built it and you're nurturing it and you got it out of the cradle and it's currently walking on its own. You're like, all right, we're getting it there. But then you got to put your hands off if they ride the bike for the first time. Like I've got to trust you, I've got to be willing to let you skin your knee a little bit, because otherwise you're the hover parent and the hover parent can't do everything Like we just can't. We don't have the mental processing power to do all the things for all the people. So I think it's a really emotionally mature decision to say I'm willing to step back to better everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think I'll. I'll say this too I think the install guys are very happy I did, because they were very tired of me falling short on my obligation to them. You know is the most professional way to put it. They're sick and tired of me not bringing the stuff my team here.
Speaker 2:By not getting enough stuff done to keep them moving forward, it becomes a tripping point and you just say, heck, who's better than west to move up? Uh, with this ability to install twice as much, it sounds like as other guys at that point. So congratulations on that. But also I mean what it seems like a risk right to lose that in the field and then to put that into management. Have you been able to see that translate into better installs beneath Wes? Would you say Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And also there's that that that factor of when it's an emergency situation, like something comes up and it's like we don't know how to do this, we can't do this, we need to back up and punt or we need to pivot. He was the king of that, you know. He was the guy that he didn't call me and say, hey, man, I don't know what to do right now. He was the guy that called me and said man, you won't believe we bumped into this. But cool thing was we found this and you know we're actually done at 30 minutes early. What?
Speaker 3:you know. I also think there's another factor that we may not be fully hitting on and that if you hadn't moved west out, you could have created a liability for yourself. Because imagine you've got a guy who can do the work of two installs and you've built your foundation on this one guy. But like I see it, like you got a couple blocks as your foundation and were he to, whatever reason, be pulled out of that block, the whole pyramid can fall down. But because you actually took him and move it higher, you reinforce the foundation with something else and he's less likely to topple and, as a result, you are less likely to topple.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And what really changed for me was when I started looking at it and saying who's really suffering right now? Right, it's not me, it's not Wes yeah, my installers are a little bit, but who has the most to lose by me not doing this? It's my customers. Right, they're not getting served the way that Cameron, our all star over here, go in and looking at the work, building that relationship because of me, we're not holding it, our end of the bargain, right, and that's something like I've had to struggle with that for years now, where I say, guys, if we don't do what we're saying we're going to do, we're just lying to our customers face, say we're going to do, we're just lying to our customers face and I'm, we'll just shut down, like I'm not doing that. So once, once I realized you know the customers, the ones that stood the most to lose, then it makes it a no brainer to me. It's like we have to make a change.
Speaker 2:Then you know, and that's that's a good way to look at any part of the business really Based on the customer satisfaction. Yeah, backwards from there. Is that what you're saying? Absolutely, absolutely, okay, nice perspective. I like that shift. So, instead of just what you're thinking and feeling, actually escaping your own thoughts and feelings, going into your customers and asking them really how do we serve you better? And maybe there's a bit of a metaphor there and it's not just going to them and asking them physically, but in doing that, you realize this. You mentioned Cam being an all-star. How have you seen him develop and what role is he for anyone listening that maybe hasn't seen or heard of this before?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So Cameron's been with us for coming up on four years actually, two months from now. Yeah, man, and again Cameron and Wes both. I've known Cameron for dang near 15 years now. We came up together and he, His role here is I don't want to call it sales mentor, he's just, he's the guy when it comes to you going to customers.
Speaker 1:He's our first line of attack, so to speak. He's the one the customers get to meet for estimates. He's the one that goes out and does pretty much all of our estimates and whatnot. He does all the bigger opportunity stuff and the small stuff as well. He's grown, I would say, 50% or more since January, Just through consistent practice, since January, Just through consistent practice.
Speaker 1:What I love about it is he doesn't want me to hold his feet to the fire and say practice this, learn this, do this. You know what I mean. He wants to do it different. He wants to do better, right, and he's like me. He takes it very serious when it comes to what we tell our customer we better back that up, and so he's trying to find different ways to get better and stuff and the tune of like he's going to blow. You know this is the million dollar electrician podcast. Right, he's going to blow so far past the million dollars this year. It's, it's, that's, that's going to be done here in the next two months. You know he's he's great at what he does, you know, and it's not because he sits here and practice objection handles and object and practice, you know, hard closes and all this other stuff. It's, it's because he goes out and he bonds with these people and he makes connections with them and he serves them the way they want to be served, you know.
Speaker 3:Cameron's made me very proud working with him and I feel like you're almost selling them a little short, like you know, and so, from what I understand, when we first started working with him, he was around like the 40 to 60,000 per month ticket. You're right around there. And based on what we've been tracking. I remember you're saying since January he's been. It was like 80, the 90. And then just last month hit 110.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he had 117 the month before that too. I think he also only worked three weeks when he had 110. Last month he had a vacation in there too, wow 110 with a week off, 117 with a week off.
Speaker 3:This guy's an all-star. He's an absolute A player.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he'll break 100 this month as well, that's not a question.
Speaker 2:so yeah I love that I remember in the beginning, like when, when this all started. What I remember about cam early on was he was in the calls with you. He's in the office with you, sitting next to you. You were both just absorbing joe's teachings and what's in the program and coming to class and just being students and then going out and executing and challenge by challenge, win by win. Here we are today. Who would have thought you'd be sitting here and saying exactly what you just said, which is, you would not be surprised to see him blow well past a million dollars by the end of the year.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, absolutely yeah, I mean I I think he's pushing himself as well to, to, to break that. Um, like you said, he's been in it. He actually was the one that brought the idea of of being a service you know, service focused provider to us. Uh, four years ago when he came here, he actually came from a company that's owned by private equity group, um, primarily a HVAC company.
Speaker 1:He was one of their two or three electricians and so he had a little taste of it before and before he actually came to work with us, me and him would talk every week or so and he was just throwing it around, the idea of it, and then he started getting serious about it and I was like, I mean, I don't understand it, but but sure, come on, let's try it. And you know, that's what planted the seeds. And then, you know, I met you guys, um, I guess about three, two or three years ago now, and just y'all started kind of watering those seeds and then we, we joined, uh, joined the group with you guys almost two years ago now and, um, it's just been, there's there, there's a miracle growing the seeds now, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:You mentioned this private equity thing. I think there's a bigger conversation there too that most people don't realize Like we've seen it in class. Austin, you've been a part of the discussions where man, those guys cast a big shadow sometimes around us. You know it's hard to compete on Google. It's hard to compete with thousands of reviews which some of these bigger conglomerates that I mean they're beasts to deal with. It's David and Goliath, literally. But I love where Cam came from. I love this story because we so often say this let them market to the masses and spend more than you could while you market to their people for a wholesome place to actually feel appreciated as a person, not just a number putting numbers up. And I think that's such a huge opportunity for any company, whether you're the size Austin or just the smallest guy out there. It's huge.
Speaker 1:or just the smallest guy out there is. It's huge, absolutely, and just like you said, they they cast a heck of a shadow man. Our you know, the number one person above us has 35,000 Google reviews. We're second with 149. Yeah, that's for sure. And yeah, and that's cool, cool, they can do their thing. I love being right there, right, right there. When you scroll past that name that everyone knows so well, then you see me right there.
Speaker 2:So, um, yeah around the time of our last podcast. I remember there was a moment where you and cam actually got in a bit of competition and I think this aligns with the major thread here of being able to step back and let people succeed under you and let them take charge of their areas. You had a big month. I think you sold a hundred thousand something. It was about a year ago, August of 2024.
Speaker 1:I need to make a plaque and put it right there. Yeah, yeah, but here's. You want to hear something crazy about that though. Yeah, so this year I think I might've actually ran 10 calls myself this year. I look at it as all I'm doing is just taking away their opportunities, and even you know we've got a younger sales team as well under Cam. I'm just stealing from them if I'm out running calls. You know that's kind of what I'm doing. That 123 included a $40,000 house, a $30-something thousand dollar, maybe another house or another commercial project that was $33,000, $30,000, maybe another house or another commercial project that was $33,000, $37,000. I had $70,000 with two projects. This year we have not done one single new construction home, so Cam's breaking these hundreds and hundred tens with zero houses. I think we've sold four generators this year, so those numbers aren't from generators, they're not from houses. Anyone listening and saying it can't be done? Keep making excuses. It can be done. Doing can lights, you know.
Speaker 2:What do you think is your most popular and profitable job? That Cam sells, then.
Speaker 1:Probably service upgrades. I think that's probably a lot of people are going to say that too, you know. But it's not the service upgrade itself where I feel like we really specialize, like we do a really good job at those. That's probably my favorite job for us to do. It's the additional work that goes with that right.
Speaker 1:So it's not like the last two service upgrades we did also came with full house re-devices, you know. And then also it's like, okay, well, hey, by the way, your kitchen has one circuit that controls the microwave fridge and all three of the crockpots, you know. And it's like, well, yeah, we're doing, we're fixing your, your, your main service system here, but that's not going to fix that, and so here's what we can do to fix that as well, you know. And so that's what takes those, those.
Speaker 1:Once you get to the point of, okay, well, we're hitting these $7,500, $8,500 tickets on on the service upgrades, that puts you in that 10, 11, 12, you know, and it it, yeah, it boosts the ticket a little bit, but it's what these people need, you know, if you just go in there and give them a service upgrade, that's going to fix that problem. But if you don't address the kitchen, or the, the lighting, you know, or the, the two-prong outlets in here, you know, if you don't actually address that, then then you're not really serving them, right, you know you know something else that's really here.
Speaker 3:If you don't actually address that, then you're not really serving them, right? Something else that's really cool about the service upgrades that not a lot of people speak to is the labeling, because you think to yourself like okay, everyone is going to either reuse the labeling or they're going to do like a half-assed labeling. But the way we're doing it and I know the way you're doing it is you're actively going through each thing and, as a result, you're naturally finding additional things to bring their attention, to serve them, just by doing your job on a higher level. They get to be served because you're catching things and they could be proactive rather than reactive, and they're also being served in that when they need to turn something off, it's not lights plugs, lights plugs, lights plug, garage it's like all right sweet.
Speaker 1:We know what we're dealing with, the win-win. So we've actually found that, uh, a lot of times. If, when we do the service upgrades, we usually do them in two days, right, um, so we found that on the second day, by the time power gets cut back on, we're rushed to try to label these panels so we don't even touch that. We come back a third day when we're fresh and we're not rushed and it's not the end of the shift, and that's when we label these panels so that we know we're going to take our time, we're going to do it right, uh, and and the the beauty to that to speak to some of the other core values we've got is, if you're not priced right, you can't do that. You know, uh, if you're not pricing yourself right from the beginning. That's why a lot of these people don't label the panels, because they're just like oh, we've already got 16 hours of vets to wait. Sorry, that's all you get for what we charged you, or you need the old labels.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's take the old labels off, put them back on. Yeah yeah, it's a really good level of service and it's one of those things that can escape homeowners. That's one of those little hidden things they don't even realize. It's like the price of safety. You know, we always said the price of safety is so hard to qualify or quantify, rather because nothing happens when it works yeah to a homeowner.
Speaker 2:it's the same sort of thing. It's like, well, yeah, I guess so you did your job. But we know behind the lines every electrician listening to this knows what it's like to be rushed at that final hour and actually go through and and to go even more specific, like, enhance, enhance, like the specific label that was written crooked, or placed slightly crooked, and you go I'm not going to fix that, they'll get over it because it's time to go. I've got the next call. I've got to pick up my kids. I've got to do these things, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's that go. I've got the next call. I've got to pick up my kids I've got to do these things, yeah it defeats us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we, we did. We just finished a service upgrade monday, um two days ago, and uh, it wasn't. We did the job on friday but we had to come back to label that fan, you know. And it's like friday at 5 pm. Am I gonna focus on labeling the panel 100? Yeah, I want to say I would, but I also know I've got to go pick dinner up on the way home, you know. So, yeah, why, why even put us in that position?
Speaker 3:let's just plan to be there monday for however long you know and speaking to that, one more thing like I've been finding, even though I have a brand new home, I'm doing a ton of electropurge to it and the labeling is so half-assed that I have to relabel the entire thing. Like, literally, I'm I feel like. I feel like back in the day where I'm calling my wife upstairs like, is that turning off laundry room? Did bathroom kitchen was not in kitchen like it was.
Speaker 1:It was crazy you mean there's more than five breakers labeled receptacles? Wow, who would?
Speaker 2:have thought right yeah your care exceeds just this interview, uh, your care for your clients that is. I don't know if you know this, austin, you got honorable mention sometime around end of january, february. We actually had, uh, guillermo castillo on the podcast right around that time and he had mentioned they did this data deep dive. Yeah, and on that data deep dive what they found was repeat customers spent three times more on average than the one time customers that you get in house. And right at that time it was like during the same week, you had just reported a big win, which was I think it was christmas week. You guys sold I think it was a platinum, it included a club membership, your version of it. And then in january you went and did that inspection and the next ticket I believe what it was is the first ticket was about 5,000 and your next ticket was $15,000, directly as a result of that inspection and at 3X and we went oh my gosh, he's right.
Speaker 2:It was the shortest timeframe we've ever seen it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we started. That was actually our, our. It's arguable. We launched our first class pass membership Christmas week and so that was, either, depending on what time of day it was, it was either the first or the second first class pass that was ever sold Me and Cameron. Cameron sold one that day and I sold one that day and I hadn't dug deep to really find out who won that battle. But so the 5,000 hour ticket was the panel change. The 15,000 hour wasn't even the panel change. Uh, it was an emergency situation. They had a panel. It already had the outside is a newer home, had the outside disconnect, whatever. Uh, so the 5 000 was the panel change. And then they uh needed a whole home inspection and they saw some value in the uh other additions, with the first-class bats being a first-class bats holder, and we came back out and did that and yeah, I mean, it needed work, you know, and they knew that. So they found value in that and couldn't be more happier with that situation.
Speaker 3:So proud of you, brother.
Speaker 1:Yeah amazing.
Speaker 2:It took us a long time, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:No, go ahead. It just took us a long time. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:No, go ahead.
Speaker 1:It took us a long time to really get around to the club membership offer. You know, the first class pass holder stuff, instant. We had instant results with it, you know, and we have customers that are excited to be a part of that. You know, as crazy as that sounds, if you have any doubt about that, I had doubt about it for a long time. You know I I had. I wasn't willing to offer it until I knew it was something that I found the value in Like that's that's so important to me. You know, and, um, I do a hundred percent of the value in it and now my customers do because of that.
Speaker 2:That's huge. It's a big takeaway and I feel like this is one of those like this will be on the test moments. In trade school we listen for that right like, oh guys, this will be on the test, oh great. I wasn't paying attention for the last 20 minutes, but I'm gonna focus now. What I mean by that is if you're listening to this, if you're watching us on youtube, wherever you are, guys, please take notice of what Austin just said.
Speaker 2:Club memberships are way more complex in your head than they need to be. If you haven't implemented this, please take care of your customers at a higher level just by offering to take care of them at a higher level, and if they take it, it's so simple. I think this is even a value piece we've given away for free a few times. That gives you a basic outline. If you want that, just go ahead and comment club outline. We'll send it to you guys to help you out with that. It's something we believe in, just like Austin is saying, if you just offer to serve at the higher level, look what happens. The problem is the whole process built on this. So many times we rush in, rush out or we say things in our own head. That never get verbalized, but it stops us from just offering more. Would it be wrong of us to do that, joe?
Speaker 3:No, and I love your job on that. No, Clay, it wouldn't be wrong.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. So one of the things that's really come forward in this interview and I wanted to talk about it as well Austin, a couple times you've made us laugh in this one Little giggle the belly laugh actually is what you're famous for. Inspiring in our group, but also in your content has been absolute fire. You guys have done a ton of video stuff, a lot of organics. I know that at times you've thought, well, maybe this is worth it, maybe it isn't. How are you feeling about it right now? Because I know so many people look up to it and think, wow, that stuff is good.
Speaker 1:So I went through this shift a negative shift in my personally, a few months back and I was like man, we need to cut back on some of that. Like it's, it's not, it's not easy to make that content, it's not cheap to make that content for the most part. And I was like you know, this year has been different than previous years Like, let's just cut back just a little bit, right. And then I started thinking and I was like the way I'm justifying this is well, we just have less leads than before. So we just need to stop doing that. And it's like if we didn't do that, we would have no leads. And on top of that, we get so much feedback.
Speaker 1:So, ironically, 10 minutes before this conversation, uh, or before we started this podcast, uh, I was looking through um, just some analytics and that, some of our views and stuff. So when people are, when they engage with us on our videos and stuff, now they're watching more than just one. They're watching that one Like. So I've got I, it's not hard to boost it, it's not hard for me to bump something right, like I can go make a con, a comment on it, and it'll get pushed to the top and people see it. Well, now, when I do that, videos that are three rows deeper than that are gaining 400 views in a night, you know. So it's it's like it's a gift that keeps giving. It's it's marketing that keeps giving, you know, and yeah, there's a a little bit of a front investment in that, but it's there, it doesn't go away, you know. And on top of that it's genuine, like we enjoy, I can promise you, I enjoy making those videos and the secret to that is, hey, you did it first.
Speaker 1:I didn't want to be on camera. You know what I mean. Like I can be funny and genuine and stuff, but it scares me sometimes to be on camera. Like I'm self-conscious about a ton of stuff that's every human is, but it's, it's so much fun and people love it, you know. And it's a good conversation piece. Even when I'm out talking with customers, they just laugh about whatever we were doing lately. Or, you know, some of our ideas come from customers. They, some of our ideas come from customers. They're like man, we'd love to see y'all do this. We'd love to see y'all do that.
Speaker 2:I'd love to know more about this. Nailed it, nailed it. So for the people that are still feeling like, well, I'm shy on camera, I don't want to do that, what advice or do you have a trick or something you did to overcome that? Or just get over it and head straight for it Like what happened?
Speaker 1:for you. You can do it 10 times and as long as one of them is good, you got one. You know you can always restart when you're. When you start a video. Man, when I first, when we first started doing it, uh, if so, we have a guy that works with us and told me, right, he does a lot of our marketing stuff. Uh, he was behind the camera with our camera. Like, we have a guy that works with us. I told me, right, he does a lot of our marketing stuff. Uh, he was behind the camera with our camera. Like, we have a production team that comes in video stuff. He was standing there.
Speaker 1:I had a meltdown, I had a panic attack. After this is like after we've been doing this for two months, and I was like I can't do this right now. We've got to stop, get out of my and it's like that's okay because I can take a breath for 10 minutes and we can start again or maybe something else will come to me and do something different, you know, and just try, and if you don't like it, you can always hit the delete button. You don't have to do it.
Speaker 2:But you never know until you try. Really good share. I like that. You can do it again. You can do it 10 times, you just need one good share. I like that. You can do it again. You can do it 10 times, you just need one good one, one acceptable, one Love that, austin, you've been around for.
Speaker 3:Sorry, go ahead. Sorry, present over perfect and like the best explanation of it.
Speaker 2:Present, not perfect Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Sometimes, the blooper rules go a lot further than you'd think as well.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, no-transcript. What's your favorite sandwich? That stuff's fun to know about the person that's coming to your house and it can just lighten the mood a little bit so that your client doesn't have to be nervous, and I'm a huge advocate of this. I think you'll see more of this content on the podcast in the future. Guys, austin, I wanted to compliment you, though, on a couple years of being with us at this point, and even longer, as you mentioned, just in our groups and hanging with the people that we hang with. You've become a bit of a mentor in the group as well. I think there's a number of people that look up to you and look up to Cam and Wes and your team, and they have questions for you, and I'm wondering if you could, to wrap this one up today, share maybe one of the most frequently asked questions you get and maybe some of the best advice you'd have for someone else asking those questions.
Speaker 1:Absolutely A lot of the people that first join. Sometimes it's overwhelming to get your numbers right. There really is a lot that goes into finding the right charge and it can be overwhelming to the point of, well, I'm just going to shelf this and I'll do it later, or I'll bring this up next week and talk to someone else about it. You know what I mean. That's a big one and I just want to say you know, just keep plugging at it, do it. It's tough, but that's such a key first step to take, you know, is to really understand your numbers and make sure that you're at a point where you can be profitable, because if you're not profitable, you're not going to take time to. Like I said earlier, you can't really serve your customer if you're in a rush, if you can't afford to be there serving. But yeah, I would say that's a good first place to start.
Speaker 1:Good question I get Nowadays I do get a lot of questions about marketing and Google and stuff like that. I enjoy that stuff. Let me just say I'm nowhere near a marketing guru or a Google guru, but I enjoy talking about that stuff. So that's fun. I'm at a point now where a lot of conversations I have during the day are about leads and about data and numbers, kpis and stuff like that, which is something that I've fallen in love with over the last year. To be completely honest with you, that's a hidden superpower right there in your business is tracking your KPIs. It can change your life next year.
Speaker 2:Love that. Thank you for the share. And what advice. If you had to give someone advice out there, then who's just listening to this and you know what? Maybe they're on the fence, don't know what to do next. Maybe they're just like you, feeling like good old boy electric, not quite dialed in. I mean, what are the first steps for them? What do you think would help them out to to hear from you?
Speaker 1:the biggest thing, the hardest thing for me was understanding that I did need help, um, that I could be a great. I am a. I'll say it today I'm a. I'm a dang good electrician. You know, I'm a really hard worker, especially when it's got my name attached to the brand. No one's going to outwork me. It's my mindset Physically maybe not, but that's my mindset to admit that. You know, maybe there's people that know better about this business stuff than me, you know Um. So, reaching out to, if nothing else, like a coaching group, you know, um, I know two guys that are great, right here on the podcast with me, um, but, but any, any kind of coaching group, you know, uh, any kind of. Anywhere you can get advice, um, don't be ashamed to take that advice, don't be ashamed to act on it and don't be ashamed to ask questions. You know, I wish I had done it three years before I did. You know, it would have saved me a lot of heartache, a lot of headache.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Really good shares. Thank you so much for that, Joseph. Any closing comments on this one brother?
Speaker 3:You know. Really, at the end of the day, I think, austin, your story is best summed up in present over perfect, because, as you say, you need help in certain things and sometimes hard to admit, but I've seen so much personal growth in the years of knowing you. I've seen a ton of professional growth and I think you're really an inspiration for a lot of people who wonder if they can't do it, because I remember you thought the same thing, and yet here you are, immensely successful, leading a team of people who love you and respect you, clients who are enamored to be first-class members. You're doing the right things, you're doing for the right reasons and I'm immensely proud of you. I appreciate that. It's really my pleasure.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much for this time, austin, thanks Joe, and we'll see you guys next week. Take care, friends.
Speaker 3:Thank you. I'm on full waterworks right now. It's rough.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah you are crying. Yeah, it's being a dad. Just say this, we're recording. Just say they're growing up.
Speaker 1:They're growing up, so fast.
Speaker 2:Oh, you oversold that.
Speaker 1:I oh, you oversold that. I felt that one. We dropped our son off this summer for summer camp uh, just day camp and I bawled like a baby I mean like sobbing and my wife was just like, wow, that is not what I expected to happen today I knew she was gonna cry. She was not expecting me and I sobbed for an hour girl dad for the win.
Speaker 2:This is funny. You guys might laugh at this, but my daughter's 60 and a half now and she reached out a week ago and she said dad, there's something I want to ask you, but I'm actually scared to ask it. Year ago I bought her concert tickets for her and myself. And then last minute she said well, my friend cam wants to come, we're going to get her a ticket, could you help with the airfare? And blah, blah, blah and I was like no, no, it's like, this is about us, we're bonding. And so she totally got mad and wouldn't go to the concert with me because I'm dad and I'm no fun. And it was one of those hard lessons is like am I doing the right thing by by standing my ground? But I don't really believe in giving kids a yes every single time. You know what ends up happening is when she calls me just a week ago, she's like well, last year I made a mistake. This is still my favorite concert and we didn't go and it's my fault, didn't make the right choice and I'm sorry about that.
Speaker 2:For my birthday, will you take me to that concert? It's coming again this year. I'll buy the tickets for you and me with my new job and I'm like mckea, I gotta go. Thank you so much. This is wonderful. I gotta go. I'll call you right back and I just get off the facetime as fast as possible and I start bawling.
Speaker 1:It was just like such a proud dad moment oh listen, we've got to stop, because I'm gonna start crying just listening you get three muffins in one room, and this is what happens.
Speaker 2:Oh my. God, we're going to go live and we're all just going to be girl, dad for the win. Yeah, girl, dad, for the win.
