Ep 74 - "Who Are You Really?"

0:07 Welcome back to the Head, Heart & Boots podcast. I'm Chris. And I'm Brandon. Join us as we wrestle with what it takes to transform ourselves and the businesses we lead. Man, I love this industry. Hello. How are you? You know, it's interesting. I'm feeling better as the day goes by. So... Oh, that's good. I know. That's a positive. I know. It's a positive thing, actually. Feels good. Cool. You were kind of tapping into a topic this morning. Where are we going? We had a chat with a colleague, what, a week or two ago? Yeah. Potentially a team member candidate. So this is a colleague, friend. Oh, yeah, that's true. Colleague and friend. And now we're starting to engage in a new conversation, so could potentially become a floodlight team member.

0:50 So we'll see. But as part of this sort of courting process that we've been starting to engage in, they said, I really need to know who you guys are, really. Like, I've listened to your podcast. You know, I've seen you at some stuff. We've done some things together. But I want to know who you guys really are. Like, how do you treat your wives? What are you like as dads? You know, what do you care about when you're outside of work? Like, what do you commit your time to? Well, you know what I mean? Yeah. And we were both like a little bit caught off guard. I don't know if caught off guard is the right word, but I just, I thought about that question a lot, actually, after that meeting. I thought, I've never had a potential employee or business partner or whatever ask that question in quite that way.

1:38 And I really thought a lot about it. And after kind of my, I don't know, a little bit of a deer in headlights look set in, I'm like, God, that's a freaking rad question. And I'm totally willing to go there. Let's talk about it. Yeah. So I've been noodling on that. What am I going to say to this person? Because we're going to meet with him, I think, soon again. But then it reminded me back from my speaker lunch days when we used to invite in entrepreneurs and stuff to come talk to our... local community of business people and stuff. And one of those guys was the COO of Zappos. Listen to me name dropping. Alfred Lin. Anyway, Alfred Lin, he's now with Sequoia Capital Partners and whatever. Zappos sold to Amazon.

2:19 But the thing that I remember talking to him about was their hiring process. Now, mind you, they're all like, you know, they were a venture-backed startup. And so they had the freaking foosball tables and all the things that like a young, hip business does. But what he said was really the force multiplier for them is that they were insanely focused when they were hiring, particularly their upper management executive, like leadership roles, that they were looking for an integrated personality. Yeah. Yeah. And when he first said that, I didn't know what it meant. Somebody raised their hand and asked. And he said, you know, it's really like we want to hire people that are the same with their wife and kids as they are with their downline employees, as they are with customers, as they are with colleagues and leadership peers.

3:11 Yeah. We don't want people that have a certain way that they treat their downline employees. And then another way that they treat their peers and their upline, like we just want people that are real. And I think as I say that probably everyone's like, well, yeah, duh. But, how often do we really prioritize getting to know somebody? And one of the practices that they did to support that was, when they were hiring a key leadership role, is they would invite the spouse and them out to dinner. And so they'd get a chance to see, what's the body language? What's the interaction between them?

3:52 And just to get a more of an organic view of who this person is. Sure, yeah. Yeah. Get their partner's perspective, right? Somebody that lives and shares life with them. Yeah, totally. Totally. And anyway, I just find that really inspirational. And I've just been kind of noodling on that ever since. Like, okay, what does it look like to form these real relationships? Not just with our employees, but with business partners, with... clients and everything else, how do we prioritize that? Because I think there's something special there. And I look back at all the co-workers and stuff that I'm still connected to. Yeah. Team members that you and I've worked with at the various businesses we've been a part of, and my old state farm connections and stuff that I have prior to that, and the small business that I used to have.

4:37 And I think the relationships that are still intact and really meaningful to me there was a level of personal connection. I know things about them. I know what their hobbies are, their passions are. And I also kind of have a view of who they are as a husband or a wife or parents. Like I've glimpsed those things. Whether it was just an all-company picnic or something where they brought their kids and spouse, and I got to see that. But just how valuable. You know what I mean? Yeah. That personal connection and knowingness. And so while it felt weird when this colleague of ours said, I need to know what you guys are really like.

5:18 At first, I was like, what are you supposed to mean? This is who we are. And it really is. But his follow on question of, I want to know how you treat your wife. I want to know what your marriage is like. I'm like, wow, that's crazy. But I get the reason behind that question. I do too. Yeah. Yeah, if anything, I think it probably elevated my excitement about continuing to explore what that could look like after that comment. But okay, well, let's thank a couple sponsors and then let's get into that because it sounds like we could have a whole lot of fun with that topic. That's so funny. I was just going right into it. And how can I not thank our sponsors? They make this all possible. That's right. They're friends in the biz. CNR Magazine, just this morning, literally, I saw an interview that Michelle Blevins did with the founder and CEO of One Tom Plumbing.

6:06 Oh, yeah. They're kind of making a splash in the industry. So if you haven't heard about them, there's this plumbing franchise that is designed to be a bolt-on to a restoration company and do those emergency calls. Right. Put shark bites on the supply lines and yada, yada. And it was interesting. I'm like, oh man, we probably need to see what these guys are up to and whatever. And I texted Michelle. I'm like, hey, anyway, you can do an introduction. She's like four seconds later, you bet. Michelle is just that kind of person. Like she scoops every big story. She's connected to all of the people that are moving and shaking in our industry. And so if you want to be up on kind of the latest... That's right. Resto industry. But it's not just resto. It's like the broader cleaning and restoration industry, which is a big, big community.

6:51 She knows all the key players. She's the one instigating all the important conversations in our industry's media. And so she's fun to work with. We like her personally, but the product that she puts out is incredible. Her team is growing, by the way. I don't know. She just hired an assistant editor. She's got... Oh, yeah. So she's... She's been hustling. She's building a media empire as well. So if you're not a subscriber, cnrmagazine.com, you should be. It's free. Why would you not want to be up on our industry's news and the important things that are happening, right? Pay attention to the podcast. Pay attention to the live stuff that she's doing. Yeah. It's worth it. Yeah. Liftify. Liftify.com. Guys, we've been talking about them a lot.

7:31 In fact, We actually got a text from Zach not that long ago. He was like, hey, man, I'm doing a demo right now with some folks that said they kept hearing about us on the show. And of course, that means a lot to us, right? Because that's the value proposition is that we hope that when we refer or tell folks to take something seriously, that that ends up being a win-win, not only for you, but for the partners that we have. as well. So liftify.com, automated Google review. That's really what it boils down to is, can I hire a team, put them in place, and be ensured that these teams are going to be going out in an aggressive, consistent way, getting Google reviews for me so that I can benefit from the natural SEO activity.

8:16 I can benefit from the fact that Google is weighting that very heavily, that it's a review coming on their platform and it's coming consistently. They're new. There's reviews coming on a consistent basis. That's what these guys are doing. They're getting rates of participation rates, 20%, 25%. That's ridiculous. All the other tools and resources that we've seen in that, besides our own team, the inconsistency that can happen when we're responsible for it ourselves. But these other bolt-on, they're not seeing that kind of result. And a lot of that is their methodology. It's their commitment. And they're very driven by analytics. And so it's all super transparent. So if you're investing the little money that they ask for in terms of exchange for their service, the benefit to you is exponential and certainly outweighs the expense.

9:02 Just check it out. Really, at the end of the Google reviews for us is the life's blood of our business. People don't care what you say about your own company because everyone says stuff about their own company. Right? The real value comes from when somebody who is experienced in the service that your team provides firsthand, and they come to the public and say, I vouch for these guys, they do a great job. Priceless, right? It's just worth its weight in gold. And if you're the kind of company that has high volume, and you're just doing hundreds and hundreds of claims a year, think about it. Just be pounding on those five-star reviews. 100 a year, 200 a year, 300 a year, depending on size and volume.

9:42 Yeah. it's worth it. You just, the benefit from it just keeps going and going. So, liftify.com, what is it? Backslash, forward slash, which one is this? Forward slash. Forward slash floodlight. We'll see what happens, guys. Check it out. See what they do for you. And give us feedback. Yeah. Shoot us a message on LinkedIn, right? If you did Liftify and you're really excited and happy with the results, let us know. That's fun. Oh, yeah. We really are careful about the relationships that we promote. Yeah, 100%. And Liftify is one of those services where we have literally never had a complaint or a negative review, period. So check it out. Yeah. I mean, it's almost like staying in line with the topic of this chat that you opened us up with.

10:25 Like, who are you? Right. We want congruency, I think is the right term I'm looking for. We want alignment. Yeah. And you're never going to see our team promoting or partnering with somebody that we believe is out of alignment with what's important to us. Important to us in terms of our perspective of our business, how we carry ourselves, how we carry our brand, the clients that we serve, the industry that we're engaged in. All of that stuff has to be in alignment for us to feel good about it, for us to be doing what we promise to do. And our partnerships with our sponsors is the same stuff. If they are somebody that we're talking about, it's because we believe they're in alignment with the value proposition that we want to bring people and provide the industry.

11:06 So that's good. Enough about that. All right. Okay, so this topic that you've, you started getting us in, my head went somewhere. Yeah. Right? My knee-jerk response when this individual asked us that was like, I got fired up. I'm like... Boom. Okay. This is the kind of conversations I want from somebody that we're looking to potentially bring onto our team. So we're saying that very loosely, guys. We have engaged in talks with folks. And of course, we're exploring what those future opportunities can look like. Doesn't mean it's going to go anywhere. So anyways... I get pumped just like I do with my own staff, with partners, with... When we're building teams and or working with clients and we see their leadership teams developing, there's these kinds of questions that I'm looking for that get me excited about the competency and the capacity of the individual.

11:59 There's something... that it tells me, right? And so my knee-jerk response to somebody that says, hey, but what about you guys? Who are you? Who are you as, like you said, fathers, as spouses, as parents, as whatever the case may be? Basically, what I think to myself is, oh, this person values alignment. They want to be working with a person they know is the same person when they're not in the room. Integrity. Right? Integrity. Yes, exactly. Right. And so for me, I get really excited when somebody asks a question like that. And that's kind of where I have been. I am psyched that they were interested in that. That gives me a ton of excitement about wanting to do something with them.

12:42 And it actually strips away a lot of the... Well, let's be honest. We're building a fledgling brand in a lot of ways. We protect it. It's important to us. It's our baby. And we know that there's risks and liabilities that... with that brand being mistrusted in any way. So it just got me excited. I'm like, okay, this is the kind of person that if they care about that, it means their kind of principles or core drivers must be pretty damn close to mine. They don't need to be the same. We don't need to share all world perspectives or anything like that. But there must be some foundational stuff that we're in agreement with. And so I just got totally psyched.

13:25 Hey friends, hey listeners. We're doing something a little bit different with our ads. So you've been accustomed to hearing some ads with our favorite partners and companies in the industry. Now we actually have a product page, our partners page on our website. So floodlightgrp.com forward slash partners. I want to give you a quick rundown though of the people that we're partnering with and we believe in as really go-to resources in the industry. The first one is restorationerp.com, right? ERPs are an important part of our sales process, our customer development process. And why reinvent the wheel? The Restoration ERP platform is awesome. It can be customized to your business branding and all that kind of stuff. It has all the components to really create a value add for your commercial client.

14:06 Accelerate Job Management Software. Everybody needs job management software. And we have just found Accelerate, not only is their team just really great to work with, when they get ideas from customers, they throw it into the product roadmap and they implement it. They're really advocating for the contractor and trying to create a software solution that works for them. Actional insights. We recommend actual insights all the time, right? All of us as restoration operators are looking for turnkey resources and training solutions that we can take our team to the next level. And AI, when it comes to estimating and Matterport and a lot of the other essential tools we're using, they're an awesome... awesome resource.

14:46 And they're always coming out with new great stuff. Yeah, super influential in the industry. Super Tech University, soft skills development training for your technicians, for your frontline personnel. Let's face it, frontline personnel are the heartbeat of our company. They are the ones that connect with our clients and create the customer experience. There's no better investment than investing in the ability for those individuals to represent themselves, our clients, and our brands well. So Supertech University, Surety, they essentially are cutting down this lifecycle between delivering service and then getting paid, stepping in, removing the middleman in terms of mortgage companies, refining that pipeline, making sure that there's as least friction as possible.

15:28 So we can go out and do a great job and then our businesses don't suffer while we're waiting to get paid. The money's coming and it's coming quickly. And then the last one, guys, is Liftify. It's kind of a newer entry to the industry. They're driving Google reviews. So they're a turnkey partner that we can literally go out, provide a great customer experience, hand that name off to our trusted partner in Liftify, and have them go chase. That Google review. 25% conversion rate, which is industry-wide. People tend to average 5% of the people you ask for review actually convert. Lift to five bumps, that to 25. We were such a big believer. We were a customer and they've been generating all of our floodlight reviews. And in a matter of a week and a half, we're up to, I don't know, close to 15 reviews in just a short period of time.

16:11 And I think people just underestimate what happens organically with your SEO search activity when you're getting these new and active five-star reviews from our clients. And we just can't let the pedal up on that because of the effect on our business as long as long. It's a big deal. So check it out. Check out our partners page. Do business with them. You won't regret it. We're confident in that. Floodlightgrp.com forward slash partners. Thanks, guys. Okay, so all that rambling, dude. Who are you then? Are you going to answer that question for us today? What's your plan? Oh, well, shit. Where are we going with this question? Well, yeah, boy, I don't know.

16:52 I mean, that's kind of a fun thread to go down, I guess. I don't even know where to start. I mean, I love, I really love chocolate. It's a part of my life, actually. No, it's a thing. I am, I'm a lot of things, man. And I think that's true of all of us. Like, in fact, so many things in my life at times I feel are sort of oxymorons because I'm like, I'm this in this certain area. And I also struggle with these other things over here. Right. And so I think that's probably true of all of us. But, you know, I've shared a lot about my relationship with my kids and my family and the thoughts I have about that stuff. I'm a dad of three kids.

17:33 Right. And honestly, over the last couple of years, I think I'm 42. I've just become hyper conscious of the brevity of life. That's a big part of me right now. It's just the season. I don't know. Some people call it a midlife crisis. Some people go out and buy sports cars. I bought a sauna and I sit in it for like half an hour every night. And I think sometimes I listen to music, but it's like my time to reflect and say, okay, Like, who am I being and who do I want to be? Yeah. You know, who else am I? You know, one of my favorite things to do is at night, my boy plays guitar and I like to just go sit and lean up against the wall, sit on the floor in his bedroom.

18:18 Then I just listen to him play. That's part of who I am. You know, my wife and I, we just remodeled our house. We're taking our 60-inch TV out of our front room, our living room. We're moving it to our sunroom because we don't want the TV to be the center of our world at home. That's good. I don't know if it's good yet. I might find it annoying. I may want to go back to watching Netflix in the living room. We may have crossed a boundary. A little work in progress. I don't know. Who knows? But yeah, so that really defines a lot of who I am right now is the stage of life. Like at 42, I'm asking a lot of questions of who am I right now? What do I want to become? What do I want to be about? Yeah. I had a conversation with my son in the car.

19:01 This actually isn't the story I was going to tell you, but again, I'm really trying to live out of this place of not holding things back. And it doesn't mean I just go off on people, but I just, when I have those positive or affirmative thoughts toward people, it goes back to that idea of leadership and self-deception, self-betrayal. I have this thing I know I ought to do or say. And when I don't, I'm betraying myself. Oh, sure. Right? Like this good thing I know I ought to do or say to somebody or whatever. And I'm really trying to live in that. Yeah. Anyways, I'm driving back from the gym. I think it was Monday. I've been really kind of cracking down on my son. He's 14. And if he hears this, that's fine. We talk about it all the time. He started playing varsity soccer this last year.

19:41 And I've been really pushing him. I've been pushing him to train. I've been pushing him to lean into that sport. Hey, dude, if you're going to be a high school athlete, be your best. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Put in the work that others aren't so that you can perform like others can't on the field. Right. All that stuff. Just trying to be an encouraging dad, but also push him. Be like, dude, get your shit together. You're coming to the gym with me. As we were driving back, there's been a fair bit of that, that nudging and pushing. And I just said, hey, man, do you know why I've been kind of pushing on you harder lately? He's like, yeah, dad, you just want me to be the best I can be. And I'm like, yeah, but there's something bigger that I've been weighing and I've been thinking about. I said, I feel like my job is to take the torch that my dad passed me and to give you just a little bit better of a performance.

20:31 that I could be just a little bit better dad than my dad was able to be for me. I've seen the good and I've also seen the stuff that my dad struggled with and whatever. And I have an opportunity to perfect that. And your job is to perfect what I give you. Like the world needs you to be better than me. Right. And that's why I push you. That's part of this whole circle of life. Like my dad did the best that I think he could in the time with the information, the experience he had from his dad. And I'm trying to do the same with you. It's about your job. You're becoming a man. You're going to be 15 in like six weeks. What does that mean? What does it mean to be like he's going through puberty and all this kind of stuff? Yeah. That's what's driving me, man.

21:12 Our family needs you. Yeah. Right? Our family's in a better position because of how my dad took care of me, led me, encouraged me and did what he did. And you need to step up to that. That's what growing up and becoming a man is. Yeah. It was a cool moment because I think he got it. I think he heard it. So that's a lot of me right now. You know what's interesting about that? I kind of cut you off, but... I think this is kind of for me like a bit of a takeaway, I guess, almost as we're talking about this topic is I think what's interesting about that question. So think about it from this perspective. When someone else asks you that, it's because they're trying to verify or validate if that relationship is worth their investment.

21:57 To a certain extent, that's what's happening. Even if we think about an interview, what's happening in that moment is two groups or people or persons are trying to assess if investment in that relationship has value. Or is in alignment, right? Like those things, that's kind of what's happening. Yeah. And I think what's interesting about it is that we can have the kinds of experiences that shows us the value in that. We do it by default, right? Before we expose ourselves or commit to something, we're asking these questions. We're trying to identify if it's a good fit. It's funny how we don't really do that for ourselves about ourselves. Hmm. when he asked that question, you kind of brought up the topic.

22:38 I just went, I mean, we did you ink not that long ago, right? Is that out yet? It will be by the time this comes out. Yeah. So I don't know. Maybe we started to approach on that area. But anyways, my point is, it's like just kind of clarifying, creating a vision for yourself. Yeah. Yeah. just like our business, we create mission and vision statements. You're not living that out all the time. And in a lot of cases, the way they're designed, they're designed to be like, if all things happen the way you want them to, this is the kind of organization we will be. This is the stance we will have. This is what we will live out. Yeah. And I think it's important, right? Almost like going back to the whole positive thing. What are you for versus what are you against? I think it may be very difficult for anybody to even set the stage for that, to know what they're for, to really articulate that if they haven't done a good job of identifying who they are.

23:26 Not what people say they are. Not what they feel like they need to project. Not what they've done. Not what they've done. Not what they do. But who are you? Man, that's a big driver for me right now, man. Yeah. Because you and I both know very, very successful people. Mm-hmm. That are very, very unhappy. Yeah. They got all the things. All of it. Yeah. They have the public respect and esteem even at times. Yeah. Still unfulfilled, still unhappy. Yeah. And I think the thing I'm just very present to is my kids could give a shit about my business in the sense of they don't care that dad is a podcaster, a consultant, beyond the fact that it pays the bills and it's what dad does.

24:09 Like... They don't care. It's not a value statement. They don't care about my empire building. They don't. Yeah. All they care is about how I make them feel. My wife, once our basic needs are met, my wife doesn't care about that stuff. At the end of the day, what is it like to have me as a companion? Yeah. Is what my wife really cares about. Yeah. And I think a lot of us just get so consumed about what we need to give our families and our kids that we lose track of the relationship. Yeah. It's interesting, too. I think, again, a lot of times our show, what we're talking about, it can feel a little bit like it's centered at leadership, meaning people with leadership titles or...

24:49 owners or whatever the case may be. The interesting thing about this, and I think we did go here a bit with you, Inc., is I feel like this is a better barometer to identify whether or not you as an individual is headed in the right direction. Here's what I mean by that. We know some people on our team that are just very coachable. It's natural for them. They're very open to new ideas and concepts. For some reason, they just seem to do a better job of detaching their ego or their personal value to whatever they've done. And not in a negative way, like I don't care. They're just coachable. And then there's a lot of us who are in some journey of becoming more coachable, right? And then there's those that we clearly identify.

25:30 There ain't a coachable bone in their body, at least today, right now. And the interesting thing about that is, I think that we become more open to coachability when we're asking ourselves questions like that. Like, who am I? Because I think part of the answer that you get when you're not posturing, when you're not just kind of committing to whatever social or economical standard that says you should be or your community says you should be or your sphere or whatever... When we're asking ourselves a question like, who am I outside of just this task or this job title? What's important to me? What's my relationship value to my family? What am I prioritizing? I think it helps you be more open to hear the things that align with where you want to go.

26:14 So if somebody's sharing an idea or a perspective or a concept with you, I think you're more open to it if you're assessing it against where am I headed? Yeah. What do I value? Who am I? What do I want to be? Versus, I don't know. I guess there's a million different opposites to that. But just kind of when you dig in, right? Because you're subconsciously responding versus this more conscious, intentional questioning response. I don't know if that got, that got a little mighty. I just think I can get really consumed with building empires. Yeah. Opportunities, business building, all that stuff. I'm sure a lot of people listening to this, like, You get so consumed with that, you can lose the forest in the trees.

26:55 Yeah. Right? Yeah. So, and I love, by the way, because we're coming up against a hard stop, I love how you definitely navigated that conversation so you didn't have to share who you are. This is a bit of a weird one. The timing is perfect. Oh, my goodness. That's right. Well, now everybody knows a little bit more about me, the chocolate bit. And... Late night guitar sessions. Maybe the encouragement here. It's like, well, what do you do with an episode like this? What's the value in it? I think maybe it's just like, just ask yourself the question. And maybe this is something you do in your morning time. Maybe this is something to do. I don't know. Whatever your thinking time is, right? Maybe the toilet, whatever it is that you do. Just asking that question.

27:36 Like, who am I? Where am I going? What do I value? What's important to me? just getting a little bit closer to that alignment. Like at work, we've got some different responsibilities that require some different aspects of our character. For sure. But I think it's more that commitment to alignment. Like, does this follow into my core values? Does this fall in line with the things I want to prioritize? You know, we often look kind of into days and look backwards and say, okay, what are the kinds of things that I'm going to be concerned about? Yeah. At that moment, the empires and the money probably not going to carry the same weight then. My gut says it won't.

28:17 Certainly not if you're alone. Yeah. My dad died alone. Whatever he had. it wasn't people. Right? So that's something to keep in mind, I think, as we evaluate who we are and what's important. So I don't know. For what it's worth, there you go, gang. We'll see you next time. All right, everybody. Thanks for joining us for another episode of Head, Heart & Boots. And if you're enjoying the show, but you love this episode, please hit follow, formerly known as subscribe, write us a review, or share this episode with a friend. Share it on LinkedIn, share it via text, whatever. It all helps. Thanks for listening.